Chapter 67: The Stockwell Orphanage

Chapter 67.
The Stockwell Orphanage The New Orphanage—An Enthusiastic Gathering—Illness of the Pastor—Alarming Reports of his Condition—Proposed Testimonial—Annexationists—Death of the Pastor of Helens-burgh and others.

Notwithstanding the relapse already referred to, Mr. Spurgeon was able to take part in what may be called the inauguration of the Stockwell Orphanage on Monday, September 9. There were some heavy showers of rain daring the evening, but no downpour seemed able to damp the enthusiasm of the people. Quite a crowd assembled at the gates some time before they were opened, and in half an hour four thousand persons with tickets had entered the grounds. A large number of collecting-cards had been issued a short time before, and 776 of these were now brought in with a sum of £1,776. The visitors who turned into the avenue from the Clapham Road walked between a double row of Venetian masts, befittingly decorated with banners. In the grounds the secretary and a number of assistants were busily engaged in receiving money; and further on was an immense covered space where hundreds at one time could partake of refreshments. Poles, pulleys, etc., marked out the sites of the houses which were first to be erected, and around these large crowds assembled. We are told by an eyewitness that "the scene presented at the commencement of the ceremony of laying the stones was an exceedingly picturesque one. A number of men climbed the trees, in order to get a good view of the proceedings, and we noticed that some of these persons sang with as much gusto as the congregation below, while balancing themselves on what seemed in the distance to be rather weak branches." It is added that "fears were entertained for the safety of some of the more adventuresome, and one man especially seemed in a most dangerous position, as he hung like a monkey, with his two arras on a branch, and his legs dangling against the trunk of the tree." So great was the desire to secure good positions for seeing and hearing, that a slight accident occurred through a number of persons crowding on to a fragile structure which gave way and threw many down. As no great damage was done, however, the cheery voice of Mr. Spurgeon was heard reassuring the spectators. "Our friends were told not to go there; but they did not come down of their own will, therefore Providence ordered it." This occurred just about the time that he was commencing his address, when the crowd closed in. The brief statement then made is a most succinct history of the Orphanage to the date of inauguration, and though it contains some details already given in these pages, it may be quoted at length:—

"My friends, it may be well that in a few words I should state the business of the afternoon and what has led to it. I think in the month of August last year I wrote an article in The Sword and the Trowel suggesting sundry modes of usefulness that might be adopted by the Christian public. That article was read by a sister in Christ who had for some years determined to devote her substance to the work of maintaining fatherless children. She thereupon thought that she had found out the proper individual to whom to entrust her money; and I received a note which, when I read and read again, greatly startled me, as it said:—'I have determined to devote £20,000 to the work of maintaining orphans, and would you be good enough to see me about it?' I thought perhaps the lady had put down a nought or two too much, or that perhaps someone desired to play me a trick. I thought, however, it was my duty to see about it; and having seen my sister, I found that she was a benevolent, practical woman, desirous to have her money devoted to the maintenance of fatherless children, with a special view to their souls being cared for and trained in the fear of God and the doctrines of truth. I hesitated to undertake the work, having, as I thought, enough on my hands already; but I afterwards consented to do so, and we are here to-day on a piece of ground purchased for the erection of houses for the care of fatherless boys. Why our sister did not choose fatherless girls I don't know; but that is left open to someone else, and I am here quite prepared to assist them in procuring an asylum for fatherless girls also. Inasmuch as I found the money was first fixed so that we could not get beyond a certain interest for it, it was determined that the foundation-stones of three houses should first be laid. Now, the first stone should be laid by Mrs. Hillyard, our sister who gave us the £20,000, but unfortunately the workpeople have placed the tackle to the wrong house, and consequently I am obliged to begin. The cost of the house of which Mrs. Hillyard will lay the first stone is given by a merchant of the City of London. His name is well known, but it is not to be mentioned now or at any other time. It will be called the 'Merchant's House.' The house of which I shall lay the foundation-stone will be called the 'Silver Wedding House.' It is given to us by a sister who has lived happily with her husband for five-and-twenty years. About a month ago her husband said to her, 'I will make you a present of £500 on your wedding-day.' She said, 'I often wished to have so large a sum to give to Mr. Spurgeon for some of his good works.' So she has given me the whole sum. The third house will be called the 'Workmen's House.' The workmen in the employment of Messrs. Higgs agreed at a meeting to build a house, the materials being found by Messrs. Higgs. The workmen will faithfully redeem their pledge, but thinking it would be a long time before they could work their money out, they have given the whole in the shape of that large shed, which will suit for meetings, or for the children to play in. I think our working friends could not make a better investment than subscribe to an institution where their children should have the preference. One workman who had subscribed died only last week, leaving two children who will share in the benefits of the institution which he has helped. Let me say that though only these three houses are now to be built—or at least their first stones are to be laid—we have promises for others. The family of the Olneys, a name that is peculiarly dear to all our friends, have given a cheque for £500 for another house, to commemorate the memory of their sainted mother, to be called the 'Unity House.'" The ceremony of laying the stone of three houses was then proceeded with, verses specially prepared by the President—"Our poor poet," as he called himself—being sung at each station. The first stone, that of the Silver Wedding House, was laid by Mr. Spurgeon himself:—

