Spurgeon and Baptists in America

great things at your hand. May you be rich in grace at home and abundant in labors abroad. May the millions who fly to you from every shore, never lower your moral and spiritual tone, but rather may they be drawn upward by your elevated godliness, and become "holiness unto the Lord." Across the ocean, my brethren, I salute you — "The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give

you peace!" ¹ O n January ³¹, 1892, the Baptist world lost two of its most eminent and useful servants. Basil Manly, Jr., of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, died there of pneumonia, a complication of being struck on the head by a thief in the fall of 1887. Charles Haddon Spurgeon, English Baptist preacher, died that same day in the south of France at Mentone, just a month more than three years after J. P. Boyce had died in Pau,

France. C. H. Hudson wrote to John Broadus on February ²:

The daily papers of this morning announce the death of two eminently godly and useful men—Rev.

Charles H. Spurgeon, of London, and Dr. Basil Manly, of Kentucky. The Baptist world mourns their

loss. Their voices are now hushed in the sleep of death. Their words live on, and will continue to live,

till they themselves shall awake to newness of life. 2

In the summer of 1888, Boyce, for the sake of his health, managed a trip to Europe. His daughter, Lizzie, accompanied him and narrated the events of the trip. One Sunday they were able to attend the Metropolitan Tabernacle in order to hear Spurgeon. He was suffering one of his frequent gout attacks, a malady held in common with Boyce, and preached while seated. Boyce and his daughter noticed the great physical likeness between the two men and Boyce commented, "I wish I were as much like him in preaching power." Afterwards in Spurgeon's greeting room Boyce and Spurgeon spoke about the Pastors' College and gout remedies and doctors. Boyce's emotions began to create physical difficulties for him. His daughter remarks, "Father was so much excited by this interview with the great preacher that he became pale and exhausted, and began to pant for breath; so we had to cut short our stay, and leave for the hotel." As he went

away, Boyce's eyes filled with tears as he observed, "How little I have accomplished, compared with that man! If I can only get well and live a few

years longer, I'll make greater efforts." ³ Boyce's admiration for Spurgeon was shared by his co-worker John A.

Broadus. In 1870 Broadus commented upon visiting the Tabernacle and said that he was "greatly delighted with Spurgeon, especially with his conduct of public worship." He was "an excellent reader of Scripture, and remarkably impressive in reading hymns." In addition the prayers "were quite what they ought to have been." The congregational singing, to Broadus' discriminating ear, was as good as can be conceived. Broadus felt that the sermon fell short of Spurgeon's average in freshness but was "exceedingly well delivered, without affectation or apparent effort, but with singular earnestness, and directness." All in all the entire worship experience was as close to his ideal as he ever expected to see in this life. Though he acknowledged that Spurgeon had faults and deficiencies, he affirmed, nevertheless, "Spurgeon is a wonderful man." Paramount in this judgment is Broadus' conviction that "He preaches the real gospel, and God blesses him." At a quarterly meeting of the London Baptist Association Broadus heard Spurgeon speak again, "a capital address." Broadus himself was invited to

speak; in his own opinion, Broadus "succeeded pretty well." ⁴ These visits from the two great theological educators in early Southern Baptist life fit within the pattern of appreciation and fascination that Southern Baptists had with Spurgeon since news of his ministry first began to tantalize the public interest. George W. Truett gave personal testimony to this pervasive influence in a sermon preached in London at the centenary celebration of Spurgeon's birth.

He reminisced that "From my earliest recollections, my sense of gratitude to Charles Haddon Spurgeon has been a living thing in my life." Truett traced Spurgeon's printed sermons across the ocean and into the homes of America "until they came to a little mountain home in the remote country." The pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas said, "Week by week, I read those sermons, often

reading them over and over again, until they became a part of my inmost life." ⁵ The sermons mentioned by Truett first began to be published in the autumn of 1854 when about a dozen were printed. At the beginning of 1855, Spurgeon made arrangements with a printer in London to print one sermon each week.

Eventually finding their way into the southern United States, Spurgeon's lines provoked comments and analysis from leading Baptists of the South. E. B.

Teague, pastor at that time of La Grange, Georgia, wrote an article entitled "Rev.

C. H. Spurgeon and his Theology" for the The Christian Index. ⁶ Teague sought to trace the theological lineage of Spurgeon as well as that of his "ministerial and

personal peculiarities." Teague's reading impressed him with "the immeasurable distance, in point of holy zeal, between most of us and such men." Time with a Spurgeon sermon would stimulate one "to more prayer, more exertion, more simplicity and directness. God grant it!"

According to Teague's analysis, Spurgeon adopted "the entire theological system" of John Gill "except his limited invitation to sinners." Though "it has often been believed that high Calvinism is incompatible with burning fervor and melting pathos," the reader should know that "Spurgeon is a high Calvinist, but pre-eminently fervid and touching, and genial and healthy." And though some suppose that high Calvinism has not been a prominent characteristic of successful evangelists, "Mr. Spurgeon appears to be winning very many to Christ."

