(* Mrs. Spurgeon’s Report is sent to all her subscribers, and to very few beyond that circle. We so enjoyed its perusal that we determined to give our readers a part of it. The great interest of the subject claims for it a prominent place in a magazine which treats of “service for the Lord,” and we may also add that the intrinsic excellence of the writing will be an enrichment to our pages. How deep is our own interest in Mrs. Spurgeon’s most useful and needful work we need scarcely tell; we trust that our
readers will feel a measure of the same sympathy, and exhibit it in tangible form. A famine of books to a teacher of others is almost as distressing as want of bread. Want of good books has, we doubt not, tended greatly to impoverish the ministries of many preachers. How could they fill the minds of ethers when they had no food for their own? To our friends and readers we commend these extracts most earnestly, but we sincerely wish that we could have issued the whole report without abridgment, for it is deeply interesting throughout. A report will be sent gratis to any one who
becomes a subscriber, and those friends who wish to know about the work and cannot at present send a donation can obtain a copy of the report by sending sixpenny worth of postage stamps to Mrs. Spurgeon, Nightingale- lane, Balham, London. — C. H. S.) IN 1880 the Book Fund enters upon the fifth year of its existence. Very many of the old friends, who saw its formation, have lovingly watched its advance, and generously contributed to its increase; they are as well acquainted with its aims and ambitions as with its origin; but for the sake of the new friends who may be led to sympathize with me in the endeavor to help “poor bookless ministers,” I will give a brief account of the nature of the work which has become so dear to many hearts. The Book Fund makes grants to “poor pastors of every evangelical denomination, who are in actual charge, wholly devoted to the ministry, and whose income from all sources does not exceed (pounds)150 per annum.” These grants consist of seven or eight volumes, and usually comprise the “Treasury of David,” or some of Mr. Spurgeon’s Sermons — not to the exclusion of other books, but chiefly because they are the works most sought after by applicants to the Fund, — and, I am not afraid or ashamed to say it, because I know I could not, with the slender means at my command, give any more precious or more helpful.
Seldom are requests made for other authors, nor do I profess to supply them, but if reference be made to the titles, at the close of this report, of books distributed, it will be seen that when opportunity offers, I gladly make the addition of new and standard works to my stock. There are several special books for ministers which I would at once add to my list if friends who wish for their circulation would supply me with the means. It is sad to know that the limit of (pounds)150 in income gives me as wide a field as I can compass for the bestowal of these coveted blessings. -Poor ministers are the rule, not the exception; they are not restricted to the Baptist denomination, or to our own land, but abound in every connection and in all climes — their needs are very urgent, their prospects seldom brighten, and their ranks never seem to thin; my work for them is as great a
necessity now as it was at its commencement; nay, I think its importance has increased with its extension, the latent thirst for knowledge has been developed by its gifts, and a keener appetite for mental food has been produced by the provision it has furnished. I need not enlarge on the absolute necessity which exists for a minister to possess books, — if he would be an efficient teacher and preacher, — the mind which is itself not fed, cannot very long feed others; but I would point out the impossibility of procuring these essential helps and appliances, when a man has to provide for himself and a wife and family on a pittance of (pounds)60, (pounds)80, or (pounds)100 per annum. To such weary “workers with a slender
apparatus” my Book Fund stretches forth a helping hand: it fills the empty basket with tools, gives a key to a well-stocked storehouse, replenishes an exhausted brain, supplies ammunition for the combat with evil, makes sunshine in shady places, and by God’s own blessing does a vast amount of good wherever its gifts are scattered. It is the joy of my life thus to serve the servants of my Master, and the .daily blessings and tender providences which surround my work are more precious to me than words can express.
