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diff --git a/32844-0.txt b/32844-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..db71315 --- /dev/null +++ b/32844-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8149 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Religious Life of London, by J. Ewing +Ritchie + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Religious Life of London + + +Author: J. Ewing Ritchie + + + +Release Date: June 16, 2010 [eBook #32844] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RELIGIOUS LIFE OF LONDON*** + + +Transcribed from the 1870 Tinsley Brothers edition by David Price, email +ccx074@pglaf.org. + + + + + + THE + RELIGIOUS LIFE OF LONDON. + + + * * * * * + + BY + J. EWING RITCHIE, + AUTHOR OF “BRITISH SENATORS,” “THE NIGHT SIDE OF LONDON,” ETC. + + * * * * * + + “’Tis Nature’s law + That none, the meanest of created things, + Of form created the most vile and brute, + The dullest or most noxious, should exist + Divorced from good.” + + WORDSWORTH. + + * * * * * + + LONDON: + TINSLEY BROTHERS, 18, CATHERINE STREET, STRAND. + 1870. + + * * * * * + + LONDON: + SAVILL, EDWARDS AND CO., CHANDOS STREET, + COVENT GARDEN. + + * * * * * + + TO + SAMUEL MORLEY, ESQ., M.P. + TO WHOSE UNEXAMPLED ACTIVITY AND MUNIFICENCE + (BY NO MEANS CONFINED WITHIN HIS OWN DENOMINATION) + MUCH OF THE RELIGIOUS LIFE OF LONDON IS DUE, + THIS VOLUME IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED + BY + THE AUTHOR. + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +Man is undoubtedly a religious animal. In England at any rate the remark +holds good. No one who ignores the religious element in our history can +rightly understand what England was, or how she came to be what she is. +The fuller is our knowledge, the wider our field of investigation, the +more minute our inquiry, the stronger must be the conviction in all minds +that religion has been for good or bad the great moving power, and, in +spite of the teachings of Secularism or of Positivism, it is clear that +as much as ever the questions which are daily and hourly coming to the +front have in them more or less of a religious element. It is not often +foreigners perceive this. Take Louis Blanc as an illustration. As much +as any foreigner he has mastered our habits and ways—all that we call our +inner life; yet, to him, the English pulpit is a piece of wood—nothing +more. According to him, the oracles are dumb, the sacred fire has ceased +to burn, the veil of the temple is rent in twain; church attendance, he +tells us, in England, besides custom, has little to recommend it. There +is beauty in desolation—in life changing into death— + + “Before Decay’s effacing fingers + Have swept the lines where beauty lingers;” + +but not even of this beauty can the Church of England boast. Dr. +Döllinger—a more thoughtful, a more learned, a more laborious writer—is +not more flattering. The Church of England, he tells us, is “the Church +only of a fragment of the nation,” of “the rich, cultivated, and +fashionable classes.” It teaches “the religion of deportment, of +gentility, of clerical reserve.” “In its stiff and narrow organization, +and all want of pastoral elasticity, it feels itself powerless against +the masses.” The patronage is mostly in the hands of the nobility and +gentry, who regard it as a means of provision for their younger sons, +sons-in-law, and cousins. Our latest critic, M. Esquiros, writes in a +more favourable strain, yet even he confesses how the city operative +shuns what he deems the Church of Mammon, and draws a picture of the +English clergyman, by no means suggestive of zeal in the Master’s service +or readiness to bear His yoke. Dissent foreigners generally ignore, yet +Dissent is as active, as energetic as the State Church, and may claim +that it has practically realized the question of our time—the Free Church +in the Free State. In thus attempting to describe the Religious Life of +London, I touch on a question of which I may briefly say that it concerns +the welfare of the community at large. + +IVY COTTAGE, BALLARD’S LANE, FINCHLEY, + _April_ 4_th_, 1870. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + CHAPTER I. + PAGE +ON HERESY AND ORTHODOXY 1 + CHAPTER II. +THE JEWS 16 + CHAPTER III. +THE REFORMED JEWS 37 + CHAPTER IV. +THE GREEK CHURCH 47 + CHAPTER V. +THE ROMAN CATHOLICS 58 + CHAPTER VI. +THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND 76 + THE DEAF AND DUMB AT CHURCH 87 + A SUNDAY IN JAIL 93 + HIGH CHURCH REVIVALISTS 100 + A SUNDAY WITH THE LUNATICS 107 + LAY WORK IN THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND 113 + AN EVANGELICAL PREACHER 121 + CHAPTER VII. +AMONG THE PRESBYTERIANS:— + AT COLEBROOK ROW 131 + PARK CHURCH, HIGHBURY 139 + CHAPTER VIII. +CONGREGATIONALISTS AND BAPTISTS 146 + THE SEVENTH-DAY BAPTISTS 159 + CHRISTMAS MORNING WITH THE YOUNGSTERS 169 +DR. PARKER AT THE POULTRY 177 + MR. LYNCH’S THURSDAY EVENINGS 187 + CHAPTER IX. +THE UNITARIANS 193 + AGGRESSIVE UNITARIANS 204 + CHAPTER X. +THE WESLEYAN METHODISTS 210 + AT A WATCH-NIGHT SERVICE 223 + CHAPTER XI. +THE QUAKERS 232 + JONATHAN GRUBB AT THE AGRICULTURAL HALL 236 + CHAPTER XII. +THE MORAVIANS IN FETTER LANE 244 + CHAPTER XIII. +THE SWEDENBORGIANS 252 + CHAPTER XIV. +THE IRVINGITES, OR APOSTOLICAL CHURCH 271 + CHAPTER XV. +THE FREE CHRISTIAN UNION 279 + CHAPTER XVI. +THE LONDON ECCLESIA 291 + THE CHRISTADELPHIANS 298 + CHAPTER XVII. +SOME MINOR SECTS 306 + THE PECULIAR PEOPLE 307 + THE SANDEMANIANS 313 + THE SOUTHCOTTIANS 320 + THE SPIRITUALISTS 328 + THE CAMPBELLITES 335 + THE MORMONS 344 + CHAPTER XVIII. +ADVANCED RELIGIONISTS:— + THE CHURCH OF PROGRESS 352 + THE INDEPENDENT RELIGIOUS REFORMERS 359 + SOUTH PLACE, FINSBURY SQUARE 365 + THE SECULARISTS 371 + CHAPTER XIX. +THE IRREGULARS 380 + IRREGULAR AGENCIES 381 + + + + + CHAPTER I. + ON HERESY AND ORTHODOXY. + + +The original meaning of the word heresy is choice. “It was long used,” +writes Dr. Waddington, “by the philosophers to designate the preference +and selection of some speculative opinion, and in process of time was +applied without any sense of reproach to every sect.” The most fruitful +source of speculative opinion is, and has ever been, religion; from the +schools of philosophy to those of theology the term heresy passed by a +very intelligible and simple process. The word is thrice used in the +Acts to denote sect (Acts v. 17, xv. 5, and xxiv. 5), and Paul himself +when on his defence before Felix and in answer to Tertullus confesses +that “after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my +fathers.” + +In process of time heresy came to have a bad meaning attached to it. It +is easy to see why this should be so. We naturally prefer our own +opinions to those of other people. We naturally prefer the society of +those who hold our own opinions to the society of those who do not. Life +is short, and we do not want to be always disputing. Life to most of us +is hard, and it would be harder still if after a day’s toil Paterfamilias +had to discuss the three births of Christ, or His twofold nature, the +Æons of the Gnostics, the Judaism of the Ebionites, the ancient Persian +dualism which formed the fundamental idea of the system of Manes, or the +windy frenzy of Montanus, with an illogical wife, a friend gifted with a +fatal flow of words, or a pert and shallow child. We like those with +whom we constantly associate. They are wise men and sound Christians. +They are those who fast and pay tithes, and are eminently proper and +respectable. As to the heretics—the publicans and sinners, away with +them. Let their portion be shame in this life, perdition in the next. +Thus it is heretics have got a bad name. Church history has been written +by their enemies, by men who have honestly believed that a man of a +different heresy to their own would rob an orphan, and break all the +commandments. The Rev. Mr. Thwackem “doubted not but all the infidels +and heretics in the world would, if they could, confine honour to their +own absurd errors and damnable deceptions.” The phrase “absurd errors +and damnable deceptions,” is one a real theologian might envy, or at any +rate appropriate. In another sense also that hero of fiction is a type +of the spirit in which orthodox people often (thankfully we record the +existence of a better spirit in our day) have written on theology. “When +I mean religion,” cries Thwackem, “I mean the Christian religion, and not +only the Christian religion, but the Protestant religion, and not only +the Protestant religion, but the Church of England.” + +Still the question occurs, What is heresy? + +It is not difficult to say what it is not. The African Bishops on one +occasion, in council in Carthage, decided that heretics were not at all +any part of the Church of Christ, but this opinion was modified by a +later council. “Heretics,” writes Epiphanius, “are divided into two +kinds: those who receive the Christian religion, but err in parts, who +when they come over to the Church are anointed with oil; and those who do +not receive it at all and are unbelievers, such as Jews and Greeks, and +these we baptize.” + +According to the Articles of the English Establishment, “the Church of +Christ is a company of faithful people among whom the pure Word of God is +preached and the Sacraments rightly administered according to Christ’s +institution.” But on this very matter we find the Church divided. Low +Churchmen tell us that the ritualists do not rightly administer the +Sacraments, and the latter say the same of their opponents. The _Record_ +suggests that Bishop Colenso is little better than one of the wicked, and +charitably insinuates that the late Dean Milman is amongst the lost. Dr. +Pusey places the Evangelicals in the same category with Jews, or +Infidels, or Dissenters, and has strong apprehensions as to their +everlasting salvation. Dr. Temple was made Bishop of Exeter, and +Archdeacon Denison set apart the day of his installation as one of +humiliation and prayer. Yet all these are of the Establishment. Dr. +Parr gladly associated with Unitarians, and went to Unitarian chapels to +hear Unitarian ministers preach. Would Dean Close do so? Yet Dr. Parr, +as much as Dean Close, was of the Church as regards solemn profession, +and deliberate assent and consent. Mr. Melville believes Dissent to be +schism, and one of the deadly sins, while the Deans of Westminster and +Canterbury hold out to Dissenters friendly hands. If we take the +Articles, the Church Establishment is as orthodox as the firmest +Christian or the narrowest-minded bigot can desire; if we turn to its +ministers, we find them as divided as it is possible for people +professing to take their teaching from the Bible can be. If there be any +grace in creeds and articles, any virtue in signing them, if their +imposition be not a solemn farce, it is impossible that heresy should +exist within the Established Church. It is in the wide and varied fields +of Dissent that we are to look for heresy. + +Yet the Church of England is tolerant, to a certain extent, of heresy. +The judicious Hooker writes, “We must acknowledge even heretics +themselves to be a maimed part, yet a part, of the visible Church. If an +infidel should pursue to death an heretic professing Christianity only +for Christian profession’s sake, could we deny unto him the honour of +martyrdom? Yet this honour all men know to be proper unto the Church. +Heretics, therefore, are not utterly cast out from the visible Church of +Christ. If the Fathers do, therefore, anywhere, as often they do, make +the true visible Church of Christ and heretical companies opposite, they +are to be construed as separating heretics not altogether from the +company of believers, but from the fellowship of sound believers. For +where professed unbelief is, there can be no visible Church of Christ; +there may be where sound belief wanteth. Infidels being clean without +the Church, deny directly and utterly reject the very principles of +Christianity which heretics embrace, and err only by misconstruction, +whereupon their opinions, although repugnant indeed to the principles of +Christian faith, are notwithstanding by them held otherwise and +maintained as most consistent therewith.” The Privy Council by its +Judgment of “Essays and Reviews” has decided that a Churchman may hold +heretical opinions. + +In popular language, the Congregationalists, the Baptists, the +Presbyterians are orthodox; the Quakers, the Methodists, Wesleyans and +otherwise, are orthodox; for our purpose popular language is sufficient. + +Heresy, says Tertullian, is the result of wisdom, real or assumed. He +writes: “The philosophers are the fathers of the heretics.” It is +computed that there have been no less than five hundred distinct +heresies. Happily for us, most of them are dead and buried in Greek and +Latin folios, rarely read and still more rarely understood. The East was +the land of heresy. Every day saw the birth of a new one amongst a +people of subtle intellect and endowed with a language wonderfully +contrived to express the most delicate and phantasmal forms of belief. +We laugh at the schoolmen, at their barbarous Latin and incomprehensible +disputations. No one now ventures to discuss how many angels could stand +upon the point of a needle, but in the early ages of the Church the +Fathers wasted their lives in disputations equally windy and barren of +practical result. “Greek Christianity,” writes Dean Milman, “was +insatiably inquisitive, speculative. Confident in the inexhaustible +copiousness and fine precision of its language, it endured no limit to +its curious investigations. As each great question was settled or worn +out, it was still ready to propose new ones. It began with the Divinity +of Christ, still earlier perhaps with some of the gnostic cosmogonical or +theophanic theories, so onward to the Trinity; it expired, or at least +drew near its end, as the religion of the Roman East, discussing the +Divine light on Mount Tabor.” Extinct long ago are the questions to +settle which Church councils were held, fanatic monks swarmed into +Constantinople by hundreds from far away—Syrian, or Arabian, or African +deserts—and armies took the field. Even a vowel might stir up strife and +bloodshed. The enmity of the Homoousian to the Homiousian was as bitter +as that between Guelph and Ghibelline, as that of Capulet and Montague; +and only the pen of a Swift could do justice to the brawls + + “Bred of an airy word.” + +Heresy can be put down in two ways. You may argue it out of existence, +or you may crush it out with the sword. As soon as ever the alliance +between Church and State was formed, the latter was the favourite mode of +dealing with heretics; it saved so much trouble. If you cut off a +heretics head, you are certain to stop his heretical tongue. There is an +end of his pestiferous logic. Continue the process, and heresy is +exterminated, as Unitarianism was in Poland—as the Huguenots were by the +massacres of St. Bartholomew—as Protestantism was crushed out in the Low +Countries by Alva, and in Spain by Torquemada and the _auto da fes_ of +Madrid. After a similar fashion, Bombastes Furioso proposed to +annihilate his enemies single-handed. His plan was to take them +half-a-dozen at a time, and when he had cut off the heads of the first +division, a second was to follow to receive a similar favour at his +hands, and so on till all were slain. Power has always dealt with +heretics after this fashion; in this way Churchmen endeavoured to put +down Puritanism in England, Presbyterianism in Scotland, Popery in +Ireland. To Henry IV. is due in this country the first permission to +send heretics to the stake. The Preamble of the Act of 1401, _De +Heretico Comburendo_, is as follows: “Divers false and perverse people, +of a certain new sect, damnably thinking of the faith of the sacraments +of the Church, and of the authority of the same, against the law of God +and of the Church,—usurping the office of preaching,—do perversely and +maliciously, in divers places within the realm, preach and teach divers +new doctrines and wicked erroneous opinions contrary to the faith and +determination of Holy Church. And of such sect and wicked doctrines they +make unlawful conventicles, they hold and exercise schools, they make and +write books, they do wickedly instruct and inform people, and excite and +stir them to sedition and insurrection, and make great strife and +division among the people, and other enormities horrible to be heard +daily do perpetrate and commit. The diocesans cannot by their +jurisdiction spiritual, without aid of the king’s majesty, sufficiently +correct these said false and perverse people, nor refrain their malice, +because they do go from diocess to diocess, and will not appear before +the said diocesans; but the jurisdiction spiritual, the keys of the +Church, and the censures of the same they do utterly condemn and despise, +and so these wicked preachings and doctrines they do from day to day +contrive and exercise to the destruction of all order and rule, right and +reason.” + +The Bishops by this Act received arbitrary power to arrest and imprison +on suspicion, without check or restraint of law, at their will and +pleasure. Prisoners who refused to abjure their errors, who persisted in +heresy or relapsed into it after abjuration, were sentenced to be burnt +at the stake. + +So much deadlier a thing was heresy deemed than evil-living on the part +of the clergy, that, previous to the reign of Henry VII., Bishops, who +had no power to imprison priests even though convicted of adultery or +incest, had, as Mr. Froude points out, power to arrest every man on +suspicion of heresy, and to detain him in prison untried. Constantine +was the first Christian Emperor who had recourse to this system; and it +was against the Arians, who rejected the doctrine of the Trinity, that +his enmity was directed. Death was the penalty for any one guilty of +concealing an Arian book. Of course the Arians, in their turn, were +equally ready to draw the sword. In those passionate and contentious +times it was hard consistently and constantly to be orthodox. Justinian, +whose laws against heretics were more severe than those of Constantine, +and who was hailed by the Church as “the most Christian Emperor,” +actually died a heretic. A controversy arose as to whether the body of +Christ was or was not liable to corruption. A new sect of course was +formed, known as the Corruptibles and the Incorruptibles. The latter +were considered heretics. Justinian gave them his support, and was on +the point of persecuting others of a different way of thinking when he +died. One of his successors, Theodosius, was just as ready to persecute +the holders of equally unimportant opinions. He it was who put down the +Tascodragitæ, “who made their prayers inwardly and silently, compressing +their noses and lips with their hands, lest any sound should transpire.” + +Fortunately for our readers, religious London is not thus minutely +divided and subdivided. We have still absurd squabbles, that for +instance whether Mr. Mackonochie was kneeling or only bending, being +pre-eminently so; yet on the whole in Western Europe and among the German +races the tendency is more and more to practical, and less and less to +speculative life. In another way also may the comparatively speaking +undisturbed orthodoxy of Western Europe be accounted for. For the +orthodox there have been cakes and ale, and even the ass knoweth his +owner and the ox his master’s crib. Nothing so keeps men from religious +speculation as a good endowment. In his “History of Latin Christianity,” +Dean Milman very significantly writes: “The original independence of the +Christian character which induced the first converts in the strength of +their faith to secede from the manners and usages, as well as the rites +of the world, to form self-governed republics, as it were, within the +social system; this noble liberty had died away as Christianity became an +hereditary, an established, a universal religion.” The poet asked, and +he might well do so— + + “What makes all doctrines plain and clear? + About two hundred pounds a year.” + +To have an opinion of his own, and to express it, was utterly impossible +to any man whose heart was set upon church preferment. One illustration +will suffice: Many—many years ago there was in the old city of Norwich a +Bishop known by the name of Bathurst. His connexions were good, and when +George III. was king there was an Earl Bathurst and a Lord Chancellor +Bathurst, and a Sir Benjamin Bathurst. This clerical scion had thus on +his entry into public life every chance in his favour. He lived to a +great age: he was born in 1744, and died in 1837; but to the last he was +only Bishop of Norwich. Why was this? Well, on the 27th of May, 1808, +Lord Granville moved for the House of Lords to resolve itself into a +committee “to consider the petition of the Irish Catholics.” The +petition was not a prayer for political equality, simply for employment +in military and civil situations. The Bishop of Norwich had the audacity +to lift up his single voice from the episcopal bench on behalf of Lord +Granville’s very moderate motion. The heavens did not fall—nor did the +earth open its mouth and swallow him up—but the light of the royal +countenance was lost to him for ever. His daughter writes: “A friend of +my father’s happened to mention in the presence of Queen Charlotte that +the Bishop of Norwich ought to be removed to the see of St. Asaph, as the +emoluments were better and the duties less numerous. ‘No,’ said her +Majesty, quickly; ‘he voted against the king.’” Some years afterwards it +was said by those about the Court that the Bishop “might have commanded +anything in the Church if he had taken the right line.” + +It has thus come to pass that heresy in London and the country has been +confined within narrow bounds. Whatever Churchmen may have thought, the +creed and the public utterances of the Church have been orthodox. +Popular dissent has followed suit—heresy has been avoided by some as a +temptation of the devil, by others as an obstacle to worldly success, but +no religious life can exist without it. In the religious world, as a +rule, heresy is life, orthodoxy death. “Are you a Christian?” asked one +well-known man of another. “When I am a good man,” was the reply; but, +say the orthodox, it is on his belief or rejection of dogmas that a man’s +Christianity depends. One cheering sign of the times is that the +religious public is beginning to realize the fact, that it does not +follow that because a man holds heretical opinions he will pick your +pocket, elope with your wife, or make away with your silver spoons. It +is well when people come to think that there may be something purer, +higher, holier, than unreasoning uniformity of opinion or than a blind +assent to scholastic terms and definitions. Mental stagnation is not +Christian life, neither does sterile orthodoxy deserve the name. It was +the recognition of this idea that gives to the Apostle John a special +claim to admiration and regard. “If,” says he, “a man say I love God and +hateth his brother, he is a liar; for he that loveth not his brother, +whom he hath seen, how can he love God, whom he hath not seen?” It was +under the influence of the same spirit that the Master rebuked the zeal +of his disciples when they would have hindered one who was according to +their own account doing good, merely because “he followed not us.” The +passage is worth transcribing. “And John answered him, saying, Master, +we saw one casting out devils in thy name and he followeth not us, and we +forbade him, because he followeth not us. But Jesus said, Forbid him +not, for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name that can +lightly speak evil of me; for he that is not against us is on our part. +For whosoever shall give you a cup of water in my name because ye belong +to Christ, verily I say unto you he shall not lose his reward.” + + + + +CHAPTER II. +THE JEWS. + + +Of the many definitions of London, perhaps the truest is that which +describes it as several cities rolled into one. The rich inhabit +Belgravia, the poor Bethnal Green. In Mark Lane on a Monday morning you +might fancy, if you were to shut your eyes and listen to the conversation +around, that you were in primitive East Anglia; on the contrary, in +Chancery Lane, and all the places of resort contiguous, the talk is of +writs, of issuing executions, of levying a distress, and of all those +horrible processes by which law seeks to secure property from its natural +enemies, poverty or rascality. Irish abound in Drury Lane, and in +unsavoury Houndsditch the seed of Abraham congregate. + +The traveller from the palatial West will perhaps shrink from leaving on +his right hand Aldgate Pump, and plunging in the dark alleys and crowded +lanes in which the Jews reside. Nor, if he be of a fastidious stomach, +would I much blame him. In Meeting House Yard, for instance, I saw a +pool of dark fluid, around which little pale children were playing, +suggesting something very rotten in the state of Denmark. It is in this +neighbourhood that the far-famed Rag Fair is held on the Sunday, and all +the week there is more or less dealing in