Personal Theory and Preferences in the Production of Godly Literature

upon right material. ¹ And now, reader, if thou art a renewed soul, may our covenant God feed thee, keep thee, and perfect thee; and may the words of thy brother in Christ be the

means of some little comfort and edification to thee. ² S purgeon scoffed at publishers that offered rough and destructive1 material to children. The mental hunger incurred through learning to read must be met with good food, the right nutriment, and every author and publisher who attempts it deserves encouragement. Regretting the "fearful amount of scandalous literature" sold to boys in little newspaper shops, stories about "rawhead and bloody-bones tales, lives of burglars and highwaymen, and even worse stories," Spurgeon was determined that he would do all he could to

encourage and produce godly literature for all ages. ³ He would warn against the useless, the heretical, and damaging, and recommend the edifying and positively interesting.

Books, Books Everywhere, Nor Anything to Read

This ideal he contemplated after years of pursuing the goal in his own writing and in the distribution of literature through Mrs. Spurgeon's Book Fund. He wanted her work, inaugurated in 1875, "to be sustained and increased till no needy preacher of the gospel should find himself destitute of daily food for his

mind." ⁴ He pointed to this effort, not a soured dream, but as a hope to some degree fulfilled with promise of more godly effect still. He entreated the "good Lord [to] send his Spirit with the books given, and make them to be a testimony to the gospel of grace, a comfort to the servants of the Lord, and a means of revival to the churches among which they labour." The books went to every part of the church of God, even to men of doubtful orthodoxy. This door for distribution of such literature, now open and effectual, presented vast opportunities for good. "It may be that the truth may influence the preacher, and through him may spread to his congregation." A candle lit in dark days shed precious and necessary light, and to "put sound doctrine in the way of ministers is to cast salt into the fountain, and should the Lord use it to the healing of the

spring the streams will be sweet." ⁵ Spurgeon knew as well as any that nineteenth-century England, the Victorian Age, produced a massive amount of literature and was celebrated world-wide for its output by such notable figures as the Brownings, Alfred Tennyson, Charles Dickens, Thomas Carlyle, George Eliot, and others. One could not ignore a compelling literary style and powerful thought simply by marking it off as unorthodox. When George M'Cree analyzed both the literary style and the theological viewpoint of these writers, Spurgeon applauded the attempt of someone to take "in hand the mystic, pretentious skepticism of the period, a fashionable vanity whose day has been too long already." Particularly helpful was the author's exposure of the subtleties of the alliance of poetry and deep thought with error. "Few could so well have distinguished between talent and its perversion, genius and its aberrations." In reprobating heresy, which Spurgeon often did, one must not fail to give sincere admiration to the talent and ability of an author, which he also did. Conversely, in admiration of originality, one must not wink at deadly error. M'Cree admitted the beauty of the cup, but all the more

vehemently warned against the "poisonous draught which it conveys to us." ⁶ We find Spurgeon always seeking to bring these two together, edifying, God glorifying content and engaging magnetic style.

Spurgeon wanted his literary productions to provide "entertainment and edification." ⁷ He looked at nature and saw that the first was normally bound to

the second, for God had joined them together. Note the beauty and usefulness of fruit, the flight of a painted butterfly among herbs of the garden, and how the "cerulean blue of the cornflower smiles forth from amid the stalks of the wheat."

The High Priest's robes had exuberant beauty mixed with highly typological redemptive themes, and the sacred candlesticks provided not only light but had "knops and flowers upon the branches." Even so, Christian magazines must not be relegated to "pious platitudes, heavy discourses, and dreary biographies of nobodies." He wanted the literature to be "as vivacious and attractive as the best of amusing serials, and yet as deeply earnest and profitable as the soundest of

divines would desire." ⁸ About a chronicler of British non-conformity Spurgeon made the comment: "If the writer had possessed genius and literary ability, this might have been a highly interesting work; but as the writer's sole qualification is his honesty of purpose, the work is most reliable and dull." Had the writer used a bit of the wit that he condemned because of his lack of it, he might have secured both the

reading of his book and remuneration commensurate with his labor. ⁹ Spurgeon tried, therefore, month by month through the pages of The Sword and the Trowel to pour out edifying and educating material in an attractive and earnest, and at times witty, way.

Both by example and encouragement we find this combination in an 1871 article entitled "Use the Pen." Spurgeon stated his view of the importance of literature in the spread of the gospel. He reminded young pastors (he viewed the field as a thirty-seven-year-old) that "two fields of usefulness" were open to them. They should regard the utterance of truth with the living voice as their main work calling for their chief attention, but "the publishing of the same truth by means of the press is barely second in importance, and should be used to the

full measure of each man's ability." ¹⁰ Spurgeon frequently reminded readers of his books and The Sword and The Trowel that by a little effort on their part to expand the subscription base or recommend and give his books they could greatly expand his usefulness, and share in it themselves, without increasing his labor. Even so he told these young ministers that "it is a surprising thought that what is written to-day in our study may in a few weeks be read beyond the Alleghanies [ sic ], and before long may lift up its voice at the Antipodes." So marvelous was the enduring nature of the press that a well-crafted sentence might still be forming a mind 500 years hence. "The possibility of doing good to the souls of men is a grand incentive which needs no other to supplement it, and such a possibility beyond all question exists when warm-hearted thought is expressed in telling language, and scattered

broadcast in type among the masses." ¹¹ They should look to their goosequills, "your Gillets, or your Waverleys, and see if you cannot write for Jesus." Spurgeon had seen his share of poor aggravating literature, as will be noted later, and would not mind if a great fire were loosed in London that consumed ninety-nine of a hundred books—a fine purification. As well, he would on bended knee beg most preachers to avoid the temptation to put their thoughts in print. But for the man who begins to burn with something to say, let him practice composition until he can express himself plainly and interestingly and write for readers. Take advantage of periodicals, let them serve the cause of true religion, and dare to be a moulder of the public mind. Though young men should be determined to write, they also should be content to write through serious labor on style and interesting content. Do not print that which cost the writer nothing. "Read good authors, that you may know what English is," Spurgeon advised; "you will find it to be a language very

rarely written nowadays, and yet the grandest of all human tongues." ¹² His frustration with poor writing often appears in his book reviews, a section that became one of the most popular and influential features of the magazine. A kind spirit and orthodox intentions did not justify insipid prose or soporific style.

The beauty of the language and the clarity and interest of the style should not suffer in service of truth, but should be employed as the most fitting display of the love of truth. God is a God of beauty and proportion and symmetry and he comes to us as the Word, both in flesh and in Scripture. As guardians of the Word, Christians must not be slipshod in the use of words. At the same time, Spurgeon would not suffer fools easily in their folly. Arrogance of language and prideful singularity and boastful ambience of style and content would cause Spurgeon to engage all the talent he had for destruction by ridicule. He did not pledge an easy time for anyone that wanted him to say something about the communicative power of a literary production.

One of the most unvarnished examples of this kind of critical response came when Spurgeon reviewed The Interpreter: Some Selected Interpretations of Scripture by S. R. Bosanquet. It was assured of a speedy sale, Spurgeon quipped, "if readers will only recommend this book as much as the author admires it."

Spurgeon illustrated the "modesty" of the writer by quoting his dismissive attitude toward the entire history of interpretation on the author's selected passages, and closed with his own dismissal, "Dry, dull, dogmatic is our humble

estimation of this interpretation." ¹³ Another embarrassment for a totally different style of book carried the brief notice: "Five sentimental love stories written in the gushing style so dear to the soul of boarding-school young ladies.

What more can we say to recommend the non-purchase of this volume?" ¹⁴ Remarking on a book, the content of which would certainly please Spurgeon as it showed the evils of "State-Churchism," he admitted that he did not "possess fortitude sufficient to read it through." The author possessed the stuff of martyrs not only in opposing the system of church and state union, should persecuting times return, but "he is so thoroughly dry that we are sure he would burn

gloriously." ¹⁵ Spurgeon exemplified his advice to write "transparent words, such as bear your meaning upon their forefront." Writers should aim to excel, never to rest content, produce good copy that will only be the step to something better. "This is a great work," were the first words by which he recommended The History of Protestantism by Wylie, but he feared that "before the work is all complete a good many readers will be weary of it." Not because of its content, for on that account he wanted to see it in the hands of every Englishman, but because "we find it rather prosy." Though he disliked the genre of fiction, he recognized that the writers employed a style that was attractive. "Only now and then do we meet with an historian whose style is as charming as that of the

writer of fiction," and Mr. Wylie certainly did not match that mark. ¹⁶ The purpose, however, of excellent composition is that it might carry with power the message of truth. Manner is important, but matter is more so. "It is folly," Spurgeon aphorized, "to open your mouth merely to show your teeth."

Have something to say or leave the ink in the bottle. But try. Burn half a ton of paper in the trying and when a page is produced that is not more fit for the fire than for reading, print it. "To be a soul winner by your books when your bones have mouldered is an ambition worthy of the noblest genius, and even to have brought hearts to Jesus by an ephemeral paper in a halfpenny periodical is an

honour which a cherub might envy." ¹⁷ He warned against any attempt at poetry. "Write reason before you write rhyme," he admonished with all the earnest frustration he could muster, for throughout his life he increased in his amazement at the vain attempts at poetry he received for review. They should subject their writing to criticism, not be thin-skinned, focus on fact, not sentiment, and resist worrying readers with "ill-timed moralisings and forced reflections." Never pen a sentence that on death-bed reflections you would want to blot. Should these encouragements be attended well, Spurgeon would have no

cause to repent of his advice to "use the pen." ¹⁸ To make one's writing worth reading, a few simple rules would help. Virtue embraces brevity. "Be Short," Spurgeon admonished. Aches and ills may be borne if we know they are over soon. Even pleasures become insipid if they are protracted beyond the limits of reason and convenience. "Long visits, long

stories, long essays, long exhortations, and long prayers" seldom profit those who have to endure them. Tell your message when you speak, and hold your peace. "If you write, boil down two sentences into one, and three words into

two." ¹⁹ A translation of a manuscript of lecture notes by Franz Delitzsch, Old Testament History of Redemption, modeled the combination of profundity and brevity in its style. Full of "verve, suggestiveness, and fullness of thought," Spurgeon looked upon the volume's style as "gold in the nugget, a forest in an acorn, and a sermon in a sentence." Several examples from the translated manuscript elicited Spurgeon's observation, "Such specimens as these will show the kind of writing which Delitzsch indulges in, and the sort of sentences that

Mr. Curtiss [the translator] would not willingly let die." ²⁰ Learn to be short, and increase the value.

Spurgeon also would admonish, "Be clear." For Spurgeon, clarity meant that every level of society could benefit. If they could read, they could understand; if they could not read but could hear, they still could understand. Spurgeon did not aim for a reputation of erudition in his writing but for plainness and clarity. This goal combined with his powers of imagination, his massive vocabulary, his wit, his penetration into human nature, and intense desire to attract readers of all strata of society, made for some amazingly attractive literary passages. Given the occasional flourish of style, his greatest pleasure lay in the desire of the common and uneducated to find and read, or hear others read, Spurgeon. When he learned that the boys of the orphanage liked to read The Sword and the Trowel, he wrote a short article for them. In explaining his pleasure in their interest, he told them about a man that, because he did not like Spurgeon's plain way of speaking, "took the trouble to write and tell me he had met with some poor negroes who were reading my sermons with great delight." His correspondent was not surprised because his evaluation of Spurgeon's material was that it was "just such as ignorant black people would be sure to relish." While the letter-writer thought that he would send Spurgeon into "a fit of the blues after that slap in the face," Spurgeon told the boys, "I was as jubilant as I knew how to be, and praised God with my whole heart, because even an enemy admitted that the Lord

had taught me how to reach the hearts of the poor." ²¹ From this incident Spurgeon gathered that his sermons in print "were clear enough to be understood by anybody who was not so conceited as to darken his own mind with pride."

