The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-01-25 00:00:00

TWENTY-FIVE YEARS' HARD LABOUR.

In connection with Mr. Spurgeon's departure for Nientone,
with a view to the restoration of his health, an interesting
record of his twenty-five years of work at the Metropolitan
Tabernacle, and at the more important thritationa in asso-
ciation with it, inciudlng the Pastors' College s Stockwell
Orphanage, and the Almshouses, is givtn in thethe
Daily News
of Saturday. We make the following extracts from the
article :
Twenty-five years ago there entered London from
the Eastern Counties high-road a young, unknown,
and comparatively friendless man. He has himself
recorded that in view of the importance of his mission
to the great metropolis he had carefully dressed him-
self in "a huge black satin stock," and that he was
further endowed with "a blue handkerchief with white
spots." We get further hints that Mr. Spurgeon was
at this epoch a youth of rustic manners and timii
address. He was just nineteen years old, and was
already pastor of a little Baptist chapel at Waterbeach,
fire miles from Cambridge. Thither had come a letter
one Sunday morning inviting him to preach a sermon
at New Park-street, Southwark, a pulpit just vacated
by Dr. Rippon, a shining light in Baptist circles a
qnarter of a ,entury ago. ivir. Spurgeon thought there
must be a mistake somewhere, and replied by letter
to that effect, explaining that he was "only just
turned nineteen," tthd was in no manner qu tlitied
to fill the pulpit of a great chapel io London. He
wad assured that there was no mkake, and the
invitation heir g renewed he set out for London
with his huge black satin stock, his bine handker-
chief with white spots, and an undeveloped cape-
city for preaching, which even the far-Peeing and
sanguine deacons of Park street Chapel little dreamt
of. Mr. Spurgeon tells how he spent the well-remem-
bered night at a boarding-house in Queen's-square,
Bloomsbury; how his fellow guests were "greatly
tickled that the country lad should be a preacher;"
how they overwhelmed him with narratives of the
attainments of London divines, what study they
devoted to the composition of their sermons, their
herculean toils in keeping together a congregation as
critical as it was numerous, and "the matchless oratory
they exhibited on all occasions." Mr. Spurgeon
went to bed in a cupboard over the front door,
and tossed on the narrow couch in solitary misery.
"Pitiless was the grind of the cabs in the street,
pitiless the recollection of the young City clerks whose
grim propriety had gazed upon our rusticity with such
amusement, pitiless the spare room which scarce
afforded space to kneel, pitiless even the gas-lamps
which seemed to wink at U 4 as they flickered amid the
December darkness. We had no friend in all that
city full of human beings, but we felt among strangers
and foreigners, hoped to be helped through the scrape
into which we had been brought, and to escape safely
to the serene abodes of Cambridge and Waterbeach."
Mr. Spurgeon's success was immediate and unmis-
takeable, and from his first sermon in the Park-street
Chapel he has gone on increasing in p ,wer ano fame
and personal influence. Ever) bi,dc has heard of him
as a preacher, millions have heard him preach. The
Tabernacle on a Sunday, when Mr. Spurgeon is in
the pulp t, is one of the sights of London. It is the
one church in England, perhaps in the world, whose re-
gular congregation numbers 5,000, add which has
nevet an empty bench. The weekly sermons have
even a wider oongregation than the Tabernacle will
hold. They are printed from week to week, and
circulate wherever the English tongue prevails. They
have been translated into almost every language
spoken by Christians; and in some of the African
missionary settlements the natives read in their own
tongue the homely truths, the forcible arguments, and
the quaint illustrations which have been first uttered
on some earlier Sunday in the Tabernacle: Mr,
Spurgeon is first of all a preacher, and it is as a
preacher that he is known throughout the civilized
world. But he is something more than a preacher.
He is one of the most tremendous workers of the
day. Few people outside his congregation, or beyond
those who make it their special business to inquire,
can form any conception of the proportion and exten-
sion of the agencies for doing good which Mr. Spurgeon
has established, controls and principally maintains.
