Chapter 100: The Girl's Orphanage
Chapter 100.
The Girl's Orphanage
Conference of 1880—Missionary Soiree—The Girls' Orphanage—In Scotland—Removal to Westwood—The Unitarian Herald —Sunday-Schools Centenary—Baptist Union and the Orphanage—At the Wesleyan Conference—Mr. E. W. Matthews's Reminiscences.
On April 18 the Conference of 1880 opened at the Shoreditch Tabernacle, when Mr. Spurgeon said that he felt a pride in sitting in that house, for it was an instance of how God blessed faithful effort. In the course of his speech he predicted a great future for the Baptists, for he believed that the time was coming when their principles would be triumphant. About five hundred and eleven men had now gone forth from the College, and the baptisms since 1868, when the accounts began to be collected, reached a total of over thirty-nine thousand. The subject of the presidential address at the College on the following morning was, "Running Down—Renewal—Starting Afresh." What was said related to perils and temptations, hobbies versus Gospel preaching, causes of failure, a quickened ministry. Considerable enthusiasm prevailed, especially as the President was supposed to be enjoying more than usually good health. At the supper on April 20 Mr. J. B. Mead presided, and the collection amounted to about two thousand pounds. Addressing this distinguished company, Mr. Spurgeon made some characteristic references to his men, who were now scattered pretty well all over the world:—
"I feel thankful that so large a proportion of the men have continued in the work, remaining unchanged in their sentiments and not having deserted the denomination to which they belong; but they take fast root, and have worked thoroughly hard and well. Of course there are failures; we cannot guarantee men. We cannot guarantee a horse, and certainly we cannot a man, for, in addition to all the infirmities of the body which an animal has, there are infirmities of mind and spirit possessed by a man; so that one who is a capital student may turn out a very poor preacher, and one who has been a first-rate student will suddenly drop and we cannot tell why. Sometimes he gets in love, which is good or bad according to whom he loves; or he gets a crotchet, rides a hobby, understands the book of Revelation better than he understands Matthew, Mark, or Romans. Some fad takes him, or else he gets self-indulgent. All sorts of faults happen to men. We do not find children all turn out everything we can wish, and even those who seem the most hopeful may grieve their parents after all. It has been so with our children of the College; it will be so with all men as long as men are men. But it is a blessing that this matter has been but a very small affliction with us. On the contrary, we have had joy in the brethren, and they have had joy in me, for if they could see us meet together all day as we have, I do not think we would find under heaven any body of men so attached to another man as these are to me. I do not understand it, and cannot make it out. I have never felt I deserve it. I have done all I can for the brethren, and am prepared to do; at the same time it is to me a very wonderful thing, and I am quite lost in gratitude to God for it—not so much that I wish to be the leader of them as that I know that unity is strength and power, for it would be much better that we should be broken up than to have a lack of sympathy the one for the other." As usual, the Conference continued its sittings on Thursday, the public meeting being held in the Tabernacle in the evening; and on Friday there was a communion service. On this day reference was made to Edward Leach, formerly sub-editor of The Sword and the Trowel, who had died on the day before. The Baptist Missionary Society this year held its annual soiree at the Holborn Town Hall on April 27, Spurgeon being the chief attraction of the gathering. He gave a bit of his experience of the preceding week. "I was all last week in a chair, ruling meetings, and I got into such a state of weariness that on Saturday, when I sat down to study, I found myself asleep. By-and-by I got up and shook myself about, and sat down and went to sleep again; and if it had not been for the admirable speeches which I have had the pleasure of hearing to-night I should have been asleep now." The address, which nearly fills five closely-printed newspaper columns, touched on such subjects as missions and Christian responsibility, the vices of civilisation, caste and infidelity, and Gospel tests. In showing how caste ruled in England, he gave an example of a pious and useful minister whom no congregation would have because he had married a black wife. Nor was that all, for it was added: "I know several half-sovereign people that would not think of inviting half-a-crown to tea with them; and there is a very strong aversion on the part of the half-crowns to the threepenny-pieces; and perhaps there is a stronger aversion still of the threepenny-pieces to anything coppery." In addressing the