SPURGEON CENTENARY

Evening Star, Issue 21752, 21 June 1934, Page 3

SPURGEON CENTENARY

ADDRESS BY REV. E. S. TUCKWELL Tribute to the memory of the Bey. Charles ITadclon Spurgeon and to the influence which he exercised upon the English-speaking world was paid at the Hanover Street Baptist Church last evening, when there was a large gathering of the public to commemorate the centenary of his birth. The president of the Baptist Union (Mr W. .1. Bardsley) presided, and tho speaker for the evening was the Rev. E. S. Tuckwell. A feature' of the service was the singing of Spurgeon’s favourite hymns, led by the united Baptist choirs. These included ‘ All Hail the Foyer of Jesus’ Name,’ ‘ O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing,’ ‘ Jesu, Lover of My Soul,’ and ‘ The Sands of Time are Sinking.’ The Baptist companies of the Boys’ Brigade attended the celebrations, and during the evening Mrs G. C. Reay sang the solo ‘ Look and Live.’ “ One hundred years ago on Tuesday, at Kclvedon, Essex, Charles Haddon Spurgeon was born,” said Mr Tuckwell, “ and the centenary of this remarkable man is being celebrated all over Christendom. This son of an obscure country minister was destined to become the greatest pulpit orator of modern times and the greatest evangelist since the days of St. Paul. As he entered upon his career he was confronted by a mountain of prejudice and misunderstanding, but he triumphantly surmounted every obstacle. He found the churches surprised and almost shocked, the ministers mildly amused and critical, the Press sarcastic, holding him up to ridicule, and tho public fearful of pulpit mountebanks! Yet, before he had completed his ministry he was not only universally admired, but also beloved and revered and the pastor of the largest church in tho world. Royalty did the unprecedented thing of attending the services of a Nonconformist preacher. Ruskin was among his personal friends, Gladstone sat enthralled by his sacred eloquence, while visitors to London considered their sojourn in the metropolis incomplete without a visit to the great Metropolitan Tabernacle. Dr Richard Glover, a keen and sincere critic, said of Spurgeon; ‘ In head, in heart, in energy, in spirit !.c presented a combination most marvellous and striking. His intellectual qualities, for instance, were of tbe supreme order.’

“lii childhood he was something of a prodigy. Ho began to preach at six-, teen years of age, and at nineteen ho was called to the pulpit of a large London church which proved utterly inadequate to hold the crowds who thronged to hear the boy preacher. Surrey Gardens Music Hall, which held 10,000 to 12.000, was taken, and from the first service, from which thousands wer** turned away, there was never enough room for the inuncn.se numbers he drew. When this huge building was no longer available ho went back to Exeter Hall, accommodating 4,000, and as many were turned away as gathered inside during his term there. . Finally the Metropolitan Tabernacle, holding 6,000. was built, and here for over thirty years he exercised a phenomenal ministry. The forecast, of the critics that he would go up like a rocket and come down like a. stick was strikingly falsified. The Tabernacle was always filled. His popularity and power grew with the passing years. During his long pastorate no fewer than 14,691 persons were received into fellowship. At the time of his death, in 1892, the roll call numbered 5,311 names, and there were 22 mission stations, 27 .Sunday and ragged schools, with 312 teachers, 8,034 scholars. and in the various other halls used lor public services accommodation' for nearly 4.000 worshippers. It is estimated that during his ministry he preached to 20.000,000 people. [' He was a born orator, with a voice like a silver bell. One of the most famous dramatic critics of the’ day, Mr Sheridan Knowles, described him as ‘ absolutely perfect in oratory,' and declared that, had he been upon the stage, ho would have filled the largest theatre without trouble. Yet he was a prodigious worker, and toiled amazingly to win bis command of that pure Anglo-Saxon which brought his message ■ within the reach of the humblest mind. For more than sixtytwo years a sermon was published each week. Several single sermons reached a circulation of over a quarter of a million, and the total sale is nearly 150.000. ’ ‘ “ Spurgeon’s social sympathies were profound and'practical. 'The Stockweli Orphanages, an entirely unsectarian institution. with its average of 250 boys ami 250 girls; the almshouses for old folk who dreaded the workhouse; the large organisation whore cripple girls are taught to make artificial flowers—these came into existence under his inspiring leadership and arc- still carrying on their beneficent work. “ He was a mystic, but be was also a great human' with a large fund of common sense and humour. His generosity was as great as his sincerity.

He was a princely giver. Rumour said he would die a very wealthy; man, but rumour was disappointed. Prom his own purse he contributed £5,000 for the* almshouses, and when at his jubilee a’ testimonial of £4,500 was presented to , biin he insisted upon devoting the whole of it to religions work. ‘ Not one farthing for myself,’ he said. ‘ You may give it to me for myself if you like,, but 1 will not keep it. It shall all be the Lord’s.’ . “His statesmanship and vision were evidenced in the establishment of the Pastors’ College for the training ofj preachers. Over 1.400 men have passed! through the curriculum, 400 of. themj are ministers in the British Isles, 150 are serving as missionaries and mini isters overseas. Theologically,' Spmq geon was a Calvinist. He was severely conservative. His ministry was • excrcised during those years when.science , and criticism were compelling theological readjustment, hut he stood foursquare by the old paths, and the las€ years of; his life were deeply shadowed! by what was called the ‘ downgrade; controversy,’ which split the Baptist Union upon the question of orthodoxy* although it had far wider than merely denominational reverberations. “ Would Spurgeon enjoy the samel immense popularity and response if hoy were Jiving in our-own time? Forty years have passed since he died, and great changes ‘have taken place in the social and religious life of England.) The London of~ his day was very different from to-day, and the preacher, has fallen on difficult times. The cinema' was unknown, as was the ‘ movie mentality ’ that makes the old-fashioned service terribly dull. The radio which puts on star preachers who can b<s switched off if uninteresting, the motor, car, the cheap locomotion from the metropolis to the hehuty spots of the country, the Sunday newspaper—all constitute a set of competitors unknown to Spurgeon. There were halls, most of them small and unclean,: where secularism was preached, but practically the churches had it all their own. way. This, at least, is certain, that; under our changed conditions Spurgeon would not settle down to an acceptance of defeatism.. The same alertness of mind, indomitable spirit, and adaptive capacity would be focussed upon the problems of to-day. Whether these would make his ministry as effective as it was fifty years ago is still a matter tor conjecture. But. as his biographer says, ‘ The passing must nod be allowed to obscure the abiding. His message rings true across the years. Perhaps bis most important contribution will turn out to be the spiritual enrichment of the life of the time and all time, found in the eternal truth of the Divine Presence!’ ”