Chapter 52: Spurgeon and the Bible Society

Chapter 52.
Spurgeon and the Bible Society The Strict Baptists—The Bible Society—Great Speech at Exeter Hall—The Calvin Tercentenary-Estimates of the Reformer—Evangelical Alliance Soiree.

During this year (1864) the Strict Baptists still regarded Spurgeon as the hero of the Metropolitan Tabernacle, as well as a figure in the religious world of singular interest, although there does not appear to have been any controversy in regard to practice and doctrine. To them the popular preacher was, of course, much more than he could otherwise have been to persons who viewed him from the standpoint of the Surrey Tabernacle, because he came so near to their recognised standard, and yet not near enough to be altogether approved. Thus it happened in due course that the same people who maintained that "Fullerism" wanted the marrow of the Gospel, saw little or nothing more in Spurgeonism than the practical side of Christianity. At the same time, Spurgeon's old friend, Charles Waters Banks, as the chief literary veteran of the Strict Baptists, still continued to harbour sincere affection for one whom he had been among the first to welcome to London. In taking a retrospective and prospective view of things about this time, Mr. Banks wrote:—

"It is now eight or nine years since we bent our knees beside Mr. Spurgeon's little bed on a certain occasion when he was very ill; and in the arms of our faith, and in the simple affection we feel for all young men who are enlisted under the banner of Christ, we were helped to plead with the Lord for his speedy recovery. It was such a season of holy fellowship and of earnest wrestling with God as we have known but seldom during our five-and-thirty years' pilgrimage in the truth; and so fully did we receive that young brother into our heart, that neither his rapid rising, nor our circumstantial descending, has ever caused us to forget. He has gone up into the skies of popularity; we have gone down into the valley of adversity; he has stretched himself so extensively as to take in almost everybody; and almost everybody, in some shape or other, has taken him in: the circles of his ministry are so immense that you can never say of him he is the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever. He travels round the whole of the evangelical globe, and touches, more or less, at every point; while we, having sunk almost into obscurity, can, perhaps, understand but little of what passes in these days for religion, for revivals, for conversions, and for Christian churches.... We have always believed him to be a tender-hearted child of God; and although he hurls dire contempt down upon us poor little Zionites, Zoarites, and Bethlemites, sometimes, still, having had some boys of our own, we know they will be naughty now and then; but love covers their folly and aims to correct their fault. Whatever C. H. Spurgeon may do, or not do, on this imperfect stage of time, we hope, through grace, to meet him in that kingdom where pleasure in perfection is, and all are like their Lord. We have thought—we hope it is not a wicked thought, but we have thought—what a changed scene it will be if, in that bright celestial world, on some future period, and sitting on one of the heavenly hills, we should happen to see a company of the Southwark divines, good old George Francis, in all the youth and beauty of a Saviour's healing life; 'dear Master Thomas Gunner,' with a heart as soft and a mind as refined as the loving John and the holy Jesus Himself; Hugh Allen, as tame as Noah's dove; James Wells, in the shining robes of his loving Master's righteousness; and Charles H. Spurgeon close beside John Foreman and J. A. Jones (for we believe the ancient Jireh patriarch will go home some day), and then and there, as our favourite poet says, we, yes, even we, hope to see—

'The glorious tenants of that place Stand bending round the throne.' "

Apart from the fact that Mr. Spurgeon was the chief speaker the great meeting of the Bible Society at Exeter Hall this year would seem to have been of more than ordinary interest. The report of the year's work was encouraging, the income being larger than in any former year; ambassadors from Madagascar were upon the platform, and the speakers included Lord Shaftesbury, who was in the chair, the then aged Bishop of Winchester, Lord Charles Russell, William Arthur, and Dr. Edmond.

Mr. Spurgeon was no doubt at his best. He thought the history of Scripture was to be divided into certain epochs—the Reformation being the period when the Bible was liberated. With its feet, as it were, in the stocks, the Word had borne its testimony through the dark Middle Ages, "When suddenly there was a great earthquake, and the bonds of all thought, of all science, of all truth, were loosed, and then, like Paul and Silas, the Bible came forth to its glorious liberty." The period of bondage was over, and that of the multiplication of Scripture had come. When the Bible first came, it might, by reason of the fewness of its copies, be compared to the one glorious angel who heralded the advent of Christ; but in its multiplication it more resembled the host who sang "Glory to God in the highest." The multiplication needed to go on so long as mankind multiplied; but the Word needed to be brought home on a larger scale to the masses of the people. That was better than controverting objections, which did not appear to be the particular work required of Christians. Really to know what were the fruits of the Gospel, the Gospel needed to be applied. The speaker then proceeded:—

