The Ceremony of Laying the First Stone of the New Tabernacle

On Tuesday, August 16th, 1859.

(No. 268-270)

PRECISELY at two o'clock in the afternoon, Mr. SPURGEON, accompanied by
Sir MORTON PETO, Bert., M.P., and other friends, ascended the temporary
platform erected around the stone; and the proceedings shortly after
commenced by singing the hundredth Psalm:–

Before Jehovah's awful throne

Ye nations bow with sacred joy;

Know that the Lord is God alone;

He can create, and he destroy.

We are his people, we his care,

Our souls and all our mortal frame;

What lasting honors shall we rear,

Almighty Maker, to thy name?

We'll crowd thy gates with thankful songs,

High as the heavens our voices raise;

And earth, with her ten thousand tongues,

Shall fill thy courts with sounding praise.

Wide as the world is thy command;

Vast as eternity thy love;

Firm as a rock thy truth must stand,

When rolling years shall cease to move.

Mr. SPURGEON then offered up an opening Prayer:– OH! LORD God! thy
throne is in heaven. Yet heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot
contain thee, neither can any among the sons of men build a house for
thy habitation and thy rest. The temple of Solomon, however beautiful
for situation glorious for its splendor, and "exceeding magnifical,"
was not fit for thy dwelling place. It is not possible that thou who
fillest immensity, thou who dwellest in light to which no man can
approach, shouldst confine thyself to temples piled with human hands.
Nevertheless thou hast said, "To this man also will I look, even to him
that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my Word."
Jesus, Master of assemblies, where two or three are gathered together
in thy name, there art thou in the midst of them. Blessed Comforter,
without thy quickening influence, the largest congregation is but a
listless crowd, the most gorgeous cathedral but a profane place. Thou
hast been pleased, O Lord, to increase this people and to multiply
their joy. We have had the joy of harvest, and the shoutings as of them
that bread the wine-press. Thou hast been greatly with us, and thy
right arm has been made bare in the eyes of all the people. And now
behold, this day we are come together to lay the first stone of a house
for thee, wherein we may meet for thy sacred worship. Oh, give us the
first drops of a shower of mercy! Oh that this day every one concerned
in the laying of this stone may partake of the blessing of the Most
High! Bless the church that shall assemble in it! "May we find our
richest expectations far exceeded, and our firmest hopes far excelled.
Do thou, O God, bless the many thousands that we hope will gather here,
and grant that the Word may be quick and powerful to their conversion!
We know that places cannot be consecrated; yet can there be consecrated
associations connected with them. Lord give us the fullness of thy
blessing at the beginning, and as we progress, and stone mounts on
stone, may we come at last to know that better is the end of a thing
than the beginning thereon God bless thy servant who is about to lay
this first stone! We thank thee for him, and we pray thee bless him
abundantly. Grant that the wealth and station thou hast conferred upon
him may be ever, as they have been, fully consecrated unto thee. And do
thou bless all the dear brethren of the ministry now present! Oh, grant
to every one of them the fullness of thy Spirit, the joy of thy
salvation, and the light of thy countenance! And bless, we beseech
thee, the assembled congregation! This very day may sinners be
converted and God be glorified! And now, thou who dost bow thine ear to
listen to our requests, hearken to our prayer, while we beseech thee to
let this house be builded without accident, let, or hindrance. When
builded may it by the manifestation of thy presence to the saints be
filled with thy glory. And for many years to come, yea until thy second
advent, thou long-expected Messias, may ministers of a full, free, and
finished salvation, occupy its pulpit! And unto Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost be glory, for ever! Amen.

Mr. SPURGEON then said: Before the stone is laid the deacons of the
church–or rather my esteemed brother Mr. Carr on their behalf–Has
drawn up a statement of the history of this church. I was afraid that
our revered brothers in the deaconship would scarcely be heard. Mr.
Carr, however is the author of the statement to be laid before you, and
he wiLL therefore most properly read it himself. I can only say, if you
are as much edified and delighted in hearing it read, as I was when I
first perused it, you will not feel occasion for regret even though it
should occupy twenty minutes in its reading. I have no fault to find
with it, except I think it gives me a little too much praise. If you
think so, ascribe it all to God. His praise can never be uttered in
strains too loud or too hearty.

The following statement was then read by Mr. B. W. CARR:–

WITH THE REMEMBRANCE OF GRATEFUL ANNALS IN THE PAST, WITH THE TOKENS OF
ABUNDANT PROSPERITY IN THE PRESENT, WITH GLOWING HOPES AND DEVOUT
PRAYERS FOR THE FUTURE, WE ASSEMBLE THIS DAY TO LAY THE FOUNDATION
STONE OF A NEW TABERNACLE.

THIS church of baptized believers in the Lord Jesus Christ is not of
recent formation. Its members hold a direct succession from progenitors
in the faith, for the space of two hundred and seven years. The oldest
Baptist church in Southwark, we trace back our Commencement to the year
1652. After the death of King Charles the First, and before the
appointment of Oliver Cromwell to be Protector of the Commonwealth, our
pious ancestors first associated in church fellowship. Their spiritual
compact was made in troublous times. While the trammels of Popery had
then recent been cast off, and Protestant Christians had but lately
emerged from Papal darkness, full liberty of conscience was neither
granted by the legislators, nor understood generally by the people. The
GREAT PRINCIPLE OF UNRESTRICTED RELIGOUS LIBERTY was, at that time,
peculiar to the Baptists. They scrupulously maintained it, and
pioneered the way for its popular apprehension. But the sect of
Baptists was accounted schismatic. Their meetings were held by stealth.
Being unlawful for them to gather together for worship in a suitable
edifice, they were compelled to go from house to house, observing the
strictest secrecy. From Psalmody they were obliged to refrain. They
dared not sing the praises of God, lest the sounds of their devotion
should attract the notice of informers. Persecution, in truth, they did
not court, neither did they shrink from enduring it with gentle
patience and holy boldness, when public indignation was aroused, and
legal indictments preferred against them. Benjamin keach, one of the
earliest pastors of this church, was convicted of asserting and
publishing his belief, that believers only, and not infants ought to be
baptized–that laymen, having abilities, might preach the gospel–and,
that Christ should reign personally on earth in the latter day. In
accordance with the verdict obtained and the sentence pronounced by the
judge, he was imprisoned for fourteen days, fined twenty pounds, and
stood in the pillory twice during one week, in the market-places of
Aylesbury and Winslow, in the County of Buckinghamshire.

The times have changed–the gradual enlightenment of the public mind
has advanced–the face of the local district in which our various
meeting-houses were situate has been transformed–the affinity of
Christian denominations has become more truly felt–and the broad
relation of all parties, whatever their religious opinions, to the
general state of the kingdom, has been recognized by the ruling powers,
while amidst the flowing tide of civilization, our beloved church, in
connection with the sect to which it belongs, has maintained its
original character. Owning but one rule of faith–the pure
unadulterated Scriptures; recognizing the order of government or
discipline no other standard than the example and precept of the
apostles as contained in the New Testament, without alloy of tradition
or modification, under fresh phases of secular estate, the old creed
has been endorsed by each successive generation of believers, and is
held intact by those, who this day are gathered to transmit the
testimony they have received to a posterity yet unborn.

No novelty whatever led to the distinctness of our communion. No
factious spirit induces us to perpetuate it. As a protest against an
innovation still fostered in Christian churches, we preserve the
inscription of "Baptist" on our banners. By "immersion" the converts to
Jesus in apostolic times made their public profession. In Godly and
pious communities of the one church of Christ, the primitive ordinance
of discipleship has been practiced through an unbroken succession.
Holding in common with brethren of other denominations the unity of the
faith, we desire now, as ever, in our own fellowship, to mantain the
pureness of that polity, which is formed upon the model of the church
at Jerusalem.

Within the first half century of its history, this church had three
Pastors–WILLIAM RIDER, BENJAMIN KEACH, and BENJAMIN STINTON.

Under WILLIAM RIDER the church was formed of a few individuals who had
separated from one of the most ancient congregations of Baptists in the
city of London. They had the reputation of being a people of solid
judgment and substantial religion. Some of them were in good
circumstances as to the possessions of this world. Mr. Rider died in
the year 1667, after having taken the oversight of this infant church
for fifteen years.

BENJAMIN KEACH, chosen to the pastorale in the year 1668, was a man
famous in his day. He was born at Stokehaman in Buckinghamshire, in
February, 1640, and when eighteen years of age was called to the solemn
work of the ministry. In controversy on the Baptismal question, the
renowned Richard Baxter was his great antagonist. Distinguished for
literary research and voluminous writing, he contributed forty-three
books to the Christian public, two of which–his "KEY TO OPEN SCRIPTURE
METAPHORS," and his "EXPOSITION OF ALL THE PARABLES,–have been
perpetuated in several editions, and take rank in the libraries of the
Christian student to this day. During his time the church was
prosperous, and a large and commodious building was erected in Goat's
Yard Passage, Fair Street, Horseliedown. There he continued his
ministry till the period of his decease in 1704, having completed
thirty-six years of arduous ministerial labor.

After an interval of a few months, BENJAMIN STINTON, the son-in-law of
Benjamin Keach, succeeded to the pastorale, which he faithfully
discharged for fourteen years. Not lacking in that indefatigable
industry which has been ever characteristic of the ministers of this
church, he first projected a plan of the Baptist history. The
manuscript is still preserved, although it devolved upon other hands to
complete the interesting work. It is further notable that in his time a
baptistry was constructed "for the more decent administration of the
ordinance." The Baptists had, like the Chlistians in Primitive times,
administered this rite in pools or rivers. In the year 1818, at the
cost of one hundred and sixty pounds, a desirable change was effected,
the old baptizing place in Horeliedown being enlarged, a meeting-house
built, and three vestries of eleven feet square each being provided.
The year following Mr. Stinton died.

Through the singular providence and blessing of God, this church was
subsequently favored with the ministry of two eminent servants of
Christ for the protracted space of one hundred and fifteen years; Dr.
John Gill having been upwards of fifty-two years, and his successor
more than sixty-three years their pastor.

JOHN GILL was born at Kettering in Northamptonshire, November 23rd,
1697, and ordained to the pastoral office over this church, March 22nd,
1720, being then in the twenty-third year of his age. A man of profound
learning and deep piety, he was notable as a divine for the exactness
of his systematic theology in which he maintained the doctrines of
grace against the innovations of Arminian teachers. His "BODY OF
DIVNITY" has long been held in the highest repute. As the fervent
exposition of an entire and harmonious creed, it has no rival. His
famous treatise entitled "THE CAUSE OF GOD AND TRUTH," obtained for him
the championship of the Calvinistic School of Divinity. He likewise
published a voluminous "COMMENTARY ON THE HOLY SCRIPTURES" in nine
volumes folio, remarkable for the copiousness of its glossary, the
brilliance of its argument, his apprehension of prophecy, and the
richness of his Hebrew scholarship. His preparations for the pulpit
having, as is well known, furnished the materials for the press, we can
but reflect on the priceless value of his ministry. The eulogy
pronounced upon him by the Rev. Augustus Montague Toplady, a well-known
cotemporary divine of the Church of England, was doubtless well
merited. He says, "that his labors were indefatigable, his life
exemplary, and his death comfortable if any one can be supposed to have
trod the whole circle of human learning, it was this great and eminent
person. His attainments, both in abstruse and polite literature, were
equally extensive and profound, and so far as the distinguishing
doctrines of grace are concerned, he never besieged an error which he
did not force from its stronghold, nor ever encountered an adversary
whom he did not baffle and subdue."

In the year 1757, a new meeting house for the church and congregation
was built in Carter Lane, Tooley Street, which Dr. Gill opened on the
9th of October in that year, "by recording the name of the Lord
therein," agreeably to his own apprehension of that devout service,
"preaching the doctrines of the grace of God, and administering gospel
ordinances as they have been delivered to us." This venerable servant
of Christ fell asleep in Jesus the 14th October, 1771.