"Accept, O Lord, the grateful love Which yields this house to Thee; And on the Silver Wedding House Let blessings ever be.

"Enrich, O Lord, the wedded pair, With choicest grace below; And when their pilgrimage is o'er, The Golden Crown bestow."

When a silver trowel was presented to Mr. Spurgeon by the trustees, he said he should present it to the lady whose silver wedding the house would commemorate. The President then gratified those who were curious in such matters by adding:—"The mallet used in laying the stone is the same which struck the foundation-stone at the Tabernacle, which the Queen handled in laying the foundation-stone of the Orphan Asylum at Bagshot, and which was more recently used on a similar occasion by the Earl of Shaftesbury."

Mrs. Hillyard, the foundress of the Stockwell Orphanage, then proceeded to lay the stone of the Merchant's House, the graceful ovation she received being well deserved. These verses were then sung:—

"Accept, O Lord, the Merchant's House, The gift of grateful love;

Smile on our friend, and gild his heart With sunshine from above.

"And on our sister, who was first To give her wealth to Thee;

Let all the fulness of Thy grace Descend most plenteously."

Mr. Spurgeon then made some characteristic references to the foundress of the institution:—

"When Mrs. Hillyard's munificent contribution was first announced in the newspapers people said it had been given by a duchess, but I say no, it is given by a princess—one of the blood imperial—a daughter of the King of kings. She has given it in the most unostentatious manner, desiring that her name should not be known, and I and my friends have dragged her into light to-day contrary to her wishes. She is a simple, earnest, Christian woman, who has devoted by far the largest portion of her property to God without asking honour from anyone. She only asks help to this great work. I hope to see not 200, but 2,000 boys in the Orphanage, and I ask all those who now hear to break through their Christian rule and give three cheers for Mrs. Hillyard." The cheers were of course given in enthusiastic style, and the Doxology concluded this part of the proceedings.

Then followed what was practically a great picnic; a band of musicians played some pieces under the trees, numbers were seated on the grass drinking their tea, while others were accommodated at a gaily decorated table between three and four hundred feet long. Tea and its accompaniments were amply supplied, and all were in good holiday humour, and so continued even when, in the evening, rain succeeded the sunshine of a few hours before. The refreshment-tent was crowded, and the time was whiled away by singing. One who was present tells us that throughout the whole time "the enthusiasm was of the usual Tabernacle temperature;" and adds that "during the hour in which the audience waited for the arrival of the speakers, a number of popular hymn-tunes were sung, the people under the marquee striking up one tune, and those under the shed singing another. A little after six, amidst loud laughter and clapping of hands, Mr. Spurgeon made his appearance, after a novel fashion—the only one, indeed, left to him. By means of a ladder, he succeeded in reaching the window at the back of the platform, through which he, with the deacons and speakers, got on to the platform, much to the enjoyment of the audience. On the arrival of Mrs. Hillyard, she was cheered most vociferously." Mr. Spurgeon gave an address at the evening meeting, and he appears to have been the only speaker who was able to make the assembly hear without extra effort. In the course of his speech he said:—

