Chapter 12: The "Miller of Houghton"

Chapter 12.
The "Miller Of Houghton"

Mr. Spurgeon and the "Miller of Houghton"—Mr. Potto Brown's Characteristics—The Boy-Preacher visits Houghton—"Felicitous Misery"—"The Prophet's Chamber"—A Veteran Arminian and a Young Calvinist—"A Battle Royal"—A Friendly Parting—Mr. R. W. Dixon on Potto Brown's Peculiarities.

A man who was a remarkable character in his day now demands some passing reference. The late Mr. Potto Brown, the eccentric "Miller of Houghton," as he is sometimes called, the head of a family which owned large steam flour mills on the Ouse, both at Huntingdon and St. Ives, has to be included among the friends of Mr. Spurgeon's youth while he was pastor at Waterbeach, or during the time of his connection with the Cambridge Lay Preachers' Association. Mr. Potto Brown himself lived at Houghton, a pleasant village which lies about midway between St. Ives and Huntingdon, his house being of the old-fashioned comfortable sort in which a lover of nature and of country life would delight, the gardens being a special feature which had their attractions for all visitors. In addition to the charms of Houghton itself, which in Mr. Brown's time was justly regarded as a model village, the outlying country was of considerable topographical or historical interest. Along that river bank, regarding its characteristics, as well as "Ouse's silent tide," with a poet's eye, Cowper often walked; and in and all around St. Ives memories of Oliver Cromwell seem to be awakened at every step. What young Spurgeon may have thought of such things need not be conjectured; but he would no doubt take notice of them when, as the guest of Potto Brown, he had to occupy the pulpit at Houghton Chapel during one of the most memorable Sabbaths of his early days. This was afterwards referred to by the pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle as a time of "felicitous misery"; but the experience may have served to enlarge his views of human life. Although the two were far apart as regarded their theology, there was much in each to win the admiration and esteem of the other.

Born in the year 1797, in the house in which he died in 1871, Mr. Brown was a benefactor to Houghton such as the village may hardly expect to see the like of again. In every direction might be seen the results of his kindness. The best products of his gardens and hot-houses were not considered too choice for the sick poor who needed them. He would have disliked having to enlist the aid of the village constable in dealing with dishonest neighbours, but he would nevertheless find out a way of making such see for themselves the contemptibleness of theft. One who stole Mr. Brown's vegetables would, if traced, probably have a piece of meat sent to him direct from "the house" to make his meal complete; and such a one might feel his punishment as much as many who atone for their misdeeds in prison. In many respects, to an ordinary observer, it might have appeared that the Miller of Houghton was aiming at making himself and his actions a conundrum.