And certainly, Spurgeon added, if the boys read the magazine it can be neither over people's head nor "can it be said to be very dull and dreary." ²²

His Own Writing as a Ministry

One of his deacon's Joseph Passmore, who owned, along with his partner, James Alabaster, a publishing house, saw massive potential in putting Spurgeon in print. Spurgeon had no aversion to this at all, but had conceived publishing as an extension of his calling even earlier. "Before I ever entered a pulpit," so he reported, "the thought had occurred to me that I should one day preach sermons which would be printed." This vision emerged from his regular reading of the

penny sermons of Joseph Irons. ²³ From Spurgeon's pen had come, in 1853, the first number of a short series entitled Waterbeach Tracts and, in the Baptist Reporter, his testimony of his resolution to be baptized in a scriptural way due to the conversation with a clergyman in Maidstone. After his move to London in 1854, two brief expositions from Psalm 84 appeared in The Baptist Messenger.

Also in 1854 the first of his sermons to be printed appeared in the longestablished Penny Pulpit published by James Paul.

When Passmore suggested in 1854 the publication of the sermon on a weekly basis, Spurgeon accepted the proposal. Passmore had been kind to Spurgeon from the beginning of his ministry at New Park Street, and, in response to a present from Passmore, Spurgeon wrote: "I trust the harmony between us may never receive the slightest jar, but continue even in Heaven. We have, I trust, just commenced a new era; and, by God's blessing, we will strive to make it a

glorious one to our Church." ²⁴ How much of a new era they had begun would rapidly be known. They began with the first sermon of 1855 on the immutability

of God based on Malachi 3:6, 25 and continued printing without intermission for thirty-six years during Spurgeon's life. Until May ¹⁰, 1917, when the paper shortages of World War I made the cessation necessary, unpublished sermons continued to appear on a weekly schedule, bound yearly as part of the Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit series. James Alabaster died in 1892 several months after Spurgeon, but Passmore lived until August 1895 and continued printing and publishing all of Spurgeon's works until his death. When James

Alabaster died, The Sword and the Trowel carried this note:

On Saturday, November 19, just as these "Notes" were being printed, Mr. James Alabaster was "called

home," after being laid aside less than a week. His loss is most keenly felt by his family and partners in

business, especially by the head of the firm, Mr. Joseph Passmore, with whom Mr. Alabaster had been

in close personal friendship for nearly forty years. We have tried to picture the meeting [in heaven]

between the beloved Pastor and his esteemed publisher; for, although Mr. Alabaster was a staunch

adherent of the Church of England, he loved the same Lord whom Mr. Spurgeon served, and was an

equally devout believer in the faith once for all delivered to the saints. 26

Not only did Passmore and Alabaster contribute to the massive impact of Spurgeon's ministry world-wide, they made it possible for him to be one of the main contributors to the various benevolences that he began from the Tabernacle. In an undated letter, but clearly sometime after the sale of Spurgeon material had begun to grow exponentially, Spurgeon noted with sincere gratitude to Passmore this unexpected by-product of publishing: "As you have to-day paid to me the largest amount I have ever received from your firm at one time, I seize the opportunity of saying, what I am sure you know already, that I am most sincerely thankful to God for putting me into your hands in my publishing matters." The liberality of Passmore and his partner had "been as great as it has been spontaneous." Even beyond, or without, personal benefit, Spurgeon delighted to help his friends prosper. They had been kind and generous as his "share of profits has always exceeded my expectations, and the way it has been given has been ever more valuable than the money itself." Spurgeon assured him, "Your growing welfare lies very near my heart, and nothing gives me more

pleasure than to see you advance in prosperity." ²⁷ Financial matters in the business of publishing were not merely serendipitous to Spurgeon, however, for he quickly learned that business is business.

Apparently, despite massive sales for thirty years of The Saint and His Saviour, published in 1855 before he had decided to do all through Passmore and Alabaster, Spurgeon received only the initial £50 contract price from James S.

Virtue. The amount was virtually nothing in comparison with the profit that accrued to the publisher from its sale, but Virtue "never deemed it wise to add anything to it." Virtue also sold the sheets to Appleton & Co. in America who turned around and sold them to Sheldon, Blakeman & Co. Spurgeon said that he never repeated that mistake and never put another work into the hands of James Virtue. Spreading the gospel through literature is a good thing, but who gains earthly prosperity through the labors involved is not unimportant. Fairness in that matter meant that no cooling of affection marred the relationship with Passmore and partner through the years. Spurgeon felt perfectly free with his publishers and prodded them to excellence in a most curiously humorous way.

During the publishing process for Morning by Morning, Spurgeon reminded his publishers that timeliness was absolutely essential because of the press of his own schedule. He did it in such a charming way that none could be offended but

only endeared by the reprimand:

Dear Mr. Passmore,—Have you retired from business? For, if not, I should be glad of proofs for the

month of November of a book entitled Morning by Morning which, unless my memory fails me, you

began to print. I was to have had some matter on Monday; and it is now Wednesday. Please jog the

friend who has taken your business, and tell him that YOU always were the very soul of punctuality,

and that he must imitate you.

I send a piece for October 31, for I can't find any proof for that date.

Please let the gentleman who has taken your business have it soon.

Yours ever truly,

C. H. SPURGEON.

P.S. Has Mr. Alabaster retired, too? I congratulate you both, and hope the new firm will do as well.

What is the name? I'll make a guess,—MESSRS. QUICK AND SPEEDY. 28

Overseas publications formed a major part of Spurgeon's ministry. When his first sermons began to be sent by wire across the Atlantic to appear in American papers, Spurgeon was not entirely satisfied. Some objected that their quick appearance meant that someone was using the Sabbath to reproduce and send the sermon. That was not received well. Quick delivery also meant that the sermons "were so battered and disfigured that we would not have owned them." The eggs were cracked in the transmission and the life crushed out of them. In light of that disappointment Spurgeon wrote, "We much prefer to revise and publish for ourselves, and as these forms of publications are permanent, their usefulness becomes in the long run greater than would come of a wide scattering of faulty

reports." ²⁹ If matter was published anywhere under the name of Spurgeon, he wanted to make sure that it was Spurgeon indeed.

Perhaps even more than the weekly sermon, Spurgeon's chief means of contact with his people, and many other friends of the Tabernacle, came through The Sword and the Trowel. Even when he was laid aside for months in a row on occasion, he hardly ever failed to produce his copy for the monthly magazine.

Spurgeon began publishing The Sword and the Trowel in January 1865. "We feel the want of some organ of communication in which our many plans for God's glory may be brought before believers, and commended to their aid," Spurgeon explained. "Our friends are so numerous as to be able to maintain a Magazine, and so earnest as to require one." He intended for that monthly contact, including messages that he preached in other venues, or material written particularly for the magazine, supplement the weekly sermon. He could say many things there that would be out of place in a public discourse. In addition the general Christian reader could learn first hand, rather than through rumor or the press, what happened at the Tabernacle. After a decade of less than satisfactory experience with reports from other sources of news and information, and just plain nastiness, Spurgeon had a clear path to the public mind.

Some friendly reader suggested twenty years later that a particularly lively magazine had maintained this quality "notwithstanding the absence of the Editor." Spurgeon gave a concise and potent explanation of his ongoing and

unfailing ownership of all that went into the magazine. "The Editor is never absent from the Magazine," he insisted, "but personally reads every line of each number." No one should blame a supposed subordinate for any article that appears for "the Editor hides behind nobody." He personally shoulders the blame for all. He denigrates the ability of none of his writers nor assumes that they are unable to fight their own battles, but "the Editor never wishes it to be imagined that he merely puts his name on the cover of the magazine, and leaves it to be produced by other people." His continual endeavor was to make the Magazine "as good as we can make it, and we would do better if we could." Absences from home, however, never meant a delegation of editing or writing duties to others; on the contrary, when debarred from other labors, he gave more time to making

his magazine an instrument for good. ³⁰ The first monthly appearance of The Sword and the Trowel contained Spurgeon's exposition of Psalm 1. Each month thereafter he composed an exposition with few intermissions, so that by September 1868 he included his exposition of Psalm 34. Meanwhile he had collected his expositions of the first twenty-six Psalms, added "Explanatory Notes and Quaint Sayings" plus "Hints to Preachers" and put them before the public in a volume entitled The Treasury

of David. The November 1869 Sword contained a notice from Spurgeon:

Owing to our inability to do so much as usual in public preaching, we have given our energies to the

pen. We hope to issue in December our first volume on the Psalms. The comment has appeared in

"The Sword and Trowel," but the vast mass of illustrative matter which we have collected from all

quarters has not appeared before. We hope that we have done service to our brethren in the ministry by

this labor of love, and if the Christian public appreciate our work, we shall (D.V.) persevere till we

have completed the Psalms. The volume is printed on large and thick paper, and contains more than

five hundred pages. Such a work is usually issued at ten shillings and sixpence, but we have resolved

to keep the price down to eight shillings, at which rate we do not expect to be adequately remunerated

pecuniarily, but shall have none the less satisfaction if the wages of hearing that we have done good

shall fall to us. 31

In the Memoranda for January 1870, Spurgeon, still convalescing from an attack of gout, wrote, "Many of our hours of pain and weakness have been lightened by preparing the first volume of our book on the Psalms for the press. If we could not preach we could write, and we pray that this form of service may be accepted

of the Lord." ³² In the preface he reiterated this theme by describing his situation, "It may be added, that although the comments were the work of my

health, the rest of the volume is the product of my sickness." ³³ He promised to have it reviewed by a "candid friend" by the next month. The friend, a "venerable minister, told Spurgeon that what "he had conscientiously written we might conscientiously print." Among the many substantial observations on the

form and content of the volume, the reviewer stated: "We shall be much mistaken if this book does not secure for the author a far higher position among biblical interpreters and thoughtful students of theology, than has hitherto been awarded him. It cannot fail, too, to increase the confidence reposed in the theological teaching of the author in whatever way it may be communicated, since it must ever be regarded as the result of the same reverence for the

authority of the Scriptures, and sincere and careful enunciation of its truths." ³⁴ By November 1870, Spurgeon gladly reported: "Friends will be glad to know that the edition of our first volume on the Psalms is rapidly disappearing from the publishers' stores, and Vol II is almost ready to take its place. Vol II will be

published in December." ³⁵ He had promoted the sales just a bit out of some frustration. He had learned that he was deprived of some of the sales because the word was out that "It is all in the 'Sword and Trowel.'" He decided, therefore, not to put the Psalms regularly in the magazine, and then would issue volume one in parts that people could purchase for eight shillings and thus purchase the work by degrees. This concession, however, Spurgeon called a "bad plan" and

contended that "they had better buy it bound." ³⁶ His desire to hear that he had done not only well, but good, was fulfilled.

Spurgeon enjoyed employing the positive reviews of others in order to promote the usefulness of his labors in writing and commenting. When William Taylor, a homiletician from New York, commended Spurgeon's Treasury of David in his Lyman Beecher lectures, Spurgeon quickly took advantage of the high estimation and cited Taylor's evaluation. "To comment well you must make as careful preparation for it as for a more formal exposition; studying attentively not only the original Scriptures, but also everything that the best expositors at your command have said upon the section," Taylor opined. In illustration of his contention, he pointed to "Mr. Spurgeon's 'Treasury of David,' which, over and above its value, from its references to the works of others, is beyond all price for the illustrations which it gives of the best mode of turning the utterances of

