
f 



1. A 




MR. SPURGEON IN HIS STUDY. 



THE ESSEX LAD 

WHO BECAME 

EHGLAHD'S GREATEST PREACHER. 

THE LIFE OF 

CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON, 

FOR YOUNG PEOPLE. 



BY 

J, MANTON SMITH 



WITH THIRTY-FIVE ILLUSTRATIONS, 




332 



T SOCi 



I 



AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 

150 NASSAU STREET, NEW YORK. 

All rights reserved. 



Y>. 



V 






COPYRIGHT, 1892, 
AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY. 




INTRODUCTION TO THE AMERICAN EDITION. 

BY REV. THOMAS ARMITAGE, D. D. 

The chief aim of writing and reading this book is to 
help young boys and girls to become as nearly like this 
" Essex boy " in spirit and life as can be. What he was 
or did sprang from his inner being, as a most godly disci- 
ple of our Lord Jesus Christ. His very heart and soul 
found their life not in his creed, but in his love to Jesus 
and in cheerfully doing what his Master bade him to do. 
His hand was constantly blessing some one because he 
loved all men, so that love with him was life. Above all 
things else he prayed to be as exact a copy of Christ as 
he could be, both as a personal Christian and a preacher 
of the gospel. Thus, taking Christ as his only model, his 
faith, his hope, and his love were bright, tender, and lively, 
and made all his outer life real and earnest. True work 
in the cause of God followed as naturally from his hands 
as fruit from a healthy tree or as streams from a liv- 
ing spring. He thought nothing of being poor or of 
moving in lowly circles, nothing of being meanly spoken 
of or wrongly treated, if men were saved by his toils and 
God was honored by his % work. No matter how little or 
weak or forsaken any poor child was, he looked upon 
him in pity and tried in every way to lift him up. Lon- 
don is a great city of four millions of people, and when 
he saw so many thousands of children there, hungry, in 
rags,, and homeless, his eyes melted in tears. All his 
powers were put forth to get them bread and clothing and 
homes, and after that he daily sought by every winning 
act to make them true Christians. 

A great many people, some of them ministers and 
some private disciples of the Lord Jesus, wish that they 
were as great and as good as Mr. Spurgeon was and they 
are trying to copy him, but they meet with dead failure. 



4 Introduction. 

The very fact that they take him for a model shows that 
they feel that they are small and mean when they com- 
pare themselves with him. They fail, and ever will, be- 
cause they only imitate his way of doing things, without 
the spirit, the life, and the purity which he drew from his 
inmost soul. Any person who tries to imitate Mr. Spur- 
geon will be bitterly disappointed, unless he is a real 
Spurgeon in character to begin with. Men may copy his 
faults and weaknesses, just as the scholars of Plato, with- 
out his wisdom, made humps on their shoulders because 
he had a crooked back ; but that was all. If the young 
readers of this book would like to do Spurgeon's work, 
they must first use his constant prayer, breathe his humil- 
ity, and become full of the Holy Spirit. 

The Bohemians tell this story of Wenceslaus, their 
great king. One bitter winter's night he went barefoot to 
worship in a distant church. The snow and ice cut his 
feet in the driving storm, but as his heart was full of the 
love of God, he pushed on his way regardless of pain. 
His servant who attended him was chilled to the bone 
and began to faint. Then the king told him to put his 
feet at each tread into his footsteps. At once the servant's 
shame kindled his zeal, and following in his prince's tracks 
he walked firmly, although the blood from his feet stained 
the snow at every step. So Mr. Spurgeon, from a child, 
planted himself in the footprints of his Lord. He had 
Christ's life in his soul, and it was easy for him to walk in 
Christ's ways. He knew that he could not do Christ's 
work unless he had His life ; then he could walk as Christ 
also walked. So let the young readers of this book be- 
come the same sort of youths that the " Essex lad " was, 
and in their measure they will repeat his life-work. In 
that case this great preacher, being dead, will still speak 
in them. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The life which forms the subject of this book was, in many 
respect*, like the Kaleidoscope, which, as children, we were so 
proud to purchase with our saved-up pennies when we 
attended the country fair held on the village green. To 
some of us as boys a Kaleidoscope was the greatest wonder 
of the world. Though plain in its exterior, it had only to be 
put to the eye to reveal a marvellous array of beauties and 
colours, which fascinated and arrested our attention. Its 
variations were so vivid and charming, that we immediately 
became enamoured of it, yet its charms were all confined 
within the limitations of one small circle. Almost like 
magic the old Kaleidoscope at every touch and turn ex- 
hibited new pictures by different combinations of the same 
materials. The schoolboy might leave it to attend to his 
lessons, and older lads might be called away to perform 
their lawful pursuits of life, but whenever they returned to 
it they always found some pleasing and captivating picture 
awaiting them. It was like this with the life of C. H. 
Spurgeon, whom the Lord called even as a boy to proclaim 
his message to a sinful world. Deliberately restricting 
himself to the proclamation of a few primary truths, he yet 
combined them with such remarkable variety and freshness 
that there was always a new charm in the message which 
he delivered to the people. 

Like Moses, for nearly forty years this faithful servant was 
God's chosen leader of a great company of redeemed 
people. No book can fully describe the marvellous power 
of his unique life. Under his preaching thousands of 
sinners were converted into saints, and afterwards lived to 
bring glory to the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Like Abraham, he was led forth by a divine hand from 



6 Intrcduction. 

the place of his nativity to become a great father in Israel, 
and God used him to overthrow many idols and gain 
many victories. 

Like David, he was endued with mighty power while yet 
a ruddy lad, and was able to infuse courage into the hearts 
and lives of many a faint-hearted soldier of Christ. 

Like Samuel, he heard the Lord's voice when quite a 
youth, and hid nothing of the things that God had revealed 
to him ; as he grew, he found favour both with God and 
with men, and " the Lord was with him, and did let none of 
his words fall to the ground." 

After reading all the sketches that can be published of 
such a life, the verdict of those who knew the man must be 
the same as that of the Queen of Sheba, after she had seen 
the wisdom and glory of Solomon — " Behold the half was not 
told me." 

This little volume is a new arrangement of the Kaleido- 
scopic materials of this varied life. It seeks to make vivid 
those aspects of it which are of more immediate interest to 
young people, in the hope that many of them may follow in 
the path which C. H. Spurgeon as a lad so virtuously and 
vigorously pursued. 




AUTHOR'S NOTE. 

Should this book be presented to any young person, it 
would be well to fill in the name of the boy or girl, in the letters 
on pages 134, 135 and 138, 139. As two of my own children 
were led to trust the Lord Jesus by means of these letters, 
tac-similes of the originals have been inserted in this book, 
with the prayerful hope that many others may obtain a 
similar blessing. Prayer is desired that such may be the cas~. 



PR EFACE. 



An old man of eighty-two is naturally not much inclined to 
write a preface to a book ; but as my friend Mr. Manton 
Smith desires me to introduce his sketch of the wonderful 
life and work of my son Charles, I am glad to accede to his 
request. 

The later years of my dear son were rich in blessing, and 
his young days were in many respects worthy of imitation. 
He was always a remarkable boy, and early gave promise of 
future greatness. As this book is for young people, I would 
impress upon them to follow him in his respect and obedi- 
ence to his parents, and in his love for his home. 

And I would urge the mothers who may read this book 
to be as careful in the training of their children for Christ 
as was his saintly mother who is now in heaven. I had 
something to do with his up-bringing, but I was so fre- 
quently from home that more of the responsibility was 
thrown upon my dear wife, and with constant and prayerful 
thought she nobly fulfilled the task. Now she has met her 
dear son in glory and rejoices with him. I too shall soon 
join them and mingle my praises with theirs. 

I cannot enough magnify the grace of God who gave me 
two such sons as Charles and James, and who has used 
them both so greatly in his service. Each of my brothers 
had two sons, and I had two, but only mine became 
preachers of the Word, following in their father's and their 
grandfather's footsteps. Both my dear sons have served 
God faithfully, and it is a great joy to me to see the younger 
continuing with such success the work which his brother 
has left. May the Lord spare him long and strengthen him 
greatly ! 



8 Preface. 

Last Friday I was able to attend the closing meeting of 
the Conference of the Pastors' College men, and to join 
them in remembering the Lord's death. I felt like a grand- 
father to all the brethren, for are they not my son's 
children ? May God bless them all i My heart was made 
to dance for very joy as we gathered around that table. •» So 
intense were my feelings that if I had had ■* voice like my 
friend Manton Smith I would have burst forth singing a 
verse of Dr Watts' hymn : 

" My willing soul would stay 

In such a frame as this, 
And sit and sing herself away 

To everlasting bliss." 

My cup is full ; I am an old man now, but I still need 
the same Saviour as much as ever I did, to save me from 
my sins. Jesus Christ is everything to me. I have preached 
the Gospel for many years and I do not want another. In 
the faith of it I have lived, and in the faith of it I shall die. 
My father's God is mine ; He is my sons' God too, and my 
grandsons are following in the same path 

Now, Lord, lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for 
mine eyes have seen thy salvation. 

May God bless this book and its author and all who may 
read its pages. So prays — 

The honoured father of his honoured son, 




Dumfries Villa.. 
West Croydon, 

gt/i May, 1892. 



CONTENTS. 



I. About Grandfathers... 

II. About a Baby 

III. A Little Boy in a Big House 

IV. The Essex Lad in the Essex Village 
V. A Remarkable Prophecy ... 

VI. Home and School ... 

VII. The Siege at Artillery Lane 

VIII. A New Man at Newmarket 

IX. Under the shadow of the University 

X. The Beginning of Miracles ... 

XI The Village Pastor 

XII. From the Shires to the City 

XIII. Popularity and Panic 

XIV. The Great Tabernacle 

XV. The Prince of Preachers 

XVI. A Printed Pulpit 

XVII. His Ready Wit 

XVIII. Mr. Greatheart 

XIX. The School ot the Prophets 

XX. The Nursery of the Church 

XXI. The Orphan Homes 

XX 1 1 . Nigh tiny a! e Lane an d Beulah H ill 

XXI II. By the Margin of ihe Blue Sea ... 

XXIV. The Sea of Glass mingled with Fire 



PAGB 

9 

IS 
18 

25 
35 
39 
49 
57 
62 
69 
76 
S3 
89 
95 
100 
no 

"3 

123 

129 

133 
140 

ISO 

1.6 1 



CHAPTER I. 




AVE you ever been in a prison? 

I can quite fancy that some of my 
young readers will think this is a queer 
question to begin a book with. But then 
there is a reason for starting there, which you will 
find out presently. 

We must remember that the prison-house is not 
necessarily a disgrace to anyone. It is the crime 
which takes people there that disgraces them, not 
the prison. He who goes into prison with a good 
character may leave it even better than when he 
entered, especially if he suffers for conscience sake. 

Joseph, who knew the Lord in his youth, was cast 
into the Egyptian prison ; but it only proved for him 
a passage to the king's palace. Peter, the bold 
preacher, was thrust into prison because it pleased 
the people ; but God sent a new and unknown warder 
to unloose his chains, and bring him forth to a prayer- 
meeting while the soldiers in charge of him were still 
sleeping within the gaol. Paul and Silas, two evange- 
lists sent forth by God, were also put in prison ; 
but their songs at midnight enabled them to forget 
their sufferings, and through their preaching the gaoler 
and all his family were converted, and were afterwards 



10 The Essex Lad. 

baptized. John Bunyan, the Bedford tinker, was sent 
to gaol for preaching the gospel ; but while imprisoned 
he wrote The Pilgrinis Progress, which we all love 
so much. 

But I want now to tell you of another noble man 
who was cast into prison. In the year 1677, there 
lay in Chelmsford gaol for fifteen weeks, for con- 
science sake, a godly old man named Job. He only 
had a pallet of straw to lie upon, though the weather 
was bitterly cold. Like his namesake, Job the patri- 
arch, he was patient while suffering for truth and for 
God. This good man's surname was Spurgeon, and 
he was the great-grandfather of the great-grandfather 
of the late C. H. Spurgeon, whose father is also a 
great-grandfather, because Mr. Spurgeon, before he 
was called away to heaven, was himself a grand- 
father. 

Now, I wonder if my young readers could count 
how many fathers that makes altogether to succeed 
Job Spurgeon. When you have quite finished your 
lessons for school to-morrow, just oblige me by sitting 
down, and working this out. 

This family of Spurgeon was descended from Dutch 
forefathers, who fled from Holland for refuge from 
the Duke of Alva, when he cruelly persecuted the 
saints of God in that country during the sixteenth 
century. Though unknown to fame at that time, the 
Spurgeons stuck like leeches to the gospel for which 
they had left their native soil, and lived and died in 
the faith which lightens life, and which brightens 
death 

James Spurgeon, who was the Independent minister 
at Stambourne, was the grandfather of the Essex lad 



About GrandfatJiers. 



II 



who became England's Greatest Preacher. He was 
what is called a Calvinist, which means that he held 
and preached the truth in the same way as Calvin 




MR. SPURGEON S GRANDFATHER. 



did in Geneva many years ago. He was a preacher 
of considerable ability, and continued to preach 
until he was 88 years old. Just fancy you see the 



12 The Essex Lad. 

old man , yonder he comes down the quiet village, 
wearing a dress cravat, a frilled shirt, and with 
very deep pockets in his waistcoat, which usually 
contained a packet ol sweets for the children. With 
his knee breeches, silk stockings, and the bright 
buckles on his shoes, he must have looked a very 
venerable old gentleman indeed. So he lived out 
a life of usefulness amidst his flock, and on his 
death-bed he talked more cheerfully than many do 
in robust health. He realized the nearness and 
preciousness of Christ to such an extent that he 
comforted all that were around him, till he quietly 
fell asleep on the bosom of Jesus. 

His grandson and namesake, Pastor James A. 
Spurgeon, the esteemed brother of the great man 
whom this book is about, who is still with us, gave 
at the Pastors' College Conference, 1892, some 
reminiscences of the grand old man. He said : " My 
grandfather was one 01 the most earnest preachers 
that I have ever known, and was very much honoured 
in the district where he lived. He had a magnificent 
voice. I remember him giving me the first notion of 
a joke. My grandfather was of the family build, and 
someone said to him, 

" ' Mr. Spurgeon, how much do you weigh ? ' 

" ' Well/ he said, ' that will all depend upon where 
you take me. If weighed in the balances, I am afraid 
I should be found wanting ; but in the pulpit they 
tell me that I am heavy enough.' 

" There followed a ripple of laughter, and in my 
youthful mind I wondered what they were laughing 
at. I began to think, and then there dawned upon 
me a second meaning, and, as if I had been born 



About Grandfathers, 



13 



across the Tweed, some time afterwards I laughed 
too. That was my first joke ; I did not know that 
there was such a thing in the world before that. It 
is very pleasant to remember that my grandfather 
could poke a little fun at his own expense. I have 
heard his grandson do it since." 

The old Manse of Stambourne, in which he lived, 
was large, but not lofty ; eight windows were to be 




THE OLD MANSE, STAMBOURNE. 

seen in the front, but, as the Irishman says, only four 
of them were visible ; the others were blocked up with 
plaster, to save the absurd window-tax which was 
levied in those days. The entrance-hall was bigger 
than many modern parlours ; it had a brick floor, which 
was carefully and constantly sprinkled with fresh 
sand. It was a bonnie house for a boy to live in ; 
there was plenty of room for him to run about, and 
the pantry and larder, the dairy and cbeese-room, the 



H 



The Essex Lad. 



bedrooms and box-room, gave plenty of scope to 
youthful energy ; so that a boy, if such there had 
been, might have had continual change within the 
walls of the old Stambourne parsonage. There was, 
in fact, just such a boy, who often roamed over the 
roomy dwelling, and of his birth we are going to 
speak in the next chapter. I hope it will not be 
such a sleepy chapter as this. 




MR. spurgeon's grandmother. 




CHAPTER II. 

!HE old village clock in Kelvedon had 
scarcely struck the hour of four in the 
morning on the 19th of June, 1834, when 
lo ! there came the first peep of day 
piercing through the tall poplar trees which surround 
this secluded hamlet. Suddenly, as if at the magic 
stroke of a conductor's baton, there pealed forth a 
mighty chorus of praise from hundreds of little 
winged creatures who all night had been hidden away 
in their warm, cosy nests, and now awakened to greet 
the new day, until the air was vocal with their songs. 
But before that day's sun had set, and before the 
little songsters had chanted their evening praise, there 
was another cry heard in the little village of Kelvedon, 
not perhaps so musical to some ears as that of the 
blackbirds : yet it was a sound which declared that a 
new life had that day been given by God to the 
world. What a life it has proved to be, eternity 
alone will reveal ! 

There were no bells rung on earth because this 
child had been born in Kelvedon ; but the mother's 
heart was made to leap for joy at the thought of God's 
goodness to her, and the godly father also rejoiced 
and praised his Maker for the gift that day bestowed : 



16 



The Essex Lad. 



though little did the father or mother know what 
future joy awaited them by means of the life just 
entrusted to their care. Surely that day the angels 
above would sing their songs of praise because a 
new voice was heard on earth — a voice which would 
soon become like a trumpet-call for Christ the Lord, 
In the tidy cottage in the village dwelt the godly 




MR. SPURGEON S BIRTHPLACE, KELVEDON, ESSEX. 



father and mother, Mr. and Mrs. John Spurgeon, and 
their new God-given treasure. Happily they were 
both well acquainted with the good old Guide-book ; 
it had proved for many years a lamp unto their feet, 
and a light unto their path ; they had read many 
times from this inspired Word, words addressed to 
another, but which they might now well apply to 
themselves: — "Take this child away, and nurse it for 



About a Baby 



17 



me, and I will give thee thy wages." It was for the 
preciousness of these sayings of this Book of books 
that their own ancestors had endured persecution ; 
and we can well imagine them reading with new 
unction such a passage as this : " Whoso shall receive 
one such little child in My name receiveth Me." 
Thus it came to pass that in a small house, which 
is still standing in the obscure country village of 
Kelvedon, the first year of the life of the boy 
who was named Charles Haddon Spurgeon 
was spent. At his death, nearly fifty-eight years 
afterwards, he was pronounced by Archdeacon 
Sinclair, from the pulpit of St. Paul's Cathedral, 
London, to have been " England's Greatest Living 
Preacher." 




ST. PAUL S CATHEDKAL. 




CHAPTER III. 

% Jtilik Jtog in a IBijg ijcrime. 

HEN chubby little Charlie, as his dear Aunt 
Ann possibly called him, was ten months 
old, his father and mother removed from 
Kelvedon to Colchester ; and about four 
months after that date, Mr. and Mrs. James Spurgeon, 
of Stambourne, went over to Colchester to visit their 
son and daughter and see their little grandson. 
When they saw him they took such a liking to the 
plump little fellow, that they persuaded the father 
and mother to allow him to return with them to 
Stambourne, assuring them that they would only be 
too pleased to have the entire charge of him, and to 
care for his welfare. So it was arranged that the boy 
should go, and for the next few years his aunt and his 
grandfather and grandmother were entrusted with his 
training ; and right well did they see to it. Charlie 
was the first grandson in their family, and you know 
what a fuss grandfathers and grandmothers always 
make of such a boy. The child, eighteen months old, 
was thus early in life transplanted from the town house 
to the country ; and he remained with his grand- 
parents until he was between five and six years old. 

Seeing so much of this Essex lad's early life was 
spent at Stambourne, it may be well to give a 
description of the place. 

The village is an entirely agricultural one, having 
no manufactures nor any large business premises of 



A Little Boy in a Big House. 



19 



any kind. The population is between four and five 
hundred, and there are about one hundred and five 
cottages in it. There is only one blacksmith, one 
shoemaker, and two or three carpenters, in the whole 
village ; and there is neither doctor, chemist, butcher, 
nor policeman within three miles. 

The pretty old Church is quietly situated by the 
roadside, surrounded by some fine trees, which give it 



^ 















STAMBOURNE CHURCH. 

a very picturesque and attractive appearance. The 
little boy must often have looked with admiration on 
its massive tower, and perhaps have climbed to the 
top of it to get a view of the surrounding country. 

There is also in the village a Congregational Chapel, 
which stands near the minister's residence. It has 
a good burial-ground, and also stables and sheds 
for the horses and vehicles of those members of the 



20 The Essex Lad, 

congregation who drive in from a distance. It is 
shaded by lofty chestnut trees and limes, which, when 
covered with blossom in the spring, together with an 
abundance of lilacs, laburnum, and the flowers of the 
minister's garden, irrke up a very charming scene. 
It is a lively spot on Sabbath-days, as troops of 
children flock to the Sunday-school, and others con- 
gregate from the hamlets around. 

In the hall of the grandfather's old house there 
stood a fine big rocking-horse, so safe that on it even 
a Member of Parliament might have been sure he 
could keep his seat. On the back of this fine grey 
charger young Spurgeon must have been rocked for 
many an hour by his devoted aunt. 

In the front of the house, half secluded by a large 
shrub, there was a room which delighted the little 
boy, for the mangle was kept there, and this magic 
machine did duty for the whole parish. Many a 
short ride would Master Charlie get on the top of the 
mangle while the villagers were pressing their clothes. 
In this same room the kneading-trough was kept, 
and on the shelf beside it in the corner of the room 
there was always "something nice for the boy" placed 
within reach of his tiny hand. 

The dairy was another place where the young 
child used often to go, and here he frequently, 
to his great delight, obtained a cheesecake and a 
draught of new milk. 

Even on rainy days he found great delight at the 
old Manse, for at the front door the rain ran off 
the roof of the porch into a tub underneath, and after 
he had watched the drops dripping to his heart's con- 
tent, the little genius used to float cotton reels, like 



A Little Boy in a Big House. 



21 



tiny ships, on this miniature sea. Long after he had 
grown to be a man, he preached a beautiful sermon 
on the text, " There go the ships " (I wonder could 
you find this text in your Bible ?), but his first lessons 
in navigation were learned at his grandfather's door. 

The stables and sheds at the back of the Manse 
were fine places for play. Every gig was mounted in 
its turn, and its merits proclaimed by the minister's 
young grandson, but never on Sunday, for that day 
was kept very sacredly at the Old Manse. 

The cupboard under the stairs was a grand hiding- 
place for him, and often he would dig over and over 
the sand which was kept there for sprinkling the 
brick floors. With such heaps ot sand, boys are 
always willing to lend a hand, 

But, perhaps, the most charming room 01 the 
house was the best parlour, on the right-hand side 
of the front door. Outside the 
window there grew a fine large 
rose-tree. Its fragrance filled the 
room when the windows were 
opened, and as the window-frames 
did not fit very well, its beautiful 
and gentle life found its way right 
into the room, and sent its green 
leaves and new buds into the house, 
as if to say, " I am come to help 
furnish your best parlour, and save you the trouble of 
gathering the flowers." That was very nice-, was it not ? 
On the mantel-shelf in this room there also stood 
a bottle, which, for a long time, was a standing 
wonder to this little boy. The boy saw that it 
contained a large apj le, but how the apple could 




22 



TJie Essex Lad. 



have got inside the bottle he could not understand. 
You may be sure that he was not satisfied until he 
found out the secret. 

So one day he said, " How did the apple get inside 
the bottle, grandfather ? " 

" Find out," said the old man. And the boy could 
get nothing more from his grandfather. 




making a Discovery 

He then asked his grandmother, who gave him the 
same kind of answer. He next examined the bottle 
to see if there were any joins and marks where it had 
been put together, but he could not see any, so he 
asked his grandfather again. 

His grandfather still said, " Find out." 

When quite alone, he put on his grandmother's 



A Little Boy in a Big House. 23 

spectacles, and looked carefully into the bottle to see 
if the apple had been put in in sections ; but no, it 
was quite whole. 

One day, however, he walked down his grand- 
father's garden, and saw a bottle tied on to one of 
the branches of an apple-tree, and a tiny little apple 
growing at the end of the branch inside the bottle. 
He had now discovered the secret, and ran into the 
house, saying, — 

"Now I know how that big apple got into that 
bottle on the shelf; it grew inside"' 

I fancy I see his dear old grandfather taking the 
little boy on to his knee, and feeling quite proud to 
think he had discovered the secret himself. He 
would then, no doubt, seek to impress some spiritual 
lesson upon him, and to fix it in his memory by 
telling him that the cold frost might come and nip 
some of the other apples, but this one was safe, 
because it was inside the bottle. 