"Though we have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have we not
many fathers," but John Gill was a father of the true apostolic order.
When this hoary old saint, bending with mature age, was gathered in,
and came to his grave "like as a shock of corn cometh in in his
season," there sprung up in his place a stripling youth, like a green
blade, and so forestalled another summer season, with a fresh crop of
souls as precious grain for a future harvest. A lapse of less than two
years in point of time divided the ministry of Dr. Gill from that of
Dr. Rippon. But the interval in a moral aspect looked rather wide just
then to the eyes of those who saw the pulpit vacated by the one and
occupied by the other. Of this no one was more sensible or more
apprehensive than young John Rippon himself. Once and again he shrunk
fromaccepting the solemn charge under an overwhelming sense of its
responsibilities. Making the invitation a matter of daily prayer, he
sought fresh proof that he had found favor with God and acceptance with
his people, before returning an absolute and decisive answer.

Born at Tiverton in Devonshire, on April 29th, 1751, JOHN RIPPON was in
his twenty-third year when publicly ordained, on November 11th, 1773,
to the pastoral office in connection with this church at Carter Lane
Chapel. It had already appeared that the mantle of a true ministerial
succession had fallen on him; the anointings of the Spirit of God had
been fully manifested when by the laying on of hands he received the
open recognition of his brethren. This thing came of the Lord of Hosts,
who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working, and he wrought
mightily by his dear young servant. A great revival ensued. Crowded
congregations at the usual services, and joyful church meetings to
receive the converts into fellowship, gave evidence that "the good hand
of our God strengthened the hands of the brethren for the good work."
For nearly fifty years Dr. Rippon was considered to be one of the most
popular ministers in London of the Baptist denomination. Pure in
doctrine, and pungent in style, his discourses were sound and savoury.
In preaching the gospel, he shunned not to declare the whole counsel of
God, zealous of good works, he failed not to exhort and rebuke with all
authority, knowing the dispensation that was committed unto him. His
lot being cast in times far different from those his predecessors had
ever known, he diligently sought out opportunities, and heartily
applied his energies to the wide diffusion of the gospel of Christ.
Itinerant societies for the work of evangelising in this country, and
the Missionary Association for sending forth the word of life to
heathen lands, specially engaged his heart, his counsel, and his
co-operation. As the editor of the "Baptist Register," he kept up an
extensive correspondence with Christians in all parts of the world. He
enjoyed a high influence in his own denomination, and acquired great
esteem in other sections of the church of Christ. His selection of
hymns has had a wide circulation both in the British Empire and the
United States of America, aiding the devotions and inspiring the
praises of myriads of our fellow-Christians, nor has it yet been
superseded by any volume that can rival it in popularity. In the
strange and inscrutable providence of God he was permitted to survive
his usefulness, but while the infirmities of age paralysed his
ministerial powers, he kept the faith and maintained the unblemished
reputation of a Christian to the hour of his departure, which occurred
on the 17th December, 1836, in the eighty-sixth year of his age.

There yet remain among us a few members of this church, who recollect
the dear old Doctor in the vigor of his middle age, and in our
memories, the urbanity and warm-heartedness of his private manners are
as fondly cherished, as the glowing zeal of his public ministrations.
If his life has not left behind it such massive and enduring monuments
on earth as that of his predecessor, we doubt not that he hath full as
many trophies in heaven. These men of God, each of them filled his
allotted sphere. Gill shone more like a star of the first magnitude
amidst surrounding darkness: Rippon was one of a splendid galaxy. The
luminous association in which be stood rendering his individuality less
conspicuous when viewed from a distance. "We have heard with our ears,
and our fathers have told us what work thou didst in their days," and
we adore thee O God for it. Our eyes have beheld greater things, and
our hearts are lifted up to thy throne for a more copious blessing.
"Let thy works appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their
children. And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us; and
establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our
hands establish thou it."

An important event in our history as a church occurred during the
closing years of Dr. Rippon's life. On Lord's day, the 7th of February,
1830, the church and caongregation assembled to worship God for the
last time at the old meeting-house in Carter Lane, previously to its
being given up to the Corporation of the City for the approaches to the
new London Bridge. For three years were we compelled to seek
accommodation from the kindness of other churches, at various times
assembling in different buildings. This was a grievous affliction. At
length in answer to many an earnest prayer, we were directed by the
kindness of our heavenly Father to a piece of freehold ground in New
Park Street, where a neat chapel was built, and opened free from any
debt or encumbrance on the 6th of May, 1833. Still did fresh anxieties
beset our path. For when we had secured a permanent home for worship,
we were constrained to seek temporary supplies for the pulpit, our
pastor being totally disabled from further service. In reviewing our
troubles, we do but recount God's mercies, for the Lord hath delivered
us out of them all.

During the eighteen years that ensued after Dr. Rippon's death, three
pastors successively accepted office and removed from among us. This
was a new experience in our annals. Hitherto each servant of God who
had been ordained over this church in the Lord, continued unto his
death in its fellowship.

For two years and a half from December, 1837, to July, 1840, the Rev.
JOSEPH ANGUS ministered with considerable success. His piety and his
talents commended him to our regard, and his youth scoured for him our
tender sympathy. We received him with the heartiest welcome, we parted
from him with deep regret. He received more than a hundred and twenty
members into our communion, and increased the attendance on the public
services. The institutions in connection with the church flourished
under his presidency. It is worthy of record that at his suggestion the
communion of the Lord's supper was made available in this church to
believers in the Lord Jesus Chlist who have not been baptized by
immersion. At the earnest call of the Baptist Missionary Society, he
resigned his charge to take the office of secretary and now fills the
responsible trust of theological tutor in the college at Regent's Park
for the training of young ministers.

For about eight years and a half from January, 1842, to June, 1850, the
Rev. JAMES SMITH, of Cheltenham, was our pastor. Under his ministry the
hearts of the people were often moved, and the pool of baptism often
stirred. Feeling that London air was unsuited to his health, and
provincial labors had superior charms for his soul he resigned his
charge, and returned to the scene of his early labors, not without
leaving behind him many grateful reminiscences, and many gratifying
fruits of the divine blessing on the testimony he was enabled to
deliver.

For a short period of less than two years the Rev. WILLIAM WALTERS, now
of Halifax, took the oversight of the church, acceding to an unanimous
invitation, given him in July 1851, and retiring in the month of April,
1853.

By reason of these frequent changes, the church had become beyond
measure unsettled, the number in attendance on Lord's days being
greatly diminished. There remained however a faithful band, who
besieged the throne of grace with much earnestness. The prayer-meetings
on Monday evening continued to give evidence that these who were absent
on the first day of the week, had not ceased to hope that the Lord
would revive his work among us.

In December, 1853, our present pastor, by a surprising providence, was
first invited to occupy the pulpit of our chapel for one Sunday. Having
been born on the 19th of June, 1834, he was then only in his twentieth
year. His preaching at once gave signs of singular attraction. And on
his repeating his visits to the metropolis, each occasion witnessed the
increasing interest his ministry excited. In January, 1854, he accepted
the invitation to supply the pulpit for six months, three months of
which only had expired when he was unanimously elected to the
pastorale.

The antecedents of many generations, and the cherished reminiscences of
the older members, prepared for the Rev. CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON that
enthusiastic welcome with which he was spontaneously hailed by this
church. From the day he commenced his labors in our midst, it pleased
the Lord our God to grant us a revival which has steadily progressed
ever since. Among the earliest additions to our number, there were not
a few disciples of Christ, who, after making a profession under
faithful ministers long ago departed to their rest, had wandered about
and found no settled home. Many such were gathered into the fold of our
fellowship. Here their souls have been restored, while they have found
the presence of the Good Shepherd, who maketh us to lie down in green
pastures and leadeth us beside the still waters. But the greater work
was that of conversion. So did the Holy Ghost accompany the preaching
of the gospel with divine power, that almost every sermon proved the
means of awakening and regeneration to some who were hitherto "dead in
trespasses and sins." Thus our church became an asylum for the aged, as
well as a nursery for the babes of our Saviour's family. Before the
year had expired, the limited accommodation at New Park Street Chapel
for the multitude that gathered at every service rendered it necessary
to enlarge the building. As a suitable place for worship during the
alterations, the large room at Exeter Hall, in the Strand, was engaged
for seventeen Lord's days, from the 11th of February to the 27th of
May, 1855. By this step our pastor's fame became widely extended. The
crowd that beset the doors long before the hours of service impeded the
public thoroughfare. Frequent paragraphs in the newspapers helped to
make the preacher notorious. Slander after slander grieved his tender
heart; but the grace poured into his lips by his Master, for the
reclaiming of sinners (some of whom were of the most abandoned order)
afforded him the richest cordial. On our return to the enlarged chapel,
we soon discovered that the place was too strait for us, and in the
summer of 1856, we again availed ourselves for a few months of the
superior accommodation at Exeter Hall, on Sunday evenings. In the
autumn of that year, we arranged to hire the larger and more commodious
hall of the Royal Surrey Gardens, for the Sunday morning service. This
arrangement has been continued for nearly three years. Much of God's
good providence is to be clearly recognised in thus causing us to
wander. Our dilemma forced upon us a precedent, which others have
followed, much to the furtherance of the gospel–to God be ascribed the
glory! The prejudice against entering a Nonconformist sanctuary has in
many instances been laid aside by those who have convened within the
walls of an edifice, that is justly accounted neutral ground; it being
sacred or profane according to the temporary use it is made to serve.
Every week has borne testimony to the saving influence of the gospel,
as it is there constantly proclaimed to an assembly of five thousand
persons. Still, with so large a family and so small a dwelling-house,
the inconvenience of a temporary lodging becomes more and more
grievously felt. There is, and has been for the past two years, as fair
an average of that large congregation, who are devout persons, and
regular attendants as in any sanctuary in London. Yet not one-third of
them can find a place under the same ministry for more than one service
during the week. The church-members far exceed the extent of
accommodation in our own chapel to provide all of them with sittings.
It is only by having two distinct services that we can admit our
communicants to the table of the Lord. The necessity therefore for the
undertaking that we assemble to inaugurate, must be perceived by all.
Every attempt to trace the popular demand for Evangelical teaching to
spasmodic excitement has failed. The pastor of New Park Street Church
has never consciously departed from the simple rule of faith recorded
in the New Testament. The doctrines he has set forth are identical with
those which have been received by godly men of every section of the
church since the days of the apostles. The services of religion have
been conducted without any peculiarity or innovation. No musical or
Esthetic accompaniments have ever been used. The weapons of our warfare
are not carnal, but they are mighty. The history of our progress for
fire years is patent to the world. The example has been found capable
of successfully stimulating other churches in their aggressive efforts
to save perishing souls. With earnest individual and united prayer,
each step, has been taken. And to the exclusive honor and praise of our
God, our stone of Ebenezer is this day laid.

Pastor.

The Rev. C. H. SPURGEON.

Deacons.

SAMUEL GALE.

GEORGE WINSOR.

JAMES LOW.

WILLIAM P. OLNEY.

THOMAS OLNEY.

GEORGE MOORE.

THOMAS COOK.

London,

August 16th, 1859.

Mr. SPURGEON: In the bottle which is be placed under the stone we have
put no money–for one good reason, that we have none to spare. We have
not put newspapers, because, albeit we admire and love the liberty of
the press, yet that is not so immediately concerned in this edifice.
The articles placed under the stone are simply these;–the Bible, the
Word of God–we put that as the foundation of our church. Upon this
rock doth Christ build the ministration of his truth. We know of
nothing else as our standard. Together with this we have put the old
Baptist Confession of Faith, which was signed in the olden times by
Benjamin Keach whose name is in this book. We put also the declaration
of the deacons which you have just heard read printed on parchment.
There is also an edition of Dr. Rippon's Hymn Book, published just
before he died; and then, in the last place, there is a Programme of
this day's proceedings. I do not suppose that the New Zealander who one
day is to sit on the broken arch of London Bridge will make much out of
it. If we had put gold and silver there, it is possible he might have
taken it back to New Zealand with him: but I should not wonder, if ever
England is destroyed, these relics will find their way into some museum
in Australia or America, where they will spell over some of our
oldfashioned names, and wonder who ever those good men could be who are
inscribed here, as James Low, Samuel Gale, Thomas Olney, Thomas Cook,
William Olney, George Winsor, and the like. And I think they will say,
"Oh depend upon it, they were some good men or others, and they have
put them in stone there." They are living stones indeed they have
served this church well and long. Honour to whom honor is due. I am
glad to put their names with mine here; and I hope we shall live
together for ever in eternity.