David to practical and devotional account." ³⁷ When Volume ⁵ appeared in 1878, Spurgeon farmed it out for review with instructions to be just as candid and critical as he himself would be with the work of another. The reviewer stated, "We are not surprised to learn that he broods long over each Psalm before he attempts to commit his thought to writing, and waits for those seasons of intenser feeling when a kind of inspiration prompts him, refraining at other times with a salutary fear, lest any of his meditations should 'exhibit signs of fatigue and decline.'" Giving a brief summary of the importance of the section of Psalms covered by the volume, the

reviewer drew attention to the phenomenon that "our author's increasing acquaintance with the Scriptures strengthens his conviction that their inspiration is verbal as well as plenary. Of course! Philology and exegesis are as important branches of science as geology or Genesis. In any case, the minuter the

examination the more satisfactory will be the consequence of research." ³⁸ As Spurgeon was nearing completion of Volume ⁶, he noted that an America publisher, "Messrs. Funk," was being "abundantly rewarded" by publishing the existing volumes in America. "May a blessing rest on our work," he wrote, "as it

will now be read by thousands of American pastors." ³⁹ In the Preface to Commenting and Commentaries, Spurgeon informed his literary audience that the first volume of Lectures to my Students was to be followed by another volume including two lectures on commenting. Instead he decided that a better plan was to introduce the topic of commenting in two lectures and then give a catalogue of commentaries that "might help the student to carry the advice into practice." Spurgeon pointed out that this would be "no small labor," but would be of service to many. He passed through between ³,000 and ⁴,000 books in producing this selection of works. He condensed, and recondensed, gave evaluations of each book listed, told what each could expect to pay for it as a used book. "We are very mistaken," Spurgeon commented, "if our work does not prove to be of the utmost value to purchasers of books." He was aware, through his work with Mrs. Spurgeon's Book Fund, of the dismal pecuniary condition of most ministers and so realized that many of them were not among these purchasers. He labored, nevertheless, with "no object in view but the benefit of our brethren." Any reasonable expectation of sales would hardly repay Spurgeon's bare expenses, but "it will be remuneration enough to

have aided the ministers of God in the study of his word." ⁴⁰ The power, usefulness, atemporality, and spiritual life that press through every pore of the pages of this work captured the mind of so formidable a twentiethcentury theologian as Helmut Thielicke. In his condensed edition of this work, Thielicke called it "an inexhaustible store of stimulating material," and proceeded to provide a cultural, theological, and methodological critique of contemporary Christianity and preaching using Spurgeon as the foil and

instructor of all. ⁴¹ In November 1877 Spurgeon led off his section of book notices with three of his recently published works. Two almanacs for 1878 were ready: John Ploughman's Sheet Almanack and Spurgeon's Illustrated Almanack. For the fifth consecutive year, Spurgeon had come up with 365 fresh proverbs. Spurgeon designed it for the cottage, the kitchen, and the workshop. If his readers would

put it up, their visitors would read it. The second almanac was textually based and was intended for daily counsel and comfort. The third book was the second series of Lectures to My Students. He included woodcuts illustrating pulpit posture and gestures. He asked readers to buy it and give it to a young minister

in which they had particular interest. ⁴² When Thielicke studied these he saw something deep and worldly in the most profound incarnational sense. "Spurgeon is well aware that many preachers stand in their own way because uncontrolled mannerisms—some defect of speech, a monotonous delivery, a repulsive facial expression, a constantly clenched fist or a continually pointed finger—curb the congregation's willingness to listen, or produce a deadly—and spiritually deadening!—boredom."

Spurgeon, according to Thielicke's observation, could warn against boredom in speech and manner while avoiding the error against which he declaimed. He lampooned boredom in a "sprightly and amusing fashion," doing it so well and with such appropriate caricature and humor, that these comic pulpit figures he paraded before their eyes in both word and picture, made the young preachers "vow spontaneously never to become

such a dreadful preacher as that." ⁴³ Again in November 1886, three of his volumes headed the book notices. A second edition of ¹⁰,000 of All of Grace was ready. A fellow minister wrote Spurgeon, "It will prove a swift torpedo boat among the enemies of our King, and a lifeboat to many shipwrecked souls." Again, Spurgeon's Illustrated Almanack was ready; Mrs. Spurgeon had selected the text for each day. "It brings us thousands of friends," Spurgeon remarked, "and enables us to exchange kindly greetings." John Ploughman's Almanack was ready and, according to Spurgeon, "John has by no means fallen off in the quality of his annual broadside." Some editors had called this production the "King of Sheet Almanacks" and Spurgeon seemed to agree, thinking the sale should be ten times what it was because it is "as lively as a cricket, and as fresh as new milk."

Even folks who will read nothing else will read this, Spurgeon believed, for "there is a spice of fun in it, and the fun catches them like salt on the little birds'

tails." ⁴⁴ When he published Be of Good Cheer: The Saviour's Comforting Exhortation enlarged upon he wrote, "We hope the reader will be as pleased with the spiritual as we are with the material part of the book." It was designed for those who like the writer had been under the distress of a long illness. "Comfort is to be found even in this troubled world," Spurgeon reminded the reader. "Floods do

not cover all the high hills, the waters are assuaging, hope rules the hour." ⁴⁵ During 1882 Spurgeon published his immensely popular Farm Sermons.

Though it was "kindly handled by critics" one reviewer thought the woodcuts should have been English scenes rather than eastern husbandry. Spurgeon responded by asking, "How could we have illustrated the text about threshing the wheat with horses, and the cumin with rods, if we had kept to English scenes." Volume ⁶ of Treasury of David met with a large demand in America. In addition, as had been the yearly task since 1855, he published the Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Volume ²⁷ and had nearly brought to ripeness for publication the Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, this time Volume ²⁸, bringing the total number of sermons to ¹,696. He wrote that he had "only coasted around the marvelous subjects which fill the Scriptures" and was only now at the beginning

of the divine theme. ⁴⁶ The annually-bound edition of The Sword and the Trowel, now numbering Volume ¹⁷, reached the public. Spurgeon was pleased that "it fetches good prices at second-hand," an evidence of one of the desires he had in producing such a massive amount of literature, adding "and this is about as good a test of literary value as we can give." Its readership also served to show that the days of irrational reaction against his ministry had virtually ceased leading him to comment happily, "We are often surprised to meet with approving readers, not only as we naturally expected among our own denomination of Christians, but among the clergy of other churches and

residents in foreign lands." ⁴⁷ He described his book The Clue of the Maze as the "author's personal testimony as to the way in which he gained sure foothold, and escaped the

slippery and dangerous ice of scepticism." ⁴⁸ In the same year, 1886, All of Grace was written for the unconverted. He had put his whole heart into it and "fertilized every page with prayer." He believed that God would bless it to the

conversion of many. ⁴⁹ In May 1869, Spurgeon's gentleman farmer persona, John Ploughman's Talk, had sold nearly ³⁰,000 in just a few weeks. ⁵⁰ By November it continued "to sell

with great rapidity. We have now reached the seventieth thousand." ⁵¹ He had begun the series of homely moral proverbs, punctuated with evangelical truth, in The Sword and the Trowel in 1868. He introduced other pseudonyms such as William Ploughman, cousin to John, Nathanael Plainspeech, and Searchwell but found John to be the perfect combination of all the wise plain people that he had known from his grandfather to Will Richardson. By 1881 sales had risen above 300,000 and another printing was made. Some complained that it consisted simply of a number of proverbs strung together. Spurgeon agreed and admitted that the book contained no original genius at all and yet there were now 310,000 in print with a clamor for still more. It is simple, but no one else had ever done

it. He added some engraving to this edition and hoped that the sales would run to over half a million. "Its strength," Spurgeon noted, "lies in the wholesome proverbs which are floating about everywhere, but have here been diligently collected, and congenially dovetailed, so as to make up lively continuous reading, intended to convey good morals to the myriads of working men who will never read that which is dull and dreary, however profound may be the

instruction contained therein." ⁵² In publishing a Scripture commentary for families, The Interpreter, Spurgeon aimed at giving both variety and ease for leaders of family worship. He committed the review of this new work to his college principal, George Rogers.

Rogers set this work in the context of Spurgeon's other publications designed to give opportunities for spiritual edification to readers. "Among the many thousands who have Mr. Spurgeon on the Sabbath in his preached or printed sermons, and in the closet in his Morning by Morning, and Evening by Evening, and in the study in his Treasury of David, there are few, we presume, who will not welcome him in The Interpreter into their families. It will also be an excellent companion to John Ploughman in many a home." Rogers believed that Spurgeon was no less noted as an interpreter than as a preacher and that his public expositions were as valued as his sermons. Since the recording and publishing of all those seemed impracticable, this book would meet the need in part for such pithy exposition. The compass of all Scripture could be brought into focus within a couple of years and "by pertinent observations to enliven and fix the meaning and design of each portion in the mind and in the heart."

A Significant Investment of Time and Labor

Spurgeon seemed to have a deep investment in informing his wide readership how much labor his literary accomplishments cost him. Several reasons might come to mind. He wanted to demonstrate that a lack of formal education did not inhibit a critical and insightful investigation of a massive amount of scholarship.

He wanted his church to know that his hours in the study or his weeks of convalescing were not hours of freedom from work, but involved the most oppressive kind of labor. He wanted those that read books to know that books did not pop into existence fully-formed as Minerva did from Jupiter's head, but grew and came together slowly by an arduous process of their birth-, and then nurturing-, parent. They should appreciate the process of reading and find some point at which they could thank God for faithful stewards. He wanted them to know that their souls' best interest was at his heart and he would not offer to God, or them, that which cost him nothing. Perhaps his motive was a mingling of all of these, but it is clear that their knowledge of his labor was important to him.

As he described the process through which he labored in bringing Volume ¹ of The Treasury of David to publication, he commended the work of his friend and amanuensis John L. Keys for his labors at the British Museum and Dr. Williams' library. Spurgeon himself, moreover, had "ransacked books by the hundred, often without finding a memorable line as a reward." The beneficiaries of such fruitless search "little know how great labour the finding of but one

pertinent extract may involve; labour certainly I have not spared." ⁵³ In January 1874 in his brief preface to the book review section, Spurgeon acknowledged that a larger number of book reviews than normal appeared. That was because so many books came from publishers but also because "we have tried to make the brief reviews as interesting as any other matter is likely to have been. Amid many engagements, it is not without hard labour that we have been

able to examine with care so many works." ⁵⁴ By September 1874 Spurgeon had finished some years of labor on a book for family worship, mentioned above, entitled The Interpreter. It had been published in installments initially but finally was bound in one volume. In describing his "heavy toil" he said that the few remarks made on the selected texts of Scripture "have cost us much more thought than if we could have written at length." Far more trouble was expended in the tedious process to "cull and select matter to occupy a few lines" than if he had liberty to write unbound by space. He emphasized that his comments had "cost us much care", for in each case he "consulted the best expositors, and studied the word laboriously." ⁵⁵ Soon

Spurgeon was receiving letters of commendation for the book and he published some in the The Sword and the Trowel. One aged minister, C. J. Donald, wrote, "My people have often thanked me for placing 'The Interpreter' before them; by it their faith in the truth as it is in Jesus has been greatly confirmed, their views

of Christian privilege and duty enlarged, and their personal piety promoted." ⁵⁶ Could Spurgeon want more from any labor of mind and hand?

In celebrating twenty years of published sermons, Spurgeon described the labor of producing one sermon per week for publication as "far greater than some suppose," usually occupying "the best hours on Monday, and involved the burning of no inconsiderable portion of midnight oil." Because his constituency deserved the effort he "never grudged the hours, though often the brain has been

wearied and the pleasure has hardened into a task." ⁵⁷ When he produced Commenting and Commentaries, after he spoke of the massive amount of literature that he had read, and sifted through for the benefit of his readers, he remarked, "Probably not one reader in a hundred will have any

idea of the expense, labour, and research which this catalogue has involved." ⁵⁸ In a different genre, the research involved in his almanacs also took much time and careful labor. The appearance of John Ploughman's Sheet Almanack for 1876 was inaugurated in the Sword with Spurgeon's admission, "This penny sheet costs us more pains than anything else which we do in the course of the year; for, after four or five years of publishing, the proverbs become scanty, and

we have to labour hard to escape repetition. ⁵⁹ Perpetuating the labors beyond the interests of a mere year was the intent of The Salt Cellars, being a Collection of Proverbs, together with Homely Notes thereon. Those Almanack proverbs were gathered and rearranged into quaint words and those more spiritual, enhanced then by some "homely" remarks by Spurgeon. He wrote a series of thematic books that he called shilling series. When the fourth volume, The Mourner's Comforter appeared, he wrote, "These small books cost us considerable pains, but we shall be more than recompensed if we hear of good

arising from their perusal." ⁶⁰ His goal was to prepare twelve such volumes.

These included Christ's Glorious Achievements, The Bible and The Newspaper, Seven Wonders of Grace, The Spare Half Hour, The Mourners Comforter, Eccentric Preachers, Good Cheer, and Gleanings Among the Sheaves.

Apparently these are the only eight that were printed in this series, for, in an advertisement for the series in 1895 put at the end of Mrs. Spurgeon's Ten Years

After, they are the only ones listed. ⁶¹ Other volumes that sold for a shilling in one of their bound forms were All of Grace, The Metropolitan Tabernacle: Its History and Work, the Memorial Volume of sermons preached during the

celebration of Spurgeon's twenty-fifth anniversary in his London ministry and others. Even The Christian World noted that Spurgeon provided a vast body of excellent religious literature for the common man at a cost he could afford. The catalogue of books still published by Passmore and Alabaster in 1895 by Spurgeon himself included eighty-one separate titles, including several of the massive and popular multivolume works.

