Charles Spurgeon: The Great Orator

I have been reading Spurgeon and about Spurgeon for over 30 years. There is no other minister that has as much left in print as he has, somewhere around 3500 sermons on almost everything in the bible, plus some other books he wrote. This biography by Carlile is a very good place to start if you want a rather brief introduction to this great preacher who had a vast influence in London from about 1850 until his death in 1892. His social work alone was amazing, not to mention all the people whos' lives were changed by this mans preaching the gospel message.Carlile I do not know much about, and I must pursue that now, but he was there to see Spurgeon in the great Metropolitan Tabernacle just outside of London, in Newington.Carlile handles everything I ever got to know about Charles Spurgeon in 30 years, and in a way that is very readable and enjoyable. It is not a dry book at all, and it is about 200 pages. The main work, of course, on this great man that Carlile writes about is the autobiography that Spurgeon did much of and the rest is done by his wife, Susannah, after his death, in 1892. Carlile takes us from the time Spurgeon is born , his schooling, early entry into the ministry and then all that that ministry was and did all around england. Five thousand or more people crowded into this tabernacle every sunday morning and evening to hear this man preach. Prime minister Gladstone had to come see him as well as people from across the atlantic. The well to do and the many, many poor came to sit side by side to hear this man that intigued them whether they had religious convictions or not. Two of the places that tourists wanted to see in London, always, was St Pauls and Spurgeons tabernacle. Carlile writes one of the very best shorter biographies but he gets everythingin and I was delighted to read it.