every particular. His style, though not less homely, became more refined; his figures, not less aptly applied, became less coarse. Thousands of the most cultured and most devout listened with deep interest and profit to his lucid exposition and faithful application of Holy Scripture to the wants of

men.

In his youth he responded to applications to visit the country towns throughout England, and occasionally in Scotland and Ireland, and preached to immense audiences. He also preached in Holland and in Geneva. Before he was thirty years of age he had acquired a fame and a pulpit power unexampled in any age or country.

Ere yet he had reached his twenty-fifth year, a critic in one of the reviews made a comparison between the late eminent orator Henry Ward Beecher and Mr. Spurgeon on this wise--"In general character, and in style and manner, they agree in many points. In intellectual strength, Mr. Beecher is his superior, and far surpasses him in comprehensiveness of views, in liberality of sentiment, and in the sweep of topics. We must remember also that he has nearly twice his age. In earnest appeal and in depth of pathos he is not equal to Mr. Spurgeon. In the forcible, searching utterance of divine truth, Mr. Spurgeon is the superior. In imagination, wit, description, and perhaps in illustration, it would be difficult to draw the line of difference. In the power of spontaneous and forcible illustration, we are disposed to think Mr. Beecher is unequalled even by Spurgeon. Both are extraordinary men, unequalled in their power to attract and enchain an audience. Much alike in natural character and endowments, they differ much in the fields they have chosen, and each is superior in his own. Mr. Beecher is unrivalled in the handling of general popular topics, both civil and religious, in his own peculiar style. (163) 22

Mr. Spurgeon has chosen the heart for his battle-ground, and limits himself to the sphere of practical and experimental godliness. In this sphere he is the greatest preacher of the day."

Another critic remarked of Mr. Spurgeon about the same period of his youth:-"The manly tone of Mr. Spurgeon's mind might be illustrated from the admirable thoughts which he expresses on the connection between the diffusion of the gospel and civil liberty. His graphic skill in delineating character might be demonstrated from his life-like pictures of the prejudiced Jew and the scoffing Greek of modern times; his unsparing fidelity, from the sarcastic severity with which he rebukes the neglect of the Bible by modern professors; his powers of personification and dramatic presentation, from the scene which he paints between the dying Christian and death, or between Christ and justice and the justified sinner; his refined skill in the treatment of a delicate subject, in the veiled yet impressive description of the trial of Joseph; the use he can make of a single metaphor, by his powerful comparison of the sinner to 'Mazeppa, bound on the wild horse of his lust, galloping on with hell's wolves behind him, till stopped and liberated by a mighty Hand.'"

His youth in his early ministry betrayed itself; but the powerful, rich, melodious voice, always under control, which could whisper so as to be heard by thousands, and thunder so as to alarm, was one of the most personal of his characteristics. His thrilling descriptions, telling anecdotes, sparkling wit, startling episodes, striking similes, all used to enforce the truths of the Bible upon the hearts of men, made a combination of elements fitted to produce a preacher of marvellous power in a young man of twenty-five.

He started in his public career with one grand and con

suming desire to save souls, and throughout a long and distinguished ministry in the greatest sphere he never fell short of his youthful purpose. Thousands have blessed God for his words spoken to their ears, and tens of thousands for his printed sermons.