Within four months of Teague's article a major editorial on Spurgeon by Joseph Walker appeared. Accepting Spurgeon, still only twenty-two years old, as ushered in by divine providence, Walker recognized that the "spontaneous verdict of extolling assemblies" would overwhelm any attempt at philosophical explanation of Spurgeon's appeal. "The magic touch of genius, especially when

felt through the medium of eloquent oratory, is irresistible." ⁷ Apart, however, from any inexplicable elements, Walker commented: "We have read some six or seven of these sermons with profit and delight. They are vastly superior to the printed sermons of Whitfield [ sic ], and appeared to us to be just such discourses as the churches of the nineteenth century need." Walker reported that the sermons were Calvinistic in doctrine, "unmixed with even a shadow of heterodoxy." He challenged his readers to read them, investigate them thoroughly, and "if he himself is sound in the faith which was once delivered unto the saints, he will find nothing of which he may reasonably complain."

Spurgeon's unique method of presentation and illustration "sends pure Gospel truth right to the sinner's heart. This we call preaching. " In short, the sermons are sound in doctrine, popular in capacity, and urgent in application. "We like such sermons," Walker persisted, "and wish that the churches could have them more frequently."

The Texas Baptist in January of 1857 carried a vivid description of this peculiarly Spurgeonic preaching when Spurgeon was twenty-three years old and in the flower of his New Park Street years. The writer said Spurgeon was "of the middle size — thick set in figure, with a deep, capacious chest, and a throat, and tongue, and lip, all formed for vehement oratory." This writer said that Spurgeon read the Psalm "abruptly" and prayed with "startling rapidity." Spurgeon's presermon exposition, when done well, was admired as "the perfection of an expository reading before, and as preparatory to the sermon." It was a "rapid

running commentary" filled with a "torrent of words" and" striking remarks,

quaint and pithy." ⁸ When C. H. Toy in 1866 observed this part of the service he called the exposition "one of the most interesting parts of the service — a practice which might be with profit introduced into our churches, where

instruction is greatly needed." ⁹ The Texas correspondent, noting an essential ingredient for successful expositions of this sort, also exclaimed, "And how well he knows his Bible!"

Spurgeon's language was such as made "the common people hear him gladly." It was "thoroughly English, vernacular: scarce a Latinized or Greek borrowed term." Within these verbal swaddling clothes thrived "the rich, full, old doctrine of the Puritan age — election defended, asserted, sovereign grace

vindicated and glorified; Christ set forth as crucified and slain." ¹⁰ E. B. Teague said, "Mr. Spurgeon makes the way of salvation so plain, in the people's own language and by the people's own illustrations, that nobody can misunderstand

him." ¹¹ The Texas paper continued its remarks on the manner and matter of the sermon. Spurgeon took as a text four words from a passion narrative, "There they crucified him." The divisions of the sermon were four. "1st The Place:" — Mt. Calvary, Golgotha its present horror, its ominous symbolism, its providential place in the history of redemption; 2nd The Victim: — Who endured such shame and was the object of such a plot? the Lord of Glory, the author of life; 3rd The executioners — who plotted and who carried out the exquisitely horrid event?; 4th The punishment — the shedding of blood in sacrifice in the most humiliating, defenseless manner; "How natural the divisions!" exclaimed the correspondent. "What vivid clearness of illustration and force of application on each head!" But look at him as he prepares to describe the crucifixion. "Hear him lower his voice and say, 'If you have tears, prepare to shed them now!' Ah you say, that is Shakespeare, and you are shocked. So was I; but then I said, half or three-fourths of this crowd don't know it, and it is all natural to them." In a moment, however, with all the intensity of Spurgeon's presence and all the possible vehemence of his oratorical gifts, "in a voice of thunder and with flashing eye," Spurgeon turned on the backslider, almost an apostate, crying "You crucify him afresh!" Then placing a hand on a thick nail in the back of the pulpit and with the motion of pounding nails with the other as a hammer he charged on the sinner and backslider an awful guilt. According to the correspondent the assembly was thrilled.

Spurgeon seemed to communicate intuitively that integration of biblical truth, the sovereignty of divine mercy consistent with undiminished human

responsibility. The writer of the article observed that he "preaches the doctrine of grace with great courage and fullness: and like Paul, like Whitefield, like Berridge, and Romaine, he freely invites all to our saviour." James Perryman, commenting on Teague's earlier article about Spurgeon and taking exception to Teague's negative insinuations about the practical history of High Calvinism (mild though his insinuations were), pointed to Jesse Mercer as a Georgia Baptist who was doctrinally, experientially, and practically sound and consistent.

Spurgeon, according to Perryman, only did what Mercer had done before him: He "comprehended the whole truth and believed, as all true ministers of the gospel do, that the gospel could not be preached as it is in Jesus, unless the whole system be taken in fundamentally and practically" with both the obligation and accountability of the sinner "clearly set forth and urged."

