mediately arose and poured forth his utterances of gratitude in the most joyful manner, and they all united in prayer on their knees to magnify the Lord.

What a blessing to London and to the world it was to have such a saintly, praying man live and teach there for forty-seven years. He furnished an avenue of communication between earth and heaven, between the material and the spiritual, through which has flowed the vigorous influences which have blessed the world beyond estimation and made heaven itself the brighter. O, Thou mighty Ruler of the universe, send to this world many more such earnest men of prayer!

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CHAPTER XIII.

THE PASTORS' COLLEGE.

It is divine to create; it is heroic to stand alone; and that man best exemplifies the divine. and heroic who single-handed begins an enterprise for the good of his fellow-man. There are usually found plenty of people who are willing to spread a cause already under way, and the whole world will run tumultuously after a great success. As at the beginning of creation we find God, so at the beginning of any great enterprise in the earth we find the godly man

or woman.

Mr. Spurgeon began many things which he intended should be a blessing to mankind, and for that characteristic he deserves the everlasting praise of humanity. Any person who goes through life laying foundation stones for new sources of delight or benefit will be remembered long after he has passed from the stage of action; for these fountains which he releases from the rocky mountain side will flow on in ceaseless rivers.

The Pastors' College is a peculiar institution, differing from anything else of its kind, and vet one greatly needed for the furtherance of the Kingdom of the Lord. Many measures connected with the

practical theological training of men for Christian work have received the attention of great minds and have been discussed for many years, yet we seem as far from agreement at present concerning the proper solution of the question as we were a hundred

years ago.

Just what training is necessary, and just what is to be considered a call of God is one of those important matters to which Mr. Spurgeon gave his attention, and to which many other men of equal ability ought to give their attention. As the Gospel is intended to change the heart and not to specially discipline the mind, and as it is a question of moral influence and not of scientific erudition, the preacher or teacher could make use of any event or influence which would produce the desired change, whether or not it be in accordance with theory or precedent,

As there are many different classes of people to be instructed in the way of righteousness, belonging to all grades of moral and intellectual culture, so it would seem that there is needed for their instruction a class of people especially adapted to each order of the hearers. A man may be educated altogether too much to accomplish a great work among a certain class of people; another may be far too ignorant to be of any value among the scholars whose minds he would influence and whose hearts he would touch. One person's experience may especially fit him for labors among a definite class in

society which would at the same time unfit him for the accomplishment of any good in any other class in society. The poor are to be saved, as well as the rich; the ignorant need the Gospel as much as the wise; and the truths of Scripture are far better inculcated by persons who are in touch with the people they address.

Mr. Spurgeon evidently founded the Pastors' College upon the idea that God calls men to the ministry, and consequently selects them from many different grades of society. It was not in his idea to found an institution to educate them out of the very position into which God called them. But rather to supply them with better means for working in their own grade and in their own place.

He prayed much for an opportunity to do good in the name of his Master, and in response to his petition the door was opened for the establishment of this theological school. It has accomplished great things indeed in itself, but will accomplish far more in the number of other institutions like it because of the great demand.

Seeing that an intelligent devout coal miner could preach with the most effective illustrations to coal miners out of his own experience; seeing that a sailor could preach to sailors; and a teacher to teachers, he used his excellent common sense in assisting such representatives of the people to do more efficiently the work to which the Lord had apparently called them. He did not accept the

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testimony of every emotional or deluded individual as evidence that God had called him to be a minister, but he only accepted that inward conviction as a part of the evidence with which to judge a man's fitness for the Lord's work. He certainly required on the part of his students that they should have sincere piety and should feel convinced beyond contradiction that they must preach the Gospel. But he also had the sanctified sense to see that if God did call a man to preach the Gospel He would also call men to hear him.

When He sent Philip into the desert of Gaza He had already provided the hearer, the Ethiopian, to whom Philip was to preach.

Men are called to preach the Gospel if other men are called to hear them preach it—that is, if they preach the true and simple Gospel presented by Jesus of Nazareth. The students who have at-· tended the College thus far have been selected from almost all different trades that could be found. They have been required to show their ability to preach and their power to convert the souls of men before they were accepted as students at the College. Hence, the education they received was given as a result of God's call and not as a preparation for His call. The inception of the idea of opening a school and the progress of the work until he had an excellent building well fitted to the needs of students engaged in the study of the Bible, all came naturally in one sense, and miraculously in another sense.