" Now, Charlie, my dear," he might have said, " I 
want you always to remember that the Sunday- 
school and the Church are like this bottle : they 
shield many who enter them while they are young 
from a cruel, cold world, and from many blasts of 
temptation." 

Another day, the grandfather would take the little 
boy on his knee and tell him how a good, godly man 
named Havers, who used to live in Stambourne, 
was persecuted for his religion, and that one day, 
receiving friendly warning of an intended attempt 
to apprehend him, and finding men were on his 
track, he took refuge in a malt-house, and crept into 
the empty kiln, where he lay down. Immediately 



24 The Essex Lad. 

after, he saw a spider lower itself across the narrow 
entrance by which he had got in, thus fixing the first 
line of what was soon wrought into a large and 
beautiful web. The weaver and the web, placed 
directly between him and the light, were very con- 
spicuous. He was so much struck with the skill and 
diligence of the spider, and so much absorbed in 
watching her work, that he forgot his own danger. 
By the time the network was completed, crossing and 
re-crossing the mouth of the kiln in every direction, 
his pursuers came into the malt-house to search for 
him. He noted their steps, and listened to their 
cruel words while they looked about. Then they 
came close to the kiln, and he overheard one say 
to another: "It's no use to look in there; the old 
villain can never be there: look at that spiders web ; 
he could never have got in there without breaking it." 
Without further search they went to seek elsewhere, 
and he escaped safely out of their hands. 

By such incidents as these, amid the scenes where 
they took place, the mind of the boy would be much 
impressed. 

But very soon after he had discovered how the 
apple got into the bottle, and had listened to such 
wise words from his grandfather, he returned home 
to his parents at Colchester for a time. Here he 
attended a private school for little boys, kept by 
Mrs. Cook, a captain's wife. I need not tell you that 
it was not the Captain Cook who first sailed round 
the world, but another. Here he made rapid progress 
in his lessons, and after school hours he used to play 
with his little brother James, whom God had given to 
his father and mother while he was at Stambourne. 




CHAPTER IV. 

(§Ite <S$sex Sad in tltq <&$m Sillap, 

HEN young Spurgeon was called home to 
Colchester to commence his education 
he continued to pay frequent and pro- 
longed visits to his grandfather and 
grandmother at Stambourne. 

It was during these periodical visits that his grand- 
mother offered him a farthing each for every hymn 
he could correctly repeat to her from memory. At 
once he set to work, and so quickly did he learn them 
that his grandmother said : 

" Charlie, I see danger of becoming bankrupt, and 
I must reduce the price to a penny a dozen." Even 
at this price he committed to memory almost the 
whole of Dr. Watts' hymns. 

But a sudden stop came to his hymn-learning. 
His grandfather, being annoyed by the rats from a 
neighbouring farm, offered his young grandson a 
shilling a dozen for all the rats he could catch. Down 
went the hymn book, and the boy's attention was 
henceforth devoted to the rats, until he caught so 
many that, for a boy, he got quite rich. Serving 
grandfather in this way seemed to pay the best at 
the time, but in after years he said that his grand- 
mother's hymns at a farthing a dozen were a far more 



26 The Essex Lad. 

profitable investment than his grandfather's rats at a 
shilling. 

When you read his sermons, as I hope you. will 
often do, you will notice how aptly he was able to 
quote verses of hymns in them, and how interesting 
this makes them. In most cases these are from the 
hymns he learnt for his grandmother. A mine of 
wealth was stored up in his memory in this way. 

He once said to me, " No matter on what subject I 
preach, I can even now, in the middle of any sermon, 
quote some verse of a hymn in harmony with the 
subject ; the hymns have remained with me, while 
those old rats for years have passed away, and the 
shillings I earned by them have been spent long 
ago." 



CANDLESTICK, SNUFFERS, AND EXTINGUISHER. 

And in times of sickness he was often comforted in 
his mature years by the hymns he learnt in his boy- 
hood days. 

The room in the Stambourne Manse, where they sat 
at night, was not a well lighted place ; for candles, 
being costly, were used with care in those days. 
Many and many a time did young Spurgeon sit on 
the floor silently reading a big book, by the aid of the 
fire-light, while his grandfather was busy preparing 



The Essex Lad in the Essex Village. 



27 



his sermon, with the rush-light flickering on his small 
desk. The snuffers were an important article of 
furniture which always accompanied candles in those 
days. Sometimes the snuffing operation was per- 
formed by little Charlie himself, and now and then he 
would snuff the light a little too low, and leave his 
poor grandfather in the dark, while the good-natured 
old gentleman had to feel about for the flint and steel 
with which to re-light his tall tallow candle. 




FLINT AND STEEL, TINDER-BOX AND TINDER. 

On one occasion the boy hung a pound of these 
candles over the clothes-horse, in front of a blazing 
fire, and when what he had done was discovered, there 
remained nothing of the candles but a mass of tallow 
on the floor, and the dripping wicks hanging where 
the candles had been. In after years, Mr. Spurgeon 
used this incident as an illustration in a popular 
lecture which he gave, having all sorts of lights and 
lamps around him on the platform, and which is now 
published in a little book full of pictures, entitled 
Sermons in Candles. Anyone who wants to know 
more about it, can find it in that book. 

A dark room at the top of the house, was the 
favourite haunt of the studious boy, Although it was 



28 



The Essex Lad. 



a dark den, it contained books, and this made it like a 
gold mine to Master Charlie. Therein was the promise 
fulfilled : " I will give thee treasures of darkness." It 
was here he " first struck up acquaintance with the 
martyrs, and specially with 'Old Bonner' who burned 
them; next with Bunyan and his 'Pilgrim'; and 
further on, with the great masters of Scriptural theo- 
logy, with whom no moderns are worthy to be named 
in the same day." 




THE OLD MEETING-HOUSE. 

Even the old editions of their works, 
margins and old-fashioned notes, were 



with their 
precious to 



him. It was easy for him to tell a real Puritan book, 
by its shape, and by the appearance of the type. Many 
of the books were quaintly bound, and some " wandered 
about in sheepskins and goatskins." But all was fish 
that came to his net. He devoured the book whatever 
might be its appearance. His love of reading was a 
very prominent point in his character. 



The Essex Lad i'ri the Essex Village. 29 

The old meeting-house was a memorable place. Mr. 
Spurgeon, when a boy made a drawing of it, and here 
it is on the opposite page. 

The pulpit was a very quaint structure ; over it 
hung a huge, sounding board. It often concerned little 
Charlie to think what would become of his grand- 
father if the top should drop down during service 
time. 

At the back of the pulpit there was a peg to hold 
the minister's hat. Just below the pulpit was the 
big square pew, called the table pew ; it was paved 
with gravestones, and altogether it looked a very 
imposing place. It was from this semi-sacred region 
that the hymns and notices were announced. There 
were several square pews in the chapel, very roomy, 
lined with green baize and furnished with brass 
rods and curtains. 

The aisles were paved with bricks, and sprinkled 
with sand. 

On one side of the pulpit there were two big doors, 
which would allow a wheeled vehicle to pass through, 
and they were often opened for this purpose. The 
shafts of the carnage would be turned up out of the 
way, while the sick or infirm person remained com- 
fortably seated in it. It was no uncommon thing 
to see the long carriage whips brought by the 
worshippers standing erect in the corners of the 
pews. Mr. Spurgeon's father has told me, that 
frequently he has counted twenty - six different 
vehicles packed into the sheds connected with the 
place at one time, belonging to friends who had 
come in from a distance to attend the service. 

Mr. Spurgeon, when describing this chapel of his 



30 The Essex Lad. 

childhood, says : — " The gallery went along the whole 
inside front of the meeting-house, and turned round 
a little way on each sids. It was to me, as a child, 
an elevated, obscure, and unknown region. There 
were men with flutes who let the water run out at the 
ends of the tubes on the people below, and the clarionet 
man, for whom I had more esteem, because I could 
make some sort of noise when I blew through his 
instrument ; but the fifes (why not fives ?) always 
baffled me. The bassoon man was there, and the 
serpent, and the double-bass, and a lot more of them. 
They COULD play. There's no mistake about it. At 
least, it was almost as certain as that other undeniable 
fact, that our singers could sing. Well, it was hearty 
singing ; and say what you like, it's the heart in the 
singing which is the life of the business. Besides 
those who could sing, we had about twice as many 
who could neither play nor sing ; but excelled in 
sharply criticizing what was done by others. 

" I cannot forget the big clock which had a face 
outside the chapel as well as one inside. When his 
long body had been newly grained, he seemed a very 
suitable piece of furniture for a nice, clean, old- 
fashioned Puritan meeting-house. 

"Outside the Meeting, near that long side, which was 
really the front, there stood a horsing-block. Ladies 
went up the steps, and found themselves on a plat- 
form of the same height as their horse's back. It was 
a commendable invention : how often have I wished 
for something of the sort when I have had to climb 
my Rosinante ! 

"To me this horsing-block was dear for quite 
another reason The grand old lime trees shed their 



The Essex Lad in the Essex Village. 31 

leaves in profusion, and when these were swept up, 
the old chapel-keeper would ram a large quantity 
of them under the horsing-block. When I had pulled 
out about as many as fitted my size, I could creep 
in ; and there lie hidden beyond fear of discovery. 

" My friend, Mr. Manton Smith, has written a 
book called ' Stray Leaves ' ; and another which he 
has entitled ' More Stray Leaves ' ; I entered into 
his work before he was born. So good was the 
hiding, that it remained a marvel where ' the child ' 
could be. The child would get alone ; but where 
he went to, his guardian angels knew, but none on 
earth could tell. 

"Only a little while ago, my dear old aunt Ann 
said, ' But, Charles, where did you get to when you 
were such a little child? We used to look every- 
where for you, but we never found you till you came 
walking in all by yourself.' 

" The horsing-block was the usual haunt when there 
were leaves, and an old tomb would serve at other 
times. No, I did not get into the grave ; but it had a 
sort of altar tomb above it, and one of the side stones 
would move easily, so that I could get inside, and 
then by setting the slab of stone back again I was 
enclosed in a sort of large box where nobody w T ould 
dream of looking for me. 

" I went to the aforesaid tomb to show my aunt 
my hiding-place ; but the raised altar was gone, and 
the top of it, with the name of the deceased thereon, 
was laid flat on the ground. Some of the side stones, 
which formerly held up the memorial, were used to 
make door-steps when the buildings were put into 
their present state of repair, and the top stone was 



32 The Essex Lad. 

made to occupy the same space, only it lay flat 
upon the ground instead ol being raised some two 
feet above it. Still, I remembered well the place, 
and what the tomb had formerly been. 

" How often have I listened to the good people 
calling me by my name ! I heard their feet close to 
my den, but I was wicked enough still to be ' lost/ 
though the time for meals was gone. Dreaming of 
days to come befell me every now and then as a child, 
and to be quite alone was my boyish heaven. 

"The prayer-meetings during the week were always 
kept up ; but at certain seasons of the year grand- 
father and a few old women were all that could be 
relied upon. 

" It occurred to me, in riper years, to ask my 
venerated relative how the singing was maintained. 

" ' Why, grandfather,' said I, ' we always sang, and 
yet you don't know any tunes, and certainly the old 
ladies didn't.' 

" ' Why, child,'" said he, ' there's one Common metre 
tune which is all,' ' Hum Ha, Hum \Y^ 'end I could 
manage that very well.' 

" ' But how if it happened to be a Long or Short 
metre hymn ? ' 

" ' Why, then I either put in more Hum Ha's, or 
else I left some out ; but we managed to praise 
the Lord.'" 

The godly wife of the minister of Stambourne, was- 
everything that a minister's wife should be ; she 
studied her husband's comfcrt as well as the general 
good of the people in the village, and did much 
before she died towards the training of her dear little 
grandson. 



The Essex Lad in the Essex Village. 33 

It was always her delight to give him pleasure, and 
whenever her husband had arranged to visit the 
Squire's house to take tea with him, which was not 
an unfrequent occurrence, she generally managed 
somehow for her grandson to accompany him. Their 
usual custom at such tea-parties was to indulge in 
sugared bread and butter. The grown-up men con- 
sidered this a luxury, and although the sugar was 
very brown she knew Charlie would be delighted, 
for this was quite in accordance with his taste. 
I daresay some of you young people would not have 
objected to join the party had you been alive at 
the time. 

There were three special points in the life of Mrs 
James Spurgeon, of Stambourne, that early fixed 
themselves in the memory of her grandson Charlie, 
and these were her kindness, her love, and her piety. 
He made up his mind to imitate her in all three, and 
these characteristics became more intensified in his 
life as he grew into years. May every grandmother 
who may read this life be known and remembered by 
the same good qualities ! 

At length one night the aged wife passed to her 
reward. She died sitting up in bed with her finger 
on a verse in the book of Job : " The hand of God 
hath touched me," and from this text was preached her 
funeral sermon. It was a fit close to a lovely life. 

One of the privileges of the little grandson while 
visiting at the Stambourne Manse was to be allowed 
to read the Scriptures at family prayers. 

Once upon a time when reading the passage in the 
Book of Revelation which mentions the bottomless 
pit, he paused and said, 



34 The Essex Lad. 

" ' Grandpa, what can this mean ? ' 

" The answer was kind but unsatisfactory : ' Pooh, 
pooh, child, go on ! ' 

" The child intended, however to have an explana- 
tion, and therefore selected the same chapter morning 
after morning, Sunday included, and always halted 
at the same verse to repeat the enquiry. 

" 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 bottom- 
less, and allowed the fruit placed therein to fall upon 
the ground. Here, then, was the puzzle with which 
he rather startled the propriety of family worship. 

" ' Grandfather,' he said, * If the pit has no bottom, 
where will all the people fall to who drop out at its 
lower end ? ' 

" No sufficient answer being given, the difficulty had 
to be laid aside for explanation at a more convenient 
season. 

" Questions of the like simple and natural character 
would frequently break up into paragraphs 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," says Mr. Spurgeon in relating the incident, 
" the Scriptures were not very badly rendered, and 
were probably quite as interesting as if they had not 
been interspersed with original and curious enquiries." 




CHAPTER V. 

% UfljrartoMe fraphMg. 

HILE spending a summer vacation at his 
grandfather's, when he was ten years old, 
an incident occurred which had a material 
influence on the boy at the time, and 
perhaps helped to mould his future life. It occurred 
during a visit which the Rev. Richard Knill paid to the 
Essex village. Here is the story in Mr. Spurgeon's 
own words, as given in Memories of Stambourne : — 

" Mr. Knill took the county of Essex in the year 
1844, and traversed the region from town to town, as 
a deputation for the London Missionary Society. 
In the course of that journey he spent a little time 
at Stambourne Parsonage. In his heart burned the 
true missionary spirit, for he sought the souls of 
young and old, whenever they came in his way. He 
was a great soul-winner, and he soon spied out the 
boy. 

" He said to me, * Where do you sleep ? for I want 
to call you up in the morning.' 

" I showed him my little room, and he took good 
note of it. At six o'clock he called me up. There 
stood in my grandfather's garden two arbours made 
of yew trees, cut into sugar-loaf fashion. We went 
into the right-hand arbour, and there, in the sweetest 



36 



The Essex Lad. 



way, he told me of the love of Jesus, and of the 
blessedness of trusting in Him and loving Him in 
our childhood. With many a story he preached Christ 
to me, and told me how good God had been to him, 
and then he prayed that I might know the Lord and 
serve Him. He knelt down in the arbour, and prayed 




MR. KNILL AND THE BOY SPURGEON IN THE YEW ARBOUR. 



for me with his arms about my neck. He did not 
seem content unless I kept with him in the interval 
between the services and he heard my childish talk 
with patient love. 

" On Monday morning he did as on the Sabbath, 
and again on Tuesday. Three times he taught me 



A Remarkable Prophecy. 37 

and prayed with me, and before he had to leave, my 
grandfather had come back from the place where he 
had gone to preach, and all the family were gathered 
to morning prayer. Then, in the presence of them 
all, Mr. Knill took me on his knee, and said : — 

"'This child will one day preach the gospel, and 
he will preach it to great multitudes. I am persuaded 
that he will preach in the chapel of Rowland Hill, 
where (I think he said) I am now the minister.' 

" He spoke very solemnly, and called upon all 
present to witness what he said. Then he gave me 
sixpence as a reward if I would learn the hymn 

' God moves in a mysterious way, 
His wonders to perform/ 

I was made to promise that when I preached in 
Rowland Hill's Chapel that hymn should be sung. 
Think of that as a promise from a child ! 

" Would it ever be other than an idle dream ? 

" Years flew by. 

" After I had begun for some little time to preach 
in London, Dr. Alexander Fletcher was engaged to 
deliver the annual sermon to children in Surrey 
Chapel ; but as he was taken ill, I was asked in a 
hurry to preach to the children in his stead. 

" ' Yes,' I replied, ' I will, if you will allow the 
children to sing, " God moves in a mysterious way." 
I have made a promise long ago that so that should 
be sung.' 

" And so it was : I preached in Rowland Hill's 
Chapel, and the hymn was sung. My emotions on 
that occasion I cannot describe 1 , for the word of the 
Lord's servant was fulfilled. 



38 The Essex Lad. 

" Still I fancy that Surrey was not the chapel which 
Mr. Knill intended. 

" How was I to go to the country chapel ? 

" All unsought by me, the minister at Wotton- 
under-Edge, which was Mr. Hill's summer residence, 
invited me to preach there. I went on the condition 
that the congregation should sing, ' God moves in a 
mysterious way ' — which was also done. To me it 
was a very wonderful thing, and I no more under- 
stood at that time how it came to pass than I 
understand to-day why the Lord should be so 
gracious to me." 

This is a very remarkable incident. Of course, we 
all cannot expect to have our future course in life told 
so plainly. God hides from us what is going to 
happen, but He has prepared a plan for all our lives ; 
the Bible says that "the steps of a good man are 
ordered of the Lord." So, though we may not know 
the future, we may be guided in it, if only we will 
trust the Lord Jesus, whom Mr. Spurgeon trusted, 
and whose truth he preached for so many years. 




CHAPTER VI. 

Horn* and Jich0oL 

T Colchester, there was now quite a little 
group of children to cheer the father and 
mother, and help to make the home bright. 
Through the kindness of two of Mr. 
Spurgeon's sisters, I have been privileged to get an 
extra peep into the family circle, and to glean some- 
thing of the spirit of their childhood days. 

Charles H. Spurgeon was admitted by all his 
friends to be a little king in the home, his straight- 
forwardness as a boy was very marked, and his 
brother and sisters trusted him implicitly. He seemed 
born to organize. This was seen in the way he neatly 
covered the books of the family, and numbered them, 
appointing one of the sisters librarian. A little garden 
having been allotted to each of the children by their 
father, brother Charlie was looked upon as the in- 
spector and general overseer, and reported to his 
father which plot he considered to be the best kept, 
and most worthy of reward. 

One of their delights as children, was to sit round 
the fireside at night, and repeat in their turn, in alpha- 
betical order, a verse of a hymn. Brother Charlie 
could with ease, commence with A and go through 
the alphabet, but his little sister was always pleased 
when they arrived at the letter N. She knew that 



40 The Essex Lad. 

Charlie's favourite verse began with that letter, and 
she would always ask that he should say it, even if it 
did not come quite in his turn. She did this because 
in reciting the third line, he always lifted up his 
finger at the word point, and this pleased them all 
greatly. The verse ran as follows : — 

" Now will I tell to sinners round, 
What a dear Saviour I have found ; 
Fit point to Thy redeeming blood, 
And say, Behold the way to God." 

It will thus be seen that very early he shadowed 
forth his future career. His life-work was still to 
point to the Lamb of God which taketh away the 
sin of the world. 

Twice during these early days he wrote a little 
book, containing an original poem and an article on 
" Passing Events." He also compiled another book, 
which he called " SCRAPS OF MISSIONARY NEWS." 
This was in fact quite a miniature magazine. He 
frequently gave his brother and sisters little lectures 
on Bunyan's " Pilgrim's Progress," and " Holy War," 
and delivered them with such gusto that the children 
listened with eager delight. 

His conduct, as a child, in the sanctuary, was the 
subject of general remark, and even before his con- 
version, his reverence for good things, and his love for 
good men was very great. 

After a visit from Mr. Williams the missionary, who 
stayed a short time at his father's house, and who 
was brutally killed afterwards in the South Seas, he 
remarked to his sister, " I wish I had half his love 
for God and the heathen." When he heard of his 
death at Erromanga, he said, " I know, dear sister, the 



Home and School. 41 

gate of Heaven was opened very wide for him ; Mr. 
Williams will be in Heaven a shining one for ever, for 
he has turned many to righteousness." 

His nature was so unselfish, that he would give all 
he had to others, scarcely thinking of himself, and he 
never lost the generous spirit of those early days. 

The love of reading which he had, and to which 
we have already referred, sometimes caused him to 
forget other little duties, which he should have remem- 
bered, but his regret afterwards was very great. He 
had a wonderful desire for solid and instructive books, 
but read he must ; indeed, it is on record, that later 
on in life, he read all the books in the Maidstone 
library. 

His father has told me that he never saw in his 
life such a boy for books. " In fact," said he, " Charlie 
did nothing else all his life, but busy himself with 
books ; he never amused himself like other boys. 
James was full of fun and frolic, keeping rabbits, 
chickens, guinea pigs, flying kites, digging in the 
garden, sawing wood, hammering nails, making wind- 
mills, and cutting out boats ; but Charlie was always 
buried in books." 

His brother bears the same testimony. He says, 
"Whilst I was busy here and there, interfering with 
anything and everything that a boy could touch, he 
kept to books, and you could not get him away from 
study. But although he had nothing to do with other 
things, he could have told you all about them, because 
he used to read about everything, and read with a 
memory as tenacious as a vice and capacious as a 
barn. I can recall his studying, and how he used to 
be delighted to give me the benefit of what he had 



42 The Essex Lad. 

been reading. I acquired a good deal of second-hand 
knowledge, and I think it did us both good that he 
should learn and then impart. He began it very 
early. He certainly began to be a tutor as far back 
as I can remember. He made such progress in his 
studies that I am quite sure that there were few young 
men anywhere of his age, at his time, that were his 
equals, and I think I do not know any that were his 
superiors." 

On one occasion he had a book entitled " Spanish 
Bullfights," lent him by an unwise friend, and was 
punished by his parents for reading it ; he told one of 
his sisters (speaking like some old man) that it was a 
good thing he had been so chastened. 

" I should like to be able to forget even the half I 
read in that book," he said, " but I cannot ! it sticks to 
me like glue. Bad books," he added "are terrible things." 

His reverence for his father and mother was very 
great, and his godly mother's influence was one of the 
true secrets of his great success in after life. His love 
for his mother made him something like that boy 
who said, " I know that is true, for mother said so ; 
and whatever my mother says is true ; even if it isn't 
true. It is true, if mother says it." 

Speaking a year or two before he fell asleep in Jesus, 
he said, " When I was a boy, I never doubted what 
my father believed. And when I was under the 
influence of my grandfather, who taught me the 
Word of God, I was such a little simpleton, that I 
never set up my judgment against his. I find that 
very small boys are not now so foolish ; I wish they 
were wise enough to be as foolish as I was ! 

"When I grew up I never suspected a doctrine 



home and School. 43 

because my father believed it. No, my leaning went 
the other way ; and if my godly lather found peace 
and comfort in a word, I thought that what was good 
for him was good for his son. I was foolish enough 
to lean on the words of my elders in this way, and 
somehow, though others often think that such a 
course is folly, I am glad that it was so. 

" I thank God, too, that my sons were as foolish as 
their father; and that what their father believed had 
an attraction for them. I hope that they judged for 
themselves, as I also tried to do, when I came to riper 
years ; but, at the first, it was the words of my 
parents that led me to Christ. . What I knew of the 
elements of the gospel I received largely, without 
a question, from them, and I do not think it was an 
ill bequest." 

A characteristic incident occurred shortly after he 
once came home from Stambourne. His grandfather 
had taught him always to do what he thought to be 
right. When therefore he went to the service of the 
sanctuary, and the people did not repeat the last line 
of the hymn, as he had been accustomed to hear it 
rendered at Stambourne, he insisted upon doing it 
himself, to the disturbance of the congregation. He 
remarked in subsequent years that it would have been 
much wiser, and better, if his grandfather had told 
him, as a little boy, to do what his parents thought to 
be right. But thus early in life he asserted the right 
to private judgment. He soon found, however, that 
little boys are not always the best judges of what is 
right and what is wrong, and he learned to look for 
guidance to his father and mother, who knew so much 
better than he did in many things. 



