Chapter 79: At Cheshunt College

Chapter 79.
At Cheshunt College

Education and the Bible—Spurgeon presides at a Working-Men's Meeting—Cheshunt College Centenary—Invited to the United States—Help sent to Paris—At Cambridge—At Liverpool—Chapel Debts.

It was in 1870 that my volume on "Ancient Meeting-Houses" and that on the "Metropolitan Tabernacle" were in course of preparation. Mr. Spurgeon generously agreed to read the latter, and, having done so, offered to purchase the MS.; but as neither side would name a price, the work was ultimately transferred to Messrs. Passmore and Alabaster. The pastor even volunteered to write an Introduction—a kind of service to which he had in general an aversion hard to be overcome. The letter was as follows:—

"Clapham, February 5.

"My Dear Mr. Pike,—I have read through your MS. with much interest. It is rather a history of the Southwark churches than of the Metropolitan Tabernacle Church, and does not, to my mind, pursue its story with the continuity needful for perspicuity. It was evidently not quite intended for what it now is. Instead, however, of giving detailed notes I thought of proposing to you the following query—Will you sell me the MS. that I may mould it into any shape which I may select, duly, at the same time, acknowledging my indebtedness to you?

"I am afraid the publication would not bo so likely to pay you as it would be to pay me. Much of the matter is foreign to our church; but the cutting out could be filled up with other matter. If to this query your reply is 'Yes'—well, then, mention your price, and I will give it if I can.—Yours very truly, "C. H. Spurgeon." At this time the education question was one of the chief topics of the day; and, in taking his part in the controversy, Mr. Spurgeon was on the side of those who insisted that the Bible should be read in the schools. I well remember meeting him on a fine spring morning near the Bank of England; his invitation to take a seat in the brougham was accepted, and while passing through the crowded streets he at once entered into the topic with great animation. He could not bring himself round to believe that it would ever do to exclude the Bible altogether from the schools. His argument was that the State, as such, ought not to patronise or persecute religion; but that was quite another thing from saying, as some did, that the State had nothing to do with religion. If man was under law to God, nations were not free from Divine control. The secular rule of a Government, like that of a railway, owed allegiance to the law of God. The closing of public-houses on Sundays showed that the Government acknowledged religion. Education without religion meant teachers without religion, and what good results could be expected from such agents?

Holding the sentiments he did on this great question, Mr. Spurgeon presided at a crowded meeting at Exeter Hall, the speakers being working men, and the main part of the audience being of that class. Ten minutes was the time allowed to each speaker, and when the resolution was put that the Bible be read in the proposed new schools, it was carried with enthusiasm, the dissentients being not more than twenty. The Stockwell Orphanage had now one hundred and fifty inmates, and the pressing need which existed for such an institution was shown by a thousand applications for admission which the trustees had in hand. The need of an infirmary was being felt; and in aid of the building fund of this house a bazaar was held on June 21, and in the evening the President gave a lecture on "Sermons in Stones." On the following day the Earl of Shaftesbury presided at the annual meeting, when he characterised the institution as representing "a blessed and holy work, reflecting great honour upon all concerned in it." One lady who visited the bazaar gave a donation of £400, to be divided between the College and the Orphanage. The thorough catholicity of the managers in selecting candidates became at once apparent. Children of parents belonging to all sects, or to no sects at all, were admitted; but while the majority were pleased at such liberality, there was a minority who showed a fanatical bigotry in the matter which proved them, to be quite devoid of Christian spirit. The centenary of the college at Cheshunt was celebrated by the erection of some additional buildings, all being in memory of the pious founder, Lady Huntingdon, who established the college at Trevecca in Wales in or about the year 1767. The countess died in June, 1791, and the theological seminary, in which she had shown such keen interest, was then removed to Cheshunt. The custom has long been to hold an anniversary in the pleasant grounds of the college at Midsummer, some leading man being the preacher for the day. In 1871 Mr. Spurgeon took the service, and he also gave an address after the memorial-stone of the new buildings had been laid by the Earl of Shaftesbury. Between the nobleman and the Baptist preacher the closest friendship existed; and their correspondence was carried on as between fellow-Christians, and with a freedom on Mr. Spurgeon's part which is not usually characteristic of a commoner when corresponding with a peer. In the opening of his speech at Cheshunt Mr. Spurgeon referred to the Earl in cordial terms, which illustrate what I once heard him say in private, to the effect that Lord Shaftesbury was a much better man even than he had supposed him to be:—

