SPURGEON'S MEN.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1645, 11 January 1913, Page 9

SPURGEON'S MEN.

DR. DIXON ON SLEEPERS IN ■'• . : ■■•...: , •;church. . •.'■■ v The Pastors', Coliego hold its animal -meeting.'in'- tho Metropolitan Tabernaclo on November 21. Dr. A.' C' Dixon presided. Mr. Charles Spurgeon, Tii presenting the report, snid ho could riot sum/up the situation'of tho college better than in the words used on a similar occasion by 1 his father, the founder: "Loolrfffg back, our hearts sing; looking around, we rejoice j looking forward, we. are full', of expectation; and looking upward, wc adore." Mr. Thomas Spurgeon, as president,' had equally good ■ tidings. He found that everywhere the memory of the founder of the college was being kept green, and all over tho country—and ; on foreign mission stations, too—tho. collego men were doing a splendid work. ■. Dr. Dixon, in giving a lecture to tho students oh\ tho appropriate subject of "Paul as a Preacher, had some amusing things to say about sleepers in church. Paul, ho. said, had never been particular about confining his sermons to thirty minutes, and,' indeed,' on at least' one occasion ho had preached' till well past midnight. Oivthat occasion, Eutychus, : who -was seatod-in. the window,, had fallen asleep 'and tumbled out on to tho pavement, and Paul had had'the magnanimity to go down and bring him to life again. Doubtless Eutyohus was not tho only person to sleep, however, for ho had a shrewd 'suspicion' that some of tho pious old. ciders must'have listened only between thqir naps, and the recording of the, incident 'had' always been,"a considerable comfort to liiiu. '■•'• If ho knew that people could 'goto sleep while 'Paul was preaching, ho' did not feel so muoh disgraced when they slumbered while . he'.himself was tho sneaker. 'Tho students-would find everywhere, he said, that"churohes m wero>built up of pillars and sleepers. Tbero wore tome people so naturally, drowsy that, after tho first few minutes; of a sermon' they would invariably close their eyes restfully and'hope'that the. Word might bo blessed to others. -Whenever .ho had seen 'anvone go to' sleep in. tho Metropolitan Tabernacle, it: had ■ been ■ a comfort to him to reflect that: the J&>rd givothHis beloved sleep, and, that some of them might'be all tho, brighter and more amiablo at:homo- after it. ;. • ,- - -.