The Ceremony of laying the First Stone was then performed in the
customary manner by Sir S. M. Peto, amidst the loud acclamation of the
Spectators.

Sir MORTON PETO then addressed the assembly as follows:–My Christian
friends, I congratulate my excellent friend Mr. Spurgeon, the deacons,
the church, and all our friends assembled on this interesting event. It
is one to which you have looked forward for some time. It is the
commencement of an edifice in which we must hope that the era of much
usefulness inaugurated with his ministry will be continued, and largely
increased. That admirable paper which was read before the stone was
laid, gave you a succinct, but interesting account of the church up to
the present time. We must hope that those glories which have been so
remarkably shown in the earlier history of the church, may not only be
continued in the salvation of a larger number than has ever yet been
known, but that in years to come those glories may be largely
increased, and that all who live may have the happiness of feeling that
the work which has been begun to-day, was one which the Lord had
eminently blessed. It is well, dear Christian friends, in the
commencement of any large undertaking, to look warily and see whether
we are warranted in what we are about to attempt. I could not but feel,
during the reading of that paper; that the fact there stated that the
church at Park Street is larger at the present time than can be
accommodated in the building, that there is practically no room in the
chapel for the world, is one which to every Christian heart, must show
that there remained nothing but for the church here to arise and build.
I know it may be said, that the Music Hall, and other large places,
might have given our friend Mr. Spurgeon an opportunity of making known
the unsearchable riches of Christ, but then there are other
institutions in connection with an edifice of this kind, which are of
equal importance with that to which I have referred. We have not only
the assembly of the church within its walls, but we must have an
opportunity of gathering the young for instruction; and when we look to
the fact that this new edifice will accommodate above two thousand
Sunday-school children, and also place nearly five thousand people in
the position of hearing the gospel of Christ, we not only feel that the
world will be accommodated to hear, and the church amply provided for,
but the young will be trained up in the path in which they should go.
Then I rejoice, dear Christian friends, to know that this church,
though strictly denominational, is in no respect Sectarian. Believing,
as its members justly do, that there is no other mode of baptism than
that which is figuratively set forth in Scripture by "being buried with
Christ in baptism:" while I am sure, my friend Mr. Spurgeon will never,
in coming across this truth (as he does not in regard to any other)
compromise its due weight, or give it more than fitting prominence that
the congregations may hear the simple gospel; yet on all occasions,
when the claims of Christian usefulness are to be promoted, I am quite
sure the church will be rejoiced to lend this edifice to any, not only
of the denomination to which we are so ardently attached, but to any
other evangelical denomination that may ask it at your hands. Then,
dear Christian friends, let all the denominations feel that if this is
to be a metropolitan building, it has large claims on them. While you
have a large and a heavy burden, which you are delighted to bear,
because it is only one of those things which enable you to evidence
your love to Christ, and one of those things which do so much good in
stimulating exertion, yet I cannot but feel that my friend Mr.
Spurgeon, and the deacons have a very strong claim on all other
churches of the metropolis and of the kingdom at large. And I trust
that this will be increasingly felt, and that you will have the
happiness of doing as good Dr. Rippon did. When my excellent friend,
Mr. Spurgeon–as I have no doubt he will if spared, (and I trust he
will be spared)–opens this place, and declares the full, free, and
finished gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ as the basis of his ministry
to come, as it has been the basis of his ministry past–that it will be
in a chapel free from debt. I know there is no testimony which his
loving heart would so freely acknowledge, as that testimony to himself,
or rather to his Lord through him, which would enable him to feel when
he first ascends the pulpit of this new chapel, I am here speaking the
gospel to a people who are assembled in an edifice which has no claim
whatever to discharge. Now, dear Christian friends, I can but hope that
my excellent and dear friend, Mr. Spurgeon, may be something like those
two worthies of whom we heard–that he and the one who is to succeed
him may occupy the century between them. I only hope that my friend's
will be the larger half. I hope and believe that whenever the time
comes, he will not allow his increasing years to give an evidence that
he desires to occupy a position which he is no longer able to fill, but
I am perfectly assured of this, that the divine blessing which has so
richly manifested itself in the ministry of his youth, will enable him
to feel with advancing years the truth of the promise, and that he will
find that he who goeth forth weeping, bearing precious seed, shall find
even to the hoariest age, that he will return bringing his sheaves with
him. Accept my hearty congratulations on this event, my hearty prayers
that every wish of yours may be more than abundantly realised in an the
future; that my excellent and dear friend, Mr. Spurgeon and his deacons
may not only live to see this house completed without accident, but
that they and you occupying it together, may have what after all is of
the greatest importance, a rich baptism of that divine influence,
without which all that we undertake is worthless. Dear Christian
friends, I thank you most heartily for having permitted me the honor of
occupying this position on this occasion; and I earnestly desire that
as brethren and sisters in Christ, you may find that what we have
begun, may be accomplished to your joy, and the enlargement of the
Redeemer's kingdom.

Mr. SPURGEON: My dear friends, this is not the first time that I have
borrowed light from Sir Morton Peto. I have often cheered the darkness
of a long railway journey, by a most excellent lamp of his own
manufacture, which he kindly presented to me, that I might see to read
by it as I was traveling. I am very glad to see him blazing forth again
today. In the light of his countenance many of us have been made glad.
It is my earnest prayer that while God is pleased to bless him with
wealth, and rank, and influence, he may find it quite as easy to serve
his God in the future as he has done in the past. We owe him much as
Dissenters for his great zeal and wisdom in having brought through the
House of Commons an Act whereby our chapels are well secured to us. I
pray that God may give him grace every day that he may know his own
title to the kingdom of heaven to be clearer and clearer as years come
upon him. May his course be like that of the sun, which goeth forth in
his strength and stayeth not till the full blazing noon. And now I have
to say a few words to you this afternoon with regard to this great
edifice. I never answer any slanders against myself, and very seldom
answer any questions about what I mean to do. It is always enough for
me to have my own approbation; I always feel perfectly satisfied with
the approval of my own conscience without that of anybody else, and
when I have done wrong it is always enough for me to have the
condemnation of my own heart. I find that I am obliged to be a self
contained man, just going on my way, and letting other people do the
same. If I am wrong I will be accountable to my own Master, but to no
flesh living or breathing; and if I am right the day will tell it. God
knows how true are my intentions even when I may have acted most
foolishly. "This place," I said some time ago, when our brethren were
half afraid, "is to be built, and it will be built, and God will fill
it with his presence " There is no doubt whatever about the money being
obtained. I scarcely know that I have asked an individual to give
anything, because I have such a solid conviction that the money must
come. I suppose that out of all that is now in our hands I have
collected more than half myself in preaching, and that is the way I
dare say the larger part of the rest will come, through the kindness of
the provincial and metropolitan churches who have almost all treated me
with the noblest generosity. I give this day my hearty thanks to all
that have helped me; and I do not know but what I may as well add to
all that have not helped me. They many of them mean to do so, and so I
will thank them beforehand. There is one gentleman here to-day who is
going to make a speech, after Brother Dowson shall have addressed you.
I think (albeit that he can speak admirably well,) the best part of his
speech will be made with his hand, for he has three thousand pounds
with him to give as a noble donation from an aged servant of Christ,
long sick and confined to his house but who loves Christ's ministers
and desires to help Christ's cause. He would not like me to mention his
name, and therefore I shall not do it. And now, my dear friends, as to
the place to be erected here. I have a word or two to say with regard
to its style, with regard to its purposes, and with regard to our faith
and our promise. It is to me a matter of congratulation that we shall
succeed in building in this city a Grecian place of worship. My notions
of architecture are not worth much, because I look at architecture from
a theological point of view, not from an architectural one. It seems to
me that there are two saved languages in the world. There was the
Hebrew of old, and I doubt not that Solomon adopted Jewish
architecture–a Hebrew form and fashion of putting stones together in
harmony with the Hebrew faith. There is but one other sacred
language–not Rome's mongrel tongue: glorious were that for a battle
cry, but of no use for the preaching of the gospel–the Latin! There is
only one other sacred language, the Greek, and that is dear to every
Christian's heart. Our fullest revelation is in that tongue; our
noblest names for Jesus. The very epitome and standard of our faith is
Greek; and this place is Grecian. I care not that many an idol temple
has been built after the same fashion. So it may have been that Abraham
and the ancient Hebrews may have carried their architecture from some
heathen temple in Ur of the Chaldees. Greek is the sacred tongue, and
Greek is the Baptist's tongue. We may be beaten in our own version
sometimes, but in the Greek never. Every Baptist place should be
Grecian–never Gothic. We owe nothing to the Goths as religionists. We
owe our Scriptures to the Grecian language; and a Grecian place shall
this be; and God give us the power and life of that master of the
Grecian language, the apostle Paul, that here like wonders may be done
by the preaching of the Word. As for our faith as a church you have
heard that already. We believe in what are called the five great points
commonly known as Calvinistic; but we do not regard those five points
as being barbed shafts which we are to push into the bowels of
Christendom. We look upon them as being five great lamps which help to
irradiate the cross, or rather five bright emanations springing from
the glorious covenant of our Triune God, and illustrating the great
doctrine of Jesus crucified. Against all comers, especially against all
lovers of Arminianism, we defend and maintain pure gospel truth. At the
same time I can make this public declaration, that I am no Antinomian.
I belong not to the sect of those who are afraid to invite the sinner
to Christ. I warn him, I invite him, I exhort him. Hence, then, I have
contumely on either hand. Inconsistency is urged by some, as if
anything that God commanded could be inconsistent. I will glory in such
inconsistency even to the end I bind myself precisely to no form of
doctrine. I love those five points as being the angles of the gospel,
but then I love the center between the angles better still. Moreover,
we are Baptists, and we cannot swerve from this matter of discipline,
nor can we make our church half-and-half in that matter. The witness of
our church must be one and indivisible. We must have one Lord, one
faith, and one baptism. And yet dear to our hearts is that great
article of the Nicene Creed, the "Communion of Saints." I believe not
in the communion of Episcopalians. I do not believe in the communion of
Baptists. I dare not sit with them exclusively. I think I should be
almost strict communicant enough not to sit with them at all, because I
should say, "This is not the communion of saints, it is the communion
of Baptists." Whosoever loves the Lord Jesus Christ in verity and truth
hath a hearty welcome, and is not only permitted, but invited to
communion with the Church of Christ. However, we can say with all our
hearts, that difference has never lost us one good friend yet. I see
around me our independent brethren, they certainly have been to Elim
to-day, for there has been much water here; and I see round about me
dear strict communion brethren and one of them is about to address you.
He is not so strict a communionist but what he really in his own heart
communes with the people of God. I can number among my choicest friends
many members of the church of England, and some of every denomination
under heaven. I glory in that fact. However sternly a man may hold the
right of private judgment, he can yet give his right hand with as light
a grip to every man that loves Jesus Christ. Now with regard to our
prospects. We are to build this place, and the prospect I encourage is
that it be paid for before it is opened. I think it is likely too;
because if we carry out our intention as a committee, we have a notion
that if our friends do not give us liberal contributions we will put
the carcase up and roof it in, and allow them to come and stand. Those
that want seats can buy them. I am sure my people would soon get me a
pulpit, and such is the zeal of our brethren that they soon buy me a
baptistry. I leave it open for any generous friend here that pleases to
do so, to engage to provide some part of the chapel, and say, "I will
give that." Churchmen give painted windows, and if some of you agree to
give different parts of the chapel, it may be so erected. Understand,
our large expenditure is caused partly by the fact that we have immense
school rooms under ground, and also a vestry for church-meetings
holding between 800 and 900 persons. This is necessary, because our
church is of such an immense size, and our members come out to every
service if possible. There is no church-edifice in London so well used
up as ours. They hack it to pieces. We must build this strong I am
sure, for the people are always with us. They love to be at the prayer
meetings. There is no people that take out their quarter's seat-money
so fully. They say, "We will hear all that we can;" and depend on it,
they never give me a chance of seeing the seats empty. But our prospect
is, after we have fitted up our vestry, schools, and the like that we
shall be able to go on and build other chapels. Now, Sir Morton Peto is
the man who looks to build one chapel with the hope it that will be the
seedling for another. He has the noblest chance that ever man had for
getting this done. We will pretty soon try our hands at it. Our people
have taken to chapel-building, and they will go on with it. They built
a great chapel that held two thousand persons in Horseliedown for
Benjamin Keach; then they built one in Goat Yard; then one in Carter
Lane for Dr Rippon, then one in Park Street; and now we have set about
building one here. "What are you going to do with Park Street?" it may
be asked. Why, my dear friends, we might get out of our difficulties if
we were to sell it, but that is what we do not mean to do. Our motto
is, "Go forward, and never step back." You know if we were to build one
chapel, and sell another, that would be the "goose-step;" there would
be no marching, it is merely putting one foot up and the other down,
but never getting farther. Belonging to the Presbyterian order, we have
elders in our church, as well as deacons, and the presbytery is capable
of the widest extension. That church can be held in connection with our
own; two preaching elders can preach the Word there, and the church
still remain as one–not two churches. God sparing my life, if I have
my people at my back I will not rest until the dark county of Surrey be
covered with places of worship. I look on this as the beginning of the
end. I announce my own schemes: visionary they may appear, but carried
out they will be. It is only within the last six months that we have
started two churches–one in Wandsworth and the other in Greenwich, and
the Lord has prospered them. The pool of baptism has been stirred with
converts. And what we have done in two places I am about to do in a
third, and we will do it not for the third or the fourth, but for the
hundredth time, God being our helper. I am sure I may make my strongest
appeal to my brethren because we do not mean to build this as our nest,
and then to be lazy. We must go from strength to strength, and be a
missionary church, and never rest until not only this neighborhood, but
our country, of which it is said that some parts are as dark as India,
shall have been enlightened with the gospel. Now I have laid out a
grand scheme, and I have no doubt some of my dear brethren, the
ministers of Surrey, especially Dr. Steane, will carry it all out
almost before I have begun. We shall be glad whoever may do it so long
as it is done. I always try to put my shoulder to everybody else's
wheel, though I have got sometimes a little mire on my shoulders as the
result of it; but I am ready to go and give a heave at any time if they
will only be kind to me on this occasion and lift my wheel out of the
mud. After Brother Dowson shall have spoken, and our friend Mr. Inskip,
of Bristol, shall have made his three thousand pounds speech, we shall
sing a hymn. This gangway will then be cleared, and all persons present
will have an opportunity of placing an offering upon the stone. And if
any of you would like to try your hand at building with a trowel you
can lay a brick or two, or twenty, at a shilling a brick. Some of our
friends will pay a guinea a brick to begin with, as they would not like
to give less; but you can begin with a shilling a brick afterwards. We
shall pay you nothing for the labor, but you will pay us for the
privilege of putting bricks into the wall.

