Chapter 51: The Work at the Metropolitan Tabernacle

Chapter 51.
The Work at the Metropolitan Tabernacle

Statistics of Church Work—The College—The Annual Supper—Intellectual and Moral Growth of the Preacher—Success of his Students—Death of Mr. Spurgeon of Stambourne—Walworth Road Chapel—At Exeter Hall—Winslow.

At the opening of the year 1864 we find the Metropolitan Tabernacle spoken of as "that great ecclesiastical wonder," the spiritual influence for good of which was still extending. While he looked upon it with astonishment, Dr. Campbell likened the place to a great healthy tree which was continually extending in every direction. The chapel was no longer a novelty, but it seemed to be ever growing, and were it double the size there would be a congregation to fill it. "The aggregate, with the households it represents, would form a considerable township, requiring, for decent accommodation, well-nigh 3,000 residences," it was remarked. At the rate of increase of Church members which had been going on, it was calculated that the regular communicants would soon exclude the ordinary congregation of outsiders who were attracted. It was supposed that that might occasion some perplexity; but in point of fact Mr. Spurgeon did something to keep the numbers down by encouraging the secession of a body at one time who settled elsewhere to found or revive another interest.

During the year 1863 the number baptised was 311, while 116 were received by letters from other Churches, making a total of members received 427. There were 22 deaths, 50 were dismissed to other Churches, 4 were excluded, and 23 names were removed from the roll for non-attendance, the total number of members being 2,517. The small number of deaths in proportion to the congregation was regarded as something like a phenomenon:—

"How is this to be explained? Only in one way: the mass of the people consist of persons in the prime of life or in its early morning. Nor is this all; the male sex, who in London are the better lives, preponderates to an extent we have never witnessed elsewhere in any regular assembly. But while the vast majority are males, the bulk of them are also younger men, which, we believe, goes some way to account for the absence of the usual mortality, as well as for the moral force which distinguishes the place in everything. It also serves, to some extent, to explain the extraordinary liberality in the way of pecuniary contribution. The power of a mass of men and a mass of women, although their numbers were equal, is not for a moment to be compared, because of the difference of their respective earnings and incomes. But here a question occurs. Whence this mighty gathering of young people? The reply is, we think, obvious: the preacher began a lad, and is still but a young man, with an extraordinary power of fascination over his own class. Youth naturally cleaves to youth. There is also in the place, its associations and employments, an endless attraction, an inexhaustible excitement, which carries all before it. There is about the whole concern a social grandeur, a moral romance, that dazzles, delights, and captivates the rising generation."

Other characteristics of the congregation were also sufficiently remarkable to such as took intelligent account of them. The general liberality of the people for all purposes was far above the average, and thus beyond what might have been expected. The assembly was a middle-class one, the very rich being as conspicuous by their absence as the very poor. The amount raised in 1868 for all purposes was £7,645 15s. 10d., or something like an average of thirty shillings a sitting.

Because every member who joined the Church was expected to do something in the way of Christian service, the aggregate accomplished was very great. The pastor himself was not only an earnest worker, his enthusiasm appeared to be contagious. Many compared him with Whitefield, who frequently actually commenced preaching at six o'clock; and Cornelius Winter, who lived with the great eighteenth century evangelist, was wont to say, "There was no rest for man or beast after four o'clock in the morning." One of Wesley's comrades also said of him, "While calm and even cool himself, he set fire to everything around him." Spurgeon was regarded as an inheritor of the characteristics of these great leaders. He seemed to understand the art of prompting people to give and of stimulating them to work. It was thought that the wide world contained nothing worthy of being compared with the Metropolitan Tabernacle's system of instrumentality. The golden motto of Methodism was clearly applicable to Spurgeon—"At it, all at it, and always at it." It was evident that the pastor was "alike ready to run a race with John Calvin in doctrine and with John Wesley in practice." The College had, at this time, outlived most of its early difficulties; and those who had at first put down the idea of founding a college without large funds and titled professors as "fanatical and preposterous," found out that their misgivings had been unfounded. The work widened and became more important as it progressed; and it was thought to be not a small wonder in the history of Providence when over £100 a month was put into the Tabernacle collecting-boxes to make good the failure of supplies from the United States. On Wednesday evening, February 10, of this year, Sir Morton Peto presided at what would appear to have been one of the first of the annual suppers on behalf of the College, which have been continued until the present time. In the first instance the feast was wholly given by one friend; but afterwards the cost was subscribed by Mr. Spurgeon himself and one or two others. On this occasion, in 1864, two hundred persons attended and gave £2,000—a striking success when compared with the £500 which had been raised when the publication of the 500th sermon was celebrated. The facts of the year's work, as given in The Morning Advertiser of the time, were regarded as being remarkable. There were seventy students in course of training; and some who had gone out had gathered congregations for themselves, and had managed to get their own chapels erected. One young Jewish convert had undertaken a preaching tour in Poland at the expense of the College; and other things which had been done showed that the managers were hampered by no strait-laced rules. They did whatever promised best to further the gathering-in of the people into the Church. They maintained that they were succeeding in a way which had never been surpassed. As a Pædobaptist, Dr. Campbell was not likely to be over-biassed in favour of the Baptist president's methods; but when he contrasted his own experience with what he saw at Newington, he yielded the palm to Spurgeon:—

