of the people that they might hear for | numbers of people came around the themselves. At the close many of them exclaimed "O God help us !"

"Still pursuing our course a further opportunity was presented of preaching to the people, when I addressed them from the words of the prophet Ezekiel, "The soul that sinneth it shall die,' and shewed them that we had all sinned by not keeping the commandments of God; when an aged woman said, Have you seen me do wrong, tell me? This book, I replied, which you see in my hand is the word of God, and tells us "there is no man that doeth good and sinneth not." After praying with them, I took my leave of them and proceeded to a considerable town called Maforay. This is a numerously populated place, and as soon as I entered I was requested to go and see a young woman who was dangerously ill. I found her speechless and apparently at the point of death, but endeavoured to direct her to the only Saviour. After praying with her, great

place, which presented a favourable opportunity of speaking to them. I referred to the afflicted woman who was near her end, and reminded them how soon they must all die, whether they were prepared or not, and entreated them to turn from their evil ways and to seek the Lord.

"The scenes which are continually presented in these parts, says Mr. Priddy, convince me that the time is not distant when the people will receive the word of God; and I would earnestly entreat all christian people to persevere in prayer that "Ethiopia may soon stretch out her hands unto God." "Be not faithless but belicving."

SUPPLIES DURING THE MONTH.

Sandown, Isle of Wight, Rev. J. Grosvenor; Ruthin, Rev. R. S. Short; Avebury, Rev. Mr. Tugwell; Tyldesley, Rev. J. E. Eastmead.

Contributions

In Aid of the Countess of Huntingdon's Missionary Society during the month.

Further Contributions for the Missionary Society or for the Education Society to be made to Mr. F. W. Willcocks, 8, Claremont Square, London.

Communications during the past month have been received from Revs. T. Anderson-R. S. Short-E. S. Hart, M.A.-G. Jones-and T. Lloyd.

Ministers are particularly requested to furnish information respecting Connexional movements in their immediate vicinity.

We quite agree with "INQUIRER" that all Trustees of any of our Institutions should be Members of the Connexion.

All communications for the EDITOR to be addressed to the Rev. A. H. New, Leamington.

Missionary boxes will be sent to any requiring them, on application to Mr. F. W. Willcocks, the Treasurer.

THE HARBINGER.

DECEMBER, 1857.

SPURGEON; HIS PREACHING AND POWER. Religious life appears to be regulated by the same laws which affect intellectual and natural existence. It has its rise, progress, and climax ; and experiences all the variations which life displays in the course of its development. It has its periods of excitement, and its seasons of calm; its convulsive struggles, and its peaceful rests; its snowy winters, when life is driven from the wide-spread surface to gather strength from hidden springs; and its genial summers, when it re-appears with mighty power, stirs all around into activity, and gathers a golden harvest. The history of the christian church is the record of the variations of religious life in its relation to the world; the history of a christian man is the record of the same in relation to his peculiar sphere. The pulsations of life in the former are stronger, and its changes less frequent, than in the latter; the summer and winter of the church are more abiding than those of the man; the changes, therefore, of the latter may be scarcely known beyond his immediate sphere, while those of the former will be mourned over, or applauded, by the whole band of the faithful.

At the present time, religious life in England appears to be passing from a state of torpor to a more active and healthy condition. It is not, however, our intention now to investigate the signs of life which have recently appeared in the established church, nor to trace these among the various nonconforming bodies; we shall confine our remarks to one fact which has lately furnished a topic of conversation to the religious world. For the last three years, a youthful preacher in London has been attracting immense crowds every Sabbath day; and whenever and wherever he preaches, he is sure of a crowded audience, which he sways as easily as the practised touch of the harper controls his lyre. All classes flock to hear him; the poor and the rich, the shopkeeper and the statesman, the fashionable lady and the sickly needlewoman, all rush to catch a sight, and to hear the voice, of CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON.

