The Sun.
London, England, 1869-03-17 00:00:00

SPUI?GEON AND THE TABERNACLE.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE ANGLO-AMERICAN TIMES.
DEAR Sra,—You asked me to tell you what I
thought of Mr. Spurgeon and the Tabernacle, which
I visited on a recent Sunday for the first time. I was
among those who had no ticket, and had to take
my place on the steps, and there to await, in the
crowd, the opening of the doors, past which a stream
of the privileged continued to pour inside. When the
doors were opened the rush was like that to the pit
of a theatre, where the applicants for places were
twice the number of the places to be filled. It was
a struggle, a surging of the dense mass to and fro,
and in the throng I was borne up the steps into a
gallery. When I looked up, having secured nl7
place, I was surprised at the sigh t which greeted
me, notwithstanding my expectation. The hall is
an oval, with two galleries circling it all round,
tier steeply rising on tier, so as to present a solid
mass of faces, all turned inwards, looking towards
a platform, the passage to which passed through the
central gallery at the extreme opposite to me, where
railed round was a large carpeted space on which
sat many gentlemen, and before them, facing the
audience, stood Mr. Spurgeon, in a plain suit of
black. This platform led by two winding stairs,
one on each side, to a lower railed space, where
numbers sat, but the prominent place was occupied
by a table, over which a white cloth was spread.
When I looked, I felt that indescribable feeling
with which the presence of a multitude inspires an
individual when first and unexpectedly introduced.
It was a sea of white faces, row rising over row,
even the steps leading to the seats being occupied,
leaving no breach in the round lines. Beneath the
people sit, still preserving the circular formation, So
that every face was directed on the central figure.
The hall is light and graceful ; the thin pillars
supporting arches, and the centre of the building
rising into a dome. Though well lighted, I could
not distinctly see Mr. Spargeon, the atmosphere
growing vitiated, gathering into a blue haze through
the great distance. Every window seemed to be
carefully shut, as if the fresh air of heaven
was an enemy to the dwellers in the taber-
nacle. I doubted whether the voice of any
mau could fill the building and reach each ear
through a sustained service, but I was quickly
undeceived, for after a prayer, every word
sounding clearly over the building, Mr. Spur-
geon read a psalm, which the people sang verse by
verse after the reading. It is but in few churches'
unless the hearer has the hymn before him or knows
it by heart, that the words of the reader are distinctly
conveyed. Not. only were the words given so as
to be understood, but emphasized with, a beauty
that gave. all the pathos and the fire of the poetry'.
Years before I bad heard Mr. Spurgeon at Exeter
Hall, and his voice was familiar, unchanged, and
precisely as I remembered it. It did not therefore
surprise, me when I found that full melodious tone
searching through every nook of the tabernacle, hut
what did surprise me was the singing that followed.
I expected the shout of a multitude—the hoarse
murmur of innumerable voices, but instead, a simple
intonation, so one and distinct thatl do not remember
to have heard anotier congregation sing a psalm witij
such clearness that the words they uttered ?night
be known in the street. I cannot tell whether
the congregation in general joined, but if so, 1 yins
disappointed in the effect. Perhaps it was because :
could not duly appreciate the depth of
,the
sound, for I must confess that I was in thete
.
same way disappointed in the great festivals at the
Crystal Palace. Mr. Spurgeon, and a gentleman
who advanced to the rails, directed the singing'
but there were other leaders scattered through the
congregation. Mr. Spurgeon's power appears t°,
me chiefly to lie in his aptitude for illustration;
.J:
think in this he is the greatest master alive. 117.
must have a rich and vivid imagination; a great court
mand of language as well, always using the plahlest
Anglo-Saxon words, and pronouncing them With
distinctness in his well-toned, mellow voice, will:.
seems to add to their appropriateness. S'lrn
times he descended too low in order to make 111 P
meaning plain, considering the dignity of the sob:
ject, and then his illustrations bordered on 01
~arity, and came c'ose to the profane. There was
nothing striking in the address he gave ; it was 03
a subject so well worn, as to leave but little new to he
said, and I had therefore no opportunity of hearing
any burst of eloquence, though in closing the address
he gave us a specimen of his powers of actinge;
which are of no mean order. " Lest I have nlissd,
e
my mark, one illustration and I have done," he said,
his object being to show that true faith must pro,
duce works. " A ship is drifting, she nears the shore'
and must be inevitably wrecked. A pilot, boweve° r,
at
reaches her, and he tells the captain and crew that
he can save them if they will put implicit faith iii
him. To this they readily assent;" when he tar
one
e
round, and out rang the preacher's voice like the
roar of the pilot in a gale of wind to the man at
wheel, "Down with your helm! not a move; d°...11
with your helm," thundered the pilot. ‘C Still 11°._b,sci
my
,4 I thought," said the pilot, "you desired
to be saved, and expressed your faith in Y P 35/.
.e;.O
" Yes:pilot ;'' and Mr. Spurgeon folded his arms
and changed his voice, his whole attitude be-
ing that of a tar ; " we have full faith in yool I? a
we are not going to work." " Away aloft "13,,
reef topsails" again pealed through the churc!ot.
"not a move." " How is this, captain?" asks the felet,
" You all profess faith, yet will do nothing. If g
have belief in me, surely you will show it, an
you do not you must inevitably be lost." " Oh' yes,
,0d
pilot, we have faith in you, but we are not 00;
to work." " What sort of faith," Mr. Spurge
asked, "is this ?—a mimic mockery of faith I" '„
though the illustration was faulty, for Mr. SPur
geon's handling of the ship was far from perfect', ho
acting was decidedly good, and it struck met ul
.sj
must often use his platform as a stage. It is wiica
opinion a great advantage to stand untrammeib'
tit
by gown or pulpit on the open boards,
he' must be an orator who attempts this.
_sill%
Spurgeon moves restlessly about, freely ?aiog
the space open to him, A preacher stands
there tamely, to read a written sermon, would oo
a'
eg
only find his position trying, but to the congr
taia
tion he would appear as if the sparkling for the
had given place to a stagnant pool. I so, I"..Y.,reii
American papers, that Mr. Spurgeon is ceps
for returning to his glass of wine, after nine in_
0,5,
trial, finding that, under the total abstinen% 'll3O
tem, he could not sustain the tremendous effset
Work requires. Nor does it surprise me, y.blithe
saw the single phase of that work presented
evening service in the Tabernacle lasting tu„okea
an hour and a half, during which every word erouclO,
in a tone to rcach thousands piled on thous
came from M.r. Spurgeon.

