The students called him the Governor, and some
of the people used this term in its
Old Testament form, the Tirshatha.
The nickname well indicated his place.
With the exception of the almshouses, each institution
had originated under his influence.
He had planned its form of organization, and
had overseen its growth, and his word was
supreme in all its affairs.
Nevertheless, throughout the whole movement, the matter of
authority was not even considered.
There was a spontaneous recognition of Spurgeon, and
the relationship was one of his love for
the people, and the people's love for him.
Under his example, they prosecuted the work with
affection and fervor.
He never exerted his authority, he never needed
to, but the entire organization moved steadily forward
in harmony, under his strong generalship.
The tabernacle was a place of almost constant
activity.
On each of the seven days of the
week, the doors were opened at seven o
'clock in the morning, and did not close
till eleven o'clock at night, and there
were persons coming and going all of the
time.
For twelve years, the college had held its
classes in the lecture hall and the adjoining
basement rooms, and even after the new building
was constructed, the students were still in and
out of the tabernacle with much frequency.
The college also held evening classes twice a
week, with some two hundred in attendance, and
after shorthand was added to the curriculum, the
figure increased to three hundred.
The tabernacle was a center for the various
institutions' annual meetings, so many of them that
one was held almost every week.
The Ladies' Benevolent Society met there in a
sewing circle to make clothes for the children
of the orphanage, for poor people of the
congregation, and for other needy ones of the
area.
The Maternal Society Ladies gathered to prepare gifts
for expectant women, and from the tabernacle they
went forth to assist them when they became
mothers.
Flowers were gathered at the tabernacle by the
Flower Society, and after being made into attractive
baskets and bouquets, they were taken to the
homes of the sick and to hospitals.
Mrs. Spurgeon maintained a Bible nurse at her
own expense, and other such nurses also functioned
from the tabernacle.
Outside organizations likewise made use of the tabernacle
from time to time.
The Bible Society, the Baptist Union, several missionary
societies, and other such groups often were allowed
the Great Building for some special occasion.
A large number of meals were served at
the tabernacle.
Until the opening of its own building, the
college had dinner for its men there, and
during the pastors' conferences and the annual meetings
of various organizations, meals were served, sometimes three
a day.
Thus there was the frequent arrival of carts
carrying food, and a large amount of work
was done in preparing and serving it, and
in setting and waiting on tables and washing
dishes.
Once a year, the 1600 members of the
Christian Butchers Association held their annual meeting at
the tabernacle.
When we read of them eating a supper
of roast beef, we wonder whether they brought
this immense supply of meat with them already
cooked, or whether it had to be cooked
on the premises.
At any rate, they held a rousing meeting
of testimonies and preaching after they had eaten
their meal.
When in 1898 the building was destroyed by
fire, the blaze began in a kitchen chimney
that had become overheated during the cooking of
a meal for a conference.
Although the tabernacle records make no mention of
it, the task of keeping the building clean
and tidy must also have demanded much labor.
Spurgeon required that everything in the Lord's work
be done well, and he allowed nothing to
be let go in a careless manner.
Since he found part-time employment for students
whenever possible, it is possible that a group
of them was given this large janitorial duty.
But the chief labor in connection with the
tabernacle was spiritual.
A number of members, after attending the morning
service, filled the rest of the day with
work for the Lord.
The Sunday school met in the afternoon.
It was a fervent institution with well over
a thousand boys and girls in attendance and
something like a hundred teachers.
Many of those who taught must have been
truly devoted to their task, but we notice
especially the work of one of them.
Back in the days when Spurgeon first came
to London, Mrs. Lavinia Bartlett took over a
class of three girls at New Park Street.
Under her leadership it made steady growth till
inside of ten years it regularly numbered five
hundred, and at times the attendance rose to
seven hundred and more.
When the deacons or elders, or the messengers,
interviewed a woman who was not clear as
to the way of salvation, they advised her
to attend Mrs. Bartlett's class, and by the
time she was called home in 1875, between
nine hundred and a thousand members of her
class had come to know the Lord.
Spurgeon said of her, She aimed at soul
winning every time she met the class.
In pursuing this object she was very downright
and treated things in a matter-of-fact
style.
The follies, weaknesses, and temptations of her sex
were dealt with very pointedly, and the griefs,
trials, and sins of her class were on
her heart.
Her talk never degenerated into storytelling or quotations
of poetry, but she went right at her
hearers in the name of the Lord and
claimed their submission to Him.
Other classes at the Sunday School did not
become as large as that of Mrs. Bartlett,
but the same purpose largely characterized them all.
On Sunday afternoons and evenings, large numbers of
the tabernacle people were busy for the Lord
at other places.
Several assisted the college students, some of whom
were in well-to-do areas, while others
labored in more ordinary districts.
Still others were working in the slums, and
in those locations conditions were usually deplorable.
For instance, the student, together with his helpers
from the tabernacle, regularly visited the inhabitants of
lodging houses, sites of terrible poverty, iniquity, and
sorrow, or held a meeting in a room
where the air was foul and vermin abounded.
From such scenes they came away with their
clothes carrying the noxious odor, but their hearts
rejoicing in the privilege of witnessing for Christ
to such needy souls.
Spurgeon encouraged his people to be out carrying
the gospel on Sundays.
During his career, he frequently arranged to have
a group of members leave the tabernacle to
start a new church, and often one of
the prominent men of the tabernacle went with
them to provide leadership.
One man who led in the founding of
such a mission work was J.
T.
Dunn.
For a time, Mr. Dunn had served as
Spurgeon's assistant, doing pastoral visitation and secretarial duties.
But in 1869, with Spurgeon's blessing, he launched
out upon an effort in a poor district.
The building was an old shed, and he
began with four boys whom he invited in
off the street, sitting them on two scrubbed
wooden benches.
A candle stuck into a teapot spout served
as a source of illumination.
The neighborhood was populated with a great many
fish curers, the children helping in the business.
The building was of such a low pitch
that the room used was frequently named the
Black Hole of Calcutta by Spurgeon.
Many of the children were far from clean,
and the atmosphere often resulted in women teachers
being taken out into the street to revive
them from a fainting fit.
But Mr. Dunn continued his effort.
He moved the mission to another building, but
here rain came through the roof and rats
ran across the floor.
Nevertheless, he saw some of the scholars converted
and baptized at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, and then
became Sunday school teachers themselves.
Others learned to preach in the open air,
and some were trained in Spurgeon's College for
the regular ministry.
In 1874, there were 500 children and young
people in regular attendance on Sundays with 50
teachers.
J.T. Dunn remained an elder of the
Tabernacle during all the years he led this
mission work.
He undoubtedly was present at the Tabernacle for
its Tuesday and Thursday evening meetings, and also
on Sunday morning.
But on at least one or two weeknights,
and on Sunday afternoon and evening, he was
engaged in the activities of the mission.
Those duties, besides his work at making a
living, must surely have given him a very
busy life.
This pattern was that in general of the
elders and deacons of the Tabernacle.
Several of them were engaged in activities of
this nature.
William Olney, whom Spurgeon termed Father Olney, had
been Spurgeon's chief assistant until his death in
1870, but his four sons carried on his
labors.
William Jr. began a meeting in a men's
club room in Bermondsey, an area much better
than that of Mr. Dunn, and he used
the men of his Tabernacle Bible class as
his helpers.