44 The Essex Lad. 

His first school was, you remember, conducted by a 
lady, and while the lad was at this school an incident 
occurred which proved a life-long lesson to him ; it is 
pithily related by himself in John Ploughman's Talk: 

" When I was a very small boy, in pinafores, and 
went to a woman's school, it so happened that I 
wanted a stick of slate pencil, and had no money to 
buy it with. I was afraid of being scolded for losing 
my pencils so often, for I was a real careless little 
fellow, and so did not dare to ask at home ; what 
then was I to do ? 

" There was a little shop in the place, where nuts, 
and tops, and cakes, and balls were sold by old Mrs. 
Dearson, and sometimes I had seen boys and girls get 
trusted by the old lady. I argued with myself that 
Christmas ■ was coming, and that somebody or other 
would be sure to give me a penny then, and perhaps 
even a whole silver sixpence. I would therefore 
go into debt for a stick of slate pencil, and be 
sure to pay at Christmas. I did not feel easy about 
it, but still I screwed my courage up and went into 
the shop. 

" One farthing was the amount, and as I had never 
owed anything before, and my credit was good, the 
pencil was handed over by the kind dame, and / 
was in debt. 

" It did not please me much, and I felt as if I had 
done wrong, but I little knew how soon I should 
smart for it. How my father came to hear of this 
little stroke of business I never knew, but some little 
bird or other whistled it to him, and he was very 
soon down upon me in right earnest. God bless him 
for it ; he was a sensible man, and none of your 



Home and School. 45 

children spoilers ; he did not intend to bring up his 
children to speculate, and play at what big rogues 
call financing, and therefore he knocked my getting 
into debt on the head at once, and no mistake. 

" He gave me a very powerful lecture upon getting 
into debt, and how like it was to stealing, and upon 
the way in which people were ruined by it ; and 
how a boy who would owe a farthing, might one 
day owe a hundred pounds, and get into prison, and 
bring his family into disgrace. It was a lecture, 
indeed ; I think I can hear it now, and can feel my 
ears tingling at the recollection of it. 

" Then I was marched off to the shop like a deserter 
marched into barracks, crying bitterly all down the 
street, and feeling dreadfully ashamed, because I 
thought everybody knew I was in debt. The farthing 
was paid amid many solemn warnings, and the poor 
debtor was set free, like a bird let out of a cage. 

" How sweet it felt to be out of debt ! How did my 
little heart vow and declare that nothing should ever 
tempt me into debt again ! It was a fine lesson, and 
I have never forgotten it. If all boys were inoculated 
with the same doctrine when they were young, it 
would be as good as a fortune to them, and save 
them waggon-loads of trouble in after life. God 
bless my father, say I, and send a breed of such 
fathers into old England to save her from being eaten 
up with villainy." 

So deeply was the horror of debt implanted in him 
by this incident, that during his after life he shunned 
it as he would have avoided the plague. Even when 
he built the Tabernacle he would not go into debt, 
and it was not opened until every penny was paid. 



46 The Essex Lad. 

I hope all those who read these pages may take this to 
heart, and "owe no man anything, but love to one 
another." 

After a short time under Mrs. Cook's tuition it was 
deemed advisable to remove Charlie to a school which 
was kept by Mr. Henry Lewis, of Stockwell House, 
Colchester ; here he made rapid progress, and soon 
stood at the top of the class. For some time he 
retained this place, but there came a time when he 
gradually gravitated downwards till he was quite at 
the bottom. 

This was a matter of great astonishment to his 
teacher who knew his abilities, especially as he did 
not seem to make any great effort to regain the 
position he had lost. He seemed, in fact, quite 
content to be considered the dunce of the class, 
and to remain at the foot of it. 

One day it dawned on his teacher that the top ot 
the class was next to a draughty door, and the bottom 
of the class close to a warm stove ; and thinking 
perhaps this had something to do with young 
Spurgeon's strange loss of ambition, he altered the 
order of the class, making the bottom the top, and the 
top the bottom. 

So Master Charlie, being last of all, was compelled 
to stand next to the draughty door. Not for long, 
however. When he saw that now merit in the class 
meant personal comfort, he displayed such diligence 
that he soon regained his position, and in a short 
time he was found standing beside the warm stove 
again ; and in that place of worth and warmth he 
kept till he left the school. 

Some people have imagined that Mr. Spurgeon was 






Home and School. 47 

a man of meagre education, but this is quite a 
mistake. Mr. James Spurgeon bears witness that 
both he and his brother received the best Non- 
conformist education it was possible at that time to 
get. Their father pinched himself to give it to them. 

Mr. Cheveley, of Harrogate, who was a schoolfellow 
of theirs, bears witness to the same effect. He 
says : — " Stockwell House, Colchester, where Charles 
Haddon Spurgeon was being educated from the age of 
eleven to fifteen, was a thoroughly good middle-class 
classical and commercial school. Mr. Henry Lewis, 
the principal, was a man whose literary attainments 
were of a superior order, and for years he was assisted 
by a very scholarly man in the person of Mr. Leeding." 

I may perhaps be allowed to interrupt this letter, 
and say here that Mr. Spurgeon, in after years, took 
the greatest interest in his former assistant master, 
whose death occurred only very recently. 

" Mr. Leeding was the classical and mathematical 
tutor; his teaching was very thorough, and in Charles 
Spurgeon he possessed a pupil of a very receptive mind, 
especially with Latin and Euclid. I remember well 
that in both of these subjects he was very advanced, 
so that he left Stockwell House a thoroughly well- 
educated youth ; in fact, quite as much so as it was 
possible for him to attain outside the Universities." 

So far advanced was he that when his school- 
master was commissioned to compile the tables for a 
certain Life Assurance Society, he gave the work to 
Charles Spurgeon to do, and the tables of that Society, 
even to the present day, are the handiwork of him 
who afterwards became the Pastor of the Metropolitan 
Tabernacle. 



4 8 



The Essex Lad. 



A few years ago, one who now stands very high at 
the English Bar, told one of Mr. Spurgeon's sisters, 
that the help her brother Charles gave him with his 
Latin, after school hours, was the cause of his present 
success in life. But her brother, as far as she knew, 
had never mentioned to anyone the assistance he had 
rendered to his schoolmate. 

Early in the year 1848 the two brothers were sent 
by their father to complete their studies at All Saints 
Agricultural College, Maidstone, which was conducted 
by a Mr. Walker. There they remained until Charlie 
was appointed as a junior teacher in Mr. Swindell's 
school at Newmarket. According to his father's 
diary he started from Colchester, accompanied by his 
godly mother, on the 17th August, 1849, being then 
in his fifteenth year. When he thus left his home, for 
what we may call his real start alone in life, his father 
wrote in his diary, beneath the date, " The Lord go 
with him, and keep him and bless him." Very 
abundantly has that prayer been answered. 




MR. SPURGEON'S MOTHER. 




CHAPTER VII. 

I§he jlifflc at ^rtillcrtr jfatte. 

UT now we turn from his mental education 
to ask about the state of this young man's 
heart. We have already seen his rever- 
ence for good things and his longing after 
the best life, but as his studies advanced his soul be- 
came unsettled, until he seemed for a time to lose 
faith even in his father's religion. We shall best 
understand his state at this time by giving an account 
of it in his own brilliant 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 dipped 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." 

From doubting some things he c ime to question 
everything, even his own existence. But at length 



50 The Essex Lad. 

there came a day when he conquered those extremes 
to which Satan often drives the sinner who is really 
repenting of his sins. 

Mr. Spurgeon's father was at this time an Indepen- 
dent minister, and lived at Colchester, preaching every 
Sunday at Tollesbury, a small village within driving 
distance of the town. It was while C. H. Spurgeon 
was home from Newmarket for the Christmas holidays 
that he experienced the great spiritual change of his 
life, and became a new man in Christ Jesus. 

Of his state at this time, he gave the following 
account in his two thousandth printed sermon : — 

" Years ago, when I was a youth, the burden of my 
sin was exceedingly heavy upon me. I had fallen 
into no gross vices, and should not have been regarded 
by any one as being specially a transgressor ; but I 
regarded myself as such, and I had good reason for 
so doing. My conscience was sensitive because it was 
enlightened ; and I judged that, having had a godly 
father, and a praying mother, and having been trained 
in the ways of piety, I had sinned against much light, 
and consequently there was a greater degree of guilt 
in my sin than in that of others who were my youthful 
associates, but had not enjoyed my advantages. 

" I could not enjoy the sports of youth, for I felt that 
I had done violence to my conscience. I would seek 
my chamber, and there sit alone, read my Bible, and 
pray for forgiveness ; but peace did not come to me. 
Books such as Baxter's ' Call to the Unconverted,' 
and Doddridge's ' Rise and Progress,' I read over and 
over again. Early in the morning I would awake, 
and read the most earnest religious books I could find, 
desiring to be eased of my burden )f sin. I was not 



The S iege. at A rtillery Lane. 5 l 

always thus dull, but at times my misery of soul was 
very great. The words of the weeping prophet and 
of Job were such as suited my mournful case. I 
would have chosen death rather than life. I tried to 
do as well as I could, and to behave myself aright ; 
but in my own judgment I grew worse and worse. I 
felt more and more despondent. I attended every 
place of worship within my reach, but I heard nothing 
which gave me lasting comfort." 

It had been his custom, when at home with other 
members of the family, usually to accompany his 
father, but on one Sunday, during the month of 
January, 1 850, it was so stormy, that Mrs. Spurgeon 
would not allow Charles to go so far, but advised him 
to attend some place of worship in the town. His 
unrest of heart had, as we have seen, set him visiting 
all the places round about to see if he could find 
peace somewhere. On this Sunday morning he found 
his way into a little Primitive Methodist Chapel, in 
Colchester, which he had never entered before, and 
which he did not even know was in existence till that 
moment. The preacher that day was a local man, 
pale as death and as thin as a skeleton, who during 
the week worked at digging and planting cabbages, 
and on Sundays occasionally occupied the pulpit in 
the little sanctuary. 

On account of the snow and the storm there were but 
few people present on this particular morning ; indeed 
so sparse was the congregation that the preacher 
debated in his own mind whether it was worth while 
to deliver an address at all, and even said " I don't 
think I'll preach this mcrning." Better judgment 
however prevailed, and he was led by God's Holy 



$2 The Essex Lad. 

Spirit to direct the attention of the few people who 
were there, to that well-known verse in Isaiah xlv. 22, 
" Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the 
earth : for I am God, and there is none else." 

The preacher, fixing his eyes upon the stranger 
under the gallery, and at the same time pointing with 
his finger to him, said, by way of application to his 
text : " There is a young man under the left hand 
gallery, who is very miserable. He will find no peace 
till he looks to Jesus. Young man, you seem to be 
in trouble. Look to Jesus, and you will get rid of it. 
Look, look, look ! " Again he cried " Look, look, 
young man, Look." 

That instant his youthful hearer saw that salvation 
was not of himself, and the look of faith to Christ's 
finished work brought salvation to his soul. The 
burden he had carried for weeks and months fell 
from him, and he was enabled to rejoice in Christ 
immediately. Such an overflowing joy came over 
him that he felt he could have stood up there and 
then, and cried "Hallelujah! Glory be to God, I am 
delivered from the burden of my sin." 

Little did anyone realize what a work for God and 
for eternity had been done that day. Perhaps the 
preacher went home discouraged. But in the records 
on high, it was noted that a chosen vessel to bear 
grace to millions had that morning been found and 
claimed. The siege in Artillery Lane Chapel had 
ended in a victory. 

The audience during that service, resembled Philip's 
audience in the desert of Gaza, in some respects. 
There were few in number ; there was, at least, one 
attentive hearer ; there was one anxious enquirer and 



The Siege at Artillery Lane. 53 

one convert, who not only went on his way rejoicing, 
but who soon confessed the Christ he had received. 

In the evening of the same day, the young believer 
attended the Baptist Chapel, at Colchester, in com- 
pany with his mother, and heard a sermon on the 
text, " Accepted in the Beloved." This was made a 
gieat blessing to him, leading him to see the full pro- 
vision made for his every need in Christ, and added 
to his experience of the morning, the assurance which 
comes of a whole-hearted trust in the Son of God as 
the Saviour of the soul. 

After family worship that evening, Charles was re- 
minded by his father that it was bedtime ; but he did 
not seem inclined to retire. 

His heart was full. 

A second time his father said, 

" Come, come boys, it is time to go to bed." 

Instead, however, of attempting to move, his son 
said, — 

" Father, I should like to speak to you alone." 

When the others had gone, he unburdened his 
heart to his father, and they talked almost till mid- 
night. The boy spoke of the morning sermon, and 
said, that the way of salvation was made so clear 
to him, that he could doubt no longer. 

" I seemed then to understand," he said, " that Jesus 
bore my sins in His own body on the tree, and to- 
night I find that in Christ I am truly accepted before 
God. This is a blessed Sabbath for me, father," he 
added, " for I have found pardon, peace and assurance 
in Christ." 

Father and son prayed and praised God together, 
and only those parents who have experienced the joy 



54 The Essex Lad. 

of hearing from their children's lips the confession of 
Christ as Lord and Saviour, can enter into the joy of 
that father's heart that night. 

On October nth, 1864, Mr. Spurgecn, whose fame 
had in the interval become world-wide, preached a 
sermon to about five hundred hearers, in the chapel 
in which he was converted at Colchester, on the 
occasion of the anniversary of that place of worship. 
He took for his text the memorable words in Isaiah, 
which had led him into the light, and said, — 

" That text 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 converted.' 1 This honest confession produced a 
thrilling effect upon the congregation, and very much 
endeared the successful pastor to many hearts. 

In the year 1880, referring to his conversion, Mr. 
Spurgeon said, " Many days have passed since then, 
but my faith has held me up, and compelled me to 
tell out the story of free grace and dying love. I can 
truly say, — 

" E'er since by faith I saw the stream, 
Thy flowing wounds supply, 
Redeeming love has been my theme, 
And shall be till I die." 

This was the verse which he was accustomed to 
write in albums, and it was abundantly true of him, 
all his life long. 

Some years ago my dear friends, Rev. V. J. 
Charlesworth and Mr. Chamberlain, accompanied a 
choir of the Stockwell Orphanage boys to Colchester. 
In the evening while conversing with their hostess, 



The Siege at Artillery Lane. 55 

she informed them that she had known Charles 
Haddon Spurgeon when he was quite a little boy. 

" I have a curiosity to show you," she said, " and I 
prize it very much." 






SAp^yijpi 



cm^jz 




jlUlAj/^L 



A FAC-SIMILE PAGE OF "JUVENILE MAGAZINE." 

When it was produced, it proved to be a tiny 
manuscript magazine which he had kept of the 
" Home Juvenile Society," and it was written in a 



56 The Essex Lad. 

clear, round hand. In one place there was a lamenta- 
tion, because some of his schoolmates seemed to be 
falling away from grace ; in another he had recorded 
his sorrow because the prayer meetings were so badly 
attended ; various illustrations and extracts completed 
the sixteen pages which it contained. A facsimile 
penny reproduction of this interesting memento has 
been issued by Mr. Barton, of St. George's Road, 
Southwark, and by his courtesy I am able to re- 
produce a page the exact size of the original, which 
will show Mr. Spurgeon's early zeal for prayer. Many 
friends will wish to possess the whole of this bijou 
publication, as it is the very first available thing which 
Mr. Spurgeon wrote. It was written when he was 
not quite twelve years of age. 

My friends also paid a visit to Artillery Lane 
Chapel, and found the carpenters busily engaged 
taking down the old pulpit, in which the minister 
stood on that memorable Sunday morning, in order 
to replace it by a platform. Mr. Charlesworth, with 
his usual sagacity, soon secured the old pulpit, as a 
relic of the past, and in due time, it was transferred 
to the Stockwell Orphanage, and placed in the girls' 
play-hall. Visitors to that institution may still see 
there that memorial of by-gone days. 






CHAPTER VIII. 

a Mm Mm at fcnaiM 




|0T long after the great change of heart had 
taken place, the young Christian was de- 
prived of the daily counsel of his father 
and mother, having to return to his new 
sphere. At Newmarket he devoted himself closely to 
his studies ; he gave every satisfaction, and soon be- 
came a great favourite in the school. 

Having the sunlight of God in his soul he de- 
termined to keep the light bright by active service for 
his Lord and Master. He therefore set about helping 
others in every possible way. The Sunday-school 
became his great delight, and he gained his way into 
the homes of his scholars by calling to teach them 
writing: like a diligent disciple of Christ he took care 
that the very copies he set them should have the 
gospel in them. 

The principal of the school where he was engaged 
at Newmarket was a Baptist, and there is little doubt 
that this fact had some share in turning the thoughts 
of the junior usher to the subject of confessing Christ 
in the way of that denomination. At any rate, 
in a few months young Spurgeon, having well 
thought out the matter for himself, announced 
his intention of being publicly baptized. 



58 



The Essex Lad. 



Failing to find a Baptist minister in Newmarket, he 
arranged with Mr. Cantlow, the pastor of a small 
church in the village of Isleham, which is situated 
in the Fen country, to immerse him in the river Lark. 
On the 1st of May, in 1850, he wrote to his father 
and mother, apprising them of the arrangements made 
for his baptism. His mother said to him : — 




ISLEHAM FERRY. 



" Ah, Charlie! 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 
prayers, mother, with his usual bounty, and given you 
more than you asked." 

On Friday, May ■?, 1 850, his mother's birthday, he 
rose up early in the morning, and spent two quiet 
hours alone with God in prayer. He then walked eight 



A New Man at Newmarket. 59 

miles to Isleham Ferry. A great concourse of people 
had already assembled to witness this lad of sixteen 
go through the solemn ordinance ; and amid deep 
solemnity, but with much happiness of heart, the 
young believer went down into the water. Having 
been baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, 
and the Holy Spirit, he returned to Newmarket, filled 
with holy joy, determined to follow Christ with all 
his heart until the end. 

At once he decided to unite himself with God's 
people, and with this intention he made application 
to join a church at Newmarket. Referring to this 
time, he said, in a recent sermon : " I remember the 
difficulty that I had when I was converted, and wished 
to join the Christian church in the place where I 
lived. I called upon the minister four successive days 
before I could see him ; each time there was some 
obstacle in the way of an interview ; and as I could 
not see him at all, I wrote and told him that I would 
go down to the church-meeting, and propose myself 
as a member. 

" He looked upon me as a strange character, but I 
meant what I said ; for I felt that I could not be 
happy without fellowship with the people of God. I 
wanted to be wherever they were ; and if anybody 
ridiculed them, I wished to be ridiculed with them ; 
and if people had an ugly name for them, I wanted 
to be called by that ugly name ; for I felt that unless 
I suffered with Christ in His humiliation, I could not 
expect to reign with Him in His glory." 

He did not carry out his intention of proposing 
himself for membership with the church. The indolent 
minister, seeing that the candidate was so much in 

3* 



6c Tht Essex Lad, 

earnest, arranged to meet him, and he was introduced 
in the ordinary way, and joined himself to God's people. 

So the new life continued at Newmarket. But we 
must not suppose that the old playfulness was lost. 
The following letter to his sister, the original of which 
lies before me as I write, will show how his humour 
at times bubbled up irrepressibly ; and at the same 
time it will give us a glimpse of that unselfishness of 
character which distinguished him even to the end. 

The letter is dated Cambridge, Thursday, Dec, 
1850, and is addressed to Miss Caroline Louisa 
Spurgeon. He writes — 

"Your name is so long that it will almost reach 
across the paper. We have one young gentleman in 
our school whose name is Edward Ralph William 
Baxter Tweed ; the boys tease him about his long 
name ; but he is a very good boy, and that makes his 
name a good one. Everybody's name is pretty, if 
they are good people. The Duke of Tuscany has just 
had a little son ; the little fellow was taken to the 
Catholic Cathedral, * * * * * * 
and then they named him — you must get Eliza to 
read it — Giovanni Nepomerceno Maria Annunziata 
Guiseppe Giovanbaptista Ferdinando Baldassere Luigi 
Gonzaga Pietro Allesandro Zanobi Antonino. A 
pretty name to go to bed and get up with ; it will 
be a long while before he will be able to say it all 
the way through ! If anyone is called by the name 
of Christian, that is better than all these great words : 
it is the best name in the world, except the name 
of our Lord Jesus Christ. My best love to you. I 
hope you will enjoy yourself, and try to make others 
happy, too ; for then you are sure to be happy 



A New Man at Newmarket. 61 

yourself ; whereas, if you only look out to please your- 
self, you will make others uncomfortable, and will not 
make even yourself happy. However, of course, you 
know that, and I need not tell you of it. A happy 
Christmas to you. 

Your loving brother, Charles." 

On my last visit to Mr. Spurgeon's home, shortly 
before his terrible illness, he said at the tea-table, that 
when he was a young man, at Newmarket, the cook 
in the school was an earnest, Christian woman, with a 
good understanding of God's truth, but with a very 
broad accent, and a very quaint way of expressing 
her thoughts. 

They both attended the same place of worship ; 
and, one day, there had been in the sermon neither 
gospel for the sinner nor instruction for the saint. 
When he got home, he went down into the kitchen, 
and said to her — 

" How did you get on this morning, cook ? I did 
not find a crumb for my soul in the whole sermon." 

The cook replied, "Well, Spargon, I got on very 
well indeed ; for, all the time the man was preaching, 
I was like an old hen scratching away with her leg, 
turning over a heap of rubbish ; and though I could not 
find any food, the continual scratching kept me warm." 

In the evening, being again disappointed with the 
preacher's discourse, the young tutor went to his friend 
in the kitchen for comfort once more. 

" Well, Spargon," she said, this time, " I got on 
better to-night ; for to all the preacher said, I just put 
a ?iot, and this turned all his talk into real gospel." 

Amid such honest surroundings, the new life of the 
young usher rapidly developed. 




CHAPTER [X. 

Inder tfa ahadoro oj tfa litium% 

HE young tutor's stay at Newmarket was; 
not a very prolonged one. But he made 
hay while the sun shone, and quickly 
became a power for God in the place. 
He was soon in frequent request to give addresses 
to the Sunday-school. These addresses were so 
pithy and pointed, that the parents of the children 
gathered in large numbers to hear them too, until 
sometimes he had more grown-up people to speak 
to, than the minister had at the ordinary services. 

Before leaving Newmarket, he gave an address in 
public on Missions, and a clergyman of the Church of 
England, who was present, was so delighted with it 
that he made the youthful speaker a present of a 
sovereign, to encourage him to employ his talents in 
such good service. 

When Mr. Leeding, who had been one of his formei 
masters, removed from Colchester to Cambridge, in 
order to commence a private college for young gentle- 
men there, he urgently invited young Spurgeon to join 
him, and chiefly out of gratitude for the instruction 
received from Mr. Leeding while attending his school 
at Colchester, Mr. Spurgeon agreed to his proposal ; 



Under the shadow of the University. 63 

and in a little while bade adieu to his labours at 
Newmarket. 

Another motive led to the change. His thirst for 
knowledge was insatiable, and he thought that he 
might have a greater opportunity of acquiring it at 
Cambridge than elsewhere. In addition to this he 
intended to take his degree at the University. Mr. 
Leeding assured him he would be quite able to do 
this without further study, but discovering that his 
nonconformity would debar him from it, he re- 
nounced the idea. Happily, the absurd religious test 
has been removed, and now both Oxford and Cam- 
bridge are open equally to Churchmen and Dissenters. 

Having taken up his abode under the shadow of 
the University, he at once identified himself with the 
church worshipping in St. Andrew's Street, which for 
years has been supported by many of the leading 
men of the town. It has gained and retained a repu- 
tation, not only for usefulness, but for respectability 
and decorum. 

A few weeks after Charles Spurgeon had been 
received into church fellowship there, he joined his 
brethren at the Lord's Table. The minister spoke on 
the subject of brotherly kindness, and the young com- 
municant quite thought he meant all he said. So 
on leaving the chapel after the service, he briskly 
introduced himself to the gentleman who had been 
sitting in front of him. 

" How do you do, sir," he said. 