Mr. Brown was associated with the Union Nonconformist Chapel at St. Ives; but he took care that what was to him a chapel-of-ease nourished also at Houghton. When news of the achievements of the boy-preacher of Waterbeach reached the ears of the good-natured but eccentric miller, he seems to have determined that he would hear the youthful prodigy for himself and judge of his merits. The spare room, or "prophet's chamber," in Mr. Brown's house was always available for the pulpit "supplies"; and, for the sake of the entertainment it afforded him, the master liked to have somebody in it. At the same time, it is a singular circumstance that so far-gone an Arminian as the Miller of Houghton should have invited to his house, as a Sunday "supply," so uncompromising a Calvinist as young Spurgeon. When Mr. Spurgeon reached the village mansion on the Saturday evening, he would be struck with the singular code of laws by which the household was ruled. At family prayer the preacher would not be allowed to read a portion of Scripture; that would be done in turn by one of the servant-maids, and it was understood to be a great trial to bashful maidens. If, on the following morning, the "supply" was downstairs before eight o'clock he would be greeted with approval; for Mr. Brown admired a preacher who observed what he called his Sunday time. "My time is eight o'clock by my clock in the kitchen, and that always gains a quarter of an hour in the week, and I let it remain till after breakfast," the miller would remark, adding, "Then I set it right that the servants may know the correct time to go to public worship." At the breakfast-table the preacher would have to take the place set apart and the food prescribed for him, and he would also have to eat what was supposed to be best for his personal benefit. "That is your place," the host would remark; "there are two eggs; we always provide two eggs for the minister's breakfast on Sunday morning, because there is a large amount of phosphorus in eggs, and that acts on the brain, and so we get better sermons." "What sort of an old fellow is this Potto Brown?" once asked an unhappy student of the miller himself while under the impression that he was addressing a man-servant. "Oh, a queer old fellow," was the reply, and a very correct reply it was. When Mr. Spurgeon found himself the guest of such a host as this village philanthropist, it was very natural that he should feel ill at ease, for the two might seem to have little in common. Probably the Miller of Houghton had as kind a heart as the old pastor of Stambourne; but in matters which chiefly touched Mr. Spurgeon's sympathies the two men were a complete contrast. After Mr. Brown had heard his young "supply" on the Sunday, he spoke of his preaching in a very disparaging tone. If, as was supposed by the late Mr. Edward Cressell—who during some years was pastor at Houghton—Mr. Brown suspected young Spurgeon to be so far an adventurous impostor that he preached, as his own, the sermons of mature divines, we can understand the miller's ground of misgiving. As an enterprising, shrewd business man of Quaker descent, who had seen something of the world, the Houghton miller had never heard a mere boy preach with such force as his present visitor, and he seemed to lay claim to a Christian experience which, in the ordinary course of things, could only belong to a much older person. Then what Mr. Spurgeon would have regarded as a necessary and emphatic enunciation of the doctrines of grace was to Mr. Brown a too outspoken parade of the doctrines of Calvinism, against which his life and action had been a prolonged protest. A collision between two such champions of opposite teaching was inevitable, one being as determined as the other in speaking out plainly what he believed. No quarter was given on either side; and it is to be regretted that a fuller account of what the younger disputant many years afterwards described as "a battle royal" has not been preserved. The miller opened the combat by telling the boy-preacher that his discourses might do very well for an apprentice boy; but there was nothing in them beyond that, and then he went on in an animated strain to show how utterly distasteful to an experienced man like himself was the Calvinistic doctrine which had been the groundwork of the sermons. Nettled by being so sharply rebuked, and feeling indignant that the teaching which his Puritanic grandfather and the godly housekeeper at Newmarket had found to be the very marrow of the New Testament should thus be made light of, the youthful evangelist told the Miller of Houghton to his face that his theology was worthless. The discussion continued with great warmth for some time; but as each disputant was able to respect an opponent who believed something for himself, and held his ground against all comers, no scars remained to tell of actual ill-feeling. Indeed, it is not improbable that this very disagreement may have had the effect of heightening Mr. Brown's respect for his guest; for not only would there be demonstration that he could with boldness and honesty defend a faith which he believed to be scriptural, but the dispute would give evidence of the "apprentice boy's" possession of genius and knowledge, which could not possibly have been borrowed for the occasion from a more experienced Christian. From that day Charles Haddon Spurgeon and Potto Brown were very good friends. Seeing that they could not agree, they gave up their wordy combat, and conversed in a friendly way about things which they held in common. When the time for separation came, the two were to all appearances fast friends; they walked together to Huntingdon, and as a parting gift the miller handed to the young preacher a copy of Haldane's "Life."

We properly speak of the good Miller of Houghton as a Christian and a philanthropist sui generis. He was no more like any other man than young Mr. Spurgeon himself was; and it would have been as hopeless for any person to attempt to copy the one as the other. He has some attraction for us as an early friend of Mr. Spurgeon, and as such it may be interesting to give what Mr. B. W. Dixon says about him in a memorial brochure issued some years ago:—

"The care Mr. Brown took to educate all who came within his influence was very-marked; the servants of his household—any friends, especially young friends, who might be staying in the house—he took pains with all. He sought to interest his household in the family worship. He wished to inculcate the feeling that people should not depend upon any priest or one man to lead the devotions, laying stress on the text, 'And hath made us (all) kings and priests unto God.' He tried to get all to engage in this service, which he made informal and simple. He would hand a Bible to any one person in the circle, and say, 'Read, please, but don't read a fighting psalm'; or, 'Don't read a long piece'; or, 'We are some of us going to market, read something to guide us in buying and selling'; or, 'What good news is there for us to-day?' or, 'We must read our Bibles the same as we read our newspapers.' Sometimes he would interrupt the reading with a remark; as, when that Psalm was read which says David roared in the night, Mr. Brown said, 'What would they say to us if we went on like that?' His younger servants he got to read the Scriptures in turn, the older ones to pray aloud. The younger ones were corrected when they misread; this led them to rehearse their portion before coming in. Sometimes he would make a running commentary on what was read, or show how it applied to everyday life. Thus he redeemed a regular service from what it might have become—a dull routine, and used it as a means of education for those about him. He found it difficult to get women to pray aloud, and would say to them, 'Women should pray aloud, or they may be accused of drunkenness, as Hannah was.' He had great difficulty in inducing his first wife to pray aloud, even in private. She said she could not. He said, 'Could you not repeat words after me?' She thought she could. Then they knelt down, and he said, 'Lord, be merciful'; she repeated, 'Lord, be merciful.' He continued, 'to me a sinner.' He then rose, and said, 'There, you can pray very well.' After a time she took her part in vocal prayer at family worship. Mr. Brown liked to have several short prayers. He did not appeal to anyone in particular, but was troubled if no one followed after he had prayed, when he paused before rising to give them the opportunity." A man of this stamp would not only interest Mr. Spurgeon in early life, he would continue to have rare attraction till the last. After the death of the Miller of Houghton an article on his life, work, and characteristics appeared in The Sword and the Trowel.