He preached each Sunday evening, did open-air
work, engaged in tract distribution, and conducted a
weekly prayer meeting.
After ten years, the work had grown to
such an extent that a fine new building
was erected, and in reference to Spurgeon's middle
name, it was called Haddon Hall.
Like Dunn, while doing this excellent work, Olney
remained a deacon of the Tabernacle and well
fulfilled his office there.
It seems that nearly every officer of the
Tabernacle had also a second labor.
Each instructor at the college was also the
pastor of a church and found time to
perform both duties.
James Spurgeon carried a constant load as co
-pastor of the Tabernacle, yet he also started
a work in the London suburb of Croydon,
and under his ministry it became a church
of hundreds.
Much more might be said about the duties
and double duties performed by members of the
Tabernacle.
As Spurgeon remarked, the Tabernacle was like a
hive of bees, and for the vast majority
of its people to be a member meant
to live a very busy life.
In all this endeavor, Spurgeon was the motivating
figure.
His own days were so full that it
is difficult to credit the amount of work
he accomplished.
Something of the orderliness and abundant activity that
characterized his organization is manifest in the following
report made by an American journalist.
Speaking of his visit to the pastor's college,
he wrote, as
the annual church meeting was to be held
in the evening.
A secretary, with two clerks under him, formed
the staff required for conducting the correspondence.
In another room was a man up to
his eyes in books, whose business it was
to manage the coal portage, while in yet
another was a sort of local moody's where
boxes of books were packed and sent to
former students now pastors in outlying chapels.
Over this labyrinth I was conducted in the
most cheery way by the atlas, who bears
on his single pair of shoulders the whole
mass.
And this is the man whom we are
too apt to regard as merely the preacher
on Sundays.
Mr. Spurgeon, I could not help saying, you
are a regular pope.
Yes, he replied, though without claiming infallibility.
This is indeed a democracy with a very
large infusion of constitutional monarchy in it.
End quote.
Deacon Olney, in speaking at Spurgeon's Jubilee in
1884, made the statement that on Sunday evenings
the number of tabernacle people who were out
conducting meetings amounted to at least a thousand.
This is an amazing fact, but even more
amazing is that, commencing with 1870, Spurgeon began
every three months to ask all members to
remain away from the evening service on the
following Sunday, since by filling the tabernacle they
were preventing the unconverted from getting in and
from hearing the gospel.
His people cooperated, and on the Sundays they
were absent.
The building was more crowded than ever, as
thousands who did not know the Lord feeling
that this time they would probably get in
came with much enthusiasm.
Nothing delighted Spurgeon more than to have a
great host of the spiritually needy to preach
to, and those occasions, rare indeed in Christian
history, were times when many believed on Christ
and were later baptized.
Many of the tabernacle people seldom went out
of the section of London south of the
Thames.
The homes of a vast majority of them
lay in that general district, and so did
their places of employment.
For instance, several worked for Sir Henry Doulton,
whose factory, manufacturing the famous Royal Doulton chinaware
and figurines, was in that area.
Sir Henry was an earnest Christian who regularly
attended Spurgeon's ministry, and he employed a large
number of tabernacle people.
The affections of the members were entwined around
the tabernacle and its activities.
The services of many a church may prove
boring, but not so those of this great
church.
With grand delight, people went up, from what
was often the drudgery of daily life, to
the House of the Lord on Sunday mornings
and Sunday evenings, and at least two evenings
of the week, and there their hearts were
lifted, their minds informed, and their souls inspired.
Many of the women were there again at
various hours of the day, preparing meals or
sewing garments for the orphans, and many of
the young men were at the tabernacle in
the evenings, gaining an education or learning something
more about doing the Lord's work.
For hundreds of persons, the tabernacle was the
center of their existence.
The message they heard there had been the
means of transforming their lives, remaking their homes,
saving them from sin, and giving them new
affections and new joys, and they loved the
place, and especially loved the man whom God
had used in bringing it all about.
Chapter 16 Ten Years of Mighty Ministry And
it begins with saying, In Spurgeon's time, London's
streetlights burned gas, but still had to be
lit individually.
It is to this practice that Spurgeon is
referring in the following note.
And we have a quote here from Spurgeon
in the early years.
That's the name of the work.
The quote reads, Coming one Thursday in the
late autumn from an engagement beyond Dulwich, my
way led up to the top of the
Hearn Hill Ridge.
I came along the level out of which
rises the steep hill I had to ascend.
While I was on the lower ground riding
in a handsome cab, I saw a light
before me, and when I came near the
hill, I marked that light gradually go up
the hill leaving a train of stars behind
it.
This line of new-born stars remained in
the form of one lamp, and then another,
and another.
It reached from the foot of the hill
to its summit.
I did not see the lamplighter, I do
not know his name, nor his age, nor
his residence, but I saw the lights which
he had kindled, and these remained when he
himself had gone his way.
As I rode along, I thought to myself,
how earnestly do I wish that my life
may be spent enlightening one soul after another
with the sacred flame of eternal life.
I would myself be as much as possible
unseen while at my work, and would vanish
into eternal brilliance above when my work is
done.
Again, that's from Spurgeon in the Early Years.
And now begins chapter 16, again, Ten Years
of Mighty Ministry.
Between 1875 and 1885, Spurgeon's ministry reached heights
it had never attained before.
Although the seed sown in London had already
brought forth a great harvest, during these years
the fruit proved still more abundant, and it
came with a richness and a steadiness that
was new even to a work so blessed
of God as his had been.
By this time, Spurgeon's preaching had changed to
some extent.
During his first few years in London, he
had been full of physical as well as
spiritual vitality, and that had been reflected in
his speaking.
He had moved about on the platform with
unbounded vigor, had frequently dramatized what he was
saying, and had given an oratorical flourish to
many an element in his discourse.
His manner was very natural, and the whole
was characterized by his tremendous earnestness.
With the passing of the years, his style
had altered.
As he had matured personally, there had come
upon him a still greater determination to be
able to say with Paul, We preach not
ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord.
He had become still more concerned, lest by
some oratorical gesture or some particularly striking statement,
he should draw attention to himself, and should
thereby cause his hearers to fail to see
Christ.
By 1875, in an effort to subdue the
people's tendency to be conscious of him as
he preached, he had taken on a more
conversational style of utterance, moved around very little
during the sermon, and attempted to avoid anything
that could look like mere human oratory.
He prayed that as he preached, he might
be hidden behind the cross, and longed that
sinners should not be concerned with him, but
should look upon the Savior.
Nevertheless, his message was still the same, and
his earnestness was perhaps greater than ever.
No matter what text he chose, he always
declared the great fundamental principles of the faith.
With a burning heart, he pleaded with men
and women to be reconciled to God.
In turn, a stronger sense of the reality
of divine truth gripped men's hearts.
A still larger number came to him on
the Tuesday to inquire the way to Christ,
or to say they had recently found him.
Most of these people also told of their
experience before the church on Tuesday or Thursday
evening, and were baptized on the Sunday.
These constant additions gave the tabernacle a membership
of more than 5,000, and made it
by far the largest Baptist church in the
world.
Throughout this period, however, both Spurgeon and his
wife were unwell much of the time.
Mrs. Spurgeon's spirit was uplifted and her health
somewhat improved by her undertaking the work of
the book fund.
