^;^J^^'o^™^ 
 
 ^^OlOGICAL SE^^'S^^ 
 
 A 
 
 BX 6495 .S7 N4 1892 
 Needham, Geo. C. 1840-1902 
 Charles H. Spurgeon, his 
 life and labors 
 
■^. 
 
CHARLES H. SPURGEON 
 
 HIS 
 
 LIFE AND LABORS 
 
 By GEO. C NEEDHAM 
 
 AUTHOR OF "street ARABS," "FATHER FT.VNN." 
 
 mit\j Entrotiurtion 
 Bv REV. A J. GORDON, D. D. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 BRADLEY AND WOODRUFF. 
 
 PUBLISHERS. 
 
Copyright, 1892, 
 By Geo. C. Needham. 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 1. Pastor C. H. Spurgeon (Frontispiece). 'ag« 
 
 2. Birthplace of C. H. Spurgeon 27 
 
 3. Mr. Spurgeon at the Age of Twenty-one 56 
 
 4. Surrey Music Hall 66 
 
 5. James Archer Spurgeon, Co-Pastor 84 
 
 6. The Metropolitan Tabernacle 125 
 
 7. Benjamin Keach ijo 
 
 8. Keach in the Pillory 131 
 
 9. Carter-lane Chapel 134 
 
 10. Doctor John Gill 136 
 
 11. John Rippon in his Youth * 138 
 
 12. New Park-street Chapel 142 
 
 13. George Rogers 151 
 
 14. The Pastors' College 15& 
 
 15. Stockwell Orphanage for Boys 164 
 
 16. One of the School-rooms 177 
 
 17. The Girls' Orphanage 187 
 
 18. Infirmary of Stockwell Orphanage 194 
 
 19. Stockwell Orphanage Playground 201 
 
 20. Colporteur and Bible Carriage 214 
 
 21. The Cottage in which Mr. Spurgeon preached his first 
 
 Sermon 226 
 
 22. Residence of Pastor C. H. Spurgeon 23S 
 
 23. Rev. John Spurgeon, Father of C. H. Spurgeon . . . 245 
 
 24. Mrs. John Spurgeon, Mother of C. H. Spurgeon . , . 246 
 
 25. Mrs. C. H. Spurgeon 253 
 
 26. Charles Spurgeon, Son of C. H. Spurgeon 261 
 
 27. Thomas Spurgeon, Son of C. H. Spurgeon 264 
 
 28. Interior of the Metropolitan Tabernacle 275 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 A NICHE in the Temple of Consecrated Ministry' is 
 now vacant, A great preacher has been promoted to 
 occupy a place in the heavenly court. Absent from the 
 body, Charles H. Spurgeon is now present with his Lord. 
 The brave warrior has ceased fighting the good fight of 
 faith ; his sword lies sheathed in its scabbard. The weary 
 pilgrim has ended the journey of life ; he needs his staff 
 no more. During the days of sickness the church uni- 
 versal interceded ; his removal from earth fills the church 
 with orrief, and the hosts of the elect mourn the loss of a 
 reliable leader. Thousands weep who henceforth shall 
 miss the warm friendship of a right noble man. It is thus 
 we are personally afflicted. During a quarter of a century 
 we enjoyed and appreciated his brotherly fellowship. A 
 loving epistle penned by his own hand reached us after he 
 had entered Paradise. It is a tender word of salutation, 
 written from the border-land, perfumed with the breath of 
 heaven. 
 
 The wonderful record of Mr. Spurgeon's " Life and 
 Labors " which we now issue was first published during his 
 lifetime. From himself we had permission to make use 
 of his writings at our own discretion. The book received 
 his hearty approval and generous commendation. Thus 
 he wrote : " We are prejudiced by the appearance of the 
 volume, by the subject, and by the name of the author. 
 
vi PREFACE. 
 
 whom we highly esteem. The prejudice is, however, wholly^ 
 favorable. We are honored by being so favorably pre- 
 sented to the American public." 
 
 Throughout the work, which was prepared as a tribute of 
 love, we have aimed to present our subject in the glowing 
 light of his own words and deeds. Eulogies and rhapso- 
 dies would have been utterly needless. The obtrusion of 
 our opinions, even though set forth in choicest language, 
 would only prove the display of folly. Such a form of 
 egotism would sadly mar the object in view. In Mr. Spur- 
 geon's history no man should be seen but himself; no 
 voice be heard but his own. To supply the links which 
 complete the historical chain of events binding the man 
 and his work together is a task befitting the hand of an 
 angel. We grieve that our few links are not the finest 
 gold ; love for the memory of the lion-hearted man would, 
 were it possible, provide better. 
 
 The present revision of our book demands a chapter on 
 the closing years of this loyal servant of Christ. That 
 pathetic duty is fulfilled. The indulgent reader must over- 
 look its defects ; we bespeak their sympathetic considera- 
 tion. Who is sufficient for so lofty a theme ? Who can 
 properly outline the sublime events culminating in the 
 lamented death of so kingly a character ? 
 
 That this record of the noble deeds and potential 
 speech of the last, yet greatest of puritans may continue 
 to comfort the feeble-minded, cheer the faint, rebuke the 
 indolent, arouse the sleeper, and save the impenitent is the 
 prayer of 
 
 ^t<5.' C- njiS^HcLK^^^- 
 
 Philadeli'hia, Pa., 
 
 March, 1892. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 By Rev. A. J. GORDON, D.D. 
 
 nr^O have the ear of the people is a great thing, and much to be 
 -*■ coveted by the minister of the gospel, if only it be certain that 
 God has the minister's ear. If it be not so, and the preacher has thou- 
 sands hanging on his lips, who himself does not hang on God's lips 
 with the daily cry " Speak Lord, for thy servant heareth," it may be a 
 calamity. In other words, popularity without piety — the magnetism 
 which draws the people, without the communion which draws daily 
 supplies of truth and inspiration from God — is not to be envied. There 
 are some preachers, who have had an immense following in this gen- 
 eration, the secret of whose success would seem to lie in their skill in 
 compounding emollients for itching ears. " Make men think well of 
 themselves if you would have them think well of you," is Lord Chester- 
 field's receipt for popularity. But it happens that the gospel, if faith- 
 fully preached, tends to make men think meanly of themselves ; and 
 therefore it is not unlikely to make them dislike the servant of Christ 
 who has told them the truth. If, however, we can find a minister who 
 is pungent while he is popular, who pierces the heart with conviction 
 while he nails the ear with persuasion, we shall have to confess that God 
 is with him of a truth. The highest tribute ever paid to Whitefield's 
 power, we fancy, was that of Franklin, who, in a bewildered way, con- 
 fessed that he could not understand why such crowds should rush after 
 a preacher who was always accusing them of being as bad by nature as 
 the beasts. We hold that no pulpit can be steady and secure in its 
 position which has not repulsions as well as attractions, which does 
 not declare God's wrath against sin while it proclaims His love toward 
 
viii INTRODUCTIOx\. 
 
 the sinner. What a testimony to the fidelity of apostolic preaching; it is, 
 that in the same Scripture in which it is said that "believers were the 
 more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women," it is 
 also wiitten, '•''and of the rest durst no man Join liinisclf to them ! " 
 
 Among the popular preachers of this generation Mr. Spurgeon has 
 been singularly distinguished for his plain and pungent declaration of 
 the whole gospel, in its severe as well as its tender and winning aspects. 
 His pulpit has sounded its message to the ends of the earth ; but the 
 ends of the earth have not been told that the old gospel of regeneration 
 is effete, and must now give place to some gospel of evolution, or that 
 the ancient theology has fallen into such a sad plight, that if tolerated 
 at all, it must be as the old faith in a new light. And in the success 
 which has attended his ministry, a grateful demonstration has been 
 given, that the old faith is perfectly adequate to the wants of the world, 
 needing only to be reproduced in new lives. We should call Mr. Spurgeon 
 the Nineteenth-century Puritan, if not in his austerity of life, certainly in 
 the substance and style of his preaching. This is crisp, direct, smiting. 
 It is not so unadorned as to render the truth which it conveys dull or 
 repulsive, nor so rhetorical as to render that truth obscure, as a rich 
 melody is sometimes covered over and suffocated in a musician's vari- 
 ations. As we listen we become interested, and as we become interested,, 
 we are searched and convinced. Here is the high merit of his preaching ; 
 it is evidently shaped to attract men to God, rather than to the servant 
 of God ; it is manifestly the utterance of one who, like plain John Wool- 
 man the Quaker, is "jealous over himself, lest he should say anything to 
 make his testimony look agreeable to that mind in the people which is 
 not in pure obedience to the Cross of Christ." Some preach the Cross 
 in anything but a crucified style, — inlaying it with such fancies of liberal 
 thought or overlaying it with such charms of a carnal imagination, tliat 
 its offence is nullified, and it becomes the symbol of divine indifference 
 and toleration, rather than the sign of God's anger against sin, while it is 
 the revelation of His infinite love to the sinner. Our preacher has con- 
 stantly declared the doctrines of the Cross, with rare fidelity, sharp 
 distinctness, and exemplary boldness. The Coming and Kingdom of 
 Christ have also had their proper place in his scheme of doctrine. If 
 the old preachers used to insist on the two R's, as containing the sum of 
 pulpit teaching, — Ruin and Redemption, — we need, in this generation, 
 with equal emphasis to demand fidelity to the two C's, — the Cross and 
 the Coming of Christ. We say this because the new theology is doing 
 
INTRODUCTION. ix 
 
 its best to make away with the latter doctrine. It would reduce the 
 second advent of Christ to some past historical or vaguely present event, 
 obscuring it in the dust and tumult of Titus's siege of Jerusalem, or 
 diffusing it into the glittering generalities of modern progress. We are 
 not prepared to accept a complaisant satisfaction with nineteenth-century 
 progress, as an adequate substitute for " that blessed hope, the glorious 
 appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;" or to admit 
 a Swedenborgian elimination taking place at every man's death, into 
 the place once held by the doctrine of a literal bodily resurrection oc- 
 curring at the second advent of Christ. And we are especially grateful 
 to the London preacher for his clear, ringing utterances on these points, 
 — for his unequivocal advocacy of Christ's Premillennial Coming and the 
 First Resurrection. But these are only a few things for which we are 
 beholden to that eminent ministry. Being asked to write an introduction 
 to the new and enlarged edition of this excellent volume, we commend 
 the life which it delineates, and the work which it portrays, to all 
 friends of a sound gospel, and to all lovers of good and true men. How 
 great is the debt which we all owe to the pulpit of the Metropolitan 
 Tabernacle of London. In an age that is running greedily after theolog- 
 ical novelties, the steady, conservative anchoring power of that pulpit 
 has been felt wherever the English language is spoken, and wherever 
 in any tongue the gospel is preached. The book gives a graphic descrip- 
 tion of the preacher and tabulates the work he has accomplished with 
 painstaking fidelity. 
 
 Clarendon Street Church, 
 Boston, Mass. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 Four Pen Pictures. — The Wliitfield of the Nineteenth Century. — Second 
 Photograph. — Third Photograph. — Last Photograph. — Letter to his 
 Uncle. — Glorying in Grace. — " The Boy i.s Father to the Man." — 
 A Great Statesman. — Youth and Old Age. — Middle Life. — " All my 
 Springs are in Thee.'' — Pastor James H. Brookes. — Mr. Spurgeon 
 in the Dingy Chapel. — ^ His Prayer. — The Sermon. — "Thank God 
 for Spurgeon ! " — A Flash of Genius. — Sensational Preachers. — Mr. 
 Spurgeon is a Manly Man. — Herculean Labors. — Dr. Chalmers. — A 
 Living Man. — Bishop Nicholson. — A Pastor's Testimony. — A Many- 
 sided Man. — Mr. Spurgeon's Personal History. — Motives in this 
 Work. — Mr. Spurgeon's Example. — Teaching of the Great Preacher. 
 — The Bible. — Business Men who need a Book. — Wit and Homely 
 Wisdom. — " A Labor of Love ** 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 
 ANCESTRY, PARENTAGE, BIRTH. 
 
 History of Mr. Spurgeon to his Forty-third Birthday. — Ancestors. — Great 
 Grandfather. — Grandfather. — A Long Pastorate. — Great Usefulness. 
 
 — Buckled Shoes and Silk Stockings. — The Father of Charles. — Per- 
 sonal Worth and Ministerial Ability. — The Beloved Mother. — Charley 
 a Baptist. — June 19, 1834, their Son Charles Ijorn. — A Noble Mother. 
 " The Children will be cared for." — Precocity. — Richard Knill's 
 Prophecy. — The Bottomless Pit. — Mr Knill and the Lad. — Strang-; 
 Fulfilment. — Sowing beside all Waters. — Aunt Ann. — " Old Bonner." 
 
 — School. — Reason and Revelation . . • . . 21 
 
XII CONTEN'iS. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 CONVERSION AND PREACHING. 
 
 Deep Conviction. — Heart broken in Pieces. — One Snowy Day. — " Look, 
 look, look ! " — How to preach. — A Bit for Boys. — A Grateful Heart. 
 — Baptism. — Consecration. — First Sermon. — Results. — First Pas- 
 torate. — Cornelius Elven. — Hindered trom goixig to College. — An 
 Aversioa to College. — Sunshine. — Poem at Age of Eighteen . • • 3i 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 CALL TO LONDON. 
 
 The Youthful Evangehst. — Mr. Spurgeon came, preached, conquered. — 
 The Congregation stirred. — Letters to the Church. — Six Months' Invi- 
 tation. — The Small Minority, — I accept it. — Fame of the Young Min- 
 ister. — Who is this Spurgeon ? — Asiatic Cholera. — The Shoemaker's 
 Window. — Publication of Sermons. — The Preacher's Style. — A 
 Quaker's Criticism. — Exeter Hall. — First Visit to Scotland. — Open- 
 air Sermon. — Anne Sims. — Watchnight Service. — Clergymen using 
 his Sermons 49 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 ABUNDANT IN LABORS 
 
 Marriage. — Twin Boys. — New Park-street Chapel enlarged. — Royal 
 Surrey Gardens Music Hall. — The Great Tabernacle. — The Aris- 
 tocracy. — Membership in Ten Years, 3,569. — The Queen of Holland. 
 
 — Invited to America. — " Nor would I receive Money for Preaching." 
 
 — Twenty Thousand formed the Preacher's Audience. — Pen Pictures, 
 
 — Incessant Duties. —The First Student.— " Married Love" ... 63 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 REVIVALS. 
 
 "Our Own Hymn Book."— The Colportage Association. — "Spurgeonism." 
 — Mr. Spurgeon in Paris. — Costermongers. — " Wot a Woice ! '' — Im- 
 mense Congregations in the Agricultural Hall. —Visit to Heligoland 73 
 
CONTENTS. xiii 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 MULTIPLYING WORK. 
 
 The Orphan Houses. — A Great Festival. — " Onmy Back." — His Brother 
 Co- Pastor. — Prophetic Words of Richard Knill. — A Darl< Shadow. — 
 Strange Tales. — "A Black Business' — Small-Pox. — Encouraging 
 Pastors. — Remarkable Energy and Activity- — Visit to Italy. — King 
 Victor Immanuel. — "Feathers for Arrows." — The Bible as a Daily 
 School-Book .81 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 RESULTS OF OVERWORK. 
 
 Additions to the Church. — Jersey and Guernsey. — Telegram from Bos- 
 ton. — A Second Tabernacle. — Membersln'pin 1873,4,417. — Well done, 
 Pastor Spurgeon! — The Jubilee Singers. — Strange and Interesting 
 Facts. — Helping Newman Hall. — Literary Labors. — The New College 91 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 TRIALS AND DELIVERANCES. 
 
 Debts paid, but Bank empty. — George Miiller. — Mr. Spurgeon in Bed- 
 ford. — Smoking*to the Glory of God. — A Noble Reply. — Charles and 
 Thomas. — Declining a Testimonial. — " Twenty Years of Published 
 Sermons." — Twofold Marvel. — Generous Distributions. — Gout. — 
 Messrs. Moody and Sankey. — Best Remedy against Infidelity. — The 
 Cabman and the Testament. — A Great Grief 99 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 DEVISING LIBERAL THINGS. 
 
 The Work of Mrs. Bartlett. — "House of Mercy.' — November Fogs in 
 London.— Dr. Brock and Mr. Spurgeon. — Weekly OflFerings. — Grand- 
 father, Father, and Son. — The Pastor's Birthday. ~ Five Spureeons 
 delivered Addresses. — The College Tutor and the Young Man. — " Laid 
 Aside. Why?" — "The Tabernacle was as full as a Barrel packed 
 with Herrings." — Mr. Spurgeon in Scotland. — Rescue the Peri.shing. 
 — Assailed by some Newspapers. — A Letter from Austria. — Mr. 
 Spurgeon addresses Merchants and Business Men. — Controversy. — 
 A Flower Mission. —Variety of Agencies. — Extensive Benevolence 
 and Philanthropy. — Forty-third Birthday. — The Pastoral Silver Wed- 
 ding. — The Almshouses , -....ill 
 
xiv CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE. 
 
 History of the Church. — Modest Ministers. — Best Excuse for Writing a 
 History. — The Church born in Stormy Times. — 1645. — First Pastor. 
 OHver Cromwell. — Benjamin Keach. — Keach upon the Pillory. — The 
 Cross is the Way to the Crown. — A Voluminous Writer. — Remarkal)le 
 Answer to Prayer. — Benjamin Stinton. — John Gill. — The Great Lin- 
 guist. — " I neither thought it, nor bought it, nor sought it." — Two New 
 Tunes. — David's Tunes. — The Jokes were Ponderous. — The Scissors 
 and the Long Tongue. — Not afraid to be Poor. — John Rippon. — 
 ■ An Address to George III. — Two Ministers during One Hundred 
 and Seventeen Years. — Joseph Angus. — James Smith. — "Just like a 
 Packet that is all ready." — Charles H. Spurgeon. — The Tabernacle. 
 
 — James Spurgeon. — A Working Church. — Taliernacle Building Fund, 
 
 — Mrs. Spurgeon's Book Fund. — V^arious Missions 125 
 
 CHAPTER Xn. 
 
 THE PASTORS' COLLEGE. 
 
 Colleges a Bane or a Blessing. — "Schools of the Prophets." — First- 
 born and Best Beloved. — Mode of training Preachers. — Our Principal 
 Tutor. — Carriage for Sale. — The Last Pound. — Forty Students. — 
 Great Trial of Faith. — All-sufficient Provider. — A Miracle if all should 
 excel — Plan of Separate Lodging. — Eighty to One Hundred. — Efficient 
 Tutors. —The Good Earl of Shaftesbury. — Various Ways in which 
 God has answered Prayer. — Suitable and Commodious New Build- 
 ings. — Large Amounts. — Laus Deo I47 
 
 CHAPTER XHI. 
 
 STOCKWELL ORPHANAGE. 
 
 The Care of the Orphan. — Mrs. Hillyard's Offer of $100,000. — Founda- 
 tions laid. — Silver- Wedding House. — Merchant's House. — Work- 
 men's House. — Unity House. — College House. — Testimonial House. 
 
 — Selling Household Plate. — Munificent Gifts. — Selecting Orphans. 
 
 — The Management. — Many Applicants. — Various Gifts. — Encour- 
 aging Results. — Health of the Inmates 161 
 
CONTENTS. ^V- 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 A SPECIMEN ANNUAL REPORT. 
 
 Twelfth Report. — Faith in God. — Special Providence. — The Ever- 
 opened Hand. — Sanitary (^^ondition. — Family Worship. — Total 
 Abstainers. — Christian Sympathy. — Song Services. — Spontaneous 
 Benevolence. — Carin:.^ for the Widow and Fatherless. — "The Ser- 
 mon House." — •' The Limes.'' — " The Olives." — A Great Square. — 
 Memorials. ... . 173 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE GIRLS' ORPHANAGE. 
 
 The Late Testimonial. — "Go Forward." — Never been in Debt. — A 
 Grand Opportunity. — The Lord will provide. — One Thousand Dollars 
 a Week. — Five Hundred Little Ones. — A Reasonable Service . . . 183 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 SUNSHINE IN THE HEART. 
 
 Removed by Death. — A Heritage of Disease. — Dying Experiences. — 
 Child-piety of the Theorists. — Ernest Bray. — Soul-Winning. — Deep- 
 seated Disease. — ''It looks More Shining!" — "I shall sing out 
 Loud." — Your Lovinj: Brother. — Happy now. — "I am ready." — 
 "Dear Mr. Spurgeon." — " Dear Bray." — "Bray's Bricks." — Plum 
 Cake. — Jesus, come quickly. — " There 's Jesus ! " - - " Happy, happy, 
 happy ! " — Mr. Goujih. — Gymnastic Exercises. — A Penny apiece. 
 
 — The Sick Boy. — The Prayer. — The Greater and Grander Man. 
 
 — Aim of the Managers 189 
 
 CHAPTER XVn. 
 
 THE COLPORTAGE ASSOCIATION. 
 
 I he Object of this Association. — Unsectarian in its Operations. — The 
 Printing- Press. — Pernicious Literature. — Reports from Superinten- 
 dents. — Distributed 4,620 Tracts. — Practical Usefulness of the Col- 
 portage Work. — The Untabulated Results. — Sold 2S9 Bibles and 1,229 
 Testaments. — Prevalence of Evil Literature and its Cure. — Conver- 
 sions through Books. —Gratuitous Tract Distribution and its Results. — 
 
 — The Pipe-Light. — Mr. Spurgeon's Sermons — Prayer under th^; 
 Hedge. — Preaching the Gospel from House to House. — Addressin"- 
 the Colliers. — The Colporteur's Sabbath. — Conversion Work. — The 
 Colporteur and Temperance. — Branch of the Great Tree . . -..20^ 
 
XVI CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 LETTERS. 
 
 Mr. Spurgeon's Voluminous Correspondence. - From Sydney. — Victoria. 
 
 — South Africa. — Denmark. — North America. - Florida — Michigan. 
 
 — Quebec. — Fifteen-Hundredth Sermon. — .A Cheering Note. — Rus- 
 sia. — India. — Germany. — F" ranee — A Fisherman. — China. — Tennes- 
 see. — A Young Swiss Lady. — Results in (]erm my and Russi.i. — Vir- 
 ginia. — Dr. Alexander Keith. — Jersey. — Glasgow. — Mr. Spurgeon's 
 Chinese Name, " Sze-Pah-jing" — The Spare Leaf. — One Volume of 
 Sermons. — Ireland. — South Au'^tralia. — Jamaic.i. — The Scilly Isles. 
 
 — Extraordinary Appeal on Behaif of Sailors 217 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 PERSONAL NOTES. 
 
 How the "Notes" are received. — President Garfield. — Burden for Souls. 
 
 — A Specimen Week. — Sermon 1,351. — Dr. Carson's Testimony. — 
 Sermon 1,461. — Sermon 399. — Spurgeon reduced to Sixpence. — Sharp 
 Pains. — Saying Good-by to Son Thomas. — A French Nobleman. — 
 Sermon No. 444. — Sermon No. 86 — A Sea- Captain. — Misrepresenta- 
 tions. — Dr. Livingstone's Yellow Relic. — Sowing Seed in Servia. — 
 Mr. Spurgeon Nervous. — Canon Wilberforce and Lord Radstock. — 
 Christmas Festivities. — Hip, Hip, Hurrah ! — New York Baptist Mini- 
 sters' Conference. — Spontaneous Sympathy appreciated 234 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 MRS. SPURGEON'S WORK. 
 
 Avoidmg Fulsome Eulogies. — Mrs. Spurgeon's Mission. — Her Peculiar 
 Ministry. — The Book Fund. — Poor Ministers are the Rule — '"Work- 
 ers with a Slender Apparatus." — Previous Testimony. — Warm Grati- 
 tude evoked. — The Clover Field. — The Longed-for Treasure.— 
 Pastors' Aid Society. — Wifely Eulogy. — '"Prince of her Life." — 
 "Red-Letter Day." — Tlie Lord's Tender Care. — Mr. Spurgeon's 
 Letter — John Ploughman and John Gough. — Clothing for Pastors' 
 Families. — "How shall I praise Him?" — Suffering and Service. — 
 Living for Others. — The Good Old Corn of Canaan. — Bookless Pas- 
 tors. — Mrs. .Spurgeon's Fine Sympatliy. — The Missionary Working 
 Society. — Annual Report. — Extracts from Letters. — Imprisoned 
 Music. — Sweet Comfort 2s-j 
 
xvii CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 PITHY SAYINGS. 
 
 The American Divine. — " More Bowels tinn Brains." — The Stalwart 
 Dean. — "Bowels of Mercies." — "What does C. H. S. mean?" — Mon- 
 keys and Parrots. — Mr. Spurgeon draws Twenty Thousand. — Studying 
 the Sciences. — Eighteen Hundred Sermons. — Modern Philosophy.— 
 Vivisection. — Spurgeon a Bulwark. — "Rev." and " D.D." — Mrs. 
 Partington. — Harping on the String of Liberality. — Mrs. Brumby. — 
 Sticking Parsons. — Poetic Effiisionists. — An Assyrian Poem. — Refus- 
 ing Calls. — Curious Visitors. — Where Mr. Spurgeon is most at 
 Home. — On Cross-liearing. — Clirist "altogether lovely." — Untiring 
 Delight. — The Fulness of Christ 275 
 
 CHAPTER XXH. 
 
 INCREASING USEFULNESS. 
 
 Christian Philanthropy. — Our Recent Visit. — The Earl of Shaftesbury. 
 
 — Theorizers. — The Church. — The Printed Sermons. — The Old 
 Scotchman. — Sermons fruit-bearing. — Tiie College — A Striking 
 Letter. — Unitarian Negations. — The Orphanage. — The Book Fund. 
 
 — The Late Carlyle. — Mrs. Spurgeon's Letter. — Description of a 
 London Fog. — The Riviera. — Celebrations of a Golden Wedding-day. 
 
 — " We are Seven " 293 
 
 CHAPTER XXTH. 
 ASLEEP IN JESUS. 
 
 Unmeasured Years. — A Model Preacher. — Living for Others. — Sir 
 Knight. — Jesus betrayed. — Protestant England. — Romanizers. — 
 Rationalism. — The Baptist Union. — Articles of Faith. — Reply to Reso- 
 lution of Sympathy. — Withdrawal from Union. — Fatal Sickness. — 
 Final Addresses. — Death. — Memorial Services. — Funeral Ceremonies. 
 — Spurgeon sleepeth. — Last Sermon. — Secret of His Success. — Life's 
 History. — Mr. Sankey's Tribute. — Good-night 305 
 
 GLIMPSES OF THE HEAVENLY LIFE . = ... 321 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 
 
Behold, at this hour our moral hi^tory is being preserved for eternity. 
 Processes are at work which will perpetuate our every act and word and 
 thought. Not alone the last page, but every line and letter of our actual 
 history, is being stereotyped for the world's perusal in the day which slnall 
 reveal the secrets of men. We are not writing upon the water, but carving 
 upon imperishable material. The chapters of our history are " graven with 
 an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever." — C. H. Spurgeom. 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 "\T 7E first introduce the preacher as he was when, in early 
 * ^ manhood, both his manner and matter startled England 
 out of her reverie, and awoke many sleepers on distant shores. 
 A Bristol college man gives us four pen pictures of Mr. Spurgeon, 
 taken five and thirty years ago, and kept ever since in the album 
 of memory. To those who did not see the Evangelist-pastor in 
 his younger days, these photographs will be full of interest; to 
 those who have neither heard nor seen him, they present the man 
 in early life in all the vigor and power of fresh manhood. After 
 seeing a picture, we become interested in the subject and present 
 our inquiries. The antecedents of Mr. Spurgeon, and his subse- 
 quent history, will be given later on. Remember, the pictures 
 are those of a very young man, whose career had already been 
 watched for some time with absorbing interest by millions of 
 people. Thus the college man writes : — 
 
 It was from the lips of my tutor, who was an earnest Christian 
 man as well as an able scholar, that I first heard the name of the 
 popular minister who had even then made New Park Street Church 
 famous. It was my last year at school, and I enjoyed rather more 
 liberty than the other boys. Need 1 add that, after receiving the 
 permission, it was not long before I was trying to make my way 
 into the pretty, and then newly built, chapel where Mr. Hebditch 
 preached? The place was quite full, and it was with difficulty that 
 I managed to ensconce myself behind the pulpit. A few minutes 
 afterwards, Mr. Spurgeon ascended the latter, and I saw for the 
 
4 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 first time the preacher who was to be the Whitfield of the nine- 
 teenth century. My recollection of the appearance of the youth- 
 ful divine is very vivid. Already inclined to be stout, with a face 
 somewhat pale, and innocent of beard or mustaches, but often 
 played over by a genial smile which won your confidence at once, 
 with fearless, kindly eyes that told of the bold spirit and warm 
 heart within, with black hair lightly tossed off the open brow, with 
 gestures rather more frequent and rhetorical than those with which 
 the great preacher now indulges, the hand being often uplifted, 
 and with that rich, round, full voice which has never failed to 
 charm with its music those who have had the privilege of listening 
 to it, I still see and hear Mr. Spurgeon as he preached that morn- 
 ing at the chapel. The point in the sermon which remained clear 
 in my mind was the very pronounced teaching of the doctrine of 
 Election, and the preacher's assertion of his being at one with 
 Calvin and Augustine, of whom, as well as of the doctrine, my 
 knowledge at that time was by no means extensive. At the close 
 of the sermon, as Mr. Spurgeon stepped down from the pulpit, 
 everybody made a rush at his unfortunate hand; and I, by poking 
 mine through the rails, managed to get a friendly shake from it. 
 I have often thought since, when seeing Mr. Spurgeon coming 
 down from other pulpits, or among his own people at the Taber- 
 nacle, or surrounded by friends on successive birthdays, how much 
 he must have suffered in that way during all these years. 
 
 My second photograph was taken one morning in dim, dark 
 surroundings at the back of the gloomy gallery at Counterslip 
 Chapel, when I looked down upon a vast congregation below and 
 around me, and upon the pulpit at the other end of the chapel. 
 Mr. Spurgeon entered the pulpit accompanied by the venerable 
 Mr, Winter, who was at that time minister of the Counterslip, and 
 whose knee-breeches and patriarchal form will be remembered by 
 many. The sermon left on my mind a sense of the joy with which 
 he preached and of the fulness oi faith in which he uttered his 
 message ; the striking originality and the wealth of the imagina- 
 tion of the preacher were features which could not escape even 
 such a juvenile critic as I was at that time. But I was not a critic, 
 1 was a rapt and enthusiastic hearer. Never shall I forget the 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 5 
 
 passage in the sermon in which Mr. Spurgeon made us hear the 
 angels harping with their harps, and with a touch of simplicity 
 but great power told us how he always stopped in the streets to 
 listen where a harp was being played in the neighborhood. I still 
 see the rapturous look upon the upturned face of the youthful 
 preacher as the light from one of the windows fell upon it. I am 
 inclined to think that Mr. Spurgeon gave a Httle more play to his 
 imagination then than now. 
 
 Now for my third photograph. This time I am standing on 
 tiptoe at the back of the Broad Mead Rooms, trying to look 
 above a great sea of heads at the crowded platform and the young 
 preacher, whom all are so eager to hear that there is no little 
 confusion and hustling around the doors. But soon Mr. Spur- 
 geon's voice rolls through the spacious room and hushes all into 
 silence. The Broad Mead Rooms form a large building, with a 
 somewhat low roof, and with side galleries rising from the floor 
 and capable of holding between two and three thousand people. 
 On the night of which I speak, many must have failed to obtain 
 admission. One instance in connection with this sermon is perhaps 
 worth mentioning. Some seats had been reserved and a small 
 charge made for them, in order to defray the expense incurred 
 by hiring the rooms. This had been made a matter of complaint; 
 and Mr. Spurgeon, alluding to it, remarked that he had heard of 
 a lady at Exeter who had given a guinea in order to hear the 
 gospel preached. The perfect simplicity and honesty with which 
 this was said, and the very unconsciousness of its being capable 
 of being twisted into anything like self-glorification, impressed 
 everybody with that utter losing sight of himself in his work 
 which has ever since been so grand a characteristic of Mr. Spur- 
 geon's ministry. I may add that at this time the Bristol papers 
 were full of letters and articles respecting Mr. Spurgeon's preach- 
 ing, not a few containing a good deal of hostile criticism. One 
 article, and that in a Tory journal, however, stands out in my 
 memory as containing a very vivid, and, I am disposed to think, 
 fairly impartial account of an open-air service conducted by Mr. 
 Spurgeon on the quay. A storm came on during the service, and 
 Mr. Spurgeon spoke of one of the flashes of lightning as " God's 
 
6 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. STURGEON. 
 
 spear in the sky." This struck the writer as being a singularly 
 happy expression — a flash of genius. 
 
 My last photograph was also taken in a public building, in the 
 beautiful Victoria Rooms at Clifton, which are said to be capable 
 of containing some six thousand people. However that may 
 be, they could not have held more than they did on the summer 
 evening when I heard Mr. Spurgeon preach in them. I do not 
 think I have mentioned that at that period Mr. Spurgeon was in 
 the habit of wearing a white necktie of the most correct parsonic 
 character, which, being of fair dimensions and surmounted by a 
 stand-up collar, served with its virgin whiteness to at least set the 
 beardless face in strong relief. I mention it now, as it forms a 
 prominent feature in my recollection of Mr. Spurgeon's appear- 
 ance upon that evening, sitting, as I did, at some distance from, 
 but directly in front of the platform. The scene presented by the 
 densely crowded Victoria Rooms upon this occasion, with the 
 platform filled by ministers, in front of whom stood the earnest 
 and youthful preacher, was one which still shows clearly through 
 all the years that have passed since then. The golden glow of 
 the setting sun coming through the window lent to it, too, a sin- 
 gular impressiveness : for the text was, "Thou God seest me;" 
 and as we listened to the heart-searching eloquence of the speaker, 
 the warm light which flooded the room seemed almost to place us 
 more fully within the vision of the all-seeing eye. 
 
 In his fifteenth year Mr. Spurgeon wrote the following letter to 
 his uncle, in which the vigor of his mind, the boldness of his faith, 
 and the strength of his will are clearly manifest. His theological 
 opinions at that early age were decided and outspoken. The in- 
 definite doctrinal teaching of the pulpit to-day may well receive 
 a rebuke from the positive assertions of a child. In no period 
 of his life has Mr. Spurgeon declared himself an Agnostic, — a 
 " know-nothing." For many reasons this letter is worthy of our 
 perusal : — 
 
 My dear Uncle, — Dumb men make no mischief. Your si- 
 lence, and my neglect, make one think of the da)-s when letters 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 7 
 
 were costly, and not of penny postage. You have doubtless heard 
 of me as a top-tree Antinomian, I trust you know enough of me 
 to disbelieve it. It is an object of my life to disprove the slander. 
 I groan daily under a body of sin and corruption. Oh for the time 
 when I shall drop this flesh, and be free from sin ! I become more 
 and more convinced that to attempt to be saved by a mixed 
 covenant of works and faith is, in the words of Berridge, " to yoke 
 a snail with an elephant." I desire to press forward for direction 
 to my Master in all things ; but as to trusting to my own obe- 
 dience and righteousness, I should be worse than a fool and ten 
 times worse than a madman. Poor dependent creatures! prayer 
 had need be our constant employment: the foot of the throne our 
 continued dwelling-place ; for the Rock of Ages is our only safe 
 Hiding-place. I rejoice in an assured knowledge by faith of my 
 interest in Christ, and of the certainty of my eternal salvation. 
 Yet what strivings, what conflicts, what dangers, what enemies 
 stand in my way ! The foes in my heart are so strong, that they 
 would have killed me and sent me to hell long ere this, had the Lord 
 left me; but, blessed be his name! his electing, redeeming, and 
 saving love has got fast hold of me ; and who is able to pluck me 
 out of my Father's hand ? On my bended knees I have often to 
 cry for succor ; and, bless his name ! he has hitherto heard my 
 cry Oh, if I did not know that all the Lord's people had soul- 
 contention, I should give up all for lost ! I rejoice that the prom- 
 ises left on record are meant for me as well as for every saint of 
 his, and as such I desire to grasp them. Let the whole earth, and 
 even God's professing people, cast out my name as evil; my Lord 
 and Master, he will not. I glory in the distinguishing grace of 
 God, and will not, by the grace of God, step one inch from my 
 principles, or think of adhering to the present fashionable sort 
 of religion. 
 
 Oh, could I become like holy men of past ages, — fearless of 
 men, — holding sweet communion with God, — weaned more from 
 the world, and enabled to fix my thoughts on spiritual things 
 entirely ! But when I would serve God, I find my old deceitful 
 heart, full of the very essence of hell, rising up into my mouth, 
 polluting all I say and all I do. What should I do if, like you, I 
 
8 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 were called to be engaged about things of time and sense? I 
 fear I should be neither diligent in business nor fervent in spirit. 
 "But" (say you) "he keeps talking all about himself." True, 
 he does ; he cannot help it. Self is too much his master. I am 
 proud of my own ignorance : and, like a toad, bloated with my 
 own venomous pride, — proud of what I have not got, and boast- 
 ing when I should be bemoaning. I trust you have greater free- 
 dom from your own corruptions than I have; and in secret, social. 
 and family prayer enjoy more blessed, sanctified liberty at the 
 footstool of mercy. 
 
 Rejoice! for heaven awaits us, and all the Lord's family! The 
 mansion is ready ; the crown is made ; the harp is strung ; 
 there are no willows there. May we be enabled to go on, like 
 lions, valiant for the truth and cause of King Jesus, and, by the 
 help of the Spirit, vow eternal warfare with every sin, and rest 
 not until the sword of the Spirit has destroyed all the enemies 
 in our hearts. 
 
 May we be enabled to trust the Lord, for he will help us; we 
 must conquer ; we cannot be lost. Lost ! Impossible ! For who 
 is able to snatch us out of our Father's hand? 
 
 May the Lord bless you exceedingly. 
 
 Your affectionate nephew, 
 
 C. H. Spurgeon. 
 
 The remark of the poet, " The boy is father to the man," is 
 strikingly illustrated in Mr. Spurgeon's case. 
 
 In the opening of the year of grace, 1882, in his forty-eighth 
 year, Mr. Spurgeon wrote a brief article for his magazine, in which 
 we discover the same characteristics, the same dependence on 
 God, the same distrust of self, the same doctrinal position and 
 assured certainty through the gracp of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 We subjoin an extract : — 
 
 A great statesman, the other day, celebrated his seventieth 
 birthday by a retrospect of his life : it is meet that old age should 
 look back. To us, however, in the middle of the stream, it seems 
 more natural to look around on present circumstances. Years 
 ago, at a younger age. our tendency was to look ahead, and long 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 9 
 
 for a great future ; nor would we forego the habit, but still the 
 pressure of long years, and growing burdens, and a sense of 
 diminishing strength unite to keep the eyes occupied with the 
 things of to-day, and the connection of the present with the infi- 
 nite and eternal. It appeared to us when looking forward that 
 the Christian life-work would require a power far beyond our own ; 
 but now we more intensely feel the certainty of that fact, and were 
 it not for divine help we should give up in despair. If still sus- 
 tained, after all these years of conflict, grace must indeed have the 
 glory of it, and here upon the altar of the present we would offer 
 the calves of our lips, giving glory to the Lord, the God of our 
 salvation. Doubtless divine love will be glorified in the closing 
 hours of the mature Christian, but it is emphatically magnified in 
 the stern period when the burden and heat of the day are on the 
 laborer, when the novelty and romance of youth are over, and the 
 nearness of the reward is not yet vividly certified by old age. Of 
 all parts of the stream, the hardest to ford is the middle : there 
 the water is deepest, the current swiftest, and the footing least 
 secure. Lord, hold thou me up, and I shall be safe. This is the 
 prayer which oftenest leaps from our lips. 
 
 " Thus saith the preacher, vanity of vanities, all is vanity." We 
 have lived long enough to experience the hollowness of earth, and 
 the rottenness of all carnal promises. Our work, though it be holy, 
 presses heavily upon the shoulder, and we see not all the fruit 
 of it which we expected in earlier days. Many strong helpers 
 have been taken away by death, and the enthusiasm which made 
 our earlier friends leap forward with their aid is not repeated to 
 the full at a second sound of the clarion. The decline is only 
 apparent to fear ; but apprehension has the eyes of a hawk, and 
 spies out the smallest discouragement. The world grows better 
 very slowly: we sometimes fear that it grows worse. The church 
 relapses to her former sloth ; the good are weary, and the wicked 
 wax impudent; the times are out of joint, and evil days arr 
 threatening. What can happen better to a man than to go home? 
 Happy is he who is taken from the evil to come, or hears the sound 
 of his descending Master's coming ere yet the shadows of the day 
 are lengthened to the utmost. 
 
lO LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 Thus does middle age prose when it is under the influence of its 
 most sombre hour. The ink grows thick, and the pen is clogged, 
 and makes black strokes and heavy. The subject should be treated 
 in a more believing manner, and written of not according to the 
 flesh, but after the spirit. Doubtless length of days tries our 
 graces, but what length of days have we to speak of, — we who 
 are sighting fifty, or passing beyond it? Half a century is a trifle 
 in the life of God. True, there is a flagging of human energy, and 
 the warm blood of youth cools down ; but our Christian life never 
 stood in the strength of the creature, and hence it cannot flag, 
 since the Creator grows not old, nor is his arm waxed short. The 
 same power which begat will preserve. Omnipotence first made 
 the believer rise into newness of life, and until it fails his life will 
 continue ever fresh and young. Well said the Psalmist, " All 
 my springs are in thee." What if others suffer shipwreck, yet 
 none that sail with Jesus have ever been stranded yet. Purposes, 
 plans, and achievements of men may all disappear like yon cloud 
 upon the mountain's summit; but, like the mountain itself, the 
 things which are of God shall stand fast for ever and ever. Now 
 is the time, in the lull of natural energy, to prove the power of the 
 Holy Ghost. The trees of earth as they pass their prime decrease 
 the quantity and quality of their fruit: it is a mark of the trees of 
 grace that they still bring forth fruit in old age to show that the 
 Lord is upright. The faithfulness of God may be relied upon to 
 work a growing faithfulness in his people. Never so conscious 
 of dependence as in this middle passage, never so certain of the 
 all-sufficiency of God as in this noontide of the day, we joy in 
 the Lord, and look for even richer mercies than ever. 
 
 Young men, trust God, and make the future bright with blessing. 
 Old men, trust God, and magnify him for all the mercies of the 
 past. As for us, we mingle gratitude and expectation in equal 
 portions, and pray to stand in this present hour faithful to the 
 Master in whose grace we trust. 
 
 Our valued friend, Pastor James H. Brookes, of St. Louis, 
 author of " Maranatha," " Is the Bible True?" "The Way made 
 Plain," &c., and editor of " The Truth," sent us the following com- 
 
INTRODUCTORY. II 
 
 munication, which we deem of importance, coming, as it does, 
 from the pen of an experienced minister of the gospel whose 
 loyalty to Christ and the Scriptures cannot be questioned. Mr. 
 Spurgeon was in his twenty-eighth year at the time of Dr. Brookes's 
 visit to London, — the time of life when men usually manifest the 
 vagaries and impetuosity of youth, and lack those marks of matu- 
 rity which are seen in later life. But even in youth Mr. Spurgeon 
 spoke with the experience of age, though with the fervor and 
 strength of young manhood. 
 
 One of my strongest desires upon arrival in London, some 
 years ago, was to hear the man of whom I had read so much. 
 This desire was speedily gratified, and under circumstances which 
 I knew would show the weak points of his character if these were 
 prominent. In looking over a morning newspaper, I noticed that 
 he was advertised to preach on a week-day in some obscure 
 chapel. No one of whom I inquired could tell me anything about 
 the place ; but with the aid of a cabman it was found, and proved 
 to be a small, dingy house, that would be crowded with an audi- 
 ence of four hundred. It was not more than half filled, and the 
 few who were present were evidently plain people. 
 
 Mr. Spurgeon was fifteen minutes late, and I felt annoyed, sup- 
 posing that he took advantage of his notoriety and popularity to 
 consult his own convenience about his appointments. At length 
 he appeared, walking briskly down the aisle, and ascended the 
 pulpit. After spending a moment in prayer, he arose, and in a 
 perfectly simple and natural manner, as if he were speaking to a 
 friend by his fireside, apologized for his tardiness. He said that 
 for the first time in his life he had failed to be prompt ; but it was 
 not his fault, for he had preached the night before in some coun- 
 try town, had taken the first train for the city, and had hurried 
 from the station immediately to the meeting-house, without even 
 going home to kiss his wife and little boys. Of course this put 
 every one in good humor. 
 
 He then began the services by singing " Come, Holy Spirit, 
 Heavenly Dove," and I am not sure that he did not start the tunc. 
 However this may have been, his prayer struck upon my ear and 
 
12 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 heart as wonderful for its humility, earnestness, directness, and 
 confidence. His reading of the Scriptures, with his brief common- 
 sense remarks and expositions, added greatly to the interest of the 
 hearer in the chapter selected ; and the sermon that followed was 
 certainly one of the best, in every respect, ever preached by unin- 
 spired man. If he had been preaching before the Queen and the 
 nobility of England, if he had been speaking to an audience of 
 ten thousand, he could not have laid out greater strength, nor 
 exhibited greater sincerity, greater intensity of interest in the 
 delivery of his message, greater concern for the honor of his Lord 
 and for the souls of his hearers. 
 
 " Leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps," was 
 his text, and the teachings and life of Jesus Christ our Saviour 
 were held up with singular clearness and fidelity to the truth. 
 The first part of his discourse was doctrinal, and the second hor- 
 tatory, or, as some call it, practical, — although it was all most 
 thoroughly practical, because so thoroughly doctrinal. I remem- 
 ber that one man arose, obviously in anger, and slowly left the 
 house, but turned now and then to look at the preacher. As 
 he withdrew, Mr. Spurgeon reminded him of the sovereignty of 
 God, and the sacrificial death of our Divine Redeemer as the only 
 hope of the lost sinner, and then went on to urge us to walk like 
 Him, and to walk worthy of Him, as His friends and representa- 
 tives on the earth. The sermon was very searching to my own 
 soul, and I determined to hear no one else during my stay in 
 London. 
 
 Nor did I hear any one else, except one afternoon and one even- 
 ing when Mr. Spurgeon was not preaching, or when he was preach- 
 ing where I could not reach him. I heard him in Exeter Hall ; I 
 heard him, on my return from the Continent, in his own meeting- 
 house, then just completed ; and I never heard him without a little 
 thank-offering of my own. While he was leading the vast con- 
 gregation in prayer, pouring out his gratitude to God for all his 
 manifold mercies, spiritual and temporal, I invariably sent up the 
 incense of praise from my own heart in the words, " Thank God 
 for Spurgeon ! " Oh, how it comforted and strengthened me to see 
 that brave witness standing there, often amid reproach and ridicule 
 
INIRODUCTORY. 1 3 
 
 and slander, telling " the old, old story," and bearing faithful 
 witness to the truth, whether men would hear or forbear. 
 
 It was a cause of regret to me, on leaving London after a few 
 weeks' sojourn, that I could not, at least for some months, listen 
 again to his courageous defence of God's Word, and to his stirring 
 appeals. But an incident occurred during my absence on the 
 Continent that illustrates the wide sweep of the man's influence 
 for good. For some weeks I was detained by ill health in Clarens, 
 at the upper end of Lake Geneva. One day I climbed the 
 mountain, and came to a solitary cottage at a considerable dis- 
 tance from the village, and also from any other visible habitation. 
 Two poor women were sitting upon the grass before the door, one 
 reading, while the other was sewing. My curiosity was excited to 
 know what book had found its way to that lonely and desolate 
 spot, and I asked the woman what she was reading. She at once 
 held up the book, and I discovered it to be a volume of Spur- 
 geon's sermons, translated into French. 
 
 The last sermon I heard him preach was in London, on my 
 return to my own country. The text was, " At that time Jesus 
 answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and 
 earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and pru- 
 dent, and hast revealed them unto babes" (Matt. xi. 25). It was 
 exceedingly faithful, as was all I heard fall from his lips ; and I 
 recall a flash of genius, as the world terms it, which shows what 
 he could do in the way of eloquence and oratory, if he cared for 
 such things. Speaking of those who are so well satisfied with 
 themselves and with their surroundings that they refuse to bow to 
 the authority of God, he shouted, " You will not glorify him? You 
 will not glorify him?" Then dropping his voice to a low and 
 thrilling tone, he said. "Yes, you will, and you shall. I tell you 
 the groans of the damned in hell are the deep bass of the univer- 
 sal anthem of praise that shall ascend to the throne of my God 
 for ever and ever." 
 
 I doubt whether there is a minister of the gospel in Christen- 
 dom, who tries to be true to the Lord and to his Word, that has 
 not been helped by Mr. Spurgeon's example, faithfulness, and 
 courage. In my judgment, he is the best preacher, in the best 
 
14 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 sense of the word, this century has produced ; and he is so far 
 above the sensational preachers of our own land, who have at- 
 tained notoriety as much by their unfaithfulness to Christ as by 
 their genius, that they are not worthy to untie his shoe-latchet. 
 They have their reward now in the admiration of the crowd, pleased 
 with that which exalts human nature and dishonors the Bible ; but 
 at the coming of the Lord, which is fast hastening on, many of 
 them at least will be wandering stars, to whom the mist of dark- 
 ness is reserved, while Spurgeon will shine in the glory of the 
 Master's approval and near his glorious Person for ever and ever. 
 
 No apology is needed for bringing before our American public, 
 in the present form, the life and labors of this well-known, beloved, 
 and faithful minister of Jesus Christ. Mr. Spurgeon has universal 
 fame without seeking it. Free from selfishness and ambition, and 
 without aiming at popularity, he has enshrined himself in the 
 hearts of thousands, and commanded the homage and respect of 
 millions. Like the late honored Garfield, President of the United 
 States, Mr. Spurgeon is a manly man ; childlike but not childish, 
 great but not grand, he has taken rank as a prominent leader 
 and teacher without officiousness or presumption on his part. 
 His name and labors are closely interwoven with the religious 
 history of England in the present century; and any who would 
 acquaint themselves with the philanthropists of the age will seek 
 acquaintance with this esteemed pastor. The man who has 
 preached for twenty-eight years to a congregation of more than 
 six thousand persons ; the man who is pastor of a church now 
 numbering over five thousand in its membership, having grown 
 from comparatively few; the man who has given the right hand 
 of fellowship during his pastorate to nearl}- ten thousand persons 
 in all ; the man whose sermons have been published weekly for 
 twenty-seven years, and besides their immense sale in England 
 have been translated into many foreign languages ; the man who 
 has founded and presides over a College which is unique in itself, 
 preparing one hundred students for the ministry of the Word ; 
 the man who is the originator and director of an Orphanage giving 
 a home to five hundred needy children ; the man who generously 
 
INrRODUCTORY. 1 5 
 
 devoted the testimonial given to him on the twenty-fifth anniver- 
 sary of his marriage, of over thirty thousand dollars, to provide 
 an Asylum for a score of poor widows ; the man who is the author 
 of over forty different volumes, including sermons, commentaries, 
 lectures, and essays, the sale of one book alone, " John Ploufjh- 
 man's Talk," having reached the number of three hundred thou- 
 sand copies, besides being republished in America and translated 
 into many European languages; the man who for seventeen years 
 has edited " The Sword and the Trowel," a monthly magazine, 
 and who has started and still watches over various other works too 
 numerous to mention, — is surely worthy of our study as well as 
 of our veneration. Dr. Chalmers once wrote: "Everyman is a 
 missionary, now and forever, for good or for evil, whether he 
 intends or designs it or not. He may be a blot, radiating his dark 
 influence outward to the very circumference of society, or he may 
 be a blessing, spreading benediction over the length and breadth 
 of the world ; but a blank he cannot be. There are no moral 
 blanks, there are no neutral characters. We are either the sower 
 that sows and corrupts, or the light that splendidly illuminates, or 
 the salt that silently operates ; but, being dead or alive, every man 
 speaks." 
 
 When reading the above, Mr. Spurgeon instantly came to mind 
 as fulfilling Dr. Chalmers's ideal for good. He is a missionary in 
 the truest and noblest sense; a blessing spreading benediction 
 through the length and breadth of the land ; a light that splendidly 
 illuminates, warning against the rocks and reefs of heresy, and 
 directing the tempest-tossed soul into the haven of rest; the salt 
 which operates, preserving from decay the church under his special 
 care, with the tens of thousands to whom he ministers through his 
 printed sermons, whose faces he has never seen. He is indeed 
 a living man, enabled through grace to reanimate everything he 
 touches ; and as a living man he speaks out his full mind on 
 every subject dear to him. Jealous for the divine message, he 
 cares only for the truth. Without plausibility, without policy, 
 without compromise, he ever seeks to expound the truth, the 
 whole truth, and nothing but the truth. From his office as am- 
 bassador he has never been known to turn away, neither assuming 
 
l6 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEOx\. 
 
 the rdle of ecclesiastic, nor degrading the ministry as a charlatan. 
 Such a man, we repeat, is worthy of our study. The curious, the 
 sedate, the inquirer, and the philosopher present their several 
 queries. What is Mr. Spurgeon's history? what are his antece- 
 dents? what is the secret of his unwaning popularity — what the 
 source of his increasing power? These are questions which we 
 trust the reader will find fully answered in these pages. That Mr. 
 Spurgeon's ministry has been appreciated by leaders in every 
 department of theology is well known, whilst " babes and suck- 
 lings " have grown to maturity under his fostering care. 
 
 Our beloved friend and brother, Bishop Nicholson, of Philadel- 
 phia, writing to us recently, remarked : " With regard to Mr. 
 Spurgeon as a minister of the gospel, I look upon him with the 
 greatest admiration. The doctrines of Christ I think have never 
 been more fully and faithfully taught. He is a bold utterer of 
 God's will in the midst of abounding latitudinarianism, and yet 
 he has seemed to me to be full of the sweetness and wisdom of 
 Christ. His capacity for work is something marvellous. I look 
 at what he has done, and I am simply amazed and confounded. 
 He has been Christendom's foremost worker for Christ." 
 
 Many ministers in our own and other lands have been refreshed 
 and stimulated through Mr. Spurgeon's example and preaching. 
 The following testimony from a well-known pastor is only one of 
 many which have reached us from time to time : — 
 
 " Though years have gone by since I listened to his graphic 
 presentation of gospel truths, the whole scene, as well as the sub- 
 jects discussed and much of the precise language used, is fresh 
 and vivid in my memory at this very moment, and the influence of 
 these services has remained with me like the perfume of precious 
 ointment. His evident honesty, his robust Saxon speech, and his 
 charming simplicity impressed me as the prime elements of his 
 success as a winner of souls. I resolved while listening to him 
 that, God being my helper, I would make my preaching so plain 
 that no man, possessing ordinary intelligence, could fail to appre- 
 hend my meaning. I cannot claim to have followed the copy 
 perfectly, for Mr. Spurgeon is unapproachable; but I have endeav- 
 ored to follow after to the best of my ability." 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 1 7 
 
 Mr. Spurgeon, being a many-sided man, does not impress all 
 who hear him in the same way. Some are benefited in one direc- 
 tion, some in another. His joyousness, as a ray of light, enters 
 the gloomy hearts of not a few ; his constant faith lifts up many 
 discouraged ones ; his sincerity and honesty, his ingenuousness 
 and piety, and the combination of all these qualities affect differ- 
 ent persons in different ways. We have met with those who have 
 been most benefited by Mr. Spurgeon's interpretation and exposi- 
 tion of Scripture. Pastors who for years entertained their people 
 with essays on moral themes, and sometimes on frivolous subjects, 
 have come away from hearing Mr. Spurgeon with a profound 
 determination that their preaching henceforth should be based on 
 the opening and expounding of Scripture. An esteemed minister 
 testified recently: — 
 
 " I regard Mr. Spurgeon as a wonderful expositor of the Word, 
 — sound, spiritual, inspiring. I am not a great reader of sermons, 
 but I never read one of his discourses without a sense of solid 
 satisfaction. It is a cause of devout thanksgiving that in these 
 days, when the trumpet so often gives an uncertain sound, a false 
 or quavering note has never been heard from Mr. Spurgeon's 
 watch-tower." 
 
 In presenting to the public Mr. Spurgeon's personal history and 
 labors, we have undertaken a work which has been upon our heart 
 for many years. We are well persuaded that numberless carica- 
 tures and garbled histories have misled many persons, and preju- 
 diced them against his teaching. We hope in some measure to 
 correct this mischief, not for his sake, but theirs, who are the losers. 
 Some American writers have done injustice to this noble man by 
 representing him in a false light. Hobbyists on teetotalism and 
 anti-tobacconists have made him the butt of their ridicule, and 
 denounced him as an example of intemperance and fleshly indul- 
 gence. But no right-minded man who has ever heard or read 
 Mr. Spurgeon would for a moment believe these slanderous re- 
 ports. Yet there arc thousands of persons who have been antag- 
 onized against this Defender of the Faith, having heard of him 
 only through raving platform orators, flippant story-tellers, or 
 vicious writers. 
 
l8 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 The motives which impel us in the prosecution of this work are 
 various. 
 
 The author is well persuaded that Mr. Spurgeon's example will 
 be an incentive to Christian workers, quickening their faith, in- 
 flaming their zeal, and encouraging their hearts in labor for the 
 Lord. Many faint-hearted preachers have listened to his thrilling 
 words with encouragement; despondency and unbelief have given 
 place to hopefulness and faith. 'As we trace the history and 
 development of Mr. Spurgeon from childhood, and observe 
 how God makes choice of vessels sanctified and meet for His 
 use, though we may not possess the rare talents of this min- 
 ister of Christ, we may emulate his example in diligence, in 
 faithfulness, and in loyalty to the gospel of our Lord. Many 
 Christian workers would have given way to despair had not a 
 timely word or a persevering example stimulated them to fresh 
 hope. We trust, therefore, that in this direction our book will be 
 eminently successful, and that weary toilers for God, missionaries, 
 pastors, evangelists, students, and all who in the battle have had 
 more than ordinary trials, will thank God for what He can do, and 
 take courage. 
 
 We have also strong assurance that the bold, clear, faithful 
 teaching of the great preacher will in some measure counteract 
 the ill-balanced, weakly, and sentimental theories afloat, as well as 
 deliver from unscriptural, hurtful, and sceptical preaching, — now, 
 alas! so general, — many disciples of Jesus. When men depart 
 from the simplicity that is in Christ Jesus, and with carnal minds 
 seek to analyze the Divine Word, compelling it to fit into the mould 
 of their perverted thought, they become impatient to regale their 
 flocks with their negative knowledge. Such men, seeking fame, 
 discover that fellow-fools are found who will applaud them for 
 their folly. Some preachers have acquired notoriety in this direc- 
 tion, whose scholarship and independent thinking is accepted as 
 undisputed fact. But when their foolish philosophizing is blown 
 aside, and their castles in the clouds melt away before the sunlight 
 of God's Word, what about their bewildered hearers? And herein 
 is one source of Mr. Spurgeon's strength: he never trifles with 
 the " book of books." He is a devout student and an humble 
 
IN TKOnUCTORV. I9 
 
 reader of the Bible. He accepts its facts, its doctrines, its history, 
 its revelation, without question. And with all the vigor of mind 
 which he possesses and the eloquence which he commands, he 
 declares his own deep conviction of its divine origin, and thereby, 
 through him, many have been delivered from the snare of scepti- 
 cism into which they had fallen. Therefore we do belie^'c that 
 the extracts from his writings furnished in these pages v jl help 
 thoughtful unbelievers out of the quagmires of every false philos- 
 ophy, and lead them to the Rock of Truth, the Everlasting Word, 
 God manifest in the flesh. 
 
 In addition, we have in our mind the thousands of families 
 throughout the country who are isolated from churches, or \\ho 
 may be surrounded by heretical teachers, and prefer to spend the 
 Lord's day at home, than allow themselves or their children to 
 receive spiritual damage through corrupt doctrine. To supply 
 interesting, moral, and healthful reading to such persons is a work 
 ^vorthy of our best efforts. The story of Mr. Spurgeon's life, the 
 peculiarities of his ministry, the history of his Orphanage and Col- 
 lege, besides the reports given of the various features of his labors, 
 cannot fail to command interest. We therefore believe that herein 
 are furnished both pleasure and profit for our readers. In the rural 
 districts, where books are few and libraries not easily obtained, to 
 supply a book which would be a library in itself, is a hope which 
 we trust will be fully realized. 
 
 Besides, there are merchants and business men who need a book 
 which will not fail to beguile the tedious hours of rela.xation, — a 
 book which must not be dull or mischievous in its tendencies. 
 And who has found Mr. Spurgcon dull? There are chapters from 
 his pen which out-rival for pure wit and homely wisdom any work 
 extant. Never vulgar, sensational, or trifling, the humor of Mr. 
 Spurgeon brings diversion and help and hope with it. The great 
 object of his life is manifest in all his writings, — namely, the ele- 
 vation and salvation of his race. His "John Ploughman's Talk" 
 and "John Ploughman's Pictures" are full of sound advice, keen 
 satire, kindly suggestion, and friendly warnings. No weary man 
 can spend an hour reading these pithy sayings without feeling 
 rested and benefited. But the mirthfulncss within these pages is 
 
20 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. Sl'URGEOX. 
 
 not the mental food provided, any more than the spices on our 
 table constitute the edibles. There will be met pages of solid 
 reading, which the condiments will prepare the reader to enjoy and 
 digest, the meal being a source of pleasure as \\-cll as a supply for 
 present demand. 
 
 The book is prepared as a " labor of love," — love for the man 
 who so nobly gives his life to the gospel ministry; love for the 
 truth which he so unswervingly advocates ; love for the Master 
 whose religion he preaches ; love for those who read these lines, 
 which prompts the prayer that it may be sanctified to their 
 highest good, and that Mr. Spurgeon's words through this me- 
 dium may result in the conversion of many souls, leading them 
 from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God. 
 
n 
 
 ANCESTRY, PARENTAGE. BIRTH. 
 
A LITTLE lone plant in the forest h£.d prepared a tiny flower, which as yet 
 was not opened ; yet the plant had no anxieties, but waited its time. Could it 
 hope that the great sun would think of it, and send his genial rays to bring its 
 offspring to perfection ? Yes, among the thick boughs the sunlight found its 
 way, and the little flower unfolded itself, and shone hke a monarch's crown. — 
 C. H. Spurgeon. 
 
ANCESTRY, PARENTAGE, BIRTH. 
 
 MR. STEVENSON, a worthy English minister of the Wes- 
 leyan Church, has written an exceedingly interesting history 
 of Mr. Spurgeon to his forty-third birthday. His description of 
 the great preacher and his collation of facts we copy almost 
 entire. Others have written on the same theme, but we prefer to 
 furnish our readers with Mr. Stevenson's condensed statements 
 and concise narrative. We have supplied some missing links, and 
 reduced the money accounts from pounds sterling to dollars. 
 Those who have written adversely or spoken flippantly of Mr. 
 Spurgeon, know not the man ; to us who have the pleasure of a 
 personal acquaintance with him, it seems strange, that one who 
 has given his life to benefit others, should be regarded otherwise 
 than with feelings of gratitude and affection. But he has been 
 graciously shielded, and for more than eight and thirty years the 
 arrows of evil have fallen harmless at his feet. May the Lord 
 of glory preserve to His Church for many years to come His 
 honored servant ! 
 
 Charles Haddon Spurgeon descends from the Essex branch 
 of the same family. Early in his ministry in London, he was 
 introduced, at a book-store in Paternoster Row, to Mr. John Spur- 
 geon, a descendant of the Norwich branch of the family; and on 
 comparing notes of their respective ancestors, piety, uprightness, 
 and loyalty were found alike in both. The same spirit of religious 
 intolerance which sent the immortal Bunyan to Bedford Jail for 
 preaching the gospel, also sent, in 1677, Job Spurgeon to Chelms- 
 
24 LIFE AND LABORS OK C U. SI'UROEON. 
 
 ford Jail, where, for conscience' sake, he lay on a pallet of straw 
 for fifteen weeks, in extremely severe winter weather, without any 
 fire. 
 
 The great-grandfather of Pastor Spurgeon was contemporary 
 with the opening period of the reign of King George III. The 
 record preserv^ed of his memory is, that he was a pious man, and 
 ordered his household according to the will of God. From that 
 day to this, the family has never wanted a man to stand before 
 God in the service of the sanctuary. 
 
 James, the grandfather of Pastor C. H. Spurgeon, was born at 
 Halstead, in Essex, September 29, 1776. As a boy he was seri- 
 ously inclined, and whilst yet a youth became a member of the 
 Independent church at Halstead. Whilst an apprentice at Cogge- 
 shall, he was accepted as a member of the church there under the 
 pastoral care of the Rev. S. Fielding. Following business pursuits 
 till he was twenty-six years of age, his mind at that period was 
 directed entirely to the work of the ministry, and in 1802 he 
 entered Hoxton Academy. After two years' study, an application 
 from Clare, in Suffolk, was made to him to try and raise a con- 
 gregation which was very low ; and in this he succeeded so far, 
 that in September, 1806, he was appointed pastor, and the church 
 prospered under his pastorate. The protracted ministry of Mr. 
 Beddow in the Independent church at Stambourne, in Essex (a 
 church which had only four ministers during the course of two 
 hundred years), having terminated in 18 10, Mr. Spurgeon received 
 a unanimous call to the oversight of that church, which he ac- 
 cepted, and in May, 1811, he w^as recognized as their pastor. 
 Himself the fourth of a succession of long-lived pastors in that 
 village, he remained pastor over the church more than half a 
 century, during which period he was peaceful, happy, and suc- 
 cessful in his labors. He frequently remarked, when more than 
 fourscore years old, " I have not had one hour's unhappiness with 
 my church since I have been over it." Invitations from other 
 churches were sent to him, but the love, harmony, and prosperity 
 which prevailed between pastor and people induced him to decline 
 them all, and he remained true to the people of his choice. 
 
 It is a recorded fact, worthy of perpetuation, that the venerable 
 
ANCESTRY. I'ARENTACE, HI Kill. 25 
 
 James Spurgeon never preached in any place away from his own 
 church, but God fulfilled his promise, and gave him to hear of 
 some good being done to persons in tlie congregation, lie had a 
 large head, and much that was good in it. He had a good voice, 
 and was very earnest and practical in preaching the glorious truths 
 of the gospel. The great usefulness of his life-long ministry w ill 
 be known only in eternitx'. lie was known widely in ICsse.x as a 
 man of the old school, — staid, quiet, and uniform in his dress 
 and habits. He was the very picture of neatness, and in many 
 particulars resembled John Wesley, especially in his manners and 
 stature. He wore a dress cravat, a frilled shirt, and had a vest 
 Avith deep pockets, as if provided for large collections. He was 
 seldom without a packet of sweets, which he gave generously to 
 the children wherever he went, so that they gathered round him 
 and attached themselves to him with a firmness which riper years 
 did not shake. He was ahvays happy in the company of young 
 people. He wore the breeches, buckled shoes, and silk stockings 
 which marked the reign of George HI., and he really looked to 
 be a venerable Nonconformist minister of a past age. I-'or more 
 than half a century his h'fe corresponded with his labors. His 
 gentle manners, his sincere piety, and his uniformly of conduct 
 .secured for him the goodwill of his neighbors, and he was as 
 friendly with the parochial clergymen as with his attached Non- 
 conformist friends. He often went to the parish church to hear 
 the sermon when the prayers were over, especially when the cause 
 of missions was to be advocated. He was blessed with a wife 
 whose piety and useful labors made her a valuable helpmeet to 
 her husband in every good word and work. In his last illness he 
 was sustained by divine grace, and the desire he had so often 
 expressed, that he might speak of Christ on his d\'ing bed, was 
 granted to him. He said the gospel \\as his only hope ; he was 
 on the Eternal Rock, immutable as tlie throne of (iod. Those who 
 were privileged to witness his departing from earth will never forget 
 his joy and peace, and the glorious prospect he had of heaven. 
 
 John Spurgeon,' the father of Charles, was born at Stambourne 
 in i8ti. He was the secniul ot len children, of whom fonr 
 brothers and three sisters are still living. He is a portly Inokiiig 
 
 ^ P.iccii'lv flcrenscfl. 
 
26 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. II. SPURCiEON. 
 
 man, a good specimen of a country gentleman, and is nearly six 
 feet in height. For many years he was engaged in business at 
 Colchester; but, with so excellent an example of a minister as 
 was his father, it is not strange that his mind should have run in 
 the same direction, though he did not fully enter on the ministry till 
 he had reached the prime of life. For sixteen years he preached 
 on Sundays to a small Independent church at Tollesbury, being 
 occupied with business during the week. He next accepted a call 
 to the pastorate of the Independent church at Cranbrook, Kent, a 
 village of three thousand persons, where he remained five years. 
 
 The popularity of his son Charles in London was not without 
 its influence on the father, whose personal worth and whose minis- 
 terial ability were not unknown, in the metropolis, as he had 
 spoken occasionally at meetings held by his son. The pastorate 
 of the Independent church in Fetter Lane, Holborn, became 
 vacant, and was offered to and accepted by Mr. Spurgeon ; but 
 his stay there was not long. A sphere more in accordance with 
 his years and position was offered and accepted by him, and for 
 some time he was pastor of the Independent church worshipping 
 in the Upper Street, Islington. That position he resigned at the 
 end of the year 1876. He did good work in that locality, and was 
 much beloved by the people. His preaching was plain, earnest, 
 and pointed, and he manifested an affectionate solicitude for all 
 under his pastoral care, especially the young people. There are 
 many large places of worship in the locality, and preachers of 
 distinction are numerous in that populous suburb; but even there 
 Mr. Spurgeon gathered a large and important congregation twice 
 on the Sabbath, to whom his preaching was both acceptable and 
 beneficial. The various branches of church work were carried on 
 with energy and fidelity; and those which required female agency 
 were fostered and watched over with affectionate solicitude by 
 Mrs. Spurgeon, whose motherly affection secured for her a wel- 
 come in the families of the church. 
 