colporteurs in their conference on the afternoon of May 3, he strongly impressed on the men that the Gospel was what the people wanted; and then, in a way that such hardy packmen could appreciate, he showed that the selling of books was one of the best ways of diffusing the truth, because a good book, especially the Bible, would go on preaching for generations. He next touched on difficulties, and insisted that nothing worth doing was ever free from them. He confessed that his own trials came chiefly from himself, and if he had only more grace he could laugh at the greatest of them. The evening meeting in the Tabernacle was memorable on account of a speech by the late Dr. Samuel Manning, who showed that the Reformation itself could never have been effected without the printing-press. It was also pointed out that even the vast congregation at the Tabernacle was as a drop in the bucket compared with those whom Mr. Spurgeon reached by the printed page. The text of Dr. Manning's address was the picturesque legend of Luther having thrown his ink-pot at the head of the arch-fiend who appeared to him in his study in the Wartburg. On Saturday, June 19, the President of the Orphanage completed his forty-sixth year, and the birthday festival was celebrated on the Tuesday following by laying the memorial-stones of four houses of the Girls' Orphanage. Though the weather was not so summer-like as we are accustomed to associate with Midsummer, the programme was carried out with a good deal of enthusiasm, and the arrival of Mr. and Mrs. Spurgeon at three o'clock drew forth hearty cheers. It was arranged that six houses for the accommodation of two hundred and fifty girls should be built; but as these would cost £11,000—a much larger sum than was anticipated—the contractor was instructed to proceed with four houses, the money for which was already in hand. "I think no one ever spent in their lives such a day as I spent yesterday," said Mr. Spurgeon. "I received with this hand nearly £900, to a large extent made up of five-shilling pieces and half-crowns; and my right hand is in a very ugly condition to-day. I hope no one will want to shake hands with it, for it shakes itself; it is full of pain." More suffering than friends suspected came in this way; but in the present instance the sufferer willingly endured the pain because of the determination of the people to carry through the Orphanage enterprise. The cost of one house, named after the Sermons, was given by Mr. Spurgeon and his publishers:—
"It is Sermon House, and is intended specially to commemorate the goodness of God in connection with the sermons; and right it is that there should be a house for that, because the College, the Orphanage, and all our works owe a great deal to the sermons. I have a little church of some 5,500 members over at Newington Butts; but I have a larger church of, I dare say, 56,000 members all over England, Scotland and Ireland, who are always up to the mark if any good work has to be done.... Among my birthday gifts of this land there are some coming from distant lands. The people who send them say I am their pastor. They are far away from sermon-makers, and so they read one of mine every Sunday, and think of me as their minister, though I hope that those who read them will never think them to be half so good as listening to those from the lips of a living preacher.... This house is to be a record to all time of our thankfulness to God that the sermons have continued to be printed week by week for twenty-five and a half years, and we have now reached the number in regular order of 1,542. That is a considerable number of sermons to be printed week by weak, and there seems to be as much good in them for the souls of God's servants now as twenty-five years ago, for which I devoutly bless God. For many a time, when I go forth to look for food for the souls of my people, it is with an earnest cry to heaven, and a consciousness that if I am not helped I have nothing laid up in store, I use up the manna every day, and have none to breed worms. I keep on emptying the barrel, but it fills again."
After the stone of Sermon House was laid by his wife, Mr. Spurgeon himself laid the stone of The Limes, in the name of his friend Mr. W. R. Rickett, who provided the house, in memory of five children. The cost of The Olives was defrayed by Mr. Samuel Barrow, and his wife laid the memorial-stone. The stone of the fourth house, as the gift of the trustees of the Orphanage, was laid by Mr. W. Higgs. In the evening after tea one meeting was held in the boys' play-hall and another on the lawn. The list of speakers was an attractive one; for, in addition to several members of the Spurgeon family, there were Canon Hussey, Mr. Newman Hall, and Dr. Allon.
Soon after this, Mr. Spurgeon went to Scotland, when he was again the guest of Mr. Duncan, of Benmore. According to the custom of former years two services were held on the lawn, which were attended by great crowds of persons from the surrounding country.
