Chapter43: A Great Missionary Address

Chapter 43.
A Great Missionary Address

Centenary of Carey's Birth—Spurgeon's Speech—A Wesleyan Critic—A Summer of Accidents—Spurgeon on the Ways of Providence.

On Monday, August 19, 1861, the centenary of the birth of William Carey was celebrated at the Tabernacle. As many as 700 assembled at tea in the lecture-room, and at the public meeting at seven the chapel was well filled. Over the platform, in white letters on a crimson ground, appeared the motto—

"Expect great things from God.

Attempt great things for God."

Sir S. Morton Peto presided, and addresses were given by Messrs. J. P. Chown and Francis Tucker, the former of whom had some time before given an eloquent lecture on Carey in Exeter Hall on behalf of the Young Men's Christian Association. Mr. Spurgeon depicted Carey as an example to young men. In his day it was a new thing to talk of sending the Gospel to the heathen, and to many it was but a dream; but nevertheless the words, "Go ye and teach all nations," etc., were not Carey's, but Christ's. But to the people of his time Carey was a daring innovator. And was there not room for innovation now? We had master-minds in mechanics and manufactures, and should the Christian Church be without them? Should the Church ride on a heavy-wheeled chariot when the world was flying behind steam? Was the Church not to have some men of daring genius, who would think out new things, attempt new things, and carry them to a successful issue? Let them put down the inventor of Sabbath-schools among the greatest of innovators. Let them write down the man who brought out the ragged-schools as no mean genius; but let Carey, who taught the Church to carry the truth of life among the dead, be chief among the discoverers and innovators who were worthy of honour. When a man once had a good thought, he should not be afraid of it because nobody else had thought of it. He should do it and dare it, defying custom if it thwarted him, tearing it to pieces if it stood in the way of right. All God's true servants were innovators. Those that turned the world upside down were the very descendants of the Lord Jesus Christ. Next to Carey's originality must be extolled his brave determination. No one could now measure what he had to put up with on first commencing the missions. He was sorely troubled in his church by those who held Antinomian sentiments, and who perpetually declared that he did not preach the Gospel. Carey's theology, however, was the produce of the noblest type of divinity that ever blessed the world. He and his friend Ryland were students and admirers of Jonathan Edwards, and if there ever was a man who came nearest to the achievement of what was an impossibility—the reconciliation to the minds of finite men of the two great truths of human responsibility and divine sovereignty—it was Jonathan Edwards. Brainerd and Carey were the living models of the Edwardian theology, or rather of pure Christianity, Theirs was not a theology which left out the backbone and strength of religion—not a theology, on the other hand, all bones and skeleton, a lifeless thing without a soul: their theology was full-orbed—Calvinism, high as you please, but practical godliness so low that many called it legal. He did not know whether the people in those days called Carey a Fullerite. Perhaps they did; and to this day there were some inhabitants of the innermost recesses of the cave of Adullam who thought it a reproach to be called a Fullerite. He (Mr. Spurgeon) did not think there was any reproach in the term, and although he was not prepared to endorse everything which Fuller said or wrote, he thought it would take a long time to produce a greater theologian than he was. A great many who scoffed at him might have been put by his side without his knowing where they were. The old members of Carey's church said that God's decree would be carried out without missionaries being sent to the heathen. Others said that God had an elect people: no doubt, though they did not think there were any in India, or if there were, the Lord knew how to have His own. But Carey was not thus to be turned aside from his purpose, never doubting that if God had an elect people He would have every one of them, but equally certain that this was the reason why he should go and preach—because the Lord had much people there. There might be young men there who had been put back from preaching because some old ministers had said they did not believe in their call. If they had a right call, they would not be put back by any such thing. Some Sabbath-school teachers might have been discouraged by hearing some say they were not good, efficient teachers. Some persons wanted the Lord to send them to heaven on fine, sunshiny days, and then they would put on their best patent-leather boots and walk to glory; but the moment the Lord sent a storm, they had not got the clumped, hob-nailed boots to go trudging through the mud with. They wanted to conquer all their enemies, but they felt themselves so very valiant that they thought their backs were enough to frighten them, and so ran away. They could not put up with sneers or harsh words. But such faint hearts—such carpet knights—were not worthy of being God's soldiers and workmen. Let all young men be like Carey in determination, and when the world saw their spirit, they would honour them when their work was well done.

