Chapter 87: The Baptist Union At Manchester

Chapter 87.
The Baptist Union At Manchester

Letter from "John Ploughman"—The New College at Brighton Grove—Address to the Students—Spurgeon and The Church Times—Bazaar for the Orphanage—Watch-Night Service.

In 1872 the Baptist Union held its autumnal session at Manchester, Dr. Thomas Thomas presiding, and Mr. Spurgeon being present. After listening to the President's address on the Baptists and Christian Union, the London preacher said he had an objection to being famous for proposing resolutions—there were no "resolutions "in the Acts of the Apostles. Notwithstanding, he had felt disposed to move a resolution concerning the union of different denominations. He wondered if it would ever become possible to hold each year a congress of all the voluntary churches for spiritual purposes; and whether, if the Baptist Union took the initiative, and invited the Wesleyan Methodist Conference, and the Primitive Methodists, and the Congregationalists, and all the evangelical denominations to send certain delegates to meet together, not to interfere with each other's polity or discuss doctrine, but for prayer and mutual edification—he wondered if they would not see an infinitely more unanimous congress than was produced by the various denominations of that ecclesiastical community commonly called the Church of England. He thought the voluntary churches were vastly more nearly one than the Established Church was, and that no small value might accrue from an open display of their unity. The meeting on Thursday evening, October 10, in the Free Trade Hall was densely crowded, so that a supplemental assembly was held at the Friends' Meeting House. When Mr. Spurgeon rose to give an address in the first-named place, he received quite an ovation, all the people rising from their seats. He thanked Manchester for having entertained eight hundred guests, and thought they should not return to their homes without having secured some substantial results. He again advocated a conference of all the Free Churches, and then created some amusement by reading what he called "A Letter from 'John Ploughman.'

"'I have got an odd letter I should like to read,' he remarked.; I do not know whether any of you know "John Ploughman." This is a letter written by a relative of his; and I want to lay it before the Baptist Union very solemnly:—

"'Have I been dreaming or not? If I have not, I have a serious case of moral obliquity among Baptists which I wish to bring before the Baptist. Union. Be it understood I am a Baptist myself, but should be almost ashamed to confess it unless my impressions should turn out to be those of a heated imagination. I have been, or fancy I have been, lately to a country much like our own—a bright and happy land, as like this one as one race to another. I thought I was in my native country till a strange discovery undeceived me. Having occasion to do business with a worthy tradesman of the Episcopalian denomination, who was withal a most intelligent man, I naturally inquired as to the position and prospects of the Baptists in that district. He answered with a degree of warmth and severity which greatly surprised me, for he was of a remarkably gentle temper. "Why," he said, "I suppose it must have prospered, for I have this morning paid £7 14s. 6d. for a tithe to their pastor in this parish, whom I have never seen in the pulpit. None, I daresay, thinks him any the better for living at the expense of those who do not believe in his teaching. Is it not monstrous, in a country which calls itself free, that I, who am a law-abiding citizen, paying all my dues to the powers that be, should see any sect in high places, and a religion calling itself the national faith, and that Episcopalians should be called Dissenters because they do not agree with a certain sect which practises immersion!" I sympathised with the good man very much, though I said but little to him, but resolved to call on the Baptist pastor and tell him a little of my mind. I found him living in the best house in the parish, except the squire's, and was highly gratified in noticing a young assistant-minister pleasantly engaged with the ladies on the croquet lawn. Having announced myself as a Baptist, I was, of course, very cordially received, and went at once to my point. "So, my dear friends, you have turned the tables on the Episcopalians, and taken the good things of the State out of their hands?" "Indeed, no," he answered; "we have always possessed our present property. The Episcopalians are a modern sect, which sprung up some few centuries ago. We are the Old Catholic and Apostolic Church, practising the ordinances as they were delivered unto us. All other churches are guilty of schism; for it is as clear as anything in history that the original churches consisted of persons who were immersed upon profession of the faith." I replied, "Well, and that fact you conceive is a sufficient warrant for making the schismatics of the whole nation support your Apostolic Church? Do you conceive the original Baptist churches possessed this privilege and exercised it?" "That is a lengthy question," he said. "I believe it has been settled long ago; but I am sorry to say the Episcopalians are beginning to dispute it, and are getting to be a little troublesome, and other sects are also opposing us in this matter. My own opinion is they are a set of robbers, and want to take away from our church what was bequeathed to us by pious ancestors." I replied to him, "Is it true that the Episcopalians are trying to take away property left to you by wills which are to be found in the various courts?" "No, not exactly that. We say that there were pious ancestors all over the country who happened to live in every parish—and they left a tenth part of all the property in all the parishes of England to the Baptist ministers—but the date is so far back that the documents are lost." I thought I saw his eye twinkle roguishly as he said this, and I did not think he believed it himself, and therefore did not answer it. To make a long story short, after a good deal of conversation with him and inquiry in his country, I found that a few years ago these Baptists actually compelled these Episcopalians to pay for the baptising gowns of their ministers, and for the water they used in their baptism, and were very reluctant to part with the precious privilege of presenting robbery to God as a burnt-offering. I find to this day their leading ministers, including Maclaren, the Lord Bishop of Manchester; Haycroft, the Lord Bishop of Leicester; Landels, the great Bishop of London; and Chown, the great Bishop of Bradford, occupied seats in one of the great courts of legislature, always fighting against every great measure of progress, and by their very presence there insulting every Episcopalian, Wesleyan, and Independent in the land. It oozed out that many if not all these Baptist pulpits were put up to auction to the highest bidder or were given by certain lord deacons and other patrons to their sons, and were commonly called "livings." The ministers themselves I found professed to subscribe to one confession of faith; nevertheless there were three sects within their limits as far apart from one another as rattlesnakes, lambs, and owls are apart from one another. I cannot understand how they all confessed one creed honestly, and yet holding scarcely anything in common. That was not all. I found these strange Baptists in possession of the national graveyards, and as fierce as fighting-cocks at allowing any of the unimmersed to be buried in the same soil with them. I found them everywhere with their influence—in the almshouse. grammar-school, the soup kitchens, and the clothing clubs. An attempt at national education had become the cause of universal dissatisfaction, mainly through the unexpected use of a certain clause in the Act which was for the interest of the Baptist priests as against the Episcopalians. I stand up with all my might for the Episcopalians, as they are not justly dealt with. The Baptists forget the golden rule that they should do to others as they would be done by. The Episcopalians are ignored by our Baptist brethren. Why, then, should they be called upon to sustain a body whose principles they do not agree with? Should the Baptist Union not see to this matter? But perhaps it was all a dream.'"