The Rev, H. Dowson: I stand here this afternoon, my dear Christian
friends, as the representative of thousands of brethren in the North of
England, who love the truth, who love you and who love your pastor, and
who would be glad to be here today to mingle their Hosannas with your
thanksgivings, and to congratulate you, and thank God upon an that is
auspicious and triumphant in the proceedings of this day.
Notwithstanding the prognostication of enemies, and notwithstanding the
fears of halfhearted friends, this tabernacle is now beginning to look
like a great fact, and we can entertain not the least possible doubt of
the success of this enterprise, promoted and devised amidst the
liberality and the prayers of the people here. Where God gathers
together his sheep, and increases their number, he will surely amplify
the fold; and when he gives sinners hearts to hear, and hearts to pray,
and hearts to believe, he will give them in his providence a place in
which to worship. This is the Lord's doing, brethren. The hand of God
has been in this work from the beginning, and I doubt not will conduct
to a glorious termination. This vast metropolis of yours is covered in
various parts with buildings–institutions of mercy, and hospitals for
the relief of almost all the maladies incident to our frail humanity.
What is the meaning of this grand edifice which is to fill the place
before me? It is to be a hospital, an infirmary for the spiritually
diseased. Here the deaf and the dumb, and the halt and the lame and the
lepers, are to be assembled together, and they shall be pointed to the
great Physician, and they shall be told of the balm of Gilead; and in
the midst of it shall be the bath of blood, as well as the bath of
baptism; and the bath of blood shall take the precedence of the bath of
baptism, for it is the blood of Jesus Christ that cleanseth from all
sin. When I listened to that interesting record and sketch of the
history of your church, so fostered by a merciful providence and by a
Saviour's care, I could not but rejoice that the same great distinctive
principles will be maintained; and that, though there may be a change
of position there shall be no change in the doctrines preached and
professed. We shall dedicate this sanctuary to the worship of the
Trinity–Father Son, and Holy Ghost, we shall dedicate this edifice to
the proclamation of the doctrine of the divinity of Christ, and
salvation only through his cross; we shall dedicate this edifice to the
doctrine of justification by faith, righteousness imputed, even the
righteousness of God which is by faith in Christ Jesus, the doctrine of
sovereign grace, the doctrine of the personality and agency of the Holy
Spirit, the precepts of Christ, the ordinances of Christ, and the free
proclamation of the gospel to every creature. The trumpet shall give a
certain sound, sinners shall hear the sound,

"Their thankful tongues shall own,

That righteousness and strength are found,

In thee the Lord alone."

As to your future prospects in the removal of this debt; My dear friend
and brother Mr. Spurgeon, has said, that if the money be not raised
there will be a probability that the place will be left unfinished. I
trust it will not be in the position of a place occupied by a venerable
predecessor of mine a hundred years ago, when they commenced the
Baptist interest in Bradford, in a place galled the Cockpit, and the
females carried their stools under their arms, because they had neither
forms nor chairs on which to sit. Surely you will not wish this great
Tabernacle to be opened under such circumstanees. This day the eyes of
all the provinces of this country, my brethren, are turned towards you.
Many parts of the country–the town from which I come to wit–is
waiting to give a response to what you do to-day, and that which you
shall in your liberality bestow, will give a tone and influence far and
wide amongst the provinces, the hearts of whose inhabitants beat with
sympathy for your cause and your enterprise. Brethren, we have laid the
foundation of a material edifice. There is a nobler "temple, I need
scarcely remind you, of which Jesus Christ is the chief corner stone.
This is only a tabernacle; these stones will moulder and decay, or some
great convulsion or earthquake hereafter shall heave up the mighty
foundations of this stable edifice, but the temple of the living God,
of which I hope many of you are living stones, shall stand and stand
for ever, the memorial of God's eternal unchangeable compassion, and
his pity for the lost and the guilty. May God bless and prosper you,
cause his face to shine upon you, and give you peace evermore. Amen

Mr. INSKIP, of Bristol: My Christian friends, after the trumpet-tongued
introductions which my friend and brother Mr. Spurgeon, has given me, I
am sure you must expect very large things; but I do hope that you and
himself will not go away disappointed by very small things. But,
however, large things have their commencement from very small
beginnings, and as we see yonder ground covered with the sands of the
gravel and the stones about it, and as we see the bricks yonder piled,
and contemplate the lime which will have a large number of component
particles to combine and unite therewith, the preparation for this
building which is to be erected; so it is that we have to look forward
from small individual materials, to the consummation of the glorious
kingdom of our blessed Lord and Saviour. I have, it is true, to appear
before you to-day as the representative but of one, and not of the
multitude; but well assured I am, that had my brethren in the West
known that I was to come here as a representative, or a delegate at
all, they would have sent me well furnished and well armed. And it is
only for my brother, Mr. Spurgeon, to make his way to the West, and I
know that he will find a very hearty response to his warm appeals.
However, the response which I have to make to-day is one which comes
from a single heart. It comes from the heart of one who is confined to
a sick chamber, and has not seen the outside of the city for some years
past. But that chamber is enlivened and enlightened by the bright
illumination of the Eternal Spirit. That man's large wealth and large
fortune has been dedicated to his Lord. He numbers eighty-three years
of age, and has given away upwards of eighty thousand pounds. And he
has sent me here to-day to say he will give you three thousand pounds
and, what is more, if twenty gentlemen will come forward with one
hundred pounds a-piece upon the opening of this chapel, I am prepared
to put down twenty hundreds to meet it. "It is not by might, it is not
by power, but by my Spirit saith the Lord." These things, as I said,
emanate from small beginnings. It was my honor and my privilege this
day three weeks to address a large concourse in laying the foundation
stone of a new edifice for the Church of England, in the city of
Bristol. The new church for our dear friend and brother, Doudney, is
now progressing, through the same gentleman's bounty. There is one
thing you will say, "Dear me, he deserves great praise." But he says,
"Give me none of it, away with it, away with it, it is fulsome, it is
annoying. Lay it upon the head of Immanuel, for he gave it to me. He it
is that has induced me thus to give you assistance." It is not for me
to laud the man, and therefore I leave him it his solitude–with an
earnest prayer which no doubt many of you will reciprocate–that the
Lord will bless and grant to him the bright shinings of his countenance
in his last declining hours. As regards this building which is about to
be erected, it is a matter of considerable delight to me to be able to
forward in the least degree the views of my friend Mr. Spurgeon. With
much true delight has it been my happiness to hear of many sinners in
the West of England having been brought to a knowledge of Christ by his
ministry. Let me now ask you earnestly to supplicate that the same
blessing may rest upon his labors here, in answer to earnest and
incessant prayer–prayer inspired by the Holy Spirit of God who alone
is the inspirer of prayer. May the work of conversion proceed! There
are many things here to be considered. There are many things to be
talked of, but the time would fail me now even to hint at them. I trust
by-and-bye, if I should stay to the evening meeting, an opportunity
will be afforded me of saying a few words which will be more audible. I
leave now others more able to address you than I can possibly be, and I
shall be very happy to place on this stone, in accordance with the
mission with which I am entrusted, not a painted window, but a printed
piece of paper.

The following verses were then sung:–

All hail the power of Jesus' name!

Let angels prostrate fall:

Bring forth the royal diadem,

And crown him lord of all.

Let every kingred, every tribe,

One thuis terrestrial ball,

To him all majest ascribe,

And crown him Lord of all.

Numerous donations were then placed upon the stone, after which the
assembly separated.

EVENING MEETING

A PUBLIC TEA MEETING was held in the evening in REA'S Repository which
was appropriately fitted up for the occasion. About two thousand
persons sat down to tea at five o'clock, and at half-past six, the
cloth having been removed, and the seats re-arranged, the chair was
taken by the Right Hon. the LORD MAYOR.

The Doxology having been sung, the Rev. JOHN SPURGEON (father of the
Rev. C. H. Spurgeon) offered up prayer as follows:–

OUR Father and our God, we supplicate thy blessing upon us at this
time. O may we feel thy presence to be in the midst of us. May we
realize thee as a God of love in Jesus Christ, and O do thou send that
rich blessing which shall make us all happy and fill our hearts with
joy through the precious Saviour who bled and died for us. We thank
thee that we have lived to see this happy day. O our Father, may we
never forget thy goodness and mercy to us. Accept the free will
offerings of thy people, and O may that foundation stone which is laid
to-day be blessed by thee, and may that building be erected to thy
glory, honor, and praise. May we each be made living stones of that
living temple which is to adorn the world of glory, and may we live
there for ever with Jesus Christ. O bless us all; and bless thy young
servant. Do thou stand by him and keep him from the mighty foes against
whom he has to contend. Keep far from him the influence of sin and
Satan, and may he find joy and peace in God. O our Father, keep him,O
keep him, let him not be lifted up by what he has seen, or by what thou
hast done for him today. Oh do thou keep his soul humble, and then he
will always be strong to praise thy great and holy name. Oh, may he
draw from that fountain which is full–which runneth over, and may he
find that the God of peace and love is continually with him. Bless, his
church and congregation, O Father smile upon them. We leave them in thy
hands; we seek thy favor and presence with us tonight. Grant, great
God, that sinners may be converted unto thee. There are some in thy
presence who are but a few steps from the grave, some hastening on to
the abyss of woe, walking with the giddy multitude in the way which
leads to death and eternal destruction. God save them! Oh, pluck them
as brands from the eternal burning! May thine all-sufficient grace turn
their hearts, and thy name be glorified! Bless every one now present.
Prepare us for this service, accept our song of praise, and fill our
hearts with joy, for the dear Redeemer's sake. Amen.

