Mr Spurgeon and His Detractors.

Auckland Star, Volume XVII, Issue 3867, 6 January 1883, Page 3

Mr Spurgeon and His Detractors.

A BOLTON gentleman has called the attention of the Rev. C. 11. Spurgeon to a paragraph which appeared'in a liyerpool newspaper in reference to the meeting* of the B.ue Ribbon Army in Chiist Churcb, Westminster Bridge (Rev. Newman Hall s). and the Metropolitan Tabernacle, The following sentence appsared in the paragraph :—r" Mr Spurgeon.- is not a teetotaller, and cheiishea bis gout as a sigc of atuto cratic blood and high lubits; so that he is hardly likely to lead the way." In reply, Mr Spurgeon write?: " I never heard of the falsehood reported in the Liverpool paper. Those who see anything of me did not teed my speech to let them .know, that, I have been a total abstainer for years; but I am glad that the papers reported it, that there inav bo no doubt as to the side I take. What'a crnel thing to say thatl • cherish my pout as a sign of aristocratic Hood and bighhabit?,' for 1 would gladly be lid of this tore affliction, and to aristdcratic blood I never made the slightest pretension. 1 suppose correspondents feel that they must make up a certain quantity of matter, and when facts fail_ them they must needs draw on their imagination. A man mißht surely gain a great name far originality if he would make his imaginative periods pleasant instead of slanderous), and yet perhaps to many readers the piquancy lies in the detraction."