But there were times when for days or
weeks she was too sick to perform her
task and was reduced again to the condition
of a semi-invalid.
Spurgeon also was often laid low by illness.
Throughout the years that are now before us,
he frequently suffered attacks of gout with their
terrible pain and their attendant depression.
In 1879, he experienced a physical breakdown, the
result of his excessive labor and responsibility.
For five months, he was absent from the
tabernacle.
He was more careful of his health now
than he had been formerly.
Each summer, he tried to get away to
Scotland for two weeks where he was the
guest of a well-to-do and very
earnest Christian, James Duncan of Benmore Castle.
And almost every winter, he was able to
spend a month or six weeks at Menton
in southern France.
And those periods of release from the damp
and chill of England did much toward providing
the health he needed to carry on with
some measure of vigor during the rest of
the year.
Accordingly, as we think of Spurgeon throughout this
period, in fact, throughout the remaining years of
his life, we must recognize that only infrequently
was he in normal health, that his work
was often hindered by sickness, and he knew
many hours of pain.
During those ten years, Spurgeon witnessed several special
events.
The first was the visit to London of
American evangelist D.
L.
Moody.
In the early days of his Christian activity,
Moody had been greatly inspired by Spurgeon's success
and had come to England to hear him.
At a later date, 1873, accompanied by his
song leader, Ira D.
Sankey, Moody had returned to Britain and had
launched a series of evangelistic campaigns in Scotland
and England.
While he was at Glasgow, Spurgeon wrote asking
that when he came to London he would
preach for him, and Moody's letter of reply
closed with the statement, In regard to coming
to your tabernacle, I consider it a great
honor to be invited, and, in fact, I
should consider it an honor to black your
boots, but to preach to your people would
be out of the question.
If they will not turn to God under
your preaching, neither will they be persuaded the
one rose from the dead.
Yours with much love, D.
L.
Moody.
In 1875, Moody held an extended campaign in
London.
He and Sankey faced strong criticism, especially the
charge of fanaticism, and Spurgeon came to their
defense.
In addressing a meeting of the Bible Society
at which the Archbishop of Canterbury was present,
he strongly denied there was anything fanatical about
the ministry of the two evangelists.
And in speaking to another meeting, he stated,
We are happy to have our friends here
in London because somehow or other they managed
to get the popular ear.
Our brethren have got a grip on the
masses, and they preach the gospel.
We do not have it very distinct from
a great many voices, but I know what
Mr. Moody means when he speaks and what
Mr. Sankey means when he sings.
I have never seen men carry their meaning
more fully upon their lips.
Moody was burdened with labor in London, and
after Spurgeon had preached at one of his
meetings, Moody wrote, Dear Spurgeon, Ten thousand thanks
for your help last night.
You gave us a great lift.
I wish you would give us every night
you can for the next sixty days.
There are so few men who can draw
on a weeknight, and I want to keep
up the meetings in the East End and
the West at the same time.
It is hard for me to have to
speak twice the same evening.
Do all you can for the work, and
we shall see blessed results.
Yours in haste, D.
L.
Moody."
In 1881, Moody returned to England, and Spurgeon,
who was in Montauban at the time, wrote
asking him to take Sunday at the tabernacle.
Moody replied, Dear Mr. Spurgeon, Yours of the
ninth is to hand, and in reply let
me say that I am thankful for your
very kind note.
It quite touched my heart.
I have for years thought more of you
than of any other man preaching the gospel
on this earth, and to tell you the
truth, I shrink from standing in your place.
I do not know of a church in
all the land that I shrink from as
I do from yours, not but what your
people are in sympathy with the gospel that
I try to preach, but you can do
it so much better than I can.
Thank you for inviting me, and D.
V., I will be with your good people
November 20th.
Will you want Mr. Sankey, or will your
own precenter have charge?
Either will suit me.
Remember me to your good wife, and accept
my thanks for your letter of cheer.
Yours truly, D.
L.
Moody.
These were certain points of belief on which
Moody and Spurgeon were not in full agreement,
but they were united on the great principles
of the Christian faith.
They admired one another, and each encouraged and
assisted the other in every possible way.
In 1878, Spurgeon received an invitation to visit
Canada.
But as in the case of his invitations
to America, he had received at least five
of them, he had neither the time or
the health to do so, and thus wrote
a gracious refusal.
It is to be wished that he might
have been able to go to the American
continent, and one can imagine him spending some
days with Mr. Moody in Chicago, ministering to
his congregation, and probably repeating some of his
lectures to my students at the Bible Institute.
But although Spurgeon did not visit America, during
the following year, 1879, his brother James spent
nearly two months in the United States and
Canada.
He and his wife visited New York and
Buffalo, and were deeply impressed with the great
industrial enterprise of the people.
Crossing into Canada, they paused to view Niagara
Falls, and then went on to Toronto and
Montreal and several smaller cities.
James preached frequently in each country, and his
ministry was somewhat highly regarded.
The second special event of these years took
place in 1879, the 25th anniversary of Spurgeon's
ministry in London.
He would have let the event pass unnoticed,
but his people saw it as an opportunity
to recognize his accomplishments and to express their
gratitude.
Under the arrangement of the deacons, Spurgeon's two
evenings were devoted to a commemoration of his
labors and to praising God for his ministry.
The congregation manifested their rejoicing by giving him
a large sum of money, £6,476, stressing
they intended he should use it for himself.
But he immediately put it into the support
of his institutions, and in thanking the people,
he said, Some churches have one crown, some
another.
Our crown under God has been this.
The poor have the gospel preached unto them,
souls are saved, and Christ is glorified.
O my beloved church, hold fast that which
thou hast.
As for me, by God's help, the first
and last thing I long for is to
bring men to Christ.
I care nothing about fine language or about
the pretty speculations of prophecy or a hundred
dainty things, but to break the heart and
bind it up, to lay hold on a
sheep of Christ and bring it back to
the fold is the one thing I would
live for.
Well, we have had this crowning blessing.
That is nearly as I can estimate since
I came amongst you.
More than 9,000 persons have joined this
church.
If they were all alive now or all
with us now, what a company that would
be!
What I have done I shall do still,
namely, love you with all my heart and
love my Lord as his grace enables me.
I mean to go on preaching Jesus and
his gospel, and you may be sure I
shall not preach anything else, for with me
it is Christ or nothing.
I am sold up, and my stock in
trade is gone if Jesus Christ is gone.
He is the sum of my ministry, my
all in all."
The words about having nothing if he had
not Christ were undoubtedly prompted by the unbelief
that was then finding its way into numerous
pulpits.
Before many years had passed, Spurgeon was to
find it necessary to take a stand, defending
the great truths of the Scripture.
His attitude in contending was that those who
did not believe in the deity of Christ
had abandoned Christianity and had nothing whatsoever of
it left.
The following year, 1880, saw a major change
in the daily life of the Spurgeons.
They moved to another house.
People had long told Spurgeon that because of
his rheumatic condition and his wife's ill health,
he ought to live outside the city and
on higher ground to escape the damp and
fogs of London.
Moreover, the Nightingale Lane area in which they
had lived for twenty-three years had become
largely commercial in nature.
Although that lessened the pleasure of living there,
it also increased the value of the property.