Depression, rejection, pain, and rain could not damp Spurgeon's sense of redeeming the time. In the winter of his retirement to Mentone after his resignation from the Baptist Union and the flurry of controversy and accusation (1887-88), a rainy day allowed contiguous hours of quiet meditation accompanied by a ceaseless flurry of putting his devotional thoughts to paper. At the end of the day, he had produced thirty-one single page devotions as the first month's installment on The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith. He handed the pages to Joseph Alabaster to be sent to London to begin the process of setting the type. The completion of the work engendered in Spurgeon a greater wonder at the depth and power of biblical truth and the surety of its promises than he had up to that time perceived, for he had now gone "outside the camp" bearing the reproach of Christ and had found ever renewed strength in the sustaining power of God. He explained the context that produced these encouragements to take God's promises as personal blessings to be drawn from his eternal covenant

provisions for his people:

I commenced these daily portions when I was wading in the surf of controversy. Since then I have

been cast into "waters to swim in", which but for God's upholding hand, would have proved waters to

drown in. I have endured tribulation from many flails. Sharp bodily pain succeeded mental depression,

and this was accompanied both by bereavement, and affliction in the person of one dear as life. The

waters rolled in continually, wave upon wave. I do not mention this to exact sympathy, but simply to

let the reader see that I am no dry-land sailor. I have traversed those oceans which are not pacific, full

many a time: I know the roll of the billows, and the rush of the winds. Never were the promises of

Jehovah so precious to me as at this hour. Some of them I never understood till now; I had not reached

the date at which they matured, for I was not myself mature enough to perceive their meaning. 62

Mrs. Spurgeon's Minister's Library Fund

This ministry started in 1875. In the July issue of The Sword and the Trowel Spurgeon announced as the last of his "Notes," "Mrs. Spurgeon, our beloved and afflicted wife, begs us to say that she has been so much interested in reading the book entitled 'Lectures to my Students, by C. H. Spurgeon,' that she would like to bear the cost of giving a copy to each of a hundred poor Baptist ministers who would accept it of her." This initial effort was limited only to Baptist ministers.

63 When she gave her own rendition of the beginning in her book Ten Years of My Life in the Service of the Book Fund, she reported that, in response to her exuberant expression of a desire to see every minister in England possess a copy of Lectures, Spurgeon asked her, "Then why not do so: how much will you give?" That question prompted her to locate a nest of "crowns" she had saved

through the years, enough to purchase ¹⁰⁰ copies to give. ⁶⁴ Mrs. Spurgeon speedily distributed the ¹⁰⁰ copies of Lectures to My Students, and had so many requests still unfulfilled that she gave a second hundred. They disappeared just as quickly. Spurgeon seemed to think that the effort was over but the experiment had proven that someone needed to give attention to this crying need of books for desperate ministers. "Mrs. Spurgeon has done her fair share in this matter," Spurgeon announced, "and leaves the further supplying of poor ministers and students to the generosity of some of the friends, with whom our publishers would make generous terms." No other applications could be fulfilled; the short ministry to ministers had been pleasurable, "but it is a sad fact that there should be so many needing such a present." Genuinely puzzled at the condition he had rapidly been made aware of, Spurgeon asked, "Cannot something be done to provide ministers with books? If they cannot be made rich in money they ought not, for the people's sake, to be starved in soul." He was astounded that "some of the applicants have not been able to buy a book for the

last ten years! Does anybody wonder if preachers are sometimes dull?" ⁶⁵ The query, just like the earlier suggestion to Susannah, found a home quickly.

In his preface to the 1875 Sword and Trowel, Spurgeon announced, "Two fresh trees of smaller growth have been planted, namely the Missions among the poor blind people of London, which deserves to be well watered; and last, but not least, Mrs. Spurgeon's fund for supplying poor ministers with books, which has made many hearts leap for joy, and must, under the divine blessing, be a fruitful source of benefit to the churches. This work ought to be sustained and increased till no needy preacher of the gospel should find himself destitute of daily food for his mind." ⁶⁶ Spurgeon saw a famine in the land on this account of

sufficient literature for ministers, especially in their ability to purchase it, and wanted his friends to join him and Susannah in providing literature essential to the ministerial life of a gospel preacher. He was reiterating what he had rapidly discovered in this ministry of distributing books. In November he told his readers that he had met with preachers who had only four books, some that had a few more, but all of "worthless character." Such a destitution of essential tools existed that Spurgeon called it "an absolute famine of books among poor Baptist ministers." Inflamed with a new outlet for Christian service, Spurgeon now pronounced that this effort was "one of the most needful which Christian charity can undertake." Feed the minister's mind, and feed the church. Spurgeon did not run thin on his commitment to the necessity of the Spirit's work for any spiritual

profit, "but by supplying instructive books we have at least used the means." ⁶⁷ In June 1876, she reported a great blessing with both contributions of funds and requests for books steadily arriving. Spurgeon felt deep gratitude that a work so helpful had been placed in the hands of his "beloved one," also called "our beloved sufferer." One generous supporter placed in her hands the means to supply all the Calvinistic Methodist preachers in North Wales with a copy of Lectures to My Students. Another did the same for South Wales. "It is no small work for an invalid, and a daily sufferer, to send out many hundreds of these,

besides parcels of books to applicants." ⁶⁸ The overwhelming response taxed both the funds and the energy of Mrs. Spurgeon as demand far exceeded the books available through contributions.

Spurgeon requested, therefore, as a kind "hint" that "when perfect strangers of various denominations apply to her they should mention the names of some well-known individuals who could recommend them. Our beloved wife is anxious to do her work well and judiciously, and it would grieve her very much if she found that unworthy persons perverted this good work to their own undue advantage. It is needful, therefore, that she be enabled to judge each

application." ⁶⁹ When Mrs. Spurgeon wrote to the "Editor" of the The Sword and the Trowel and proposed that she be allowed to make public the contributions and expenditures of the book fund for those that had so generously contributed during the past months, he of course consented to the space and proposed some "impartial person to act as auditor." His sympathies were so intense in the work that he could not possibly provide an audit satisfactory for the public. "Perhaps this work will become a permanent institution," he suggested, "and therefore its auditing must be done in the most orthodox and public fashion by some public business man." He hoped before the year was out there would be more to audit.

70

Testimonials provided impetus for persevering in the demanding task of

superintending this expanding ministry. A provision of six books of sermons from Spurgeon had a threefold impact on the life of one poor minister. His own spiritual state was so low that he first perused the volumes for the sake of his own vexed and desperate soul and found renewed zeal and a strengthened arm for the fight. In addition to that, they gave him more profound insight into the gospel, imparting an intense earnestness to his preaching and making him more importunate in his pleadings with sinners to receive Jesus. Beyond, that, his people noticed the change and thanked him for such searching sermons and such strong presentations of the gospel. They began to join him in earnest prayer for the conversion of souls. "I have thus, my dear Mrs. Spurgeon, told you briefly and very poorly the good I have received from the volumes you sent me. … Should you be able to send me some more, I can promise you a very attentive

and an ardent study." ⁷¹ At four years old, the book fund entered on a time of a still more useful existence. Spurgeon's compassion for poor ministers grew commensurate with his increasing awareness of their desperate need. Until they are "sufficiently paid to be able to buy books for themselves" someone must "work to find them brain food." God had blessed Mrs. Spurgeon's distribution of books, "for the recipients have written again and again to acknowledge the invigoration and the reviving received through the volumes." Others had been stirred by this avalanche of need to consider the great evil of ministerial poverty, and books have been spontaneously given which otherwise would not have filled the pastors' shelves." Increased funds and increased demand had tested Mrs. Spurgeon, but "the poor suffering worker had yet strength sufficient, as she hopes to have for another year." It would grieve her if friends of the ministry

slacked in giving on account of her illness. ⁷² Again, Spurgeon promoted the book fund report in 1882, reiterating his observation of the vast need that ministers had of literature to feed the flock under their charge. Reading and meditation, hours of study were essential for the preparation of a sermon. Many had barely enough change to buy bread and the pennies set aside for monthly pulpit help were gone to physical sustenance for the family rather than spiritual invigoration for the one that now must lead sheep to a desert. Baxter, Doddridge, and Henry had now left the library for table food, and food for thought escaped an already withered brain. "It is therefore one of the delights of our life," Spurgeon continued, "that our beloved wife has made ministers' libraries her great concern." She had over ⁶,000 names on her list and knew every book that had been received by each one of them. "The work is not muddled but is done as if by clockwork." With all the blessing attending the

work and all the progress that had been made, Mrs. Spurgeon informed her contributors that "there are still hundreds of men in the ministry whose stock of books is totally inadequate to their needs, and who though painfully conscious of their famishing condition, are unable to procure the aliment which would nourish their souls, and promote their spiritual and mental growth." She continued therefore to "deal forth our treasure lovingly and gladly till they be exhausted."

73

Spurgeon appealed both to the warranted self-respect of a minster and the personal soul-interest of those that must hear them. "When poverty displays itself in a man's sermons, it is more grievous to him than when it is seen in his clothes," Spurgeon told his readers. "No man ought to be kept short of books; as well deprive a workman of his tools." If a common craftsman worked under the weight of such destitution of tools, what would the outcome be for his clients? "These men are to produce fresh interesting living, stimulating thought: the task is in itself no easy one; in the name of common-sense supply them with every known help for the cultivation of their minds." If preachers in the pulpit remain thus poverty stricken, think also of the poor pew-sitter. "If we are to endure two addresses from them every Sunday, let us be merciful to ourselves by giving the good men something to think about, that they may not bore us with inane

repetitions, nor send us to sleep with dull platitudes." ⁷⁴ The Annual Book Fund Report allowed Spurgeon to keep his message of ministerial need before his public. The Report, written by Mrs. Spurgeon, reminded readers of both the good that the fund did and the needs of those whom it served. "We want poor ministers to have more sympathizers," Spurgeon pressed, and nothing in print had greater power to induce that than his wife's narrative. "Read," he insisted, "and let your hearts break, if you will, for the sorrows of those who feed the flock of God, and are in return but scantily fed themselves." Brethren from all denominations had drunk from this fountain and

"many more are pressing forward to be refreshed." ⁷⁵ By the end of 1885 some ⁸⁰,000 books had been given to over ¹²,000 ministers of all denominations.