 Mrs. John Spurgeon was the youngest sister of Charles Parker 
 Jervis, Esq., of Colchester, in which town her husband carried on 
 business for many years. Wherever she has resided she has been 
 known and esteemed for her sincere piety her great usefulness 
 
ANCESTRY, PARENTAGE, BIRTH. 2/ 
 
 and humility. She is low in stature, and in this respect her son 
 Charles takes after her, but not in features, in which particular the 
 other son, James Archer Spurgeon, assimilates more to his mother. 
 ICven to a stranger visiting Mr. John Spurgeon's congregation, it 
 would not be difficult to distinguish the pastor's wife. She has a 
 kind word and a smile for all who come in contact with her, but is 
 perhaps the least assuming lady in the whole assembly of worship- 
 pers. The prayerful solicitude with which she trained her children 
 has been rewarded by each one of them making a public profes- 
 sion of their faith in Christ. Two of her sons occupy foremost 
 places in the metropolis as preachers of the gospel ; and one of 
 her daughters, the wife of a minister, not only assists her husband 
 in the preparation of his sermons, but occasionally delivers ad- 
 dresses to small audiences. Speaking one day to her son Charles 
 of her solicitude for the best interests of all her children, Mrs. 
 Spurgeon said, " Ah, Charley, I have often prayed that you might 
 be saved, but never that you should become a Baptist." To this 
 Charles replied, " God has answered your prayer, mother, with His 
 usual bounty, and given you more than you asked." Both Mr. 
 and Mrs. Spurgeon made great sacrifices of personal comfort to 
 give a good education to their children, and the children were 
 taught habits of thrift and self-denial. The care thus bestowed 
 on their training when young has been to the parents a source 
 of much satisfaction ; the good results of that care are manifested 
 in the happy home lives of their children. When, at some future 
 period, the historian of the Metropolitan Tabernacle and of the 
 Stockwell Orphanage is considering the primary causes of those 
 great enterprises, the care which Mrs. Spurgeon bestowed on the 
 early training of her family must be counted as a valuable au.x- 
 il/ary in preparing the way for such exemplary conduct. 
 
 The villages of England, more than the towns, have the honor 
 of producing our great men. In the village the faculties develop 
 themselves as nature forms them, while in the large towns a thou- 
 sand delusive influences are continually diverting the minds of the 
 young into channels of danger and error. The parents of Pastor 
 Spurgeon were residing at the village of Kelvedon, in Essex, 
 vvhen, on June 19, 1834, their son Charles was born. The popu- 
 
28 LIl'E AXI) l.Al!()R.S C>L C. II. STURGEoX. 
 
 lation of the place is only two thousand souls, and the resident 
 clergyman, at the time just stated, the Rev. Charles Dalton, lived 
 long enough to celebrate his jubilee as minister in that parish. 
 The Spurgeon family belonged to the Nonconformists, under 
 whose teaching they were all brought up. Charles and James 
 Spurgeon were much separated during their early years. Charles 
 was of a larger and broader build than James, and the boys in the 
 village are said to have given them names designative of character, 
 which also indicated friendship or attachment. Charles had as a 
 boy a larger head than his brotlier, and he is represented as taking 
 in learning more readily than James, whilst the latter excelled 
 more in domestic duties. Besides the brothers, there are six 
 sisters living, two of whom are said to resemble Charles in men- 
 tal energy. 
 
 As the children w^cre growing up, the father, like many profes- 
 sional and public men, feared his frequent absence from home 
 would interfere with the religious education of the little ones. 
 But happily for him he had a true helpmeet to co-operate with 
 him in this important work, and happily for those children they 
 had a noble mother who lived for them, and sought to build them 
 up in true Christian character. Nor has she lived unrewarded for 
 her pains. Oh, that all mothers learned the lesson well ! Hear 
 the good man speak thus of his wife : — 
 
 I had been from home a great deal, trying to build up weak 
 congregations, and felt that I was neglecting the religious training 
 of my own children while I was toiling for the good of others. 
 I returned home with these feelings. I opened the door, and was 
 surprised to find none of the children about the hall. Going 
 quietly upstairs, I heard my wife's voice. She was engaged in 
 prayer with the children ; I heard her pray for them one by one 
 by name. She came to Charles, and specially prayed for him, for 
 he was of high spirit and daring temper. I listened till she had 
 ended her prayer, and I felt and said, " Lord, I will go on with 
 Thy work. The children will be cared for." 
 
 When just old enough to leave home, Charles was removed to 
 his grandfather's house at Stambourne, where, under the affection 
 
ANCESTRY, PARENTAGE, BIRTH. 29 
 
 ate care of a maiden aunt, and directed by the venerable pastor, 
 he soon developed into the thoughtful bo}', fonder of his book 
 than of his play. He would sit for hours together gazing with 
 childish horror at the grim figures of " Old Bonner" and " Giant 
 Despair " ; or tracing the adventures of Christian in the " Pil- 
 grim's Progress," or of " Robinson Crusoe." The pious precocity 
 of the child soon attracted the attention of all around. He would 
 astonish the grave deacons and matrons who met at his grand- 
 father's house on Sabbath evenings, by proposing subjects for 
 conversation, and making pertinent remarks upon them. At that 
 early period in life he gave indications of that decision of char- 
 acter and boldness of address for which he has since become so 
 remarkable. 
 
 In the spring of 1840, and before he was six years old, seeing 
 a person in the village who made a profession of religion stand- 
 ing in the street with others known to be of doubtful character, 
 he made up to the big man, and astonished him by asking, "What 
 doest thou here, Elijah?" 
 
 In 1 841 he returned to his father's house, which was then at 
 Colchester, that he might secure what improved advantages in 
 education a town could supply. His mental development was 
 even then considerably in advance of his years ; and his moral 
 character, especially his love of truth, was very conspicuous. 
 
 Spending the summer vacation at his grandfather's, in 1844, 
 when he was just ten years old, an incident occurred which had 
 a material influence on the boy at the time, and even more so as 
 Divine Providence opened his way. Mr. Spurgeon's grandfather 
 first related the incident to the writer, but it has since been written 
 by Mr, Spurgeon himself, with the title of " The Rev. Richard 
 Knill's Prophecy." The account is as follows. 
 
 "When I was a very small boy," writes Charles H. Spurgeon, 
 " I was staying at my grandfather's, where I had aforetime spent 
 my earliest days ; and, as the manner was, I read the Scriptures 
 at family prayer. Once upon a time, when reading the passage 
 in the Book of Revelation which mentions the bottomless pit, I 
 paused and said, 'Grandpa, what can this mean?' The answer 
 was kind but unsatisfactory: 'Pooh, pooh, child, go on.' The 
 
30 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. IL SPURGEON. 
 
 child intended, however, to have an explanation, and therefore 
 selected the same chapter morning after morning, Sunday in- 
 cluded, and always halted at the same verse to repeat the inquiry. 
 At length the venerable patriarch capitulated at discretion, by 
 saying, ' Well, dear, what is it that puzzles you ? ' Now, the child 
 had often seen baskets with very frail bottoms, which in course of 
 wear became bottomless, and allowed the fruit placed therein to 
 fall upon the ground. Here, then, was the puzzle : If the pit 
 aforesaid had no bottom, where would all the people fall who 
 dropped out at its lower end? — a puzzle which rather startled the 
 propriety of family worship, and had to be laid aside for expla- 
 nation at a more convenient season. Questions of the like simple 
 and natural character would frequently break up into paragraphs 
 at the family Bible-reading, and had there not been a world of 
 love and license allowed to the inquisitive reader, he would soon 
 have been deposed from his office. As it was, the Scriptures were 
 not very badly rendered, and were probably quite as interesting 
 as if they had not been interspersed with original and curious 
 inquiries." 
 
 On one of these occasions, Mr. Knill, whose name is a house- 
 hold word, whose memory is precious to thousands at home and 
 abroad, stayed at the minister's house on Friday, in readiness to 
 preach at Stambourne for the London Missionary Society on the 
 following Sunday. He never looked into a young face without 
 yearning to impart some spiritual gift. He was all love, kindness, 
 earnestness, and warmth, and coveted the souls of men as misers 
 desire the gold their hearts pine for. He heard the boy read, and 
 commended : a little judicious praise is the sure way to a young 
 heart. An agreement was made with the lad that on the next 
 morning, Saturday, he would show Mr. Knill over the garden, and 
 take him for a walk before breakfast: a task so flattering to juve- 
 nile self-importance was sure to be readily entered upon. There 
 was a tap at the door, and the child was soon out of bed and in 
 the garden with his new friend, who won his heart in no time by 
 pleasing stories and kind words, and giving him a chance to com- 
 municate in return. The talk was all about Jesus, and the pleas- 
 antness of loving him. Nor was it mere talk ; there was pleading 
 
ANCESTRY, PARENTAGE, BIRTH. 31 
 
 too. Into the great yew arbor, cut into the shape of a sugar-loaf, 
 both went, and the soul-winncr knelt down ; with his arms around 
 the youthful neck, he poured out vehement intercession for the 
 salvation of the lad. The next morning witnessed the same 
 instruction and supplication, and the next also, while all day long 
 the pair were never far apart, and never out of each other's 
 thoughts. The mission sermons were preached in the old Puritan 
 meeting-house, and the man of God was called to go to the next 
 halting-place in his tour as deputation for the Society. But he did 
 not leave till he had uttered a most remarkable prophecy. After 
 even more earnest prayer with his little protege, he appeared to 
 have a burden on his mind, and he could not go till he had eased 
 himself of it. In after years he was heard to say he felt a 
 singular interest in me, and an earnest expectation for which he 
 could not account. Calling the family together, he took me on 
 his knee, and I distinctly remember his saying, ' I do not know 
 how it is, but I feel a solemn presentiment that this child w^ill 
 preach the gospel to thousands, and God will bless him to many 
 souls. So sure am I of this, that when my little man preaches in 
 Rowland Hill's chapel, as he will do one day, I should like him 
 to promise me that he will give out the hymn commencing, — 
 
 " God moves in a m3'sterious way 
 His wonders to perform." ' 
 
 This promise was of course made, and was followed by another, 
 — namely, that at his express desire I would learn the hymn in 
 question, and think of what he had said. 
 
 "The prophetic declaration was fulfilled. When I had the pleas- 
 ure of preaching the Word of Life in Surrey Chapel, and also when 
 I preached in Mr. Hill's first pulpit at Wootton-under-Edge, the 
 hymn was sung in both places. Did the words of Mr. Knill help 
 to bring about their own fulfilment? I think so. I believed them, 
 and looked forward to the time when I should preach the Word. 
 I felt very powerfully that no unconverted person might dare to 
 enter the ministry. This made me the more intent on seeking 
 salvation, and more hopeful of it ; and when by grace I was ena- 
 bled to cast myself on the Saviour's love, it was not long before 
 
■ 32 LIFE AM) LABORS OF C. H. SFURGEON, 
 
 my mouth began to speak of his redemption. How came that 
 sober-minded minister to speak thus to and of one into whose 
 future God alone could see? How came it that he lived to re- 
 joice with his younger brother in the truth of all that he had 
 spoken ? The answer is plain. But mark one particular lesson : 
 would to God that we were all as wise as Richard Knill in habitu- 
 ally sowing beside all waters. Mr. Knill might very naturally 
 have left the minister's little grandson on the plea that he had 
 other duties of more importance than praying with children ; and 
 yet who shall say that he did not effect as much by that simple 
 act of humble ministry as by dozens of sermons addressed to 
 crowded audiences? To me his tenderness in considering the 
 little one was fraught with everlasting consequences, and I must 
 ever feel that his time was well laid out." 
 
 During the fostering care of his aunt Ann, — his father's unmar- 
 ried sister at Stambourne, — an attachment grew up which was as 
 sincere in affectionate regard as that which usually exists between 
 parent and child. This aunt had charge of the infant Spurgeon 
 during most of the first six years of his life. He was the first 
 grandchild in the family. Care was taken by his aunt to instruct 
 him gradually as the mind was capable of receiving impressions ; 
 but from his childhood his mind seems to have been framed after 
 nature's model. The book he admired at his grandfather's, which 
 had for one of its illustrations the portrait of Bonner, Bishop of 
 London, was the cause of his mind receiving its first impressions 
 against tyranny and persecution ; and being told of the perse- 
 cuting character of Bonner, the child manifested a great dislike 
 to the name, and called the picture which represented the bishop 
 " Old Bonner." Even at that early period of life, before he was 
 six years old, he exhibited a marked attachment to those who 
 were known as the children of God. 
 
 Four years of the boy's life were spent at a school at Colchester, 
 where he studied Latin, Greek, and French. He was a diligent 
 student, always carrying the first prize in all comjietitions. In 
 1849 he was placed under the care of Mr. Swindell, at Newmarket. 
 There he learned to practise much self-denial. The privations he 
 voluntarily submitted to at that time sliowcd how decided were 
 
/UVCESTRV, PARENTAGE, BIRTH. 33 
 
 his purposes to acquire knowlcdi^e, and as far as he knew to try 
 and serve God. But the struggle which was going on in his mind, 
 preparatory to his giving his heart fully to God, can only be 
 described in his own touching words, as recorded in one of his 
 sermons. Speaking of a free-thinker, he remarks: " I, too, have 
 been like him. There was an evil hour in which I slipped the 
 anchor of my faith: I cut the cable of my belief: I no longer 
 moored myself hard by the coast of Revelation : I allowed my 
 vessel to drift before the wind, and thus started on the voyage of 
 infidelity. I said to Reason, Be thou my captain ; I said to my 
 own brain. Be thou my rudder ; and I started on my mad voyage. 
 Thank God, it is all over now ; but I will tell you its brief history : 
 it was one hurried sailing over the tempestuous ocean of free 
 thought." The result was, that from doubting some things, he 
 came to question everything, even his own existence. 
 
 But soon he conquered those extremes to which Satan often 
 drives the sinner who is really repenting of his sins. The reader 
 will be glad to hear Pastor Spurgeon's own account of his con- 
 version. 
 
34 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPuKUEON. 
 
 PSALM XV. 
 
 Lord, I would dwell with Thee 
 
 On Thy most holy hill. 
 Oh, shed Thy grace abroad in me. 
 
 To mould me to Thy will. 
 
 Thy gate of pearl stands wide 
 For those who walk upright ; 
 
 But those who basely turn aside 
 Thou chasest from Thy sight. 
 
 Oh, tame my tongue to peace, 
 
 And tune my heart to love ; 
 From all reproaches may I cease. 
 
 Made harmless as a dove. 
 
 The vile, though proudly great, 
 
 No flatterer find in me; 
 I count Thy saints of poor estate 
 
 Far nobler company. 
 
 Faithful, but meekly kind, 
 
 Gentle, yet boldly true, 
 I would possess the perfect mind 
 
 Which in my Lord I view. 
 
 But, Lord, these gmces all 
 
 Thy Spirit's work must be ; 
 To Thee, through Jesu's blood I call, — 
 
 Create them all in me. 
 
 C. H. Spurgkom. 
 
III. 
 
 CONVERSION AND PREACHING. 
 
CoNVERSiox is a change of masters. Will we not do as much for our new 
 master, the Lord Jesus, as we did once for our old tyrant lusts ? We were very 
 ardent and obedient servants unto sin, yielding our members to iniquity unto 
 iniquity; shall we not now he equally earnest servants of righteousness unto 
 lioliness ? Great Lord, be Thou our helper, that as we once served evil with our 
 whole nature, we may so serve Thee, bowing our necks with delight to Thy 
 easy yoke ! — C. H. Spurgeon. 
 
CONVERSION AND PREACHING. 
 
 SOME persons suppose that deep conviction is the result of 
 gross sin, but many sinners who had never walked with the 
 ungodly have had such a view of the human heart in the sight of 
 God as compelled them to cry out, " Unclean ! " Charles Spurgeon 
 as a youth was chaste, moral, and guarded in his deportment. 
 Yet in the narrative of his conversion we observe how he endured 
 great bitterness of soul through conviction of sin. His heart hun- 
 gered for the Lord, and was not satisfied till he found Him. Thus 
 he narrates his conversion : — 
 
 I will tell you how I myself was brought to the knowledge of 
 this truth. It may happen the telling of that will bring some one 
 else to Christ. It pleased God in my childhood to convince me 
 of sin. I lived a miserable creature, finding no hope, no comfort, 
 thinking that surely God would never save me. At last the worst 
 came to the worst, — I was miserable ; I could do scarcely any- 
 thing. My heart was broken in pieces. Six months did I pray, 
 — prayed agonizingly with all my heart, and never had an answer. 
 I resolved that, in the town where I lived, I would visit every place 
 of worship in order to find out the way of salvation. I felt I was 
 willing to do anything and be anything if God would only forgive 
 me. I set off, determined to go round to all the chapels, and I 
 went to all the places of worship ; and though I dearly venerate 
 the men that occupy those pulpits now, and did so then, I am 
 bound to say that I never heard them once fully preach the gos- 
 pel. I mean by that, they preached truth, great truths, many 
 
38 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SI'URGEON. 
 
 good truths that were fitting to many of their congregation, — 
 spiritually-minded people ; but what I wanted to know was, How 
 can I get my sins forgiven? And they never once told me that. 
 I wanted to hear how a poor sinner, under a sense of sin, might 
 find peace with God ; and when I went I heard a sermon on " Be 
 not deceived : God is not mocked," which cut me up worse, but 
 did not say how I might escape. I went again another day, and 
 the text was something about the glories of the righteous : noth- 
 ing for poor me. I was something like a dog under the table, 
 not allowed to eat of the children's food. I went time after time, 
 and I can honestly say, I don't know that I ever went without 
 prayer to God, and I am sure there was not a more attentive hearer 
 in ail the place than myself, for I panted and longed to understand 
 how I might be saved. 
 
 At last, one snowy day, — it snowed so much, I could not go to 
 the place I had determined to go to, and I was obliged to stop on 
 the road, and it was a blessed stop to me, — I found rather an 
 obscure street, and turned down a court, and there was a little 
 chapel. I wanted to go somewhere, but I did not know this place. 
 It was the Primitive Methodists' chapel. I had heard of these 
 people from many, and how they sang so loudly that they made 
 people's heads ache ; but that did not matter. I wanted to know 
 how I might be saved, and if they made my head ache ever so 
 much I did not care. So, sitting down, the service went on, but 
 no minister came. At last a very thin-looking man came into 
 the pulpit and opened his Bible and read these words : " Look 
 unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth." Just setting 
 his eyes upon me, as if he knew me all by heart, he said : " Young 
 man, you are in trouble." Well, I was, sure enough. Says he, 
 " You will never get out of it unless you look to Christ." And 
 then, lifting up his hands, he cried out, as only, I think, a Primitive 
 Methodist could do, " Look, look, look ! It is only look ! " said 
 he. I saw at once the way of salvation. Oh, how I did leap for 
 joy at that moment ! I know not what else he said : I did not 
 take much notice of it, — I was so possessed with that one thought. 
 Like as when the brazen serpent was lifted up, they only looked 
 and were healed. I had been waiting to do fifty things, but when 
 
CONVERSION AND PREACHINCi. 39 
 
 I heard this word " Look ! " what a charming word it seemed to 
 me. Oh, I looked until I could almost have looked my eyes away ! 
 and in heaven I will look on still in my joy unutterable. 
 
 I now think I am bound never to preach a sermon without / 
 preaching to sinners. I do think that a minister who can preach 
 a sermon without addressing sinners does not know how to 
 preach. 
 
 On Oct. II, 1864, the pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle 
 preached a sermon to five hundred hearers in the chapel at Col- 
 chester (in which he was converted), on the occasion of the 
 anniversary in that place of worship. He took for his text the 
 memorable words, Isaiah xlv. 22, " Look unto Me, and be ye 
 saved," &c., and, said the preacher, " That I heard preached from 
 in this chapel when the Lord converted me." And pointing to a 
 seat on the left hand, under the gallery, he said: " I was sitting in 
 that pew when I was cojtverted!' This honest confession produced 
 a thrilling effect upon the congregation, and very much endeared 
 the successful pastor to many hearts. 
 
 Of his conversion Mr. Spurgeon takes delight in speaking on 
 every fitting opportunity, hoping thereby to benefit others. As 
 an example of the advantage which he takes, under the title of 
 " A Bit for Boys," he says, in '* The Sword and the Trowel" : "When 
 I was just fifteen, I believed in the Lord Jesus, was baptized, and 
 joined the church of Christ. This is twenty-five years ago now, 
 and I have never been sorry for what I then did ; no, not even 
 once. I have had plenty of time to think it over, and many temp- 
 tations to try some other course, and if I had found out that I had 
 been deceived, or had made a gross blunder, I would have made a 
 change before now, and would do my best to prevent others from 
 falling into the same delusion. I tell you, boys, the day I gave 
 myself up to the Lord Jesus, to be His servant, was the very best 
 day of my life. Then I began to be safe and happy ; then I found 
 out the secret of living ; and had a worthy object for my life's 
 exertions, and an unfailing comfort for life's troubles. Because 
 I would wish every boy to have a bright eye, a light tread, a 
 joyful heart, and overflowing spirits, I plead with him to con- 
 
40 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 sider whether he will not follow my example, for I speak from 
 experience." 
 
 Early in the month of January, 1856, Mr. Spurgeon preached a 
 sermon to his own congregation on Sunday morning, which is 
 entitled " Sovereignty and Salvation," and it forms No. 60 in the 
 second volume of his published discourses. In that sermon he 
 says : — 
 
 " Six years ago to-day, as near as possible at this very hour of 
 the day, I was ' in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of in- 
 iquity,' but had yet, by divine grace, been led to feel the bitter- 
 ness of that bondage, and to cry out by reason of the soreness of 
 its slavery. Seeking rest and finding none, I stepped within the 
 house of God, and sat there, afraid to look upward, lest I should 
 be utterly cut off, and lest his fierce wrath should consume 
 me. The minister rose in his pulpit, and, as I have done this 
 morning, read this text: 'Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all 
 the ends of the earth ; for I am God, and there is none else.' I 
 looked that moment ; the grace of faith was vouchsafed to me in 
 that instant; and 
 
 ' Ere since by faith I saw the stream 
 His flowing wounds supply. 
 Redeeming love has been my theme, 
 And shall be till I die.' 
 
 I shall never forget that day while memory holds its place ; nor can 
 I help repeating this text whenever I remember that hour when 
 first I knew the Lord. How strangely gracious ! How wonder- 
 fully and marvellously kind, that he who heard these words so 
 little time ago, for his own soul's profit, should now address you 
 this morning as his hearers from the same text, in the full and 
 confident hope that some poor sinner within these walls may hear 
 the glad tidings of salvation for himself also, and may to-day be 
 * turned from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto 
 God ! ' " 
 
 All the letters he sent home at that period were full of the over- 
 flowings of a grateful heart; and, although so young in years, he 
 describes the operations of divine grace on the heart and life, and 
 the differences between the doctrines of the gospel and the forms 
 
CONVERSION AND PREACHINO. 4I 
 
 of the church, in terms so precise and clear, that no merely human 
 teaching could have enabled him so to do. 
 
 Brought up, as he had been, among the Independents, his own 
 views on one point of church ordinances now assumed a form 
 differing materially from what his parents had adopted. Having 
 experienced a change of heart, he felt it to be laid upon him as an 
 imperative duty to make a full and public confession of the change 
 by public baptism. He had united himself formally with the Bap- 
 tist people the year before ; now he felt constrained to fully cast in 
 his lot and become one of them entirely. He wrote many letters 
 home to his father, asking for advice and information, but striving 
 to enforce his own conviction for making a public profession of 
 his faith in Christ. At length the father was satisfied that his son 
 had no faith in the dogma of baptismal regeneration ; that his 
 motives for seeking to be publicly recognized as a follower of the 
 Lord Jesus were higher than those he had feared ; therefore no 
 further opposition was made, and the necessary steps were taken 
 for his immersion. 
 
 All the arrangements having been made, the young convert 
 walked from Newmarket to Isleham, seven miles, on May 2d, and 
 staying with the family of Mr. Cantlow, the Baptist minister there, 
 he was by that gentleman publicly baptized in that village on Fri- 
 day, May 3, 185 I, being in his sixteenth year. He thus proceeds 
 in his letter to his father: " It is very pleasing to me that the day 
 on which I shall openly profess the name of Jesus is my mother's 
 birthday. May it be to both of us a foretaste of many glorious 
 and happy days yet to come." 
 
 Having thus publicly devoted himself to the service of God, he 
 was more earnest than ever in his efforts to do good. Besides 
 having himself revived an old society for distributing tracts, he 
 undertook to carry out this good work in Newmarket thoroughly. 
 Whenever he walked out he carried these messengers of mercy 
 with him; he was instant in season, and, indeed, was seldom 
 out of season, in his efforts to do good. His duties in school 
 occupied him three hours daily, the remainder of his time being 
 spent in his closet or in some work of mercy. The Sunday-school 
 very soon gained his attention, and his addresses to the children 
 
42 LIFE AND LADORS OF C. II. SPUKGEOX. 
 
 were so full of love and instruction that the children carried the 
 good tidings home to their parents ; and soon they came to hear 
 the addresses in the vestry of the Independent chapel in that town. 
 The place was soon filled. 
 
 At one of the examinations of the school he had consented to 
 deliver an oration on missions. It was a public occasion, and in 
 the company was a clergyman. During the examination the cler- 
 gyman heard of the death of his gardener, and suddenly left for 
 home. But on his way he thus reasoned with himself: The gar- 
 dener is dead ; I cannot restore his life ; I will return and hear 
 what the young usher has to say on missions. He returned, heard 
 the oration, and was pleased to show his approval by presenting 
 Mr. Spurgeon with a sovereign. 
 
 Having at once identified himself as a member of the Baptist 
 church in Cambridge, he soon found occupation suitable to his 
 mind. His addresses to children, and afterwards to parents and 
 children, had produced a love of the work, and he soon was 
 called to exhort a village congregation. He was then sixteen 
 years old. Connected with the Baptist church meeting in St. 
 Andrew's Street, Cambridge, formerly under the pastoral care of 
 the late learned Robert Hall, there existed a society entitled "The 
 Lay Preachers' Association." Although so young in years, Mr. 
 Spurgeon was accepted as a member of this association. Here he 
 at once found the occupation which his mind most desired ; and 
 he was soon appointed to address a congregation. 
 
 As this was one of the most important steps in Mr. Spurgeon's 
 life, the reader will be glad to learn from his own pen the circum- 
 stances which led to his first attempted sermon. In introducing 
 the text, " Unto you therefore which believe. He is precious," 
 I Peter ii. 7, Mr. Spurgeon remarks, in 1873: "I remember well 
 that, more than twenty-two years ago, the first attempted sermon 
 that I ever made was from this text. I had been asked to walk 
 out to the village of Taver.sham, about four miles from Cambridge, 
 where I then lived, to accompany a young man whom I supposed 
 to be the preacher for the evening, and on the way I said to him 
 that I trusted God would bless him in his labors. ' Oh, dear,' said 
 he, ' I never preached in my life ; I never thought of doing such 
 
CONVERSION AND PREACIIINC]. 43 
 
 a thing. I was asked to walk with you, and I sincerely hope God 
 will bless YOU in YOUR preaching.' 'Nay,' said I, 'but I never 
 preached, and I don't know that I could do anything of the sort.' 
 We walked together till we came to the place, my inmost soul 
 being all in a trouble as to what would happen. When we found 
 the congregation assembled, and no one else there to speak of 
 Jesus, though I was only sixteen years of age, as I found that I 
 was expected to preach, I did preach, and the text was that just 
 given." 
 
 Considering the results which have followed that sermon, and 
 that the preacher is now the author of twenty-seven large volumes 
 of published sermons, and that nearly two thousand of his sermons 
 have in various forms been printed since that day, it will be inter- 
 esting to glance at some of the incidents belonging to that early 
 period of his ministry. In the summer of 1875, from inquiries 
 made in the locality, a correspondent of the " Baptist " newspaper 
 reports as follows : — 
 
 " A gentleman informed me that he heard Mr. Spurgeon preach 
 his first sermon when about sixteen years of age ; and he then 
 read, prayed, and expounded the Word, being attired in a round 
 jacket and broad turn-down collar, such as I remember to have 
 been in fashion at that period. 
 
 " Mr. Spurgeon was then living near Cambridge, and his mode 
 of preaching afforded promise that he would become a powerful 
 and popular preacher. 
 
 " Mr. C, the schoolmaster of the village in 1850, was impressed 
 with the precocious talent of the young preacher, and at his style 
 of preaching." 
 
 Having once entered on this most solemn duty, and finding 
 acceptance with the people, he laid himself out for one service 
 every evening, after attending to his duties in school during the 
 day. 
 
 From an aged and experienced Christian, who heard Mr. Spur- 
 geon preach before his call to London, we learn that his addresses 
 were very instructive, and often included illustrations derived from 
 history, geography, astronomy, and from other branches of school 
 occupation, evidently adapted from his daily duties, and thus 
 
44 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 made to serve as instruments in religion, as well as in training and 
 informing the mind. 
 
 His early ministry was not only gratuitous, but often attended 
 with demands on his small salary, which he willingly gave to God, 
 — not to be seen of men, did he help the need}-. 
 
 In some of the thirteen village stations around Cambridge and 
 Waterbeach, to which Mr. Spurgeon devoted all his evenings, the 
 preaching was held in a cottage, in others a chapel, and occasion- 
 ally the open Common could furnish the accommodation required. 
 At the village of Waterbeach. Mr. Spurgeon was received in a 
 marked manner of approval. In most of the places in which he 
 had preached the effect was very much alike, in the large numbers 
 attracted to hear the Word of God, and in the success which God 
 was pleased to bestow on his labors. Even at that early period 
 of his ministerial career, invitations to preach special sermons in 
 towns and villages at a distance soon rapidly increased. At 
 Waterbeach, however, the little church saw in the young man a 
 suitability to their wants, and they gave him an invitation to 
 become their pastor. He was well received by the people, and 
 soon became quite popular. During the few months of his pas- 
 torate there, the church members were increased from forty to 
 nearly one hundred. 
 
 Mr. Spurgeon has himself supplied an interesting reminiscence 
 of his ministry at that village, which is worth preserving: — 
 
 " When we had just commenced our youthful pastorate at 
 Waterbeach, in 1852, Cornelius Elven, as a man of mark in that 
 region, was requested to preach the anniversary sermons in our 
 little thatched meeting-house, and right well we remember his 
 hearty compliance with our desire. We met at the station as he 
 alighted from a third-class carriage which he had chosen in order 
 to put the friends to the least possible expense for his travelling. 
 His bulk was stupendous, and one soon saw that his heart was as 
 large in proportion as his body. He gave us much sage and holy 
 advice during the visit, which came to us with much the same 
 weight as Paul's words came to Timothy. He bade us study hard, 
 and keep abreast of the foremost Christians in our little church, 
 adding as a reason, that if these men, either in their knowledge 
 
CONVERSION AND PREACHING. 45 
 
 of Scripture or their power to edify the people, once outstrip you, 
 the temptation will arise among them to be dissatisfied with your 
 ministry ; and, however good they are, they will feel their superi- 
 ority, and others will perceive it too, and then your place in the 
 church will become very difficult to hold. His sermons were very 
 homely, and pre-eminently practical. He told anecdotes of the use- 
 fulness of addressing individuals one by one about their souls." 
 
 It has been remarked a hundred times, by those not well in- 
 formed on the matter, that Mr. Spurgeon was an uneducated man, 
 and had no college instruction. The experience of a quarter of 
 a century has demonstrated how erroneous were these remarks. 
 Is there in England a man of education who has done more for 
 the extension of the kingdom of Christ by the publication of 
 numerous valuable theological and instructive books than Mr. 
 Spurgeon? Let the list of his works determine. 
 
 On the question of not going to college there is also some mis- 
 conception. The exact facts are worthy of being placed on record. 
 Mr. Spurgeon has himself so clearly stated the case in an article 
 he wrote some time ago in his own magazine, that the reader will 
 be glad to see it here; it is curious and interesting: — 
 
 " Soon after I had begun, in 1852, to preach the Word in Water- 
 beach, I was strongly advised by my father and others to enter 
 Stepney, now Regent's Park College, to prepare more fully for 
 the ministry. Knowing that learning is never an incumbrance 
 and is often a great means of usefulness, I felt inclined to avail 
 myself of the opportunity of attaining it, although I believed I 
 might be useful without a college training, I consented to the 
 opinion of friends, that I should be more useful with it. Dr. 
 Angus, the tutor of the college, visited Cambridge, where I then 
 resided, and it was arranged that we should meet at the house of 
 Mr. Macmillan, the publisher. Thinking and praying over the 
 matter, I entered the house at exactly the time appointed, and 
 was shown into a room, where I waited patiently for a couple of 
 hours, feeling too much impressed with my own insignificance and 
 the greatness of the tutor from London to venture to ring the 
 bell and inquire the cause of the unreasonably long delay. 
 
 " At last, patience having had her perfect work, the bell was 
 
46 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPUROEON. 
 
 set in motion, and on the arrival of the servant, the waiting young 
 man of eighteen was informed that the doctor had tarried in 
 another room, and could stay no longer, so had gone off by train 
 to London. The stupid girl had given no information to the 
 family that any one called and had been shown into the drawing- 
 room, consequently the meeting never came about, although 
 designed by both parties. I was not a little disappointed at the 
 moment; but have a thousand times since then thanked the Lord 
 very heartily for the strange providence which forced my steps 
 into another and far better path. 
 
 " Still holding to the idea of entering the Collegiate Listitution, 
 I thought of writing and making an immediate application ; but 
 this was not to be. That afternoon, having to preach at a village 
 station, I walked slowly in a meditating frame of mind over Mid- 
 summer Common to the little wooden bridge which leads to 
 Chesterton, and in the midst of the common I was startled by what 
 seemed to me to be a loud voice, but which may have been a 
 singular illusion : whichever it was, the impression it made on my 
 mind was most vivid ; I seemed very distinctly to hear the words, 
 * Seekest thou great things for thyself, seek them not ! ' This led 
 me to look at my position from a different point of view, and to 
 challenge my motives and intentions. I remembered my poor 
 but loving people to whom I ministered, and the souls which had 
 been given me in my humble charge ; and although at that time 
 I anticipated obscurity and poverty as the result of the resolve, 
 yet I did there and then renounce the offer of collegiate instruc- 
 tion, determining to abide for a season, at least, with ni}' people, 
 and to remain preaching the Word so long as I had strength to 
 do it. Had it not been for those words, 1 had not been where I 
 am now. Although the ephod is no longer worn by a ministering 
 priest, the Lord guides His people by His wisdom, and orders all 
 their paths in love ; and in times of perplexity, by ways myste- 
 rious and remarkable, He says to them : ' This is the wa}' , walk 
 ye in it' " 
 
 One or two extracts from his letters, written at the same time, 
 it is desirable to give to show how anxiously the matter was con- 
 sidered. In his reply to his father, dated March 9, 1852, Mr. 
 
CONVERSION AM) 1' REACHING. 4/ 
 
 Spurgeon writes : " I have all along had an aversion to college, 
 and nothing but a feeling that I must not consult myself, but Jesus, 
 could have made mc think of it. It appears to my friends at 
 Cambridge, that it is my duty to remain with my dear people at 
 VVaterbeach ; so say the church there unanimously, and so say 
 three of our deacons at Cambridge." 
 
 During the summer his decision was taken, in the way previ- 
 ously related; and in a letter he sent to his mother in November 
 following, he says : " I am more and more glad that I never went 
 to college. God sends such sunshine on my path, such smiles of 
 grace, that I cannot regret if I have forfeited all my prospects for 
 it. I am conscious I held back from love to God and His cause; 
 and I had rather be poor in His service than rich in my own. I 
 have all that heart can wish for ; yea, God giveth more than my 
 desire. My congregation is as great and loving as ever. During 
 all the time I have been at VVaterbeach, I have had a different 
 house for my home every day. Fifty-two families have thus taken 
 me in ; and I have still six other invitations not yet accepted. 
 Talk about the people not caring for me because they give me so 
 little ! I dare tell anybody under heaven 't is false ! They do all 
 they can. Our anniversary passed off grandly ; six were baptized ; 
 crowds on crowds stood by the river ; the chapel afterwards was 
 crammed both to the tea and the sermon." 
 
 By these and other exercises of mind, God was preparing his 
 young servant for greater plans of usefulness and a wider sphere 
 of action. 
 
 The following verses were written by Mr. Spurgeon, at the age 
 of eighteen : — 
 
 IMMANUEL. 
 
 When once I mourned a load of sin ; 
 When conscience felt a wound within; 
 When all my works were thrown away ; 
 When on my knees I knelt to pray, 
 
 Then, blissful hour, remenil:)ered well, 
 
 I learned Thy love, Immanuel. 
 
 When storms of sorrow toss my soul ; 
 When waves of care around me roll; 
 
4.8 I.IFE AND LAUUKS Ul* C. II. Sl'UKGEON. 
 
 When comforts sink, when joys shall flee ; 
 
 When hopeless griefs shall gape for me. 
 
 One word tne tempest's rage shall quell— • 
 That word, Tliy name, Inimanuei. 
 
 When for the truth I suffer shame; 
 
 When foes pour scandal on my name; 
 
 When cruel taunts and jeers abound ; 
 
 When '• Dulls of Bashan " gird me found, 
 Secure within Thy tower 1 Ml dwell — ■ 
 That tower, Thy grace, Immanuel. 
 
 When hell enraged lifts up her roar; 
 
 When Satan stops my path before; 
 
 When fiends rejoice and wait my end ; 
 
 When legioned hosts tlieir arrows send, 
 Fear not, my soul, but hurl at hell, 
 Thy battle-cry, Immanuel. 
 
 When down the hill of life I go ; 
 
 When o'er my feet death's waters flow ; 
 
 When in the deep'ning flood 1 sink; 
 
 When friends stand weeping on the brink, 
 I '11 mingle with my last farewell 
 Thy lovely name, Immanuel. 
 
 When tears are banished from mine eye ; 
 
 When fairer worlds than tliese are nigh ; 
 
 When heaven shall fill my ravished sight; 
 
 When I shall bathe in sweet delight, 
 One joy all joys shall far excel, 
 To see Thy face, Immanuel. 
 
IV. 
 CALL TO LONDON. 
 
James I. once said of armor, that "it was an excellent invention; for it not 
 only saved the life of the wearer, but it hindered him from doing harm to any- 
 body else." Equally destructive to all usefulness is that excessive prudence 
 upon which some professors pride themselves ; not only do they escape all 
 persecution, but they are never able to strike a blow, much less to fight a battle 
 for the Lord Jesus. — C H. Spurgeon. 
 
CALL TO LONDON. 
 
 THE anniversary meeting of the Cambridge Union of Sunday- 
 schools in 1853 was held at Cambridge, on which occasion 
 Mr. Spurgeon was called upon to speak. The part he took was 
 of remarkable significance. There was nothing in his manner or 
 his remarks which was specially attractive to his audience; but 
 there was an unseen agency at work with the speaker as well as 
 in the audience. There was present at that meeting a gentleman 
 from Essex, on whose mind the address delivered by Mr. Spur- 
 geon made a lasting impression. Shortly afterwards he met in 
 London with one of the deacons of the Baptist church of New 
 Park Street, Southwark, a church which had once flourished like 
 the ancient cedars of Lebanon, but which was then so far shorn 
 of its former glory as to give cause of serious consideration. 
 Anxiously did the thoughtful deacon tell his tale of a scattered 
 church and a diminished congregation. Fresh upon the mind of 
 his hearer was the effect of the speech of the young minister at 
 Cambridge, and he ventured to speak of the youthful evangelist 
 of VVaterbeach as a minister likely to be the means of reviving 
 interest in the declining church at New Park Street. The two 
 friends separated, the deacon not much impressed with what he 
 had heard ; and things grew worse. 
 
 But finally a correspondence was commenced between Deacon 
 James Low and Mr. Spurgeon, which soon resulted in the latter 
 receiving an invitation to come to London and preach before them 
 in their large chapel. The work was altogether of God, man only 
 
$2 LIKE AND LABORS OF C. H. SI'URGEON. 
 
 made the arrangements. The motto of Julius Caesar may be 
 modified to express the results of the visit: Mr. Spurgcon came; 
 he preached ; he conquered. 
 
 For some months the pulpit had been vacant, the pews forsaken, 
 the aisles desolate, and the exchequer empty. Decay had set in 
 so seriously that the deacons lost heart, and, until Mr. Spurgeon 
 arrived, the cause seemed hopeless. In the autumn of 1853 he 
 first occupied New Park-street pulpit. The chapel, capable of 
 holding twelve hundred people, had about two hundred occupants 
 at the first service. The preacher was a young man who had just 
 passed his nineteenth year. In his sermon he spoke with the 
 freedom and boldness which evinced that he believed what he 
 preached, and believed that his message was from God. Some 
 were disappointed ; others resolved to oppose, and did oppose ; 
 but by far the greater proportion were disposed to hear him again. 
 The result of the first sermon was proved, in a few hours, to have 
 been a success. The evening congregation was greatly increased, 
 partly from curiosity, partly from the youth of the preacher and his 
 unusual style of address. Mr. Spurgeon was again invited to take 
 the pulpit on another Sunday as early as possible, for a feeling of 
 excitement was created, and it required to be satisfied. After 
 consulting with his church at Waterbeach, he arranged to supply 
 the New Park-street pulpit during three alternate Lord's days. 
 The desire to hear the young preacher having greatly extended, 
 it was determined to invite Mr. Spurgeon from his rustic retreat 
 to undertake the heavy responsibility of pastor of one of the 
 most ancient Baptist churches in London, and formerly the most 
 influential ; and he entered on that duty in the month of April, 
 
 1854. 
 
 We are permitted to give two of Mr. Spurgeon's letters to the 
 church at the time of his appointment, which will most clearly 
 state the facts relating to his coming to London. The first of the 
 following letters was written to Deacon Low shortly before Mr. 
 Spurgeon left Cambridge, and the second is dated from his first 
 lodgings immediately after his permanent arrival in London. 
 
CALL TO LONDON. 53 
 
 No. 60 I'AKK Street, Cambridge, Jan. 27, 1S54. 
 T(^ James Low, Esq. 
 
 My dear Sir, — I cannot help feeling intense gratification at 
 the unanimity of the church at New Park Street in relation to 
 their invitation to me. I lad I been uncomfortable in my present 
 situation, I should have felt unmixed pleasure at the prospect 
 Providence seems to open up before me ; but having a devoted and 
 loving people, I feel I know not how. 
 
 One thing I know, namely, that I must soon be severed from 
 them by necessity, for they do not raise sufficient to maintain me 
 in comfort. Had they done so I should have turned a deaf ear to 
 any request to leave them, at least for the present. But now my 
 Heavenly Father drives me forth from this little Garden of Eden, 
 and while I see that I must go out, I leave it with reluctance, and 
 tremble to tread the unknown land before me. 
 
 When I first ventured to preach at VVaterbeach, I only accepted 
 an invitation for three months, on the condition that if in that time 
 I should see good reason for leaving, or they on their part should 
 wish for it, I should be at liberty to cease supplying, or they should 
 have the same power to request me to do so before the expiration 
 of the time. 
 
 With regard to a six months' invitation from you, I have no 
 objection to the length of time, but rather approve of the prudence 
 of the church in wishing to have one so young as myself on an 
 extended period of approbation. But I write after well weighing 
 the matter, when I say positively that I cannot — I dare not — accept 
 an unqualified invitation for so long a time. My objection is not 
 to the length of time of probation, but it ill becomes a youth to 
 promise to preach to a London congregation so long, until he 
 knows them and they know him, I would engage to supply for 
 three months of that time, and then, should the congregation fail, 
 or the church disagree, I would reserve to myself liberty, without 
 breach of engagement, to retire ; and you would on your part 
 have the right to dismiss mc without seeming to treat me ill. 
 Should I see no reason for so doing, and the church still retain 
 their wish for me, T can remain the other three months, either with 
 
54 LIF'E AND LABORS OF C. H. Sl'lROEON. 
 
 or without the formality of a further in\'itation ; but even during 
 the second three months I should not like to regard myself as a 
 fixture, in case of ill success, but would only be a suppl}-, liable to 
 a fortnight's dismissal or resignation. 
 
 Perhaps this is not business-like, — I do not know ; but this is 
 the course I should prefer, if it would be agreeable to the church. 
 Enthusiasm and popularity are often the crackling of thorns, and 
 soon expire. I do not wish to be a hindrance if I cannot be a 
 help. 
 
 With regard to coming at once, I think I must not. My own 
 deacons just hint that I ought to finish the quarter here : though, 
 by ought, they mean simply, — pray do so if you can. This 
 would be too long a delay. I wish to help them until they can 
 get supplies, which is only to be done with great difficulty ; and, 
 as I have given you four Sabbaths, I hope you will allow me to 
 give them four in return. I would give them the first and second 
 Sabbaths in February, and two more in a month or six weeks' 
 time. I owe them much for their kindness, although they insist 
 that the debt lies on their side. Some of them hope, and almost 
 pray, that you may be tired in three months, so that I may be 
 again sent back to them. 
 
 Thus, my dear sir, I have honestly poured out my heart to you. 
 You are too kind. You will excuse me if I err, for I wish to do 
 right to you, to my people, and to all, as being not mine own, but 
 bought with a price. 
 
 I respect the honesty and boldness of the small minorit}'. and 
 only wonder that the number was not greater. I pray God that 
 if He does not see fit that I should remain with you, the majority 
 may be quite as much the other way at the end of six months, so 
 that I may never divide you into parties. 
 
 Pecuniary matters I am well satisfied with. And now one thing 
 is due to every minister, and I pray you to remind the church of 
 it, namely, that in private, as well as public, they must all wrestle 
 in prayer to God that I may be sustained in the great work. 
 
 I am, with the best wishes for your health, and the greatest 
 respect, Yours truly, 
 
 C. H. Spurgeon. 
 
CALL TO LONDON. 55 
 
 Viewed in the light of subsequent results, it will not surprise 
 the reader to learn that it did not take the church six months to 
 determine their part of the contract. Before three months had 
 passed away, " the small minority " had been absorbed into the 
 majority, and the entire church united in giving their young min- 
 ister, not yet twenty years old, an invitation to accept the pas- 
 torate, both cordial and unanimous. Mr. Spurgeon's second letter 
 at this period will best explain the real facts : — - 
 
 -je, Dover Road, Borough, April 28, 1854. 
 
 To the Baptist Church of Christ worshipping in New Park-street 
 Chapel, Southwark. 
 
 Dearly Beloved in Christ Jesus, — I have received your 
 unanimous invitation, as contained in a resolution passed by you 
 on the 19th instant, desiring me to accept the pastorate among you. 
 No lengthened reply is required ; there is but one answer to so 
 loving and cordial an invitation. I ACCEPT IT. I have not been 
 perplexed as to what my reply shall be, for many things constrain 
 me thus to answer. 
 
 I sought not to come to you, for I was the minister of an 
 obscure but affectionate people ; I never solicited advancement. 
 The first note of invitation from your deacons came to me quite 
 unlooked for, and I trembled at the idea of preaching in London. 
 I could not understand how it came about, and even now I am 
 filled with astonishment at the wondrous Providence. I would 
 wish to give myself into the hands of our covenant God, whose 
 wisdom directs all things. He shall choose for me ; and so far as 
 I can judge this is His choice. 
 
 I feel it to be a high honor to be the pastor of a people who 
 can mention glorious names as my predecessors ; and I entreat 
 of you to remember me in prayer, that I may realize the solemn 
 responsibility of my trust. Remember my youth and inexperi- 
 ence ; pray that these may not hinder my usefulness. I trust, 
 also, that the remembrance of these may lead you to forgive the 
 mistakes I may make, or unguarded words I may utter. 
 
 Blessed be the name of the Most High ! if He has called me to 
 
56 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 this office He will support me in it ; otherwise, how should a child, 
 a youth, have the presumption thus to attempt a work which 
 filled the heart and hands of Jesus? Your kindness to me has 
 been very great, and my heart is knit unto you. I fear not your 
 steadfastness ; I fear my own. The gospel, I believe, enables me 
 to venture great things, and by faith I venture this. I ask your 
 co-operation in every good work, — in visiting the sick, in bring- 
 ing in inquirers, and in mutual edification. 
 
 Oh, that I may be no injury to you, but a lasting benefit ! I have 
 no more to say, only this : that if I have expressed myself in these 
 few words in a manner unbecoming my youth and inexperience, 
 you will not impute it to arrogance, but forgive my mistake. 
 
 And now, commending you to our covenant-keeping God, the 
 triune Jehovah, I am yours to serve in the gospel, 
 
 C. H. Spurgeon. 
 
 Before three months of the new pastorate had expired the fame 
 of the young minister had spread over the metropolis, crowds of 
 people flocked to his chapel at every service, and the newspapers, 
 week by week for some time, were asking: Who is this Spurgeon? 
 For a long time that question was a puzzle to many minds ; but 
 one thing was certain, he had secured the ear and the attention of 
 the public, who waited upon his ministry by thousands. 
 
 The summer of 1854 will long be remembered for the frightful 
 scourge of Asiatic cholera with which the great city was visited. 
 The black flag could be seen stretched across streets to warn 
 strangers of the close proximity of plague-stricken dwellings. On 
 all sides there was anxious foreboding, sorrow, or bereavement. 
 The young pastor's services were eagerly sought for, his time 
 and strength taxed to their utmost ; but he discharged the duties 
 of the emergency with a true and manly courage. A paragraph 
 from his "Treasury of David," on Psalm xci., most graphically 
 describes this trying period : — 
 
 " In the year 1854, when I had scarcely been in London twelve 
 months, the neighborhood in which I labored was visited by 
 Asiatic cholera, and my congregation suffered from its inroads. 
 F'amily after family summoned me to the bedsides of the smitten, 
 
Mr. Spurgeon at the Age of Twenty-one. 
 
CALL TO LONDON. 57 
 
 and almost every day I was called to visit the grave. I gave 
 myself up with youthful ardor to the visitation of the sick, and 
 was sent for from all corners of the district by persons of all ranks 
 and religions. I became weary in body and sick at heart. My 
 friends seemed falling one by one, and I felt or fancied that I was 
 sickening like those around me. A little more work and weeping 
 would have laid me low among the rest. I felt that my burden 
 was heavier than I could bear, and I was ready to sink under it. 
 As God would have it, I was returning mournfully home from a 
 funeral, when my curiosity led me to read a paper which was 
 wafered up in a shoemaker's window in the Dover Road. It did 
 not look like a trade announcement, nor was it; for it bore in a 
 good bold handwriting these words : ' Because thou hast made the 
 Lord, which is my refuge, even the Most High, thy habitation ; 
 there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh 
 thy dwelling.' The effect upon my heart was immediate. Faith 
 appropriated the passage as her own. I felt secure, refreshed, girt 
 with immortality. I went on with my visitation of the dying in 
 a calm and peaceful spirit ; I felt no fear of evil, and I suffered 
 no harm. The Providence which moved the tradesman to place 
 those verses in his window I gratefully acknowledge, and in the re- 
 membrance of its marvellous power I adore the Lord my God." 
 
 In the autumn of his first year's pastorate he preached a ser- 
 mon from the words, "Is it not wheat harvest to-day?" The 
 sermon attracted attention, was much talked about by his hearers, 
 and during the following week it appeared under the title of 
 " Harvest Time," and had a large sale. This led the publisher 
 shortly afterwards to print another of his sermons, under the title 
 of "God's Providence." The public at once took to these sermons, 
 and by the end of the year about a dozen had thus been issued. 
 This greatly increased his popularity ; for many who had not 
 heard him, read those sermons, were interested in them, and soon 
 found opportunity to go and hear him. The demand for his 
 sermons being considerably greater than for the sermons of other 
 ministers then being published, Mr. Spurgeon made arrangements 
 with the first friend he met in London, who was a printer, and a 
 member of his church, to commence the publication of one sermon 
 
58 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. IL SPURGEON. 
 
 of his every week, beginning with the new year, 1855. Through 
 the good providence of God the sermons have appeared continu- 
 ously, week by week, without interruption, for more than twenty- 
 seven years, with a steady, improving, and large circulation, which 
 is in itself a marked indication of divine favor. No other minister 
 the world has ever known has been able to produce one printed 
 sermon weekly for so many years. The work still goes on with 
 unabated favor and unceasing interest. 
 
 The following description of the preacher's style at this period 
 is one of the earliest we have met with : " His voice is clear and 
 musical ; his language plain ; his style flowing, but terse ; his 
 method lucid and orderly ; his matter sound and suitable ; his 
 tone and spirit cordial ; his remarks always pithy and pungent, 
 sometimes familiar and colloquial, yet never light or coarse, much 
 less profane. Judging from a single sermon, we supposed that he 
 would become a plain, faithful, forcible, and affectionate preacher 
 of the gospel in the form called Calvinistic ; and our judgment 
 was the more favorable because, while there was a solidity beyond 
 his years, we detected little of the wild luxuriance naturally char- 
 acteristic of very young preachers." Want of order and arrange- 
 ment was a fault the preacher soon found out himself, and he 
 refers to it when he says: " Once I put all my knowledge together 
 in glorious confusion ; but now I have a shelf in my head for 
 everything; and whatever I read or hear I know where to stow 
 it away for use at the proper time." 
 
 Amongst the multitudes who assembled to hear the popular 
 preacher was a member of the Society of Friends, who, being 
 deeply impressed by what he saw and heard, wrote a lengthened 
 article on the subject. The writer observes : " The crowds which 
 have been drawn to hear him, the interest excited by his ministry, 
 and the conflicting opinions expressed in reference to his qualifi- 
 cations and usefulness, have been altogether without parallel in 
 modern times. It was a remarkable sight to see this round-faced 
 country youth thus placed in a position of such solemn and ardu- 
 ous responsibility, yet addressing himself to the fulfilment of its 
 onerous duties with a gravity, self-possession, and vigor that 
 proved him well fitted for the task he had assumed. 
 
CALL TO LONDON. 59 
 
 Within one year, New Park-street Chapel had to be enlarged. 
 During the enlargement, Exeter Hall was taken, and it was filleJ 
 to overflowing every Sabbath morning to hear the young preacher. 
 The chapel, which had been enlarged to the fullest extent of the 
 ground, was soon found to be far too circumscribed for the thou- 
 sands who flocked to hear him; and by the end of the summer 
 it became necessary to seek for a much larger place to satisfy 
 the demand of the public. 
 
 On the 19th of June, 1855, Mr. Spurgeon came of age, and he 
 improved the occasion by preaching a sermon relating thereto. 
 A large congregation heard it, and it was printed, with an excel- 
 lent likeness of the young preacher, pale and thin as he then was. 
 The sermon was published with the title, " Pictures of Life, and 
 Birthday Reflections." It had a large sale. That was the first 
 portrait of him which had been issued. 
 
 At that period the first attempt to issue a penny weekly news- 
 paper was made by Mr. C. W. Banks, and the "Christian Cabinet" 
 was a very spirited publication. The value of a pure and cheap 
 press was fully appreciated by Mr. Spurgeon, who generously 
 furnished articles for the columns of that serial during nearly 
 the whole of its first year's existence. They show a clear and 
 sound judgment on many public events passing more than twenty 
 years ago, and they are the first buddings of that genius which 
 has since ripened so fully, and yielded such an abundant harvest 
 of rich mental food. The books which have since come from 
 Mr. Spurgeon's pen are equally marvellous for their number, 
 variety, and usefulness, and some of them have had most unpre- 
 cedentedly large sales. 
 
 In July of this year, 1855, he paid his first visit to Scotland, 
 and a lively description of his congregation and preaching was 
 printed in the " Cabinet." 
 
 On the bright evening of the 4th of September, Mr. Spurgeon 
 preached to about twelve thousand people in a field in King 
 Edward's Road, Hackney. The sermon was printed under the 
 title of " Heaven and Hell," and had a very large sale, doing at 
 the same time a large amount of good. The sermon was closed 
 by the preacher giving the following account of his own conver- 
 
60 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 sion, which had a good effect on his audience, proving that expe- 
 rience is the best teacher. There were thousands of young people 
 present who were astonished at what they heard, and many turned 
 that night from their sins. The preacher said : — 
 
 " I can remember the time when my sins first stared me in the 
 face. I thought myself the most accursed of all men. I had not 
 committed any very great open transgressions against God ; but 
 I recollected that I had been well trained and tutored, and I 
 thought my sins were thus greater than other people's. I cried 
 to God to have mercy, but I feared that He would not pardon me. 
 Month after month I cried to God, but He did not hear me, and 
 I knew not what it was to be saved. Sometimes I was so weary 
 of the world that I desired to die ; but I then recollected that 
 there was a worse world after this, and that it would be an ill 
 matter to rush before my Maker unprepared. At times I wickedly 
 thought God a most heartless tyrant, because He did not answer 
 my prayer; and then at others I thought, ' I deserve His displeas- 
 ure; if He sends me to hell. He will be just.' But I remember 
 the hour when I stepped into a place of worship, and saw a tall, 
 thin man step into the pulpit : I have never seen him from that 
 day, and probably never shall till we meet in heaven. He opened 
 the Bible, and read with a feeble voice : ' Look unto Me and be ye 
 saved, all the ends of the earth ; for I am God, and beside Me 
 there is none else.' Ah ! thought I, I am one of the ends of the 
 earth ; and then, turning round, and fixing his gaze on me, as 
 if he knew me, the minister said : ' Look, look, look ! ' Why, I 
 thought I had a great deal to do, but I found it was only to look. 
 I thought I had a garment to spin out for myself; but I found 
 that if I looked, Christ could give me a garment. Look, sinner, 
 that is the way to be saved. Look unto Him, all ye ends of the 
 earth, and be saved." 
 
 Preaching is the ordained means for the salvation of sinners: 
 the power of appeal by the human voice is greater than any 
 other; but there is another influence which is potent. Before 
 Mr. Spurgeon had issued more than half a year's sermons from 
 the press, letters reached him from far-off places recording the 
 good which had been effected by reading them. On one of Mr. 
 
CALL TO LONDON. 6l 
 
 « 
 
 Spurgeon's visits to Scotland he was taken to visit Anne Sims, 
 an aged saint living at the Brae of Killiecrankie, far away up the 
 mountains, who had expressed intense delight in reading his ser- 
 mons, and prayed for his success in the work, little thinking that 
 in her mountain solitude, and in her ninetieth year, she should 
 ever see the preacher himself, whose visit was to her like that of 
 an angel. It would be difficult to chronicle the results which have 
 followed the reading of the sermons. In the first article in " The 
 Sword and the Trowel" for 1872, the editor himself says, "Our 
 ministry has never been without large results in conversion." 
 Twenty conversions have been reported to him by letter in one 
 week. The last Sunday sermon he preached in 1855, with which 
 the first volume of his printed discourses is closed, had special 
 reference to the war in the Crimea, and it commanded a large 
 sale ; its title was, " Healing for the Wounded." It contributed 
 materially to allay public anxiety about the war. Mr. Spurgeon 
 closed the year by holding a Watchnight Service in his chapel. 
 It was a happy and memorable service, and it has been repeated 
 at the close of every year since ; the last hours of the closing 
 year and the first moments of the opening new year being devoted 
 to the worship of God, in acts of personal consecration. 
 
 It is a gratifying fact, not generally known, that from the first 
 year of Mr. Spurgeon's ministry in London several clergymen 
 have used his sermons weekly, with a little adaptation, in their 
 own churches. This testimony has been given by the clergy- 
 men themselves, in person and by letter, to the writer. Some are 
 using the sermons in that way at the present time, and though 
 delivered second-hand in this manner, yet they are not without 
 fruit. 
 
63 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 PSALM XXI. 
 
 Thy strength, O Lord, makes glad our King, 
 Who once in weakness bowed the head ; 
 
 Salvation makes His heart to sing, 
 For Thou hast raised Him from the dead. 
 
 Thou hast bestowed His heart's desires, 
 Showered on His path Thy blessings down; 
 
 His royal pomp all Heaven admires ; 
 Thou on His head hast set the crown. 
 
 A life eternal as Thy years, 
 
 A glory infinite hke Thine, 
 Repays Him for His groans and tears, 
 
 And fills His soul with joy divine. 
 
 O King, belovt:d of our souls, 
 
 Thine own right hand shall find Thy foes! 
 Swift o'er their necks Thy chariot rolls, 
 
 And Earth Thy dreadful vengeance knows. 
 
 As glowing oven is Thy wrath, 
 
 As flame by furious blast upblown ; 
 With equal heat Thy love breaks forth, 
 
 Like wall of fire around Thine own. 
 
 Be Thou exalted, King of kings ! 
 
 In Thine own strength sit Thou on high! 
 Thy Church Thy triumph loudly sings, 
 
 And lauds Thy glorious Majesty. 
 
 C. H. Si'URGEOM. 
 
V. 
 
 ABUNDANT IN LABORS. 
 
Life is so brief that no man can afford to lose an hour of it. It has been 
 well said, that if a king should bring us a great heap of gold, and bid us take 
 as much as we could count in a day, we should make a long day of it ; we- 
 should begin early in the morning, and in the evening we should not with- 
 hold our hand. Now, to win souls, or to grow in grace, or to commune with 
 God, is far nobler work ; how is it that we so soon withdraw from it? — C. H. 
 Spurgeon. 
 
ABUNDANT IN LABORS. 
 
 THE year 1856 was a remarkable one in the life of Mr. Spur- 
 geon. It was the year of his marriage ; the year in which 
 he preached his grandfather's jubilee sermon, and one of the 
 centenary sermons in Whitfield's Tabernacle in Tottenham Court 
 Road. 
 
 During the first week of the year Mr. Spurgeon was delighting 
 large audiences at Bath. The second week was made memorable 
 by a service held in his own chapel, in which the young people, 
 more particularly, took a very lively interest. Early in the fore- 
 noon of January 8th Mr. Spurgeon was married to Miss Susanna 
 Thompson, daughter of Mr. Robert Thompson, of Falcon Square, 
 London. Twin boys, Charles and Thomas Spurgeon, are the only 
 additions to their family. Both are now settled pastors. 
 
 At this period Mr. Spurgeon was daily in the pulpit, often 
 travelling many miles between the services held ; and for months 
 together he preached twelve sermons weekly, with undiminished 
 force and unflagging zeal. In the achievement of such herculean 
 tasks he has doubtless been indebted to an excellent constitution 
 and to his simple habits of living. He is the very embodiment of 
 nature, without the usual make-up of art. He throws himself on 
 the tide of social intercourse with the freedom of one who has no 
 tricks to exhibit and no failings to conceal. He is one of the most 
 pleasant of companions : pious without any of the shams of piety; 
 temperate without a touch of asceticism ; and devout without the 
 solemnity of the devotee. Preaching for his poorer brethren in 
 
 65 
 
66 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 the country, he decHned to receive any contribution towards his 
 personal outlay, excepting only in cases where the church could 
 well afford to pay his travelling expenses. 
 
 New Park-street Chapel when enlarged soon became utterly 
 inadequate to receive the crowds which flocked to hear Mr. Spur- 
 geon, and the deacons found it necessary to take the largest 
 available building in London, — the Royal Surrey Gardens Music 
 !!all, — and in October, 1856, Mr. Spurgeon commenced to 
 pieach every Sabbath in that vast audieiice-room, continuing the 
 marning service there till the great Metropolitan Tabernacle was 
 opened. 
 
 What is known as the Surrey Gardens catastrophe we need not 
 do more than allude to. On October 19th a sad and fatal acci- 
 dent had wellnigh put an end to the large Sabbath gatherings 
 drawn to hear Mr. Spurgeon ; but that fatality was overruled for 
 good. Previous to this Mr. Spurgeon knew not what illness was; 
 but this calamity, joined with the wicked calumnies of a portion of 
 the press, laid prostrate even the strong man. 
 
 In October, 1856, the first meeting was held for considering the 
 steps necessary to be taken for erecting a great Tabernacle. The 
 proposal was very heartily taken up by Mr. Spurgeon's friends, 
 and in every part of the country sympathy was largely shown 
 with the movement. There were many who laughed at the idea 
 of erecting as a place of worship an edifice to hold five thousand 
 persons. Regardless of these objections the work went on, Mr. 
 Spurgeon travelling all over the land, preaching daily, with the 
 promise of half the proceeds of the collection being devoted to 
 the new Tabernacle. The foundation-stone of the great building 
 was laid by Sir Samuel Morton Peto, Aug. 16, 1859. 
 
 During the progress of the work Mr. Spurgeon met on the 
 ground, one evening after the workmen had left, one of his dea- 
 cons. After some consultation and meditation, surrounded by 
 planks, piles of timber and bricks, in the dim twilight, they both 
 knelt down where no eye could see them but that of God ; and 
 with only the canopy of heaven for their covering, the pastor and 
 his friend each poured out most earnest supplications for the pros- 
 perity of the work, the safety of the men engaged on the building. 
 
Surrey Music Hall. 
 
AHLMJANT IN LABORS. 6/ 
 
 and a blessing on the church. Their prayers were not offered 
 in vain, but were abundantly answered. Out of so large a 
 number of men engaged on the work, not one of them suffered 
 harm. 
 
 In i860 a large and enthusiastic meeting was held in the build- 
 ing before it was finished, at which much money was given and 
 more promised. Great preparations were made during the winter 
 for the holding of a large bazaar in the spring, which was proba- 
 bly one of the largest and most productive of the kind ever held 
 in London. The opening services were commenced on March 25, 
 1 86 1, and were continued without interruption for five weeks. As 
 the result of all these efforts, the great Tabernacle, to hold five 
 thousand people, was free from debt at the end of the special ser- 
 vices, and $155,000 of free-will offerings had been poured into the 
 hands of the treasurer. Since then various improvements have 
 been made in the audience-room, and, using every facility modern 
 invention could suggest, seats have been provided for 5,500 per- 
 sons, and standing room for 1,000 more, — total, 6,500. 
 
 Large as is the accommodation provided, the Tabernacle has 
 always been filled. All the prophets of evil have been found false 
 prophets, and the spirit of faith with which the work was begun 
 has had its full reward in results even greater than ever had been 
 anticipated. 
 
 When the church removed from New Park Street, in 1861, it 
 numbered 1,178 members. In ten years from the commence- 
 ment of his ministry Mr. Spurgeon had received into fellowship 
 by baptism 3,569 persons. 
 
 During the period in which Mr. Spurgeon was preaching in the 
 Surrey Music Hall large numbers of the aristocracy attended his 
 ministry; amongst whom were Lord Chief Justice Campbell, the 
 Lord Mayor and Sheriffs of London, Earl Russell, Lord Alfred 
 Paget, Lord Panmure, Earl Grey, I'^arl Shaftesbury, the Marquis 
 of Westminster, the Duchess of Sutherland, Lord Carlisle, Earl of 
 Elgin, Baron Bramwell, Miss Elorence Nightingale, Lady Roth- 
 schild, Dr. Livingstone, and many other persons of learning and 
 distinction, some of whom sought and obtained interviews with tb.e 
 preacher. It was durin;^;- that interim that Mr. Spurgeon paid 
 
68 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. IL Sl'lRGEOX. 
 
 one of his visits to Holland, was privileged to preach before the 
 Dutch Court, and had a lengthened interview with the queen of 
 that country. It was reported that some members of the English 
 Royal Family also occasionally attended on his preaching, and 
 not a few distinguished clergymen and professors. 
 
 During the present year Mr. Gladstone and his son have formed 
 part of the congregation, and a mutual interview was held at the 
 close of the service between the great premier and the humble 
 pastor. Mr. Gladstone has often spoken very highly of Mr. Spur- 
 geon, calling him " the last of the Puritans." 
 
 Dr. Livingstone, the great African explorer, said, on one occa- 
 sion after hearing Mr. Spurgeon, that no religious service he ever 
 remembered had so deeply impressed his own mind as that he had 
 witnessed and participated in that morning; adding, that when 
 he had retired again into the solitudes of Africa, no scene he had 
 ever witnessed would afford him more consolation than to recall 
 the recollection that there was one man God had raised up who 
 could so effectively and impressively preach to congregated thou- 
 sands, whilst he should have to content himself by preaching to 
 units, or at most tens, under a tropical sky in Africa ; implying, 
 at the same time, that Mr. Spurgeon's sphere of religious influ- 
 ence was a hundred times greater than that of the great and good 
 traveller. 
 
 Mr. Spurgeon has often been invited to lecture in this country, 
 but had always declined. The managers of the Redpath Lyceum 
 Bureau having noticed a paragraph in the Boston papers stating 
 that Mr. Spurgeon was about to visit the United States, enclosed 
 it to him, and wrote as follows : — 
 
 DosTOX, Mass., June 22, 1876. 
 
 Dear Sir, — Is the above paragraph true? We have tried so 
 long and so hard for many years to secure you that we thought it 
 impossible, and long since gave up all hope. We are the exclu- 
 sive agents of all the leading lecturers in America. We will give 
 vou a thousand dollars in gold for e\'ery lecture you deliv'er in 
 America, and pay all your expenses to and from your home, and 
 place you under the most popular auspices in the country. Will 
 you come? 
 
ABUNDANT IN LABORS. 69 
 
 To this invitation Mr. Spurgeon returned the following reply: — 
 
 Clapham, London, Eng., July 6. 
 Gentlemen, — I cannot imagine how such a paragraph should 
 appear in your papers, except by deliberate invention of a hard-up 
 editor, for I never had any idea of leaving home for America for 
 some time to come. As I said to you before, if I could come, I 
 am not a lecturer, tior zvoiild I receive money for preacJiing. 
 