As he considered the advisability of relocating, Spurgeon
found himself attracted by a for-sale sign
on a suburban estate south of London and
situated on a height of land called Beulah
Hill.
When a friend suggested it would be an
ideal home for him and Mrs. Spurgeon, he
immediately replied it was too grand a place
for him to even think of.
But at that very time, a developer expressed
a desire to buy the Nightingale Lane property
and offered an excellent price.
The amount was almost sufficient to cover the
entire cost of the Beulah Hill estate, and
believing the Lord had opened the way, Spurgeon
purchased it.
The new property, which was nine acres in
extent, bore the name Westwood.
It had several mature trees and an abundance
of flowers and shrubs, together with a garden,
stables, and pasture.
The house was a typical Victorian gentleman's home.
Spurgeon immediately used the drawing room as his
library and the billiard room with its large
window as his study.
The surrounding area was quiet and peaceful, with
a fine view to the south over the
fields of Thornton Heath, and the place afforded
the weary man during whatever hours he was
able to spend there a sense of pleasant
relaxation.
Of course, some people made loud complaint.
Exaggerated descriptions of the house and the grounds
were circulated, and it was said Spurgeon lived
in a home fit for a prince.
There was a small scenic pond on the
property, but it was spoken of as a
fine lake, and an American minister, after visiting
London, likened the estate to that of Buckingham
Palace.
Under the Spurgeon's ownership, however, Westwood was not
only a home, it also became a place
of much business.
Each morning two secretaries arrived, and the one,
J.
L.
Keyes, began opening the mail, a great pile
of which awaited him every day.
Some letters he answered himself, but many he
set aside for Spurgeon's personal attention.
The other secretary, J.
W.
Harold, performed numerous duties in connection with Spurgeon's
literary endeavors, made arrangements regarding his travels, and
decided whether persons who called, wanting to see
Spurgeon, should be allowed to take up his
time.
Here, every Monday, the work of preparing the
sermon for the printer was done, always an
exacting task.
And here, too, the sword and the trowel
was edited each month, a duty which meant
that the assistant editor, G.
Holden Pike, spent many a day in the
study at Westwood.
The book fund also operated from Westwood, and
Mrs. Spurgeon had a room that overflowed with
books, and there was much activity on her
part in answering letters, while her helpers worked
at parceling and mailing bundles to needy pastors.
And above all, this was the scene of
Spurgeon's manifold labors.
His library contained twelve thousand volumes, and every
month he reviewed ten or twelve new ones
for his paper.
Besides the numerous books that he wrote, he
penned around five hundred letters every week.
When we remember those were written by hand
and with a pen that had to be
constantly dipped into an ink bottle, we can
understand something of the labor involved.
Undoubtedly, had the telephone been available in that
day, he would have made abundant use of
it.
It would have spared him the labor of
many of the little notes he wrote in
making arrangements for his visits to other churches,
for the work of his institutions, and the
printing of his writings.
But it would have necessitated a full-time
switchboard operator who would have had the responsibility
of dealing with the innumerable callers and deciding
whether or not to put them through to
him.
Westwood was truly a fine place, but it
also served a grand use.
It was Spurgeon's home throughout the rest of
his earthly journey.
It made his burdens a little less heavy
to bear, and it allowed him to perform
many tasks that otherwise would not have been
possible.
The fourth special event that marked the lives
of Spurgeon and his wife during these years
was a celebration of their silver wedding anniversary.
It actually fell on January 8, 1881.
Spurgeon was too ill at the time to
go to the tabernacle, as the deacons hoped,
and therefore the planning for this event, which
was to have been held there on a
Monday evening, was dropped.
But the deacons and a few close friends
spent the evening in happy fellowship with the
Spurgeons at Westwood.
The other event we must take notice took
place three years later.
This was Spurgeon's 50th birthday, which fell on
June 19, 1884, and which the people called
his jubilee.
At the time the year opened, Spurgeon was
in Menton.
He was too ill to return to England
at the date he had intended, and on
January 10 he wrote to his people, saying,
quote, Dear friends, I am altogether stranded.
I am not able to leave my bed
or to find much rest upon it.
The pains of rheumatism, lumbago, and sciatica mingled
together are exceedingly sharp.
If I happen to turn a little to
the right hand or to the left, I
am soon aware that I am dwelling in
a body capable of the most acute suffering.
In another two weeks he came home, took
a Sunday's services at the tabernacle, and then
was prostrated once more.
This time he wrote, Literally, my trouble is
to get on my feet again.
I am a poor creature.
Evidently I am in the extreme of physical
weakness.
Nevertheless, the Lord can cause His spiritual power
to be shown in me, and I believe
He will.
Your great love will bear with me, and
I shall be on the front again, bearing
witness to the faithfulness of the Lord.
He gradually recuperated and was able to return
to his ministry.
By June he was ready to take part
in the Jubilee celebration.
Throughout the afternoon of the 19th, he sat
in his vestry and greeted the numerous people
who called.
In the evening the tabernacle was filled for
a meeting at which, on behalf of the
church, the deacons expressed their thanks to God
for Spurgeon and his ministry.
Brief greetings were brought by a number of
ministers, among them Spurgeon's father, his brother James,
and his son Charles.
A particular joy arose from the fact that
Mrs. Spurgeon was present.
After being absent for some years, she was
now sufficiently improved in health to attend this
historic gathering, to the great delight of her
husband and of the people.
Mr. Moody also spoke that evening, and we
notice his address in part.
Quote, Mr. Spurgeon has said tonight that he
had felt like weeping.
I have tried to keep back the tears,
but I have not succeeded very well.
Twenty-five years ago, after I was converted,
I began to read of a young man
preaching in London with great power, and a
desire seized me to hear him, never expecting
that someday I should myself be a preacher.
Everything I could get a hold of in
print that he ever said, I read.
In 1867 I made my way across the
sea, and if there ever was a seasick
man for fourteen days, I was that one.
The first place to which I came was
this building.
I was told I could not get in
without a ticket, but I made up my
mind to get in somehow, and I succeeded.
I well remember seating myself in this gallery.
I recollect the very seat, and I should
take it back to America with me.
As your dear pastor walked down to the
platform, my eyes just feasted upon him.
It happened to be the year he preached
in the Agricultural Hall.
I followed him up there, and he sent
me back to America a better man.
While I was here, I followed Mr. Spurgeon
everywhere, and when at home people asked me
if I had gone to this and that
cathedral, I had to say, No, and confess
I was ignorant of them, but I could
tell them something about the meetings addressed by
Mr. Spurgeon.
In 1872 I thought I would come over
again to learn a little more, and I
found my way back to this gallery.
I have been here a great many times
since, and never come into this building without
getting a blessing to my soul.
I think I have had as great a
one here tonight as at any other time.
When I look down on these orphan boys,
when I think of the 600 servants of
God who have gone out from the college,
of the 1,500 or 2,000 sermons
from this pulpit which are in print, and
of the multitude of books that have come
from the pastor's pen, I would fain enlarge
upon these good works.
But let me just say this.
If God can use Mr. Spurgeon, why should
he not use the rest of us?
And why should we not all just lay
ourselves at the master's feet and say to
him, Send me, use me.
Mr. Spurgeon, God bless you.
I know that you love me, but I
assure you that I love you a thousand
times more than you can ever love me,
because you have been such a blessing to
me.
