" Were it in my power, you should have the first vacant mitre in honour and appreciation of your singular gifts. Pardon this obtrusion on the rest which you so much need for your unwearied tax of strength, and believe me to be,
"Yours most truly in Christ, "J. F. S. Gordon, D.D., " St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, Glasgow."
In 1886, Mr. Spurgeon preached, in Great Queen Street Chapel, the annual sermon for the Wesleyan Missionary Society. It was one of the most remarkable discourses that he ever delivered, and it has been rendered specially memorable because of the large number of missionaries who have gone out to the foreign field in response to the powerful pleas he then urged upon all professing Christians. The text was Matthew xxviii. 18 — 20, and the title, "Our Omnipotent Leader." This letter, from a Wesleyan minister in Paris, expresses what many felt concerning it : —
" II, Avenue Flachat, " Asnieres, "Seine, " I purpose taking you for the subject of my monthly lecture at the 'Salle des Conferences,' Boulevard des Capucines. I feel that I cannot take this liberty with your name, person, and ministry, without at least informing you of what I purpose doing. You will understand at once that my object is to speak of Christ to a Parisian audience that will be attracted by the subject of the lecture.
" Wesley says, in his ' Notes to a Helper,' that a Methodist preacher must have all his wits about him. Methodist preachers have not the monopoly of shrewdness ; but I venture to think that, if I am equal to the occasion, I shall have followed out Mr. Wesley's injunction.
" I thanked you, from a very full heart, in the vestry of Great Queen Street Chapel, for your sermon on behalf of our Missionary Society ; I thanked you for it in Exeter Hall, and it would have done your heart good to have heard the response of our people to what I said ; and now I seize this opportunity of thanking you again. I shall never have done thanking you for words of cheer that have helped me in the fight. I feel more than thankful ; I am grateful. Precious spices become incense when set on fire ; so thanks, kindled by love, become gratitude.
" May I ask you to present my most respectful salutations to dear Mrs.
" Thankfully and sincerely yours, Such letters as the following always gave Mr. Spurgeon real pleasure : —
' Chaplain's House, " Tower of London, " 20th January, 1888. " Dear Sir, " May I ask you to be so kind as to let me have two seats in the
Metropolitan Tabernacle on Sunday evening next, for myself and sister? It is a good many years since I was there, — at one time regularly, with my mother, whom you well knew. Although now a clergyman of the Church of England, and therefore quite out of sympathy with your views of that body, I must express, what I have always felt, the deepest respect for your transparent sincerity, and a hearty admiration of your splendid God-given powers of clear convicting and also comforting gospel preaching. I am what would be termed a High Churchman ; but, believe me, I am not alone in, above all, loving and uttering God's simple gospel, only believing in ceremony and externals as relative goods, means to an end. " I have often, as a boy, shaken you by the hand, and should feel honoured by a chance of meeting you again. May God preserve you many years, though you rhetorically tear my Church to ribbons !
" Ever yours faithfully, On March 6, 1888, Mr. Spurgeon preached at Wimbledon; and, the following morning, he received this loving letter from Rev. E. V. Moore, M.A., the vicar of Emmanuel Church : —
" Dear Mr. Spurgeon, " At the risk of being troublesome, I must write just a few lines to thank you for the faithful testimony to a faithful Christ you gave us this afternoon. I hastened back to the vestry (after seeing a friend — Mrs. Seton-Karr, sister to your friend the late Mrs. Dudgeon, of Mentone, out of the crowd,) to have the pleasure of a shake of the hand, but you had gone. I should have liked to tell you, though you need no telling from me, how great and general is the sympathy felt for you here as everywhere by all who cleave to Christ the Head, for your brave and fearless stand for our Lord and Master. Thank you for preaching to-day a risen, glorious, triumphant, unchangeable Saviour. He is the same as ever. He still baptizes with the Holy Ghost and with fire ; and if He be for us, who can be against us ?
" Thank you for all the help you have often given me by the printed page. If it can be said of any man that he does not know what a great work he is doing, it may be said in a special sense of yourself. You will never know here how many souls you have gathered, and how many preachers you have strengthened. God bless and preserve you to us all for many years !
" Affectionately yours, The following note, from a clergyman of quite another school, was received in August, 1888:—
" Queen's House, " Cheyne Walk, " Chelsea. " Dear Mr. Spurgeon, " I and two of my children hope for the privilege of hearing you next Sunday night, if there is any chance of getting seats. It is very seldom, in London, I am out of my own pulpit ; and when I am, I do not like to miss the opportunity of hearing the greatest living preacher.
" Yours faithfully, "H. R. Haweis."
This letter was written by one of the Evangelical clergymen who resented Mr. Spurgeon's " Baptismal Regeneration " sermon, but who afterwards became one of the Pastor's heartiest admirers ; the receipt of the letter gave great joy to
Mr. Spurgeon : — " Christ Church Vicarage, " I don't know how it is, but I feel prompted to ask your acceptance of the enclosed New Year address, which, I rather think, will find an echo in your own heart.
" I remember once, when I was in Southwark, feeling constrained to differ from you as to the interpretation of our Baptismal Services. Since that time, the progress of error in the Church visible has been so alarming and continuous, that all who really love the Truth seem to be under a very special obligation to manifest substantial and brotherly unity ; and I cannot deny myself the pleasure of saying how much I thank God for the firmness and consistency with which you have maintained and propagated the precious doctrines of the grace of God in a Rationalistic and Ritualistic age.
" Believe me, " Francis Cruse."
When Mr. Spurgeon learned that the Jews of the present day substitute a dry shank-bone for the Paschal lamb, he was so struck with the spiritual significance of the fact, that he delivered a discourse upon the subject, and entitled it, " The Shank-bone Sermon; or, True Believers and their Helpers." On the following page is one of the many letters he received concerning it.
" 164, Richmond Road, "Dalston, N.E., "5/4/90. " Dear Mr. Spurgeon, " I enclose a cutting from to-day's Star, which corroborates in a remark- able manner the ' shank-bone ' illustration you so happily used at Victoria Park the other day. It is indeed a pity that Jews and half-Christians are content with a bone when they are offered the Lamb.
"You are making a noble stand for the truth, and there are thousands of ministers and others who heartily and daily say, ' God bless Mr. Spurgeon ! '
" Personally, I may say that I owe you more than I can ever tell. If you only knew half, you would never sit 'under the juniper tree,' for your life and words are an inspiration to the faithful in every land.
"Wishing you continued Divine favours, I remain, "Yours very heartily, "W. Justin Evans."
These appreciative letters from ministerial brethren may be fitly closed with the following fraternal epistle from Prebendary Stephenson : —
" Lympsham Manor, "Weston-super-Mare, "July 8, 1890. " My Dear Brother Spurgeon, " I quite agree with you that occasional pain and sickness are good for us preachers of Christ's gospel. I thought sympathetically of you, yesterday, when I ached all over, after four services on the Lord's-day before.
" My heart has been drawn towards you in admiring love for many years, and never more so than when I heard you on the Bible Society platform last May, when you gave abundant evidence that the bough, pruned by the hand of 'the Husbandman,' had not been ' purged in vain.'
"We may not belong to the same regiment of the great army, but our Captain is the same ! Go on, my beloved brother, as you have done for so many years past, to proclaim the magnificent glory of grace, and thus to gather trophies for the cross. ' Tabernacles ' shift and vanish, but 'Temples not made with hands' are 'eternal in the Heavens ' !
"God bless you, mine honoured friend ! This is Cardiphonia, from — " Your loving brother and servant in Christ,
"J. H. Stephenson, " Treasurer of Wells Cathedral."