 In the year 1857 Mr. Spurgeon preached two sermons, — one 
 in the ordinary course of his ministrations, the other on a special 
 occasion, — both of which commanded a sale of more than a hun- 
 dred thousand copies. The first, preached in the autumn, was 
 entitled " India's Ills and England's Sorrows," and had reference 
 to the mutiny in India. The second was preached in the Crys- 
 tal Palace at Sydenham on the fast day relating to the war in 
 India, when probably not less than twenty thousand formed the 
 preacher's audience. 
 
 It will doubtless interest many to learn something of the per- 
 sonal appearance of the "preacher as he stood before that vast 
 audience. One who had some skill in depicting natural life wrote 
 of him as follows : — 
 
 " He is of medium height, at present quite stout, has a round 
 and beardless face, not a high forehead, dark hair, parted in the 
 centre of the head. His appearance in the pulpit may be said to 
 be interesting rather than commanding. He betrays his youth, 
 and still wears a boyish countenance. His figure is awkward, — 
 his manners are plain, — his face (except when illumined by a 
 smile) is admitted to be heavy. His voice seems to be the only 
 personal instrument he possesses, by which he is enabled to ac- 
 quire such a marvellous power over the minds and hearts of his 
 hearers. His voice is powerful, rich, melodious, and under perfect 
 control. Twelve thousand have distinctly heard every sentence 
 he uttered in the open air, and this powerful instrument carried 
 his burning words to an audience of twenty thousand gathered in 
 the Crystal Palace. ' Soon as he commences to speak,' says an 
 I-'nglish critic, * tones of richest melody are heard. A voice, full, 
 sweet, and musical, falls on every ear, and awakens agreeable 
 
;o LIKE AND LABORS OF C. IL Sl'URCEOX. 
 
 cnn)tions in every soul in which there is a synipathv' for sounds. 
 That most excellent of voices is under perfect control, and can 
 whisper or thunder at the wish of its possessor. Then there is 
 poetry in every feature and every movement, as well as music in 
 the voice. The countenance speaks, the entire form sympathizes. 
 The action is in complete unison with the sentiments, and the eye 
 listens scarcely less than the ear to the sweetly flowing orator}-.' 
 To the influence of this powerful voice, he adds that of a manner 
 characterized by great freedom and fearlessness, intensely earnest, 
 and strikingly natural. When to these we add the influence of 
 thrilling description, touching anecdote, sparkling wit, startling 
 episodes, striking similes, all used to illustrate and enforce the 
 deep, earnest home-truths of the Bible, we surely have a combi- 
 nation of elements which must make up a preacher of wonderful 
 attraction and of marvellous power." 
 
 Amidst his incessant duties and almost daily journeys and ser- 
 mons, the devoted pastor still found time to give instruction to the 
 young men he kept under his careful ministry. With Mr. Spur- 
 geon it was work almost night and day, and all day long, with but 
 little intermission, for several years in succession. The germs of 
 what is now known as the Pastors' College were never absent from 
 his mind, and frequently occupied his attention when in London. 
 In 1857 the first student was sent out in charge of a church; in 
 1858 Mr. Silverton went forth; in 1859 Mr. Davies and Mr. Gen- 
 ders followed, both of whom have left their mark on society. 
 
 On Jan. i, 1865, appeared the first number of "The Sword and 
 the Trowel; " a record of combat with sin, and labor for the Lord. 
 It had an ornamental cover representing a Jewish doorway of 
 stone, and beyond and within were seen the zealous Jews at work 
 rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, the sword in one hand, the 
 trowel in the other. The work was so wisely planned, and it has 
 been so ably conducted, that it now occupies a prominent, if not 
 a foremost place amongst the periodical literature of the land, 
 and has a circulation of several thousand copies monthly, with a 
 steady advancement. 
 
 Besides the other works daily undertaken by Mr. Spurgeon 
 himself, and all his journeys in the country to preach special ser- 
 
ABUNDANT IN LABORS. 7 1 
 
 mons, he found time to write no less than nineteen articles for the 
 first year's volume of his magazine. At the end of the year the 
 Editor was ill at home, but he informed his friends, throuL^h the 
 magazine, that he had finished writing his new book, " Morning 
 by Morning," by which means he hoped to hold hallowed com- 
 munion with thousands of families all over the world, every morn- 
 ing, at the family altar. He has since added to it a companion 
 volume, " Evening by Evening," both of which works have had a 
 large sale, which is steadily on the increase. Amongst his articles 
 in 1865 were two poems, one entitled "The Fall of Jericho;" the 
 other will find a fitting place in these pages. It was written while 
 on a visit to Hull, in Yorkshire, during the summer: — 
 
 MARRIED LOVE — TO MY WIFE. 
 
 Over the space that parts us, my wife, 
 
 I MI cast me a bridge of song. 
 Our hearts shall meet, O joy of my life, 
 
 On its arch unseen, but strong. 
 
 The wooer his new love's name may wear 
 
 Engraved on a precious stone ; 
 But in my heart thine image I wear, 
 
 That heart has long been thine own. 
 
 The glowing colors on surface laid. 
 
 Wash out in a shower of rain ; 
 Thou need'st not be of rivers afraid. 
 
 For my love is dyed ingrain. 
 
 And as every drop of Garda's lake 
 
 Is tinged with sapphire's blue, 
 So all the powers of my mind partake 
 
 Of joy at the thought of you. 
 
 The glittering dewdrops of dawning love 
 
 Exhale as the day grows old. 
 And fondness, taking the wings of a dove, 
 
 Is gone like a tale of old. 
 
 But mine for thee, from the chambers of joy, 
 
 With strength came forth as the sun, 
 Nor life nor death shall its force destroy, 
 
 Forever its course shall run. 
 
^2 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 All earth-born love must sleep in the grave, 
 
 To its native dust return ; 
 What God hath kindled shall death out-brave, 
 
 And in heaven itself shall burn. 
 
 Beyond and above the wedlock tie 
 
 Our union to Christ we feel ; 
 Uniting bonds which were made on high, 
 
 Shall hold us when earth shall reel. 
 
 Though He who chose us all worlds before, 
 Must reign in our hearts alone, 
 
 We fondly believe that we shall adore 
 7£»^^///^r before His throne. 
 
VI. 
 
 REVIVALS 
 
Just as the birds, when the eggs are in the nest, have upon them a natural 
 feeling that they must sit on those eggs, and that they must feed those little 
 fledglings which will come from them ; so if God calls you to win soyls, you 
 will have a natural love for them, a longing wrought in you by the Holy Spirit, 
 so that the whole force of your being will run out it that direction, seeking the 
 salvation of men. — C. H. Spurgeox. 
 
REVIVALS. 
 
 DURING the year 1865 Mr. Spurgeon held in the Tabernacle 
 united meetings for prayer through one entire week, attended 
 by over six thousand persons, which were a source of so much 
 blessing to those attending them, that a second series followed a 
 month later. 
 
 Conscious of the power of prayer, the pastor commenced the 
 year 1866 with a month's continuous revival services, at which 
 one hundred and twenty ministers and students were present. 
 Knowing that he should have the sympathy and co-operation of 
 his church in conducting them, in September the whole church 
 had a day of fasting and prayer. 
 
 An important work, which had for a long time occupied Mr. 
 Spurgeon's attention, was brought out this year, under the title 
 of " Our Own Hymn Book." The preparation of a new collec- 
 tion of psalms and hymns for congregational use was felt to be 
 an urgent necessity, but there was a nervous fear about the suc- 
 cess of such a work. It was prepared with great care, and no 
 pains were spared to make it complete in every respect, giving 
 correct text, author's name to each hymn, with date of first pub- 
 lication, and other interesting particulars in the large edition of 
 the book. The public at once saw the value of the collection, 
 and since that time it has had a very large sale, having been 
 adopted by and is now in use in scores if not hundreds of con- 
 gregations. 
 
 As a student of the times in which Puritanism began to take 
 hold of the mind of the English people, Mr. Spurgeon knew how 
 
^6 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPUKGEON. 
 
 i^reat a work was accomplished by the Nonconformists by book- 
 hawking. He had learned by several visits to Scotland how useful 
 and valuable that agency was in the north of England. He there- 
 fore, in January, 1866, issued a circular stating his intention to 
 establish a system of colportage, by which his sermons and other 
 works of a moral and religious character might be more widely 
 distributed. At first it was intended to be confined to London 
 and the neglected villages and small country towns around, where 
 access to religious literature was difficult. The result of the 
 appeal made in January led to the formation of The Colportage 
 ASS0CL\TI0N in October, which has ever since been one of the 
 important agencies of the Tabernacle, and which is every year 
 increasing its operations and usefulness. It employs colporteurs, 
 whose whole time is directed to the work, and who are paid a 
 moderate salary ; also book agents, who are constantly delivering 
 books to purchasers, for which service they receive a liberal dis- 
 count on sales, and by which they are enabled to make a satis- 
 factory living. The wisdom of the course taken by Mr. Spurgeon 
 in this matter has since been abundantly demonstrated. That 
 association has been a blessing to thousands. 
 
 At this time there was a feeling abroad which manifested itself 
 in several articles in public papers, and notably in a New York 
 religious weekly, that Mr. Spurgeon, by means of his College 
 and the large number of new chapels being erected all over the 
 land for his students, was aiming at founding a sect, after the 
 example of Wesley. So soon as this notion reached Mr. Spur- 
 geon, he took the earliest opportunity of repudiating the idea. 
 In a short article entitled " Spurgeonism," he thus records his 
 views : — 
 
 "There is no wor5 in the world so hateful to our heart as that 
 word Spurgeonism, and no thought further from our soul than 
 that of forming a new sect. Our course has been, and we hope 
 ever will be, an independent one ; but to charge us with separat- 
 ing from the general organization of the religious world, and even 
 of the Baptist denomination, is to perpetrate an unfounded libel. 
 We preach no new gospel, we desire no new objects, and follow 
 them in no novel spirit. We love Christ better than a sect, and 
 
REVIVALS. TJ 
 
 truth better than a party, and so far are not denominational ; but 
 we are in open union with the Baptists for the very reason that 
 we cannot endure isolation. He who searches all hearts knows 
 that our aim and object is not to gather a band around self, but to 
 unite a company around the Saviour. ' Let my name perish, but 
 let Christ's name last for ever,' said George Whitfield ; and so has 
 Charles Spurgeon said a hundred times. We aid and assist the 
 Baptist churches to the full extent of our power, although we do 
 not restrict our energies to them alone, and in this those churches 
 are far enough from blaming us. Our joy and rejoicing is great 
 in the fellowship of all believers, and the forming of a fresh sect 
 is work which we leave to the devil, whom it befits far more than 
 ourselves. It is true that it has long been in our power to com- 
 mence a new denomination, but it is not true that it has ever been 
 contemplated by us or our friends. We desire as much as possible 
 to work with the existing agencies, and when we commence new 
 ones our friends must believe that it is with no idea of organizing 
 a fresh community." 
 
 The closing days of the year 1866 Mr. Spurgeon spent in 
 Paris, in a successful effort to get the Baptist church in that city 
 brought out of an obscure corner, in which property could not be 
 respected, into a place of prominence, where there was hope of its 
 becoming known and being useful. This effort had long exercised 
 the mind of Pastor Spurgeon, and he had the joy of seeing the 
 work he aimed at fully accomplished. He spent his Christmas 
 in. Paris, getting rest for himself and doing a good work for the 
 Parisians. 
 
 Reinvigorated by h's short trip to the Continent, he returned to 
 his duties at the Tabernacle with renewed energy and a stronger 
 faith, having gained fresh courage from his success in France. 
 
 The month of February, 1867, witnessed the usual week of 
 prayer, which that year was marked, on the i8th, by a whole day 
 of fasting and prayer, commencing at seven in the morning and 
 continuing, without a pause or breaking up for meals, until nine at 
 night — a day of prayer in which the Holy Spirit was manifestly 
 present all day. The account of the services held during that 
 week reads like a new chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. 
 
78 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 The readiness with which Mr. Spurgeon can adapt himself to 
 his audience, whether that audience consists of the educated or 
 affluent, the poor or the ignorant, was never more distinctly 
 seen than when, in the EvangeHsts' Tabernacle, Golden Lane, 
 City, he preached to a congregation of costermongers. Mr. Ors- 
 man, the missionary there, had distributed tickets among the 
 street dealers in Whitecross Street, so as to secure the class for 
 whom the service was intended. An amusing article might be 
 written to describe the singular variety of countenances and call- 
 ings of those present. The hymns were heartily sung; the prayer 
 won the hearts of the audience when Mr. Spurgeon offered sup- 
 plication for those who had bodily aches and pains, and whose 
 poverty deprived them of many desired comforts ; many deep 
 sighs followed those prayers. The sermon was preached from St. 
 John iv. 15, and it was illustrated by allusions to the habits and 
 manner of life of his congregation, whose acuteness relished the 
 anecdotes and homely hits which the preacher so freely used. A 
 costermonger's living depends much upon his voice. After the 
 service the costers were free in their comments on the preacher's 
 voice, which was described as "Wot a woice ! " "Wonderful!" 
 " Stunnin' !" "I never!" "Would make a fine coster!" &c. 
 After the sermon about two hundred remained to be prayed with, 
 and much spiritual good was done that night. 
 
 Six years having elapsed since the Tabernacle was opened, the 
 building had suffered much from the massive congregations which 
 had assembled there, and it became necessary to close it for several 
 weeks for repairs. During that period Mr. Spurgeon preached 
 to immense congregations in the Agricultural Hall, Islington. 
 The first of the five special services was held on Sunday, March 
 24, 1867, when about twelve thousand persons were present. The 
 preacher's delivery was slow, measured, and emphatic ; nothing 
 labored ; and his voice lost none of its accustomed music. Many 
 thousands heard the gospel at that time who were not accustomed 
 to attend any place of worship. More than twenty thousand 
 were in attendance on the final day. 
 
 The heavy responsibilities which rested on the pastor of the 
 Tabernacle in the early part of the year made it necessary for him 
 
REVIVALS ^Q 
 
 to seek a little recreation, and with that he blended a friendly 
 service for his esteemed friend Pastor Oncken, by preaching for 
 him at the opening of his new Baptist church at Hamburg. 
 He included in his travels a visit to Heligoland, which furnished 
 for his ready and fertile pen most interesting matter for an article, 
 which contains information both curious and valuable not to be 
 found elsewhere. 
 
So 
 
 LU-K AM) LABORS OF C. H. Sl>UR(JEON. 
 
 PSVI.M XXX. 
 
 I WILL exalt Tlice, Lord of hosts, 
 
 For Thou 'st exulted me ; 
 Since Thou h:ist silenced Satan's boasts, 
 
 I 'II therefore boast ni Thee. 
 
 My sins had brought mc near the grave. 
 
 The jjrave of black desp lir : 
 I looked, but there was none to save 
 
 Till I looked up in prayer. 
 
 In answer to my piteous cries. 
 
 From hell's dark brink Vn\ brouj,iit: 
 
 My Jesus saw me from the skies, 
 And swift salvation wrought. 
 
 All through the night I we:it full sore, 
 
 But morning brought relief; 
 That hand which broke my bones before, 
 
 Then broke my bonds of grief. 
 
 My mourning He to dancing turns. 
 For sackcloth 'y>y He gives: 
 
 A moment. Lord, Thine anger burns, 
 But long Thy favor lives. 
 
 Sing with me then, ye favored men, 
 Who long have known His grace ; 
 
 With thanks recall the seasons when 
 Ye also sought His face. 
 
 C. H. Si'URGEON. 
 
VII. 
 MULTIPLYING WORK 
 
We must ourselves drink of the living water till we are full, and then out of 
 the midst of us shall flow rivers of living water; but not till then. Out of an 
 empty basket you cannot distribute loaves and fishes, however hungry the 
 crowd may be. Out of an empty heart you cannot speak full things, nor from 
 a lean soul bring forth fat things full of marrow, nor from a dead heart impart 
 life. Be blest, that ye may bless. — C. H. Spurgeon 
 
MULTIPLYING WORK. 
 
 RETURNING home, the industrious pastor found abundance 
 of important work awaiting him. During the April pre- 
 vious the land had been secured at Stockwell for the ORPHAN 
 Houses. The work of preparation for their erection had been 
 so far advanced that a great festival was arranged, and on Mon- 
 day, September 9, 1867, a party of some four thousand persons 
 assembled at Stockwell, a large proportion of the company being 
 collectors ; and it was part of the programme for the foundation- 
 stones of three of the houses to be laid, and for the numerous 
 collectors to lay on the stones their respective contributions. It 
 was an auspicious day for Mr. Spurgeon, for his deacons and 
 church-members. A widely extended interest had been felt in 
 the work, and the occasion became a grand holiday in that 
 southern suburb of London. Three of the houses were thus far 
 advanced in their progress, namely, the Silver Wedding House, 
 the Merchants' House, and the Workmen's House. The united 
 sums the collectors laid upon the stones amounted to eleven thou- 
 sand dollars. The entire spectacle was both novel and touching. 
 Prayers were offered on the occasion, the influence of which it is 
 believed will be felt throughout all time. Appropriate hymns 
 were sung, each ceremony being conducted with verses specially 
 prepared, the first of which was as follows : — 
 
 Accept, O Lord, the jjrateful love 
 Which yield.s thi.s house to Thee ; 
 
 And on the Silver Wedding House 
 Let Ijlessinji.s ever be. 
 
84 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 It was announced at the close of the ceremony that in addition 
 to the one hundred thousand dollars given by Mrs. Hillyard, the 
 money in hand was then twenty-seven thousand five hundred 
 dollars. The assembly returned home highly delighted with the 
 service and the glad tidings they had heard, whilst the pastor, 
 worn out with fatigue and anxiety, retired home to rest. 
 
 The mental and physical strain of such heavy responsibilities 
 was too much for Mr. Spurgeon, who was soon after laid aside 
 quite ill. Although physically prostrate, his mind was in active 
 exercise ; and after being a sufferer for two months, he wrote an 
 article for his magazine entitled, " On my Back," in which he sub- 
 missively said, that after two months of ill health and severe pain, 
 yet he believed there was a limit to sickness, and that Jesus knew 
 all about it, feeling assured that the design of sickness was divinely 
 good. This long absence from the pulpit led to the appointment 
 of his brother, James Archer Spurgeon, as co-pastor to the church 
 at the Tabernacle, and he officially entered on those duties in 
 January, 1868. 
 
 Although the year 1868 did not furnish occasion for such impor- 
 tant events as the preceding one, yet was there much earnest work 
 done by Mr. Spurgeon at his Tabernacle. Not able to do so much 
 physical work, he used his pen very freely. He wrote two articles 
 for his magazine to advocate the claims of the Colportage Associ- 
 ation. In March he delivered at the Tabernacle a lecture on "Our 
 History and Work," with Mr. VV. McArthur, M.P., in the chair. 
 He also wrote an interesting article relating incidents in the life of 
 his grandfather. In the month of May he preached the Sermon 
 to Young Men at Mr. Martin's Chapel, Westminster, on behalf of 
 the London Missionary Society, — a service rendered the more 
 cheerfully, remembering, as he did, the prophetic words of good 
 Richard Knill, that he would preach in the largest chapel in Lon- 
 don. That was probably the largest chapel he had preached in, 
 excepting his own. During the same month he spoke at the 
 Breakfast Meeting of the Congregational Union. 
 
 In the month of March a generous friend sent to the pastor 
 five thousand dollars for the College and five thousand dollars for 
 the Orphanage, — such instances of liberality amply testifying 
 

 James Archer Spurgeon, Co-Pastor. 
 
MULTIPLYING WORK. 85 
 
 the high estimation in which the noble enterprises of Mr. Spur- 
 geon were held by the public. On his birthday, June 19th, a 
 great meeting was held, and liberal contributions made for the 
 Orphanage. 
 
 Bright as are these spots in the life of the pastor, and in his 
 work at the Tabernacle and its belongings, yet there hung over 
 his home all the time a dark shadow which Divine Providence saw 
 fit to place there. Mrs. Spurgeon had long been a great sufferer, 
 and to alleviate her sorrows, if possible, a very painful operation 
 had to be undertaken. The most skilful surgeons of the land were 
 engaged, under the direction of Sir James Simpson, of Edinburgh, 
 Prayer was made for her by the whole church, and, by the blessing 
 of God, the operation was so far successful that her sufferings were 
 alleviated and her life prolonged ; but it has been a life of pain and 
 weakness, though with less of anguish. 
 
 A gratifying fact is recorded by Mr. Spurgeon this year, who 
 publicly acknowledges the kindness of Dr. Palfrey, of Finsbury 
 Square, for his gratuitous and generous professional attendance 
 on the poor members of the Tabernacle. 
 
 At Christmastide, and at the opening of the year, the claims 
 of Mr. Spurgeon's benevolent agencies were remembered by his 
 many friends, who sent him of their worldly substance with gen- 
 erous hands, so that he commences the first number of " The 
 Sword and the Trowel" for 1869 with a most jubilant note: "Bless 
 the Lord, O my soul ! " 
 
 He also made the announcement that a gentleman in Australia 
 had written to say he. intended to reprint his sermons weekly in 
 that far-off land, to give them a yet wider circulation. 
 
 From the very commencement of his ministry strange tales had 
 been put into circulation by his detractors, most of which Mr. 
 Spurgeon passed by in silence. Several very ludicrous speeches 
 were attributed to him soon after he became popular in London. 
 In the midst of his work, at the opening of the year 1869, the 
 voice of the slanderer was again heard, and many were troubling 
 the busy pastor to know how true were the statements in circu- 
 lation respecting him. In reply to all these, under the head of 
 " Silly Tales," he wrote in his magazine : " Friends who write us 
 
86 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. Sl'lRCEON. 
 
 about sill}' talcs may save themselves the trouble. We have been 
 enabled in our ministry and in our walk before God so to act, 
 through grace, that we have given no occasion for the slanderers, 
 save only that we have kept the faith, and been very jealous for 
 the Lord God of Israel. Many of the absurd stories still retailed 
 everywhere arc the very same libels which were repeated concern- 
 ing Rowland Hill and others long gone to their rest." This reply 
 will serve its purpose in after years as well as now. 
 
 Having seen much of the folly too frequently exhibited at funer- 
 als, he published his views, with the apt title, " Funerals ; or, a 
 Black Business," in which, after exposing the folly of using feath- 
 ers and gold-headed sticks in carrying a dead body to the grave, 
 he observes : " I would sooner be eaten by crows than have pride 
 and pomp feeding on my little savings, which are meant for my 
 bereaved wife and children, and not for unsuitable, untimely, and 
 unholy show. I have heard that more than four millions of money 
 are squandered every year in funeral fopperies. The money buys 
 or hires silk scarfs, brass nails, feathers for horses, kid gloves and 
 gin for the mutes, and white satin and black cloth for the worms. 
 It seems to me to be mighty fine nonsense, more for the pride of 
 the living than the honor of the dead, more for the profit of the 
 undertaker than any one else." 
 
 In June of that year the first report of the Orphanage Avas issued, 
 which plainly set forth how earnestl}" the work had been carried on 
 for it in having the houses erected and in getting them furnished 
 and occupied. Twenty-nine boys were then in residence, one of 
 whom was the son of one of the workmen who had assisted in 
 building the w'orkmen's house, the father having died after the 
 house was erected. 
 
 Taking a short lioliday in July, Mr. Spurgeon, accompanied by 
 a friend, climbed the summit of Hindhead, in the South of Eng- 
 land, then paid a brief visit to the Continent. Soon after his 
 return home, in October, he was entirely laid aside from pas- 
 toral work by a slight attack of small-pox. His friends became 
 seriously anxious about him, and special prayer was made again 
 and again for his recovery. It came slowly, but in anticipation 
 thereof the first article in the magazine for November was " A 
 
MULTIPLYING WORK. • 8/ 
 
 Sermon from a Sick Preacher." Possessed of such mighty faith 
 in God, and with such indomitable courage, Pastor Spurgeon finds 
 opportunities for doing good, and does it, whilst others are con- 
 sidering what had best be done. He even wrote directions " How 
 to bear Affliction." 
 
 During the progress of his recovery he wrote a New Year's Let- 
 ter to his ministering brethren, which commences his magazine for 
 1870, in which, with much affectionate earnestness, he urges them, 
 even by special means, if ordinary ones fail, to aim at the salvation 
 of the souls of their congregations, enforcing this duty upon them 
 by the example of the Ritualists, who are zealous, working to 
 spread their delusions, especially amongst the poor, with whom 
 they know how to succeed by bribes of bread and clothing. He 
 says he writes as a sick man, but feels the urgency and importance 
 of soul-winning. 
 
 The prostrate condition of the pastor's health for nearly three 
 months made it necessary for him to appeal with his pen for the 
 aid of his friends in sustaining the benevolent works of the Taber- 
 nacle. In March, 1870, his appeal took the following form: "The 
 pastorate of a church of four thousand members, the direction of 
 all its agencies, the care of many churches arising from the Col- 
 lege work ; the selection, education, and guidance in their settle- 
 ments of the students; the oversight of the Orphanage, the editing 
 of a magazine, the production of numerous volumes, the publica- 
 tion of a weekly sermon, an immense correspondence, a fair share 
 in public and denominational action, and many other labors, be- 
 sides the incessant preaching of the Word, give us a right to ask 
 of our friends that we be not allowed to have an anxious thought 
 about the funds needed for our enterprises." 
 
 This remarkable picture of energy and activity will scarcely be 
 surpassed by any man living, if indeed it can be equalled by more 
 than one in a million, even in this industrious age. But there were 
 other duties pressing on Mr. Spurgeon's mind, at the time, which 
 he could not throw off. For some months previously a contro- 
 versy had been warmly carried on in the columns of the "Christian 
 World " newspaper, advocating a curious system of future pun- 
 ishment ending in annihilation. The editor of the paper prohib- 
 
b8 Lll-E AND LABORS OF C. II. SPURGEON. 
 
 ited in his columns the pubhcation of any letters on the oppo- 
 site side, excepting only what Mr. Spurgeon might write. Mr. 
 Spurgeon wrote to the editor, pointing out that his conduct 
 was not quite frank, and declining on his part to help the agi- 
 tation, telling him that the words of our Lord — "These shall 
 go away into everlasting punishment" — finally settled the point; 
 and he held that the publication of views which are opposed 
 to that declaration, and the views themselves, were equally 
 dangerous. 
 
 Greatly have the funds of the College been aided by the lec- 
 tures which its President has given from time to time on its behalf. 
 After one of his visits to Italy Mr. Spurgeon delivered a very 
 interesting and lively lecture on " Rome, and what I saw and 
 heard there." Some of the reporters for the daily press — not a 
 few of whom' are Jesuits — misrepresented some very material 
 portions of the lecture in their abridged account. Mr. Spurgeon 
 was obliged to defend himself; and what he said against such 
 insidious foes in the pages of his own magazine led to another 
 kindred topic being brought before the public about the same 
 time, when these same reporters misled the public mind by apply- 
 ing to King Victor Immanuel of Italy a prayer which belonged 
 only to Immanuel, Victor over sin, the man Christ Jesus. 
 
 In May, 1870, Mr. Spurgeon sent forth a new work entitled 
 " Feathers for Arrows," intended to supply preachers and teach- 
 ers with useful material for filling up their sermons, lectures, and 
 addresses. Ten thousand copies of the book were sold in three 
 months. 
 
 The public mind was considerably agitated at that time by the 
 action of the School Board in reference to religious teaching in 
 their schools ; some wanting to exclude the reading of the Bible 
 from them, and so deprive the upgrowing po{.ulation of the use 
 of the best book in the language. A large meeting was held in 
 Exeter Hall, in July, in defence of the Bible being daily read in 
 elementary schools. Mr. Spurgeon took the chair on the occa- 
 sion. The result of the meeting was, the Bible retains its place 
 as a daily school book. The wisdom of the decision then made 
 has been abundantly manifested since, and especially so by the 
 
MULTIPLYING WORK. 89 
 
 great gathering of Board-School children in the Crystal Palace in 
 July, 1877, when some thousands of prizes were publicly given to 
 the pupils for proficiency in knowledge of the Bible, and when it 
 was most convincingly shown that parents in London (excepting 
 only a few Jews) do not object to their children being taught daily 
 from the Word of God. 
 
go LI^E AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 PSALM XXXIX. 
 
 Behold, O Lord, my days are made 
 
 A handbreadth at the most ; 
 Ere yet 'tis noon my flower must fade, 
 
 And I give up the ghost. 
 
 Then teach me, Lord, to know mine end. 
 
 And know that I am frail ; 
 To Heaven let all my thoughts ascend, 
 
 And let not Earth prevail. 
 
 What is there here that I should wait ? 
 
 My hope 's in Thee alone. 
 When wilt Thou open glory's gate. 
 
 And call me to Thy Throne ? 
 
 A stranger in this land am I, 
 
 A sojourner with Thee : 
 Oh, be not silent at my cry, 
 
 But show Thyself to me. 
 
 Though 1 'm exiled from glory's land, 
 
 Yet not from glory's King : 
 My God is ever near at hand, 
 
 And therefore I will sing. 
 
 C. H. Spurgeom. 
 
VIII. 
 RESULTS OF OVERWORK. 
 
Come, let us live while we live ! Let us serve God to the utmost stretch of 
 our manhood ! Let us ask the Lord to brace our nerves, to string our sinews, 
 and make us true crusaders, knights of the blood-red cross, consecrated men 
 and women who, for the love we bear Christ's name, will count labor to be 
 ease, and suffering to be joy, and reproach to be honor, and loss to be gain ! — 
 C. H. Spurgeon. 
 
RESULTS OF OVERWORK. 
 
 THE special religious services held in February, at the Taber- 
 nacle, were seasons of much blessing. More than one hun- 
 dred members were added to the church in one month. The 
 people went to the services expecting to receive good, and they 
 were not disappointed. 
 
 Soon after the annual College supper, which was held in March, 
 1 87 1, at which the sum of seven thousand five hundred dollars 
 was given, Mr. Spurgeon was laid aside by a more than usually 
 severe attack of gout, which confined him indoors for three long, 
 weary months ; yet in the midst of all his pain and suffering he 
 wrote in July of the great mercies he had received from the hand 
 of God, and by the bounty of his friends to the Orphanage and 
 the College. It was at the close of this protracted attack of 
 bodily pain that he was privileged to preach the sermon which 
 forms No. 1,000 of his published discourses. Its second title is 
 "Bread Enough and to Spare," and it is based on Luke xv. 17, 
 It was the delight of the pastor to receive from a friend five thou- 
 sand dollars on behalf of the College, in honor of the event just 
 named. Who would not pray that God's blessing may rest for- 
 ever on that friend ? 
 
 Taking the advice of his friends, Mr. Spurgeon proceeded to 
 the Continent for a short tour and for rest. His observant eye 
 was constantly discovering some passing beauty which his ever- 
 ready pencil recorded in his note-book, a book which contains a 
 store of incidents which serve to enrich his conversation and fill 
 up his magazine. Accordingly, taking Jersey and Guernsey on 
 
94 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. II. SPURGEON. 
 
 his way, we find before the end of the year an interesting article 
 from his pen, on St. Brelade's Bay. 
 
 As the cold raw winter weather set in, the beloved pastor was 
 urged by all his friends to seek a warmer climate. Illness in a 
 severe form again overtook him, on the second day of which he 
 received a telegram from Boston, in America, offering most liberal 
 terms to him if he would go to that country and deliver a series 
 of lectures. So large a sum would have been a strong tempta- 
 tion to most men, but not so to this minister of Jesus Christ, 
 whose prompt reply was, " he had neither time nor strength to 
 go to America." Instead of journeying westward for personal 
 gain, he started on a pilgrimage to sunny Italy and the South of 
 France, taking what he designated a Scriptural holiday, a forty 
 days' rest. Accordingly, leaving gloomy December in England, 
 he spent that month in visiting Pompeii, Venice, Florence, Rome, 
 Naples, and France, — a fitting holiday after having completed 
 nineteen years' labor in London. 
 
 In taking a survey of the work of the year, for the preface to 
 his magazine, Mr. Spurgeon sums up the record by saying it had 
 been a year of spiritual drought in the churches generally, but 
 at the Tabernacle they had witnessed much prosperity, and the 
 trained pastors who had gone out from them had been also blessed 
 in like manner. Eleven students were appointed to pastoral duty 
 during 1872. During this year, also, Archibald G. Brown opened 
 his large Tabernacle in the East of London. It is a building for 
 extent and variety of Christian work second only to Mr. Spur- 
 geon's. Mr. Brown is one of the most successful students trained 
 in the Pastors' College. 
 
 In the hope that the genial sunshine of Southern Europe, in 
 which he had passed out of the old into the new year, would have 
 established his health for renewed efforts, the pastor appeared 
 once more at the Tabernacle, and at the church meeting in Jan- 
 uary, 1873, he had the gratification of finding one hundred and 
 thirty-five new members to be received into fellowship, thus dem- 
 onstrating that there was life in the church, though its chief pastor 
 had been away. The cold, raw, damp weather continuing with 
 the new year, he was again prevented from leaving his own home, 
 
RESULTS OF OVERWORK. 95 
 
 and for many weeks he was unable to preach on the Sabbath. 
 How great a trial that silence was to the preacher, none so well 
 knew as himself. Sorrowing greatly at the privation both to 
 himself and his church, he yet submitted without murmur to the 
 will of God. 
 
 Shut in from the outer world, he had an opportunity of survey- 
 ing the progress of the work which was being done at the Taber- 
 nacle. The College reports exhibited the outposts which had 
 already been reached by the students, one of whom was laboring 
 to set forth Jesus as the only Saviour of sinners, in China ; one 
 in Sydney, one in Tasmania, one in Adelaide, two in Madrid, one 
 in Ontario, one in Ohio, one in Philadelphia, one in South Africa, 
 and one in Toronto. What a vast prospect of work to be done 
 in the intermediate spaces between each one of those missionary 
 agents and the Tabernacle ! 
 
 At the Annual Church Meeting held in February, 1873, the 
 total membership was reported at 4,417. The losses during the 
 previous year had been 263, the additions were 571, leaving a 
 net increase for the year of 308 living members. Well may both 
 pastor and deacons rejoice at the presence of the Lord God in 
 their midst. At this date came a renewed application from the 
 United States to come over and lecture. Note the preacher's 
 reply: " An American firm offer Mr. Spurgeon twenty-five thou- 
 sand dollars to deliver twenty-five lectures in that country, at one 
 thousand dollars each, and further arrangements can be made for 
 one hundred lectures. Although the remuneration offered is very 
 far beyond anything our beloved people are likely to give us, we 
 prefer to have the gospel according to our Lord's words preached 
 freely, rather than to use the Lord's time for earning money for 
 our own purse." Well done, Pastor Spurgeon ! ! ! 
 
 Always sympathizing with the oppressed, it did not surprise 
 any one to learn that the Fisk Jubilee Singers received an early 
 invitation from the pastor and deacons to give one of their con- 
 certs in the Metropolitan Tabernacle. It would be difficult to 
 determine which party experienced the most delight, the colored 
 singers to go and see and hear Mr. Spurgeon speak in his own 
 church, or his congregation to welcome, with all the heartiness 
 
g6 LIFE AND LABORS UF C. H. SPURGEOX. 
 
 they could manifest, those Hberated slaves, whose vocal powers 
 had by anticipation preceded their visit, to insure them a hearty 
 greeting. It was indeed a pleasant hour, that which introduced 
 the singers to the vast mass of people which crowded every inch 
 of space in the building to hear them. Indeed, hundreds had to 
 go away, unable to crowd in anywhere within sight or hearing. 
 And the collection which followed it was right royal in amount. 
 They cleared about eleven hundred dollars for their University by 
 singing at the Tabernacle alone. The effect on the mind of the 
 pastor himself, he thus describes in his own magazine : " The 
 melodies were rendered by our emancipated friends in a manner 
 altogether unique : we have never heard anything like it ; pure 
 nature untrammelled by rule, pouring forth its notes as freely as 
 the wild birds in the spring. The people were charmed: our 
 intercourse with the choir was very pleasant." As soon as the 
 singers arrived in London on their second tour, they received an 
 earnest invitation to repeat their visit to the Metropolitan Taber- 
 nacle. 
 
 As the practical pastor was again charged with being too per- 
 sonal in preaching, in one of his articles on " Personal preaching," 
 Mr. Spurgeon remarks : " We aim at speaking personally and 
 pointedly to all our hearers; and they are the best judges whether 
 we accomplish it, and also as to whether we use language at which 
 any man ought to be offended. Very seldom does a week occur 
 without our receiving letters from persons unknown to us, thank- 
 ing us for advising or comforting them in our sermons, the parties 
 evidently being under the impression that some friend had com- 
 municated their cases to us, though, indeed, we knew nothing 
 whatever of them. Frequently w^e have had apologetic notes 
 acknowledging the justice of the rebuke, and correcting us in 
 some minor details of a description supposed to refer to a special 
 sinner; whereas we were unaware of the writer's existence. We 
 have ceased to regard these incidents as curious, for we remember 
 that the Word of God is ' a discerner of the thoughts and intents 
 of the heart.' " Strange and interesting facts have often reached 
 him. At the commencement of Mr. Spurgeon's ministry he related 
 having received a letter from a poor shoemaker during the week, 
 
RESULTS OF OVERWORK. 9/ 
 
 who said that he was the man who had kept his shop open on the 
 Sunday, who had sold only one pair of old boots for one-and- 
 eightpence, and that, having broken the Sabbath for so small a 
 sum and been so publicly exposed, none but God could have told 
 the facts to the preacher, he had resolved to break the Sabbath 
 no longer. He became converted, and joined the church ; but 
 the preacher had no knowledge of the man till he wrote about 
 himself. 
 
 During the spring weather of '73 Mr. Spurgeon did not recover 
 his accustomed health, neither did he give up his accustomed 
 work, excepting when really unable to leave home. At the end 
 of April he preached one of the annual sermons before the Wes- 
 leyan Missionary Society, in Great Queen-street Chapel, to the 
 largest congregation ever assembled on a similar occasion, at the 
 close of which the collection reached an amount greater than had 
 ever before been made for that object. 
 
 In June he took part in the services connected with laying 
 memorial stones for a new Baptist chapel near his own residence 
 at Clapham. He stated that it had long been in his heart to build 
 a chapel in that locality, and he had laid aside one thousand dol- 
 lars to commence the work, but all his efforts had failed. He was 
 glad that others were doing what he had not been able to do. 
 He had himself been delighted that year to preach for the Wes- 
 leyans, and to speak for the Independents ; but he urged all 
 Baptists residing in that district to give to the church which 
 intended to assemble in that new erection. In the «arly part of 
 the year Mr. Spurgeon had made a collection at the Tabernacle 
 on behalf of the new Surrey Chapel for Mr. Newman Hall, which 
 reached five hundred dollars. 
 
 In taking a survey of the literary work of " The Sword and the 
 Trowel" for the year, the editor in his preface for 1873 remarks: 
 " I have been hunting up topics of interest with no small degree 
 of anxiety, sending forth the magazine with earnest desires to win 
 a hearing and to produce good results of all kinds. I edit the 
 periodical most conscientiously, giving it my personal attention, 
 and I spare no pains to make it as good as I can." 
 
 The applications made to the College for pastors during 1873 
 
 7 
 
98 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 were more numerous than had before been made. Thirty of these 
 were supphed. Out of that number two were sent to Spain, one 
 to India, one to China, one to Prince Edward Island, one to 
 Ireland, and one to Scotland. On the 14th of October the foun- 
 dation-stone of the new College buildings was laid by the Presi- 
 dent. It was a day which will long be remembered with delight. 
 The people on the occasion gave five thousand dollars, and the 
 students gave fifteen hundred more ; but the chief joy of the day 
 was the whole-day prayer-meeting which the students held, that 
 the divine blessing might rest on the work, and upon all connected 
 with the College. 
 
IX. 
 
 TRIALS AND DELIVERANCES. 
 
There is a trying word and a delivering word, and we must bear the one till 
 the other comes to us. How meekly Joseph endured his afflictions, and with 
 what fortitude he looked forward to tlie clearing of his slandered character! 
 It will be well if, under similar trials, we are able to imitate him and come forth 
 from the furnace as thoroughly purified as he was. and as well prepared to bear 
 the yet sterner ordeal of honor and power. — C. H. Spurgeon. 
 
TRIALS AND DELIVERANCES. 
 
 THE year 1874 presented but few varieties in the life and 
 work of the pastor at the Tabernacle. Of blessings he had 
 many, and of trials not a few ; but the work prospered. In May 
 the funds of the Orphanage ran dry, and, as there was urgent 
 need of five hundred dollars for each week, earnest efforts were 
 required. On May the 8th all the debts were paid ; but the bank 
 was empty. There was urgent pleading with God, and on that 
 very day two thousand dollars was sent in, so that the orphans 
 were thereby provided for during another month. In October 
 the funds were exhausted again ; and again, in answer to prayer 
 and effort, the needed relief came, though the faith of all was 
 tried. At that time the pastor was suffering greatly, both in his 
 person and family ; his body was weary with rheumatic pains, his 
 dear wife a suffering invalid, the care of a church of four thou- 
 sand eight hundred members rested upon him, and the cry of the 
 orphans was heard for bread ; in the midst of all, his faith failed 
 not ; he wrote his assurance that the Lord will provide. Amongst 
 other kind of help which came, Messrs. Cory, of Cardiff, sent for 
 the good of the Orphanage five thousand dollars. 
 
 The annual meetings for prayer in February, the yearly church 
 meeting for reporting the progress of the several agencies at work, 
 and the annual supper in March for the benefit of the College, 
 were each times of refreshing and blessing, in both spiritual and 
 material things. In May the congregation at the Tabernacle had 
 
I02 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 the delightful satisfaction of hearing the Rev. George Miiller, of 
 Bristol, preach to them. After carrying on his wonderful Orphan 
 Houses near that city for forty years, he felt constrained to go 
 forth on a preaching pilgrimage, to declare the goodness of God, 
 and to try and stimulate the faith of the Lord's people, and Mr. 
 Spurgeon's church shared in his ministrations. It was a fitting 
 cordial welcome to a man who was the very embodiment of that 
 faith by which Mr. Spurgeon's Orphanage had been erected and 
 maintained hitherto ; and Mr. MuUer's discourse embodied much 
 of his own personal experience of what God had done by and 
 through him, in erecting Orphan Houses on Ashley Downs, free 
 from debt, in which two thousand children are daily fed, clothed, 
 and educated. To the long record of God's faithful ones, written 
 by the Apostle Paul, must be added what was done by the faith 
 of George Miiller and his helpers at Bristol, and b}' Pastor C. H. 
 Spurgeon and his helpers at Stockwell. 
 
 Having had repeated invitations to preach in Bedford, in what 
 is known as the New Bunyan Meeting, Mr. Spurgeon visited that 
 place in the summer of 1874, but the crowds which assembled to 
 hear him made it impossible for any building for public worship 
 to hold them. Mr. Howard kindly met the people's wants, and 
 had one of his large implement sheds fitted up for worship, and 
 there the voice of praise and prayer ascended to heaven from 
 thousands of voices. It was a memorable day for Bedford, which 
 the people will not let pass from their recollection. 
 
 In the summer of 1874 a great cry was raised against Mr. Spur- 
 geon for a public utterance in favor of smoking tobacto, which 
 was made use of by the press and jealous rivals to lessen his 
 influence. In his own defence he wrote as follows : — 
 
 " I demur altogether and most positively to the statement that 
 to smoke tobacco is in itself a sin. It may become so, as any 
 other indifferent action may, but as an action it is no sin. To- 
 gether with hundreds of thousands of my fellow-Christians, I have 
 smoked ; and with them I am under the condemnation of living 
 in habitual sin, if certain accusers are to be believed. As I would 
 not knowingly Hve even in the smallest violation of the law of 
 God, and sin is the transgression of the law, I will not own to sin 
 
TRIALS AND DELIVERANCES. IO3 
 
 when I am not conscious of it. There is growing up in society 
 a Pharisaic system which adds to the commands of God the pre- 
 cepts of men ; to that system I will not yield for an hour. The 
 preservation of my liberty may bring upon me the upbraidings of 
 many of the good, and the sneers of the self-righteous : but I 
 shall endure both with serenity, so long as I feel clear in my 
 conscience before God. 
 
 " The expression ' smoking to the glory of God ' standing alone 
 has an ill sound, and I do not justify it; but in the sense in which 
 I employed it I still stand to it. No Christian should do anything 
 in which he cannot glorify God — and this may be done, according 
 to Scripture, in eating and drinking and the common actions of 
 life. When I have found intense pain relieved, a weary brain 
 soothed, and calm, refreshing sleep obtained by a cigar, I have 
 felt grateful to God, and have blessed His name; this is what I 
 meant, and by no means did I use sacred words triflingly. If 
 through smoking I had wasted an hour of my time ; if I had 
 stinted my gifts to the poor; if I had rendered my mind less 
 vigorous, I trust I should see my fault and turn from it: but he 
 who charges me with these things shall have no answer but my 
 forgiveness. 
 
 " I am told that my open avowal will lessen my influence, and 
 my reply is that if I have gained any influence through being 
 thought different from what I am, I have no wish to retain it. I 
 will do nothing upon the sly, and nothing about which I have a 
 doubt. 
 
 " I am most sorry that prominence has been given to what 
 seems to me so small a matter — and the last thing in my thoughts 
 would have been the mention of it from the pulpit ; but I was 
 placed in such a position that I must either by my silence plead 
 guilty to living in sin, or else bring down upon my unfortunate 
 self the fierce rebukes of the anti-tobacco advocates by speaking 
 out honestly. I chose the latter; and although I am now the 
 target for these worthy brethren, I would sooner endure their 
 severest censures than sneakingly do what I could not justify, and 
 earn immunity from their criticism by tamely submitting to be 
 charged with sin in an action which my conscience allows." 
 
I04 Llt'E AND LABORS OF C. li. SPURGEON. 
 
 This is a noble reply, but let no one for a moment suppose that 
 Pastor Spurgeon advocates the general use of tobacco. By no 
 means. And let his accusers remember that indulgence in expen- 
 sive dress, or eating and drinking, is not allowable to themselves 
 because they refrain from the use of tobacco. Those who would 
 wash the disciples' feet should do so with clean hands. 
 
 One of the most gratifying services at the Tabernacle, during 
 the year 1874, was that held on Monday, September 21, when the 
 pastor's heart was delighted by admitting both of his sons into 
 church fellowship by public baptism. One of Mr. Spurgeon's sis- 
 ters has long been a member there, and now his two boys, Charles 
 and Thomas, have both a name and a place in the church. Before 
 they had been in communion with the church a year they began 
 to address a small congregation at Bolingbroke Road, Clapham, 
 on the Sabbath day. One of the brothers took the service in the 
 morning, and the other in the evening : thus they were both, in 
 their eighteenth year, following in the footsteps of their father and 
 their ancestors for several generations. May the blessing of their 
 fathers' God rest upon and ever abide with them. 
 
 More numerous than ever before were the applications for 
 pastors from the Tabernacle College. During the year 1874 the 
 new buildings had been opened, and they had been found all 
 that could be desired for the convenience, comfort, and health of 
 the men. The educational staff had been increased, and acfditional 
 facilities for extending the knowledge of the students afforded. 
 Thirty-seven students were located during the year, three of whom 
 were sent to the United States, and one to Scotland. Up to the 
 end of 1874 the total number of students who had gone out as 
 pastors was three hundred and twenty. 
 
 Probably no preacher of the present day has received more 
 tokens of affectionate regard, both private and public, personal 
 and collective, than Pastor Spurgeon. These might be mentioned 
 by the score, but it will suffice to allude to one special instance. 
 
 When Mr. Spurgeon had completed his pastorate of twenty-one 
 years, some of his friends resolved to mark their sense of the value 
 of his services by a present of ten thousand dollars and a writ- 
 ten memorial. On hearing of what was contemplated, the pastor 
 
TRIALS AND DELIVERANCES. IO5 
 
 declined the financial part of the proposal, suggesting that their 
 gifts find their way to the collection at the College supper. 
 
 At the annual meeting of church-members held on Jan. 5, 1875, a 
 very elegantly written testimonial, expressive of their devout grati- 
 tude to God for having sustained C. H. Spurgeon through twenty- 
 one years of faithful, loving, and eminently successful ministry, 
 beyond all precedent in the history of the Lord's people, was pre- 
 sented. It was a superb and elaborate piece of penmanship, and 
 in the border were inserted correct photographic portraits both of 
 Mr. Spurgeon and his brother James, the co-pastor. The portraits 
 will remain as permanent representations of the two brothers in 
 the prime of life. 
 
 The voice of praise and thanksgiving was the foremost theme 
 in " The Sword and the Trowel " for January, 1875. The subject 
 was "Twenty Years of Published Sermons." In an article extend- 
 ing to several pages the Editor gives a brief history of the way his 
 sermons first began to appear in print, followed by a glance at 
 their continuance during a period of twenty years. He informs 
 us that as a youth he took great delight in reading the sermons 
 of Joseph Irons as they appeared ; and he even then conceived 
 in his heart that one day he might have a penny pulpit of his own. 
 The dream of his boyhood has been realized, and he gratefully 
 acknowledges the hand of God in permitting him to issue one 
 sermon at the least every week, without a single omission, for 
 the last twenty years. This is a privilege and an honor no other 
 man in England has attained to ; and the plain, homely, earnest 
 manner in which the gospel has been set forth in those sermons 
 is set down by the author as the chief cause of their continuance. 
 Commencing with a sale of from one to two thousand weekly, they 
 rapidly increased till the sale was ten thousand each issue. For 
 many years past the sermons have maintained a steady and per- 
 manent sale of twenty-five thousand copies. There is a twofold 
 marvel connected with these sermons : the first is that the work 
 should have been continued so many years without interruption ; 
 the second, that the sale should have steadily progressed till they 
 had reached so large a weekly demand, and that it has been so 
 many years maintained at that large number. The sermons are 
 
I06 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. IL STURGEON. 
 
 to be found in every country in the world, and at a moderate 
 computation they have been read during the past twenty years 
 by milHons of people. Many hundreds of persons have been 
 converted by their perusal, and thousands of preachers have at 
 various times either used them in their published form, or adapted 
 them to the congregations to which they have been preached by 
 others than their author. One Scotch minister translates the ser- 
 mons into Gaelic, and from his Gaelic translates them back into 
 English, by which process he preserves the thoughts, but totally 
 loses the phraseology used by Mr. Spurgeon; and in that form 
 preaches or reads them to his people. 
 
 One gentleman had copies handsomely bound and presented to 
 every crowned head in Europe. A smaller volume was sent, post 
 free, to every student in all the English universities, and to all the 
 members of both houses of Parliament. That gentleman alone 
 gave away two hundred and fifty thousand copies of the sermons, 
 and superintended their distribution himself 
 
 With such a history, well may the preacher close his own 
 account of his sermon-publishing labors with the words of the 
 Psalmist : " Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me 
 bless His holy name ! " 
 
 But however jubilant the tone of the first article in the January 
 magazine, it was not long before the pastor realized how uncertain 
 were earthly joys, and how soon they are mixed with sorrows. 
 Naturally buoyant in spirit, he was preparing to escape from the 
 severe cold of January by a visit to Mentone, where a genial sun 
 shines all the year round. Gout and rheumatic pains came on with 
 such rapidity and severity that removal from home was impossible. 
 His condition will be best described in his own words : — 
 
 " Just preparing for a journey to Mentone when gout and rheu- 
 matism came on with such rapidity and severity that removal was 
 impossible. Feet and legs became useless except for suffering. 
 We had much to do, but were not permitted even to think of the 
 many plans of usefulness open. Dr. Palfrey attended, and inti- 
 mated that the disease springs from mental causes, and can be as 
 fairly reckoned upon when an extra pressure of care or labor 
 occurs as the tides may be calculated by the moon. 
 
TRIALS AND DELIVERANCES. IO7 
 
 " We have received many prescriptions for the gout, and should 
 have been dead long ago if we had tried half of them. We are 
 grateful, but cannot utilize them. The best remedy is to prevent 
 our having any anxiety about the College, Orphanage, or the Col- 
 portage. If the funds keep up, and the works are carried on, and 
 the Lord's blessing rests upon the enterprises, they will be better 
 to us than all the lotions, liniments, specifics, and elixirs put to- 
 gether, with twenty sorts of magnetisms thrown in." 
 
 After many weeks of intense suffering relief came ; and a brief 
 holiday for change was followed by a renewed application to the 
 numerous daily duties of his active life. Resuming his Sunday 
 morning preaching, he found Mr. Ira D. Sankey one of his audit- 
 ors, and at the close of the service the American evangelist led 
 the congregation by singing one of his favorite hymns, " Ring the 
 Bells of Heaven." Mr. Spurgeon shortly afterwards manifested his 
 sympathy with the work carried on by Messrs. Moody and Sankey 
 by inviting them to take part in the College anniversary, and by his 
 delivering addresses for them at the noonday prayer-meetings, 
 and by preaching. Mr. Moody visited Mr. Spurgeon at his resi- 
 dence at Clapham, and a/ter dinner learned from his host some 
 lessons of practical encouragement in his great evangelistic work. 
 Looking over the portraits of Mr. Spurgeon's twin boys, — for 
 which they both sat annually from infancy till they were seventeen 
 years old, to show their gradual growth, — Mr. Moody has since 
 used the fact as a new illustration for his sermons. 
 
 At the annual meeting of the British and Foreign Bible Society, 
 held in Exeter Hall, Mr. Spurgeon moved the adoption of the reso- 
 lution of thanks to the committee and officers ; and in doing so 
 stated very plainly that the distribution of the Bible was the best 
 remedy against infidelity, ritualism, and all other evils ; and the 
 study of its pages tended to bring all Christians nearer to each 
 other. He prefaced his address by relating an incident which 
 occurred to him three years previously, which is as follows. Sit- 
 ting in the Colosseum at Rome with two or three friends, he said: 
 " Is it not glorious to look at this old ruin and see how Christ has 
 conquered here ; how all these ruins tell what desolations He hath 
 made in the earth ; how He breaketh the bow and scattereth the 
 
108 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. IL SPURGEON. 
 
 spear in sunder? So I said, * Let us have a tune,' and we sang 
 
 the verse, — 
 
 'Jesus' tremendous name 
 Has put our foes to flight ; 
 Jesus, the meek, the humble Iamb, 
 A lion is in fight.' 
 
 Up came two strangers, and said, 'What is that you are singing? 
 Let us join you.' One was an American and the other an EngUsh 
 clergyman, and we sang together the next verse, — 
 
 ' By all hell's host withstood. 
 We all hell's host o'erthrow ; 
 And conquering them through Jesus' blood, 
 We still to conquer go.' 
 
 And so we shall mark our track by the ruin of our adversaries; 
 they shall only be remembered by the place which they once 
 inhabited, which shall be a desolation and the habitation of the 
 bittern for ever and ever." 
 
 Before closing his address, he related the following anecdote: 
 " I have very seldom found it to be a lost thing to give a present 
 of a Testament. I was greatly astonished about a month ago. A 
 cabman drove me home, and when I paid him his fare, he said : 
 ' A long time since I drove you last, sir ! ' ' But,' said I, ' I do not 
 recollect you ! ' ' Well,' he said, ' I think it is fourteen years ago; 
 but,' he said, 'perhaps you will know this Testament!' pulling 
 one out of his pocket. 'What,' I sair^, 'did I give you that?' 
 ' Oh, yes,' he said, ' and you spoke t'^ me about my soul, and 
 nobody had done that before, and I have never forgotten it.' 
 'What,' said I, 'haven't you worn it out?' 'No,' he said, 'I 
 would not wear it out; I have had it bound! ' — and he had kept 
 it very carefully indeed." 
 
 Just at that period Messrs. Moody and Sankey were in the midst 
 of their evangelistic labors in London, and Mr. Spurgeon cheer- 
 fully and heartily encouraged those earnest men of God. Early 
 in May'he preached for Mr. Moody one Friday evening to ten 
 thousand people in Bow-road Hall, on the healing of the deaf and 
 dumb man, as recorded in Mark vii. 24-27. The sermon occu- 
 pied nearly an hour in delivery, and was simple, natural, and prac- 
 
TRIALS AND DELIVERANCES. IO9 
 
 tical, and was listened to with the attention of persons who seemed 
 to be hstening for Hfe. Few of those who were present, and who 
 admired the power of his voice and the vigor of his thoughts, knew 
 that he had spoken for two hours that afternoon to the students of 
 his College. 
 
 A great grief overshadowed the church at the Tabernacle near 
 the end of the month of July, when it was announced that Mrs. 
 Bartlett was seriously ill ; and after only a week's illness the labors 
 of her most loving and useful life were terminated on August 2. 
 On Friday, August 6, a funeral service was held in the Taber- 
 nacle, and the interment took place the same afternoon in Nunhead 
 Cemetery. The suffering pastor bowed submissi\ely to that divine 
 dispensation, knowing that the hand of God was in it. 
 
no LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 PSALM XLI. 
 
 Jesus, poorest of the poor ! 
 
 Man of sorrows ! Child of grief ! 
 Happy they whose bounteous store 
 
 Ministered to Thy relief. 
 
 Jesus, though Thy head is crowned, 
 Crowned with loftiest majesty. 
 
 In Thy members Thou art found 
 Plunged in deepest poverty. 
 
 Happy they who wash Thy feet, 
 Visit Thee in Thy distress ! 
 
 Honor great, and labor sweet, 
 For Thy sake the saints to bless ! 
 
 They who feed Thy sick and faint, 
 For Thyself a banquet find ; 
 
 They who clothe the naked saint. 
 Round Thy loins the raiment bind. 
 
 Thou wilt keep their soul alive, 
 
 From their foes protect their head; 
 
 Languishing, their strength revive. 
 And in sickness make their bed. 
 
 Thou wilt deeds of love repay ; 
 
 Grace shall generous hearts reward 
 Here on earth, and in the day 
 
 When they meet their reigning Lord. 
 
 C. H. Spurgeon 
 
X. 
 
 DEVISING LIBERAL THINGS. 
 
Let not your zeal evaporate in a mei ' mist of pious talk, let it flow in streams 
 of practical usefulness. Love the brethren of Him who loved you. If there 
 be a Mephibosheth anywhere who is lame or halt, help him for that Jonathan's 
 sake whose love to us surpasscth the love of women. If there be a poor tried 
 believer, weep with him, and bear his cross for the sake of Him who wept for 
 you and carried the painful burden of your sins. — C. H. Spurgeon. 
 
DEVISING LIBERAL THINGS. 
 
 THE work of Mrs. Bartlett at the Tabernacle has been one of 
 the greatest blessings of the place. That lady, born in the 
 country in 1807, was converted to God at the age of twelve, and 
 immediately she began to persuade others around her to give their 
 hearts to God. She became an earnest and devoted praying 
 teacher in the Sunday-school, and soon saw some of the children 
 turning to God. She then began to visit the villages around her 
 house, and was the means of doing much good in that way. After 
 her marriage, and with a family claiming her attention, she came 
 to London, and, attending New Park-street Chapel, good Deacon 
 Olney invited her, in 1859, to take charge of the senior class con- 
 nected with the Sunday-school, which had then only three in 
 attendance. Suffering from heart disease, she consented to take 
 the class for only one month, during which time it had increased 
 to fourteen. Supported in her work, her strong faith in God led 
 her to say, " God has given me strength for one month. He will 
 surely give me strength for another." In 1861, when the new 
 Tabernacle was opened, the class had increased to fifty. Such 
 was the influence of her earnest, loving words on the young 
 women, that soon they numbered a hundred, then two and three, 
 and in a short time five hundred attended her services every Sab- 
 bath day, and many of them came also on Tuesday and Friday; 
 whilst at her own house, which Mr. Spurgeon called the " House 
 of Mercy," she was constantly receiving anxious inquirers after 
 salvation. The blessing of God so abundantly rested upon her 
 labors, that fully one hundred of her members joined the church 
 
 8 
 
114 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON, 
 
 annually. They generously collected and gave thousands of dollars 
 to the funds of the Pastors' College, besides contributing to relieve 
 the wants of the poor in the locality. 
 
 During the year 1875 twenty-nine of the students from the 
 Pastors' College were sent into the field of ministerial labor, three 
 of whom went into the work abroad, one to Rio Janeiro, one to 
 San Domingo, and one to China. 
 
 Before the year closed, a change from the damp cold of the 
 November fogs in London to the genial sunshine at Mehtojie, in 
 South Europe, was a necessity for the overworked pastor. Whilst . 
 resting in the sunny South, Mr. Spurgeon wrote some pleasant' 
 Recollections of Dr. Brock. Dining one day at Mr. Spiirgeon's 
 house. Father Olney was present, and Dr. Brock stated that he 
 had preached at Park-street Chapel once or twice when a student 
 at Stepney College, but he supposed he was not man enough for 
 them, as he was not invited to succeed Dr. Rippon. The good 
 deacon remarked that the people were much struck with him, but 
 he himself was not in office in those days, so had not dared to 
 interfere with the august authorities then in power. " See how all 
 things are determined by a superintending Providence," replied 
 the Doctor; "for if the Park-street people had chosen me, where 
 would our friend Spurgeon have come to?" 
 
 On another occasion Dr. Brock and Mr. Spurgeon were dining 
 together at the mansion of a beloved friend in Regent's Park, 
 when the Orphanage building was in progress, and money was 
 wanted which was not in hand. Mr. Spurgeon, suffering from 
 feeble health, still expressed his strong faith in God that the 
 money would come to hand in due time. Just as the dinner was 
 ended the servant entered the room with a telegram from his 
 private secretary, announcing that an unknown donor had sent 
 ^ five thousand dollars for the Orphanage. Dr. Brock immediately 
 rose and poured forth his utterances of gratitude in the most 
 joyful manner, and they all united in prayer on their knees to 
 magnify the Lord. 
 
 About the same time certain newspapers published reports that 
 some sixty Methodist students were yearly received into the classes 
 of the Pastors' College. This is noticed to give an opportunity 
 
DEVISING LIBERAL THINGS. II 5 
 
 for Mr. .Spurgeon's reply, which was in these words : " We have 
 never said anything of the kind, nor is it true. We shall not regret 
 if it turns out to be a prophecy. If Methodists improve into 
 Baptists, we shall not lament it ; but we do not expect it. The 
 Church of England has been flirting with the Wesleyans, but we 
 have done nothing of the kind ; we have been too busy seeking 
 the conversion of the ungodly to have had any time to bait traps 
 for members of any other denominations." This reply may be 
 taken as a general answer to other false reports which sensational 
 editors are too fond of printing in their papers. 
 
 At the annual meeting of church members it was reported that 
 510 had been added to the church during the year 1875, that 208 
 had removed, leaving the total of church members at 4,813, being 
 an increase of 136 on the year. 
 
 The annual meeting of the Colportage Association reported that 
 forty-seven men were employed in forty-three districts, and that 
 $22,075 ^^^^ been received for books supplied by that agency. 
 
 The weekly offerings at the Tabernacle for 1875, '^^ behalf of 
 the Pastors' College, were reported to be $9,375. 
 
 On March ist a very lively, loving, and enthusiastic meeting of 
 the collectors was held at the Orphanage, when one thousand 
 dollars was paid in, and the orphans sang like cherubs, and 
 looked as bright and cheerful as the morning. The meeting was 
 interesting in other respects, as will be seen by the following 
 extract: "The Rev. John Spurgeon, Charles H. Spurgeon, and 
 Thomas Spurgeon — grandfather, father, and son — addressed 
 the meeting. The grandsire spoke of twenty years ago, when 
 C. H. Spurgeon preached at his grandfather's — James Spurgeon's 
 jubilee, and three generations of their family were present on that 
 occasion. He blessed God that as the older generations had gone 
 new ones had arisen. We all joined in his gratitude, and the 
 more so when the grandson proved by his cool, clear delivery, and 
 lively, warm-hearted manner, that he would worthily sustain the 
 family name." 
 
 There was a still more interesting gathering at the Orphanage, 
 on June 20th, when a /^te was held to commemorate the anniver- 
 sary of the pastor's birthday. The crowds which attended were 
 
Il6 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 beyond all precedent, and at the evening meeting, presided over 
 by Sir Henry Havelock, five Spurgeons delivered addresses, 
 namely, the Rev. John Spurgeon, the grandfather; his two sons, 
 Charles and James Spurgeon ; and Thomas and Charles, the twin 
 sons of Pastor C. H. Spurgeon. Seldom does a man find himself 
 followed in the ministry by two sons and two grandsons, all living 
 to speak at the same meeting. About one thousand dollars was 
 contributed that day to the funds of the Orphanage, one friend 
 having sent £4.2 (two hundred and ten dollars), so as to give a 
 golden token of his esteem for every year of the pastor's life. 
 The pastor recorded afterwards that his right arm and hand 
 would long remember the thousands of hearty salutations he 
 had received that day. 
 
 It will be recollected that some twenty-five years before, an ap- 
 pointment was made with Dr. Angus, of London, to meet a young 
 man at Cambridge, with the intention of arranging for the young 
 man to become a student of the Baptist College in London. By 
 a very remarkable omission of duty, the college tutor and the 
 young man did not meet on that day, and the young man did not 
 enter a college. Now that young man has a college of his own, 
 in which some of the most able and useful ministers in England 
 have been trained, and about forty new Baptist churches have 
 been raised in London and its suburbs solely by the students sent 
 forth from the Pastors' College. On March 17, 1876, Dr. Angus, 
 who still presides over the Regent's Park Baptist College, went 
 over with his students to pay a fraternal visit to the Pastors' Col- 
 lege, and a very pleasant day was thus spent together. Both 
 students and tutors were hearty in their greetings. The Taber- 
 nacle men escorted their guests over the College and rooms at the 
 Tabernacle, and many new acquaintances were made, which will 
 surely ripen into enduring friendship when they meet one another 
 on the field of service. The addresses delivered on the occasion 
 were hearty, solid, and well received, and the social and Christian 
 intercourse thus opened will be a blessing to both colleges. 
 
 Another form of helpful service at the Tabernacle is an annual 
 gathering of the parents of the children in the Sunday-schools. 
 These schools are conducted with so much energy, wisdom, and 
 
DEVISING LIBERAL THINGS. II7 
 
 efficiency, that they have no need to resort to treats and prizes to 
 induce the children to come. They attend in multitudes ; and the 
 money usually spent in treats and prizes is devoted to give the 
 parents of the children a free tea, which brings them into personal 
 contact with Mr. Spurgeon and the teachers, and so a mutual sym- 
 pathy and affection is awakened and sustained, and the parents 
 help the teachers in their work. 
 
 The Twelfth Annual Conference of the Pastors' College was held 
 during the week commencing on Monday, April 3d. It was a time 
 of blessing and encouragement to all who took part in the pro- 
 ceedings. The inaugural address of Mr. Spurgeon, based upon 
 the clause in the creed, " I believe in the Holy Ghost," was able, 
 lucid, and instructive. During the conference, Mr. Phillips gave 
 his annual supper, at wdiich the spontaneous gifts to the College 
 reached ten thousand dollars. In writing brief notes of that con- 
 ference Mr. Spurgeon adds : " Our brain refuses to dictate more. 
 If our friends would earnestly ask for us more health and more 
 grace we should be deeply grateful." 
 
 Deeply did Mr. Spurgeon feel the need of prayer at that time; 
 for the illness which he felt coming on lasted for three months, 
 and was to him and to his church a heavy loss and severe trial. 
 The patient pastor poured forth his complaint in the first article 
 in his magazine for May, under the title, " Laid Aside. Why? " 
 In this touching fragment from his pen he remarks : " When the 
 Lord is using a man for His glory it is singular that He should all 
 of a sudden smite him down and suspend his usefulness. It must 
 be right, but the reason for it does not lie near the surface. How 
 is it that a heart eager for the welfare of men and the glory of God 
 should find itself hampered by a sickly frame, and checked in its 
 utmost usefulness by attacks of painful disease? We may ask the 
 question, if we do so without murmuring; but who shall answer 
 it for us? We are content to leave a thousand mysteries unsolved 
 rather than tolerate a single doubt as to the wisdom and goodness 
 of our Heavenly Father." 
 
 On Lord's-day evening, July i6th, the great Tabernacle was de- 
 serted by its regular attendants, by the special desire of Mr. Spur- 
 geon, who wished to throw open the place for a free service to 
 
Il8 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. U. SPURGEON. 
 
 strangers. None of the seat-holders were present, — or not more 
 than half a dozen, — which Mr. Spurgeon considered "splendid 
 discipline, worthy of the best-trained army, — the discipline of 
 love " : and he very sincerely thanked the seat-holders for vacat- 
 ing their places so unanimously that the poor might hear the gos- 
 pel preached to them in comfort, without even a collection. "The 
 Tabernacle was as full as a barrel packed with herrings," and the 
 heat was intense. Much prayer was offered at various meetings ; 
 and the officers had a baptism of fire from heaven in offering, 
 prayer before the doors were opened. They also held three 
 prayer-meetings and an out-door service to the crowds who could 
 not get within the building. Much good was done, many sin- 
 ners were awakened, and additions to the church followed. The 
 experiment was repeated on Sunday, October 22d, three months 
 afterwards ; and this has now become an established service 
 periodically. The object of these evangelistic services is to lay 
 hold of those who inhabit a world outside the Church, ignoring 
 the existence of church or chapel, or even of religion itself. Of 
 these there are multitudes amongst both rich and poor. After 
 each service a number of inquirers come forward, desiring further 
 instruction in matters concerning salvation. 
 
