Chapter 37: Mr. Spurgeon And The Americans

Chapter 37.
Mr. Spurgeon And The Americans

Interest in Spurgeon's Visit to Paris—The Question of Slavery—Altered Sermons published in America—The Pro-Slavery Journals and the English Preacher—The Open Air Mission.

At the opening of the year 1860 great interest was felt on both sides of the Channel in the matter of Mr. Spurgeon's visit to Paris, which was to take place in February. The excursion was not to be by any means a mere holiday trip, for it was arranged for several services to be held in different buildings, and the preacher would not consent on this occasion to be absent from his own congregation on a Sunday. In anticipation of the young pastor's visit Galignani's Messenger said, "It is impossible for him to be absent from the immense congregation of 10,000 persons in London to whom he preaches on Sundays—the largest concourse of people that was ever known to assemble on every consecutive Sabbath for years to hear the Gospel faithfully preached." The writer in the Paris journal was struck by the way in which the popularity which had been at once achieved had been retained, and like many others, he wished to account for it:—

"He had no prestige in any line whatever to form an introduction. He flashed like a meteor upon the public eye at once, but unlike the meteor he still remains visible and attracts the same attention.... The adaptation of his conceptions and style to all classes is surprising; for while the nobles of the land, and some of the most cultivated intellects of the forum and the bar, are constantly amongst his hearers, the poor hear him with evident pleasure. He is blessed with good health and great energy, and is no idler in the vineyard.... But the most noticeable trait in his character is his apparent unconsciousness of his gifts and the influence which he wields.... During his short ministry upwards of 3,000 have become consistent Christians, hundreds of whom had previously abandoned themselves to vice, wickedness, and infidelity.... No wonder, therefore, that Royalty and the Government look favourably upon his efforts to benefit the population, and many of the most distinguished professions attend his ministry." The better part of the French people were also charmed to learn that so young a man had resisted brilliant offers to change his sphere of labour, the most tempting offers of all coming from America. It was understood that the object of the visit to the French metropolis was simply to preach the Gospel to the people—to such as understood English; for although Mr. Spurgeon could read French, I am not aware that he ever attempted to give an address in that language. On January 7 of this year died Mr. Arthur Morley, the Nottingham philanthropist, for whose prize for an essay on Romanism Mr. Spurgeon had unsuccessfully competed eight years before, when he produced "Antichrist and Her Brood." Mr. Morley was only forty-eight years of age; and he died suddenly on the railway while on his way to Poplar to visit his sister, who was the wife of the Rev. George Smith, a well-known Independent minister of that day.

American slavery had now become one of the burning questions of the day; and from the fact that Spurgeon's Sermons were being issued in the United States with certain passages omitted which the publishers knew would be distasteful to their constituency, many inferred that the English preacher had changed his views on that question, or at least had greatly modified them. Mr. Henry Ward Beecher called attention to this fact; and it appeared like a challenge for the real truth to be made known. As one American anti-slavery journal said, "neither Mr. Spurgeon nor his publishers can afford to overlook the charge." Even the denominational organ in London said, "The charge is one which, cannot be treated with silence, and Mr. Spurgeon is too manly and too much the friend of liberty to allow it to remain unnoticed." Later on the work of suppression was shown to be the work of the publishers alone.

Thus it happened that The New York Independent and some other papers gave out that the great English preacher had changed his views on the question of slavery; and an entire absence from the published discourses of any unpalatable views on that question gave some colour of truth to the rumours. Passages relating to open communion were also taken out of the American edition of the Sermons. Determined to arrive at the truth, Mr. F. W. Chesson, of the Emancipation Committee, wrote to ask Mr. Spurgeon if he had given his "consent, to the publication of an expurgated edition of his sermons suited to the pro-slavery prejudices of Brother Jonathan." Mr. Spurgeon wrote in reply:—