Occasionally, the popular character of Spurgeon's preaching led to negative impressions from some observers. As a matter of fact, C. H. Toy's 1866 visit to the Metropolitan Tabernacle left him surprised, pleasantly, by the reserve of Spurgeon, for Toy had heard that Spurgeon "had a sensual look, and that he was

deficient in modesty and dignity." ¹² Toy's own opinion changed, as will be noted later. Perhaps, especially in the early years, Spurgeon's remarkable language and voice created such emotion that a variety of interpretations was inevitable. The correspondent for the Texas Baptist in 1857 noted with admiration the verbal images and anecdotes Spurgeon used, but also conceded that there were "extravagances and much of self," that he took "liberties with his audience" and dealt "too much in stimulants." Those idiosyncrasies, however, were far better than "these myriads of London allowed to perish unwarned" and markedly superior to "that miserable negation of truth, which our younger preachers are setting forth as a new and better gospel."

Francis Wayland, president of Brown University, noted author of ethics, mental philosophy, and theoretician and practitioner of preaching, did not see within Spurgeon "extravagance" and "much of self." He interpreted his mannerism in the opposite way. "While he is accused of egotism," observes Wayland, "he seems to me to forget himself and his reputation more than any man I know of." Wayland saw Spurgeon functioning in the manner of Paul doing all things for the sake of the gospel: "He seems not to care what people

say of him or do to him, if he can only convert them." ¹³ Wayland's remarks came after having read a volume of sermons that appeared in 1858, when Spurgeon was twenty-four years old, one year after the Texas report. Wayland was a lifetime observer of Baptist life, theological development, and preaching style. In his Notes on the Principles and Practices of Baptist

Churches he offered pages upon pages of interesting and helpful insight on preaching, how to prepare for it, of what it should consist, what to avoid, and how to do it. He was insistent upon both earnestness and urgency in preaching, couched in the plain talk of ordinary people. The preacher should "urge every motive, … press home every consideration, that can be derived from heaven and hell, from time and eternity" and "never close a sermon until conscious of having done [his] duty." He should preach in the language of "popular address, plain, simple, and easy to be understood. Vocabulary should approach as nearly as possible to that which the hearers use in thinking, and ordinary conversation, purified, of course, from vulgarity and provincialisms, from cant, slang and technicality." Wayland seemed disturbed that an atmosphere of formality and professionalism might sap the strength from the pulpit, that vivacity would be sacrificed to a vague pedantic notion of what was proper for the pulpit "as though a preacher of the gospel were lecturing to a class on the proprieties of rhetoric." He pressed his readers with urgency to consider whether it was time for a "change to come over us", and that a preacher aim "more at interesting and converting men, and less at the reputation of refinement of style, and

exquisiteness of propriety." ¹⁴ The articles for Wayland's book were finished in 1856, published in 1857.

The next year he read Spurgeon's sermon book and found in him a representative of the ideal Baptist preacher. Several traits encouraged Wayland.

Wayland wrote:

First, the manifest truthfulness of the man, arising from his perfect belief in all that he says. The truths

of religion are as much a verity to him as his own existence. Second, his intimate acquaintance with

the whole Bible. It bubbles up everywhere as soon as he begins to speak. He uses it with great power

to express his own ideas. Third, as a result of this, is his manner of making a sermon. He does not draw

an abstract truth out of the text, but expands and illustrates the very text itself. It opens to him a train,

or several trains of thought, which he illustrates from everything around him. It is owing to this that he

has so great variety. Were he to deduce abstract propositions, he would of necessity often repeat

himself. Fourth, he takes the very range of the thoughts of his hearers. They therefore, all follow him.

15

During the American Civil War, Baptist papers in the South picked up on every thread of evidence that Spurgeon supported their cause. One minister reported that Spurgeon declared himself a "thorough Confederate." When introduced to a preacher from North Carolina, Spurgeon is reported to have grasped his hand very cordially and said, "I am pleased to see you; May God establish you and your people! They deserve their independence." One may honestly wonder how the report of such an event could possibly be accurate. The Southern papers also carried snippets from Spurgeon's sermons. Though they had been offended at his

remarks on slavery, and had ceased buying his books, and had even burned them earlier, they still desired some food from his table and some sense of his approval.

In March of 1866, the Religious Herald published an article taken from the Watchman and Reflector, a Baptist magazine from Massachusetts, a paper Spurgeon had used some years before to make clear his reprobation of slavery.

Entitled "Analysis of Spurgeon's Power," the article listed doctrinal, experiential, and functional aspects of Spurgeon which combined to make him effective. This effectiveness may be measured in terms of the ministries and men coming from his influence which are "Divine testimonies to his Christian fidelity and skill." The integration of his views of God and man, law and gospel, and his deep and vivid Christian experience give vitality to "the truths which he sees so clearly and which he has power to tell as few men have been able to do." The writer also writes in rapt admiration of Spurgeon's use of language and his voice. "His mastery of plain direct, vigorous English is wonderful" and he had no equal in this respect in the world at that time. He uses no redundant words but each sentence is the exact measure of his thought. He employs ornament but never reaches after it; it "leaps forth and light[s] up the course of his thought, as sunbursts glorify the road of the traveler." All this restrained and balanced beauty is spoken "with a voice whose volume, compass, flexibility and musical clearness permits no sentence to fail of reaching the most distant hearer." Even though it has such richness and power, it "creates no unpleasant sensation in those nearest the platform, — a voice, too, as fully mastered as was the violin in the hands of Paganini."