It was during the summer of 1880 that Helensburgh House was sold and Westwood, Upper Norwood, purchased. It was thought that, on account of his being subject to rheumatism, Mr. Spurgeon might be benefited by making a move to higher ground. The new residence had more ample grounds, but the house itself was of about the same size. On account of the furniture being removed at or about the time of the reassembling of the College, it was thought that there would be no al-fresco meeting of the students; but this took place as usual at Park Hill, near Streatham Common, an unoccupied mansion and grounds lent for the purpose. At this meeting Mr. Spurgeon expressed the hope that he would enjoy better health on higher ground, so as even to be enabled to remain in England during the winter. He also read an auctioneer's description of a famous medicinal spring in the grounds at Westwood, and the company were assured that if they would assemble there next year, they should be at liberty to drink ad libitum of the water which was supposed to be capable of curing all ailments. In one way or another Spurgeon appears to have won the admiration of all sections, including even the least orthodox. In the first week of August, 1880, a Unitarian journal gave an article on the pastor and his work, from which this extract may be made:—
"A special interest seems at all times to attach to the name of the great South London preacher. When it is mentioned, or when it is seen in print, the attention, not to say curiosity, of almost all classes seems to be attracted and drawn.... Without the imposition of the hand of a bishop, Mr. Spurgeon seems to have had the hand of God resting upon him. In the early days of Mr. Spurgeon's popularity it was commonly supposed that his success would be merely meteoric, and, like the shooting-star, would fade away as quickly as it came; but all such suppositions were beside the mark. With some it might, and doubtless would, have been so, but not with a man like him. In addition to the most laborious earnestness, zeal, and enthusiasm he has ever betrayed the greatest self-sacrifice, sincerity, and singleness of purpose; and these qualities combined, and withal guided and toned by consummate common-sense, have made him, in addition to being a notorious man, a man—even where not agreed with—to be trusted and admired. It is impossible to speak of his labours and those of his devoted friends without to many minds seeming to border, and that even when nearest to the truth, upon the apparently fabulous and fanciful.... We have only attempted a statement of some of the more important of this deservedly popular man's herculean doings, the very personal charity of whom is immense, as witness the devotion to his Christian work of the noble pecuniary testimonial which was raised for him on the completion of the twenty-fifth year of his pastorate. In religion he is a Baptist and a Calvinist, in politics a strong Liberal, in practice a broad, genial, thorough, and catholic man, and we wish him success in his noble and self-denying efforts. He is an example, not only to every Unitarian minister, but also to every other minister as well. He has succeeded, as in the long run others may, if they like, succeed, because he has deserved success. Theologically we are not in sympathy with him, nor will he expect us to be; but we can distinguish between theology and practical religion, and we wish both him and his good and noble-hearted wife renewed health and long life, not only to pursue their good works, but also to be a blessing and a comfort to each other in the doing of them." The celebration of the centenary of Sunday-schools also belongs to the year 1880, and the occasion excited considerable interest at the Tabernacle. Mr. Spurgeon preached a sermon on Psa 8:5 : "Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings," etc. "One would like to have known what kind of a child Whitefield was; for who would have thought that out of that little mouth the whole nation would be aroused?" said the preacher. "One would like to have seen John Wesley, too. when he was a child. Out of the mouths of little George Whitefield and little John Wesley—out of those two baby mouths God smote the devil." He thought that victory might come to the church through little children, while the saying was quoted that more was being done to evangelise the world through Sunday-school work than by all other agencies put together. The autumnal meetings of the Baptist Union were held in London, under the presidency of Dr. Trestrail; and the members were invited to be present at the Stockwell Orphanage on Monday, October 4, when the memorial-stones of two other houses for girls would be laid. Rain came on; the President was too ill to be out, but the following was read by his brother:—
"C. H. Spurgeon to the Members of the Baptist Union.
"As chairman of the Stockwell Orphanage, I welcome you to this institution, deeply regretting that I cannot do this in person, in heartiest tones of brotherly love. We thank the brethren who will lay the stones, and the many generous friends whom they represent; and we thank all who will look on and give us the benefit of their kind wishes. May the Orphanage grow rich in prayers to-day. There are two hundred and forty-nine boys and thirty-two girls in residence at this hour, and when the new houses are complete our usual number will be two hundred and fifty boys and two hundred and fifty girls. This is a great family; and Unbelief inquires, 'Whence shall we find bread for this multitude?' But Faith sees a sure supply when she knows that thousands will be praying for it. I would rather have your prayers than a donation of twenty thousand pounds, for something more than money is needed—health for the children, wisdom for the managers, patience for the teachers, grace for us all. Personally I am recovering strength, but I am unable to leave the house. Pray excuse my infirmity, and continue your forbearance to this evening's service, from which I must be absent. God's blessing on the Reading House and the Liverpool House, and on those other houses which record the zeal, the gratitude, and, in one case, the resignation of the donors. The Lord be with you all, and make the week of meetings a week of Sabbaths and a very Pentecost." The memorial-stone of Reading House was laid by Mr. George Palmer, M.P., after which Hugh Stowell Brown laid the stone of Liverpool House. The Baptist Union had a great public meeting at the Tabernacle on Thursday in the same week; and though he had to make the confession, "I am exceedingly feeble; I can scarcely even sit," Mr. Spurgeon was present, and made quite a long speech, which does not read like the utterance of a man who was ailing. The chief point seems to have been that in working for Christ people should have a full assurance of the truth of what they teach:—
"We believe and therefore speak. That is not all. When I take down the Bible I find it knows more about me than I know about myself. I find it condemns me, and I have to admit that I ought to be condemned. It searches through me like a March wind sometimes, and carries away the foliage of my soul like the sere leaves; and I know the thing ought to be done when it is done. And that same Book will sometimes thrill me with an intense delight. It is the master of my being; it answers to every chord within my nature; it is a master minstrel that touches every chord within this heart and plays upon it. I know it is true, or else I do not exist. I am myself a fiction, or else that Book records facts in what it teaches."
