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Almost everyone has heard of Charles Spurgeon, but few know of Spurgeon’s pseudonymous alter ego John Ploughman, whose writings are just as relevant today as the time they were written. 

While the Prince of Preachers needs know real introduction, Charles Spurgeon’s nom de plume, John Ploughman does.

Spurgeon’s posthumous pen-name proverbs were released in book form in 1896, four years after his death. Every chapter begins with a quote, quip, or idiom. The sayings are often accompanied by a relevant and distinctively Victorian illustration, from artist and later comic illustrator Fred Bennett (1876-1939).

Written for the commoner, Spurgeon said through his proverbs he was ‘discarding refined taste and dainty words.’ His aim was to replace pretentious talk with simple and ‘strong old proverbial expressions.’

‘I have,’ Spurgeon explained, taken ‘aim at the vices of the many, and tried to inculcate those moral virtues without which men are degraded and miserable.’

‘Much needs to said to the toiling masses,’ that would not sit well with those who keep their best suits for Sundays, he added.

Through Ploughman, Spurgeon took his pulpit into the pub.

If ‘some learn lessons,’ he wrote, ‘I shall not repent of adopting the rustic style.’

‘Every minister has put his hand to the plough; it is his business to break up the follow ground, and cast in good seed.’

Adding humour, Spurgeon asserted that he shall need no apology, for ‘there is no particular virtue in being seriously unreadable.’

The Subject Matter of John Ploughman

My own preferred edition of the John Ploughman works is Christian Focus Publications’ combined edition.

In it, there are 62 chapters, spanning two separate books. The first is dubbed Talk, the second, Pictures.

Spurgeon’s subject matter ranges from debt to alcohol, parenting, and parental abandonment.

Some chapters hit harder than others, such as Spurgeon’s criticism of ‘very ignorant people,’ ‘men with two faces,’ dead-beat dads, as well as his advice to young men about avoiding cruel and vicious women.

In his preface to Pictures, Spurgeon took issue with the tone police, writing, ‘if any readers must need have refined language they had better leave these pages before they are quite disgusted.’

The Victorian era preacher then adds, ‘To smite evil — and especially the monster evil of drink — has been my earnest endeavour, and assuredly there is need.’

‘It may be that the vice of drunkenness is not more common than it used to be; but it is sufficiently rampant to cause enough sorrow in every Christian heart to ‘lift up their voices against it.’

Thrown into the mix, Spurgeon uses classical rhymes, expressions and verses — so much so that when talking about giving credit to his sources, he writes, ‘perhaps the simplest way is to deny all claim to originality.’

‘I confess myself to be a gatherer of other men’s stuffs! That’s not quite accurate, but it’s near enough.’

Ploughman’s Evergreen Relevance

Sure, Spurgeon’s language is dated. True, his idioms can appear to be eons apart. Yes, there are few real ploughmen these days, and if it wasn’t for the surveillance stick “smartphones” we all carry in our pockets, some things would fly over our heads.

The real treasure in Spurgeon’s prose is what we find after digging.

The Complete John Ploughman is as trusty a companion for Christians — and the curious — as the original version of Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress.

These classics are just as suitable for teaching as they are for use as a personal devotional.

Read through every year, Ploughman’s rich content, like Pilgrim’s Progress’ ‘deep metaphors’, continue to yield new insights.

As my copy with its tattered pages, highlighted sections and crammed-in Scripture verses will testify, each year reveals something new. Ask my homeschooled kids, and they’ll say the same thing too.

Spurgeon’s ‘plain advice for plain people’ has been close to our kitchen table every year, especially when Christmas comes around.

To conclude, let me quote Spurgeon as he doubled down on the Victorian-era equivalent of social smackdown. Of Ploughman’s Talk, he confessed:

I trod on some people’s corns and bunions, and they wrote me angry letters, asking, “Did you mean me?”

This time, to save them the expense of a halfpenny card, I will begin Ploughman’s Pictures by saying,

Whether I please or whether I tease,
I’ll give you my honest mind;
If cap should fit, pray wear it a bit,
If not, you can leave it behind.

___

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.