ATTRACTING VS. REPELLING STRANGERS.
ONE element of Mr. Spurgeon's success was the power he had of infusing a love for every human being into his people. A young gentleman who traveled in Europe as tutor for a young man of this city informs us that on arriving in London he went to hear Mr. Spurgeon, and was seated near a gentleman who treated him very courteously, and said, "We are always glad to see young men here; we shall be pleased to see you again." Several months afterward, being in London for the first time since this interview, he went to Mr. Spurgeon's church again, and, though he did not see the person who had so kindly received him before, at the close of the service, as he was passing out in the crowd, who should approach him but this very man. "Ah, here again! We are much pleased to see you." This was the spirit of that vast congregation. No wonder it grew. Contrast it with a church in this city. One of the leading professional men of New York had not attended church for a number of years on account of the illness of his wife. At last she recovered, and they determined to select a neighboring church of whose minister they had heard. On the first Sunday, though the church was not more than one-third full, not a person spoke to them or looked at them. The same was true on the second Sunday, though they presented an appealing countenance, which should have led any person possessing the instincts of a lady or a gentleman regularly attending the church at least to hold out the olive branch. On the third Sunday the treatment was similar. The minister's salary is paid by a few wealthy persons, and the church will not long keep up against the death rate, to say nothing of making a gain upon the sin rate, in the city of New York.—New York Christian Advocate.