One of the adventures of this year was having unexpectedly, and therefore quite unprepared, to make a speech before the Wesleyan Conference. Wishing to get some information at City Road Chapel, he alighted there and went into the vestry; but as the news of his arrival at once got into the chapel, Dr. Punshon, with a following of eminent divines, at once appeared on the scene, and all asked for an address. This was given, and in the minutes of that Conference satisfaction was expressed at the visit of the Baptist preacher:—"One beautiful episode of the week was the visit of Mr. Spurgeon to the Conference," writes the great Wesleyan orator of this the last Conference he ever attended. "He gave a characteristic address, full of mother-wit and Gospel wisdom."
Some time before Christmas Spurgeon's health was tolerably recovered, apparently; but a relapse came on, so that on Christmas Day he was in bed instead of dining with the Orphanage staff, and after Christmas things appeared to grow worse rather than to improve. The spiritual work of the church was never more prosperous, however; for in the last month of 1880 over a hundred persons were received into church fellowship. The experiment was tried of doing without a holiday at Menton, and it was not by any means a success. The remainder of this chapter may be devoted to a subject which always excited Spurgeon's interest—Sailors and the Sea. My friend, Mr. E. W. Matthews, Secretary of the British and Foreign Sailors' Society, supplies some reminiscences, letters, etc., which will be read with interest:—
"Perhaps when crossing the Irish Channel was Mr. Spurgeon's first introduction to the great sailor world; though from the first year he came to London sailors were attracted from the docks by that mighty magnet. Missionary Whitemore, of Ramsgate, was a sailor in the Victoria Docks in 1859, and he with another sailor walked all the way (on October 30) to the Surrey Gardens, and they heard the great preacher give a memorable sermon—'The Saviour's Many Crowns.' But it was on the sea itself where Mr. Spurgeon came into touch with Christian seamen all alive with zeal and love. The British and Foreign Sailors' Society gave in its 'Sailors' Magazine,' thirty-three years ago, Mr. Spurgeon's own account, which he addressed to his Exeter Hall congregation.
"'God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea-shore.' God gave the beloved Spurgeon all this and much more. This is certainly true: God gave him 'largeness of heart' like unto the sea, 'even as the sand that is on the sea-shore.' It is said of One who 'spake as never man spake': 'and leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea.' Born and bred in the country, His ministry began, continued, and ended 'by the sea.' Mr. Spurgeon was born and bred in the country, but his great life-work began in the greatest seaport of the world. London to him was not only a city, but a port in touch, by its ships, sailors, and commerce, with every other port in the world. He loved to smell the tar and watch the ships ever coming and going on the restless tide. Then it must never be forgotten that for many years he found restoration by the blue Mediterranean Sea.
"Mr. Spurgeon was a lover of the sea, its ships and sailors. He had in rich measure not only the salt of grace but the salt of the ocean. By largeness of heart, like unto the sea, by the assimilating power of a great sympathy, by a receptive and reflective nature of the highest order, he became in a very real sense a son of the sea. Sailors intuitively felt C. H. Spurgeon was no landlubber! They have a supreme contempt—(this may be unjustifiable, but it is true)—for any preacher who is nautically wrong in his allusions to and metaphors of the sea. Many a sailor's yarn by a sea-lawyer in the forecastle has been brightened by the nautical mistakes made by some Jonah of a preacher. I know a learned divine, thinking he must use some sea phrases to his Jack Tar audience, spoke of 'splicing the main brace,' which, being interpreted in sailor parlance, means a glass of grog!—a bad custom which has often raised the wrong spirits from the vasty deep to the wreckage of characters more precious than ships. This Master of Arts preacher did not in the eyes of seafarers add to his ministerial reputation.
