The Sun.
London, England, 1856-10-20 00:00:00

ANOTHER ACCOUNT.

The announcement that Mr. Spurgeon was to preach last
night in the large Music-hall of the Surrey Gardens, drew
together one of the largest congregations which has proba-
bly ever been assembled under one roof for the purpose of
hearing a sermon. Long before 5 o'clock thousands had
gathered around the entrance to the gardens, and before
six as many persons were admitted into the grounds as it
was thought the building would contain, the supposed ex-
cess of numbers being excluded by the outer gates in Pen-
ton-place and the other entrances to the gardens. The im-
mense space was perfectly filled in the body and lower gal-
leries, but in the upper ones there was accommodation for
several hundreds of persons. The proceedings commenced
at half-past 6by the Rev. Mr. Spurgeon taking his stand
in an elevated rostrum erected in front of the stage for the
orchestra, which was reached by a small temporary stair-
case. The first portion of the service commenced by sing-
ing one of Watts' hymns. This was followed by the read-
ing of the 16th chapter of St. Luke, containing the para-
ble of Dives and Lazarus, the preacher commenting upon
the different portions of the narrative as he proceeded.
Then followed an extempore prayer, during the early por-
tions of which an awe-inspiring silence reigned over the
vast congregation. Continuing his prayer, the rev. gen-
tleman proceeded to refer to the various classes of sinners
present, the profligate man, the scoffer, the swearer, end
the infidel, and the sceptic, for all of whom he invoked the
forgiveness of an offended Deity ; and then came a refer-
ence to the young woman who might have disregarded the
warnings of a fond mother, and whose conduct was bring-
ing her aged father with sorrow to the grave. At this
stage, a faint scream was heard ; there was a rustle and
commotion to see the source whence it issued, some cries of
" Fire !" and " The building ! the building !" were heard,
and then ensued one of those scenes of terror and panic
which baffle all the powers of description. Every one rose
from their seats, those Dearest to the door rushed out
screaming and shrieking with wild affright ; those in the
centre of the hall bore down on others nearer the places of
exit; the lower tiers of windows were smashed out, and
hundreds half-fainting and delirious leaped out, while others
fainting or in fits fell and were mangled by the rushing im-
petuous crowd. In the galleries the scene was even more
distressing ; the winding staircase were choked with hun-
dreds flying from what they conceived imminent death the
the iron railings gave
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urged forward by an uncontrollable impulse of self-preser-
vation, every one of that vast crowd, regardless of injury
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Spur-
geon and some of his deacons commenced singing " Praise
God from whom all blessings flow," but the sounds of die_
cord which accompanied the singing completely drowned all
R order, i f iu
possible,tent
the efforts of the singers. There were shouts and screams
and violent cries ; shoats of " sit down," " keep your
seats," "false alarm," and " take care of your pockets,"
and other assuring exclamations of a sniffler character.
At length the perseverance of those engaged in singing bad
the desired effect, and the fears of the crowds as to the
safety of the building, or the existence of fire subsided.
The Rev. Mr. Spurgeon at length made himself heard,
and stated that the false alarm had been raised by thieves,
and begged those ;present to remain quiet in their seats,
and not aid in the disturbance which it was the object of
those parties to create, and gave out the hymn, " Salvation
—oh the joyful sound." While this hymn was being sung
another confusion arose, and glass was heard smashing in
all directions, and one of the deacons ascended the rostrum
and said, " This gathering to-night .has aroused Satan, and
he will not allow the service to go oa without; endeavour-
ing to interrupt it." Again Mr. Spurgeon stood forward
and said, " Lot us praise God in the midst of this confu-
sion once morn," and gave out the lines of the version of
the 100th Psalm, " Before Jehovah's awful throne." By
the time the first verso was sung many hundreds had
quitted the building, but ithousands still lingered, some
paralysed with fright, and others fearing to face the enor-
mous
pressure of the crowd outside the building. Mr.
Spurgeon again addressed the 'assembly and said, " Will
our good friends retire as quietly as possible, and may God
forgive these.who have been.the authors of this confusion.
I cannot preach to you now, but we will sing you out, and
go as gradually and as quietly as possible." The announce-
ment that he would not preach appeared to give great dis.