BOOK NOTICE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2006, 4 August 1892, Page 40

BOOK NOTICE.

A LIFE OF SPURGEON.

We have before us a little book en',it!ed •C. H. Spurgeon : His Life and Ministry," by Jesse Page, well known as the biographer ol Henry Martyn, David Brainerd, and other religious celebrities. The present volume is attrractively got up in the style so dear to the young, and is evidently intended for presentation purposes. It is not in any sense a biography of the great pulpit orator. It does not give us any more intimate knowledge of the man. Ib is merely a simple narrative of the events of his life, embellished by a selection of specimens of bis versatility and ability. Spurgeon was undoubtedly a born orator. Contrary to the general impression, he had received a good education, but nevertheless, or perhaps because of it, chese only the simplest words in his addresses and writings, and was probably, next to John Bright, the best exponent of the capabilities of the simple Saxon tongue. He found his vocation naturally. The son and grandson of Baptist divines, he imbibed theological predictions at an early age, and at 16 experienced religious conviction. He immediately began preaching. Although he studied at Cambridge, he did not enter the university. Neither did he receive any technical training for the ministry. It was his custom to address meetings in vllages sui rounding Cambridge, and the fame of the eloquence of tne ruddy-faced youth with his round unclerical jacket and turn-down collar was soon noised abroad. The congregation at Waterbeach earnestly entreated him to become their settled pastor, and he acquiesced.

It was due to a curious accident that Spurgeon did not undergo a regular preparation for the ministry, Pressed by his friends to enter Stepney College, he made an appointment to meet Dr Angus, the principal, at the house of Mr Macmillan, the publisher. Unluckily, or rather as it eventuated, luckily, Spnrgeon was shown into one room and Dr Angus into another, and each gofc tired of waiting, co the interview never came off. Shortly afterwards Spurgeon spoke at a meeting of the Cambridge Sunday School Union, and there was a visitor present from London, who was much struck with him. The result was an invitation to preach at New Park street Chapel, the pnlpifc being then vacant. He complied with the invitation, and so entranced the congregation that they would have made him their minister at once, but that he preferred three months' trial. At the end of that period he bad completely won them, though he was not then 20 years of age, and thereupon commenced that life of enormous activity which only closed at Mentone last January. ■ The church in New Park street was established in troublous times. The Parliament having gained its own religious freedom, immediately began to curtail that of others, and the Baptists among others came under the ban of the Puritans, who accounted them merely sectaries. William Rider was the first pastor of the church and served it faithfully 15 years. He was succeeded by Benjamin Read, who was pastor 36 years, and was many times imprisoned, made to stand in the pillory, and otherwise ill used for publishing books not in accordance with the Prayer book. Benjamin Stinton, who had for some years been his coadjutor, followed, and preached 11 years. To him belongs the ciedit of establishing the Baptist fund for needy ministers.

The famous commentator Dr Gill was the next pastor, and occupied the pulpit for upwards of half a century. Dr Gill was one of the most learned men that the Baptist denomination has ever produced. Following him was Dr Rippon, who was pastor for 63 years, and was the most fashionable dissenting preacher in London. Dr Angus, Mr Smith, and Mr Walters occupied the pulpit from 1810 until Spurgeon mounteS it.

Ifc may be surmised thab the young Spnrgeon became the successor of so many notable divines, and in so historical a church, with feelings of trepidation, and he himself humorously described his feelinga 25 years afterwards in the " Sword and Trowel." He soon filled the chapel in New Park street to "overflowing, and in order to accommodate his vast audiences took the Royal Surrey Music Hall, preaching in it to 7000 persons. Shortly afterwards the Metropolitan Tabernacle was built, and has now a membership of over 5000. In the first year of bis pastorate was begun the publication of his sermons', which was continued down to bis death, and since. They have appeared in many forms. In newspapers, as ac present appearing in the Witness, they speak to the lonely dweller in the bush with nearly the same force with which they fell on the ears of the original audience, for they have the singular meiit of reading as well as if spoken.

The literary and philanthropic works undertaken by Mr Spurgeon are well known. The "Sword and Trowel," ''John Ploughman's Talk," the college, the orphanage, the book fund, the theological writiugs have brought peace aad comfort to many a one. The greatest men have counted it a privilege to hear this natural orator ; the greatest philanthropists an honour to be admitted to his friendship. As we gather from Mr Page's succinct account of his life an idea of the vast amount of work he accomplished, the enormous quantity of good he did, we concur that it is perhaps as well that attention has not been directed to subtlety of detail. The rugged grandeur of the man iB not marred by microscopical researches.

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