"When visiting the United States on behalf of the sailors' cause in Antwerp I preached at Detroit. A naval officer present, finding that I was freely illustrating my subject from the sea, said to an American railway king by his side, 'I shall catch this fellow dropping anchor in the Atlantic presently!' Great was his delight to find there was no unpardonable sin committed against that keen sense of having things ship-shape. At the close of the service I saw two gentlemen walking up the aisle, the 'king' and the one-armed old sea-warrior. 'You have been to sea, or you could not have preached that sermon!' So enthusiastic was he in our mission to the United States that his railway friend, as his contribution to the good cause, would give, at his suggestion, free passes from Atlantic to Pacific. The remarkable thing about Mr. Spurgeon was that he could 'launch out upon the deep,' give full scope to his imagination, speak to sailors on the great truths in their own language, even to the satisfaction of a sailor's critical faculty, and all this without having served his time at sea! Many a famous sailor sermon did he preach for the British and Foreign Sailors' Society; and on those special occasions there was always a large audience made up of seamen of all nations. Captain Sharpies, the Society's agent at Cardiff and Barry Dock, wrote concerning the memorable sermon, 'God in Heaven and Men on the Sea,' preached by Mr. Spurgeon at his own Tabernacle for the Society, from the text: 'By terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us, O God of my salvation, who art the confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of them that are afar off upon the sea'—that he had read the sermon carefully several times, that it contained ninety-eight allusions to the sea, ships, and sailors without one nautical mistake, and might have been preached by an old shellback. He called it the most practical sermon for seamen or landsmen he ever met with.
"Not only to seamen, but to a critical audience like the Union of Baptist ministers and delegates, could ho preach from ships the grandest truths of the holy religion. In 1875 this Union was held at the historic naval port of Plymouth. From the Hoe is one of the finest views seawards either in this or other lands. Mr. Spurgeon was asked to be the preacher; and here again, with the Christian orator's unerring instinct, he took the text and subject calculated to make the deepest impression on visitors and residents, landsmen as well as seamen. 'There go the ships' sermon-will never be forgotten by those who heard it, while thousands who had seen ships before saw them now as bearers not only of precious cargoes, but of more precious lessons. The Christian World said of this sermon that it again marked him out as the prince of preachers; while the Press gave large quotations from it.
"It was a great pleasure and profit for me to have the privilege of staying a short time with Mr. Spurgeon under the same roof at Menton. My rooms were adjoining his, and looked out upon the Mediterranean Sea. One evening as the sun was setting he was sitting out upon the balcony, drinking in the wondrous scene. He called: 'Matthews, come here, this is the prettiest sight I have seen since I came to Menton.' A ship had tried to reach the little harbour and failed. The wind went down with the sun. Sails were flapping from the yards as the swell gradually heaved the ship towards the rocks. There was no tug-boat there to come to the rescue; but the news spread, and out went a small fleet of Italian fishing-boats and fastened their little lines on the big ship. They began to chant and sing, and as they sang they beat time with their oars, and so tugged the ship out of danger into port. It was full of symbol and teaching to that receptive mind and brain, all alert, and gave great pleasure to one of Nature's greatest sons.
"In the endeavour to extend, by a small memorial fund, the work of God among seamen, Mr. Spurgeon sent this characteristic letter, which came to me while staying at the house of one of his great admirers, and reading it to Alderman R. Cory, J.P., and his family in Cardiff, it brought forth immediate fruit:—
"'Dear Mr. Matthews,—I am glad to be able to give you ten pounds towards your excellent work and tender memorial. Nothing can be better, and I hope that many friends will practically show that they think so. Sailors' work is needful and profitable, and if I were a rich man I should take care to invest a good portion in those who go down to the sea in ships. I pray that the rich blessing of the Lord may rest on your earnest labours and on your admirable society. May generous donors make short work with the amount you so much need. Thanks to the two little ones, and love to their father.—Yours heartily, "'C. H. Spurgeon.'
"One day a sailor, a real A.B., called at our Sailors' Institute with this letter to me:—
"'Dear Friend Matthews,—I cannot help this sailor-missionary; I am at the end of my rope. Can your Society in any way aid him? It would seem to be more in your line than mine. How are you? How are all the Matthews? God bless them and their warm-hearted father.—Yours most heartily, "'C. H. Spurgeon.'
