Although October 19, 1880 was a typically hot spring Sunday in Sydney yet, at 3.p.m. despite the heat, the Theater Royal crowded out with hundreds of Australians rushing in to the young preacher who bore the illustrious name of Spurgeon. The purpose of the meeting was to gather funds for the orphanage directed by Thomas Spurgeon's father in London. Thomas, little more then than a slightly-built, fair-haired youth, being the evangelist that he was, also seized the opportunity to publish the Gospel message.

His text was "In Thee the fatherless find mercy." He used it to draw a parallel between "the orphanage of my heavenly Father and that of my earthly parent," showing that "the qualification for admission to each is destitution, and the reception is gracious." He found a receptive audience so moved by his sermon, mellowed by its appeal, and motivated by the memories of good received from his father's preached and published words that the amazing sum of fifty pounds was gleaned from the interdenominational gathering for the London need. In sending the bank draft to his father Tom also testified, "Thousands here are deeply interested in you and in your glorious work ... They have eagerly seized this opportunity of manifesting their esteem and love."1

History's Greatest Preacher

All authorities acknowledge Charles Haddon Spurgeon as one of history's greatest evangelical preachers. His thousands of sermons consistently outsell others still today. A century ago he piped a Gospel tune so popular and powerful that an entire world listened. He preached to tens of thousands face to face for 37 years, and spoke through sermons published in over 40 languages -- 25,000 copies of each which were distributed weekly. U.S. demand for them was so great that the New York newspapers paid for them to be cabled to New York every Monday to be reprinted for American readers.

C. H. Spurgeon had been invited to the Australian state of Victoria in 1877, but was unable to leave his extensive English responsibilities. There he pastored a congregation of 6,000, super-intended an orphanage caring for 500 children, led a colporteur band of 90 selling Bibles and religious books, directed a theological school for pastoral students and operated homes for the elderly and indigent citizens of London. The 35 philanthropic organizations he fostered included the founding, staffing, and supporting of 23 mission halls in the London slums which ministered to the enormous social and economic ills of the city.

Spurgeon senior's widest work was literary. His publishers always kept two million copies of the weekly sermons in stock, continuing their release until World War I post-war conditions of 1917 forced their suspension. He authored 135 books and edited another 28. The sheer bulk of his written production is the equal of the 27 volumes of the ninth edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica! Estimators affirm that an individual who set out to read only his published sermons, at the rate of one a day, would take at least ten years to complete the task.2