"The more I know of that good man, the more I feel that his coming into association with various Christians is not a mere formal act, but that his heart is really with all them that love the Lord Jesus Christ. Those of us who often come into contact with him admire the depth and earnestness of his piety. No doubt he is thoroughly a member of the Church of England; but he is much more a member of the Church of Christ. For myself, I am glad to come here, though, of course, I never worship God with a liturgy, and certainly never shall. Yet if you have grace enough to do it—and I should say it takes a good deal—I am glad that you are able." In showing the importance of a college, the example of Christ in gathering men around Him to teach was referred to, the Apostles having been virtually students, and they having in turn found out others. The speaker then came to later times and to the Reformation:—

"Among the Vaudois churches every pastor was wont to be accompanied in his mountain journeys by some stalwart young man, who could assist, perhaps, in the difficulties of climbing, and who, in return, received from him paternal instruction in the management of a church, in the Word of God, in the mode of attractive and useful speaking, and so on. They always provided for a succession in their ministry. We talk of Luther and Calvin in the days of the Reformation, but we must remember that these men became what they were largely through their power to stamp their image and superscriptions upon other men with whom they came in contact. If you went to Würtemberg, it was not Luther only that you saw, but Luther's college, the men around him—the students all being formed into young Luthers under his direction. It was the same at Geneva. How much Scotland owes to the fact that Calvin could instruct John Knox! How much have other nations derived from the little republic of Switzerland on account of Calvin having the clear common-sense to perceive that one man could not hope to affect a whole nation except by multiplying himself, and spreading his views by writing them upon the fleshy tablets of the hearts of young and earnest men! The churches seem to have forgotten this. The Countess of Huntingdon did not forget it. As soon as she perceived that the masses needed to be leavened with the Gospel, she saw at once that there must be an institution for the further training of these young men who had begun to speak. It is nothing but sanctified common-sense that leads the Church to the formation of a college. The Church ought to make the college the first object of its care. Whatever is forgotten in the prayer-meeting, the students of our colleges ought not to be forgotten."

There seemed to be even more need to pray for students than for ministers. References were made to the Liturgy, to bishops, and to the money needed in the case of Cheshunt College. Then came more remarks about college education in general, which are still of value:—

"I should not like to make any observation that would seem to imply any reflection upon the education that is given here. I will only say that I have noticed in some colleges that they teach every mortal thing except the one thing that the young men want to know. I remember hearing a clergyman from Cambridge say, 'I do not know how many hundreds of pounds my father has spent upon me—he knew I was going to be a clergyman. I do not know how many hours I spent in classes, and I learnt everything except what would bo of use to me now.' Now that struck me as being very nearly accurate in many respects with regard to many other places. Of course, classical and mathematical information, Biblical lore, and so on, must be had; they all serve a very admirable purpose in the formation and training of the mind, but we must have more than that—there must be opportunities for doing good. It is a great thing when a college is in connection with a church, where there are instances of church discipline and church government coming under consideration. I have met with young students coming from colleges who did not know how to write a letter of dismission or an application for dismission, the commonest details of church government being altogether unknown. Such simple details as those ought certainly to be known, and there should be instruction given as to the arrangement of church meetings, how to deal with candidates, how to talk with young converts, and so on. What we want to produce in the College is a preacher as well as a scholar—a scholar by all means, but a preacher certainly. Plenty of opportunities are needed for public speaking. Frequent discussions and opportunities of speaking and breaking down are great blessings to a young man. I do not think anything of a young man unless he has, at some time or other, made a mess of a speech and felt it. It is by failures, which show his deficiencies, that he is likely to attain excellency. To learn to preach, you must preach; to learn to speak, you must speak; and to be often on one's legs is the best mode of acquiring proficiency and ease." The remainder of the address contained much which was calculated to be of service to the students, reference being made to their peculiar temptations and to the methods by which alone success was to be attained. In wishing Dr. Reynolds success in his arduous task, Mr. Spurgeon showed that the management of a college needed more discretion than most men could boast of, and tutors had especial need to draw upon infinite wisdom. Then came a graceful allusion to the Countess of Huntingdon's heraldic motto—In Veritate Victoria. "It is in the truth that victory lies. In the long run it will beat policy; truth will beat superstition and overcome error."

