Page 6 - Spurgeon

power of the Holy Spirit. Drawn as to a magnet they flocked to him. Throngs,
multitudes, double-squeezed into the varnished pews, peering in at the doors,
crowding the aisles, squatting on the pulpit stairs, perched like starlings on
the windowsills.
Revival - continuous revival! Almost every sermon leading to conversions.
The Lord was with him, and let none of his words fall to the ground! This
was in fact the condition and atmosphere of the church right to the end of
Spurgeon’s ministry. The atmosphere of the services was charged with
soulsaving, Christ-exalting power. The Holy Spirit brooded over the meetings,
and thousands upon thousands were led to a saving knowledge of Christ,
and added to the flock of the Redeemer.
New Park Street Chapel, which he had once thought was ‘hopelessly
large’, seating twelve hundred, soon proved to be hopelessly small. One
night, when the building was painfully jammed, Spurgeon turned to the wall
behind the pulpit and declared: “By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, and
by faith this wall shall come down, too.”
Someone suggested that they should hire the palatial Surrey Music Hall,
capable of holding 12,000 people! Church members looked at one another
in amazement. It stood in the Royal Surrey Gardens, and was used for
concerts, exhibitions, and wild beast shows. (Spurgeon thought of the early
Christians facing lions in the arena at Rome!) Some thought that it would be
too large; others, that a place of worldly amusements was unsuitable for
Gospel preaching. The hall was taken, however, and the news of this bold
scheme ran through London like wildfire. There were also more attacks in
the Press.
The first service in the Surrey Music Hall was arranged for the evening of
October 19, 1856, and the streets were packed with people. It was estimated
that 12,000 people were inside the vast hall, and 10,000 outside unable
to get in. When Spurgeon saw the immense throng he was almost
overwhelmed, but soon recovered his poise.

In an article the following year, Mr Grant instructed the readers of The
Morning Advertiser thus: “Never since the days of George Whitefield has
any minister of religion acquired so great a reputation as this Baptist preacher,

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