C. H. Toy, who in 1866 was an up and coming linguistic expert, analyzed Spurgeon's speech as "racy vigorous English." It was "largely monosyllabic, direct, and with a sometimes Shakespearean fervor and poetry", spoken in a voice which "easily filled the house," in Toy's opinion.

May of 1866 saw another series of Spurgeon articles in the Religious Herald.

Written by an R.H.S. from Culpeper Court House in April, the articles describe a visit in March of 1863 to "Spurgeon's far-famed 'Tabernacle'." His impressions at the size of the crowd soon gave way to the marvelous decorum in seating such a large and crowded group. When Spurgeon entered all was quiet and attention given to the leader of the worship. Spurgeon announced the hymn "All Hail the Power of Jesus name" and read the entire hymn "with great beauty and emphasis" and selected as the setting "that magnificent old tune … 'Coronation'." R.H.S. was particularly impressed with the beauty of the unrivaled human voices as "tongues flamed, and souls soared aloft on wings of melody." Similarly impressed was C. H. Toy who reported that the

congregational singing was "very grand and inspiring." The congregation followed the leader with "astonishing facility of movement, there being less dragging than is commonly heard in our comparatively small congregations."

R.H.S. expressed particular delight that "no huge organ drowned the sentiment of the hymn with alternate shrieks and groans." The doctrinal foundation of the writer's evaluation of organ accompaniment is not quite clear when he points out that Mr. Spurgeon and his church reject the " symbol of the old for the reality of the new dispensation, and 'make melody in their hearts to the Lord,' not in brazen pipes."

Spurgeon's sermon that day was on "The Joys of Jesus" and had two divisions: (1) The joy of doing good; (2) the joy of being good. The day before had produced a scene of earthly pomp and splendor with the arrival of Princess Alexandria, the bride elect of the future king. The whole city had been enveloped in a luminous wreath of gas light. Spurgeon compared this with the more glorious scene when "the Lord would ride triumphant through the exultant hosts of the redeemed at the great nuptial day of the Lamb and church

triumphant."

Then pausing for an instant, as if to view the glorious scene his faith-illumined imagination had drawn,

he exclaimed with a thrillingly exultant voice, "Ye kings, ye are crownless! Cast your crown at His

feet." By this masterly stroke the audience seemed to be easily let down from the fearful height to

which they had been carried, and a glance at the solemn faces of some near me, told me how deeply

they were impressed with a sense of the superiority of heavenly over earthly things—of the glory that

is yet to be revealed to the glory which attends the riches and power of this world.

In a subsequent article the same writer described the effect of Spurgeon's preaching from the standpoint of method of argument, voice, and gesture of body. His argument he characterized as luminous rather than logical. He does not seek to crush error by building up layers of logic and proofs until the opposition is crushed with the weight of the case; instead he seeks to dispel darkness by the light he sheds in the simple exposition of truth. His language "remains deeply impressed upon the memory through its extraordinary force and simplicity, and continues to burn there with increasing rather than diminishing light, when fanned into flame by reflection." Toy observed this same impression in Spurgeon's speech, a "faculty of exciting and sustaining enthusiasm — of

making his impress upon his hearers — of arousing and carrying on thought." ¹⁶ The simplicity, originality, and truth of Spurgeon's divisions and illustrations filled with "natural and life-like pathos" and maintained within the bounds of revealed truth stirred the very depths of the heart. R.H.S. joined with virtually all other observers in commenting on the extraordinary qualities of Spurgeon's voice. It was a voice "remarkably loud, clear, well-modulated, soft and thrilling,

especially in emotional passages."

Also noted as worthy of remark was the manner of Spurgeon's gestures. In his lectures to his students, some of the most entertaining and humorous moments came when Spurgeon enlarged upon posture, action, and the art of gesture in preaching. Perhaps it was in this vein that he was observed by the Boston Baptist pastor, George Pentecost, when he reported, "He had the college boys, or men, some eighty in all, at his house, entertaining them before they began their full term of study. He was bubbling over with humour and wisdom all the time. I

never saw such a combination of genius in one man." ¹⁷ He often made his wisdom ride the wings of humor as he described, or imitated, uncomely habits and physical trappings in preaching. Spurgeon felt that pulpits were an abomination. "What horrible inventions they are!" he exclaimed. "No barrister would ever enter a pulpit to plead a case at the bar. How could he hope to succeed while buried alive almost up to his shoulders?" Some pulpits would remind a minister of his mortality for they were nothing but coffins set on end. "But on what rational grounds do we bury our pastors alive?" he asked. He felt that they should be destroyed like the walls of Jericho and Joshua's curse upon their rebuilding should be uttered over the old fashioned pulpit.