"I should not have thought of this last enterprise but that it was thrust upon me in the name of God, and upon you also. Do you not all feel that if any Christian sister can give the major part of her income to such an enterprise you cannot refuse to give your help? The first work dear to my heart is the College. Throughout Germany a very large proportion of the ministers do not believe in the truth of the Scriptures, and that arises from their training and education having been neglected; and it will be a dark day for England when her pulpits are filled with men who preach what they do not believe, or who covertly attack the Gospel under the pretence of preaching it. Our College under God will effect a great work; and whatever is done for the Orphanage will never militate against our College. We have made some provision for widows, and there will be eighteen alms-rooms open for them against the Elephant and Castle in a month. In a congregation of four thousand, there must be a large number of fatherless children, and it has become absolutely necessary to make some provision for them, and we ought to be thankful to our sister for enabling us to make it. I will undertake to prove that the prosperous people of the Tabernacle are those that have been generous in their gifts to God's work. I believe no Christian church could undertake the task committed to them so well as we can, because we are the largest Christian church. We shall require some £80,000 to finish and endow the entire Orphanage, and this no doubt we shall be able to accomplish." The addresses which followed were by Churchmen as well as Nonconformists; and by what he said the curate of a church hard by aroused quite an anti-Ritualistic demonstration. Mr. J. A. Spurgeon said he was glad this work of the Orphanage had been undertaken, because the world did not appear to understand the Baptists. He had himself been looked upon as a kind of hippopotamus. He then went on to say that although Mrs. Hillyard was the widow of a Church of England minister, she had become a Baptist: his brother had baptised her since she had given the £20,000 to found the Orphanage. "I am glad she is a Baptist, because she has evinced such a truly noble and catholic spirit," added the speaker. "Some persons have thought, because we conscientiously refuse to take a child to the font, we neglect taking children to the Saviour." The collection for the day amounted to £2,200, so that, altogether, a sum of £3,000 to pay for the site had been collected.

Mr. Spurgeon left this joyous meeting early, and on the following morning was so seriously ill that all engagements had to be cancelled, or substitutes procured. Keen was the disappointment of the people in the pretty village of Melbourne, in Cambridgeshire, which he had arranged to visit, not for the first time. Marquees had been erected, and other great preparations made, when Mr. Spurgeon senior arrived on the ground with the damping intelligence that he had come to preach in place of his son, who was ill in bed, a severe cold having been contracted at the Orphanage stone-laying ceremony. The pastor appears to have sufficiently recovered on Thursday, the 19th of September, to take the week-night service at the Tabernacle, but it was an unwise effort. "The exertion proved too much for him, for on Friday his malady returned, and confined him to his residence in Nightingale Lane, Clapham Road. On Saturday he was again much better. He then entertained some hopes that he should be able to preach at the Tabernacle on Sunday. The morning of Sunday, however, was so wet that his physicians, two of whom are in attendance upon him, advised him to remain indoors, and he did so. The consequence has been that for two successive Sundays he has now, greatly against his own wishes, and to the deep regret of his congregation, been absent from the Tabernacle." In the City and elsewhere exaggerated rumours were current to the effect that Mr. Spurgeon was dying, and even that he had actually died. The invalid was progressing, however; and when visited on Sunday, September 29, in his sick chamber, by Mr. Chown, who was engaged to preach at the Tabernacle, he was in good spirits. The pastor preached again at the Tabernacle on Sunday morning, October 6, Thursday the 10th, and on Sunday morning, the 13th. He was, of course, unable to attend the Baptist Union meetings which were held at Cardiff in bitterly cold weather, and no doubt it would have been more economical had he not ventured out so soon. He complained still of great weakness, the pallor of his countenance too plainly told of the sufferings he had endured, and the manner in which the preacher slowly limped about the platform must have excited the sympathy of the overwhelming congregation which assembled at the Tabernacle.

Then came a relapse, which appears to have been brought on by too great an eagerness to recommence the routine of daily duty. On Wednesday, the 16th of October, Mr. Spurgeon spent ten hours at the Tabernacle and attended to a number of pressing matters, besides visiting the almshouses which were then approaching completion. When visited by a friend on Monday, October 21, he was found to be in great suffering, bat he was able to go into his study, which he had not been able to do since the preceding Wednesday. His illness had been acutely painful, while the biliousness to which the sufferer was naturally disposed seemed to have the effect of increasing his weakness. Towards the end of the month there was great improvement in the pastor's health, and he was able to preach twice at the Tabernacle on the first Sunday of November. He sought rest and change in a retired part of Surrey, which had long been with him a favourite county. Special prayer was offered for his restoration at the London Baptist Association meeting at Bloomsbury Chapel, on November 5, and on that same day Mr. Spurgeon pleaded the cause of the Orphanage in a letter to the denominational journal:—

"To the Editors of 'The Freeman.'

"My Dear Sirs,—It would give me very great pleasure if all our Sabbath-schools would assist the school at the Tabernacle in erecting a Sabbath-school House in connection with the Stockwell Orphanage. I think there is already £160 in hand, and to raise the remainder of £600 would only need a small sum from each of our schools.