The LORD MAYOR said: My Christian friends, I do not think that it is
possible for me to be heard at the extremity of the building, but, if
you will have patience with me, I trust I shall be able to get up my
voice so that every one shall hear. This is a happy day, a day long to
be remembered in the annals of the country, because here to-day, we are
permitted to meet in quietness, in order, with the guardians of the
peace around us to prevent any disturbance; a proof that civil liberty
and religious freedom have made great advances in this country. In
former days we had to meet in holes and corners and alleys, but now we
can meet in open day in the front of the high road, inviting the
assembled public to come and be witnesses of the order of our
ceremonies, and to partake of the benefits which are to be derived
therefrom. I therefore urge upon all, when they have anything to do
with the question of civil and religious liberty, never to give up
their efforts until they see it extended far and wide. Our beloved
young friend has, through the providence of God, been raised up to
gather the largest congregation ever gathered together; he has
dispensed the truth as it is in Jesus to thousands upon thousands; and
he is a despised–no, an honored Baptist minister. He comes amongst
you, not in Episcopal guise, clothed in secular authority, and robed in
the habiliments of office, but he comes amongst you a simplehearted
man. He comes clothed in the authority of his divine Lord and Master,
speaking the truth in simplicity and love, winning, not by human power,
but subduing by the power of the gospel. Evidently God has called him
to do a great work; and you are the people who ought to love and honor
him, esteeming him for his work's sake, and ever protecting him against
the calumnies of the world, to prove that he is a true servant of Jesus
Christ. I have said you ought to adhere to the principles of civil and
religious liberty; but for them you never could have seen the thousands
at the laying of the foundation stone; but for them you would not have
been gathered together now in peace and safety and an honor be to the
men in church or state, who during the past centuries have suffered
advocated, bled and died, that you might meet in peace and comfort.
Well, when you hear of the assumptions of church authority, remember
that if they are not sanctioned by the gospel of Jesus Christ, the
world may fight for them, but truth will prevail; and though our
Episcopal brethren have the authority of the state, and the wealth of
the state, tell them that you envy neither, because you can proceed
without the authority of the state, and you can raise money without its
power to compel. When they tell you that there is no certainty in the
doctrine taught in the Dissenting congregations, that they have no
creed, you can reply, they have a creed–the best, the purest that ever
man possessed. Their creed is the Bible. They glory in the saying of
one of the churchmen, "The Bible, the Bible, the Bible only is the
religion of Protestants." We stand in an age when Popery is making a
large aggression upon the religious liberties of the people–secretly,
silently, openly, and boldly. They are anticipating the time when they
shall take possession of the cathedrals and churches, and once more
dominate over the English people. But religious liberty is safe in your
hands. You will endeavor, I am sure, so to hold the word of truth, that
it may everywhere prove a barrier against the approaches of error. The
Tabernacle which is to rear its walls in the adjoining ground is to be
consecrated not by the authority of men, but by the dependence of men
upon the teachings of the Holy Spirit. The gospel, and the gospel only,
is there to be preached: sinners are to be invited to Christ, and the
full sufficiently of his salvation is to be maintained. We do not
despise things in their proper order. The ordinances of the church will
be respected by its worshippers, and it will be necessary therefore,
not only that the gospel should be preached, but that you who hear it
are to be "living epistles, seen and read of all men," of the power,
the truth, the purity, the holiness, enjoined by the gospel. It is a
solemn charge committed to your trust, and woe be unto you if you
neglect the sound, and swerve from the gospel. And then to maintain the
gospel it is not only necessary that you should love it and have it,
but that you should do all in your power to propagate it everywhere–to
rich and to poor, to learned and to unlearned; to all classes and
conditions of people the gospel is to be preached. You can preach it as
well as your pastor,–he in the pulpit, you in your lives. There are
Missionary Societies which will require your aid, and though you tarry
at home, you have a power to prevail in earnest supplication before the
throne of divine grace, that all the labors you undertake may be
blessed. And then you have something else to do with the work at home;
the gospel is to be preached in your Tabernacle, but that will not be
sufficient, if you do not go abroad, and carry with you the essential
principles that you have received, and tell the people that they may
see from your walk and conversation, that you have sat under one of the
most successful and useful of Christ's ministers, and that you have
learned from him to do your duty to your neighbors. Remember "the poor
ye have always with you." What a blessed and happy thing that is that
you have the poor with you and that they are standing monuments by
which you may prove your faith in Jesus Christ. Let it not be said,
that while ye hear the gospel you have forgotten to practice it. I beg
to commend you and your work to the blessing of him who along can make
it prosper. May this be but the beginning of the undertakings
throughout the country, where the Dissenting places of worship, like
the palaces of our land, may stand as landmarks to prove the onward
progress of society, and that among Protestant Dissenters there is
loyalty to the Queen, obedience to the laws, a desire to promote the
wellbeing of society, and to make this nation blessed, peaceful, and
happy, until, as from Zion, the perfection of beauty, the glory of the
Lord may shine upon all the earth.

The Rev. C. H. SPURGEON: I have but a word or two to say with regard to
the order of the meeting. I feel myself so extremely ill just now that
I must go away for a little time, I nevertheless may say a word or two.
There is a large amount of talent here to-night, far more than we can
bring out. Here are dozens of ministers, all of whom could speak to
edification. I trust none of them will think that any invidious
distinction is made when we call upon one and not mother. For myself I
have this much to say–thanks, thanks to every one. My Lord Mayor, I
have to thank you sincerely for your kindness in coming this evening. I
hardly expected you, knowing how it has pleased God to lay the heavy
hand of affliction upon out I thank God that you are able to come, and
I thank you for the will to come. May every blessing rest upon your
head, and when earthly honors shall fade before your eye, may you have
the more lasting glories and the eternal splendours which God has
prepared for his faithful servants! I have to thank a large number of
ministers who are not here for their kind letters; especially must I
mention the name of that honored father of all the Dissenting churches,
the Rev. John Angell James, of Birmingham. There is no name I think
just now that ought to be more venerated than his. Long has he worn the
harness, and in the kind letter which he sent me he said his work was
done, and he could do but little more to serve his Master. It was just
like his humility. I had written to him sometime before expressing my
candid opinion concerning him, and my hearty respect; and he told me
that I was mistaken in him. I am quite sure that I was not. I know that
I could not think too highly of him. My dear friend, Dr. Campbell sent
me a note to-day, that he read in the papers that this strike had put
off the laying of the first stone. He should have learned by this time,
as an editor, to believe nothing he sees in the newspapers unless he
himself knows it to be true. I confess I take a tattle time to chew
everything I read there; I am not clear upon it the first time I see
it. If I were clear upon it, my dear friends, this chapel would need no
subscriptions from you. I only wish newspapers would make true what
they say about me–not in the abuse line, but with regard to this
magnificent fortune which they had the generosity to confer upon me. I
mean to distribute the dividends of this fortune among the newspapers,
and much good may the share do to each of them. No one has left me a
sixpence. The headache and the sickness I now feel almost seem to say
that somebody is thinking of doing so. Don't do it. It is the ruin of
many ministers. It is no use your giving them money: give them a right
good income every year for their preaching. I can say, with regard to
that, that I have nothing more to ask, or to desire, but I am afraid
that if minister get money they will have the bronchitis, and all the
rest of it. It is such a common thing that I hope no one will try me. I
say again, I have to thank many who are not here, and then I have to
thank the brethren that are here. I did not think there were so many of
them that loved me. I do feel quite beaten up to-night I sometimes say
some hard things. Well, I shall go on, but they will have no reference
to the brethren here, I dare say. I am sure if they think that I should
be hard or unkind towards any of them, they do not know me. When all
the world abused me I just bent my fist and set my teeth together and
said, "I'm a match for you." But no sooner did the papers begin to
praise me some little than they brought tears in my eyes, for I began
to say, "No, I do not deserve that; I cannot take that credit to
myself." If any man wants to make me preach more vigorously than I have
against any doctrine, let him abuse me, and the doctrines I preach, and
I will soon come out strong upon it, rest assured. The only danger we
fear is–being thrown off our guard by success. But this I rejoice to
know, wherever God puts his servants they are safe. I have sometimes
met with some minister who has an average congregation of fifty,
perhaps, whose back was as stiff as possible, and whose neck was never
bent, and he has said, "My dear brother, you are in a very dangerous
position; I hope you will not be carried away with pride." Poor dear
soul! I thought if he had kept his advice to himself it might, perhaps,
have been profitable to him. I do feel myself crushed down by the
weight of divine mercy; I am bowed to the very earth by it, I know not
what to say to you to-night, nor how to express my thoughts and
feelings. Glory be to him that hath done all this! May he continue to
bless! But even should he stay his hand, if I were laid aside and could
never preach again, I feel I have such mercies that I must praise him
throughout eternity for what I have received. Again I say, to him be
glory! Yet I do thank my kind and loving friends from many a fond
expression of affection that I have received this day. Oh, my dear
friends, pray for all the ministers of Christ, that God would make them
more abundantly useful. Ask for us more liberty in speech, more unction
on our heads and in our hearts; ask for us a greater intensity of agony
on account of the souls of men, ask for us greater earnestness in
prayer. Pray for us that we may be masters of the sacred art of
wrestling with God. Pray for us that a revival of religion may come
into this land. What is Ireland that it should have a revival denied to
us? What is Scotland that it should be stirred, and we should sleep?
God hath blessed this nation first and foremost aforetime–why not now?
Let us cry unto him mightily, and he will hear our prayers, and grant
us his richest blessing. Before I sit down, I would ask the Lord Mayor
kindly to forgive me for being long, but not to let any speaker speak
more than ten minutes, as there are so many to address us. Then I want
to observe that our dear brother, Mr. Joynson, the second most liberal
subscriber to our fund, would have been here, but that he is sore sick,
and has had to remove to Teignmouth. I wrote to him, hearing that he
was near death's door, and he wrote me a kind reply, saying that he was
not so bad as I thought, but he was far too in to come. Pray for him
that he may be restored. He is a very prince in Israel in his
generosity; he hath served this cause, and may God Almighty bless him!
I must also publicly acknowledge my obligations to the Crystal Palace
Company for the use of chairs this day. I suppose I did them a good
turn once. I did it, however, out of love to those poor creatures who
were injured in India, and out of a desire to preach the gospel to the
great numbers assembled in that building. Still it was very kind of
them so to act. Some places of worship in the neighborhood, have denied
us the use of forms and the like; the Crystal Palace Company have
kindly done it for us.

