Charles Haddon Spurgeon. By G. Holden Pike. (Hodder and Stonghton.)—If
posthumonsbiographies are commonly too laudatory, what shall we say of those that are published in the subject's lifetime ? However, it is the fashion of the time, and it is useless to remon- strate. On one topic, indeed, the public interest may be legitimately gratified, and that is Mr. Spurgeon's literary career. His success is surprising, even allowing for the very genuine merit of his work, and for the fact that moat of those who buy his books have no other liters- tare. Still, it is almost startling to be told that of his huge com- mentary on the Psalms 107,000 volumes have been sold. His sermons have been sold in numbers past counting, and the fertility of the writer is not lees surprising,—real fertility, too, for his work is extra- ordinarily level in character. Two thousand sermons have been printed, and it is impossible to say that they show a diminution of power. In some aspects they show improvement, for Mr. Spurgeon is not so " impervious to criticism " as he boasts himself to be. In- deed, when the criticism is honest, why should he wish to be ? Wisdom may be found even in the mouth of a reviewer.
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