Chapter 44: "The Sceptics and the Scorpions"

Chapter 44.
"The Sceptics and the Scorpions"

Adventures at Bristol—"Shrews"—"Eminent Lord Mayors"—Attacks of the Press—"Sceptics and Scorpions "—Reply of "Aristides."

Bristol was visited on Wednesday, September 11, for the purpose of opening City Road Chapel, of which Mr. Probert was then the pastor, and the riotous behaviour of the crowd appears to have had a disastrous effect on Mr. Spurgeon's nerves. The demand for tickets was very pressing. The opening sermon was announced to begin at half-past two, but crowds began to assemble an hour earlier, and "when the doors were opened, there was a tremendous rush," says a contemporary account. "In a few minutes every seat was occupied, and afterwards the passages were blocked up by a crowd that occasionally showed itself noisy and restless." When the first hymn was announced, the noise was almost too great for anything to be heard. All ended well, however: it was not until the evening service at the circus that anything more serious occurred. The building itself was crowded, even the passages were packed, but notwithstanding there were thousands outside, numbers of whom were sufficiently uncivilised to keep up a persistent knocking on the wooden sides of the house for admission, or it may have been to induce the preacher to speak to them out of doors. The service was commenced, but it was impossible to proceed. After intimating that he could not preach in the open air, Mr. Spurgeon added:—"I am in the predicament of a man who has too many to hear him, and I wish that some other man would come forward to take one-half of them to himself. My nerves are thoroughly shattered by a late accident. I hope that some person will go to the police-station for assistance." This was no easy thing to do; but someone volunteered to be let down by a rope outside. The ordeal proved almost too much for the nerves of the once strong man, who showed signs of fainting while he made the touching confession, "I wish I had the strength I had a few years ago; but I have preached ten times a week; I am thoroughly knocked up; I am getting old before I am young. After the sermon was commenced, further violent interruption occurred; but by some means, after a very short address, the preacher, whose popularity was more than his nerves could always bear, contrived to escape from his tormentors.