Having read this letter, the writer added, "This is why we cannot invite Episcopalians to our Conference." Reference was made to the fact that in the provinces the Free Churches had not made much headway, although in London the Baptists had been fairly successful. They advanced much as the sea did; they might think it was receding, but by-and-bye there came a great wave and there was a real advance. Then followed advice to both ministers and people. The first were to work with all their might and to remember that it was a mistake to keep back truths respecting which others might differ from them.

After touching on some other topics, he referred to the oft-debated "secret" of his own success. He had been asked, "How do you account for your success?" One very candid friend said, "I have heard you preach two sermons, and heard abler men than you a good deal." The reply was, "I believe that; I do not doubt that for a single moment." Hard work—that was Spurgeon's "witchcraft." He preached the Gospel as plainly as he could, and worked as hard as strength would allow.

Wednesday, October 16—while the Union meetings were in progress—was the day on which the memorial-stone of the new Baptist College, Brighton Grove, Rusholme, was laid, and the chief attraction of the afternoon was an address by Mr. Spurgeon. He spoke of the responsibility he felt in having students to educate, and urged that prayer should be made on their behalf. Some objected to what they called man-made ministers; but a man like the speaker himself, who never went to college, was not man-made; though, at the same time, it was wonderful that some preachers who were said to be God-made were not better. The importance of training young men for service in the Gospel-field was then enforced. Christ and His Apostles, as well as Wycliffe and the later Reformers, had all set a worthy example in this respect. Then came a word on the New Gospel of Doubt:—

