A letter from C. H. Spurgeon, attached to a printed sermon that was on sale to the public. Sermons were printed each week in The Penny Pulpit. This letter contained information about his recovering health and an appeal for funds to carry on many of the ministries of which he was in charge. It was printed at the end of a sermon from Mark 14:6, entitled, “To Lovers of Jesus: An Example,” which was preached at the Tabernacle on November 2, 1884.
Mentone, [France], April 5, 1885
Dear Friends,
When this letter reaches you I hope I shall have returned to my family, and my people, much refreshed. I can hardly hope to be very long quite free from the disease which afflicts me; yet I do confidently expect a few months of steady service, and I am anxious that upon these the divine blessing may richly descend. I beseech you pray for me.
For more than thirty years these sermons have been published week by week; may I not entreat your supplications that I may be enabled to maintain their freshness, fullness, and power? For this I shall need great help from on high. My own resources are slender enough, but the divine fountain can never run dry.
The church over which I preside is large beyond all precedent, containing more than five thousand members. I entreat your prayers that wisdom and grace may be given me as the Pastor of such a flock. I tremble as I think of my responsibility. Who is sufficient for these things? Beside all this, — there are the Orphanage with its hundreds of little ones, the College with its students for the ministry, the Colportage with its book-selling missionaries, the Evangelists travelling from place to place and proclaiming the living word, and many other minor enterprises. The burden is too great for me unless the Lord’s own power be revealed in my weakness. For these institutions I need money in large measure, and grace beyond all measure. Those who profit by these sermons would act kindly if they would help me with their prayers and their contributions. I need both, and both at this time, in a special manner.
On my return I shall have to prepare for the gathering of the clan, in the form of the College Conference. A great host of ministers will come together to spend a week in holy fellowship and united devotion. If the Lord be with us, it will be a soul-refreshing season, and the brethren will return to their flocks prepared for a great blessing: but without the Spirit of the Lord all will be in vain. By the love of Jesus I implore the special prayers of faithful brethren and sisters. O Lord, send now prosperity! Revive thy work! Revive our own souls, for Jesus’ sake!
Your servant for Christ’s sake,
C. H. Spurgeon.
The Metropolitan Tabernacle, vol. 31, No. 1834, Logos Library System and Ages Software.