such articles as come under the +denomination of “old clo’,” respecting which it may as a general rule be +safely affirmed that, whilst we may dispute the title of clo’, as regards +much there vended, there can be no dispute as to the appropriateness of +the descriptive adjective. In the lanes and courts around us are names +familiar to us from infancy. Lazarus keeps a second-hand book-shop, and +Moses sells fried fish. You see a printing-office, with posters up; on +those posters are Hebrew characters. In Duke Street there are a couple +of book-shops, but the books are all or chiefly Hebrew. In this +neighbourhood you can easily forget that you are in London at all. It is +not the English tongue you hear; or, if it be, it comes to you disguised +in such a foreign accent as to be scarcely intelligible. Through the +mist and fog dark eyes, all redolent of the far-off East, flash on you; +and now and then a tall figure in flowing robes, sad and solitary, stalks +by; and you rub your eyes to be sure that you are not in a dream. This +temporary delusion will be stronger if you visit this neighbourhood on a +Friday evening just after sunset. In Whitechapel and Aldgate the gas is +flaring, and a busy trade is carried on; in Leadenhall Street, in the +offices of the great Navigation Companies or of the leading shipbrokers, +clerks are busy writing, and weather-beaten skippers from Australia or +the Cape or New Zealand are tearing about, if we may use a colloquial +expression much in vogue, like mad. It is a contrast to pass from this +busy scene into the Jewish quarter, where the shops are all shut up and +where all is still. How is this? The answer is, it is the eve of the +Sabbath, and the Jews are at their synagogues. There are three in this +neighbourhood. The first and oldest is that of the Portuguese Jews in +King Street, Duke’s Place, erected in 1656. The first German synagogue, +also in Duke’s Place, was built in the year 1691, and occupied until +1790, when the present edifice was erected. This is called the Great +Synagogue. The New Synagogue, as it is denominated, in Great St. Helens, +is a very elegant and ornamental structure. The interior is very +beautiful. In so dark and dolorous a neighbourhood you are not prepared +for anything so fine. Very liberally must these ancient people have +subscribed for the fitting worship of their God. From the ground spring +up pillars highly decorated, and in the side are windows of a rich +arabesque pattern in stained glass. The ceiling is semi-dome with +octagonal coffers containing gilded flowers upon an azure ground; and the +pavement, which is of polished marble, forms a perfect circle. The +ministers of the Great Synagogue were considered the leading ones. It is +not so now. Dr. Adler is the head rabbi. He has been long in office, +and is universally esteemed by Christians as well as Jews. He is an old +man, and as his English is that of a foreigner it is clear that in his +public addresses you get an inadequate idea of his talents or +attainments. This remark applied to most of the Jewish ministers in +London. They were foreigners, and in speaking English did not succeed +much better than we do when we attempt to speak German or French. Now +two-thirds of the Jewish ministers are English. + +Very far back in English history we find the people whose descendants +have taken possession of Houndsditch and all around, and turned it into a +Jewish colony. More or less they have always been with us. In +Anglo-Saxon times we seem to have had a fair sprinkling of them. After +the Conquest they arrived here in great numbers. By William Rufus they +were especially favoured, and Henry I. conferred on them a charter of +privileges. They were enabled to claim in courts of law the repayment of +any money lent by them as easily as Christians, and while the latter were +forbidden to charge any interest on their loans, there was no restriction +in this respect put upon the Jews. At this time, doubtless, they laid +the foundation of their subsequent wealth. The sovereign rather +encouraged them, as the richer they were the more gold could be forced +from them—and with our earlier as well as with many of our later kings, +gold was a commodity always in request. During the former part of the +reign of King John (A.D. 1199–1216) they seemed to have gained the favour +of that monarch, or at any rate obtained permission to exist, and trade +and worship in this country on sufferance. Subsequently, however, they +appear to have suffered much persecution, and were eventually banished +from the country in 1291 (19 Edward I.), continuing in exile for 367 +years. Menasseh Ben Israel, a Jewish rabbi of great learning in +Amsterdam, petitioned the Protector Cromwell, in the year 1649, on behalf +of his brethren, for a liberty which the Latin Secretary of the Lord +Protector it is to be hoped would be foremost to advocate. During the +interval the Jews lived secretly in England, but did not possess any +“Jewries,” or publicly organized congregations. Ultimately they obtained +permission to return, though the Commonwealth refused to give any formal +sanction to their re-appearance, merely tacitly consenting to it. The +people of England, says Rebecca in “Ivanhoe,” “are a fierce people, +quarrelling ever with their neighbours or among themselves, and ready to +plunge the sword into the bowels of each other. Such is no safe abode +for the children of my people. Ephraim is an heartless dove. Issachar +an overburdened drudge, which stoops between two burdens. Not in a land +of war and blood, surrounded by hostile neighbours and distracted by +internal factions, can Israel hope to rest during his wanderings.” There +is, however, reason to suppose that nowhere, except for a short interval +in Spain and always in Holland, have the Jews fared better than in this +country. In our time they have been allowed to take their seats as +M.P’s. We have seen a Prime Minister of England of Jewish origin. Need +we say more? Jews are in all respects on an equality with Christians; in +art, and literature, and science, and the acquirement of wealth, they +have displayed a genius equal to our own. In practical piety—in the +benevolence which teaches the rich to give of their goods to the poor, +they are infinitely our superiors. + +Truly, if we may judge by the aspect of the Hebrew race in Houndsditch +and its neighbourhood, there is much room for charity. Just as the Irish +Corporations were accustomed a few years ago to land a cargo of “the +finest pisantry under the sun” on the Welsh coast to beg or steal, work +or die, according to circumstances, so the chiefs of the Jews on the +Continent ship the poor and helpless of their people here, and a heavy +tax is thus enforced on the wealthier portions of the community. Then, +again, the Jews have a great dislike to military service; and the +conscription which is imposed in Prussia, Austria, Poland, and France, +drives large numbers away from the land of their birth. Thus their +number in London is greater than people imagine. Dr. Stallard places it +as 55,000, but many Jews inform me that 100,000 is nearer the mark. One +thing is certain: as soon as a synagogue is opened anywhere it is +immediately crowded; and on special occasions, such as the days of +penitence, fifteen regular and eighteen or twenty temporary synagogues +are opened in different parts of London. Most of the foreign Jews when +they arrive here are wretchedly poor and ignorant, but under any +circumstances the Jew has to fight the battle of life under circumstances +of peculiar difficulty, in consequence of the Mosaic law, which he is +bound to obey, and which he does at a very heavy pecuniary sacrifice. It +is almost impossible for a Jew to work with a Christian. He may not +partake of his food. He may not work on Friday evening or on any part of +Saturday, nor on the days set apart for the observance of the Jewish +fasts and festivals. He is thus shut out from all employment in our +factories, shipyards, engine works, or shops. If he seeks work at the +docks he is driven away by the roughs. The “old clo’” business is being +gradually taken away from him by the Irish, so his chief industrial +occupations are tailoring, cigar-making, fish and fruit selling. The +women are employed in tailoring and shirts making, in the manufacture of +umbrellas and parasols, caps and slippers; latterly the supply of cheap +picture frames has got into the hands of the Jews. I fancy none of these +trades are very lucrative, yet the Jew is rarely a thief, never a +drunkard, always attached to his family, and remarkable for his +longevity. Suicide is rare, and murder never met with among the Jews. +There are not twenty-five male Jewish convicts in all England, and for +many years there has not been a Jewess in any convict establishment. +Such is the charity of the wealthy that the poorest, who have resided +here six months, are looked after. No Jew ever is permitted to die in a +workhouse. In many of our hospitals there are wards for the Jews, +supported by them. The Jewish Board of Guardians inquire into every case +of distress, and relieve it. Yet so economically do they go to work that +their expenditure in 1869 was, including loans, not quite 5000_l._, yet +in that year the applications were 12,510. + +But, in addition to their charities, the Jews are alive to the importance +of promoting religion and education. The Jewish Association for the +Diffusion of Religious Knowledge has now been in existence eleven years. +Amongst its supporters are the Rothschilds, the Goldsmids, and the other +wealthy Israelites whose charities are known all over England; but it +needs, and let us add deserves, more efficient support. It has +established a Sabbath school, where the present number of pupils is over +500, where instruction is given in reading, translation, and explanation +of the Bible, translation of the prayers, religious and moral lessons, +and Hebrew hymn-singing. It has established a synagogue in Union Hall, +Artillery Lane, where lectures on the Sabbath are given. It has provided +Scripture classes, and has published a series of Bible stories and +Sabbath readings, of which half a million of copies have been delivered. +The committee, when issuing the first number of their publications, +stated that those papers would “have for their object to impress upon the +Jewish mind proper notions of the principles and observances, spirit and +mission, of Judaism, and by appeals to the reason rather than to +sentiment, to develope and foster the most fervent conviction of the +truths of our sacred religion.” In the way of Bible distribution the +Society has especially been active; until recently it was comparatively a +rare occurrence to find a Bible in the houses of the Jewish poor. Where +it was found it was of course the authorized Anglican version, which, +says the report, “however great its literary merit, must be admitted to +be faulty, and to contain numerous mistranslations adverse to the spirit +of our religion.” The version they circulated was Dr. Leeser’s, and they +anticipate the day when no poor Jewish home wherein parent or child can +read shall be without a Jewish version of the Holy Scriptures. Under the +auspices of the committee, a reply to Bishop Colenso was published. + +The children are educated in a way of which Christians have no idea. The +Jewish free school in Brick Lane, with its three thousand children, is a +sight to see. There is, besides, an infant school equally flourishing, +and no poor Jew is relieved unless he sends his children to school. In +the visiting of the sick, in the care of the poor, all take their share. +I believe a synagogue is a little commonwealth in which the rich help the +poor, most frequently by way of small loans, and in which the strong take +care of the weak. In these works of beneficence all take their share, +the humblest as well as those of more exalted rank. The Jewish M.P. +takes his place at the Board of Guardians. The Jewish Countess will not +only give of her wealth, but will leave her stately home and seek out the +abode of sorrow and distress. Charity is inculcated in the Talmud as the +first of duties; and, if heaven is won by good works, the Jews are safe +and sure. + +As a theology, to an outsider, Judaism seems ritualism _in excelsis_. + +The Jewish faith is contained in the Creed and the Shemang. Of the two, +the latter is the more important. It is a declaration of the unity of +God, the first utterance of the child, the last of the devout Jew as the +watchers stand by his bedside, at the head of which is the Shechinah, or +Divine presence, and at the foot of which, with outstretched wing, +waiting for the last breath, hovers the angel of death. The Creed, which +every Jew ought to believe and rehearse daily, but which they treat as +Churchmen do their Thirty-nine Articles, is as follows:— + +1. I believe, with a perfect faith, that God (blessed be His name!) is +the Creator and Governor of all created beings, and that He alone has +made, does make, and ever will make, every production. + +2. I believe, with a perfect faith, that God (blessed be His name!) is +one God, and that there is no unity whatever like unto Him, and that He +alone is our God, who was, is, and will be eternally. + +3. I believe, with a perfect faith, that the Creator (blessed be His +name!) is not corporeal, nor is He subject to any of those changes that +are incidental to matter, and that He has no similitude whatever. + +4. I believe, with a perfect faith, that the Creator (blessed be His +name!) is both the first and last of all things. + +5. I believe, with a perfect faith, that to the Creator (blessed be His +name!) yea, to Him only, it is proper to address our prayers, and that it +is not proper to pray to any other being. + +6. I believe, with a perfect faith, that all the words of the prophets +are true. + +7. I believe, with a perfect faith, that the prophecy of Moses our +instructor (may his soul rest in peace!) was true, and that he excelled +all the sages that preceded him or they who may succeed him. + +8. I believe, with a perfect faith, that the law which we have now in +our possession is the same law which was given to Moses by our +instructor. + +9. I believe, with a perfect faith, that this law will never be changed, +that the Creator (blessed be His name!) will never give us any other law. + +10. I believe, with a perfect faith, that the Creator (blessed be His +name!) knoweth all the actions and thoughts of mankind, as it is said, +“He fashioneth their hearts, and knoweth all their works.” + +11. I believe, with a perfect faith, that the Creator (blessed be His +name!) rewards those who observe His commandments, and punishes those who +transgress them. (12.) The Jew believes in the coming of the Messiah; +and (13), in the resurrection of the dead. + +The Jews in London are divided into three communities—the Reformed, the +_Ashkenasim_, or Polish and German Jews, and the _Sephardim_, or +Portuguese and Spanish. These latter pride themselves on their ancient +descent, and especially on their nationality. Their Church, as we have +said, is the oldest in London; their rabbi is Dr. Artom, and their +service differs from that of the _Ashhenasim_ in matters of detail not of +faith. Of course both take their stand upon the Pentateuch, which they +term the Torah or law, a portion of which is read every Sabbath; but, +according to the rabbinists, Moses received two laws on Mount Sinai, one +written, the other unwritten. This latter was transmitted down from +generation to generation by word of mouth until after the destruction of +Jerusalem, when it was committed to writing. This work is called +_Mishna_, or repetition. In process of time it became a text-book in the +schools of Palestine and Babylon, and lectures were delivered on it and +comments made by rabbis more or less learned and devout. In course of +time these comments and lectures were collected together into one work +under the title of _Gemara_, completion. The _Talmud_, which means +doctrine, contains the two. There are two Talmuds in existence. One +contains the decisions of the Palestine rabbis, collected and published +somewhere in the fourth century; the other contains similar decisions on +the part of the learned divines of Babylon. The difference between the +two is exclusively in the _Gemara_. The Babylonian Talmud is the one in +common use. It is for this Talmud, long too much neglected by +Christians, that the Jews have contended for ages, and it is for this +Talmud an able writer, in an article in the “Quarterly,” which produced +an immense sensation at the time, eloquently pleaded, much to the +astonishment, most undoubtedly, of those bigoted ecclesiastics who, +deeming the traditions of the Romanist Fathers equal in authority with +the Bible, look down upon the older and truer traditions of the Talmud +with the contempt which ignorance always cherishes for what it cannot or +does not understand. Sentiments, as the learned Professor Hurwitz wrote, +worthy of Plato have been described as rabbinical reveries, and their +authors arraigned of impiety on no better grounds than what the +detractors supplied by wantonly imposing their own literal sense on +expressions evidently and unmistakeably figurative. + +In the synagogue is the worship daily or weekly of the devout Jew +performed, for the aim of that worship is to connect itself with the +daily life. Dr. Arnold’s idea of the Church and State being +synonymous—an idea as old as the judicious Hooker’s Ecclesiastical +Polity—is undoubtedly in its origin Jewish. The officers of the +synagogue are a complete political as well as religious administration. +A synagogue forms a little world of its own. A volume would be requisite +to tell of the officers of the synagogue and of their various duties. +There is among them no separation into lay and secular. The community +consists of three kinds of members—the Cohen or priest, the Levite, and +the Israelite. A minister must often support himself, but his ministry +never ceases. To the last hour of his life he maintains his ministerial +character. “The rabbis are men of great learning; and now in the Jews’ +College the students,” writes a report just received, “have the advantage +of a careful and systematic clerical education, and an equally valuable +advantage, an example of piety and earnestness in their teachers.” + +The oldest synagogue in London is, as we have said, that of the +Sephardim, in Bevis Marks. Let us go there first. All Jewish synagogues +are alike; all the men keep their hats on, and wear a scarf round their +shoulders, hanging down to their knees. At one time, in another respect, +they were much alike—that was in the use of a service not understood by +the people generally. All this is altered now. Within the last thirty +years there has been a great change for the better. There are but few +even of the poorest Jews who do not understand Hebrew. + +The governing officers of the synagogue are the Wardens, the Treasurer, +the Overseer, and the Elders. The clerical officers are the Chazan, or +reader, and the Shama, or second reader, and clerk. The ark is always +situated in the south-east end of the synagogue, to direct the worshipper +towards Jerusalem. The ark contains the law, written on vellum, fastened +to rollers, on the tops of which are little crowns of silver surrounded +by bells. The rolling and unrolling of the Law is a ceremony carefully +observed every Sabbath. In form the Bevis Marks synagogue much resembles +one of our old Nonconformist places of worship before they were improved +according to the requirements of modern taste. You pass into it from +behind some raised benches, on which several stout old gentlemen are +gesticulating with all their might. A little further on is the reading +desk, where the reader, with his hat on, his scarf round his shoulders, +is performing his appointed task—at one time singly, at another time with +the energetic assistance of the whole house. The readers wear black +gowns. The faces of the reader and the rabbi are alike turned to the +ark, before which a lamp perpetually burns. Of course there never are +pews, but benches, under which are lockers, in each of which the +worshipper deposits his scarf and prayer-book. In the synagogues of the +_Ashkenasim_ the benches nearest the ark, where the chief rabbi stands, +are considered the most honourable; but the Spanish and Portuguese Jews +make no difference in this respect. In the evening the synagogue is +lighted up by means of large tapers and old-fashioned gas-chandeliers. +In the service all join with more or less fervour. It consists entirely +of reading and singing prayers and certain portions of Scripture. No +sermon or lecture, except on Sabbaths and festivals, is necessary or +usual. The melodies used are ancient, and the reading is of a very +peculiar character, and not to be confounded with chanting or intoning as +known to Christians. Most of the congregation in Bevis Marks seem to +keep time with their bodies, as the sound rises and dies away. Also +every other sentence begins with a woah-wooah sound of a monotonous cast; +but all seem to enjoy it, especially the little Hebrew lads, who make +more noise than anybody else. Sometimes the people stand up, at other +times they sit down—they never kneel; but the stranger realizes little +solemnity while the service is performing, and many of the Jews are quite +ready to enter into a little secular conversation, or, if need be—as we +can testify from personal observation—to quarrel. The prayers are +chiefly of a laudatory, a confiding, a grateful, reverent character, and +in a style, as regards composition, indicative of a foreign origin. +Indeed, all the time the service is performing—the principal one is on +the Saturday morning, and very long—you feel as if you were a stranger, +as if you had no business there; that to the hook-nosed, black-haired, +dark-eyed men around, you are a poor pale-faced, flat-nosed Saxon, to be +preyed on and victimized to any extent. Here and there you see a +foreigner in the picturesque garb of the East, looking sad and solitary +as if he really remembered Zion, as if he had walked along the shores of +Galilee, rested beneath the shade of the cedars of Lebanon, or had drank +of + + “Siloa’s brook, + That flowed fast by the oracle of God.” + +Occasionally a Jew will rush in, seize a prayer-book, and, shutting his +eyes, gabble on at a prodigious rate as if he had started late and had to +make up for lost time, and his repeated bowing to all points of the +compass is, to the spectator, of a very perplexing character. In this +quarter the Jews, as regards appearance, are not very wealthy, nor have +many of them very clean hands, nor, except on certain occasions, are the +synagogues very well filled. Here you fail to recognise the swell Jews +of Margate and Ramsgate, of Brighton and the Boulevards, the fact being +that the rich Jews, like the rich Christians, have gone further west; yet +the Montefiores belong to Bevis Marks, and the Rothschilds to the great +congregation in Duke’s Place. Such are the London synagogues, including, +in addition to those we have already referred to, those in Fenchurch +Street, St. Alban’s Place, Maiden Lane, Cutler Street, Islington, +Portland Street, Bayswater, and others. But the reader will ask, What of +the ladies?—most of our churches and chapels would look intolerably +destitute without them. The answer is, all the duties of their worship +depend entirely on the males. The Jewesses are allowed to sit in a +gallery. At Bevis Marks you see they are there, that is all. Whether +they are white or black, whether they listen or not, it is impossible to +tell, as they are concealed behind a lattice-work almost as impervious to +male eyes as those behind which, on the night of a debate, our House of +Commons hides our British fair. In other synagogues their gallery is +open, and they can see and be seen. + +Even these ancient people are moving with the times. The _Jewish Record_ +says, “That the Synod of Jewish Rabbis, which has just been held, has +recognised three new principles. 1. Individual authority in religious +matters. 2. The primary importance of free scientific investigation. 