Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1858-07-28
"RtIolee aloud, ye laIntr, rsIOIet,'
Tho AZ vas EccIesinstes, yiii. 10:


"And SO saw the wicked buried, which had and
gone from the place Othe holy and they were forgotten in
he city where they had 50 done lhiS also vanity"
The subject was 1.-THE Wicked Mans Life,
Funeral, and Epitaph." The introduction struck
me as beautifully simple and opposite, as neither
far.letched nor commonplace.
| rIere follows nm abstract Of the sermOn.l
Every one is surprised at Mr.. Surgeons
readiness and luency, gift so rare, especially
among Englishmen. During the whole Of this
long discourse, he had not note or line be.
fore him. It was purely Gxtemporaneous. 1t
was taken down in short hand, as arc all his
Sunday morning sermons, andprintcd in a tract
form, from which have quoted those passages
which most impressed me in the delivery.
But what admired vet more than the huen
cy of speech, was the simplicity Of the Ian.
guage There was not word which could not
be understood by everybody, He used plain,
| homely phrases, and thus the truth was brought
directly into contact with the minds Of his au.
dience. In many points Mr.. Sturgeon remind.
ed US strongly OF Henry Ward Beecher-in his
hearty earnestness, in his blunt, pithy way of
saying thing, in his touches Of tenderness and
occasional CLEANS Of humor, and in his varied
Imagination, which though sometimes STOPPING
to coarse figures, often rises to the use Of una.
/ gerry the most delicate and beautiful.
From all this you will readily infer that ]
came away from Surrey Hall very pleas
ant impression. lconfess had gone with some
rnisgiying, for had so often seen great repu.
talion dwindle as it was approached, that
dreaded to have another illusion dspelled. But
this sermon relieved my fears had seen Mr..
Spurgeon criticized and ridiculed in the English
| journals as clerical mountebank, and did not
know but he might appear as a theatrical per-
former in the pulpit. But the critic who can
deride Mr. Sturgeon as n Charlntan, must be in
sensible to amy demonstrations or oratorical
power. No candid listener can deny 10 him the
possession Of great talent, and when the amount
Of his labors is considered, it appears still more
remarkable.
The same evening we heard him again in his
own chapel in New Park street, and after the
service, We saw him In his vcstFy and had
very pleasant interview. had natural appre.
henSion that he must be breaking down from
excessive labor. Buthe assured me that hewas
| in robust health. He said that his constant
speaking was the best exercise for him, and that
he should die il he did not preach tlcelrs times
teef, Iasked him when he found time TO study,
to which he replied that he could give but little
/ preparation to his sermons, often entering the
pulpit with not more than fifteen minutes previ-
GUS thought Of his subject.
But he has lately conirived to some degree Of
leisure. He has taken house out by Clapham
Common, ut several miles distance from his
church, to avoid Interruptions His deacons do
all his visiting, and hence, in the interval Of his
public duties, he is able to snatch few hours
for study and books, suspect, too, that he has
read largely in former years He appears 10 be
very familiar with the OLD divines, especially
with Bunyan, whom he calls rhe greatest Of
Englishmen.n In this very sermon, when speak.
ing of the holy dead, he paid an eloquent trib.
ute to the memory Of the marvellous dreamer.
Traces Of this familiarity with the writings Of
Buuyan are seen everywhere in his style