CHAPTER XVII.

A Cluster of Anecdotes.

UR literature is rich in anecdotes of public men. Men of the stamp of Mr. Spurgeon necessarily furnish occasion for many a racy and pleasant Many are told in connection with the great preacher, and have been told by him, that ought not to be lost. A few of them may find an appropriate place in this volume.

story.

66

Mr. Spurgeon and Mr. Grattan Guinness.—The following characteristic story is told on good authority relative to these gentlemen. One day, soon after Mr. Guinness began his career as a preacher, wishing to see Mr. Spurgeon, he called at his house. The servant, as usual, asked, "What name, please, sir?" Say," said Mr. G., "a servant of Christ." The message was duly delivered; but Mr. Spurgeon, from some cause or other, did not wish to be troubled with company, and therefore delivered himself thus:"Hum a servant of Christ, did the gentleman say ?" "Yes, sir," replied the domestic. “Then tell him, with my compliments, that I am engaged with his Master, and cannot see him to-day."

Mr. Spurgeon at a Baptism.-"I attended," says a correspondent of the New York Independent, "a week-night meeting in Mr. Spurgeon's own church, at which he immersed fifteen converts. After leading the first down into the water, he said, 'My brother, upon a profession of thy faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, I do baptise thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.' Of the second, he said, 'I do immerse thee.' Of the third, 'I do dip thee.' Of the fourth, 'I do plunge thee.' Of the fifth, I do baptise, dip, immerse, plunge thee,' etc. Then, turning to his congregation, he added, 'Friends, when degrees are given according to merit, I shall get one for my translation.""

Mr. Spurgeon and his "Vulgarities."-Addressing an assembly at Rosherville, Mr. Spurgeon took occasion to say that he had been complained of on account of his vulgarity. Now, he admitted the fact, but in relation to his view of the matter he would give them the history of a naval captain which was told him by a sailor whom he casually met. The sailor, in reply to some questions, told him that the captain of his ship was a most gentlemanly man in language and behaviour, and never known to use coarse epithets or utter an oath. The sailor told him that one night while at sea the captain came on deck, and espied three or four sailors in the rigging playing at cards by the light of a lantern. He called out to them, "Aloft there, extinguish that luminator;" the men took no heed. He called again, "I say, extinguish that luminator;" still they paid no attention. He called again with the like result. Irritated at their obstinacy, he went below to the firstlieutenant, told him of the circumstance, and desired him to bring the men before him. On hearing what had taken place, the lieutenant said, "Oh, sir, they did not understand you. I warrant they pay attention to what I say." He then went on deck, accompanied by the captain, and hailed

the tars aloft, saying, "Aloft there, douse that glim." The light was immediately extinguished. "Now, my friends," said Mr. Spurgeon, "when I get into the pulpit I say, 'Douse that glim!'"

India's Desire to see Mr. Spurgeon.-Mr. A. H. Baynes, Secretary of the Baptist Foreign Missionary Society, shortly after a visit to India, was speaking at a public meeting in London, and said "About four months ago I was crossing over from Barakpore on one side of the river Hooghly, to Serampore on the other. My only companion in the ferryboat was a bright-looking young Bengalee Baboo. I noticed with considerable interest that he had a

Bengalee Testament under his arm. I said to the ferryman, 'Please put me down at the College;' and then the following conversation took place--Are you going to the Baptist College?' (He spoke English perfectly.) 'Yes.' 'Are you a Baptist?' 'Yes.' 'Do you know Mr. Spurgeon?' 'Yes.' 'Yes.' 'Will you do me a kindness?' 'Gladly, if I can.' 'Will you tell Mr. Spurgeon that every Sunday we pray for him in our native church in Barakpore? I am a Wesleyan, and our native church is a Wesleyan church. Will you tell him that, though I am a Wesleyan, I have been properly baptised, because all we Bengalee Christians believe that true baptism is baptism by immersion? Our ministers do not object to baptise us. If you go back to England, and attend any of the great missionary gatherings' (and it is in pursuance of the promise given that I tell this this morning, and it may reach even the shores of the Hooghly), will you tell the Christian friends in England that we want Mr. Spurgeon to come out to India; we will give him a right hearty welcome, and he will do great good?'"

6

Mr. Spurgeon's New Year's Text.-His text on the first Sabbath morning in 1866 was John xvii. 20, 21. "For several years," said the preacher, "I have thankfully

received the text of the first Sabbath in the year from a venerable clergyman of a parish in the suburbs of our city. Spared by a gracious Providence, my good brother has sent me, with his Christian salutations, these two verses for my subject. I can only hope that as we have enjoyed together for several years a true communion of spirit in the things of God, until one or other of us shall be taken up to dwell above, we may walk together in holy service, loving each other with a pure heart fervently." The clergyman thus referred to was the Rev. Ferdinand Faithfull, residing near Epsom. When the New Year's sermon was published, the excellent man always obtained a sufficient number to supply each person in his own congregation with a copy.

The Daughter's Bible.—“I knew one who would not go to a place of worship, and turned every Bible out of his house; but he found a copy of the holy book in his house, and as he cursed and swore, he learned that it was the property of a daughter whom he loved too much to scold, and he was obliged to let the sacred volume rest where she had placed it. A Bible in a house where it is forbidden to be read is a splendid power for good, as he soon discovered. In a house where it is outwardly honoured the Bible may have little influence, but if it gets where it must not be allowed, everybody reads it. If you can make God's Word to be forbidden fruit, Eve will feed on it, and Adam will follow her. Thus the grace of God came into the house, and it could never be expelled."

The Lavender.-"Down by Mitcham, when the lavender is growing, if you take a house there you will discern a smell of lavender; you may shut the windows and close the doors, but when any persons enter, a whiff of lavender enters with them-you cannot help it; and if you live where the gospel is preached at all you will be sure to hear it, and made to know of it. It is God's intention that you

should. It is a voice that comes unasked and undesired, but come it does."

A Visit to the Surrey Gardens Music Hall.-“ A friend of mine," said a correspondent in the Times, in March 1857, "a Scotch Presbyterian, comes up to town and says

'I want to hear Spurgeon, let us go.' Now, I am supposed to be a High Churchman, so I answered, 'What! go and hear a Calvinist—a Baptist—a man who ought to be ashamed of himself for being so near the Church and yet not within its pale?' 'Never mind, come and hear him.' Well, we went yesterday morning to the Music Hall in the Surrey Gardens. At first I felt a strange sensation of wrong-doing. It was something like going to a morning theatrical performance on Sunday; nor did a terrific gust of wind, which sent the Arctic regions, erected out of laths and pasteboard in a style regardless of expense, flying across the water of the lake, tend to cheer a mind depressed by the novelty of the scene. Fancy a congregation, consisting of ten thousand souls, streaming into the hall, mounting the galleries, humming, buzzing, and swarming—a mighty hive of bees-eager to secure at first the best places, and at last any place at all. Aiter waiting more than half-an-hour -for, if you wish to have a seat, you must be there at least that space of time in advance-Mr. Spurgeon ascended the tribune. To the hum, and rush, and trampling of men, succeeded a low, concentrated thrill of devotion, which seemed to run at once like an electric current through the breast of every one present, and by this magnetic chain the preacher held us fast-bound for about two hours. It is not my purpose to give a summary of his discourse. It is enough to say of his voice that its power and volume are sufficient to reach every one in that vast assembly; of his language, that it is neither high-flown nor homely; of his style, that it is at times familiar, at times declamatory, but always happy, and often