It is no wonder that soon after this Spurgeon was overtaken by increased nervousness, which prevented his taking extra service for some time. He was to have preached for Dr. Evans at Scarborough, but the visit had to be indefinitely postponed. But while preaching engagements in the provinces had to be accepted with more caution, the work at the Metropolitan Tabernacle itself was still carried on with vigour. In October a series of Friday lectures was instituted, and one of these, on the Gorilla, in consequence of the large attendance, was given in the Tabernacle itself. Usually, however, these lectures were given in the lecture room, and a small charge was made. This drew forth some hostile criticism, and was besides misrepresented. An address on "Shrews, and How to Tame Them," which followed, seemed to have the effect of completing the discomfiture of the quidnuncs who were always glad of an opportunity of raising a laugh at Spurgeon's expense. In the course of this lecture he made some humorous remarks on the little animal called the shrew, and then dilated upon the human "shrew," male and female, beginning with Xantippe the wife of Socrates and coming down to Mrs. Wesley. Mr. Spurgeon, in solving the problem of "how shrews, whether male or female, are to be tamed," referred to Shakespeare's well-known play, from which he read several passages. In nine cases out of ten, he was of opinion, where a husband did not get on well with his wife, it was his own fault.. There was a clergyman once who had had too much to drink when he was called upon to "sprinkle" a child. He fumbled at his book, but could not find the place, whereupon he stammered out, "What a very difficult child this is to baptise!" Mr. Spurgeon's advice to husbands with bad wives was, "Keep your temper, for love mingled with good temper will assuredly tame the most stubborn creatures." Christian women have often much sorrow of heart because they are yoked to ungodly husbands. The lecturer enumerated several instances of men having been converted through the instrumentality of the patience and forbearance exhibited by their wives. On November 8, the subject of the lecture was "Eminent Lord Mayors." Mr. Spurgeon was a good deal surprised that this series of lectures, instituted for the benefit of his own people, should have attracted such wide notice and such hostile criticism. Some timid souls suggested that the lectures should be discontinued, but as that would be showing the "white feather to the enemy," the pastor declared he would do nothing of the kind. He believed that the licentiousness of the Press had reached its height, and that if his opponents had only rope enough allowed them, they would soon hang themselves. In introducing the subject of Lord Mayors, he expressed the belief that the Guildhall was a good standpoint from which to study history impartially. As a rule the Corporation of London had been on the side of liberty, and deserved respect: it had done something for Protestantism. Having mentioned several Lord Mayors, he came to the insurrection of Wat Tyler. He declared it as his opinion that history had done but scant justice to Wat Tyler, who had been a patriot in the early part of his career, though he might have used his power arrogantly afterwards. Walworth thought that Tyler was proceeding most unjustifiably in his interview with Richard II., and therefore he slew him with a dagger. Historians had taken different views of this act. By some Walworth had been condemned, and by others censured, but we probably had not the materials for forming a true judgment on the matter. Liberty was not advanced by sanguinary deeds or by mob violence: the boasted republicanism of America, out of which despotism threatened to spring, gave a lesson which all ought to ponder. He next came to Sir Richard Whittington, and having given the chief particulars of his so-called history, he said that not one word of it was true. He was sorry for it: he wished it were true, and he had no doubt they and the people who came after them would go on believing it. Whittington's father was a man of substance, and he had come of a good family. Richard II. was then reigning, and Whittington gave him one-tenth of his property to carry on the war in which he was engaged. Richard was in the habit of getting the London merchants to send him blank cheques, which he filled up with any amount he thought fit. Whittington invited the king to a magnificent banquet, and when his" Majesty remarked that the fire burned with a bright glow, Whittington said he would soon make it burn brighter. He then threw into the fire bonds to the amount of £60,000, which the king had given over to the citizens of London for the money he had obtained. Probably Whittington had bought the bonds at a cheap rate, as the citizens would know that the king was not very likely to pay his debts, and so the Lord Mayor in an easy way got the honour of paying them for him. Then came the career of Lord Mayor Barton, who lived in 1418; and that of Stephen Browne, who, in 1438, at a time when there was a famine in the country, sent to the Prussian ports for corn. In 1549, Sir Rowland Hill, the ancestor of Rowland Hill, was in office as Lord Mayor. He was a godly man, and in his case the promise of the Lord to be gracious to the descendants of His people had been strikingly fulfilled. He next came to Sir Edward Osborn, who had jumped out of a window and saved the life of a young lady who afterwards married him. Following him, in the reign of Elizabeth, was Sir John Spencer, from whom the Sovereign borrowed money, and who refused her the granaries which she desired. After him came Sir Richard Gresham, Sir John Gresham, and Sir Thomas Gresham. They knew the story of the grasshopper which was current about Gresham, but there was not a word of it true. The City had greatly aided in deposing Charles I. The dissolute times of the restoration of Charles II. were described, and an anecdote was told showing that the Lord Mayor of London at that time was addicted to the most debasing intemperance.

About this time a little work of some interest appeared, the subject being "Baptism: or, a Contribution to Christian Union," the author being Daniel Eraser, M.A., of Lerwick, in the Shetland Isles. The author had found that the fame of the New Park Street pastor had reached even his distant parish: he admired the printed sermons, and thought that Spurgeon himself was a gift to the Church, and thus regarded his progress with pleasure. "In the midst, however, of the pleasant feelings, I had one serious drawback, in respect of which I could not but feel that, at least, 'one thing thou lackest,' and that as yet the treasure is found only in earthern vessels. You are a Baptist! or, expressing more precisely the drawback to which I allude, you administer baptism by immersion, and holding immersion to be baptism, you baptise only professing believers, or believing adults." The object, of course, was to convert the young preacher from the errors of his ways—an easy achievement, as was thought, if both sides would but rid themselves of prejudice.