Other ministries had been added, such as the inclusion of printed single sermons to missionaries and other Christian workers. Monthly issues of The Sword and the Trowel had been given to many a poor minister and a "Pastors' Aid Fund" had distributed £330 to £400 yearly as well as large gifts of clothing to destitute

minister and their families. ⁷⁶ There appeared in 1886 Susannah Spurgeon's personal history of the book fund, Ten Years of my Life in the Service of the Book Fund. The first printing had ²,000 in it and they were all gone in a short time. The idea had been to tell the story and then gradually phase out the high demand on Susannah's time and

depleted energy. "Unfortunately," Spurgeon noted, "it tends to increase a work which we proposed to diminish; let us hope that fresh strength will be given." Its sales, nevertheless, pleased him, and he promoted it by saying that "the volume is tasteful without, and delightful within" for it contained "a wealth of real

poetry written as prose." ⁷⁷ As Spurgeon intimated, Susannah initially felt that the record of ten years would bring to culmination her intention in having established the fund. Her report for 1886 acknowledged how short-sighted such a conclusion was. "When Ten Years of my Life was published, I did not intend to issue any further account of my work." She wiped her pen, shut up the inkstand, closed her eyes, and dropped into a comfortable doze! Soon she realized that she must be up and doing for her "clamorous letters could not be instantly silenced; the wheels of my work went on revolving with their usual quick precision of movement, and I had to follow them, or be caught in the entanglements of neglected duties, and crushed by the weight of a reproachful conscience." The addition of a year of life, the faithfulness of friends in their contributions, and abundance of money, and strength for the task took her through another year of the book fund. ⁷⁸ She

would continue to issue yearly reports, with rare exceptions, until 1902. ⁷⁹ One occasion of a missed report was the winter that she accompanied her husband to Mentone for his last winter of life. In February 1892, the magazine notified the contributors: "Mrs. Spurgeon desires us to say that it will not be possible for her to prepare any Report of the book Funds work this year. If spared she hopes to be able to give an account of her stewardship early in 1893; and she will then send to her subscribers a balance-sheet for the two years during which her work has been necessarily so much in abeyance in consequence of her husband's long and serious illness." Even after his death she was able to fulfill her stated hope that she could resume her much-loved labours. When she returned home she would be "glad then to receive applications for grants, and also contributions to enable her to continue her book-distribution. While she is at

Menton, the Fund must be regarded as closed." ⁸⁰ After twenty years of the book fund and several other benevolent initiatives that flowed from it, Mrs. Spurgeon described her perception of its usefulness employing her oft-used analogy of the lemon tree in her house. "As I lovingly look upon my symbolic tree, every branch and twig and leaf seem emblematic of the various departments of Book Fund service." She wrote of the Fund itself as the "great central stem." From that springs the largest limb almost rivaling the Fund itself in strength and usefulness, the Pastors' Aid Fund. a widely-spreading branch from that limb was the Westwood Clothing Society to help clothe the

families of poor pastors. A sturdy bough bore the inscription, Home Distribution of Sermons, and "an equally-vigorous offshoot dedicated to the Circulation of the Sermons Abroad. " Another twig supported the fruit entitled Foreign Translations of Sermons, the Auxiliary Book Fund and the Sword and Trowel distribution formed separate branches, "while the many thousands of tracts and pamphlets which are circulated by the Fund are well represented by the twigs and leaves which spring from the larger stems." When blossoms appeared but only withered she felt the imperfection of all things on earth. Some hopes never bore fruit and the best of intentions often withered. "Our best services are too often marred by the unfruitfulness of unbelief. The emblem tree fails here because it is of earthly growth; but the God-given work, of which it has for twenty years been the imperfect symbol, has borne much fruit to the glory of the Master, and to the exceeding comfort of His poor servants." ⁸¹

Spurgeon's Reviews

Spurgeon wanted publishers to know that he did not write every review that appeared on the pages of The Sword and the Trowel. "Publishers are rather too much in the habit of quoting remarks made in our Review Department as if they must necessarily be every one the personal production of the editor. Now, we beg to give notice that to quote us from The Sword and the Trowel is fair and right, but to begin with 'Mr. Spurgeon says' is not always truthful. We do write the major part of these notices, and we are responsible for them all, but we could not in propria persona get through so many books, and therefore many of the

reviews are by other hands." ⁸² Sometimes initials mark those by other persons, at other times the style may seem to be distinct from Spurgeon's, and on occasions the nature of the material was such that Spurgeon preferred others to comment on it. "Let it be understood," he explained, "that after making a large reserve for our own perusal, we parcel out the manifold miscellaneous books sent us to specialists, each man an expert, according to our judgment, in his own

department of literature." ⁸³ Frequently he would intersperse his own remarks in a review that was largely done by another. His sense of stewardship, however, for recommending helpful literature, and warning against destructive ideas, meant that whether the content is his first hand or someone else's, he stood by the analysis and recommendation.

Spurgeon observed the difference between quality of literary style and orthodoxy of content. The later always was preferable but a noble blending of the two always was desirable. He himself sought to recognize elegance and genius in style and composition even when he felt compelled to warn against content. The point was made clearly in a book Spurgeon reviewed entitled The Religion of Our Literature, which we mentioned earlier in this chapter. The writer, George M'Cree, examined the theology of several well-known literary figures of England and evaluated the way in which their attractive style could mask their alliance with error. "Few could so well have distinguished between talent and its perversion, genius and its aberrations." Many that lack discernment have, "in reprobating heresy" denied the "ability of its defender" and on the other hand some, in "admiration of originality... have winked at the deadly error which it propagated." M'Cree admired the beauty of the cup but also exposed

with vehemence "the poisonous draught which it conveys to us." ⁸⁴ Just such a contrast Spurgeon saw in the life and convictions of Edward Pusey. In an address entitled To Whom Shall We Go?, a reviewer marked the great ability and the strong religious tone of the address while demolishing the "Babel tower of priesthood." In his reflections on the man and his position,

Spurgeon confessed that Pusey was "one of the greatest of puzzles, — an eminently devout, humble, Christian man, supporting a claim to priesthood

which is in itself unholy, arrogant, and antichristian! Lord what is man!" ⁸⁵ Never a flatterer, Spurgeon's honesty about books often led to a brutality that caused him to issue a warning to publishers against sending him books. He promised to give his honest judgment upon them, but could not enter into a controversy over what he said in a review or even respond to protests. Frankly but courteously he warned, "Those who do not relish our notices of their books should be careful not to send us any more, but we earnestly urge them not to write to us to complain, for it will only be a loss of their time and postage." He did not ask for books; publishers, editors, and authors had their liberty about that. Nor did he promise to review all books sent to him; he used discretion and claimed the "liberty of silence." Often he chose silence over criticism, for criticism would publicize views that he felt were so harmful, or disgusting, that they should not be given even the courtesy of comment. He would tear such

books into small shreds or commit them to the fire, or both. ⁸⁶ Upon taking time and trouble to criticize a book, he had no intention to justify his criticisms to the author in private. No one likes his writing severely handled, he knew, and "each author believes his own publications to be faultless." He could not please all and was sorry to displease anyone. He was well aware that "there are editors who butter and sugar their clients all round, and we recommend thin-skinned writers to send on their compositions to those amiable gentlemen." He had avoided membership of the Mutual Admiration Society and had instead "a very unpleasant way of saying what we think, whether we offend or please." His favorable evaluation had sold whole editions "because the public believe our reviews are honest and discriminating." He did not intend to change, "and

therefore, take notice, ye who want nothing but approbation." ⁸⁷ One publisher certainly regretted the day he sent Spurgeon its prize product for review. He could express a withering kind of outrage when he felt injustice was done in a publication. In reviewing The Heart and its Inmates, Spurgeon pointed out that the engravings, without due acknowledgment, were taken from an old work that originated in Germany and was available in almost any print shop. "We feel bound to denounce such literary larceny as unworthy of a professing Christian." He went on to declare his astonishment that "anyone should copy parts of the engraving, alter them to their disadvantage, and then palm them off as his own. It is as barefaced a proceeding as if a man should

deliver portions of Bunyan's Pilgrim as his own original conception." ⁸⁸ One critic of Spurgeon took the view that he was too kindly disposed toward

books that ought to be criticized severely. Spurgeon viewed this as a novel complaint against his work and assured the critic that many an author thought otherwise. "If the writer we have referred to," Spurgeon proposed, "will only put a volume through the press we will gratify him if we can; if he thinks our knife

is blunt we will borrow a lancet for the occasion." ⁸⁹ Perhaps he would even consent to bring the one word verdict he brought to an author's assertion in The Problem of Evil, speculating that "it has never actually existed," concisely evaluated by Spurgeon, "Rubbish!" ⁹⁰

Novels and Poetry

Spurgeon did not hide his peevishness about certain issues in literature.

Misleading titles vexed him. A promising title by a promising author, Shall We Know One Another? by J. C. Ryle, produced only a short paper on the subject along with a variety of other short essays. Spurgeon had been drawn in looking for a book on such a pleasing subject. Disappointed, he generalized, "We wish this foolish and deceptive way of giving titles would go out of fashion; it is not

truthful." ⁹¹ Spurgeon's titles normally were straightforward, but on occasions he was capable of an intriguing cleverness such as "He who would Please all

Will Lose His Donkey and Be Laughed at for His Pains." ⁹² Also, he disliked novels. Only rarely did he say anything positive about a novel that was submitted to him for review, and then it was loaded with caveats. "The common novels of the day are sorry teachers of morality; they teach a great deal more of immorality. The religious fiction of the day is little better: it is either goody-goody, teaching men and women how to be babies, or else it is

suggestive of doubts which minister weakness to the soul." ⁹³ He felt particular disgust with the attempt to use fiction as a vehicle of Christian truth. He did not object to the sentiments expressed in religious fiction if those sentiments were indeed true, but "to the form in which they appear. Religion needs not the dress of fiction. Christianity always looks best in her own sweet simplicity, and

certainly does not need borrowed plumes." ⁹⁴ In commending a series of biographies, Spurgeon gave a discussion of the disadvantages of novels compared to such edifying truth. "Life under the influence of fiction is becoming more and more untruthful and frivolous," Spurgeon contended. While he had no desire to forbid fiction-writing he would keep it "in due subordination to history and fact." Pepper, salt, and mustard have their place on the table but not as the main course. Just as condiments should not substitute for the substantial part of the meal, so much novel and little solid literature dwarfs the mind and soul. "Character built up on the dreams of novelists cannot be substantial; but minds nourished on the records of noble lives

are far more likely to be made sublime." ⁹⁵ Through the years he made mention of several novels by Emma Jane Worboise, a writer of "multitudinous novels." Emma Jane Worboise served as first editor of The Christian World Magazine, a venture of James Clarke, the entrepreneurial publisher of Spurgeon's nemesis, The Christian World. She was the daughter of an Anglican clergyman, and, though some called her "the novelist of Evangelical Dissent," Julie Melnyk indicates that her

"Evangelicalism was tempered by Broad-Church tolerance." ⁹⁶ Spurgeon was familiar with the novels written by Worboise, and, though he did not approve of the genre of novels, reported positively of her work. In 1866, he gave a brief notice to a book entitled Lost and Found, a "Temperance Tale by the Author of Jane Grey's Resolution." Though no author is given and catalogues have not turned up an attribution, the style of writing, the content, the nature of the characters, and some autobiographical material that forms part of the setting for the book all point to Worboise as the author. Spurgeon, giving vent to his persistent frustration with the medium, wrote, "It may be some organic defect in our mental structure, or it may be our love of reality, but for some reason or another, we had almost as soon be flogged as read a story of this sort." He admitted that it may be the most popular "ever written" but he had "no stomach for the fight; that is to say, we have neither the leisure nor the taste to read works

of fiction, however excellent their drift or admirable their style." ⁹⁷ In 1870 he wrote, "Anything that this talented authoress may write is sure to find a host of readers; we on principle object to all religious novels, though we believe that those penned by the writer of this book are intended to be beneficial to their readers, and they are certainly as little objectionable as any we meet

with." ⁹⁸ Later, in 1873, he gave a notice of her novel Canonbury Holt: A Life's Problem Solved. He wrote simply, "Another religious novel, by a lady eminently

gifted in that direction." ⁹⁹ Spurgeon disliked religious novels with greater zeal than just plain meaningless novels, but was informed that Worboise was one of the best at her craft and that Emilia's Inheritance was one of her best. The best Spurgeon can do under the circumstance is to issue another warning against spending any time with a novel, but if they cannot be content without reading

fiction, Worboise might "give them better pabulum than most writers." ¹⁰⁰ Poetry rarely made the list of commendation for Spurgeon. "The cross and burden of our reviewing lies in the poetical department," he confessed. "We can never please the authors, and the authors do not often please us." When he pondered why they persisted, and determined that it could not be for profit, he thought that it must be because they thought that they bestow pleasure; Spurgeon wanted to relieve them of that misperception. "If we never saw another fresh book of verse while dwelling in this 'vale of tears,' we could manage to subsist upon the old ones, and should not 'bedew our pillow with the briny drops,' as one of our friends would put it, though salt in dew would be a remarkable

novelty." ¹⁰¹ Spurgeon told the anecdote about the historian Lord Macaulay who supposedly said that prize sheep were good for nothing but to make tallow

candles, and prize poems were only fit to light them with. Though he promised not to light candles with them, Spurgeon sighed that "we are weary of verse both rhymed and blank, and cannot read more that a few pages of any form of poem."

102 He received books of poems and most often rued the experience and warned his poetry writers to throw them in the trash before they sent them to him because it would save him the trouble of doing it. The effort to write poetry is "a weakness of many noble minds, and of a few ignoble ones also. Our soul is

burdened with the poor try that is daily sent to us." ¹⁰³ The principle of poetry Spurgeon adored and viewed it as one of the most sublime, and rarest, gifts of God; the delusion of so many, that they above others were favored with this rare jewel ("the weakness of many noble minds"), evoked in him an incredulous aggravation. As the nomenclature of "Word" points to Jesus Himself, Spurgeon knew that communication could move from the lowest and most humble contexts to the infinitely glorious. Each person must discover with a sense of humility and reverence the most appropriate sphere for the use of his normal talents of word. Each person also had a range of communication and must with wisdom explore and exploit its usefulness in appropriate contexts.