Mr. Spurgeon was able to attend the quarterly meeting of the London Baptist Association on July 12 at Brockley Road Chapel, New Cross. These were social occasions, which were also of a partially festive character, although the business of the Association was always heartily entered into. Thus "a sumptuous dinner with a service of fruit" was given on this occasion; and the hospitality was suitably acknowledged by the pastor of the Tabernacle. The most striking address of the evening was by Mr. M'Cree, Dr. Brock's assistant in St. Giles's, or in the vicinity of Bloomsbury Chapel, who has now passed away. His speech bristled "with appalling facts concerning the moral condition of the metropolis."

It appears that at this date Mr. Spurgeon had practically abandoned the idea of ever visiting the United States, although there were many friends in the Republic who still clung to the hope that the English preacher might even yet one day set foot in their country. Probably stimulated by some false report, certain smart Transatlantic entrepreneurs wrote to Mr. Spurgeon in the summer, inviting him to undertake a lecturing tour during the next season. The application drew forth this reply:—"Gentlemen,—I am much obliged by your very courteous letter, but you are under a mistake. I am not a lecturer. I now and then give a lecture for some good object; but I do not do it well, and, moreover, have no ambition in that line. I am very glad to preach, but not if there is any charge at the door. Moreover, I have no kind of idea of visiting the States."

Nothing seemed to please Mr. Spurgeon so well as being able to think that all continued to go well at the Tabernacle when he was himself unavoidably absent. If at times this might amount to a pleasant delusion, it was a delusion which the pastor was well content to be the subject of, and it was not advisable to interfere with it unless you wished to get sharply reproved. The Americans were at all times interested in all that pertained to the great London congregation and its pastor; and it was at least a variation when one of their papers—The Observer—depicted the scene at the Metropolitan Tabernacle when Spurgeon was not there. The sermon, from an unknown preacher, was "a plain, earnest Gospel exhortation":—

"There were no marks of genius about it, no attempts at eloquence; nothing to distinguish it from the ordinary preachers of London and elsewhere, except, perhaps, that it was not delivered from a pulpit at all, but from a platform, and entirely without notes. Yet this commonplace discourse, because it was the Gospel, was listened to from beginning to end—and it was nearly an hour long—if not with profound interest, certainly with reverent attention. There was no coughing, shuffling, yawning, or sleeping that we could discover. Silence reigned, but not somnolence. Not only was the preacher not Mr. Spurgeon, but he was not to be compared with him in any way. Yet because this man was a messenger of God to their souls, sent there by His providence, they heard him to the close, without any symptom of disgust or weariness. Nothing in their attitude of manner reminded him unpleasantly that they were thinking all the while of their absent pastor, and wishing him to bring his unwelcome service to a speedy conclusion. In reflecting upon this conduct of Mr. Spurgeon's people, and contrasting it with the contrary demeanour of some fashionable congregations we had seen in our day, we came to the conclusion that they had either been taught by their pastor or had acquired for themselves an unusual amount of the essence of Christianity—true politeness." This was the time of the war between France and Germany, which ended in the collapse of Napoleon III. and his exile in England. In the early part of September Paris was becoming closely besieged by the Germans, and large numbers were more or less straitened for the means of livelihood. M. Lepoids, pastor of the Baptist Church in the French capital, sent an appeal to a friend in England, with the special request that what he had written might be communicated to Dr. Brock and Mr. Spurgeon:—