The Rev. W. G. LEWIS, of Westbourne Grove. My Lord, ladies, and
gentlemen: I have been thinking since the commencement of this meeting,
if it were possible, that one or two of the humble Godly folk, who two
centuries since assembled with prayers and tears in Horseliedown, to
commence an obscure and almost unknown Baptist church could have
foreseen the gatherings of this day, and the still further events in
the future connected with this Tabernacle, how marvellously
overwhelming, how astounding to the sense, how almost beyond the power
of their credulity would have been the prospect. Verily, this church
connected with New Park Street, has been a chosen object of the divine
regard. In the characters of the excellent men of God who have been its
pastors, in the wondrous success that they have attained, in the
conversion of sinners and the recovery of lost souls to Jesus Christ,
its past annals have been truly wondrous, and nothing is certainly more
wonderful than that portion of its history which attaches to our
beloved brother, Mr. Spurgeon. I beseech you, Christian friend, who are
connected with the church as its members, to respond to that appeal
which God in his mercy makes to you today, to offer unto him the
sacrifices of thanksgiving and of praise. I say that your experience
and that of your ancestors demand to-day a tribute of unwonted extent,
both as to the feeling of your hearts and as to the action of your
hands. It becomes you indeed to remember well those touching, those
beauteous annals to which we have listened already, and which I trust
the committee in charge of the operations connected with your building,
will print and promulgate far and wide. And oh, my dear friends, when I
look upon the vast extent of this meeting, and reflect that very
seldom, if ever, has there been such a congregation, even in this
metropolis upon such an occasion as this, I feel constrained to address
my brethren in the ministry also to hear the appeal which God in his
providence makes to them, to be faithful, uncompromising, simple, and
bold in their declaration of gospel truths. What a marvellous blessing
is that which God hath poured out upon this stripling! How has he been
pleased as of olden time to select his own instrument where men little
thought–to call him forth, and try place him before the eyes not
merely of this million-peopled city, but of our whole country, and I
trust that when the reports of this day's proceedings have gone forth
on the swift wings of the press, the country will feel that Spurgeon
and his people are in their hearts, and that they have a claim not
merely upon denominations, but upon all who love the Saviour. The man
is national property. They know it on the other side of the Atlantic,
and I, as I believe him not to be present, I say it with the greater
freedom–Mr. Spurgeon's conduct in relation to that American proposal
to procure his labors on the other side of the Atlantic–his noble
conduct upon that occasion, wholly in harmony with all the other acts
of his public career, demands some acknowledgment from the Christians
of England. He might have money enough for his Tabernacle if he would
stoop to the course that men of the world would dictate. Before my ten
minutes have elapsed, I must be allowed to ask the members of Mr.
Spurgeon's church, as individuals, have you done what you ought in
contributing to this building? I ask have you done what a congregation,
I believe I may say of five thousand persons, ought to have done? Do
that and then I am sure the country will share your feelings, approve
of your self-denial, and complete what is wanting. Oh, it is a blessing
even to have been present at the proceedings of this day–we will
cherish the memory of it to life's latest moment. It is a greater
blessing still to have had the mind to work, and to put forth the hand
in exertion towards the completion of this undertaking. I beseech you,
therefore, every one of you, do your share, either in giving, or in
collecting; and fear not that God in his mercy, who has hitherto so
marvellously prospered you in days of darkness, in times of peril and
persecution–who has blessed you so much in the person and ministry of
your beloved pastor, will in the future annals of this New Tabernacle,
still more abundantly and more wondrously shower down upon you of his
heavenly favor and most divine regard.

The Rev. EVAN P ROBERT of Bristol: My Lord Mayor, and Christian
friends, I cannot less than say, "Blessed are your eyes, for they see:
and your ears, for they hear," what your ancestors desired to see and
to hear. We must consider ourselves this day highly privileged in being
permitted to meet on such a very important and delightful occasion. I
need not tell you, because your esteemed chairman has announced it,
that I am come from the city of Bristol–a city where your pastor is
very highly esteemed and beloved, a city ready to receive him with open
heart and arms; a city in which Christians of all denominations hailed
with gladness the approach of my dear brother Spurgeon, and I have not
the shadow of a doubt, from my knowledge of Bristol, that the
Christians in that city will be ever ready to contribute their mite
towards the erection of that large building, the foundation of which
has been laid this day. The first time that I had the privilege of
meeting with Mr. Spurgeon, I felt that I loved him; and my love to him
has increased with my acquaintance with him. I feel this evening, as I
have felt before, a deep interest in the movement that is now going on
in this place, and I am sanguine as to its results. I have not the
shadow of a doubt that by the time the last stone is to be placed upon
the building, the money will be forthcoming, and our esteemed brother
will have to ascend the pulpit and preach the unsearchable riches of
Christ, in a chapel out of debt. I could not less than think, Christian
friends, while our excellent chairman was addressing us on the subject
of civil and religious liberty, that we ought all to be thankful, and
not only so, but that we ought to be more zealous to maintain our
ground, and to make advances in that respect. I rejoice that,
notwithstanding all the oppositions that are made to the progress of
civil and religious liberty, it is going forward–going forward in the
metropolis–going forward in the provinces–going forward through the
length and breadth of the land, in spite of the Puseyism, of the
Popery, of the infidelity, and all the power of that is brought to bear
to oppose it; it is a principle that must go on and prevail, until it
shall be felt throughout the habitable world. I am afraid to trespass
on your time. We Welshmen are very dangerous: when we begin to speak
and get the steam up a little, we hardly know where to stop. You must
tell me therefore when my time is up, for I find I cannot trust myself.
I have been thinking with regard to the stone that is laid to-day, that
it stands there as a witness of the working of the voluntary principle.
Some people have told us that the principle has failed. Where has it
failed? Wherever it has been exercised, wherever it has had fair play,
it has done great things. What has erected our chapels? What has
erected, too, some of the churches in our land? Why, the voluntary
principle. And what has moved my esteemed friend, Mr. Spurgeon, and his
beloved people to take this very important, this noble step, but the
voluntary principle working in their hearts? There is no compulsion
from the throne, all the compulsion they have is the love of Christ in
their souls. May God increase that principle a thousand-fold! What has
made my brother Spurgeon so popular?–to use the term, for want of
better? What has given him such power with the people in this city, and
wherever he has gone? It is this; he has preached the full and plain
gospel, and the Spirit of God has rested upon his words. That stone
stands as a witness of the power of the gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ, as preached by our little stripling, our little David, who has
been the means of effecting such good. And not only so, we see that
stone as a witness of the faithfulness of God to his church. God has
said that he would be with his people always, even to the end of the
world. That stone stands as a witness there, and stone upon stone as it
is laid upon it will give an additional testimony to the fidelity of
him who said, "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world."
That stone stands as a witness to angels to devils, to infidels, and to
the Christian church, of the zeal of the people of God at Park Street.
May that zeal burn as a vehement flame! May it break out on the right
hand, and on the left, and may your liberality be exercised until the
whole money for the Tabernacle shall be contributed, and the building
be completed, and out of debt. I hope the blessing of God will attend
this meeting; that it will be the means of stirring up our brethren in
the provinces, and reviving religion in the land, that we shall have
some of the showers that are descending upon Ireland and Scotland, and
that this shall be the beginning of better days. God grant that it may
be so! Only let us retire from this place imploring God's blessing and
devoting ourselves to his service, and the showers will come down, for
God has said, "As the snow and the rain cometh down from heaven and
returneth not thither, but watereth the earth and maketh it bring forth
and bud, so shall my Word be that cometh forth out of my mouth; it
shall not return unto me void, but it shall prosper in the thing
whereunto I have sent it."

The Rev. JOHN SPURGEON: My Lord Mayor, I am very happy to meet you
to-night. We are Essex men; we come from Colchester. Colchester has
something to boast of great men. The chief physician of London comes
from Colchester, the Lord Mayor comes from Colchester; and I need not
tell you who else. I have never had the headache in my life, friends;
but if I ever had it, it would have been to-day. I feel nervous and
excited. But I do feel very happy to-day to acknowledge my fault; and
when a man confesses his faults, he has done a great deal towards
amending them. I always thought my son did wrong in coming to London,
now you see that I was wrong. I always thought he was wrong in not
going to college, I tried three or four hours with him one night with a
dear friend that loved him, but it was no use; he said, "No, I will
never go to college, only in strict obedience to you as a father."
There I left the matter; and I see that God has been with him, though I
thought it was a wrong step in him to go to London. And I thought it
was a wrong step for me to come here to-night, but perhaps I may be
mistaken again. I can tell you it is one of the happiest days of my
life. I feel beyond myself when I think of the kindness that has been
shown to him when but a youth. I ascribe it all to God's goodness and
the earnest prayers of his people. He has been exposed to temptations
from every source, and even now, my friends, he is not free from it.
You have prayed for him, and God has sustained him. Oh! let me entreat
you to continue your prayers. Every one here to-night go home and pray
for your pastor. A meeting like this is enough to carry a man beyond
himself and fill his heart with pride; but the grace of God is
all-sufficient. Several persons said to me–I do not know what their
motive was–"Your son will never last in London six months, he has no
education" I said, "You are terribly mistaken, he has the best
education that can possibly be had, God has been his teacher, and he
has had earthly teachers too." I knew, as far as education went, he
could manage London very well. Then they said his health would fail;
but it has not failed him yet He has had enough to shake his
constitution, it is true, but God has been very merciful to him. I
think if there is one thing that would crown my happiness today, it
would have been to see his grandfather here. I should have loved to see
him here. He said, "Boy, don't ask me to go, I am too old; I am
overcome with God's goodness and mercy to me." He is always talking
about him. Old people like to have something to talk about, so talks
about his grandson. And next to that I should like, my dear friends, to
have seen his mother here. I believe, under God's grace, his mother has
been the means of leading him to Christ. You are well aware that I go
and talk in the best manner I can to a few poor people on the Sabbath
day, and God has blessed my labors. I thought, however, I ought not to
go out on the Sabbath day, as God's people should train up their
children in the best way they: can, I thought I was neglecting my
children, and as I came home one evening about seven o'clock, and went
upstairs, I heard the voice of a mother pleading for her boy Charles,
and talking to him and the others, and pouring her heart out in prayer
in such a way as I never did in my life, and as I never heard before.
It is for the encouragement of mothers that I mention this, that you
may pray for your children for God is a prayer-hearing and prayer
answering God. My heart is too full to say more. May God bless you and
keep you, and may we be brought together when this building shall be
finished, and entirely out of debt! I hope to-night that some gentlemen
will come forward and give each one hundred pounds. You know we must
work as well as pray, and there has been a kind offer made to-night,
that if twenty hundred pounds are laid down, a gentleman will double
it. I trust, therefore, our good friends will come forward and make
their free-will offerings to that God who has done so much for them.
Oh, may God bless you all, for Christ s sake! Amen.

The CHAIRMAN: I have now to call upon the gentleman who made the best
speech this morning, and laid upon the foundation stone three thousand
pounds.

EDWARD INSKIP, Esq., of Bristol.–My Lord Mayor, and Christian friends,
as regards "the best speech" that has been made to-day, I trust that
any merit in the speech, or in the donation will be laid at the feet of
our covenant head. I was thinking during the speeches to which we have
listened, of a line or two of one of the poets of the sanctuary:–

"Let party names no more, the Christian world o'erspread."

And when I tell you that this gift of three thousand pounds, together
with that which follows, comes from a man who was born a Churchman, and
who was brought to a knowledge of the truth under a minister of the
Church of England, and who is a Churchman at heart, you will see that
his liberality is profound, and that he comes here in the true
philanthropic principles of the Christian religion. But since I had the
honor and privilege of laying that painted piece of paper, as I termed
it, upon the stone this afternoon, I have been going round the
boundaries of the proposed walls of this intended sanctuary, and I was
thinking as I mused upon the various portions of the stones and gravel,
cement, lime, ashes, bricks, and timber–what would be the position
which the multitude before me would occupy in that better temple, where
we all hope to adore the Lamb. I was led to ask, is my name, however
mean and humble, inscribed there as a living stone? Believe me, if you
value his instructions there, and wish to see that building the
birthplace of souls nothing short of an earnest and agonising entreaty
that God the eternal Spirit will sanctify that Word will ever promote
your views, or bring about the realisation of your wishes. Believe me,
it has afforded me great gratification to be the bearer of this honored
man's donation–my esteemed friend unknown to you. I said this
afternoon, there is something more to follow. Three thousand pounds
will not erect the building. I understand that it will take no less
than seven times as much again. Where is it all to come from? I hear
that the response to-day has realized only about three thousand nine
hundred pounds, and that about two hundred pounds more is promised.
Now, I do not pretend to be a Goliath, but I come as a simple
stripling, and ask, who am I and what my father's house, that I am thus
honored to ask twenty other persons to come forward and give their one
hundred pounds apiece, or even forty persons their fifty pounds each,
with the promise that the sum shall be doubled when that is done? This
I am sure is nothing less than your pastor deserves. He has devoted his
time, his energy, his health, to this matter. He has been incessant in
his labors, and he has found that they have been crowned with success.
As for you, the fruit of his labors, it behoves you to see that he has
a place in which he can address the multitudes who flock to hear him.
This afternoon he spoke of this building being erected and the roof put
on, and the Tabernacle being left seatless. Surely this will not be
permitted. Whether it be by the humblest mite or by the large donation,
I am sure that those who love the Lord Jesus Christ will see that this
thing is accomplished, and speedily too. We were speaking just now of
the living stones in the temple above, and I was thinking of a scene
which occurred to me in the Music Hall yonder, some year or two since.
When I heard the sounds of the voices of the multitude there, I
bethought myself on that occasion, why, what must be the heavenly
choir; if such be the perfection of sound realized by the humble few
here upon earth?–what must be the sound rising from immortal voices
and from angelic tongues? Surely while we contemplate the grandeur of
that scene, we shall all be in earnest in asking ourselves the one
question–are we heirs of the kingdom of God? We shall all be asking
ourselves that marvellous question, "Is my name inscribed on the walls
of Zion?" Remember, Jesus dwells there, and if Jesus dwells there, we
desire to dwell there too. See to it, then, my friends, that this
meeting conclude not without some large, some noble response to that
which I consider a noble offer I have been permitted, on behalf of
another, to make to you to-day. The offer you have heard; it rests with
you to accept it; and whenever it may be accepted the money will be
forthcoming, as the three thousand pounds is forthcoming now, on the
very day when the two thousand shall be realized. But then I was about
to disclose to you a secret–although, perhaps, Mr. Spurgeon may not
like me to disclose it to you. I must tell you that he was very
desirous that I should come and bring a large mass of feathers with
which to line this beautiful nest. I trust it will be a nest indeed,
but not a nest in which you may nestle yourselves into fatal security:
I trust it will be a nest which you will find the birds of the air,
whose feathers are of yellow gold, will set and brood over, and that
there the sweet influences of those heavenly scenes will descend into
your heart. I trust I shall be able to carry back with me to-morrow the
intelligence that the offer I have made has been accepted, and that I
shall shortly have the great pleasure of presenting to you the
additional two thousand pounds.