"As the vile iniquity is not an English sin, I have not in my sermons been led to denounce it; and, so far as I am aware, there are no allusions to slavery in them, or, if any, they are so few that I cannot charge my memory with them. I do not see how the Americans can have expurgated the anti-slavery sentiments, for I do not think it was a subject which thrust itself in my way in the ordinary duties of my ministry. I have written a letter to an influential paper in America, and will see to it that my sentiments are really known. I believe slavery to be a crime of crimes, a soul-destroying sin, and an iniquity which cries aloud for vengeance. The charge against my publishers of altering my sermons I believe to be utterly untrue, and they are ready, as their best contradiction, to print a work on the subject if I can find time to write it, which I fear I cannot, but must be content with some red-hot letters." When he gave publicity to the above letter, Dr. Campbell advised that Mr. Spurgeon should publish something on the subject. It was not necessary that such a production should be voluminous. "A great book is not necessarily a great power. What is required is a thunderbolt—a concentration of truth and force such as Mr. Spurgeon well knows how to prepare." The "thunderbolt," or, as the author himself regarded it, the "red-hot letter," duly appeared in The Watchman and Reflector, and had the slave-holders been actually attacked with heated shots the excitement could hardly have been greater. One passage from this letter may be quoted:—"I do from my inmost soul detest slavery anywhere and everywhere, and although I commune at the Lord's table with men of all creeds, yet with a slave-holder I have no fellowship of any sort or kind. Whenever one has called upon me, I have considered it my duty to express my detestation of his wickedness, and would as soon think of receiving a murderer into my church, or into any sort of friendship, as a man-stealer. Nevertheless, as I have preached in London and not in New York, I have very seldom made any allusion to American slavery in my sermons. This accounts for the rumour that I have left out the anti-slavery from my American edition of Sermons. This is not true in any measure, for, as far as my memory serves me, I cannot remember that the subject was handled at all in any of my printed sermons beyond a passing allusion, and I have never altered a single sentence in a sermon which has been sent out to my American publishers beyond the mere correction which involved words and not sense. However, if any think me capable of such double-dealing, I doubt not that they judge of me by themselves, and from such persons esteem is not desirable. I do not, therefore, regret the loss of it. I have this much to say to all who respect me in America—I did not want to be blaming you constantly, while there are sins enough in my own country, but I shall not spare your nation in future. I shall remember that my voice echoes beyond the Atlantic, and the crying sin of a man-stealing people shall not go unrebuked. I did not know that I had been so fully adopted a citizen of your Republic; but finding that you allow me to be one of yourselves, I will speak out quite severely enough, and perhaps more sharply than will meet with approbation." A Boston correspondent wrote:—"Our Baptist papers are overflowing with indignation, and call on all publishers and booksellers to banish the books of your worthy young friend from their counters.... The poor slave-holders are at their wits' end, and know not what to do to save their doomed system. The Montgomery Mail says the Vigilance Committee at that place is engaged in burning dangerous books, and that two volumes of Spurgeon's Sermons have been contributed for their bonfires, and that they will be burnt. The Mail calls for more, and I have no doubt that Sheldon and Co., Mr. Spurgeon's publishers, would be glad to furnish them." For the time being the anti-slavery controversy raged around the name of Spurgeon. At first the English preacher's sermons were exceedingly popular in the Southern States; but when his sentiments on this question were discovered, there was a turn in the tide. Out-and-out anti-slavery sentiments such as Mr. Spurgeon uttered were rare, even among those who professed to disapprove of slavery as an institution. Even The Watchman, which printed the young pastor's letter, did not do so without a half apology. Americans had more charity for those who were born the victims of the system; they had broader comprehension, and so on. This, however, was how a representative religious Southern paper referred to Spurgeon and his utterances:—