3. +The rejection of the belief in Jewish restoration. The Synod also +recommends choral services and the use of the organ in the synagogue, and +musical performances on Sabbaths and festivals.” This paragraph is not +exactly correct. The Synod was one of little importance, and the +principles enunciated were not affirmed, only discussed; but I quote it +as an indication of the spirit existing in our day in all the religious +circles of our land. + + + + +CHAPTER III. +THE REFORMED JEWS. + + +Sappho, implies Mr. Pope, at her “toilette’s greasy task,” is quite a +different individual to “Sappho fragrant at an evening mask.” Just as +much does the Jew of the West-end, the Jew of society, rich and +cultivated, the Jew who gives good dinners, drives in a faultless +brougham, on whose fingers diamonds sparkle, differ from the Houndsditch +Jew, toiling along painfully under a load of ol’ clo’ considerably the +worse for wear, or smoking bad cigars in the Effingham Saloon. In the +same way do the synagogues of the West differ from those of the East. In +place of that in Portland Street, the Jews have erected a gorgeous one, +towards which the Rothschild family have subscribed 4000_l._ Those in +the Haymarket and at Bayswater and Islington are clean and comfortable, +and that in Margaret Street is especially so. + +On Saturdays service commences there at ten and terminates at one. Let +us go there. As you enter, of course you face the ark. On each side +benches, well cushioned, are placed. On the right of the ark is a +pulpit. In the middle is the raised platform for the readers and the +rabbi, the Rev. Mr. Marks. There is a gallery facing the pulpit, in +which is an organ, an innovation of which the orthodox do not approve, as +it implies Sabbath labour, and there is another innovation I dare say +equally shocking. Actually in the side galleries appropriated to ladies +you can see them. People of an uncharitable turn often insinuate that so +many young men attend at such or such a church that they may see the +ladies. I don’t think the fact that you can see them in Margaret Street +Synagogue adds materially to the male congregation. Yet Hebrew maidens, +some of them, have been and are beautiful as any whose names have come +echoing down to us along “the corridors of time.” However, if the +Christian stranger should let his eyes wander thitherward he is to be +forgiven. Hebrew is a difficult tongue to follow if you are ignorant of +it, and, save where there is no singing, which is very fine, the reading +of the prayers is not very impressive. Nor do the gentlemen around, all +wearing black hats and silk scarfs over the coat, appear to be much +impressed. They sit with their prayer-books in their hands, in +appearance as calm and unmoved as real West-end Christians of +unquestioned respectability. At a certain interval the ark is unlocked, +the roll of the law is taken reverently to the platform, where it is +uplifted on all sides that all may see it, and then, when the reader has +finished, it is borne back and deposited in the ark as formally and +reverently as it was taken out. After a little while, as you begin to +weary, one of the individuals on the platform leaves it. He wears a +black gown and bands, he ascends the pulpit and preaches with his hat on; +that is the Rev. Mr. Marks. He is thought much of by the younger and +more educated Jews. As a preacher, much is to be said in his favour: he +is short, he delivers himself well, his style of address is popular, and +he gives many an Old Testament lesson. He demands of Abraham’s +descendants Abraham’s faith in God, and obedience to Him. The Christian, +of course, misses much. We worship a Messiah who has come; the Jews +still, with sad and weary eyes, look onward, waiting His advent. +Wherever civilization and science go hand in hand, wherever humanity +reaps “the long results of time,” whether in the old world or the new, +wherever the great Caucasian race multiplies and nourishes, there, more +or less, is there a living faith in the mission of Christ as a Divine +teacher, as the comforter of human sorrow, as the healer of human woe, as +the model for all to follow who aspire upwards to heaven and to God. In +Europe there are 280 millions of Christians, and but very few of Jews. +Everywhere they are an immense minority. + + “The cedars wave on Lebanon, + But Judah’s statelier maids are gone.” + +The Jews are not a proselyting people, but they are becoming increasingly +anxious that the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob should not forsake the +God of their fathers; and about thirty years ago certain of the London +Jews agitated for a reformed mode of worship, as they deemed, more in +accordance with the circumstances of their brethren in this age and +clime. They argued that there is much that is local in the Jewish +ritual, and much that is inapplicable now; that the people in consequence +would fall away unless a reformed mode of worship was introduced. I do +not think the Reformers have made as much progress as they anticipated, +though to a stranger they certainly appear to have not merely modified, +but improved the service. The Prayer-book was carefully revised, an +improved ritual was drawn up by blending the beautiful portions of the +Portuguese and German Liturgies, a choir was formed for the purpose of +inspiring devotional feeling by means of solemn song. In the old +orthodox synagogues the custom of calling up persons to read the law for +the sake of presenting their offerings during divine service, often +interferes with the edification of the assembly, according to the Jewish +reformers, and this also they omit. Furthermore, they decline to +recognise as sacred, days which are evidently not ordained as such in +Scripture. It must be remembered the Jew of the Restoration is much more +of a formalist than the Jew of David’s and Solomon’s time, that the +rabbis returned after the captivity laden with Babylonian learning, and +that a new school arose. In his sermon on the opening of his new place +of worship in 1842, Mr. Marks said, on behalf of himself and people, “We +must as our conviction urges us solemnly deny that a belief in the +_divinity_ of the traditions contained in the Mishna and the Jerusalem +Talmuds is of equal obligation to the Israelite with the faith in the +divinity of the law of Moses. We know that these books are human +compositions, and though we are content to accept with reverence from our +past Biblical ancestors advice and instruction, we cannot unconditionally +accept their laws.” “On all hands,” continued Mr. Marks, “it is conceded +that an absolute necessity exists for the modification of our worship, +but no sooner is any important improvement proposed than we are assured +of the sad fact that there is not at present any authority competent to +judge in such matters for the whole house of Israel. Now, admitting this +as a truth (since the extinction of the right of ordination has rendered +impossible the convocation of a Sanhedrim, whose authority shall extend +over all Jewish congregations), does it not follow as a necessity that +every Hebrew congregation must be authorized to take such measures as +shall bring the divine service into consonance with the will of the +Almighty, as explained to us in the law and the prophets?” To the force +of this reasoning the Jews as a body remain impervious, and though time +has mitigated the angry feeling which the Reformers created, as Reformers +always do, and no longer do the chief men of the orthodox Jews issue +warnings against the Reformers, who from the first professed their love +to the old synagogues and their desire to continue connected with them in +works of charity, yet the new community is by no means cordially received +and sanctioned by the old. Nor can we expect it to be otherwise. The +more men have in common, the smaller is the difference between them, the +more, often, is the ill-will with which they regard each other. The eye +of the true theologian is of a wonderfully magnifying character. As he +looks, a little rivulet expands into an impassable gulf, and a molehill +becomes a mountain. What bitter things have been said, what fierce +passions have been aroused, what martyrs have had to die and survivors to +weep, because of what seemed to cool observers trifles light as air! + +Yet, after all, there is a danger. If rationalist principles prevail, +and the Old Testament be a series of myths or allegories, why still +retain the ritualist law in all its strictness? and if that goes the +whole system goes. Pious Jews find all society against them; its spirit, +its customs, its literature, all hostile, if not to their nation, at any +rate to their faith. In too many cases they perceive that those who +forsake the religion of their forefathers are but little the better for +doing so. They find that those who begin by laughing at rabbinical +absurdities end by despising the Word of God. A Hebrew infidel, an +infidel among the Israelites, to whom pertaineth the adoption and the +glory and the covenants, writes a Jewish author already quoted, “is +indeed a frightful and portentous phenomenon,” and thus the more +sensitive and conservative amongst them shrink from in any way modifying +their ritual in accordance with what is termed the spirit of the age. +Christians have no idea of the earnestness of spirit, of the striving +after conformity to the law of God, of the devout Jew, or of the great +and grand truths which he extracts from observances or forms in which +they can see no meaning. The Jew is fond of pleasure, fond of show, fond +of jewellery and gorgeous dress, and on his Sabbath rarely exhibits a +very devout appearance; nevertheless his religion requires daily +observances from his birth upwards, which can only be carried out by +means of a living faith. In the first place his religion is an expensive +one, and he must pay in various ways very heavily for its support. It is +true many of the observances required have become obsolete, but on the +Sabbath he has much to go through at home, as well as to attend at the +synagogue and to abstain from all worldly occupations. After the third +day of the month every strict Jew either alone or with a number of his +co-religionists must make the salutation of the moon. Then every month +has certain days to be kept, especially in October, their new year, on +the first and second days. It is believed that the destiny of every +individual is determined on this month by the Creator Himself; that those +whose demerits preponderate are sealed to death, those whose merits +preponderate to life, and those whose merits and demerits are equal are +delayed until the day of atonement. The first ten days of their new year +are ten days of repentance, during which the Israelites are to repent and +confess their sins, pray to the Almighty to write them down in the book +of life, and grant them a happy new year. On the seventh day every one +has a branch of willow procured under the superintendence of the officers +of the synagogue, and all repair there with branches in their hands. The +last of these days is the Day of Atonement, and is religiously kept by +every Jew. On the 15th is the Feast of Tabernacles, on which the Jews +are expected to live in booths, but in this country the rule is not +strictly observed. In April is the most important of all the +festivals—that of the Passover and of unleavened bread, when the doors of +the house are left open for all, even the very poorest of the poor. In +June is held the feast of Pentecost, to commemorate the giving of the +law. The synagogues on that occasion are decorated with flowers, and in +their houses the tables and floors are also dressed with flowers, sweet +briar, and other fragrant herbs. A conscientious Jew must have a life of +intense labour and self-denial, nor can he evade his duties nor impose +them on another. How welcome to them of old must have been the Master’s +kindly words, “Come unto Me all ye that are weary and heavy-laden, and I +will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me, and ye shall +find peace unto your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” +To appreciate these words aright you must fancy yourself a Jew, weighed +down to the earth by the daily routine of painful ceremonial and the +rigid requirements of inelastic law. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. +THE GREEK CHURCH. + + +In the dark ages of Christianity, when the zeal and purity of the early +professors and martyrs of the new creed had died away; when Constantine, +anxious to fix his throne on a permanent basis, entered into an alliance +with priests and bishops, not satisfied with the humble position assigned +them in the Church, only by courtesy at that time to be called +Apostolical; there was a revival of an old abuse, or rather, of a Pagan +principle—the alliance of Church and State. Dr. Arnold, the truest +Churchman in modern times, believed that the national conversions to +Christianity, which then became the fashion, were productive of immense +evil. This is the opinion long held by Dissenters, and latterly by an +increasing number of independent inquirers. If so, Constantine was an +arch-heretic; for surely, when Christ had taught that His kingdom was not +of this world, it was heresy to disbelieve it, and, in the very teeth of +such a declaration, to introduce an ecclesiastical system founded upon +compulsion, ignoring altogether the Divine power of Christianity, and +assuming that it could only be maintained by the sword and pay of the +State. + +Constantine’s empire has vanished, but his Church remains; and it speaks +to us, as Dean Stanley says, in the only living voice which has come down +to us from the Apostolic Church: the State Churches of Europe, including +even the pretentious one at Rome, are but its children. It is the +pattern and model for them all. Greek was the original tongue of the +early Christians. It was at Antioch, a Greek city, the birthplace of +Ignatius, of Chrysostom, of John of Damascus, that they were first called +by the name which now denotes the noblest form of human development. In +the Old World or the New, the Councils to which Churchmen in all ages +have referred, as of equal, or almost of equal, authority with the Bible, +were Eastern. In them the Pope of Rome was considered but as a Bishop in +the midst of his equals. The great fathers of the Church wrote in Greek. +Dean Stanley says, the earliest fathers of the Western Church, Clemens, +Irenæus, Hermas, Hippolytus, did the same. St. Mark first preached his +Gospel at Alexandria. St. John established a school at Ephesus, and +Polycarp at Smyrna. The very word theology, as Dean Stanley remarks, +arose from the peculiar questions agitated in the East. If there be such +a thing as apostolical succession, the Greek Church has it. To this day, +the English Church owes much to the East; the direction for holding of +Easter is of Alexandrian origin, and on every Sunday, in the “Kyrie +Eleison,” the “Gloria in Excelsis,” in part of the “Te Deum,” and the +prayer of St. Chrysostom, English Churchmen borrow from the service of +the Church of Constantine. In Queen Elizabeth’s time it was enacted that +the Councils of Nicæa, Constantinople, Ephesus, and Chalcedon were +equally judges of heresy as the High Court of Parliament with the assent +of the English clergy in their Convocation. No wonder, in these days, +when Churchmen are prone to rely on Church claims rather than on Bible +teaching—when, of little faith, and timid as to the future, they trust +rather to hazy traditions than to living truths—no wonder the Greek +Church has become to them an object of special reverence; that they long +to form a union with it. Though proud of its superiority, it regards +them as little better than Roman Catholics—Roman Catholics as a Greek +once said to the writer, without the Pope. + +The oldest creed we have is Greek. The pious forgeries of our Church +historians are enough to make a candid inquirer a thorough sceptic as to +all they say; but we may still give some credit to Eusebius of Cæsarea, +the father of ecclesiastical history. He tells us he read his creed +before the Council of Nicæa. It was the same, he said, that he had +learnt in his childhood from his predecessors, during the time that he +was a catechumen, and at his baptism; and which he had taught for many +years as a presbyter and bishop. It had been approved of by the Emperor +Constantine, and would have been carried had not there appeared a +probability of its being accepted by Arius and his partisans—a +consummation which, in the opinion of the majority, would have had a +disastrous effect, would have promoted union, would have saved many from +the sin of schism, would have allowed the energies of the Church to have +been directed to the conversion of the world rather than to internal +squabbles, would have relieved Constantine from the stain and guilt and +shame of having recourse to the sword to repress religious opinion. The +Council of Nicæa cared for none of these things; all they wanted was +victory, and so the earliest Christian creed was rejected by the Church. +It was as follows:— + + “I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of all things, both + visible and invisible; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of God, + God of God, Light of Light, Life of Life, the only begotten Son, the + Firstborn of every creature, begotten of the Father before all + worlds, by whom also all things were made; Who, for our salvation, + was incarnate, and lived amongst men, and suffered and rose again on + the third day, and ascended to the Father; and shall come in glory to + judge the quick and the dead; and I believe in one Holy Ghost. + Believing each of them to be, and to have existed, the Father only, + only the Father and the Son, only the Son and the Holy Ghost, only + the Holy Ghost.” + +Instead of this, but on it, the Nicene Creed was framed, and this creed +is still the bond of union in all the Churches of the East. We have +corrupted it, and as Dean Stanley remarks, “every time we recite the +creed in its present altered form, we have departed from the intention of +the fathers of Nicæa, and incurred deprecation and excommunication at the +hands of the fathers of Ephesus.” In the heart of London the Greeks have +a place of worship. You feel interested as you enter. In the tongue in +which you hear the Gospel there read, the Gospel was first proclaimed. +Peter, Paul, John, spoke just such language as that you hear. Ever since +the Master left the earth has Sunday after Sunday, and year after year, +this Greek Church met in Syria in remembrance of Him. In many things the +Church of Constantine was less assuming than that of Henry VIII. and +Queen Elizabeth. Where in our Prayer-book we have, “I absolve thee,” the +Greeks say, “The Lord absolve thee.” Where the English Church says, +“Receive ye the Holy Ghost,” the Greek more humbly and Scripturally +offers up a prayer for the Divine blessing. In other ways also they +differ: they have no organs; the congregation stands all the time of +service; their baptism consists of three immersions, and laying on of +hands; they administer extreme unction, offer prayers for the dead, and +allow infant communion; they have no organized hierarchy; their clergy +are married, and their laity have a considerable amount of power. They +pride themselves on their orthodoxy, and are very bitter against the +doctrine of the double procession—that is, that the Holy Spirit proceeds +from the Father and the Son. + +And now let us go to London Wall, of which the Pope, or head, is the Rev. +Narcissus Morphinos, a gentleman really courteous and sincere, and +indefatigable in the performance of his sacred duties. Of all the +chapels in London, surely this in London Wall is the most unique. As we +enter we face a recess, before which lamps are burning; in that recess is +a crucifix with a lamp burning over it. In this recess is a door which +is partly open, and between the door and the crucifix officiates the +priest at a small table. He wears a very rich cassock, and occasionally +has on his head a primitive-looking sort of hat, without a brim, and very +big. I fancy there are no poor Greeks in London. On our right is a +recess, in which are ladies elegantly dressed. On our left is a pulpit +very rarely used, and a table at which two clerks are seated. They seem +to have the performance of the service very much to themselves. There is +a choir in one of the side galleries. In his recess, before the altar, +the priest is engaged in praying and taking the sacrament; but every now +and then he comes out. A side door opens, and a lad in a white surplice, +holding an enormous lighted taper, appears. Then the priest comes from +the altar, and stands on the steps. It may be to swing the censer, or to +bring out the Gospels bound in silver, which almost all present come +forward to kiss; or it may be, in the course of the service, some one +wishes to communicate. Then, while the clerks are reading, the doors of +the altar are opened, and the priest appears with a cup in his hand, +which the communicant comes forward to receive. (The cup, it must be +observed, contains bread and wine.) Again the priest comes forward with +the crucifix, to which all bow; and last of all he comes forward and says +a few simple words of edification to his faithful flock, in number, I +should fancy, from two to three hundred. And this reminds us we have not +yet stated where they are. Well, they are exactly opposite the altar, +before which there is a vacant space well carpeted, and into which, on +one or two occasions in the course of the service, the priest descends. +The seats are beautifully carved, and are something like those in our +cathedral stalls. Each worshipper is well fenced in by himself; and, as +he stands all the time, he will find the sides very convenient for +resting his arms on. Each seat is beautifully finished, as the reader +can well imagine when he is told that the carving of each seat cost about +eight pounds about fifteen years ago, when the chapel was first opened. +There are no sittings appropriated to particular individuals, any person +coming takes the first he finds vacant. All expenses are paid by the +men, chiefly merchants in Finsbury Square, who subscribe on an average +for the cost of the service about twenty-five pounds a year. Two +gentlemen contributed eighty, and one as much as two hundred pounds, a +year. The annual income of the church is stated to be 1660_l._, and of +this 50_l._ or 60_l._ has to be paid to an English church over the way—a +grievance which the Greeks, as well they may, feel deeply. There is +another Greek church in London, that of the Russian Embassy,—that of +course being much smaller. It cannot, I should fancy, surpass in +neatness and finish this in London Wall. The Greek Church, Dean Stanley +tells us, has always been unfriendly to the arts. You would not think +so; the building seems just what it should be—handsome, ecclesiastical in +appearance, and yet plain. On the screen, behind which is the altar, are +paintings of the “Last Supper,” “The Virgin and her Child,” and a few +others, intended to denote to the eye of the worshipper the great fact +the worship has to commemorate. Pictures are used but as symbols, as +even words themselves are, of ideas needed for human salvation. + +The Greek Church protests against anything in the way of doctrine not +found in the Bible. Surely it cannot claim the same sanction for its +rites and ceremonies. As each worshipper entered he made the sign of the +cross on his forehead and his shoulders and breast. This ceremony was +repeated several times in the course of the service, the priest on more +than one occasion doing the same; indeed, this seems to be the only way +in which the laity join in the service. They utter no responses, they +declare with one voice no creed, they raise no sacred chant or song; +otherwise, they stand as it were motionless and apart; everything is done +for them by the officiating priest. He comes between them and God. They +speak through him and by him; without him they cannot worship the Father +in heaven. Such is the theory of worship current in the Greek Church. +Thus was it when the Imperial purple was worn by Constantine fifteen +hundred years ago; thus it is in the reign of Queen Victoria, thus it +will be, we may predict, for the Greek Church is jealous of every iota of +its creed, _in secula seculorum_. + +Well does a living writer remark, “Such as the Greek Church became on the +extinction of Paganism, such, or nearly such, she seems to be now. Her +missionary work has been narrow, her moral influence and control at home +small, and though she has preserved a rigid continuity of doctrinal form, +the principle of an ever-expanding and all-absorbing vitality has been +wanting; in great cities her prelates have too frequently been the slaves +of wealth and power, of courtly intrigue and political faction; in the +desert her monks have become dreamy and unpractical anchorites. No lands +reclaimed, no centres of agriculture and civilization created, no +literature preserved, no schools founded, no human beings raised to a +higher sphere of social action and duty, are to be set down to the +account of the Greek Church. She is a fragment of old Byzantine +civilization, as rigid and angular as the mosaics that still adorn and +seem to frown down from the walls of her churches.” + + + + +CHAPTER V. +THE ROMAN CATHOLICS. + + +If we may quote the Eastern Church, the Roman Catholic Church is the +greatest heresy of modern times. In the Encyclic Epistle of the Eastern +Patriarchs, the Papal system is referred to as “the chief heresy of the +latter days, which flourishes now, as its predecessor, Arianism, +flourished before it in the earlier ages, and which, like Arianism, shall +in like manner be cast down and vanish away.” “I die in the faith of the +Catholic Church before the disunion of East and West,” were the last +words of Bishop Ken. Under the Stuarts, in solemn conclave the Anglicans +accused the Romanists of idolatry. In the opinion, then, of the oldest +Church, the only Church with an indisputable apostolical succession, and +in the opinion of some of England’s greatest