“Some of the subjects of my thankfulness may seem small and inconsiderable to others, but to me they are of constant interest and importance “; my retired life shuts out the usual pleasures of social
intercourse, but opens wide a world of glad delight in thus “ministering to the necessities of the saints.” I have scores of friends with whose
circumstances I am intimately acquainted, yet whose faces I have never looked upon. I hope to know and greet them on the “other shore;” and, meanwhile, their love and prayers are a sweet reward for such pleasant service as the Lord enables me to render to them. In these pages will be found some of the expressive outpourings of grateful hearts, and though the letters here given fore but a small portion of the great mass of affectionate correspondence connected with the Fund, they will serve to reveal some of the daily comfort and encouragement I receive through this channel. Ah! if by His grace we can but win from our Master the approving words, “Ye did it unto me,” the joy of service is then only “a little lower”
than the supreme felicity of heaven! January. — Two years since a few thoughtful, kindly friends proposed a regular distribution of the “Sword and Trowel” Magazine to a certain dumber of poor country ministers who could not afford to take it in, and they generously forwarded donations for this special purpose. I find written in the report for that year that “the prospect of this indulgence has greatly cheered many hearts,” and that one to whom the offer was made, remarked, “I have not been able to take in a
religious periodical for five .years; the monthly visit of the magazine will indeed be a great boon.” The new work then commenced has been continued, but not increased, though there can be no doubt as to its value and good influence, and I regret that it only comes to my hands as a divergence from the main business which fills my heart. All my time and strength are given to what I feel to be the more urgent work of furnishing empty book-shelves, and the profit and pleasure which would undoubtedly arise from a well-ordered monthly distribution of religious literature by the Book Fund is but partially developed on this account. We must hope for better things by-and-by; meanwhile I believe that those pastors now receiving the magazine are greatly pleased and delighted with their visitor, and I hope not only to retain all the names .at present on my list, but during the year to add to their number. March. — The following tenderly kind little note contains such a testimony to the value of the Book Fund that I am tempted to give it, even though I have to include its unmerited commendation of my own small service: — My dear Mrs. Spurgeon, — Please accept the enclosed mite toward the Book Fund. -If it please God, may you long be spared to carry on this great and blessed work, which has been sanctified to the good of so many of the Lord’s servants, and through them to so many of His people. Surely this must redound to the praise and glory of the Lord .Jesus, whose we are and whom we serve. I believe, dear Mrs. Spurgeon, that every day there is praise ascending to Almighty God for the blessings many have received through the books you have been enabled to send, and also through the encouraging little notes you write. I have to thank God for two or three of those little notes, and, oh! how precious they are! I shall ever treasure them, for they have been made a means of great blessing to my soul. May God’s richest blessing continue to rest upon you:may you be sustained by grace divine when called upon to suffer and endure: if it be in accordance with God’s will, may you be relieved from pain altogether. Perhaps this may never he on this side Jordan. How precious you must have found those words, “My grace is sufficient for thee.” Good Matthew Henry says that if God is pleased to lay a heavy burden upon us at any time, and yet fits the shoulder to the burden, we certainly can have no reason to complain, however heavy the cross may be. Is not true? I pray that all the strength and grace you need may be given from on high, supplied by a loving Father out of His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. To ministers who are not quite so necessitous as those for whom the Book Fund was specially founded, yet who can ill spare the published price of the “Treasury of David,” or the Sermons, I offer these
books at a somewhat reduced rate, and I have much satisfaction in
knowing that the privilege is warmly appreciated. The following letters are fair samples of the spirit in which the favor is sought, and the warm
gratitude evoked by its-accordance: — My dear Mrs. Spurgeon, — In the libraries of my friends I have very frequently-perused that most choice and savoury work of your husband, “The Treasury of David”; and if I have not actually incurred the guilt of breaking the tenth commandment I fear I have come near to doing so, and from time to time I have been looking how I could contrive to purchase it, but have found as often that my income has been fore-stalled by family and other claims. I have long known that you have been doing a most valuable work for the Master, by helping poor pastors to some good books, but hitherto I have not ventured to write lest I should be standing in the way of some brother more necessitous even than myself. This week, however, I was in the library of one of my brethren, and again looking over some parts of the “Treasury,” the desire to possess it for myself returned with such strength that I felt somewhat as I suppose a hungry ox would feel tethered outside, but just in sight of, a luxuriant field of clover! After ruminating over the matter again and again, I came to the conclusion that I could manage part of the price, so I have determined to say to you that I should esteem it a great favor indeed to receive a copy from your hands, if I shall not stand too much in the way of some other poor brother. It was, indeed, a great joy to open the gate of the clover field! May the good brother “go in and out and find pasture.” On the same subject a pastor in one of our great Midland towns writes: — I note on page 30 of your little Report for 1878 that “When an applicant is able to purchase, books are sent on the most advantageous terms.” Now, I hope from time to time to be able to purchase a volume of the “Sermons,”
whose true. gospel ring is indeed music to one’s soul. Will you -kindly jot down on enclosed post card the price at which I might get the sermons through your hands, so that I may know what to lay by from time to time, in order to add to my store? I am almost ashamed to trouble you so soon after receiving so much from you, but I am hungry for books, and cannot help it. There is also a goodly number of workers for the Lord, evangelists, local preachers and others, who, having no pastorate, are ineligible for the free gift of the “Treasury,” yet covet earnestly this precious aid in their work; these, many of them, save up a little money, and sending it to me by degrees have in time the joy of receiving the longed-for treasure, which, doubtless, they value none the less for the self-denial which has procured it.
I often regret that I cannot give books to all Christian workers, but a strict
boundary line is absolutely necessary in a work carried on, not by a
“Society,” but by one pair of hands, and those not over strong or capable.