"We have ourselves gone through the full University curriculum, half in one and half in another of the national institutions, and we feel bound to say that the system then, however admirable in other respects, was most defective as it related to the preparation of preachers. It did not admit for a moment of comparison with the method pursued at Spurgeon's College. The last thing that seemed to be thought of was the preacher and the pastor. The exercises in the Divinity Halls, which followed the courses of language, literature, and philosophy in those days, were of small account. When a man had finished his seven or eight years, whether for platform or pulpit labour, or pastoral work generally, whatever might be his talents, or even genius and scholarly attainments, he would have been eclipsed by a large portion of Spurgeon's young men, even at the close of the first year. Allowing for the immense improvements which have been made on all sides since that day, there is still, we feel assured, need of great advancement. Spurgeon has the true idea of the wants of the Church and of the times, and he has fully provided for them. He is not the foe of learning by any means, but he is more the friend of souls. What he deprecates is, not education, but non-adaptation to the work contemplated, and every man of sense and reflection will join him. He does not view the great national establishments as over-educating, but as miseducating the labourer for his field of service. With respect to numbers, the absence of all academic training had, on the whole, been better than a training which only tended to incapacitate a man for preaching. Real ability, sound conversion, fervent zeal, a thorough knowledge of the Word of God, and constant practice in speaking will, in the end, go a great way to make a man a good and an able minister of the New Testament. Such was that prince of commentators, Thomas Scott; such was that prince of epistolary writers, John Newton; such was that prince of polemical authors and genuine theologians, Andrew Fuller; such, too, were Abraham Booth, Adam Clarke, and Richard Watson—men constituting the mighties of the age they lived in."

We also find it remarked at this time that the College which Spurgeon had founded, and which he managed with a success that surprised his friends while it dumfoundered his enemies, was a standing protest against read sermons. The students learned their leader's ways until it was not to be wondered at if they were suspected of unduly imitating him. At all events, they learned to preach without a manuscript, and it was considered that this was so far a gain that it was one of the things which contributed to the preacher's wonderful success. It was impossible to conceive of Spurgeon with a MS.; and it was declared that the use of paper would have reduced his hearers from thousands to hundreds. The ninth volume of the Sermons appeared at this time, and enabled those who were interested in him to take notice of the intellectual and spiritual growth of the preacher, and also to mark the progress of his work. It was already clearly seen that these discourses would be the preacher's greatest and most enduring monument. "Where is the man in England or Europe who preaches a discourse every Sabbath morning throughout the year, which will bear publication every week, and sell in all lands by the million?" it was asked; and then it was added, "He pours out sermons as Shakespeare did plays, apparently as unconscious as the poet was of doing anything at all extraordinary." By some of his more ardent admirers the preacher was thought to be almost past criticism; and so greatly had he improved that the volume for 1863 appeared to be better than any which had preceded it. "It is replete," said this friendly critic, "with truth and love, force and fervour. From the archbishop down to Thomas Blyth, the worthy bargeman, who speaks a word to the weary on Sunday evening, there is not a preacher in the land who may not read and ponder the volume with benefit. Spurgeon was born with a key to the heart of humanity in his hand; and the volume before us shows the marvellous skill with which he turns it. It is interspersed with numerous passages which for power and pathos are equalled by very little, and surpassed by nothing, in the sermonology of the world." A remarkable circumstance in connection with the Pastors' College is, that many of the men who have achieved the most striking success were students in the early days now under notice. Among these is Frank H. White, who settled at Chelsea, and whose work has for some years been associated with Talbot Tabernacle, Notting Hill. At the outset of his course, Mr. White was pastor at Paradise Chapel, Chelsea, and he was one of the men in whose labours the president of the College showed the greatest interest. It was proposed to erect a new chapel to accommodate a thousand persons at a cost of £3,500; and when a meeting was convened to further that object, Mr. Spurgeon wrote:—