"If the editors of The Watchman and Reflector had any agency in procuring from Mr. S. such a letter, they are no better than he, and they all deserve the fate of Brown. We had just received a box of Mr. Spurgeon's Sermons to sell, but have sent them back to the publishers, Messrs. Sheldon and Co., New York, with all possible despatch. Will not every bookstore and colporteur in the south do the same so soon as they read this letter? Can any Southern men ever purchase another volume of a man's sermons who denounces him as no better than a murderer, and who virtually counsels the torch of the incendiary and the knife of the assassin as appropriate arguments for the extermination of African slavery? We sympathise with his American publishers, Messrs. Sheldon and Co., for they have shown themselves to be highly conservative patriots and Christian gentlemen. We shall be happy to correct the false position which Mr. Spurgeon has assigned them at the close of his letter, so soon as they will authorise us. Let the Press of the South universally pass Mr. Spurgeon round." Of course, it will not be inferred from such outbursts as this that the pastor of New Park Street Chapel was not as popular as ever with a large proportion of the American people. The fact was that the controversy which the friends of freedom had with the pro-slavery party of the Southern States became more fierce, and uncompromising in proportion as the inevitable final conflict, and which any shrewd observer was already able to foresee, drew nearer. The ignoble passions which were aroused and the brutal violence with which slave-holders resented the efforts of abolitionists can now hardly be understood unless we study the times in such a record as the Life of William Lloyd Garrison. Nor were the fierce threats and angry words mere raving; the slave-holders and their leaders meant all that they said, and were at any moment ready to suit their actions to their utterances. In common with many others, Mr. Spurgeon found this out; but although the sale of the Sermons in the United States yielded a handsome return, he did not hesitate to denounce slavery more heartily than ever when the opportunity came, and this deprived him of supplies which he had given to the Pastors' College. Meanwhile a certain large-hearted American showed in a private letter how the English preacher was still revered by the better sort of people:—

"At the beginning I felt concerned for him, lest popularity might turn his head and lead him off, like Mr. Irving, into some vagary where his influence for good would be nullified. And ever since, as I have seen the height of the pedestal to which Providence has raised him, I have trembled lest something might topple him from that elevation, and hush his voice by the fall. Knowing human nature, his continued popularity and usefulness have been a mystery which I could not solve without reference to my original conviction that he is one of God's chosen agents to do an important work and the belief that he is under the special care of the Master whom he serves. He seems not to be ambitious of such fame; he evidently feels his responsibility; he caters for no man's taste; he preaches fully the most unpopular and unpalatable truths; he flatters no class; he spares no sin in high places or in low; he aims, not to wreathe his own brow with human honours, but to save as many of his hearers from perdition. If some are watching for the decline of his influence, thousands pray for him that he may be kept from temptation, and that his bow may long abide in strength. The preacher has not lived for a long period whose name was so widely known, or whose influence in six years affected favourably so many thousands. The whole evangelical ministry of the British Isles feels the throb of that warm earnest heart which beats in London, and there is an improvement in the preaching that is obvious to the stranger who has had the opportunity to compare the past and the present. The example of pulpit power has a widespread effect. The weekly sermon, accurately reported and quickly published, is read in all parts of the kingdom, thus multiplying many thousandfold the stirring impulse. Eternity alone will reveal the amount of good issuing, by the grace of God, from that one mind fired with the love of Calvary. I heard Mr. Spurgeon both at the great Music Hall and at his chapel in New Park Street, and was in no respect disappointed. He preached the truth of Gad as if he believed it, and was sure that others must believe it or perish for ever. If some forms of expression would not have satisfied the exact theologian, and if some things would have been considered as violations of the canons of a severe taste, they were few, very few, and not worth mentioning, in comparison with the clear, earnest, impressive exhibitions of saving truth. While I admired the originality, simplicity, and fervour of his utterances, I was impressed most of all by the prominence, which he gave to Christ and Him crucified. When, therefore, my opinion is asked respecting the secret of his power, I am unable to express it more definitively than by referring to this characteristic of his preaching. His pleasing expression of face, his perfect self-possession, his melody of voice, his fluency of utterance, his easy manner, free from all over-action, his whole air of deep, unaffected sincerity, are doubtless auxiliaries of no small importance; tut they will not account for the efficiency with which his labours are distinguished." The church of which he was the pastor is spoken of as being the largest in Europe, and 300 new members were added every year, the conversions being eminently sound on account of the humbling Gospel doctrines which he preached. Such a testimony at such a time under such conditions was no doubt very cheering; but one can hardly doubt that the slavery disputes had the effect of obliging Mr. Spurgeon to abandon his proposed visit to the New World. He would have no wish to make a tour through a country divided against itself; and the fanaticism which led to the murder of the greatest of the Presidents might even have rendered public appearances unsafe to so distinguished an abolitionist. In a letter which appeared in an American newspaper at this time, Mr. Spurgeon gave a reminiscence of his own early days in connection with his late friend, John Angell James, who had died a few months previously:—"In an early part of my ministry, while but a lad, I was seized with an intense desire to hear Mr. James; and, though my finances were somewhat meagre, I performed a pilgrimage to Birmingham, solely with that object in view. I heard him deliver a week-evening lecture in his large vestry on that precious text, 'Ye are complete in Him.' The savour of that very sweet discourse abides with me to this day, and I shall never read the passage without associating therewith the quiet but earnest utterances of the departed man of God."