We may never meet again in the flesh,
but by the blessing of God, I will
meet you up yonder.
Spurgeon's regular work went on with steady pace,
and everywhere met with still greater success.
Everything grows and demands more and more attention,
he declared in reference to the tabernacle and
its institutions.
One biographer tells us, The spiritual work of
the church was never more prosperous.
In the last month of 1880, over a
hundred persons were received into church fellowship.
And of one occasion during this time, Spurgeon
reported, I sat from two till seven seeing
inquiries desirous of entering the church, and I
saw thirty-three of them without resting.
I never had a more joyous time.
At his suggestion, two hundred and fifty members
left the tabernacle to begin a new church
at Peckham.
Several other instances of this starting of new
causes by tabernacle people took place.
The pastor was always pleased when such a
battalion left the main army to carry on
operations elsewhere.
Despite his rheumatic condition, Spurgeon did a great
deal of preaching besides at the tabernacle.
One time in Leeds, well to the north
in England, it was reported that hundreds were
unable to obtain admission.
The announcement of Mr. Spurgeon's intention to preach
evinced his continued popularity by attracting hundreds from
many miles distant.
Of a meeting he addressed at Bristol, we
read, The admission was of course by ticket,
but the crowd at one time rushed past
the police at the entrance and gained admittance.
The desire to procure tickets was scarcely comprehensible
to those who did not understand the preacher's
unique popularity.
It was even said that ten pounds had
been offered for a seat.
Those are but two of numerous reports of
Spurgeon's itinerant ministry during these years.
Judged by today's standards, travel by either train
or horse and carriage was slow and uncomfortable,
and as one reads G.
Holden Pike's reports of Spurgeon's very frequent visits
to other cities, it is impossible not to
wonder at so widespread a ministry on the
part of a rheumatic man.
Even when he went on his summer vacation
to Scotland, he could not refrain from preaching,
and it was not unusual for him to
preach to 10,000 and 15,000 in
the open air on a Scottish hillside.
As we have seen, Spurgeon had received five
invitations to visit America and one to visit
Canada.
Another reached him from Australia, and as in
the former instances, he had to refuse.
"'How I wish I could glide over and
return in a month,' he wrote, and his
words seemed to anticipate the liberty men have
achieved today in the privilege of flight.
By November of each year, Spurgeon was worn
out and had no choice but to get
away to Montaigne.
One year before leaving, he became so weak
in the midst of his sermon that he
had to pause and ask the congregation to
sing a hymn while he recovered.
He then continued the preaching, but he did
so with difficulty, and on the morrow, the
rumor spread around London that he was dying.
It was false, but he was terribly unwell,
and in another day's time he set out
on his trip to the South.
The work of the men from the college
also experienced unusual blessing during these years.
The men very largely followed Spurgeon's method of
making sure, as far as was humanly possible,
that anyone they baptized had truly been born
again.
Yet, in the twelve years preceding 1880, the
number of persons they had baptized amounted to
some 39,000.
Thus, churches were built and increased everywhere throughout
the land.
Two of the college men, Clark and Smith,
were evangelists, and Spurgeon reported that in one
year they conducted 1,100 services.
Another year, this team undertook the work of
the tabernacle during Spurgeon's six weeks at Montaigne,
and when he returned, there were nearly 400
persons who had professed conversion during his absence,
waiting to be baptized.
Lord Shaftesbury was the chairman of the meeting
that commemorated Spurgeon's fiftieth birthday, and after listening
to the list of the sixty-six organizations
that Spurgeon conducted, he remarked, He has not
been puffed up by success, but humbled, and
animated the more to go on in his
noble career of good for the benefit of
mankind.
I want to tell you what we outsiders
think.
What a tale of his agencies was read
to you just now, how it showed what
a powerful administrative mind our friend has.
That list of associations instituted by his genius
and superintended by his care were more than
enough to occupy the minds and hearts of
fifty ordinary men.
It seems to me to be the whole
world in a nutshell.
He carries on his orphanage and various other
institutions, and I would impress upon you that
in which I think he shines the brightest,
in the foundation and government of the pastor's
college.
My worthy friend has produced a large number
of men, useful in their generation, to preach
the word of God in all its simplicity
and force.
No man has produced such a body capable
and willing to carry on the noble work
as our friend, whose jubilee was celebrated today.
And a London newspaper, conscious of the constantly
increasing nature of Spurgeon's work, remarked, Other men
have had vicissitudes reverses disasters.
Mr. Spurgeon's only vicissitudes have arisen from his
continually increasing influence.
He has had anxiety, no doubt, as other
men, but it has only been the anxiety
of growth, never of decline.
Despite the health of the tabernacle and its
institutions, Spurgeon's illness was keeping him out of
the pulpit many Sundays of the year.
When he expressed his regret to the deacons
and spoke disparagingly of his long absence in
Montaigne each winter, they declared their deep gratitude
for whatever portion of the year he was
able to give them.
We would rather have you for merely six
months than anyone else for the entire twelve.
It was a good testimony to his ability,
their appreciation, and the prosperity of the work.
We'll just jump into chapter 17 today.
It's entitled Personal Characteristics.
We're going to learn about some of the
deeply personal traits of the man in the
reading of this chapter.
It begins with a quote from The Prince
of Preachers, written in 1894 by James Douglas.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon was in no respect ordinary.
He was great as a man, great as
a theologian, great as a preacher, great in
private with God, and great in public with
his fellow men.
He was well versed in the three things
which, according to Luther, make a minister, temptation,
meditation, and prayer.
The school of suffering was one in which
he was deeply taught.
And that's the quote.
Let's begin the chapter now.
Chapter 17, again entitled Personal Characteristics.
So pronounced a personality as C.
H.
Spurgeon could not but be marked by several
features of thought and action that distinguished him
from other men.
We must look at those features for by
knowing them we shall have a better understanding
of our great subject.
The chief element of Spurgeon's entire career was
his walk with God.
Among evangelicals, such Christians as David Brainerd, Henry
Martin, John Fletcher, and Robert Murray McShane are
remembered for the holiness of their lives.
Spurgeon fully merits a place among such holy
men.
We recall, for instance, the declaration of his
dedication to the Lord which he wrote shortly
after his conversion.
It asserted his glad yielding of himself to
God.
And in a diary that followed, he recorded
the manner in which he carried out that
purpose.
It is impossible to read his words without
seeing the beauty of that young life in
its purity and its selfless devotion.
The same principles motivated him when he came
to London.
Amidst a success so great that it would
have driven many a man to unbounded pride,
he remained humble and was often utterly broken
before the Lord.
He taught his people to pray, doing so
far more by his own example than by
any preaching he did on the subject.
People heard him pray with such reality that
they became ashamed of their own mere repetition
of words, and gradually, overcoming the practice, they
began to wrestle with God in fervent fellowship,
as he did.
Spurgeon was ever a man of prayer.
Not that he spent any long periods of
time in prayer, but he lived in the
spirit of communion with God.
An American, Dr. Wayland Hoyt, provides an example
of his practice.
Quote, I was walking with him in the
woods one day just outside London, and as
we strolled under the shadow of the summer
foliage, we came upon a log lying athwart
the path.
Come, he said, as naturally as one would
say if he were hungry and bread was
put before him, come, let us pray.
