Living links with C. H. Spurgeon are becoming fewer and fewer. Each year the number of people who knew the prince of Preachers personally grows less and less. Gaps in Spurgeon’s life and work must now be filled from untapped source material of an autobiographical nature such as The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, The Sword and the Trowel, and personal correspondence which often lies buried in some out of the way place.
There is, however, another source which has not come to light over the years. A preacher once asked: “What happened to Paul’s letters to Damascus?” Their fate is an interesting and intriguing conjecture. In the same way, Dr. R. E. Day, the American author of The Shadow of the Broad Brim, reminds us of a “small clasped book” which he would “give a king’s ransom to touch and to read.”
This small clasped book was a secret diary given to Mrs. Spurgeon by her husband on the day of their wedding. It was a record of his life and thoughts during the formative period of 1850. Susannah Spurgeon understood, and did not break its seals until four years after his death. In that tiny book must be the answer to many puzzling questions.
What would he have done in wartime as a minister of religion? Would he have remained in his “reserved occupation” or would he have put on uniform and fought for king or queen and country? Patriotic he
undoubtedly was, but some passages in his sermons describe a streak of pacificism. Would the small clasped book have been more specific on the subject of war and peace?
Would a college education have altered Spurgeon the man or his pulpit delivery? He once said, “I was for three years a Cambridge man, though I never entered the University.” His father wished him to apply to Stepney (now Regents Park College, Oxford) College for theological training. The story is well-known how Spurgeon sat in one room and the college Principal, Dr. Angus, in another, through a servant’s stupid blunder. What would have been the outcome if Spurgeon had been accepted for
ministerial training? One biographer states: “With a college education his sermonic literature would not have lost its fire, but would have found the literary immortality which it just missed.” That writer has been proved wrong, for Spurgeon’s sermons have probably been re-printed more than any other preacher’s. Would the small clasped book reveal any
disappointment at the lack of a college training, for after all, regret does sometimes steal into his speech on occasions, especially when he refers to D. D.s as “doubly destitute!” All we know is that he founded a college to make sure that others had the opportunities that he missed.
In one sermon Spurgeon describes himself after death as standing on some lonely planet proclaiming the glories of the gospel to the universe! One cannot imagine the Prince of Preachers remaining silent throughout all eternity, but we shall not know the answer to such conjecture from the small clasped book, only “the fair schoolroom of the sky” will supply the answer to that question and many others answered in the diary that is lost to posterity.
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AGESSOFTWARE •PO BOX 1926 •ALBANY OR 97321-0509 WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE DIGITAL LIBRARY?
The Library consists of books and other literature of enduring value to the Christian community. Our goal since the beginning has been to “make the words of the wise available to all —inexpensively.” We have had in mind the student, teacher, pastor, missionary, evangelist and church worker who needs a high quality reference library, one that is portable, practical and low in cost.
ON WHAT BASIS WERE THEY SELECTED?
Volumes in the Library have been added based on several criteria:
usefulness, user request, breadth of content or reputation. This has meant that the collection is eclectic and may include works that contain positions with which we at AGES Software do not agree. This paradox is consistent with our design, however: any useful library consists of books on a wide variety of subjects and sometimes includes information for reference purposes only. The AGES Digital Library hopefully will reflect — as its components are released — the necessary breadth and depth for a solid personal library.
HOW WERE THESE VOLUMES PREPARED?
Most of the books and documents have been scanned or typed from works that have entered the public domain. Some have been reproduced by special arrangement with the current publisher or holder of the copyright.
They have been put in a format that can be readily used by computer users everywhere.
ARE THESE EXACT COPIES OF THE ORIGINAL WORKS?
Usually not. In the process of preparing the Library, we at AGES Software have taken the liberty to make certain edits to the text. As we discovered errors in spelling, certain archaic forms, typographical mistakes or omissions in the original we have done our best to correct them. Our intention has been to remove anything that might obscure the meaning or otherwise detract from the usefulness of a book for the modern reader. We