The gentleman whom he addressed seemed some- 
what astonished at this remark, and informed the 
young man that he did not know him. 

" But I believe you are my brother," answered he. 



64 The Essex Lad. 

" I do not understand you." 

Not the least abashed, young Spurgeon informed 
him that he was a stranger in the town, but he was a 
member of the same church, and had just sat at the 
Lord's Table with him. 

" The minister said we were all brothers," he urged, 
" and I believed him, so I thought I would come and 
speak to you." 

For two or three minutes the gentleman looked at 
him with the utmost astonishment, and then said, 
"There now, that's what I call genuine. Come to 
my house ; you shall be my brother as long as we live." 
So they went home to tea together. 
A sermon which Mr. Spurgeon preached at Amer- 
sham, in the year 1857, lies before me. In it he 
records the incident, and says concerning the gentle- 
man whom he thus suddenly accosted — " To this day 
he is my dearest friend ; I never pass through that 
town without going to his house, and no name gives 
more music to me among the sons of men than his." 

The gentleman is still living, and is now an old 
man ; in writing to me this week he says, " I look back 
with much gratitude forty years to the time when the 
cheery face of our dearly lamented friend, C. H. 
Spurgeon was present with us in our Sunday-school. 
He was so original in all that he undertook, that his 
work keeps quite fresh in my memory. His class at 
first was composed of very young children, so that he 
literally fulfilled the charge, ' Feed my Lambs,' until 
he was called away to higher service. His appear- 
ance on Sundays brightened up most of the faces 01 
the scholars in our school. 

" It was some time before all the teachers could be 






Under the shadow of the University. 65 

persuaded of his credentials for such service ; some 
were taken a little aback at his free, open, and natural 
manner in the work, and when he stood up in the 
school to give an address, the facial expression of a 
few was the index of their thoughts. 

" His constant appearance at the Monday evening 
prayer meetings surprised some of the seniors, and 
his supplications at the throne of grace were not at 
all like their own. His boldness in prayer, at such 
an age, caused some of them to shake their heads, and 
to say that he had a good deal yet to learn. But in 
the midst of it all, there was no trace of egotism in 
him. He pursued his way in his 'own way,' and he 
worked to real purpose. 

"A section of the Church viewed his labours with 
favour, and argued a great future for him. I may be 
permitted to say I was one of them, and this opinion 
was confirmed by his coming to my home and almost 
becoming one of us. 

" One Sunday evening he was asked to preach to 
the children at Cherryhinton, and on this occasion I 
accompanied him. He commenced his address by 
saying : 

"'Whilst I sat with my friend at tea, I noticed a 
bright little boy who was standing before the window 
which looked into the garden ; he was rapidly passing 
his hands up and down the panes of glass, as if he 
wanted to catch something. My curiosity led me to 
go up to him, when I found he was busily engaged in 
trying to catch a large fly. But he was unsuccessful 
in the attempt. 

" ' Now, boys and girls, I should like to ask you 
why this little fellow was unable to do this ? ' 



66 The Essex Lad. 

'■ A. few answers from the children were given to his 
query, but none of them solved the mystery. 

"' Well, children,' said he, ' I will tell you why. It 
was because the fly was on the other side of the 
zvindow.' 

" From this incident the young preacher, who had 
only just turned sixteen, proceeded most graphically 
to describe the hindrances which stood in their way 
of obtaining that which they were all so desirous of 
having — happiness here and joy hereafter; and showed 
that the reason of their disappointment was that they 
sought for the blessing on the wrong side of things." 

Many years after this event, my friend visited 
Mr, Spurgeon at Clapham, on a Saturday even- 
ing, and the conversation turned upon these early 
days. Mr. Watts referred to the incident of the fly, 
and Mr. Spurgeon smiled when he heard of it, but 
said nothing. The next day, however, to his surprise, 
Mr. Spurgeon used this same incident in the Taber- 
nacle to illustrate his point, as he urged his hearers to 
search after happiness where alone it may be obtained ; 
and he enforced the lesson with much power. 

The same correspondent informs me that on 
another occasion he heard Mr. Spurgeon address his 
own Sunday-school in the following manner. 

i( l I was walking in the streets yesterday,' he said, 
* and I met a fine military man, looking very smart in 
his regimentals. He had a sword dangling at his 
side, and with him were two young men, from whose 
caps long streamers of bright-coloured ribbons were 
floating. What do you think was the meaning 01 
this ? ' " 

<4 Many guesses and replies followed from the children, 



Under the shadow of the University. G? 

but none were exactly to the speaker's mind. He 
therefore answered his own question. 

"'This officer,' he said, 'was in the Queen's service, 
and was what is called a recruiting sergeant. It was 
his business to speak of the glory of the Queen's ser- 
vice, and induce others to join the army. He had 
invited these young men to enlist as soldiers, and the 
long gay ribbons showed everybody that they had 
accepted this offer.' 

" ' My dear children,' he continued, ' I am seeking 
with all my heart to persuade you to enlist in the 
service of King Jesus. The warfare is very different 
to that of the young men I have been speaking about. 
They are to fight for a glory which fades away, but 
we shall obtain an eternal reward. We shall never 
be pensioned off on half-pay, but shall dwell eternally 
with Christ, our Captain, in one of His mansions in 
Heaven. Will you not, therefore, now enlist ? ' " 

This address created such an impression, that, even 
after forty years, the memory of it is quite vivid to at 
least one o^ those who heard it. 

I have another friend in Cambridge, Mr. George 
Apthorpe, one of the deacons of St. Andrew's Church, 
who formed an acquaintance with Mr. Spurgeon the 
first Sunday after he had left Newmarket, and who 
remained one of his supporters to the very end. 

In one of his letters to me he says, " No sooner 
did Mr. Spurgeon join the church than he became a 
Sunday-school teacher. His class in the school was 
situated next to mine, and so interesting was the new 
teacher's conversation with his scholars, that I fre- 
quently endeavoured to listen to his words, and was 
greatly profited by the remarks I overheard." 



68 The Essex Lad. 

This gentleman also refers to Mr. Spurgeon's 
peculiar and expressive prayers which did not find 
acceptance in some quarters : they were, in fact, too 
pointed and direct in their appeals to please some of 
the very " proper " people, whose manners had grown 
very precise because they had lived so long under the 
shadow of the University. 




MR. SPURGEON'S FATHERo 




CHAPTER X. 

|fe icjginraitjg of Jftiratks. 

^^«§ HOUSANDS of lives have been changed 
by the wonderful preaching of the man 
of God whose history occupies these 
pages. His first sermon was preached in 
a public-house, his second in a stable, and his third in 
a cottage. These were, however, but the beginning 
of miracles, even as turning the water into wine, at 
Cana of Galilee, was only the first of the wondrous 
works of our Lord. 

As a boy, our Essex lad was blessed with a quick 
eye, an active brain, a ready tongue, a bold spirit, and 
a tender heart. He had noticed, in Stambourne, that, 
alongside the poor people's cottages there was planted 
a public-house. Why they should supply poison 
here as well as food, he could not understand ; and to 
many besides himself these things are mysteries to 
this day. But so it is. Wherever you find a village 
containing a church, or a chapel, some one is sure to 
think they also need a beer-shop. In a country village 
it soon becomes known who supports the publican. 
There are few secrets in a small community. Mr. 
Jones is sure to know if Mr. Williams's horse has 
gone lame ; if Mr. Brown's cow has died, all the 
village knows 01 it before bedtime ; and anybody who 



yo The Essex Lad, 

visited the public-house could not expect to keep it a 
secret very long. 

Now, a village tap-room is not a very inviting place 
for anybody, least of all for a church-goer. There is 
generally a large, bare room, with a round table on 
three legs, in the centre, and large wooden seats with 
high backs all round the room. There might, perhaps, 
be a wooden arm-chair or two, and spittoons filled 
with sawdust underneath them, while a liberal supply 
of long clay pipes is usually placed on the table, 
ready for the expected customers. 

It was in a place something like this that the 
venerable James Spurgeon's grandson preached his 
first sermon, in the days when he was yet a ruddy 
lad, dressed in a short jacket, with a white linen collar. 
He had heard his dear old grandfather say, in the 
manse, how sad it was that Old Rhodes, one of the 
members of the church, should spend so much of 
his time in the public-house, sitting in the seat of 
the scornful ; and he had found out by his grand- 
father's prayers what a real trouble it was to him. 
The tears came to the old minister's eyes as he 
prayed for him, and the little fellow, when he saw 
them, wished that this man could be made to stop his 
conduct, lest he should break his grandfather's heart. 

So one day, when he heard them speaking at home 
about the man, Charlie put in his little say, and 
astonished them all, by exclaiming, 

"I'll kill Old Rhodes; that I will." 

" Hush ! hush ! my dear," said his grandfather ; 
" you must not talk like that, it would be very wrong 
to kill him ; and I am sure you would not think of 
doing such a thing." 



The Beginning of Miracles. 



71 




KII.LTNG OLD RHODES. 



7 2 The Essex Lad. 

" I won't do anything bad," said Charlie ; " but I'll 
kill old Rhodes, that I will ; he shan't break my 
grandfather's heart with his drinking ways." 

Not long afterwards, the brave little fellow marched 
down the village, and walked right into the tap-room 
where old Rhodes sat, as you see him in the picture, 
with a big mug before him filled with something 
that had a head like a cauliflower, and which was 
dirty stuff in the middle and muddy at the bottom. I 
wonder if my little readers know what it was ? Just 
as old Rhodes was about to drink it, having taken 
his pipe out of his mouth for that purpose, young 
Spurgeon preached out his first sermon. 

Without waiting to announce his subject, he pointed 
his finger at the old man, by way of application, and 
said, in a tone of authority — 

" What dost thou here, Elijah, sitting with the un- 
godly? and you a member of a church, breaking your 
pastor's heart ; I am ashamed of you ! I would not 
break my pastor's heart, I'm sure." 

Having delivered his message, he walked away ; 
but the sermon had struck home to the conscience of 
that old man, and stuck to him in a manner that his 
grandfather's sermons had never done. 

Charlie returned to the manse, and said — 

" Grandfather, don't fret ; I have killed old 
Rhodes." 

" Killed old Rhodes ! " said his grandfather. 

" I've settled him this time," said the youthful 
David, who had slain his Goliath; "he won't grieve 
my dear grandfather any more." 

Nothing more could be gleaned from the boy just 
then as to what had taken place ; but some time after- 



The Beginning of Miracles. 73 

wards, old Rhodes himself called at the manse, and 
told the minister how his grandson had been preach- 
ing to him in the public-house down the village. He 
confessed that the lad's words had touched his heart, 
and aroused his conscience, and said that he was 
deeply sorry for his conduct. He asked the forgive- 
ness of his pastor, and promised that such an incon- 
sistency should never occur in his life again. And it 
never did. He was so ashamed of himself, and so 
repentant, that he henceforth became a comfort to his 
pastor, a credit to his church, and a blessing to the 
village. That was the effect of the first sermon ; truly, 
it was the beginning of miracles ! 

Some time afterwards, the second sermon was de- 
livered. You must help me with your imagination 
while I endeavour to describe to you the circum- 
stances under which it was given. The scene was in 
a stable, at the rear of his father's house, at Colchester. 
One day his father came suddenly to the door, and 
was very much interested and amused to see his eldest 
son perched up in the hayrack, which was fitted against 
the wall. His short fat legs were hanging through 
the bars, and there he was preaching away to his 
heart's content. In the manger, underneath the 
preacher, was his little brother James, who was sup- 
posed to be a clerk, and whose duty was to give out 
the hymns and notices. Some clean straw had been 
scattered on t/.ie floor of the stable, to form a carpet 
for what answered instead of the big square pew. A 
truss of hay was placed in the centre of this, and 
served as a seat for the two little girls, who sat and 
listened most attentively to all that the preacher and 
the clerk said. 



74 The Essex Lad. 

To these children their service was very real and 
most complete. They sang together, with all their 
hearts, some of the hymns they had committed to 
memory. The preaching was, at any rate, most inte- 
resting to the miniature audience ; and the prayers, 
though simple and childlike, were both pleasing to 
their dear grandfather, and acceptable to God, who 
delights to hear and answer children's prayers. 

Now comes an interval of years, during which this 
little man had come to a saving knowledge of the 
truth in Jesus; had confessed his faith ; and in Sunday- 
school, and in the prayer-meetings, had commended 
himself to many. He had not, however, ventured to 
conduct a regular service, until a memorable Sunday 
evening, when he preached what is usually spoken 
of as his first sermon, but which I have called the 
third. 

It was a bright sunny Sunday evening, when two 
young men, at the request of Mr. Vinter (or as Mr. 
Spurgeon used to call him " Bishop Vinter,") might 
have been seen walking across the fields, to a village 
called Teversham, a distance of four miles from 
Cambridge, where, during the afternoon of the same 
day, they had been teaching in the Sunday-school. 

One of these two young men was the young tutor. 

His companion presently said to him, " I trust you 
will have a good time to-night, with the villagers, and 
that God will bless your word to the saving of some 
of their souls." 

" I am not going to speak," said young Spurgeon. 
'" I never preached in my life. I quite understood 
that I was to go to Teversham to keep you company, 
and listen to whatjw/ had to say." 



The Beginning of Miracles. 75 

" But I have nothing to say, and could not say it if 
I had," replied Mr. Sadler. 

"Well," said the young tutor, "this is a pretty fix 
our old friend has placed us both in." 

" Yes, indeed it is," said his companion, " but you 
must pull us out of it ; I cannot, I assure you." 

It was quite clear before they reached the village 
that the responsibility of the sermon must fall upon 
Spurgeon ; so looking up to the Lord for guidance 
and help, he resolved to do his best. 

When they arrived at the cottage, where the service 
was to be conducted, with much fear and trembling 
he conducted the meeting, and gave an address, from 
the words, " Unto you, therefore, which believe, He is 
precious." On this subject, he spoke out of a heart 
wholly devoted to Christ, and was enabled to touch 
the hearts of the assembled villagers. 

At the close of the service, an elderly dame supple- 
mented her expressions of surprise by venturing to 
ask the preacher his age. 

" Under sixty," he replied. 

" Yes, and under sixteen," added the woman. 

But even at that age, he was still able to discourse 
on this high topic, and the preciousness of Christ has 
ever since been the theme of his ministry, and the 
fragrance of his life. I pray that Christ may be pre- 
cious to the young people who read this book, as 
early in life as He was precious to him ; and that they 
may know His saving power so truly that they may 
not be afraid to speak of it, should they be called 
upon to do so. 

In Mr. Spurgeon's case, this was the beginning of 
miracles. 




CHAPTER XL 

®lre tillage Jaator. 

AVING begun to declare the gospel, young 
Spurgeon went on from strength to 
strength. The first taste of the joy of 
the service only whetted his appetite for 
more. And thus it came to pass that, like his Master, 
he went round about the villages teaching and preach- 
ing, till his name and fame became widely known. 
Wherever he went he always did his best ; and the 
old adage, that " present faithfulness is a sure guarantee 
of future success," was abundantly verified in his case. 
One Sunday he was selected by the Secretary of 
the " Local Preachers' Association " in Cambridge to 
supply the pulpit of the Baptist Chapel at Water- 
beach, a village containing some 300 houses, and with 
a population of about 1,200, which is situated some 
five miles from the University town. With so much 
acceptance did he declare the Word, that he was 
invited to come again and again. At this time, the 
little church at Waterbeach was in a very weak state, 
numbering only some forty members. But in a few 
months the chapel proved too small to accommodate 
those who became anxious to hear this popular 
preacher ; and best of all, many were added to the Lord. 
Seeing this, the church determined to call the 






The Village Pastor. 



77 



youthful preacher to the pastorate. So poor were 
they, however, that the most they could promise their 
new Pastor was a stipend of £40 a year ; but though 
the sum was little, such was his love for preaching 
Christ that he accepted the call, being quite satisfied 
that if the villagers' purses were small, their hearts 
were large. Therefore he determined to lead them 
and feed them by the grace of God, to the best of his 
ability. 




THE CHAPEL AT WATERBEACH. 

His language in the pulpit was at times very- 
quaint, striking, and graphic ; and his original way of 
enforcing his subject upon the attention of the con- 
gregation was the talk of the people for miles round. 
The rumour of his doings reached Cambridge, and 
some of the aristocratic people there were now and 
then shocked by some expressive figures of speech 
which he was reported to have used in the pulpit. 

On one occasion, in describing the depravity of 



j$ The Essex Lad. 

unregenerate men, he said that if some of them were 
allowed to enter heaven in their unconverted state, 
they would pick the angels' pockets. 

One venerable old man at Cambridge, named 
Brimley, who had heard of this extravagant flight 
of imagination on the part of the young preacher, 
deemed it his duty to stop him in the street and 
expostulate with him on his daring metaphor. He 
told him that such preaching was very foolish, and 
added that the angels have no pockets to be picked. 

For this information the young preacher thanked 
his venerable friend and wished him " Good day." 

The following week young Spurgeon met Mr. 
Brimley, and stopping him, said, 

" I have put that matter right with my people/' 

"What do you mean?" said this stately old gentleman. 

" I told my people on Sunday," said the saucy 
young preacher, " that I had made a mistake in saying 
that if an unconverted man were allowed to enter 
heaven, he would be guilty of picking the angels' 
pockets, for Mr. Brimley, of Cambridge, says the 
angels have no pockets, and he knows." But I added, 
that " if an unconverted man entered heaven and there 
were no pockets to pick, he would very probably 
pluck the very feathers out of the angels' wings." 

" You don't mean to say you said that ? " said old 
Brimley, in great dismay. 

"Indeed I did," said the young pastor. "You 
know I must be right." 

" Then I will never correct you again." 

" That is just what I wanted you to say," retorted 
the Waterbeach Pastor, at which they shook hands 
and parted good friends. 



The Village Pastor. 79 

It was no easy task tor a lad of seventeen to teach 
all the week, and then to preach three times on 
Sundays. But a fire that would not be quenched 
burned in this devoted heart. 

Each Sunday at Waterbeach a new home was 
provided for him. So great was the desire of the 
people to have him under their roof, and so hospitable 
were they, that when he received his call to the 
Metropolis, he had not exhausted his long list of 
Sunday accommodation. 

During his pastorate at Waterbeach, he still resided 
at Cambridge, augmenting his stipend by the income 
derived from teaching during the week, in Mr. 
Leeding's private college. I have heard Mr. Spurgeon 
say that at that time he used to keep his hands in his 
pockets because there was often nothing else in them. 

On one occasion when his funds were low and he 
considered his hat was rather shabby for a village 
pastor, and knowing it was considered a very wrong 
thing for a minister of the gospel to wear a shabby 
hat, he prayed to the Lord to send him the money 
to purchase a new one. He quite expected the Lord 
to grant his request, but he was astonished beyond 
measure in the way in which his prayer was answered. 

There was an old man who lived very near to him, 
who was considered by everybody to be a stingy old 
miser. So niggardly was he, that he ordered his 
coffin before he died, lest anybody should make any 
profit out of it. The Sunday after Mr. Spurgeon had 
offered his prayer, the old man entered his vestry, and 
said to the young preacher, 

" Here is seven and sixpence, Mr. Spurgeon. Will 
you please accept it and pray for me ? " 



80 The Essex Lad. 

Mr. Spurgeon promised to pray for him, thanked 
him for his gift, and purchased a new 'hat with the 
money on the following day. 

The next Sunday the same old man again appeared 
in the minister's vestry, and said in a trembling voice, 
"Mr. Spurgeon, .will you please still continue to 
pray for me, for I am afraid I am growing very 
covetous. I fear my covetous nature will be the 
ruin of me." 

" I am surprised to hear you say that," replied the 
preacher, "for last Sunday I came to the conclusion 
that you were growing quite liberal/' 

" No, I am not," the old man responded. Last 
Sunday the Lord distinctly told me to give you half 
a sovereign, but such was my greedy nature, that I 
kept back half a crown of it," 

" Oh, if that is it," said the boy preacher, "you can 
easily set the matter right. You must not rob God. 
If the Lord told you to give me ten shillings, and you 
only gave me seven and sixpence, you will have no 
peace until you give me the other half-crown." 

Out came a bright half-crown from the old miser's 
pocket, and he handed it over to the Pastor, asking 
his forgiveness, and returning home with a lighter 
heart than he had had for many a day. 

Now that Mr. Spurgeon had become the Pastor at 
Waterbeach, his success there made it apparent to all 
who knew him that his future life must be that of a 
preacher of the gospel. Many of his friends, including 
his own father, became anxious for him to go to 
college to complete his studies, and be thoroughly 
equipped for this high calling in life. 

After consultation with his friends, he decided to 






The Village Pastor. 81 



act upon their advi;e, and accordingly application 
was made to what is now known as Regent's Park 
College. Dr. Angus, the principal of that Institution, 
made an appointment to see the village Pastor at 
Cambridge, which town he was soon to visit. The 
interview was to take place at the home of Mr. 
Macmillan, the publisher. Mr. Spurgeon rose early for 
prayer on the day appointed for the interview, and 
sought God's guidance in the great and important 
step he was about to take. 

At the time arranged, and at the tick of the clock, 
he was at the front-door of Mr. Macmillan's house. 

He rang the bell, and the servant, on opening the 
door, asked him in, and conducted him into a private 
room, and there he sat for two long weary hours, till 
at last his patience could stand it no longer. So he 
rang the bell, and was much annoyed to find that the 
stupid girl had not announced his name, and had 
forgotten all about his being in the house. 

Dr. Angus had also sat waiting in an adjoining 
room until his patience was exhausted too, and by 
the time the discovery was made, he had left Cam- 
bridge by train for London, without the interview thus 
arranged ever taking place, though both parties were 
at the house appointed and at the time arranged. 

Through this servant's mistake, the whole course 
of Mr. Spurgeon's life was entirely changed. God 
graciously overruled her blunder for the future good 
of the village Pastor ; and He so directed his steps 
that it proved a blessing to the whole world. 

Finding that the Principal of the College had 
returned to London, Mr. Spurgeon adopted a very 
wise course. Being engaged to preach the same 



82 The Essex Lad. 

afternoon at a village, and feeling downcast and dis- 
appointed, he took a country walk alone. Lifting up 
his heart as he crossed the Common, he seemed 
to hear the voice of God, almost audibly saying to 
him, 

" Seekest thou great things for thyself ? Seek 
them not !" 

This vivid impression gave him quite a new view ot 
things, and there and then he made up his mind not 
to write to Dr. Angus and explain matters as he had 
at first intended. He resolved to stay at Waterbeach, 
where God had owned his labours, even though he 
remained in humble circumstances for the rest of his 
life. But God had other plans for him. 

The Cambridge Sunday School Union is an efficient 
Institution, and to seethe beautiful Guildhall crowded 
with Sunday-school children on their Anniversary 
occasions is a sight, once seen, never to be forgotten. 
It was while I was delivering an address at this united 
gathering of children on 16th April, 1876, that my 
esteemed colleague, Mr. W. Y. Fullerton, first saw 
me and heard me speak. Twenty-three years pre- 
viously, on a similar Anniversary occasion in 1853, 
Mr. Gould, a deacon of the Baptist Church at 
Loughton, in Essex, first heard the young preacher 
from Waterbeach, and he was so much impressed 
with his ability and spiritual power, that he strongly 
recommended Mr. Thonas Olney, one of the deacons 
of the New Park Street Baptist Chapel, to invite the 
village Pastor to preach in London. The Guildhall 
in Cambridge, was thus memorable both to Mr. 
Spurgeon and to me. What the result was in his 
case is already known to all the world. 



CHAPTER XII. 




(Jjrom % Shires to the (fttg. 



NE Lord's-day morning, in December, 1853, 
a letter, bearing the London postmark, 
was handed by one of the deacons of the 
sjat church at Waterbeach, to Mr. Spurgeon, 
as he sat in the table-pew for a few minutes' rest 
before commencing his pastoral duties for the day. Dr. 
Rippon's Hymn-book was in his hand, and he was 
just choosing the hymns for the morning service, 
when he opened the letter and found it to be an in- 
vitation to occupy the pulpit of the great hymn- 
compiler at New Park Street, Southwark. 

With some surprise, he turned to one of the deacons 
and, handing him the letter, said — 

"There must be some mistake here." 

