Throughout much of her married life Mrs. Spurgeon was a semi-invalid. For long periods of time she was confined to her home and was not well enough even to attend the Tabernacle. But she bore up nobly under those conditions. She encouraged her husband under his frequent sufferings and did not complain about her own.
Nevertheless, she longed to be busy for the Lord. Every sentence from her pen that has come down to us and every mention of her that has been left by others reveals a very gracious and spiritually minded woman.
In 1875 a door of rich usefulness was opened for her. Her husband's Lectures to My Students had recently been published, and upon her reading the book she told him, "I wish I could send a copy to every minister in England!"
"Then why not do it?" he responded. "How much will you give?"
She began to do some mental figuring, deciding what she could save from her housekeeping expenditures. Then she remembered that for some time she had been putting aside every five-shilling coin she received. She found she had just enough to purchase 100 copies of the Lectures.
Soon she sent a copy to each of one hundred needy ministers. She thought that was the end of the matter, but although she did not allow her husband to mention what she had done, news of her action spread, and friends began sending her money so she could send out more books. Several of the pastors who had been given the copies sent letters that expressed their thanks and made it evident that books were sorely needed.
Moved by a strong recognition of the need and feeling God wanted her to continue the endeavor, she ordered a number of sets of The Treasury of David. (Spurgeon had written four volumes of that work at that time.) Those also went to needy pastors, and again there came the letters of thanks and further evidence of need. Many men were trying to maintain homes and bring up families on meager incomes.
Although there was still no public mention of what Mrs. Spurgeon had done, money continued to arrive and with it urgent requests that she continue the good work. For instance, one man sent £50, asking that she send a copy of the Lectures to the nearly 500 pastors of the Calvinistic Methodist Churches of North Wales. Then another £50 came to help defray the costs of that undertaking. That was followed by £100 to send the book to the ministers of the same denomination in South Wales.
News of the gifts spread still further, and ministers of various denominations wrote, stating that a copy of the Lectures, the Treasury; or Spurgeon's other writings would be of great help, but that they were too poor to purchase them. And as those letters reached Mrs. Spurgeon, more money arrived. She could see she had a lasting work to do, an undertaking given by God.
By the time she had been performing the task for five months she wrote:
The number of books given up to this moment is 3,058 and the persons receiving them have been pastors of all denominations. But, ah! Dear friends, when I look at the list of names, I see the only shadow of sadness that ever rests upon my Book-Fund. It is the grief of knowing that there exists a terrible necessity for this service of love; that without this help... the poor pastors to whom it has been sent must have gone on famishing for mental food, their incomes being so wretchedly small that they scarcely know how to "provide things honest" for themselves and their families, while the money for the purchase of books is absolutely unobtainable.
It is most touching to hear some tell with eloquence the effect the gift produced upon them. One is "not ashamed to say" he received the parcel with "tears of joy." Wife and children standing around and rejoicing with him. Another, as soon as the wrappings fall from the precious volumes, praises God aloud and sings the Doxology with all his might: while a third, when his eyes light on the long-coveted "Treasury of David," "rushes from the room" that he may go alone and "pour out his full heart before his God."
To emphasize how thankful they were for the books, many pastors or pastors' wives told of the financial difficulties they constantly faced. Some lived on a salary of £80, others on £60, and some on as little as £40. Several had large families. Some spoke of sick wives and heavy doctors' bills. Almost all faced the burden of educating their children. Many families were in need of better and warmer clothing or more bedding or personal items.
Mrs. Spurgeon determined to do everything in her power to meet those needs. To the Book Fund she added another work, the Pastor's Aid Fund. The Sword and Trowel reported the needs that existed among numerous pastors, and she appealed for gifts of money, clothing, and blankets. The appeal brought a tremendous response, and she had the goods sent to the Tabernacle. From there a company of volunteers sent them along to those in need. The books were packaged at the Spurgeon home. Every two weeks a full cartload of precious volumes left for the railroad station.
Mrs. Spurgeon kept very accurate account of the money that came in and of its expenditure. She spoke of herself as "corresponding secretary, as well as treasurer, general manager, etc.," of the two funds. There were times she performed her duties in weakness and pain, and other times she was so ill that her labors were entirely prevented.