"We cannot say, dearest brothers, that we are actually in destitution at present—blessed bo God, the greater number of us still have bread; but our dear brethren who are workmen begin to be without work, and, besides, even if they had work they could not do it; for we all belong to the National Guard, and are therefore obliged to drill nearly every day, and soon, perhaps, shall have to mount the ramparts." A committee was formed for mutual assistance. Mr. Spurgeon became at once so interested in the besieged Baptist residents of Paris that on September 14, or two days after M. Lepoids' letter had been written, he sat down in his vestry at the Tabernacle and wrote the following:—

"To the Baptist Churches of England.

"Brethren,—Here is an appeal from our own brethren in the faith; let it not be made in vain. Through my beloved friend, Mr. Tritton, and with his help, I have forwarded this day £70 to M. Lepoids. Will not others at once enable me to send more before the gate is shut? Let it be understood that if peace be soon made, and the money be not required for the sustenance of our poor brethren, it shall be expended in building them the chapel which has been so long projected. Baptists to the rescue! Every man with a head and a purse should send his portion instanter.—Your brother, "C. H. Spurgeon."

On Sunday, September 18, the subject was mentioned at the Metropolitan Tabernacle. A letter of thanks had been received—one of the last letters, it was supposed, which were likely to come out of Paris for some time. The afflicted congregation showed the utmost gratitude for the help sent over. The Baptist Union commenced its autumnal meetings at Cambridge on September 19, and the chairman was Mr. W. Robinson, pastor of the St. Andrew's Street congregation, with which Spurgeon had been associated in early days. We can well believe that it was a rare delight to Spurgeon thus to revisit the scenes of his youth; and he seemed to be fired by all his old enthusiasm when he preached to 10,000 in the open air on Parker's Piece. My friend Mr. Cuff supplies this reminiscence:—"I heard Mr. Spurgeon preach in the open air at Cambridge at the meeting of the Baptist Union in 1870. The place of the service was Parker's Piece. The pulpit was a waggon. The crowd was enormous, and stretched out far and wide from the waggon, which was the centre. The text was 'Preaching peace by Jesus Christ.' The crowd wept and laughed by turns as the marvellous pathos and eloquence of the preacher poured itself out on us all. I remember helping to guard him through the throng to the house of his host. The people were so mad to shake hands with him, and get a word from him, that we joined hands and made a circle, while the dear man walked in it. Every now and then some old friend of early days got near. He was at once recognised by Mr. Spurgeon, and, of course, he must be shaken by the hand. This went on till we had more trouble with the preacher than the crowd. At length he was safe inside the door of the garden of his friend. That visit to Cambridge by the great preacher will never be forgotten. He was the best open-air preacher I ever heard; but then he was out of sight the best anywhere and everywhere."

All classes being represented, this congregation was, perhaps, as remarkable as any which had ever been gathered together in the university town. "The rich and the poor met together," says one account, "and there, too, were hundreds who probably would have refused, through pride or shame, to enter a meeting-house." The sermon was pre-eminently a message to the multitude—"Preaching peace by Jesus Christ: he is Lord of all" (Acts 10:36). The preacher loved the open air; and at a subsequent indoor meeting he urged the ministers to take to a practice which would promote their health and strengthen the voice, while they would find multitudes of illustrations all around ready to their hands. At the Home Mission meeting Mr. Spurgeon referred to the Emerald Isle in a very equivocal manner. With regard to Ireland, the centuries of wrong which had been done to that country called not merely for weeks and years, but centuries of right doing. Let them give Ireland the Gospel of Christ. In urging the county association to look after the matter of Home Missions, he went on to express the belief that those villages at home which they had neglected contained the greatest bigots to be found. There were some places in Scotland which were fiercely Catholic, because they had been left outside the agencies that were brought into existence at the Reformation. There were some parishes in England where Swedenborgians, Mormons, and the Peculiar People flourished; but these were places which had been neglected by Baptist preachers and Dissenters generally.