Churchmen, the Church of +Rome is an heretical one. Such is the conclusion to which also we are +driven by the very slightest historical inquiry. Lady Herbert wonders +that an Anglican Churchman can go to Jerusalem and not become a Romanist. +Why, as the priest takes you from one sacred station to another, shows +you where the Saviour fainted beneath the load of the cross, where Saint +Veronica wiped His face with her handkerchief, where the print of the +Saviour’s foot yet remains,—when we all know that the Jerusalem of the +Saviour’s time is some eighty feet below the surface, and that all these +assertions are absolutely false, you feel indignant, and, if you have the +smallest iota of intellect left, after listening to the priestly legends, +return a considerably sounder Protestant than you went. In like manner, +history leads you to a similar conclusion as to the Roman Church. +History, with an impartial pen, tells us how the Roman heresy sprang up, +and grew, and reigned in every land. History robs Romanism of all its +terror and of all its power. We see it, with plain, unblinded eyes, to +be a heresy gradually enlarging its claims in accordance with the +increasing ambition of its prelates, and the increasing credulity of its +devotees. Gradually, as the memory of apostolic teaching and preaching +passed away, the Church of Rome, after the fall of Jerusalem, continued +to advance among the western Churches certain vague assertions of +authority. In proportion as its clergy asserted their claims, other +changes of an unscriptural character were made. First of all, the +doctrine of baptismal regeneration was asserted; then a mysterious +veneration began to attach itself to the celebration of the Lord’s +Supper; the sign of the cross was held to be vital to the expulsion of +the devil; and prayers for the dead became common. A great step was +gained when the doctrine of the celibacy of the clergy was enforced; when +Gregory the Great, as the Romanists may well call him, inculcated +purgatory, and pilgrimage to holy places; instituted the Canon of the +Mass, and added splendour to the ceremonies of the Church, and claimed +the power of the keys for the successors of St. Peter. On the foundation +thus raised it was easy to base the most astounding claims; whether you +are asked to believe that the Church of Loretto flew through the air from +Syria to Italy, or, as in our time, the liquefaction of the blood of St. +Januarius, and the immaculate conception of the Virgin. After a certain +point gained, the rest is sure to follow. Give up the Bible, believe in +the priest, and the Roman heresy is the natural result. + +In the Catholic Directory I find the statistics of Romanism as it exists +in London. The province of Westminster, established by his Holiness Pope +Pius IX. (Bishop of Rome, Vicar of Jesus Christ, Successor of the Prince +of the Apostles, Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church,—such are a few +of the titles he assumes), Sept. 29,1850, comprises the diocese of +Westminster, with twelve suffragan dioceses. Westminster comprises +Essex, Hertfordshire, and Middlesex, with, for Archbishop and +Metropolitan, the Rev. Edward Henry Manning, elected and consecrated in +1865. In London also there is another Church dignitary, the Rev. Thomas +Grant, Bishop of Southwark, elected and consecrated in 1851. The patron +saints of the diocese of Westminster are “our blessed Lady, conceived +without sin; St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles; St. Edward, King and +Confessor.” In addition to the Virgin in Southwark, the patron saints +are St. Thomas of Canterbury and St. Augustine. The ecclesiastical +statistics of Westminster diocese are, priests—secular, regular, +oratorians, oblates of St. Charles, and unattached, 221; public churches, +chapels, and stations, 123; and the average attendance at the four +schools of the diocese was, for 1866–67, 12,056. Of course this includes +more than the London district; but then in Southwark diocese I find St. +George’s Cathedral, and, besides, about thirty chapels or stations; and +of the 160 priests in the diocese, we may reasonably conclude that a +fourth are engaged in London and its suburbs. Last year thirty-eight +secular clergy were ordained for England. Of these, thirteen were for +the dioceses of Westminster and Southwark. + +A correspondent of the _Weekly Register_, writing to show the increase of +Catholicism in London during the last thirty years, points out that in +1839 there were in the metropolis and the suburbs the following Catholic +churches:—St. Mary’s, Moorfields; St. Mary’s, Chelsea; the French Chapel, +King Street, Portman Square; the Chapel of the Benedictine Convent at +Hammersmith (now removed to Teignmouth, Devonshire); St. Mary’s, +Kensington; St. Anselm’s, Lincoln’s Inn Fields; St. Patrick’s, Soho; St. +Aloysius, Somers Town; St. James’s, Spanish Place, Manchester Square; and +the Assumption, Warwick Street, Golden Square; in all ten churches or +chapels. There are now, in addition to the above, St. Mary and the +Angels, Bayswater; the new church at Bow; the Oratory, Brompton; St. +Bridget, Baldwin’s Gardens; St. Joseph, Bunhill Row; the Servite Fathers, +Chelsea; St. Peter’s, Clerkenwell; SS. Mary and Michael, Commercial Road; +the Immaculate Conception, Farm Street; St. Thomas, Fulham; the German +Church, Whitechapel; the church built by Sir George Bowyer, in Great +Ormond Street; St. John the Baptist, Hackney; Holy Trinity, Brook Green; +Nazareth House, Hammersmith; the chapel at Hampstead; the Dominicans’ +Church, Haverstock Hill; the Passionist Church, Highgate; the +Augustinians’ Church, Hoxton; the Sacred Heart, Holloway; St. John the +Evangelist, Islington; the Italian Church, Hatton Wall; the Carmelite +Church, Kensington; the church in Kentish Town; the church at Kilburn; +Our Lady and St. Joseph, Kingsland; the new French Church, Leicester +Square; the Rosary, Marylebone Road; St. Francis, Notting Hill; St. +Charles, Ogle Street; the Polish Chapel, Gower Street; St. Mary’s, +Poplar; the Holy Family, Saffron Hill; St. Anne’s, Spitalfields; Our +Lady’s, St John’s Wood; St. Vincent de Paul, Stratford; the English +Martyrs, Tower Hill; Our Lady of Grace, Turnham Green; St. Mary’s, +Horseferry Road, Westminster; and SS. Peter and Edward, Palace Street, +Westminster—in all forty churches or chapels in thirty years (without +counting many private chapels or convents, &c.), or fifty chapels, where +thirty years ago there were but ten. And it should be borne in mind that +of the new churches many, such as the Oratory, Commercial Road, Farm +Street, Islington, the Italian Church, Bayswater, Brook Green, St. John’s +Wood, and others, are of a size and beauty which thirty years ago would +have been deemed a folly even to hope for. There are now as many masses +said at the Oratory, Bayswater, and Farm Street, as thirty years ago +there were in all the chapels in London, so great has been the increase +of priests in London since 1839. On the south side of the water, in the +diocese of Southwark, the change for the better is even more manifest +than in that of Westminster; but, the congregation being poorer, the +churches are also smaller. In what is now the diocese of Westminster, +there were, in 1839 (writes the same correspondent), about seventy +priests, and of these but two were regulars—Jesuits—who lived almost as +private individuals in the Marylebone Road. There are now a hundred and +thirty secular priests—fifteen Oratorians, sixteen Oblates of St. +Charles, sixteen Jesuits, ten Marist Fathers, seven Oblates of Mary, six +Carmelites, six Dominican Fathers (besides as many more not yet +ordained), six Passionists (in addition to ten or twelve not yet +ordained), five Servite Fathers, five Fathers of the Society of Missions +(Italians), five Augustinians, two Franciscans, and three Fathers of +Charity—in all, between regulars, seculars, and priests not attached to +any particular mission, there are two hundred and forty-one priests in +this diocese. Of convents for women there were in 1839 two within what +is now the diocese of Westminster; there are at present thirty-eight. + +In calculating the amount of Roman Catholic influence and activity, we +must remember that in their churches and chapels service is always being +performed; and that thus one Romanist place of worship for all practical +purposes may often be considered as equivalent to a dozen Protestant +places, especially where the incumbents are of the class of old-fashioned +clergymen who have a relish for port and what used to be considered a +gentlemanly religion. For instance, let us see what is the round of +services at the cathedral, Blomfield Street, Moorfields. On Sundays and +holidays there is mass at seven, eight, nine, ten, and high mass at +eleven. At three there is catechism, at four baptism, and on Wednesdays +and Fridays at eleven A.M.; vespers, sermon, and benediction at seven. +On week-days mass is performed at half-past seven, eight, and ten. On +Thursday, rosary, sermon, and benediction at eight; on the other evenings +of the week rosary and night prayers at that hour. On the first Friday +of the month there is sermon and benediction in honour of the Sacred +Heart; on the second Friday of the month the Way of the Cross. There are +the confessions, sometimes twice a day; and the Confraternities of the +Blessed Sacrament, of the Sacred Heart, of Holy Angels for Children. +Then there are the Societies, such as the Holy Family Total Abstinence +Society, Holy Family Provident Society, Benevolent Society for the Relief +of the Aged and Infirm Poor, and the Night Refuge for Homeless Women of +Good Character. Nor is this the only way in which Roman Catholic +influence is felt in this district. On good works the Roman Church has +ever laid great stress, and thus we find from the centre in Blomfield +Street the priests have specially assigned to them Newgate Prison, Old +Bailey; Debtors’ Prison, Lower Whitecross Street; St. Bartholomew’s +Hospital, Metropolitan Free Hospital, Royal London Ophthalmic +Hospital,—an amount of exertion incompatible with spiritual ease and +worldly enjoyment. I mention this to show that you are not to judge by +what you see; attendance at any particular time is no criterion as to the +state of the Catholic community. You may depend upon it that it is +always much stronger than it seems. Those present are but a tithe of the +Romanists in any particular locality, and the admirable organization of +their priests peculiarly fits them for aggressive purposes. I believe +they are most successful in the low neighbourhoods, in the guilt gardens, +in which a great metropolis like ours abounds. Their charities in London +are very extensive. There is a Catholic Poor School Committee, a +Westminster Diocesan Education Fund, an Aged Poor Society, an Association +for the Propagation of the Faith, a Society of St. Anselm, for the +Diffusion of Good Books. The Associated Catholic Charities, for +educating and apprenticing the children of poor Catholics, have six +schools in London. The Immaculate Conception Charity assists the clergy +in providing for children whose faith or morals are exposed to imminent +danger through the death or helplessness of their parents. The Society +of St. Vincent de Paul, whose chief object is visiting poor families at +their own homes, has sixteen branches in London, besides a large +Orphanage, at this time containing eighty boys, and a Catholic Shoeblack +Brigade. The Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul have an +establishment in Westminster. The oldest Roman Catholic charitable +institution is the Benevolent Society for the Relief of the Aged and +Infirm Poor, founded in the year 1761. During the six winters the +Providence Row Night Refuge for Homeless Women and Children has been in +existence, 92,194 nights’ lodgings, with suppers and breakfasts, have +been given gratuitously. The only condition requisite for admission is +that the applicant be homeless and without food and money. Such are the +charities in London of the Roman Church. + +As regards the pulpit, the Romanists are not wise in their generation. +In London, where oratory can do so much, they fail to provide themselves +with a grand and effective preacher. They have no Father Hyacinthe in +London. Surely Italy might have sent us a Roman Catholic Gavazzi. +Ireland supplies us with orators in abundance, but where are her eloquent +priests? Cardinal Wiseman was florid and heavy. Archbishop Manning is +more than sixty years old; and oratory, unlike wine, does not improve +with age. His position, his talents, his zeal, incline you to hear him +with respect, nothing more. As I have listened in some of the fine old +cathedrals of the Continent to fiery priests, thundering away to crowded +and attentive audiences, it has often occurred to me that it is just as +well we have no such preachers in London to bring the Roman Catholic +Church into fashion; to make it the sensation of the hour; to do for it +what Irving did for Presbyterianism when he drew around him to the Scotch +Church in Hatton Garden all the beauty, the fashion, the genius, the +intellect of his day. + +The ordinary public service of a Roman Catholic Church requires little +description; nor do you see it here as you do, for instance, in the +magnificent cathedral of Antwerp, where, in the dim dusk of an autumn +eve, while a flood of music floats down from the choir, and the gorgeous +priests, with tapers and incense and costly banners, are sweeping, dimly +seen, along the fretted aisles, the writer has often felt there is a +strange, weird effect produced, which, here you can never dream of. All +is poor, something like a theatre by daylight, or a fancy ball when the +delusions of gas have been dispelled by the too candid and impartial rays +of the sun. There are the tapers and the usual processions, the +vestments of various colours, and the music ever flowing, while at the +altar end the priests are bowing and kneeling and scattering incense, and +performing the service of the mass. If you have to listen to a sermon, +it will not be a long one; and if you be a Protestant, it will strike you +as verbose in style and un-English in tone. Nearest to the altar will be +the upper ten thousand, who come in broughams, and have fashionable +aspirations. At the other end will be the very poor, such poor as you +see nowhere else, scarcely educated enough to count, as they do on their +knees, their beads, and certainly not competent to intelligent +appreciation of the service. Of course the people kneel to the altar and +cross themselves as they come in, and join in the worship with an +appearance of piety (I mean the elder ones—young ladies who have eyes +will use them, whether they be saints or sinners), which is pretty well +for such an undemonstrative people as ourselves, but is nothing to that +of the Moslem, who plumps on his knees, regardless of all, exclaiming +_Allah hû akbar_! as the Muezzin calls to prayer. + +On the Continent it fares ill with the Papacy. In France—in Italy—in +Austria—even in Spain it has lost its power. Its chief strength at this +time seems to consist in the sayings and doings of an increasing section +of the Church of England. It appears there is a society actually in +existence to form a union with Rome, and Mr. Malet, the Vicar of Ardley, +in Hertfordshire, was lately sent on such a mission. As to the idea of +Christian union no one can find fault with that. It is lamentable that +the Christian Church should be divided into sections that turn against +each other the energies that should be devoted to the destruction of a +common foe. That all should be brethren in Christ who believe in Him and +lead a Christian life, is manifest, the common reader will say, in his +desire after Christian unity. Mr. Malet comes then, of course, to all +Christians, of whatever sect or denomination, and holds out to them the +hand of fellowship? Alas! no; he does nothing of the kind. First of all +he tells us he will not call himself a Protestant, then he dresses +himself like a monk, and has his friends to call him “Brother Michael.” +He then gets letters from the Archbishop of Canterbury and Dr. Manning, +and goes to Rome humbly to ask the Pope to recognise the Church of +England. Of course, at Rome, he is favourably received, and is delighted +with all he saw, and seems to have swallowed all he heard, not even +excepting the most monstrous fable or the absurdest legend. From Rome +Brother Michael finds his way to Jerusalem—that Jerusalem that crucified +the Lord of life, that stoned the prophets, that persecuted and slew the +teachers and apostles and converts of early times—that Jerusalem where +there is more downright lying in the name of God, and under the plea of +religion, if it be possible, than in Rome itself—that Jerusalem where the +rival monks to-morrow would cut each others’ throats if the Turkish +soldiers did not keep them quiet;—and then to the Greeks and Roman monks +he offers a similar request; and “the aged pilgrim,” as he terms himself, +returns delighted, believing that the Church of England will be permitted +to join with the Pope in asserting all the frauds of the Papacy, and with +the Greeks in celebrating that pious fiction of the holy fire once a year +in Jerusalem. “The aged pilgrim” sees many favourable signs in this +country. One is the reprint of Edward VI.’s Prayer-book for twopence; +and another the fact that incense may be bought in many shops at the West +End, and that half a pound lasts a long time. Now what must the +cultivated, intellectual, and sceptical spirits of the age think of a man +holding such opinions? What must be the effect of his teaching on such +men, but to estrange them more and more from the Church and its +institutions? Brother Michael falsifies history as much as he does +religion. Actually he tells us there would have been no vice and crime +in the country, no godless education, no pauper Bastilles, if Henry VIII. +had not put down the _Holy Brotherhood_. Of course he means by the “holy +brotherhood” the lazy and dissolute monks. Why, if we were to sully our +pages with but a tithe of the abominations and obscenities and +rascalities recorded of the “holy brotherhood” in indisputable historical +documents, every father of a family would hide away this volume. The +less Brother Michael says about “the holy brotherhood” the better. + +Again, let us take another illustration of High Church literature: +“Innovations: a lecture delivered in the Assembly Rooms, Liverpool, by +Richard Frederick Littledale, Priest of the Church of England.” The aim +of Dr. Littledale is to show that prayers for the dead, the choral +service, the sign of the cross, the weekly offertory, the daily +celebration of Holy Communion, the elevation of the Host, turning to the +east, the division of the sexes in churches, the mixed chalice, incense, +vestments, and lights are _not_ innovations. He knows so little of +history that he tells us that the conversion of our forefathers is due to +Gregory the Great (the man under whom Popery was introduced into +England); calls Edward VI. “_a tiger cub_,” and speaks of Cranmer, the +martyr for his religion, as having “_been arrested in his wicked career +by Divine vengeance_.” He says, “of the depth of infamy into which this +man descended” he has not leisure to speak; and all the Reformers, +according to him, were equally bad. Dr. Littledale says, “Documents, +hidden from the public eye for centuries, in the archives of London, +Venice, and Simancas, are now rapidly being printed, and _every fresh +find establishes more clearly the utter scoundrelism of the Reformers_.” + +The Doctor admits the Church of England was in need of a physician in +Henry VIII.’s time. His language is, “A Church which could produce in +its highest lay and clerical ranks such a set of miscreants as the +leading English and Scottish Reformers must have been in a perfectly +rotten state—as rotten as France was when the righteous judgment of the +Great Revolution fell upon it.” The Rev. Thomas W. Mossman, West +Torrington Vicarage, Wragley, Yorkshire, goes further still. In a letter +to Dr. Newman, he says he believes that a time will come to pass that +Anglicans will also see that it is God’s will that they should submit to +the Holy Apostolic See, and that it is their duty as well as their +privilege to be in communion with that Bishop who alone is the true +successor to St. Peter, and by Divine Providence the Primate of the +Catholic Church. He speaks of the “lurid murky flame of Protestantism +enkindled in the sixteenth century;” and hail the light “once more +beginning to beam upon us from the Eternal City, where the Prince of the +Apostles and the Doctor of the Gentiles shed their blood.” When such are +the utterances of leading clergymen,—if the Church of England were Church +of the nation as it claims to be, the language of Dr. Manning would be +undeniably true. “Protestantism is dead in England. We may save the +time which controversy wastes, and instead of going out into the +battle-field, we may go into the harvest-field to reap and to bind and to +gather our sheaves into our garner.” + +Dissent, however, has not been taken into account. It is rarely a +Dissenter becomes a Roman Catholic. It is impossible, if he understands +his principles, that he should. To too many it is the Church of England +that leads to that of Rome. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. +THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. + + +The peculiarity of the Church of England, that by which it is +distinguished from orthodox Dissent, is the priestly character of its +claims, and its intolerance of other sects. + +The “Tracts for the Times” tell us “that the Bishop is Christ’s +representative, and the priests the Bishop’s, so that despising the +clergy is despising Christ.” “A person not commissioned may pretend to +give the Lord’s Supper, but it can afford no comfort to any one to +receive it at his hands; and as for the person who takes it on himself +without a warrant to minister in holy things, he is all the while +treading in the steps of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. It is only having +received this commission that can give any security that the ministration +of the Word and the Sacraments shall be effectual to the saving of your +souls. The Dissenters have it not.” + +The Dean of Chichester writes—“Our ordinations descend in a direct +unbroken line from Peter and Paul. Unless Christ be spiritually present +with the ministers of religion in their services, those services must be +vain. But the only ministration to which He has promised his presence +are those of the Bishops, who are successors of the first commissioned +Apostles, and the other clergy acting under their sanction and +authority.” + +The Bishop of Winchester says—“We believe that we do possess, as we +cannot see that others do, Christ’s direct commission for our ministry, +and a certainty and fulness, therefore, of His presence and of His +Sacramental working, which, to say the least, may be lacking elsewhere. +If we do not hold as much as this we must dissent from the plain language +of our own Ordination Service.” The Bishop also denies that it is a +superstitious theory that “the clergy can convey to the soul by a +material intervention some spiritual influence in an occult manner.” + +The Rev. E. Blenkinson, in the “Church and the World,” a book presented +to Convocation by the Bishop of Oxford, says the Protestant bodies have +“cut themselves off from the participation of the one Spirit as living in +the Church and flowing through the Sacraments, which are the veins and +arteries of the body.” The last utterance on the subject is that of the +Bishop of Ely, who places the first and undisputed General Councils as of +equal authority with Scripture. The Catechism teaches Baptismal +Regeneration. The clergy also tell us that they are called by the Holy +Ghost, that the Bishop has conferred on them spiritual graces by the +laying on of hands. This is the theory of the Church of England. In +accordance with this in time past, it drove out the Evangelicals on +Bartholomew Day, and has at any rate till our time prosecuted Broad +Churchmen for heresy. + +The bitterest opponents of this theory are the Evangelicals. It is a +singular and noteworthy fact, that the theology dearest to the hearts of +the people is that which teaches in the plainest manner the literal +inspiration of the Bible, the doctrine of Original Sin, of +Predestination, of everlasting damnation, of a Devil ever thwarting the +designs of a benevolent Deity, and seeking whom he may devour. Yet the +character given by Dr. Arnold of the Evangelical clergy is still true, +and accounts for the little influence they have in educated circles. +Another fact also becomes increasingly prominent: their readiness to +swallow their words, to quietly accept whatever may be offered them by +their opponents apparently merely for the sake of position in society. +Every now and then a crisis occurs in the history of the Church. If +Baptismal Regeneration, for instance, be ruled to be permissible they +must leave, and then when the time comes for them to arise and become +martyrs, they quietly pocket their principles and remain. Of course they +plead their greater opportunities of usefulness, as if religion were +better served by dishonesty than by honesty,—as if the cause of God were +better advanced by falsehood than by truth,—as if position as regards +society were of more importance than the man’s consciousness of +independence and honourable life. For the ritualist or the Broad +Churchman it is no difficult matter to remain in the church in company +with the Evangelical; but they, in accordance with his theory, are +teaching soul-destroying errors; yet he remains with them, and is, +according to his idea, a partaker in their sins. + +The characteristic of our day is the Broad Churchmanship, which rejects +the common theology as a prejudice well fitted for certain times, but +unworthy of credence now. Of this party are the ablest men in the +Church; all who are disgusted with the childishness of ritualism—with the +narrowness of orthodox formulas, turn to them, and hail them as the +regenerators of Church and State. Such men as Dean Stanley and Mr. +Maurice are a power in the land. They walk hand in hand with the poets +and men of science of our time. In their teaching is gathered together +much that is best and truest in the wisdom of the past. The difficulty +of their position is that they are tied down as strongly as they can be +to orthodoxy, and half their strength is wasted in the effort to show +they have a right to be where they are. Nevertheless it is quite true +that there can be no honest faith without honest doubt; that we fight our +fears and gather strength; that as we know more, we feel how outworn is +the old creed of Christendom. Sir J. D. Coleridge tells us the Articles +are Articles of peace—that is, for the sake of uniformity a minister may +make statements which he cannot believe. But a man who cannot trifle +with words is denied all this liberty; he is tied hand and foot. The +State gives him moral prestige, supremacy, wealth, on certain conditions. +The Dissenter is free; the wildest ranter has a liberty which an +Archbishop may sigh for in vain. Such is the law. A State Church such +as is desired by Broad Churchmen is an impossibility. And yet in spite +of the rival and differing parties in the Church, and in spite of the +fact that Churchmen themselves are longing to be free of the fetters of +the State, I know not that the Church of England, as regards London, was +ever stronger than now. The layman has little sympathy with Church +squabbles: he goes to church feeling that in doing so he is not committed +to any form of belief or worship. Dissent requires some sort of faith as +preliminary to fellowship. In the Church you avoid all this: the +Puseyism of the pulpit seldom extends to the pew. Then, again, there is +a natural yearning in all minds after national union in religious as well +as political matters. The higher class of Dissenters display this +feeling in an extraordinary degree. Their chapels are built like +churches—they cling to the steeple which the stern old Puritans +considered an abomination—the meeting-house has ceased to exist. Day by +day Dissent gets rid of all its characteristics—its ministers assume a +clerical appearance—they adopt the Prayer-book as their model—they now +listen to read sermons and read prayers. Of late years their leaders +have grown rich and respectable, and anxiously disclaim all connexion +with the loud and exciting form of worship that has attractions for the +ignorant. You may safely assume that the teaching of modern Dissent is +indirectly in favour of the Establishment. Dissenters tell us they have +modified their customs in order to retain their hold upon the young of +the wealthy classes. But they cannot be retained by means like these. +It has almost become a proverb, that in the third generation they will +pass through the chapel to the church. Half the great mercantile houses +of London and the empire were founded by Dissenters whose sons, as they +have grown rich and cultivated, feel more and more the awkward isolation +of Dissent. Increasingly this feeling is spreading among Dissenters, and +the Church, if it were wise—its history is a career of blunder upon +blunder—would have laid its plans to recover such. All the levers of +society have been at its disposal. The Establishment rolls in wealth; +there is no other Church in the world so wealthy; the aristocracy are +bound to support it. Literally, there is in our land no career for a +Dissenter. Dissent is a stigma in society. Even men who have no +religious predilections would scorn the name of Dissenter. The schools, +the universities—all have wealth and honour for those who will conform; +and for those who conscientiously refuse to do so—exclusion and disgrace. + +In London, within twelve miles of the Post-office, there are some seven +hundred churches and chapels connected with the Church, and about treble +that number of officiating clergy. At St. Paul’s it is estimated that on +special occasions as many as 7000 or 8000 persons take part in the +services. For the special evangelization of the metropolis there is what +is called the Bishop of London’s Fund. In the summer of last year the +Bishop of London stated that towards the sum proposed to be raised for +that purpose, 360,000_l._ had been subscribed. By means of that +subscription 200 clergymen have been added to the diocese, and +contributions made to the erection of 69 new churches and of 20 +parsonages. Sites also had been secured for 33 more churches, 27 +schools, 15 parsonages, and 4 mission stations. 15,000_l._ had been +expended for educational purposes; upwards of 9000_l._ for 53 Scripture +readers; about 2000_l._ for 27 parochial mission women, and 2670_l._ +towards the rent and expenses of mission rooms. It says something for +the Church that it has thus raised funds for such purposes. When Bishop +Blomfield appealed for 10 new churches for Bethnal Green, and raised +sufficient money both to build and to a great extent endow them, it was +feared that he had called forth such an expression of Christian +liberality as would exhaust the resources of wealthy Church people in the +great metropolis for many years to come. Since that time it is estimated +that 1,700,000_l._ have been expended in London on churches and +endowments. I am not aware that any other religious sect can say as +much. The _Times_ estimated that there are as many as 85 clerical +charities in London. + +In the City of London the Church does not seem to thrive. The _Church +Times_ published a kind of census of fourteen of the City churches drawn +up after personal inspection during service time not long ago. It gives +the value of the benefice, and the number of persons actually present +when the correspondent entered the church. + + Annual Value. No. Present. +St. Bartholomew the Great, £680 40 +Smithfield +St. Anne and Agnes, St. Anne’s 626 25 +Lane +St. Michael le Querne, Foster 300 closed +Lane +St. Mary Magdalene, Old Fish 230 18 +Street +St. Nicholas Cole Abbey 270 closed +St. Bennet’s, Paul’s Wharf 254 6 +St. Nicholas Queenhithe, 260 11 +Thames Street +Allhallows, Bread Street 382 3 +St. Martin Pomray, Old Jewry 410 1 +St. Margaret, Bread Street 287 3 +St. Peter le Poor, Old Broad 1725 20 +Street +St. Martin Outwich, 1100 6 +Bishopsgate Street +St. James, Mitre Square 300 20 +Allhallows with St. Bennet, 650 9 +Lombard Street + £7074 162 + +In the City there are 105 churches, parochial and district, and in the +City the superiority of the Church over Dissent is manifest. The Jews, +the Greeks, the Roman Catholics, the Wesleyans, the Baptists, the +Congregationalists, the Presbyterians altogether have but twenty-six +chapels in the City. + +From the beginning of the long reign of George III. to its close—that is +from 1760 to 1820—there were not six new churches erected in the +metropolis. + +When the Great Fire had devoured the eighty-nine parish churches of +London, Sir Christopher Wren superintended the building of fifty-three at +the same time that he was building St. Paul’s. Various Acts were passed +in the reign of Queen Anne and George I. to increase church accommodation +in London, and Commissioners were appointed to apply the coal duties from +the year 1716 to the year 1724, to the building of fifty-two new +churches. Much of the money was misappropriated and only eleven were +built, and a subsequent fund of 360,000_l._ was granted, to be paid in +instalments of 21,000_l._ a year. In 1818, Parliament was prevailed on +to vote a million and a half for building churches throughout the country +as a thank-offering for the termination of the war; and in the same year +the Incorporated Church Building Society was founded, to build, enlarge, +and repair churches; of which many, such as those in Bethnal Green, +Hackney, St. Pancras, Battersea, were in London. Daniel Wilson, Bishop +of Calcutta, persuaded the vestry of Islington to vote 12,000_l._ for +church building. In 1836 Bishop Blomfield inaugurated the Metropolis +Churches Fund, to which he himself gave up sinecure patronage at St. +Paul’s to the extent of 10,000_l._ a year. Sixty-eight churches were +built by this fund at the cost of 136,787_l._, before it was merged, in +1854, in the Diocesan Church Building Society. During the twenty-eight +years of his episcopate, Bishop Blomfield consecrated 108 churches in +London. The whole number of churches ten years ago, writes Mr. Bosanquet +in 1868, was only 498. Now Churchmen aim at absorbing the entire +metropolis. “But in order to secure for every 2000 of our population one +clergyman,” said the present Archbishop of Canterbury in 1867, “we shall +need twice as many additional clergymen as we have yet, with a +proportionate number of schools.” And here as elsewhere it seems to be +true that supply creates demand. As soon as a church is opened it is +well filled. + +The Bishop of Winchester’s Fund, also known as the South London Church +Extension Fund, is a similar effort to supply the spiritual need of that +part of London which belongs to the diocese of Winchester. + + + +THE DEAF AND DUMB AT CHURCH. + + +In London there are two thousand persons born deaf and dumb. To the +sweet music of speech, whether in the way of conversation or lecture, +grave or gay, or song however sacred and Divine, they are insensible. It +follows almost as a natural consequence that they are mute, that from +their lips can never come the thoughts that breathe and words that burn. +It is almost impossible for us to measure adequately the greatness of +their loss or the depth of their desolation. How in some degree to make +it up to them, to raise them in the scale of being, to teach them to +think, and feel, and learn, and to enable them to communicate to others +the results, is certainly not one of the least praiseworthy of the many +praiseworthy Christian efforts of our day. With this view two courses of +action have been followed. A Jewish school has been established at 44, +Burton Crescent, where the system of teaching by articulation and +lip-reading is pursued. For some time a similar system has been in +successful operation in Rotterdam. As to the merits of the system a warm +dispute has been for a considerable time in progress in America. Its +advocates tell us that when these results shall have been made known, and +the attention of the philanthropist and man of science shall have been +directed to them, the days of the old system of dactylology, or +communication by the aid of fingers, will be numbered. They ask, +triumphantly, What parents will be content that their children shall +continue to communicate their thoughts and wishes by the aid of signs, +when it can be proved to a demonstration that 999 deaf mutes out of every +1000 possess the faculty of speech, and that such faculty can be +successfully utilised? Mr. Isaac tells us, that at Burton Crescent, +after only eighteen months’ instruction, a deaf child who had never +previously uttered a clear sound, recited a verse of the National Anthem +in a way that brought tears into the eyes of many hearers. The questions +are put by the teacher in audible language; and the deaf mute, by aid of +lip-reading—another marvel of the system in which the eye does duty for +the ear—comprehends every question, and gives answers audibly and +distinctly. The Association in aid of the Deaf and Dumb, of which the +Rev. Samuel Smith is the able and indefatigable secretary, are, however, +doubtful of the new system—and certainly lip-reading seems liable to give +facilities for great misapprehension as to the speaker’s meaning—and +prefer to continue the system which the society was organized in 1840 to +teach, and under which it has worked more or less successfully ever +since. Under this system has sprung up a deaf and dumb church-going +public. On Sundays there are five or six places opened for such in +London; on Tuesday evenings there are two, the principal one being held +in the fine old church of St. Lawrence Jewry, near the Guildhall—one of +Sir Christopher Wren’s churches—in which are monuments to Wilkins, the +learned Bishop of Chester, and Archbishop Tillotson, whose lot was no +peaceful one, and of whom it is worthy of remark that in the language of +Jortin he broke through an ancient and fundamental rule of controversial +theology, “Allow not an adversary either to have common sense or common +honesty.” Poor Tillotson, you see, never got over the disadvantages of +Dissenting training. + +But to return to the deaf and dumb. Inside this handsome church you will +find any Tuesday evening about eight o’clock, some fifty or sixty of them +sitting near the reading desk. Most of them are men and women in a +humble position in life, engaged in various callings in the +neighbourhood, more, however, in the east than the west. The desire to +profit by such services seems on the increase. They have, for instance, +at St. Lawrence, double the number they had, and the same may be said +with regard to the services conducted morning and evening at the +Polytechnic Institution. Nor are these services held in vain. Every +year some are prepared for confirmation, and special celebrations of the +Holy Communion are held for their benefit. To the ordinary attendants, +including even such as have little need of an interpreter to explain the +subject or to help them to follow the services in church, the committee +report, “these services and lectures are profitable.” “I have felt it a +great privilege to attend the services,” said one, “which have been a +great comfort and benefit to me, and I hope I shall remember what I have +heard” (it is to be presumed, by “heard,” the writer means what he saw: +his language is conventional). “After I left school I felt so lost I +could not hear what was said in churches, and now I am very happy in +attending them.” In another way, also, the religious condition of these +afflicted ones is kept in view. The Society employs missionaries engaged +in house-to-house visitation. By these missionary agents, acting in +concert with the parochial clergy, a personal acquaintance is maintained +with the deaf and dumb scattered over London, and a most marked +improvement in their character, conduct, and intelligence is the result +of the supervision exercised. The society is also engaged in promoting +the erection of a church for the deaf and dumb. For this purpose 550_l._ +have already been subscribed. In the Old Kent Road there is a Deaf and +Dumb Asylum, and in other parts of the metropolis there are societies for +their special benefit. Of course no mere outsider can give an account of +a service with the deaf and dumb. It is easy to realize songs without +words, but not so easy to realize public prayer and preaching in which no +audible sound is heard, in which the service is conducted as it were by +pantomime. As much as possible the rubric is observed, the deaf and dumb +obey the instructions of the Prayer-book, and stand where standing is +prescribed, and “sign” the response to the Lord’s Prayer, Creed, +Confession, &c. As to the sermon, all that can be said is that it comes +up to the Demosthenic standard for eloquence—action, action, action. +Among the deaf and dumb the best preacher must be the best actor. Not +merely are the fingers in constant requisition, but every part of the +preacher’s face, as much as possible, is speaking all the time, either in +the way of exhortation or entreaty. Great use, as we may imagine, is +also made of the arms, and the body sways backward and forward as if to +lend expression to such ideas as it may be the design of the teacher to +convey. The great aim of these services is educational. They are +intended to afford such an insight into the meaning and use of the Book +of Prayer, that the deaf and dumb may be enabled to join intelligently in +the public worship of the Church of England, and undoubtedly it is +desirable that the terrible sense of isolation so natural under the +circumstances should be got rid of, that the deaf and dumb should feel +that they are part and parcel of the universal Church. Nevertheless +there must be a deaf and dumb pulpit from which may flow the ever +fructifying stream of Christian truth—a pulpit which the deaf and dumb +may feel exists especially for them. Of this pulpit at present the Rev. +Samuel Smith is the most distinguished orator, and as you watch him, +though you cannot understand him, you cannot but wonder at his marvellous +skill. Evidently his heart is in his work; equally evident is it that he +has to complain of no wandering eyes. Every hearer is intent, many seem +really devout and find the privilege one not lightly to be esteemed. The +deep strain of the organ is not there, you miss the song of praise, you +hear no penitential chant. From no living tongue falls the sweet promise +of salvation and eternal life, from those sealed and silent lips escapes +no audible prayer. Yet we know that + + “God reveals Himself in many ways,” + +and that He may be met with even among the deaf and dumb. + + + +A SUNDAY IN JAIL. + + +Most travellers by the Great Northern Railway must have been struck with +a feudal castle apparently, just what you might expect to see on the +Rhine, but certainly not such a building as you would look for in the +immediate vicinity of the Cattle Market and of Mr. Mark Wilks’s +overflowing congregation. As you approach it, all around you are genteel +villas and desirable residences; the neighbourhood has an air of comfort +and respectability; the inhabitants seem substantial and well to do—in +short, to belong to the upper strata of that middle class which in our +land, at any rate since the last of the Barons fell on Barnet Common, has +been a powerful influence for good in England and all over the world. +You would scarce fancy that feudal castle, with its “jutty, frieze, and +coigne of vantage,” was a jail, or that inside it there were shut up +between three and four hundred rogues and vagabonds, old and young, male +and female, who have outraged the laws of their country, and have been +sent there, if possible, to receive punishment for their offences, and to +learn to do better for the future. Yet such in reality is the case. You +are standing outside the City House of Correction, which was built some +few years ago at a cost of 100,000_l._ Into this place it is rare for +good characters to obtain an admission. They may knock at the door, but +it will not be opened unless they are furnished with an order from the +Secretary of State, or one of the visiting magistrates, who are aldermen +of London city. + +In this necessarily short paper it is not our intention to describe the +general arrangements of a place which we fear to too many of its inmates +can have but few terrors. There are homes outside of filth, and want, +and degradation; where, morning, noon, and night all that is decent, that +is tender, or true, or pure is crushed out of man, woman, and child; +where you can scarce believe man was made in the image of his Maker, that +he is a little lower than the angels; where you feel that rather than +have company with such you would associate with the beasts of the field, +or dwell in some lonely isle “far off amid the melancholy main.” To +such, such a place as Holloway, with its cleanliness, and fresh air, and +wholesome food, educational advantages, and considerate attendance, must +be simply—in spite of its drawbacks of the treadmill, &c.—a millennium; +and the question arises whether we have hit on the most effectual mode of +making the dread of jail an incentive to the criminal class to keep out. +Another question also suggests itself: Is it right thus to tenderly treat +dishonesty, when honest poverty in our midst undoubtedly fares so bad? +Here, however, that subject cannot be discussed, neither can we touch on +that other question, at this time strongly agitating the aldermanic mind, +as to the propriety of allowing prisoners to have a religion of their +own, and to be attended by their own religious ministers—a question the +majority of the court evidently think absurd, for, as Alderman Cotton +observed—and our readers must remember Alderman Cotton aspired to the +honour of a seat in Parliament,—“if every dissenting sect were to apply +for facilities for the celebration of their religious services, what +would become of them? They should have to give the Baptists a pool to +bathe in, the Mormons a harem, and the Shakers a circle in which they +might make their dance.” Of course, then, when I write of a Sunday in +Holloway jail, I write of a Sunday where the services—there are two, +morning and afternoon—are Protestant, and Protestant according to the +Church of England. As the worthy chaplain, the Rev. Mr. Owen, is now +about to preach, let us accompany him. We follow him up a flight of +stairs, and are at church and in jail. To most of us it is to be hoped +the sensation is a novel one. + +In a small gallery, under which is the clerk and in the middle of which +is the pulpit, we take our seat. The chaplain, of course, is seen by +all. A red curtain, which we are requested not to remove, hides us from +the congregation. However, we can see them nevertheless. On the right +of the preacher, partitioned off so as to be seen by none but himself, +are the women prisoners; on his left, in another recess, are the boys, +little lads for whose offences against society others and older ones are +certainly more responsible than themselves. Before us, in rows gradually +ascending, are ranged the male adults—pale, melancholy-looking men, who +form the principal portion of this sad community. While they are seating +themselves let us note the cheerful, neat appearance of the place. Not a +speck of dirt is anywhere visible. You might, to use a common but +expressive form of speech, eat your dinner off the floor. The wooden +ceiling is very light and airy; the windows are plain and plentiful; the +walls are bare, but of snowy whiteness. Underneath is the +communion-table, and once a quarter such as the chaplain considers truly +penitent are permitted to partake of it. Some dozen officials, in +uniform, on raised seats, are ranged in different parts of the chapel, +and when all have taken their places the service is commenced by singing, +in which generally the wife of the chaplain—a lady not unknown in the +literary world—assists by instrumental performance. This part of the +service is especially remarkable. The prisoners are fond of singing. +There is weekly a class for this purpose, and they enter into it with all +their heart and soul. Of course the tunes are very simple and +old-fashioned, such as we used to hear, but they are sung with a fervour +of which few outsiders can have an idea. One could not help thinking of +Longfellow’s lines: + + “Loud he sang the Psalms of David, + He a negro and enslaved.” + +The book used is the collection of Psalms and Hymns issued by the +Religious Tract Society, and those selected are chiefly of a penitential +and consolatory character. The soothing influence of this part of the +service is, according to the experience of the chaplain, very great +indeed. It was also very evident that the men took great pleasure in the +responses, and one could not but hope that it was not all assumed; that +when they confessed themselves “miserable sinners,” that when they +exclaimed, “We have followed too much the desires and devices of our own +hearts,” or that when after the chaplain read each one of the +Commandments they prayed, “Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our +hearts to keep this law”—that to some, at any rate, these words were full +of meaning, and did represent actual workings of the mind. In chanting +also they join, and the way in which they find out the proper places in +the Prayer-book, or in which they turn up the portions of Scripture read, +or find out the text, or repeat the Creed, is a model to others, and +gives an illustration of the existence of a very desirable influence +which the men appear to be under. It must be remembered that they are +there by themselves, that no external eyes are on them, that to many of +them the service is an unaccustomed novelty, and that to those to whom it +is not it affords a welcome relief after the monotony of the week. Be +this as it may, nowhere in London or the