" I am afraid there is no mistake," replied the old 
man, shaking his head ; " I was sure we could not 
keep you very long in our village/' 

The preacher put the letter in his pocket, and lifting 
his heart to God for blessing on that day's labours, 
and for guidance on the morrow, he thought no more 
about it, until the work of the day had ceased. The 
following morning he wrote saying that they had 
made a mistake in inviting him to a London pulpit, 



8 4 



The Essex Lad. 



and that he is quite unfit for such a responsibility, 
being only nineteen years old. 

He received a reply, assuring him that there was no 
mistake ; that the deacons of the church had a strong 
desire that he should occupy their pulpit ; and to 
make the matter still more definite, they told him 
that he would find comfortable accommodation at 
Queen Square, Bloomsbury. So it seemed as if he 
must accept the invitation. 







NEW PARK STREET CHAPEL. 



It was on a cold day, in the same month, when he 
preached his first sermon before a London audience. 
He ascended the platform with that modest de- 
meanour, and real reverence, which becomes a true 
ambassador of the gospel message. His first prayer 
in the pulpit soon called forth ejaculations of praise 
in the pew. The text was, " Every good gift and 
every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down 
from the Father of lights, with whom is no variable- 
ness, neither shadow of turning." He had not to 



From the S lures to the City. 85 

carry his subject ; for it was apparent to all who 
heard him that his subject carried him ; losing sight of 
the hundreds of empty seats around him, he warmed 
up as he proceeded with his theme, so that the hearts of 
those who formed his congregation were all aglow, 
as if they had been touched by the divine flame from 
the altar of God. 

On this memorable Sunday, both the preacher and 
the sermon were, without doubt, divinely appointed. 
The previous day, as the youthful preacher had tra- 
velled to London, the words, " He must needs go 
through Samaria," had kept running through his mind, 
and he meditated a good deal upon them during the 
Saturday night and early Sunday morning. But on 
arriving at the chapel, he was guided by God's good 
Spirit to choose the other subject 

His general appearance in the pulpit showed un- 
mistakably that he was not a Londoner ; his garments 
were not of the city style ; and neither the cut of his 
coat, nor the shape of his collar, gave any indication 
of an ecclesiastical calling. Even the officers of the 
church, who had invited him to supply their pulpit, 
were not at all struck with the first sight of him ; 
but after listening to his powerful discourse, all thought 
of the man's personal appearance vanished from their 
minds in the impression he produced. His manner 
was lost in his matter ; and they were unanimous that 
he was a God-sent man. 

During the afternoon, the news that the beardless 
boy from the country had preached that morning a 
marvellous sermon, spread like wildfire among the 
Njw Park Street friends. His personality and his 
peculiarities were talked of, as well- as his subject. 



86 



The Essex Lad. 



One said, "Did you see what a huge black satin 
stock the young preacher had on this morning?" 

Another young lady had noticed that there were 
actually blue spots upon his pocket-handkerchief. 

Owing to the various reports circulated during the 
day, the evening congregation had increased con- 
siderably. The text on this occasion was, " They are 
without fault before the throne of God." I hope my 
young friends will find out both these texts in their 
Bibles, and put a mark against them. The first was 
true of Mr. Spurgeon while he was here ; the second 
is fulfilled for him now. 

Whatever the people thought of the preacher that 
day, they were convinced that they had never heard 
anything like such sermons in New Park Street before; 
and many refused to leave the chapel until they had 
received a definite promise from the deacons that Miv 
Spurgeon would be invited to preach there again with 
a view to the pastorate. 

This Sunday was, doubtless, a great ordeal for the 
youthful preacher ; but it proved to be a wonderful 
day for the history of that church. Truly might the 
preacher, the deacons, and the church-members have 
written on the tablets of their hearts the words which 
Moses spake unto the people, " Remember this day." 
(Can you find that text?) 

In a few days, the preacher was heartily and unani- 
mously invited to occupy the pulpit for six months, 
in anticipation of a more permanent arrangement. 
He replied to this overture in a modest, and manly 
letter, in which his simplicity and business capacity 
were clearly shown. We have not room for it all ; but 
as an example of the spirit in which a young man 



From the Shires to the City. 87 

should enter upon a great undertaking, read this 
paragraph, and then imitate the unassuming inde- 
pendence of it. He says — 

" 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 01 
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 
:ime. 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 engage- 
ment, to retire ; and you would, on your part, have 
the right to dismiss me without seeming to treat 
me ill." 

The letter concludes with an earnest request that 
prayer should be offered on his behalf; for he early 
realized that only as God blessed him would he be 
prospered. 

An interesting advertisement which appeared in 
a Cambridge newspaper about the end of the 
year 1853, shows that before receiving the invitation 
to London, Mr. Spurgeon had arranged to begin 
a School on his own account, in addition to his 
Village Pastorate. He had, indeed, obtained two 
pupils ere he left. Here is the announcement 
of his intentionr, which gives some idea of his 
attainments. 



88 The Essex Lad. 

" No. 6d, Upper Park Street, Cambridge. 

" Mr. C. H. Spurgeon begs to inform his numerous 
friends that, after Christmas, he intends taking six 
or seven young gentlemen as day pupils. He will 
endeavour to the utmost to impart a good commercial 
education. The ordinary routine will include arith- 
metic, algebra, geometry, and mensuration ; grammar 
and composition ; ancient and modern history ; 
geography, natural history, astronomy, Scripture 
and drawing. Latin, and the elements of Greek and 
French, if required. Terms £$ per annum." 

Before finally leaving for London, he called to bid 
farewell to a friend of mine at Cambridge, who has a 
distinct recollection of the conversation of that visit. 
The youthful pastor talked much of the great responsi- 
bility of accepting the call to the Metropolis, yet he 
said that he had made up his mind to go about his 
work in London just the same as if he had remained 
at Waterbeach. 

" I intend," he added, " to use the same methods, 
to preach the same gospel, relying implicitly upon the 
study of God's Word, and the aid of the Holy Spirit." 

The history of his future work shows that he faith- 
fully adhered to his resolve. 

So it came to pass that Mr. Spurgeon left 60, Park 
Street, Cambridge, to preach at New Park Street, 
London ; and long before the six months had expired, 
it was quite clear to everybody that he must continue 
in his new sphere. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

§0plarit}j and $anit 

^jfj7i» HE "boy preacher" soon became a house- 
hold topic in London. If ever the city 
was taken by storm, it was by this brave, 
sharp-eyed country pastor. His voice was 
as clear as a clarion-note. He spake right from his 
heart what he believed to be true, and had the courage 
of his convictions. He fawned for no man's favour, 
nor feared any man's frown. Plainly and faithfully 
he proclaimed the blessed gospel of God to the great 
crowds which gathered together. And they were 
crowds ! Many were drawn by curiosity to see and 
hear the young man who had so marvellously moved 
the multitudes by his eloquence and power, and many 
by awakening interest in the truth, until New Park 
Street Chapel became totally inadequate to contain 
all who came ; and as to the atmosphere during the 
services, the place was compared, by the preacher 
himself, to the Black Hole of Calcutta. 

During the summer months, Asiatic Cholera proved 
a dreadful scourge throughout London. The black 
flag was hung across many streets, warning the 
strangers of the plague-stricken dwellings. The young 
Pastor went in and out among the people like a very 
angel sent from God. Even in the middle of the 



90 The Essex Lad. 

night, his lonely foot fall might have been heard upon 
the pavement, as he went about visiting the sick and 
dying. His time and strength were taxed to the 
uttermost. Family after family of his faithful flock 
was stricken and smitten by the plague, so that 
almost every day he was called to the graveside. 

One day, when his heart was well-nigh sinking, and 
he almost despaired of surviving the epidemic, he was 
greatly cheered as he went back sad at heart to his 
home, by reading a paper in a shoemaker's window, 
which seemed like a message from God to him. It 
was written in a bold, clear hand, as follows — " 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." 

He stood for some time opposite the window, 
wondering at the appropriate message, and a strong 
conviction took hold of him that he would be pre- 
served and brought safely through the time of 
pestilence. He believed he owed his life to that bill 
in the window, though in after years he could never 
accurately discover who had put it there. 

No man in this world was more vilified than 
Spurgeon was at this time. Everybody who becomes 
popular has to pay for it in some shape or other* but 
the treatment this good man received was exceptional 
in its severity. Negro minstrels ridiculed him in their 
songs ; actors in the play cracked rude jokes at his 
expense ; ridiculous cartoons of him were issued, 
depicting him in anything but complimentary attitudes. 
One of them represented him as a seller of fly papers, 
and was entitled " Catch-'em-alive-O ! " ; but this is 



Popularity and Panic. 



91 



only a sample of scores. The newspapers spoke of 
him as the " Essex bumpkin." 

If scorn and derision could have stopped his use- 
fulness, he had enough to have killed him ten times 
over ; but I have heard him say that, when these 
thinsrs were said about him, they hurt him less than 




catch-'em-alive-o ! 



the fulsome eulogies of later years. He comforted 
his heart by saying that no one could say worse 
things about him than he could say about himself; 
for though his outward life was blameless, he truly 
knew his own heart as it was revealed in the presence 



92 The Essex Lad. 

of God. In that presence he lived ; and through 
evil report, and through good report, he went straight 
on with his life's work, telling sinners how they might 
be saved, and teaching saints so to live as to bring 
glory to God. 

So crowded did the sanctuary at New Park Street 
at length become, that one Sunday night the preacher 
exclaimed during his discourse, — 

" By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, and by 
faith this wall at the back shall come down too." 

One prudent deacon expressed his disapproval of 
this remark, in strong language, at the close of the 
service. 

" I hope we shall never hear such a thing again," 
he said. 

" You will hear no more about it when it is done," 
said Mr. Spurgeon, " so the sooner you set about it, the 
better it will be for all concerned." 

His prophecy was true. Quite early the following 
year the wall was down, and the place was being 
enlarged. The congregation assembled meanwhile in 
Exeter Hall. But even after the building at New 
Park Street was enlarged, it could not accommodate 
the crowds which came, so the deacons were compelled 
to obtain a larger place. The largest available build- 
ing was the Music Hall, belonging to the Royal Surrey 
Gardens ; and although such a thing was then un- 
heard of, this hall was engaged for the Sunday evening 
services. 

On 19th of October, 1856, the first service was held 
there, and it is estimated that quite 12,000 persons 
thronged to it. All the approaches were crowded, 
and many were unable to get near the building. The 



Popularity and Panic. 



93 



service had only proceeded as far as the second 
prayer, when suddenly, from various parts of the 
hall, there arose a cry of " Fire ! Fire ! " and the 
audience was seized with a sudden panic. A scene 
of wild confusion followed ; men and women rushed 
for the doors, trampling upon each other in their 
anxiety to get out. Several persons were killed, and 
many more were seriously injured. Mr. Spurgeon 




SURREY MUSIC HALL. 



endeavoured to still the panic, and was in great 
measure successful, but the shock to his system was 
so great that for weeks he was unable to preach ; 
indeed, he never fully threw off the effects of it. 
About nine months before he was called to higher 
service, he said, referring to this sad time : — 

" After the terrible accident in the Surrey Gardens 
I had to go away into the country, and keep quite 



94 The Essex Lad. 

still. The very sight of the Bible made me cry. I 
could but keep alone in the garden ; and I was heavy 
and sad, for people had been killed in the accident ; 
and there I was, half dead myself. I remember 
how I got back my comfort, and I preached on the 
Sabbath after I recovered. I had been walking round 
the garden, and I was standing under a tree. If it is 
there now, I should know it ; and I remembered these 
words : " Him hath God exalted with his right hand 
to be a Prince and a Saviour " 

" Oh", I thought to myself, ." I am only a common 
soldier. If I die in a ditch, I do not care. The king 
is honoured. He wins the victory ; " and I was like 
those French soldiers in the old times, who loved the 
emperor ; and you know how, when they were dying, 
if he rode by, the wounded man would raise himself up 
on his elbow, and cry once more, ' Vive r Iimpereur ! * 
for the emperor was graven on his heart." 

He immediately returned to the house and was 
able to conduct family worship, and the very next 
Sunday renewed his preaching in the Music Hall. In 
view of the accident, services were only held there 
in the mornings. They were continued with the 
greatest success and blessing ; being, in fact, the 
great attraction to all classes in London. But when 
the grounds of the Hall were opened by the proprietors 
for Sunday evening amusements, Mr. Spurgeon, un- 
able to lend countenance to such a proceeding, re- 
moved for the second time to Exeter Hall, and 
remained there until the new Tabernacle was opened. 



CHAP1ER XIV. 



®hc felt Sfekrmulc. 




N the year 1856 the first meeting was held 
to consider the plan for the erection of 
the Metropolitan Tabernacle. At that 
time the idea was thought by many to be 
Spurgeon's folly ; they laughed at the idea of building 
a place of worship to hold five thousand persons, and 
some even went so far as to say that another Noah 
had begun to build a second ark. 

But amidst these jeers there were many who be- 
lieved in the man, and could trace God's fingers in 
the work. It was no child's play to take the lead in 
such a task. Many a man with fifty years' experience 
at his back, would have shrunk from such an under- 
taking. 

A gentleman in the West of England, who had 
never seen Mr. Spurgeon, sent ^"5,000 towards the 
building fund. Another gentleman met him, when 
out driving, and said, "You have a big business in- 
hand in building that Tabernacle, and you will find 
many friends will become nervous about it before it 
is finished. I feel sure you will succeed, for God is in 
your work. Let me encourage you. I will give you 
£$0 ; but, in addition to that, I will lend you bonds 
worth .£20,000, free of interest, so that you may always 



9 6 



The Essex Lad. 



have something to fall back upon during the building 
of the Tabernacle. 

The next day the bonds were deposited in Mr. 
Spurgeon's hands. He said nothing about it at the 
time, but all the while the work was in progress he 
had that large sum of money in hand, ready for any 
emergency ; and when the building was opened free 
of debt, he returned the deposit to his friend, with 
grateful thanks for his encouragement and kindness 




THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE. 



During the building of the immense edifice, Mr. 
Spurgeon went up and down the land, preaching 
almost everywhere, and collecting money for the new 
building. Nearly all the towns and cities of Scot- 
land, Ireland, and Wales were visited by him during 
this period. Thousands, and even tens of thousands, 
were gathered together to hear his words. Some- 



The Great Tabernacle. 97 

times he preached under a fine spreading tree, with a 
farmer's waggon for a pulpit ; at other times, tempo- 
rary buildings were erected, or a large courtyard 
covered in with canvas, to form a huge tent for the day. 

Far and wide, Mr. Spurgeon was privileged to 
preach during his life. At Geneva, he preached in 
Calvin's pulpit. In Holland, he proclaimed the same 
old gospel before the Dutch Court ; and afterwards 
he had an interview with the Queen of Holland, and 
spoke to her on spiritual subjects. 

In this way his fame was blazed abroad, his word 
was blessed, much of the money raised, and the work 
of the Lord greatly extended. 

The hearts of God's children were touched in all 
parts of the world, till the entire cost of the erection 
of the great Tabernacle, £3 1,000, was in hand. 

The builder, Mr. William Higgs, was a man in full 
sympathy, becoming afterwards one of Mr. Spurgeon's 
deacons ; and only good, sound workmanship was 
allowed to go into the structure. 

Mr. Spurgeon and Mr. Cook, another deacon, 
one night knelt amidst the planks, piles of timber, 
bricks, sand, lime, and tools, with the stars of heaven 
twinkling over their heads, like angels' eyes watching 
them. They prayed for the safety of the workmen 
during the erection of the place, and that God's 
richest blessing might rest upon the building when it 
was completed. Their prayers were answered, for not 
a single serious accident occurred during the opera- 
tions. 

On Tuesday, 16th of August, 1859, the first stone 
was laid by Sir Morton Peto, and the stone-laying 
was followed by a tea and public meeting, attended 



9 8 



The Essex Lad. 



Headed 


Speaker, 


Handling 


Subjects, 


Hearted 


Style ; 


Hosts of 


Surrey ; 


Hating 


Spirit ; 


Heating 


Skill ; 


Hushing 


Soother ; 


Honouring 


Soldier ; 


Honoured 


Servant.' 3 



by more than 2,000 persons. The evening meeting 
was presided over by the Mayor of Colchester, and 
some racy speeches were made. 

Judge Payne, in the midst of his interesting re- 
marks, made the following play upon Mr. Spurgeon's 
initials. He said " C. H. S. means — 
A Clear 
who is Clever at 
in a Cheerful 
he is Captain of the 
he is a Cold- 
he has a Chapel- 
he is a Care-* 
he is a Christ- 
and a Christ 
Of the wonderful scenes which have been witnessed 
within the walls of this sanctuary, I have no space to 
speak. All sorts of people have gathered here and 
listened to the gospel. For over thirty years it has 
been crowded week by week, and strangers, especially 
Americans, who have visited London, have always 
made it a point to hear " Spurgeon," before they left 
The larger biographies will tell you all about this. 

Some years ago the widow of the murdered Presi- 
dent of America, James A. Garfield, wrote to Mr. 
Spurgeon. " It is a choice treasure from my store- 
house of beautiful memories," she says "that I sat 
beside General Garfield in the Metropolitan Taber- 
nacle, one bright summer Sunday morning (August 
4th, 1867), and listened to your voice. I have this 
morning re-read from his journal his account of that 
day. A sentence from it may interest you. After 
describing his impressions of the great audience, of the 



The Great Tabernacle. 



99 



preacher, and of the sermon, he adds : " God bless Mr. 
Spurgeon ! He is helping to work out the problem of 
religious and civil freedom for England in a way that 
he knows not of." 

Mr. Spurgeon's brother, James A. Spurgeon, who 
was his chief helper for many years, is now Pastor ol 
the Tabernacle, and while I write, Dr. Arthur T. 
Pierson, from America, is officiating as Minister, and 
the Lord is abundantly blessing both word and work. 




MR. SPURGEON S BROTHER 



CHAPTER XV. 



§,fa jriittt of fmulrcrs. 




many preachers it may be said, as of 
Saul, that they have slain their thousands, 
but Mr. Spurgeon, like David, has slain 
his tens of thousands. Judged by results 
he stands without a peer in the pulpit, a very prince 
amongst preachers. 

When a man is a gifted preacher he feels at home 
in the pulpit, and can truly say that his pulpit is 
his home. He delights to be in it. If ever any 
man in this world loved to be in the pulpit, it was 
C. H. Spurgeon. He knew what he believed, and 
why he believed it ; he got a grip of real things at the 
start, and when the storms and cross-winds of life 
came upon him he always had a big tap-root to stay 
and steady him. Early piety and good training when 
he was yet a lad did much for him when he became a 
preacher. 

Even while yet a youth he had learnt to speak as 
the oracle of God. Mr. James Spurgeon says of these 
early days : " I remember driving my brother about 
the country to preach, and I used to think then, as I 
have thought ever since, what an extraordinary 
preacher he was. I began to admire him, and I went 
on doing it more and more the longer I knew him. 



The Prince of Preachers. ioi 

Oh, what wonderful unction and power I remember 
in some of those first speeches of his ! I have no doubt 
that I was more impressible then than afterwards ; 
but the impressions made then on others, I am sure, 
were as deep as any that were ever made subsequently, 
and certainly the effect upon the people listening to 
him I never knew exceeded in after years. He seemed 
to have leaped into the pulpit full-grown. It was 
wonderful. 

" I can still remember distinctly some of his early 
sermons. Their breadth and brilliance, and the power 
that God's Holy Spirit evidently gave to him,' were 
perfectly marvellous. I have traced since not more 
genius, I think, than impressed me then, but more 
breadth, more depth, more spirituality, more of God's 
own Word as to the knowledge both of the letter of it 
and of its inner meaning. But I thank God that my 
first impressions of my brother are amongst the 
brightest and best, and I have had no cause to 
change my opinion from that time to this. He was 
a God-made man and a God-sent man to his age, 
and by the grace of God he has been faithful to 
his mission all through his life." 

How did the young preacher prepare his sermons ? 
He was a born preacher, but this in itself was not 
enough. He lived in such close communion with 
God, that he was ever ready to receive messages from 
his Master, and he kept storing his mind with Bible 
truth, and all sorts of useful knowledge, which he was 
able to utilize as he preached. He was also ever 
ready to receive suggestions from passing events. 

Speaking, some years ago, of the Lord's goodness 
in aiding him in times of extra pressure, when lack 



102 The Essex Lad. 

of leisure had prevented him from preparing his 
subject, Mr. Spurgeon recorded a very interesting 
incident. 

" While labouring at Waterbeach, one Sunday- 
morning, after preaching, I went home to dine with 
one of my congregation. The afternoon sermon 
came so close upon the back of the morning one, 
that it was difficult to prepare, especially as dinner 
was a necessity. On that occasion I found my pre- 
arranged line of thought had all gone from me. 
Press my forehead as I might— the missing topic 
would not come. Time was brief, the hour was 
striking, and in some alarm I told the honest farmer 
I could not recollect what I had intended to preach 
about." 

" Ah," he said, " never mind, you will be sure to 
have a good word for us." 

"Just at that moment, a blazing block of wood 
fell out of the fire upon the hearth at my feet, 
smoking into one's eyes and nose at a great rate." 

" ' There,' said the farmer, ' there's a text for you, 
sir. Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire ? ' 

" No, I thought ; it was not plucked out, it fell out 
of itself. Here was a text, an illustration, and a 
leading thought as a nest egg for more. Further light 
came, and the sermon was certainly not worse than 
my more prepared effusions. It was better in the 
best sense, for one or two came forward declaring 
themselves to have been aroused and converted 
through that afternoon's discourse. I have always 
considered that it was a happy circumstance that I 
had forgotten the text from which I had intended to 
preach." 



The Prince of Preachers. 103 

His grandfather and he were one in theology ; the 
doctrines of grace were part and parcel of his nature. 
From first to last it was the same old faith which he 
preached; the ruin of man, and the redemption by 
Christ Jesus, applied by the Spirit ot God. These 
truths, rung out with a clear note, will always bless 
mankind wherever proclaimed. 

Many years ago, he was announced to preach in a 
country town, and quite a lively time it was that day 
for those Eastern County people. Carriages and 
gigs, waggonettes and waggons, carriers' carts and 
donkey traps, came trooping into the place from miles 
round. The chapel was crowded with people long 
before the time for service, and the vestry was filled 
with old friends of the preacher, waiting to give him 
a warm welcome. Amongst them was his venerable 
old grandfather. 

The clock struck the hour for the service ; the 
chief deacon ran into the road without his hat, and 
rubbing his hands, he said, " Whatever is to be done ? 
the preacher has failed us." Many watches were con- 
sulted, and, after allowing for the variations in them 
all, it was concluded that the time was past. 

Still the preacher had not come. 

After some little delay, it was arranged to proceed 
with the service, and Grandfather Spurgeon was in- 
duced to take the pulpit. A look of disappointment 
came over the faces of the whole congregation, as he 
informed them that, from some cause or other, his 
grandson had not come, and that he had been asked 
to preach in his stead. 

The first song languished terribly, there was neither 
time, tune, nor tone in it ; and during the prayer 



104 Tru2 Essex Lad. 

many heads kept turning round towards the door to 
see if the preacher had arrived. After the reading of 
the Scriptures, and a second hymn, the grandfather 
announced his text, but he had not gone far into his 
subject before all faces were lighted up, and all eyes 
beamed with delight, as the venerable old preacher 
exclaimed : — 

" Ha ! here comes my dear grandson Charles, he 
may preach the gospel better than I can, but he can- 
not preach a better gospel ! Can you, Charles ? " 

" No indeed, nor can I preach better than you, so 
pray go on. That is what I have been wishing the 
train would do for the last three-quarters of an hour." 

" No, no ; not now that you have come," said his 
grandfather, "you must finish the sermon. I was 
preaching from the words, ' By grace are ye saved 
through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift 
of God.' I have been setting forth the source and 
fountain-head of salvation, 'by grace' ; and I am now 
showing them the channel of it, 'through faith. 5 " 

Just as gracefully as a mill operative will walk up to 
a companion's loom, and take up the two ends of a 
broken thread, and, twisting them into one, proceed 
to weave the fabric, Mr. Spurgeon took up his grand- 
father's line of thought and, to the joy of all present, 
proceeded with the same subject. 