Only rarely did Spurgeon aspire to poetry and normally that was in private correspondence with his wife or on special occasions in hymns for his church.

The full range of language was legitimate, but each person's gift must be guarded and not trampled upon by those that want it but don't have it. The common people of broad experience were excellent at proverbs, and Spurgeon collected, enjoyed, and commented on thousands of them. Though he mourned over most attempts at poetry, puns, like proverbs, could flow with ease from the common folk. They probed some interesting characteristics of language in manifesting a kind of internal rhythm and allowed the poetic propensity of Everyman a legitimate outlet—at least he loved to make them. He was criticized early in his ministry for the habit of making puns in the pulpit, even at serious moments in the sermon. He introduced a review written from the standpoint of a family cat with a clever play on the word. "'Only a Cat,' but a wonderfully clever cat to write a catalogue of the catastrophe which happened unto it. We understand cats far better than we did before Tom Blackman catered for us.

Having a catarrh, though not a cata-baptist, we have so well studied this amusing book that we are almost ready to be catechized upon, and to give categorical

replies." ¹⁰⁴ When asked to make a comment on a particular kind of stationery, Spurgeon objected that he did not judge articles "other than literary; but as these

are letter-ary, we will for once give an opinion." ¹⁰⁵ In concluding the review of a book by J. Tongue, Spurgeon commented, "Our author is not a 'tongue of

fire.'" ¹⁰⁶ Spurgeon could do even worse than that, and have fun doing it.

But to ask people to pay for such trivialitites under the guise of supporting an artist presented a moral dilemma. After a mild commendation of some verse, Spurgeon added, "Whether they are worth the price charged for them we hesitate to say; but they are much better than some costlier and more pretentious volumes

it has been our sad penance to review." ¹⁰⁷ Spurgeon found himself in an awkward position with one book of poetry and demonstrated graceful discretion in his note: "These poems are sent us for review; but we have no heart for such cruel work when we find that the writer is a blind man, and that friends have written out his verses, and aided him in preparing them for the press." Spurgeon recommended that the same kind friends should, for love's sake, sell the books

among their own acquaintances. ¹⁰⁸ Another anecdote designed to discourage poetry-senders referenced an Assyrian archaeological dig that uncovered a poem written on tile, and adjacent was a club and part of a human skull. Spurgeon promised not to keep clubs around so as to spare his skull when sent books of poetry but said, "We are tried up to the boiling point by the poetic coals which are heaped upon us." If poets did not find their poetry reviewed they should send him thanks rather than complaints for avoiding what certainly would have been a painful experience had he chosen to expose their "precious compositions." They should expect no more because Spurgeon never would "wittingly entice our readers into the purchase of a book which is not worth buying." Spurgeon's table groaned with Tennysons and Cowpers in an embryonic condition, and if "they would be so good as to take offence, and never send us another specimen of their wares, we

would bless them in our heart of hearts." ¹⁰⁹ Only his love for Christ-centered gospel orthodoxy transcended his disdain for lame attempts at poetry. It would have been better, in his opinion if Trissine, the inventor of blank verse, had "never lived at all." To the pretenders at poetry he warned against their stringing "long lines of nonsense, with such an absence of all thought, that you are altogether unbearable." Write if they must and as much as they can, for it is good for the paper trade, and might be good for them, but "with the utmost vehemence of our outraged nature, we entreat him not to send his manuscripts to us," for thieves might inadvertently steal such precious treasures, or rats might eat them, or the immoderate cleaning habits of Mary might whisk them away, or the fireplace might need fuel, a picture of which he included using this phrase as a circumlocution, "or they might even drop into the

receptacle below." ¹¹⁰ To maintain his principle of general hostility toward contemporary efforts at

poetry, Spurgeon often introduced a positive review with a sober warning. When digging into The Poetical Works of Thomas Cooper, Spurgeon told the story of Cardinal de Retz who requested Menage to give him a few lessons on poetry in order that he might be a better judge of the mass of verses brought to him every day. Menage responded that it would be impossible to lead him to master the rudiments of criticism without occupying too much of his time, so he shared a virtually fail-proof technique. He advised him to "look over the first page or two, and then to exclaim, 'Sad stuff! Wretched poetaster!! Miserable verses!!!' and

ninety-nine times in a hundred you will be sure you are right." ¹¹¹ Spurgeon went on to give more than three full columns to Cooper largely because of his overall reputation as standing very high in "the hierarchy of intellect" and because the "grace of God has softened the stern man, and made him gentle as a child." Even the earlier days of steely protest and stirring public speaking as a chartist and honest and yearning skepticism Spurgeon viewed him as far superior to the contemporary expressions of worker discontent and religious doubt. When Cooper reluctantly allowed an earlier poem, "The Purgatory of Suicides," to be reprinted, a poem Spurgeon described as "an interesting history of a soul in the dark pining for the light," Cooper insisted on a preface to set the production in context: "I earnestly beg to have it remembered that he who so irreverently expressed his skeptical thoughts and feelings in the gaol more than thirty years ago, has, for the last twenty years, been traversing the entire length and breadth of Great Britain, devoting his whole life to preaching, lecturing, and writing, in explication and defence of the Evidences of Christianity, and purposes, by divine help, to continue his labour of duty to the end of his earthly life." Both his skepticism and his Chartism were handled nobly in poetry, Spurgeon argued, and the latter has been vindicated and the former cured. In the right places he struck his blows, always yielding a twoedged sword. He would do more good at lecturing than writing poetry, Spurgeon advised, though he did well at both. Some of his poetry fell rather flat, but verses dispersed throughout the whole were "of the finest order." "Still we do not think," Spurgeon contextualized, "it will ever be widely popular, nor that Cooper

will outshine Cowper." ¹¹² In the hands of William Cowper, however, even the commonplace took on transcendent qualities. "The most trifling event becomes charming, and the smallest gossip blossoms into something fascinating." Perhaps the talent and religious fervor of Cowper made any competition fade and seem even unworthy of the effort in Spurgeon's mind, for even in his correspondence, "The simplest letter in the whole selection bears the mark of poetic genius; the language and

style are so vivacious and pleasing that you feel that no ordinary pen has been at work for you." It was not only the poetic quality that drew Spurgeon to Cowper, but the point of view from which Cowper viewed all things. More than books on religious topics, Spurgeon asked for books on common subjects viewed by a mind saturated with the religious perspective. "A leisure hour cannot be more interestingly spent than in seeing the manners and customs of a hundred years ago displayed to the life by one who saw them from the standpoint of a poet and

a Christian." ¹¹³ When presented, however, with something that sustained both poetic quality and good instruction, Spurgeon would recommend it. "Amid mountains of rubbish," he confessed, "we now and then find a jewel." Dr. Macduff wrote a poem that Spurgeon liked, earning a mild accolade as a "pleasing versifier, and though he is by no means a great poet, he puts the grandest truths into striking

words, and frequently lets fall an expression worthy to live." ¹¹⁴ Ray Palmer had the fortune to catch Spurgeon on a good day with his Voices of Hope and Gladness. The writer of "My Faith Looks up to Thee," Palmer tapped into Spurgeon's reservoir of hope. "We reckoned not merely upon poetical beauty, but spiritual quickening therein," Spurgeon noted, "nor have we been disappointed." The poems "throb with spiritual life," put in language that is "forceful and chaste." The style and diction "make their power and beauty felt."

The binding, paper, printing, and illustrations ("charming woodcuts"), always important for Spurgeon, were excellent, and should command for the book a

large sale. ¹¹⁵ On the other hand, when he reviewed Lyman Abbott's comments on Matthew and Mark, he led off the review with "We do not admire the American style of this book. The frontispiece is abominable, and the letterpress ugly." Abbott's comments themselves, according to Spurgeon, were only mediocre.

Also Elizabeth Prentiss gained a reluctant positive word from Spurgeon.

Prentiss was the daughter of Edward Payson, a noted New England minister. Her name was not noted, only that she was the author of Stepping Heavenward. She also had written some charming children's works and the hymn "More Love to Thee." Her husband also was a minister of the gospel and their lives had had the steady hand of purifying providence on them. Spurgeon could not have been familiar with these facts or he would not have been quite so reluctant to investigate the book. When her volume, Religious Poems, first arrived he exclaimed, "Poetry again!" He continued that this "grunt" rose as naturally as that of a working man that says, "Cold mutton again!" and was provoked into a lengthy discourse about the ills of poetry and the dangers of reviewing works of

any sort that he did not like. Many books he simply laid aside and then would receive other copies. To review them would only invoke rage from the authors; and Spurgeon had no wish to hurt anyone, nor to be hurt, and, therefore, he quietly forgot to review such works. Having vented himself thus, he was ready to consider the Religious Poems in an unbiased frame and found that they were "not so very bad after all." They were, in fact, "endurable" and could be read with a "degree of pleasure." "We are thawing," he recognized, and went so far as to say that "we have read many verses which are a great deal worse than these."

Another elevation of tone brought him to say that "some of them are really good." Gradually shedding his visceral distaste for new efforts at poesy, he now admitted, "The spirit and the doctrine are all we could desire, and the versification is correct and pleasing." Then in an effort to curb his growing enthusiasm, Spurgeon slowed down gently with the appeal, "That is no more than we are bound to say, and considering our state of mind, it is a good deal."

Then in a further apologia for his blunt dislike for being imposed upon by another book of poetry he stated, "Cover a man with rhyme ants and see if they do not make him rather irritable." He condescended to include one of Prentiss' hymns, calling it a "very pretty bit," at the end of the review but not before playing the martyr for his efforts. "We are all right again after reading it, but we hope our readers will be grateful to us for undergoing such toils and dangers among the poets, and will appreciate any spoils with which we can enrich them."

116

Another lament about poetry followed by a positive review came when he received The Morning Song, a Ninefold Praise of Love. Normally he found books of poetry requiring him to "traverse morasses of poetry, as flat as pancakes, and as monotonous as desert sands." This work, however, put him in a "land full of beauty, a land of hills, and valleys, and brooks of water." The verse "refreshed and exhilarated" him and he predicted that the writer, John Watkins Pitchford, would provide a minstrelsy yet to be heard in the world. Particularly important to Spurgeon was the combination, necessary in a good poet, of an

observant naturalist and a devout heart. ¹¹⁷ Pitchford published several other books on themes of redemption and gained a moderately enthusiastic following for his work. Lines from the book reviewed by Spurgeon include these concerning Christ's suffering in book seven, "The Song of Love's Triumph."

Pitchford, in one stanza pictured Christ's contemplation of his death in

Gethsemane, and included these lines:

And all were His. For in that awful hour

He bore the heavy load of human grief,

And all the guilt of man, sin's bitter pangs,

Rebukes of conscience, stern remorse, whose fang

Gnaws out the heart of life; the wrestlings, doubts,

And haunting fears that dog the sinner's steps,

And on the threshold of eternity

Hold him in grip;...

The blood piacular from every pore,

As by ten thousand agonies drawn forth,

Rushed as anticipating the rude nails,

And vengeful spear; and the Redeemer rose

Clothed in the vesture of His sacred blood.