"If any man among you is a Calvinist, I can say 'I more;' but, on the other hand, if any man would preach the Gospel fully to the sinner, 'I more.' I am glad when we get something which we can believe. I am refreshed nowadays with a man who believes something. Except with such low-bred people as Baptists and some others, belief is out of the question, people have come to doubt everything. The Old Gospel was, 'He that believeth shall be saved;' but the New Gospel is, 'He that doubteth and is sprinkled shall be saved'—a wonderful alteration, and certainly not one for the better. I hope that in this College they will not mate any pretence to be philosophical nor yet to be respectable; the least respectable person in the world is the one who thinks himself respectable. People are apt to say, 'Oh, you know Mr. So-and-so comes to our place.' Well, what of him? What is the good of a Gospel that draws horses? Let me have the Gospel to draw men, even if they wear fustian jackets. One soul is as good as another. If you want to have real prayer meetings you must not go canting and whining after rich people. I wish you to feel that you are sent to preach to broad humanity. You are sent to preach as much to the poor as to the rich, and as much to the rich as to the poor. I hope that in this College the most earnest means will be taken to support the inward spiritual life of the men who enter it. I believe that sometimes you would do well to have no classes whatever for a whole week, but to spend it all in prayer. You must have spiritual power." In speaking of students and their surroundings, he thought that they should be such as should remind the men of their work. To be altogether shut out from the world had a tendency to make men anything but what they should be. It was well for a ministerial student to be where he could occasionally hear a baby cry, and where, poor people being about, he was enabled to see something of life. If there were any who had to bear hardship and to do with little money, they were Baptist ministers. As for loaves and fishes, they must not go into the Baptist ministry for them; for the loaves, such as they were, were made of barley, while the fishes were few. This address was given to a great concourse of people in the open air; and when umbrellas were put up in consequence of rain coming on, Mr. Spurgeon remarked that he should be able to make all hear notwithstanding the "sprinkling," which was ever in opposition to them. The students were then told how to go about their work:—

"Preach all the Gospel; do not preach one end of it. Some do so; they can never preach the whole of the balances, they are so occupied with one scale—they are small moons; they never get into the full moon; they never see a full-orbed Gospel. I saw a man in Rome roasting chestnuts; he put them in a cylinder which revolved over a fire, and thus all the chestnuts were roasted. I like to see in the ministry all the chestnuts roasted. I have known men who have bought a barrel organ with five tunes in it, and whenever they have played it has always been one of the five tunes. There is an infinite variety in the truth; give the whole of the truth, and God will bless one part of the truth to one, part of it to another."

Reference was also made to the catacombs and to the ancient baptistery already mentioned; but additional particulars were given:—

"There is a catacomb in Rome which every Baptist ought to see. It is seldom shown, and, in fact, only since the new Government came into power. In it there is a baptistery. There is no doubt about it; it is a facsimile of one, and it stands exactly where it should stand for the immersion of believers. There is only one out of nine ranges of cells that has ever been opened. I asked the attendant why they have not opened the others, and he replied that 'along there they never found anything about Popes.' We never find anything but Alpha and Omega; we find nothing but the old Christianity—the old Baptist Christianity—and therefore they never open the other eight. The man said that it would take about six thousand pounds to open them, and he asked if the Baptists of England could not open the others." Being a cordial hater of the old-fashioned pulpit, he not only spoke against it, but ventured the opinion that if a man had to plead in one in a court of law he would lose his case for certain. "I once preached in a pulpit in the bottom of which there was a hole," he said, "and I felt inclined to preach to the congregation through the bung-hole in order to show how absurd it was." The students were advised always to do their best, and were reminded that a thin congregation especially needed a good sermon. "If you get hard up for a shot to put into your cannon, ram yourself into the cannon and shoot yourself at the congregation," was a very characteristic piece of advice; and this was followed by an anecdote of the conversion of a Ritualistic clergyman through reading Spurgeon's Sermons:—

"Some people with the despondency I deprecate said: 'We are all going to the Pope.' Dreadful, horrible, awful! Very likely; but I do not believe it. God has always beaten the devil yet, and He always will. We will see the Ritualists converted to the Gospel yet I do not despair of any man that is in earnest. I see some of the Ritualists are earnest, and God may yet bless them and bring them round to know the truth. The men I am most afraid of are men that do know the truth, but knuckle under to those that do not. If a man does not hold firmly the truth he does know, God will not show him more. A gentleman once came to me and told me that he owed everything to me because I had brought him to Jesus. The gentleman said he was 'only a humble vicar of the Church of England,' and I asked what line of things was he in. 'Very high,' said he. 'But did you forgive people's sins and so on?' 'Yes.' 'And how did you get rid of the idea that you were a priest?' 'I sincerely believed myself a priest,' said the vicar, 'until I read one of your sermons; I was then convinced of my own sin, and the priesthood oozed out of me directly.'" The College in which he thus showed his interest was for Strict, or Close Communion, Baptists; and though restrictions placed upon the assembling of Christians at the Lord's table were never favoured at the Tabernacle, the pastor was glad at seeing this new building provided on account of the sound theological curriculum prescribed.

