and
fastening before it a wooden railing, also with its decent covering of
baize. A pair of steps, constructed with a considerable amount of
trouble, were placed in position before the rostrum; but when, a few
minutes after seven o'clock, the preacher appeared, he scorned their
assistance, and scrambled on to the box from the level of the field,
grasping the rail as soon as he was in a position to face the
congregation, as if he recognised in it a familiar friend, whose
presence made him feel at home under the novel circumstances that
surrounded him. There might, when Mr. Spurgeon stood up, have been
some doubt whether his voice could be heard throughout the vast throng
gathered in front of the tree. But the first tones of the speaker's
voice dispelled uncertainty, and the congregation settled quietly down,
whilst Mr. Spurgeon, with uplifted hands, besought "the Spirit of God to
be with them, even as in their accustomed places of worship." A hymn was
sung, a portion of the 55th chapter of Isaiah read, another prayer
offered up, and the preacher commenced his Sermon.

He took for his text a portion of the 36th verse of the 9th chapter of
Matthew--"He was moved with compassion." At the outset he sketched, with
rapid eloquence, the history of Jesus Christ. The first declaration that
might have startled one not accustomed to the preacher's style of
oratory was his expression of a preference for people who absolutely
hated religion over those who simply regarded it with indifference.
These former were people who showed they did think, and, like Saul of
Tarsus, there was hope of their conversion.

"It is," he said, "a great time when the Lord goes into the devil's
army, and, looking around him, sees some lieutenant, and says to him,
'Come along; you have served the black master long enough, I have need
of you now.' It is astonishing how quietly he comes along, and what a
valiant fight he fights on the side of his new master."

Mr. Spurgeon had a protest to make against the practice of refusing to
help the poor except through the machinery of the Poor Law. Referring to
Christ's having compassionated the hungry crowd and fed them, he said:
"If Jesus Christ were alive now and presumed to feed a crowd of people,
He would be had up by some society or other, and prosecuted for
encouraging mendicancy. If He were alive in these days He would, I much
fear, have occasion to say, 'I was hungry, and ye fed Me not; thirsty,
and ye gav