GREAT PREACHER.

Timaru Herald, Volume XCVIII, Issue 18084, 11 July 1923, Page 10

GREAT PREACHER.

SPURGEON AND HIS WORK. In an address delivered at a function in the Hotel Cecil, .London, to aid a fund tor equipping Spurgeon’s College, Mr Lloyd George said he had only heard Spurgeon wiree times, and it was his deepest regret that he did not multiply it, as lie might have done, tinrtyioid. “it is one ol : the signs or advancing years,” said Mr Lloyd George, “that you are always praising the past, always talking ot the great days of your youth. But there is something in it. Look at the men who were in London, say, 30 to 40 years ago in any., branch of activity'. Take actors — liem-.v Irving, Toole, John Hare; take politics—Gladstone, Disraeli, John Bright., .Go to literature and poetry—'Tennyson, Browning, and Swinburne. Go to preaching. “When I came to London as a young man over 40 years ago for the first time, in the morning I went to hear Spurgeon. In the afternoon to .St. Paul’s to hear Liddon, and in the evening to hear Dr Parker. Welshmen are in the habit of putting things in the form of trials. Great trials, those. “It is invidious - to make comparison, but I venture, to say that Spurgeon was the greatest preacher of his age.” It was the age of great preachers,' but Spurgeon was the greatest in a great age. The impression of his preaching was a lasting and spreading one. His sermons were translated into every civilised tongue. He was a great orator, he had great eloquence, his voice was a marvel. It was a haunting voice. It had an immense power of appeal. He had simplicity, and lucidity. There were those who thought that all clear water must necessarily be shallow, and that all waters that were muddy must necessarily be deep. Ho was a poet—the greatest poet., Mr Lloycl George thought, among the preachers. “Tou need not go to Paris and cross the sea with all its dangers,” said Mr Lloyd George. “Buy a cheap edition of .Spurgeon and you will get such a flight as you will -never forget. Bunyan and Spurgeon are going to be part of the literature of our land.” Spurgeon's sermons throbbed with tenderness. IMjIBMBU tTlI"