SPURGEON CENTENARY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22294, 21 June 1934, Page 13

SPURGEON CENTENARY

TRIBUTE TO HIS WORK ADDRESS BY REV. E. S. TUCKWELL. Tribute to the memory of the Rev. Charles Haddon Spurgeon and to the influence which he exercised upon the English-speaking world was paid at the Hanover Street Baptist Church last evening, when, despite the inclement nature of the weather, there was a large gathering cl the public to commemorate the centenary of his birth. The president of the Baptist Union (Mr W. J. Bardsley) presided, and the speaker for the evening was the Rev. E. S. Tuckweli.

A feature of the service was the singing of Spurgeon’s favourite hymns, led by the united Baptist choirs. These included “Ail Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name,” “Oh for a Thousand Tongues to Sing,” "Jesu, Lover of My Soul,” “The Sands of Time are Sinking,” and were sung with a fervour that would have delighted the great evangelist himself. 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 Keivedon, Essex, Charles Haddon Spurgeon was born,” said Mr Tuckweli, “ and the centenary of this remarkable man is being celebrated a!) 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 clays 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 mipisters mildly amused and critical, the press sarcastic, holding him' up to ridicule, and the 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 the 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 iMetropolitan Tabernacle. Dr Richard Glover, a keen and sincere critic, said of Spurgeon: ‘ln bead, in heart, in energy, in spirit, he presented a combination most marvellous and striking. His intellectual qualities, for instance, were of the supreme order.’ “ In childhood he was something of a prodigy. He began to preach at 16 years of age and at 19 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. Sur--rey Gardens Music Hall, which held 10,000 to 12,000, was taken and, from the first service, from which thousands were turned away, there was never enough room for the immense numbers he drew. When this huge building was no longer available he went back to Exeter Hall, accommodating 4000, and as many were turned away as gathered inside during his term there. Finally, the Metropolitan Tabernacle, holding 6000, was built, and here for over 30 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- bis death, in 1892, the roll call numbered 5311 names, and there were 22 mission stations, 27 Sunday and ragged schools, with 312 teachers, 8034 scholars, and in the various other halls used for public services accommodation for nearly 4000 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, he would have filled the largest theatre without trouble. Yet he was a prodigious worker, and toiled amazingly to win his command of that pure Anglo-Saxon which brought his message within the reach of the busftblest mind. For more than 62 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 150,000,000. “Spurgeon’s social sympathies were profound and practical. The Stockwell Orphanges, an entirely unsectarian institution, with its average of 250 boy s and 250 girls; the almshouses for old folk who dreaded the workhouse; the large organisation where cripple girls are taugiu to make artificial flowers—these came into existence under bis inspiring leadership and are still carrying on their beneficent work.

“He was a mystic, but he 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. From his own purse he contributed £SOOO for the' almshouses, and when at his jubilee a testimonial of £4500 was presented to him be insisted upon devoting the whole of it to religious work. ‘Not one farthing for myself,’ he said. ‘You may give it to me for myself if you like, but I 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 of preachers. Over 1400 men have passed through the curriculum, 400 of them are ministers in the British Isles, while 150 are serving as missionaries and ministers overseas. Theologically, Spurgeon was a Calvinist. He was severely conservative. His ministry was exercised during those years when science and criticism were compelling theological readjustment, but he stood foursquare by the old paths, and the last 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 same immense popularity and response if he were living 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 kinema was unknown, as was the ‘ movie mentality that makes the old-fashioned service terribly dull. The radio which puts on star preachers who can be switched off if uninteresting, the motor car, the cheap locomotion from the metropolis to the beauty spots of the country, the Sunday newspaper—all constitute a set of competitors unknown to Spurgeon. There were balls, most of them small and unclean, where secularism was preached, but practically the churches bad 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 ot to-day. Whether these would make his ministry as effective as it was 50 years ago is still a matter for conjecture. But, as his biographer says, ‘The passing must not be allowed to obscure the abiding. His message rings true across the years. Perhaps liis 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!’”