The conclusion of a period of twenty-five years' work,
marked as it has been by the splendid testimonial of
the Bazaar, appears a fitting opportunity for reviewing
his labours and recording the impressions of a personal
visit to the institutions of which he is the life and

The history of the Bazaar is of itself an instructive
commentary on Mr. Spurgeon's peculiar way of deal-
ing with affairs. As the time for the celebration of
his Silver Wedding with his Church approached it
was suggested that the opportunity should b& seized
to make him a present worthy of the occasion. When
the scheme came to Mr. Bpurgeon's ears he by no
means discouraged it. On the contrary, he warmly
approved it. Let them raise as much money as
they could; the more munificent the sum the
better he would be pleased—only he would not
accept a penny of it himself. The Almshonses
were in need ot endowment; let the Silver-Wedding
Tribute be appropriated to that purpose. The con-
gregation at the rabernacle are not accustomee to
argue with their pastor; his dictum was promptly and
cordially accepted, and the 'result was that the rounifi•
cent sum of £6,500 was raised through the agency of
the Bazaar, and the homes for aged women stand on a
?;is for ever. The Almshouses are idtuate in
-tect, off the New Kent•road, and afford
• !o ,eventeen o)d ladies
Over the ahnshonses rues a schoolroom. This is a
public school connected with the Teherna le, where an
4verage of 240 b,,) s and halt as many giiii receive a
sound elementary education. The school is always
full. It is enough for the people in the neighbourhood
of the Kent-road to know that it is `• Spurgeon's
School." The name with them is synonymous with
all that is practical, sound, honest, and thorough; and
in respect of the education received at these schools
their confidence does not appvar to be misplaced.
Behind the Tabernacle itself is the Pastor's College,
which Mr. Spurgeon always speaks of as his favourite
work. It was one of his earliest enterprises, and is
now past its majority. It commenced with atingle
pupil, and now numbers nearly one hundred. The
classes were first held in the rooms under the Taber-
nee e, but this was an arrangement only accepted as
temporary by Mr. Spurgeon. In 1871 he began to call
aloud for a suitable building—a stately College House.
.He did not ask in vain, for the handsome and com-
modious building was immediately after erected
behind the Tabernacle, and five years later Mr.
Spurgeon was enabled to announce that he had
purchased the freehold of the College, before held
upon lease from Ecclesiastical Commissioners, and
that the property had been placid in trust, together
with a sufficient sum to pay the rates and keep it in
repair. The first condition of admission to the College
is that a man shall have beeu engaged for two years in
preaching. This qualification established, no special
standard of literary qualification or of social position
is enforced. The course of tuition extends over two
years, though students are not necessarily seat away
at the end of that period. Chapels all ovrt the country,
and even in the colonies, draw on the College for a sup-
ply of pastors. "Our policy has been," Mr. Spurgeou
says, '' to imitate the . florist by planting a large
number of slips, in the hope that some of them
would strike." The total Income of the College last
year reached elose upon £7,000. The expendi-
ture was just over £7,000, of which more than half
was the cost ot boarding and lodging the students.

In connection with the College is a Loan Fund, the
object of which is to assist, by gift or loan without in-
terest, in the building or enlargement or repair of
chapels, in which former students of the College
officiate. The College is now on a firm and sound
financial basis, the large amount required for its pus-
tentation being regularly forthcoming. But at one
time it was in very low water, and Mr. Spurgeon
having exhausted all his personal resources in main-
taining it, had determined to sell his horse and
carriage to keep it going for a few months longer.
He spoke ot his difficulty to his congregation, and
thereupon commenced the "weekly offering" at
the Tabernacle. It is a point of honour with the con-
gregation that the annual aggregate of this offering
dial' be maintained at the figure of the date a the
year. Last year, accordingly, £1,878 were forth-
coming from the boxes at the Tabernacle 000 rs.
Perhapa of all the institutions which owe their
origin and maintenance to the generous mind and
dauntless spirit of Mr. Spurgeon, the Orphanage most
surely and quickly touches a chord iu public feeling.
The Orphanage buildings, which stand in their own
grounds off the Ulaph am-road, are designed for the
accommodation of ',-50 children, who are admissible
between the ages of six and ten. There is no preliminary
trouble or expense Id the way of canvassing for votes.
