, 1873-04-06

faults IN him M which they: would not see il bs
were not professor. For my part, lam very glad
Of the lynx eyes Of the worldings. Let them
watch, it thsy will hare: heard Of one who
! was great cavi1ler at Christian people, and,
after having annoyed church long time, ha
! was about to leave, and, therefore, as parting
jest with the minister, he said, / have no doubt
you will be very glad to know that am going
hundred n,i1es away" 'No, said the paztor;;tI
shall be sorry to lose you How? never did
you any good 7 don't know that, for am
sure that never one Of my flock put half fool
through the hedge but what; you began to. yelp at
him. and 30 you have been famous sheep-dog
for me- I am glad the world observes Us. It
has right to do SO. II q man says 1 am Gods
he sets himself up for public observation. u
are lights in the world, and what are lights in
tended for but to be looked at? city set On
hill cannot be hid" ~
These passages, torn from the contoxt, give
but faint idea Of the sermon az 4 whole, which
was masterpiece OF its kind, and in many re-
spects peculiar and original. After service, ZIG
had a pleasant interview with the preacher, whom
We found lying On sofa in back room, quite
exhausted by his effort He had but just recov-
cred from severe sickness, this being his sec-
ond sermon aince he left his bed. It is well
known that his e1hausting labors and burning
enthusiasm hare begun to tell upon his physical
constitution The sword has proved too sharp
for oven the stout Bcabbard. Ten years ago
preaching was almost as easy to him as singing
to bird. To electrify, convince, and persuade
audiences Was q labor OF lore. Now
every Sundays efforts cost him forty
eight hours pain. During our inter-
view gentleman said to him that an
American preacher who had heard the sermon
observed at its close, " That discourse WAS conf
posed In this house." "Did he ssy so ?"ex~
claimed aIr. spurgeon. "That is remarkable.
The text was given to me by one OF my deacone,
who died yesterday, and requested in his last mo-
ments that would preach from it. At thir
morning sat down to think ont the discourse
spent an hour upon the text. and could maks
nothing OF it. lnever could preach from othel
peoples texts. said this, in my despair, to my
wife, who told me- to Try again. I tried again
with the same result. well, said Mrs. s., 'go
into the pulpit, and the sermon will come to you
I followed the advice, and you know the result
In this case Mr.. spurgeon must have spent mora
time than usual in preparation, for it is said that
be commonly devotes but half hour to this pnr-
pose. Only the heads Of the sermon aro nut on
paper; all the rost is left to the pulpit. III had
4 month given me to prepare sermon, he onc4'
said to a visitor. s1 would spend thirty days ant}
twenty-three hours in something else, and in the
last hour I would mako the sermon" When
asked by the same person If he had ever written
q discourse, he replied, IT would rather be
hung" -:':.
Yet Il Mr. g. spends but little time in imme-
date preparation, he spends vast deal OF time in
general preparation, for the pulpit. No preacher
has drunk deeper draughts from the old English
divines, OF saturated h1s mind moro thoroughly
with tho spirit Of Gods word. By these means
he has become ~ Leyden jar, charged to a
plenum, ~ in Horace Mann's phrase, and, the mo-
ment he comes in contact with his people, gives
forth tho electric fire. In our conversation with
him, we observed that We wodd not call the ser
mon eloquent; it was something far better than
sloquence. "Oh, no." waa the reply, ST have
40 pretension to that sort OF thing. love to
tear eloquent men, you know, as well ss any-
body, but it ahou1d attempt oratory, I should be-
sure to fail" In the same spirit he lately prefaced
= lecture by saying that he had never yet suc-
,eeded in the art Of lecturing, and added, -"H
my OF you have ever seen goose trying ia
ay, you may cay, That's like Mr. spurgeon try
ing to lecture" 1t is reported that noted
'anatic and bore once called to see him, and,
3eing asked BY deacon what name he should
II the Lord wants to SEQ him. "Iell him"
vas the preachers 1eply. "th.t I am engaged
With his Master" Beng asked by DR., O.; Of
chicago, Who was with Us, whether this ansc-
Iote was apocryphal, he smilinely admitted its
ruth. Mr. Spurgson has good deal OF mother
sit and even when preaching drops from time
o time shrewd, pungent remark, orindulces in
n apt, VIVID pictorial illustration. that causca
he sea Of upturned faces to ripp1e with q smile.
n 3 recent speech in Surrey. at the laying OF
he foundation stone Of : new chapel he said no
ooney Was to be placed in the CAVITY of :the
tone, for he could not see the use OF burvinr