"There is a tale that when Scanderbeg's sword was hung against the wall, one who had heard of the trenchant deeds of valour done by the barbarous conqueror, said, as he looked on the sword, 'I can see nothing in it.' 'No,' said the man who showed it; 'but if you could have seen the sinews of the brawny arm that was wont to wield it, you would have admired the sword and the arm too.' Now, the Word of God is nothing but a dead letter till the Spirit of God, with omnipotent arm, grasps it, and then it cuts to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And we want to cry out to-day, 'Lord, if Thine adversaries doubt whether this be Thy sword, lay Thou hold upon its hilt, and cut them to their very quick, and make them know that there is a God in Israel still, and that there is still God's word.' Merely to circulate the Bible will not prove its virtues. There is no virtue in the Bible any more than there is harm in a three-volume novel, if I do not read the one or the other. If they lie there on the shelf unread, the one will do me no good and the other no harm. Erasmus laughs at the idea of the man who attaches a benefit to the mere possession of the Bible. He likens him to one whom he calls Cyclops, who wears in his belt on this side a goodly bottle of sack, and on the other side a richly ornamented copy of the Word of God, and says in his swaggering style, 'In truth I am as good a saint as any.' Erasmus tries to disprove this, in his witty way, and says, 'Prithee serve thy sack bottle as thy Bible. There are many virtues in that bottle of sack; it warms you when you are cold; it gets your valour up when you are half afraid. But do not take it; never take the cork out of it, and then see what its virtues are.' Of course our friend objects. He admires the bottle of sack, but he likes it better when the cork is out, and, most of all, when it is against his lips, and the stream is flowing merrily. 'Aye,' says Erasmus; 'but what do you say to this Book?' He says, 'It is tedious.' But begin to read and study it. 'Ah,' he replies, 'it is all dry matter that does not concern me.' 'Verily, then,' adds the other, 'I see thou art indeed a true disciple of the sack, but a false disciple of the Book.' There is much truth in that wit. If people carry their Bibles as Erasmus wished this man to carry his sack, they will get no good out of them. We may scatter Bibles by millions, and reduce the price to twopence or nothing, but we have done nothing but add to men's responsibility, unless we pray earnestly that God will lead men to study it, and by His Spirit bless it to their conversion, their edification, their sanctification in righteousness. I take it that while this is necessary to show the true quality of the Bible, it is also necessary to show the true answer to objectors." The speaker went on to speak the true sentiments of his heart when he declared, in face of the cheering thousands in Exeter Hall, that he was of that kind of metal that he thanked God when the adversaries of truth were loudest in their objections; for he feared a sleeping devil more than a roaring one. "Let the devil roar; he shall but wake us up from our slumbers, and make us the more earnestly to contend for truth." How had it happened that in the generation before there had been no objections to Scripture from persons in high places? Because they were not necessary to Satan's ends? What was the Bible then to many of us who were slumbering and even sound asleep—what was it but a harp that was getting out of tune because it was not played, a sword that was growing rusty because it was not used? "And Satan said within himself, 'As long as they do not handle their edged tools I will not care to blunt them.' I am glad to think that the Church is being urged to activity, and I am reminded of the cynic who, sooner than be still, would roll his tub about. Sooner than the Church should be still, I would have her roll her articles and doctrines about. Keep the Church still, permit its voice not to be heard crying in the wilderness, 'Make straight the way of the Lord,' and you are hindering its course and depriving it of all power to bless the world." Hence the need of bringing home the Bible to the people, in order that they might be better acquainted with its doctrinal truths and historical narratives. When spoken to angrily by his envious brethren, David, by giving no answer, set the best example; and then he proceeded to kill the giant, which was a triumphant refutation of all cavils. The best answer to objections, therefore, was to verify the truth of the text, "The entrance of thy words giveth light." Let the Bible go forth into the courts and alleys of London, as well as into the dark places of the Pagan world. That was the best logic; and the Bible Society should promote Bible reading and Bible understanding as well as merely promoting the circulation. To show the importance of this, a contrast was drawn between the youth of Scotland and the young persons who came from other parts of the empire—the men from the North who entered the Pastors' College being, as a rule, much better acquainted with the Scriptures than Southerners. That was no doubt one of the good results of catechising. Mr. Spurgeon then entertained his audience with the story of the apple in the bottle:—

"One of my earliest difficulties was—not the source of the Nile, I had not got the length of that; but a certain matter which was far more wonderful. On a shelf in my grand father's parlour was a little vial, containing an apple just the size of the largest part of the bottle. Now, I had no business to touch anything on the mantelshelf; that was forbidden. But whenever I could get alone, I took a chair and got the vial down, and tried to find out how the apple could possibly have got down that small neck. I thought the vial must have had a false bottom, and I really wonder how it was that in my various essays I did not, in my zeal and scientific diligence, manage to break the bottle, and so get a sound thrashing. But it happened, quite accidentally, that this great mystery of nature—one of the problems that I thought scarcely the wisest men of the East could solve—became unravelled. One day, as I walked in the garden, it came to me that my grandmother had put a little apple inside the bottle while it was growing, and that it grew there to its present size. And thus,

'Nature, well known, no prodigy remained.'