 The weekly baptismal service at the Tabernacle on Monday, 
 June 26, 1876, was one which awakened deep feelings of gratitude 
 in the breast of the pastor. Amongst those who were baptized 
 were three friends who were led to confess the Saviour through 
 the preaching of the pastor's two sons, Charles and Thomas Spur- 
 geon, the first-fruits of their useful ministry. Who could refuse to 
 pray, " God bless the lads " ? 
 
 During half of the month of August Mr. Spurgeon was rambling 
 in Scotland amongst " Highland cattle, sea-gulls, herrings, and 
 heather." He went north in search of rest, was away thirteen 
 days, and had fifty invitations to preach. He yielded four times 
 to the entreaty of friends. On Sabbath, August 13th, he preached 
 at Blairmore to an immense out-door company, gathered from all 
 the surrounding towns. The two services there were happy occa- 
 sions, and much Christian fellowship was shown by the Scotch 
 brethren to the Metropolitan pastor. 
 
DEVISING LIBERAL THINGS. 1 19 
 
 Seeking by all possible means to rescue the perishing, a series 
 of special revival services were commenced in the Tabernacle on 
 Monday, October 30th, conducted by the College students, hoping 
 thereby to benefit the church, which so greatly promotes the use- 
 fulness of the College by its weekly offerings. The services were 
 only intended for one week, but the meetings were seasons of 
 so much blessing that they were continued to November loth, 
 . Various means were used for gathering in the people to hear the 
 Word, and occasionally a band of students resorted to the " high- 
 ways," and by singing and preaching compelled them to come in. 
 Deep earnestness characterized both speakers and hearers, and on 
 every evening the young brethren had to rejoice over some sinners 
 brought to repentance. On Thursday afternoon, November 2d, the 
 students held a fellowship meeting to seek a blessing on them- 
 selves and their work. In the evening Mr. Spurgeon preached to 
 them. The Master was manifestly present, and all were blessed 
 by the service. There were one hundred and ten students in the 
 College when they re-assembled in the autumn. 
 
 On Tuesday, December 12th, Mr. Spurgeon was at Nottingham, 
 and preached two of the opening sermons in Mr. Silverton's new 
 chapel, which he has appropriately named Exeter Hall. It is a 
 building of great capacity, substantial and elegant. It seats two 
 thousand people, yet cost only $23,500, apart from the site. Mr. 
 Spurgeon said of the services of that day: "The giving and the 
 hearing were of the most enthusiastic order, the amount contrib- 
 uted being one thousand dollars." 
 
 At the close of the year 1876 Mr. Spurgeon was assailed by 
 some newspapers in an almost savage manner for a prayer whicli 
 he offered one Sunday morning, that the Lord would preserve 
 peace, and if our rulers would not learn wisdom, to remove them. 
 He did not trouble much about the abuse of the press, knowing 
 that it is only when he exposes evil and injustice that a clamor is 
 raised. Their fierce language was unheeded, for he received a 
 letter from Austria, informing him that the words of his prayer 
 had been translated into German and Servian, and had been 
 printed in most of the newspapers in those languages, the read- 
 ers there rejoicing to think that there was one man in England 
 
120 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 who seemed to comprehend the atrocities suffered by the victims 
 of Turkish barbarism. 
 
 The annual meeting of the College evening classes was held at 
 the Tabernacle on December 22d. By means of these classes two 
 hundred men who are working all day receive such educational 
 advantages as they require ; thus they do not forget the Lord's 
 work. 
 
 During the year, no less than thirty-three students had been 
 appointed to churches, four of whom have gone into the work 
 abroad, — namely, one to Australia, one to New Zealand, one to 
 the Cape of Good Hope, and one to Basle, Switzerland. Very 
 gratifying reports have already been received from many of those 
 new curates of church work. It is deserving of record that no 
 less than sixty Baptist churches in and around London have been, 
 or now are, under the pastoral care of students from the Pastors' 
 College. More than half the number are entirely new churches, 
 raised out of the world, and amongst them are some of the largest 
 and most prosperous churches in the denomination. About 
 twenty students were sent out during the first half of the year 
 1877. 
 
 Several times during the spring of the year 1877 large audiences 
 of merchants and business men assembled in the great hall at 
 the Cannon-street Hotel, and at the Friends' Meeting-house in 
 Bishopsgate Street, to hear addresses from Mr. Spurgeon on ques- 
 tions of commercial morality and personal salvation. About two 
 thousand persons gathered at midday on each occasion to hear 
 the words of faithful warning and affectionate invitation. The 
 addresses which were delivered have been published at one penny 
 each, with the titles " The Claims of God " and " Faith in Christ." 
 
 For more than eighty years the annual sermon before the Lon- 
 don Missionary Society was preached in Rowland Hill's chapel. 
 The last of the series in the old sanctuary was preached in 
 May, 1876. Thereafter the official sermon was expected to be 
 preached in Christ Church, Westminster Road, and Mr. Spurgeon 
 was selected as the preacher of the first sermon of the new series. 
 In the course of the sermon he said some plain things about 
 preachers who discoursed on subjects which were not the gospel 
 
DEVISING LIBERAL THINGS. 121 
 
 of salvation, and sometimes were even opposed to it. A spirit 
 of controversy followed, as is usual, but Mr. Spurgeon wisely left 
 his critics to entertain their own opinions, unquestioned by him- 
 self. 
 
 No minister knows better than Mr. Spurgeon the advantages to 
 a Christian church of having work for every member, and seeing 
 that the work is done. It was no surprise to many of the friends 
 at the Tabernacle when, in the spring of 1877, ^ special mission 
 was inaugurated for those young ladies who have leisure, cul- 
 ture, and refined taste ; hence a flower mission was commenced. 
 Friends in the country send boxes of cut flowers every Wednesday 
 to the Tabernacle, when young ladies arrange them, and append 
 to them appropriate texts from the Bible, and these are immedi- 
 ately distributed, free, to the hospitals in London, where they are 
 welcomed with the utmost delight by the poor afflicted inmates, 
 and many a blessing is invoked on the committee who distribute 
 them as well as on those who donate the flowers. 
 
 The inventive spirit has long been in active exercise at the 
 Tabernacle ; hence the variety of agencies which exist in that 
 church, which are, many of them, unknown in most other church 
 organizations. There is a Baptist Country Mission which pro- 
 vides, under Mr. Spurgeon's direction, young brethren who visit 
 villages and country towns near London, who labor to raise new 
 churches in them. These earnest young men are always ready 
 to enter on any opening by preaching on the village green, or in 
 a cottage or room. There is also the Tabernacle Evangelists' 
 Society, which finds speakers for special services in London, and 
 works in connection with the churches. These do not restrict 
 themselves to any denomination, but cheerfully aid all pastors who 
 are willing to accept their help for a short period, or a series of 
 meetings. They carry on open-air preaching and lodging-house 
 visitation. These are branches of home-missionary work. 
 
 Our social festivals are always occasions of joy, but how gener- 
 ally do they partake largely of selfishness ! Mr. Spurgeon has 
 discovered the way to combine the highest amount of personal 
 happiness with the most extensive benevolence and philanthropy. 
 Who but a man with a large heart and unbounded sympathy could 
 
122 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 have conceived the plan, and so successfully have carried it out, of 
 •-elebrating the anniversary of his birth by devoting aU the gifts 
 which loving friends bestowed, to feed the orphan and relieve 
 distress? 
 
 Still suffering from the weakness which follows long-contin- 
 ued pain, yet no one was more happy than Pastor Spurgeon on 
 June 1$, 1877, when he kept his forty-third birthday. Some 
 thousands of attached personal friends, and friends of the orphan, 
 gathered that day at Stockwell Orphanage. The day was fine; 
 the gentle zephyrs wafted pleasantly over the enclosed grounds, 
 joy sat on every countenance, and a spirit of generosity seemed 
 to animate every breast. The orphans and their guardians met 
 likewise to unite their loving congratulations to the President of 
 the Institution : this feeling of sympathy and kindliness being 
 freely manifested by hosts of Tabernacle worshippers, and by 
 kind friends from the locality. In the afternoon the pastor 
 preached a short sermon in the covered playground from Gen. 
 XXX. 27, in which he testified that " I have learned by experience 
 that the Lord hath blessed me for thy sake," and he acknowledged 
 having received countless blessings through his faithful people. 
 
 An open-air meeting was held in the evening on the grass, 
 presided over by Thomas Blake, Esq., M.P., who was ably sup- 
 ported by the Rev. M'Connell Hussey, a neighboring clergyman, 
 and other friends. In the calm air Mr. Spurgeon sat on the 
 platform without his hat, when his son Charles was called on to 
 speak. He referred to his father's sufferings from the gout, and 
 added, " There he sits without his hat, but he has a will of his 
 own." Immediately the hat went on ; so his own will at once 
 became the will of the multitude, all of whom were his well- 
 wishers. The pastor himself announced that he had that morning 
 received seventy-one letters of congratulation, all containing help 
 for the orphans, besides which one friend had sent him £4;^ (two 
 hundred and fifteen dollars), to tally with the number of his years, 
 and one of the trustees of the institution had sent a similar 
 amount. Mr. Spurgeon commended very highly the management 
 of his brother and Mr. Charlesworth in superintending the Orphan- 
 age, and of the working staff he said he could not wish them 
 
DEVISING LIBERAL THINGS. I23 
 
 to be better, as they would then be too good for work on earth, 
 and he assured the meeting that the business of the Orphanage 
 was so well conducted that it gave the President only the mini- 
 mum of care ; and he sincerely thanked the numerous donors 
 who during the day brought in to the treasurer nearly two thou- 
 sand dollars. 
 
 The month of January, 1879, will long be remembered. Having 
 completed the twenty-fifth year of his pastorate, it was decided 
 to celebrate the occasion, which was termed THE PASTORAL Sil- 
 ver Wedding, by presenting Mr. Spurgeon with a liberal testi- 
 monial. The amount proposed to be raised was twenty-five 
 thousand dollars. A large bazaar was opened, which was well 
 supported, and with the subscription lists the proceeds exceeded 
 the amount originally proposed. 
 
 With his usual large-heartedness he declined accepting the 
 amount for his private benefit. There was one important insti- 
 tution connected with the Tabernacle that needed to be placed 
 on a surer footing, and this was a fitting opportunity for securing 
 that end. The Almshouses, affording homes for nineteen poor 
 widows, required a more permanent support, and all the proceeds 
 of the " Pastoral Silver Wedding Fund " were devoted to this 
 laudable object, thereby insuring its future maintenance. 
 
 May the perusal of the brief personal history of this earnest, 
 unselfish, laborious man stir many to inquire, " Lord, what wilt 
 Thou have ME to do? " 
 
124 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 PSALM XLIV. 
 
 Our ears have heard, O glorious God, 
 
 What work Thou didst of old ; 
 And how the heathen felt Thy rod 
 Our fathers oft have told. 
 
 'T was not Thy people's arm or sword. 
 
 But only Thy right hand 
 Which scattered all the race abhorred, 
 
 And gave Thy tribes their land. 
 
 Thou hadst a favor to the seed 
 
 Which sprang of Jacob's line ; 
 And still on men afore decreed 
 
 Doth love electing shine. 
 
 These shall the heritage obtain. 
 
 And drive out every sin ; 
 E'en death and hell shall rage in vain, — 
 
 They tnust the conquest win. 
 
 From grace alone their strength shall spring, 
 
 Nor bow nor sword can save ; 
 To God alone, their Lord and King, 
 
 Shall all their banners wave. 
 
 Awake, O Lord, of Thine elect, 
 
 Achieve Thy great design ; 
 Thy saints from Thee alone expect 
 
 Salvation's light to shine. 
 
 In Thee alone we make our boasts. 
 
 And glory all day long ; 
 Arise at once, thou Lord of hosts, 
 
 And fill our mouth with song. 
 
 C. H. Spurgeon. 
 
XI. 
 
 THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE. 
 
Living in the midst of the church of God is like sailing down the Nile in a 
 boat. One is charmed with the luxuriance of either bank, and with much that 
 is beautiful immediately around; but, alas! at a little distance on either side 
 lies a vast uncultivated, we had almost said hopeless, desert. Some are at rest 
 because they never look beyond the borders of the church ; but those whose 
 sympathies reach to all humanity will have to carry a life-long^ "burden of the 
 Lord." — C. H. Spurgeon. 
 
THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE. 
 
 THE history of the church of which Mr. Spurgeon is overseer 
 contains a record of information and interest peculiar to 
 itself For two hundred and thirty years it has stood the test, 
 and. some of the best leaders and teachers of Christendom have 
 ministered the Word of life to its members. For many years a 
 pressure was brought to bear upon its present pastor to furnish 
 to the public every possible information regarding its origin, 
 growth, and work. Notwithstanding his arduous labors, he has 
 responded to this legitimate inquiry, and in a book of one hun- 
 dred and twenty pages has sketched the early history of the 
 Baptists, the founding of the church, the successive pastors, and its 
 present participation in the various branches of education, charity, 
 evangelization, and missionary operations with which it stands 
 connected. Thus Mr. Spurgeon prefaces his history of the Metro- 
 politan Tabernacle : — 
 
 When modest ministers submit their sermons to the press they 
 usually place upon the titlepage the words, " Printed by request." 
 We might with emphatic truthfulness have pleaded this apology 
 for the present narrative, for, time- without number, friends from 
 all parts of the world have said : " Have you no book which will 
 tell us all about your work? Could you not give us some printed 
 summary of the Tabernacle history?" Here it is, dear friends, 
 and we hope it will satisfy your curiosity and deepen your kindly 
 interest. 
 
128 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 The best excuse for writing a history is that there is something 
 to tell, and, unless we are greatly mistaken, the facts here placed on 
 record are well worthy of being known. In us they have aroused 
 fervent emotions of gratitude, and in putting them together our 
 faith in God has been greatly established ; we hope, therefore, 
 that in some measure our readers will derive the same benefit. 
 Strangers cannot be expected to feel an equal interest with our- 
 selves, but our fellow members, our co-workers, our hundreds of 
 generous helpers, and the large circle of our hearty sympathizers 
 cannot read our summary of the Lord's dealings with us without 
 stimulus and encouragement. 
 
 Our young people ought to be told by their fathers the won- 
 drous things which God did in their day " and in the old time 
 before them." Such things are forgotten if they are not every 
 now and then rehearsed anew in the ears of fresh generations. 
 " Why should the wonders He hath wrought be lost in silence 
 and forgot?" We feel that we only discharge a duty to the 
 present and coming generations when we use our pen for such a 
 purpose. 
 
 May the reader's belief in prayer be increased, and his reliance 
 upon God strengthened, as he reads our testimony; and should he 
 unhappily be as yet unconverted, may he be led to believe in God, 
 to rest in the sacrifice of Jesus, and cast in his lot with the people 
 of God. 
 
 Brethren who have helped us so long, support our enterprises 
 still by your prayers, your efforts, and your gifts, and so shall our 
 Zion become increasingly a praise in the earth. To the Triune 
 God be praise that for two centuries His mercy has surrounded 
 this portion of His Church, and that " His hand is stretched out 
 still." 
 
 This church was born in stormy times, when mayors and mobs 
 were formidable foes of all who believed in the crown rights of 
 King Jesus. The practice of the Baptists in dipping was spe- 
 cially obnoxious to the bigots who plied hard the argument that 
 it was wicked to immerse persons in cold weather. Mr. Spurgeon 
 goes on with the histor)-, which we abridge : — 
 
THE METROl'OLriAN TAliERNACLE. 1 29 
 
 Moved by the feeling that it was the duty of the State to keep 
 men's consciences in proper order, the Parhament set to work to 
 curb the wicked sectaries, and Dr. Stoughton tells us : " By the 
 Parliamentary ordinance of April, 1645, forbidding any person to 
 preach who was not an ordained minister, in the Presbyterian, 
 or some other reformed church, — all Baptist ministers became 
 exposed to molestation, they being accounted a sect, and not a 
 church. A few months after the date of this law, the Baptists 
 being pledged to a public controversy in London with Edmund 
 Calamy, the Lord Mayor interfered to prevent the disputation, — 
 a circumstance which seems to show that, on the one hand, the 
 Baptists were becoming a formidable body in London, and, on 
 the other hand, that their fellow-citizens were highly exasperated 
 against them." Or, say rather, that the Lord Mayor's views not 
 being those of the Baptists, he feared the sturdy arguments which 
 would be brought to bear upon his friends, and concluded that the 
 wisest course he could take was to prevent the truth being heard. 
 No Lord Mayor, or even King, has any right to forbid free public 
 speech, and when in past ages an official has done so, it is no 
 evidence that his fellow-citizens were of the same mind : Jack-in- 
 office is often peculiarly anxious that the consciences of others 
 should not be injured by hearing views different from his own. 
 
 From some one of the many Baptist assemblies which met in the 
 borough of Southwark, the Tabernacle Church took its rise. Cros- 
 by says : " This people had formerly belonged to one of the most 
 ancient congregations of the Baptists in London, but separated 
 from them, in the year 1652, for some practices which they judged 
 disorderly, and kept together from that time as a distinct body." 
 They appear to have met in private houses, or in such other build- 
 ings as were open to them. Their first pastor was WiLLIAM 
 Rider, whom Crosby mentions as a sufferer for conscience' sake, 
 but he is altogether unable to give any further particulars of his 
 life, except that he published a small tract in vindication of the 
 practice of laying on of hands on the baptized believers. The 
 people were few in number, but had the reputation of being men 
 of solid judgment, deep knowledge, and religious stability, and 
 many of them were also in easy circumstances as to worldly 
 
 9 
 
130 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 goods. Oliver Cromwell was just at that time in the ascendant, 
 and Blake's cannon were sweeping the Dutch from the seas ; but 
 the Presbyterian establishment ruled with a heavy hand, and Bap- 
 tists were under a cloud. In the following year Cromwell was 
 made Protector, the old Parliament was sent about its business, 
 and England enjoyed a large measure of liberty of conscience. 
 
 How long William Rider exercised the ministerial office we are 
 unable to tell, but our next record bears date 1668, when we are 
 informed that, " the pastor having been dead for some time, they 
 unanimously chose Mr. Benjamin Keach to be their elder or 
 pastor." Accordingly he was solemnly ordained with prayer and 
 the laying on of hands in the year 1668, being in the twenty-eighth 
 year of his age. Keach was one of the most notable of the pas- 
 tors of our church. He was continually engaged in preaching in 
 the towns of Buckinghamshire, making Winslow his headquarters ; 
 and so well did the good cause flourish under his zealous labors, 
 and those of others, that the Government quartered dragoons in 
 the district in order to put down unlawful meetings and stamp 
 out dissent. The amount of suffering which this involved, the 
 readers of the story of the Covenanting times in Scotland can 
 readily imagine. A rough soldiery handle with little tenderness 
 those whom they consider to be miserable fanatics. When the 
 favorite court poet was lampooning these poor people and ridi- 
 culing their claims to be guided by the Spirit of God, common 
 soldiers of the Cavalier order were not likely to be much under 
 restraint in their behavior to them. 
 
 Having written a book called " The Child's Instructor," in which 
 he avowed that children are born in sin, and in need of redemp- 
 tion by Jesus Christ, he was publicly tried and convicted. The 
 merciful ( ?) judge pronounced upon the culprit the following 
 sentence : — 
 
 " Benjamin Keach, you are here convicted for writing, printing, 
 and publishing a seditious and schismatical book, for which the 
 court's judgment is this, and the court doth award : That you 
 shall go to jail for a fortnight without bail or mainprize; and 
 the next Saturday to stand upon the pillory at Aylesbury in the 
 open market, from eleven o'clock till one, with a paper upon your 
 
Benjamin Keach. 
 
THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE. 
 
 I^.l 
 
 head with this inscription : Forzvriting, printing, and publishing a 
 schismatical book, entitled The Child s Instructor ; or, a New and 
 Easy Primer. And the next Thursday to stand, in the same 
 manner and for the sam.e time, in the market at Winslow; and 
 then your book shall be openly burnt before your face by the 
 common hangman, in disgrace of you and your doctrine. And 
 you shall forfeit to the King's majesty the sum of twenty pounds, 
 and shall remain in jail until you find sureties for your good 
 behavior, and for your appearance at the next assizes; then to 
 
 Benjamin Keach in the Pillory. 
 
 renonncc your doctrines, and make such public submission as shall 
 be enjoined you. Take him away, keeper ! " 
 
 Keach simply replied, " I hope I shall never renounce the truths 
 which I have written in that book." 
 
 The attempts made to obtain a pardon or a relaxation of this 
 severe sentence were ineffectual ; and the sheriff took care that 
 everything should be punctually performed. 
 
 When he was brought to the pillory at Aylesbury, several of 
 his religious friends and acquaintances accompanied him ; and 
 when they bemoaned his hard case and the injustice of his suf- 
 
132 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. IL SPURGEON. 
 
 ferings, he said with a cheerful countenance, " The cross is the 
 way to the crown." His head and hands were no sooner placed 
 in the pillory, but he began to address himself to the spectators, 
 to this effect: "Good people, I am not ashamed to stand here 
 this day, with this paper on my head ! My Lord Jesus was not 
 ashamed to suffer on the cross for me ; and it is for His cause 
 that I am made a gazing-stock. Take notice, it is not for any 
 wickedness that I stand here; but for writing and publishing 
 those truths which the Spirit of the Lord hath revealed in the 
 Holy Scriptures." 
 
 Very sweetly did Mr. Keach preach the great fundamental truths 
 of the gospel, and glorify the name and work of Jesus. His " Gos- 
 pel Mine Opened," and other works rich in savor, show that he 
 was no mere stickler for a point of ceremony, but one who loved 
 the whole truth as it is in Jesus, and felt its power. The doctrine 
 of the Second Advent evidently had great charms for him, but 
 not so as to crowd out Christ crucified. He was very solid in his 
 preaching, and his whole conduct and behavior betokened a man 
 deeply in earnest for the cause of God. In addressing the un- 
 godly he was intensely direct, solemn, and impressive, not flinch- 
 ing to declare the terrors of the Lord, nor veiling the freeness of 
 divine grace. He was a voluminous writer, having written in all 
 forty-three works, — eighteen practical, sixteen polemical, and nine 
 poetical. Some of them were very popular, having reached the 
 twenty-second edition. 
 
 Mr. Keach was of a very weak constitution, being often afflicted 
 with illness, and once to such a degree that he was given over by 
 the physicians ; and several of the ministers, and his relations, had 
 taken their leave of him as a dying man and past all hope of recov- 
 ery; but the Reverend Mr. Hanserd Knollys, seeing his friend and 
 brother in the gospel so near expiring, betook himself to prayer, 
 and in a very extraordinary manner begged that God would spare 
 him, and add unto his days the time He granted to His servant 
 Hezekiah. As soon as he had ended his prayer, he said, " Brother 
 Keach, I shall be in heaven before you," and quickly after left him. 
 So remarkable was the answer of God to this good man's prayer, 
 that we cannot omit it ; though it may be discredited by some, there 
 
THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE. 1 33 
 
 were many who could bear incontestable testimony to the fact. 
 Mr. Keach recovered of that illness, and lived just fifteen years 
 afterwards ; and then it pleased God to visit him with that short 
 sickness which put an end to his days. He "fell on sleep" July 16, 
 1704, in the sixty-fourth year of his age, and was buried at the 
 Baptists' bur)'ing-ground, in the Park, Southwark. It was not a 
 little singular that in after years the church over which he so ably 
 presided should pitch its tent so near the place where his bones 
 were laid, and New Tark Street should appear in her annals as a 
 well-beloved name. 
 
 When Mr. Keach was upon his death-bed he sent for his son- 
 in-law, Benjamin Stinton, and solemnly charged him to care for 
 the church which he was about to leave, and especially urged him 
 to accept the pastoral office, should it be offered to him by the 
 brethren. Mr. Stinton had already for some years helped his 
 father-in-law in many ways, and therefore he was no new and 
 untried man. It is no small blessing when a church can find her 
 pastors in her own midst; the rule is to look abroad, but perhaps 
 if our home gifts were more encouraged the Holy Spirit would 
 cause our teachers to come forth more frequently from among our 
 own brethren. Still, we cannot forget the proverb about a prophet 
 in his own country. When the church gave Mr. Stinton a pressing 
 invitation, he delayed awhile, and gave himself space for serious 
 consideration ; but at length, remembering the dying words of his 
 father-in-law, and feeling himself directed by the Spirit of God, he 
 gave himself up to the ministry, which he faithfully discharged for 
 fourteen years, — namely, from 1704 to 171 8. 
 
 Spending himself in various works of usefulness, Mr. Stinton 
 worked on till the iith of Februar}-, 1718, when a sudden close 
 was put to his labors and his life. He was taken suddenly ill, and 
 saying to his wife, " I am going," he laid himself down upon the 
 bed, and expired in the forty-third year of his life. He smiled 
 on death, for the Lord smiled on him. He was buried near his 
 predecessor, in the Park, Southwark. 
 
 In the beginning of the year 1719, the church at Horsleydown 
 invited JoliN Gill to preach, with a view to the pastorate; but 
 there was a determined opposition to him in about one half of 
 
134 
 
 LIFE AND LABORS OF ('. H. SrURGEON. 
 
 the church. The matter was referred to the club of ministers 
 meeting at the Hanover Coffee-house, and they gave the absurd 
 advice that the two parties should each hear their own man turn 
 about till they could agree. Common sense came to the rescue, 
 and this sort of religious duel never came off. The friends, with 
 far greater wisdom, divided. John Gill's friends secured the old 
 meeting-house for the term of forty years, and he was ordained 
 March 22, 1720. 
 
 C.\RTE1?-LANE CHAPEL. 
 
 Little did the friends dream what sort of man they had thus 
 chosen to be their teacher; but liad they known it they would 
 have rejoiced that a man of such \'ast erudition, such indefatigable 
 industry, such sound judgment, and such sterling honesty had 
 come among them. He was to be more mighty with his pen than 
 Keach, and to make a deeper impression upon his age, though 
 perhaps with the tongue he was less powerful than his eminent 
 predecessor. Early in his ministry he had to take up the cudgels 
 for Baptist views against a Psedobaptist preacher of Rowel, near 
 Kettering, and he did so in a manner worthy of that eulogium 
 which Toplady passed upon him in reference to other controver- 
 sies, when he compared him to Marlborough, and declared that 
 he never fought a battle without winnitig it. 
 
THE METRO rOLITAN TABERNACLE. 1 35 
 
 Mr. Gill, being settled in London, became more intimately ac- 
 quainted with that worthy minister of the gospel, Mr. John Skepp, 
 pastor of the Baptist church at Cripplegate. This gentleman, 
 though he had not a liberal education, yet, after he came into the 
 ministry, through great diligence acquired a large acquaintance 
 with the Hebrew tongue. As Mr. Gill had previously taken great 
 delight in the Hebrew, his conversation with this worthy minister 
 rekindled a flan. • of fervent desire to obtain a more extensive 
 knowledge of it, and especially of Rabbinical learning. Mr. Skepp 
 dying a year or tvv^o after, Mr. Gill purchased most of his Hebrew 
 works, the Baptist Fund making him a grant of eighty-seven dollars 
 for this purpose. Having obtained the books, he went to work with 
 great eagerness, reading the Targums and ancient commentaries, 
 and in a course of between twenty and thirty years' acquaintance 
 with these writings he collected a large number of learned observa- 
 tions. Having also, in this time, gone through certain books of the 
 Old Testament and almost the whole of the New Testament, by way 
 of exposition, in the course of his ministry, he put all the expos- 
 itory, critical, and illustrative parts together, and in the year 1745 
 issued proposals for publishing his " Exposition of the whole New 
 Testament," in three volumes folio. The work meeting due en- 
 couragement, it was put to press the same year, and was finished, 
 the first volume in 1746, the second in 1747, and the third in 1748. 
 Towards the close of the publication of this v/ork, in 1748, Mr. 
 Gill received a diploma from Marischal College, Aberdeen, creat- 
 ing him Doctor in Divinity on account of his knowledge of the 
 Scriptures, of the Oriental languages, and of Jewish antiquities. 
 When his deacons in London congratulated him on the respect 
 which had been shown him he thanked them, pleasantly adding, 
 " I neither thought it, nor bought it, nor sought it." 
 
 The ministry of Mr. Gill being acceptable not only to his own 
 people but to many persons of different denominations, several 
 gentlemen proposed among themselves to set up a week-day 
 lecture, that they might have an opportunity of hearing him. 
 Accordingly they formed themselves into a society, and agreed 
 to have a lecture on Wednesday evenings, in Great Eastcheap, 
 and set on foot a subscription to support it. Upon their invita- 
 
136 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 tion Mr. Gill undertook the lectureship. He opened it in the year 
 1729 with a discourse or two on Psalm Ixxi. 16: "I will go in the 
 strength of the Lord God : I will make mention of Thy righteous- 
 ness, even of Thine only." Through divine grace he was enabled 
 to abide by this resolution to the edification of many, preaching 
 in Great Eastcheap for more than twenty-six years, and only relin- 
 quished the lecture when the infirmities of years were telling upon 
 him, and he felt a great desire to give all his time to the comple- 
 tion of his great expository works. 
 
 As a pastor he presided over the flock with dignity and affec- 
 tion. In the course of his ministry he had some weak, some 
 unworthy, and some very wicked persons to deal with. To the 
 feeble of the flock he was an affectionate friend and father. He 
 readily bore with their weaknesses, failings, and infirmities, and 
 particularly when he saw they were sincerely on the Lord's side. 
 A godly woman visited him one day, in great trouble, about the 
 singing; for the clerk, in about three years, had introduced two 
 new tunes. Not that he was a famous singer, or able to conduct 
 a great variety of song, but he did his best. The young people 
 were pleased with the new tunes ; but the good woman could not 
 bear the innovation. The Doctor, after patiently listening, asked 
 her whether she understood singing? No, she said. "What! can't 
 you sing?" No, she was no singer, nor her aged father before 
 her. And though they had had about a hundred years between 
 them to learn the Old Hundredth tune, they could not sing it, 
 nor any other tune. The Doctor did not hurt her feelings by 
 telling her that people who did not understand singing were the 
 last who should complain ; but he meekly said : " Sister, what 
 tunes should you like us to sing?" "Why, sir," she replied, "I 
 should very much like David's tunes." " Well," said he, " if you 
 will get David's tunes for us, we can then try to sing them." 
 Such weak good people may be found among all denominations 
 of Christians. 
 
 All the stories told of Dr. Gill are somewhat grim. He could 
 not come down to the level of men and women of the common 
 order so far as to be jocose ; and when he attempted to do so he 
 looked like Hercules with the distaff, or Goliath threading a needle. 
 
Dr. John Gill. 
 
THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE. 1 37 
 
 When he verged upon the humorous the jokes were ponderous 
 and overwhelming, burying his adversary as well as crushing him. 
 It is said that a garrulous dame once called upon him to find fault 
 .with the excessive length of his white bands. *' Well, well," said 
 the Doctor, "what do you think is the right length? Take them 
 and make them as long or as short as you like." The lady 
 expressed her delight; she was sure that her dear pastor would 
 grant her request, and therefore she had brought her scissors with 
 her, and would do the trimming at once. Accordingly, snip, snip, 
 and the thing was done, and the bibs returned. " Now," said the 
 Doctor, " my good sister, you must do me a good turn also." 
 "Yes, that I will, Doctor. What can it be?" "Well, you have 
 something about you which is a deal too long, and causes me no 
 end of trouble, and I should like to see it shorter." " Indeed, dear 
 sir, I will not hesitate," said the dame; "what is it? Here are the 
 scissors, use them as you please." " Come, then," said the pastor, 
 " good sister, put out your totigiie ! '' We have often pictured him 
 sitting in the old chair, which is preserved in our vestry, and thus 
 quietly rebuking the gossip. 
 
 The comparative asperity of his manner was probably the result 
 of his secluded habits, and also of that sturdy firmness of mind, 
 which in other directions revealed itself so admirably. When he 
 was once warned that the publication of a certain book would lose 
 him many supporters and reduce his income, he did not hesitate for 
 a moment, but replied : " Do not tell me of losing. I value nothing 
 in comparison with gospel truth. I am not afraid to be poor ! " 
 
 The mighty commentator having been followed to his grave by 
 his attached church and a great company of ministers and Chris- 
 tian people, among whom he had been regarded as a great man 
 and a prince in Israel, his church began to look around for a 
 successor. This time, as in the case of Dr. Gill, there was trouble 
 in store, for there was division of opinion. Some, no doubt, as 
 true Gillites, looked only for a solid divine, sound in doctrine, who 
 would supply the older saints with spiritual food ; while another 
 party had an eye to the growth of the church and to the securing 
 to the flock the younger members of their families. They were 
 agreed that they would write to Bristol for a probationer, and Mr. 
 
138 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 John Rippon was sent to them. He was a youth of some twenty 
 summers, of a vivacious temperament, quick and bold. The older 
 members judged him to be too young and too flighty; they even 
 accused him of having gone up the pulpit stairs two steps at a 
 time on some occasion when he was hurried, — a grave offence 
 for which the condemnation could hardly be too severe. He was 
 only a young man, and came from an academy, and this alone 
 was enough to make the sounder and older members afraid of 
 him. He preached for a lengthened time on probation, and 
 finally some forty persons withdrew because they could not agree 
 with the enthusiastic vote by which the majority of the people 
 elected him. 
 
 John Rippon modestly expressed his wonder that even more 
 had not been dissatisfied, and his surprise that so large a number 
 were agreed to call him to the pastorate. In the spirit of forbear- 
 ance and brotherly love he proposed that, as these friends were 
 seceding for conscience' sake, and intended to form themselves 
 into another church, they should be lovingly dismissed with prayer 
 and God speed, and that, as a token of fraternal love, they should 
 be assisted to build a meeting-house for their own convenience, 
 and the sum of fifteen hundred dollars should be voted to them 
 when their church was formed and their meeting-house erected. 
 The promise was redeemed, and Mr. Rippon took part in the 
 ordination service of the first minister. This was well done. Such 
 a course was sure to secure the blessing of God. The church in 
 Dean Street thus became another offshoot from the parent stem, 
 and with varying conditions it remains to this day as the church 
 in Trinity Street, Borough. 
 
 He will be best known as having prepared the first really good 
 selection of Jiyvins for dissenting congregations. Although a Bap- 
 tist collection, it was extensively used with Dr. Watts's among both 
 classes of Congregationalists. This work was an estate to its 
 author, and he is said to have been more than sufficiently eager 
 to push its sale. One thing we know, his presents of nicely bound 
 copies must have been pretty frequent, for we have seen several 
 greatly prized by their aged owners, who have showed them to us, 
 with the remark, " The dear old Doctor gave me tliat himself." 
 
Dr. John Rippon in his Youth. 
 
THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE. 1 39 
 
 The happy eccentricity of the Doctor's character may be illus- 
 trated by a little incident in connection with royalty. He was 
 deputed to read an address from the Dissenters to George III., 
 congratulating him upon recovery from sickness. The Doctor 
 read on with his usual clear utterance till, coming to a passage 
 in which there was special reference to the goodness of God, he 
 paused and said : " Please your Majesty, we will read that again," 
 and then proceeded with his usual cool dignity to repeat the sen- 
 tence with emphasis. No other man in the deputation would have 
 thought of doing such a thing, but from Rippon it came so natu- 
 rally that no one censured him, or if they did it would have had 
 no effect upon him. 
 
 There are still some in the church who cherish his memory with 
 affectionate and well-deserved reverence ; and there are thousands 
 in heaven who were led first to love the Saviour by his earnest 
 exhortations. He quarried fresh stones, and built up the church. 
 He moulded its thought and directed its energies. Without being 
 great he was exceedingly useful, and the period in which he was 
 one of the judges of our Israel was one of great prosperity in 
 spiritual things. It was a good sixty-three years, and with the 
 previous pastorate of Dr. Gill, enabled the church to say that 
 during one hundred and seventeeii years they had been presided over 
 by two ministers oji/y. Those who are given to change were not 
 numerous in the community. Short pastorates are good when 
 ministers are feeble, but it is a great blessing when the saints are 
 so edified that all are content, and the ministry is so owned of 
 God that vacancies are filled up even before they are felt : in such 
 a case change would wantonly imperil the hope of continued pros- 
 perity, and would therefore be criminal. 
 
 The next pastor of our church was Mr. — now Doctor — JOSEPH 
 Angus, a gentleman whose career since he left us to become sec- 
 retary of the Baptist Missionary Society, and afterwards the tutor 
 of Stepney Academy, now Regent's Park College, has rendered 
 his name most honorable among living Baptists. He is one of 
 the foremost classical scholars, and is a member of the committee 
 for producing a revised version of the Holy Scriptures. He is the 
 author of those standard books, " The Bible Handbook," " The 
 
140 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEOX. 
 
 Handbook of the English Tongue," and " Handbook of English 
 Literature." 
 
 Mr. James Smith succeeded Dr. Angus, and after a useful pas- 
 torate of eight years resigned on account of ill health. In October, 
 1849, he wrote: " For a considerable time I have felt an oppres- 
 sion on my chest, and great difficulty in breathing. Last week I 
 consulted a doctor upon it, and he advised me to leave London as 
 soon as I could, and get into the country, as my lungs require a 
 purer air. I am seeking wisdom from God : I cannot doubt but 
 He will guide me." 
 
 In February, 1850, he said: " I have written my resignation of 
 office, and laid it before the deacons. It is a serious and impor- 
 tant step which I have taken. I trust I have taken it in a proper 
 spirit, and from a right motive. My mind is now calm and peace- 
 ful, the agitation from which I have long been suffering is at an 
 end, and I feel as if I could now leave the matter with the Lord. 
 
 " When my resignation was accepted, the church passed a very 
 kind and affectionate resolution regretting that I felt it necessary 
 to take such a step ; but as I had rested it pretty much on the 
 state of my health, they did not feel that they could refuse to 
 accede to my wishes. I cannot say that I have labored in vain 
 here, for many souls have been converted, some backsliders have 
 been restored, and between four hundred and five hundred mem- 
 bers have been added to the church during my pastorate of eight 
 years. Many of my poor people deeply feel the step which I 
 have felt it my duty to take, and I have received very affectionate 
 letters from several of them. May they soon be favored with a 
 pastor more suitable and efficient than I have been." 
 
 Mr. Smith built up in Cheltenham the strong working church 
 now meeting in Cambray Chapel, which was erected by his exer- 
 tions. When he was lying upon his dying bed the church at the 
 Tabernacle sent him a heartily affectionate letter, and gratefully 
 reminded him of all the blessing which the Lord had bestowed 
 upon many souls by his means. To this we received a delightful 
 answer, assuring us that our words had greatly cheered him. He 
 died in 1861, and an account of an interview with him may inter- 
 est the reader if we include it in our pages. " I saw this week 
 
THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE. I41 
 
 the former pastor of this church, Mr. James Smith of Cheltenham. 
 About a year ago he was struck with paralysis, and one half of 
 his body is dead. But yet I have seldom seen a more cheerful 
 man in the full heyday of strength. I had been told that he was 
 the subject of very fearful conflicts at times; so after I had shaken 
 hands with him, I said : ' Friend Smith, I hear you have many 
 doubts and fears!' 'Who told you that?' said he, 'for I have 
 none.' 'Never have any? Why, I understood you had many 
 conflicts.' ' Yes,' he said, ' I have many conflicts, but I have no 
 doubts ; I have many wars within, but I have no fears. Who 
 could have told you that? I hope I have not led any one to think 
 that. It is a hard battle, but the victory is sure.' Then he said 
 in his own way, ' I am just like a packet that is all ready to go by 
 train, packed, corded, labelled, paid for, and on the platform, 
 waiting for the express to come by and take me to glory. I wish 
 I could hear the whistle now.' " 
 
 In July, 1 85 1, the church invited the Rev. WillIAM WALTERS, 
 of Preston, to become the pastor, but as he understood the dea- 
 cons to intimate to him that his ministry was not acceptable, he 
 tendered his resignation, and although requested to remain, he 
 judged it more advisable to remove to Halifax in June, 1853, thus 
 closing a ministry of two years. These changes sadly diminished 
 the church and marred its union. The clouds gathered heavily, 
 and no sunlight appeared. 
 
 [But this did not long continue, as in the next year the youthful 
 pastor of Waterbeach, CHARLES H. Spurgeon, in his twentieth 
 year, accepted the invitation of the church, and has continued 
 his fruitful ministry there for eight and twenty years.] 
 
 Under date January 6, 1861, there stands in the records the 
 following solemn declaration, signed by the pastor and leading 
 friends: "This church needs rather more than ;^4,ooo (twenty 
 thousand dollars) to enable it to open the new Tabernacle free of 
 all debt. It humbly asks this temporal mercy of God, and be- 
 lieves that for Jesus' sake the prayer will be heard and the boon 
 bestowed. As witness our hands." 
 
 Now let the reader mark that, on May 6th of the same year, the 
 pastor and many friends also signed their names to another testi- 
 
142 
 
 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 mony, which is worded as follows: " We, the undersigned, mem- 
 bers of the church lately worshipping in New Park-street Chapel, 
 but now assembling in the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Nev/ington, 
 desire with overflowing hearts to make known and record the 
 loving-kindness of our faithful God. We asked in faith, but our 
 Lord has exceeded our desires, for not only was the whole sum 
 given us, but far sooner than we had looked for it. Truly, the 
 Lord is good and worthy to be praised. We are ashamed of our- 
 selves that we have ever doubted Him, and we pray that as a 
 church and as individuals we may be enabled to trust in the Lord 
 
 NEW PARK-STREET CHAPEL, 
 The first building in which Mr. Spiirgeon preached in London. 
 
 at all times with confidence, so that in quietness we may possess 
 our souls. To Father, Son, and Holy Ghost we offer praise and 
 thanksgiving, and we set to our seal that God is true." 
 
 After about a month of Opening Services, regular work com- 
 menced at the Tabernacle in May, i86i, the whole building being 
 free of debt, and the accounts showing that $156,660 had been 
 received, and the same amount expended. Truly we serve a 
 gracious God. 
 
 The Tabernacle is 146 feet long, 81 feet broad, and 62 feet high. 
 There are some 5,500 sittings of all kinds. There is room for 
 6,000 persons without excessive crowding; and we have also a 
 lecture-hall holding about 900, schoolroom for 1,000 children, six 
 
THE METROPOLllAN TABERNACLE, I43 
 
 class-rooms, kitchen, lavatory, and retiring rooms below stairs. 
 We have a ladies' room for working meetings, young men's class- 
 room, and secretary's room on the ground floor ; three vestries, 
 for pastor, deacons, and elders on first floor, and three store-rooms 
 on the second floor. The accommodation is all too little for the 
 work to be carried on, and we are glad to use the rooms at the 
 Almshouses and the College. 
 
 In October, 1867, the pastor having for several years been laid 
 aside at intervals by painful illness, and it having been stated by 
 eminent physicians that this was due to the over-straining of his 
 mental powers, the deacons and elders, after consulting together, 
 recommended the church to request Mr. J. A. SPURGEON to 
 become co-pastor with his brother, to relieve him of much of the 
 pastoral work. This happy arrangement was carried out January 
 9, 1868, and has been a great comfort to the senior pastor, both 
 in church and college work. Mr. James Spurgeon is now also 
 the pastor of a large and growing church in Croydon, for which 
 he has erected a noble chapel, where he is able to exercise his 
 ministry on the Lord's day; his help being mainly required at the 
 Tabernacle upon week days, and in the general oversight of the 
 church. No more efficient or sympathetic helper could possibly 
 have been found. 
 
 In addition to the College and Orphanage, the following insti- 
 tutions are also connected with the Tabernacle. Who shall dare 
 say that this is not A WORKING CHURCH? We collate from 
 trustworthy documents. 
 
 Tabernacle Building Fund. — Capital twenty-five thousand dol- 
 lars. The capital is lent out without interest to chapels in debt, 
 to encourage them to clear themselves of their liabilities. Thus 
 this capital remains and continues to benefit one church after 
 another. The fund was originally raised in order that the pastor 
 might feel that in case of his death there would be money avail- 
 able to pay for the completion of the studies of the men in 
 College. 
 
 Mrs. Spurgeon' s Book Fitnd. — The pastor's beloved wife, 
 touched with the poverty of many ministers, commenced this 
 
144 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPUROEON. 
 
 fund to supply the most needy with books. She makes this the 
 pleasant business of her life, when she has respite from pain, and 
 sufficient strength. 
 
 Mr. Oncken's German Missiofi. — The church supports two 
 missionaries in Germany, — at Templin and Hamburg. 
 
 Mission to the Jews. — There is a small auxiliary to this mis- 
 sion. 
 
 Mr. Orsnians Mission in Golden Lane, City, one of the most 
 useful in all London, is an entirely independent enterprise, but 
 Mr. Orsman is still a member at the Tabernacle. 
 
 Richmond-street Miss ioji and Schools, Walworth. — In 1875 new 
 premises were erected for this mission at a cost of over four 
 thousand five hundred dollars, which is all paid. Sunday and 
 Ragged Schools, and adult classes. Children in schools, 650. 
 Preaching, tract distribution, Band of Hope, evangelistic work, 
 &c., all in active operation. 
 
 Green Walk Mission, Bermojidsey. — A mighty warfare against 
 sin has been carried on here, and very many brought to Jesus and 
 added to the Tabernacle church. Hall thronged to hear the gos- 
 pel. About 350 children in the schools. Mothers' meetings, Band 
 of Hope, Tract Society, Open Air Mission, Bible and Singing 
 Classes, and children's special service. All at work and all alive. 
 
 James Grove, Peckham. — Here a chapel has been built and a 
 congregation gathered, with schools. Many members have been 
 added to the Tabernacle church, and we hope ere long to form 
 them into a separate community and let them run alone. 
 
 Mr. Hampton's Blind Missio?t. — Established some years, for the 
 evangelization of the poor blind. There is a Sunday-school for 
 blind children. Tea is given on Sunday afternoon to the blind 
 and their guides, and then service is held. Two hundred blind 
 and guides attend. 
 
 Mrs. Thomas's Mothers' Mission. — Our afflicted friend carries 
 on this work with the help of some of our members, and it is a 
 great success. Seventy women are on the books. Clothes, loan- 
 boxes, &c., provided for poor women. 
 
 Other mothers' meetings are held by various ladies of the 
 church. 
 
THE METROPOLIIAN TABERNACLE. I45 
 
 Tabernacle Smiday-school. — Held in the Tabernacle school- 
 room and in the College. Children, 1,000 in regular attendance; 
 150 in senior classes, each of which deserves separate mention 
 if we had space. Young Christians' Association, 216 members. 
 Children's and teachers' library. The school raises from $250 
 to $300 per annum for the Baptist Missionary Society. There \% 
 a Band of Hope and a working class. 
 
 Almshouses. — The day-schools are as full as they can hold. 
 Here there are Sunday-schools, and an adult class of 120 mem- 
 bers. 
 
 Orphanage. — Here, too, Sunday-school work goes on vigor- 
 ously, 
 
 Mrs. Bartletfs Class. — This famous class, since the decease of 
 its invaluable leader, is now presided over by her son Edward, 
 who is an indefatigable laborer in many ways. The class is wel' 
 attended, numbering from 500 to 700; it carries on many mee^ 
 ings and virorks of usefulness, and manifests a right royal liberality 
 to the College, for which it raises a large amount annually. Ver) 
 many have come into the church from this class. 
 
 Mr. Perkins's Bible Class. — An earnest, united band of young- 
 men, who meet on Sabbath afternoons in the vestry of the Tab- 
 ernacle. They carry on different works of usefulness and aid 
 the College. 
 
 Mr. Bowkcrs Bible Class is of the same character, and meets 
 in the Octagonal Room of the College. It is an earnest class, 
 helps its own poor, works for Jesus, and aids in supporting the 
 College. 
 
 Mr. Charlesworth has a Ladies' Bible Class on Thursdays before 
 the service, and a Young Men's Bible Class on Sabbath afternoons^ 
 both prospering. The two classes support a Bible-carriage. 
 
 Baptist Country Mission. — A small society, but full of life. It 
 seeks to evangelize the villages by open-air preaching, and open- 
 ing rooms for services. With small funds, it has during late 
 years carried on three promising interests, — in Putney, Waltham- 
 stow, and Carshalton. Others in past years have become self- 
 supporting churches, and so will these. It is making attempts in 
 villages further afield, and Christ is preached faithfully. It is an 
 
 10 
 
146 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 evangelistic eft'ort for the suburbs and country. Its expenditurr 
 was only three hundred dollars in one year. 
 
 Evangelists Association. — Is fully at work in halls, lodging- 
 houses, street corners, the Tabernacle steps, &c. Services have 
 been successfully carried on at Dunn's Institute and Tabernacle 
 Almshouses, and in various chapels where the ministers have 
 allowed evangelistic meetings to be held. This society send.' 
 brethren to any church needing such assistance. 
 
 Loan Tract Society for Tabernacle District. — Tracts and the 
 pastor's sermons are lent out, and two thousand families visited 
 every week. Several conversions have resulted. 
 
 General Loan Tract Society. — Supplies the pastor's sermons in 
 free grants to poor districts, where friends arrange for their loan. 
 With the very best results, this work has been carried on in seven- 
 teen counties of England. 
 
 Another society, called The Rock Loati Tract Society, lends 
 sermons chiefly in country villages. 
 
 The Ordinance Poor Fund distributes among the poor members 
 of the church about four thousand dollars annually. 
 
 Ladies' Benevolent Society. — For making clothing and relieving 
 the poor. A very useful society. 
 
 Ladies' Maternal Society. — For the aid of poor women in their 
 confinements. One hundred and sixty-two boxes of linen lent 
 during the year. 
 
 Mrs. Evans's Home and Foreign Missionary Working Society 
 makes up boxes of garments for missionaries, and also for poor 
 ministers and their families at home. This is a blessed work, and 
 has made glad many a poor servant of Jesus. 
 
XII. 
 THE PASTORS' COLLEGE. 
 
Souls are not saved by systems, t J' Dy the Spirit. Organizations witiiout 
 the Holy Ghost are mills without wind, or water, or steam power. Methods 
 and arrangements without grace are pipes from a dry conduit, lamps without 
 oil, banivs without capital. Even the most Scriptural forms of cnurch govern- 
 ment and effort are clouds without rain till the "power tr. n: on high" be 
 given, — C. H. . SpuRGEON. 
 
THE PASTORS' COLLEGE. 
 
 COLLEGES may become a bane or a blessing. How many 
 of them have been harmful in their unsanctified learning! 
 What responsibility rests upon the faculty of a college ! Not 
 always through evil teaching, but by indifference on the part of the 
 professors, have there been so many moral wrecks in these halls 
 of learning. Indifference, we say, on the part of teachers who had 
 no care for their students beyond that of teaching the young idea 
 how to shoot a classic bow, or dig up Greek and Latin roots. 
 Nevertheless, the Christian student must take the blame upon 
 himself if he departs from the living God. There are, however, 
 colleges which are " schools of the prophets," where the moral 
 and mental requirements are faithfully considered and judiciously 
 ministered unto. From such training-ground men of might come 
 forth fit for the battle, like David's heroes, bold as lions, and 
 swift as the roes upon the mountains. Oh, that their name were 
 legion ! 
 
 The unswerving aim of Mr. Spurgeon has been to help his 
 young men in Bible knowledge, so that they may be thoroughly 
 furnished unto all good works. He has had long experience in 
 •Christian work, and every year his conviction deepens that there 
 cannot be a healthy church where an unspiritual minister leads. 
 In addition, therefore, to the development of intellect, and as the 
 great desideratum, he prays and labors to bring his students into 
 the life of faith and deep Christian experience. To an unloving 
 heart Jesus will not commit the care of His sheep. The first and 
 only question with Him is, " Lovest thou Me?" And the beloved 
 
150 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 president of the Pastors' College is in sympathy with his gracious 
 Master's purpose, viz., that men filled with divine love may be 
 sent forth duly qualified to preach the gospel and to teach God's 
 Word to the world lying in wickedness. 
 
 None is better fitted to speak of the College, from its incipiency 
 to its present successful administration, than its honored presi- 
 dent. Its object, methods, and results are thus sketched by his 
 own pen : — 
 
 The College was the first important institution commenced by 
 the pastor, and it still remains his first-born and best beloved. To 
 train ministers of the gospel is a most excellent work, and when 
 the Holy Spirit blesses the effort, the result is of the utmost 
 importance both to the Church and to the world. 
 
 The Pastors' College commenced in 1856, and during this long 
 period has unceasingl}' been remembered of the God of heaven, 
 to whom all engaged in it offer reverent thanksgiving. When it 
 was commenced, I had not even a remote idea of whereunto it 
 would grow. There were springing up around me, as my own 
 spiritual children, many earnest young men who felt an irresistible 
 impulse to preach the gospel, and yet with half an eye it could 
 be seen that their want of education would be a sad hindrance 
 to them. It was not in my heart to bid them cease their preach- 
 ing, and had I done so, they would in all probability have ignored 
 my recommendation. As it seemed that preach they would, 
 though their attainments were very slender, no other course was 
 open but to give them an opportunit}' to educate themselves for 
 the work. 
 
 The Holy Spirit very evidently had set His seal upon the work 
 of one of them, by conversions wrought under his open-air ad- 
 dresses ; it seemed therefore to be a plain matter of duty to 
 instruct this youthful Apollos still further, that he might be fitted 
 for wider usefulness. No college at that time appeared to me to 
 be suitable for the class of men that the providence and grace 
 of God drew around me. The\- were mostly poor, and most of 
 the colleges involved necessarily a considerable outlay to the 
 student; for even where the education was free, books, clothes, 
 
George Rogers, for many Years Tutor in the Pastor's College. 
 
 i 
 
THE PASTORS' COLLEGE. 151 
 
 and other incidental expenses required a considerable sum per 
 annum. Moreover, it must be frankly admitted that my views 
 of the gospel and of the mode of training preachers were and 
 are somewhat peculiar. I may have been uncharitable in my 
 judgment, but I thought the Calvinism of the theology usually 
 taught to be very doubtful, and the fervor of the generality of 
 the students to be far behind their literary attainments. It seemed 
 to me that preachers of the grand old truths of the gospel, min- 
 isters suitable for the masses, were more likely to be found in 
 an institution where preaching and divinity would be the main 
 objects, and not degrees and other insignia of human learning. 
 I felt that, without interfering with the laudable objects of other 
 colleges, I could do good in my own way. These and other 
 considerations led me to take a few tried young men, and to put 
 them under some able minister, that he might train them in the 
 Scriptures, and in other knowledge helpful to the understanding 
 and proclamation of the truth. This step appeared plain ; but 
 how the work was to be conducted and supported was the question, 
 — a question, be it added, solved almost before it occurred. 
 
 Two friends, both deacons of the church, promised aid, which, 
 with what I could give myself, enabled me to take one student, 
 and I set about to find a tutor. In Mr. George Rogers, God sent 
 us the very best man. He had been preparing for such work, and 
 was anxiously waiting for it. This gentleman, who has remained 
 during all this period our principal tutor, is a man of Puritanic 
 stamp, deeply learned, orthodox in doctrine, judicious, witty, 
 devout, earnest, liberal in spirit, and withal juvenile in heart to 
 an extent most remarkable in one of his years. My connection 
 with him has been one of uninterrupted comfort and delight. The 
 most sincere affection exists between us; we are of one mind and 
 of one heart; and, what is equally important, he has in every case 
 secured not merely the respect but the filial love of every student. 
 Into this beloved minister's house the first students were intro- 
 duced, and for a considerable period they were domiciled as 
 members of his family. 
 
 Encouraged by the readiness with which the young men found 
 spheres of labor, and by their singular success in soul-winning, I 
 
152 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 enlarged the number; but the whole means of sustaining them 
 came from my own purse. The large sale of my sermons in 
 America, together with my dear wife's economy, enabled me to 
 spend from three thousand dollars to four thousand dollars in a 
 year in my own favorite work ; but on a sudden, owing to m)' 
 denunciations of the then existing slavery in the States, my entire 
 resources from that " brook Cherith " were dried up. I paid as 
 large sums as I could from my own income, and resolved to spend 
 all I had, and then take the cessation of my means as a voice 
 from the Lord to stay the effort, as I am firmly persuaded that 
 we ought under no pretence to go into debt. On one occasion 
 I proposed the sale of my horse and carriage, although these 
 were almost absolute necessaries to me on account of my contin- 
 ual journeys in preaching the Word. This my friend Mr. Rogers 
 would not hear of, and actually offered to be the loser rather than 
 this should be done. Then it was that I told my difficulties to 
 my people, and the weekly offering commenced ; but the incom- 
 ings from that source were so meagre as to be hardly worth calcu- 
 lating upon. I was brought to the last pound, when a letter came 
 from a banker in the City, informing me that a lady, whose name 
 I have never been able to discover, had deposited a sum of one 
 thousand dollars, to be used for the education of young men for 
 the ministry. How did my heart leap for joy ! I threw myself 
 then and henceforth upon the bounteous care of the Lord, whom 
 I desired with my whole heart to glorify by this effort. Some 
 weeks after, another five hundred dollars came in, from the same 
 bank, as I was informed, from another hand. Soon after Mr. 
 Phillips, a beloved deacon of the church at the Tabernacle, began 
 to provide an annual supper for the friends of the College, at 
 which considerable sums have from year to year been given. A 
 dinner was also given by my liberal publishers, Messrs. Passmore 
 and Alabaster, to celebrate the publishing of my five-hundredth 
 weekly sermon, at which twenty-five hundred dollars were raised 
 and presented to the funds. The College grew every month, 
 and the number of students rapidly advanced from one to forty. 
 Friends known and unknown, from far and near, were moved to 
 give little or much to my work, and so the funds increased as 
 
THE PASTORS' COLLEGE. 1 53 
 
 the need enlarged. Then another earnest deacon of the church 
 espoused as his special work the weekly offering, and by the 
 unanimous voice of the church under my care the College was 
 adopted as its own child. Since that hour the weekly offering 
 has been a steady source of income, till in the year 1869 the 
 amount reached exactly ^^"1,869 ($9,345). 
 
 There have been during this period times of great trial of my 
 faith ; but after a season of straitness, never amounting to absolute 
 want, the Lord has always interposed and sent me large sums (on 
 one occasion five thousand dollars) from unknown donors. When 
 the Orphanage was thrust upon me, it did appear likely that this 
 second work would drain the resources of the first, and it is very 
 apparent that it does attract to itself some of the visible sources 
 of supply ; but my faith is firm that the Lord can as readily keep 
 both works in action as one. My own present inability to do so 
 much, by way of preaching abroad, occasions naturally the failure 
 of another great source of income ; and as my increasing labors 
 at home will in all probability diminish that stream in perpetuity, 
 there is another trial of faith. Yet, if the Lord wills the work to 
 be continued. He will send His servant a due portion of the gold 
 and silver, which are all His own ; and therefore as I wait upon 
 Him in prayer, the All-sufficient Provider will supply all my needs. 
 About twenty-five thousand dollars is annually required for the 
 College, and the same sum is needed for the Orphanage ; but God 
 will move His people to liberality, and we shall see greater things 
 than these. 
 
 While speaking of pecuniary matters, it may be well to add 
 that, as many of the young men trained in the College have raised 
 new congregations and gathered fresh churches, another need has 
 arisen, — namely, money for building chapels. It is ever so in 
 Christ's work ; one link draws on another, one effort makes another 
 needed. For chapel-building, the College funds could do but 
 little, though they have freely been used to support men while 
 they are collecting congregations ; but the Lord found for mc 
 one of His stewards, Avho, on the condition that his name remains 
 unknown, has hitherto, as the Lord has prospered him, supplied 
 very princely amounts for the erection of places of worship, of 
 
154 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 which more than forty have been built, or so greatly renovated 
 and enlarged as to be virtually new structures. Truly may it be 
 said, " What hath God wrought ! " 
 
 Pecuniary needs, however, have made up but a small part of 
 our cares. Many have been my personal exercises in selecting 
 the men. Candidates have always been plentiful, and the choice 
 has been wide ; but it is a serious responsibility to reject any, and 
 yet more to accept them for training. When mistakes have been 
 made, a second burden has been laid upon me in the dismissal of 
 those who appeared to be unfit. Even with the most careful man- 
 agement, and all the assistance of tutors and friends, no human 
 foresight can secure that in every case a man shall be what we 
 believed and hoped. A brother may be exceedingly useful as an 
 occasional preacher; he may distinguish himself as a diligent 
 student; he may succeed at first in the ministry; and yet, when 
 trials of temper and character occur in the pastorate, he may be 
 found wanting. We have had comparatively few causes for regret 
 of this sort, but there have been some such, and these pierce us 
 with many sorrows. I devoutly bless God that He has sent to 
 the College some of the holiest, soundest, and most self-denying 
 preachers I know, and I pray that He may continue to do so ; but 
 it would be more than a miracle if all should excel. While thus 
 speaking of trials connected with the men themselves, it is due 
 to our gracious God to bear testimony that these have been com- 
 paratively light, and are not worthy to be compared with the great 
 joy which we experience in seeing so many brethren still serving 
 the Lord according to their measure of gift, and all, it is believed, 
 earnestly contending for the faith once delivered unto the saints; 
 nor is the joy less in remembering that eleven have sweetly fallen 
 asleep after having fought a good fight. At this hour some of 
 our most flourishing Baptist churches are presided over by pastors 
 trained in our College, and as years shall add ripeness of experi- 
 ence and stability of character, others will be found to stand in 
 the front rank of the Lord's host. 
 
 The young brethren are boarded generally in twos and threes, 
 in the houses of our friends around the Tabernacle, for which the 
 College pays a moderate weekly amount. The plan of separate 
 
THE PASTORS' COLLEGE. I55 
 
 lodging we believe to be far preferable to having all under one 
 roof; for, by the latter mode, men are isolated from general fam- 
 ily habits, and are too apt to fall into superabundant levity. The 
 circumstances of the families who entertain our young friends are 
 generally such that they are not elevated above the social position 
 which in all probability they will have to occupy in future years, 
 but are kept in connection with the struggles and conditions of 
 every-day life. 
 
 Devotional habits are cultivated to the utmost, and the students 
 are urged to do as much evangelistic work as they can. The 
 severe pressure put upon them to make the short term as useful 
 as possible, leaves small leisure for such efforts, but this is in most 
 instances faithfully economized. Although our usual period is 
 two years, whenever it is thought right the term of study is 
 lengthened to three or four years ; indeed, there is no fixed rule, 
 all arrangements being ordered by the circumstances and attain- 
 ments of each individual. 
 
 As before hinted, our numbers have greatly grown, and now 
 range from eighty to one hundred. Very promising men, who 
 are suddenly thrown in our way, are received at any time, and 
 others who are selected from the main body of applicants come 
 in at the commencement of terms. The church at the Tabernacle 
 continues to furnish a large quota of men, and as these have usu- 
 ally been educated for two or more years in our Evening Classes, 
 they are more advanced and better able to profit by our two years 
 of study. We have no difficulty in finding spheres for men who 
 are ready and fitted for them. There is no reason to believe that 
 the supply of trained ministers is in advance of the demand. Even 
 on the lowest ground of consideration, there is yet very much land 
 to be possessed ; and when men break up fresh soil, as ours are 
 encouraged to do, the field is the world, and the prayer for more 
 laborers is daily more urgent. If the Lord would but send us 
 funds commensurate, there are hundreds of neighborhoods need- 
 ing the pure gospel, which we could by His grace change from 
 deserts into gardens. How far this is a call upon the reader let 
 him judge as in the sight of God. Shall there be the gifts and 
 graces of the Spirit given to the Church, and shall there not also 
 
156 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 be sufficient bestowed of the earthly treasure? How much owest 
 thou unto my Lord? 
 
 The College was for some little time aided by the zealous 
 services of Mr. W. Cubitt, of Thrapstone, who died among us, 
 enjoying our highest esteem. Mr. Gracey, the classical tutor, a 
 most able brother, is one of ourselves, and was in former years 
 a student, though from possessing a solid education, he needed 
 little instruction from us except in theology. In him we have 
 one of the most efficient tutors living, a man fitted for any post 
 requiring thorough scholarship and aptness in communicating 
 knowledge. Mr. Fergusson, in the English elementary classes, 
 does the first work upon the rough stones of the quarr}-, and we 
 have heard from the men whom he has taught in the Evening 
 Classes, speeches and addresses which would have adorned any 
 assembly, proving to demonstration his ability to cope with the 
 difficulties of uncultured and ignorant minds. Mr. Johnson, who 
 zealously aids in the evening, is also a brother precisely suited to 
 the post which he occupies. These Evening Classes afford an 
 opportunity to Christian men engaged during the day to obtain an 
 education for nothing during their leisure time, and very many avail 
 themselves of the privilege. Nor must I forget to mention Mr. 
 Selwa}-, who takes the department of physical science, and by his 
 interesting experiments and lucid descriptions gives to his listen- 
 ers an introduction to those departments of knowledge which most 
 abound with illustrations. Last, but far from least, I adore the 
 goodness of God which sent me so dear and efficient a fellow- 
 helper as my brother in the flesh and in the Lord, J. A. Spur- 
 geon. His work has greatly relieved me of anxiety, and his 
 superior educational qualifications have tended to raise the tone 
 of the instruction given. 
 
 As to the quality of the preachers whom we have been enabled 
 to send forth, we need no more impartial witness than the good 
 Earl of Shaftesbury, who was kind enough to express himself 
 publicly in the following generous terms : — 
 
 " It was an utter fallacy to suppose that the people of England 
 would ever be brought to a sense of order and discipline by the 
 repetition of miserable services, by bits of wax candle, by rags of 
 
THE PASTORS' COLLEGE. 1 57 
 
 Popery, and by gymnastics in the chancel : nothing was adapted 
 to meet the wants of the people but the Gospel message brought 
 home to their hearts, and he knew of none who had done 
 better service in this evangelistic work than the pupils trained 
 in Mr. Spurgeon's College. They had a singular faculty for 
 addressing the population, and going to the very heart of the 
 people." 
 
 Each year the brethren educated at the Pastors' College are 
 invited to meet in conference at the Tabernacle, and they are gen- 
 erously entertained by our friends. The week is spent in holy 
 fellowship, prayer, and intercourse. By this means men in remote 
 villages, laboring under discouraging circumstances and ready to 
 sink from loneliness of spirit, are encouraged and strengthened : 
 indeed, all the men confess that a stimulus is thus given which 
 no other means could confer. 
 
 All things considered, gratitude and hope are supreme in con- 
 nection with the Pastors' College ; and with praise to God and 
 thanks to a thousand friends, the president and his helpers gird 
 up the loins of their minds for yet more abundant labors in the 
 future. To every land we hope yet to send forth the gospel in 
 its fulness and purity. We pray the Lord to raise up missionaries 
 among our students and make every one a winner of souls. 
 Brethren, remember this work in your prayers, and in your allot- 
 ment of the Lord's portion of your substance. 
 
 When the necessity for new college buildings was plainly indi- 
 cated, a friend in May, 1873, sent $5,000 towards that object. On 
 October 14, 1873, the foundation-stone of those buildings was laid, 
 when the people contributed $5,000, the students gave $1,500, 
 and undertook to raise the amount to $5,000. In 1874 Messrs. 
 Cory and Sons, of Cardiff, sent for the benefit of the fund $5,000 
 worth of paid-up shares in their colliery company. In July, 1875, 
 the president received $25,000 for the same object as a legacy 
 from the late Mr. Matthews. These are named as examples of the 
 various ways in which God has answered prayer and rewarded 
 the faith of His servant in that important work. 
 
 Shortly before the new College buildings were commenced, 
 Mr. Spurgeon, by an article in " The Sword and the Trowel," 
 
158 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H, STURCJEOX. 
 
 directed public attention to the institution. The following extract 
 
 will suffice: — 
 
 The supply of men as students has been always large, and at 
 this time more are applying than ever. Our one aim has been to 
 train preachers and pastors. The College is made into a home 
 missionary society for the spread of the gospel. One of our 
 students, Mr. F, E. Suddard, was first, in 1872, among seven com- 
 petitors for one of the Dr. Williams' scholarships at the Glasgow 
 University. In the metropolis alone, forty-five churches have 
 been founded. 
 
 One of the students has commenced a cause in Turk's Island ; 
 he is now carrying on evangelistic work in St. Domingo, where, 
 if he is spared, he is likely to become the apostle of that island, 
 and also of Hayti. One brother has gone to serve the Lord in 
 China, two others are laboring in Spain. Several are doing a good 
 work in Canada, and more than twenty brethren have become 
 pastors in America, and seven others are gone as far south as 
 Australia. One is a missionary in India, and another in Prince 
 Edward Island. 
 
 The suitable and commodious new buildings, which have been 
 erected and furnished, cost about $75,000, all of which is paid. 
 Here we have a fine hall, excellent class-rooms, a handsome 
 libraiy, and, in fact, all that a college can require. The way in 
 which the money was raised was another instance of divine good- 
 ness ; $15,000 was given as a memorial to a dear and lamented 
 husband; $io,ooo was a legacy to the College from a reader of 
 the sermons. The ministers who had been formerly students came 
 to our help in a princely fashion. Large amounts were made up 
 by the unanimous offerings of Tabernacle friends on days when 
 the pastor invited the members and adherents to be his guests at 
 the College. In answer to prayer, the gold and the silver have 
 been ready when needed. How our heart exults and blesses the 
 name of the Lord. 
 
 The Evening Classes are in a high condition of prosperity, there 
 being about two hundred men in regular attendance, and a con- 
 siderable number among them of hopeful ability. Out of this 
 
The Pastor's College. 
 
THE PASTORS' COLLEGE. 
 
 159 
 
 class city missionaries, lay preachers, writers for the press, and 
 colporteurs are continually coming. It is an eminently useful 
 part of the College work. 
 