country, at home or abroad, have +I seen a quieter or better-behaved congregation. If you did not see the +prison garb, and the number on the arm, and the little brass plate on the +breast, you might fancy you were in the midst of an earnest Christian +people, who for purposes of their own excluded women, and babies, and old +men. The chaplain’s sermon generally occupies from fifteen to twenty +minutes, and is of a character adapted to his audience; yet I must +confess the attention paid to it was not equal to that which was shown in +the more active parts of the service. The pulpit has yet to learn to be +plain and practical; and chaplains, it is to be feared, with very +remarkable exceptions, are inclined to be conventional. Still, the +preacher did his best, was kind and simple, and when he speaks of such +topics as godly sorrow for sin, and of turning away from it to God, or of +the many ways in which men fall from rectitude, many evidently, +especially of the younger ones, seem desirous to understand and realize +it, and to lay hold of something spiritually soothing and appropriate. +In many faces was to be seen an expression of great earnestness, forming +a contrast to the unconcerned look of the indifferent. As the chaplain +visits them all the week, and reads prayers to them every day, his +influence must of course, whether in the pulpit or out, be great. Be +this as it may, to many it is manifest that to them has arisen unmixed +advantage from spending a Sunday in jail. + + + +HIGH CHURCH REVIVALISTS. + + +What is a mission? In a book of the mission edited by the Society of St. +John the Evangelist, at Cowley, Oxford, I read—1. It is a special call +from God. “Jonah preached a mission to Nineveh, and the whole city +repented and was saved. Lot preached one night to Sodom, but they would +not hearken, and were destroyed by fire.” 2. It is a time of special +grace. The men who have devoted twelve days to a mission in London have +taken a bold and brave step in connexion with the Church of England. As +much as Sodom or Nineveh, London, with its pauperism, and vice, and +crime; with its nobles stooping to the foul companionship of the jockey +and the courtesan; with its high-born daughters rushing to see _Formosa_ +at Drury Lane; with its merchant princes deeming it no disgrace to be +honest as the world goes, or as the times will allow—needs if it would be +saved from the fearful fate of Sodom, or the decline of Nineveh, that it +should be specially preached to and called on everywhere to repent. For +twelve days, then, some hundred churches have been open nearly all day +long, in addition to the Sunday services, which have been conducted as +usual. At All Saints, Margaret Street, for instance, the first service +began at a quarter to seven in the morning, and the last did not close +till past nine P.M. Church people are not partial to innovations. It +was only this week a lady was complaining to the writer that in the +parish in which she resided a week-evening service had been introduced. +As if two services on a Sunday were not quite enough. And truly, as +times go, she had reason to complain. Two such sermons as one generally +hears read in that lackadaisical, sing-song manner, which seems to be the +only thing clerical the raw curate picks up at Oxford or Cambridge, are +quite enough. If such were the preachers employed in the recent mission +(I see their number is set down at forty-eight), it must have proved a +failure. At All Saints, so far from the mission being a failure, it has +been, I should think, a success. I have always respected the Ritualistic +clergy; I have always given them credit for honestly attempting to +develope the Catholic element, of which there is a considerable leaven, +in the historical English Church; I have always felt that amongst them +rather than amongst popular evangelical preachers, whose favourite haunts +are the drawing-rooms of dowagers, or Broad Churchmen, the delight of +sceptical peers, are to be found the men most ready to take up the cross +and bear the yoke; but I had no idea they could preach, or if they did +that men of sense could listen. I have found out my mistake. I have +been one of the thousands who have listened to Mr. Body, of +Wolverhampton, and I never heard or saw within the walls of a church a +man so absorbed in his message, so carried away with its import, so +imbued with a sense of its Divine reality. I may also add that a more +awkward-looking, ill-favoured clergyman I never saw ascend the pulpit +stairs. + +But these people were all Ritualists—believers in form? Well, they are; +there was an exaggeration of form, I frankly admit; there was a great +deal more crossing the forehead and the breast than we English approve +of; there was far too much of appearance of devotion. A man may worship +God in a hearty, cheerful way as well as on his knees and with elongated +jaw. The preacher himself at times assumed an air of needless imbecility +as he stood with drooping head and with hands folded, as if engaged in +secret prayer; lank and pale, and with a sickly smile upon his face, as +was the manner of mediæval and pre-Raphaelite saints. And then of +course, like most of the services of all churches, of whatever +denomination, the harlot, and the publican, and the sinner to be called +to repentance, kept away. It is a sign of respectability to attend a +place of worship, and people who come to church in neat broughams, who +are partial to diamond studs, who wear brilliants on their fingers, are +eminently respectable; still there were poor sinners there, and the place +was full, and many were evidently deeply smitten, for the apostolic +fervour of the pulpit crept from row to row till the sinner and the +sceptic ceased to sneer, and all seemed mastered and subdued. Before the +service began half the audience seemed engaged in silent prayer, and at +the close that silent prayer was resumed. + +It is difficult to describe this new burning and shining light. A +_verbatim_ report of his sermon would convey no meaning. Who cares to +read the sermons of Whitefield or Wesley? I heard him twice. In the +afternoon he gave an address on the subject of prayer. There he stood in +the pulpit, without gown or surplice, dressed in plain black cloth, +mouthing and ranting apparently in the wildest manner, just as on the +boards of the theatre they love to represent a Chadband or a Stiggins. +His dark short hair was brushed right down to his eyes. The principal +feature was his enormous mouth, over which an unripe moustache seemed +struggling into life. One moment his face was brought down to a level +with the pulpit, the next it was shot forward almost into the faces of +the occupants of the nearest seats, and the next he seemed to spring on +his toes, with each arm extended over his head, and as far apart as +possible. In the same manner the tones of his address were +proportionately varied. One moment he spoke in a whisper, the next in a +quiet, conversational manner, the next there came a thundering blast as +if he sought to arouse the dead. Was this art, or was this passion? The +former, says the sceptic. The tragedian can mouth it just as grandly, on +the stage. But as the greatest tragedians are the men who, like Kean, +felt—ay, even to their inmost core—all the agony they endeavoured to +realize and express, so I would say of Mr. Body that the intenseness with +which he realized what he said elevated him, and enabled him to embody, +as it were, the sublime of human passion. For instance, at All Saints +over the altar is a crucifix. In his evening sermon he was pleading that +as much now as ever was it our duty to confess Christ before man. It was +grand for the Crusaders to save the Holy Land from the Infidels. It was +grand the way in which St. Agnes and St. Polycarp died, in which the +early Christian martyrs lived and died. Nowadays the Church and the +world were far too friendly, and what was the result? That we tried not +how much we could do for Christ, but how most easily we could save our +souls. We sang the song of martyrs, we acted the part of cravens. +“Look,” said the preacher, turning round to the crucifix, “look at the +Saviour on the Cross. Who placed him there? who made those wounds +there?—the world. And you try to be friendly with the world.” So +intense was the power of the speaker that all seemed awestruck, as if +before their very eyes stood the Saviour with His wounded and bleeding +limbs. Another wonderful thing about the preacher is his common sense. +“Look here, now,” said he, “here are a million of people who do not go +anywhere on a Sunday in London. Suppose each one of you now resolve to +go to the east of London and bring the people to church. Suppose you +were to be street preachers. I don’t see why you should not. I don’t +see why some of you laymen should not come and preach in this pulpit. Do +you want your commission? Here it is, ‘Let him that heareth say Come,’ +and if you did this you would accomplish more good between now and +Christmas than would be done by the Society for the Employment of +Additional Curates if they worked till Doomsday.” Well, there is a +freshness, and a vigour, and a common sense about this style of remark +one does not often meet in the pulpit. And the service itself, too, was +the perfection of common sense. It began in the evening at eight. It +was over by nine. It began with a short prayer and a hymn which did not +take ten minutes, and it ended the same way. There was a service after +to which many stopped, but short as the service was I fear the speaker +had overtaxed himself. He speaks from the chest deeply, hoarsely, and +his throat gave him a good deal of trouble at the end. Sometimes in his +homely Saxon and ironical way he reminds you of George Dawson, but then +George Dawson never stirred the depths. The only man I have ever seen +equally effective was J. B. Gough, but then Gough was no orator, and +could only act one character, while Mr. Body is a master of powerful +language, and words never fail. He can read and sing also as well as he +can preach, and while I write I seem to see him as he stood giving out +the hymn after the sermon, as a general might marshal his troops— + + “Onward, Christian soldiers! + Marching on to war, + With the cross of Jesus + Going on before.” + + + +A SUNDAY WITH THE LUNATICS. + + +One of the earliest of the Gospel stories is that which tells how the +Saviour healed the man possessed with devils. It is only of late that we +have learned to imitate His example. For hundreds of years society has +gone on torturing the mad, hardening the hardened, depraving the +depraved. We are now retracing our steps; we are atoning nobly for sins +of omission and commission on the part of our ancestors. It would do +good to some of the noisy poor who waste their time in low pot-houses +talking of their rights, when all that a man has a right to is what he +can earn, to look over such places as Hanwell and Colney Hatch, where +pauper lunatics are lodged in a palace, waited on by skilful male and +female attendants, spend their days in light and airy rooms as clean as +wax-work, have four meals a day, and every reasonable want supplied. I +have no doubt that many a careworn City man, as he has been hurried +backwards and forwards past such places by the train, has often wished +that in some such stately pile he had a niche where he could come of a +night, after the day’s work was over, to breathe the fresh air, to tread +the fresh grass, and to smell the fresh flowers. I propose to gratify +this wish,—come with me, respected reader, and in the twinkling of an eye +you will find yourself in Colney Hatch. + +It is on Sunday, a day when the asylum is closed to the public. Far and +near this bright sunshiny afternoon there seems resting over all a +Sabbath calm. On the neighbouring rails no trains are running; the doors +of the Station Hotel are shut; no traffic occupies the road and distracts +your attention. You gaze on fields as yet yellow with no ripening corn, +meadows as yet uncarpeted by flowers, trees as yet leafless. Farther off +on the distant ridge we see lofty mansions. + + “All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.” + +Arrived at the gate we ring a bell; the porter opens it to us. We enter +our name in the visitors’ book, and descend the gravel slope on which the +asylum is placed. All round is a wide extent of land in which the +lunatics take exercise and occasionally work. There are none outside +now, for it is the hour appointed for Divine service. The door is opened +for us by an attendant, who understands our mission. He takes us +upstairs and we find ourselves seated in a little gallery set apart for +the leading officers of the asylum. Just below us is the pulpit; on a +line with it, but a little farther off, is the reading-desk; opposite us, +at the other end of the room, is the organ. From the floor on which the +pulpit is placed there is a gradually ascending series of benches; on our +right are ranged the female, on our left the male inmates of the house. +It may be that there are some four or five hundred present. Here and +there amongst them you see their well-clad keepers. The lunatics attend +this service willingly, it is a pleasure for them to come, it is a +punishment for them to keep away. On the whole they behave very well, +and, as is often the case outside the walls of lunatic asylums, the +females greatly preponderate. From our gallery in this clean, cheerful +chapel we look down upon the group below. The sight is an unmitigatedly +sad one; we fail to see a single pleasant face. The chapel, considering +who are the audience, is almost light and cheerful. It is painful to +turn from its white walls and rafters to the crowd beneath and realize +how much darker and more cheerless is the human face when it is void of +intelligence. In this chapel you do not see the worse cases, they are +properly concealed from the spectator’s eye; it is enough to know that +they are equally wisely and carefully tended with those before you. The +women are far more troublesome than the men. All are hideously ugly, +such as Fuseli might dream of after a supper of pork-chops, such as, +perhaps, that wonderful painter at Brussels, whose pictures form the +chief modern attraction of the place, could have painted in that queer +little imitation Roman ruin in which he lived and died, but such as no +living artist, at any rate in England, could portray. You feel inclined +to exclaim with Banquo— + + “What are these, + So withered and so wild in their attire, + That look not like the inhabitants of earth, + And yet are on’t?” + +Some sit as living corpses, others with scowling eye, flesh-and-blood +pictures of despair. Others there be who have driven themselves mad with +their bad tempers and unruly tongues. You can read all that in many a +repulsive and reddened face. This one had led a gay life; what a +termination for a career of pleasure! That one has become what she is by +drinking; this one by the grand passion which underlies all human life, +past or present, all philosophy, subjective or objective, all religion, +true or false. Amongst the men you do not see so many thoroughly dead +and vacant faces; you will also see among them more diversity of action +and a greater assertion of individuality. Some look angry, some silly, +but few have that God-forsaken appearance sad to behold anywhere, but +especially on the face of what might have been possibly under happier +circumstances a tender, loving woman. But the tones of the organ +indicate that the service is commencing. Men and women are now hushed +and still; in spite of an occasional friendly word with a neighbour, whom +very probably they pity as “As mad as a March hare,” males and females +come and go quietly and comfortably. Most of them have Prayer-books, and +make a proper use of them; they join in the responses with great fervour, +and repeat the Apostles’ Creed, and bow at the name of Jesus quite as +decidedly and uncompromisingly as do any of the sane outside. As to the +singing, it may be briefly said that it is loud, and is all the better +and more harmonious for the organ, which, especially at the end of the +last verse, is prolonged unusually, and with a view to the drowning +sounds of an unnecessary character. Indeed, this tendency to individual +utterance is the chief danger of such a meeting as this. You can detect +notes occasionally very undeniably loud and defiant, and, as it is, one +female at the close of the sermon begins talking so loud as to require +that two female attendants should take her off as quickly as possible; +not that any one is disturbed—oh no! nothing of the kind. In a +Belgravian chapel or church such an interruption would have created a far +greater disturbance. Here no one is surprised, the preacher goes on just +the same, and not a lunatic takes the trouble to turn round and look at +the disorderly sister. Out she goes, and no one cares. With this one +exception the service was most decorous. One very plain young female +appeared to me to be too much taken up with her fruitless endeavour to +attract the eye of a very plain young person of the opposite sex, who did +not in any way seem to respond. Another also seemed to be smiling +joyfully many times, when in the sermon there was nothing to call forth +such an external manifestation. Many also seemed to hear with +intelligent attention, but as a rule the audience listened to the +preacher with that resigned and spiritless expression with which most +church-goers are but too familiar. Yet the preacher was short and +simple, and spoke of matters in which all could take an interest; and +which all could understand, of Him who hath borne our griefs, and carried +our sorrows, who was bruised for our iniquities, and with whose stripes +we are healed. It is cheering to think that even here some do not hear +of Him in vain. + + + +LAY WORK IN THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. + + +Dissenters have taught Churchmen a lesson, which they are, at any rate in +our time, not slow to learn. The theory of the Church has been up to our +own day almost exclusively sacerdotal. Its parochial system is, as Canon +Champneys termed it upon one occasion, “a great allotment system,” and to +work that system there was the priest with his assistant deacon. That +time has gone. There was time also when it was quite sufficient to argue +against anything that it was a custom practised among the Dissenters. +The reader of Wilberforce’s Life will remember how anxious was that good +man that the Dissenters should not take up the question of sending the +Gospel to India, as if they did he feared their activity would put a stop +to all Church action in the matter. It is not so now. The pressure of +public opinion, the dreadful mass of heathenism which had grown up while +the Church slumbered, the growing influence of Dissent, the increasing +spirituality of the clergy, the zeal and liberality of their people, have +in London completely altered the position of the Church of England. +Never were her services so well attended, never were her clergy more +useful than now. At the West-end the Church is the fashion. In the +East, where the poverty is too great to admit of the existence of a +church on Dissenting principles, the Church is in some parishes the only +place of worship, and the Church clergyman the only religious teacher. I +have heard of one parish where the utmost that the clergyman could get +for religious and charitable purposes from his wealthiest parishioners +was but ten shillings; and of another, where the clergyman spent five +hundred a year in charity. It is in these parts of London that the +Church is most useful, most successful, most untiring in its operations, +most lavish of its spiritual and temporal good. The laity give +munificently. For example, the Countess of Aberdeen gives three hundred +a year for the support of a clergyman in the East, who preaches in a +church built by Lord Haddo; the Marquis of Salisbury has subscribed +300_l._ for a similar purpose; and the clergy, whether vicars or curates, +devote themselves unremittingly to the performance of their sacred +duties. Under these circumstances they find themselves unequal to the +task, and appeal to the laity for help. + +The Association of Lay Helpers for the Diocese of London was formed in +the year 1865, and “readers” have been admitted in the chapel of London +House with a form of service drawn up for the purpose in the form +following:— + + John, by Divine permission, Bishop of London, to our beloved and + approved in Christ, A. B., Greeting: We do, by these presents, give + unto you our Commission to act as Reader in the parish of C, within + our Diocese and jurisdiction, on the nomination of the Rev. D. E., + Rector [or Vicar] of the same, and do authorize you, subject to his + approval, to read Prayers and to read and explain the Holy Scriptures + in the School thereof, or in other rooms within the parish, and + generally to render aid to the Incumbent in all ministrations which + do not strictly require the service of a Minister in Holy Orders. + And we further authorize you to render similar aid in other Parishes + in our Diocese, at the written request, in each case, of the + Incumbent. And we hereby declare that this our Commission shall + remain valid until it shall be revoked by us or our successors + (whether _mero motu_, or at the written request of the said D. E.), + or until a fresh admission to the said parish of C. shall have been + made. And so we commend you to ALMIGHTY GOD, Whose blessing we + humbly pray may rest upon you and your work. Given under our hand + and seal, &c. + +At present the Association consists of 44 lawyers and medical men, 141 +clerks, 48 mechanics and labourers, and 156 ranged under the head of +miscellaneous. They aim to strengthen the hands of laymen already at +work by bringing them into closer relationship with the Bishop and with +one another, and to call out more lay help by making known the kind of +work in which the clergy want assistance. Recently the Association has +been very active on the subject, and has held many meetings in all parts +of the metropolis. At these meetings undoubtedly much good has been +done; a distinguished layman has taken the chair; a paper carefully +prepared has been read upon the subject, and then a discussion of more or +less interest and value has ensued. + +Great care is taken in the appointment of suitable agents. They must be +communicants sanctioned by the Bishop; a register of the names and +addresses of the members is kept, showing what description of work each +unemployed member may be willing to undertake, and also of the place and +nature of the work in which each unemployed member is engaged. Upon the +application of incumbents, members of the Association are put into +communication with them, with a view to such arrangements for lay +assistance in parochial work as may be mutually agreed upon. Once in +every year the members attend Divine service and receive the Holy +Communion together. Once, at least, in every year a meeting of the +members is held under the presidency of the Bishop if possible, in order +to consult together upon one or more of the various branches of work in +which they are engaged, and to make such regulations as may be found +necessary or expedient. I hear also of the formation of Parochial +Associations of Lay Helpers which hold monthly or occasional meetings of +a desirable character. The executive committee of the Association is +appointed yearly by the Bishop. + +The work to be done is various. At all the meetings which I have +attended I have found the principal stress laid upon house-to-house +visitation and mission-house services. It has been found that the poor +have a reluctance to attend the church, but they will attend a +mission-house service, and to preach and pray at such place lay help is +urgently required. Other subjects specified are teaching in +Sunday-schools and getting children to attend, conducting Bible-classes, +tract distribution, seeking out the unbaptized and unconfirmed, +encouraging the newly confirmed to come to Holy Communion, and inducing +the poor to attend church. Under the head of week-evening work such +subjects are indicated as teaching in night and ragged schools, +management of working-men’s clubs and youths’ institutes, assistance at +popular lectures, penny readings, and other means of recreation, +attendance at penny banks, clothing funds, and school and parochial +libraries, visiting the poor, assisting in church services. Day work is +much the same. Other subjects not already mentioned are superintending +the distribution of relief, reading and speaking to working men on +religious subjects in workshops; collecting and canvassing for funds for +parochial and mission purposes, and acting as secretaries to parochial +institutions and religious and charitable societies. Especial stress is +laid upon the clergy being relieved of their secular duties as relieving +officers. It is felt that clergy laden with an infinity of secular work, +essential to the good of the parish and the carrying out of their plans, +are thus more or less incapacitated for the performance of the higher +functions of their