Charles Spurgeon probably would have been a televangelist today. He was a wildly popular (and controversial) Baptist preacher in England in the 1850s and 1860s. What interests me about him is that he liked to go over to France to recover from his various illnesses (the man liked a good cigar), and he wrote a little about his travels. Although a champion of Christian fortitude and sacrifice (at least for others), Spurgeon liked his creature comforts. Specifically - and this is very exciting for me - he wrote about traveling to Paris on Christmas Day 1866. He would have taken the same train and steamer as Dr. Quick and Juliana. From Spurgeon I thus glean some nice details: that it was a sunny, clear day, and the Channel smooth, although it was cold - that the ship (which he unfortunately does not name) was decorated with holly and mistletoe. Most significantly, I learned that they had no difficulty getting into Calais harbor or catching the train to Paris. The brief account of Spurgeons trip was published in Sword and Trowel, a Baptist magazine that regularly featured Spurgeons writings.
Posted on: Sun, 26 Oct 2014 19:44:47 +0000
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