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Brts. . of
PAGET—On the 16th ins i
t., h
the Lady Alfred Paget'
daughter. tOVit
STuAnT-0.2 the 12th inst. at Oaklands. u°°--5 of -
county Tyrone, Ireland, the Viscountess Stuart,
daughter.

Marriages. iP0.131
BAX —NESIIAM —On the 13th inst., at Haberton,.o' 00111
Bonham Ward Bax, Commander R.N., to Bl°lls'o,lo°-
youngest surviving daughter of the late Lieu.'
N 4 sham. St•r°ll-
EmuAlips— HOWARD - On the 11th inst., at --BWincbs.rcide4;
eras, Henry, son of the late Sall Rebel
E-q., of Wednesbury, to Mary, daughter of J.
Etq., of Cliff Huse, New Mistley, Essex.
Deaths. late °1
HOL MER —On the 15th inst., George HOIMeT,
Philpot 1 ne, city, aged 75. reet, "''
ErcHAßDs—On the 16th inst., at 38, Wimp
Admiral Sir Peter Richards, K.C.B. , aged 82. of 0°
WATSON n the 15th inst., Mr. Edward Watson'
Coal Exchange, aged 50.

•
---
London : Printed and Pahliahed by WILLIAM No ,
of No. 112, Strand, Printer, at I'a. SUNAIe
002"
Strand, in the Precinct of she Savo' in
Middiesex.—Wednesday, March 17, 1d69.