Mr. Spurgeon was always a strong advocate of open-air preaching, and in the course of his duties at the Pastors' College, he gave very carefully prepared lectures to the students on this practice. Those who founded or nurtured the Open-Air Mission appear to have enjoyed his friendship from an early period, and when the opportunity came they advocated the cause on the same platform together. At the end of January, 1860, the Southwark auxiliary of the Mission assembled at "The Horns," Kennington, when addresses were given by John Macgregor, the veteran "Rob Roy"—who has lately passed away, but who in his day did more to promote this service in London than any other man—Judge Payne, and others. The speech of the evening was given by Mr. Spurgeon, and though extremely brief, every sentence was telling:—

"I feel strongly with regard to this mission to the perishing thousands. If an angel was to fly over London to determine where such a meeting as this should be held, methinks he would stay here; for when churches and chapels were closed against the great Whitefield, and he could find no building large enough to hold the crowds who flocked to hear the Gospel from his lips, he preached in the open air on Kennington Common. If anyone were to ask me to defend from Scripture the practice of ministering only in certain buildings called sacred, I could not do so; but open-air preaching needs no defence—it stands of itself. It is necessary, because if we want to save souls, we must go where the souls are. It is the going after souls that constitutes our divine mission; and especially it is our duty 'to seek and to save that which was lost.' Open-air preaching reaches many who otherwise never would hear the Gospel. People talk sometimes about the dignity of the pulpit. That is very well. But I think the dignity of the pulpit must be measured by the number of converts chained thereto. I have my own ideas about colleges. A Canadian backwoodsman's letter came to me this morning, and it stated that colleges were machines, and the college men machine-made men—not at all fit for backwoods work. I don't hold with all this; but I do believe that the men of our colleges are not fit for much of the rough work. But there are men who are especially fitted for it—men who are born and bred among the people—who speak the people's language, and whose hearts beat with the same impulses as the people among whom they live. Such men are the Open-Air Mission supplies. God bless the Open-Air Mission, because it give us such ministers. But there is a large amount of responsibility resting on Christians. The great clouds of divine grace have been hovering over the United States; they have crossed the Atlantic to Ireland, and the droppings of the rain have been felt in Wales. Shall they, pass away without giving us a blessing, because we are not sufficiently earnest for the salvation of souls? Let it not be so. There is a great harvest gathering for us. The masses are in an incandescent stated. Ye open-air preachers, strike and make the sparks fly, and weld the once cold iron. Stay not behind your bulwarks, but go out into the field, and fight for the Lord our God." The late Gawin Kirkham, of the Open-Air Mission, was present at this meeting. Mr. Kirkham was preparing for this work a sketch of Spurgeon as an Open-Air Preacher when death overtook him