The question has naturally been on the lips of almost every one, "Who is this Spurgeon?" and strange and conflicting are the answers which are often returned. The history of the three-and-twenty years of his life, which have already passed, may easily be narrated. He is the grandson of the Rev. James Spurgeon, an Independent minister at Stambourne, Essex, and the son of Mr. John Spurgeon, who, though engaged in business during the week, is the pastor of a small church at Tollesbury, Essex; and was born at Kelvedon, June 19, 1834. He passed his first seven years with his grandfather, where he early imbibed a love of reading, and received his first impressions of truth; and till his fifteenth year he enjoyed the advantages of a private school at Colchester. It was, however, during his residence at Newmarket, as an usher in a school, that his mind first opened to those deep convictions which have made him the powerful and popular preacher. He made a profession of religion, by public baptism, in his sixteenth year, and devoted his early energies to the Sabbath school. After a year, he entered upon a similar situation at Cambridge, in the school of his former tutor Mr. Leeding; and was admitted a member of a Preaching Society connected with the Baptist church in that city. He now commenced in the surrounding villages his career as a preacher of the gospel; and his success was so marked, especially at one named Waterbeach, that in the summer of 1853, at the earnest solicitation of the people, he became the pastor of the Baptist church in that village. His fame rapidly spread far and wide; soon he was invited to preach at New Park Street chapel, London, then nearly a deserted building; and after a short trial, he entered on his duties as its pastor, in January, 1854. This large chapel was quickly crowded, and needed enlargement; even Exeter Hall was found too small to contain the people who flocked to hear him during the enlargement of his chapel; and the spacious Surrey Gardens' Music Hall has been lately filled every Sunday, with an excited and eager audience. Nor is his fame confined to the metropolis. In Scotland, and in the provinces, the crowds pour forth into the open air, or press into some large building, to listen to England's most popular preacher.

Now as the extraordinary popularity of Mr. Spurgeon is an undoubted fact, we may proceed to inquire into the causes of his great success. It has been said that the whole affair must be regarded as a mere matter of vain curiosity on the part of the people; and that when the novelty of the thing has passed, the crowds will disperse, and Spurgeon will settle down to the level of an ordinary minister. At present, however, there are no signs that the interest in his preaching is abating; on the contrary, the crowds are as numerous as ever, and his popularity is rather heightened than diminished by time. The explanation, however, does not touch the point at issue; for even granting that it is a mere matter of curiosity, the question still remains, what has produced it? why are the people so curious to hear him, in preference to any other person? There must, therefore, be something either in the character of the preacher, in the truths he declares, or in the manner in which he presents them, which gives to him the power of attracting vast crowds whenever he preaches.

Mr. Spurgeon has much in his personal appearance to command the sympathy of his hearers. True, he is not a handsome young man, with flowing ringlets, taper fingers bedizened with rings, and studied dress, like some of the favorite preachers, whom certain ladies delight to pet and flatter. His features are rather coarse than fine, and his appearance has more of the homely sobriety of the middle classes than the polished care of the fashionable. He has a clear head, a warm heart, a good voice, and a piercing eye. His will is resolute and determined; and his very personal language and dogmatic assertion indicate the force of character that is scarcely concealed by his unpretending appearance. His terse Saxon words, and cool self-possession show that he has a thorough mastery over himself, and that he, therefore, possesses the first qualification to command the attention of others. Men insensibly bend to a mightier will than their own; and the same power, which makes a band of pirates yield to the control of their leader, and which raised Loyola to the head of the Jesuitical Institution, gives to Spurgeon an intense influence over his audience. A man with less force of will might say the same things, in nearly the same manner; but the effect would not be half so powerful. The youth, character, and appearance of Spurgeon are, therefore, greatly in his favour, and no doubt exert a considerable influence in awakening the curiosity of the people.

Mere personal character, however, is not sufficient to account for his popularity and success. A young man, even with commanding features, would very soon be despised, if his lips uttered folly, or advocated doctrines repugnant to the gospel. Much of the power of Spurgeon evidently lies in the topics which he brings before his audience, and in the prominence he gives to the great truths of salvation. Every reformation, or revival, of the church has been effected, by bringing into prominence some great truth which had been obscured or denied. The Reformation by Luther was based on the fundamental truth of the justification of a sinner by faith in Christ; a truth which had been obscured by the teachings and practices of the Romish church. In the extensive revival of religion in the last century by Whitfield and Wesley, great prominence was given to the power of the Spirit in effecting the conversion of the soul; a truth which had been almost overlooked by divines in their anxiety to defend christianity from the attacks of infidels. Spurgeon brings conspicuously forward the all-important doctrine of the divinity of Christ, and places around it the hopes and fears, the duties and pleasures of man; a truth, which of late has been either totally denied, or robbed of its proper significancy. He preaches the doctrines of the gospel as usually held by Calvinists; though he is not always consistent in his explanations of truth. His power, however, does not lie in accurate doctrinal disquisition; he is a preacher, not a theologian; he wisely addresses his audience as plain common people, and leaves to others the task of enlightening theological students. He says, "We are not called to lift up doctrine, or church governments, or particular denominations; our business is to lift up Christ, and to preach him fully." He is very skilful, too, in discriminating and describing character; and like a clever anatomist, lays open his subject, and