"My dear friend, Mr. Frank White, has worked hard in that inaccessible place so blunderingly called Paradise Walk; his ministry has been blessed to the conversion of many; but he now sees what I have long seen, the imperative necessity of leaving Paradise and walking elsewhere—an emigration which, I trust, will be for the good of thousands. The Church at Paradise Walk is very small, and quite unable to erect a structure such as the denomination requires; but with the help of Christian friends the task will be accomplished. I shall give Mr. White my most earnest aid, and trust that all lovers of Jesus will do the same. The edifice will be of such a character that I may safely guarantee that no money will be wasted either in expensive ugliness or trifling ornament."

Mr. White cheered the heart of his Chief by advancing to far greater things than might have been looked for in those days. In due time he became the recognised Remembrancer of the College, and as such, at each successive annual Conference, he gave an account of the collections which had been made by the Churches during the year on behalf of the institution.

Mention may here be made of Mr. James Cubitt, pastor of the church at Thrapston, Northamptonshire, who assisted as tutor in the College for over two years, commencing with the summer of 1861. Health failing, he retired for a time from active service; but disease had made such inroads into his constitution that he passed away at the age of fifty-five. On Friday, the 12th of February, 1864, the venerable James Spurgeon, of Stambourne, passed away at the age of eighty-seven years. After the afternoon service at the chapel on Sunday, February 21, the remains of the late pastor were buried in the adjoining graveyard, thirty children and grandchildren of the deceased standing around the grave. Mr. Spurgeon does not appear to have been of the number; but at the Metropolitan Tabernacle he preached from St. Mat 10:22, "Enduring to the end," and paid a glowing tribute to his grandfather's memory.

Born on Michaelmas Day, 1776, James Spurgeon, of Stambourne, was almost a nonagenarian at the time of his death. The Spurgeons appear to have been a long-lived race, and from this, and also from the fact that former pastors of the Tabernacle church had held their office till old age, it was inferred that C. H. Spurgeon's pastorate would also be a long one. Like Gill and Rippon successively, the young pastor of Waterbeach had been first asked to preach at the age of nineteen, and having commenced like the veterans of the past, it was fondly hoped that he would finish like them. "It is not decreed that we can know of certainty," we find it remarked, "but it seems both possible and probable."

Some account of James Spurgeon, of Stambourne, has already been given; but it may be added here that his father, Clement Spurgeon, was a cane-reed maker of Halstead, who gave his sons the best education possible under the circumstances—James remaining at school until he was sixteen. At the date of his death in 1864, The Wesleyan Times gave some particulars which may be quoted, as showing the condition and surroundings of the Spurgeon family a century ago:—

"Some difficulty presented itself at that time as to the best way of disposing of the youth, his father not being anxious to put him out as an apprentice; but a friend of the family recommended him to a gentleman at Finchingfield to learn the combined business of grocer and linendraper. Here, as far as worldly circumstances went, he was favourably situated, meeting with great kindness and consideration from the family in which he was placed. But the young man was not happy, there existed within him a feeling of void, a consciousness of something wrong, which required prompt and decided attention. Religion had no place in their dwelling, and even the form of family worship was not observed. In a state of mind far from happy, he heard of the illness of his father, after he had been three years in the general store at Finchingfield; and in 1795 he left the place, glad that even so sad a dispensation as the failing health of his father had interposed to bring about the change he desired. He had given his heart to God in very early life whilst attending the ministry of the Rev. Mr. Ball at Halstead.