The Rev. J. A. SPURGEON: My lord, ladies, and gentlemen–Your lordship
said at the commencement of this meeting, that it was a happy day. I am
quite sure I can echo that sentiment now from the depth of my spirit,
and I think that I have in my cup one sweet ingredient which must be
lacking in yours,–that of having such a brother as I have, in your
ministry. If ever pride can be a sinless thing, I think it will be in
my case when I say I am proud of my brother. But I would desire to take
that stand which the Apostle Paul took when he determined "to know no
man after the flesh." Though I rejoice tonight most heartily in the
success my brother has achieved, I rejoice more profoundly in the
success which has attended the preaching of the gospel, and in the
principles of the cross of Christ which I see here to-night. Whilst I
look around me and see that every other religion is beginning to
fade–that every other system is tottering to its fall–that everything
that is of man seems like man to be fading–Christianity is growing in
strength, and seems to have the dew of its youth upon it, and is going
forth crushing all things before it, and it shall triumph till it shall
fill the world with its knowledge, power, and glory. I rejoice to think
that whilst I come in to take up that standard which aged hands must
soon begin to let fall I see on it the "Excelsior" motto inscribed, and
I see that it is going higher and higher, and it shall go so high till
my Master shall be lifted up and shall draw all men unto him. I rejoice
most devoutly in that divine dispensation which makes a luxury in doing
good and a blessedness also, so that he who puts forth his hand to
bring down a blessing upon others evokes the shower of divine blessing
on his own head,–that he who does good must get good,–that he who
serves the Lord shall never serve the Lord for nought. I am sure in our
meeting here to-day–met as we are seeking the welfare of others–that
there shall be the richest blessing poured out upon our heads; and I
trust that there will be some departing from this place to-night who
will be made rich with those riches which add no sorrow therewith. It
has been said that there are sermons in stones, and if ever there is
one class of stones that may be expected to have a voice, and
eloquence, and depth of wisdom above others, it would be that class of
stones to which we refer the one that has been laid to-day. Would that
we could bring the corner and foundation stones of some of our old
chapels and make them speak to-night! Methinks they would cry, "shame,"
upon some of our fearful trembling-hearted ones to-night. The
difficulties our ancestors had to encounter were far greater than ours.
The stones they laid were laid under far less favorable auspices than
our stone has been laid. This is an age of panic, and of fears, but I
rejoice to think that we are putting our panic and fears in a practical
way of building up defences for Zion; and I hope there will arise many
more mighty arsenals, in which the great guns of our denomination may
come and fire with great success into the camp of our enemies. I
rejoice to think of the success that has already attended the efforts
of our friends in collecting money; and whilst we feel very happy here
tonight, I think we ought to give our happiness a practical turn. I
cannot leave this meeting unless we once again raise our solemn
thanksgiving to God for the great goodness and the great love that he
hath shown our brother. I yield to no one in the profound respect I
entertain for my brother's peculiar talents, but I hold that it has not
been so much how he has said, as what he has said, that has achieved
his success. I hope that this meeting will take a practical and that we
shall go forth tonight determined that we will preach more earnestly
and simply, and then I trust with more success, the glorious gospel of
our Lord Jesus Christ.

Mr. JAMES LOW: The object of my rising is to call your attention to the
noble offer that our friend, Mr. Inskip, has made. Our friend has given
us a promissory note for two thousand pounds, on one condition, that
is, that we raise another two thousand pounds in hundreds and fifties.
This morning I screwed up my courage to fifty pounds, but as soon as
that challenge was given, I altered my mind and made it one hundred
pounds. This is a large meeting, containing some thousands of persons.
I know there are some here who are very rich, and who could pay the
whole expense of this building out of their own pockets and scarcely
miss it, and I can hardly imagine that you will allow my friend Mr.
Inskip, to go away disappointed. Let me beseech you to fix him at once.
Now, I have to ask that nineteen other gentlemen, or ladies, if you
please–for their money is equally valuable–to give a pledge for one
hundred pounds each, and that will make up the two thousand pounds
which our friend, Mr. Inskip, has promised to double. If you would only
do that this evening, it would give such an impetus to our efforts to
raise the whole of the money required for this building, that I do
believe we should get enough, in a month, to complete it. But lest I
should be disappointed, our kind friend has given me a still greater
latitude. I do not want to check the nineteen friends from coming
forward with their hundred pounds; but he has very kindly allowed me to
say, that if a portion of it comes in hundreds, the deficiency may be
made up in fifties. Now, surely with such latitude as that, we must
succeed in getting the two thousand pounds. And then he has done
another thing which I think was very liberal. If I fail to succeed
after making this offer, I do not know what sort of a character I shall
be able to give you. It is this: he will not only take it in hundreds
and fifties, but, if it is more convenient for you to pay within three
months, he will give you credit for that time. Now, as an old
tradesman, I have known in my time what it is to be tempted by having a
little credit offered me, but I took care I would not take credit for
any article that I did not feel confident to be able to pay for in a
given time. I feel the greatest encouragement in asking you either to
send up your names for one hundred pounds each, or to those who cannot
afford so much, for fifty pounds, and those who are not prepared to pay
the money down, we will give three months credit. Do not let me plead
in vain.

The Rev. GEORGE SMITH, of Poplar: My Lord Mayor, ladies and gentlemen,
I have very great pleasure in taking some part in the deeply
interesting proceedings of this night. When I think of the men who have
already spoken with fervor, with pathos, with eloquence, and with the
intimate knowledge of your Master, which justify them in honoring him
as they have, and when I think of the other brethren on the platform of
your own denomination, who will further vindicate the cause with which
you are connected, and advocate the great object which you have in
view,–I should shrink from the responsibility of occupying any portion
of your attention, but for the fact that I belong to another
denomination. I am with you in heart though I am not with you
altogether in practice. I am connected with the Congregational
denomination, as most of you if not all know, and I am here to testify
on behalf of myself and of my brethren generally, to the very great
regard we have for that gifted young man, under thirty years of age,
whose name has become a worldwide reputation, and who everywhere has
been greatly honored of God in turning multitudes from darkness to
light, and from the power of Satan unto God. I never had any doubt
about him from the beginning. I never entertained a suspicion of him
from the commencement. I never uttered an unkind word about him from
the time when he commenced his ministry. I always thought that he was
raised up of God to do a great and good work, and we might well rejoice
if men are raised up in a way rather different from that which we had
anticipated. There is a fact upon record of very great value in
relation to liberty of preaching. In the days of Oliver Cromwell, many
soldiers went to Edinburgh on the Lord's day, and finding there was
very indifferent preaching in the pulpits, Cromwell's chaplain took
possession of the churches and preached the word of life. The
Presbytery wrote a letter complaining to the Lord Protector, that his
soldiers–the men connected with the iron-hearted regiment that he
headed–those iron-sides, who feared God and kept their powder
dry–actually had ventured to preach the word of life in the regular
sanctuary. Cromwell's reply was worthy to be written in characters of
living light, and handed down from age to age. "What! doth that offend
you? I would to God that all the Lord's servants were prophets." And
with that feeling, my lord, I am sure that we have hailed the advent of
our beloved brother, Mr. Spurgeon. I hope his life will long be spared,
and that a great and important work will be carried on by him. If there
be a man under heaven that we might envy, and if there be a man under
heaven in whom we might glorify the Grace of God, he is the man. I
honor the man that he has never pandered to the public taste. He has
always preached the word of life fully, faithfully, and effectually. I
honor the man for the large-hearted Catholicity which has characterized
him. The pulpits of the land have properly been opened to him, and he
has ever been ready to preach for his brethren of every denomination. I
have heard him preach in my own pulpit to crowded and delighted
audiences. And I am sure that we ought to be prepared to help him in
return, for he has been prepared to help very many. I am sure I am only
among a large number of my brethren–and I mention it as an
encouragement to others–I proposed a short time ago to the deacons of
our church that, as he had often preached on behalf of other objects
for us, we should invite him to come and preach, and give him a liberal
collection towards this New Tabernacle. And it only waits for the time
to be fixed by him, and I trust we shall all be prepared to do
everything we can to promote the common welfare of this great church
and congregation. I congratulate this meeting to-night most heartily
and cordially upon the fact that three beloved honored men, bearing one
name and related to each other, have taken part in this meeting. May
they be a three-fold cord that cannot readily be broken. In expressing
the largest desires for the welfare of the Baptist denomination
represented by Mr. Spurgeon, I am only giving utterance to feelings
that we all entertain. There is but little difference between us, but a
very little difference indeed. Different sections of the church of God
look at each other in the distance through the mists of prejudice and
passion, and they think they are monsters; they get a little nearer and
they find they are men–brethren, related to one common Father, related
to one divine Redeemer who is not ashamed to call us brethren, and
whether we be Baptists or psuedo-Baptists, whether we be Presbyterians
or Congregationalists, whether we be Arminians or Calvinists (though I
am not ashamed to call myself a Calvinist) if we are good men and true,
we are related to each other, and to the Lord. Let us, then be limited,
and angels shall look down from the crystal battlements of heaven and
say of our congregations here–"Behold how good and how pleasant a
thing it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!"

The Meeting then sung the following verse, commencing, "Jesus is worthy
to receive honor and power divine."