"I have observed, with no small gratitude, that generous proposals have been made to raise a Ministers' and Deacons' House, and I have been asked whether the project would meet my approbation. My dear sirs, it will be considered one of the happiest events of my life if this should ever be done; and as the orphanage of our own ministry must, I fear, be large, it would be a wise thing for our friends to do, if our trustees will for this house give a preference of election to deceased ministers' sons should they be left in destitute circumstances. This I feel sure they will do. Our esteemed brother, Pastor Heritage, of Canterbury, has undertaken to forward this scheme, and in his hands I believe it will succeed.

"I am deeply grateful for all the kindness I have received on all hands, and especially from Baptist brethren. I am bound by a thousand bonds of love to the body which The Freeman represents, and daily pray for it, although just now I cannot labour for its increase. The last spontaneous proposal of my brethren to help my Orphanage has made my cup of thankfulness run over.

"May I add that the building of houses for the Orphanage is less difficult than the support of the inmates? Whenever our friends can spare us donations we shall be glad of them.

"Let them look upon the Stockwell Orphanage as peculiarly a child of the Baptist body, and assist it accordingly. A band of lady collectors would afford very great help; people want reminding now and then. Wishing The Freeman all success,—I am, dear gentlemen, yours truly, "Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington, "C. H. Spurgeon."

"November 5, 1867.

There was something almost like romance in the way in which the Orphanage originated; and a number of friends were now desirous of supplementing the generosity of Mrs. Hillyard with subscriptions sufficient to build one or more houses which should be presented as a testimonial to Mr. Spurgeon. A circular was issued in which the suggestion was thrown out that the Baptist denomination should provide the means for building some of the houses This seemed to meet with so ready a response that a well-known pastor at Haworth wrote respecting it:—

"As a testimonial to our beloved brother, Mr. Spurgeon, the movement will specially commend itself to multitudes. His amazing gifts, his apostolic labours, his glowing piety, his deep humility, notwithstanding temptations to arrogance and pride which few could resist; his generous forgiving spirit, which has not been exacerbated by the misrepresentation and abuse even of good men in his early years; his princely, unselfish liberality; his genial, loving sympathy to his brethren in the ministry, far less gifted and honoured than himself; and above all, the great spiritual triumphs which God has granted him in the conversion of sinners, the quickening the zeal of many ministers and churches, and the comforting many a weary traveller to Zion—these things have won for him the profoundest esteem and love of thousands. By helping this work for God we shall show that we glorify God in him. An ordinary testimonial, such as a timepiece, dinner-service, or inkstand (by which we usually manifest esteem for ministers), Mr. Spurgeon would little value, even if made of solid gold—unless, indeed, he were permitted to melt it down to build chapels. But a gift to the orphans, which should also be a testimonial of the love and confidence of the churches of the denomination he serves, would indeed cheer his heart, lighten his cares, and send him joyously on his way." A week later Mr. Spurgeon replied to the above in a letter to the denominational paper:—"I fear I have made a mistake in my letter in last week's Freeman. I had no idea whatever that the matter of building a house or houses for the Orphanage had been taken up by my brethren. The announcement in Mr. Aldis's letter was a delightful surprise to me. I hope no one will imagine that I wished to take it out of the excellent hands in which it is already. I thank those friends most sincerely, and beg to apologise for having, through ignorance, intruded upon their labour of love." The Baptist Denomination Testimonial Houses were reared in due course, and it was understood that necessitous orphans of Baptist ministers should have the first claim to be admitted. Perhaps, however, the Workmen's House afforded one of the best evidences of the enthusiasm on account of the Orphanage which prevailed among all classes. A master builder offered to give all materials, and a number of his men volunteered their labour while building the house; but the building was undertaken by a contractor, and a sum of money subscribed instead. The son of one of the artisans was received into the home which his father had helped to build.

It was also during the year 1867 that Mr. Spurgeon was assailed with some rather severe criticism on the part of those who were known as Annexationists, or promoters of denominational union. Spurgeon and Brock appear to have been especially singled out as men who were too narrow-minded for such an advanced age; but as such representative Baptists were not incapable of taking care of themselves, the noise of controversy soon died away.

About this time several well-known characters, for whom Mr. Spurgeon entertained high regard, were removed by death. The pastor of Helensburgh—"My own John Anderson"—passed away on January 10, and a tribute to his memory was given at the Metropolitan Tabernacle. Faraday, the Christian scientist, died on Sunday, August 25. Then on the morning of Sunday, November 24, Dr. James Hamilton, of Regent's Square Presbyterian Church, passed away. References to the first and last of these worthies will be found in the Sermons for 1867.