He was, of course, the chief attraction at the public meeting at the Guildhall on the evening of September 21. He gave an ample address, speaking specially to such as were outside of the Church. He then offered some good advice to young ministers about hard work and the way to do it:—

"I recommend every young minister to make his pulpit his first business. The pulpit is the Thermopylæ of Christendom. Your people may grumble that you don't go about and drink as many cups of tea at their houses as they would like. If you give them good food on the Sabbath they will put up with a great deal. If the Sabbath joint is only a grim scrag of mutton with plenty of divisions and nothing to divide, you will soon discover, whatever else you may do, that your people will not be satisfied. In the next place, do not neglect visitation. It is true that I cannot visit my four thousand three hundred and fifty members. If I were endowed with as many heads as a hydra, and bodies also multiplied, I could not do it. But my visitation is done by the elders. One young pastor lately said to me, 'I have no time to visit.' 'Goodness gracious!' said I, 'what have you got to do?' 'I have got my sermons to get up!' 'Your sermons? Well, I suppose you are never in bed after six in the morning? From six to nine you have three hours—six times three are eighteen—that is, two clear days in the week of nine hours each. That ought to be enough for your sermons—all before breakfast.' Now I do not say that everybody must get up so early in the morning, but I say that we must make long days. A Puritan once got up at five o'clock and went into his study, and, hearing a blacksmith's hammer going, fell upon his knees and said, 'O God, have mercy upon me! Does this man get up to serve his master before I rise to serve mine?' Our days are so few that we must make them long ones and take time by the forelock."

Having said this to pastors, he added something for those who made up the congregations:—

"It is a remarkable fact that ministers of the Gospel are not able to live on much less than other people. They cannot make a shilling go as far as other people can make a sovereign. Some of them try very hard, but they do not succeed. 'Will our churches see to the better maintenance of our ministers?' said a member once to a minister who wanted a little more salary as his family increased. 'I did not know that you preached for money.' 'No, I don't,' said the minister. 'I thought you preached for souls.' 'So I do; but I could not live on souls, and if I could it would take a good many the size of yours to make a meal.' Feed your ministers if you expect them to feed you." The deacons present also had a good word spoken to them:—

"It has been reported that I once said that a deacon is worse than the devil, because if you resist the devil he will flee from you, but if you resist a deacon he will fly at you. Now I never said that—not because it is not true of some deacons, but because it never happened to be true in my case. I have always been blessed with the best of deacons. I believe they are the strength of our churches, and I don't know what wo should do without them. But, brethren, how much more you might do than you are doing! Do take the oversight of the church with your pastor in all love and earnestness, as though you were as naturally called to the work as a mother is called to nurse her child; be like spiritual Uhlans—go about investigating the country, and do your work actively and energetically." In urging the importance of prayer-meetings, and giving some advice as to the way in which they should he conducted, he gave one of his telling anecdotes. He also advised all to avoid getting into ruts, and to use their houses as much as possible for services and classes:—