I could not but think of that while standing here. We cannot get men under Biblical influence very readily after they are grown up; but if we can put them inside the bottle when they are little ones I am sure we shall be following the analogy of nature. And we have quite a Scriptural precedent for it, for we find that Timothy knew the Scriptures from his youth up. I am afraid that some Sunday-school teaching is not what it should be with regard to distinct Bible teaching; and I should like all of us who have to teach others to look very much after this, labouring for the good of the young people. And then, again, I think that the exposition of Scripture should become more and more a distinct feature in our congregations. It may possibly be that, in some cases, the service will not allow a practice into which some of us have fallen, of always expounding the Lessons as we read them; but there might be extra services, of which that should be the main feature. There might be little Bible-reading parties, intended to break up difficult parts, and presided over by some brother who had the ability to study the chapter, and that would be exceedingly profitable. In Wycliff's days it was the classes that used to do so much good—classes that met and studied Scripture, and then dispersed, scattering abroad the knowledge they had gathered in that manner. It was these classes that brought, on the Reformation; and I say it is thus that we must maintain the Reformation. We must get an intelligent knowledge of what God tells us in His Word, by studying therein, and then spreading abroad that same intelligent knowledge amongst others by expounding it." A greater deference or respect for the Word was necessary; and texts which refused to open to them otherwise became plain to them in prayer. It was then forcibly shown that in Scripture alone would they ever find a basis of true Christian unity:—

"When we shall all become reverent subjects of God, and obedient to God's will, as we find it in Scripture, we shall all come close to one another. All attempts to create unity apart from truth must fall to the ground, and let them. Unity of action for God's glory we can have, even despite our minor differences, and I trust we ever shall have it; but to attempt to form a Church on any other basis than that of definite fixed principles, must be an attempt to build a house upon the sand, and it must come down. First purity, and then unity; first truth, and then oneness. I would not sell a principle of God's Word for all the brotherly love under heaven, because I hold that brotherly love which will not let me keep my conscience clear is not such brotherly love as Christ inculcated in the Holy Scriptures. Firmness to truth there must be—aye, and to every particle of it—to everything that you have received of the Lord. Let us seek no union by throwing aside those truths which God has clearly revealed to us. The Bible is to be the great pacificator of all sects—the great hammer of all schismatics. The Bible is to be the end of all disunion. The Bible, when we shall be brought to read it with reverent eye, and receive it with meek and humble heart, bringing us to itself, shall, in the Spirit of God, bring us to one another. I would rather have a little discussion now and then as to the principles which divide us, and then, if we have dissented on any point without due grounds, let our dissent be ended. Oh! if we could get the Bible spirit, and say, Whatever I do not find here I will throw overboard, we should have a blessed unity established. And it is because this unity is coming on that Satan is very wroth. We shall live, some of us, to see the day when we shall be distinguished the whole world over for our unity. I think I see looming in the future, the rising of the sun that shall scatter all the mists of our bigotry. Some of us shall live to behold that happy day. Already this very meeting presents to us the blessed presage of it, but the consummation can never come except we hold the Bible, spread the Bible, and press the Bible home upon the heart and conscience of everyone with whom we meet. May I beg of you—most of whom I have never seen before—this very day to try and teach something scriptural to somebody. Every day a line, and then what a poem will your life's psalm be! Every day a soul, and, oh, what soul-winners you will be! Every day a seed, and then what a harvest shall you have! Every day a star, and then what a galaxy of glory shall glitter there! Every day a gem, and then what a crown of honour shall you have to put upon the head of your Christ! Every day a note, and then what a song shall that be which shall roll from you poor mortal, but God-inspired, God-helped men, up to the throne of the great One who sits above us all!"

Mr. Spurgeon this year attended one other May meeting: he was one of the speakers at the early breakfast of the Young Men's Christian Association on the 6th of the month. The chair was occupied by Mr. Joseph Gurney Hoare, and the interest of the occasion drew together an overflowing congregation.

