Welcome back to another episode of five minutes in church history. On this episode we are

spending time with Spurgeon. And not the Spurgeon we know the on this

episode we are spending time with Spurgeon. And not the Spurgeon we know the most,

that is Spurgeon the preacher,

but this is Spurgeon the traveler

who love to go out into nature,

and I found this wonderful letter in a book titled

Letters and Travels by C. H. Spurgeon edited by Kevin Belmont. Well it begins with some quotes from Spurgeon's wife, Susanna, and she

recalls that, quote, many sweet days of rest were thus snatched from weeks of heavy toil and a furlow of a few hours helped to

restore and refresh.

She's talking about the challenges her husband faced with his busy, busy schedule and all the

pressures weighing down on him and he would sneak away out of the bustling city of

London and head out into the country. He had a carriage and his old horse and he would often take a friend with him.

Susanna said his ideas of comfort and his disregard of external appearances were equally conspicuous. He liked a cozy seat and easy traveling,

but he cared nothing for the style of his equipage. An old horse, most inappropriately named peacock, and a shabby carriage were matters of perfect

indifference to him, so long as they were safe and trustworthy and carried him out of the noise of the crowded world into the stillness

and beauty of nature's quiet resting place.

And off Spurgeon would go into the country.

Well, at one point, he visited Boulder Wood and Mark Ash forests,

and he writes,

the most wonderful forest scenery I have ever beheld or even dreamed of.

He said no place on Earth could so fitly minister to a wearied brain by giving such perfect rest.

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