June 5. — To day (pounds)200 is mine from the great Testimonial Fund raised last Christmas; (pounds)100 is allotted to the Book Fund, and (pounds)100 to the Pastors’ Aid Society. My dear husband’s kindness secures this splendid help to my work, and I bless God both for him and his delightful gift. If “John Ploughman’s wife” might say here what she thinks of “John” in this, and all other matters, it would be an easy task to fill these pages with his praises; but since such a wifely eulogy might be deemed out of place, Mrs. J.P. may at least record in her little book her hearty and appreciative thanks to the hundreds of true friends who have lately done honor to the “Prince of her life,” (Name for Mr. Spurgeon suggested by a Welshman.) and furnished him with the means of more abundantly blessing all the poor and needy ones who look to him as their best earthly friend and comforter. If I knew anyone who doubted the truth of that Scripture,
“There is that scattereth and yet increaseth,” I could bring no more unanswerable proof of its veracity than is found in the unselfish life and loving deeds of the God-honored man I reverence as my head and husband.
I find a graceful appropriateness in the gift of part of this money to Baptist pastors, seeing that to one of themselves the whole magnificent sum is offered as a tribute of devoted admiration and love. What a joy it will be to use this consecrated gold in their service! What heavy burdens it will lift!
What aching hearts will be consoled! What praise to God will be given by joyful lips! When I think of all it will do, I wish it were ten times as much! I get greedy for their sakes — my poor weary, toiling brethren — but that only lasts a moment, for indeed I am most fully “satisfied with favor” on their behalf, both from the Lord, and from man. July 19. — These times of depression and disaster tell heavily on my poor friends the pastors of country churches. “Burdens grievous to be borne” seem laid on their hearts and lives, and with the universal social troubles, personal trials come in sad fellowship of suffering. Sickness, and consequent doctors’ bills, are heavy items in the sum of misery, and even those who do their best to “provide things honest in the sight of all men” are just now bowed to the very earth by the terrible pressure of obligations which they are powerless to avoid, and are equally unable to fulfill I have had some appeals lately which reveal a state of things among our country pastors greatly to be deplored, and though immediate relief was given, the problem of permanent amendment is still left unsolved. How is a man (and that man a minister) to house, and feed, and clothe, himself, his wife, and a varying (I was on the point of
writing “unlimited “) number of children on (pounds)80 a year? I know scores who are trying to do it, but can we blame them if they fail? “I have had but one new suit for the last nine years,” writes one who knows what Paul meant by “enduring hardness.” How can the good man spare
(pounds)4 or (pounds)5 for orthodox broadcloth when meat graces the table but once or twice a week, and the children’s clothes are almost too shabby for them to wear in the House of God? I heard of a good man the other day, who is thankfully wearing in the pulpit a secondhand coat of dark bottle-green, the gift of some commiserating friend, who noticed the pitiful seediness of his best suit! I do not suppose his sermons are
deteriorated by the mere fact that he wears a bottle-green garment, but I do think that the man himself would be vastly bettered, and helped to a
modest share of self-respect if he had becoming apparel in which to
“minister in holy things.” Is it any wonder if sometimes the “cares of this world” choke and cramp the spiritual energies of poor needy pastors? “We have had a dull enough sermon this morning,” says a hearer, who has all that heart can wish for; “what can have come to our minister to make him so listless and uninteresting?” If that good brother were to try the effect of a little loving help and sympathy, (a (pounds)5 note for instance, delicately and tenderly given,) he would see a wonderful lifting and lightening of the clouds and darkness which encompass his pastor’s spirit, and be quite surprised at the life, and energy infused into his next discourse. “My people do all they can for me,” many a distressed pastor writes, and it may be so in some cases, but I question whether in the Master’s presence they would themselves dare to say this, for He still “sits over against the treasury,” and must note how little even “of their abundance” his people cast in for His servants and His cause. “It is a tale often told to you, I imagine, by such as myself, whose incomes are so pitifully small,” wrote a minister the other day, “that to buy books, when there are little hungry mouths and wistful faces at the table daily, is an IMPOSSIBILITY.” The good man has deeply underlined this last word, and well he may, for his church only raises (pounds)80 a year for him, while a grant from the Augmentation Fund barely rescues them from absolute need. Ah! some of us who can not only
“make both ends meet,” but “have enough over to tie a bow and ends,” can scarcely realize the toiling and striving, the anguish of longing, which must tear at the hearts of a poor pastor and his wife, as they try to eke out the scanty store of coin, and make one shilling do the duty of a score ‘. “Wry wife sends you her heartfelt thanks,” says one of “our own” men, “she says you cannot know what good you are doing, or how much you gladden the