 There are now hundreds of men proclaiming the gospel who 
 have been trained in the College. We are daily expecting more 
 missionaries to be raised up among us. 
 
 Our statistics, which are far from being complete, show that 
 these brethren baptized 20,676 person'^ in ten years (1865-1874), 
 that the gross increase to their cnurcucs was ^0,677, and the net 
 increase 19,498. Laus Dm:^ 
 
l6o LIFE AMD LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON, 
 
 PSALM LIJJ 
 
 The foes of Zion quake for fright, 
 
 Where no fear was they quail ; 
 For well they know that Sword of might 
 
 Which cuts through coats of mail. 
 
 The Lord of old defied their shields, 
 And all their spears He scorned ; 
 
 Their bones lay scattered o'er the fields, 
 Unburied and unmourned. 
 
 Let Zion's foes be filled with shame, 
 
 Her sons are blessed of God ; 
 Though scoffers now despise their name, 
 
 The Lord shall break the rod. 
 
 Oh, would our God to Zion turn, 
 
 God with salvation clad ; 
 Then Judah's harps should music learn, 
 
 And Israel be glad. 
 
 C. H. Spurgeon. 
 
XIII. 
 STOCKWELL ORPHANAGE. 
 
In a church in Verona stands, or rather sits, a wooden image of St. Zeno,. 
 an ancient bishop, with Icnees so ludicrously short that there is no lap on which 
 a babe could be dandled. He was not the first nor the last ecclesiastic who has 
 been utterly incapable of being a nursing father to the Church. It were well if 
 all ministers had a heavenly instinct for the nourishing and bringing up of the 
 Lord's little ones. Is there not much lack in this ? — C. H. Spurgeon. 
 
STOCKWELL ORPHANAGE. 
 
 o 
 
 F Mr. Spurgeon's Orphanage Mr. Stevenson gives the follow- 
 ing account and description : — 
 
 It is the Lord's own work to care for the fatherless. Those who 
 have faith in God never need be without success in undertaking 
 the care of the orphan. God helps the helpless ; but He uses 
 man as His agent in arranging details. Soon after '* The Sword 
 and the Trowel " was commenced Mr. Spurgeon indicated in one 
 of his articles published in its pages several forms of Christian 
 usefulness, and amongst them the care of the orphan. 
 
 Shortly afterwards, in September, 1866, Mr. Spurgeon received 
 a letter from a lady, offering to place at his command the sum of 
 $100,000, with which to commence an orphanage for fatherless 
 boys. At first he felt disposed to avoid the onerous responsi- 
 bilities of such a work ; and, calling at the address given by the 
 lady, tried to prevail upon her to give the money to Mr. Miiller, 
 of Bristol. The claims of London for such an institution were 
 urged ; and, unable to refuse the request of the generous donor, 
 the money was accepted on trust for the purpose named. Mrs. 
 Hillyard, the widow of a clergyman of the Church of England, 
 was the lady whose benevolence thus originated the Orphanage. 
 The money was in railway debentures, which were not at that time 
 available for use otherwise than as an investment. 
 
 After consulting with the leading friends at the Tabernacle, a 
 body of twelve trustees was chosen, in whose names the money 
 was invested, and a resolution was agreed upon to purchase a 
 
164 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. II. SPURGEON. 
 
 suitable plot of land at Stockwell, on which to erect an orphanage. 
 In March, 1867, the deed of incorporation was signed by the trus- 
 tees, and in May the claims of the projected buildings were urged 
 with so much force and urgency that the people belonging to the 
 Tabernacle took up the case with loving zeal and energy. By the 
 month of August $5,350 were in hand, and the whole church at 
 the Tabernacle was eilgaged in collecting on this behalf. Prayer, 
 faith, and prompt, energetic action were all combined in the efforts 
 made, and pastors, trustees, and congregation were of one mind 
 in their purpose to make the work a success. 
 
 Within the space of a year the plan of the Orphanage was 
 matured, the foundations laid, the work was making rapid prog- 
 ress, and a large amount of money was in hand for the purpose. 
 Donations from $5 to $1,250 had been generously forwarded to 
 help on the work, and a great meeting was held in September, 
 1867, when the public generally had an opportunity of showing 
 their sympathy with the proceedings. Previousl}' to that large 
 meeting the foundation-stones of three of the houses were laid 
 under circumstances of more than usual interest. 
 
 Mrs. Tyson, a lady who had often aided Mr. Spurgeon in the 
 work of the College, and in other enterprises, had been spared 
 to see the twenty-fifth anniversary of her marriage day, on which 
 occasion her beloved husband, a wealthy merchant, presented her 
 with $2,500. This money the lady at once took to Mr. Spurgeon 
 to be dedicated to God for the erection of one of the orphan 
 houses, to be called Silver-Wedding House. About the same 
 time a merchant in the City called upon the pastor at the Taber- 
 nacle, and, after transacting some business with him, left with Mr. 
 Spurgeon's secretary a sealed envelope, in which was $3,000, to 
 be used in building another house, which, it was afterwards deter- 
 mined, should be called Merchant's House, as the donor refused 
 to have his name given. The way in which God was answering 
 the prayers of His people was further shown by an offer made 
 by the workmen who had built the Tabernacle to give the labor 
 necessary for erecting a third house, whilst their employer volun- 
 teered to give the necessar}' material: this to be called the 
 Workmen's House. 
 
Boys' Home — Stockwell Orphanage. 
 
STOCKWELL ORPHANAGE. 165 
 
 Such manifest tokens of the divine favor attending the work- 
 greatly encouraged the pastor and the trustees, and on Monday 
 afternoon, Aug. 9, 1867, the foundation-stones of the three 
 houses named were laid, — one by Mrs. Hillyard, one by Mr. 
 Spurgeon, and one by Mr. Higgs. The scene presented at Stock- 
 well on that day was exceedingly picturesque and intensely inter- 
 esting. At the monster tea-meeting which followed, the tables 
 extended three hundred and thirty feet in length, and the bright 
 sunshine made the scene one of joy and delight, which will long 
 be remembered, though the rain, which came down so bountifully 
 just as tea was over, caused much discomfort. The subscriptions 
 brought in that day reached $12,000. In "The Sword and the 
 Trowel" for October the names of 1,120 collectors are printed, 
 with the amounts on their cards, stated to be $14,010. Amongst 
 the collectors were members of the Church of England, Congre- 
 gationalists, Methodists, Baptists, and others, so general had been 
 the sympathy which was felt in the work. 
 
 The faith of the pastor and trustees of the Orphanage was 
 greatly strengthened by the wonderful manner in which God had 
 answered their prayers and rewarded their efforts. It was an- 
 nounced that eight houses were contemplated, to provide for not 
 less than one hundred and fifty orphans, requiring an outlay of 
 $15,000 per annum. Messrs! Olney and Sons gave $2,500 to erect 
 a fourth house,. to be called, after the sainted and venerable Mrs. 
 Olney, Unity House. 
 
 By the end of the year 1867 the trustees had no less than two 
 hundred names of orphans from whom to select fifty in the follow- 
 ing April. The pressing need of providing for these children made 
 the way more easy for extending the work. Accordingly, at the 
 meeting of the Baptist Union, early in 1868, it was resolved that 
 an effort should be made to raise the funds necessary for erecting 
 two houses, at a cost of $3,000 each. Whilst these efforts were 
 being made amongst the Baptists, Mr. Thom.as Olney, as the 
 superintendent of the Tabernacle Sunday-school, aided by the 
 teachers and scholars, was collecting the funds necessary for erect- 
 ing a house to represent the young children. Simultaneously 
 with that effort was another amongst the students at the College, 
 
 14. 
 
l66 LIFE AND LA.BORS OF C. H. STURGEON. 
 
 who had resolved to show their affection for their pastor by raising 
 money sufficient to erect a house on their behalf, and to perpetu- 
 ate their institution by having it named the College House. 
 
 Two meetings were held at the Orphanage in June, 1868; one 
 on the 1st of June, when the venerable Thomas Olney, sr., laid 
 the foundation-stone of the building which was to form the lecture 
 and dining-hall, the master's house, and the entrance gateway. It 
 was a gladsome sight to witness the joy of the venerable man, 
 who had for nearly threescore years been connected with the 
 church worshipping at the Tabernacle, as he performed the 
 pleasing duty assigned to him. 
 
 On the same day the Rev. John Aldis, of Reading, and Alex- 
 ander B. Goodall, Esq., each laid one of the foundation-stones 
 of the two Testimonial Houses subscribed for by the Baptist 
 churches as a token of regard to Mr. Spurgeon. A monster tea- 
 meeting followed the proceedings, after which addresses were 
 delivered by the Revs. Thomas Binney, Dr. Raleigh, J. T. Wig- 
 ner, W. Brock, D.D., W. Howieson, A. Mursell, Henry Varley, 
 W. Stott, S. H. Booth, G. Gould, J. Raven, J. H. Millard, John 
 Spurgeon, sr., C. H. Spurgeon, and James A. Spurgeon. Mr. 
 Wigner presented to the pastor an address of affectionate sym- 
 pathy from the Baptist churches, which was signed by Mr. Good- 
 all and himself on behalf of the subscribers to the fund, and with 
 the address was the sum of $6,000. That sum was afterwards 
 increased to $8,720, so as to include the furniture and fittings 
 for the two houses, that the offering might be in every respect 
 complete in all its parts. 
 
 The meeting held on June 19th, the thirty-fourth birthday of 
 Mr. Spurgeon, was, if possible, a more joyous and enthusiastic one 
 than any of the preceding. On that day Mr. Thomas Olney, jr., 
 surrounded by a huge mass of children forming the Tabernacle 
 Sunday-schools, laid the foundation-stone of the Sunday-school 
 House, amidst the enthusiastic applause of the delighted children. 
 It was a time of joy they will all long remember. Dear Mrs. 
 Spurgeon, so long a suffering invalid, was there to witness the 
 happiness of the assembly, and by request from the students at 
 the College, and the ministers who had gone from it, she was 
 
STOCKWELL ORPHANAGE. 167 
 
 induced to lay the foundation-stone of the College House. She 
 was graciously upheld on the occasion, although the surpassing 
 kindness displayed was enough to overcome one of a stronger 
 frame. After the stone-laying was over, twenty-six sweet little 
 girls in white advanced one by one, and presented Mrs. Spurgeon 
 with purses which their parents had subscribed as a token of their 
 affectionate rejoicing at her temporary restoration. It was a 
 touching, beautiful, and unexpected sight, which deserves to be 
 recorded. A large sum of money was presented to Mr. Spurgeon 
 as a birthday offering, which he put into the Orphanage treasury. 
 
 Another incident occurred at that period which deserves to be 
 placed on record. The Baptist church at Liverpool, over which 
 the Rev. Hugh Stowell Brown presides, was about to be re- 
 opened, and Mr. Spurgeon consented to preach the sermons. 
 He did so : but the church and congregation resolved to defray 
 the cost of the repairs, and gave to Mr. Spurgeon for the Orphan- 
 age the whole of the collection, which amounted to $1,250. 
 
 The manner in which the funds have been contributed, first to 
 erect the Orphanage buildings, and since then to maintain the 
 children and officers, and keep the whole establishment in con- 
 tinuous operation, most clearly indicates that from the commence- 
 ment of the work, up to the present time, the hand of God has 
 been directing the whole. 
 
 Each house was occupied as soon as it was finished ; but unable 
 to wait until the first was ready, so soon as the plan of the Or- 
 phanage was matured and trustees appointed, four orphans were 
 selected and placed under the charge of a sister in her own house. 
 As money came in others were added to them. To manifest still 
 further the interest which Mrs. Hillyard took in the work, when 
 she found several orphans already in charge of a matron, she sold 
 some household plate to giVe the money for their support. Thus 
 encouraged, by the month of July, 1867, before the foundation- 
 stones were actually laid, seven boys were chosen by the trustees 
 as a commencement. It was wonderful how the money was sent 
 in. One day, just as Mr. Spurgeon finished his sermon in the 
 open air, a lady put into his hand an envelope containing $100 
 for the Orphanage and $100 for the College. In January, 1868, 
 
l6S LIFE AND LABORS 0I<^ C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 Mr. Spurgeon announced in his magazine that an unknown gentle- 
 man had given him $5,000 towards two of the houses. In March 
 another sum of $5,000 was announced, and in June the Baptist 
 churches sent in $6,000. In September, a year after the work 
 began, a great bazaar was held, which brought in a net profit of 
 $7,000. How many loving hearts and willing hands were em- 
 ployed to bring about such a result, it would be impossible to tell, 
 though there were but few of the eleven hundred collectors, who 
 so nobly came forward at the first meeting a year before, who 
 did not lend a helping hand to the bazaar. By the end of the 
 year the president announced in his magazine that only $5,000 
 more was required to complete the eight houses, " and this," says 
 he, " will surely be sent in ; for the Lord will provide." And so it 
 came to pass. 
 
 In January, 1869, fifty children had been chosen to occupy the 
 houses as soon as they should be ready, but up to the month of June 
 only twenty-nine orphans were in residence. The chief difficulty 
 which for some time had given anxiety to the trustees was to find 
 a suitable superintendent. Several persons had presented them- 
 selves, but not one had satisfied the claims of the institution. 
 When the difficulty seemed to be the greatest. Divine Providence 
 sent the right man. Vernon J. Charlesworth, who had been for 
 seven years co-pastor at Surrey Chapel with Newman Hall, offered 
 his services, and they were accepted. Mr. Charlesworth was at 
 once appointed : and the ability which he has manifested in 
 managing the affairs of the institution is very satisfactory evi- 
 dence that he is the right man in the right place. By his 
 influence within the Orphanage, and by his pen outside, he has 
 shown himself to be the orphan's friend. 
 
 Up to the spring of»the year 1870 one hundred and fifty-four 
 orphans had been admitted, six of whom had been removed, 
 leaving one hundred and forty-eight in residence. In 1877 the 
 resident orphans numbered two hundred and thirty. 
 
 Each of the eight houses forms a separate family, that plan having 
 after mature consideration been resolved upon as the best. Each 
 family is complete in its own arrangements ; each dwelling having 
 a large sitting and four lofty bed-rooms for the boys, with lockers, 
 
STOCKWELL ORPHANAGE. 169 
 
 which, when closed, form handy seats in the middle of the room ; 
 and a sitting-room, bed-room, and kitchen for the matron in 
 charge. A large covered play-room adjoins the houses on the 
 east, and separate from that is the infirmary, forming the east 
 end of the quadrangle. At the west end is the school-room and 
 dining-hall, the master's house and entrance gateway: and in the 
 rear of the dining-hall is the suite of offices for cooking and other 
 domestic purposes. 
 
 In selecting the most needy boys for the benefits of the institu- 
 tion, the trustees are in no way influenced by the religious opinions 
 of their parents. Those showing the most pressing want have the 
 preference. 
 
 A judicious writer has said of the Stockwell Orphanage: "How 
 superior any real approach to the family ideal is to the barrack 
 system was apparent to us on a mere glance at these fatherless 
 lads. The families are large, about thirty boys in each house ; 
 but they are under the care of affectionate and diligent matrons, 
 and everything is done to compensate for the loss of parental 
 rule and training. There is more of the ' home ' than of the 
 ' institution ' in the atmosphere. To encourage home ideas, and 
 for the sake of industrial training, the boys in turn assist in the 
 domestic work during the morning of the day; each boy's period 
 of service being restricted to one week in six, servants being 
 entirely dispensed with. A working cook superintends the kitchen, 
 aided by the boys. No regimental uniform is suffered. The boys 
 differ in the clothes they wear, in the cut of the hair, and show 
 all the variety of a large family. The boys do not look like 
 loosely connected members of a huge and miscellaneous crowd, 
 but sons and brothers. No traces of ill-disguised dissatisfaction, 
 as though in perpetual restraint, always under orders, were 
 apparent; but a free, healthy, and vigorous homeliness, as if 
 under the genial and robust influence of love, made itself every- 
 where manifest. With all the care of a Christian father, situations 
 are chosen for the lads, where their spiritual interests will not be 
 in danger ; and when they have been passed into them the master 
 corresponds with them, and gives them counsel and assistance 
 as they need. Like a true home, its benediction follows every 
 
170 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 inmate throughout his hfe. We were specially pleased with our 
 visit to the school. The boys are well drilled in elementary 
 knowledge, reading, writing, arithmetic, grammar, history, geogra- 
 phy, vocal music, Latin, shorthand, science of common things, 
 and Scripture. A French class is held for the elder boys. Mili- 
 tary drill is given daily. Drawing is successfully taught, and 
 many boys excel in it. The singing-class did very great credit 
 to its instructor, — singing at sight, with great accuracy and 
 sweetness, music of some difficulty." Two of H. M. Inspectors 
 were deputed from the Local Government Board to visit the 
 institution, and they gave the following report, which reflects the 
 highest credit upon Mr. Spurgeon for his wisdom and prudence : 
 " An admirable institution, good in design, and, if possible, better 
 in execution." 
 
 The children are admitted between the ages of six and ten 
 years, and they remain until they are fourteen. From an abstract 
 drawn up by the master in 1873 it was found that the creeds of 
 the parents of the children admitted to that date were in the 
 following proportions : sixty-nine were members of the Church 
 of England; twenty-six Independent; nineteen Wesleyan ; fifty- 
 one Baptist ; four Presbyterian ; one Catholic ; and - thirty-five 
 made no profession of religion. 
 
 In the management of the Orphanage will be found one of its 
 chief attractions, and one which ought to commend its plans to 
 other similar institutions. The author of a book called " Con- 
 trasts " cites the Stockwell School as a specimen of admirable 
 administration, proving that large expenditure in some public 
 institutions does not guarantee thorough satisfaction. In some 
 orphan schools and pauper schools the rate of expense per head 
 is from one hundred and fifteen to one hundred and forty-five 
 dollars, whilst in the Stockwell Orphanage, with complete organ- 
 ization and highly satisfactory results in each department, the 
 cost is only seventy-two dollars per head, inclusive of every- 
 thing. This is the highest testimonial which could be given of 
 its efficiency. 
 
 Looking over the list of applications which are entered in the 
 books at Stockwell, it was ascertained that two only out of every 
 
STOCKWELL ORPHANAGE. 171 
 
 dozen cases could be received. What becomes of the other ten? 
 " Think of widows, some of them sickly and unable to work, with 
 four or five children ; families of orphans deprived of both parents ; 
 and yet the Stockwell trustees had to decline them because there 
 were more necessitous cases. But there was one comfort, they 
 had not to pay any election expenses." On that subject Mr. 
 Spurgeon has written the following judicious remarks : " No 
 widow ever goes away lamenting over time, labor, and money 
 spent in vain. The worst that can happen is to be refused because 
 there is no room, or her case is not so bad as that of others. 
 Not a shilling will have been spent in purchasing votes, no time 
 lost in canvassing, no cringing to obtain patronage. Her case is 
 judged on its merits, and the most necessitous wins the day. We 
 have now so many applicants and so few vacancies, that women 
 with two or three children are advised not to apply, for while 
 there are others with five, six, or seven children depending upon 
 them, they cannot hope to succeed." A dozen orphanages as 
 large as the one at Stockwell could be filled at once with children 
 needing such help. 
 
 The economy with which the Orphanage has been managed 
 has excited the admiration of many who are familiar with the 
 details of kindred institutions. Those who honor Mr. Spurgeon 
 with their contributions make a good investment, and will share 
 in the blessedness of the return. The office expenses are reduced 
 to a minimum, and no paid canvassers are employed. Offerings 
 find their way into the exchequer from all parts of the globe, and 
 though at times there has been a little tightness felt, the children 
 have never lacked a meal. Mr. Spurgeon is a man of unwavering 
 faith in the living God, and though his faith has been put to the 
 severest test, it has never failed him. Friends who have not been 
 able to give money have sent gifts in kind. Flour and potatoes, 
 meat and preserves, are always gladly received. One manufac- 
 turer has given all the coverlets for the beds, and the proprietors 
 and pupils of a young ladies' school have endeavored to keep 
 the boys supplied with shirts. 
 
 The Orphanage has now existed long enough to form a correct 
 opinion of its merits in every department. Hundreds of boys 
 
172 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 have left the school and entered on the duties of life. The reports 
 which have been received annually from those business men who 
 have taken them have been most gratifying. With few excep- 
 tions, those who have left keep up communication with the home. 
 Summing up these results, a recent report says: "Almost every 
 boy who has gone into a situation has given satisfaction. Where 
 failure has occurred it has arisen from a craving for the sea, or from 
 the interference of an unwise mother. Some of the lads are in 
 good positions, and command the esteem of their ernployers." 
 
 Nearly all the boys have sent a portion of their first earnings 
 as a donation to the Orphanage, in sums varying from one dollar 
 to five dollars, thus manifesting a spirit of gratitude. Some o( 
 the letters received from them are read to the boys, and produce 
 on their minds beneficial results. Many of the boys have, before 
 they have, left, become decided Christians, and some have made 
 public confession of their faith by baptism. The head master 
 himself was publicly baptized in 1874, and five of the boys joined 
 him in the same act of dedication. Others have become members 
 of Christian churches in the towns and villages where they have 
 gone to reside. One of the first boys converted is now devoting 
 his evenings and Sundays to missionary work in South London, 
 and showed so much talent for preaching that he was received 
 into the College in January, 1876. 
 
 It is gratifying to be able to record that the health of the 
 inmates has been graciously maintained, with but little interrup- 
 tion, through the several years of its existence. A few who 
 entered in feeble health have fallen into consumption and died, 
 although the locality is most favorable to health. Of those who 
 have died, it is pleasing to have to record that their youthful 
 spirits passed away trusting in Jesus. 
 
 The 1875 anniversary of the schools was held at the Orphanage 
 on the pastor's birthday, June 19th, which was preceded by a 
 bazaar. The attendance was so numerous that it was necessary 
 to hold two public meetings to accommodate the large number 
 of persons present. The Earl of Shaftesbury was present, and 
 spoke at both the services. The contributions added two thou- 
 sand five hundred dollars to the funds. 
 
XIV. 
 
 A SPECIMEN ANNUAL REPORT 
 
In dibbling beans the old practice was to put three In each hole: one for 
 the ■worm, one for the crow, and one to Uve and produce the crop. In teaching 
 children, we must give line upon line and precept upon precept, repeating the 
 truth which we would inculcate, till it becomes impossible for the child to for- 
 get it. We m? V well give the lesson once, expecting the child's frail memory 
 to lose it;, twice, reckoning that the devil, like an ill bird, wiL tteal it ; thrice, 
 hoping that it will take root downward, and bring forth fruit upward to the glory 
 of God. — C. H. Spurgeon. 
 
ANNUAL REPORT. 
 
 I 
 
 N issuing the twelfth annual report of the Stockwell Orphanage 
 the Committee write : — 
 
 With profound gratitude to our Heavenly Father we issue the 
 Twelfth Report of the Stockwell Orphanage, and our gratitude 
 will be shared, we doubt not, by all who have given of their sub^ 
 stance towards the maintenance and development of the institu- 
 tion. We therefore invite all our readers to " rejoice with us " 
 in the tokens of the divine favor which have crowned our labors 
 during another year. " The Lord hath been mindful of us: He 
 will bless us." 
 
 When we remember how this gracious work began by the con- 
 secrated thought of a holy woman, and then grew into an actual 
 gift from her hand, and further developed, by the large help ot 
 others, into houses and schools, infirmary and dining-hall, and all 
 manner of provision for destitute children, we feel bound to cry, 
 " What hath God wrought ! " Our God has supplied all our 
 need according to His riches in glory by Chri.st Jesus. The story 
 of the Stockwell Orphanage will be worth telling in heaven when 
 the angels shall learn from the Church the manifold wisdom and 
 goodness of the Lord. Incidents which could not be published 
 on earth will be made known in the heavenly city, where every 
 secret thing shall be revealed. How every need has been sup- 
 plied before it has become a want ; how guidance has been given 
 before questions have become anxieties ; how friends have been 
 raised up in unbroken succession, and how the One Great Friend 
 
176 LIFE AND LABORS OF C, H. srURCEOX. 
 
 has been ever present, no single pen can ever record. To care 
 for the fatherless has been a work of joyful faith all along, and in 
 waiting upon God for supplies we have experienced great delight. 
 The way of faith in God is the best possible. We could not have 
 carried on the work by a method more pleasant, more certain, 
 more enduring. If we had depended upon annual subscribers 
 we should have had to hunt them up and pay a heavy poundage, 
 or perhaps fail to keep up the roll ; if we had advertised contin- 
 ually for funds our outlay might have brought in a scanty return ; 
 but dependence upon God has been attended with no such haz- 
 ards. We have done our best as men of business to keep the 
 Orphanage before the public, but we have desired in all things 
 to exercise faith as servants of God. Whatever weakness we have 
 personally to confess and deplore, there is no weakness in the 
 plan of faith in God. Our experience compels us to declare that 
 He is the living God ; the God that heareth prayer ; the God who 
 will never permit those who trust in Him to be confounded. The 
 business world has passed through trying times during the last few 
 years, but the Orphanage has not been tried ; men of great enter- 
 prise have failed, but the home for the fatherless has not failed ; for 
 this enterprise is in the divine hand, an eye watches over it which 
 neither slumbers nor sleeps. 
 
 Let the people of God be encouraged by the fact of the exist- 
 ence and prosperity of the Stockwell Orphanage. Miracles have 
 come to an end, but God goes on to work great wonders : the rod 
 of Moses is laid aside, but the rod and staff of the Great Shepherd 
 still compass us. 
 
 The son of an old Puritan rode some twenty miles to meet 
 his father, who came a similar distance to the half-way house. 
 " Father," said the son, " I have met with a special providence, 
 for my horse stumbled at least a dozen times, and yet it did riot 
 fall." " Ah ! " replied the father, " I have had a providence quite 
 as remarkable, for my horse did not stumble once all the way." 
 This last is the happy picture of the Orphanage for some time 
 past, and indeed throughout its whole career: we have never had 
 to issue mournful appeals because of exhausted resources, and in 
 this we must see and admire the cood hand of the Lord. 
 
ANNUAL REPORT, 1 88 1, 
 
 77 
 
 We now enter more fully upon a fresh stage of our existence ; 
 we shall need to double the amount of our present income, and 
 we shall have it from the ever-opened hand of the Lord our God, 
 Friends will be moved to think of our great family, for our Great 
 
 ONE OF THE SCHOOL-ROOMS. 
 
 Remembrancer will stir them up. The duty of each Christian to 
 the mass of destitute orphanhood is clear enough, and if pure 
 minds are stirred up by way of remembrance there will be no lack 
 in the larder, no want in the wardrobe, no failing in the funds of 
 our Orphan House. 
 
 We labor under one great difficulty: many people say, "Mr. 
 Spurgeon will be sure to get the money, and there is no need for 
 us to send." It is clear that if everybody talked so, our presi- 
 
1 78 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 dent's name would be a hindrance instead of a help. He will be 
 the means of finding money for our institution, for the Lord will 
 honor his faith and hear his prayers, and be glorified in him ; but 
 there will be no thanks due to those who fabricate an excuse for 
 themselves out of the faithfulness of God. This difficulty, how- 
 ever, does not distress us : we go forward believing that when we 
 have twice our present number of children the Lord will send us 
 double supplies ; we cannot entertain the suspicion that the girls 
 will be left without their portion, for we, being evil, care as much 
 for our daughters as for our sons, and our Heavenly Father will 
 do the same. It is well, however, to remind our friends of this, 
 that each helper of the Orphanage may try to interest another 
 generous heart, and so enlarge the circle of our friends. It may 
 be that by such means the Great Provider will supply us ; for we 
 know that when our Lord fed the multitude He first said to His 
 disciples, *' Give ye them to eat." 
 
 The sanitary condition of the Orphanage has been all that we 
 could desire. Considering that so large a proportion of the chil- 
 dren come to us in a delicate condition, and some with the taint 
 of hereditary disease, it is a matter for devout thankfulness that 
 their general health is so good, and that so few deaths have 
 occurred. Out of the entire number who have left, only one boy 
 was unable to enter upon a situation in consequence of an enfee- 
 bled constitution. We owe it to an ever-watchful Providence that, 
 during the prevailing epidemic, not a single case of fever or small- 
 pox has occurred in the institution. 
 
 Family worship is conducted twice daily, before the morning 
 and evening meals, by the head master or his assistants, the 
 service being taken occasionally by the president, or a member 
 of the committee, or a visitor to the institution who may happen 
 to be present. The Word of God is read and expounded, hymns 
 sung, and prayer offered, and the whole of the boys repeat a text 
 selected for the day. A service is conducted for the elder boys 
 every Wednesday evening by Mr. W. J. Evans, when addresses 
 are given by ministers and other friends. 
 
 During their term of residence in the institution all the boys 
 are total abstainers, no alcoholic liquors being allowed except by 
 
ANNUAL REPORT, I 88 I. 179 
 
 order of the doctor, but most of them are pledged abstainers, 
 with the approval of their friends. Band of Hope meetings are 
 held every month, when the children receive instruction from 
 competent speakers ; and lectures are given at intervals during 
 the winter months. 
 
 The operations of the institution reveal to the managers the 
 wide-spread necessity which exists. The cry of the orphan comes 
 from every part of our beloved land, and the plea of the widow 
 for Christian sympathy and help is restricted to no one class of 
 the community. Faces once radiant with smiles are saddened 
 with grief, for the dark shadow which death casts falls everywhere. 
 How true are the lines of the poet : — 
 
 " There is no fireside, howsoe'er defended, 
 But has one vacant chair." 
 
 It is a constant joy to the president and the committee that 
 they are able to mitigate to such a large extent the misery and 
 need which are brought under their notice; and it must be an 
 equal joy to the subscribers to know that their loving contribu- 
 tions furnish the sinews for this holy war. 
 
 As our Sunday-school is affiliated to the Sunday-school Union, 
 we allow the boys who desire to do so to sit for examination. Ot 
 the candidates who were successful at the last examination, three 
 gained prizes, twelve first-class certificates, and thirty-eight second- 
 class certificates. 
 
 During the year the boys took part in the Crystal Palace 
 Musical Festivals arranged by the Band of Hope Union and the 
 Tonic Sol-fa Association. 
 
 In order to make the character and claims of the institution 
 more widely known, the head master and the secretary have held 
 meetings in London and the provinces, and the success which has 
 crowned their effi^rts is of a very gratifying character. The boys 
 who accompany them to sing and to recite furnish a powerful 
 appeal by their appearance and conduct, and commend the insti- 
 tution to which they owe so much. The local papers speak in 
 terms of the highest praise of their services, and thus a most 
 effective advertisement is secured without any cost to the institu- 
 
l8o LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 tion. So far as the boys are concerned these trips have an educa- 
 tional value, for they get to know a great deal of the products 
 and industries of different parts of the country, besides securing 
 the advantage of being brought into contact with Christian families 
 where they reside during their visit. 
 
 The amount realized during the year, after defraying all ex- 
 penses, is $3,320, and our thanks are hereby tendered to all who 
 assisted in any way to secure such a splendid result. 
 
 The committee record with thankfulness that there has been 
 no lack in the funds contributed for the efficient maintenance of 
 the institution. Friends prefer to give donations rather than 
 pledge themselves to send annual subscriptions, and the benevo- 
 lence thus manifested is purely spontaneous. The admirable 
 custom of making shirts for the boys is still continued by the 
 young ladies of an educational establishment, who send in a sup- 
 ply of two hundred shirts every year. Their efforts are supple- 
 mented by several working associations, but the supply is not yet 
 equal to the demand, and we cordially invite the co-operation of 
 others, to whom we shall be glad to send samples and patterns. 
 
 The work of caring for the widow and the fatherless is specially 
 mentioned by the Holy Spirit as one of the most acceptable 
 modes of giving outward expression to pure religion and undefiled 
 before God and the Father, and therefore the Lord's people will 
 not question that they should help in carrying it out. Will it 
 need much pleading? If so, we cannot use it, as we shrink from 
 marring the willinghood which is the charm of such a service. 
 The work is carried on in dependence upon God, and as His 
 blessing evidently rests upon it, we are confident the means will 
 be forthcoming as the need arises. While commending the work 
 to our Heavenly Father in prayer, we deem it right to lay before 
 the stewards of His bounty the necessities and claims of the 
 institution. , 
 
 The year 1880 will be a memorable one in the history of the 
 institution, and we record with gratitude the fact that the founda- 
 tion-stones of the first four houses for the Girls' Orphanage were 
 laid on the 22d of June, when the president's birthday was 
 celebrated. It was a joy to all present that Mrs. Spurgeon was 
 
ANNUAL REPORT, 1881. iSl 
 
 able to lay the memorial stone of " The Sermon House, the 
 gift of C. H. Spurgcon and his esteemed pubhshers, Messrs. 
 Passmore and Alabaster." The memorial stone of another house, 
 the gift of Mr. W. R. Rickett, and called " The Limes, in tender 
 memory of five beloved children," was laid b}' C H. Spurgeon, 
 who made a touching allusion to the sad event thus commemo- 
 rated. Mrs. Samuel Barrow laid the memorial stone of the house 
 called " The Olives," the amount for its erection having been 
 given and collected by her beloved husband. The trustees of the 
 institution having subscribed the funds for the erection of a house, 
 the treasurer, Mr. William Higgs, laid, in their name, the memorial 
 stone which bears the inscription, " Erected by the Trustees of the 
 Orphanage to express their joy in this service of love." 
 
 At the present moment the buildings of the Orphanage form a 
 great square, enclosing a fine space for air and exercise. Visitors 
 generally express great surprise at the beauty and openness of 
 the whole establishment. Much remains to be done before the 
 institution is completely accommodated ; there is needed an 
 infirmary for the girls, and till that is built one of the houses 
 will have to be used for that purpose, thus occupying the space 
 which would otherwise be filled by thirty or forty children : this 
 should be attended to at an early date. Baths and washhouses 
 will be urgently required for the girls, and we propose to make 
 them sufficiently commodious for the girls to do the washing for 
 the entire community of five hundred children, thus instructing 
 them in household duties and saving a considerable expense. 
 We would not spend a sixpence needlessly. No money has been 
 wasted in lavish ornament or in hideous ugliness. The buildings 
 are not a workhouse or a county jail, but a pleasant residence for 
 those children of whom God declares Himself to be the Father. 
 The additional buildings which we contemplate are not for luxury, 
 but for necessary uses ; and as we endeavor to lay out money 
 with judicious economy, we feel sure that we shall be trusted in 
 the future as in the past. 
 
 Are there not friends waiting to take a share in the Stockwell 
 Orphanage Building? They cannot better commemorate personal 
 blessings, nor can they find a more suitable memorial for departed 
 
 IS 
 
iSz LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. Sl'URGEON. 
 
 friends. No storied urn or animated bust can half so well record 
 the memory of beloved ones as a stone in an Orphan House. 
 Most of the buildings arc already appropriated as memorials in 
 some form or other, and only a few more will be needed. Very 
 soon all building operations will be complete, and those who have 
 lost the opportunity of becoming shareholders in the Home of 
 Mercy may regret their delay. At any rate, none who place a 
 stone in the walls of the Stockwell Orphanage will ever lament 
 that they did this deed of love to the little ones for whom Jesus 
 cares. Honored names are with us already engraven upon the 
 stones of this great Hostelry of the All-merciful ; and many others 
 are our co-workers whose record is on high, though unknown 
 among men. Who will be the next to join us in this happy 
 labor? 
 
 When the whole of the buildings are complete, the institution 
 will afford accommodation for five hundred children, and prove a 
 memorial of Christian generosity and of the loving-kindness of 
 the Lord. 
 
 The next brief chapter, on "The Girls' Orphange," is from th<i 
 pen of Mr. Spurgeon. 
 
XV. 
 THE GIRLS' ORPHANAGE. 
 
He who is the feeder of sparrows will also furnish you with what you need. 
 Sit not down in despair; hope on, hope ever. Take up the arms of faith 
 against a sea of fears, "and by opposing end them." There is One above 
 who cares for you, though all men deny you sympathy. He gave His Son to 
 redeem you, and He will not suffer His redeemed to be famished. He will 
 hear your crj-. At any rate, try Him and see. — C H. Spurgeon. 
 
THE GIRLS' ORPHANAGE. 
 
 IN our address at the presentation of the late testimonial, we 
 disclaimed all personal credit for the existence of any one of 
 the enterprises over which we preside, because each one of them 
 has been forced upon us. " I could not help undertaking them," 
 was our honest and just confession. This is literally true, and 
 another illustration of this fact is now to come before the Chris- 
 tian public. Several of us have long cherished the idea that the 
 time would come in which we should have an Orphanage for girls 
 as well as for boys. It would be hard to conceive why this should 
 not be. It seems ungallant, not to say unrighteous, to provide 
 for children of one sex only, for are not all needy little ones dear 
 to Christ, with whom there is neither male nor female? We do 
 not Hke to do such things by halves, and it is but half doing the 
 thing to leave the girls out in the cold. We have all along wished 
 to launch out in the new direction, but we had quite enough on 
 hand for the time being, and were obliged to wait. The matter 
 has been thought of, and talked about, and more than half prom- 
 ised, but nothing has come of it till this present, and now, as we 
 believe ^t the exact moment, the hour has struck, and the voice of 
 God in providence says, " Go forward." The fund for the Girls' 
 Orphanage has commenced, and there 'are about a dozen names 
 upon the roll at the moment of our writing. The work will be 
 carried on with vigor as the Lord shall be pleased to send the 
 means, but it will not be unduly pushed upon any one so as to be 
 regarded as a new burden, for we want none but cheerful helpers, 
 who will count it a privilege to have a share in the good work. 
 
lS6 1-I1*'E AND LABORS ()!• C. M. SPURGEON. 
 
 We shall employ no collector to make a percentage by dunning 
 the unwilling, and shall make no private appeals to individuals. 
 There is the case : if it be a good one and you are able to help it, 
 please do so ; but if you have no wish in that direction, our Lord's 
 work does not require us to go a begging like a pauper, and we do 
 not intend to do so. 
 
 We Jiave never been in debt yet, nor have we had a mortgage upon 
 any of our buildings, nor have we eve)t borrowed money for a time, 
 bid we have always been able to pay as we have gone on. Our 
 prayer is that we may never have to come down to a lower 
 platform and commence borrowing. 
 
 It has often happened that we have been unable to assist widows 
 in necessitous circumstances with large families, because there did 
 not happen to be a boy of the special age required by the rules of 
 our Boys' Orphanage. There were several girls, but then we could 
 not take girls, and however deserving the case, we have been 
 unable to render any assistance to very deserving widows, simply 
 because their children were not boys. This is one reason why we 
 need a Girls' Orphanage. 
 
 Everywhere also there is an outcry about the scarcity of good 
 servants, honest servants, industrious servants, well-trained ser- 
 vants. We know where to find the sisters who will try to produce 
 such workers out of the little ones who will come under their 
 care. 
 
 We have succeeded by God's grace and the diligent care of our 
 masters and matrons in training the lads so that they have become 
 valuable to business men : why should not the same divine help 
 direct us with the lasses, so that domestics and governesses should 
 go forth from us as well as clerks and artisans? We believe that 
 there are many friends who will take a special interest in the girls, 
 and that there are some whose trades would more readily enable 
 them to give articles suitable for girls than those which are useful 
 to boys. 
 
 Here is a grand opportunity for Christian people with means to 
 take their places among the first founders of this new institution, 
 and if they judge that such a work will be good and useful, we 
 hope that they will without fail, and zvitJiont delay, come to our 
 
THE GIRLS' ORPI.ANAGE. 187 
 
 assistance in this fresh branch of service. We cannot afford to lose 
 a single penny from the funds for the boys, but this work for the 
 girls must be something extra and above. You helped Willie and 
 Tommy: will you not help Mary and Maggie? 
 
 It is very needful to add that foolish persons often say: Mr. 
 Spurgeon can get plenty of money, and needs no help. If all 
 were to talk in this fashion, where would our many works drift to? 
 Mr. Spurgeon does get large sums, but not a penny more than 
 the various works require, and he gets it because God moves His 
 people to give it, as he hopes, good reader, He may move you. 
 We have no personal end to serve, we do not, directly or indirectly, 
 gain a single penny by the Orphanage, College, or any other socie- 
 ties over which we preside ; neither have we any wealthy persons 
 around us who are at a loss to dispose of their property ; but our 
 hard-working church keeps continually consecrating its offerings, 
 and our friends far and near think upon us. Our treasury is the 
 bounty of God, our motto is : The Lord will PROVIDE. Past 
 mercy forbids a doubt as to the future, and so in the name of God 
 we set up our banners. 
 
 The girls' part is not yet fully complete, but it soon will be so, 
 and then we must take in the girls. Now it occurs to me to let 
 my fpends know the increased need which has arisen, and will arise 
 from the doubling o the number of children. The income must 
 by some means be doubled. My trust is in the Lord alone, for 
 whose sake I bear this burden I believe that He has led me all 
 along in the erection and carrying on of this enterprise, and I am 
 also well assured that His own hand pointed to the present exten- 
 sion, and supplied the means for making it. I therefore rest in 
 the providence of God alone. But the food for the children will 
 not drop as manna from heaven, it will be sent in a way which is 
 more beneficial, for the graceo of His children will be displayed 
 in the liberality which will supply the needs of the orphans. God 
 will neither feed the children by angels nor by ravens, but by the 
 loving gifts of His people. It is needful, therefore, that I tell my 
 friends of our need, and I do hereby tell them. The institution 
 will need, in rough figures, about one thousand dollars a week. 
 
iSS LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 This is a large sum, and when I think of it I am appalled if 
 Satan suggests the question : " What if the money does not come 
 in?" But it is nothing to the Lord of the whole earth to feed 
 five hundred little ones. He has kept two hundred and fifty boys 
 for these years, and He can do the like for the same number of 
 girls. Only let not His stewards say that there is no need at Stock- 
 well, for there is great and crying need that all my friends should 
 inquire whether they may not wisely render me much more aid 
 than they have done. The buildings are not all finished yet, nor 
 the roads made, but this will soon be accomplished, and then the 
 institution will be in full operation, and its requirements will be 
 great. I have written these lines with a measure of reluctance ; 
 and I hope it is not in unbelief, but as a reasonable service, that I 
 have thus stated the case. 
 
XVI. 
 SUNSHINE IN THE HEART. 
 
Dear friend, whether you die as soon as you are born again, or remain on 
 earth for many years, is comparatively a small matter, and will not materially 
 alter your indebtedness to divine grace. In the one case the great Husband- 
 man will show how He can bring His flowers speedily to perfection ; and in 
 the other He will prove how He can preserve them in blooming beauty, despite 
 the trosts and snows of earth's cruel winter: in either case your experience 
 will reveal the same love and power. — ^ C. H. Spurgeon. 
 
SUNSHINE IN THE HEART. 
 
 ABUNDANT evidence has been given to assure the foundei 
 and patrons of the Orphanage that the aim ever in view, 
 viz., the spiritual good of the children, is being constantly realized. 
 The little ones who have been removed by death have died in 
 the Lord. Mr. Charlesworth, the head master, tells the following 
 pathetic story concerning one of " these little ones " : — 
 
 During the history of the Orphanage we have received a num- 
 ber of children to whom has been bequeathed a heritage of dis- 
 ease. In many cases, we are thankful to say, delicate boys, of 
 whom at first we stood in doubt, have become strong and healthy 
 youths. God has been very gracious in blessing the ministra- 
 tions of doctors and nurses to the complete renovation of consti- 
 tutions enfeebled by disease, neglect, or want. Our death-rate 
 has been very small considering the large proportion of children 
 whose parents died of pulmonary disease and other hereditary 
 complaints. Only thirteen out of five hundred and sixty-seven 
 have been removed by death during their term, and of these one 
 died in a fit within a few hours of his admission, and another of 
 scarlet fever while away for a holiday. With the exception of one 
 boy, who died of scarlet fever, all the rest fell victims to inherited 
 disease. 
 
 With devout gratitude to our Heavenly Father we record the 
 pleasing fact that all who have died in the institution not only gave 
 evidence of conversion, but experienced the rapture of saints who 
 are fully assured of their personal interest in the Saviour and of 
 
192 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 their eternal home in the house of many mansions. In the little 
 books entitled " Love Jesus and Live for Heaven " and " Little 
 Dicky" we have endeavored to describe the dying experiences 
 of two of the boys, and now it has fallen to our lot to write of 
 another who has only just fallen asleep. The realities thus de- 
 scribed may seem to some to belong to the realm of fiction ; but 
 we ask to be believed vv^hen we affirm that we have not exagger- 
 ated, nor even colored, a single expression. 
 
 Ernest Edgar Bray, the last of the number called to the fold 
 above, came to us after he had lost both parents. He was a 
 simple-minded, affectionate boy, but for several years he was pos- 
 sessed of very little moral consciousness. His conduct at times 
 was a severe strain upon the patience of his matron and teachers, 
 and on several occasions he brought himself into disgrace by his 
 folly and sin. We mention this at the outset to show that he had 
 no natural bias towards goodness, and that his Christian character 
 was not due to the development of inherited virtues. The child- 
 piety of the theorists is a quality we have never met with during 
 a long experience ; but the piety which springs from a regener- 
 ated nature is a beautiful adornment we have often witnessed. In 
 every such case the character and conduct after conversion formed 
 a striking contrast to all that had gone before. The change was 
 so radical, that the second phase of experience seemed to belong 
 to another individual. " From darkness to light " indicates the 
 change of which a new-born soul is conscious ; " from the king- 
 dom of Satan into the kingdom of God's dear Son " suggests the 
 altered relationship into which a " child of God " enters. The 
 change is not a development, but a translation. If it be claimed 
 by some that the artless simplicity of childhood carries with it the 
 germs of a Christian character, and that children ought to grow 
 up, under proper nurture, and " never know themselves as other 
 than Christian," we challenge the theory by demanding an illus- 
 tration. If a case in point be* adduced, we shall then claim the 
 liberty to withhold our assent unless we can be certified that no 
 radical change has ever been effected by the grace of God. We 
 believe it to be contrary to the testimony of the Word of God 
 and to the uniform experience of Christians for the twilight of 
 
SUNSHINE IN THE HEART. 
 
 '93 
 
 natural virtues to expand into the full radiance of Christie n purity 
 and joy. The divine life in the soul is a heavenly exotic, and 
 sanctification is the result of the Spirit's operation. " Not of 
 works, lest any man should boast," is an inspired dictum, which 
 receives unqualified indorsement from all who belong to the " new 
 creation." 
 
 In the case of Ernest Bray, the change in his character was so 
 apparent that no one could question the fact of the divine agency 
 by which it was wrought. It is true, the precise moment of the 
 change cannot be determined, nor can we indicate the special 
 circumstance which culminated in his conversion. From the time 
 of his admission to the Orphanage he was the object of Christian 
 solicitude and prayer, and the subject of Christian instruction and 
 training. Twice every day all the boys assemble for family wor- 
 ship, when a text is repeated from memory, the Word of God read 
 and expounded, addresses delivered, and prayer offered. On 
 Wednesday evening a special service is held, the salvation of the 
 boys being the supreme aim of the friends who conduct it; and 
 on Sundays the following plan is adopted : In the morning one 
 detachment is sent to the Tabernacle, another to Wynne Road 
 Baptist Chapel, and a special service is held at home for the 
 remainder. In the afternoon a Sunday-school is held, the boys 
 being taught in classes by friends interested in the institution. In 
 the evening a separate service is arranged for the elder boys, the 
 younger ones spending the time with their matrons in their respec- 
 tive houses. During the week also all the members of the staflf 
 " watch for their souls as those who must give an account," and 
 the Bible is a text-book in all the classes of the school. In all 
 these arrangements human instrumentality is consecrated to the 
 work of soul-winning and Christian nurture, and our Heavenly 
 Father is graciously pleased to bless all the means employed, so 
 that " he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together." 
 Of one thing we are fully assured, that however numerous and 
 distinct the agencies, " God giveth the increase." To Him, there- 
 fore, be all the glory. 
 
 In the latter half of the year 1879 it became evident that Bray 
 would not survive the winter, his lungs betraying deep-seated dis- 
 
194 ^^^^^^ -'^^'^ LABORS OF C, H. SPURGEON. 
 
 case. He was very reluctant to enter the infirmary, and bravely 
 tried, as consumptives usually do, to conceal his worst fears re- 
 specting himself. For some time after his admission the buoy- 
 ancy of a child's hope threw the thought of death into the shade, 
 but at length the conviction gained strength that his end was not 
 far distant. The loving ministry of his constant attendant became 
 more and more welcome, and as his hope of salvation deepened 
 into a settled conviction, and the " peace of God " shed a holy 
 calm over his spirit, he conversed freely of the preciousness of 
 Jesus and the prospect of being " for ever with the Lord." His 
 face soon betrayed the secret of his soul's experience, revealing, 
 as in a mirror, the tranquillity of peace and the ecstasy of joy. 
 He said to one of his playmates, who came to see him on 1m& 
 return from the Christmas holidays: " Do you see any difference 
 in my face?" "Yes," he replied; "it is thinner." "Oh," he 
 replied, " that is not what I mean ! Don't you see it looks more 
 shining? " " Beholding, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord," he 
 was being changed into the same image, and he was conscious 
 of the transformation. He often remarked, " I have sunshine 
 to the bottom of my heart." One morning he was singing very 
 softly to himself, and one of the boys remarked : " I know why 
 you feel happy just now; it is because the sun is shining! " Bray 
 replied: "It's not that; it is something inside! Jesus!" On 
 another occasion he said : " I do love to talk about Jesus ; it 
 makes me so happy. I did not begin to love Jesus until I came 
 into the infirmary. I have loved Him ever since, but not half so 
 much as I do now. The Lord makes me happy all day and all 
 night. I don't mind the long nights as I did, because Jesus is 
 near me." " I want to sing," he remarked to a loving friend who 
 was visiting him, " but I can't ! " She said : " Well, you will raise 
 a loud note when you enter heaven, won't you ? " He replied : 
 "Ah, I shall sing there! I sing «£'w, inside ; but I shall sing ^;// 
 /oud then, and wait and watch for you to come ! " 
 
 Much of his time was spent in prayer. Entering the room one 
 morning, the nurse heard him say: " So happy! so happy! Oh, 
 Lord, may this be a glorious day ! Let me praise Thee ! Bless 
 ail the boys ! May they love Jesus ! Forgive all my sins for 
 
Infirmary — Stockwell Orphanage. 
 
SUNSHINE IN THE HEART. 195 
 
 Thy Son's sake ! " Not a day passed, as he heard the boys at 
 play, without a prayer for their conversion, and as he lay awake 
 with pain during the long hours of the night his heart went forth 
 in earnest supplication that God would bless and save his com- 
 panions. He said to the nurse who was with him : " I do want 
 to do something for Jesus. Oh, I know ! I will try to write to 
 my brother. I do want him to love the Lord ! " He then wrote 
 the following letter : — 
 
 Dear Brother, — I have much pleasure in writing these few 
 lines to tell you how the Lord has made me so happy. I used to 
 think I loved and trusted the Lord enough, but something made 
 me feel I must love Him more. If 1 was strong, oh, how I would 
 work for Jesus ! I hope and trust this letter may be the means of 
 making you happy in the Lord. Tell aunt how very happy I am. 
 Good bye, trusting we both shall meet in heaven. 
 
 Your loving brother, 
 
 Ernest Bray. 
 
 Added to his prayerfulness and anxiety for others, his patience 
 in enduring pain was another evidence of his thorough conver- 
 sion. As he lay, week after week, with declining strength, so that 
 the weight of his bed-clothes became at length a burden, and he 
 was unable to shift his position without assistance, not a murmur 
 escaped his lips. Any little service rendered by his loving attend- 
 ants evoked a cheerful smile or a grateful "Thank you ! God bless 
 you ! " How much is true piety seen in these little things ! They 
 may not strike the reader, but those who actually see the gracious 
 patience and gratitude know how to appreciate them. He said to 
 Miss A., one of the teachers, a few days before his departure : " I 
 have been so worried this morning ; Satan came to me and said : 
 ' What's the use o{ you trusting?' but God gave me the victory 
 over him, and I am happy now." She then quoted the lines, — 
 
 " Sin, my worst enemy before. 
 
 Shall vex my eyes and ears no more ; 
 My inward foes shall all be slain, 
 Nor Satan break my peace again : " 
 
 and the thought of his final and complete triumph over sin and 
 Satan cast a flush of victory over his face. " He then thanked me 
 
196 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 SO gratefully," this friend writes, "and, putting his thin arms round 
 me, kissing me many times, he said : ' Oh, I do love Jesus and 
 you ! You are all such kind friends to me, and I feel Mr. Charles- 
 worth is a father to me. But do pray for me that I may go soon.'" 
 He added to the same friend : " I wish I had strength to do some- 
 thing for nurse; she has done so much for me." With what little 
 strength he could command he tried to sing a simple impromptu 
 couplet, after the manner of the Jubilee Singers, — 
 
 " Oh, come along with me to Jesus; 
 Oh, nurse, come along ! " 
 
 Mrs. C. said to him, as she sat by his bedside : " You will soon be 
 home." Putting his thin hand on her face, he exclaimed : " Oh, 
 Mrs. C, I do hope I shall, — I am ready; " and then he added: 
 " I will give you another smile." Before she left she kissed him, 
 and said : " If we find you gone we shall not sorrow ; it will be 
 your gain." He very sweetly replied : " I should be sorry for 
 you to sorrow ; I shall be free from pain ; safe at home." So 
 certain was his conviction that he would soon be home that he 
 said one day: "I should like a sandwich, and then I don't want 
 anything more on this earth." 
 
 There is a charm about the sweet simplicity of faith and hope 
 which makes the religion of childhood a type of piety worthy of 
 imitation. With all the eloquence of pathos Jesus took a little 
 child and said, as He placed him in the midst of the bystanders, 
 who had conceived a very different ideal : " Except ye be con- 
 verted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the 
 kingdom of heaven." When the sterner virtues of manhood are 
 toned by the feminine graces of childhood the perfection of Chris- 
 tian character is attained. 
 
 While Mr. Spurgeon was in Mentone, Bray was very anxious to 
 write and tell him how happy he was in Jesus. The following was 
 the letter he sent : — 
 
 Infirmary, Stockwell Orphanage. 
 
 Dear Mr. Spurgeon, — As Dr. Wylie said he was going to 
 Mentone, I thought I should like to send you a few lines. The 
 last time you saw me you thought I should soon be in heaven, 
 and you asked the Lord if you could soon be there too, but the 
 
SUNSHINE IN THE HEART. 197 
 
 Lord has spared us both ; and may the Lord soon bring you back 
 
 again to serve and praise Him. I can't do much for Jesus, but 1 
 
 am trying to bear patiently all I have to suffer. I am still in bed, 
 
 and I feel I can't write any more. 
 
 P rom one of your orphan boys, 
 
 E. Bray. 
 
 To which Mr. Spurgeon replied: — 
 
 Mentone, February 5. 
 
 Dear Bray, — ■ I was so pleased with your little note. It was 
 so good of you, with all your pain, to sit up and write to me. I 
 hope when the spring weather comes you will feel better, but if 
 not, you know of the " sweet fields beyond the swelling flood " 
 which " stand dressed in living green." The Lord Jesus will be 
 very near you. He feels for dear suffering children. He will 
 keep you patient and joyful. Oh, how He loves ! If there is any- 
 thing you want, be sure to let me know. 
 
 Your loving friend, 
 
 C. H. Spurgeon. 
 
 On the pastor's return he came to see him, and the visit seemed 
 to yield an equal pleasure to each. The dear boy was full of 
 gratitude to his kind friend and benefactor, and expressed himself 
 with touching simplicity and clearness as to his faith and hope and 
 joy. He talked with all the freedom of a veteran believer whose 
 long experience of the goodness and faithfulness of God had made 
 doubt impossible and faith a natural impulse. Calling the nurse 
 to his side. Bray requested her to give him his purse, and taking 
 out four shillings which he had saved, he asked Mr. Spurgeon to 
 accept it for the Girls' Orphanage. Such an expression of grati- 
 tude was very welcome to the pastor's heart, and, we doubt not, the 
 offering was acceptable to " The Father of the fatherless," whose 
 smile has always rested upon the institution. We suggested that a 
 portion of one of the new houses should be built with the money, 
 and be called " Bray's bricks," as an appropriate memorial of 
 " a folded lamb." 
 
 In the course of the interview he said to Mr. Spurgeon: "Do 
 you remember I once came to your house with another boy, and 
 you asked us if we could eat a piece of plum-cake?" It is not 
 
 16 
 
IqS life and labors ok C. H. Sl'URGEON. 
 
 surprising the pastor confessed he had forgotten this special in- 
 stance of kindness, and after admitting the fact, he said to him, 
 " And can you eat a piece of plum-cake now? " We shall not soon 
 forget how the child's eyes brightened as he replied, " Yes ; but 
 only a piece of yours." It is scarcely necessary to add that a cake 
 was promised, and that the following morning it was duly for- 
 warded, Mr. Spurgeon sending at the same time some crystall'^ed 
 violets and rose-leaves from Mentone. A very touching p<ayei 
 from the pastor closed the interview, and kissing the little sufferer, 
 he promised to carry a request to the prayer-meeting, and ask the 
 elders to join in prayer for the conversion of all the boys. The 
 message was duly delivered, and the assembly engaged in prayer 
 in response to the expressed wish of the little sufferer. The 
 following Monday he sent a piece of the cake to the elders, with 
 the message : " Tell them I want them all to pray for me to-night, 
 that I may soon go home. Ask Mr. Spurgeon to pray for me 
 too ; and ask him to pray for all the other boys in the Orphanage, 
 that they may meet me in heaven." And then he added, " Oh, I 
 do long to go home ! " Poor dear boy, the weariness and languor 
 which come from the wasting of disease and long wakefulness 
 intensified his longing for " the rest that remaineth." Nor was it 
 the craving for rest merely which directed his soul heavenward ; 
 he said to Mr. Bartlett, who visited him on several occasions : 
 " How good of God to bless me, a poor weak boy ! Oh, how 
 happy it makes me ! I long now to be with Jesus, and I hope He 
 will soon take me, for / want to see His face ! " The highest 
 aspiration of an advanced saint never reached beyond this — to 
 find the fulness of heaven's bliss in the vision of the face of Jesus. 
 On the eve of his departure his soul went out in the prayer: 
 "Dear Lord, do come soon ! Jesus, come quickly! Take me ! " 
 With a peculiar emphasis he seemed to read the text: "When 
 my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me 
 up ! " During the last night of his sojourn here, the hours wore 
 wearily away, and the twilight of the early morn had scarcely 
 chased the lingering shadows from the landscape, when it became 
 evident that another and a brighter day was dawning, which would 
 never be succeeded by night. 
 
SUNSHINE IN THE HEARl. I99 
 
 The friend who had watched him during the first part of his 
 iUness, and whose loving ministry had been greatly blessed to him, 
 was early at his bedside. The first request he proffered was, 
 
 "Don't leave, Miss M ! I can't live through the day! " He 
 
 meant he could not live here ; he well knew that life in its fulness 
 awaited him in the bright awakening beyond. When his posture 
 was changed to afford him temporary ease, he lay in silence for a 
 few seconds, and then repeated the consoling message which had 
 reached his spirit as by an angel's whisper: ''My lamb, it's nearly 
 over" Oh, the infinite tenderness which that message breathes ! 
 Jesus was very near, and the mantle of His dear love was thrown 
 around the sufferer, enfolding him as in an armor of triple steel, to 
 ensure immunity from the darts of the enemy. All heaven stood 
 revealed to his enraptured gaze, and the ward of the Orphanage 
 Infirmary proved again the vestibule of the eternal home. " There 
 
 He is, Miss M ! There 's Jesus ! and Cockerton ! and Dicky ! " 
 
 was his rapturous exclamation as " things seen and temporal " 
 
 were fading from his vision. " Can't you seem Him, Miss M ? 
 
 Oh, look, they 're all around my bed ! " It seemed impossible to 
 him that the eyes of the watchers by his bed could be closed 
 against the glories of such a transfiguration scene. He wanted 
 all about his bed to enjoy the blessedness of the beatific vision, 
 and they, too, shared the same desire. Though the lips did not 
 give it expression, each heart breathed the prayer : " Let my last 
 end be like his." With the sting of death gone, the terror of the 
 grave vanished, heaven open, Jesus near, and angels waiting, no 
 wonder he exclaimed, with almost his last breath : " Happy ! 
 happy ! happy ! " In a few minutes all was over, and another 
 trophy of grace had joined the company of the redeemed in 
 heaven. As the spring sun shone forth just then, cheering with 
 his bright rays the world which during the winter had been envel- 
 oped in fog, nature seemed to say to us : Life's winter months are 
 over now, and the everlasting spring has come ; the night of weep- 
 ing is ended, and the morning of joy has dawned. To the vision 
 of our faith the pathway to heaven stood revealed, and in the 
 ecstasy of the moment we could hear the sweet echoes of the 
 greeting in the world beyond. — 
 
S-X) LIFE AND LABORS OF C. II. SPURGEON. 
 
 "Come in, thou blessed, sit by Me; 
 With My own life 1 ransomed thee ; 
 
 Enjoy My perfect favor: 
 Come in, thou ransomed spirit, come, 
 Thou now must dwell with Me at home ; 
 Ye blissful mansions, make him room, 
 
 For he must stay forever." 
 
 In his interesting and remarkable book, entitled " Sunlight and 
 Shadow; or, Gleanings from my Lifework," * Mr. Gough thus 
 describes a day he spent with Mr. Spurgeon : — 
 
 I would like to give you one incident to illustrate the man in 
 his greatness and simplicity. He wished me to visit his Boys' Or- 
 phanage at Stockwell. I could go only on Saturday, and his note 
 to me was characteristic : 
 
 " Beloved friend, — Although I 'never go out on Saturdays, my 
 horses, being under the law and not under grace, keep the seventh- 
 day Sabbath, yet we will arrange to visit," etc. 
 
 A beautiful day it was, for London, as we rode together, chat- 
 ting all the way. The history of the Orphanage is intensely inter- 
 esting. The commencement was a sum of one hundred thousand 
 dollars to Mr. Spurgeon, from a lady, to commence an orphanage 
 for fatherless boys. All the money that has been expended 
 has been raised by voluntary contributions, and the one hundred 
 thousand dollars is invested as an endowment. 
 
 When we entered the grounds, the boys set up a shout of joy 
 at the sight of their benefactor. 
 
 I asked, "What are the requirements for admission?" 
 
 He said, " Utter destitution. Nothing denominational. We 
 have more of the Church of England than of the Baptists. 
 We have Roman Catholics, Presbyterians, Methodists, — all 
 sorts." 
 
 After the boys had gone through their gymnastic exercises 
 and military drill, I spoke a few words to them. Mr. Spurgeon 
 was like a great boy among boys. 
 
 He said, "There are two hundred and forty boys, — only think! 
 How many pence are there in a shilling? " 
 
 * Hartford : A. D. Worth ington & Co. 
 
SUNSHINE IN THE HEART. 
 
 *' Twelve." 
 
 " Right. How many shillings in a pound? " 
 
 '* Twenty." 
 
 " Right. Twelve times twenty, how many? " 
 
 "Two hundred and forty." 
 
 " That 's a penny apiece each boy." 
 
 20 1 
 
 BOYS' PLAYGROUND, 
 
 Stockwell Orphanage. 
 
 " Here, Mr. Charlesworth," handing him a sovereign, " give 
 these boys a penny apiece," when a shrill, hearty hurrah was 
 given as Mr. Spurgeon turned away with a laugh of keen enjoy- 
 ment. 
 
203 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 "Will you go to the infirmary? We have an infirmary And 
 quarantine ; for sometimes the poor creatures we take in need a 
 good deal of purifying. We have one boy very ill with consump- 
 tion ; he cannot live, and I wish to see him, for he Avould be 
 disappointed if he knew I had been here and had not seen him." 
 
 We went into the cool and sweet chamber, and there lay the 
 boy. He was very much excited when he saw Mr. Spurgeon. 
 The great preacher sat by his side, and I cannot describe the 
 scene. Holding the boy's hand in his, he said : 
 
 " Well, my dear, you have some precious promises in sight 
 all round the room. Now, dear, you are going to die, and you are 
 very tired lying here, and soon will be free from all pain, and you 
 will rest. Nurse, did he rest last night? " 
 
 " He coughed very much." 
 
 " Ah, my dear boy, it seems very hard for you to lie here all day 
 in pain, and cough at night. Do you love Jesus?" 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 "Jesus loves you. He bought you with His precious blood, 
 and He knows what is best for you. It seems hard for you to lie 
 here and listen to the shouts of the healthy boys outside at play. 
 But soon Jesus will take you home, and then He will tell you 
 the reason, and you will be so glad." 
 
 Then, laying his hand on the boy, without the formality of kneel- 
 ing, he said: "O Jesus, Master, this dear child is reaching out his 
 thin hand to find Thine. Touch him, dear Saviour, with Thy loving, 
 warm clasp. ■ Lift him as he passes ^the cold river, that his feet be 
 not chilled by the water of death ; take him home in Thine own 
 good time. Comfort and cherish him till that good time comes. 
 Show him Thyself as he lies here, and let him see Thee, and knoA\' 
 Thee more and more as his loving Saviour." 
 
 After a moment's pause, he said, " Now, dear, is there anything 
 you would like? Would you like a little canary in a cage, to 
 hear him sing in the morning? Nurse, see that he has a canary 
 to-morrow morning. Good-bye, my dear; you will see the 
 Saviour, perhaps before I shall." 
 
 I have seen Mr. Spurgeon hold by his power sixty-five hundred 
 persons in a breathless interest; I knew him as a great man uni- 
 
SUNSHINE IN THE HEARi'. 203 
 
 versally esteemed and beloved ; but as he sat by the bedside of a 
 dying pauper child, whom his beneficence had rescued, he was to 
 me a greater and grander man than when swaying the mighty 
 multitude at his will. 
 
 The Stockwell Orphanage receives fatherless boys and girls 
 between the ages of six and ten. It is supported by voluntary 
 contributions and by the revenue from the capital fund, which 
 yields less than one-fourth of the income required. It is con- 
 ducted on the Cottage System : each home is presided over by a 
 godly matron. It is unsectarian : children are received, irrespec- 
 tive of their denominational connection, from all parts of the 
 United Kingdom. That the most needy, helpless, and deserving 
 may secure the benefits of the institution, candidates are selected 
 by the committee, and are not elected by the expensive and ob- 
 jectionable process of polling the subscribers. No uniform dress 
 is provided, but the children's garments differ, in order that no 
 peculiar garb may mark the children with the badge of poverty. 
 The children receive a plain but thorough English education 
 and training. The supreme aim of the managers is always kept 
 in view — to "bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the 
 Lord." 
 
204 
 
 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 PSALM IJCX. 
 
 Make haste, O God, my soul to bless, 
 My help and my deliverer Thou ! 
 
 Make haste ! for 1 'm in deep distress, 
 My case is urgent, — help me now/ 
 
 Make haste, O God ! make haste to save ! 
 
 For time is short and death is nigh 1 
 Make haste ! ere yet I 'm in my grave, 
 
 And with the lost for ever he. 
 
 Make haste ! for I am poor and low. 
 
 And Satan mocks my prayers and tears; 
 
 O God, in mercy be not slow. 
 
 But snatch me from my horrid fears. 
 
 Make haste, O God, and hear my cries ! 
 
 Then with the souls who seek Thy face, 
 And those who Thy salvation prize, 
 
 I '11 magnify Thy matchless grace. 
 
 C. H. Spurgeom. 
 
XVII. 
 THE COLPORTAGE ASSOCIATION, 
 
The Church is God's hospice, where He distributes bread and wine to refresh 
 the weary, and entertains wayfarers that else had been lost in the storm. The 
 Church is God's hospital, into which He takes the sick, and there He nourishes 
 them till they renew their youth like the eagles. It is God's great Pharos, with 
 its lantern flashing forth a directing ray, so that wanderers far away may be 
 directed to the haven of peace. But mind, it must be God's Church, and not 
 man's. — C. H. Spurgeon. 
 
THE COLPORTAGE ASSOCIATION. 
 
 THE object of this association is the increased circulation of 
 religions and hcaltJiy literature among all classes, in order to 
 counteract the evil of the vicious publications which abound, and 
 which lead to much immorality, crime, and neglect of religion. 
 
 This object is carried out in a twofold manner: 
 
 First, by means of Christian colporteurs, who are paid a fixed 
 salary, and devote all their time to the work, visiting every acces- 
 sible house with Bibles and good books and periodicals for sale, 
 and performing other missionary services such as visitation of the 
 sick and dying, and conducting meetings and open-air services as 
 opportunities occur. This is the most important method, enabling 
 the colporteur to visit every part of the district regularly. 
 
 Second, by means of book agents, who canvass for orders for 
 periodicals and supply them month by month ; these receive a 
 liberal percentage on the sales to remunerate them for their 
 trouble. 
 
 The association is unsectariajt in its operations, " doing work 
 for the friends of a full and free gospel anywhere and every- 
 where." 
 
 FOURTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT. 
 
 In a recent sermon on " Books," the following striking passage 
 appears : " The printing-press is the mightiest agency on earth 
 for good or evil. The position of a minister of religion standing 
 in his pulpit is a responsible position, but it does not appear so 
 responsible a position as that of the editor and the publisher. 
 
2o8 LI^E AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURLiEON. 
 