Alone the wine-press of God's wrath He trod,

Disputing to the utterance with these,

Our bitter foes. Yet would I sing, O Christ,

Thy love triumphant over every pang;

Most glorious theme to chant the praises high

Of the victorious love that trod on death. 118

He wanted to return to the volume when he could "set apart an hour or two for

deliberate reading." ¹¹⁹ Spurgeon revealed his true heart toward the poetic spirit in his comments on Ingleside and Wayside Musings by I. R. Vernon. Though not rhyme, the prose was so elegant that it embodied the spirit that Spurgeon looked for in poetry. "Truest poetry is often found where no rhymes jingle, and no measured feet restrain the flow of thought." Though Vernon's book was written in prose fashion, Spurgeon found it to be "pure unalloyed poetry." The author had a "quick, but far seeing eye, and a mind which muses deeply and expresses itself by the use of a facile pen." His admiration of Vernon is significant because of the power of his literary treatment of "There shall be no more Sea." Spurgeon adopted Vernon's poetic interpretation. Vernon lamented the prospect of losing the ocean with its "semi-transparent curves, crisping into silver-white" and its "crash of billows, and heave of swells," its "delicious murmur" as well as its "shrill roar of shallow waters searching every pebble as they leave the rattling beach." He took it as a figure meaning "no hindrance any more between the intercommunion of nations, that there shall be no separation of peoples any more. Ay, further, that the reserve which impassably parts here mind from mind, and soul from soul, shall then flee away, and the isolation which now in kindling

moments we deplore and strive against, may then be forever past." ¹²⁰ In Spurgeon's evening comments for December ¹⁹, he took that text as his theme. He began with the same lamentation that Vernon had: "Scarcely could we rejoice at the thought of losing the glorious old ocean: the new heavens and the new earth are none the fairer to our imagination, if, indeed, literally there is

to be no great and wide sea, with its gleaming waves and shelly shores." He also used language very similar to Vernon's when he called to mind its "glassy smoothness and its mountainous billows, its gentle murmurs and its tumultuous roarings." "A real physical world," which he believed the new heavens and the new earth to be, "without a sea it is mournful to imagine." It would be a bare iron ring "without the sapphire which made it precious." No, he believed it to be a metaphor, holding the spiritual meaning of "no division —the sea separates nations and sunders peoples from each other." The world to come shall have no barriers but only "unbroken fellowship for all the redeemed family." In this sense there shall be no more sea. Vernon wrote of the "isolation which now in kindling moments we deplore and strive against" as for ever in the past.

Spurgeon concurred that the image of the sea referred to the constant inconstancy of the earthly state that would give way to the "heavenly state [where] all mournful change shall be unknown, and with it all fear of storm to wreck our hopes and drown our joys." Poetic prose that had the power to lift the mind to a new literary consideration of divine revelation pleased Spurgeon and brought him not only aesthetic joy but interpretive insight into the nature of revealed truth.

The fact that he relented from time to time and gave commendations must not mislead the reader, however, for Spurgeon kept up his promises to dump poetry in the waste basket. "Poetical effusions are for the most part prosy delusions," he maintained, hoping that his whining about the burden of reading such trash would serve as sufficient warning to wean the "minor poet from rhyming, and inspire him with love to his drapery, grocery, carpentry, or bakery!" The retail trade, Spurgeon advised, is far more useful than wholesale poetizing. Guessing at dates of prophecy and writing verse were as unprofitable as getting blood out of gate-posts. "Trespassers beware," he chided; "A waste basket is kept on the premises." ¹²¹

Books of General Interest

Spurgeon sought constantly to expand his own appreciation of all that God's world held as a testimony to the manifestation of his glory in his creation and in the propensity of those made in God's image to match that creative drive. He demonstrated, therefore, a breadth of appreciation for books that expanded the mind with the beauty as well as the objective data uncovered through science, exploration, and art. He recommended these kinds of books to his readers with less frequency than books on theology, biblical studies, spirituality, and Christian biography, but some time given to this genre would be well spent and beneficial to the soul. A book on Recent Polar Voyages kept Spurgeon up into the "small hours" investigating all the vivid and numerous illustrations to find out what the pictures meant. "We can scarcely remember to have seen a book so

interesting in itself, and so lavishly embellished with first-class engravings." ¹²² Spurgeon said that the Home Naturalist was "worthy of all praise." It was not for youths that longed for anecdotes and adventure stories but for those interested in some earnest and energetic work. One of the lessons gave plans for building a terrarium along with suggestions for populating it with lizards, newt, frogs, and snakes. Spotted salamanders seemed just right also and Spurgeon was sure that they would make delightful pets. The snakes, however, were a bit bold

and Spurgeon did not think that he would set up a terrarium. ¹²³ A book about dogs caught his attention as being worthy of a late Christmas present, but said that "It will be in season even as late as the dog-days." Dogs, he knew, and he saw confirmed in this book, are "no more perfect than men are, and they are often very like their masters in their vices." They deserve to be

treated kindly, tenderly, and all that their "best friends can say of them." ¹²⁴ He recommended a book on coal as instructive upon the "fuel which the Lord has stored away in the cellars of the earth for his favoured creature man." It told the history of coal formation, coal extraction, horrendous explosions, and mines flooding with water. The collier had a hard and dangerous life and this book consisted of the "best coals only." He recommended it strongly to young people, not only for education, but to make them grateful that they were not diggers of

black diamonds. ¹²⁵ He commended a guide book to museums and galleries of Rome to aid visitors to that city. Far different than a mere guide book developed by the trade for quick sale, this was a "chatty, masterly production of a writer of ability and taste." A book of solid instruction that possessed all the charm of the best fiction told the stories of famous explorers like Marco Polo, Vasco de Gama,

Columbus, and others. These stories "stir the blood, stiffen the upper lip, and

give force to character." He promoted it as "invaluable for young people." ¹²⁶ Spurgeon had a compelling interest in the subject of slavery and was naturally drawn, therefore, to The Life and Times of Frederick Douglas from 1817 to 1882. Written by Douglas himself, who at twenty-one, had managed to escape to the free states and had become a lecturer on slavery advocating abolition, the book gave a "vivid picture of slavery... free from that questionable sensationalism in which American fiction-writers have indulged when treating of this subject." Spurgeon considered the book a "triumphant vindication of the cause of the slave" and a corrective to the manifesto of Jefferson Davis that attempted a vindication of "himself and of his fellow conspirators against freedom and right." The work by Davis "deservedly lies unread on the booksellers' shelves" while Douglas' will never suffer that fate. ¹²⁷

Reviewing Children's Literature

Remembering the fascination of books, pictures, adventures, and people that waited for "the child" at Stambourne to peer into Fox's Book of Martyrs and Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, Spurgeon was eager to evaluate and recommend to parents, or to the children themselves, books that would inflame their imagination with the wonder of adventure, the fascination of the world of nature, and the commendation of virtuous heroism. Books! Children must have books that would entice them with learning, and with the power of words, and would give them desires to know all that God had made and that would make them willing to risk all for a good cause, that is, the glory of God and the sake of truth.

He felt rage at the "vile literature which certain wretched publishers prepare for boys." His desire was to produce as well as promote books that "catch the eye of youth, in order to inculcate good morals." Were it within his power he would have the "concoctors and vendors of poisonous trash for children treated as felons." The "wholesome cat" would suit them, in his opinion, for they are "more wicked than those who commit assaults upon the highway; garrotters only inflict bodily injury, but these harpies poison the soul." The best way to strike them a blow, given their legal status, was to "print cheaper and better things, and

cut them out in their own market." ¹²⁸ He exulted in a book, Facts and Phases of Animal Life, and the Claims of Animals to Humane Treatment, that brought instruction and helped build up the mind with knowledge. Mere stories "puff up the soul... and teach it nothing."

Spurgeon considered this book as wheat among the chaff, the kind of which "there cannot be too many." He himself had derived great pleasure in going through it page by page "for our own personal delectation." It cannot detract from its worth that it teaches "humanity to animals while it amuses the youthful

reader." ¹²⁹ Perhaps not with equal vehemence, but with sincere distaste, Spurgeon disliked stories of unrealistic goodness. Stories about "miraculously good boys without shoes and stockings", who talk better than saints or angels, were far too many. However touching a dozen or so of such impossible narratives might be,

he was "growing hardened by the repetition of them for the hundredth time." ¹³⁰ He had seen too much of the stultifying effects of poverty and sin on real boys to be impressed with indefensible fantasy posing as encouragement. Quite another matter were the stories printed in Kind Words, which had the right tone and moral, but were almost as "sensational as those of the 'The Bloody Hand' or 'Jack Sheppard' type." Boys like to read them and let a boy get into one of the stories "and he will never be content till he has got through it." Spurgeon had

frank cautions about sensational literature for the young, "but since the boys of England will read sensational stories, it is a good and lawful thing to provide them with such as are morally wholesome, so that they may not be ruined by the abominations of the sensual press." It is not a matter of what we prefer, Spurgeon admitted, but of what the boys prefer and "how far we can gratify their

tastes, and at the same time guard their morals." ¹³¹ In late 1870 he reviewed a series of six volumes, that he recommended as "quite a little library for Tom and Maggie, and so beautifully bound, too." The whole six would be a "glorious Christmas-box." Giving one "would be sure to make eyes flitter, and little hearts rejoice." He supposed the child might ask, "Mr. Editor, have you honestly read all these six books through?" He would answer, "No, Maggie, I have not, but I feel sure you will, if papa buys them for you." How did he know that they would be good all the way through? "When I get a little taste of a cheese I know whether my friends will like it, and having

poked my book-taster into these, I think they will suit you and Tom." ¹³² In January 1874 he recommended several children's books, one of which had seven morals "all connected with total abstinence." He was sure it would find interested readers "though it certainly does not fascinate us." Morgan and Scott published Frank, the Record of a Happy Life that Spurgeon found to be "more spiritual than the preceding books" and like to be very useful, "if boys can be induced to read it." Concerning Florrie Ross, or the Voice of the Snowdrops Spurgeon had a decided opinion about the artwork at the front, that he called a "hideous scratch for a frontispiece." A little girl says, "Look Murphy, are not these pretty?' Spurgeon replied on behalf of Murphy, "No, they are dreadfully ugly, and so are you, and so am I." Pull out the frontispiece, Spurgeon snarled,

and the book is commendable. ¹³³ Special attention must be given to boys, Spurgeon consistently argued, and literature must mix real adventure, courage, valor, mental challenge, and solid instruction. The Boy's Own Annual exceeded his expectations. Far superior to other boys' magazines it "contains a wealth of interesting stories tales, incidents, pictures, riddles, jokes, and all else which can delight the soul of a boy. If our young Englanders do not prefer this paper to the penny dreadful they are downright dolts, and deserve to be trounced." The Annual outparleyed Peter Parley, and all the other "Boys' Own Books" are "thrown into the cold shade."

134

He loved Once Upon a Time, or, the Boy's Book of Adventures. These surely reminded him of the days of free roaming and the thrill of observation that made his childhood a constant adventure. "Adventures indeed, and plenty of them," he exulted—"lost on the Alps, captures by brigands, attacks of robbers, and perils

of Indians, in a French prison, on a rock:—we have, in fact, such a choice of adventures that every youth's heart should be more than satisfied." If getting a boy to read was a worthy goal of a book then he scarcely knew of one more likely to succeed. Another book for boys not only had great adventure but would etch geography indelibly on the boy's mind. Frank Powderhorn was a book about Indians and Spaniards in South America and the challenges of the terrain, animals, plants, and bugs that made everyday life a challenge. A boy will pick up geography and never forget it. Spurgeon confessed that that book did not

tempt him to emigrate to Argentina:

In insect life this land is rife,

With bugs the fields are swarming;

Big spiders run beneath the sun,

Whose bite is most alarming!

We've large supplies of blist'ring flies,

In this delightful region;

Locusts and ants devour our plants,

For here their name is legion.

Of scorpions, too, we have a few,

Black venomous, and glistening;

I might say more upon this score

If you had the time for listening. 135

Sermons for children, an essential but special art in Spurgeon's opinion, were more difficult to produce. When a heterodox magazine disliked Sermons to Children by John Gregg, Bishop of Dublin, Spurgeon expected himself to find real interest in reading them. They were not pleasant reading, however, for a certain roughness pervaded them. That style may be "especially attractive to Irish children," Spurgeon surmised, "but we scarcely think that English ones would be fascinated thereby." He was not. ¹³⁶

Good Biography

Spurgeon called Boswell's Life of Johnson "a stupid book and yet the very

model for a biographer." ¹³⁷ He disliked biographies that were just collected incidents with no interpretation. Such a writer did not know the difference between a pile of bricks and a mansion. In reviewing a biography of Philip P.

