The

Sword and the Trowel

A Record

OF

Combat with Sin & Labour for the Lord

Edited by C. H. Spurgeon

1871

“They which builded on the wall, and they that bare burdens, with those that laded, every one with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other hand held a weapon. For the builders, every one had his sword girded by his side, and so builded. And he that sounded the trumpet was by me.”—Nehemiah 4:17, 18.

London:

PassMore & Alabaster, Paternoster Row;

and all booksellers.

c. h. spurgeon on his thirty-nineth birthday.

(Elliot & Fry, photo, London.)

Charles Haddon Spurgeon in 1873.

Preface

We again salute our friends as another year sinks to its rest. It has been to the editor of The Sword and The Trowel a period of unmingled mercy, for he has learned, by experience, to count his sore sicknesses as his choicest blessings. Though we might sing of mercy and of judgment, we are not now inclined to do so; our harp resoundeth love alone. It is no superfine sentiment, or high-raised enthusiasm, which makes us say this, we write soberly and in quiet earnest, our soul has found affliction sweet, and the cross so richly profitable, that it is but bare justice to regard it as a richly paternal blessing. Sooner might the tree complain of the spade which by loosening the earth sets the roots at liberty to suck the fatness of the soil, or the mown grass murmur at the clouds which renew its verdure, than our heart speak one injurious word of pain and depression, which work in us the comfortable fruits of righteousness. We can wish our readers no richer benediction than the sanctification of every providence to their soul’s highest good.

Having thanked the God of all consolation, our next duty is to confess our obligations to many of his servants, for their most fraternal sympathy and efficient aid. Their kindness has not been shewn in word only but in deed. The Pastors’ College has, from time to time, received support, as also the Stockwell Orphanage; and, in some degree, the Colportage Association. Without the monies sent in to us, we could not have carried on these important works. We ventured upon them by faith, and by faith they still are carried on; but, though the Lord is our treasurer, and we bless him first, we must not be ungrateful to his stewards who, often with their portion of gift, also send a few lines of spiritual heart-cheer, and so prove their union to us in a double manner. Trials our faith has had, but none of a severe order. Here, in our work as in our personal experience, our song has for its sole key note, the loving kindnesses of the Lord. He hath done great things for us whereof we are glad.

Casting our eye around upon the churches, we confess to feeling some alarm and much distress. On all hands there appears to be a breaking up, a craving for novelty, a weariness of the once honoured truth. The church seems to be coquetting with Infidelity, while, at the same time, she is toying with Ritualism. Of the two lovers between ...