 Men die, but the literary influences they project go on for ever. 
 I believe that God has made the printing-press to be a great agent 
 in the world's correction and evangelization, and that the great 
 final battle of the world will be fought, not with guns and swords, 
 but with types and presses, a gospellized and purified literature 
 triumphing over and trampling under foot and crushing out a 
 corrupt literature. God speed the cylinders of an honest, intelli- 
 gent, aggressive, Christian printing-press ! " 
 
 To wage this warfare against pernicious literature is the work 
 in which this and kindred associations engage. The printing- 
 press produces the peaceful weapons and ammunition, while the 
 colporteur is the Christian soldier who carries them into the 
 conflict. He fires not at random, but, selecting his ground and 
 opportunity, aims at the enemy now a Bible or Testament, then an 
 attractively illustrated periodical or interesting book, or, failing to 
 find a purchaser, will present a tract with a word in season, accom- 
 panied by silent prayer. The accompanying reports speak of 
 many peaceful victories thus won. The circulation of hurtful 
 periodicals and books is immense, but the association thankfully 
 records that during the past year it has put into circulation a total 
 of 396,291 books and periodicals to the gross value of $37,875, 
 while no less than 630,993 visits to families have been made by 
 the colporteurs, who have also conducted 6,745 religious services, 
 besides frequently praying with the sick and dying. 
 
 The colporteurs are frequently told that but for their visits a 
 large number of the people upon whom they call would be 
 entirely neglected by any of the ordinary methods or agencies 
 employed. 
 
 Reports from Superintendents, &-c., in Districts. 
 
 The Rev. D. W. Purdon writes: "The colporteur sticks to his 
 work like a limpet to the rock. Patiently, perseveringly, and I 
 believe very prayerfully, he goes on, increasingly acceptable 
 among those among whom he labors, and in every way satisfac- 
 torily to those whose eyes are interestedly on him and his work. 
 
 *' I see that during the past eleven months he has sold Bibles, 
 94; Testaments, 140; books, 4,947: magazines, 2.721; packets, 
 
THE COLPORTAGE ASSOCIAllON, 
 
 209 
 
 cards, &c., 320: total, 8,222. And he has visited •j'jt^ families, 
 held 78 services, and distributed 4,620 tracts. 
 
 " Now, considering the character of his sphere, and the times 
 we have been passing through, I consider this a good eleven 
 months' work, which speaks for itself. I cannot say more." 
 
 R. VV. S. Griffith, who has had some years' practical experience 
 of the working of colportage, writes : " I can only say that 
 we have a very active and earnest colporteur; he works hard 
 and finds a great pleasure in his work, carrying a smiling face 
 to all houses he visits, and finding almost without exception 
 a cordial welcome everywhere. He has a very simple but 
 impressive manner of stating gospel truths, and his visits are, 
 I am sure, calculated to awaken a desire for holy things in 
 many hearts ; it has been so in several cases that I have heard 
 of, leading, through divine grace, to a decided conversion. He 
 is doing a good work, and we all like him. 
 
 " I am more than ever convinced of the immense practical 
 usefulness of the colportage work, and if I could advise any one 
 looking out for some branch of work for the Lord which he would 
 aid, I would unhesitatingly say : ' Choose a district as yet unoccu- 
 pied, and send your subscription to the association, so that a 
 colporteur might be sent to work there.' Mr. Bellamy, the col- 
 porteur, visits seven or eight hundred families every month, 
 and takes two or three cottage services every week, and while I 
 am writing he has gone in his donkey cart about seven miles to 
 take a service this evening; he will hardly get back till ten or 
 eleven o'clock. Hoping this year may prove, by God's blessing, 
 a very encouraging one to all your men." 
 
 J. S. Hanson writes : " I hope the association is going on 
 prosperously; if all were as satisfied about the usefulness of the 
 work as we are, they would soon find the means to increase the 
 number, till the land was filled with colporteurs." 
 
 A colporteur writes: "In the chapel the Word preached was 
 much blessed. The first summer I was here, the place was 
 crowded ; soon, however, the screw was put on, and the second 
 summer the attendance fell off wonderfully. This past summer 
 there was a fair attendance, and lately it has been better, the 
 
3IO LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 average being twenty-four or twenty-six, sometimes over thirty 
 adults in the evening, but the afternoon service is poorly attended, 
 llie seals to my ministry are some who have been born again, some 
 quickened in the divine life, and others awakened to a sense of their 
 need of a Saviour. And now for those upon whom the screw was 
 put : these I visit in their own homes in my rounds ; here is where 
 the work of a colporteur lies, according to my idea, for with my 
 pack on my back, or in my hand, I have an excuse (if one is 
 needed in the nineteenth century) to call at all the houses in the 
 villages; and here, I may say, eternity alone can reveal the good 
 done by the tract given, read, and blessed ! God only knows of 
 the Scriptures read to the sick, of prayers offered at the bedside 
 of the afflicted and those appointed to death, of the Word spoken 
 to the relations or attendants, of words of cheer and comfort 
 spoken to the brethren and sisters in Christ who are cast down, 
 phases of whose life none but the colporteur can see ! If you 
 ask me, Have you been blessed in this work? Have the re- 
 sults justified the outlay? I say Yes, yes, yes! But there is 
 what is called the untabulated results, opposite which we will 
 put the Well done, good and faithful servant, and the heavenly 
 reward." 
 
 Another testimony : "Sunday newspapers have been given up 
 in some cases, and publications such as ' Sunday at Home,' 
 ' Weekly Welcome,' and the * Boys' Own Paper ' purchased in- 
 stead. With respect to the sale of Bibles, it may be mentioned 
 as an interesting fact that since his residence in this district the 
 colporteur has supplied one hundred and fifty volumes of 'Cas- 
 sell's Family Bible.' He has conducted 139 services on the Lord's 
 day, and he himself says that he has never seen so much good 
 resulting from his work as he has seen this year; it has been the 
 year of his greatest encouragement." 
 
 Another colporteur says : " My sales in Bibles and Testaments 
 for the last quarter exceed the sales at the two depots of the 
 Bible Society here for the whole of the last year. I think this 
 comparison shows conclusively that the right way to sell the books 
 is to take them to the homes of the people. 
 
 " During the past twelve months I have sold 239 Bibles and 
 
THE COLPORTAGE ASSOCIATION. 211 
 
 1,229 Testaments. Thank God for past success, but I shall not be 
 satisfied until I can see a portion of the Word of God in every 
 house in my district. 
 
 " I have found out three houses entirely without the Word of 
 God, but I did not let them remain so. One of the women said 
 she could not afford the money for a Testament; but after I 
 talked to her the little daughter said : ' Mother, I shall open my 
 little bank and pay for it,' so she took it when the little child paid 
 for it. She had been married seven years, and never had God's 
 Word in her possession all that time." 
 
 Prevalence of Evil Literature and its Cure. — " Was told of a 
 young female (a governess) who sat in bed reading by candle- 
 light some of the most filthy, low, vulgar, pernicious papers, so 
 bad, indeed, that the woman was ashamed to tell me what they 
 were ; succeeded in supplying her with a good magazine. 
 
 " My work is still progressing favorably. Several boys at a 
 boarding-school, who used to read bad papers, now take ' Young 
 England ' and ' Excelsior ' from me. The teacher told me that 
 she was very glad these papers had come out, as her boys used 
 to be so fond of bad ones before. 
 
 " In one village which I visit there are several infidel books, and 
 several persons have turned infidels through reading them. One 
 is a very intelligent, quiet young man, and two were Methodist 
 local preachers. Packets of infidel tracts are being sent into the 
 villages ; this makes me feel more than ever the pressing need of 
 colportage to counteract this evil work. 
 
 " I am glad to report that through a customer I have succeeded 
 in getting a young woman to take the ' Girl's Own Paper,' instead 
 of a trashy paper. She was so delighted with it that she lent it 
 to another young woman, and I expect more orders." 
 
 Conversions through Books. — The number of conversions re- 
 ported by the colporteurs through the books sold is too large to 
 print the cases in detail ; the following, however, are a fair sample 
 of others : — 
 
 "Saving Faith." — "Two persons have been led to the Sav- 
 iour through reading this book, — a mother and daughter. I sold 
 the book to a Christian woman, she read it, and lent it to one 
 
212 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 of her neighbors who was ill. Through reading it she was led to 
 trust in Jesus as her Saviour, as was her daughter, who had left 
 service to nurse her mother. The book was then sent on to 
 another daughter, hoping that by its perusal she may share the 
 same blessing. The same colporteur speaks of a third case of 
 conversion from reading the same book." 
 
 "The Home Beyond." — "A farmer to whom I had previously 
 sold ' The Home Beyond,' when I called again, said : ' What a 
 beautiful book that " Home Beyond " is ! I read it, and sent 
 it to a relation of mine, who was very ill, fast wasting away in 
 consumption, and without having a hope in Christ. She read 
 the book I had sent, and it was the means of leading her to the 
 Saviour of the lost, and by being able to die a peaceful and happy 
 death she testified that she had truly embraced the Saviour.' " 
 
 Gratuitous Tract Distribution and its Results. — Many thousands 
 of evangelical tracts are given away by the association, and most 
 of the colporteurs report that people receive them readily, and 
 that numerous cases of conversion have resulted from their distri- 
 bution. Two cases are appended : — 
 
 " I was showing my books to a gentleman one day ; he had a 
 little tract in his hand entitled ' Taken by Surprise.' I offered this 
 to a lady who was passing by, and she accepted it. Bless the 
 Lord ! it was the means of awakening her to a sense of danger, 
 insomuch that she could not find rest until she found it in Jesus. 
 She is now believing and rejoicing in His great salvation." 
 
 The Pipe Light. — " Some time ago I held an open-air meeting 
 at one of our villages during the dinner hour of the workmen, as 
 I was not permitted to enter the mill. After speaking some time, 
 I sold several small books, and gave away about two hundred 
 tracts. One of the men screwed the tract up and threw it away, 
 but picked it up again and put it into his pocket, thinking it might 
 come in to light his pipe. At tea-time, however, having nothing 
 else to read, he resorted to the despised tract. It was headed, 
 * Stop the Clock.' Before he had finished reading it, he trembled 
 from head to foot, and pleaded with God for the forgiveness of 
 his sins ; from that moment, he tells me, he has felt a changed 
 man." 
 
THE COLPORTAGE ASSOCIATION. 213 
 
 ~ Mr. Spurgeon's Sermons. — As usual, many of the colporteurs 
 have met with instances of the great usefulness of these sermons, 
 both in the comfort and instruction of believers and in the salva- 
 tion of sinners. A few reports are given : — 
 
 '• About twelve months ago a friend of mine leaving for 
 America took a good supply of Mr. Spurgeon's sermons. I also 
 kept up correspondence, sending other sermons. Having now 
 returned, he speaks of the blessings the sermons were to him and 
 others while there, where the preaching is quite perfection in the 
 flesh. One of these sermons sent was the means of the conver- 
 sion of one woman, and of stirring up others to find perfection 
 only in Christ Jesus." 
 
 " In soliciting orders, one woman asked me if I carried any of 
 Mr. Spurgeon's works, and when told that I did, seemed pleased, 
 bought several of his writings, telling me that although she had 
 been a member of a Christian church for years, she never saw the 
 gospel in its true light until she read one of Mr, Spurgeon's ser- 
 mons. It was not until then that she saw Jesus to be her only 
 Saviour, and could rejoice in Him as such." 
 
 Speaking of a young woman who had been in much darkness 
 and perplexity about spiritual things, and seemed to despair of 
 mercy, a colporteur writes: "But when I was there in January I 
 sold her Mr. Spurgeon's ' Loving Advice for Anxious Seekers ' ; 
 when I called next month I could see by her countenance that 
 there was a change for the better. She then told me that God in 
 His mercy had blessed that sermon to her ; that it seemed as 
 though Mr. Spurgeon must have known of one exactly like her, 
 for every word suited her case." 
 
 Prayer under the Hedge. — " The old man was standing in the 
 sunny side of the hedge on the roadside. I went to him ; and on 
 offering a tract he said : ' I cannot read ; ' I then spoke to him 
 of sin and death, of salvation and the Lord Jesus. I appealed 
 to him as to a dying man, beseeching him to prepare to meet the 
 good God whom he had been living without these upwards of 
 eighty years ; he trembled as one shivering on the brink of eter- 
 nity and fearing to launch away, which, according to the nature 
 of things, I assured him he must soon expect to do. Down aside 
 
 17 
 
214 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 the hedge we both got on our knees, and with hberty of soul ear- 
 nestly besought that the converting grace and power of the Holy 
 Ghost may be poured upon him that he may be enlightened and 
 saved. Knowing now where he lives, I shall hope, if God spares 
 him and me, ere long to see him again and to see him saved of 
 the Lord." 
 
 Preaclmig the Gospel from House to House. — "I have much 
 encouragement in the Colportage work. I find some of the peo- 
 ple very willing to hear the Word of God. Some days I have had 
 what I should term a cottage meeting. Where I have found four 
 and five people in one house I have read, prayed, and sung for 
 about a half-hour. Passing on to another house, where I have 
 found another group, I spent another half-hour. I have had five, 
 some days six, little meetings with the people ; at such times the 
 Master has been with us, and much good has been done." 
 
 Addressing the Colliers, October 2d. — " Gave a short address 
 to a company of colliers ; was received with welcome and delight. 
 Spoke to them about the leper going to Jesus. Told them that 
 we had hearts diseased by sin and wicked works, and they needed 
 cleansing. That we could not do anything to merit our salva- 
 tion, but we could plead the merits of Jesus Christ; and that He 
 was as willing to cleanse them as when He cleansed the leper, if 
 they opened their hearts to receive Him. They expressed grat- 
 itude for speaking to them, and thanked me very much ; said I 
 had done them good. Since then two of them have joined the 
 Salvation Army. I believe I have been instrumental in God's 
 hands of their salvation ; they thanked me for going." 
 
 The Colporteur's Sabbath. — " Visited about fifty homes with 
 tracts, and spoke a few words where I could. Sunday-school, 
 2.30; gave an address to teachers and scholars. Preached at a 
 lodging house at 5.30, and at Gospel Hall 6.30, and again in the 
 Market at 8.35 ; then visited some sick people. 
 
 " On Sundays I always endeavor to get among the groups of 
 men at the corners, and wait on them at closing time, coming out 
 of the public-houses, to present them with a tract, and persuade 
 them to observe the Sabbath; not only have T been successful 
 with individuals, but in two cases of which I have heard whole 
 
Colporteur and Bible Carriage. 
 
THE COLPORTAGE ASSOCIATIOX. 215 
 
 families have been induced to attend regularly the means of grace 
 on the Sabbath day. To God be the glory." 
 
 Preaching Services by the Colporteurs. — According to their abil- 
 ity and opportunity many of the colporteurs are regularly engaged 
 preaching the gospel both in the open air and as " supplies " for 
 various denominations. Much blessing rests upon this, which may 
 be called the extra work of a colporteur. A few reports are given 
 of this department of service : — 
 
 Conversion Work. — " The preaching of the Word has been 
 much blessed this last few months. One poor woman told me in 
 a meeting that the Lord had made her so unhappy about her soul 
 that she could not work. She then went down on her knees and 
 prayed as best she could, and the Lord had showed her the differ- 
 ence between believing about Christ and believing in Christ, which 
 I had been talking about the last Sunday. She said : ' I have 
 been trying to get Christ and heaven by doings, but now I see it 
 is a done work, and I can say I am in Christ and Christ in me.* 
 Two others have just been brought to know the Lord, and several 
 drunkards have become sober men, who a little time ago would 
 curse the name of such a man as myself. 
 
 " There are many things to encourage me. My speaking at the 
 chapel and Sunday-school, and other places, is very acceptable. 
 The congregations have increased, and a greater earnestness is 
 manifested by those who love the Lord, and it has been our joy 
 to hear the cry of the penitent sinner for mercy. One man, in 
 good circumstances, came to me at the close of a Sabbath evening 
 service and asked to be remembered in prayer I visited him the 
 next day and talked and prayed with him, and I believe he is now 
 a saved man. He is very regular at the week-night service, and 
 it is good to hear him pray. We have three stand proposed for 
 membership, and another was crying for mercy last Thursday 
 night in the meeting, and I believe the Spirit of God is working 
 upon the hearts of several others." 
 
 Tlie Colporteur and Temperance. — "I am pleased to inform you 
 that the book ' John Ploughman's Pictures ' has been the means 
 of leading one man to give up the drink, and since that has joined 
 the Congregationalists, and he wishes me to tell Mr. Spur- 
 
2l6 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 geon that he owes his conversion to God through reading that 
 book, 
 
 " On entering a public-house I found several men drinking. I 
 began to talk to them of the necessity of being decided for Christ. 
 The landlady came and sat down with the men ; I then tried to 
 show them what the Saviour had done for them and how He loved 
 them. The landlady wept like a child. It seems as if they can stand 
 as many oaths and curses as can be put upon them, but, thank 
 God ! they cannot stand to be told of the love of Jesus without 
 feeling uncomfortable, especially the baser sort of people. I find 
 that the name of Jesus has a power when everything else has 
 failed : angels and men before Him fall, and devils fear and fly. 
 
 " Another very interesting case was one day in going to a vil- 
 lage. Just as I got to the village there came a dreadful storm of 
 thunder and lightning and rain, and the first house I came to was 
 a public-house. I ran into this house for shelter, and found it full 
 of men drinking and gambling, with much swearing. I had not 
 been in many minutes before one asked me what I had to sell; I 
 at once put my pack on the table and showed what I had. They 
 soon gave over swearing, and I spoke to them and tried to sell 
 them a book each. I sold one ' John Ploughman's Talk,' and 
 another at a shilling, and a few little books, and a number left the 
 house before I did, and went home in the rain ; when the rain gave 
 over a bit I started for home without calling at any more houses. 
 I came home with a light heart, though wet through with water." 
 
 During the year 1880 there were seventy-nine colporteurs in the 
 field. They sold 105,114 books and 272,698 magazines, besides 
 distributing gratuitously 794,044 tracts, and making 630,993 vis- 
 its. Who can tell with what results? Surely here is work enough 
 for one man to superintend, yet it is only a branch of the great 
 tree which Pastor Spurgeon has planted. 
 
XVIII. 
 
 LETTERS. 
 
The object of the gospel is not to make men anxious, but to calm their 
 anxieties ; not to fill them with endless controversy, but to lead them into all 
 truth. The gospel gives rest of conscience by the complete forgiveness of sin 
 through the atoning blood of Christ ; rest of heart by supplying an object for 
 the affections worthy of their love ; and rest of intellect by teaching it cer- 
 tainties which can be accepted without question. Our message does not 
 consist of things guessed a by wit, nor evolved out of man's inner conscious- 
 ness by study, nor developed by argument through human reason ; but it treats 
 of revealed certainties, absolutely and infallibly true, upon which the under- 
 standing may rest itself as thoroughly as a building rests upon a foundation of 
 rock. — C. H. Spurgeon. 
 
LETTERS. 
 
 MR. SPURGEON'S correspondence is simply voluminous. 
 We were present on one occasion when his mail-bag 
 arrived, and soon hundreds of letters lay piled on his table. 
 Naturally, while human nature is what it is, he is questioned on 
 every subject in heaven, and earth, and under the earth. Thou- 
 sands of letters in the year must reach the waste-basket, but no 
 letter of importance escapes his notice, and he is occupied for 
 hours each Saturday answering correspondents. Many letters 
 reach him, extracts of which find their way to the pages of his 
 magazine. The preacher who receives them must feel deeply 
 thankful that he is so highly honored of God in the ministry of 
 the gospel. Many of them possess peculiar interest, and to 
 gratify our readers we subjoin specimen copies. Their publication 
 is not designed to glorify the preacher, but to magnify the grace 
 of God in him and benefit each reader by their perusal. 
 
 A friend in Sydney writes as follows : — 
 
 " Dear Mr. Spurgeon, — It seems natural when help is given 
 to acknowledge it, and I hope, therefore, you will not think that I 
 am taking a liberty in writing to thank you for the great assistance 
 you have been to me personally through the medium of two of 
 your published sermons. 
 
 '* The two sermons I refer to were entitled ' Prayer Perfumed 
 with Praise' (No. 1469), and 'Mistrust of God Deplored and 
 Denounced' (No. 1498). By reading these I have been led to 
 exercise faith in a way never thought of before, and as a result 
 have experienced a confidence sufficient to secure a long-desired 
 
230 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEOM. 
 
 blessing of a very practical kind ; and though the responsibihty 
 attaching to such new circumstances is great, the assurance given 
 that I shall be upheld according to His Word, and not be ashamed 
 of my hope, is far greater. 
 
 "Allow me then, to thank you on my own behalf, and also on 
 the part of another, for the blessing your sermons have been. 
 
 From Victoria : — 
 
 " My dear Sir, — I have often felt inclined to write you these 
 last twelve years. At that time I lost a darling boy; everything 
 seemed dark, and nothing brought me any comfort. The Word 
 of God, that had been my stay through many similar trials, was 
 all darkness to me. A friend brought me one of your sermons, 
 and asked me to allow her to read it. At first I refused, but at 
 last consented. I forget the title, but it was that everything was 
 ordered by God — no chance. I felt all the time my friend was 
 reading afraid to breathe. I could only say, ' Go on, go on.' 
 When she had finished it I leaped from my couch and said, ' All 
 is right, thank God, my dark mind is all light again.' I have had 
 similar trials since, and many other trials, but I could say from 
 my heart, * Thy will be done, it is all right' At this time my 
 husband ordered your sermons monthly, and we still continue to 
 do so. Every Sunday evening we read one of them aloud for all 
 to hear, and afterwards I send them into ' the bush.' My dear sir, 
 go on and preach what you feel. It has often been a great com- 
 fort to us that you seemed to feel just as we felt." 
 
 " The son of red Kaffirs or raw Kaffirs " sends the following note 
 from Port Elizabeth, South Africa : — 
 
 " Dear Sir, — I don't know how to describe my joy and my 
 feelings in this present moment. We never did see each other 
 face to face, but still there is something between you and me 
 which guided me to make these few lines for you. One day as I 
 was going to my daily work I met a friend of mine in the street. 
 We spoke about the Word of God, and he asked me whether I had 
 ever seen one of Mr. Spurgeon's books. I said, ' What Mr. 
 Spurgeon is that? One of the Independent ministers in London?' 
 and I said, ' No, I never saw such a book in my life.' He said he 
 bought i1 'rom the bookseller. I asked the name of the book, 
 
LETTERS. 221 
 
 and he said it was the ' Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit,' and I 
 went straight to the shop and bought one. I have read a good 
 bit of it. On my reading it I arrived on a place where Job said : 
 'Though He slay mc, yet will I trust in Him.' I am sure I can't 
 tell how to describe the goodness you have done to us, we black 
 people of South Africa. We are not black only outside, even 
 inside; I wouldn't mind to be a black man only in color. It is a 
 terrible thing to be a black man from the soul to the skin; but 
 still I am very glad to say your sermons have done something 
 good to me. May the Lord bless your efforts and prosper your 
 work ! May it please Him to gain many sons into His glory 
 through you as His instrument, not only in London, but also in 
 Africa ! " 
 
 From Denmark : " Through twelve of your sermons, which are 
 translated into Danish, I and my household have this winter been 
 acquainted with your Christian announcement, and we thank you 
 for every clearing and edifying word. We seceded from the Estab- 
 lished Church a year ago, because we have so evidently seen the 
 tragical consequences of the connection between the Church and 
 the State, and we could not possibly act contrary to the convic- 
 tion forced upon us by the reading of the New Testament, viz., 
 the incorrectness of the infant baptism." 
 
 Two missionaries in one of the isles of Greece write : " We 
 read every Sunday a sermon ; many times it is one of your 
 sermons. Last Sunday the one we read was ' The Good Sama- 
 ritan ' (No. 1360). It made a deep impression on our minds. 
 Your sermons are to us like rain upon a dry land. We have no 
 church to attend, and no friends to associate with." 
 
 A Baptist minister in North America writes : " Mr. Spurgeon's 
 A^ritings have done more for me than the writings of any other 
 uninspired man. Indeed, his influence is felt the wide world over. 
 In the backwoods of this island a dying man the other week con- 
 fessed that his soul had been impressed and enlightened by a 
 sermon published in the ' Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit; ' while 
 Baptists out here speak of ' praying for Mr. Spurgeon ' as a special 
 duty. I have also discovered that preachers of other denomina- 
 tions are using these sermons, from introduction to conclusion, 
 
22Z LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 and after the service it is somewhat amusing to find the volume 
 under the seat of the sleigh." 
 
 The following touching epistle comes from Florida: — 
 
 " My dear Brother in Christ, — Once upon a time a 
 wealthy man, who owned many gardens, sent one of his gardeners 
 to water the plants. The gardener went and adjusted the hose, 
 turned the tap, and watered them far and near. Many of them 
 were near him, but far away in a corner of the garden, farthest 
 from the gardener, was a frail flower that had long been pining 
 for the refreshing showers. The gardener, not knowing its need, 
 nevertheless turned the hose in that direction, and the drooping 
 plant revived and bloomed afresh, to delight all who chanced to 
 come near it, and it loved the master and tJie instrument, though 
 the latter was unknown. 
 
 " Several weeks ago I lay ill, far away from London, in the wilds 
 of Florida. Weak and faint-hearted, I lay pondering on the strange 
 providence of the Master, when one of your sermons was placed 
 in my hands. The refreshing shower revived me and gave me 
 fresh hope and courage, and I rose from my sick couch to strive 
 still more earnestly to gain access to the hearts of those by whom 
 I am surrounded, and to-day, in a small class that I have formed 
 out here in the wilderness, the Lord made His presence felt, and 
 blessed us with an awakening that I have never seen here before, 
 and tears of repentance were shed by many. I was so full of 
 joy and gratitude to God that I felt, indeed I longed, to let you 
 know that your influence as an instrument had even reached this 
 place." 
 
 From Michigan : " I have read your sermons many years, 
 they are marrow and fatness to my soul. Toil on, O servant of 
 Jesus ! You gave me a pretty good lesson in your sermon entitled 
 'The Dromedaries' (No. 1504). I enclose you twenty-five dollars 
 to buy ' straw' for your dromedaries ; I leave the word ' barley ' for 
 such persons as the lady who gave iJ"20,ooo. I have just been 
 reading 'John Ploughman's Talk.' I think you are pretty tough 
 on us slow folks; but if we all could keep up with you, don't you 
 think the world would run off her track in less than twenty-four 
 hours?" 
 
LETTERS. 223 
 
 From Quebec : — 
 
 " My dear Sir, — Since reading a sermon delivered by you a 
 long time ago on the text, ' Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and 
 thou Shalt be saved' (No. 293), and in which you set forth the 
 great sin of unbelief, I have felt a strong desire to write to you and 
 strengthen your hands by letting you know that your labor is not 
 in vain, as I, for one, can testify to the great good derived from 
 that and other sermons of yours. My father, before we left Scot- 
 land, seven years ago, always got your sermons, as well as your 
 ' Sword and Trowel,' and having derived great benefit from them, 
 he carefully put them away. About a year ago my brother sent 
 me a few of those old sermons, which I read, and, glory be to God ! 
 opened my eyes while reading that sermon, and since then I have 
 found peace in believing." 
 
 One of Mr. Spurgeon's elders sent him the following letter: — 
 "My dear Sir, — At a meeting last night I heard the following 
 statement, which I think you will be pleased with : A member of 
 one of our London churches said that, being an engineer, he had 
 to reside for some little time in a foreign town, the name of which 
 I did not catch, where he was entirely surrounded by Portuguese. 
 He said it was very sweet to meet an Englishman anywhere under 
 such circumstances to converse in his native tongue. He heard 
 that there was an Englishman confined for life in the prison, and 
 he determined to call on him and speak to him respecting the 
 love of God to sinners. He got permission to see him, and having 
 entered the prison, commenced at once speaking to him through 
 the iron grating. The poor convict then told him that, a few ye^rs 
 before that, a young Enghshman called upon him in a similar 
 manner and left behind some English novels, but between the 
 leaves of one of the novels there was a sermon which had been 
 preached in Exeter Hall, in 1856, by C. H. Spurgeon. The con- 
 vict read it. It was upon ' Salvation to the Uttermost' (No. 84), 
 and it referred to the murderer Palmer, then under sentence of 
 death. The words entered into his heart, and he immediately 
 knelt down in his cell and cried for pardon, and he received a 
 sense of forgiveness on the spot, and he was still rejoicing in the 
 assurance that God for Christ's sake had forgiven him. He told 
 
224 
 
 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 Mr. B. that he had no hope of Hberty in this Hfe, but he was 
 nevertheless rejoicing in the glorious hope set before him in the 
 gospel." 
 
 The following letter refers to the fifteen-hundredth published 
 sermon, "Number 1500; or, Lifting up the Brazen Serpent," 
 preached in October, 1881 : — 
 
 "Dear Sir, — Yesterday morning my brother passed from us 
 at daybreak. Though unknown to you, I think you will like to 
 hear something he said. On Tuesday evening I asked him, 
 'What can I do to be as happy as you?' He answered with diffi- 
 culty, ' It 's all in " Instant Salvation " and Number 1500.' Many 
 times he has talked of Number 1500, and has directed me to send 
 one to his brother. A member of your congregation sent me 
 Number 1500 in a letter to him, a sort of sly way, perhaps, of 
 giving it to him. A passer-by on St. Leonard's Parade gave him 
 ' Instant Salvation.' Sir, my brother's words were, ' Only Jesus, 
 nothing but Jesus ; Jesus ! Jesus ! ' and he passed away without 
 suffering, perfectly easy, pleasant, contented, joyous, and trium- 
 phant, and fully conscious up to five minutes from his death, so 
 gently that I, a medical man, cannot say when he died — not the 
 slightest struggle, only a gradually increasing stillness. Sir, if this 
 letter be like a ' well done ' from the Lord through the voice of my 
 brother to you, I am glad, as it will give you pleasure. Don't 
 trouble to answer, I am not a Baptist, but a Church of England 
 man." 
 
 The following cheering note comes from the United States : " It 
 will refresh your heart to learn that a beloved pastor in this coun- 
 try (whose teaching and preaching are a striking contrast to the 
 vapid utterances of the humanitarians and sentimentalists who 
 abound in all our cities) received through your ministry some 
 years ago a very great blessing. He visited England, and planned 
 to hear all the men of note in London. On his arrival he hap- 
 pened to learn that you were to speak one afternoon in the 
 neighborhood of his hotel. That sermon did him so much good 
 that he followed you around, and during his six weeks in London 
 heard no other preacher. Your vindication of God's grace and 
 advocacy of His sovereignty in salvation, and your clear presenta- 
 
LETTERS. 
 
 225 
 
 tion of faith and assurance so filled him and confirmed his own 
 views of divine truth, that he returned to his own country stron2^ 
 in the Lord and in the power of His might. He often speaks cf 
 that visit, and T have heard him frequently thank God for your 
 ministry. He is truly a witness to the sufficiency of the Atone- 
 ment, and a noble opposer of that science, falsely so called, which 
 belittles the word of revelation." 
 
 A minister in St. Petersburg, Russia, sends the following: "By 
 your sermons, etc., you are having a part in the great work of 
 spreading Christ's kingdom both in St. Petersburg and in the 
 interior. You are well known among the priests, who seem glad 
 to get hold of your translated sermons, and, strange to say, I 
 know cases in which the censor has readily given consent for your 
 works to be translated when he has been reluctant respecting 
 many." 
 
 Mr. Spurgeon adds : " Another friend in the same city, who 
 distributes our sermons, says that he gave one recently to an old 
 Russian pope, or priest, who called upon him one Sunday while 
 engaged at family prayer, and tried to sell him some pork. He 
 says that he will get all the other sermons that are translated, and 
 give them to as many popes as he can find access to." 
 
 A Christian sister in India writes : " I enclose you a note which 
 I received from a Mussulman to whom I had lent a book of your 
 sermons, and I request your prayers on his behalf, that he may 
 have grace given him to profess Christ openly, and to come out 
 
 from Mahometanism." Here is the note: "My dear Miss . 
 
 Your sermon-book has, indeed, converted me to Christianity. I 
 do believe in Christ our Lord, and so long as my belief in Him is 
 firmly rooted, I do not care what I may be called in the outer 
 world. Mr. Spurgeon appears to be an extraordinary man." 
 
 From Germany comes the following unsolicited testimony to 
 the value of " The Treasury of David : " "I mailed one volume 
 of ' The Treasury ' to Dr. Zoekler, and requested him to give me 
 his opinion of it. Dr. Zoekler is considered (even among German 
 pastors) a great bookworm, and I was a little curious to see what 
 he would say. He declared the Commentary to be 'a museum of 
 spiritual treasures,' and thought the publication of it would be to 
 
 23 
 
226 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 most German theologians like the discovery of ancient Troy by 
 Schliemann. My Lutheran neighbors beg me to have the work 
 done, if not for money, still for the good it would do, and they 
 beg for the whole work. . . . There is nothing which might 
 benefit Germany more than the publication of this work." 
 
 Pastor Spurgeon adds: "A friend informs us that in Toulon, 
 the great seaport and naval arsenal in the southeast of France, 
 Mhere there are many artisans and multitudes of sailors, a work 
 similar to that of Mr. McAIl in Paris has been commenced by M. 
 Massis, a Protestant pastor, assisted by his wife and a missionary. 
 Several rooms have been opened for preaching, and converts 
 gathered for worship and work. Recently, when both M. Massis 
 and his helper were compulsorily absent from the service, one of 
 the converts undertook to lead the singing and prayer, but, being 
 unable to preach, he read the French translation of our sermon, 
 * Remember Lot's Wife' (No. 1491), and this was the means of 
 the conversion of a whole family." 
 
 "Another friend, who conducts services in a Hampshire village 
 where a new chapel is being built, tells us that every Sunday 
 evening for the last four years he has preached there, but being 
 engaged in business all the week he cannot give much time to 
 study. He says that he has, therefore, taken our sermons regu- 
 larly, got all the marrow he could out of them, copied out the 
 leading thoughts, lived in the subject all the week, and then given 
 out to the people the honey he has gathered. He adds that God 
 has blessed this system of working to the salvation of souls and 
 the edification of believers, and that this way of proclaiming the 
 truth has also interested the congregation." 
 
 A fisherman in Scotland sends the following pleasing account ot 
 his conversion : " I remember a colporteur coming to my mother's 
 house, and he asked me if I would buy a book. * Yes,' says I, ' if 
 you have got any ballads,' that is, Scotch songs. So he says to 
 me: 'If you give me a piece of fish I will give you something 
 that will do you more good than ballads.' I saw he desired 
 my good, so I gave him half a codfish, and he gave me one of 
 your sermons. The text was : ' Look unto Me, and be ye saved, 
 all the ends of the earth : for I am God, and there is none else ' 
 
LETITRS. 22>J 
 
 (' Sovereignty and Salvation,' No. 60). While reading that ser- 
 mon the blessed Spirit of God enlightened my understanding, and 
 I saw Jesus set before me as my Saviour. Blessed hour ! Happy 
 day ! Jesus washed my sins away." 
 
 The secretary of the China Inland Mission writes: "This morn- 
 ing I received from one of our missionaries in China a letter, 
 from which the following is an extract: ' I just want to tell you 
 one thing, which is the principal object I had in writing you this 
 time. In " China's Millions," of December, I think it is, you men- 
 tioned at one of the farewell meetings held on behalf of Messrs. 
 Cooper, Protheroe, and Thompson, that besides Cooper there was 
 another in China (Hunnex, I presume) who had been led to offer 
 himself for the work through Mr. Spurgeon's sermon, " The 
 Divine Call for Missionaries" (No. 135 1). It was that "call" 
 that led me to offer myself to the C. I. M. ; previous to that I 
 had thought (D.V.) of applying to the London Missionary Soci- 
 ety ; but that call gave me no rest nor peace of mind till I had 
 applied to the C. I. M., till I had read the "Millions" sent down 
 for my perusal, till I had again applied, filled up the form, and 
 gone to London. So there are three working in connection with 
 the C. I. M. who were led to give themselves for work in China 
 through Mr. Spurgeon's sermon.' " 
 
 A minister from Tennessee recently bore the following personal 
 testimony : " Nine years ago I was a wild young man, but I was 
 converted through reading one of Mr. Spurgeon's sermons, and I 
 am now the minister of a large and influential church. The Lord's 
 name be magnified ! " 
 
 One of the students recently received an application for baptism 
 from a young Swiss lady, who gave this testimony: " My parents 
 were members of the Protestant Established Church in Switzer- 
 land ; but though I attended the ordinances and observed the 
 ceremonies, I always felt that I was a hypocrite, for I never be- 
 lieved in them, but desired something which I could not get in 
 the church. When I came to England I read a sermon by Mr. 
 Spurgeon, which did me good. ' John Ploughman's Talk,' though 
 funny, was made a great blessing to me. I then bought his 
 sermons, and read them, and I am now happy to say that I am 
 
238 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 trusting in Jesus. When I return home I shall distribute these 
 sermons which have been so blessed to me." 
 
 Mr. F. H. Newton, of the German Baptist Mission, writes: 
 " I have just returned from a visit to several of our German 
 churches, and especially of those in Russia. I feel sure you will 
 be interested to learn that your printed words (in German) have 
 always free admission into Russia, which is saying a great deai, 
 the only exception being in the case of your sermon on ' Bap- 
 tismal Regeneration' (No. 573), which one of our brethren 
 translated into Russian and submitted to the censor of the press, 
 who, however, refused to sanction it, as he considered it an attack 
 upon the Greek Church. The brother still hopes to be permitted 
 to print it." 
 
 From the State of Virginia comes the following pleasing testi- 
 mony : " Some years ago, when in the gall of bitterness and the 
 bonds of iniquity, without God and without hope in the world, I 
 was persuaded by a friend to read a volume of your sermons, and 
 now, my dear sir, let me tell you that if ever I felt the love of God 
 shed abroad in my heart, or knew the truth as it is in Jesus, I owe 
 it to the perusal of your sermons, and I am sure you were the 
 means and instrument in the hands of God of my conversion." 
 
 " In recent numbers of ' The Sword and the Trowel * several 
 instances have been given of the good effects of Spurgeon's ser- 
 mons; will you allow the writer to add one more ? In one of 
 our resorts for invalids in the Midland Counties is a man of almost 
 world-wide distinction, but who was better known thirty or forty 
 years ago than he is to-day. His history is brimful of interesting 
 incidents, and, when written, will be one of the most remarkable in 
 modern times. He has seen eighty-eight summers, and though 
 his natural force is abated and his eyes somewhat dimmed, he 
 can, with the aid of a lens, see to read the daily papers, and is 
 conversant with all the current events in national and social life. 
 He is as sensitive as a barometer to any change in the diplomacy 
 of the courts of Europe, and especially is this the case with any- 
 thing connected with the tribes of Israel and their restoration to 
 their own land. He has crossed the desert to visit Palestine, and 
 on his first visit was accompanied by Dr. Black (who spoke nine- 
 
LETTERS. 229 
 
 teen languages), McCheyne, and Bonar. He has been the con- 
 temporary of some of the most distinguished divines, physicians, 
 and writers that Scotland has ever known. He is now confined to 
 his bed, from which he knows he will never be lifted until he is 
 carried to the place of sepulchre. Not a murmur, however, 
 escapes his lips. He has the piety of a saint and the simplicity 
 of a child ; but you can see the old fire burn when the founda- 
 tion truths are assailed by men of modern thought. His chief 
 joy on the Sabbath, dear Mr. Editor, is to hear one of your ser- 
 mons. The reader is a little maid ; and he avows that he has the 
 best preacher and hears the best sermon in the town. Need I say 
 that our aged friend is Dr. Alexander Keith, the author of ' The 
 Evidence of Prophecy' and other valuable works. I am not 
 commissioned by the seer to send you the above, but I am 
 commissioned to give you his grateful thanks for the rich feast 
 you give him. He, moreover, wished me to say that, while spend- 
 ing the winter at the Bridge of Allan, two or three years ago, 
 your sermons were read by invalids in five separate rooms of the 
 same establishment every Sunday. Many prayers go up daily to 
 heaven for the continuance of your health and life, but not the 
 least fervent come from the lips of this dear old man." 
 
 A brother minister, who signs himself " A Daily Petitioner at 
 the Throne of Grace on your behalf," sends the following note: 
 " About September, 1869, I attended the Tabernacle in company 
 with my wife on a Thursday evening. Your text was: 'And Lot 
 . . . pitched his tent toward Sodom.' As I listened to your earn- 
 est appeals, especially to Christians, my soul was stirred to its 
 depths, and I could not but bedew the seat in the gallery with 
 my tears. I felt a new baptism of love for souls, and returning 
 home we both dedicated ourselves afresh to God, to spend and 
 to be spent for those who know not the Saviour. I can truthfully 
 say I have a measure of that power with me up to the present 
 time, and since that memorable occasion I trust I have been ena- 
 bled, both in the open air and in chapels, to win many souls for 
 my Master, some of whom are gone home, and others are on the 
 journey. To Him be all the praise ! " 
 
 A friend in Jersey, in sending a donation for the Girls' Orphan- 
 
230 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 age, writes : " I have been a reader of your sermons these seven- 
 teen years or more, having had sent to me monthly the Australian 
 papers in which they appear weekly. God has been graciously 
 pleased to bless them to the salvation of my soul. I had almost 
 begun to think my Saviour had forgotten me. I knew I had long 
 ignored Him. I have lately found out the way to procure them in 
 any number, and have gladly availed myself of it. I think I have 
 now near six hundred of them. I lend them out in books of fifty. 
 I prize them above every other means of grace save tJie Book. As 
 you so frequently want money for the good works in which you 
 are always engaged, I thought you would not despise my trifle. I 
 wish it were fifty times as much. . . . Receive my sincere and 
 heartfelt thanks for the unspeakable good your sermons have 
 afforded and still afford me." 
 
 A friend in Glasgow, who signs himself " Your Loving Son in 
 Jesus," gives the following particulars of blessing received from* 
 one of the sermons: "About two years ago a sermon of yours 
 entitled 'The Search Warrant' appeared in the 'Christian Herald.' 
 I had been anxious long before, but the Wednesday evening that 
 this sermon came I went away into the country to read it. Oh, I 
 was in earnest that night ! When I was sure I was alone I stood 
 and cried to God in prayer. In this prayer I was led to ask but 
 one thing, — namely, that Spurgeon's sermon might be the means 
 of saving my soul that night. I opened the . paper and read it 
 with great attention. The Spirit was with me, and when I got 
 half-way through brought home to me the words, ' the very sim- 
 plicity of faith makes the difficulty.' I had always been searching 
 for some dark, mysterious, hidden thing. Back I went to the 
 beginning, with a firm resolve to read it simply. Then I saw how 
 one thing after another was cast down, and Faith herself was made 
 a standing-ground on which to place the only thing that I could 
 see left in the whole sermon, — the beautiful, glorious, ' altogether 
 lovely ' form of our wounded Emmanuel. Christ was everywhere, 
 and even myself had vanished, for I was a new creature. . . . 
 Thank God for a Spurgeon to preach ' The Search Warrant ! " 
 
 A friend writes from Manchester to tell us that her father, who 
 has been a great drunkard for many years, has become a believer 
 
LETTERS. 231 
 
 in the Lord Jesus, and has recently joined a Christian church. She 
 says : " It is all through reading your ' Seven Wonders of Grace.' " 
 
 The following is an extract from a letter of one of the mission- 
 aries of the China Inland Mission : " We stayed over the Sabbath 
 at Ts6ng-k6-bu. ... In the evening, after reading Mr. Spurgeon's 
 sermon on 'The Hiding of Moses by Faith ' (No. 1421), I gave 
 the substance of it in Chinese to our native pastor and the preacher 
 at the above place, and then with deep-felt earnestness I prayed 
 God to spare dear Mr. Spurgeon to the Church of Christ and to 
 the world for many years to come. The Chinese cannot pro- 
 nounce ' Spurgeon ' correctly, so we call Mr. Spurgeon in this 
 quarter * Sze Pah-jing,' — that is, 'The Successor or Continuator 
 of a Hundred Virtues.' The word ' hundred,' in Chinese, stands 
 for an indefinite number." 
 
 From Natal comes a cheering letter, which contains the follow- 
 ing references to Mr. Spurgeon's sermons: " In i860 I emigrated 
 to South Africa, and on board the ship ' John Masterman ' I re- 
 ceived the first of your sermons I ever saw, and during our voyage 
 they were read every Sabbath for divine service for the Presby- 
 terian part of the passengers. I so loved your sermons that if 
 I only got a spare leaf of one I treasured it and put it away. . . . 
 I have a wife and eight children. I live on a small farm twelve 
 miles away from my place of worship, and I have established a 
 school on the farm, and with my own family, the schoolmaster, 
 and some of the children, we muster a small band of from fifteen 
 to twenty-two on the Lord's-day evening to read one of your loved 
 and highly appreciated sermons ; and we seem to be as familiar 
 with your name as if we met every Sabbath at the Tabernacle. I 
 write this to let you know that even in this far-away place }'ou 
 have hearers that you knew not of. At the same time I take the 
 opportunity of sending you the small sum of five pounds, wl.icli 
 you can appropriate wherever it is most needed." 
 
 The following pleasing note comes from Russia : " I came to 
 this country about twenty-four years ago, and have been about in 
 various parts of the interior ever since. Beyond having one vol- 
 ume of your sermons, I have not been much acquainted with the 
 extent of your progress until the past year, during which I have 
 
232 LIF-E AND LABORS OF C H. SPURGEON. 
 
 taken in ' The Sword and Trowel.' Through it I have watched 
 you with great interest and earnest prayer, and the first thing I fly 
 to now on receiving a new number is your Personal Notes. ... I 
 liave a wife and eight children. A few weeks ago I explained to 
 them the meaning of the Orphanage, and appealed to their feel- 
 ings ; the result was that I was authorized to go to their savings' 
 bank and take out three roubles forty kopecks as the children's 
 contribution. We have now made up the sum to fifty-five roubles, 
 which will be forwarded to you from St. Petersburg by a cheque. 
 The amount should not be less than five pounds : please accept it. 
 I am so deeply interested in all your noble institutions that I 
 scarcely know how to divide it, but I think if you will give one 
 pound to Mrs. Spurgeon for the Poor Ministers' Clothing Fund, 
 one pound to the Colportage Fund, and the balance to the 
 Orphanage, we cannot do better." 
 
 A Methodist minister in Ireland writes : " Many a time these 
 few years I have wondered whether you know that you are 
 preaching in unnumbered pulpits every Lord's day, in many cases 
 word for word as reported in your volumes. You are aware, I 
 suppose, that the weekly sermon is read by two thirds of the 
 Protestants in Ulster. In some cases ten families join in taking it, 
 and lend it from one to another." 
 
 The deacons of a church in South Australia, in sending a dona- 
 tion for the Girls' Orphanage, say: "We have for years past re- 
 ceived substantial help from your printed sermons. Christians 
 have been helped on their way, and others have through their 
 instrumentality been introduced into the light and liberty of the 
 gospel." 
 
 A sailor friend, who distributes Mr. Spurgeon's sermons and 
 other works wherever his ship goes, writes from Jamaica: "We 
 have given away nearly all the books and sermons that we had. 
 We are saving a few for the poor negroes at the other ports to 
 which we are going. They were so thankful for them at the 
 Falkland Islands, and enjoyed reading them so much. In one 
 house I went in, I saw ' Morning by Morning ' and ' Evening by 
 Evening ' ; they looked quite homely to me, as we use them every 
 morning and evening on board ship." 
 
LETTERS. 
 
 233 
 
 Another writes : " Though it may be known to you already, I 
 venture to mention one incident which was brought to my notice. 
 The httle island of Bryher (one of the Scilly Isles), though it only 
 has one hundred and twenty inhabitants, contains a church and a 
 chapel. Service is held at the church occasionally, and then the 
 chapel is closed. On other Sundays the service is held at the chapel, 
 and the sexton, who is also clerk at the church, reads one of your 
 sermons, and they sing Wesley's hymns." 
 
 We subjoin the following letter, written to Mr. Spurgeon in his 
 editorial capacity, as another illustration of the marvellous influ- 
 ence he is wielding over all classes of men. He is always happy 
 in preaching to sailors, and his prayers often ascend on behalf of 
 the sons of the sea : — 
 
 Dear Mr. Editor, — You have often been called a many- 
 sided man : I shall therefore address your editorial personality, 
 and consider for the moment that you are not the preacher I heard 
 on Thursday evening last. I venture to think the Metropolitan 
 Tabernacle had more sailors and sailor workers to this service 
 than ever before. The good manager of the Sailors' Home sent 
 up two wagon-loads, while Miss Macpherson's lady friends marched 
 at the head of a splendid column of hardy, well-dressed sailors. 
 Very few ports of the world were unrepresented, while captains, 
 officers, and missionaries helped to fill the first gallery. Much 
 prayer had been offered and enthusiasm awakened by Mr. Spur- 
 geon having promised to preach a sailors' sermon. At seven he 
 came down to his quarter-deck looking careworn and overworked, 
 as though he had been watching a week in the Channel. But as 
 he looked at his crew on the starboard and port sides inspiration 
 came, and the buoyancy of his spirit returned. 
 
 The intercessory prayer for those at sea and those on shore 
 waiting for missing ships, led many hearts to the throne of grace. 
 As to the sermon, having graduated in God's university, the sea, 
 with wind and wave, rock and sand, sun and star for my profes- 
 sors, I would, as a qualified judge, pronounce it A i at Lloyds', 
 It was simply first-rate, and worthy of the great preacher and his 
 glorious theme, " The sea is His, and He made it." I want, believ- 
 ing that it is calculated to bless the sailor and his cause and to 
 
334 LI^^ ^^^ LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 glorify the God of the sea, to send it out as a tidal wave of blessing 
 to the ends of the earth. Give me fifty thousand, and I can supply 
 every lighthouse and lightship on our coast, every lifeboat and 
 coastguard station, every British consulate and sailors' mission in 
 the World, and the great British mercantile marine. Give me a 
 hundred thousand, and her Majesty's ships and the American 
 navy shall be supplied as well. But fifty tJiousa7id copies I must 
 have, and I solemnly ask : Who is going to do this for Jesus, the 
 Lord High Admiral of the seas? Some $i,ooo would cover the 
 entire cost, and I would undertake with our staff of the British and 
 Foreign Sailors' Society, and associate societies, a proper dis- 
 tribution. Your readers are not aware that in January of this 
 year the effective tonnage of the mercantile navies of the British 
 Empire was 16,000,000, while the rest of the world only had some 
 11,500,000. This means that under one flag, and that flag the 
 British, there is now fifty-eight per cent of the shipping of the 
 whole world. Storms that hurled the Tay Bridge into the sea 
 have played havoc with our shipping, both sail and steam. In the 
 past year (1879), not counting the exceptionally disastrous months 
 of this year, no less than 1,688 vessels were reported to have 
 been wrecked, with an estimated value, including cargoes, of 
 $127,500,000! 
 
 But what became of those on board ? About five thousand 
 perished ! People have no conception of our ocean empire. 
 Why, there are fifty thousand fishing-boats around the coasts of 
 Britain alone ! 
 
 Is it, then, too much to ask for a hundred thousand copies of 
 this special sermon? The sailors are absent, they cannot plead for 
 themselves. This is why they are too often forgotten. It will 
 cheer Mr. Spurgeon if we could thus serve the sailor. Who dare 
 estimate the outcome of this effort for the extension of the Re- 
 deemer's kingdom? Who will thus help to make the sailors the 
 unpaid evangelists of Christ to all the nations? All hands lay 
 hold of this rope and give us a pull ; but you, Mr. Editor, must 
 give the command, or few will obey. Yours faithfully, 
 
 Edward W. Matthews, 
 
 Secretary, British and Foreign Sailors' Society. Shadvvell, London. 
 
XIX. 
 
 PERSONAL NOTES. 
 
Sometimes our experience is for the good of others, and sometimes it is for 
 our own good. You cannot see the beauty of certain gems unless you place 
 them on black velvet. When you have something black behind, then you see 
 their lustre. So there are promises of God in which you never will discover 
 their very brightest meaning except they are set against some da/k soul-trouble. 
 Much of faith's education may be called black-letter learning. Very black the 
 letters are, too, and very ugly looking, but they must be spelt over. You cannot 
 see the stars in the daytime; you must wait till the sun has gone down. — C. H. 
 Spurgeon. 
 
Present Home of Pastor C. H, Spurgeon. 
 
PERSONAL NOTES. 
 
 THE monthly " Notes " from Mr. Spurgeon's pen are not the 
 least interesting feature of " The Sword and the Trowel." 
 These brief " Notes " speak volumes. They reveal the pastor's 
 heart and the preacher's faith. They declare how fully identified 
 is the workman with his work, how ceaselessly he watches over 
 every department of labor originated by him. Mr. Spurgeon's 
 friends read the " Notes " with prayerful, grateful hearts ; his 
 more distant acquaintances with ever-growing admiration for the 
 man; strangers with awakened interest and amazement. The 
 " Notes" possess a peculiar freshness when first published; but as 
 items of work done, of labors directed, and of energies expended, 
 they are worthy of a more permanent place than the pages of a 
 monthly journal. 
 
 The death of President Garfield creates among Christian 
 people a feeling far deeper than that which arises from the 
 decease of an ordinary ruler. He was a member of a section of 
 the Baptist church, and the representative of that party in the 
 United States which is the friend of the freedman. His fall is a 
 serious blow to those in the States whose principles are on the 
 side of righteousness. We believe that it will be overruled for the 
 highest ends, but as it stands his murder is a great calamity. May 
 his widow find a measure of consolation in the sympathy of all 
 civilized nations, and comfort without measure in the tender mercy 
 of her husband's God ! England and America have been drawn 
 together as by a common grief; may a feeling of concord thus 
 sown in tears be reaped in joy! Some hundreds of Americans 
 
238 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 are to be found at the Tabernacle all through the summer, and 
 thus the pastor is drawn into close fellowship with believers on 
 the other side of the ocean. 
 
 We have lately felt more than ever the burden of souls, and a 
 strong desire for a special visitation of grace to our churches. 
 Our heart wanted vent. Hence we begged those of our friends 
 who could spare the time to come together an hour before the 
 week-night services to pray for a blessing. Before the lecture on 
 Thursday we have had some of the most real and intense prayer 
 that we have ever known. Perhaps some brother minister may 
 take the hint, and see whether his people would not assemble with 
 much enthusiasm to pray for a blessing upon their pastor and the 
 service about to be held. Where regular prayer-meetings flag, 
 it is well to hold others at different hours. Better get the people 
 together at dead of night, than let them fall into a dead condition. 
 
 In answer to many inquiries, we are glad to speak of improved 
 health. No summer holiday will be taken, for the many Sundays 
 spent in the sick-room forbid any further absence from home. 
 Neither can we travel far afield, for home work is so pressing. 
 What with managing everything, preparing the weekly sermon, 
 editing the magazine, and writing books, we are not doing badly 
 when we fill up our weeks as we do. Here is a specimen week in 
 which we did no more than ordinarily, but a little more than usual 
 was visible to the common observer. Five sermons, three prayer- 
 meetings, chair at two public meetings, speech at a third, one 
 communion, one College afternoon of two hours' lecturing. Some 
 of these occupied far more time in preparation than in the actual 
 doing of them. We are thankful to be able to work. Oh, that 
 we could accomplish far more ! We need the prayers of all loving 
 friends that God would give us more of His divine blessing. What 
 is all that we can do without His Spirit? 
 
 We rejoice to hear that our sermon on " The Divine Call for 
 Missionaries" (No. 135 1) has been the means of leading another 
 young man, besides the one mentioned in our " Notes " for June, 
 to consecrate himself to the work of foreign missions. Mr. Broom- 
 hall, of the China Inland Mission, sends us the following extract 
 from the papers of an accepted candidate: " What is your motive 
 
PERSONAL NOTES. 239 
 
 for wishing to become a missionary?" "The glory of God in 
 the salvation of the heathen." " What has led you to think of 
 doing so?" "A sermon by Mr. Sgurgeon on 'The Divine Call 
 for Missionaries.' " 
 
 One of the bandsmen of the Seventy-third Regiment writes from 
 India to say that he receives our sermon every week by post, and 
 that on a Sunday evening the soldiers will read " Spurgeon's Ser- 
 mons " when they will read nothing else of a religious character. 
 He states that after a sermon has gone the round of fifty or sixty 
 men it is returned to him all black and fringed through the wear 
 and tear. 
 
 Dr. Carson, of Coleraine, says concerning the sermons: "In 
 my professional calling I have had abundant opportunity of know- 
 ing the good they do. Space would not allow me to dwell on 
 this point, but I mention the instance of one of my own servants 
 several years since. When he was waiting for me every day at 
 the hospital gate I observed that he sat down on the step of the 
 carriage and began to read. I asked him what he was reading, 
 and he said it was a tract his mistress gave him, and that it was 
 the nicest thing he ever read, as he could understand every word 
 of it, and he wished that every minister would preach like that. I 
 looked at it and found it was one of Spurgeon's sermons," 
 
 Mr. Wilhelm Haupt, missionary to the Edinburgh Ladies' Aux- 
 iliary to the German Baptist Mission, in his last quarterly report, 
 writes as follows: "My own son Willy, now seventeen years of 
 age, came from Barmen, where he is at school, to spend his Easter 
 holidays with us. Shortly before, I had received some of Mr. Spur- 
 geon's sermons from Dr. B., amongst which was one entitled 'The 
 Seven Sneezes' (No. 1461), from the text, 2 Kings iv. 35, 'And 
 the child sneezed seven times.' Having read this sermon, and 
 believing that it was well suited to his case, I asked my boy to 
 translate it into German for me. During the work of translation 
 I could plainly see that what I had hoped was taking place, — the 
 Lord was touching his heart and showing him his position. When 
 he had finished the translation I asked him whether he too felt any 
 signs of life, and he acknowledged he desired from his whole heart 
 to become a Christian. He has not yet full assurance of faith, but 
 
240 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 the Lord has begun His work of grace, and I have every reason 
 to beheve He will complete it. I am very grateful for the gift 
 of these splendid sermons, from which I have derived much 
 blessing." 
 
 A Scotch friend, in sending us a contribution for one of our 
 works, explains that it is a thank-offering for the enjoyment and 
 profit derived by him and his late wife from reading our sermons. 
 He tells us that he is so deaf that he cannot hear his own minis- 
 ter's voice in the service of the sanctuary, and his wife was too ill 
 to go to church for two years before she died, so they were both 
 very grateful to get every Saturday the sermon which supplied 
 them with spiritual food for the Lord's day. The writer further 
 says : " Since my wife's death I have, after reading your sermon, 
 given it to a friend, whose wife is also in very weak health, and 
 has not been able to go to church for nearly two years. They 
 enjoy the sermon very much, and after reading it pass it on to a 
 neighbor, who also enjoys it. I think you might take occasion to 
 drop the hint that each reader might seek out some invalid person 
 who is not able to go to church and make a present of the sermon, 
 instead of allowing it to lie idle on the shelf The sick friend 
 above mentioned was visited by the late Rev. James Robertson a 
 few days before his decease. She told him that her own minister 
 called to see her so seldom that she might now say that she had 
 no church connection; but she greatly enjoyed the reading of 
 Mr. Spurgeon's sermons. *0h, then,' replied Mr. Robertson, 'you 
 will just consider you are one of Mr. Spurgeon's people.' " 
 
 One of our church-members, in thanking us for our recent ser- 
 mon on Psalm Ivii. 4, "My soul is among lions," writes: "You 
 
 may be sure when I had the beer-house in that my soul was 
 
 among lions. You may not remember that your preaching was 
 the means of my closing that house on the Sunday in spite of 
 great opposition, persecution, and personal loss. I kept it closed 
 on the Sunday with one exception, when the devil tempted me to 
 open it, but Christ gained the victory, and enabled me to close 
 ever afterwards on the Sunday. I closed on the same Sunday as 
 you opened the Tabernacle. If every minister could be the means 
 of closing one public-house on the Sunday the victory would be 
 
PERSONAL NOTES. 241 
 
 won. The sermon on Zechariah xiv. 20 (' A Peal of Bells,' No. 
 399) decided me to join the church." 
 
 A brother Baptist minister, in sending us a contribution for the 
 Girls' Orphanage, says : " During nearly twenty years' ministry I 
 have been often helped and encouraged by your sermons, which 
 I regularly read and lend to others. May the Lord long spare you 
 to His Church ! " 
 
 We were amused when we were informed of a notice that re- 
 cently appeared in a shop window in Newcastle. Underneath a 
 lithographic likeness, or what professed to be such, was the an- 
 nouncement, " Spurgeon reduced to Sixpence ! " The kind friend 
 who sent us the intelligence expressed the hope that we were not 
 quite so poor as the notice implied. 
 
 In the first spare corner of the magazine let it stand recorded 
 as my experience that the Lord is exceeding tender in His deal- 
 ings with His afflicted. During the last six months He has tried 
 me with sharp pains, but during that period He has kindly re- 
 moved all cause for serious care as to the financial needs of my 
 many institutions. Everything has been healthily sustained, and 
 there have been no pitiful appeals by striking advertisement or 
 otherwise. I intend no censure of the plans of others, but I 
 cannot help admiring the considerate providence of our gracious 
 Lord that He has kept off the trial of straitened supplies from 
 His suffering servant. " He stayeth His rough wind in the day 
 of the east wind." 
 
 Friends have come forth from the most unexpected quarters 
 in the time of need, — nay before the need had actually come. 
 Every fund, except that which supplies the College, is in better 
 condition than before my illness, and even that is hardly an ex- 
 ception, for the outgoing in that direction will no doubt be 
 made good at the annual supper. Prayerful trust is a way 
 which the Lord will assuredly honor. I do but feebly trust and 
 pray, but God most richly answers ; and when in hours of crush- 
 ing agony both supplication and confidence seem to need an 
 effort beyond the strength of the tortured mind, the Lord deals 
 with mc after His own gracious fashion, "exceeding abundantly 
 above all that we ask, or even think." 
 
 24 
 
342 
 
 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 On Monday, September 29, we expect to say good-bye to our 
 son Thomas and the two ministers who are going with him to 
 Australia, Mr. R. McCulloch, from the College, and Mr. J. S. 
 Harrison, who left the College a few months ago and settled at 
 Blackburn. Mr. Gibson, a generous Christian gentleman of Tas- 
 mania, pays the passage of these two brethren, that they may 
 labor in that island. It is a severe trial thus to be separated 
 from a loving and beloved son, but the will of the Lord be done. 
 We commend our son again to^the loving care of those Aus- 
 tralian friends who so generously received him on his first visit. 
 He will need rest, but after a while we trust he will resume his 
 preaching, go through the Australian colonies, visit New Zealand, 
 and then settle down somewhere in the southern world. Such 
 is the programme which our imagination has mapped out; but 
 how little we know of the future! His parents surrender him to 
 the Lord's work abroad, hoping one day again to see him in the 
 flesh, and firmly believing that he will do good service for the 
 Lord in the colonies. Beloved by the church at the Tabernacle 
 and by all at home, we fondly hoped that our son would have 
 had a useful career in England ; but Infinite Wisdom cannot err. 
 
 Mr. Broomhall, who is conducting the home affairs of Mr. 
 Hudson Taylor's mission, brought us the other day a copy of 
 our sermon on "The Divine Call for Missionaries," No. 135 1. 
 It was scored and underlined, and had been carried about in his 
 pocket by a brother who is now a missionary; the sermon hav- 
 ing constrained him to devote himself to that work for the Lord. 
 We prized the discourse more than if the princes of the land 
 had covered it with jewels. To God be all the glory ! 
 
 A nobleman of Alsace visited us at Mentone, and gave us 
 copies of two of our sermons, which he has translated into French, 
 and lithographed in running hand, to be read in congregations. 
 We found our friend almost as well acquainted with our work 
 as if he had attended the Tabernacle all his life. He came a 
 long way for a short interview, bringing his wife and his son, 
 and by this visit he greatly refreshed our spirit. 
 
 A minister, living at Wisbech, authenticates the following sin- 
 gular case of conversion through our sermon on " The Portion 
 
PERSONAL NOTES, 
 
 243 
 
 of the Ungodly," No. 444. The writer says in a recent letter to 
 us: "Seventeen years ago it pleased the Lord to permit me to 
 dream that the end of the world was come, and in my dream I 
 saw the saints rising with the Lord Jesus to glory. I was left, 
 and near me, upon a large quantity of stubble, stood an acquaint- 
 ance, who addressed me thus : * They used to say in the other 
 world that we should be in fire, but it is not so.' In a moment 
 flames burst out, and in my fright I awoke. A few days after 
 my dream my friend and I heard you preach at the Tabernacle. 
 Judge how great was our surprise when you announced for your 
 text, Isaiah xlvii. 14, 'Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire 
 shall burn them ; they shall not deliver themselves from the power 
 of the flame : there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to 
 sit before it.' " In August, 1876, a severe affliction, the dream, and 
 our sermon resulted in our friend's conversion. 
 
 One of our students writes to tell us about the conversion 
 of one whom he has recently baptized, who thus refers to the 
 channel through which the blessing reached her: "Before I was 
 brought to Christ I had a desire to hear Mr. Spurgeon ; accord- 
 ingly, I went to Exeter Hall, and afterwards to the Tabernacle, 
 but still remained in my state of unregeneracy. One day I was 
 entering the drawing-room, and, looking upon the table, my eye 
 fell at once upon a printed sermon. Taking it into my hand, I 
 read the text, Psalm li. 4. I read a little of the sermon, was in- 
 terested, and read on until I was not only interested in it, but 
 in Christ: this was the means of my conversion." It was our 
 sermon, No. 86, on " Unimpeachable Justice." 
 
 A Christian sea-captain writes to tell us about the joyful recep- 
 tion of our sermons at St. Kitts, one of the West Indian islands. 
 He says, " All my sermons that I had in the monthly parts I 
 separated, for the people were so eager for them they came from 
 every quarter to ask for them. We gave some to the master of 
 a little vessel that trades to different islands, and we saw several 
 of the laboring men gather round him as he read the sermons to 
 them. The natives seemed to drink their contents down with as 
 much pleasure as a thirsty ox does water on a summer's day." 
 The mate of our friend's vessel went down among the very poor 
 
244 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 who do not go anywhere, and had two meetings among them, 
 which the people very much enjoyed. They wanted another 
 visit, but before the next Sabbath the vessel had sailed. 
 
 In "The Preachers' Annual" of 1877, page 544, in an article by 
 the Rev. G. T. Dowling on " Candidating," we chanced to read as 
 follows : " Charles Spurgeon was not even seriously thought of 
 as a prospective pastor the first time he preached in London. 
 Months passed by before he was again invited to spend a Sabbath, 
 and when even a call was extended it was by no means unani- 
 mous. Some families even left the church because ' that boy ' was 
 called." 
 
 This is given as a proof that successful preachers frequently 
 produce a poor impression as candidates. This may be a general 
 fact, but it was a pity to fabricate an instance. The truth is exactly 
 the contrary. The moment after our first sermon was preached 
 we were invited by the principal deacon to supply for six months, 
 for he felt sure that at a church meeting, which would at once be 
 held, such a resolution would be passed. We declined his offer, for 
 we thought it too hasty, but promised to preach alternate Sabbaths 
 during the next month ; and this was done, and followed up imme- 
 diately by a further invitation. No one person left the church to 
 our knowledge, and the resolution inviting us was as nearly unani- 
 mous as possible, one man and four women voting to the contrary, 
 all of these becoming in after time most friendly to us. We only 
 mention the incident as a specimen of the manner in which advo- 
 cates of a theory too often manufacture their instances, and as a 
 warning to our friends to be slow in believing anything which they 
 may hear or read about public persons. 
 
 Dr. Blaikie, in a recent letter to us, says of Dr. Livingstone : " I 
 had in my hands the other day one of your sermons, very yellow : 
 it lay embedded in one of his journals — had probably been all 
 over Africa — and had in Livingstone's neat hand the simple words, 
 ' Vet y good.' Would you like it?" Our reply, as the reader will 
 guess, was an urgent request that we might have the yellow relic. 
 
 The Religious Tract Society kindly favors us with the following 
 extract from a letter from a member of the Servian Government, 
 in reference to our sermon, " Come and Welcome," which has 
 
Rev. John Spurgeon, Father of C. H. Spurgeon, 
 82 years old, 1892. 
 
PERSONAL NOTES. 
 
 245 
 
 been published in Servia: " Mr. Spurgeon's sermon, ' Come and 
 Welcome,' continues to be much read and appreciated. The Dean 
 of Thabatz writes to thank me that I have procured for Servian 
 Christians such most valuable reading; and also adds that he has 
 never read anything more edifying and more * filling the soul.' A 
 copy found its way to the State Prison of Posharevatz, and I am 
 informed has been there read with much enjoyment, even by some 
 men who have been pronounced infidels. An old gentleman be- 
 longing to the highest rank of our society took the opportunity 
 of an evening party in his house to read the whole sermon to the 
 ladies and gentlemen present. I am mentioning to you all these 
 details, believing them to be hopeful signs of coming harvest, and 
 feeling myself happy and thankful to our merciful Father that 
 the first seed, which by the instrumentality of your committee has 
 been thrown in the earth of Servia, seems to bear with it God's 
 blessing." 
 
 Mr. Spurgeon preached at Portsmouth, October 26. He writes : 
 One of the papers seems to wonder that Mr. Spurgeon was ner- 
 vous ! Who could avoid it amid that dense throng, in a frail build- 
 ing, with constant interruptions? The horror of great darkness 
 which passed over the preacher's soul, few can understand but 
 those who have once seen a multitude flying in panic, and people 
 trodden to death in the crush. We should be able to preach 
 abroad far oftener if we could secure moderate audiences, in 
 places full to safety, but not crowded to murder-point. However, 
 the occasion ended well ; and to God be praise! The efforts of 
 all friends at Portsmouth to entertain the Baptist Union were most 
 praiseworthy. 
 