Some further notice may be taken of the criticism to which the weekly Friday evening lectures at the Tabernacle were subjected towards the end of the year 1861. This seems to be the more necessary because the young pastor was misrepresented by his enemies and misunderstood by his friends, who were misled by giving heed to the misstatements which were circulated. Dr. Campbell divided the young preacher's enemies into Sceptics and Scorpions; and both of these sections are said to have been in raptures with the sermon on the railway accidents. "Misapprehending or perverting his words, they hailed him as a powerful auxiliary in their blind combat with the idea that 'there is verily a God that judgeth in the earth,'" we find it remarked. "The idea produced uneasiness; and the man who, as they thought, helped them to get rid of it, was viewed as a benefactor and extolled as a sage." It was thought by Spurgeon's friends that the censure of such people would have been preferred to their praise; for the question would arise whether he had not expressed himself incautiously. Whether that was so or not, the truce between the preacher and his friends was of very short duration; for the lecture on "Shrews," already noticed, afforded an opportunity for misrepresenting Spurgeon too tempting to be resisted. One of the daily papers, not distinguished for any liking for the Gospel as preached at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, professed all at once to be concerned for the cause of evangelical religion. As the shrewd onlooker, "Aristides," remarks, this oracle, "to serve its purpose, commenced Pharisee, assumed the phylactery, and sounded the trumpet at the corners of the street, affecting profound reverence for holy places." The Sceptics having thus stated their case, the matter was taken up by others of the weekly Press, especially by one of the reviews of great literary ability, which all along showed a bigoted hatred of Spurgeon and his work which was interesting because it was phenomenal. At the same time, the articles of this journal were characteristic of superfine writers who, despite their high assumptions of birth and education, were utterly incompetent to speak on the merits or demerits of Christian work, or of those who did it, because they were altogether empty of the spirit pervading the New Testament. They knew how to do their work in their own way, however. "The Scorpions elaborated the spurious report of the lecture into a heinous offence against religion; and, soaking it in malice, they sent it forth among their misguided readers." Had this school of critics had the affair all to themselves, no great harm would have been done; it was when friends believed in the over-coloured reports of the lecture, and when, through being deceived, friendly newspapers expressed regret, etc, at what had occurred, that the need of correcting error appeared.

Dr. Campbell enlisted "Aristides" to discharge this duty, and he was the man for the hour. He mentioned the witness who confessed before the eighteenth-century magistrate that the Methodists had converted his wife, who hitherto had had the tongue of a shrew, but was then as quiet as a lamb. "Can there be a doubt that men are often driven to violent courses by the shrewship of their wives?" it was asked. "Does it not lead to strife, to separation, to abandonments, and even to bloodshed?" Hence anybody who could diminish the supply of shrews and scolds was a public benefactor; and the worst thing wished for "the scribes of the sceptic and scorpion school" was that each might get hold of a thorough, a matured, and an incorrigible shrew for a wife. That wish was hardly consistent with the principle of returning good for evil; but it was very natural. That the public might not be in any doubt as regarded the character of the Friday evening lectures, a visit was made to the Tabernacle, and the scene was described:—

"At seven o'clock precisely, Mr. Spurgeon made his appearance on the spacious platform of the Lecture Hall—a building which is well lighted, well fitted up, every way commodious, and capable of containing about 800 people. It was crowded in every part. At the back of the platform hung a number of diagrams of lions and other animals, the subject of the night's lecture. After prayer, Mr. Spurgeon opened with a pleasant descant on the King of Beasts. He seems always to do best what he is doing last, and he is eminently fitted for a public lecturer. It is difficult to conceive of anything more instructive, innocent, and amusing. He continued to delight the assembly for an hour and three-quarters! Although interspersed with wit and pleasantry, and apparently extemporaneous, it was evidently got up with care and considerable labour. The diagrams were a highly useful appendage, enabling the eye to aid the intellect, and giving occasional repose, both to the speaker and the audience. To show the earnest, businesslike way in which the matter is gone about, I may observe that Mr. Spurgeon keeps an artist on the premises to prepare the diagrams, and, after they have been used there, they are lent out to societies and public bodies for lecturing purposes. The expense of this arrangement is of course considerable, but it is met, and only just met, Mr. Spurgeon told the assembly, by the twopence charged for admission. Such a lecture must have been a great addition to the toils of Mr. Spurgeon for the week. Throughout this hour and three-quarters, he frequently spoke with almost all the force and vehemence which distinguish his ordinary preaching; and then, be it remembered that this was after four hours' labour in the lecture-room and the exertions of the previous Thursday night, while only forty-eight hours remained till the commencement of the overwhelming services of the Lord's Day."

Despite the howl of disapprobation raised by one section of the Press, the Friday evening lectures thus continued, and the interest of those for whom they were intended seemed to increase. As Aristides said, Spurgeon seemed to do best whatever he undertook last.