"There was a good woman in the backwoods of America who wanted the use of a school-house. The man to whom she had to apply for it was a sceptic; and, before going to him, she asked God that she might have the school-house. She then asked the man, and he said, 'No, the schoolhouse was built for secular learning; we want none of your Bible nonsense.' 'Well,' said the woman, 'I didn't ask you first; I asked a Higher One than you, and I believe I shall have what I want, because I mean to pray for it till I do. For, do you know, when I pray with all my heart there is something that always gives way; sometimes it is a man's health, sometimes his life, sometimes his heart—but always something; and I am quite certain, when I get the full strain of prayer on, something or other will snap.' And something or other did snap; for though the man refused to hear the woman then, on turning the matter over in his mind he really thought he had not done the right thing, and he sent word to her that she might have the school-house. My friends, though we may not always see the hand of God in answer to prayer, the answer does come, often without our noticing. Prayer must and will succeed. But, remember, when you have prayed for a thing you have not to act as if you had prayed for it. The farmer who has prayed for a harvest doesn't lock up all his ploughs or refuse to sow his wheat; he performs all his agricultural operations, and then he expects an answer to his prayer. Some say God will do His own work. So He does, but He works by His own people. 'But God will have His own.' So He will; but He will never have you. Nobody who talks like that is one of God's own. A Christian man is made a little sensible. If a man prays that he may have sufficient to maintain his children, and then crosses his legs and smokes his pipe, and does not go to work, his children cannot be supported. God hears prayers when we set to work in the spirit of faith, expecting that a blessing will come." With a view of introducing a new phase into the open church movement in Liverpool, Mr. W. P. Lockhart set about founding the Toxteth Tabernacle, the memorial-stone of which was laid by Mr. Spurgeon during the month of September in this year. The building, with rooms for schools and classes underneath, was to cost something like £6,000. Mr. Lockhart had commenced evangelistic work in Liverpool some ten years before; and, being successful, his attention was directed to the thickly populated district of Toxteth Park. In point of fact, Mr. Lockhart had organised a comprehensive Home Mission, with a number of branches and agencies which were kept in working order by persons who had volunteered their services as assistants. Mr. Spurgeon set a high value on his friend's work, as was proved by his going down to Liverpool to lay the stone. In the short address given on this occasion the London preacher showed in a striking manner how his sanctified genius enabled him at any time to adapt himself at once to surrounding circumstances—e.g.:—

"To-day we lay the first stone of a barn in which my beloved friend, the sower, will, I hope, find room for the harvest that God will give him. I believe much of Christian effort has failed to produce permanent manifest results for the want of the in-gathering which ought always to follow the sowing. This day we lay the first stone of a barrack in which Christian soldiers shall be drilled for battle, in which they shall be gathered together to be trained for spiritual conflict; and God grant they may be brave soldiers—good men and true. May they have the red cross on the white ground, which means war against war, war against oppression, war against sin, war against misery, war for God and His Christ in every place! I wish our friends, therefore, God-speed in the erection of this place; and I earnestly beg the men of Liverpool who make the money to give the money that is required for it. This is for the working classes who work for you. The least you can do for them is to provide them with the means of grace."

It was proposed to found a society to promote the erection of ministers' houses; and the scheme being approved by the ministers who constituted the Pastors' College Conference, Mr. Spurgeon promised to become one of the trustees when the association was properly formed. I am not aware, however, that anything was ever done. New chapels, rather than manses for their pastors to live in, appeared to be rising up in various directions. Mr. Spurgeon laid the memorial-stone of a chapel schoolroom for his brother at Croydon on September 15, and on October 3 he attended with the Lord Mayor at a similar ceremony at Devonshire Square Chapel, Stoke Newington Road, the collection, amounting to £150, being given to the Stockwell Orphanage. On October 11 the London Baptist Association held its quarterly meeting at Upper Holloway Chapel, when, after a paper by the present Dr. Clifford on "The Secret of a Joyful Ministry," Mr. Spurgeon intimated that, with a view to relieve the London churches of some of the chapel debts, he had arranged to lecture and to preach in various places during the month of November. He only hoped that he should have strength to go through the long list of engagements.

Such was the ardour with which he entered into the enterprise of reducing chapel debts that five hundred circulars of invitation were sent out for a conference, to be held at the Tabernacle on October 21. He occupied the chair, and in the course of a statement remarked that, in some of the cases now laid before the brethren, the speedy payment of some part of the debt was essential to the very existence of the churches. Their ministers were on the brink of starvation because the debt deprived the churches of the ability to give them a decent maintenance. At this time the London churches required a sum of nearly £50,000 to free them from debt; and by his lectures and sermons Mr. Spurgeon modestly hoped to raise £1,000. One friend offered £1,000 on condition that the whole was raised within a year; but it was hoped that that offer would be amended, because it was hardly reasonable to expect that so large an amount could be raised in so short a time.