The trustees investigate the various cases submitted,
and select the most worthy of relief. At present the
Orphanage is quite full; there are on the books
100 claimants for admission, and 30 have been nomi-
nated to fill vacancies as they arise. The system is
based as much as possible upon the model of the
family circle, and the fortunate boys selected find here
what is often their first realisation of the meaning of
the word home. The school is conducted in classes,
and the boys feed in common. But they live together
In separate houses in colonies of from 30 to 46.
These houses are, as the inscriptions indicate, gifts
from various sources. There is "The Merchant's
House," "The Workmen's House "—the funds for
which were mainly subscribed by a firm of
builders and their workmen; "The Unity House,"
erected by a husband in memory of his wife; and
"The Silver 'Wedding House," built, as the inscrip-
tion testifies, "in gratitu.te to God for twenty-five
years of happy wedded life." In the spacious and
airy bedrooms rows of little iron bedsteads are set,
each boy having his own bed. Lavatories are close at
hand, and are diligently used morning and night.
The boys are rung up at a quarter to seven in the
winter and half-past six in the summer. Then com-
mences the scrubbing with soap and water, after which
the boys rush out into the playground, on the wholly
superfluous errand of inducing an appetite by half an
hour's play before breakfast. Breakfast is at eight,
school at 9 30, dinner at one, school again at half past
two, tea at half-past five, turn in at half-past seven, in
bed and lights out at nine. .
Dr. Monet, of the Local Government Board,
engaged on an enquiry into the various systems
adopted for the maintenance and education of
the children of the p,or, has passed a high- enconium
on the Stockwell Orphanage. The praise was not over-
done. These children, snatched from a hopeless future
of misery, ignorance, and want, are here clothed,
fed, educated, and, when the time comes for them
to leave school, are provided with situations. It
is a positive pleasure to see the clean, healthy,
happy faces of the boys. The bi-weekly pudding
seems to have entered into their souls. Their
singing is uncommonly good, and th, ir aptitude for
arithmetic highly trained. A sum set upon a black
board, comprising addition, substraction, and com-
pound multiplication, over which a factor of k exer-
cised a dominant and aggravating influence, was dis-
posed sisf in a few minutes by a clam of lads of the
average age of ten. They take kind') to all the songs in
the repertoire, of the Tonic Sol-fa school. If they
have a preference it is, perhaps, for one known as
"Hark, the impatient steed is neighing.' In this there
occurs shun to the s ffect," Ah. es- ah ah," which is under-
stood to be an imitation of "the hounds in f nil cry.
baying, baying," and is certainly capable of giving full,
scope to youthful lungs. The Orphanage being com-
plete within itself, necessarily has its infirmary. But
this is just now comparatively empty, the principal
patients being a bright-eyed urchin afflicted with
chilblains, who is privileged to lie in bed all day by a
bright tire, and another, who broke his legs in a
moment of enthusiasm on the swing. One little cot is
just emptied, and its story is told in the brief record
in the infirmary book :--" Dickson died to-day,
after much suffering." Dickson just lived to be ten
years of age, if he may be said to have lived at all.
His mother and father both died of consumption, and
the frail child lot behind was straightway taken into
the Orphanage, in the hope that his poor spark of life
might be fanned into a flame. But he never had a
chance from the day he was born. "I have seen many
deaths," the doctor who attended him says, " but
few so happy as his. Poor buy,' I said to him
day or two before be died, as he lay on the bed
making nothing of his bodily anguish, Poor boy.'
With sparkling eyes he drew my head down to
his lips and said, 'I am not a poor boy. lam very
happy. lam going home.'" and home he went before
the New Year was a fortnight old.
The institutions here euumer ited do not comprise
the full material results of Mr. Spurgeon's twenty-five
years' hard labour. But they suffice to compose a rare,
perhaps a unique, monument to the energy, resolution,
and philanthropy of a single man. Mr. Spurgeon has
been successful in infusing something of his own spirit
into those with whom he works, and in the or late too
frequent, intervals when he is prostrated by sickness
or bodily fatigue, the work at the Tabernacle, at the
Alwerh,uses, at the Pastor's College, and at the Stock-
well Orphanage g on as smoothly as it he were still
on the spot. Once more he has been compelled
t,inooraiily to give up the struggle, and has gone to
seek in Mentone the rest he cannot find in London.
He hopes to be back in the spring refreshed and
strengthened,