Among eminent Victorians, few were more widely known, or greatly appreciated, than C.H. Spurgeon—a pre–eminent philanthropist, college founder, and patron of orphanages—and the pastor of London’s great Metropolitan Tabernacle.
“The world was his parish,” it may be said, and his writings sold 100 million copies.
We’ve so much to learn from him now, just as people did 130 years ago.
Spurgeon bequeathed a great, enduring legacy. And it speaks across the years.
So, in his Autobiography, we find an eloquent reflection about letters, as literature, and what they may tell us. “A man’s private letters,” Spurgeon said—
often let you into the secrets of his heart. Read Rutherford’s Letters, and you see the man at once; or those of Kirke White, or Newton. A man’s writing–desk should be used to make his biography.
Here, we learn that Spurgeon set a high value on reading published letters from writers he admired, among them Samuel Rutherford, John Newton, and the poet Henry Kirke White.
To such a distinguished list, we may add the name of Spurgeon himself—for in an age famous for great letter–writers, he held a well–deserved place among them.
And nowhere can this be seen more clearly than in letters now gathered and published as Letters and Travels. In the pages of this handsome book, we may follow Spurgeon’s travels on holiday in the English countryside, and on the European continent.
As a student of nature, and history, or the artworks that captured his eye—Spurgeon was at once a pilgrim and chronicler—whose wit and wisdom guide a heartfelt eloquence.
In lines written for his beloved wife Susannah, the scenes and settings Spurgeon saw come to life, redolent with vivid description, winsome affection, and deep gratitude to the Lord who bestows seasons of rest and renewing days. Here is a book like no other heretofore published, and it is richly set with many historic images, that bring these sojourns to life.
Here is a book like no other heretofore published, and it is richly set with many historic images, that bring these sojourns to life.
As a keepsake readers may cherish, and as a revealing window into the life of a great man, Letters and Travels by C.H. Spurgeon is a true, abiding gift—among those he left us.
It holds many a blessing, all its own.