JOSEPH PAYNE, Esq.: ladies and gentlemen, I am very glad to meet you
all upon the present occasion. I am one of those Churchmen whom my Lord
Mayor has been digging in the ribs in rather an extraordinary manner;
but I am not one that he would find fault with, I am sure. We have been
working together too long and too often for any of his observations to
be applied in that way to my humble self. The late Rev Mr. Branch used
to say, that an old woman once asked him, "Mr. Branch, can you tell me
what Mr. Payne is?" "Why," said Mr. Branch, "he is a Churchman." "No,
no," said the woman, "I am sure he ain't." "Why?" "Because wherever I
go I sees him–at Wesleyan meetings, at Baptist meetings, at
Congregational meetings, and at all sorts of meetings–well, if he is a
Churchman he's a rum un." The Rev. Dr. Archer was once speaking at a
meeting, (you see I am giving myself a character,) and he went through
the list of speakers, and said–"The first is Dr. Archer, a humble
Presbyterian; the second is Mr. Branch, a sturdy Baptist; the third is
Mr. Gladstone, an Episcopalian; the fourth is Mr. Edward Corderoy, who
belongs to the Wesleyan body, and the fifth is Joseph Payne, who
belongs to nobody;" and he gave the reason–"he belongs to nobody
because he belongs to everybody." Now, I think I have said enough about
myself; I am aging to say a word or two about my excellent friend, the
Rev. Mr. Spurgeon. Among these decorations, there is one that I do not
see, but I have it before my mind's eye–I mean the three letters C. H.
S. [A voice: "It is outside."] Then we have it outside and inside too.
Now, what does C. H. S. mean? Why, it means first, "Charles Haddon
Spurgeon." But I do not mean that. C. H. S. means a Clear-Headed
Speaker, who is Clever at Handling Subjects in a Cheerful-Hearted
Style; he is a Captain of the Home of Surrey; he is a Cold-Hating
Spirit; he has Chapel-Heating Skill; he is a Catholic Humbug-Smasher,
he is a Care-Hushing Soother; he is a Child-Helping Strengthener: he is
a Christ-Horouring Soldier, and he is a Christ-Honoured Servant. Those
are all the C. H. S's, and a very good set of C. H. S's they are. Now I
desire to look back upon the past, to look round upon the vast, and to
look onward to the last. I desire to look back to the past. Our friend
was always popular, always clever, always active, but he was not always
so popular, he had not always the large number of friends that gather
round him now. I knew him and loved him, and admired him from the
beginning, therefore I look back upon the past with great satisfaction
to think that I had so much discernment, that has been so admirably
proved, and so magnificently repaid. I look round upon the vast. It is
a goodly and glorious sight to see such a meeting as this, with the
Right Hon. the Lord Mayor in the chair. You know it is said there are
four descriptions of speakers to preside at public meetings:–some who
are able and not willing, some who are willing and not able, some who
are neither able nor willing, and some who are both able and willing.
Now the Lord Mayor belongs to the fourth class. He is a first-class man
in some respects but a fourthclass in that respect. He has shown his
willingness in coming here, and he has shown his ability in that
splendid, magnificent, glorious speech that he made, though he was a
little too hard upon some of us Episcopalians. I look onward to the
last. Oh! what a glorious thought that will be when all the
instrumentality shall be at an end, when we shall see the grand
glorious gathering in the brighter and better world above! The Lord
Mayor will be there, Spurgeon the grandfather will be there; the
father–the mother–the brother–and Spurgeon himself will be there,
and I pray God that you and I may be there also. I have a high opinion
of our excellent friend for four reasons: he is a preacher that does
not mumble, he is a preacher that does not grumble, he is a preacher
that does not stumble, and he is a preacher that never will crumble. He
is a preacher that does not mumble. One of our celebrated authorities
in the law, old Seldon, says, that if a man were to call out murder in
the same tone in which he would make love, nobody would come to his
assistance. A minister of the gospel is calling out murder, and it is
to be called out in a loud tone; not in a namby pamby style. He is also
a preacher that does not grumble. You heard him tonight say how pleased
he was with the salary given by the people of Park Street. He is
perfectly satisfied with what he gets; though he has not half that he
deserves. He is a preacher that does not stumble. Did you ever see a
man walk more firmly than he does before the world and the church? He
walks firmly, physically, morally, and religiously. Then he is a
preacher that will not crumble. The man himself will die–many many
years let it be before that consummation is arrived at! We all must
die, but the reputation and character of a faithful preacher of God's
free and glorious gospel will never die. We may address the character
and reputation of such a man in the language of the poet, and say:–

"The stars shall fade away; the sun himself

Grow dim in age, and nature sink in years.

But thou shalt flourish in immortal youth,

Unhurt amid the war of elements,

The wreck of matter and the crash of worlds."

I would say–pray and believe; then persist and receive. In connection
with the first, let me tell you that there was a number of farmers
somewhere in Essex, who met to pray for rain in a large open field. The
deacons were there; the "Lows" and the "Olneys," and the good men of
that stamp, the five pounders and the fifty pounders, and the hundred
pounders were there for the purpose. It was a fine day but there was a
little Sunday school girl who came with an umbrella under her arm. The
minister, who was not so clever as Mr. Spurgeon, said, "Why, bless you,
my good girl, what do you mean by bringing a great umbrella on such a
fine day as this?" "Why, sir," said she, "have not you all met to pray
for rain? Don't you expect to get it if you pray properly? I do, so I
picked out the biggest umbrella I could find." Well, there came a heavy
shower and the ministers and the deacons were all very glad to get
under the little school girl's umbrella. And the ministers and deacons
went out from under that umbrella with their heads lower than they had
been before, because they had been shamed into propriety by a little
Sunday school girl. Pray, then, and believe. Pray that God will give
you friends, and believe that you will get them. The next is, persist
and receive. There was a clergyman in Ireland who met with a ragged
boy, and he took him to a ragged school. The boy was very fond of using
his slate and pencil; he never put sums upon his slate, but drew ugly
pictures of the boys and the master. The master did not like it,
because schoolmasters, you know, are very uppish people, some of them;
stuck-up people who think they ought not to be caricatured. He sent to
the clergyman, saying "I cannot manage the boy at all, I wish you would
take him away." "Indeed I shall do no such thing," said the clergyman,
"I will come and see him, and talk to him. So the clergyman came, and
there was the boy in the school working away with his slate and pencil.
"Well," said the clergyman, "bring up your slate let us see what you
are doing." The boy did not like to do so, but however he brought up
his slate, and, giving it to the clergyman, bobbed his head down to
avoid a box on the ears, which he knew he deserved and thought he might
get. But that was not the clergyman's plan. He looked at the slate and
he there saw the ugliest picture of the good old clergyman himself,
with long ears, very long hair, a hole in his coat, and his white
choker as dirty as it could be. He looked at it and said, "You have a
very good notion of drawing, my boy, my daughter draws beautifully, and
if you will come to the parsonage house three times a week, she shall
teach you to draw. Well, she did teach him to draw, and that boy is now
an artist,–a capital painter in London. And the very first thing he
did, was to paint a beautiful picture of the good clergyman and the
daughter who had been so kind to him, and presented it to them in a
beautiful frame, as a token of his respect and gratitude for their
having saved him from destruction, and putting him in the way of
gaining a honest livelihood. That clergyman persisted and received the
end of his perseverance. Now I want you to persist and go on with this
great work, and you will, in spite of all discouragements and
difficulties, be sure to receive. You will draw people in the
Tabernacle, and money to your funds, and then great things will be
done. Now I have to read some verses, and then there will be an end.

My breath I will spend, and my horn I will blow,

The claims and requirements to let the world know,–

(Though my horn is not gold, but is only brass gilt,)

Of the great Tabernacle that is to be built.

Sir Samuel, Baptist, and Baronet too,

In handling the trowel to science was true,

And charged it with mortar right up to the hilt,

For the great Tabernacle that is to be built.

Unconquered, at present, friend Spurgeon is found,

But soon he will hold unapproachable ground;

For no one will dream with the pastor to tilt,

Of the great Tabernacle that is to be built.

With wonderful talent all ranks to comprise,–

The truth that he preaches to make people wise

He'll spread o'er his hearers, just like a great quilt,

In the great Tabernacle that is to be built.

The Englishman plainly and soberly dress'd,–

The Irishman clad in his holiday vest,–

Will sit, side by side, with the Scot in his kilt,

In the great Tabernacle that is to be built.

Rich merchant of London, if such should be here,

Thou, friend to a preaching sublime and sincere,

Can'st not give too much, give whatever thou wilt,

To the great Tabernacle that is to be be built.

Poor widow, neglected, distress'd, and forlorn,

The prop of thy age from thy dwelling withdrawn,

To cast in two mites will not fix thee with guilt,

T'wards the great Tabernacle that is to be built.

Friend Spurgeon, the clearest of preachers I know,

Look on to the time when thy language shall flow

Like a beautiful stream, without thickness or silt,

In the great Tabernacle that is to built.

And thousands deliver'd from sin and from hell,

In mansions of glory for ever shall dwell,

Who heard of the blood which for sinners was spilt,

In the great Tabernacle that is to be built.

The Rev. C. H. SPURGEON: If our friends are not tired I should like
another brother to speak, and I have a few words to say before I call
upon my brother Bloomfield. I have been treated somewhat severely by
that class of brethren who are exceedingly strong in their Calvinism.
Many suspect me of being a great heretic. Now, a great heretic I
certainly am, if it be heresy to judge of the Scriptures as God the
Holy Ghost gives me ability, and not to bend myself to the dictates of
man. I am, I ever must be, from my deep and terrible experience of the
depravity of the human heart, a high Calvinist, in the best sense of
that term. I am not bitter towards others; but I do love to preach the
fullness of the decree of God. I do love, however, so to preach it that
I may combine it with practical exhortation and fullness of precept.
There are many brethren who believe the same. The stone has to be
rolled away from the spulchre of Calvinism yet. The Calvinism of some
men is the Calvinism of John Calvin, nor the Calvinism of the Puritans,
much less the Christianity of God. My dear brother Bloomfield is one of
those who hold the truth very strongly. I hope he may hold it never
less sternly. He has an affectionate loving heart, and he is not
prepared to condemn one who, in some points, differs from the brethren.
I do differ from some in certain matters, those are but small matters
compared with the grand fundamentals of that holy faith delivered to us
by Christ, translated by Paul, handed down by Augustine, clarified by
Calvin, vindicated yet again by Whitfield, and held by us as the very
truth of God, as it is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The Rev. J. BLOOMFIELD: I rejoice to be with you to-day, just to showmy
firm attachment to that honored servant of God who has been the means,
under the influence and power of the Spirit, of bringing you together.
I believe that the preaching of Mr. Spurgeon is in harmony with our
good old puritan divines. I cannot understand that Christianity which
dries up the sympathies of the human heart. I feel a strong sympathy
with one expression dropped by Mr. Spurgeon's father. He said he
thought his son did wrong when he first came to London. I thought so
too, but what made me think so was loosing a great many persons from my
own congregation. However, I am very glad that so good a man has them,
and I wish them well from my very heart, and him too, and all who love
our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity and truth. Any man that preaches the
atonement in its perfection is a brother that I am glad to shake hands
with and bid God speed. Whether or not he preaches the high and
distinguishing doctrine of divine grace in the phraseology that I
employ; whether or not he chooses to preach those doctrines in the
plain language in which I am bound to preach them, because I can preach
them in no other, I say I bid him God speed, and trust the blessing of
God will go with him wherever he goes to preach the everlasting gospel
of the blessed God. Christ said, when on earth, "If any man serve me,
him will my Father honor." I ask any man to look at the vast numbers
that have testified before delighted audiences to the way in which the
ministry of Mr. Spurgeon has been blessed to them; and I ask if God has
not honored him; I ask if the Holy Ghost has not honored his testimony,
and if the Father in heaven, if the Holy Ghost has sealed his ministry,
where is the man that dares to speak against the success which he has
realized so largely in his work. I love some of the friends that have
spoken harshly of him, but I have always hated their harshness; I have
told them so to their faces, as I would tell them again. I hate their
bigotry, while I love the truth they preach. May God continue to bless
the ministrations, of our excellent friend, and honor him with
increasing and abundant success, for his own sake. Amen.

The Rev. C.H. SPURGEON proposed a vote of thanks to Sir Morton Peto,
for his kindness in laying the stone, to the Lord Mayor for presiding,
and the Lady Mayoress for coming to the meeting.

The motion having been seconded by James Low, Esq., was carried by
acclamation.

The LORD MAYOR: The best thanks you could give me would be this, that
you fill every box, and put your names to the piece of paper until you
have got two thousand pounds. I believe you will have it tomorrow, if
you do not get it to-night.

Mr. SPURGEON: The Lord Mayor has kindly said he shall contribute fifty
pounds himself. I am sure, with his very great claims, it is far too
much for us to expect from any Lord Mayor. He has out-done himself in
liberality and I heartily thank him.

The Doxology was then sung, and the proceedings terminated.

The Committee think it needful to add, that notwithstanding the very
great assistance afforded upon this occasion, their enterprise is very
far from accomplishment. The freehold ground has been purchased and
paid for, the excavation and throwing in of concrete for foundations
have also been completed; and when this expense shall also have been
fully defrayed, the Committee will find themselves with about ten
thousand pounds in hand. The present contract for the erection of the
building is twenty thousand pounds, which does not include lighting,
boundary walls, and necessary furniture. The Committee therefore
earnestly appeal to the Church of Christ for help in their arduous
undertaking.

Subscriptions will be joyfully received by the Rev. C. H. SPURGEON; or
by Mr. T. COOK, Hon. Sec., New Park Street Chapel, Southwark, S.E.