Mr. Spurgeon joined with great heartiness in celebrating the tercentenary of the death of John Calvin. The celebration itself took place on Friday, May 27, both at Geneva and in London; and the sermon at the Metropolitan Tabernacle on May 29 was in commemoration of the event. The discourse—"Laus Deo"—was pre-eminently one of praise to God, the text being Rom 11:36, "For of him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen." The distinguishing doctrines of the Reformation were well brought out; and the contrast between Luther and Calvin was that while one was the pioneer and iconoclast, clearing the way, or even knocking down what seemed to obstruct the progress of the Gospel, Calvin was the teacher, himself enlightened by the Spirit of God, who followed after. To such a preacher as the pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle, the Reformer of Geneva was second only to the apostle Paul himself as an interpreter of the oracles of God. Was Spurgeon's estimate of the Genevan Reformer's acquirements, genius, and devotion set too high? Some would have declared this to be the case; but it closely coincided with the estimate of other competent and conscientious judges. In the sixteenth century Knox wrote: "In my heart I could have wished—yea, and I cannot cease to wish—that it might please God to guide and conduct yourself to this place [Geneva], where I neither fear nor am ashamed to say it is the most perfect school of Christ that ever was in the earth since the days of the apostles. In other places I confess Christ to be truly preached; but manners and religion so sincerely reformed I have not yet seen in any other place besides." Then the historian d'Aubigné says: "After the mighty Luther, the bold Zwingli, the indefatigable Farel, such a man as the meditating Calvin was a necessity. The first three fought, the last built up; though at heart they all did both. Luther, Zwingli, and Farel held the sword; Calvin, humble and poor, yet held the sceptre. If the former were the generals of the Reformation, Calvin was its legislator and its king." The pastors of Geneva desired to observe the tercentenary of the Reformer's death in a becoming manner; but many difficulties seemed to hinder their plans. It was proposed to erect a building to be called the Hall of the Reformation, and Dr. Barde, a pastor of the National Church, was deputed to visit this country and invite Christian people to co-operate. On Friday, May 27, that being the 300th anniversary of Calvin's death, the Evangelical Alliance had a soiree at Exeter Hall, attended by leading men of all denominations of the Church; and a meeting also took place at Edinburgh. At Geneva the interesting ceremony of dedicating the site for the memorial building came off, the scene being one of enthusiasm. "Here the members of all Churches will meet, with those who belong to no Church at all, and the net of the Gospel will be cast," said Pastor Demole. "That net, though it has often been exposed to the world's stormy waters, is unbroken still; it is powerful, and in it we shall gather those who will be brought to salvation. In doing this we shall lay a just claim to Calvin's inheritance." The question might be asked, Why was Spurgeon, at the great Evangelical Alliance reunion at Exeter Hall, in honour of Calvin's memory, so conspicuous by his absence? No one present at the meeting could have replied to such a question; but to us, as we look back through, the vista of nearly thirty years, the matter is plain enough. The great preacher was meditating on a subject which gave him some trouble; and when given to the world by the printing press, the sermon preached at the Metropolitan Tabernacle on Sunday, June 5, would create a sensation which was almost unparalleled. What this was will be seen in the next chapter.

Meanwhile, there appear to have been some honest souls in the world who thought that Spurgeon might have a counterpart, and some would, no doubt, have found pleasure in introducing such a rival of the popular preacher to the world. Of one who was expected to do great things we find it said in a newspaper leading article:—

"Our attention has been called to a young man from the country on a visit to town, who, if we do not much mistake, will yet be better known among us. We doubt not he is destined for distinguished usefulness in the vineyard of the Lord. He is richly endowed with every attribute required to great instrumental efficiency. The first condition of success to the popular preacher is voice; this constitutes a full third of his qualification, and in this respect the stranger we speak of has few, if any, superiors, either among Churchmen or Dissenters. So far as our experience has gone, it surpasses that of every speaker now in our midst, except Mr. Spurgeon's, and we incline to think that it will by-and-bye prove at least equal even to his. It is specifically a voice of the same class; so much so, that again and again, while there is not the slightest imitation, it suggested to us the magnificent accents and intonations and electric force of the great Metropolitan Tabernacle orator. It has, in a measure, all its excellencies, and defects there are none. There is the same clearness, fulness, energy, flexibility, and lashing power. The compass at times seems even somewhat greater; that is, it rises a note or two higher, adding to the sharpness and pungency of questions, and the scale of climaxes. It is also in a very high degree manageable, and hence, with Mr. Spurgeon's skill and experience, which years will impart, it will prove not less adapted to dialogue and bursts of the dramatic, a thing of wondrous potency, fraught with special pleasure in the ministrations of Mr. Spurgeon."