 For an opportunity of preaching, Southampton, on October 27, 
 bears the palm ; for there we had order and quiet throughout, and 
 we trust the Divine Presence was there. It was a singular sight to 
 see at these services men of all grades and creeds, and even more 
 remarkable to observe with what kindliness they received the 
 preacher of the Word. Surely there is some softening process 
 at work, some coming together of divergent creeds, some candor 
 towards long-despised truth. In the house of Canon Wilberforce, 
 in concert with Lord Radstock and other friends, we had much 
 
246 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 friendly discussion, but far more spiritual communion both in 
 conversation and prayer. The life of God in the souls of believers 
 triumphs over even important differences of ceremonial and doc- 
 trine. In honestly dealing with each other in the spirit of love 
 to Christ we shall, by the Holy Ghost's guidance, find the way 
 to mutual edification and enlightenment, and so to real unity. 
 If congresses, and conferences, and meetings, by bringing Chris- 
 tians together, shall continue to increase their knowledge of each 
 other, and their common regard for one another, they will do 
 more towards the unity of Christendom than all the plans and 
 societies which have this for their design, but know not how to 
 compass it. 
 
 Altogether, Southampton friends deserve the highest commen- 
 dation. We were delighted to find three of our College men at 
 Southampton and two at Portsmouth, all favored with the divine 
 blessing, and heartily working together to give entertainment to 
 the denomination which met in such force in the two towns. 
 Others of our own men were to the front, holding their own among 
 the best of their brethren. We are greatly rejoiced when we see 
 a man raised up in the ranks of the Church to serve the Lord 
 valiantly, and there is just a drop of special zest to our joy when 
 it happens to be one of the sons of the Pastors' College. 
 
 On Friday evening, October 21, the eleventh annual meeting of 
 the Green Walk Mission, conducted by Mr. William Olney, Jr., was 
 held in the Tabernacle Lecture Hall, when there was a large at- 
 tendance of the workers and friends of the mission. Pastor C. H. 
 Spurgeon presided. Mr. Bennett read the report, which com- 
 menced with a grateful reference to the spirit of prayer which had 
 prevailed among the workers, and a recognition of the Lord's 
 loving care of them at the time when the tempest blew down the 
 tent in August last. It then proceeded to specify the various 
 special and ordinary means which had been used for the pur- 
 pose of bringing the people of Bermondsey to the feet of Jesus. 
 These include Sunday and Thursday-evening services ; five prayer- 
 meetings during the week ; magic-lantern lectures illustrating the 
 Scriptures ; five open-air services weekly ; a tract society, for 
 the distribution of the pastor's sermons by twenty-one friends, who 
 
The Late Mrs. John Spurgeon, 
 Mother ok C. H. Spurgeon. 
 
PERSONAL NOTES. 247 
 
 go from house to house on Sunday afternoons; a Sunday-school, 
 with an average attendance in the afternoon of 386 scholars and 
 twenty-five teachers, more of whom, especially for the girls' classes, 
 are greatly needed; an infant class of about 150 children; a 
 mothers' meeting, on Wednesday afternoons; a Dorcas society; 
 song-services ; missionary meetings, and other agencies which could 
 not be mentioned in the " short report." The spiritual results 
 seen since the last annual meeting have been most cheering, over 
 fifty persons having testified to Mr. Olney that they have been led 
 to the Saviour, and many of them having united with the churches 
 at the Tabernacle, Greenwich, Pentonville, and Rye Lane. 
 
 It was a good meeting, and greatly cheered the pastor's heart as 
 he saw with what vigor the various branches of Tabernacle work 
 are being carried on. Here was a work large enough for a sepa- 
 rate church, and yet only one of many boughs of the old tree. 
 
 Orphanage. Christmas Festivities. — The best thanks of the 
 orphans and of the president of the Orphanage are due, and are 
 hereby heartily tendered, to all those who by their generous help 
 made Christmas at the Orphanage to be a time of great enjoyment. 
 
 Our son Charles, who took our place on Christmas day, sent us 
 the following lively account of the day's proceedings: — 
 
 Dear Father, — 
 
 " Christmas day has vanished fleeting, 
 Gone its merry hours of meeting ; 
 Hearty fun and hearty eating, 
 Gone hke Christmas days of yore," — 
 
 so I write to tell you how happy all were at the Stockwell 
 Orphanage. To commence with, the morning service at New- 
 man Hall's was very good. The fog was dense, so a large congre- 
 gation could not be expected, but all were gratified to see so 
 many there. The collection will realize ^50 (two hundred and 
 fifty dollars). A fine Christmas-box indeed ! The walk, no doubt, 
 gave the lads a keen appetite for the beef Before they set to I 
 read your kind letter, amid perfect silence (for a pin might have 
 dropped, as Tom used to say) until I had finished the first sen- 
 tence, " I wish you all a merry Christmas." Then they burst out. 
 " The same to you, sir," and Mr. Charlesworth observed that it 
 
24S IJFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 was no fault of yours if you did not hear it. There was not one 
 heart that did not fervently desire joy for you while absent from 
 the Orphanage. The boys did the cheering well for everybody 
 named in the note, but none exceeded the hurrahs given for the 
 eleven little girls when, with Miss Moore leading the foremost, 
 they walked down the hall to dinner. Dear little mites, they stood 
 on the form for the boys to look at them, and then listened to 
 your loving words. As per usual, ample justice was done to the 
 dinner. Then the grandees had their dinner. A vacant chair 
 again occupied the centre position at the table; I could not fill 
 it, and regretted that my dear father was not there to do so, 
 although I am truly glad you are away from these awful fogs. 
 None forgot the president when they spoke, but all mourned his 
 absence. It fell to my lot to receive a present from the " old 
 boys," consisting of a case of cutlery, — a very handsome gift 
 indeed, and one that will be useful, too, by and by. In the 
 evening we heartily enjoyed ourselves. May the time come round 
 when you will be there to rejoice with those who do rejoice ! 
 
 The following is the letter which we sent to the Orphanage : — 
 
 Mentone, December 20. 
 
 Dear Boys, — I wish you all a merry Christmas. My son, 
 Mr. Charles Spurgeon, will tell you that it is a great trouble to 
 me to be away from you all at Christmas, but I hope you will all 
 enjoy yourselves none the less, and be as happy as kittens. I am 
 very pleased to hear that as a rule you are a good lot of fellows, 
 obedient, teachable, and true; therefore you have a right to be 
 happy, and I hope you are. I always wish everything to be done 
 to make you love the Orphanage and feel it to be your home, and 
 in this all the trustees join, and so does Mr. Charlesworth. We 
 want you to be very jolly while you are with us, and then to grow 
 up and go out into business, and to turn out first-rate men and 
 true Christians. 
 
 Boys, give three cheers for the trustees, who are your best 
 friends, and then the same for Mr. Charlesworth, the matrons, and 
 the masters. Don't forget the gentlemen who send the shillings 
 and the figs. Hip, hip, hurrah ! 
 
 Where are the girls? 
 
PERSONAL NOTES. 349 
 
 Dear Children, — I hope you will be happy too, with Miss 
 
 Moore and the other kind folks. You cannot make quite so much 
 
 noise as those uproarious boys, but your voices are very sweet, 
 
 and I shall be glad one day to hear them when I get well and 
 
 come home. Enjoy yourselves all you can, and try to make 
 
 everybody happy in your new home. I hope my first little girls 
 
 will be specially good ones. Ought not the first to be the best? 
 
 Your friend always, 
 
 C. H. Spurgeon. 
 
 Any old boys about? God bless the young men, and make 
 them our strength and honor. 
 
 Among the many expressions of brotherly kindness and sym- 
 pathy which have reached us during our sojourn abroad, one calls 
 for special mention. Just as we were retiring to rest one night, a 
 soft pillow for our head and heart arrived by telegraph from the 
 other side of the Atlantic. This was the form in which the sweet 
 love-token came to hand: "To C. H. Spurgeon, Mentone, France. 
 From New York Baptist Ministers' Conference: Prayers. Sym- 
 pathy. 2 Corinthians i. 2, 7. Potter, Secretary." The full text 
 of the message is as follows : " Grace be to you and peace from 
 God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. . . . And our 
 hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the 
 sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation." 
 
 May the ever-blessed Giver of peace and Lover of concord 
 return to these brethren ten thousand-fold this their deed of love 
 towards their afflicted fellow-servant. Such costly acts of sponta- 
 neous sympathy go far to prove that, degenerate as the age may 
 be, there is life and love in the old Church yet. 
 
 This telegram was followed on January 15 by the following 
 most touching letter, for which we feel the utmost gratitude : — 
 
 Rev. Charles H. Spurgeon: 
 
 Beloved Brother, — The sorrowful tidings reach us that you 
 are entirely prostrated, not being able even to address your weekly 
 epistle of love to your own church. Your sufferings touch the 
 hearts of your American brethren most tenderly, and the New 
 
250 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 York Conference of Baptist ministers, numbering more than one 
 hundred, has appointed the undersigned a committee to express 
 their deep sympathy with you in your present trial. 
 
 Be assured, precious brother, that this expression is most heart- 
 felt and real : you live in our hearts so truly that your affliction is 
 ours, on the divine principle that if one member suffers all the 
 members suffer therewith. In health, you have sent thrilling 
 words of cheer to the afflicted disciples of the Lamb all round 
 the globe. And now, in the hour of your darkness, their affec- 
 tions cling closer to you than ever. Your pain meets with little 
 mitigation through the livelong day and night while the sun 
 makes his rounds over all lands, and we believe that in most of 
 the nations that see his light the prayers of your brethren are 
 rising to the God of all consolation as from a common altar, that 
 divine succor may be vouchsafed to you every hour. 
 
 Truly, Infinite Grace has chosen you in the furnace of affliction. 
 How far your terrible pains in the past have contributed as a 
 holy discipline to the creation of that noble Christian manhood 
 which has marked your life and labors so long, can be known only 
 to our Heavenly Father. But we believe that as our Captain was 
 made perfect through sufferings. He will so sanctify yours, that 
 even a more mellow and gentle ministry will mark your coming 
 years than those which are past. Should our hopes be thus grat- 
 ified, the sorrowing people of God will draw strength once more 
 from your weakness, and sweetness out of your bitter cup. 
 
 Dearly beloved one, we commend to you now those broad and 
 bright promises of our Lord which you have so forcibly applied 
 to the souls of His people in their distresses. Let your Christian 
 fortitude bind you indissolubly to the fidelity of your covenant- 
 keeping Saviour, till a holy courage can humbly say, " Though 
 Thou slay me, yet will I trust Thee." We shall not cease to pray 
 that our sympathetic Redeemer will be at your right hand, that He 
 will fill your room with heavenly light, and your heart with sacred 
 joy. " Be of good cheer," lift up thine eyes, and see thy Lord 
 coming to thy help on the wave, and in the darkest watch of the 
 night. Can he not say to the crazy, creaking vessel, that years are 
 added to its davs? This He has said in similar stress heretofore. 
 
PERSONAL NOTES. 251 
 
 And we confidently hope that your valuable life will be still spared 
 to do a glorious work for that General Church of Christ which 
 claims you as its pastor, in common with the brethren at the Tab- 
 ernacle. The Conference tenders its Christian condolence to your 
 beloved household, in these days when with them hope and fear 
 are struggling so hard for the mastery. May Jehovah keep and 
 bless you all. 
 
 Yours affectionately, 
 
 Thos. Armitage, ^ 
 
 Christopher Rhodes, >Committee. 
 Jesse B. Thomas, J 
 
2(^2 UFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON 
 
 PSALM CXIl. 
 
 Blessed is the man that feareth 
 
 And delighteth in the Lord ! 
 Wealth, the wealth which truly cheereth, 
 God shall give him for reward ; 
 And his children 
 Shall be blest around his board. 
 
 He shall not be moved for ever, 
 
 Though with evil tidings tried; 
 Nought from God his faith shall sever, 
 
 Fixed his heart shall still abide; 
 For believers 
 Are secured on every side. 
 
 To the upright light arises, 
 
 Darkness soon gives place to day; 
 
 While the man who truth despises, 
 And refuses to obey, 
 In a moment, 
 
 Cursed of God, shall melt away. 
 
 Therefore let us praise Jehovah, 
 Sound His glorious name on high, 
 
 Sing His praises, and moreover 
 By our actions magnify 
 Our Redeemer, 
 
 Who by blood has brought us nigh. 
 
 C. H. Spurgeon- 
 
'Skx 
 
 -^-{U^-te^ 
 
XX. 
 
 MRS. SPURGEON'S WORK 
 
Come in, O strong and deep love of Jesus, like the sea at flood-tide ; cover 
 all my powers, drown all my sins, sweep away all my cares, lift up my earth- 
 bound soul, and float it right up to my Lord's feet, and there let me lie, a poor 
 broken shell, washed up by His love, having no virtue or value, and only ven- 
 turing to whisper to Him that, if He will put His ear to me. He will hear within 
 faint echoes of the vast waves of His own love which have brought me where it 
 is my delight to lie, even at His feet for ever. — C H. Spurgeon. 
 
MRS. SPURGEON'S WORK. 
 
 WE have always recoiled from pronouncing fulsome eulogies 
 upon any worthy persons engaged in serving the Church 
 of Jesus Christ ; and every right-minded man and woman shrinks 
 from that form of adulation which is akin to flattery. Mr. Spur- 
 geon has had his share of praise and blame, but has been gra- 
 ciously kept independent of both. Happy is the man who takes 
 no heed to the " flatterer," and is alike impervious to the shafts 
 of venom shot by a jealous hand. 
 
 Mrs. Spurgeon, like her noble husband, would fain have the 
 crown of praise placed on the brow of Jesus, and glory be given 
 to Him for the work she has been permitted to do. Like the 
 model virtuous woman sketched by the wise man, " she stretcheth 
 out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to 
 the needy. . . . She looketh well to the ways of her household, and 
 eateth not the bread of idleness. Her children arise up, and call 
 her blessed ; her husband also, and he praiseth her." The work 
 which this amiable lady has so successfully originated and main- 
 tained is worthy of emulation on the part of Christian women, 
 whose employment, alas, too often, is that of " killing time." 
 
 Mrs. Spurgeon has been a constant sufferer, unable to parti- 
 cipate in the great schemes of benevolence connected with her 
 husband's labors, yet from her quiet chamber she has personally 
 procured and directed tens of thousands of books to needy pas- 
 tors, whose libraries were in great need of her generous donations. 
 Besides, she supervises a private and humble mission, which sends 
 clothing to their poorly clad children and suffering wives. Dorcas- 
 
256 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 like, she labors for the poor, and her work is wisely planned, 
 managed with economy, and precious in its results. The life of 
 this dear afflicted lady is fragrant with benevolence ; many homes 
 are made glad as the results of her toil. 
 
 Her peculiar ministry has the hearty commendation of her hus- 
 band, and his most prayerful sympathy ; in him she finds a wise 
 counsellor, and a true friend to the poor pastors whose need and 
 trials become the objects of her sympathy and solace. Through 
 him she has received much material help, and every encourage- 
 ment in the prosecution of her self-imposed task. Thus he 
 writes : — 
 
 " How deep is our own interest in Mrs. Spurgeon's most useful 
 and needful work we need scarcely tell ; we trust that our readers 
 will feel a measure of the same sympathy, and exhibit it in tangi- 
 ble form. A famine of books to a teacher of others is almost as 
 distressing as want of bread. Want of good books has, we doubt 
 not, tended greatly to impoverish the ministries of many preach- 
 ers. How could they fill the minds of others when they had no 
 food for their own ? " 
 
 From one of Mrs. Spurgeon's yearly reports we cull the fol- 
 lowing: — 
 
 The Book Fund makes grants to poor pastors of every evan- 
 gelical denomination who are in actual charge, wholly devoted to 
 the ministry, and whose income from all sources does not exceed 
 $750 per annum. 
 
 These grants consist of seven or eight volumes, and usually 
 comprise the " Treasury of David," or some of Mr. Spurgeon's 
 sermons, — not to the exclusion of other books, but chiefly be- 
 cause they are the works most sought after by applicants to the 
 fund ; and I am not afraid or ashamed to say it, because I know 
 I could not, with the slender means at my command, give any 
 more precious or more helpful. There are several special books 
 for ministers which I would at once add to my list if friends who 
 wish for their circulation would supply me with the means. 
 
 Poor ministers are the rule, not the exception: they are not 
 restricted to the Baptist denomination or to our own land, but 
 
MRS. SPURGEON'S WORK. 257 
 
 abound in every connection and in all climes ; their needs are 
 very urgent, their prospects seldom brighten, and their ranks 
 Clever seem to thin. My work for them is as great a nccessitv^ 
 now as it was at its commencement, — nay, I think its importance 
 has increased with its extension, the latent thirst for knowledge 
 has been developed by its gifts, and a keener appetite for mental 
 food has been produced by the provision it has furnished. I need 
 not enlarge on the absolute necessity which exists for a minister 
 to possess books, if he would be an efficient teacher and preacher: 
 the mind which is itself not fed cannot very long feed others : but 
 I would point out the impossibility of procuring these essential 
 helps and appliances when a man has to provide for himself and a 
 wife and family on a pittance of $300, $400, or $500 per annum. 
 
 To such weary "workers with a slender apparatus" my Book 
 Fund stretches forth a helping hand : it fills the empty basket 
 with tools, gives a key to a well-stocked storehouse, replenishes 
 an exhausted brain, supplies ammunition for the combat with evil, 
 makes sunshine in shady places, and by God's own blessing does 
 a vast amount of good wherever its gifts are scattered. 
 
 It is the joy of my life thus to serve the servants of my Master, 
 and the daily blessings and tender providences which surround my 
 work are more precious to me than words can express. Some 
 of the subjects of my thankfulness may seem small and incon- 
 siderable to others,, but to me they are of constant interest and 
 importance. My retired life shuts out the usual pleasures of 
 social intercourse, but opens wide a world of glad delight in thus 
 " ministering to the necessities of the saints." I have scores of 
 friends with whose circumstances I am intimately acquainted, yet 
 whose faces I have never looked upon. I hope to know and greet 
 them on the "other shore; " and meanwhile their love and prayers 
 are a sweet reward for such pleasant service as the Lord enables 
 me to render to them. In these pages will be found some of the 
 expressive outpourings of grateful hearts, and though the letters 
 here given form but a small portion of the great mass of affection- 
 ate correspondence connected with the fund, they will serve to 
 reveal some of the daily comfort and encouragement I receive 
 through this channel. Ah, if by His grace we can but win from 
 
35S LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 our Master the approving words, " Ye did it unto me," the joy of 
 service is then only " a Httle lower" than the supreme felicity of 
 heaven ! . . . 
 
 The following tenderly kind little note contains such a testimony 
 to the value of the Book Fund that I am tempted to give it, even 
 though I have to include its unmerited commendation of my own 
 small service: — 
 
 '-' My dear Mrs. Spurgeon, — Please accept the enclosed mite 
 toward the Book Fund. If it please God, may you long be spared 
 to carry on this great and blessed work, which has been sancti- 
 fied to the good of so many of the Lord's servants, and through 
 them to so many of His people. Surely this must redound to the 
 praise and glory of the Lord Jesus, whose we are and whom we 
 serve. I believe, dear Mrs. Spurgeon, that every day there is 
 praise ascending to Almighty God for the blessings many have 
 received through the books you have been enabled to send, and 
 also through the encouraging little notes you write. I have to 
 thank God for two or three of those little notes, and oh, how pre- 
 cious they are ! I shall ever treasure them, for they have been 
 made a means of great blessing to my soul. May God's richest 
 blessing continue to rest upon you ; may you be sustained by 
 grace divine when called upon to suffer and endure; if it be in 
 accordance with God's will, may you be relieved from pain alto- 
 gether. Perhaps this may never be on this side Jordan. How 
 precious you must have found those words, " My grace is suffi- 
 cient for thee." Good Matthew Henry says that if God is pleased 
 to lay a heavy burden upon us at any time, and yet fits the shoul- 
 der to the burden, we certainly can have no reason to complain, 
 however heavy the cross may be. Is not this true? I pray that 
 all the strength and grace you need may be given from on high, 
 supplied by a loving Father out of His riches in glory by Christ 
 Jesus." 
 
 To ministers who are not quite so necessitous as those for whom 
 the Book Fund was specially founded, yet who can ill spare the 
 published price of the " Treasury of David," or the sermons, I 
 offer these books at a somewhat reduced rate, and I have much 
 satisfaction in knowing that the privilege is warmly appreciated. 
 
MRS. SPURGEON'S WORK. 
 
 259 
 
 The following letters are fair samples of the spirit in which the 
 favor is sought, and the warm gratitude evoked by its accordance : 
 
 " My dear Mrs. Spurgeon, — In the libraries of my friends I 
 have very frequently perused that most choice and savory work of 
 your husband, * The Treasury of David ; ' and if I have not actu- 
 ally incurred the guilt of breaking the tenth commandment, I fear 
 I have come near to doing so, and from time to time I have been 
 looking how I could contrive to purchase it, but have found as 
 often that my income has been forestalled by family and other 
 claims. I have long known that you have been doing a most 
 valuable work for the Master by helping poor pastors to some 
 good books, but hitherto I have not ventured to write, lest I 
 should be standing in the way of some brother more necessitous 
 even than myself This week, however, I was in the library of 
 one of my brethren, and again looking over some parts of the 
 ' Treasury,' the desire to possess it for myself returned with such 
 strength that I felt somewhat as I suppose a hungry ox would feel 
 tethered outside, but just in sight of, a luxuriant field of clover. 
 After ruminating over the matter again and again, I came to the 
 conclusion that I could manage part of the price, so I have deter- 
 mined to say to you that I should esteem it a great favor indeed 
 to receive a copy from your hands, if I shall not stand too much 
 in the way of some other poor brother." 
 
 It was, indeed, a great joy to open the gate of the clover field. 
 May the good brother " go in and out and find pasture." 
 
 On the same subject a pastor in one of our great Midland towns 
 writes : — 
 
 " I note in your little report that when an applicant is able to 
 purchase, books are sent on the most advantageous terms. Now 
 I hope from time to time to be able to purchase a volume of the 
 sermons, whose true gospel ring is indeed music to one's soul. 
 Will you kindly jot down on enclosed post-card the price at which 
 I might get the sermons through your hands, so that I may know 
 what to lay by from time to time, in order to add to my store? I 
 am almost ashamed to trouble you so soon after receiving so much 
 from you, but I am hungry for books, and cannot help it." 
 
 There is also a goodly number of workers for the Lord, — evan- 
 
26o LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 gelists, local preachers, and others, — who, having no pastorate, 
 are ineligible for the free gift of the " Treasury," yet covet earn- 
 estly this precious aid in their work. Many of these save up a 
 little money, and sending it to me by degrees, have in time the 
 joy of receiving the longed-for treasure, which, doubtless, they 
 value none the less for the self-denial which has procured it, I 
 often regret that I cannot give books to all Christian workers ; but 
 a strict boundary line is absolutely necessary in a work carried on, 
 not by a society, but by one pair of hands, and those not over 
 strong or capable. 
 
 To-day $iQOO is mine from the great Testimonial Fund raised 
 last Christmas ; $500 is allotted to the Book Fund, and $500 to 
 the Pastors' Aid Society. My dear husband's kindness secures 
 this splendid help to my work, and I bless God both for him and 
 his delightful gift. If John Ploughman's wife might say here 
 what she thinks of John in this and all other matters, it would be 
 an easy task to fill these pages with his praises ; but since such a 
 wifely eulogy might be deemed out of place, Mrs. J. P. may at 
 least record in her little book her hearty and appreciative thanks 
 to the hundreds of true friends who have lately done honor to the 
 " Prince of her life," ^ and furnished him with the means of more 
 abundantly blessing all the poor and needy ones who look to him 
 as their best earthly friend and comforter. If I knew any one who 
 doubted the truth of that Scripture, " There is that scattereth and 
 yet increaseth," I could bring no more unanswerable proof of its 
 veracity than is found in the unselfish life and loving deeds of the 
 God-honored man I reverence as my head and husband. I find a 
 graceful appropriateness in the gift of part of this money to Bap- 
 tist pastors, seeing that to one of themselves the whole magnificent 
 sum is offered as a tribute of devoted admiration and love. What a 
 joy it will be to use this consecrated gold in their service ! What 
 heavy burdens it will lift ! What aching hearts will be consoled ! 
 What praise to God will be given by joyful lips ! When I think 
 of all it will do, I wish it were ten times as much ! I get greedy 
 for their sakes, — my poor, weary, toiling brethren, — but that 
 only lasts a moment, for indeed I am most fully "satisfied with 
 favor " on their behalf, both from the Lord and from man. 
 
 1 Name for Mr. Snursjeon succjestcd l^v .1 Welshman. 
 
Charles Spurgeon, 
 Son of Pastor C. H. Spurgkon. 
 
MRS. SPURGEON'S WORK. 261 
 
 I have been very pleased during this year to see my work extend 
 among the poorly paid curates of the Church of England, and I 
 trust a great blessing will follow the introduction into their libra- 
 ries of such books as the " Treasury," the sermons, and " Lectures 
 to my Students." These gifts are sought with avidity and wel- 
 comed with eager joy, and of all the pleasant letters which I 
 receive none are more courteous in spirit or graceful in language 
 than those penned by clergymen of the Established Church. 
 
 " Two years ago," writes one, " you presented me with the 
 * Treasury of David,' expressing a wish that it might prove a 
 ' treasure ' indeed. Your wish has been more than gratified, and 
 now I have an acute appetite for the whole of your respected hus- 
 band's works. I have the privilege of preaching the gospel five 
 times every week, and if this is to continue to be a pleasure to me, 
 I must keep my soul and mind well fed. Being still ' a poor 
 curate,' I have to supply my wants on the lowest terms, so I write 
 to ask whether, in gratifying my ardent desire, any assistance may 
 be obtained from that source of benevolence which formerly sup- 
 plied the ' Treasury of David.' " 
 
 My readers will be rejoiced to learn that, with some little help 
 from the Book Fund, this clergyman has now on his shelves a 
 complete set of the Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, in addition 
 to the " Treasury of David " and some smaller works of Mr. 
 Spurgeon's. 
 
 October 4. — Truly this has been a " red-letter day " in Book- 
 Fund experience. " My mouth has been filled with laughter, and 
 my tongue with singing." My heart praises and extols the good- 
 ness of the Lord, and my hand shall at once record the mercy 
 which, like a blessed rain on a thirsty land, has so sweetly refreshed 
 my spirit. This afternoon a constant and generous friend brought 
 $500 for the Book Fund. This was cause for devout thankfulness 
 and great joy, for lately an unusually large number of books has 
 been going out week by week, though funds have flowed in less 
 freely. But it was not till a few hours after receiving this noble 
 donation that I saw fully the Lord's tender care and pitying love 
 in sending me this help just when He knew I should most sorely 
 need it. By the late post that night came my quarterly account 
 
262 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 for books, and so heavy was it, that in fear and haste I turned to 
 my ledger to see the available balance, and with an emotion I shall 
 not easily forget I found that but for the gift of $500 a few hours 
 previously I should have been $300 in debt. 
 
 Did not the Father's care thus keep the sparrow from falling to 
 the ground? A sleepless night and much distress of spirit would 
 have resulted from my discovery of so serious a deficit in my 
 funds, but the Lord's watchful love prevented this. " Before I 
 called He answered," and though trouble was not very distant, He 
 had said, " It shall not come nigh thee." O my soul, bless thou 
 the Lord, and forget not this His loving " benefit" ! A tumult of 
 joy and delight arose within me as I saw in this incident, not a 
 mere chance, or a happy combination of circumstances, but the 
 guiding and sustaining hand of the loving Lord, who had most 
 certainly arranged and ordered for me this pleasant way of com- 
 fort and relief. " I am poor and needy, yet the Lord thinketh 
 upon me." A fresh revelation of His wonderful love seemed to 
 be vouchsafed to my soul by this opportune blessing, and a cheque 
 became " an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual 
 grace." I hastened to my dear husband, that he might share my 
 joy, and I found in him a willing listener to the sweet " old story " 
 of his Master's grace and power. Then, after a word or two offer- 
 vent praise to God on my behalf, he wrote the following letter to 
 the friend by whose liberal hand our gracious God had sent this 
 notable deliverance : — 
 
 " Dear Friend, — I should like you to know why you were 
 sent here this afternoon, and what an angel of mercy you were to 
 my dear wife, and so to me. The Lord bless you. Soon after 
 you were gone, my wife's quarter's bill for books came in for 
 $1,700, and she had only $1,400 apart from your cheque. Poor 
 soul, she has never spent more than her income before, and if you 
 had not come, I fear it would have crushed her to be $300 in debt. 
 How good of the Lord to send you in the nick of time ! We 
 joined our praises together, and we do also very gratefully join 
 our prayers for you. God bless you, and make up to you your 
 generous gifts above all your own desires. I could not refrain 
 
MRS. SPURGEON'S WORK. 263 
 
 from telling you this : it is one of the sparkling facts which will 
 make happy memories to help to stay our faith in future trials if 
 they come. Again, God bless you. Yours heartily, 
 
 C. H. Spurgeon. 
 
 As part of the proceeds of his last lecture in London, I have 
 the pleasure of receiving to-day $125 as the generous and graceful 
 gift of Mr. John B. Gough to the Book Fund. Such a gift from such 
 a man is precious and noteworthy, but not unusual, as I believe 
 it is the constant habit of Mr. Gough to bestow blessings as well as 
 to recommend them. Long as his name has been honored in our 
 household, and his special work admired and appreciated, it was 
 not till his recent visit to England that we had the happiness of 
 his personal acquaintance. Now he has been twice to see us 
 (once accompanied by his excellent wife), and a friendship has 
 been contracted between us which, though interrupted by absence 
 from each other on earth, will find its true fruition and best enjoy- 
 ment in heaven. The hours we spent in his company have left 
 fragrant memories not only of pleasant mirth at the droll tales so 
 inimitably told, but also of sacred joy in sweet and goodly words 
 which " ministered grace unto the hearers." Cannot my friends 
 imagine that it was a rare treat to listen to the converse of John 
 Ploughman and John Gough? 
 
 No " pen of a ready writer" was there to record the good things 
 they said, or to immortalize the brilliant " table talk " which graced 
 each repast; but the .sweet communion which knit our hearts 
 together will never be forgotten by us, and so deep a flood of 
 enjoyment came in upon my usually quiet life that day, that it will 
 for ever ripple pleasantly upon the shores of memory. To our 
 very dear friends, Mr. and Mrs. Gough, in their far-away home in 
 the West, I send loving greeting; and for this $125, which means 
 so much joy and comfort for the Lord's poor servants, 1 give the 
 warmest thanks of a grateful heart. . . . 
 
 Two dear ladies brought me $250 to use in the Lord's work as 
 I please. What bountiful kindness, its preciousness enhanced by 
 my necessity ! I divided it between the Book Fund and the Pas- 
 tors' Aid, for in these times of universal pressure I can scarcely 
 
264 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 confine my gifts to books in those cases where I know that, though 
 the daily bread is sure, it is often unaccompanied by more sub- 
 stantial nourishment. It was only the other day I heard of a 
 minister whose last Christmas dinner was to have consisted of 
 a loaf and steak, because he could not afford better fare ; and I 
 know many whose most creditable fear of debt compels them not 
 only to keep their bookshelves empty, but the cupboard very 
 bare. One ceases to wonder at the oft-recurring sickness of many 
 ministers' wives, and the extreme delicacy of their children, when 
 one remembers their many privations, their lack of nourishing 
 food, and their need of suitable clothing. " My income barely 
 enables me to find plain food and scanty clothing for my wife and 
 three children," writes a country Independent pastor. " Frequently 
 I have saved a few shillings with the view of purchasing a volume 
 of the ' Treasury,' but a pair of shoes or a little dress put the book 
 aside." In this last matter of clothing for pastors' families there is 
 very much now being done by kind friends for their relief. I have 
 elsewhere mentioned the many presents I receive for them, and 
 to-day (mercies never come singly) a large chest arrived from 
 Scotland containing the wardrobes of two deceased gentlemen, 
 sent by the desolate wife and mother. It has been a somewhat 
 sad work to allot this valuable gift to seven needy pastors, but 
 their joy in receiving the good warm clothes will not be damped 
 by any sorrowful remembrances of departed friends, and I rejoice 
 beforehand in their joy. . . . 
 
 Coming now to the conclusion of these sadly irregular chroni- 
 cles, I should like to promise — if the Lord spare my life and 
 prosper the Book Fund — to do better next year. The "happy 
 thought," if it be a Jiappy one, of reporting this little service in 
 " diary-fashion," ought to be more satisfactorily carried out, and I 
 hope to gather more discreetly and carefully the material to be 
 used at the close of the year 1880. Experience has taught me 
 that there is sure to be a fulness of goodness and mercy to supply 
 the record ; but the same teacher sadly proves to me that the 
 "recorder" fails and is at fault in not keeping her "book of re- 
 membrance " well posted up. But what memory can keep pace 
 with God's mercies? or what uninspired pen can tell the thou- 
 
MRS. STURGEON'S WORK. 265 
 
 sandth part of His loving-kindnesses? " If I should count them 
 they are more in number than the sand." Could I cull the choicest 
 flowers of language, and bind them in one delightful bundle of 
 thankfulness, it might be an acceptable offering of gratitude to the 
 dear friends who have helped me ; but how can I worthily praise 
 and extol the bounty of my gracious, loving God? "Thou hast 
 dealt well with Thy servant, O Lord, according to Thy Word." 
 Blessed be Thy name. Thou hast daily loaded me with benefits, 
 Thy hand has supplied all my need. Thy strength has been made 
 perfect in my weakness. Thy loving care has watched over my 
 work, and " there hath not failed one word of all Thy good prom- 
 ise" "upon which Thou hast caused me to hope." And what can 
 I say more unto Thee? "Is this the manner of man, O Lord 
 God? " Oh, poor dumb lips, that cannot speak His praise aright! 
 Oh, faltering tongue, that as yet cannot " frame to pronounce " 
 the syllables of heaven's own language ! 
 
 " How shall I praise Him ? Seraphs, when they bring 
 The homage of their lyre, 
 Veil their bright face beneath their wing, 
 And tremble and retire. 
 
 *' Lost in thy love, yet full of humble trust, 
 I close the worthless lay, 
 Bow down my reverent forehead in the dust, 
 And in meek silence pray." 
 
 Truly there are times when silence is more eloquent than speech, 
 and we are constrained to worship "afar off" from very awe of 
 His goodness. Such a season comes to me now as I sit ponder- 
 ing over all the Lord's marvellous loving-kindness ; and looking 
 back on the great and manifold mercies of the fast-closing year, 
 my spirit is overwhelmed within me, the weight of blessing seems 
 almost too much for me, and I lay aside my poor useless pen to 
 bow the knee before Him in silent adoration and thanksgiving, 
 f I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the 
 truth which Thou hast showed unto Thy servant." 
 
 The following pathetic lines from Mr. Spurgeon show how these 
 devoted servants of Christ toil on even when compassed with many 
 infirmities : — 
 
 34 
 
266 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 Should there be errors in the notes, or in acknowledgment of 
 goods, or in aught besides, it is hoped and believed that the edi- 
 tor's ill-health will be a sufficient apology. We have done our 
 best; but with a pained and wearied brain, which is the root of 
 our malady, we cannot but fail in many ways. 
 
 Mrs. Spurgeon has been passing through a very grievous time 
 of pain and weakness, and therefore has felt quite unequal to 
 writing a report. Gladly would we have undertaken it for her, 
 but we have been laid aside also. The Book Fund is beginning 
 to be four years old, and is entering, we hope, upon a still more 
 useful existence. Its need, its urgent need, among poor ministers 
 appears more sadly every day. It is true that pastors ought to be 
 sufficiently paid to be able to buy books for themselves, but so 
 long as they are not it is a good and needful work to find them 
 brain food. A blessing has rested upon Mrs. Spurgeon's distribu- 
 tion of books, for the recipients have written again and again to 
 acknowledge the invigoration and the reviving received through 
 the volumes. The hearts of others have also been stirred up to 
 think upon the great evil of ministerial poverty, and books have 
 been spontaneously given which otherwise would not have filled 
 the pastors' shelves. More money was received last year, and 
 more given, and the poor suffering worker had yet strength suffi- 
 cient, as she hopes to have for another year. It would grieve her 
 much if friends supposed that the work might slacken on account 
 of her illness. She asks for continued remembrance in their 
 prayers. . . . 
 
 Mrs. Spurgeon has for some time been largely occupied with 
 supplying books to clergymen of the Church of England whose 
 stipends are too small to allow them to purchase them. The 
 amount of kindly feeling which has been expressed is very 
 pleasing, and we regard this opportunity of spreading evangelical 
 truth as a peculiarly valuable one, which should be largely used. 
 Keeping watch at home all alone, our beloved finds great solace 
 in the kindly words of friends who send her help for her chosen 
 life-work. Its present interesting phase should command the 
 prayers and sympathies of all our friends. . . . 
 
 Our dear wife's Report has sold so well that it has been need- 
 

 Thomas Spurgeon, 
 Son of Pastor C. H. Spurgeon. 
 
MRS. SPURGEON'S WORK. 267 
 
 ful to print a second edition. Many have written to say that 
 its perusal has been a means of grace to them ; they could not 
 have said anything more cheering. The little book can still be 
 had of our publishers for sixpence. 
 
 Her work in helping poor ministers is specially needful at this 
 time, for the depression in the agricultural interest has rendered 
 it very difficult for village churches to support their ministers. 
 Small salaries have to be cut down, and many men of God are left 
 w^ith incomes below starvation point. Let all be doubly generous 
 in this hour of need. . . . 
 
 The needful work of supplying ministers with books pro- 
 ceeds with great regularity, and considerable numbers of curates 
 and poor ministers in the Church of England, together with 
 pastors of all denominations, apply for " The Treasury of David," 
 and other works. Could our readers see the letters of thanks, 
 they would know how sharp is the book-hunger which gnaws 
 the soul of many a preacher of the Word. We have said 
 very little of late about this work which is carried on by our 
 beloved. Only a few friends have thought of the Fund of late, 
 and yet hitherto there has been no lack ; the Fund personified 
 might almost say, " I am poor and needy, yet the Lord thinketh 
 upon me." Note the following fact, and let the Lord be glorified 
 by the rehearsal of it. A friend of ours, who is always a princely 
 giver, told us on the night of Mr. Cough's lecture that he should 
 call at Nightingale Lane next day. Knowing his great business 
 and our own, we half declined the offer, though we are always 
 glad to see him ; but he said he should come, and come he did. 
 His errand was to give $500 to the Book Fund. Now, reader, 
 mark this. Mrs. Spurgeon's quarter's bill for books came in on 
 that very Saturday evening, and had not that friend insisted on 
 coming down and bringing his $500, our dear one would have 
 been $300 in debt. She would have been almost heart-broken 
 had this been the case, for she had prayed for help and expected 
 it. The Lord would not let her have the trial, but sent His 
 steward at the very hour, though he knew nothing of the need. 
 We were both filled with adoring thankfulness for this memorable 
 interposition. It was not the first time in which we have together 
 
368 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. II. SrURGEON. 
 
 adored the Lord in an amazement of gratitude, nor will it be the 
 last. Thus by one and another the Lord has filled up the reser- 
 voir which supplies so many of His poor ministers with refresh- 
 ment ; and He will fill it yet again. . . . 
 
 Mrs. Spurgeon wrote the following note to her subscribers. 
 During the year she has distributed more than seven thousand 
 valuable works to poor ministers : — 
 
 My dear Friends, — The past year has been crowned with 
 the goodness of God to me and to my beloved work, and, there- 
 fore, I all the more deeply regret that through weakness and 
 affliction I have not as yet been able to prepare a detailed account 
 of the blessings the Book Fund has received and bestowed. This 
 lack of service on my part will, I trust, be soon supplied by a kind 
 friend, and a full report of my work shall then be laid before you. 
 Meanwhile, I send forth this little messenger to testify to the 
 unfailing faithfulness and goodness of the Lord in strengthening 
 me for the service which His love has allotted me. 
 
 Sore need have I had for His tender, pitiful care, and He has 
 never failed me ; but, in spite of almost constant ill-health, He has 
 enabled me to accomplish even an increased amount of work, and 
 has extended the benefits of the Book Fund far and wide. To His 
 name be the praises of my heart. 
 
 From all parts of the world I have abundant testimony to the 
 reviving and refreshment of spirit God's ministers receive through 
 the quiet agency of this book-giving, and the loving letters of 
 grateful hearts are no slight comfort and reward for service often 
 done in weariness and pain. 
 
 " Mr. Spurgeon's works are crammed full of the good old corn 
 of Canaan : " so writes a pastor laboring in Queensland ; and I 
 count it a high honor that the "Lord of the harvest" has given me 
 charge of so glorious a granary, from whose precious stores I can 
 scatter so widely both "seed for the sower and bread for the 
 eater." My accounts show that 18,693 volumes have been distrib- 
 uted during three years of the Fund's existence. This is a brief, 
 bare statement of facts, and does not reveal the joy and blessing 
 which lie beneath it; but, thanks be to God, I can truly say that 
 
MRS. SPURGEON'S WORK. 269 
 
 " the administration of this service not only suppHeth the want 
 of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto 
 God." 
 
 My most heartfelt thanks are tendered to you, dear friends, for 
 your constant remembrance of my work, the loving interest you 
 have taken in its welfare, and the generous help you have given 
 to its funds. 
 
 Your gifts are received as " from the Lord," often coming as 
 special answers to prayer, and always as tokens of His favor and 
 approval of the work; and when they liave thus enriched my 
 soul, they carry to the weary, toiling servants of the Master 
 substantial blessings, divine luxuries, the worth of which only a 
 poor " bookless " pastor can rightly appreciate. 
 
 With a heart full of gratitude to the Lord and to you, believe 
 me, dear friends, 
 
 Your deeply obliged servant, 
 
 Susie Spurgeon. 
 
 Though barely six years of age, Mrs. Spurgeon's Book Fund 
 shows all the symptoms of vigorous, healthy life, and among the 
 class whom it seeks to benefit, the little institution has naturally 
 become one of the most popular in the country. The complete 
 catholicity of the superintendent will also command our respect; 
 for all evangelical ministers of the Word, whether in the Estab- 
 lishment or out of it, are eligible for grants, provided only that 
 their average incomes are under $750 a year. Upwards of seven 
 thousand volumes have been sent out in the year, besides 6,262 
 single sermons; and while each of the Nonconformist bodies is 
 well represented, no less than one hundred and thirty Church of 
 England clergymen were among the recipients. The revelations 
 of ministerial indigence are sufficiently saddening; but we are 
 glad to find that Mrs. Spurgeon also sends money and clothes 
 to relieve not a few urgent cases of a more pressing kind. The 
 " Report," to the Christian mind, will be found to be of absorbing 
 interest; the style is terse, and every page is pervaded by that fine 
 sympathy which is characteristic of the writer. 
 
 A clergyman of the Church of England, writing to Mrs. Spur- 
 
270 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 geon for a grant of books, says : " Your husband has, by the 
 publication of a most useful book, ' Commenting and Commenta- 
 ries,' done more than a little in forming my taste and adding to 
 my desire for books. This book was my consulting guide while 
 at college, and has been of great service to me since in using the 
 libraries of friends and in making purchases." 
 
 Mrs. Spurgeon's Report of her " Book Fund and its Work" for 
 1 88 1 is a record of practical Christianity. The good service that 
 she has rendered to the Christian Church, by providing poor 
 pastors with good and helpful books, is in itself incalculable. 
 During the six years of its existence the Fund has enabled her to 
 distribute 41,630 volumes. The Pastors' Aid Fund is another ad- 
 mirable branch of this invalid lady's beneficence, and though for 
 good reasons little is said about it, we can very well understand the 
 good that it accomplishes in a quiet and delicate way. Not least 
 among the many recommendations of this noble enterprise is the 
 catholicity of its scope. In days when sectarian rancor often runs 
 high, and there is much division in the Christian camp, we cannot 
 be too thankful for any agency that obliterates these dividing lines 
 by the overflowing tide of sympathy and help. 
 
 When we state that Mrs. Spurgeon is the president of the Mis- 
 sionary Working Society, our readers will readily understand how 
 a great deal of information about poor pastors is obtained. Her 
 Book Fund has made her name a household word wherever needy 
 ministers are to be found, but that sweet ministry of love was only 
 the natural supplement of this other equally necessary work which 
 has been quietly carried on for the last twelve years. It was but 
 meet that she who had been so long at the head of a movement 
 for supplying the much-needed ' cloke ' that should keep out the 
 cold, or give the pastor that respectable appearance which his 
 office demanded, should in due time seek to furnish the 'books' 
 which are as indispensable to those who would ' give attendance 
 to reading' as the desired addition to his little library in his prison 
 at Rome was to the Apostle Paul. Her long and trying affliction 
 has of course prevented the president from actively superintend- 
 ing the preparation and distribution of the different parcels, but 
 many an applicant could tell that a well-directed hint from her 
 
MRS. SPURGEON'S WORK. 271 
 
 first revealed to him a channel through which the wants of himself 
 and his family might be supplied. Here is an extract from one of 
 the most recent letters before us : * Mrs. Spurgeon wrote to me 
 and said you would kindly and efficiently help me and the chil- 
 dren.' It is scarcely necessary to say that the request for help 
 received in such a form as this obtained a ready response. Others 
 write as follows: 'We are very thankful to dear Mrs. Spurgeon 
 for mentioning our names to you.' ' We are unfeignedly grateful 
 to the utmost degree to our dear friend, Mrs. Spurgeon, for men- 
 tioning our names.' 'I feel truly grateful to Mrs. Spurgeon for 
 the kind sympathy she has shown towards me and my family in 
 recommending our case to your very valuable society.' 
 
 " Any one-who goes to the ladies' room at the Tabernacle on 
 the Wednesday following the third and fourth Sundays in each 
 month can see how heartily our energetic sisters devote their time 
 and energies to the holy enterprise of ministering to the wants of 
 the Lord's poor servants. We have already stated that their main 
 object is to help the families of needy ministers in England by 
 sending them suitable parcels of clothing ; but their Annual Report, 
 issued in May last, informs us that they had also assisted a few of 
 the agents of the Tabernacle Colportage Association who have 
 been ill. The gratitude with which their gifts were received, and 
 the facts that came to light about the straits in which these godly 
 men are often placed, induced the committee to determine to let 
 them continue to share in the bounty they had to dispense, always 
 provided, as our legal friends would say, that the claims of poor 
 pastors were satisfied first. This is what they say: 'Those who 
 are best acquainted with the colporteurs and their work know that 
 it is a work which involves much self-sacrifice, and which certainly 
 is not overpaid. While we wish to help the colporteurs, we do not 
 intend to forget poor ministers. Our labors for them we shall not 
 in the least abate. What we ask is that our friends will help us in 
 this new development of our society; for without this help is 
 given it will be impossible for us to render assistance to those 
 hard-working and useful servants of our Master, the colporteurs. 
 We are ready for increased labor; our hands are willing, our 
 hearts are willing. Let our friends come forward and help us, 
 
272 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 and thus share with us the' joy of pouring gladness into hearts 
 which otherwise might have been downcast and sad.' " 
 
 The accompanying extracts from letters received by the society 
 reveal what a precious work it is quietly carrying on. A pastor 
 writes : — 
 
 " My income is $6 per week, with a wife and four children. 
 Being placed in such an isolated spot, we find the necessaries of 
 life very dear, clothing particularly so, although new garments do 
 not come 'often in our way, for things have to be turned and 
 altered, and it is often a puzzle to me how my dear wife contrives 
 as she does. My best coat was purchased eight years since, so 
 that you will think I am not wasteful." 
 
 On receipt of the parcel which was sent to him, he wrote : 
 " The great difficulty now is to know how to thank you and 
 your helpers. The fact is you ought to have been here, for no 
 words of mine can adequately express the joy and gladness that 
 were expressed on my wife's face at the sight of the things you 
 had so kindly sent us. We both join heartily to thank you and 
 your co-workers for the new-year's gift just received; and if you 
 have at all felt the force of the truth that it is more blessed to give 
 than to receive, then I must say that you are blessed indeed." 
 
 Another pastor writes : " I cannot tell you how thankful we 
 both are to you and to the Ladies' Mission for the very valuable 
 parcel you have sent us. Its contents both surprised and delighted 
 us ; it seemed as though you had overheard my dear wife as she 
 had talked with me concerning the many things she absolutely 
 needed, but saw no prospect of obtaining. We can scarcely 
 realize that our needs have been supplied. Truly our Heavenly 
 Father's hand is in the matter, for He knew our needs." 
 
 Another: " On behalf of my dear wife and myself I write to 
 Sciy that we received your large and valuable parcel this evening. 
 It would have done you and the kind friends good to have seen 
 the joy of our children as, one after another, the articles were 
 unfolded and displayed. Everything, to use my wife's words, was 
 exactly what was wanted, and the things you sent for her have 
 filled her with joy and thankfulness. The Master will record one 
 more act done to His servants for His sake. We can only thank 
 
MRS. SPURGEON'S WORK. 273 
 
 you; He will commend and reward you for that which sprang 
 from love to Him." 
 
 The following touching incident is from the pen of Mrs. Spur- 
 geon. May " the afflicted, tost with tempest, and not comforted " 
 reader find relief and rest while reading this sweet story of 
 imprisoned music: — 
 
 A curious little incident happened lately during a time of pro- 
 longed sickness. At the close of a very dark and gloomy day, I 
 lay resting on my couch as the deeper night drew on, and though 
 all was bright within my cosey little room, some of the external 
 darkness seemed to have entered into my soul and obscured its 
 spiritual vision. Vainly I tried to see the Hand which I knew 
 held mine, and guided my fog-enveloped feet along a steep and 
 slippery path of suffering. In sorrow of heart I asked, "Why 
 does my Lord thus deal with His child? Why does He so often 
 send sharp and bitter pain to visit me? Why does He permit 
 lingering weakness to hinder the sweet service I long to render 
 to His poor servants?" These fretful questions were quickly 
 answered, and though in a strange language, no interpreter was 
 needed save the conscious whisper of my own heart. For a while 
 silence reigned in the little room, broken only by the crackling of 
 the oak-log burning on the hearth. Suddenly I heard a sweet, 
 soft sound, a little clear, musical note, like the tender trill of a 
 robin beneath my window. "What can that be?" I said to my 
 companion, who was dozing in the firelight; " surely no bird can 
 be singing out there at this time of the year and night." We 
 listened, and again heard the faint, plaintive notes, so sweet, so 
 melodious, yet mysterious enough to provoke for a moment our 
 undisguised wonder. Presently my friend exclaimed, " It comes 
 from the log on the fire ! " and we soon ascertained that her 
 surprised assertion was correct. The fire ivas letting loose the im- 
 prisoned music from the old oak's inmost heart ! Perchance he had 
 garnered up this song in the days when all went well with him, 
 when birds twittered merrily on his branches, and the soft sunlight 
 flecked his tender leaves with gold. But he had grown old since 
 then, and hardened ; ring after ring of knotty growth had sealed 
 
274 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 up the long-forgotten melody, until the fierce tongues of the 
 flames came to consume his callousness, and the vehement heat 
 of the fire wrung from him at once a song and a sacrifice. Ah, 
 thought I, when the fire of affliction draws songs of praise from 
 us, then indeed are we purified, and our God is glorified ! Per- 
 haps some of us are like this old oak log, cold, hard, and insen- 
 sible; we should give forth no melodious sounds, were it not for 
 the fire which kindles round us, and releases tender notes of trust 
 in Him, and cheerful compliance with His will. "As I mused the 
 fire burned," and my soul found sweet comfort in the parable so 
 strangely set forth before me. Singing in the fire. Yes. God 
 helping us, if that is the only way to get harmony out of these 
 hard, apathetic hearts, let the furnace be heated seven times hotter 
 than before. 
 
 Alas, dear soul, she has had a furnace experience beyond many. 
 But He who led her beloved through the shadow of death is ever 
 by her side, and with Jesus near, the hottest fire has a cool breath 
 about it. Nobly has Mrs. Spurgeon borne her afflictions hitherto, 
 and lovingly does she continue her ministry of comfort to others. 
 Nor need she falter while the promise holds good, "Fear not, for 
 I am with thee." 
 
XXI. 
 
 PITHY SAYINGS. 
 
A GREAT part of our labor lies in seeking out attractive illustrations, paraLlcs, 
 and choice sayings, by which we may coax men to attend to their own interests ; 
 and even then we fail unless a higher power intervenes. We would be content 
 to preach didactic trutli with unvarying solemnity if the multitude would but 
 hear us, but they will not. What then ? If the healing medicine is nauseous 
 to the child, we must sweeten the draught or gild the pill. If our words will 
 not run by themselves, we must put them on wheels and so set them in motion. 
 Our object is, "if by any means we may save some : " and since men will not 
 believe without hearing, and will not hear unless we make the word pleasant 
 and attractive to them, we dare not do otherwise than indulge them in this 
 respect, and woo them to instruction as children are enticed to learning by 
 stories and pictures. — C. H. Spurgeon. 
 
PITHY SAYINGS. 
 
 A CERTAIN American divine, of culture and unbounded 
 liberalism, went to hear Mr. Spurgeon. Immediately he 
 placed the doughty preacher in his crucible, reduced him to 
 a given quantity, carefully analyzed his parts, and announced the 
 result to the world. Here it is: "Spurgeon is a man of more 
 bowels than brains." Thus the ' clever assayer, with a conde- 
 scending wave of the hand, dismissed the ignorant London 
 pastor, with his boorish flock, to the dark shades of oblivion. 
 
 Yet here we are, with daring temerity, placing the dissected pas- 
 tor on a pedestal, to be viewed again by the public eye. A 
 strange phenomenon, this — that, after so patent a proof of incapa- 
 city and incapability, he continues to this day, " witnessing both to 
 small and great," apparently undisturbed by the philosopher's dis- 
 covery. Nor has he even noticed our friend's experiment, — if 
 indeed, he ever heard of him. 
 
 Like Father Taylor, Mr. Spurgeon never loads his musket to 
 shoot a mosquito. A certain Dean, of nobler proportions than 
 our high-art critic, did once decry Spurgeon, and def)lored '* that 
 so much notice has been taken of his railings." He pitied him 
 because of " his entire want of acquaintance with theological liter- 
 ature," and ignored him with the plea that " to hold a controversy 
 with him upon the subject would be to as little purpose as to 
 attempt to hold a logically constructed argument with a child 
 unacquainted with logical terms." 
 
 The doctrines preached by Mr. Spurgeon called for a vindica- 
 tion, and the man minus brains replied: " Admitting the witness 
 of the venerable Dean to be correct, and that the young minister 
 
278 l.IKii AND LABORS OF C. II. SPURGEON. 
 
 is inexpert in logic, I am not therefore ashamed, — far otherwise; 
 ' I will glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest 
 upon me ', for ' when I am weak, then am I strong.' Take, O ye 
 great ones of the earth, every profit that can be made out of your 
 belief in my utter, total ignorance, and your own profound and ex- 
 tensive learning, and then go your ways and learn what this mean- 
 eth : ' Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee ; 
 and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me. 
 Therefore shall evil come upon thee ; thou shalt not know from 
 whence it riseth.' " 
 
 However, this was in days gone-by; and perhaps since then, 
 like Topsy, Mr. Spurgeon has " growed." 
 
 But we recur to the remark that the London pastor has boivcls. 
 That is the expression of sympathy, and this power of sym- 
 pathy was recognized by Paul : " Put on, holy and beloved, bozvcls 
 of mercies^ We read of our Lord having compassion on the 
 multitudes. They ever followed Him and testified, "Never man 
 spake like this man." No doubt Spurgeon possesses his Master's 
 spirit, and practises his Master's work. He has compassion on the 
 multitude, and gives them heavenly bread to eat. 
 
 It is a little curious to observe, that the charge of ignorance has 
 been generally made by men who do not like the positive truth he 
 preaches. As for brahis, somehow he has a way of showing 
 that there are plums in his pudding. The woven cloth bespeaks 
 a loom ; and he who has been spinning wise and witty sayings 
 during a whole generation must have something beside sawdust 
 under his scalp. 
 
 If compliments were worthy of notice, Pastor Spurgeon can find 
 them as thick as blackberries. Here is a specimen. 
 
 Nos. 268, 269, and 270 of "The New Park Street Pulpit " are filled 
 with an account of" the ceremony of laying the first stone of the 
 new Tabernacle," which ceremony was performed by Sir S. M. 
 Peto. " In the bottle which is to be placed under the stone we 
 have put no money," remarked the pastor; " for one good reason — 
 we have none to spare. We have not put newspapers; because, 
 albeit we admire and love the liberty of the press, yet that is not 
 so immediately concerned in this edifice. The articles placed 
 
PITHV SAYINGS. 279 
 
 under the stone are simply these: the Bible, the Word of God; we 
 put that as the foundation of the Church. Upon this rock doth 
 Christ build the ministration of His truth. We know of nothing 
 else as our standard. Together with this we have put the old 
 Baptist Confession of Faith, which was signed in the olden times 
 by Benjamin Keach, whose name is in this book. We put also 
 the Declaration of the Deacons which you have just heard read, 
 printed on parchment. There is also an edition of Dr. Rippon's 
 Hymn-book, printed just before he died; and then, in the last 
 place, there is a programme of this day's proceedings." 
 
 One of the speakers present at the evening meeting was Judge 
 Payne, who, as a matter of course, composed a tail-piece, besides 
 indulging in some sensible wit. " Now what does C. H. S. mean? " 
 he asked, glancing at one of the decorations. " Why, it means, 
 first, Charles Haddon Spurgeon ; but I do not mean that. C. H. 
 S. means a Clear-Headed Speaker, who is Clever at Handling Sub- 
 jects in a Cheerful-Hearted Style. He is a Captain of the Hosts of 
 Surrey ; he is a Cold-Hating Spirit; he has Chapel-Heating 
 Skill; he is a Catholic Humbug-Smasher; he is a Care-Hushing 
 Soother; he is a Child-Helping Strengthener ; he is a Christ-Hon- 
 oring Soldier; and he is a Christ-Honored Servant." 
 
 To which we may add that in disposition he is Cheerful, Hope- 
 ful, Sanguine; is a Careful, Humble Shepherd; a Conscientious, 
 Honest Scripturist; and a Capital Heresy-Squelcher. 
 
 It is not unusual for young men in their sophomore experience 
 to speak disparagingly of their superiors, and like chattering mon- 
 keys be proclaiming themselves. Even college parrots have prated 
 about Mr. Spurgeon's lack of mental equipment 
 
 On a particular occasion, when Dr. Binney was visiting one of 
 the Independent colleges for the purpose of giving a lecture, he 
 happened to overhear some silly remarks concerning Mr. Spurgccni 
 from certain of the students. The lecturer asked them to be quiet, 
 to listen to what he himself had to say on the matter, and addressed 
 them in some such words as these: " I myself have enjoyed some 
 amount of popularity; I have always been able to draw together a 
 congregation ; but in the person of Mr. Spurgeon we see a young 
 man — be he who he may, and conu whence he will — who, at 
 
2So LIFE AND LABORS OF C. II. Sl'URGEON. 
 
 twenty-four hours' notice, can command a congregation of twenty 
 thousand people. Now, I have never been able to do that, and 1 
 never knew of any one else who could do it." Mr. Spurgeon could 
 do greater things than all the efforts of the students combined, and 
 on that account there was wisdom in remaining quiet, and with- 
 holding railing words. 
 
 What Mr. Spurgeon reads he assimilates, and reproduces with 
 consummate skill, a sure proof of great mental ability. 
 
 "One by one he has taken up various sciences, — astronomy, 
 chemistry, zoology, ornithology, and others, — not merely with a 
 desire for information, but to supply his mind with new images. 
 The movements of the planets and their disturbing influences, the 
 mysteries of chemical affinity, the structure of animals and birds, 
 with reference to the conditions of their existence, habits, and id- 
 iosyncrasies, have all delighted "Sir. Spurgeon by turns, and have 
 all helped to enrich his fund of illustration. . . . He is a strong 
 believer in the theory of ventilating the mind, — of pouring a 
 stream of new ideas constantly through it, — to preserv^e its fresh- 
 ness., and prevent the stagnation not unfrequently brought about 
 in a strong intellect engrossed in one pursuit." 
 
 But know, O Reader, he cares little for the sneering critic, and 
 human praise weighs light with him. This is very odd, and like 
 that other characteristic of his, which allows all abuse and attack 
 to sail by unchallenged. " Not even the statement in print that he 
 had poisoned his own mother would provoke the shadow of a 
 reply." Only indeed when the claims of the Gospel demanded 
 it, or the good of the Church could be advanced thereby, has he 
 troubled himself about any reference to his personal character. 
 Blessed is every one who knoweth the secret that " all things work 
 together for good to them that love God." And thrice-blessed 
 they who refrain their lips from evil-speaking, and give no offence 
 by a tongue " set on fire of hell," or a " pen dipped in gall." 
 
 Mr. Spurgeon's printed "Sermons" at the close of the year 
 (1883) will number 1800; his books on the Psalms cover 2,744 
 pages, while " The Sword and the Trowel " has reached Vol. xx. 
 All this, besides a host of books, pamphlets, tracts, essays, and 
 prefaces, issued by t'lis man of infinitesimal brain, who is on the 
 morning side of fifty. 
 
PITHY SAYINGS. 2Sr 
 
 That Mr. Spurgeon is alive to what is going on around him 
 cannot be questioned. He comments as he pleases, yet his silent 
 contempt of learned fools reveals his penetration and wisdom. 
 He has little time and few words for certain philosophies and their 
 advocates. A discriminating remark, like the following, and such 
 subjects are peremptorily dismissed. " To our feeble apprehen- 
 sion, modern philosophy is just now in the primitive stage of pro- 
 toplasm, a mass of jelly ; and its loose ideas will probably take as 
 many aeons to develop into solid facts as the interval they compute 
 between chaos and cosmos." On reviewing a pamphlet against 
 the American champion of free thought, he remarks : " We neither 
 care for Ingersoll, nor the answer to him. There is enough to do 
 in England with cutting up our own brambles ; nine out of ten of 
 our people know nothing of this American brier, and there is no 
 need they should." 
 
 Hear him on vivisection ; how repugnant to his compassionate 
 heart is this cruel science. " Our heart bleeds, and our soul 
 writhes in horror, as we read descriptions of the unutterable cruel- 
 ties practised upon animals, not by the old-fashioned demons of 
 the olden times, but by educated mortals in black coats. And 
 now to think that all this hideous business should be proved to 
 be useless ! All this cutting and torturing to go for nothing ! O 
 Lord, how long! We shall have a round of letters from doctors, 
 but we cannot help it. If ever we go mad it will assuredly be 
 through reading such papers as come from the pens of certain 
 M.D.'s, who dare to watch the agonies of rabbits, dogs, and other 
 animals. Can it be? Is it not all a dream? Did men who had 
 mothers and wives perpetrate those accursed deeds?" 
 
 Here comes something of another sort. It is not by simple 
 silence or guesses at random that his views on sin's awful pen- 
 alty are known. On this important question he is outspoken and 
 emphatic. 
 
 Mr. Edward White, the earnest and able advocate of the doc- 
 trine of Conditional Immortality, says : " No one yields to me in 
 hearty admiration and affection for the Rev. Charles Spurgeon ; 
 but his refusal to listen to the doctrine of Life in Christ has formed 
 a more serious obstacle to its popular diffusion than that of any 
 other living man during the last twenty years." 
 
283 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. li. SPURGEON, 
 
 To wliich Mr. Spurgeon replies : — 
 
 " We are fully prepared to take all the responsibility of the con- 
 duct ascribed to us, and only trust that we may have power to be 
 a more serious obstacle still. With the most profound regard for 
 Mr. White, and something more tender than regard, we cannot 
 help mingling our regret that he should be teaching such mischie- 
 vous doctrine, and that so many should follow him in it." 
 
 He has been handled severely by certain ecclesiastics for refus- 
 ing the prefix " Rev." Having received a letter addressed " To 
 the Very Rev. C. H. Spurgeon," he replied: 
 
 " I very much demur to the commencement, ' To the Very Rev- 
 erend C. H. Spurgeon,' for no reverence is due to me. Romaine 
 used to say that it was very astonishing to observe how many 
 Reverend, Right Reverend, and Very Reverend sinners there were 
 upon the face of the earth. Assuredly rcc'frcnd and sinner make 
 a curious combination, and as I know that I am the second, I 
 repudiate the first. To me it is surprising that such a flatter- 
 ing title should have been in\ented, and more amazing still that 
 good men should be found who are angry if this title be not duly 
 given to them," 
 
 Our American fondness for titles readily confers degrees on him. 
 But thus he dashes the D.D.'s behind him : — 
 
 " Many times we meet in American newspapers with our own 
 name adorned or disfigured with a doctor's degree. In a periodi- 
 cal we see month after month an extract from 
 
 The Rev. C. H. Spurgeon, D.D. 
 
 " We like the prefix quite as well as the a/fi.r; that is to say, we 
 detest them equally. Robert Robinson wrote in his journal : ' Won- 
 dered how any man could be so silly as to call me Reverend.' 
 Shall we not all wonder, in some more rational condition of our 
 brains, at a great many things which we now admire? " 
 
 In cutting irony and bold outspokenness he declaims against 
 falsity in the ministry : — 
 
 " Mrs. Partington uttered more of the truth than she thought 
 when she said : * Dear me, nothing don't do me so much good 
 as to go to church Sunday morning, and hear a precious minister 
 
riTIIY SAVINGS. 
 
 '^3 
 
 dispense with the gospel ! ' Yes, dear soul, that is exactly what 
 some of them do ; they give us anything and everything but the 
 glad tidings of salvation, and then they wonder that their chapels 
 become empty. Yet it does not do to say as much, or you will 
 have a hornet's nest about your ears. Of course they preach gos- 
 pel, that is to say a gospel if not the gospel. What is the differ- 
 ence? Only the indefinite for the definite article, only sand in- 
 stead of rock, only opinion in the place of truth. 
 
 " The worst of it is that hearers now-a-days put up with it. 
 There seems to be little left in the land of the discriminating spirit. 
 Men tolerate error in their ministers, grumbling at first and con- 
 senting to it afterwards. Many do not know chalk from cheese in 
 these times ; and so long as the language is musical and the ideas 
 are pretty, their preacher may teach anything short of atheism, 
 and they will drink it in. What a clapping a man gets at a public 
 meeting if he will only harp on the string of liberality, and say that 
 we are all alike, and that our views are only different aspects of 
 the same truth ; black is a shade of white, and white a milder tone 
 of black ! In times gone-by, a few sermons without the gospel in 
 them would have brought down a storm about his reverence's 
 head ; but now he is admired as a man of fresh thought, and takes 
 leave to make up his theology as he goes along. No one chal- 
 lenges him ; or if a bold brother does so, he is called a bigot, and 
 snuffed out. 
 
 " Surely this state of things cannot last. Some one will bear his 
 protest and create a stir, or else the whole thing will rot into con- 
 tempt. If there be a gospel let us have it, and nothing else. 
 There are not two gospels ; which is the genuine article? This 
 we demand. This we would have not now and then, but always, as 
 the standing dish, the daily provision of the House of the Lord. 
 If any man shall withhold the truth, or give us the counterfeit of it, 
 he shall answer for it to his God ; for by trifling in this matter the 
 souls of men are placed in jeopardy, and the Kingdom of Christ 
 is hindered. 
 
 " Blessed is he who dispenses the gospel, but cursed is he that 
 dispenses with it." 
 
 Professional ministers, who care little for their flocks, having their 
 
2S4 I-IFK AND LABORS t)F C. II. SPURGEUX. 
 
 eye on " Number one," and who make the hearts of the King's 
 children sad, are often reprimanded by this London Pastor. 
 Surely such as are described in this extract merit the honest in- 
 dignation of every true man : — 
 
 " Here is an account of a pretty little fix for a cargo of passen- 
 gers by a mail-coach. The anecdote may be found in Anthony 
 Trollope's Editor's Notes, in the chapter devoted to the literary 
 adventure of Mrs. Brumby : — 'There is, however, nothing more 
 difficult to achieve than the expulsion of a woman who is unwilling 
 to quit the place she occupies. We remember to have seen a lady 
 take possession of a seat in a mail-coach to which she was not en- 
 titled, and which had been booked and paid for by another person. 
 The agent for the coaching-business desired her with many 
 threats to descend, but she simply replied that the journey to her 
 was a matter of such moment that she felt herself called upon to 
 keep her place. The agent sent the coachman to pull her out. 
 The coachman threatened with his hands as well as with his words, 
 and then set the guard at her. The guard attacked her with in- 
 flamed visage, and fearful words about Her Majesty's mails, and 
 then he set the ostlers at her. We thought the ostlers were going 
 to handle her roughly ; but it ended by their scratching their heads, 
 and by a declaration on the part of one of them that she was " the 
 rummest go he 'd ever seen." She was a woman, and they 
 couldn't touch her. A policeman was called upon for assistance, 
 who offered to lock her up, but he could only do so if allowed to 
 lock up the whole coach as well. It was ended by the production 
 of another coach, by the exchange of the luggage and passengers, 
 by a delay of two hours, and an embarrassing possession of the 
 original vehicle by the lady.' We give the above because it has its 
 parallel in certain ministers who cannot be induced to move, 
 although everybody is eager to see them gone. One by one, 
 deacons, subscribers, and friends withdraw; but the ministerial old 
 ladies stick to the empty coach, as if it were part and parcel of 
 themselves, as much as its shell is an integral portion of the snail. 
 Hence the new chapel which springs up, and makes two churches 
 where one would have been quite enough, if it had not been for the 
 adhesiveness of an individual. It is a great sorrow that churches 
 
PITHY SAYINGS. 2S5 
 
 should be ruined because worthy men cannot see that the time is 
 come for a change. But what is the use of our writing this? We' 
 shall only put removing into the head of some brother who ought 
 to stay where he is, while those whom it behooves to move will stick 
 like limpets." 
 