Carey's faith was then commended. It was a faith in God above all things; and it showed that nothing was impossible to such as believed in the Creator's power—the power that created atoms on the one hand and worlds on the other. He admired Carey all the more for being a Baptist: he had none of the false charity which might prompt some to conceal their belief for fear of offending others; but at the same time he was a man who loved all who loved the Lord Jesus Christ. The founder of the Indian Mission was then commended for his indomitable zeal, which prompted him to go through with whatever he undertook to do. If all the riches of India had been offered to him to forego his mission work, he would have laughed the offer to scorn. Was there a man of like spirit in that congregation? He would use the old term again—was there a man of like pluck? Was there a man who felt that God had called him to the ministry in foreign lands? Let him, in the name of "Him who liveth and was dead, and is alive for evermore," be a missionary, not heeding discouragement. Was the cold shoulder offered to such a one? Let him put both shoulders to the work and make them warm. Could he not see the way? Let him walk by faith and not by sight. If there was a man there who could put his teeth together, and his feet to the ground, and say, "I know that God has called me to this work, and I will do it"—do it he would, though all the committees should reject him, if he did but stand firm to his purpose. But, perhaps, some got stirred a little under an earnest sermon, or were induced by a speech like those they had heard that evening to say that they would go and do something, and yet, after a time, became cool again. It was better to make no resolves than to make them and not to carry them out. Let those who felt their spirits stirred within them go and teach in the ragged-schools, or stand up and preach in the streets of London. It was not more pleasant to preach beneath a banyan tree in India than under no tree at all in London. Sometimes after a missionary service, ten or a dozen young men would come to him next morning all anxious to be missionaries. In nine cases out of ten the resolution was probably a genuine one, and he had always told them, if they did not happen to have the exact qualifications for the missionary work, that they could be usefully engaged in winning souls here if not in other lands. He should never be happy, however, till many from that church had been sent to preach in other lands.

Mr. Spurgeon lived to have his wish fulfilled, for numbers who are now labouring in various parts of the world have gone forth from the Pastors' College, many being members of the church at the Metropolitan Tabernacle. In the summer of this year an able brochure appeared by Richard Wrench, a Wesleyan minister, entitled "The Popular Preacher; or, Who and What is Spurgeon?" It was considered to be an excellent piece of literary work, and thoroughly impartial in its criticism. The pamphlet was written in an admirable spirit; and while the friends of the preacher might see good qualities recognised and defects pointed out, it was thought that Spurgeon himself might profit by the perusal of such a lecture. The summer of this year was remarkable for its accidents, such as certain unthinking people are too ready to recognise as the direct judgments of God. On Sunday morning, August 25, a collision occurred in the Clayton Tunnel on the Brighton line, and twenty-three persons were killed on the spot, while over sixty were injured. On Monday, September 2, a collision occurred on the North London line, thirteen lives being lost. In addition to these there happened various calamities of a lesser kind. Because the victims of the mishap on the South Coast line were Sunday excursionists, some declared it was to be accepted as a manifestation of the divine wrath, and such extreme notions were even uttered in some instances by Christian ministers. Accordingly, on Sunday morning, September 8, the pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle enlarged on the words of Luk 13:1-5. It was worthy of remark, he thought, that in every age of the world many accidents of one kind or another had taken place, and just as calamitous as those which were being deplored; and those which were recorded as happening in the days of stage-coaches were just as many and as fatal as those which had followed since the invention of the steam-engine. He repudiated the notion that the collision in the Clayton Tunnel was a judgment from Heaven because of Sunday travelling: it was as likely to have occurred upon any other day as upon the Sabbath. In fact, the catastrophe at the Hampstead Junction had occurred on a Monday, and when the excursionists were going upon an errand of mercy.