Chapter 7: At Newmarket

Chapter 7.
At Newmarket

Starting in Life—Newmarket, Past and Present—Mr. Swindell's Academy—Professor J. D. Everett's Reminiscences—Mr. Mattingly's Recollections—Temptation to Infidelity—Adoption of Baptist Views—Baptism at Isleham—Engaging in Christian Work—A Stock Contribution to Albums.

It was on the morning of August 17th, 1849, that young Spurgeon left his home at Colchester for Newmarket. As this represented something like his first start in life on his own account, Mrs. Spurgeon accompanied her son to his destination, in order to see for herself that all things were arranged satisfactorily and comfortably. Although the youth had only just commenced his sixteenth year, he had accepted the appointment of under tutor in the academy of Mr. Swindell at Newmarket, the return being the privilege of continuing his own education, especially in Greek. The town of Newmarket was in itself a place which Spurgeon, with such tastes and aspirations as had been particularly characteristic of him since his conversion, would have avoided rather than have selected for a residence; but, as he would be housed with a Christian family, the uncongenial surroundings would not unduly affect him. Newmarket was then what it still remains—the principal centre of racing in Great Britain. There the Jockey Club has its headquarters, and in the neighbourhood are many training establishments. The races are said to have originated in the days of Queen Elizabeth, when some fine Spanish horses, saved from the wreck of the Spanish Armada, were taken into the town. Be this as it may, Newmarket became a favourite place of fashionable resort early in the seventeenth century. James I. there erected for himself a palace which he called a hunting-seat; and this was afterwards rebuilt by his grandson Charles II. Part of the site, and also a portion of the materials of this building, were used for the erection of an Independent Chapel some years after Spurgeon had left the town. The town was a Roman station, and ancient relics are still occasionally discovered. The race meetings are held seven times every year, and the general surroundings of the place seem to show that sport constitutes its chief business. At the time that Mr. Spurgeon became an articled pupil in the academy of Mr. Swindell at Newmarket, Professor J. D. Everett, F.S.A., now of Queen's College, Belfast, was also engaged in the same establishment. Mr. Everett was about three years older than the junior tutor, and the two soon became sincere friends. The following reminiscences have been given by the Professor in The Christian World:—

"In the summer of 1849, when I was not quite eighteen, I went to Newmarket to assist in a school kept by a Mr. Swindell, who had been an old friend of my father's, and who had my brothers Percy and John as pupils. There were two other assistants, but not long after my arrival they went off, and I was left for a week or so as the sole assistant. I was then relieved of part of my duty by a lad of fifteen, who came as an articled pupil. This was Charles H. Spurgeon, and for the next three months we shared the work between us. We boarded in the house, occupied the same bedroom, took our walks together, discussed our common grievances, and were the best of friends.

"He was rather small and delicate, with pale but plump face, dark brown eyes and hair, and a bright, lively manner, with a never-failing flow of conversation. He was rather deficient in muscle, did not care for cricket or other athletic games, and was timid at meeting cattle on the roads.

"He had been well brought up in a family with strong Puritanical tendencies, and was proficient in the subjects taught in the middle-class schools of those days. He knew a little Greek, enough Latin to gather the general sense of Virgil's 'Æneid' without a dictionary, and was fond of algebra. He had a big book of equation problems (by Bland, I think), and could do all the problems in it, except some two or three, which I was proud to be able to do for him. He was a smart, clever boy at all kinds of book learning; and, judging from the accounts he gave me of his experiences in his father's counting-house, he was also a smart man of business. He was a keen observer of men and manners, and very shrewd in his judgments. He enjoyed a joke, but was earnest, hard-working, and strictly conscientious."

Professor Everett is also able to quote from a shorthand diary which he kept at that time. One of the entries is as follows:—

"Tuesday, October 9.—After dinner I took Percy and four other boys to see the races. We saw the Cesarewitch, the most celebrated race at Newmarket; thirty-one horses ran. We also saw four other races. I saw quite enough to gratify my curiosity, and did not wish to stop to see any more races. Mr. Spurgeon did not go, as he thought he should be doing wrong if he went."

We thus see that the young tutor was keeping himself pure and unspotted from the world. He was also making appreciable advances in the Christian life; stimulated as he was in his endeavours to reach to higher things by a devoutly Christian housekeeper in the schoolmaster's household, who, by precept and example, encouraged the young man in every possible way. In his reminiscences already referred to, Professor Everett says something about this honourable woman:—

"As to the early history of his theological views, I can add something to what has been already published. In Mr. Swindell's household there was a faithful old servant—a big, sturdy woman, who was well known to me and all the inmates as 'cook.' She was a woman of strong religious feelings, and a devout Calvinist. Spurgeon, when under deep religious conviction, had conversed with her, and been deeply impressed with her views of Divine truth. He explained this to me, and told me in his own terse fashion that it was 'cook' who had taught him his theology. I hope I am not violating his confidence in mentioning this fact. It is no discredit to the memory of a great man that he was willing to learn from the humblest sources."

Mr. Swindell confirms all that the Professor says about the "cook" or housekeeper at the academy. He also notes that Mr Spurgeon refers to the old servant in his first published book, "The Saint and his Saviour," while on another occasion the great preacher confessed: "I got all the theology I ever needed a good many years ago from an old woman who was cook in the house where I was usher, and I have never had any wish to get a newer sort."