Bliss, Spurgeon found nothing striking either in the matter or the style of the memoir giving rise to his comment, "Writers of readable biographies would

appear to be more scarce than the materials to work upon." ¹³⁸ When Thomas Binney died, Spurgeon remarked: "Fortunately for his own fame, Mr. Binney has not fallen into the hands of a regular biography writer, or he would have been buried in a huge mound of his own letters badly arranged, huge lumbering sentences of bombast, and a vast aggregation of the opinions of nobodies about

him." ¹³⁹ A biography of William Huntington, however, that was little more than that, gained his attention. "A chatty, gossipy book upon one who had, and still has, both ardent friends and fierce detractors," he called it. Though the author filled it with incidents of the most common place order, it still was worthy of a full reading because of the prominence of the subject and the first nature of the compilation of original anecdotes, letters, and remarks. Overall, Huntington's

reputation suffered with Spurgeon as he read this "impartial compilation." ¹⁴⁰ He was glad that a readable biography of William Carey had been written that was "solid, accurate, and profound," as well as "gracious, appreciative and clear." Such a book George Smith had provided to help overcome the book on Carey by Eustace Carey. Spurgeon erroneously called the nephew Carey's son.

About that work he fumed, "William Carey has at last arisen from the grave into which his son Eustace cast his memory. That many-adjectived worthy piled a vast heap of letters over his father's coffin, and called it a 'biography.' Never was so deadly a 'life' ever presented to the public." Smith's volume, however, made one warm to the greatness of Carey while setting some of the conflicts of

his life in an understandable context. ¹⁴¹ John Treadwell's biography of Luther prompted Spurgeon to admit, "We could read fifty lives of him without feeling that the subject had been compassed, much less exhausted." Such abundant material could only arise from a never-resting man—a "great, earnest, forceful man, who never wasted five minutes in trying to stop mouse-holes with cheese." The publishers had done their task admirably to give "in change for half a crown this elegant, well-printed

essay upon one of the greatest of men." ¹⁴² The 400th anniversary of Luther's birth in 1483 brought about several treatments of different aspects of Luther's

life, theology, and contribution. For its popular appeal, Spurgeon liked Luther Anecdotes: Memorable Sayings and Doings of Martin Luther. The anecdotes were "most useful and seasonable at this moment" and would find many readers

"who would never wade through a biography." ¹⁴³ He also commended his friend G. H. Pike for his selection of "many interesting anecdotes, facts, and remarks concerning Luther and the Reformation" and several other books giving attention to the pivotal influence of Luther in the recovery of the gospel. After gaining latitude for judgment through engaging such a large number of Luther books, he confirmed Treadwell's as "perhaps superior to any of the Luther

books. It is worthy of a careful reading." ¹⁴⁴ The 400th anniversary of the death of Wycliffe brought about several biographies. One by Emily Holt he called, "The best popular life of Wycliffe which has yet come under our eye." He particularly commended her flowing style and her gracious spirit, adding: "It is a great pleasure to read anything which she writes, and this is one of the very best of her productions. Long may it

be ere her inkstand is dry and her pen ceases to move at her will." ¹⁴⁵ All reminders, especially those well-written and beautifully bound, of thoughtful, doctrinally-sound resistance to the tyranny of Rome were sure to receive commendation from Spurgeon.

A good reminder of the stately heroism of John Knox, "the greatest of Scotchmen," would inevitably draw a positive pronouncement from Spurgeon.

Mary Queen of Scots was an "ill-mannered" queen, playing "the vixen as best her furious feebleness permitted her," whereas the hero Knox conducted himself as a "calm father with a peevish, passionate child." Knox was no "trimmer" but rather a "god-like hero." Scotland, indeed any country, could benefit from such a

man. ¹⁴⁶ Another Scot, Robert Murray McCheyne, had been printed in Spurgeon's magazine through his sermon abstracts on more than a dozen occasions. When an abridgement of his Memoir and Remains was published Spurgeon welcomed it heartily, but inserted an immediate caveat that should it keep anyone from the full work, the event should be regretted: "We found it not only a means of grace many years ago to read McCheyne's life, but a whole host of means of grace in one." He could remember no other book that was "so refreshing and sanctifying to our soul." He trusted readers of the abridged version would not have an

abridgement of the blessing. ¹⁴⁷ His propensity against both poetry and the romantics found some balancing ballast in a biography of William Wordsworth by A. J. Symington. As far as Wordsworth was concerned, Spurgeon concluded from the read that

Wordsworth's strength was "in his having sympathy with the spirit which is embodied in visible things, and in his perception of the moral teaching of all things that are." Spurgeon's own love for nature and his commitment to see

sermons in virtually every natural phenomenon ¹⁴⁸ made him more friendly toward and grateful for this insight than Wordsworth's mystical intuitism could have prompted in itself. Spurgeon's admiration for Symington probably helped Wordsworth's cause for Spurgeon commented: "It is not easy to conceive how Mr. Symington can know so much about so many people, but he writes as one who understands his subject, and is no mere sketcher whose hurried outline is as

likely to be a caricature as a portrait." ¹⁴⁹ George Needham, an American evangelist, wrote a biography of Spurgeon in 1882. Spurgeon could not have been happy with it as a true biography, for it proceeded precisely along lines that Spurgeon detested in biographical writing. It seems, however, Spurgeon decided to be gentle with one that had showed him such "loving esteem." He did comment that nothing original had been done. It was made up of Spurgeon's sermons, books, speeches, and magazines, mainly his own words cleverly arranged and made into a consecutive narrative. "We are amazed," he confessed, "that so great a tome can be compiled from our sayings and doings." If the effect should be helpful, then he could not regret having been

so "bigly biographed during life." ¹⁵⁰ In 1870 Luke Tyerman released his three volume biography of John Wesley, entitled The Life and Times of John Wesley. Spurgeon was in a dilemma. The volume was much too important to be dismissed with a brief notice, or to be delayed a month for a longer review. Spurgeon believed that it would "become the standard book on the subject." He considered it "real history," for, "mirabile dictum for a Wesleyan," Tyerman wrote impartially and did not hesitate "to censure and even to condemn where truth demands it." Spurgeon called Tyerman's work a "worthy commencement." Spurgeon could not hide his personal admiration for Wesley, believing that few men excelled him. His contributions would not fade but even coming generations would call him blessed. "But he was mortal, and therefore erring; full of heavenly treasure, and therefore earthen, for such vessels doth the Lord make the depositories of his

wealth of grace to the sons on men." ¹⁵¹ When a more reverential treatment of Wesley appeared Spurgeon remarked, "It was not to be expected that our Methodist friends would rest content with Mr. Tyerman's sternly faithful, and unceremoniously severe, life of their leader."

Spurgeon admitted that Tyerman's "fidelity was a bit overdone," but reiterated that "Tyerman's volumes will long remain a singular monument of his industry

and rigid honesty; and whatever emendations are proposed in them had need be

well substantiated, for Tyerman is a masterly dealer in facts." ¹⁵² J. B. Wakely compiled two books by accumulating anecdotes of Whitefield on the one hand and the Wesleys on the other. Spurgeon was surprisingly positive.

He normally made short work of piles of anecdotes posing as a biography but these he found instructive, particularly in light of the edifying character of all the lives involved. About Wesley, Spurgeon exclaimed, "What a miracle of consecrated ministry was this man!" He kept not only a diary but an horary, living not merely by the day but "by the quarter of an hour." "In the mere matter of time," Spurgeon noted with a degree of irony, "he lived twice as much as most men, and though he had the gout, no man ever did so much as he did in the

same space of time." ¹⁵³ Spurgeon loved Christian workers that crammed their lives full of activity for God's glory.

A book on Whitefield consisted of twice-told tales but Spurgeon still found them challenging and spiritually invigorating, having "heard the trumpet peal, and felt the strong desire to rush into the battle." "Our model," Spurgeon confessed, "if we may have such a thing in due subordination to our Lord, is George Whitefield, but with unequal footsteps must we follow in his glorious

path." ¹⁵⁴ The republication of J. R. Andrews biography of Whitefield he was "right glad to see that what cost us five shillings can now be had for sixpence."

If every minister in the three kingdoms had the biography, "It would set the church ablaze." Some wealthy man, Spurgeon suggested, should see to it that

every manse in the United Kingdom possessed a copy. ¹⁵⁵ Edward Leach contributed scores of articles to The Sword and the Trowel, and had the loyalty of Spurgeon. When Leach simulated a biography of a colorful and well-known London evangelist, Spurgeon found the tension between friendship and honest evaluation of literary worth a test of his skills. Incidents in the Life of Edward Wright gave Spurgeon the opportunity to commend two worthy servants of the gospel and promote a standard of credibility in literature at the same time. One line in the review shows Spurgeon's ability to warn while at the same time commend where appropriate. "If we did not know Mr. Wright, far better recognized as Ned Wright, we should doubt the actuality of many of the marvels of wickedness here detailed." He would not be surprised "if some of the statements should be challenged, for we, with all but unbounded faith in author and hero, are compelled here and there to question their literal accuracy."

At the same time Spurgeon called Wright a "wonder of grace" and "one of the most powerful instrumentalities now employed by God on the south side of the Thames." Spurgeon had for him the "deepest regard and the highest admiration"

and was sure that the book would command a large sale. ¹⁵⁶ Spurgeon never advocated the sacrifice of style for the sake of an excellent subject. He would be predisposed to love any information about the famous Irish evangelist, Thomas Toye, a "famous winner of souls," known in his day for "holy ardour, mixed with a dash of eccentricity," a man "widely known and heartily beloved." The author of the book Brief Memorials of the late Rev. Thomas Toye, Belfast was his widow. Spurgeon acknowledged that it was "lovingly done" but she was "evidently a novice at book-writing." Toye deserved a "biographer of the most skilful and accomplished character." He hoped that Mrs. Toye's "affectionate tribute" would be but the precursor of a fuller memoir. "There must have been enough of incident and of racy speech in connection with Mr. Toye to have made him a choice subject for the pen of a ready writer." Obviously, Spurgeon encountered a disappointing work about a compelling subject.

He had an insurmountable resistance to mere "tale-books." Though he glanced over some he did not peruse any of them, and confessed frankly that "we would sooner break stones." But folks loved religious fictions and he did his best to let them know which of them were well-intentioned. He did not advise reading them to any great extent. "A little pastry may be all very well (our slow digestion suggests that the less the better), but to live upon it would be to generate dyspepsia and all sorts of ills; even so, an interesting story now-and-again may be a relief and a pleasure, but a constant course of such reading must injure both mind and heart." From the quantity of fiction that he received he felt that perusal

needed no encouraging, but "a little repression might be healthy." ¹⁵⁷ Spurgeon's hatred of sacramentalism, formalism, and officialism made him look upon Quaker life in positive ways. A book about Stephen Grellet, the French Quaker, allowed him to make a point about the strength of Quaker life.

He liked the book thoroughly, both from the standpoint of subject and author. "With much spiritual edification we have studied Mr. Guest's version of this saintly man's story." He called on readers to buy and read it "through and through." The theological point driven home is "that the work of conversion and sanctification is the standing proof of the gospel, and that holy lives are the best

answers to infidel objections." ¹⁵⁸ In 1879, Spurgeon recommended the History of the Reformation in Germany and Switzerland by K. R. Hagenbach with the personal note, "We have been greatly charmed with it." It had all the interest of "light reading" and yet was "solidly instructive." He inserted a section from Hagenbach illustrating the heights of Luther's courage. Hagenbach was not half so cloudy as most of his

brethren and "infinitely more interesting." ¹⁵⁹ Spurgeon's friend Paxton Hood published a biography of Oliver Cromwell that Spurgeon liked very much. Cromwell was not handled gently, but honestly, and the result was one in which the true praiseworthiness of Cromwell emerged.

Spurgeon did not commend war but did commend genuine heroism and wished that the present age might see Cromwell's type of religion and manliness once again that "we might see its power under more genial circumstances than those of civil war." Many that boast in Cromwell nevertheless deride his Calvinistic faith, but Spurgeon asserted that they would never produce such heroes with their modern notions. "God and his sovereignty, the covenant and its certainty, grace and its glory, predestination and its infallibility, the word of God and its authority—these must come back if England is to see Cromwellians among her

sons." ¹⁶⁰

Spurgeon reviewed and quoted from the book as published by T. Nelson and Sons (London) in 1876.

Nature in the Kingdom of Grace (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1896). This book, containing 56

selections of articles, sermons, and brief essays, does not move from nature to sermon but from a biblical

text that has some reference to a natural phenomenon into an exposition of how the gospel employs that

natural phenomenon as an apt illustration of spiritual truth.