Miscellaneous.

Colonist, Issue 6, 10 November 1857, Page 4

Miscellaneous.

A SCOTCH VIEW OF SPURGEON WELVE MONTHS. SINCE. It is neither commendable nor safe to follow a pulpit quack, as many Londoners who, from curiosity or from execrable taste, went on Sunday evening to Mr. Spurgeon's exhibition have got very good reason to feel. We are slow to view the terrible catastrophe which then took place in the Royal Surrey Gardens as a direct providence and punishment, though, had the large Hall there been crammed at the time with an audience gathered to either a musical or a dramatic entertainment, and not to hear a theatrical preacher burlesquing all that is solemn and sacred in evangelical truth, and degrading the ministerial office to the calling of a buffoon, the accident would to a certainty have been interpreted by many professors of religion, and by none more readily and confidently than by Mr, Spurgeon's admirers as a visitation of Divine wrath in rebuke both of play-going and of Sabbath-breaking, whilst Mr. Spurgeon himself, glad on account of an exciting subject for his mobs, would, on the following Sunday, have "improved" the dispensation. If common theatricals deserve such signal punishment, are Mr. Spurgeon's attempts to make the pulpit a stage, where, when praying or preaching, he may employ a coarse actor's resources to excite the emotions native to a theatre, likely to pass unchastised ? Are theatrical ranting and merriment only unobjectionable and safe when associated with Christianity ? We have read some of the silly and blasphemous dialogues which Mr. Spurgeon introduces into his sermons, and to find equal profanity, we shall search in vain through all the dramas which now appear upon any stage, and must go back to the old " Mysteries," which did not scruple to represent Deity as exchanging jokes and repartees with other dramatis person®. Did we hold the theory to which many.religious folks cling, as explaining the rather frequent disasters which occur in theatres and other places of public amusement, we should be compelled to extend it so as to cover the frightful catastrophe of Sabbath evening last; for the Music Hall of the Royal Surrey Gardens was never on any former occasion packed with hearers more eagerly and unreservedly intent upon amusement and " lots of fun," nor was the stage ever trodden by a public favorite who was more anxious to astonish and gratify his audience and thus keep up his reputation. In that Hall on Sunday night, nothing more unlike the atmosphere around both the pews and the pulpit of a Christian temple could possibly be imagined; whilst, on the other hand, nothing could more closely resemble vail the characteristics of a theatrical performance. Still, we won't cry out over the catastrophe— A judgment! a palpable judgment I but we do recognise a punishment upon the worse than wretched taste which sends many thousands weekly to listen to and admire the pulpit performances of Mr. Spurgeon. It may often have been reasoned that there was no harm in flocking to the place where he was to roar and rant, and that the immense crowds would get nothing less worse than a little fun, which was a decided

rarity on Sabbath, and within the walls of a church, and from an evangelical pulpit. The mischief of his popularity is now seen to be great; it directly brought about the terrible catastrophe in which several lives have been .lost, and serious injuries sustained by many scores of persons. It has thus been strikingly demonstrated that it is far from safe to encourage and run after a pulpit-quack, and that in crowding to hear his noisy bombast, fanaticism, and ribaldry, you may be doing more than pampering the vanity of a fool or knave, and dooming yourselves to feed intellectually and spiritually upon wind. You may be actually preparing wounds, bruises, broken limbs, and death itself, for yourselves and neighbours ! All who have occasionally formed part of Mr. Spurgeon's monster-congrega-tions must endure self-reproach in thinking of the disastrous service in the Royal Surrey Gardens ; and theirs-would be a proper resolution never again to go to hear him, though it were to be announced that he would speak whilst standing on. his head, and choose some text which would allow him the opportunity of repeating all his merriest anecdotes, his most grotesque metaphors, and his uncharitable accusations against everybody but himself and his sti-pend-payers. Surely it would be very becoming for the sake of the past, as well as prudential for the future, if the public henceforth determine to keep, at a distance from Mr. Spurgeon's pulpit. In the light of the accident, how curious is Mr. Spurgeon's previous history! The preacher, whose weekly audience no London church can accommodate, what was he a few years ago ? A student, without influence, without learning, and without talents—a lad who seemed to be without all chances for a country church, however small. Still, it was not then seen that he had a loud voice, and that impudence and want of taste, along with a little low-bred craft, might conspire to turn him into a great pulpit-quack, at least in such a sphere as London furnishes. Of course, deplorable ignorance, and mental weakness and rudeness, must characterise all the admirers of such a man. Mr. Spurgeon is not the only pulpit-quack, though he is by far the largest and the most contemptible. Even in sober and intelligent Scotland it is not altogether unnecessary to rehearse the catastrophe of the Royal Surrey Gardens, and to warn the public against encouraging the class of Spurgeons, and listening to sermons which will inflict bruises, broken limbs, and death.— Edinburgh Weekly Herald.