Nevertheless, over and above the value of the books and the goods to the various recipients, the enterprise was especially valuable to Mrs. Spurgeon herself. It gave her reason to feel that despite her condition she was able to serve. Spurgeon spoke of the endeavour as divinely ordered, and he reported the change it had made in Susannah, saying:
I gratefully adore the goodness of our Heavenly Father, in directing my beloved wife to a work which has been to her fruitful in unutterable happiness. That it has cost her more pain than it would be fitting to reveal, is most true; but that it has brought her boundless joy is equally certain. Our gracious Lord ministered to His suffering child in the most effectual manner, when He graciously led her to minister to the necessities of His service.
By this means He called her away from her personal grief, gave tone and concentration to her life, led her to continual dealings with Himself, and raised her nearer the centre of that region where other than earthly joys and sorrows reigned supreme. Let every believer accept this as the inference of experience, that for most human maladies the best relief and antidote will be found in self-sacrificing work for the Lord Jesus.
And Mrs. Spurgeon testified: "I am personally indebted to the dear friends who have furnished me with the means of making others happy. For me there has been a double blessing. I have been both recipient and donor... My days have been made indescribably bright and happy by the delightful duties connected with the work and its little arrangements.... That I seem to be living in an atmosphere of blessing and love, and can truly say with the Psalmist, "My cup runneth over."
As the months came and went Mrs. Spurgeon increased the books she made available. She frequently sent copies of her husband's sermons, sometimes six volumes at a time. She added several of his other writings and frequently added works from other men. "Solid, old-fashioned, Scriptural, Puritanic theology goes forth."
The area of ministry soon extended far beyond the shores of Britain. She spoke of sending books to missionaries in Patna, Bengal, Ceylon, Transvaal, Samoa, China, Oregon, Jamaica, Kir Moab, India, Trinidad, Equatorial Africa, Russia, Natal, Canada, the Congo, Buenos Aires, Cayman, Damascus, Madrid, Lagos and Timbuctoo. Letters came in from all those places and from many more. She personally replied to them all........
In 1885 Mrs. Spurgeon put the story of this ministry into print - Ten Years of My Life in the Service of the Book Fund.... In 1895 she wrote another book, Ten Years After. It continued to report of the Book Fund and the Pastors' Aid Fund. Although here and there, between the lines, we can see she was a sick woman and often did her work in pain, the project increased in its scope..... Four years before this latter book appeared, Charles Spurgeon had passed from this life. Mrs. Spurgeon's sorrow and loneliness are then evident in her words, but she also wrote with the sense of triumph that only a Christian knows:
I have traveled far now on life's journey, and having climbed one of the few remaining hills between earth and heaven. I stand awhile on this vantage ground and look back across the country through which the Lord had led me....
I can see two pilgrims treading the highway of life together, hand in hand - heart linked to heart. True, they have had rivers to ford, mountains to cross, fierce enemies to fight and many dangers to go through. But their Guide was watchful, their Deliverer unfailing, and of them it might truly be said, "In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the Angel of His presence saved them; in His love and in His pity He redeemed them; and He bare them and carried them all the days of old."
Mostly they went on their way singing; and for one of them at least, there was no greater joy than to tell other of the grace and glory of the blessed King to whose land he was hasting. And while he spoke, the power of the Lord was seen and the angels rejoiced over repenting sinners.
But at last they came to a place on the road where two ways met. And here, admist the terrors of a storm such as they had never before encountered, they parted company - the one being caught up to the invisible glory, and the other, battered and bruised by the awful tempers, henceforth toiling along the road - alone!
But the "goodness and mercy" which for so many years had followed the two travellers, did not leave the solitary one. Rather did the tenderness of the Lord "lead on softly," and choose green pastures for the tired feet, and still waters for the solace and refreshment of His trembling child.
He gave, moreover, into her hands a solemn charge - to help fellow pilgrims along the road, therewith filing her life with blessed interest, and healing her own deep sorrow by giving her power to relieve and comfort others."
Taken from "Spurgeon: A New Biography" by Arnold Dallimore, The Banner of Truth Trust, 1984, pages 145-150.
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