In the Tabernacle, his pulpit was designed for his style of preaching. R.H.S. noticed that Spurgeon generally walked "quietly to and fro in the pulpit, with his arms suspended at his side or folded on his breast; then having one hand in his bosom, while the other was raised." In gesture, therefore, Spurgeon practiced what he taught. He emphasized that "Unstudied gestures, to which you never turned your thoughts for a moment, are the very best, and the highest result of art is to banish art, and leave the man as free to be graceful as the gazelle among the mountains." Gestures should be understated, not repetitious or monotonous, should not create a ridiculous situation for the preacher, should be in harmony with the unfolding of the message and should not draw attention to themselves. "Absolute inaction is better than overwrought posturing" and appropriate actions

overdone "had better have been left undone." ¹⁸

The risks of too little action are by no means great, but you can plainly see that there are great perils in

the other direction. Therefore, do not carry action too far, and if you feel that you are naturally very

energetic in your delivery, repress your energies a little. Wave your hands a little less, smite the Bible

somewhat more mercifully, and in general take matters rather more calmly. 19

Though Spurgeon's first rule is that an action "should never be excessive," ²⁰ he made wonderful allowance for personality and nationality in the naturalness of gestures. In addition, at times gestures must be sufficiently strong when the poignancy of an idea would be betrayed by a feeble or even moderate gesture.

R.H.S. noticed that Spurgeon's manner of address conformed entirely to the principle of simplicity in primitive Christianity, being "very humble, devout, quiet, and almost entirely free from gesticulation." C. H. Toy remarked that "his bearing throughout was exceedingly modest and quiet, and his manner, while it exhibited firmness and decision, had nothing unduly bold or unreverential in it."

21 R.H.S. made the observation that Spurgeon employed only one violent gesture when preaching from the text, "I have a message from God for Thee." In that sermon he imitated the "violent manner of the assassin to illustrate the suddenness with which death — the last messenger — sometimes attacks the impenitent and hardened sinner." This moderation combined with the dead earnestness of his address "gives the audience the entire possession of their faculties, and the attention is at once drawn from the speaker to his remarks."

The sermon Toy heard, in his opinion, "had in it nothing remarkable in thought, expression or manner;" but he still felt the readers might be interested in how Spurgeon developed his text. Preaching from Matthew 16:15, Spurgeon spoke of how we should think of Christ, and divided the sermon into six parts.

First, he is God; secondly, he is man; third he is creator and upholder of all things; fourth, he is ruler of men, setting up and casting down; fifth, he is mediator; sixth, he is redeemer. Toy gave brief elaboration of Spurgeon's exposition on each point. For example, if Jesus is not God "What becomes of the doctrine of election? If he is not eternal, what becomes of the Eternal covenant with the Father; what of Perseverance of the Saints?" or the value of redemption.

His humanity elevates all humanity and demonstrates the purity and patience that should characterize our walk in this world. "He was misunderstood, but He sublimely maintained His purpose and His self-respect."

Toy may indicate more about his own values and tendencies than Spurgeon's when he observes: "Without being learned or profound, he instructs by his spirituality and directness, and the cogency of his appeals to Christian experiences is especially remarkable." Toy was also impressed with the consistency of the large and attentive crowds that attended Spurgeon's ministry as well as the "vigorous life that he has infused into his church."

The young Virginia scholar extended his remarks to acquaint the reader with Spurgeon's generosity (out of a large income he lived on £200 per annum, devoting the rest to his benevolent enterprises, so Toy reported), his humble public demeanor (to intended insults he responded with a gentle smile and a bow), his church planting (he called on a large number to cease attending the Tabernacle in order to form a church in another part of the city to which a student from the college would be sent, "who would no doubt carry with him Spurgeon's Calvinistic boldness and directness" adds Toy), and the spirit of

evangelism and revival that permeated the atmosphere of the Tabernacle. The membership at that time was increasing at the rate of seventy a month "keeping the baptistery in almost constant requisition." "It was one incessant revival," R.H.S. remarked, "and these baptizing occasions added, as they generally do, much to the interest among the people."

Among the several interesting observations C. H. Toy made in his two articles about churches in London in general, and Spurgeon in particular, concerned Spurgeon's brother, James. Having mentioned the "Calvinistic boldness and directness" of the young ministers sent out by Spurgeon, he included parenthetically "His brother, James Spurgeon, is a young man of pleasing and forcible address." Earlier, the Texas correspondent in 1857 had referred to James with an optimistic prophecy: "He [Spurgeon] has a younger brother studying in the Baptist college at Stepney, who they say will be superior to himself." How we misjudge the future may be observed by the title to an article by J. B.

Gambrell some fifty-plus years later, "First and second Fiddles." The introduction included observations about Charles and his brother James Spurgeon. Gambrell and Broadus had been discussing the ministry of the Metropolitan Tabernacle and the vital part of James in the ministry. Broadus suggested the article to Gambrell. He wrote: It is certain that Charles could never have done even approximately the work he did if his quiet, methodical, but very forceful brother had not supported him in his multitudinous labors. It was James who managed things. It was James who constructed and kept in repair the vast framework which supported the activities of his illustrious brother. Charles Spurgeon was a genius of the highest order, and James Spurgeon was a genius, but of a different order. They supplemented each other, but in such way that James was never much known. They worked together very much as the engineer and the pilot in carrying a ship across the

great waters. ²² R.H.S. referred to and expressed his doubts about an accusation that Spurgeon's pupils were said to "copy him with ludicrous exactness." Gambrell had heard the same reports and knowing that "the imitative faculty is very strong in the human make-up" gave an amusing spin to the stories about imitation. Gambrell not only loved stories about Spurgeon, he was one of the greatest spin doctors Southern Baptists have ever produced. Introducing an article on "Theology and clothes"

he wrote:

It is said that Spurgeon once went out with one of his students to preach for him. A very sincere sister

said to the great preacher, "Brother Spurgeon, I liked your sermon, except one thing: I did not like your

imitating our pastor so much." 23

None can copy Spurgeon, R.H.S. reminded his readers, and it would be foolish to seek to imitate him especially in the length of his sermons since he himself reminded his people that he did not engage the Tabernacle to sleep in. "He is altogether unique, and I for one am willing to let him remain so." In closing with an observation which may still be pertinent R.H.S. spoke of Spurgeon as the

"Modern Luther."

I have no doubt but that the reader thanks God with me, that he has raised him up to contend for "the

faith once delivered to the saints," and hopes, with me, that his life may be prolonged, until he shall see

that gigantic and venerable stronghold of Popish superstition and error, which is now tottering beneath

his powerful and well-aimed blows, tumbling in ruins around him, like the ancient Babylon, never

again to be raised.

R.H.S. did not share that opinion alone, for in B. H. Carroll's impassioned, if somewhat disjointed, sermon on the death of Spurgeon he said, "With whom among men can you compare him? He combined the preaching power of Jonathan Edwards and Whitefield with the organizing power of Wesley, and the

energy fire and courage of Luther. In many respects he was most like Luther." ²⁴ Carroll admired Spurgeon for a variety of reasons. He loved his preaching and pulpit power, his appeal to the common man, his zeal for benevolence and philanthropy, his utter sincerity, his plan to educate ministers with spiritual power being central to the process, his ministerial labors, his sanctified use of money, and his doctrine set forth in word and life without fear. Carroll reminded his Nashville audience that day that nearly all of Spurgeon's sermons "are upon the fundamental doctrines of grace." He reminded them that Spurgeon's life and ministry "have demonstrated that the doctrine of a free salvation, none of works but all of grace, promotes the highest form of practical piety." Spurgeon's "ministry and its results prove that not Arminianism but The grace of God that bringeth salvation … teaches us, that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world." His ministry also "demonstrated that while salvation is free, none of works but all of grace, yet the sinner must seek the Lord." Spurgeon's ministry, according to Carroll, "has demonstrated the power of a gospel which insists on man's depravity, the necessity of regeneration, the plenary inspiration of the Scriptures, and the

undiluted doctrine of substitutionary, vicarious expiation." ²⁵ George W. Truett said that Spurgeon "had no sort of fellowship with the nerveless, hazy, intellectual libertinism that plays fast and loose with the eternal verities of Christ's gospel." Instead he held fast by the "great themes of divine revelation: the sovereignty of God; the holiness of God; the love of God; the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ; the solemn wonders of the cross; the divine

forgiveness of sins; the fellowship of Christ's sufferings; the power of his resurrection …" Giving coherence to all was the fact that Spurgeon "avowed himself a Calvinist." Truett then spoke of the great strengths of Calvinism in the social and political spheres, warning any that they should not "jocosely sneer at Calvinism." It is a theology that "laid hold of man and lifted him above the heads of priest and bishop and archbishop and cardinal and pope and king and

president and potentate and told him that he must answer directly to God." ²⁶ Another prominent Southern Baptist of the nineteenth century, William E.

Hatcher, spent a considerable amount of time with Spurgeon during the height of the Downgrade Controversy. Hatcher had admired Spurgeon for a third of a century and his time with Spurgeon was the fulfillment of a dream. He engaged with a New York Baptist paper, The Examiner, to write a series of articles on the

Downgrade Controversy and went to London for that purpose. ²⁷ American Baptist knowledge of the issues was partial, but largely reflected a trust of Spurgeon's analysis and actions. For example, James Lawton of The Christian Index had reported on Spurgeon's withdrawal from the Baptist Union, squelching rumors that Spurgeon had ceased being a Baptist. He explained that the action was precipitated because "the Union itself had become unsound in doctrine and practice." It maintained fellowship with some who were "grossly heretical, and this, too, against Mr. Spurgeon's earnest remonstrance." Mr. Spurgeon withdrew "not because he was not a Baptist, but because he was."

Lawton then added, with astounding confidence both in the universal approbation of Spurgeon and the undiluted confessional orthodoxy of Baptists north and south: "Every Baptist church in the United States would have done the

same thing." ²⁸ Spurgeon spoke freely with Hatcher of the Controversy revealing that he "felt keenly the strain of it." Yet "his bearing was lofty and magnanimous to a degree." Spurgeon said that "he honored a candid opponent and found unspeakable support in friends who were decided and trustworthy, but that to him the heaviest strain of his life was to endure those who were on both sides of the conflict." Spurgeon approximated bitterness only once when uttering a philippic against ingratitude. "Why, a preacher lost all of his teeth and with it his power of articulation, and in my sympathy I gave him a full set of artificial teeth and he turned around and bit me with them." Hatcher said there was "something admirable in the high note of indignation and resentment with which he uttered

his contempt for the ingrate." ²⁹ In his article in The Examiner Hatcher worked diligently to write in a balanced fashion; in spite of, or perhaps because of, that, his words are turgid with admiration for Spurgeon:

His temper is beautiful. He is not angry at anybody on the earth. There is a resistless charm in his cool

and imperturbable humor. He is as amiable as if all England were resounding his praises. Upon the

heads of the false teachers he strikes tremendous blows, but there is no wicked heat in his blood. He is

fighting as he believes for the truth, and not to get the better of an antagonist. But let this be said: For

an honest opponent Spurgeon has respect, but for a false or trimming friend he feels a contempt which

not even his royal and lovely nature can conceal. He does not mind the man on the other side, but he

needs grace in double measure to bear with the man who is on both sides. His behavior in the strife has

not been perfect. But it has been notably lofty and magnanimous. He does not praise men insincerely,

or for partisan purposes, and it may be added that he is far too noble to inflict intentional injury on

those who are against him. 30

Hatcher interviewed opponents of Spurgeon who presented a "commendable spirit" and, while condemning the course of Spurgeon, were, nevertheless, "courteous in the tones and terms of their criticism." Others, however, had words that were not so fitly chosen and "who painted their opinions with their

passions." Hatcher acknowledged no benefit from them or admiration for them:

When a man told me in noisy terms that Spurgeon "did not know what he was doing, and there wasn't

a word of truth in what he said," or when another said with an air diplomatic, and tone sympathetic,

"Mr. Spurgeon, you see, is very sick, and we feel uneasy about him"; or when another with a crafty

smile, "Well, Spurgeon is vastly personal—essentially Spurgeonic, and cannot work anywhere unless

he is allowed to lead," I counted it a waste of time to make notes; I simply left and went to see some

other man. 31

Hatcher oozes admiration for Spurgeon and exudes wonder and bliss in being able to write of his personal conversations and experiences with him. He traveled with Spurgeon, ate with him in fine homes, heard him preach, assisted him in services at the Tabernacle, accompanied him on ministerial trips, shared stories with him, and, in deference to his greatness, smoked a cigar with him. In social situations he noted that "Spurgeon bore himself superbly, mingling with the people, joining in cordial fashion in the chat, and now and then, with an admiring group around him, he talked gloriously, mixing seriousness and humor, telling a story, cracking a jest, stirring everybody to joyous laughter and filling

his listeners with admiration and delight." ³² A day at the orphanage Hatcher called "one of the memorable days of my life" and of an afternoon with his ministerial students he said, "truly I never had a happier time with a body of students than was mine that afternoon." In addition to the "almost adoring

reverence with which everybody treated him," ³³ Hatcher learned to feel what a "simple, transparent, pure-hearted man he was." Such extended and intimate knowledge of Spurgeon gave Hatcher imperturbable confidence in writing, "It was not pique, nor gout, nor baulked ambition, nor the desire to start a new sect which moved him." ³⁴

Having spent an afternoon with Spurgeon in the company of two other Southerners, Rev. Henry McDonald of Georgia and Rev. L. R. Thornhill of Virginia, the three walked away late in the afternoon under "the spell of the most unique personality of the nineteenth century." Finally McDonald broke the silence: "What do you think about it?" One of the other two answered, "We have

seen a man of God." ³⁵ Hatcher duplicates the emotions of Boyce when Hatcher wrote in his notebook: "Sunday August 12th; heard Spurgeon. Sat on the pulpit and made the prayer. I felt myself unfit to pray for him, – so exalted is he in my

eyes." ³⁶ When recrimination of Spurgeon for his Downgrade action crossed the Atlantic and went into Baptist lecture halls in the person of Joseph Parker, it received even less cordial a greeting than Hatcher had given it. In Milwaukee, Parker spoke and issued an "uncalled for, ungenerous, and unjust characterization of Mr. Spurgeon" which did not "catch the popular breeze it sought." The Examiner 's Milwaukee correspondent noted that "Every body knows Mr. Spurgeon is Dr. Parker's peer in every respect and his superior in most respects." The writer observed further that "American Christians are not so far forgetful as to applaud an abuse of Mr. Spurgeon even by so conspicuous a

personage as Dr. Parker." Parker, it seems, had a crusade against Spurgeon ³⁷ and took his tirade on the road, hoping to stir up American support for antiSpurgeon latitudinarianism, for the Milwaukee report was followed by a Minneapolis report which wryly commented, "Mr. Parker vanished from our sight—and $500 at the same instant, the price of one evening's scintillations."