"Remaining at home till Christmas of the same year, he had anxiously prayed that whatever opening for him might next be made, he should be placed in a religious family; and his prayer was answered. Mr. Rudkin, of Coggeshall, Essex, engaged his services in his business, and there he found himself surrounded with all the blessings of a God-fearing family. These, however, were considerably restrained by the low religious condition of the Independent church which the family attended at Coggeshall. The old minister had run his course of useful labour, and young Spurgeon heard the old man on only one Sabbath, the pulpit being afterwards supplied with students from Hoxton. One of the students thus sent was Mr. Fielding, whose piety and amiability soon won over to him the affections of the young shopman, so that a very close acquaintance was formed between these young men. An invitation to the pastorate was given and accepted. His mind being already prepared by Divine grace for the sacred union, Mr. Spurgeon shortly afterwards joined the Church. So entire was the change which grace had wrought in his mind, he diligently set himself to do good to others; and one way in which he carried out his holy purposes was by establishing a prayer-meeting in the vestry of the chapel on Sabbath morning and evening, which was well attended; and in carrying it on the founder had the satisfaction of seeing much good done. At first he was content with reading the Scriptures and prayer; but after receiving encouragement from his minister, and prompted by the kindness of his employer, Mr. Rudkin, he advanced a step further, and occasionally gave a short address of encouragement or warning as an exhortation. For nearly eight years—namely, from Christmas, 1795, to the year 1803, Mr. Spurgeon continued to conduct this excellent and profitable means of grace; and he had the joy of seeing much good result from his labours.

"Prompted by his pastor, Mr. Fielding, and encouraged by his good friend, Mr. Rudkin, with whose family he resided, he consented to go to Hoxton College to prepare for the ministry; there he spent two years, having knowledge of several instances of conversion during his labours as a supply at various places near London. In 1805 he received a call to the pastorate over the Independent church at Clare, in Suffolk. There he commenced his stated ministry at Christmas, 1805, and was ordained on the 23rd of the September following; the ministers who took part in his ordination being Mr. Fielding, of Coggeshall; Mr. Ray, of Sudbury; Mr. Stevenson, of Castle Hedingham; Mr. Hickman, of Larringham; and Mr. Beddow, of Stambourne. The desire to be a minister of the Gospel entered his mind in very early life, and it was strengthened when his conversion took place. He had a very pious mother, who tried to instil into the minds of her children the fear of sin and a love of God, and her efforts were not in vain as far as her son James was concerned."

After serving during five years at Clare, James Spurgeon settled at Stambourne in 1810. He Lad many converts; and in his latter years, before the death of his wife, he spent about six weeks of every year in visiting friends who had been benefited by his ministry, although even then he found time to write letters of Christian counsel. It was his opinion that all ministers should have some knowledge of a secular business; for the attaining of such a knowledge was a profitable discipline, while it extended their knowledge of human nature. The multitude who gathered at the graveside on the occasion of the funeral sufficiently testified to the venerable pastor's popularity. The large chapel in the Walworth Road, of which Mr. Howieson was pastor, and which is a near neighbour of the Metropolitan Tabernacle, was opened on April 20. Mr. Spurgeon attended the opening service and gave a vigorous speech, congratulating the pastor, and hoping that the chapel might become the scene of a genuine revival.