Mr. Robert Mattingly, of Great Cornard Street, Sudbury, has also contributed some interesting information concerning this good woman to the same journal:—

"About twenty-five years ago I became acquainted with the person referred to, Mary King by name. She was then living in cottage lodgings, facing St. Margaret's Church, Ipswich, and was a member of the Bethesda Strict Baptist Church, close by. She was a staunch Calvinist, logical, clear-headed, and had a wonderful knowledge of the Bible. I have often heard from her lips the account of her intercourse with the youthful Spurgeon, of which she was naturally not a little proud, as he had then attained the height of his marvellous popularity. Professor Everett says she was known as 'cook.' She always spoke of herself as 'housekeeper,' and as the intercourse between Mr. Spurgeon and herself seemed to be quite within the order of the household, she probably occupied something more than a menial position. During my acquaintance with her I learned that she had outlived all, or nearly all, of a small income (I do not remember from what source). I wrote to Mr. Spurgeon acquainting him with the facts, and received from him a prompt reply, thanking me for my letter, sending a hearty greeting to his old friend, and with characteristic generosity he enclosed a cheque for £5, with a request that I would minister to her immediate necessities, pay her 5s. a week, and generally use my discretion in dispensing the amount in his behalf. This I did, and reported to Mr. Spurgeon from time to time, always receiving a fresh cheque when the fund in hand became exhausted, and this was continued till her death about three years later."

It was during the Newmarket period that young Spurgeon learned from experience that the Christian life is a serious warfare, the narrow way leading from the strait gate having snares and pitfalls for unwary, youthful feet. He learned for himself all about the dangers of Bypath Meadow, as well as of the terrors of the Slough of Despond. Referring to freethinkers and their unbelief, Mr. Spurgeon confessed many years afterwards in a sermon at Exeter Hall, that he had himself been subject to the temptation to scepticism. In an evil hour, which he shuddered to think about, he let go the anchor of faith, and while starting on a mad voyage, he asked Reason to be his guide. The voyage thus entered upon was tempestuous, but brief, and the lesson learned would never be forgotten. What was spurious in infidelity he had seen for himself; he keenly realised also the horrors from which he had providentially escaped. If any invited him to go that way again he said No; for he had tried those seas for himself, and was personally aware of what was before any voyager who ventured upon them.

Mr. Swindell, the proprietor of the academy at Newmarket, was a Baptist, but I am not aware that it was through coming in contact with this friend that Mr. Spurgeon was led to embrace the sentiments of the Particular Baptist denomination. Mr. and Mrs. John Spurgeon, who, like old Mr. James Spurgeon, were Independents, wished their children to read the Scriptures independently, and then to decide for themselves on such a matter; and, so long as they were conscientious, it was never anything of a cross to the parents that their two sons should think differently from themselves in regard to baptism.

Having become fully persuaded in his own mind that adult baptism by immersion was the only mode sanctioned by Scripture of administering the ordinance, Mr. Spurgeon desired to be baptised and to become a member of a Baptist Church. When he looked around the neighbourhood in which he was living he could discover no pastor of a congregation to whom he cared to apply nearer than the one at Isleham, eight miles distant. Isleham was a place of over two thousand inhabitants in the Fen Country; and at a ferry of the River Lark the Baptists of the district had been accustomed to have baptisings in the open air periodically since the latter part of the eighteenth century. Being about half a mile from the village, the ferry itself is a quiet, sylvan spot, such as old Isaak Walton would have loved as a retreat where sport and contemplation could be combined; but when persons were baptised there a concourse of onlookers was attracted. On his mother's birthday, May 3rd, 1850, Mr. Spurgeon rose early, and after spending some time alone he walked the eight miles to Isleham, and was baptised with some others by the late Pastor W. W. Cantlow, who was then settled at the place. The school-house, erected in 1888, was put up in memory of the man who thus immersed Mr. Spurgeon in the neighbouring river, and the memorial-stone of the building records the interesting event.

Mr. Spurgeon does not appear to have united himself with the congregation at Isleham, for, being separated from the people by a distance of eight miles, he could not conveniently have joined with them in their worship, communion, or Christian service. From that date, however, the young Christian had but one aim in life—to promote the glory of God and the good of his fellow-creatures. Of course, he had as yet no suspicion that his lot in the world would be more than a commonplace one; but he was already desirous of doing even commonplace things in the best manner possible. He keenly realised the responsibility of being a Christian; and the doctrines he then embraced were such as remained dear to him until the end. Those doctrines were identical with what his grandfather and father had preached before him. As time passed on he may have altered in some respects in his method of presenting those doctrines, but from the great truths themselves he never swerved. In after years in London, when, as was often the case, he was asked to make his contribution to an album, there was never any difficulty in regard to what should be written: it was, I believe, the great preacher's invariable custom to give Cowper's well-known verse, which so well expressed the character of his own life-work:—

"E'er since by faith I saw the stream Thy flowing wounds supply, Redeeming love has been my theme, And shall be till I die."

In his reminiscences Professor J. D. Everett says of Spurgeon at this time:—

"He had a wonderful memory for passages of oratory which he admired, and used to pour forth to me with great gusto, in our long walks, long screeds from open-air addresses, of a very rousing description, which he had heard delivered at Colchester Fair by the Congregational minister, Mr. Davids. His imagination had evidently been greatly impressed by these services, at which, by-the-bye, his father was selected to give out the hymns, on account of the loudness of his voice—a quality which would appear to have run in the family, but which had not at that time shown itself in my young friend. I have also heard him recite long passages from Bunyan's 'Grace Abounding.'

"He was a delightful companion, cheerful and sympathetic, a good listener as well as a good talker. And he was not cast in a common, conventional mould, but had a strong character of his own.

"The school was broken up before the regular time by an outbreak of fever, and I did not return to it; but we exchanged occasional letters for some years afterwards. He remained with Mr. Swindell for a year or so, and then removed to another school, kept by an old friend of his own at Cambridge." To Cambridge, therefore, we will now follow the young tutor.