280 – Oct. 07 – This Day in Baptist History Past

 

 

“He had the finest voice of any public man of his time.”

October 07, 1857 – Charles Haddon Spurgeon, in his 23^rd year, preached to 23,654 persons by turnstile count, the all-time attendance record, “the greatest crowd ever addressed by a Gospel preacher,” (to that time), in the central transept of the cyclopean Crystal Palace, a building so large that it was “apparently unenclosed for vastness.” The occasion was a fast-day service. Another interesting incident in connection with this…meeting was Spurgeon’s private afternoon acoustical test in the empty building. He lifted his golden voice and cried, “Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.” A workman in a high gallery heard the voice, was smitten with conviction, put down his tools, went home, and after a season of spiritual struggle, found peace and life by beholding the Lamb of God. Spurgeon must have possessed an extraordinary vocal ability during his ministry in London. One historian says, “He had the finest voice of any public man of his time.” We know that George Whitefield also addressed huge crowds in America. “Benjamin Franklin measured the area reached by his voice and declared, ‘I computed that he might well be heard by more than 30,000.’” Spurgeon was called to the New Park Street Church on April 19, 1854. Within a year’s time, it was necessary to secure a larger building. In less than 3 years they had grown by 425%! In Feb. 1855 Exeter Hall was secured, and then they moved on Oct. 19, 1856 to the Royal Surrey Gardens with its three tiers of Galleries that seated 12,000. For three years they averaged over 10,000. That golden voice was silenced in death on Jan. 31, 1892.

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