Spurgeon had now become such an attraction at any great gathering that his services were eagerly secured for any May meeting whenever he could be prevailed on to appear. On April 28, 1864, he attended at Exeter Hall to advocate the cause of the Baptist Missionary Society; and we find it remarked that he then spoke "with a warmth, a vigour, and an eloquence surpassing even himself." He was thus thought to be as capable on the platform as he was in the pulpit, and if the work of the platform had been too much eschewed, it seemed that the error might profitably be corrected. At the great missionary meeting referred to, something happened which helped to enliven the scene, and so to add interest to the speeches. As Dr. Campbell tells us, Mr. Spurgeon "seemed to think that one of his cherished notions touching church action and obligation was hinted at, and questioned, if not repudiated, by Dr. Angus, and be broke out into an argumentative oration in favour of bis own principle, which carried the assembly with him as a whirlwind." Mr. Spurgeon began by remarking that he harboured profoundest respect for Liberal politicians who were for reform; and he had also some respect for the Conservatives who sat under the nearly rotten branches of their favourite shelter and sang, "O woodman, spare that tree," etc. There was something so beautiful in all this that he could not find it in his heart to speak against the old Conservative tree. There was, however, something beautiful about the youthful flash and fire, which, in order to put things right, turned them upside down. A middle course was nevertheless to be preferred, although true lovers of their country were probably to be found in both extreme roads. The Missionary Society might have friends among those who would have nothing altered; but they were equally friends who would follow more closely what was believed to be a more Scriptural method. There had been some misapprehension, for one and all had prayed for a blessing on the society. It was not a question as to whether there should be a society or not, but rather whether the churches should not be more fully recognised, and individual action be brought more fully into play. "When the gage of battle is thrown down I am not the man to refuse to take it up," said Mr. Spurgeon; and then after this reference to Dr. Angus, and to the solemnity of the work in progress, he added:—

"Did it not seem strange, according to human reason and the law of cause and effect—did it not seem absurd and ridiculous that a few people in England should meet together to talk about the conversion of India? I excuse Sydney Smith for his belief that it was indeed the freak of a raving madman, though I cannot excuse the ribald language in which he expressed the thought. But it does seem, on any principle but a supernatural one, to have been the maddest enterprise in which men ever engaged. We must understand, then, where we are. We take our stand on the supernatural. We are to depend for our success on Him who has bidden us go and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. It becomes us, then, to be exceedingly careful how we lose this principle or do anything whatever that might rob us of its strength, for we must lean entirely on that arm. If neither committee, funds, nor subscribers can do anything without Him, we must mind we do not grieve Him; but we must go to work on such principles as may ensure us success, because He has promised it. We are willing, dear friends, to hear arguments on the other side at all times, provided they are not those equivocal arguments which say 'the thing is right in principle, but in practice it is right but not important.' To us to be right is to be important, and to be true is to be necessary. Let it only be shown that a thing is wrong and unscriptural, and in an assembly of Baptists we never ask the question whether we shall keep it any longer. If it be wrong, to the winds with it. When I joined this denomination I was enchanted with that which seemed to be written on the banner. We will have nothing but what we find in Scripture. We will not even have infant baptism, because we think it merely a tradition, and wo will order our church government on Scriptural principles. It seems to us that to say a thing is right and Scriptural, but does not signify, would be to cut the rock from under our feet and stand upon the sands for ever; and to this, by the grace of God, we cannot possibly submit. Now, it has seemed to us that an association of good men working out God's purposes was a noble idea, but indeed the outgrowth of the idea of a Church, and we have therefore never said a word against it, but have, on the other hand, fondly cherished the hope that we might see such an association. We have not believed in an association composed of ten-and-sixpences; and we have always said piety is an essential, and the profession of that piety before men. We have always thought that any connection with the world, merely on account of ten-and-sixpences, or even thousands of pounds, was almost as great an evil as uniting the Church with the State, which contains so many worldly elements. And therefore we have not spoken about words and phraseologies, but about what is to us a very solemn principle. We are prepared, as Christian men, to maintain in its fullest strength this society, but we are not prepared to work with any society which either ignores the Churches or does not distinctly make itself a Christian society by having no members but those who profess to be Christians. Wo don't believe we could expect to have God's blessing unless we purge out the old leaven. We think that just as in the human body, if there is a piece of bone that is dead, there will be an ulcer and a swelling till the bone is cut out; so the admission, even in phraseology, of anything like a dead world, and the unrenewed nature of man, into the working society of Christ, would only be to breed an ulcer in it, which would mar the whole body in its beauty and strength."