Kneeling beside the log, he lifted his soul
to God in the most loving and yet
reverent prayer.
Then, rising from his knees, he went strolling
on, talking about this and that.
The prayer was no parenthesis interjected.
It was something that belonged as much to
the habit of his mind as breathing did
to the habit of his body.
Another American, Dr. Theodore Kyler, tells of a
similar incident.
As he and Spurgeon walked one day in
the woods, conversing in high spirits, suddenly Spurgeon
stopped and said, Come, Theodore, let us thank
God for laughter.
That was how he lived.
From a jest to a prayer meant with
him the breadth of a straw.
William Williams, who after his course at the
pastor's college became a successful minister, was often
in Spurgeon's company.
He says, One of the most helpful hours
of my visits to Westwood was the hour
of family prayer.
At six o'clock, all the household gathered
into the study for worship.
Usually, Mr. Spurgeon would himself lead the devotions.
The portion read was invariably accompanied with exposition.
How amazingly helpful those homely and gracious comments
were.
I remember especially his reading of the 24th
of Luke.
Jesus himself drew near and went with them.
How sweetly he talked upon having Jesus with
us wherever we go.
Not only to have him drawn near at
special seasons, but to go with us whatever
labor we undertake.
Then, how full of tender pleading, of serene
confidence in God, of world-embracing sympathy were
his prayers.
With what gracious familiarity he could talk with
his Divine Master.
Yet, what reverence ever marked his address to
his Lord.
His public prayers were an inspiration and benediction,
but his prayers with the family were to
me more wonderful still.
The beauty of them was ever striking.
Figures, symbols, citations of choice, scriptural emblems, all
given with a spontaneity and naturalness that charmed
the mind and moved the heart.
Mr. Spurgeon, when bowed before God in family
prayer, appeared a grander man even then when
holding thousands spellbound by his oratory.
Such words make us realize what a magnificent
experience it must have been to hear Spurgeon
pray.
The man who lived in this constant fellowship
with God manifested in his daily life all
the fruits of the Spirit.
Here, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, and self-control were ever present, and
with them there was a hatred of their
opposites, a loathing of every form of sin.
This picture of Spurgeon as a man of
unusual holiness is entirely true.
Accordingly, the statement we must now make will
to many seem inconsistent.
Nevertheless, it also is true, and we must
make it.
It is that Spurgeon both smoked cigars and
drank alcoholic beverages.
When his smoking began is not known, but
in Spurgeon's time the practice was believed to
be beneficial to one's health.
Robert Hall, the famous preacher of the St.
Andrews Street Baptist Church, Cambridge, had been ordered
by his physician to become a smoker, and
since Spurgeon lived at Cambridge and attended that
church in his teens, he was undoubtedly familiar
with this event.
Moreover, there were no qualms whatsoever about the
practice in the minds of many ministers in
the Church of England and the Church of
Scotland, and in the churches of France and
Holland.
Of course, Spurgeon made not the slightest attempt
to hide his practice.
One press reporter described him as he drove
to the tabernacle each morning, and his account
closed with the words, Enjoying his morning cigar.
While out on a jaunt with the students
one morning, when several of them had lighted
pipes or cigars, Spurgeon said, Aren't you ashamed
to be smoking so early?
And they immediately put out their fire.
Then he produced a cigar and lit it,
and both he and they laughed at his
little joke, but his point was that he
was in no way ashamed of the practice.
It must be emphasized, he saw nothing wrong
in his smoking in that he did it
openly.
But, he received a sudden shock.
In 1874, Dr. George F.
Pentecost, a Baptist pastor from America, visited the
tabernacle, and Spurgeon had him sit on the
platform for the evening service.
Spurgeon preached strongly and plainly upon the necessity
of giving up sin in order to success
in prayer, and he spoke against the seemingly
unimportant little habits many Christians practice that keep
them from true fellowship with God.
After concluding his sermon, he asked Dr. Pentecost
to speak, suggesting especially that he apply the
principle he himself had declared.
It is probable Dr. Pentecost did not know
that Spurgeon smoked.
At any rate, he applied Spurgeon's principle by
telling of his own experience in giving up
cigars.
He said, One thing I liked exceedingly, the
best cigar that could be bought, yet he
felt the habit was wrong in the life
of a Christian, and he strove to overcome
it.
The habit, however, proved so strong that he
found himself enslaved till after much struggling, he
took his cigar box before the Lord, cried
desperately for help, and was given a complete
victory.
He told, with much praise to God, how
he had been enabled to defeat the habit.
Throughout his words ran the idea that smoking
was not only an enslaving habit, but that
the Christian must look on it as a
sin.
We must assume that if ever in his
lifetime Spurgeon was embarrassed, it was now.
He arose and stated, Well, dear friends, you
know that some men can do to the
glory of God what to other men would
be a sin, and not withstanding what Brother
Pentecost has said, I intend to smoke a
good cigar to the glory of God before
I go to bed tonight.
If anybody can show me in the Bible
the command, Thou shalt not smoke, I am
ready to keep it, but I haven't found
it yet.
I find ten commandments, and it is as
much as I can do to keep them,
and I have no desire to make them
eleven or twelve.
The fact is I have been speaking to
you about real sin, and not about listening
to mere quibbles and scruples.
Whatsoever is not of faith is sin, and
that is the real point of what my
Brother Pentecost has been saying.
Why, a man may think it a sin
to have his boots blacked.
Well, then let him give it up and
have them whitewashed.
I wish to say I am not ashamed
of anything, whatever that I do, and I
don't feel that smoking makes me ashamed, and
therefore I mean to smoke to the glory
of God.
In no time the statement a cigar to
the glory of God spread across England.
The press carried the news and received a
host of letters, some condoning Spurgeon's practice, but
most condemning it.
He had no choice but to attempt to
defend himself, and in a letter to the
Daily Telegraph he declared, Together 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 live even in
the smallest violation of the law of God,
and sin is the transgression of the law,
I will not own to sin when I
am not conscious of it.
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.
That is what I meant."
Among the several pronouncements on the subject the
most important was a lengthy open letter addressed
to Mr. Spurgeon and published in pamphlet form.
Its manner was calm and its reasoning strong.
It told him he was doing himself not
physical good, but physical harm by smoking.
It reminded him of the example he was
setting and mentioned the effort of Christian parents
to keep their youths from the practice, only
to be told Spurgeon smokes!
William Williams tells us that in later years
Spurgeon partially desisted from his smoking, sometimes going
for months without a cigar.
It is possible that this was an effort
to prove to himself and others that he
was not enslaved by the habit.
About two years before his death he appears
to have given up smoking completely, perhaps having
by then realized it was not the help
to his health that he had expected.
Nevertheless, many of us today cannot but wish
he had never undertaken the practice.
During a considerable portion of his life Spurgeon
also used alcoholic drinks as a beverage.
In his day, pure drinking water was difficult
to obtain and in order to avoid contamination
most people used beer and ale at their
meals.
This had been a human custom since time
immemorial and there can be little doubt that
Spurgeon had been introduced to it as a
boy in the homes of his grandfather and
his father, and that he had grown up
accustomed to the practice.
In turn, he had not long been in
London when we find him using such drinks
as beer, wine, and brandy, though in very
moderate amounts.
And this practice, like that of smoking, he
did not in any way attempt to deny
or to hide.
