What I’ve Been Reading: Steal Away Home
Matt Carter and Aaron Ivey tell the story of the amazing friendship of Charles Spurgeon and Thomas Johnson. Most pastors have some familiarity with Charles Spurgeon and often share his more quotable statements. Before reading this book I had never heard of Thomas Johnson.
Carter and Ivey write from the perspective of the historical characters themselves. This makes for a lively read. The authors were able to draw from correspondence and other historical material to construct the depiction of the friendship of these two men. The authors begin the story from the childhood of each man. Both men were born in the 1830s. Spurgeon’s father and grandfather were preachers in England. Thomas Johnson meanwhile was born a slave on a plantation in Virginia. The authors masterfully tell the conversion stories of both men and trace the beginnings of their faith journeys.
Spurgeon’s ministry exploded in a meteoric rise. Thousands crowded to hear him each week and his sermons were published all over the world, even across the Atlantic in the United States. Spurgeon’s preaching drew the ire of southern slave-holders for his condemnation of the institution. Spurgeon’s views on the subject were not unclear. Spurgeon said: "I believe slavery to be a crime of crimes, a soul-destroying sin, and an iniquity which cries aloud for vengeance.” After one of Spurgeon’s sermons was published in Richmond in 1860, which included a particularly strong condemnation of slavery, many southerners burned his books in outrage. As Carter and Ivey suggest, this is possibly where the slave Thomas Johnson would have been first introduced to Mr. Spurgeon.
After Emancipation, Thomas Johnson became the pastor of a church in Chicago. After serving in this capacity for some time, Johnson began to have a vision of returning to Africa and proclaiming the Gospel to his people. He was overwhelmed with the impracticality of the idea. Aside from all the other obstacles facing him, his lack of formal education presented real challenges. Providentially, he was allowed the opportunity to study in London at Spurgeon’s Pastor’s College. Spurgeon and Johnson soon because fast friends. After finishing his studies, Thomas Johnson headed to Africa to begin his missionary work. The two men continued their friendship via correspondence until Spurgeon passed away in 1892.
The title of this book comes from the old spiritual which contained this refrain:
“Steal away; steal away. Steal away to Jesus; steal away, steal away home; I ain’t got long to stay here. So steal away; steal away to Jesus.”
The song features prominently in key points throughout the story of these two men and most powerfully the authors ascribe these words to the moment of Spurgeon’s passing.
Charles Spurgeon and Thomas Johnson’s friendship gives a powerful apologetic to the power of the Gospel to bring people together. In a day and age when slavery was still a recent memory, Spurgeon and Johnson were able to embrace friendship as equals—co-heirs with Christ. In all the conversations our world is having today about racial reconciliation, the power of the Gospel to break down the hostility that men and women harbor toward one another is rarely mentioned. These great men had something that seems like the beginning of a solution to the problems our culture faces today—friendship. It is a powerful story of the power of the Gospel.