Leaving that question, the pastor went on to say that he wished to see a more widely spread interest in the work of the Missionary Society, and dissatisfaction with what was then being done. He wanted the Churches to do more and to see more done in India to advance the kingdom of Christ. His heart rejoiced at what had been done; but when he thought of millions being still unconverted, the dread thought came that the world still lay in the power of the wicked one, and that the prince of darkness swayed his sceptre over mankind. If they desired greater things, however, greater things would come:—

"To a great extent our prayers and expectations are prophetic. They show what God is going to do, and if we are content with what we have—grateful I know we must be—if we do not pant after wider and larger things, we shall not have them. But when the groan has gone up, 'O God, we cannot endure this any longer; Lord, Thou who didst work so mighty a work at Pentecost, is Thine arm shortened that it cannot save; were not whole continents covered with the truth in a short space of time, and may we not expect the like wonders now?—then we may expect to see something more done by God for the salvation of men. Now, it struck some of us that to get the whole country into something like dissatisfaction with the results hitherto obtained would be one of the best ways towards making every man feel more than he does his own individual responsibility, and to make every church feel more than it does its own individual responsibility. If you could see my heart, you would see nothing in it but the purest love to this society, even when I say everything about its faults. It is because I love the society that I want to see a more thorough revival of the sense of individual responsibility. To whom did Christ give His commission? Not to a society, but to individuals. We gain immensely for God and His cause when we make every believer begin to cry over souls and to say, 'Lord, what wilt Thou have me do?' If our committee get on fire with enthusiasm, we will get water and pump on them, and do our share to save them from combustion, spontaneous or otherwise. Yea, if they should do anything absurd, and be arraigned for attempting impossibilities and getting into debt, some of us will come and plead guilty side by side with them, for we shall be too glad to find them offending—delighted to catch them falling into something like extravagance for God. Oh, for a circular all round to pray for a sevenfold blessing, setting forth the faith of the society in her God, and then for immediate action, depending upon God!" On Tuesday, May 3, an interesting visit was paid to Winslow in Buckinghamshire, where a Southwark predecessor, Benjamin Keach, laboured in the Puritan days. A large tent was erected, and in this Mr. Spurgeon preached in the morning from Rom 1:16, and in the evening from St. Mark 7:32. A cold collation was provided in the assembly room of the Bell Inn, after which the ceremony of laying the foundation-stone of a new chapel was gone through by Mr. Henry Kensall, of Rochdale. Mr. Spurgeon gave £20 to the building fund, and promised to contribute the last £20 required. There were 400 persons at the tea-meeting which followed, and the evening service, conducted by the popular London pastor, attracted an overflowing congregation. Another stone-laying ceremony, of great interest to those who took part in it, came off soon afterwards in connection with Mr. F. H. White's chapel at Chelsea. On June 20 a visit was paid to Golden Lane, the occasion being the opening of the Evangelists' Tabernacle, which a City merchant had erected at his own expense. Mr. Spurgeon preached, and was evidently greatly interested in the surroundings. "The neighbourhood in which I am preaching was two hundred years ago inhabited by the fashionable and wealthy," he remarked, "but now they have migrated to the West End of London, whilst poverty and crime crowd together in the adjacent courts and alleys, and souls are dying unnoticed and uncared-for by Christians who live in more respectable localities."

One of the preachers in this building was the present Mr. W. J. Orsman, L.C. C, who laboured perseveringly on until the headquarters of the costers became one of the most successful mission-stations in connection with the Metropolitan Tabernacle. As a youth, Mr. Orsman served in the Crimean commissariat department during the war, and on his return to England he accepted an appointment in the General Post Office. His philanthropic work was carried on after business hours, and Mr. Spurgeon always regarded him as one of the most valiant of his sons in the faith. As will be seen presently, Mr. Spurgeon more than once visited Mr. Orsman's headquarters to preach to the costers and others who are chiefly benefited. Since the clearing away of the rookeries of Golden Lane, the work has been transferred to Costers' Hall, Hoxton, which was also visited by Mr. Spurgeon. In 1864 the late Dr. Campbell entered upon his seventieth year, and Mr. Spurgeon subscribed £50 to the testimonial fund which was raised on behalf of the veteran journalist. No one realised more than the young pastor the sacrifices which his older friend had made. It was said that in Dr. Campbell "the Evangelical churches of all lands have an enlightened exponent and defender of Christian truth;" and he was regarded as an advocate for philanthropy, a helper of Sunday-school teachers, and a bold leader in the enterprise of ensuring a cheap Press for the people.