"It is not too much to say that many eminent men and gifted ministers would never have touched this rough sailor, or discovered under rather a queer and repulsive exterior a strong character capable of much Christian service. No doubt he would sometimes, like many others, persecute Mr. Spurgeon, but after a voyage he would make for the Tabernacle. Mr. Spurgeon would say, 'I can only give you so many minutes;' but Jack, by his sailor talk, would chain the pastor till he had finished his tale of the sea, would convulse him with laughter, and do him a world of good. And though Mr. Spurgeon was such a hard-worked man, yet he would write to this sailor with his own hand a bright spiritual letter filled with nautical terms. And at last he gave to this man—thought by some to be mad—a magic-lantern, so that wherever he went he might preach to sailors and others by the eye as well as by the tongue, in his own simple sailor fashion. This sailor, Telfer, as he read Mr. Spurgeon's really splendid letter, turned upon me and said, 'In future I hope you will write me, like a Christian, a proper letter, and not on a post-card!' Mr. Spurgeon shone in so many things; in correspondence he was a past master. At the opening of the Fisheries Exhibition, several hundred fishermen, representing all the chief centres, arrived on a Saturday. When Sunday morning came, nearly all the fishermen, save a few Roman Catholics, went in a body to the Tabernacle to hear Mr. Spurgeon. He remembered them both in his sermon and prayer.
"Mr. Spurgeon delighted to see the seamen of many nations at his own Tabernacle. On these special occasions the Society's large Bethel flag used to be hung round the platform. He was very fond of the Bethel flag, which was designed by a Christian captain and his wife. It was, in a very symbolic way, representative of the three Persons of the Blessed Trinity. Across it, writ large, is the expressive word 'Bethel.' In the upper corner is the star (of Bethlehem, or the bright and morning star), so significant to the sailor; while in the lower corner is the dove with the olive branch, pointing to a wrecked earth and the Gospel ship, as well as to the ever-blessed Comforter. Perhaps it would be impossible to compress more by symbol or word in so small a compass. On either side of the Bethel flag, hanging over the rail, was the Bethel Union's white burgee, with its blue star, representing a fleet of over a thousand ships, large and small. Nearly eleven hundred Christian shipmasters have been members of this Union, and had this flag flying at their masthead. The sailors used to be placed in the reserved seats in the first gallery, so they were on Mr. Spurgeon's starboard and larboard. Among their faces were to be seen black and yellow and every other colour. I find among his letters to me such as the following:—
"'Dear Friend,—If all you desire is that the prayer meeting of May 2 should be special for sailors, I am right glad to say, "Yes, come and welcome." You may make a speech if you do it in compressed fashion. God bless you and your work.—Yours heartily, "'C. H. Spurgeon.'
"Our missionary at Ramsgate, Mr. W. Whitmore, gives some reminiscences of the great preacher; but space will allow of only one representative case of a captain's conversion being given:—
"'Some years ago a ship put into this harbour for refuge, bound to St. Petersburg. On boarding her I inquired for the captain. He told me he was led through curiosity to the Metropolitan Tabernacle to hear Mr. Spurgeon preach, not with the intention of being converted, but the sermon came home with power to his soul, he was deeply convinced of sin, before leaving the building peace flowed into his soul, and he returned to his ship a new creature in Christ Jesus. Up to this point he told me he had been a libertine. Such was his love for the great preacher that he bought all his sermons, beautifully bound, which he had with him, kept in a handsome glazed case, to which were added the annual volumes as published. He used to send a thank-offering every year to Mr. Spurgeon for the College and Orphanage in acknowledgment of what the Lord had done for him through His servant.'
"Spurgeon's last sermon to sailors was given in the spring of 1891 from the text, 'Am I a, sea, or a whale?' (Job 7:12). The occasion was, indeed, memorable. The missionaries of the British and Foreign Sailors' Society from many parts of the world had previously gathered at the pastor's prayer meeting, held just before the powerful sermon was preached. Many of them were known, honoured, and loved by Mr. Spurgeon, and he was much helped by their sailor-like petitions. His special friend and helper, John Gilbert, of Dover, had just gone home to heaven. Gilbert always took a room near the Tabernacle, and spent his holidays attending all the services, both week-day and Sunday. The keen-eyed pastor, who was sharp to detect who was present in the great congregations, often called him out to tell of God's work among the seamen. On the last occasion he said, 'Gilbert is with us again; the angels want him in heaven, but we cannot spare him yet. Come and tell us of the good work at Dover.' It will scarcely be believed that during that quiet and unique ministry to the seamen visiting the port of Dover he gave and sold no less than 26,238 of Mr. Spurgeon's sermons to seamen of various nationalities." The fact is that Spurgeon's addresses to sailors reflected his own great love of the open sea.