Charles Spurgeon, the Prince of Preachers, told the students at his Pastor's College:

"It will be in vain for me to stock my library, or organise societies, or project schemes, if I neglect the culture of myself; for books, and agencies, and systems, are only remotely the instruments of my holy calling; my own spirit, soul, and body, are my nearest machinery for sacred service; my spiritual faculties, and my inner life, are my battle axe and weapons of war."

"The Minister’s Self-Watch" is the first chapter in Charles Spurgeon’s Lectures to My Students. Spurgeon’s Lectures contains great wisdom and advice for preachers. He addressed the Lectures to students at the Pastor’s College, a college Spurgeon instituted because he recognized the need for training pastors for the Gospel ministry. In fact, he called the college his “first-born and best beloved.” He also said, “This is my life’s work, to which I believe God has called me and therefore I must do it. To preach the Gospel myself, and to train others to do it, is my life’s object and aim.” The Pastor’s College trained hundreds of men during Spurgeon’s lifetime.
“The solemn work with which the Christian ministry concerns itself demands a man’s all, and that all at its best. To engage in it half-heartedly is an insult to God and man. Slumber must forsake our eyelids sooner than men shall be allowed to perish. Yet we, are all prone to sleep as do others...therefore have I sought to speak out my whole soul, in the hope that I might not create or foster dullness in others. May He in whose hand are the churches and their pastors bless these words...and if so I shall count it more than a full reward, and shall gratefully praise the Lord.” —from Spurgeon’s Introduction to Lectures to My Students
Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892) was born in Kelvedon, Essex, England, June 19, 1834. Because his father and grandfather were pastors, Spurgeon was reared with the knowledge of the Gospel. Yet, he was not converted until a snowy January morning in 1850. In August of the same year, Spurgeon preached his first sermon to a small gathering of farmers. A year later, a village church called him as its pastor. In 1854, when he was nineteen, he was installed as shepherd over the flock of the New Park Street Chapel, Southwark, London, which later became the Metropolitan Tabernacle. Beginning in January 1855, Spurgeon’s sermons were published weekly, a practice which did not cease until 1916, twenty-four years after his death. During his pastorate in London, Spurgeon ministered to a congregation of nearly 6,000 people each Sunday, published his sermons weekly, and wrote a monthly magazine. He also founded a college for pastors, two orphanages, a home for the elderly, a colportage society, and several mission stations. History’s most widely read preacher (apart from those found in Scripture). Today, there is available more material written by Spurgeon than by any other Christian author, living or dead. The collected sermons of Spurgeon during his ministry fill 63 volumes. The sermons’ 20–25 million words are equivalent to the 27 volumes of the ninth edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica and stand as the largest set of books by a single author in the history of Christianity. Although pain wracked his body in his later years and opponents attacked his ministry, Spurgeon continued to preach the Gospel until his death in January 1892. The keys to Spurgeon’s success were a life of prayer and a simple yet profound faith in the grace and love of his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon (19 June 1834 – 31 January 1892) was a British Particular Baptist preacher who remains highly influential among Christians of different denominations, among whom he is still known as the "Prince of Preachers". Spurgeon was to 19th century England what D. L Moody was to America. Although Spurgeon never attended theological school, by the age of twenty-one he was the most popular preacher in London.

A strong figure in the Reformed Baptist tradition, defending the Church in agreement with the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith understanding, and opposing the liberal and pragmatic theological tendencies in the Church of his day, Spurgeon preached to around 10,000,000 people, often up to 10 times each week at different places. Spurgeon was the pastor of the congregation of the New Park Street Chapel (later the Metropolitan Tabernacle) in London for 38 years, despite the fact he was part of several controversies with the Baptist Union of Great Britain and later had to leave the denomination. In 1857, he started a charity organization called Spurgeon's which now works globally, and he also founded Spurgeon's College, which was named after him posthumously.

Spurgeon was a prolific author of many types of works, including sermons, an autobiography, commentaries, books on prayer, devotionals, magazines, poetry, hymns and more.