The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-11-06

was a very reat business transaction for
which the practical and business, like Mr..
Spurgeon is justly celebrated. twas as much
as to say;--"I have taken you out of the. sun
and given you good chance for good seat;
now II this amounts to anything to you, state
the sum in silver or gold in the contribution
box" stated it, and took seat in sort OF
elevated waiting stand, near the entrance.
The officer told gentleman that some
"American friends' would like Seats and we
my self and party-were soon invited for
ward, and seated in some Of the best pews in
the house.
Mr.. Spurgeon's church is very large and
well-contrived house, capable OF holding a
larger congregation, judge, than that of Mr..
Beecber. in brooklyn. Indeed it is claimed
that it affords comfortable sitting to five
thousand persons. There were not more than
five hundred people in the church when l
entered, but they came pouring in from that
time forward, until every part OF the building
was crowded. The interior is oval, the plat
form pulpit standing out from one extremity,
and permitting the seats to sweep entirely
around, an arrangement which gives pretty
good-sized audience only the chance Of seeing
the back side of the speakers head. The
personal appearance OF the great preacher
has become so familiar to Americans,
through epgravings and the descriptions of
letter writers, that need not say more than
hat he impressed me, as he stepped quietly
upon the stand, as hearty, healthy, powerful
man. After giving out hymn, and begging
the congregation not to sing 1t too slowly, he
oined with them in the music. Then he read
a telegram he had just received from some
distant part of the kingdom, from a man who
was dying, and who found himself, in a dark
hour, unsustained by the Christians hope.
His prayer for this stranger was one of the
most touching things l ever heard. Indeed,
the whole prayer, Of which this formed an
episode, was marked with greater fervor,
thorough spirituality, and flow and COM
mand of language which much surpassed my
expectations. When he finished his preaching,
/ was not left at a loss to understand
the secret of his power. He is a good man,
a strong man, thoroughly in earnest. There
were passages in his sermon, not q few,
which reminded me of Beecher. The same
directness, the same bursts of grand aud
sweeping power, the same fecities OF dicti on,
which distinguish the performance of the
American preacher were scattered through
the sermon. Mr.. Surgeons vocabulary is
not so large as that of Mr.. Beecher. He is not
so completely en- rapport with the world of
nature, and his fancy and imagination are not
so active; but he is dramatic, understands
human nature, believes in Christianity Ga
good thing in preacher), knows exactly what
he wants to do, and drives straight forward
to the end he seeks. l do not know that
Mr.. Spurgeon is Mr.. Beecher's superior in
anything, except it may be as a business
man. His faculty of orgsnization-of so set
ting other people to work as to multiply
his own personal power thousand fold-must
distinguish him, in the results of his life,
from Mr.. Beecher. Mr.. Spurgeon is doing by
organization and institution what Mr.. Beecher
does by personal magnetism; Mr.. Bsecher
inspires other clergymep Mr.. Spurgeon edu-
Gates them, and SO builds and shapes the
policy of institutions that he will be producing
preachers after his own kind long after he has
passed away. The spirit of the man is kindly.
His manner towards his people is familiar and
fatherly. Like the Brooklyn preacher, too,
he is not without his dash of humor. In
short, left his presence, at last, with good
taste in my mouth, and the frmest wish in
my heart that the Lord would send into the
world, and set to work, ten thousand just
such sensational fanatics as Mr.. Spurgeon.