 Every editor has his share of worry from Poetic Effusionists. 
 It is not reasonable that the editor of " The Sword and the 
 Trowel " should escape. But he seems equal to the occasion, and 
 mercifully waves his red flag of warning : — 
 
 " The late James T. Fields, while an active partner in the firm of 
 Ticknor and Fields, was waited upon by a young sugar-merchant 
 who had poetic aspirations. The mercantile man complained that 
 his manuscript poems had been rejected by the firm, and he wanted 
 to know the reason why, inasmuch as all of his friends had heard 
 the verses read, and unanimously declared them to be accessions 
 to American literature. ' Our reader decides that,' said Mr. Fields, 
 in his blandest tones. ' Then I would like to see the reader.' Al- 
 ways the personification of amiability himself, the publisher took 
 the merchant upstairs to the reader. That mighty personage sat 
 at a desk heaped high with manuscripts ; he carefully read a few 
 pages of each package, then dropped it into a basket at his side. 
 Occasionally he became more than ordinarily interested ; in that 
 case he placed the package inside his desk. ' Why, he goes 
 through 'em just as I sample sugar ! ' exclaimed the would-be poet 
 in amazement. ' That's because he's familiar with literary wares 
 as you are with sugar,' rejoined Mr. Fields. ' I 'm satisfied, let us 
 go,' said the merchant. They went; and the disappointed bard 
 gave up verse-making, but he made a large fortune in sugar. 
 
 " We cut this from the ' Chicago Standard.' It is a revelation 
 of the horrors of our own editorial chamber; our waste-paper bas- 
 ket is always in full use, and it has a singular tendency to 
 devour rhymes which writers call stanzas. Poetical effusions 
 are for the most part prosy delusions. Good poetry charms us, 
 but limping verses worry us, attd we are often worried. Let true 
 poets sing all day and all night, but let pretenders hush. 
 How glad we should be if this paragraph would wean some minor 
 poet from rhyming, and inspire him with love to his drapery, 
 
286 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. II. SPURGEON. 
 
 grocery, carpentry, or bakery ! The retail trade is far more useful 
 than wholesale poetizing. Guessing at the dates of prophecy, 
 and making poor verses, are two of those unprofitable devices 
 which we rank with getting blood out of gate-posts and ex- 
 tracting sugar from bitter aloes. We mean this scrap to act 
 as a warning. TRESPASSERS BEWARE! A WASTE-BASKET IS 
 KEPT ON THESE PREMISES." 
 
 The rain of poesy evidently continues to fall, and the good 
 man fears the shower. With bellows pointed towards the clouds 
 he again discourses : — 
 
 " Our table groans with Cowpers and Tennysons in an embry- 
 onic condition. 
 
 " A San Francisco paper, having been driven desperate by vol- 
 untary poetical contributors, sounds this note of warning: 'We 
 don't know exactly how newspapers were conducted at that distant 
 period, but during some recent excavations in Assyria a poem on 
 the Silver Moon was dug up. It was engraved on a tile, and 
 close beside it were lying a large battered club and part of a hu- 
 man skull. You may draw your own conclusions,' 
 
 "We are led to quote this as a warning to the many small poets 
 who send books of verses for review. Happily in our case no club 
 is kept on the premises, and we are most gentle in temper ; but, 
 really, we are tried up to the boiling-point by the poetic coals 
 which are heaped upon us. Still, Job is our patron saint, and we 
 are resolved to endure unto the end. If any verse-maker does 
 not find his poem, or her poem, mentioned in these notices, it is 
 because we do not like to cause pain by saying what we think 
 about the precious compositions. Please do not write to say that 
 your poetry must have been overlooked ; for the fact is we have 
 looked it over, and think it the wisest course to be silent. Perhaps 
 the work is too sublime, too elevated in thought, too superb in 
 diction, for our grovelling taste. Pray think so, or think anything 
 else, so long as you are happy. 
 
 " For the most part these minor poets are our affliction ; and if 
 they would be so good as to take offence, and never send us 
 another specimen of their wares, we would bless them in our 
 heart of hearts. Dear good souls that they are, we cannot bear to 
 
PITIIV SAYINGS. 287 
 
 criticise their productions according to justice; and yet we must 
 do so if we speak upon them at all, for we never wittingly entice 
 our readers into the purchase of a book which is not worth buying." 
 
 On Mr. Spurgeon's trials we cannot here enlarge, only to add 
 that, in common with other public men, he shares in the vexations 
 of curious visitors, and appeals from various sources for a speech, 
 a lecture, a sermon, or a subscription. In order to shield himself 
 he mildly rejoins : — 
 
 " It is probably a waste of effort to ask again that we may be 
 spared the pain of refusing applications for sermons, addresses, 
 lectures, &c., which it is quite out of our power to grant; but we 
 will repeat the substance of what we said in the magazine not 
 many months ago. Our own legitimate work has grown so enor- 
 mously that it is as much as we can possibly accomplish without 
 being laid aside ; and we have lately proved once more that it is 
 the extra, outside services that bring about such sad breakdowns 
 as the one we have recently experienced. If, therefore, there are 
 chapels or bazaars to be opened, anniversaries to be celebrated, 
 debts to be removed, tea-meetings to be held, schools to be built, 
 or blue-ribbon missions to be inaugurated, and the question is 
 put. Shall we ask Mr. Spurgeon to come? we beg beforehand to 
 furnish the answer — Don't! Most gladly would we serve all our 
 brethren to the utmost, if health permitted ; but repeated warnings 
 convince us that the wisest course for us is to use the strength 
 given to us for the work which rightly claims our first attention, 
 and leave all other efforts to those who have been entrusted by 
 God with greater physical force. It is a great sorrow to be shut 
 up to this, but what else can we do? " 
 
 We do not wonder that he seeks to ward off inane curiosity- 
 seekers, and troublesome querists who have sent many good men 
 to a premature grave. Hear his bugle-blast: — 
 
 "Turner, the artist, said to one who interrupted him with a 
 question, ' There ! you have made me lose fifty guineas ! ' Sir 
 Walter Scott says in his diary : ' Various visitors began to drop in. 
 I was sick of these interruptions. God send me more leisure, and 
 fewer friends to peck it away by teaspoonfuls.' Others besides 
 Sir Walter have had to breathe this prayer. People call on a well- 
 
283 LIFE AND LAUORS OF C. H. SPURGLUX. 
 
 known minister out of the idlest curiosity, and invent the most 
 perverse excuses for dragging him away from his work. One 
 would think we were wild beasts, to be stared at. Just as a ser- 
 mon is shaping itself, in comes a pasteboard from an old lady who 
 has nothing on earth to do but to call round on everybody she 
 knows, and rob them of their time, — wretched thief that she is. 
 We have seen her ; and lo ! another knock. No message can be 
 sent in, the party must see the minister himself, as his business 
 is strictly private; that means begging. Here's another, whose 
 pretended errand is to ask if we knew the Rev. Mr. Jones, of LIw- 
 wfh, for he was her mother's uncle's cousin by marriage. Why 
 should we be thus at every mortal's beck and call, and have neither 
 space for meditation, nor time for devotion? People do not call 
 on doctors or lawyers at this rate, and our time is quite as precious 
 as theirs. We cannot protect ourselves by fees, and yet if we do 
 not see every one, there will be such an outcry. All we can say is 
 — they must cry, for we cannot neglect our Master's business to 
 play lackey to everybody who is moved by the powers of darkness 
 to call us away from the Word of God and prayer." 
 
 In handling gospel themes, and discoursing on the Bible and 
 Christian experience, we find Mr. Spurgeon most at home. He is 
 a born preacher, in whom is found a pastor's heart. The brilliant 
 thought, the polished sentence, the silver speech, the tongue of fire, 
 do not make the preacher. Bowels of compassion, love of souls, 
 faith in the message taken from the Book, an humble yet assured 
 confidence in the Spirit of God kindling all other natural and ac- 
 quired gifts, are the great essentials. Spurgeon's splendid gifts are 
 forgotten in his faculty of comforting human souls. He discourses 
 on the sublime with personal exultation, and others learn to rejoice 
 in his joy. Divine things are his chiefest study, Bible doctrines 
 his great delight. His trite and homely sayings are swallowed up 
 in deeper depths, and he is known, loved, and honored as a preacher 
 of righteousness. The reality of Christ to his soul, as his Saviour 
 and Lord, is the impelling motive of his Hfe ; therefore to him all 
 sciences, all philosophies, all laws, are subservient to Christ. And 
 that theory which leads not to Christ and submits not to Him 
 who is Lord of all, is a pirate in the eyes of Charles Spurgeon. 
 
PITHY SAYINGS. 289 
 
 The Bible view of the Lord Jesus is his view; and for the glory of 
 the Son of God will he battle to his dying day. For his royal Mas- 
 ter he bears many a cross, and shrinks not from the shame. His 
 Words for Jesus have the ring of current coin, with heaven's stamp 
 upon them. They are words of life, and leap out of a loyal heart. 
 We heartily commend the following Sermonettes from his eloquent 
 lips: — 
 
 On Cross-Bearing. 
 
 What an honorable position was that of Simon the Cyrenian, to 
 be cross-bearer to Jesus Christ ! We could almost weep that we 
 were not there that we might have had the honor of carrying 
 Christ's cross for Him. But we need not weep, for we shall have 
 His cross to carry if we are His people. There are no crown- 
 wearers in heaven who were not cross-bearers here below. There 
 shall be none among the throng of the glorified who had not their 
 cross on earth. Hast thou a cross, believer? Shoulder it man- 
 fully ! Up with it ! Go along thy journey with unshrinking 
 footsteps and a rejoicing heart, knowing that since it is Christ's 
 cross it must be an honor to carry it; and that while you are 
 bearing it you are in blessed company, for you zxq following Hint. 
 
 Christ " Altogether Lovely.'''' 
 
 In calling the Lord Jesus " altogether lovely," the Church as- 
 serts that she sees nothing in Him which she does not admire. 
 The world may rail at His cross and call it shameful ; to her it is 
 the very centre and soul of glory. A proud and scornful nation 
 might reject their King because of His manger-cradle and peasant- 
 garb, but to her eye the Prince is glorious in this poor apparel. 
 He is never without beauty to her; never is His visage marred, or 
 His glory stained. She presses His pierced feet to her bosom, 
 and looks upon their wounds as jewels. Fools stand by His cross 
 and find full many a theme for jest and scorn: she discovers 
 nothing but solemn reason for reverent adoration and unbounded 
 love. Viewing Him in every office, position, and relationship, shtr 
 cannot discover a flaw; in fact, the thought of imperfection is ban- 
 ished faraway. She knows too well His perfect Godhead and His 
 
290 LIFE AND LABORS (iF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 Spotless manhood, to offer a moment's shelter to the thoUs^ht of a 
 blemish in His immaculate person ; she abominates every teaching 
 that debases Him; she spurns the most gorgeous drapery that 
 would obscure His beauteous features ; yea, so jealous is she of 
 His honor that she will hear no spirit which doth not witness 
 to His praise. A hint against His undefiled conception or His 
 unsullied purity would stir her soul to holy wrath, and speedy 
 would be her execration, and relentless her execution of the 
 heresy. Nothing has ever aroused the ire of the Church so fully 
 as a word against her Head, To all true believers this is high 
 treason, and an offence which cannot be treated lightly. Jesus is 
 without a single blot or blemish, " altogether lovely." 
 
 Untiring Delight. 
 
 Who ever called the sea monotonous? Even to the mariner, 
 travelling over it as he does, sometimes by the year together, there' 
 is always a freshness in the undulation of the waves, the whiteness 
 of the foam of the breaker, the curl of the crested billow, and the 
 frolicsome pursuit of every wave by its long train of brothers. 
 Which of us has ever complained that the sun gave us but little 
 variety? What though at morn he yoke the same steeds, and 
 flash from his car the same golden glory, climb with dull uniform- 
 ity the summit of the skies, then drive his chariot downward, 
 and bid his flaming coursers steep their burning fetlocks in the 
 western deep? Or who among us would complain loathingly of 
 the bread which we eat, that it palls upon the sense of taste? We 
 eat it to-day, to-morrow, the next day ; we have eaten it for years 
 which are passed; still the one unvarying food is served upon the 
 table, and bread remains the staff of life. Translate these earthly 
 experiences into heavenly mysteries. If Christ is your food and 
 your spiritual bread ; if Christ is your sun, your heavenly light; if 
 Christ is the sea of love in which your passions swim, and all your 
 joys are found, it is not possible that you, as Christian men, should 
 complain of monotony in Him, " He is the same yesterday, to- 
 day, and forever; " and yet He has the " dew of His youth." He 
 is like the manna in the golden pot, which was always the same; 
 but He is also like the manna which came down from heaven, 
 
PITHY SAYINGS. 291 
 
 every morning new. He is as the rod of Moses, which was dry, and 
 changed not its shape ; but He is also to us as the rod of Aaron, 
 which buds and blossoms, and brings forth almonds. 
 
 The Fulness of C/irisf. 
 
 At our very best we are strangers to much of the incomparable 
 sweetness of Christ. We shall never exhaust His goodness by our 
 praise; for He is ever so fresh, and has so much of the dew of His 
 youth, that every day He has a new song to sing. We shall find 
 Him a new Christ every day of our lives, and yet He is ever the 
 same; His surpassing excellence and unexhausted fulness thus 
 constantly renew our love. O Jesus ! none can guess how great 
 is the least of Thine attributes, or how rich the poorest of Thy 
 gifts. 
 
 Ferns and Roses. 
 
 Some saints are constitutionally depressed and sad ; they are 
 like certain lovely ferns, which grow best under a constant drip. 
 Well, well, the Lord will gather these beautiful ferns of the shade 
 as well as the roses of the sun ; they shall share His notice as 
 much as the blazing sunflowers, and the saddest shall rejoice with 
 the gladdest. You that sigh more than you sing, you that would 
 but cannot, you that have a great heart for holiness, but feel 
 beaten back in your struggles, the Lord shall give you His love, 
 His grace, His favor, as surely as He gives it to those who can do 
 great things in His name. Certain of you have but a scant expe- 
 rience of the higher joys and deeper insights of the Kingdom; 
 and yet, if true to your Lord, your infirmities shall not be reck- 
 oned as iniquities. If lawfully detained from the field of active 
 labor this statute stands fast forever, for you as well as for others, 
 " As his part is that goeth down to the battle, so shall his part be 
 that tarrieth by the stuff; they shall part alike." 
 
292 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 THE HOLY GHOST IS HERE. 
 
 The Holy Ghost is here, 
 Where saints in prayer agree ; 
 As Jesu's parting gift, He 's near 
 Each pleading company. 
 
 Not far away is He, 
 To be by prayer brought nigh, 
 But here in present majesty, 
 As in His courts on high. 
 
 He dwells within our soul, 
 An ever-welcome Guest : 
 He reigns with absolute control 
 As Monarch in the breast. 
 
 Our bodies are His shrine, 
 And He th' indwelling Lord. 
 All hail, thou Comforter divine. 
 Be evermore adored ! 
 
 Obedient to Thy will. 
 We wait to feel Thy power! 
 O Lord of life, our hopes fulfil, 
 And bless this hallowed hour ! 
 
 C. H. v'>FURGEON. 
 
XXII. 
 
 INCREASING USEFULNESS. 
 
The Christian's sympathy should ever be of the widest character, because he 
 serves a God of infinite love. When the precious stone of love is thrown by 
 grace into the crystal pool of a renewed heart, it stirs the transparent life-floods 
 into ever-widening circles of sympathy : the first ring has no very wide circum- 
 ference — we love our household ; "for he who careth not for his own household 
 is worse than a heathen man." But mark the next concentric ring — we love 
 the household of faith : " We know that we have passed from death unto life, 
 because we love the brethren." Look once more, for the ever-widening ring- 
 has reached the very limit of the lake, and included all in its area, for " suppli- 
 cations, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks are to be made for all men." 
 A follower of Jesus means a friend of man. A Christian is a philanthropist by 
 profession, and generous by force of grace ; wide as the reign of sorrow is the 
 stretch of his love, and where he cannot help he pities still. — C. H. Spurgeon. 
 
INCREASING USEFULNESS. 
 
 THE multifarious work under the care of Mr. and Mrs. Spur- 
 geon is ever widening; the cloud like a man's hand spreads 
 everywhere and pours its refreshing rain on all lands. During a 
 recent visit to the Tabernacle, the College, and the Orphanage we 
 were again eye-witnesses of the working of these famous institu- 
 tions. Nor were we less interested in Mrs. Spurgeon's special 
 ministry of love, ^ who kindly explained to us her manner of book- 
 keeping, which also revealed her spirit of book-i^wiu^: 
 
 Personal interviews with these great souls, and visits to their 
 hospitable home, enable us to speak of that we do know, and tes- 
 tify of that we have seen. Mr. Spurgeon is still foremost in every 
 good work, the true friend of all real reform. 
 
 The Earl of Shaftesbury, identified with so many benevolent 
 enterprises for many years, regretting his enforced absence from 
 one of Mr. Spurgeon's annual school-meetings, in his apologetic 
 letter refers to Mr. Spurgeon and his work in the most unqualified 
 approval. This is the warm word from this truly noble-man. 
 
 24 Grosvenor Square, W. 
 October 13. 
 Dear Kirk, — If you have an opportunity, pray read this letter 
 to the meeting to be held at Mr. Spurgeon's Tabernacle on Mon- 
 day, 1 6th. I am much grieved that I am unable to be present. 
 My attendance at the Quarter Sessions for the County of Dorset 
 is required on the following day; and it is an official duty that I 
 cannot well set aside. I am grieved; because there is no man in 
 the country whose opinion and support in such matters I prize 
 
296 I>IFE AND LABORS OF C. II. SPURGEON. 
 
 more highly than those of my friend, Mr. Spurgeon. It would 
 t;ive me singular pleasure, after nearly forty years of work in the 
 Ragged-school cause, to have the testimony and counsel of so 
 valuable a man. Few men have preached so much, and so well ; 
 and few ever have combined so practically their words and their 
 actions. I deeply admire and love him, because I do not believe 
 that there lives anywhere a more sincere and simple servant of 
 our blessed Lord. Great talents have been rightly used : and, 
 under God's grace, have led to great issues. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 Shaftesbury. 
 
 While theorizers of reform are airing their nothings, and students 
 of philosophy are chasing shadows, this great, generous. Christian 
 man preaches the gospel of certainties, feeds the hungry, clothes 
 the naked, shelters the orphan, comforts the widow, educates the 
 ignorant, encourages the ministry, and stimulates colporteurs, 
 evangelists, missionaries, and churches, by voice and pen and godly 
 example. 
 
 The church, over whom the Holy Ghost hath made him over- 
 seer, flourishes like the green palm-tree. Monthly additions swell 
 its membership. The hand of the Lord is upon His servant, and 
 many are led from sin to holiness. Thousands still hang breath- 
 lessly on his lips, and the skilful voice uttereth no uncertain 
 sound. 
 
 The weekly printed sermons migrate to many lands. Trans- 
 lations of them into foreign tongues become more numerous. 
 Reports of their usefulness come from distant fields. Re-printed, 
 re-read, and re-preached, they carry the light of life to the ends 
 of the earth. 
 
 A Baptist minister writes to him as follows : " You ought to 
 be a happy man. When in Scotland, some time ago, I got lost in 
 a Glen-something. The folk there had never heard of the late 
 lamented Beaconsfield ; ' happy is the people that is in such a 
 case ! ' They had no notion of Gladstone ; but you should have 
 seen them wake up when I mentioned your name. They had a sort 
 of knowledge of that name, for thc}- read your sermons, and fetched 
 
INCREASING USEFULXESS. 297 
 
 a lot out to show me that they did so. 1 assure you, I never saw 
 any man's works with such signs of use upon them. There was no 
 kirk in the glen, so on Sundays they got together and had a ser- 
 vice, the scholar of the place reading the sermon. One very old 
 man said he ' wad shoost gang on his twa honds and knees a' the 
 way to Glasguh to get a sight o' ye.' I doubt if he could have 
 done half a mile any way, but there was a look in his eye that you 
 would have been comforted to see." 
 
 In his magazine Mr. Spurgeon writes: "A Christian man, who 
 used to attend our services at the Surrey Music Hall, recently felt 
 moved to read the sermons on the green of the village where he 
 lives, and in the adjoining town. With the help of a (ew friends 
 he has conducted a full service at each place on Sunday afternoons 
 and evenings. In the village he has gathered from 200 to 300 
 people together, and in the town his congregations have ranged 
 from 400 or 500 up to 900 or 1,000. He says that the people 
 have been very attentive, and that from the many encouraging 
 expressions he has received, he is sure God is blessing the work. 
 His great regret is that he did not commence the effort before. 
 When the weather gets too cold for open-air services he hopes to 
 secure a large building in which to continue the reading of the 
 sermons through the winter. Are there not many other places 
 where those who have been blessed by the reading of the sermons 
 might with great advantage to many people carry on similar 
 services? " 
 
 Another illustration of the usefulness of his printed sermons is 
 from his own pen. 
 
 *' A friend in Dorset, who reads our sermons at the village ser- 
 vices which he conducts, writes that recently the Lord was pleased 
 to bless the word to a young man, who is now rejoicing in his 
 Saviour. The sermon read on that occasion was, ' Vanities and 
 Verities' (No. 1,379). He also adds: 'Last Sunday evening I was 
 in another village, and two of God's children came to me, after the 
 service, to say how much the Word was blessed to their souls. One 
 old saint especially remarked that she did not know when she had 
 been so lifted up. The subject was, * For Whom is the Gospel 
 Meant?' (No. 1,345). So you see, my dear sir, that God is 
 
39S LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 pleased to bless the Word, not only as it falls from your lips, but 
 years after, when it is read by other people.' " 
 
 He who has sown with liberal hand the true grain is gathering 
 now from divers countries many golden sheaves. 
 
 The College progresses favorably. New students are being sent 
 forth throughout Europe, to Asia, to Africa, to America, infused 
 with the spirit of the president, — nay rather, with the Spirit of the 
 Lord, — achieving conquests in the gospel everywhere. 
 
 We subjoin a letter to Mr. Spurgeon, which speaks loudly for 
 him and the college now so thoroughly established. 
 
 Dear Brother, — A friend having put into my hands the May 
 number of your excellent magazine, the " Remarks by the Rev. 
 George Rogers," on your college, caught my eye, and I read the 
 page with intense interest. It somewhat lifted off a burden which 
 had been weighing heavily on my heart and conscience for some 
 little time, as it testified that one college in London, at least, in- 
 tended to teach faithfully the foundation-truths of the gospel of 
 God; and "not to introduce any modification of its course of stud- 
 ies, to suit what are called the demands of tJie age'.' 
 
 A fortnight or three weeks ago one of our foremost religious 
 journals sounded a flourish of trumpets, because there had been 
 afforded " a happy indication that the days of bigotry were draw- 
 ing to an end." This referred to a meeting for discussion, held in 
 one of our metropolitan denominational colleges, and presided 
 over by the leading and most prominent minister of the Unitarian 
 body in London — a man of splendid talents, most fascinating elo- 
 quence, great learning, and the highest social character. His 
 writings are considered, from an intellectual and literary stand- 
 point, as of the greatest excellence. Had he been an obscure, ig- 
 norant, uninfluential person, the danger would not be so imminent. 
 Mr. Rogers says of your college " that it adheres to the Puritanic 
 in distinction from Germanic theology ; " this is, in the estimation 
 of many, its honor and glory; but the students in the college re- 
 ferred to are led to fraternize with the most influential teacher of 
 Unitarianism, and recommended to read his books ! What is 
 this but leading our future ministers into temptation? It is teach- 
 
INCREASING USEFULNESS. 
 
 599 
 
 ing them to break down the barriers which now separate the 
 behevers in Christ's Godhead from those who esteem him as 07ily 
 a man, — true, the ideal man, the hoHest, wisest, highest man 
 among men, but still a maiiy — thereby making us, who worship 
 him as "God over all " idolaters. 
 
 The Unitarian also denies that fundamental doctrine of the 
 cross, " He was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our 
 justification" — the atonement offered for our sins by the God- 
 man. Are our students for the ministry to be taught that these 
 two foundation-truths of God's Word are of so little importance 
 that those who persistently oppose them may be bidden God- 
 speed ? Through evil report and through good report, I would a 
 thousand times say " No!'' 
 
 Had I a thousand pounds at my command, I would cheerfully, 
 notwithstanding my different view from yours of baptism, hand it 
 over to the treasurer of your college, for in the words of patriarch 
 Rogers, " Its work is not done, but rather only begun." 
 
 Yours in gospel bonds, 
 
 A Congregational Minister. 
 
 The Orplia7iage, and other institutions originated and directed by 
 Mr. Spurgeon's brain and heart, are also flourishing. 
 
 The Book Fund and its work, with the Pastor's Aid Society, 
 are the channels through which Mrs. Spurgeon's good-will 
 carries blessing to body and mind. Nor can this work be over- 
 estimated. 
 
 The books furnish poor preachers with brain- food, check the 
 tendency towards z/«gospel theology, and encourage evangelical 
 religion throughout the land. 
 
 Though a hard-working, constantly employed man, in the walks 
 of literature of the most important kind, Mr. Spurgeon neither 
 frets nor fumes like the late Carlyle. The crowing of the cock or 
 baying of the hound calls forth no anathemas from his lips. 
 Poor Carlyle ! he saw the wrong side of things, with " a jaundiced 
 eye;" and the "man of genius" kept his suffering wife in constant 
 mental torture with his unhappy and uncertain temper. How 
 different with this other man of genius, into whose heart has come 
 
300 
 
 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 the sweet peace of Christ through an intclhgcnt faith, and whose 
 soul is kept calm amid many a storm. The furnace of suffering 
 has refined him, and long acqaintance with pain makes him tender 
 and patient toward others. And Mrs. Spurgeon, brave lady, writes 
 as one who also knows the secret of quiet confidence, having her 
 dwelling-place under the shadow of the Almighty. We have 
 wished that the tried wife of the Chelsea Sage had given us to 
 know that she too heard the hush of the great Christ upon her 
 ruffled spirit. Surely then her letters would betray less of poig- 
 nant grief and bitter disappointment. Herein doth lie the peace 
 of the worthy inmates of Westw^ood, that they know the Lord, and 
 are known of Him. • 
 
 An extract from Mrs. Spurgeon's pen will have its influence for 
 good upon our readers: — 
 
 " Yesterday deserves to be noted as a dies non ; for that good 
 gift of God, of which Solomon says, * Truly the light is sweet, and 
 a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun,' was blotted 
 out and obscured by an almost Egyptian darkness which fell upon 
 us for long and wearisome hours. At 3.30 r. AL midnight had ta- 
 ken the place of ' the perfect day,' and spread her sable wings 
 over the reluctant earth prematurely. From the high tower at 
 Westwood, nothing could be seen all around but black, lower- 
 ing masses of dense darkness, which hung like funeral palls from 
 the sky, and now and again lifted their fearful folds only to reveal 
 a deeper and denser gloom beyond. Here and there the glimmer 
 of a near gaslight could be discerned ; but not a ray of Heaven's 
 sweet beams pierced through the dreadful overshadowing, and 
 a stillness more awesome than that of a real night hushed all 
 familiar sounds. As hour after hour passed by, no enlighten- 
 ment was vouchsafed us, nor could we tell when true night came 
 to dispossess the rival darkness of the sceptre it had so strangely 
 usurped. 
 
 "Into all this dismal murkiness came two letters from Mentone, 
 telling of a placid sea, warm breezes, and clear, bright skies, — 
 
 ' Curtains of azure, and crystal wall, 
 And dome of sunshine hi<rh over all ' — 
 
INCREASING USEFULNESS. 3or 
 
 letters so full of joy, and good spirits, and glad delight, that for a 
 moment the unbidden tears would gather, from the sheer longing 
 I had to be in the sunshine too ! But when the shutters were 
 closed, the curtains drawn, and the dreary scene without ex- 
 cluded, I found I was in the land of Goshen still, and had ' light in 
 my dwelling ;" for, like a star — better seen from the depths of a 
 well than from higher ground — shone the conspicuous mercy that 
 my beloved was spared this doleful experience. I knew the fearful 
 darkness was not likely to stretch its hideous arms so far as the fair 
 shores of the Riviera, and I blessed God for the comfortable cer- 
 tainty that over there the beauty and the splendor of an unclouded 
 heaven were doing their sweet restful work on a tired heart and 
 brain. So my gloom was dispelled by the light of my husband's 
 happiness ; for from the South land the sunbeams, imprisoned in his 
 precious letters, travelled a thousand miles to cheer me, and by 
 their gladsome message turned my night into day. 
 
 "I wonder whether this is a faint picture of the comfort where- 
 with God sometimes consoles his bereaved children, by enabling 
 them to realize the unspeakable blessedness of those who have 
 gone before. Temporary separations by distance are but the 
 foreshadowings of a sterner parting, which, sooner or later, must 
 divide us from those whose love seems to be our very life. 
 Happy they who can look beyond the grim darkness of such a 
 sorrow, to the unsullied light and bliss which the hope of eternal 
 reunion affords." 
 
 As a matter of historical interest, Mr. Spurgeon's description of 
 the family reunion is worthy of record. We hope it will incite the 
 prayer that joy, prosperity, and usefulness may be the portion of 
 each member of this interesting and benevolent household. 
 
 " It may not be thought unworthy of mention here that on Mon- 
 day, May 14, our honored FATHER and MOTHER were spared to 
 celebrate their Golden Wedding-day with us at Westwood. All 
 their children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren were 
 present, with the exception of our beloved son Thomas, and the 
 company consisted of thirty-two persons in all. Of this household 
 seven are preachers of the gospel. Very gracious has the Lord 
 been to us as a family, for from a remote ancestry the fear of God 
 
yj2 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. Sl'URGEOX. 
 
 has ruled the house, and a blessing has rested upon it because of 
 the Ark of the Lord. The past was reviewed with praise, the pres- 
 ent enjoyed in happy unity of love, and the future expected with 
 hope. Our own dear departed grandfather, so long an honored 
 winner of souls, used to rejoice in five of us as ministers of Christ; 
 but now ' we are seven,' and there are others among us who occa- 
 sionally bear witness for the truth in public. May all our friends 
 have a like blessing; and may young people commencing life be 
 wise enough to perceive that family piety and domestic happi- 
 ness must go together: let them not expect the first without the 
 second." 
 
XXIII. 
 
 ASLEEP IN JESUS. 
 
Now, beloved friends, if any of you are in great difficulty and trouble, 
 tempted to do wrong, nay, pressed to do it, and if you do what is right 
 it looks as if you will be great losers and great sufferers, believe this : 
 God can deliver you. He can prevent your having to suffer what you 
 suppose you may ; and if He does not prevent that, He can help you to 
 bear it, and in a short time He can turn all your losses into gains, all your 
 sufferings into happiness. He can make the worst thing that can hap- 
 pen to you to be the very best thing that ever did happen to you. If you 
 are serving God, you are serving an Omnipotent Being ; and that Om- 
 nipotent Being will not leave you in time of difficulty, but He will come 
 to your rescue. The Lord has helped us in the past. He is helping us 
 in the present, and we believe He will help us all the way through. — 
 C. H. Spurgeon. 
 
ASLEEP IN JESUS. 
 
 i^^HARLES SPURGEON'S ministry on earth has ended, but 
 ^^-^ its results continue. The streams of influence he set in 
 motion move onward in their ceaseless flow. While time shall 
 last, the echo of his voice will be heard. How fittingly the ancient 
 couplet applies to the late Pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle : 
 
 " .So prompt to teach and preach and jjray and praise, 
 His labor had no end but with his days." 
 
 If we measure the years of Charles Spurgeon by the work he 
 accomplished, he lived, twice over, a centenarian. He preached 
 sermons to millions of people, for they were printed in many lan- 
 guages ; he wrote books which came teeming from the press with 
 amazing rapidity ; he founded and maintained institutions which 
 were world-wide in their influence, and he gave direction to num- 
 berless movements of moral and spiritual worth. Nor do we hesi- 
 tate to record that there are few preachers of our day who preach 
 the Gospel of Jesus Christ in its simplicity, which is a chief charm 
 of the Divine message, who have not directly or indirectly been 
 happily influenced by the great life which has ended its earthly 
 ministry. He was the first of his age to bring the Gospel out of 
 mysticism and dulness and burdensome technicalities until it took 
 on new meaning. And steadily he pursued the noble object of 
 giving to the masses and the classes the doctrines of Scripture in 
 their purity and utility. Other pulpits caught the knack ; theo- 
 logical seminaries recognized its power ; evangelists sprang up on 
 every hand, and a revival of Gospel preaching with primitive sim- 
 plicity swept around the world. From start to finish, Spurgeon 
 
306 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 ran his course well. He lived for others. His last moments, 
 under great weakness of body, were employed in writing to 
 orphans, in planning a day for universal prayer concerning the 
 prevailing sickness and its accompanying sorrow, and in other 
 labors for the good of mankind. Tiie world has lost a useful man ; 
 the church universal will miss a willing helper ; the London Tab- 
 ernacle laments a faithful pastor, a sympathizing brother, a genu- 
 ine friend. The loss to his own immediate family is too sacred a 
 theme for public remark. The sympathy of thousands are with 
 them in this hour of their deep sorrow. They are encompassed 
 by a circle of world-wide prayer. 
 
 Pastor Charles Spurgeon lived an exceedingly busy life. When 
 he entered the service of the Lord he girded on the habit of a 
 husbandman with the armor of a soldier. He sowed gospel seed 
 with liberal hand, while wielding the sword with an energy born 
 of a zealous spirit to defend the truth of God. As a man of peace, 
 he preferred building to battling, yet he never shrank from attack- 
 ing evils which threatened the spiritual prosperity of the church, 
 nor ceased to fight against every false religion which subverted 
 the Gospel of Christ. 
 
 He was a true Sir Knight of the Cross. From the first he 
 was thrust into prominence, nor did he shrink from the solemn 
 responsibilities of his office. While yet young in years, he sought 
 to arouse a slumbering nation, to guard the doctrines of Scripture 
 from wicked mutilation, to shield the Bible from adverse criticism, 
 and befriend the church universal, while rebuking her worldliness 
 and laxity. While yet in early years of manhood he started his 
 great work of Christian philanthropy. He sheltered the widow, 
 he befriended the orphan, he comforted the desolate ; and fore- 
 seeing the on-coming flood of apostasy, he provided college facili- 
 ties for the equipment of godly men who would signalize them- 
 selves as advocates of evangelical orthodoxy. That he succeeded 
 in founding and maintaining a variety of noble institutions, which 
 have become an enduring monument to his loyalty and love, has 
 
ASLEEP IN JESUS. 307 
 
 become an unchallenged fact of history. Mr. Spurgeon knew him- 
 self to be Christ's ambassador. To him was committed the gospel 
 of reconciliation. He accepted the sacred trust bestowed, and 
 never proved unworthy of it. He could have escaped abuse, 
 scorn, ridicule, opposition ; he could have glided along through 
 life easily, lazily ; he could have glossed over the heresies of the 
 day, and leave unnoticed the hypocrites who played false to their 
 Lord ; but he had a conscience toward God, a heart for the church, 
 love for the race, and a character of sterling integrity which can 
 be nothing if not unflinchingly loyal to the Master. The noble 
 man was neither tolerant of evil nor traitorous to Christ. The sin 
 of Judas he abhorred even as he loathed falsity to the faith. Hear 
 his own outspoken indignation against this sin of sins. 
 
 " The Son of man shall be betrayed. Stop there; 'be betrayed.' 
 It is as though I heard the deep boom of a death-knell. Betrayed ! 
 Betrayed ! Still is Jesus betrayed! If the Gospel dies in Eng- 
 land, write on its tomb 'Betrayed.' If our churches lose their 
 holy influence among men, write on them ' Betrayed! What care 
 we for infidels } What care we for those who curse and blas- 
 pheme } They cannot hurt the Christ. His wcnmds are those 
 which He receives in the house of His friends. ' Betrayed !' O 
 Saviour, some of us have been betrayed ; but ours was a small 
 sorrow compared with Thine ; for Thou wast betrayed into the 
 hands of sinners by one who claimed to be Thy friend, by one 
 who was bound by every tie to have been faithful. Betrayed ! I 
 cannot bear the word. It falls like a flash of fire into my bosom, 
 and burns into my inmost soul. And such a friend as He ! So 
 full of love, and yet betray cd^ 
 
 Mr. Spurgeon had persistently battled against indifference, 
 unbelief, personal and national sins, with other foes of spiritual 
 religion, when the hour had come for conflict with Anglican Rit- 
 ualism. Protestant England was opening her bosom to Jesuitical 
 leeches. Her life-blood was being drained. Spurgeon carefully 
 noted the chief causes of Romish ascendency in his beloved 
 
3oS LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SrURGEON. 
 
 Britain. Turning his guns on the head and front of the ecclesias- 
 tical octopus, shot after shot went straight to the mark. His 
 great sermon on "Baptismal Regeneration" preceded others of 
 like import. Printed copies were sold by hundreds of thousands. 
 The battle raged hotly ; replies were advanced by churchmen 
 from humble curates to mitred bishops, until one hundred 
 different publications appeared in opposition to his views. After 
 the smoke of battle had cleared, the doughty preacher was the 
 first to marshal an ambulance corps and bring brotherly help to 
 the disabled. The Romanizers thereafter became more cautious. 
 For some time High Churchism received a check on its onward 
 progess. The princely soul of Spurgeon waxed even greater, 
 for while yet flushed with victory, he reached out the helping 
 hand to Episcopal representatives. He smote heresy with icono- 
 clastic zeal, but guarded his Christian manhood from being 
 dwarfed by the subtleness of bigotry. 
 
 Mr. Spurgeon was a man of peace. He loved all good men, 
 and heartily co-operated with every legitimate Christian endeavor. 
 But as soon as error appeared he drew his trusty blade. He would 
 never ally himself with the enemies of truth. Therefore, when 
 the impudent brigand known as German Rationalism, alias 
 Advanced Thought, alias New Theology, alias Higher Criticism, 
 emboldened by achievements elsewhere, displayed treacherous 
 designs within the circle of the Baptist family, Spurgeon stepped 
 into the arena. He asked that the Union purge out the 
 traitors. The request was refused. Finding himself restrained 
 by further alliance with the Baptist Union, some of whose 
 leaders were infected with the heretical virus, he withdrew from 
 its communion and fought the good fight of faith alone. No, not 
 alone, for God was with him, while the prayers of the faithful for- 
 tified him. The great soul of the preacher was aroused ; his zeal 
 waxed hotly with indignation as he beheld the denomination which 
 he loved sheltering the detractors of God's word. He knew that 
 sinners were lulled into a fatal slumber through their specious phi- 
 
ASLEEP IN JESUS. 309 
 
 losophizing. Moreover, when he heard the Bible tabood as errant, 
 as inaccurate, as unphilosophical, as unreliable, despite bodily pain 
 and mental weariness, he exposed the fallacies of the " Down 
 Grade " movement, and thereby inaugurated the notable " Down 
 Grade" controversy. He had frequently lifted up his voice in 
 warning against the preaching of the Non-Conformist pulpit. 
 The teaching of prominent Independents was criminally negative. 
 But when the Baptist Union gave countenance to the New 
 Theology, the rugged pastor smote with terrific force. The echo 
 of each blow was heard around the globe. Many who watched 
 the battle from afar misjudged the faithful warrior, while others, 
 who loved a sect more than truth, withdrew from his standard. 
 Mr. Spurgeon challenged the Baptist Union to pass a resolution 
 "setting forth that it rejected the dream of future probation and 
 restoration as unscriptural, unprotestant, and a stranger among 
 the Baptists. If it does not do so, we may expect to hear a full- 
 blown purgatory preached, and prayers for the dead will follow as 
 a matter of course." This challenge was not accepted. Events 
 since then prove the accuracy of Mr. Spurgeon's predictions. 
 
 What was the preacher's desire ? We read it in his own words : 
 "I could have wished that instead of saving the Union, or even 
 purifying it, the more prominent thought had been to conform > 
 everything to the word of the Lord." Thereafter Spurgeon 
 published his own statement of doctrine, clear enough to be 
 understood by all ; but the Errorists, with their friends, refused 
 to accept it. As a series of Articles of Faith, they reveal the 
 mighty truths which he fought to preserve. 
 
 " (i) The Divine inspiration, authority, and sufficiency of the Holy 
 Scriptures. 
 
 " (2) The right and duty of private judgment in the interpretation of 
 the Holy Scriptures, and the need of the teaching of the Holy Spirit to 
 a true and spiritual understanding of them. 
 
 " (3) The unity of the Godhead and the Trinity of the persons there- 
 in — namely, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. 
 
3IO 
 
 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 " 1^4) The true and proper Godhead of our Lord Jesus, and His real 
 and perfect manhood. 
 
 " (5) The utter depravity of human nature in consequence of the Fall, 
 whicli Fall is no fable nor metaphor, but a literal and sadly practical 
 fact. 
 
 " (6) The substitutionary sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, by which 
 alone sin is taken away and sinners are saved. 
 
 " (7) The offices of our Lord as Prophet, Priest, and King, and as 
 the one Mediator between God and man. 
 
 " (8) The justification of the sinner by faith alone, through the blood 
 and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 '• (9) The work of the Holy Spirit in the regeneration, conversion, 
 santification, and preservation of the saved. 
 
 " (10) The immortality of the soul, the resurrection of the body, and 
 the judgment of the world by our Lord Jesus, which judgment will be 
 final, according to the words of the Great Judge : ' These shall go away 
 into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.' 
 
 "(11) The Divine institution of the Christian ministry, and the 
 obligation and perpetuity of the ordinances of Believers' Baptism and 
 the Lord's Supper. 
 
 " We utterly abhor the idea of a new gospel or an additional revela- 
 tion, or a shifting rule of faith to be adapted to the ever-changing spirit 
 of the age. In particular we assert that the notion of probation after 
 death, and the ultimate restitution of condemned spirits, is so unscrip- 
 tural and unprotestant, and so unknown to all Baptist Confessions of 
 Faith, and draws with it such consequences, that we are bound to con- 
 demn it, and to regard it as one with which we can hold no fellowship," 
 
 In reply to a resolution of sympathy with him in his position, 
 rrom a body of Welsh preachers, Mr. Spurgeon wrote : — 
 
 ' Mourning over a great evil in some of the churches, I sacrificed 
 ocace, friendship, and repute to be clear of it. My protest was 
 resented and judged to be needless. The discussions which have 
 followed have, I grieve to say, more than justified my charges, A 
 compact which was made without my concurrence also bears on 
 its forefrc^it proofs that grave errors exist in every quarter where- 
 in they were denied. It has cost me many wounds and much 
 dishonor to have been the accuser of brethren, and it is still more 
 painful to find their great errors are not regarded as serious by 
 
ASLEEP IN JESUS. 311 
 
 the mass of professors. My only course is to follow separated 
 paths, not, however, separating myself from any of my denomina- 
 tion who hold the faith once delivered to the saints." 
 
 Mr. Spurgeon's withdrawal from the Union placed him under 
 reproach. Small men misjudged him; narrow men misread him; 
 crooked men abused him ; guilty men condemned him ; and in 
 some instances good men through fear of the cause forsook him. 
 But he stood firm as the breakwater to the advancing sea. He 
 withdrew to his place outside of the denominational camp, pre- 
 ferring censure for conscience' sake, rather than enthronement 
 within the walls by cowardly silence. The protest of friends 
 against his protest did not shake his faith. He knew that right 
 was might, and time would vindicate his action. Thank God he 
 lived till the vindication came, for it did come with swiftness and 
 ever-increasing demonstration. The extremes to which members 
 of this same Union have since gone in their insane pursuit of 
 Rationalistic Thought, and the deep quagmire of radical Unitari- 
 anism in which they now flounder, justify Spurgeon in refusing to 
 continue in fellowship with heretics. 
 
 In late years the beloved pastor was often away from his flock, 
 seeking health amid the groves of Menton. On each home-com- 
 ing, when peace followed victory, it was very noticeable how the 
 passion for winning souls to Christ swelled within him. Out of a 
 full heart he preached, and taught the Gospel of Salvation ; with 
 strong crying and tears, he poured out his soul in prayer. Gra- 
 ciously, copiously, constantly, did heavenly rain fall upon his con- 
 gregations. The results of this latter have been great spiritual 
 fruitfulness. 
 
 During the month of May, 1891, the London pastor was stricken 
 down in the midst of his labors. After partial recovery a compli- 
 cation of influenza, gout, and diabetes brought him to the verge of 
 the grave. For many weeks his life was despaired of. Then 
 occurred the great uprising of prayer on his behalf throughout the 
 world. God saw fit to prolong the life of His servant yet a little. 
 
312 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 Mr. Spurgeon's popularity was fully demonstrated during the 
 weeks when his life trembled in the balance. More than seven 
 thousand messages of sympathy had reached him. These were 
 from individuals, religious bodies, and countries beyond the seas. 
 When invalided, the loyal champion found he had not been alone 
 in championing the sacred Scriptures. 
 
 In October the invalid was removed to his favorite Menton, 
 where he seemed to gain strength. There were many signs of 
 returning health. As late as January i6, of this year, he penned 
 a line to the writer, expressing the hope that he would soon be 
 actively engaged in serving his Lord. All sympathizers were 
 hopeful. His dear wife was with him, ever by his side. Great 
 was his joy over this mercy. Mrs. Spurgeon was a lifelong invalid, 
 confined to her home ; she was now restored sufficiently to accom- 
 pany her beloved, and to minister to him during his last days on 
 earth. As the year 1891 drew to a close he had strength enough 
 to deliver a brief address on " Retrospect." Next morning, standing 
 on the threshold of the new year, he preached another short sermon 
 on " Prospect." These, his last public utterances, are worthy to be 
 written in letters of gold, or carved into the everlasting rocks. 
 
 On January 28 there were symptoms of relapse. As the 
 hours went slowly by, there were indications of serious illness. It 
 soon became evident that the great preacher was fighting his last 
 battle. The disease gained rapidly. On Sunday, January 31, 
 the patient became unconscious, while the anxious watchers prayed 
 and wept. Before midnight the heart had stilled its beating, and 
 the free spirit exchanged its prison-house of clay for its Paradise 
 of glory. Mr. Spurgeon died January 31, 1892, at 11. 15 p.m. 
 
 After the death at Menton the body was brought to London. 
 It lay in his great church, the Metropolitan Tabernacle. During 
 one day it was visited by one hundred thousand persons. The 
 memorial services were peculiarly impressive. During the last 
 day the shops in the vicinity of the Tabernacle were closed as a 
 mark of respect, while many buildings were draped in mourning. 
 
ASLEEP IN JESUS. 313 
 
 Several members of Parliament attended to pay their respects to 
 the memory of the dead ; men and women of social rank joined 
 their poorer brothers and sisters in giving their tribute of tears. 
 Mr. Spurgeon's students and orphans were chief among the 
 mourners. Deputations from sixty religious bodies were also 
 present. The preachers who addressed the multitudes we're Rev. 
 A. T. Pierson of America, pastor pro tcm, and Rev. Archibald G. 
 Brown of London. The Bishop of Rochester, with clergymen of 
 other denominations, participated in the services. 
 
 The immense funeral procession was preceded by a squad of 
 mounted policemen. On the coffin lay an open Bible. The sides 
 of the hearse bore the appropriate text for the dying man : " I 
 have fought a good fight ; I have finished my course ; I have kept 
 the faith." 
 
 After the funeral ceremonies ended, the vast multitudes formed 
 in line, and slowly filed before the open vault, taking their last 
 look upon the coffin of the deeply lamented pastor, preacher, 
 author, and philanthropist, whose loss is deeply mourned by Queen 
 and subjects, by prince and peasant alike. 
 
 It is recorded of the martyred Stephen, when robbed of life by 
 his mad persecutors, "he fell asleep." The derivative of the word 
 used is translated cemetery. This was the word employed by the 
 apostles to denote a place where the bodies of believers sleep in 
 the hope of a glorious resurrection. This is the hope which the 
 Gospel brings to light. In view of this " blessed hope " we record 
 the fact : Our friend Spurgeon sleepeth. His body lies in Nor- 
 wood cemetery awaiting the return of his Lord. '* For the Lord 
 Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice 
 of the archangel, and the trump of God, and the dead in Christ 
 shall rise first." Absent from the body, the unclothed spirit of 
 our departed brother is in conscious bliss within the gates of 
 Paradise. But at the sound of the trump the grave will yield its 
 prey, when spirit and body shall again be reunited. Then shall be 
 brought to pass the saying that is written, "O death, where is thj 
 
314 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 sting ? O grave, where is thy victory ? Thanks be unto God, 
 who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." For 
 He, our Lord, shall change this body of our humiliation that it 
 may be fashioned like unto the body of His glory. Then will 
 " the Crowning day " have dawned, when the full salvation of the 
 believer shall be realized. Mr. Spurgeon preached this neglected 
 part of the Gospel. The potential hope of the imminent advent 
 of Jesus buoyed up his soul under every visitation of sorrow. And 
 though not permitted to abide here "till He come," he is in the 
 upper room still waiting with the members of " the sacramental 
 host" above for that approaching hour of triumph when "the 
 dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and 
 remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet 
 the Lord in the air ; and so shall we ever be with the Lord." 
 Blessed words of comfort concerning our sainted dead ! blessed 
 words of hope concerning ourselves ! " We shall not all sleep, but 
 we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, 
 at the last trump : for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall 
 be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." Because of this 
 divinely inspired word of revelation, our grief is assuaged ; because 
 Oi this hope our sorrow is sweetened, as we again write the words, 
 "'OUR FRIEND Spurgeon sleepeth." 
 
 " After the toil and trouble, 
 
 There cometh a day of rest ; 
 After the weary conflict, 
 
 Peace on the Saviour's breast ; 
 After the strife and struggle, 
 
 The victory is won ; 
 After the work is over, 
 
 The Master's own word, ' Well done.' " 
 
 Mr. Spurgeon sleeps in Jesus ; the lion-hearted preacher is at 
 rest ; the brave warrior is called to the King's banqueting house ; 
 to his enraptured gaze the face of Immanuel is unveiled. 
 
 Mr. Spurgeon's own views of the heavenly home are best 
 expressed in his sermon concerning the death of the late Lord 
 
ASLEEP IN JESUS. 315 
 
 Shaftesbury. This lofty theme, so touchingly presented, forms a 
 fitting close to our book. And in closing the record of his life, I 
 subjoin the final words of his last sermon preached to his own 
 people in the Metropolitan Tabernacle. 
 
 ..." My time is ended, although I had much more to say. I 
 can only pray the Lord to give you to believe in Him. If I should 
 never again have the pleasure of speaking for my Lord upon the 
 face of the earth, I should like to deliver as my last confession of 
 faith this testimony : That nothing but faith can save in this 
 nineteenth century ; nothing but faith can save England ; nothing 
 but faith can save the present unbelieving Church ; nothing but 
 firm faith in the grand old doctrines of grace and in the ever-living 
 and unchanging God can bring back to the Church again a full 
 tide of prosperity, and make her to be the deliverer of the nations 
 for Christ ; nothing but faith in the Lord Jesus can save you or 
 me. The Lord give you, my brothers, to believe to the utmost 
 degree, for His name's sake! Amen." 
 
 In summing up the history of Charles H. Spurgeon, we may 
 venture an answer to the oft-repeated question : " Wherein lay 
 the secret of his success .'' " It has been very humiliating to read 
 the many answers given by a host of well-meaning but foolish 
 preachers to this question. Especially has their ignorance be- 
 trayed itself in making comparisons between Spurgeon and some 
 erratic genius whose passing fame filled for the time the public 
 mind. Others have been pleased to animadvert on his shallow 
 intellect, his lack of scholarship, his non-progressiveness, or his 
 unphilosophical turn of mind. Well ! well ! May not the follow- 
 ing suggestions be worthy of consideration .? 
 
 First, Charles H. Spurgeon was chosen of God, called as His 
 special instrument, and commissioned to fulfil the ministry where- 
 into He was appointed. So Moses was called, so was Jeremiah, 
 Nehemiah, Paul, and Luther. The eternal purpose of God was 
 vindicated in the character and service of His faithful servant. 
 
3l6 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 Second, ]\Ir. Spurgeon was true to the Divine commission. He 
 preached God's gospel. From this he never swerved. No induce- 
 ments to engage in other employments than these vitally related 
 to his mission led him aside. He was no pretended social 
 reformer ; the policy of gaining influence by affiliation with secret 
 societies was obnoxious to him ; the constant appeals to enter the 
 lecture-field, and thereby enrich himself, were unheeded by him. 
 He loved His Master, and lived to serve Him. The substitu- 
 tionary work of Christ for the sinner was the very essence of the 
 Gospel he preached. In his last public utterances in Menton he 
 proclaimed the truth to which he had been loyal all his life. Oh 
 that all preachers had kept to this ! Thus he spake : — 
 
 '* My faith places her hand upon the head of Him who was our 
 Substitute and Scape-Goat, and I see all my sins and all the sins 
 of all believers forever put away by Him who stood in the sinners' 
 place. Let your tears fall because of sin ; but, at the same time, 
 let the eye of faith steadily behold the Son of man lifted up, as 
 Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, that those who are 
 bitten by the old serpent may look unto Him and live. Our sin- 
 nership is that emptiness into which the Lord pours his mercy. 
 ' This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that 
 Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.' On that blessed 
 fact I rest my soul. Though I have preached Christ crucified for 
 more than forty years, and have led many to my Master's feet, I 
 have at this moment no ray of hope but that which comes from 
 what my Lord Jesus has done for guilty men." 
 
 Third, Pastor Charles Spurgeon believed in the Holy Ghost. 
 He had intellectual power, but in that he never trusted. He had 
 a great personality, but his faith lay not in it. From natural gifts 
 and personal qualifications he never sought the help needed, but 
 from God the Holy Spirit alone. His single weapon was the 
 inspired Word ; his source of strength the ever-living, ever-present 
 Spirit. How sweetly pathetic now are the last words of that last 
 
ASLEEP IN JESUS. 317 
 
 address given to the little company who sat at his feet ; the words 
 which close the long, faithful, and fruitful ministry of Charles 
 Haddon Spurgeon. 
 
 " We would have it so happen, that, when our life's history is 
 written, whoever reads it will not think of us as ' self-made men,' 
 but as the handiwork of God, in whom His grace is magnified. 
 Not in us may men see the clay, but the Potter's hand. They 
 said of one, ' He is a fine preacher ; ' but of another they said, 
 We never notice how he preaches, but we feel that God is great.' 
 We wish our whole life to be a sacrifice, an altar of incense 
 continually smoking with sweet perfume unto the Most High. 
 Oh, to be borne, through the year, on the wings of praise to God ; 
 to mount from year to year, and raise at each ascent a loftier and 
 yet lowlier song unto the God of our life ! The vista of a praise- 
 ful life will never close, but continue throughout eternity. From 
 psalm to psalm, from hallelujah to hallelujah, we will ascend the 
 hill of the Lord ; until we come into the Holiest of all, where, 
 faces we will bow before the Divine Majesty in the bliss of endless 
 with veiled adoration." 
 
 One of the most touching incidents connected with the memo- 
 rial services of the late Pastor Spurgeon was Mr. Ira D. Sankey's 
 tender tribute to the memory of the departed. After fitting 
 words to the assembled thousands, his pathetic voice rang 
 through the great building as he sang " The Christian's Good- 
 night " : — 
 
 '' Sleep, on beloved, sleep and take thy rest; 
 Lay down thy head upon thy Saviour's breast. 
 We love thee well, but Jesus loves thee best — 
 Good-night! Good-night! Good-night." 
 
 Farewell, noble preacher ; farewell, faithful friend ; farewell, 
 brother beloved. Good-night, for on the morning of the Resur- 
 rection Day thou shalt arise and receive the victor's crown. Good- 
 night. 
 
XXIV. 
 
 THE HEAVENLY HOME. 
 
Our dear babes go home because "He gathereth the lambs with His 
 arms and carrieth them in His bosom ; " and our ripe saints go home 
 because the Beloved is come into His garden to gather lilies. These 
 words of our Lord Jesus explain the continual home-going ; they are the 
 answer to the riddle which we call death. — C. H. Spurgeon. 
 
SERMONS. » 321 
 
 GLIMPSES OF THE HEAVENLY LIFE. 
 
 A SERMON, SUGGESTED BY THE DECEASE OF THE EARL OF SHAFTESBURY, 
 OCT. 4, 1885, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, 
 
 "Now that the dead are raised, even Moses shewed at the bush, when he calleth the 
 Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. For He is not 
 a God of the dead, but of the living : for all live unto Him." —Luke xx. 37, 38. 
 
 During the past week the Church of God and the world at 
 large have sustained a very serious loss. In the taking home to 
 Himself by our gracious Lord of the Earl of Shaftesbury, we have 
 in my judgment lost the best man of the age. I do not know 
 whom I should place second ; but I certainly should put him first 
 — far beyond all other servants of God within my knowledge — 
 for usefulness and influence. He was a man most true in his per- 
 sonal piety, as I know from having enjoyed his private friendship ; 
 a man most firm in his faith in the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 
 Christ; a man intensely active in the cause of God and truth. 
 Take him whichever way you please, he was admirable: he was 
 faithful to God in all his house, fulfilling both the first and second 
 commands of the law in fervent love to God and hearty love to 
 man. He occupied his high position with singleness of purpose 
 and immovable steadfastness. Where shall we find his equal? If 
 it is not possible that he was absolutely perfect, it is equally im- 
 possible for me to mention a single fault, for I saw none. He 
 exhibited Scriptural perfection, inasmuch as he was sincere, true, 
 and consecrated. Those things which have been regarded as 
 faults by the loose thinkers of this age are prime virtues in my 
 esteem. They called him narrozv ; and in this they bear uncon- 
 scious testimony to his loyalty to truth. I rejoiced greatly in his 
 integrity, his fearlessness, his adherence to principle, in a day 
 when revelation is questioned, the gospel explained away, and 
 human thought set up as the idol of the hour. He felt that there 
 was a vital and eternal difference between truth and error ; conse- 
 
322 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 qiiently he did not act or talk as if there was much to be said on 
 cither side, and, therefore, no one could be quite sure. We shall 
 not know for many a year how much we miss in missing him ; 
 how great an anchor he was to this drifting generation; and how 
 great a stimulus he was to every movement for the benefit of the 
 poor. Both man and beast may unite in mourning him: he was 
 the friend of every living thing. He lived for the oppressed ; he 
 lived for London; he lived for the nation; he lived still more for 
 God. He has finished his course ; and though we do not lay 
 him to sleep in the grave with the sorrow of those that have no 
 hope, yet we cannot but mourn that a great man and a prince has 
 fallen this day in Israel. Surely the righteous are taken away 
 from the evil to come, and we are left to struggle on under 
 increasing difficulties. 
 
 Heaven Unveiled. — My text not only declares glorious relation- 
 ship and implies eternal life, but it also unveils, somewhat scantily 
 but still sufficiently, what the glorious life must be. Look, then, 
 and see the glorious life unveiled. 
 
 It is clear that they live personally. It is not said, " I am the 
 God of the whole body of the saints in one mass ; " but, " I am 
 the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob." God will make His people 
 to live individually. My mother, my father, my child, each will 
 personally exist. God is the God of saints as living distinct 
 lives ; Abraham is Abraham, Isaac is Isaac, Jacob is Jacob. The 
 three patriarchs were not all melted into one common Abra- 
 ham, nor Isaac into one imaginary Isaac ; neither was any one so 
 altered as to cease to be himself Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are 
 all literally living as actual men, and the same men as they used 
 to be. Jacob is Jacob, and not an echo of Abraham ; Isaac is 
 Isaac, and not a rehearsal of Jacob. All the saints are existent in 
 their personality, identity, distinction, and idiosyncrasy. 
 
 What is more, the patriarchs are mentioned by their naines ; and 
 so it is clear they are known : the}' are not three anonymous 
 bodies, but Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Many inquire, " Shall 
 we know our friends in heaven?" Why should we not? The 
 saints in heaven are never spoken of in Scripture as moving about 
 anonymously; but their names are spoken of as written in the 
 
SERMONS. 323 
 
 Book of Life. Why is this? The apostles knew Moses and EHas 
 on the Mount, though they had never seen them before. I can- 
 not forget old John Ryland's answer to his wife. "John," she 
 said, " will you know me in heaven?" " Betty," he replied,"! 
 have known you well here, and I shall not be a bigger fool in 
 heaven than I am now; therefore I shall certainly know you 
 there." That seems to be clear enough. We read in the New 
 Testament, " They shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob 
 in the kingdom of heaven," — not sit down with three unknown 
 individuals in iron masks, or three impersonalities who make a 
 part of the great Pan, nor three spirits who are as exactly alike 
 as pins made in a factory; but Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That 
 is clear enough in the text. 
 
 That glorious life, while it is a personal and a known life, is 
 aXso free f7'oin all sorrozv and misery and earthly grossness. They 
 are neither married nor given in marriage, neither shall they die 
 any more; but they are as the angels of God. It is a life of per- 
 fect blessedness, a life of hallowed worship, a life of undivided 
 glory. Oh that we were in it ! Oh that we may soon reach it ! 
 Let us think of the many who are enjoying it now, and of those 
 who have attained to it during the last icw days. I am sure they 
 are at home in every golden street, and fully engaged in the 
 adoration and worship of their Lord. Those saints who have 
 been in glory now these thousands of years cannot be more 
 blessed than the latest arrivals. Within a very short space you 
 and I shall be among the shining ones. Some of us may spend 
 our next Sabbath with the angels. Let us rejoice and be glad at 
 the bare thought of it. Some of us are not doomed to live here 
 through another winter; we shall pass beyond these autumn 
 fogs into the golden light of the eternal summer before another 
 Christmas-day has come. Oh, the joy Avhich ought to thrill 
 through our souls at the thought of such amazing bliss ! 
 
 Still Living. — And now, taking the whole subject together, 
 I want to say a few familiar things about the influence which all 
 this ought to have upon us. 
 
 Concerning those that have gone before us, we gather from 
 this whole text that they are not lost ; we know where they are. 
 
324 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. 11. SPURGEON. 
 
 Neither have they lost anything ; for they are what they were, 
 and more. Abraham has about him still everything that is Abra- 
 hamic, he is Abraham still ; and Isaac has everything about 
 him that properly belongs to Isaac ; and Jacob has all about him 
 that makes him God's Israel. These good men have lost noth- 
 ing that really appertained to their individuality, nothing that 
 made them precious in the sight of the Lord. They have gained 
 infinitely, they have developed gloriously. They are Abraham 
 and Isaac and Jacob, now at their best; or, rather, they are wait- 
 ing till the trumpet of the resurrection shall sound, when their 
 bodies also shall be united to their spirits, and then Abraham and 
 Isaac and Jacob will be completely Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, 
 world without end. We are by no means deprived of our dear ones 
 by their death: they are ; they are themselves; and they are ours 
 still. As Abraham is not lost to Isaac, nor to Jacob, nor to God, 
 nor to himself, so are our beloved ones by no means lost to us. 
 Do not let us think of them, then, as if they were lost. I know 
 your sorrows make an excursion to the grave, to look there for 
 the deceased ones. You want to lift that coffin-lid and to unwrap 
 the shroud. Oh, do not so ! do not so ! He is not here ; the 
 real man has gone. He may be dead to you for a while, but he 
 lives unto God. Yes, the dead one liveth, he liveth unto God ! 
 Do but anticipate the passage of that little time, which is almost 
 gone while I am speaking of it, and then your Saviour's angels 
 shall sound their golden trumpets, and at the welcome noise the 
 grave shall open its portals and resign its captives. " Thy brother 
 shall rise again." Wherefore comfort one another with these 
 words. Shaftesbury is as much Shaftesbury as ever, and even 
 more so. We have parted with the earl, but the saint liveth; he 
 has gone past yonder veil into the next room, and there he is 
 before the Lord of Hosts. He has gone out of this dim, dusky, 
 cloudy chamber into the bright pearly light that streamcth from 
 the throne of God and of the Lamb. We have nothing to sorrow 
 about in reference to what he is or where he is. So, too, your 
 valued parents, and beloved children, and choice friends, they 
 are yours still. Herein is great cause for thankfulness. Put aside 
 your sackcloth, and wear the garments of hope; lay down the 
 
SERMONS. 325 
 
 sackbut, and take up the trumpet. Draw not the beloved bodies 
 to the cemetery with dreary pomp and with black horses, but 
 cover the coffin with sweet flowers and drape the horses with 
 emblems of hope. It is the better birthday of the saint, — yea, 
 his truer wedding-day. Is it sad to have done with sadness? Is it 
 sorrowful to part with sorrow? Nay rather, when joy beginneth 
 to our friends where glory dwelleth in Immanuel's land, we may 
 in sympathy sing, as it were, a new song, and tune our harps to the 
 melodies of the glorified. 
 
 One with lis. — I want you also to recollect that tJic departed 
 Jiave not become members of another race ; they have not been 
 transferred into another family. They are still men, still women, 
 still of our kindred dear; their names are in the same family 
 register on earth and in heaven. Oh, no, no ! Do not dream that 
 they are separated and exiled , they have gone to the home coun- 
 try. We are the exiles ; they it is who are at home. We are en 
 route for the fatherland ; they are not so far from us as we think. 
 Sin worked to divide them from us, and us from them, while we 
 were here together ; but since sin is now taken away from them, 
 one dividing element is gone. When it is also removed from us, 
 we shall be nearer to each other than we could have been while 
 we were both sinful. Do not let us think of them as sundered 
 far, for we are one in Christ. 
 
 And they are not gone over to the other side in the battle. Oh, 
 do not speak of them as dead, and lying on the battle-field I They 
 live; they live in sympathy with our divine conflict! They 
 have marched through the enemy's country; they have fought 
 their fight, and taken possession of their inheritance. They are 
 still on our side, though we miss them from the daily service. 
 When you number up the hosts of God, you must not forget the 
 godlike bands that have fought the good fight, and kept the faith, 
 and finished their course. They are in the armies of the Lord, 
 though not at this moment resisting unto blood. The hundred 
 and forty-four thousand sealed unto the Lord include in their 
 ranks all who are with God, whether here or in heaven. Our 
 sacramental host marches onward to the New Jerusalem. Cer- 
 tain of the le£yionaries have forded the dividin"; flood. I see them 
 
326 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 ascending the other side ! The hither bank of the .river is white 
 with their rising companies. Lo, I hear the splash of the ranks 
 before us as they steadily pass down into the chill stream ! In 
 deep silence we see them solemnly wading through the billows! 
 The host is ever marching on, marching on. The much-di^eaded 
 stream lies a little before us ; it is but a silver streak. We are to 
 the margin come. We shudder not at the prospect. We follow 
 the blessed footsteps of our Lord and His redeemed. We are all 
 one army still; we are not losing our men; they are simply 
 ascending from the long campaign to take their endless rewards 
 at the Lord's right hand. 
 
 What shall we do? — What then? Why, then we will take 
 up their work. If they have gone into the upper chamber to rest, 
 we will make up their lack of service in this lower room. The 
 work they did was so human that we will not allow a stitch to 
 drop, but take it up where they left it, and persevere in earnest. 
 They are in glory, but they were not glorified when they were 
 here. The work they did was done by men of such infirmities as 
 ours ; so let us not fear to go on where they left off, and perpetu- 
 ate the work which they rejoiced in. There lies the plough in the 
 furrow, and the oxen are standing still ; for Shamgar, the cham- 
 pion, is gone. Will no one lay hold of the plough-handles? 
 Will nobody urge the oxen with the goad? Young men, are you 
 idling? Here is work for you. Are you hiding yourselves? 
 Come forward, I pray you, in the name of the Great Husband- 
 man, and let the fields be tilled and sown with the good seed. 
 Who will fill the gap made by death? Who will be baptized for 
 the dead? Who will bear the banner, now that a standard-bearer 
 has fallen? I hope some consecrated voice will answer, "Here 
 am I ; send me ! " 
 
 For, last of all, brethren, we inay expect the same succors as they 
 received zvho have gone before. Jehovah saith that He is the God 
 of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob ; but He also 
 saith, "I am the God of your father." The father of Moses had 
 the Lord to be his God. That God is the God of my father, 
 blessed be His name ! As I took the old man by his hand yester- 
 day, at the age of seventy-six, I could not but rejoice in all the 
 
SERMONS. 327 
 
 faithfulness of the Lord to him and to his house. He was the 
 God of my father's father also. I cannot forget how the venerable 
 man laid his hand upon his grandchild and blessed him; and the 
 blessing is with him still. Yes, and He is the God of my children, 
 and He shall be the God of my children's children ; for He keepeth 
 covenant to thousands of them that love Him. Wherefore take 
 courage, men and brethren ! This God is your God. He is a 
 God to you, and you are a people to Him. Act as His true serv- 
 ants. Live as those that are elect. If you are His choice, be 
 choice characters. The chosen should be the best, should they 
 not? The elect should be especially distinguished above all 
 others by their conversation and their fervent zeal for Him that 
 chose them. As you shall rise from among the dead because the 
 Lord Jesus hath redeemed you from among men, so stand up 
 from among the dead and corrupt mass of this world and be 
 alive unto God through Jesus Christ your Lord. What manner 
 of people ought ye to be who serve the living God? Since the 
 living God hath manifested Himself so wonderfully to you, ought 
 you not to live unto Him to the utmost? 
 

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