After a time Mr. Spurgeon said, " Now we come to 
the depravity of human nature," and in a moment, up 
jumped the old grandfather, and pushing up his 
spectacles on to his forehead, he said : — 

" Friends, I know most about that, so I will speak 
on that subject, and let Charles rest awhile." He 
proceeded with all the experience of years to lay bare 



The Princt of Preachers. 105 

the natural heart, and having had his say, he called 
upon his grandson to continue. 

This time his grandson spoke with such fire and 
fervour, that the poor old man could not help ejacu- 
lating again and again, " Good ! Good ! Good ! my 
dear boy ; tell them that over again, Charles." The 
grandson told them again and again ; and before he 
had finished his discourse, there was hope that some 
of those present had received the truth in the heart. 
It mattered not which of the two preachers, on that 
day, was really the spiritual father of those new born 
souls, God got all the glory, and now the sower and 
the reaper rejoice together. 

Mr. Spurgeon's boldness in preaching was great, 
but his nervousness was a complete counterpart. 
Sometimes before he went into the pulpit he would 
be quite sick, but directly he faced the people all his 
timidity was gone. His nervousness was like the 
trembling of a full-blooded racehorse before the race, 
it was only another form of the force which carried 
him along. 

As an instance of this shrinking under some circum- 
stances, the following incident may be here recorded. 

One day he found himself outside the Mansion 
House in the City, and wished to cross the road 
to the Bank of England. Those of you who have 
been in London, have noticed the terrible pressure of 
traffic at this spot : so great was it on this particular 
day, that Mr. Spurgeon was afraid to make the 
attempt to cross. Just then a blind man standing by, 
touched him and said : — 

11 Please, sir, will you take me over the road to the 
Bank of England?" 



io6 The Essex Lad. 

"My dear friend," he replied, " I am afraid to cross 
myself." 

" You can see, can't you ? " said the blind man. 

" Yes, I can see, but I am nervous because of the 
traffic." 

" Ah, well ! " said the blind man, " If you can see, 
I will trust you ; " and he took hold of his sleeve. 

After that last sentence, " I will trust you," 
Mr. Spurgeon's nervousness disappeared, and he 
fearlessly led the man in safety, through the maze 
of vehicles, to the other side. That is just how it was 
in his preaching ; when he saw the people waiting 
to be led, all fear for himself vanished in the thought 
of their need and of their trust. 

The following interesting circumstance will probably 
be new to most readers : — 

In one of the wards of the Royal Infirmary, Edin- 
burgh, a middle-aged man, a patient in that institution, 
was one day reading some of Mr. Spurgeon's weekly 
sermons. 

"Did you ever hear him preach? " asked a friend. 

" Yes," he answered, in his Scotch dialect, " I heard 
Spurgeon preach once ; it was twenty-six years ago, 
but I remember it as if it were yesterday." 

" I was living in the far North then. We had built 
a church, and it had been just a little bit too expensive, 
so that we had a big debt on our hands. Well, when 
we had got our minister, this debt gave him a good 
deal of uneasiness. 

" In a little time he had occasion to go to London, 
and while there he took the opportunity of going to 
hear Spurgeon preach, and he decided to go and speak 
to him, lay the need of his church and congregation 



The Prince of Preachers. ioj 

before him, and ask him to come up and assist them 
by giving them a service. Spurgeon did not see his 
way to doing that ; he had no connection whatever 
in that region. 

" ' However/ he said, ' if ever I come that way I will 
remember you.' 

" Eight years after that Mr. Spurgeon had occasion 
to visit the neighbouring town of Dingwall, and our 
minister got a telegram saying that he was ready to 
fulfil his long-standing engagement. 

" He came, and we removed the narrow pulpit, and 
erected a platform for him to preach from. 

"Do you know what his subject was ? There was 
a tame jackdaw about the place, and it came and 
perched on the platform close to Mr. Spurgeon, who 
motioned to the beadle not to disturb it, and stood 
stroking its back with his hand. His subject was 
Faith, suggested by the confidence in him displayed 
by the jackdaw. 

" Our debt was nearly wiped out that day, and 
by the following year was completely disposed of. 
Mr. Spurgeon's presence brought in three hundred 
and sixty pounds." 

This reminds me of another story told me by the 
minister to whom it occurred. He was very unsettled 
in his pastorate, and he told Mr. Spurgeon, who was 
preaching in his town, that he meant to seek a change 
of sphere. Mr. Spurgeon advised him to remain 
where he was, but to no purpose : he was determined 
to move. Going to see him off at the train, my friend 
asked Mr. Spurgeon to give him a text to comfort 
him. 

"As a bird that wandereth from her nest, so is a 



io8 Th: Essex Lad. 

man that wandereth from his place," was the un- 
expected verse quoted in reply. 

" That's a strange text to give me," the minister said. 

" It is true," answered Mr. Spurgeon. 

This was on a Thursday morning. Going up to 
London in the train, Mr. Spurgeon composed a most 
full and suggestive sermon on the text, and that 
evening he preached it in the Tabernacle ; and it was 
afterwards published. 

This readiness and resource often stood him in 
good stead. One Lord's-day evening, when he opened 
his Bible to preach, his eye lighted upon a text, and 
it seemed so impressed upon his mind, that he felt he 
must preach from it, though he had prepared a sermon 
on an altogether different verse. He introduced the 
subject, preached on the first head and the second, 
and was just beginning to wonder what should be his 
third division. He was rather perplexed at not seeing 
exactly what it ought to be, and was almost brought to 
a dead stop, when much to his relief the gas went out. 

Thirdly was never given. 

Mr. Spurgeon, in the darkness, began to talk about 
the glory of living in the light, and the horror of 
the outer darkness. Many people were impressed 
while they sat in the shadow, and listened to his 
unpremeditated words. Presently the gas was re- 
lighted, and the service was brought to a close. 

The power of the preacher lay in his clearness and 
lucidity. When in Guernsey a few years ago, he 
preached to some of the country people who spoke 
French, and were not supposed to know English. 
After the service an old woman came up to him, and 
said, 



The Prince of P readier s. 109 

" Why, you talk like a baby, you talk like a baby." 

She meant to say that she had understood him, 
although her English was but scanty, and Mr. Spurgeon 
looked upon her testimony as a very true compliment, 
as indeed it was. Obscurity is altogether out of place 
in the pulpit 

A little boy who died in Baltimore recently, touched 
the heart of the matter. When he was eight years 
old, while travelling in England he was taken by his 
father to hear Mr. Spurgeon. The little fellow had 
heard it said that Mr. Spurgeon was the greatest 
preacher in the world. On being seated for the first 
time in the great Tabernacle he was all interest ; and 
when the preacher began the service, he leaned forward 
with open mouth, and listened through the entire 
time with most intense earnestness, scarcely moving 
his eyes from the speaker. 

When the service was over, and they got into the 
street, his father said, " Willie, what do you think of 
that man ? " 

He stood still and looked up into his face, and 
asked, " Papa, is that the greatest preacher in the 
world ? " 

" Yes, I think he is." 

" Well, then," said the boy, with a glow of enthusiasm 
in his face, " I know how to be the greatest preacher 
in the world." 

" How ? " asked his father. 

" Why, just pick out a nice chapter in the Bible, 
and tell just what is in it so that everybody can 
understand you, and nothing more." 

That is what made Mr. Spurgeon the prince of 
preachers. 




CHAPTER XVI. 

% f riniett • §tr!jjit. 



S I look up at my study shelves I see 
thirty-eight large volumes, and many 
smaller ones, containing sermons by Mr. 
Spurgeon. There are almost three thou- 
sand of them printed, and enough still left to enable 
the publishers to continue the weekly issue of them 
for sixteen years longer. * 

Never, since printing was invented, has any man 
issued so many discourses. There are texts from 
every book in the Bible, and almost from every 
chapter ; and in directness of aim, and beauty and 
simplicity of expression, the sermons stand unrivalled. 
Week by week, for many years, the sermons have 
also appeared in an Australian newspaper, and for 
some time the discourse on Lord's-day morning was 
regularly cabled to America, and appeared in a news- 
paper there on Monday morning. They have also 
been translated into almost every language. 

It was ever the preacher's object to put the gospel 
so that a child could understand it. One very grand 
man, who did not like his plain way of speaking, 
once took the trouble to write and tell him he had 
met with some poor negroes who were reading his 
sermons with great delight, and for his part he did 



A Printed Pulpit. 



J i 



not wonder at it, he said ; for, in his wise opinion, the 
discourses were just such as ignorant black people 
would be sure to relish. No doubt he thought Mr. 
Spurgeon would have a terrible fit of the blues after 
that slap in the face, but instead thereof he was as 
jubilant as he knew how to be, and praised God with 
his whole heart, because even an enemy admitted 
that the • Lord had taught him how to reach the 




MR. SPURGEON AND HIS FIRST LONDON DEACONS. 

hearts of the poor. It is very clear that what 
ignorant blacks can understand the intelligent whites 
may understand if they like ; and so Mr. Spurgeon 
gathered that his sermons were clear enough to be 
understood by anybody who was not so conceited as 
to darken his own mind with pride. 

Dr. Livingstone read the sermons and prized them 



1 1 2 The Essex Lad. 

highly. This illustrious missionary and African ex- 
plorer carried some copies with him into that wild 
country, and after his death one of them was found 
in his bag. It is marked by Livingstone's own pen 
in the corner, " Very good. D. L." This sermon 
was sent home to England and given to Mr. 
Spurgeon, who put it safely amongst other treasured 
trophies. 

A friend of mine, who is very methodical in his 
habits, for many years met on Sunday mornings a 
venerable old Christian on his way to his place of 
worship. 

The old man used always to strike his hand upon 
his breast when he met my friend, and exclaim as he 
passed, 

"Good morning, I've got him here, sir!" 

This greeting went on for years, and my friend, 
who was also a friend of Mr. Spurgeon, and who 
accompanied him on his last drive at Menton, 
always thought the old man referred to Christ, whom 
he had in his heart. 

A short time ago, however, the mystery was ex- 
plained. It turned out that the old gentleman, 
being very deaf, was unable to hear a word his pastor 
said, yet he enjoyed the assembling of himself with 
the Lord's people. The hymns were always found for 
him, and the portions of Scripture, but when it came 
to the discourse, the old man was accustomed to 
produce from his breast pocket, a sermon of Mr. 
Spurgeon's, and read it during the remainder of the 
service. 

That was what he meant by " I've got him here, 




CHAPTER XVII. 

s lUadg Wit. 



OST boys like fun and plenty of it, and 
so did Charles Haddon Spurgeon. He 
carried on his shoulders the head of a 
wise man, and in his breast the heart of a 
little child. He usually wore a soft wide-awake hat, 
and he always hated a sleepy heart. He was full of 
wit and humour from his earliest years to his latest, 
and it often proved a power in the pulpit, and a 
relief in the midst of his work. It added a charm 
to his conversation, and gave a spice to his speeches. 

Once a very sober friend asked him how he dared 
to use so much humour in his sacred calling. 

His quick reply was, " What would you have done, 
brother, if the Lord had given you any ? " 

His ready wit often stood him in good stead, and 
on several occasions rescued him from an awkward 
difficulty. 

A madman one day, having by some means gained 
admittance to the Tabernacle, walked straight into 
the vestry where Mr. Spurgeon sat all alone. Closing 
the door behind him, he looked at the pastor with a 
wild glare in his eye, and said : — 

u I have come to cut your throat." 

u Have you ? " said Spurgeon quickly. " I wouldn't 



114 The Essex Lad. 

do that, if I were you ; see what a mess it would 
make on the carpet." 

" I never thought of that," he answered ; and in- 
stantly became so subdued, that he allowed himself to 
be led from the room like a little child. 

Another demented man once gained access to him 
in his home, and was shown into the drawing-room. 
When the two were quite alone, and the door shut, he 
said — 

" Is your name Spurgeon ? " 

" It is, sir," was the short reply. 
."Well, you are a blackguard." 

"Indeed! I was not aware of the fact," said Mr. 
Spurgeon - 

Becoming rather frantic, and brandishing a thick 
stick, the man said — 

" I've come to kill you ; you broke my wrists the 
other day at Victoria Station, and you ought to 
die." 

" I quite agree with you," answered Mr. Spurgeon ; 
" the man who would do such a thing deserves to die ; 
but I never saw you at Victoria Station, nor did I 
ever break anybody's wrist in my life." 

''Your name is Spurgeon, is it not?" 

" It is ; I told you so before." 

" Didn't you break my wrists at Victoria Station ?" 

" Certainly not." 

" Have you a brother, then?" 

" Yes, I have a brother." 

<l Perhaps he did it." 

" I should not at all wonder," said Mr. Spurgeon, 
now thoroughly alarmed, and anxious to get rid of 
him safely. " That's more like my brother than me. 



His Ready Wit. 115 

If I were you 1 would go and see him. Do not go to- 
day, and I will speak to him about it." 

" No," said the poor fellow, coming back again to 
his first idea, with a fierce wild look, " I believe it was 
you, after all!" And he rose from his seat, and 
flourishing his massive stick in the air, he hissed — 

" Have you ever been in Peckham Asylum ? " 

" I have not," said the preacher, in his deepest voice. 

" I have," answered the man, whose appearance now 
left no doubt as to his condition ; " and when I was 
there, it took six men to hold me." 

" Really ! " j 

" Are you strong ? " he said, taking a "step towards 
his intended victim. 

" Terrific ! " thundered Mr. Spurgeon, springing to 
his feet. Then, extending his arm,, he said, " Sit down, 
sir ! " 

The man sat down. 

" Give me that stick, sir, or I will grind you to 
powder. Didn't I break your wrists the other night at 
Victoria Station ? " 

Like a lamb the poor creature handed up his 
formidable weapon. 

" Walk out of that door, sir," continued the victor. 
Out of the door he walked, and along the hall, 
followed by Mr. Spurgeon, who was not satisfied 
until he was outside the house, and the door locked 
behind him. Then, though he had been so bold at 
the time of need, a sudden faintness came over him 
as the tension of feeling was removed. But there 
is little doubt that he had escaped a real danger, if 
indeed his life had not been saved by the use of his 
God-given ready wit. 



n6 The Essex Lad. 

For sixteen years it has been my happy privilege 
without a break, to spend the evening following the 
College Conference, in company with some twenty 
ministers and students, at his home, and to enjoy 
what he called the unstringing of our bows after the 
labours of the week, in order that we might get into 
trim for the Sunday following. One of his delights 
on these occasions was to gather round him in the 
garden all his guests, and to ask one and another to 
relate some good story. Some of the stories on these 
occasions were very humorous, and no one enjoyed 
the fun more than himself. 

At one of the gatherings of this kind, he said to 
Mr. Fullerton :— 

" Now, Mr. Fullerton, tell us a story." 

" I don't know one," was his quick reply. 

" That's one," said Mr. Spurgeon, immediately. 

Then turning to me, he said, " I suppose Fullerton 
can make you do just what you like ! " 

Not seeing the point at first, I said : — 

"No, I don't think so, and I don't think Mr. 
Fullerton is the man to try to do such a thing." 

" Oh, yes," said he, with a twinkle in his eye, " I 
know him well enough for that. He can make you 
do just what you like." And then his playful humour 
was seen. 

On another occasion we were walking round the 
grounds in single file, because of the wet grass, and 
Mr. Spurgeon was leading the way. He stopped, and 
called out : — 

" Smith, strike up a song." I started, " Hold the 
Fort," but when we came to the second verse, he 
called out * — 



His Ready Wit. 117 

" Stop ! Right about turn ! Now you can sing 
' Satan leading on,' if you like." 

This made it rather hard for me, for I was now 
at the head of the column ; after the laughter was 
ended, I changed the hymn, and started something 
else. 

When Mr. Spurgeon met his intimate friends he 
was at his best. Into a gathering of this kind there 
once came a fair gentleman, with whom he was very 
familiar. 

" Ah," said Mr. Spurgeon, " I am always delighted 
to see the brother with the sandy hair." 

" No, no," the new comer expostulated, " it is 
golden." 

" Yes, eighteen carat," responded Mr. Spurgeon, like 
a flash of lightning. 

This has since appeared as a prize joke in a weekly 
paper, but it had its origin as I relate it. 

Another instance of the same faculty of quick 
response may be given. Some years ago a gentle- 
man, named Mr. Patridge, came to the Tabernacle, 
and was introduced to Mr. Spurgeon. The following 
year, he attended the College Supper, and was sur- 
prised to find that the great preacher recognized him 
again. 

"Ah, Mr. Partridge," he said, "I am giad to see 
you." 

" Thank you, sir," said he, " I am glad to be here 
once more, but " he added in rather a nervous tone, 
* my name is Patridge, not Partridge." 

"Ah, yes, yes," was the instant reply, " please forgive 
me, I won't make game of you any more." 

At which Mr. Patridge heartily laughed. 



I j 8 The Essex Lad. 

Of quite another character is the following incident. 
An old woman, some time ago, stopped Mr. Spurgeon 
as he was entering the Tabernacle, and said : — 

" Excuse me, sir, but could you give a poor old 
Christian sixpence to help her along? " 

" What church do you attend ? " 

" The parish church, sir." 

" And do you profit much there ? " 

" Profit, sir," she exclaimed, " why for the last six 
months nobody in the church has given me anything 
excepting one old flannel petticoat, and that's worn 
out. But, sir, I remember how I used to be blessed 
by your preaching forty years ago, when you used to 
preach in the open air at Vernon Square, Islington." 

Mr. Spurgeon, knowing he had never preached 
there in his life, said to her : " Wasn't it fifty years ago 
you heard me preach there ? " 

" Yes, sir, so it was." 

" Let me see," said the preacher, " don't you think 
it was sixty years ago since you got such a blessing 
under my preaching?" 

" Dear me, sir, how the time does fly. Now you 
come to mention it, I remember it was just sixty 
years ago." 

" I see you are an old hypocrite," Mr. Spurgeon 
said : " I was not born sixty years ago ; but here is 
sixpence for you to get a night's lodgings, and if you 
come begging in this place again, somebody will 
remember you. So be off." 

A laughable incident is related by my friend, 
Rev. John Robertson, of Glasgow. He once told 
Mr. Spurgeon about some of the difficulties that he 
had to surmount when he commenced preaching. 



His Ready Wit. 119 

For example, one worthy office-bearer came to church, 
and seated himself before the minister with one finger 
in each ear. 

"There was a nice thing for a young preacher," he 
said. "What would you have done, Mr. Spurgeon ? " 

" I should have prayed " began Mr. Spurgeon. 

" I got my face very solemn," said Mr. Robertson, 
in telling the incident, " for I expected something 
very spiritual." 

"Yes," continued Mr. Spurgeon, "I should have 
prayed that a fly might have alighted on his nose ! " 

The surprise power of true wit was possessed largely 
by Mr. Spurgeon. Some years ago a Government 
official met him at the Tabernacle on a matter of 
business. In the course of conversation, he said : — 

" I have been told that you keep all your Institutions 
going by prayer." 

" Practically that is so," said Mr. Spurgeon. 

" I don't believe it," said this grandee in a flippant 
manner. 

" Well," replied the preacher, " it is quite true that 
some people send me every year money for my 
various works, but I have no list of subscribers, and 
we have no one we could call upon and say, 'Your 
annual subscription has become due ! ' " 

" Yes ! yes ! " said the questioner ; " good people 
support your Institutions because they believe in 
you ; but that is not in answer to prayer." 

11 Then why do they not send their money to 
somebody else ? " Mr. Spurgeon asked. " I do not ask 
them for the money. I neither advertise, nor issue 
begging letters ; I simply make known my requests to 
God, and the money comes." 



120 The Esstx Lad. 

" Well," replied the Government official, " I should 
believe more in your prayers if bad people sent you 
the money." 

Then to change the subject, he said, " I heard you 
preach once, and that was quite enough for me." 

"Why?" 

" I came to the conclusion that you were the most 
insolent fellow I ever heard in a pulpit." 

" Why was that ? " asked Mr. Spurgeon, quietly. 

" Well," he said, " I sat in the gallery, and you 
pointed your finger right at me, and said, ' there sits 
a grey-headed old sinner.' " 

" Did I," said Spurgeon, " I don't remember ever 
having seen you in my life before. But I don't like 
to. be rude, nor to say what is not true. Tell me — Are 
you a grey-headed old sinner? Ii you are not one, 
and I called you one, I will apologize." 

This method of reply took the great man by sur- 
prise, and he said, somewhat confusedly, " Ah well, 
let it pass, I believe you are endeavouring to do a 
good work, here is ten pounds lor you ; but don't put 
that down to your prayers." 

" Thank you," said Mr. Spurgeon, as he accepted 
the money, " but you have made me more than ever 
anxious to know whether you are a grey-headed old 
sinner, or not. You told me, just now, that you 
would believe more in my prayers if bad people gave 
me the money. Are you a grey-headed old sinner ? " 

The man who had begun to object so glibly was 
silent. The arrow had evidently pierced between the 
joints of the harness. 

Another instance of this unexpected turning of a 
conversation came under my notice quite recently, 



His Ready Wit. 121 

A young man, who had given much trouble, said, that 
his conscience would not let him do a certain thing. 

"Ah," said Mr. Spurgeon, "you have a very good 
conscience/' 

Surprised, and pleased, the gentleman said, '* I did 
not think you had such a good opinion of me, sir." 

"Yes," said Mr. Spurgeon, "your conscience is 
almost as good as new, for you have not used it 
much." 

It is needless to say that such a rebuke is not likely 
soon to be forgotten. 

The next incident I relate, was at my own expense. 

One evening, on entering the Tabernacle, the Pastor 
called me on to the platform, and in the presence of 
some of his friends said, 

"Mr. Smith, I don't know what you think of your- 
self, but I have a very serious charge to lay against 
you." 

My face flushed, and I tried to smile. 

" Ah ! " said he, " you need not smile, it is a very 
serious charge." 

" Indeed, sir," said I, "and what is the nature of the 
charge?" I thought that, perhaps, some evil-disposed 
person had been trying to do some injury to my 
character. 

" Well," said Mr. Spurgeon, " there are two charges, 
and I am not quite sure which of the two is true ; 
perhaps you can help me to decide. You are either a 
thief or a conceited fellow." 

" Really, sir," I exclaimed, " I trust neither is true 
concerning me." 

" Yes," said he, " I am sorry to say it is so, it must 
b<j so, and I will prove it to you. Either that 



122 The Essex Lad. 

trumpet I saw you blowing in the street just now is 
yours, or it is not yours. Now, if it is not yours, and 
you have it, you must be a thief ; and if it is yours, 
you must be a fellow that blows his own trumpet ; 
and any fellow that blows his own trumpet is con- 
ceited you know." 

It was, indeed, a relief to me to see through his fun, 
and hear his explanation, which caused us all to smile. 

Then, as quick as thought, and for fear his playful- 
ness had left any sting, he revealed his true purpose 
in calling me on to the platform ; he said, 

" I am so glad to see the Lord has converted your 
trumpet as well as yourself; but it looks to me a poor 
tool. What is it worth ? " 

" About £2" I replied. 

" Well," said he, " I will be quite willing to pay £20, 
or anything up to that amount, for a cornet to be 
used in the Lord's service. Please order one to be 
made, and let the instrument be ready for my birth- 
day and the bill with it, and I will give it to you at 
the Stockwell Orphanage at the next Festival. Let 
the following inscription be engraved upon it : — 
* Presented to J. Manton Smith by C. H. Spurgeon, 
June 19, 1877. With trumpets and sound of cornet 
make a joyful noise before the Lord the King (Psalm 
xcviii. 6).' " 

So, you see, Mr. Spurgeon's wit and humour was 
quite musical to me. 




CHAPTER XVIII. 

ANY beggars were in the habit of calling 
upon Mr. Spurgeon ; they seemed to 
have discovered that he never refused 
anyone unless he knew them to be down- 
right impostors. Amongst the professional mendicants 
he was known by the name of " Soft Tommy." A 
friend once informed him of this fact, but he only 
smiled and said, " Never mind ; I would rather be 
remembered as ' Soft Tommy ' than ' Hard Jack."' 

His sympathy with suffering was immense. Few 
knew of his many acts of kindness towards the tried 
and afflicted. 