In 1863 the American temperance orator John B.
Goff was in England and he published some
strong statements against Spurgeon's use of alcohol.
It appears that he exaggerated the extent of
Spurgeon's practice, and Spurgeon asserted in an article
in American Magazine quote, I had always honored
Mr. Goff as a great and good man.
I had supposed also that he was a
gentleman and better still a Christian who esteemed
the cause of religion even more highly than
that of teetotalism.
End quote.
In 1871 Goff was in England again and
now he learned much better things about Spurgeon.
He learned he no longer used alcohol.
And after calling on him in his home
Goff wrote, I am glad to be able
to say that I know he is at
present and has been for some time a
total abstainer and that when he took stimulants
it was by his physician's prescription.
When he took it he made no secret
of his course but freely spoke of it
wherever he might be.
It is possible that Goff was somewhat mistaken
as to the date of Spurgeon's change of
habit but several of the students of the
college were strong opponents of all use of
alcohol.
Spurgeon's two sons were also abstainers and it
is probable their stand was influential upon their
father.
During the 1870's Spurgeon dropped the practice and
in later years he had Mr. Goff lecture
at the tabernacle against alcohol and in favor
of abstinence.
In these two practices we see that Mr.
Spurgeon was very human a man of his
times.
Moreover he was not alone in the indulgence.
For instance though John Wesley totally opposed the
drinking of tea hence the term tea totaler
he was something of an authority on the
taste of ale.
Charles Wesley also indulged and the picture seems
rather incongruous when we see the grand old
Methodist warrior during the last years of his
life listing his expenditures for drinks for the
guests attending his son's musical concerts.
Whitfield's practice was similar.
We find him writing Give my thanks to
that friendly brewer for the keg of rum
he sent us.
I reported these matters regarding Spurgeon with much
reluctance.
They seem sadly regrettable in the life of
so righteous a man.
Yet in the name of either Christian honesty
or scholarly accuracy they could not be omitted.
There are however many further items of a
very different and very worthy nature to be
reported about Spurgeon and we continue to consider
them.
We first notice his physical person.
He had nothing of the tall stately elegance
of Edward Irving which many Londoners then remembered
but was of medium height and not of
an attractive build.
His body was short in the upper leg
but he possessed an orator's powerful chest.
His head was large and it was said
there were no angles about him.
In his early thirties he began to grow
a beard which basically improved his appearance.
It also protected him from the dampness and
chill of England's winters and above all it
saved him the time formerly spent in shaving.
His face was highly expressive.
The features were of themselves somewhat heavy but
were ever lightened by the eyes around which
even in his times of pain a smile
seemed unfailingly to glow.
An artist once undertook to paint his portrait
but after four sittings he gave it up
saying, I can't paint you.
Your face is different every day.
You are never the same.
A description of Spurgeon was made by one
who knew him well, James Douglas.
Could any face more fully express geniality, friendliness,
warmth of affection and overflowing hospitality?
We know of none in whom these traits
so shine forth.
His greeting was warm as sunshine.
It mattered not what might be the shadow
on the spirit or the trouble of the
heart.
It all vanished away at the voice of
his welcome.
There was light on his countenance that instantly
dispersed all gloom.
I have never known one whose presence had
such charm or whose conversation was such a
rich and varied feast.
His voice stamped him as preeminent, being an
organ in itself of amazing compass and sweetness
of modulation.
His speech was music.
He was a born speaker, both as to
the quality of note and the ease of
utterance.
He needed no training in elocution, for he
had it in him.
Nor was his discourse ever verbiage, or a
mere melodious sound in the air.
The born orator, as in Edward Irving's case,
often lays himself open to this charge.
Mr. Spurgeon's diction was never high-sounding or
bombastic.
With the grandeur of his theme, he soared.
The transcendent never became small in his hands.
If the thought was sublime, he would give
it sublime expression.
If homely, he bedecked it accordingly.
His intellect was an equal associate of his
great heart.
The brain of his truly great man was
of a giant order.
He did with ease and spontaneously mental feats
which men of name and inordinate vanity struggle
in vain, even by elaboration, to accomplish.
He could grasp the bearings of a subject,
hold his theme well in hand, and deploy
his thoughts like troops in tactical movements.
He was never at sea.
All was orderly arrangement."
Spurgeon always had a love for animals.
Though during his first years in London he
used a one-horse carriage, after he moved
to Westwood, having further to drive to the
tabernacle, he changed to a two-horse conveyance.
The horses were kept in excellent condition, and
he jokingly spoke of them as under the
law they rested each Saturday.
Some of the strongest statements one will find
anywhere in all his works are in an
article he wrote against cruelty to animals, as
with fierce vehemence he cited one instance after
another of terrible treatment of horses and dogs
that had come to his attention.
He kept a hive of bees at Westwood,
and took delight in caring for them himself
when he had the time.
He was fascinated with the system of life
the bees used in the hive.
On one occasion a great number lighted on
him, but he ran into the house and
removed the outer clothes without receiving a single
sting.
After a thief broke into his house and
stole a gold-headed walking cane that John
B.
Goff had given him, Spurgeon obtained a dog.
But it was not a watchdog, merely a
little one of the pug variety, and it
had the affection of Mrs. Spurgeon and himself.
There were goldfish in the pond at Westwood,
and it was said they would swim to
him and wait to be stroked when he
came to the edge of the water.
Nevertheless, we may be sure he brought something
they liked to eat, and that that was
their special attraction.
During the last twenty years or so of
his life, Spurgeon tried to use Wednesday as
his day of freedom from work, and there
were times he took a holiday that lasted
half the week.
On those occasions, whether the day one or
four, he would take as his companion one
of the young pastors who had been a
student of his college, or perhaps a fellow
minister, sometimes one of the American pastors who
was visiting London.
Dressed in some carefree togs, he would drive
his horse and carriage and set out on
quiet country roads to the south of London,
stopping at some picturesque inn for lunch, or
for overnight accommodation.
At times they left the horse in the
stable at the inn, and walked in the
woods, or found some secluded spot in which
to sit, and behold the divine handiwork in
nature all around them.
On these jaunts, Spurgeon put away the thoughts
of his burden of responsibility, and was the
soul of merriment.
He talked about the history of villages or
buildings in the area.
He knew plants and flowers by their names
in both English and Latin, and indeed could
converse on all manner of subjects with accuracy
and enjoyment.
The Archbishop of Canterbury had a large estate
in this part of England, and he asked
Spurgeon to make use of it just as
if it were his own.
And when the outing was over, his companions
usually regarded the event as one of the
grand occasions of their lives, and spoke of
him as the most charming and fascinating host.
We cannot adequately know Spurgeon unless we recognize
also his strong sensitivity.
Although he was a rugged and distinctively masculine
individual, he was also very tender, and was
easily moved to tears.
His whole person was alive to the various
experiences of life, and he felt things deeply.
For instance, we are told that there were
two occasions on which he was so disturbed
in his spirit that he prayed all night.
One of those was so sacred that it
was not further mentioned.
But the other was the time when his
son Tom was about to sail to Australia
and take up a new life in that
warmer climate.
Spurgeon had hoped that as he aged he
would increasingly have the help of his two
sons, but now Tom was leaving, and was
going so far away, and he felt he
would never see him again.
