This week in Christian history: Fuller Seminary wins case; Charles Spurgeon preaches to over 23,000 after Sepoy Rebellion
Charles Spurgeon preaches to over 23,000 – Oct. 7, 1857
This week marks the anniversary of when Charles Haddon Spurgeon, a notable 19th century British evangelist, preached a sermon to more than 23,000 people at the Crystal Palace in London, England.
Queen Victoria had called for a nationwide day of fasting on Oct. 7 in response to the violence of a large-scale mutiny known as the Sepoy Rebellion that had begun earlier that year in British-controlled India.
As part of the observance, Spurgeon preached at the Crystal Palace before an official audience of 23,654, focusing his sermon on Micah 6:9, “Hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it.”
“O, my friends, what a rod is that which has just fallen upon our country! My poor words will fall infinitely short of the fearful tale of misery and woe which must be told before you can know how smartly God hath smitten, and how sternly He hath chidden us,” he preached.
“I see God in this war. The wheels of providence may revolve in a mysterious manner, but I am certain that wisdom is the axle upon which they revolve, so that at last it shall be seen that God, who ordained the rod, only permitted it that greater good might follow, and that His name might be exalted through the Earth.”