One day a friend sent him tickets for Handel's 
Oratorio at the Crystal Palace, but he refused them 
because he was too busy to attend ; yet that very day 
he found tims to visit a poor old man in one of the 
lowest parts of London, who had been twenty-six 
years bed-ridden. Again and again did he call and 
see this poor afflicted man, and never without some 
delicacy for the invalid. This sufferer told me he had 
never seen Mr. Spurgeon in his life till he visited him 
in his affliction ; then his presence seemed like the pre- 
sence of an angel. Beyond myself and Mr. Potier, 
few people knew of the great preacher's visits to 



124 The Essex Lad, 

this afflicted creature, and this is only a sample of 
many other cases. 

Mr. Spurgeon was eminently approachable. He 
did not keep people at arm's length. Some years ago, 
on a cold winterly morning, a neat-looking woman 
with a little baby in her arms sat crying on the 
Tabernacle steps when Mr. Spurgeon entered the 
gates. 

He enquired why she was weeping. 

" Come with me into the Tabernacle, my good 
woman," he said, " and warm your baby beside a nice 
fire." 

" I have been inside, sir," she answered, "and I have 
been rudely sent away. I am almost broken-hearted 
because they won't let me see Mr. Spurgeon, for I 
have a very special message for him." 

"Have you?" said Mr. Spurgeon. " Then I am 
sure you shall see him. Come and show me who 
would not let you see him. I am Mr. Spurgeon, and 
I will listen to all you have to say to me. Don't fret ; 
bring the baby into my vestry, and we will soon put 
matters right for you." 

The woman was overjoyed to find her wish was 
granted, and said, " Oh, sir, never mind about the rude 
man. I am more than repaid for all my trouble, now 
that I see you face to face." 

" Well, what do you want to see me about ? " 

" I am a member of the Church of England," she 
said, " and I live some seventy miles from here. I 
have never seen you before, but I have read your 
sermons, and The Sword and the Trowel, and I felt sure 
you were a kind man. My dear boy some years ago 
commenced to save up his money in a box for your 



Mr. Greatheart. I2^> 

Orphanage. And just before he died he said, ' Mother, 
be sure you go to London with my money-box, and 
see Mr. Spurgeon yourself, and tell him I have saved 
my money for his Orphanage,' and, sir," she said, " I 
have brought the box, to carry out his wish." When 
the contents of the box were counted they amounted 
to several pounds. 

The good woman, who is still alive, told me that 
when the servant repulsed her she was just on the 
point of returning home with very hard thoughts of 
Mr. Spurgeon. " After all," she was saying to herself, 
' : he is not a good, kind man." You see she was 
judging the master by the servant ; and I fear my 
Master Jesus is often misjudged by the world in the 
same way because of the inconsistencies of his 
followers. I wish people would but look at the Master 
Himself. When the woman saw Mr. Spurgeon in- 
stead of his subordinate, she went home with a glad 
heart. She still remains a devoted friend to his 
Institutions, and again came to London to pay her 
last tribute of respect at the funeral of the man whom 
she had first met under these circumstances. 

Quite an opposite episode to this comes to my 
memory. One evening a stranger stopped Mr. 
Spurgeon on the Tabernacle steps, and said : 

" Do you think I could see Mr. Spurgeon to-night ? " 

" I know he is very busy," he replied. " What do 
you wish to see him about ? " 

" That's my business," said the man, " and I am not 
going to tell you. I want to get a private interview 
with him. He is a great man, and I hear he has 
influence with the Queen." 

" I know that's not true," said the unrecognized 



126 J lie Essex Lad. 

pastor ; " lie is neither a great man, nor has he any 
influence whatever with the Queen ; and unless you tell 
me your business, you must go off about your business." 

With a hearty laugh, Mr. Spurgeon afterwards told 
how the man turned on him furiously, and said, 
" I wonder who you think you are ? It's like your 
impudence to say he is not a great man, and that he 
has no influence with the Queen. I suppose you're 
like the rest of 'em about the place, depending on 
Mr. Spurgeon for your bread and cheese ! " 

With this parting shot he stumped out of the build- 
ing, without either stating his business, or knowing to 
whom he had been speaking. 

The following incident, as far as I am aware, has 
never been recorded, but it is well worthy of- being 
known in honour of the great-heartedness, kindness, and 
humility which characterized it. In a quiet little 
village in the county in which I was born, there 
stands by the road-side a small Baptist Chapel. The 
people are too poor to support a pastor, and for many 
years the Sunday services have been conducted by 
different ministers. A godly old gardener, who has 
recently gone to glory, undertook to find the preachers, 
and a pious couple, in a cottage, promised to entertain 
them every week from Saturday till Monday. Their 
cottage was small, and their food plain, but the 
warmth of their hearts and their generous welcome, 
more than made up for their scanty store. All who 
served the little church felt well repaid by their 
gratitude and love. 

The old gardener took it into his head that he 
would like to get Mr. Spurgeon to preach to them, 
and wrote expressing his wish. 



Mr. Greatheart. 127 

Mr. Spurgeon sent a gently worded refusal. 

He wrote again. 

Again he got a refusal. 

He wrote a third time, with the same result, and 
then he told Mr. Spurgeon that he would continue 
writing until he came. 

No notice was taken of this letter, but at regular 
intervals an application came from the persistent old 
man, until scores of letters had been received from 
him. Mr. Spurgeon, having heard from other sources 
of the genuineness of the man, at length consented to 
visit them on a week-day. He was then informed of 
the old couple's constant hospitality to the preachers, 
and he expressed his desire to be entertained by 
them. However, when the bills announcing- his 
coming were posted, they attracted the attention of 
the village squire, who immediately wrote to Mr. 
Spurgeon, offering him hospitality for the day. 

He received a reply thanking him for his kindness, 
and informing him how the godly old couple had 
for years entertained the preachers week by week. 
Mr. Spurgeon asked the Squire to do him the personal 
favour of sending supplies of food into the cottag?, 
and joining him there to dinner and tea. 

His request was granted, and the old folks' hearts 
were glad in being permitted to entertain Mr. Spurgeon 
and his friend, the Squire, in their humble abode. 

The brick floor of the cottage was scrubbed and 
reddened, the wooden chairs were polished, and the 
corner cupboard was made to shine almost like a 
mirror. In the midst of all, the old man and his wife 
sat at their own table, dressed in their Sunday best, 
the feast which had been supplied, and 



128 The Essex Lad. 

having- as their guests, Mr. Spurgeon, the Squire, and 
the godly old gardener ; the servants from the Hall 
waiting on the happy party. 

It was my privilege to preach in the same place, and 
to share the old people's hospitality, some two years 
after this event. The fragrance of Mr. Spurgeon's 
visit was still fresh in the hearts of these old folks, 
and tears of joy trickled down their faces as they gave 
me a detailed account of it. The corner cupboard 
was then unlocked, and a cup and saucer carefully 
taken from the shelf, and placed before me on the 
table. 

" There, sir," said this good old woman, "that is the 
very cup and saucer out of which Mr. Spurgeon had 
his tea ; it has never been used since ; but in honour 
of your visit to us, I am going to give you your tea in 
it ; but be sure you don't break it." 

Since then these two saints have been called home. 
Perhaps they have met their guests of that day in 
glory ere now, and who can say but they may have 
talked together about the cup of tea ? A cup of cold 
water, given in Christ's name, commands a blessing ; 
and their humble service, and Mr. Spurgeon's humble 
spirit, must both have been pleasing to the Saviour 
whom they all loved. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



ittc jftffourl of tfo jwphffa. 







F the Pastors' College I should like to say 
much more than the pages of this book 
will permit me, for some of my happiest 
cJlKW<#f day3 were spent w i t hi n i ts wa ll s . 

It was very dear to Mr. Spurgeon's heart. He not 
only himself preached, but he trained other men to 
preach too, and stinted neither time nor money in the 
service. At one stage of the history of the College, 
he was on the point of selling his horse and carriage 
in order to carry it on, and often Mrs. Spurgeon has 
by economies in the home, provided the funds to tide 
over a hard pinch. 

In answer to prayer, this and all Mr. Spurgeon's 
other projects have been sustained, and now that his 
service on earth is over, these works must be still 
carried on. Some of the young people of to-day 
should, in future years come forward to support the 
various institutions which will perpetuate his memory. 

A minister tells how one day while he was at the 
College Prayer Meeting, Mr. Spurgeon put his head 
in at the door and said, 

" Brethren, pray for help, we have no money to 
carry on the work." 

They prayed, and in about twenty minutes, Mr. 



130 The Essex Lad. 

Spurgeon again appeared, and in triumphant tones 
he exclaimed as he held up a cheque, 

" Help has come, brethren, a gentleman has just 
called with this. Now let us praise God together." 

This is only a sample of the life of faith which 
sustained and inspired his every enterprise. 

In the evangelistic work which, in company with a 
band of brethren, I have been permitted to share, he 
ever took the deepest interest, and was always anxious 
to have the latest tidings of success. Often he gave 
us words of cheer and counsel. I personally received 
a token of his warm-hearted thoughtfulness, only a 
few days before he passed away. 

A certain newspaper, in speaking of our work, had 
compared Mr. Fullerton and myself to the piano and 
banjo, and a copy of the paper had reached Mr. 
Spurgeon, in Menton. With reference to this, he 
wrote to me, on the last day of 1891, a letter full of 
cheerfulness and vigour. Part of it refers to business, 
and part to his own health, but amongst other things, 
he says : — 

" Keep on with that banjo. Keep to the same old 
tune. They cannot call you " the Bones." 

Then, after a few genial and generous compliments, 
he continues, " I conceive that your work is second to 
none in real usefulness. To the Lord be all the 
glory ! I am very grateful for help as to The Sword 
and the Trowel!' 

Mr. Spurgeon was a personal friend to his students. 
He seemed to know every man who entered the 
College, through and through. He took the deepest 
interest in each of them, and forgot nobody. 

At this present moment, I see, lying on my study' 



The School of the Prophets, 131 

table, a long letter of encouragement to a young 
friend of mine who lately left College for the Mission 
Field. The following extract will show how he kept 
in touch with the brethren in their service for Christ. 
The letter is dated Menton, December, 1891, and is 
the more appropriate as it is addressed to a farmer's 
son. Mr. Spurgeon says : — 

"The Lord himself be with you in South Africa. 
Keep to the old Gospel. Live near to God. May 
Christ live in you ! I shall hear of you, I trust, if I 
don't see you. Stick to your work, Doggett ! Never 
say die! You have a tough piece of ground to plough, 
keep the share bright and sharp and go straight as a 
line to the end of the field " 

To give a bird's-eye view of the work accomplished 
by the school of the prophets, I cannot do better than 
quote the descriptive words of its Principal, Gracey : — 

" The company of the preachers is vast, scattered in 
every land and encircling the globe. At home, they 
take their stations from Wick to Redruth, from 
Norfolk to Wales. They minister to the largest con- 
gregations in the Metropolis. They have made their 
own almost every Baptist pulpit in the Isle of Wight, 
and are planted in Jersey, Guernsey, and the Isle of 
Man. Their labours are giving new hope to the 
churches of Ireland. They are pursuing missions in 
Spain, and at Turin and Naples. They are among 
the few brave men who testify for Christ among the 
fierce Mohammedans of North Africa. The banks of 
the Congo hold the sacred dust of some, and witness 
the energy and devotion of others. The growing 
kingdom of South Africa has a Pastors' College man 
in almost =very important town. Away to the South, 



32 



The Essex Lad. 



throughout New Zealand and Tasmania, and from 
Brisbane to Western Australia, they have been doing, 
and are doing, good service for the Saviour. They 
have carried the gospel to the Falklands, the Bahamas, 
and Jamaica. They occupy pastorates from Rio de 
Janeiro to Canada, and from New England to the 
frontier States of the far West. They have gone as 
missionaries and pastors to India ; ministered as 
Christ's servants to the famine-stricken peasants of 
China ; and carried the torch of saving truth to their 
neighbours of Japan. 

" Their testimony thus, like the roll of a British 
drum, goes round the world, and with a continuous 
concert of prayer — for a Prayer Union links all 
together — that the Great Head of the Church would 
grant ever-increasing times of refreshing from his 
presence. So greatly has God owned and blessed the 
Pastors' College, that almost literally the words are 
true of it, ' The little one has become a thousand.' " 




,^;Kr ^is-^-v^ 



THE PASTORS COLLEGE- 




CHAPTER XX. 

SUhc Uterswg uf the (purrh. 

GREAT man always has a child's heart 
Mr. Spurgeon was a great man. Nowhere 
was this seen more than in his love and 
care for the children. He always tenderly 
sought the welfare of the lambs of the flock. 
Though he was a Baptist he did not teach 
adult baptism ; he enforced the baptism of believers, 
and a boy has been known to join the Tabernacle 
Church as early as nine years old. 

It is quite in keeping with his character that his life 
should be written specially for young people, and 
therefore I am glad to accede to the publishers' re- 
quest and write it. 

My friend, Mr. Pearce, who is superintendent of 
the Sunday Schools connected with the Tabernacle, 
was often cheered by the Pastor's interest in that 
department of the work. What a hive of bees these 
schools seem, as seen on the afternoon of a Lord's- 
day ! The school is truly the nursery of the church. 
Hundreds have been led to know and trust the 
Saviour by its means. On special occasions, I have 
had the joy of addressing almost ten thousand little 
people who can be gathered together from the various 
schools around the Tabernacle. 



134 The Essex Lad. 



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The Nursery of the Church. 135 

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136 « The Essex Lad, 

Many years ago a mother ventured into the 
Tabernacle, to hear the popular preacher, and during 
the prayer, the baby in her arms began to cry aloud. 
Mr. Spurgeon at once quelled the disturbed congrega- 
tion and comforted the heart of the troubled mother, 
by asking God's blessing to rest on the child, whose 
very cry was a prayer for something that it lacked 
language to express. 

The references he made to this child, and the many 
lessons he drew from its cry were very memorable, 
and the mother never failed to impress upon the 
child, as it grew up into life, that Mr. Spurgeon once 
prayed specially for him in the great Tabernacle. 
When the boy had reached manhood he came to join 
the Church, and said that the thought of the prayer 
offered for him, when he was a baby, had been so im- 
pressed upon his life that it had led him to Christ. 

At the College Conference in 1889, Dr. Usher, of 
Belfast, prayed earnestly that the children of the 
ministers present might all become the Lord's. This 
heart-breathed prayer was taken up at once by 
Mr. Spurgeon, who asked for the names and addresses 
of every unconverted child whose father was a member 
of the Conference, in order that he might write to 
them. In a few weeks he had written and posted 
a letter to every child whose name he had received. 

The two letters that were sent are here reproduced, 
in the hope that many may solemnly read them as 
a message from the hand which now is still. 

The very young children received the letter on the 
pages preceding, and those who were older received 
the second. 

Two of my own dear boys were led into the path 



The Nursery of the Church. 137 

of peace by this means, and I have had other most 
pleasing proofs from some of the fathers of these 
children as to the value of those epistles. One minister 
reports that both his twin daughters were brought to 
the Lord by them, and another speaks of his boy 
who was led into the light by the agency of the 
letter, and who is just now, as I write, about to be 
baptized. 

When my eldest son, George, was about to make 
profession of his faith in this way, Mr. Spurgeon said 
to him, before he went down into the water — 

" George, my lad, your father, who is now away in 
Sheffield, sings the Gospel, why should not you do 
the same ? Come, sing us a verse now." 

I need not tell you this little fellow, only fourteen 
years old, was somewhat dismayed at the request, but 
with God-given courage and guidance, he walked to 
the front of the platform, and sang : — 

" I heard the voice of Jesus say, 

' Come unto Me and rest ; 
Lay down, thou weary one, lay down 

Thy head upon My breast.' 
I came to Jesus as I was, 

Weary, and worn, and sad : 
I found in Him a resting-place, 

And He has made me glad." 

This is the only resting-place for either a child or 
grown-up person. I hope you could sing this verse 
truly. 

Mr. Spurgeon sometimes preached special sermons 
to children. One of these is entitled, "A Double 
Knock at the Door of the Young," and I think you 
would like to read it. It has been blessed to many. 




The Essex L,ad. 






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The Nursery of the Church. 139 

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CHAPTER XXL 



§he d&rjrttan gomes. 




HIS record would not be complete if an 
account of Mr. Spurgeon's Institution for 
the Fatherless was left out, yet space 
forbids me to say much about it. 

Mr. Spurgeon's many works grew, none of them 
were manufactured. The Orphanage is a wonderful 
example of this, A clergyman's widow, having a 
strong desire to help poor fatherless children, and 
believing thoroughly in Mr. Spurgeon as a good and 
a wise man, wrote to him, saying that she would give 
him £20,000 as a nest Ggg } if he would found an 
Orphanage for Fatherless boys. 

He called on her, and when he saw the size of the 
house in which she lived and the humble surroundings 
of the place, he thought it could not be £20,000 that 
she wished to give. 

So he said, " I have called to see you concerning 
the £200 you wrote me about." 

"Two hundred, Mr. Spurgeon ! " said the lady ; " did 
I say £200 ? it is £20,000 I want to give to you." 

"Well," he replied, "you certainly did say £20,000, 
but I thought perhaps you had put a nought or two 
too many." 

After receiving the £20,000, Mr. Spurgeon resolved 



The Orphan Homes. 



141 



to found the Orphanage, and began to pray for the 
necessary direction and equipment. God heard his 
prayer and blessed his efforts so greatly, that, in a 
short time, there were cottage homes erected for the 
accommodation of 250 boys, with a large dining-hall 
and play-hall. The place was opened to all de- 
nominations and no votes were required to gain 
admission, the greatest need always having the first 
claim for admission. The Orphanage has now grown 
to such an extent, that it is able to shelter, clothe, 
and educate within its gates, 250 girls and 250 boys. 
I should like to tell you so much more about the 
Orphanage but I have no room, because I want to 
insert the following narrative. 

Mr. Spurgeon's last private visit there was on 
Tuesday, September 23rd, 1890. He was very weak 
and ill at the time, and felt glad to lean on the arm 
of my friend, Mr. F. G. Ladds, the Secretary, who was 
once a little boy in the Orphanage himself, and who, 
while yet a lad, trusted Christ and became a member 
of the Tabernacle church. 

The day was a very wet and stormy one, and it was 
impossible to go all round the grounds. 

" There was nothing for it but to turn into the play- 
hall, where the boys gave tremendous cheers at our 
advent," says Mr. Spurgeon in recording the incident, 
41 cheers almost as deafening as the thunder which re- 
sponded to them. Go out we could not, for the shower 
was swollen into a deluge, so I resolved to turn the 
season to account. I had to disappoint the little girls; 
but their turn will come another day." 

Alas ! that " other day " never came. 

"A chair was forthcoming, and there I sat, the centre 



142 



The Essex Lad. 



of a dense throng of juvenile humanity, which could 
scarcely be kept off from a nearness which showed the 
warmth of their reception of their friend. Our artist, 
who, standing in the throng, made a hurried sketch, 
could not be afforded space enough to put in the 
hundreds of boys. It was certainly a melting moment 




as to heat, and fresh air was not abundant ; but any- 
thing was better than the storm outside. 

" Flash after flash made everybody feel sober, and 
prompted me to talk with the boys about that freedom 
from fear which comes through faith in the Lord Jesus. 






The Orphan Homes. 143 

The story was told of a very young believer, who was 
in his uncle's house one night during a tremendous 
tempest. The older folk were all afraid ; but he had 
really trusted himself with the Lord Jesus, and he did 
not dare to fear. The baby was upstairs, and nobody 
was brave enough to fetch it down because of a big 
window on the stairs. This lad went up to the bed- 
room, and fetched the baby to its mother, and then 
read a psalm, and prayed with his relatives, who were 
trembling with fear. There was real danger for a 
stack was set on fire a short distance away : but the 
youth was as calm as on a summer's day of sunshine, 
not because he was naturally brave, but because he 
truly trusted in the Lord." 

I daresay you will guess who this young believer 
was ! though Mr. Spurgeon was too modest to say. 
But he continues the narrative. 

" While I was thus speaking, the darkness increased, 
and the storm overhead seemed brooding over us with 
black wings. It was growing dark before its hour. 
Most appropriately, one of the boys suggested a verse, 
which all sang sweetly and reverently — 

1 Abide with me ! fast falls the eventide ; 
The darkness thickens ; Lord, with me abide ; 
When other helpers fail, and comforts flee, 
Help of the helpless, O abide with me ! ' 

This ended, there followed a word about the ground 
of the believer's trust : he was forgiven, and therefore 
dreaded no condemnation ; he was in his heavenly 
Father's hand, and therefore feared no evil. If we 
were quarrelling with God, and had all our sins rest- 
ing upon our guilty heads, we might be afraid to die ; 
yes, and ever afraid to live ; but when reconciled by 



144 TJie Essex Lad. 

the death of His Son, we said farewell to fear. With 
God against us we are in a state of war ; but with 
God for us we dwell in perfect peace. Here came 
flashes of lightning- and peals of thunder which might 
well make us start ; but no one was afraid. It is true 
we all felt awed, but we were restful, and somehow 
there was a quiet but general cry for 'perfect peace! 
On inquiring what this meant, I was answered by all 
the boys singing right joyfully — 

' Like a river glorious is God's perfect peace, 
Over all victorious in its bright increase, 
Perfect, yet it floweth fuller every day ; 
Perfect, yet it groweth deeper all the way. 
Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blest, 
Finding as he promised, perfect peace and rest.' 

This sung, we covered our faces reverently, and the 
boys were very silent, while I lifted up my voice in 
prayer. Then we opened our eyes again, and it was 
very dark, as if night had come before its time. While 
the flames of fire leaped in through the windows and 
skylights, the noise of the rain upon the roof and the 
tremendous thunder scarcely permitted me to say 
much upon Jesus as being our peace, through His 
bearing our sins in His own body on the tree. Yet, 
as well as I could, I set forth the cross of Christ as 
the place of peace-making, peace-speaking, and peace- 
finding, both for boys and men ; and then we all sang, 
to the accompaniment of the storm-music — 

' How sweet the name of Jesus sounds 
In a believer's ear ! 
It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds, 
And drives away his fear.' 

Never did ths power of that Name to drive away fear 



The Orphaii Homes. 145 

appear more sweetly. To me the words came with a 
soothing, cheering power, which filled me with intense 
delight, and so we very joyfully and peacefully sang 
the third verse — 

' Dear Name ! the rock on which I build, 
My shield and hiding-place ; 
My never-failing treasury, filled 
With boundless stores of grace.' 

Just as we came to ' my shield and hiding-place/ 
there was a peculiarly blue flash, with a sort of rifle- 
crack, as if something very close to us had been struck. 
The boys looked at one another, but went on, with 
subdued tones, singing of the ' boundless stores of 
grace.' Teachers and others were mixed with the 
little army of boys, but we were all welded together 
in common emotion. I then reminded them that to 
such a Protector we must give our heart's love. It was 
a duty to love one so good as the Lord Jesus, but 
even more a delight to do so, since He gave Himself 
for us, and, by bearing our punishment, delivered us 
from all harm. As if by instinct, some one led off — 

' My Jesus, I love Thee, I know Thou art mine, 
For Thee all the follies of sin I resign ; 
My gracious Redeemer, my Saviour art Thou, 
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, 'tis now.' 

Here was a good opportunity to press home the 
question, Is this true of each one of you ? The 
great desire of all who conduct the Orphanage is to 
lead you to take Jesus for your gracious Redeemer, 
that so you may love Him. Oh, that you loved Him 
now ! It may be that, if you leave us unsaved, the 
Lord will yet bring you in ; but it would be far better 



146 



The Essex Lad. 



that you should go out from us ready for the battle of 
life, and covered with a holy armour, so that you may 
not be wounded by the arrows of sin. Then I picked 
out Mr. May, who is employed at the Orphanage, and 
bade him tell the boys about himself. May was a 
boy with us at the Orphanage — a restless spirit, and 
so he went to sea, and, after many hardships and 
adventures, he was converted to God at Malta, and 



WB^m 






THE SPURGEONS' ORPHANAGE GATE. 

then came back to us, and we found him a post at 
his old school. As the lads knew the most of his 
story, May did not say very much ; and what he did 
say was rather overborne by the rain on the roof, 
which sounded like ten thousand drums. The thunder 
added its trumpet voice, and only allowed us pauses 
of silence. I went on with the talk till there came a 



The Orphan Homes. 147 

burst of thunder loud and long. I stopped, and bade 
the children listen to the voice of the Lord. We 
all hearkened to it with awe and wonder. Then I 
reminded them of Psalm xxix : ' The voice of the 
Lord is powerful ; the voice of the Lord is full of 
majesty. The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars ; 
yea, the Lord breaketh the cedars of Lebanon. The 
Lord sitteth upon the flood ; yea, the Lord sitteth 
King for ever.' I told them how often I had sung to 
to myself Dr. Watts' verses — 

1 The God that rules on high, 
And thunders when He please, 
That rides upon the stormy sky, 
And manages the seas : 



Our Father and our love ; 
He shall send down His heavenly powers 
To carry us above. 