About this time he preached for his friend, Mr. Archibald Brown, at the new East London Tabernacle; but he was already showing those signs of feebleness which indicated need of rest. On Sunday morning, October 20, he sounded a cheerful note, founding his sermon on the opening verse of Psalm ciii., and on the following day he set out for the South of Europe. In the early part of November he was again in Rome. Not only were several towns in the South of France visited; Venice, Florence, Rome, and Naples were also included in the tour. Pompeii was also explored and described. This was regarded as the Scriptural rest of forty days; but on his return to England an accession of rheumatism prevented his taking the services at the Tabernacle on the first Sunday in December. He preached on December 8, but the exposure in the inclement weather brought on another attack of gout. On Sunday, the 15th, he was again unable to preach; but he was in his place on Thursday evening, December 19, after which the more acute symptoms disappeared.

"The Interpreter" now began to appear in monthly parts, this work consisting of a selection of Scripture for use at family worship, with short running comments. Though its sale has been large, I believe its success did not come up to the expectations entertained What would have ensured greater popularity would have been the addition of prayers; but these Spurgeon refused to supply. The preacher of the Tabernacle continued to be of commanding interest to all classes; and on Sunday morning, December 8, a representative of The Church Times was among the congregation. The singing was reported to be remarkably good; while the exposition of Scripture was so well done that it was thought the practice might be borrowed with advantage by the Church of England. Psalm xxv. was expounded, and some things were said about commercial morality which seemed to suit the congregation, only it was thought that the petty practices of low shopkeepers were too exclusively exposed, as well as the procedure of a cheating banker who had been accustomed to open his bank with prayer. Spurgeon, the people's preacher, was then thus depicted:—

"There can be no doubt that he is a man of great powers as a preacher. When we consider that he has been able to keep up such a congregation as that which I witnessed on Sunday, after nineteen years' preaching, and with so many rivals as there are in London, it would be absurd to pooh-pooh him as some have been inclined to do. His style of oratory is very quiet; there is little action and no very great variety in his intonation. Occasionally, no doubt, he sins against good taste, but I believe he has quite given up the coarseness of remark which characterised his sermons in the earlier portion of his career. Those of his discourses which I have examined are well arranged, and seem to have been carefully prepared beforehand. He always preaches from brief notes, which keep him from wandering far from his point or at least enable him to get upon the main line again in case he has shunted. As to details, I conceive that his strength chiefly lies in the use of well-poised antitheses, pithy aphorisms, happy illustrations, and ready wit. His sermons, I take it, are rarely, if ever, dull. He has also an excellent voice, and he knows perfectly well how to use it. Speakers often forget that to make their words come out with effect they must throw their shoulders back and open their mouths. Further, there is an air of most perfect self-possession about Mr. Spurgeon which 'takes' with a good many people, and when all these qualifications are held in combination I am not surprised at his popularity. He has, withal, acquired a name, and he evidently takes infinite pains not to lose it; and what with, lectures, classes, prayer-meetings, and the like, he manages to keep up a lively interest in the minds of his followers." On the last day of the year a bazaar was held on account of the Stockwell Orphanage. There were nearly twenty stalls; and in addition to the attraction of the bazaar a large number of people assembled in the Tabernacle lecture-room in hope of seeing the President after his illness. He came early, and was soon surrounded by crowds of friends; but he was still so weak as at times to need a chair.

It was at this bazaar that an uncommon kind of incident occurred:—

"Some very fine Spanish fowls had been presented—a very unusual gift, by the way, to a bazaar—and for a long time they preserved a decorous silence befitting well-conducted members of the feathered tribe. At length Mr. Spurgeon began to speak. For a time the birds behaved themselves; and while he was alluding to the inconveniences which were experienced at the Orphanage in consequence of want of room, not a sound was heard. But directly he began to express his thanks to the friends who had worked so hard to get up the bazaar, one of the fowls could not contain itself, and set up a jubilant crow, which brought forth a hearty laugh from the visitors. Not content with one crow, it gave vent, at intervals during the speech, to several more, and they came in so appropriate that Mr. Spurgeon expressed a wish to know who had given the bird so excellent a training." The Watch-night service at the Tabernacle also drew together a full congregation, although the pastor was not able to be present. During the same week interesting services in connection with Mr. Hugh Stowell Brown's twenty-five years' pastorate in Liverpool took place; and, had health permitted, Spurgeon would perhaps have attended instead of merely sending a letter of congratulation.