He preached that Sunday evening on Hannah, a
woman of sorrowful spirit, and during the hours
that followed, he wrestled with God, and before
the morning dawned, he had calmly submitted to
his son's departure.
Another element of his sensitivity lay in his
fear of crossing a road when the traffic
was heavy.
In that day, the streets of London were
full of horses and carts and carriages, some
drivers urging their steeds onward as speedily as
possible and with no rules of the road
to control them.
On one occasion, amidst this hustle and bustle,
Spurgeon stood on a corner near the Bank
of England and could not summon enough courage
to cross the road.
But a blind man approached and asked that
he help him make his way through the
stream of moving traffic, and in view of
the blind man's need, Spurgeon responded, and the
two of them crossed in safety.
Spurgeon experienced severe depressions, and although those were
to some extent the result of the gout,
there probably was also another reason.
All manner of persons came to him to
pour into his ear the tale of their
trials and to seek his advice.
This was true of hundreds of the Tabernacle
people, but was especially true of the men
of the college who had gone out into
the ministry.
There were problems in their churches to be
met and decisions to be made, and they
came first to unburden themselves to him, and
then to have him pray for them and
assist them with his wise counsel.
One of the best of the college men,
James Douglas, said that he saw Mr. Spurgeon
so often bearing other men's burdens in this
way that he determined never to bring him
any trial of his own, but that when
he came to him it would be with
some account of blessing that would raise his
spirits.
But although he thus heard the troubles of
numerous others, Spurgeon had no one to whom
he could tell his own.
In view of Mrs. Spurgeon's frequent sickness, he
undoubtedly did not tell her the full tale
of the load he bore.
There was the great machine he had created,
the Tabernacle, and its associated organizations to be
maintained, all at tremendous cost.
The deacons and elders shouldered their measure of
responsibility, yet so much depended on him that
in many senses he bore the great load
alone.
Truly he trusted the Lord, yet he also
felt the strain of his burdens, and having
no one to whom he could fully unburden
himself, he built up a sense of trial
within his breast, and gradually bore him down
into severe depression.
What he suffered in these times of darkness
we may not know.
They usually accompanied his days and nights of
physical agony under the strength of a gout
attack, and even his desperate calling upon God
often brought him no relief.
There are dungeons, he said, beneath the Castle
of Despair, and he had often been in
them.
Those terrible experiences had their good effect upon
his ministry, however.
In his audiences each Sunday sat hundreds of
persons who had come from a week of
trial and who needed kindness and encouragement, and
here was the man who could give it.
His voice was often broken with his feeling
for the sorrowing.
Many a time he was in excruciating pain
as he preached.
He knew what suffering was, and his words
were full of sympathy that lifted spirits, and
sent tried men and women forth to face
their circumstances with new strength.
In spite of the depression, Spurgeon was basically
a very happy man.
William Williams was often in his company, and
he wrote, quote, What a bubbling fountain of
humor Mr. Spurgeon had.
I have laughed more, I verily believe, when
in his company than during all the rest
of my life besides.
He had the most fascinating gift of laughter,
and he had also the greatest ability for
making all who heard him laugh with him.
When someone blamed him for saying humorous things
in his sermons, he said, He would not
blame me if he knew only how many
of them I had to keep track.
End quote.
The following passage from his lectures gives us
insight into Spurgeon's behavior when under depression.
Quote, Gentlemen, there are many passages of Scripture
which you will never understand thoroughly until some
trying or singular experience shall interpret them to
you.
The other evening, I was riding home after
a heavy day's work.
I felt wearied and sore depressed when swiftly
and suddenly that text came to me, My
grace is sufficient for thee.
I reached home and looked it up in
the original, and at last it came to
me in this way, My grace is sufficient
for thee.
And I said, I should think it is,
Lord.
And I burst out laughing.
I never understood what the holy laughter of
Abraham was till then.
It seemed to make unbelief so absurd.
O brethren, be great believers.
Little faith will bring your souls to heaven,
but great faith will bring heaven to your
souls.
End quote.
And now chapter 18, Spurgeon as an author.
And it begins with a quote from Spurgeon
himself.
This was written in 1855.
How many souls may be converted by what
some men are privileged to write and print?
There is, for instance, Dr. Doddridge's Rise and
Progress of Religion in the Soul.
I could wish that everybody had read that
book.
So many have been the conversions it has
produced.
I think it's more honor to have composed
Watt's Psalms and Hymns than Milton's Paradise Lost.
And more glory to have written old Thomas
Wilcox's book A Choice Drop of Honey from
the Rock, Christ.
Or the booklet God has used so much,
The Sinner's Friend.
Then all the works of Homer.
I value books for the good they may
do, much as I respect the genius of
Pope, or Dryden, or Burns.
Give me the simple lines of Cowper that
God has owned in bringing souls to him.
Oh, to think that I may write and
print books which shall reach poor sinners' hearts.
And again, that was written in 1855.
Now chapter 18, Spurgeon as an author.
From the time of his boyhood, Spurgeon manifested
a desire to put his thoughts on paper
and have others read them.
When he was only twelve, he produced what
he called the Juvenile Magazine, a few small
handwritten sheets that he circulated among his sisters
and his brother.
It contained news of a weekly prayer meeting
that he conducted, and it offered advertising space
at the rate of three lines for half
a penny.
Though it was but a childish endeavor, it
showed the attraction he felt toward the work
of publishing.
At the age of fifteen, he wrote an
essay, 295 pages in length, entitled, Popery Unmasked.
He submitted it in a contest, and although
it did not win the prize, in recognition
of its high quality, one of the sponsors
awarded him a gift of one pound.
When he reached the age of seventeen and
had become a pastor, his writing broke into
print for the very first time.
He produced a few brief articles to present
the way of salvation, and those were published
as The Water Beach Tracts.
Then some further short items from his pen
were accepted by The Baptist Reporter.
Those early endeavors, however, were but a foretaste
of the great work of publishing that lay
before him.
Spurgeon had been in London only six months
when one of his sermons was published in
The Penny Pulpit.
This was so well received that The Baptist
Messenger published one also, and The Penny Pulpit
published three or four more.
The response made it evident that there was
a large possible readership for the discourses of
the rising young preacher.
One of the deacons of the New Park
Street Chapel was especially interested in this development.
This was Joseph Passmore, who with a partner,
James Alabaster, had recently opened a printing business.
Mr. Passmore was an earnest Christian and an
enterprising businessman, and he suggested that Spurgeon allow
him to publish one of his sermons every
week.
Spurgeon was then in the midst of his
great burst of fame, and he dreaded the
thought of being projected still further into prominence.
Nevertheless, he recognized the published sermon might well
be used of God in the salvation of
souls, and therefore he consented.
Moreover, besides this weekly production, each January the
52 sermons published during the preceding year were
reprinted.
They were bound together as a single volume,
The New Park Street Pulpit.
By the time this first volume appeared, January
1855, Spurgeon had already published his first two
books, The Saint and His Savior, and Smooth
Stones Taken from Ancient Brooks.
And he intended to continue the weekly and
yearly publication of the sermons and also to
produce further books.
He was warned against doing so by a
very worthy friend, Dr. John Campbell.
Dr. Campbell had retired from the pastorate of
the Whitfield Tabernacle and had become the editor
of a religious paper, The British Banner.
He was a well-