' There shall we see His face, 
And never, never sin ; 
There from the rivers of His grace, 
Drink endless pleasures in.' . 

As they did not know the old-fashioned tune ' Falcon 
Street,' to which I had been wont to sing the words, 
we kept quiet till, suddenly, there came another roll 
of drums in the march of the God of armies ; and 
then, as an act of worship, we adoringly sang together, 
with full force, the words of the doxology — 

1 Praise God, from whom all blessings flow, 
Praise him all creatures here below, 
Praise him above, ye heavenly host, 
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost/ 



148 



The Essex Lad. 



" This was a grand climax. The heavens themselves 
seemed to think so, for there were no more thunder- 
claps of such tremendous force. I need not write 
more. The storm abated. I hurried off to see en- 
quirers at the Tabernacle, but not till one and another 
had said to me, ' The boys will never forget this. It 
will abide with them throughout eternity.' So BE 
it, for Christ's sake Amen." 



-l^llfeA 




[ICvlUs I 



«r 



'-^^ 



k^ L J~> fad* ft* ^ 




1/ 0s . 



L^J~'<rf?* 




Mr. Spurgeon was a true friend to all the orphans. 
When he was at Menton, one of the boys and one of 
the girls wrote to him on behalf of the others, wishing 
him a happy Christmas, on what proved to be the last 
Christmas day he spent on earth. In reply they had 
each a card, tenderly and beautifully written. A 
fac-simile of each is given in the hope that many of 
the girls and boys who read this book may learn to 
trust Him who cares for the birds, and begin to fight 



The Orphan Homes. 



149 



His battles all through their lives. Then, whether 
orphans or not, they may rejoice in knowing that 
they are children of the Father in heaven. 





YJwr-tn^ 









fa*~£zz JL~,/ . /fyi 



■ft. 




Each year, at the Orphanage, there is a Founders' 
Day and Festival, which is arranged to come as near 
Mr. Spurgeon's birthday, June 19th, as possible. 
Thousands of friends gather on these occasions, and 
anyone who wishes both to see* the Orphan Homes, 
and to hear about them, cannot do better than be 
present at this annual ^te 




MRS. C. H. SPUKGEON. 




CHAPTER XXII. 

|Jir)Ittinplc %mt and gculah gill. 

ANUARY is a marked month in the life 
of C. H. Spurgeon. In January he entered 
upon the new life : in January he entered 
upon the glorified life : and in January 
he entered upon home life. On January 8th, 1856, in 
the presence of two thousand people, Mrs. C. H. 
Spurgeon linked her life with his. 

Two houses in London will be long pointed out 
as having been occupied by " England's Greatest 
Preacher." One is in Nightingale Lane, Clapham, 
and though the sweet songsters of the night have long 
since departed from it, the man of God, who for years 
lived there, often caused weary hearts to sing for joy. 
Twelve years ago Mr. and Mrs. Spurgeon removed to 
Norwood, and at " West wood," on Beulah Hill, the 
same quiet but busy life was lived as in the presence 
of God. The home indeed was like a bit of the 
land of Beulah of which John Bunyan speaks in his 
Pilgrims Progress. 

Mr. Spurgeon's home life was most beautiful. His 
tastes were simple and unaffected, and there were none 
of the airs of a great man about him. Perfect order 
reigned everywhere, and when anyone entered the 
home, a feeling of restfulness pervaded the heart 



152 The Essex Lad. 

at once. There was no extravagance, but everything 
was in perfect taste. The gardens and grounds were 
ever the delight of the great preacher, and he was per- 
fectly happy when he was conducting some honoured 
guest round his domain. With delight he would 
point out the beauties of flower and fern, and describe 
the features of the scenery, of which a wide expanse 
could be seen from his favoured position on the top 
of the hill. 

The cows in the meadow were an ornament to the 
place. These were consecrated to the Lord's service, 
and the proceeds from the sale of the milk was 
devoted by Mrs. Spurgeon to the support of a Bible- 
woman and a nurse. " Punch," Mr. Spurgeon's pug 
dog, was always a great source of amusement ; many 
a hearty laugh I have heard his master give, when 
the dog gave a special performance of his tricks for 
the benefit of visitors. 

Twin sons were born in the home, and both are 
now preachers of the Gospel, and are workmen who 
need not to be ashamed. This fact was a great joy 
to their father's heart ; and though he did not believe 
grace ran in the blood, he rejoiced that the godly line 
of ministers was to be sustained in his family when 
he was gone. When the twins were boys they were 
photographed each year, and in the entrance hall, 
at " Westwood," a large frame contains these pictures, 
showing the gradual development from boyhood to 
manhood. Mr. Spurgeon sometimes used this as an 
illustration of the progress which should be seen in 
the life and character of those who are born into the 
family of God. 

For very many years Mrs. Spurgeon was an invalid, 



NigJitingale Lane and Beulah Hill. 153 

and as her dear husband, himself a great sufferer, said, 
" There is no blessing more to be desired of the Lord 
than health, except it be sickness." In the sick- 
chamber Mrs. Spurgeon has learned to delight herself 
in the Lord ; and the gentleness and fragrance which 
come from such discipline are prominent in her life. 
In later years she has been somewhat stronger, and 
I have heard her say that she has taken up her abode 
in "Thanksgiving Corner." Her whole life is full of 
praise. 

" The Book Fund," which she inaugurated, is known 
all over the world. Many a minister of the Gospel 
has been cheered by its means with a gift of books ; 
the yearly reports, and the volume which includes 
many of them, Ten Years of my Life in the Service 
of the Book Fund, are full of beauty and grace. 

I cannot do better than let the two dear sons them- 
selves speak of their father and his home. Pastor 
Charles Spurgeon, who is the minister of a large 
church at Greenwich, in speaking at the College 
Conference, bore a noble testimony to his glorified 
father. 

" Most of my home training I owe," he said, " to 
my beloved mother. Father was thereby set free the 
more for his sacred calling, but nevertheless that very 
fact has had a wonderful influence over me. His 
active life always impressed me much, even in my 
youngest days. 

" He was the truest and the kindest father as regards 
the correction of his children. If every parent acted 
as he did, probably there would be better boys about. 
The first recollection I have of him was on one 
occasion when, returning from the Continent with 



154 TJie Essex Lad. 

mother, the two boys having been left at home in 
charge of the cook, as a very great treat we sat up to 
welcome them. 

" During their absence, one of the two boys, on a 
certain Sunday afternoon, when a very limited portion 
of dessert had been allowed, thought he would like a 
little more, and so he helped himself. You can 
imagine who it was. I need not say it was not my 
brother. I was found out in that petty larceny, and 




MR. SPURGEON S SON CHARLES. 



was punished accordingly by the cook. I suffered 
greatly at her hands ; but, having most truly repented, 
I received from her a promise that, upon the return 
of my parents, my offence should not be mentioned. 
I was grieved ; my heart was broken that I had done 
it, as much because I feared lest I should grieve my 
parents as it was that I had stolen some nuts. 

" When they returned, however, the first question 
asked was, 



Nightingale Lane and BenlaJi Hill. 155 

"'Well, Ellen, and how are the boys ? Have they 
been good ? ' 

" ' Yes, sir/ she said, but with a little bit of doubt 
about it. 

" They knew very well what it meant ; for they said 
directly, 

i( ' Has not Charlie been good ? ' 

" The question was answered, I am sorry to say, in 
the negative, and the whole story of taking some half 
.a dozen nuts out of the sideboard cupboard was told, 
and Charlie was sent to bed with these words, 

" * I will come up and see you presently.' 

" That was all. That was quite enough, and I went 
upstairs with a very heavy heart ; and yet, because it 
was my father, I did not fear him. When he came in 
at the door, I was already in bed. It was somewhat 
late for my childhood days — about half-past nine. 

" He entered and said, ' I find that you have already 
been punished for what you did wrong, so go to sleep,' 
and he gave me a kiss, and went downstairs. 

" That was his trait all through his life ; he was 
most just, and true, and upright ; and if he thought 
that any injury had been done to anyone, or that he 
had made a mistake concerning any, he would go out 
of his way to put it right, and spend any amount of 
money to do it. And I could back these words up 
with facts. 

" A little further on, in my life's history, I was at 
school at Brighton. I went there for several reasons. 
I believe that the first was to learn, but the second 
was to play, and I preferred the second to the first ; 
and sometimes the lessons were not altogether well 
prepared. I had a letter from my father, for the 

7* 



156 The Essex Lad. 

master had written complaining of me, and father 
said, 

" 'Charlie, I shall have to tell the master to cane you, 
if you are able! " 

"Well, that dose of physic went down all the 
sweeter because there was a drop of honey in it, and 
I believe that I was a better boy, and stuck to my 
books the more because of the way in which he put it. 
It made me more capable, because I was afraid of 
being caned. So my father was kind in his corrections." 

When the son sent a letter from school speaking 
of a prayer meeting that he had started in the master's 
drawing room, he received this beautiful little note. 
His father said : — 

" Dear boy, I should like you to preach, but it is 
best that you pray. Many a preacher has proved a 
castaway, but never one who has truly learned to 
pray." 

When son Charles desired to give himself wholly 
to the Lord's work, he received another letter from 
his father, which I commend to all the young men 
whose eye this page may catch. It contains the 
highest wisdom, and if followed out will make any 
life happy. Mr. Spurgeon wrote : " I am glad you 
desire to do something for the Lord, and shall be still 
more so when you actually set about it. Time flies, 
and the opportunity for doing good flies with it. 
However diligent you may be in the future, you can 
only do the work of 1875 in 1875 ; and if you leave it 
undone now, it will be undone to all eternity. 

" The diligent attention which you give to business, 
the careful purity of your daily life, and your concern 
to do common things in a right spirit, are all a real 



NigJitingale Lane and BeulaJi Hill. 157 

service to the Lord, The hours in which your earthly 
calling is industriously followed for Christ's sake, are 
real hours of work for Jesus ; but still this cannot 
satisfy you, or, at least, I hope it cannot. 

" As redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus, you 
feel that you belong to Him, and you long to show 
your love to Him by actions directly meant to extend 
His kingdom, and gather in souls whom He loves to 
bless. When once such efforts are commenced they 
become easier, and a kind of hunger to do more seizes 
upon the heart, 

" It is not toil, but pleasure ; and if God blesses 
what we do, it rises from being a common pleasure 
to become a sacred delight. ' Whatsoever your hand 
findeth to do, do it with your might' It is not for 
me to suggest what, for the act of invention must be 
left to yourself, and half the pleasure lies in it." 

" With such words as those," says his son, in reading 
this letter, " I can assure you it was not long before I 
decided to go and take up work for Jesus Christ, 
feeling also sure that he that had written thus would 
pray even more earnestly than before that the humble 
worker might be richly blessed." 

Mr. Spurgeon was a very busy man. Not a 
moment of his life was wasted. Once when the son 
had begun to ride a bicycle, his father asked him : 

" However do you manage to keep on, my boy ? " 

"Well, if I do not go on, father, I go off," he 
answered. 

" That is about the same with me," he said ; " I 
must keep at it, else I should stop." 

And until the very end he " kept at it," spending his 
strength to the last ounce in the service of his Master. 



158 . The Essex Lad. 

When he unbent in the midst of his friends or 
family, or when out on a holiday, he was at his be->t. 
Fun and frolic would follow as from the heart of a 
child ; " But," his son says, " even in the midst of this 
fun there was some amount of instruction conveyed. 
He would sometimes say : 

" ' Now, boys, let us see what we can say about 
these trees ; ' and then we would try to make some 
riddles up, and he would make riddles about all 
manner of things. Then he would turn and try to 
make us remember all the different stones and rocks,, 
and so forth. And if we were going through old 
ruins of castles, abbeys, and the like, he would tell us 
about them, for he seemed to know everything. He 
was a walking encyclopaedia. 

" When we went through the churches in Paris, he 
seemed to know every picture, every tomb. When- 
ever we spent these happy holidays, I preferred it to 
going to school, and I wished that he had always been 
my tutor ; for I believe that I should have learned a 
great deal more from him than from anybody else. 
I do thank God for having had such a father, so full 
of information, and so gracious in imparting it." 

On one occasion in Scotland the father and sons 
were guessing about trees, and saying which they 
liked best. When son Tom's turn came, he went up 
to Mr. Spurgeon, and said : 

" Yew, father." 

His father never forgot that tender touch which 
conveyed a world of 'ove. 

Pastor Thomas Spurgeon for his health's sake has 
been compelled to make his home in a warmer 
climate. Both in Australia and in New Zealand his 



Nightingale Lane and Beulah Hill. 



159 



name is a household word. His preaching has been 
so acceptable that, with God's blessing, he has 
been enabled to build a magnificent Tabernacle in 
Auckland. 

When the news of his father's death was cabled to 
New Zealand (the beautiful message to the son was, 
" Father in heaven, mother resigned,") a Memorial 
Service was convened in the Tabernacle, which he 
had been the means of erecting, and on that solemn 
occasion he gave the following testimony : — 




MR. SPURGEON'S SON THOMAS. 

"The man who was so good to other people's 
children was, you may be sure, a good father to his 
own. So busy a life prevented him from taking an 
active part in the upbringing of his boys — besides, my 
precious mother was the best possible trainer. We 
learned from father's example rather than by his 
precept. And if his home life might be told it would 
prove as striking as his public life. I fear me we 



160 The Essex Lad, 

have not profited by it as we should, but it was bound 
to tell. 

"There, 'at home, sweet home,' we marked his 
generosity — so unstinted that scarce anyone appealed 
in vain — unless, indeed, he himself, just then, was as 
poor as the applicant, by reason of his constant 
giving. There we saw the daily, hourly piety, so 
natural and unconstrained — the trustful confidence 
in God — the humility which ever spake in praise of 
others, but never in his own. 

" What a lesson, too, was his unwearying activity. 
I never knew him waste a moment. His geniality 
and humour brightened a home over which the cloud 
of sickness so often hung. Not even 'midst my tears 
can I obliterate the recollection of his wit and fun ; 
nor do I wish to, for these were consecrated too — the 
man himself was God's." 

On several occasions Mrs. Spurgeon has given me 
the privilege of speaking in her home ; once Mr. 
Fullerton joined me. The study has always been 
chosen as the place for the meetings, for the Lord Jesus 
always gets the best place in her home. I have felt 
no greater honour could have been conferred on me 
than to stand on the spot where the world's preacher 
used to sit to study, and to be allowed there to lift my 
feeble voice for my Master, supported by the queenly 
Pastor's wife, vho led our praise at the piano. 




CHAPTER XXIII. 

2 tfa JltarrjM of *&* W^ &»• 

ENTON and Mr. Spurgeon will be two 
names always associated the one with 
the other. Indeed, in some sense, Mr. 
Spurgeon made Menton, so many visitors 
flocked there because of his presence. 

For quite a number of winters he has sojourned in 
that quiet nook by the margin of the blue Medi- 
terranean, sheltered by the Alpes Maritimes from the 
cruel north wind. 

In former years, the little morning service which he 
conducted in his room was greatly appreciated by the 
Christian people who were wintering in Menton : 
sometimes he would have as many as sixty crowding 
to take part in it. He simply expounded a passage 
of Scripture and led in prayer, but blessing large and 
lasting rested on this quiet ministry. Two years ago 
he read through the Gospel according to Matthew 
in this way, and the last weeks of his life were spent 
in revising the Commentary which was the outcome 
of these talks, and which is yet to be published as a 
posthumous work. 

After his severe illness in the summer of 1 891, 
Mrs. Spurgeon was able to accompany her beloved 
husband to the sunny South, and his delight was great 



1 62 The Essex Lad. 

in taking her to his various resorts and pointing out 
the beauties oi the place to her. 

About three weeks before his death he was driving 
in the suburbs of Menton with Mr. Allison and his 
private secretary, when a telegraph messenger met 
them along the road, and announced that he had a 
telegram for Mr. Spurgeon. Mr. Harrald opened it, 
and read its contents aloud. It was from their Royal 
Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales, thanking 
him for his message of sympathy in reference to the 
loss of the Duke of Clarence. 

Mr. Harrald folded it up ; he said, " I will put that 
into my pocket, and take care of it." 

Mr. Spurgeon, who seemed very much cheered to 
receive such a mark of respect, said : — 

" No, you won't, I will take care of that myself" ; 
and he placed it into his own pocket — there it re- 
mained until he passed away. 

To mourn over the loss of such a life would be 
almost a sin. We cannot help weeping, but we dare 
not murmur ; for his end was so beautiful. I cannot 
describe the feelings which follow his final with- 
drawal from our midst better than my faithful 
colleague has done in the preface of the Memorial 
Volume, From the Pulpit to the Palm-Branch. 

" Since this good gift was to be taken from us, we 
are constrained to say that he could have gone from 
our midst in no better way. This is not only a matter 
of faith, but, having tried to imagine other methods 
of departure, we are compelled to fall back on God's 
way as the wisest and best. 

"Had Mr. Spurgeon been called suddenty, we should 
have been so stunned by the blow as to have been 



By the Margin of the Blue Sea. 



163 



scarcely able to stand upright beneath it ; a waiting 
time was, therefore, in mercy, granted to us, during 
which the forces at command were organized in such 
a way that, with the exactness of a machine, all 
worked smoothly when the terrible tidings at last came. 





MR. SPURGEON AND MR. HARRAI.D BY THE SEA. 

" Had Mr. Spurgeon been taken before such mar- 
vellous solicitude was shown around his sick bed, the 
enemies of the truth would have blasphemed ; now 



164 The Essex Lad. 

they are fain to be silent, seeing- that even in this life, 
fidelity to the truth, and faithfulness to conviction 
have been so greatly honoured. 

" Had Mr. Spurgeon passed away amid the fogs of 
London, we should have imagined that,had he only been 
permitted to live beneath bluer skies, his life would 
have been prolonged ; now we thank God that those 
three bright months were added to it, and that he was 
able, with his beloved wife, to have such uninterrupted 
joy on earth, ere he passed to his reward in heaven." 

A little while before the end, Dr. Harwood Pattison 
received a post card from Menton, of which he justly 
remarks " that for beauty of thought and expression, 
it seems worthy to rank with the best specimen of 
English letter-writing, 

" Dear Friend, — The best of years be unto you. 
Your card was very sweet. I am very ill, weary and 
low ; but yet I am in such tender hands that I am by 
no means unhappy. * Let Him do as seemeth Him 
good/ 

" I am, indeed, favoured with the kind opinion of 
my brethren. I pray to be more worthy of the honour 
of their love. 

" I am glad of the love of yourself and your father, 
who seems to me to be growing out on his Western 
side — all good things go that way. It will be no ill 
day for me when I go, in a fuller sense, to the land of 
the setting sun. 

" Yours, ever, most heartily, 

"C. H. Spurgeon." 

Truly, it was no ill day for him, when he entered 
that land of everlasting rest, and left the margin of 
the blue sea for the sea of glass mingled with fire. 




CHAPTER XXIV. 

§fe jfea of (Sla^a mingled with dire. 



N the 31st day of January, 1892, just about 
thirty-eight years after the call to New 
Park Street, Mr. Spurgeon,who had caused 
such a stir from the centre to the circum- 
ference of the world, lay breathing his last breath 
during the solemn midnight in a quiet little chamber 
in the Hotel Beau Rivage, Menton. His devoted 
wife and a few friends stood around his bed, while 
outside in the night wind the palm trees were waving 
their branches as if in token of victory. Truly a con- 
queror, through Christ, passed away that night. 

On the following morning a little company again 
stood in the room, among whom were his much 
beloved deacon, Mr. Allison, his devoted " armour- 
bearer,'' Mr. Harrald, my old College companion, 
Mr. Samuels, of Birmingham, and my friend Mr. 
Mackenzie, who had rendered Mr. Spurgeon some 
little assistance with his camera during the closing 
weeks, and others. 

My friend told me that as he fell upon his knees in 
that strange land, and kissed the cold forehead, he 
fervently lifted his heart to God in gratitude for the 
blessing he had received as a young man, in London, 
many years before, through those lips which were now 



1 66 



The Essex Lad. 



silent. He had never told Mr. Spurgeon that he was 
converted through him, but in the presence of death 
his heart overflowed. 




A MORNING WALK AT MENTON. 



No sooner had the spirit fled than the electric 
wire flashed the news all round the globe that 
" our beloved Pastor had entered heaven." The little 



The Sea of Glass mingled zvith Fire. 167 

post-office at Menton soon became blocked by hun- 
dreds of messages of sympathy arriving from all parts 
of the land, and sent by all ranks of society. The 
Prince and Princess of Wales sent a telegram to the 
bereaved widow, and after Mrs. Spurgeon's return to 
England, the Princess of Wales, who had gone to 
Menton, made further sympathetic inquiries con- 
cerning her, and said that, while she was sitting at the 
dying bed of her beloved son, the Duke of Clarence, 
at Sandringham, he made frequent references to 
Mr. Spurgeon. 

When the news of his son's departure was conveyed 
to Mr. Spurgeon's father, the venerable gentleman 
bore the intelligence of the sad event with the 
greatest fortitude, and his first observation was, " Oh, 
what a blessed meeting that must have been between 
Charles and his dear mother!" 

To carry out the express wish of his many friends 
at home, the body was brought to England for 
interment, and thus thousands, who had been blessed 
by his life, were enabled to pay a last tribute of 
respect at his burial. 

After being embalmed, the body was placed in a 
beautiful Olive Casket, which was covered with 
splendid palm branches sent by Mrs. Spurgeon. 

Amid the tears of many friends in France, a 
Memorial Service was held in the Presbyterian 
Church at Menton, and from thence it was conveyed 
to England, where it was received by his loving 
Church Officers and friends, and conveyed to the 
scene of his marvellous ministry. 

Memorial services were held in the great Taber- 
nacle, with the Olive Casket canopied by beautiful 



1 68 The Essex Lad. 

palm branches, sent from the place where the Victor 
fell, lying in front of the Preacher's platform. On 
the top of the Olive Casket lay this faithful soldier's 
two-edged sword, which he so manfully wielded for 
so many years. It was opened at the Book of Isaiah, 
and a plain ribbon marked the passage which cut 
right into the Essex lad's heart on that memorable 
Sunday morning. 

Some 60,000 persons walked through the Taber- 
nacle in one short day to view the coffin, and the 
crowds at his funeral were great beyond expectation. 
The respect and honour paid to Mr. Spurgeon's 
memory, as the body was borne to its last resting- 
place, no pen can fully describe. 

If you have ever seen Her Majesty the Queen open 
Parliament in person, you may form some idea of the 
crowds that gathered along the route. Hundreds of 
policemen were needed to regulate the throng. The 
shops were all closed for miles. Even the public- 
houses acknowledged his sterling worth by having 
black shutters put up at their windows. 

The line of carriages which conveyed the mourners 
formed a procession for miles, and as we passed the 
Stockwell Orphanage the sight was a most touching 
one. The dear orphan children were dressed in black, 
and wished to pay homage to their departed bene- 
factor and friend by singing a hymn, as. the hearse, 
carrying his body, slowly passed the gates. But the 
tears and sobs checked the singing, and to see 
those dear little children, broken-hearted, told how 
much he was beloved by the Fatherless he had so 
befriended. 

Dr. Pierson spoke wonderful words in the Taber- 



The Sea of Glass mingled with Fire. 169 

nacle, and Pastor Archibald Brown touched all hearts 
by his tender utterances at the grave. 

Thus, in the presence of many thousands of true- 
hearted friends, from every part of the world, all that 
was mortal of Charles H addon Spurgeon, was borne 
to its resting-place at Norwood Cemetery, and a plain 
slab with his name upon it marks the spot where he 
awaits the resurrection of the blessed. 




THE OLIVE-CASKET BE.NEATH THE PALM-BRANCHES. 



IMPORTANT BOOKS 

BY C. H. SPURGEON. 



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GOLDEN RULE. 

LECTURES TO MY STUDENTS. A selection from 
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