Parker, so the report says, "gushed and gyrated, and made a cruel, sickening, thrust at the greatest of living preachers." Then to drive home his point, the reporter addressed the absent Parker: "This comparison thou didst institute for

thyself, Mr. Parker. The field was thine. No man acted in thy stead." ³⁸ Spurgeon's unblemished character and consistent godly zeal in ministry had sculpted a full-life figure of trustworthiness. The only proper response to Spurgeon was imitation, not criticism. The only effect of a criticism launched at Spurgeon was scorn for the perpetrator. Every aspect of his person, his deportment, his preaching, his theology, his activities, his sociability, his spirituality, his ministry, his writing, and his temperament had been scrutinized for more than thirty-seven years by the time of his death. Baptists in America could not be persuaded to believe any ill report. Both pulpit and print were filled with lament at his death and gave full testimony to the fullness of his salutary and beneficent influence. The Examiner for February ⁴, 1892, carried an article on his death. After mourning the loss, not just for Baptists, but for the world and

chronicling the massive and magnificent accomplishments of his ministry the writer showed how closely tested and thoroughly approved was Spurgeon's

Christian witness:

In person Mr. Spurgeon was of medium height and stout build. He had a massive head and large

features of the heavy English type. In repose his face, while strong, might have been called phlegmatic

if not dull in expression. But when he spoke it glowed with animation of thought, quick flashes of

humor, benignity, and earnestness and every phase of the emotion that stirred within him. He had

many elements of power as a preacher. His voice was of marvelous sonority and sweetness. His

language with all its simplicity, was marked by faultless correctness and inexhaustible wealth of

diction. He was as far as possible from being a rough or coarse speaker although he had at ready

command a vast vocabulary of homely Saxon words. No one from merely reading his sermons, can

form any idea of their effect when delivered. The immense Tabernacle, with its two galleria thronged

with eager listeners, became a true temple of God's Spirit. The plain sturdy man, standing on his bare

platform almost in the midst of the mighty congregation, was a real apostle. In listening to Mr.

Spurgeon, one recognized that the chief element of his commanding force in the pulpit was his

profound and burning conviction. The message he gave had for him supreme importance. All his soul

went with its utterance. The fire of his zeal was consuming, intense, resistless. When that fire went out

on earth a potent spiritual impulse was withdrawn, the absence of which will long be felt. 39

The strength of support for Spurgeon evident in these reports reflects a studied and conscientious admiration that had begun with a sensation and had grown and solidified so as to be virtually unchangeable. Both the depth and breadth of this is clear in the fiftieth birthday greetings written to Spurgeon in 1884 by the

faculty at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary:

Louisville KY, June 27, 1884: The undersigned professors in the Southern Baptist Theological

Seminary, beg leave to offer respectful and hearty congratulations on your fiftieth birthday. We thank

God for all that he made you and has by his grace enabled you to become and achieve. We rejoice in

your great and wonderful work as preacher and pastor, and through your orphanage and your Pastor's

College; as also your numerous writings, so sparkling with genius, so filled with the spirit of the

gospel. Especially we delight to think how nobly you have defended and diffused the doctrines of

grace; how in an age so eager for novelty and marked by such loosening of belief you have through

long years kept the English-speaking world for your audience while never turning aside from the old-

fashioned gospel.

And now, honored brother, we invoke upon you the continued blessing of our covenant God, May your life and health be long spared, if it be his will; may Providence still smile on your varied work, and the Holy Spirit richly bless your

spoken and written messages to mankind. ⁴⁰ Only on one issue have I discovered Southern Baptists to disagree with Spurgeon — his practice of open communion. When reports first began to come to America about Spurgeon, it was assumed that his practice was closed communion. The final paragraph of Joseph Walker's 1857 analysis lauded Spurgeon for his purity in maintaining a thoroughly baptistic view. As more

knowledge of his actual practice emerged, most Baptists in the South felt he was inconsistent. Toy called his allowance of communion to non-members a "deplorable error." In 1887, an editor of the Christian Index, James S. Lawton, said that Spurgeon "is not, and never was, a thorough-bred Baptist. He is what is known in this country as an Open Communion Baptist." Justin Fulton, a minister in Brooklyn, an admirer of Spurgeon in every matter except this one, said, "There seemed to be no poorer use to which the Metropolitan Tabernacle could

be put than to hitch it on to the waning fortunes of Open Communion." ⁴¹ Hatcher reported that he allowed occasional communion to visitors coming through but would refuse communion to those who lived nearby, came frequently to service, but refused to join the church. Walker said that Spurgeon's "tendencies seem to be in the right direction." According to Hatcher, Spurgeon told him, "If I lived in America and in the South where the Baptists practice

strict communion, I should practice it also." ⁴² Concurring with Hatcher's report, Walker wrote, "It would not astonish us if he should finally come to adopt the

views of the American Baptists." ⁴³ This, Spurgeon did not do.

Other than that, Southern Baptists not only agreed with Spurgeon on virtually every theological point upon which he took a stand, but admired him in gargantuan proportions. They encouraged him not only in his benevolent, educational, and publishing, and preaching ministries, but in his conflicts also.

Carroll probably spoke for them all when he said:

Yes, Spurgeon is dead. The tallest and broadest oak in the forest of time is fallen. The sweetest, most

silvery and far-reaching voice that published the glad tidings since apostolic times is hushed. The hand

whose sickle cut the widest swath in the ripened grainfields of redemption lies folded and nerveless on

a pulseless breast, whose heart when beating kept time with every human joy and woe. But he was

ready to be offered. He fought a good fight. He kept the faith, and while we weep, he wears the triple

crown of life and joy and glory, which God the righteous judge has conferred upon him. 44

Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1950), 149.