Reminder from Young Charles Spurgeon

Having come from a long line of Congregationalists, Spurgeon became convicted of the need for believer baptism soon after coming to the Lord as a young man. Though a member of a local Congregational church, he made arrangements for his baptism with a Baptist church some 8 miles away and wrote seeking permission from his parents. His father replied with reluctant consent. His mother also agreed, but was not enthusiastic about the prospect. She wrote the following to him...

"Ah, Charles, I often prayed the Lord to make you a Christian, but I never asked that you might become a Baptist."

Spurgeon wrote in response...

"Ah, Mother, the Lord has answered your prayer with His usual bounty, and has given you exceeding abundantly above what you asked or thought."

Though this brought a smile to my face, it also reminded me of the importance of praying regularly and fervently for the salvation of our children and grandchildren. Spurgeon recalled his mother reading the Scriptures to her children and pleading with them to be concerned about their souls. "I cannot tell how much I owe of the solemn words of my good mother..." he wrote. "I remember on one occasion her praying thus, 'Now, Lord, if my children go on in their sins, it will not be from ignorance that they perish, and my soul must bear a swift witness against them at the day of judgment if they lay not hold of Christ.'... How can I ever forget when she bowed her knee, and with her arms about my neck, prayed, 'Oh, that my son may live before Thee!'"

[from "Spurgeon: A New Biography" by Arnold Dallimore]