office. When we think what are the manifold duties of +the clergy, it is no wonder that sermons made to represent original +compositions, and which may be read as such, meet with a ready sale. +Parochially London has grown wonderfully of late. The census of 1861, +for instance, enumerates twenty-three parochial districts as formed out +of the old parish of Kensington. Bishop Blomfield consecrated in all no +less than 198 churches during the twenty-eight years of his episcopate, +of which no less than 107 were in London. + +Lay organization may be said to have commenced but recently. The first +District Visiting Society of which I have heard, writes Mr. Bosanquet, +was founded in connexion with St. John’s Chapel, Bedford Row, of which +Daniel Wilson, afterwards Bishop of Calcutta, was visitor. The Parochial +Women Mission Fund was established in 1860. This association does not +send its agents into any parish without a written application from the +incumbent, who selects both the agent and her lady superintendent. There +are now about 100 agents at work in London, acting chiefly in the +capacity of Bible-women. For the young men connected with the Church +there is a Church of England Young Men’s Society in Fleet Street, with +fifteen branches in London and the suburbs; of 200 members on the books, +more than half are engaged as teachers in Sunday-schools or other lay +work. Then there is the Metropolitan Visiting and Relief Association, +21, Regent Street, formed in 1843, to distribute the contributions of +charitable persons in such parts of the town as most need them, by means +of the clergy and their district visitors. For that part of London which +is in the diocese of Winchester there is the South London Visiting and +Relief Association. How well laymen can work is understood in the +neighbourhood of Drury Lane, where more than 500 of the lowest and the +poorest in that district may be seen any Sunday afternoon at two +Bible-classes conducted by laymen. Another lay agency in operation is +the Workhouse Visiting Society. + +In spite of all these organizations the Church of England as regards +London has not yet fulfilled her mission. The harvest is plentiful, the +labourers are few. Clergymen in the East say they would be glad of lay +help from the West; but it does not come. In some parts of London there +are parishes containing from 15,000 to 30,000 people, and in such a +clergyman is almost unable to do his duty, in spite of his curates and +paid lay agents. In most cases the number of visitors is quite +insufficient. Mr. Bosanquet refers to a friend of his who had told him +that some months after entering on a very poor cure in the south of +London he had twenty-eight districts for visitors, but that twenty-seven +were hopelessly vacant, and that the twenty-eighth was taken by his wife. +This reminds me that some of the ladies of the clergy, especially in the +East and poorer districts, labour as energetically as their husbands. I +have heard of one lady who has two sewing-classes, with a hundred women +in each. Commander Dawson, conference secretary of the Association of +Lay Helpers, looks forward to the time when every communicant will be one +of the agents of the society, thus stimulating his fellows, and giving +fresh life and courage to his clergyman. It is clear when this +consummation is achieved the Church of England, whether established or +not, will shine with a saintly lustre which has never yet been hers. + +Let me give a sketch of + + + +AN EVANGELICAL PREACHER, + + +“You must go and hear the Church Spurgeon,” said an intelligent lady, +residing not a hundred miles from Highbury New Park, to the writer. + +“Who is he?” we asked. + +“The Rev. Gordon Calthrop,” was the reply. “He preaches in a temporary +iron church, St. Augustine’s, Highbury New Park.” + +Soon afterwards, on a certain Sunday, we made our way to the church in +question. There was very little difficulty in finding it out. As you +enter Highbury New Park, leaving Dr. Edmond’s new church on the right, +you come into a region of broad roads and handsome villas, into which +poverty, which has an unpleasant knack of pushing itself where it is not +wanted, actually seems ashamed to intrude. In these houses, almost +countryfied, standing in the midst of well-trimmed lawns, shaded by leafy +shrubs, between which flowers of the richest beauty bud and blossom, only +rich people and people apparently well-to-do dwell, and they all attend +at Mr. Calthrop’s church. Follow any of them, as on a Sunday morning the +hour of service draws nigh, and bells far and near are calling men to +prayer, and you find yourself at St. Augustine’s. Close by, a handsome +ecclesiastical structure is rapidly rising, which is to hold 1400 people. +That is the permanent church, the foundation-stone of which was laid by +the Bishop of London, and where, it is hoped and believed, Mr. Calthrop +may labour for many years to come. As it is, he has been preaching in +this iron church, which will seat about nine hundred, for the last five +years. He came there a stranger, fearful of the future, doubting what +would be the issue. The church was quite a new one. The neighbourhood +had been but recently built on, but he came with a heart full of zeal, +with an experience ripe and varied, and in a little while it was apparent +to himself and his friends that the step he had taken was fully justified +by the result. Now he has a crowded church, more than 250 communicants, +and a people ever ready to respond to his appeal, and rich in that +charity without which a religious profession is but little better than +sounding brass. The sacrament money at St. Augustine’s, as they have no +poor of their own, is distributed amongst those of neighbouring churches. +One of the noticeable features in connexion with the place is the +attendance of young men from the neighbouring College of St. John’s. For +the benefit of my readers let me add, that what was Highbury College is +now a place of training for ministerial work in connexion with the Church +of England—of young men who have not had, owing to unavoidable +circumstances, the benefit of a University education, but who +nevertheless are the right stuff out of which to make useful preachers of +the Gospel of Jesus Christ. On Sundays they find employment as +Sunday-school teachers in various parts of the metropolis; also on that +day, with a view to future usefulness, they go to hear such eminent +clergymen as may be preaching in the City or the West-end, but mostly +they attend at St. Augustine’s, and under Mr. Calthrop’s preaching they +prepare for the great work themselves. + +Nor do I know that they could have a better model. Mr. Calthrop is not +the Church of England Spurgeon. I am not aware that the Church of +England has a Spurgeon. I know none of the other Christian churches of +our day that have. It is only once in an age that a Mr. Spurgeon +appears, but Mr. Calthrop has no need to fear comparison with Mr. +Spurgeon or any one else. Personally, he is much smaller than the +far-famed Baptist orator Mr. Spurgeon, and in figure and face very much +resembles the late Douglas Jerrold. His voice is one of wonderful +sweetness and power, and as he reads the Liturgy of his Church you feel +that with him it is no empty form, to be repeated parrot-like and with +railway speed, but the voice of a people humbled on account of sin, and +standing trusting, yet trembling, in the presence of their God. +Exquisitely can he render all its pathos, all its tenderness, all its +sorrow, all its fulness of exultation, all its ecstasy of Christian hope. +From the reading-desk to the pulpit the transition is easy and natural. +At a distance there is something youthful in his look; but in his grey +hair, in his face lined with thought, in his eye, which seems ever +looking far off, as if here was not the boundary of his horizon, as if it +had realized something of the glory which is to come; you see that +already golden youth has past, and that you have before you one who has +attained to the strength and steadiness, and ripeness and experience, of +Christian manhood. He will not detain you long, nor will he weary you +with learning, nor will he aim to dazzle the intellect and neglect the +heart. In language of poetical simplicity will he unfold and illustrate +his text, and force home on the hearts and consciences of all, its +lessons. There is nothing of the pretension of the priest about him, nor +does he delight in the terrors of the law. Evidently he is the servant +of one whose yoke is easy, and whose burden is light; and such is his +freshness and originality, and such is his careful preparation for the +pulpit, and such the naturalness of his delivery, that the more you hear +him the more you like him. Much of his ministerial work is done at his +own house, amongst the young people whom he collects there in his +Bible-classes, which are largely attended. For this work he seems +eminently fitted by a refinement of manner, not so much, I should fancy, +the result of training, as of the natural instinct of a kindly heart. +The North of London is favoured as regards clergymen, and Mr. Calthrop is +a favourable specimen of his class. There are none around him more +eloquent, more laborious, more successful. A recent American writer +points to the chaplainships founded and supported in all the places of +fashionable resort on the Continent as a proof of the amazing energy, and +wealth, and power of the English Church. I would rather point to such +churches as St. Augustine’s, where a pastor is maintained in affluence, +and a church crowded, and real good accomplished, without one farthing +but what is raised by the free-will offerings of the people. + +Outside his own immediate circle Mr. Calthrop has laboured with much +effect. As a platform speaker he is very effective. As an out-of-door +preacher he at one time greatly distinguished himself. He was also one +of the first to take his share in the work of preaching in theatres; and +one of the best accounts of one—a service at the Britannia, which was +reprinted in almost all the religious journals at the time—was from his +pen. A little while ago he had the honour of preaching in Westminster +Abbey. He was before that one of the preachers in the special services +at St. Paul’s. Perhaps the greatest compliment in this respect paid him +was the appointing him University preacher at his own university—that of +Cambridge—a few years since. To have occupied that pulpit is a memorable +event in any clergyman’s life. + +Little more need be said. Mr. Calthrop was born in London, and educated +at Trinity College, Cambridge. He at one time had thoughts of studying +for the law, but ultimately the pulpit became the object of his choice. +As a curate he originally laboured at Reading; he moved thence to +Brighton, where he was curate to the late Rev. Mr. Elliott, author of a +work still known in theological circles—the “Horæ Apocalypticæ.” Six +years of his ministerial life were spent at Cheltenham, and thence he +removed with his wife and family to what was then a new and untried +sphere of labour. The wealth and material prosperity around him seem not +to have impaired his devotedness. Very possibly they have opened to him +fresh fields of usefulness; for if ever plain preaching was required for +rich men, it is in the day in which we live. It is to the credit of Mr. +Calthrop that he realizes this fact, and sees in the Gospel he proclaims +a message for the richest of the rich as well as for the poorest of the +poor. + + * * * * * + +A book might be written about Church Life. I can only say Dr. Temple +tells us, that such commands as those in Leviticus as to tattooing, +disfiguring the person, or wearing a blue fringe, should be sanctioned by +divine authority, is utterly irreconcileable with our present feelings. +The Bible is before all things the written voice of the congregation, +writes Dr. Rowland Williams. The Pentateuch was not written by Moses. +The Psalms do not bear witness to the Messiah. The prophecies are +histories. Justification means peace of mind, or sense of the Divine +approval. Regeneration is an awakening of the forces of the soul. +Reason is the fulfilment of the love of God. The kingdom of God is the +revelation of Divine Will in our thoughts and lives. The incarnation is +purely spiritual. In London pulpits the preacher best known and most +identified with Broad Church theology is Professor Jowett, whose great +theme is that eternal punishment is inconsistent with all that we can +conceive of the requirements of justice or the character of God. Dean +Stanley says no clergyman believes the Athanasian Creed, and treats many +parts of the Bible as mythical. Of Father Ignatius and his +eccentricities it is needless to speak. + +The following statistics will interest many:—“There is a weekly +celebration of the Holy Communion at 169 churches, more than one-fourth; +daily celebration at 20, nearly one-thirtieth; early morning celebration +at 159, one-fourth; evening celebration at 97, nearly one-sixth; +afternoon celebration at 5; choral celebration at 63, one-tenth; +saints’-day services at 198, nearly one-third; daily service at 132, more +than one-fifth; no weekday service at 104, one-sixth; full choral service +at 128, more than one-fifth; and partly choral service at 115, nearly +one-fifth; giving a proportion of nearly half where the psalms are +chanted; surpliced choirs at 137, more than one-fifth; paid choirs at 88, +nearly one-seventh; voluntary choirs at 231, more than one-third. +Gregorian tones are used exclusively for chanting at 46, one-fourteenth. +The weekly offertory is the rule at 128, nearly one-fifth. There are +free but appropriated seats at 141, nearly one-fourth; free and open +seats at 65, more than one-tenth. The Eucharistic vestments are worn at +20, being one church in every 31; incense is used at 7, one-nineteenth; +the surplice is worn in the pulpit at 83, more than one-eighth; and 26 +churches are open daily for private prayer.” + +Dr. Sherlock, afterwards Bishop of Bangor, in his “Test Act Vindicated,” +published in the year 1718, tells us that in the year 1676, upon a +calculation that was made, the Nonconformists of all sorts, including +Papists as well as others, were found to be in proportion to the members +of the Church of England as one to twenty. That this is not the case now +shows how the Church of England has misused her opportunities, or else +that her claims have been rejected by the nation at large. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. +AMONG THE PRESBYTERIANS. + + +_At Colebrook Row_. + + +Innovations are the order of the day. New times and altered +circumstances require them. In Christian work they are imperatively +required. While the Church has folded its arms and slept, while people +have been lulled to ease and carelessness by the respectability of Church +life and the wealth of professors, while pastors and ecclesiastical +authorities have found satisfaction in the observance of ancient order +and in the routine of established work, all at once there comes to them a +cry that the heathen are outside of them, blaspheming the name they love, +ignorant of the Gospel tidings, perishing in their sin and crime and +misery at their very doors. John Wesley wrote how, in the latter end of +the year 1739, eight or ten persons came to him in London, who appeared +to be deeply convinced of sin, and earnestly groaning for redemption. +They desired that he would spend some time with them in prayer, and +advise them how to flee from the wrath to come. In our time the curtain +has been lifted up, and the devout and earnest Christianity of the day +has stood face to face with the unbelief which, by ignoring the existence +of a heavenly Father, and robbing humanity of its loftiest hopes and +deepest consolations, left the masses in our crowded cities to live and +die like brutes. The revelation has raised up in many quarters a feeling +that something more has to be done than has yet been done, that the +Church, to discharge its mission aright, needs a more earnest +consecration of the heart, a less formal _modus operandi_, a freer +utterance, a less stiff and starch and time-worn manifestation of +Christian life. + +In accordance with this feeling, one Sunday evening there was a novel +service in the Presbyterian church, Colebrook Row, of which the Rev. J. +Thain Davidson is pastor. The night itself was one of the most +unfortunate that could have been selected for that or for any other +experiment. London people have a great, and, let me add, a natural +objection to wet weather. If it rains hard it offers them a good excuse +for stopping at home. They do not like to spoil their Sunday clothes, +and they have a great aversion to bronchial affections. In this respect +the Scotchman contrasts favourably with the Englishman. In such places +as Edinburgh or Glasgow the churches are as well attended in bad weather +as in fine. If it were so in London how many a pastor’s heart would +rejoice! At Colebrook Row they are Presbyterians, and in England we +naturally presume Presbyterians to be Scotchmen—at any rate, this must be +the case as regards the attendance at Colebrook Row. On Sunday evening +the place was crammed. I did not see a seat anywhere to spare, nor did I +see a hearer who did not seem to take the deepest interest in what was +going on. + +Well, and what was going on?—a thing I should think never seen in a +Presbyterian place of worship before. It appears that the services in +the Agricultural Hall just by have led to an increased demand for +religious agency in that district. Hundreds who attend no place of +worship have now been induced to do so. Hundreds who were careless about +religion have now become concerned. Hundreds who a short while ago would +have refused the gift of a tract, and would have shut their doors in the +face of a Christian visitor, are now ready to receive the one and to +listen to the _viva voce_ instruction of the other. Naturally, the +appeal is made to Mr. Davidson, but his own duties in connexion with his +church and congregation leave him no time to spare. A fund raised partly +by Mr. Davidson’s own people, and partly by the liberality of a private +individual, has enabled the London City Mission to send an agent to +labour in connexion with the services at the Agricultural Hall. But, +after all, one man in such a multitude can do but little, and on Sunday +evening Mr. Davidson, instead of preaching a sermon, organized, as it +were, a public meeting,—yet not exactly a public meeting, for there was +no chairman, there was no rhetorical fireworks, no murmurs of +applause—the aim of which was to elicit Christian co-operation in +evangelistic work in that particular locality. Belonging to their +congregation there are some two hundred young men. How much can they do +if they have but the willing heart! + +The service commenced in the usual manner by the singing of a hymn. Mr. +Davidson, who was in his pulpit and wore his gown, then offered up +prayer, leading up to what was to be the peculiarity of that evening’s +service. He then delivered a short address explanatory of the +circumstances in which that meeting had been originated, and which had +led to the visit of the deputation who were to address them that night. +It had seemed to their evangelistic committee that an opportunity had +arisen in consequence of the services at the Agricultural Hall which +required the utmost efforts of Christian workers. The object of that +meeting was to excite to further effort. They were all too much inclined +to be supine, to be content with mere religious routine. There was a +need to break through spiritual monotony. They must endeavour to breathe +new life and energy and freshness. There was a fine field before them, +for London truly was, as it was often termed, the finest missionary field +in the world; even amidst the lowest of the low there was an encouraging +feeling existing. The masses felt that on the whole the Christians were +their best friends—those most ready to do them good temporally as well as +spiritually. Especially was it so in that particular district. The +Church was much to blame in that it had not been more ready to take +advantage of this feeling and to turn it to proper account. People had +often been driven away from places of worship. As an illustration, Mr. +Davidson said that in one of the churches in that locality a young man +entered and took his seat one Sunday evening. Presently the lady to whom +the pew belonged came in: she said to the young man, harshly, “This is my +pew, you have no business here.” The young man took up his hat and +walked out, resolving never to enter a place of worship again. In a week +after, he was dead. + +“In their various societies,” continued Mr. Davidson, “there was ample +room for all; some were more fitted for one kind of work than another, +but they wanted workers of all kinds. There was a large amount of +Christian talents amongst them lying waste, and they were losers, no one +could say to how great an extent, through all eternity, in consequence. +When there was a cry of anguish from earth, Christ came; and now can we +refuse to utter the response, when there is a cry to the Church, ‘Lord, +here am I; send me?’ Help is needed, nor can the work be done without +human help.” The reverend gentleman then called on Mr. Mathieson, the +banker of Lombard Street, who stood up in the table pew, and, after a +short prayer, proceeded to read a few verses from Matthew’s Gospel, +describing how the multitude were fed in the wilderness with seven loaves +and a few small fishes. “In our time,” said the speaker, “there was just +such a multitude exclaiming, ‘Who will show us any good?’ and in the +Scriptures we find rules for our guidance. We find our means of +usefulness in the inexhaustible love of our Saviour. No man could do any +good who did not feel that. Christ said, ‘I have compassion on the +multitude.’ What was compassion? Fellowship in suffering. And this is +required from us. It was in this the greater part of Christ’s suffering +consisted. We may be ready to come to Christ, to have fellowship with +Him at this table; but the question is, Are we equally anxious to have +fellowship with Him in His suffering? It was the wonder-working power of +love by which Christ fed the multitude. The practical question, How many +loaves have ye? was one to be put to us. If our answer is, We have +scarce enough for ourselves; we have very little over, we must use that. +The manna that was not eaten at once became corrupt. We must realize the +fact that when we took God’s vows upon us we became as much consecrated +to His service as any priest. Find out your gifts, learn not to be +impatient of results, and make the most of the opportunity God has given +you in so remarkable a manner to work in His service.” Such was the +substance of Mr. Mathieson’s address. Another hymn was sung, and then +Dr. A. P. Stuart, a medical man well known at the West-end, spoke briefly +yet energetically on the living Christ, and the constraining power of His +death and resurrection as the most powerful and only stimulus to +Christian zeal. The discourse was constructed on two passages in Paul’s +Epistles to the Corinthians, in which he shows how the love of Christ was +the motive power, and how necessity was laid on Him in consequence to +preach the Gospel. “It was not alone,” said the Doctor, “the living +Christ, but it was the fact that He died for sin, that supplied the +foundation of Christian effort. All we can do is far too little to show +forth His praise. What is wanted is life in the soul—a dead soul can do +nothing.” The speaker then showed what a revival of religion had been +produced by personal conversation after sermons, and concluded with an +urgent appeal—an address of unusual earnestness. Then Mr. Davidson +closed the service in the usual way. The experiment was a bold one, but +none present could have regretted it. Why should not qualified laymen +give addresses in our chapels and churches on special occasions—on a +Sunday night? Is there a valid reason why they should not, or why +ministers should not thankfully accept their aid? + + + +PARK CHURCH, HIGHBURY. + + +At the back of substantial and well-to-do Highbury Place, bounded by the +New River and the North London Railway, has sprung up of late years a +flourishing settlement of villas, single and semi-detached, known as +Highbury New Park. At one end of it there has been erected, at a cost of +somewhere about eleven thousand pounds, a very handsome place of worship +of white brick, ornamented with a very handsome spire. From an +inscription in front of it I learn that it is a United Presbyterian +Church, and that the pastor is the Rev. John Edmond, D.D. The Doctor +came from the north to London some few years ago to preach to a +congregation of Scotch men and women, meeting in Myddelton Hall, +Islington, whence they had to move, as the church increased in success +and influence and Christian zeal and power. Boswell, when introduced for +the first time to old Sam Johnson, admitted that he was a Scotchman, but +added, humbly and by way of apology, that indeed he could not help it. +“Sir,” replied the Doctor, “that’s what many of your countrymen cannot +help;” and, the writer would add, a good thing too, when we see what Dr. +Edmond is, and how he and his church labour to spread Christian truth +around. + +Inside you are struck with the comfort and cheerful appearance of the +building. In form it is almost a square, and is remarkably light and +airy. The pews are all open and well cushioned. The pulpit is a +handsome platform. Underneath is the choir. The chapel is computed to +seat comfortably 1200, but that estimate is rather under than over the +mark. Underneath the chapel are rooms fitted up with every convenience +for week-evening lectures, for meetings of young men’s mutual improvement +societies, for ladies’ working parties, and the other organizations of an +active and flourishing church. I find here about 2000_l._ is annually +raised for religious purposes. The pastor has a salary of 700_l._ a +year. Attached to the place is a Young Men’s Literary Institute, a Young +Men’s Christian Fellowship Association, a Missionary Association, a +Psalmody Association, a Ladies’ Working Association. In Highbury New +Park there are no poor people, and, consequently, there is no missionary +agency or Sunday-school in connexion with that district; but the church, +consisting of between four and five hundred members, is not idle nor +neglectful of its special privilege and duty. In the neighbouring Hoxton +there are many poor untaught, and for their souls the church in Highbury +cares. There a City missionary is employed, whose labours are not in +vain. They have organized a Mothers’ Meeting, a Bible Class, Penny +Weekly Readings and Musical Entertainments, a Singing Class, and a Band +of Hope. Last year their missionary conducted 156 in-door and 21 +out-of-door meetings, 2100 district visitations for Scripture reading, +&c., 500 district visitations to the sick and dying, besides the +distribution of a large number of religious tracts. In Harvey Street, +Hoxton, the church maintains a Sunday-school with an average attendance +of 160, a day-school not so numerous, a Sick Relief Society, and in +Albert Square another Sunday-school and a domestic servant class. Dr. +Edmond himself preaches twice on the Sunday, and once on a week-night. +He has a special service for servants on Sunday afternoons; on Fridays +and Saturdays he also holds Bible classes. On Sundays the service itself +is conducted very simply, much as it was in old-fashioned Dissenting +chapels before the introduction of chants and anthems. To the stranger +the principal novelty is the vast preponderance of young men in the +congregation, and the use of that somewhat inelegant version of the +Psalms compared with which, in Scotch—not English ears, + + “Italian thrills are tame.” + +And now what further shall the writer say of Dr. Edmond? Personally he +does not come up to the English idea of a successor of one of the old +grand Presbyterians who died gladly for God and His covenant in troubled +times, and to whom, humanly speaking, as Mr. Froude has well shown, +England owes the civil and religious liberty she enjoys. Even with his +gown on he does not strike you as being a big man. His features are +small, and when he is reading or looking down his very dark eyebrows +completely shadow and eclipse his eyes. For his age he is very bald, but +his face is apparently that of a man of hardy constitution and active +out-door life. His voice is excellent, and every syllable he says can be +distinctly heard. He preaches apparently from notes, and as he goes on +his way rejoicing the fire burns; he leaves his desk, now retreating +behind, now walking a few steps on one side, and a smile lights up his +face as he talks of what the Gospel has done, and of the brighter +triumphs it has yet to achieve. At other times he comes forward, +reaching his right arm as far as he can over the desk, as if anxious to +individualize his appeal, and to force it home to every heart. As a +preacher he hammers at his text with true Scotch pertinacity, and will +not give it up till in the way of spiritual truth he has wrung from it +all it can be made to yield. There can be no question about his +orthodoxy, or his knowledge of Scripture, or of the firm foundations of +his faith, or of the ample preparation he makes for his Sunday services. +No hearer need go empty away from Park Church. It must be his own fault +exclusively if he does. The preacher understands his vocation, and to it +conscientiously devotes his every power. + +The English have never taken kindly to Presbyterianism; the simplicity of +its worship, the sternness of its Calvinistic creed—that of the +Westminster Assembly of Divines—have repelled our English sympathies. Of +late it has put forth, and is still putting forth, growing strength. +There are about twenty Presbyterian churches in London, only two of +them—Dr. Cumming’s being the principal—being connected with the State +Church of Scotland. + +The Presbyterians are moving with the stream; they are beginning to +substitute “human hymns,” as they are called, for the Psalms of David. +In one London chapel, at least, the organ has been introduced. In some +quarters doubts have been entertained as to the divine right of +Presbytery. There is amongst them a growing feeling of the impossibility +of spending the whole time of the Sabbath in “the public and private +exercises of God’s worship, except so much as is taken up in works of +necessity and mercy.” It is to be questioned whether the Catechism +definition of the duties of the State in relation to the Church is +maintained by London Presbyterians. “The civil magistrate hath +authority, and it is his duty, to take order that unity and peace be +preserved in the Church; that the truth of God be kept pure and entire; +that all blasphemies and heresies be suppressed, all corruptions and +abuses in worship and discipline prevented or reformed, and all the +ordinances of God duly settled, administered, and observed. For the +better effecting whereof he hath power to call synods, to be present at +them, and to provide that whatsoever is transacted in them be according +to the mind of God.” The Calvinism of the moderns is not the Calvinism +of the Westminster Assembly, and yet every clergyman at his ordination +declares that “he sincerely owns and believes the whole doctrine +contained in the Confession of Faith to be founded upon the Word of God; +acknowledges it as the Confession of his Faith; that he will firmly and +constantly adhere to it; and that he disowns all doctrines, tenets, and +opinions whatsoever contrary to and inconsistent with the Confession.” +Holy Willie’s prayer— + + “O Thou wha in the heavens dost dwell, + Wha, as it pleases best thysel’, + Sends ane to heaven and ten to hell, + A’ for Thy glory, + And no for onie guid or ill + They’ve done afore Thee”— + +whatever it was in Burns’s time, is a caricature of Presbyterianism as it +exists in London in our day. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. +CONGREGATIONALISTS AND BAPTISTS. + + +Early in our religious history two theories as to Church and State were +developed. If the Presbyterians had gained the day in that time of +religious ferment—which had so melancholy a termination in the +restoration of Charles II., with his puppy-dogs and mistresses—we should +have seen the Church established independent of the State: the latter +acting as its servant, exercising the sword at its bidding and on its +behalf. The Churchmen of that day adopted a lower theory, as appears by +their favourite formulas—“the power of the magistrate in ecclesiastical +matters,” and “passive obedience without limitations.” In his zeal in +this direction, Archbishop Sancroft actually went so far as to alter the +rubric. If Bishop Cosin may be believed (the story is told by Calamy), +where it was said nothing was to be read in the churches but by the +Bishop’s order, Sancroft took on himself to add, “or the King’s order.” +In short, the theory was then what Sir J. D. Coleridge only the other day +stated it, that “the Church was a political institution.” Against this +theory, as dishonouring to God and degrading to religion, the Puritans +sternly protested, and at the peril of their lives. Naturally they fell +back upon such texts as, “My kingdom is not of this world,” “Render unto +Cæsar the things which are Cæsar’s, and to God the things that are +God’s.” More and more it became clear to them that the Church was simply +an assembly of believers; that Christ’s kingdom was exclusively a +spiritual one; that the greatest service the State could do to religion +was to leave it alone. They argued, and not without some show of +plausibility, that the faith enunciated by the carpenter’s son, +disseminated through the world by tent-makers and fishermen; the faith +which had found its way into the hearts of the stubborn Jews; which had +been more than a match for the pride of Rome or philosophy of Greece—for +which the multitude, the grey-haired sire, the high-spirited lad with +life with its golden prospects opening all round him, the tender and +delicate maiden, had gone smilingly to die—the faith immortal with the +immortality of truth, required not the vulgar patronage of worldly men, +or that the State should attempt bribery on its behalf. Of course they +were wrong; for only last session of Parliament the present Archbishop of +Canterbury, in his place in the House of Lords, on the night of an +important debate, denominated a religion thus supported as a spurious +one; and it was only within the memory of living men that Nonconformists +were permitted to be parish constables or town councillors. +Nevertheless, half the worshippers of England and Wales are +Dissenters—that is to say, are of this spurious religion, and pay their +own ministers, and build their own chapels, without asking a farthing +from the State. Their leading denominations are the Baptists and +Congregationalists; and it shows how terribly Dissent undervalues the +historical element when I state that the Independents now prefer to call +themselves Congregationalists. There is an historical halo around +Independency. Mr. Brodie remarks that “the grand principle by which the +Independents surpassed all other sects was, universal toleration to all +denominations of Christians whose religion was not conceived to be +hostile to the peace of the State—a principle to which they were faithful +in the height of power as well as under persecution.” Nor should it be +forgotten that Locke, the first of our philosophers to argue on behalf of +toleration, gained, as his biographers confess, his enlightened views +from the Independent Divines. + +Speaking relatively, Dissent is a thing of yesterday. It was born of the +Puritanism which filled the gaols and fed the fires of Smithfield, when +there were men and women ready to die for Christ and his Cross. Wycliffe +was one of our earliest Dissenters. What he taught was the study of the +Bible as the source of religious faith and the rule of a religious life. +At college he was known as the Gospel doctor. + +Queen Elizabeth ever believed in the invocation of saints; the worship of +the Virgin Mary; thought it sinful for priests to marry, and had a couple +of lighted candlesticks on her altar; but the country was full of learned +divines, who had come from Geneva or Frankfort with a contempt for such +papistical ideas, and with a more keen appreciation of the spiritual +character of true religion. About twenty years after her accession, the +principles of Independency were openly taught by Robert Brown, a relative +of Cecil, the Lord Treasurer. When Black Bartholomew came, Puritans and +Presbyterians were alike driven out of the Church. Owen, Vice-Chancellor +of the University of Oxford, Baxter and Calamy, might have been Bishops, +but they held that they could not assent to the teaching and ritualism of +the Church, and be false to conscience and to God. For this they had to +endure hardships, poverty, imprisonment, of all kinds—when Charles II., +who obtained the Crown of England under false pretences, though he did, +as Pepys tells us, take the Sacrament on his knees, received from his +pliant Bishops his title of most religious King. Calamy, when a lad, +wondered why the old ministers who led peaceable lives, and always prayed +for the King, were persecuted, and in our day the feeling of wonder still +exists. + +There have been times when the religious life of England has been utterly +divorced from the Church. Such were the times when George II. said all +the Bishops were infidels; such were the times when the clergy read to +their congregations the Book of Sports, enforcing on their hearers +dancing, jumping, archery, Whitsun ales, May-poles, and Morrice dances on +a Sunday; such were the times when the Methodists were expelled Oxford, +and when old John Newton wrote, that besides himself, there were only two +pious clergymen in London. It is impossible to overrate the obligations +of this country to Dissent. It saved England from Popery. It laid the +foundation of the mightiest republic the world has yet seen. It crushed +the despotism of the Stuarts, while the Church was indecently declaring +that a royal proclamation had the force of law. It gave us civil and +religious liberty; the wonderful change for the better which within the +last thirty years has come over the Church life of this country is due to +the fact that, rivalling the Establishment in zeal and good works, has +been an ever-growing, intelligent, and educated Dissent. + +What are the doctrines of orthodox Dissenters? I reply, as regards +Baptists and Congregationalists, they are very much the same. The real +question at issue, whether adults or infants are the proper subjects of +baptism, and whether the rite should be administered by baptism or +immersion, really being but of little more importance than that of the +Big Endians and the Little Endians of Gulliver. The Congregational Union +issue a statement called “The Principles of Religion,” which they +publish, not as a bond of union or as a series of articles to be +subscribed to, but as a summary of what is commonly believed amongst +them. In this document they state they believe the Scriptures of the Old +Testament as received by the Jews, and the books of the New Testament as +received by the Primitive Christians from the Evangelists and Apostles, +to be divinely inspired and of divine authority; they believe in one God +as revealed in the Scriptures as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; in the +fall of man; in the existence in man of “a fatal inclination to moral +evil utterly incurable by human means;” in God, before the foundation of +the world, designing the manifestation of his Son in the flesh for our +salvation, to attain eternal salvation for us. They believe that the +Holy Spirit is given to quicken and renew the soul of man; that all who +will be saved were the objects of God’s electing and eternal love; in the +perseverance of the Saints; in the perpetual obligation of baptism and +the Lord’s Supper; in the coming of Christ to judge all flesh; that the +righteous will receive life everlasting, and that the portion of the +wicked will be everlasting punishment. As I have stated, such is a rough +outline of the common belief in Congregational and Baptist Chapels. It +is to be questioned, however, whether it would receive the unanimous +assent and consent of Baptist and Congregational ministers. + +As regards Church order and discipline, I may attempt the following +summary, which I believe is as true of Baptist as of Congregational +Churches. + +A Church, according to them, is a society of believers meeting +voluntarily together to observe religious ordinances; to promote mutual +edification and holiness; to perpetuate and promulgate the Gospel in the +world; and to advance the glory and worship of God through Jesus Christ. +The New Testament exclusively is their authority for Church customs, and +Christ is their only head; they elect their own officers, whether bishops +or pastors, and deacons. They believe that no person should be received +as members of Christian Churches but such as make a credible profession +of Christianity; are living according to its precepts, and attest a +willingness to be subject to its discipline. They believe that the power +of a Christian is purely spiritual, and should in no way be corrupted by +union with temporal or spiritual power. + +In London there are 220 Congregational churches and 210 Baptist; some of +the latter being very small, and the ministers illiterate and +narrow-minded more than is usually the case. The Congregationalists are +chiefly incorporated in a body known as the Congregational Union, which +meets twice a year to deliberate; once in London, and once in such +provincial city or town as shall previously have been resolved on. + +In London the Congregationalists have two or three Colleges for educating +young men for the work of the Ministry—the principal one being the New +College, St. John’s Wood. This College is in connexion with the London +University, where some of the students graduate. The Baptists also have +a fine College in the Regent’s Park, the students of which also +occasionally are in the class lists of the London University. But the +real fact is that in all the Dissenting Colleges the men who take +university honours are the exception, not the rule; the reason is the +course extends over but four or five years—and so much of that time is +devoted to theological study and pulpit preparation that there is not the +time to attain to the high standard prescribed by the London University. +The student has often had but an average middle-class education. He +feels an impulse, or, as it is technically termed, “a call” to the +Ministry. He has been found acceptable as a Sunday School teacher, or in +other ways has demonstrated his ability and religious character and zeal. +With the sanction of his Minister and the Church with which he is +connected, he is sent to College, where he remains till his professional +education is complete. Occasionally young men seek to enter the Ministry +with very humble views. Recently I heard of such a one. His pastor +having indicated his doubt as to the possession of the requisite ability, +the reply was: “Oh, sir, I know I never could be a learned man like you, +but I thought I might make a hignorant Minister like Mr. ---,” naming a +well-known and popular Minister of another denomination. + +The Baptists have also their Baptist Union sitting in London, and +occasionally in the Provinces. The first General (Arminian) Baptist +Church is said to have been formed in London in 1607. The first +Particular (Calvinistic) Church in 1616. I fancy that in some of the +Baptist Bethels and Cave Adullams, an Antinomian, or, at any rate, a more +decided Calvinism exists than prevails in the Independent Churches. As +regards Church government, their ideas are the same. One necessity of +this state of things is that their ministers must have some preaching +ability, a thing which is quite an accident in the Church of England; +another advantage is, that there are few pecuniary attractions to tempt +men to undertake duties for which they are unqualified. + +The leading bodies connected with Church work in London are as +follows:—1. The Congregational Chapel Building Society, of which the +twentieth anniversary was held last year. We gather from the facts laid +before the meeting that during the 21 years (including 1869) of the +Society’s existence it has materially assisted in the erection or +purchase of 87 chapels—representing a contribution from it in grants and +free loans of 110,000_l._ towards an aggregate outlay of 360,000_l._, and +providing (exclusive of intended galleries) nearly 80,000 sittings for +adults. Dividing the 21 years of the Society’s history into three +periods of seven years each, in the first period its list comprises 17 +chapels, in the second 26, and in the third 44. The Society is at +present engaged, with Mr. S. Morley, M.P., in the erection of 24 chapels, +to each of which Mr. Morley contributes 500_l._, and the Society 500_l._, +half of the last being free loans. The success of the Society is largely +owing to its loan fund, now amounting to 11,006_l._ 19_s._, from which +loans are made free of interest to committees engaged in the erection of +chapels. This fund remains intact, and will be carefully preserved for +the object. The grant fund is, however, just now nearly exhausted, while +the liabilities of the Society on this account reach 2000_l._ Among +other particulars, it may be stated that the Society has been +instrumental in saving from extinction the two metropolitan chapels of +George Whitefield—Tottenham Court Road Chapel, and the Tabernacle, +Moorfields. Indeed, with the exception of Spa Fields Chapel, the +Countess of Huntingdon’s followers may be said to be absorbed in the +Congregational body. + +The London Congregational Association has four District Missions. It has +aided in planting and sustaining eight Churches and Missions in four +districts. They ask 1000_l._ a year, with which, aided by local support, +they undertake to plant ten new district Missions in spiritually +destitute localities, and sustain them until they are enabled to support +themselves. As an illustration of what may be done in this way I give +the following account of the District Mission established by the Church +and Congregation under the care of the Rev. Dr. Raleigh, of Hare Court +Chapel, Canonbury, as drawn up by the Rev. J. H. Wilson, of the Home +Missionary Society. + +The parent Church selected necessitous districts, in which they have +opened schools and mission-rooms; in these a number of the congregation +begin to labour as teachers, visitors, evangelists, &c. The result is +the early formation of a branch Church, where the poor people secure all +the privileges of Christian fellowship, and the fine feeling of a +Church-home, a place which they call “our Chapel,” and where they look up +to some one whom they call “our pastor,” and soon those so gathered +together become co-workers with the parent Church in extending its +influence in the locality—rising out of these movements, the Church at +Hare Court Chapel have now five branch Churches. From the last report +(1868) it appears that there are now three rooms for religious service +for the young, and several others for meetings with the poor and +ignorant; three day schools, and five Sunday or ragged schools; two large +week evening schools, and several smaller ones; seven mothers’ meetings; +a district nursery for children and infants, whose mothers require to +leave them during the day; coal clubs; home for little boys, where thirty +are fed and clothed; three paid ministers; six lay evangelists or +pastors; two Bible-women; six paid teachers, and seven paid monitors for +day schools; and to aid them, there are from 300 to 400 members of the +Church and congregation earnestly engaged as evangelists, pastors, +teachers, helps, visitors, Scripture readers, &c. During the year about +120 had joined the Church. The Sunday and ragged schools are attended by +1300 children; the day schools by 900, and the evening schools by upwards +of 400. Besides, there are temperance societies and Bands of Hope, and +in the summer months out-door services. + +Another society worked by the Congregationalists is the Christian +Instruction Society, founded in the year 1825, to aid in evangelizing +London. House-to-house visitation was from the beginning and still is +its main characteristic. Its other agencies are lay-preaching in and out +of doors; the Sunday afternoon opening of places of worship; lectures on +prevailing immorality and vice, and united quarterly prayer meetings. +This society, however, is by no means sectarian. At its united quarterly +prayer meetings ministers of the Baptist, Presbyterian, and Independent +denominations join. + + + +THE SEVENTH-DAY BAPTISTS. + + +As you go down Leman Street, Whitechapel, on your left, nearly at the +bottom, stand two public-houses—one the Shamrock, the other, if I mistake +not, the Brown Bear. Between them is a narrow little passage; on the +right is a Gospel Hall, facing you is a plain brick-built Meeting-house, +with a door which at certain times opens in vain, and with a window which +is covered with wire of a very suggestive character. Above the window is +an inscription, stating that it was rebuilt in 1790, but that it was +founded more than a century before that. A side door leads you into a +grass-grown and quiet enclosure. There are a few gravestones there, +recording, in illegible characters, the piety and virtues of those who +have gone before. At the back of the Meeting-house is the minister’s +residence. In the same square resides the pew-opener, with her little +family, who seem fresher and livelier than you would expect in such a +place. Outside rush along the Fenchurch Street trains to and fro, +sometimes with a scream which, as you will by-and-by find, will drown the +preacher’s voice. Outside there are factories and warehouses darkening +the air; outside there are heathens—baptized I daresay, but nevertheless +heathens—as complete and entire as any discovered by Captain Cook; +outside go up and down all day the sailors of every country under heaven, +at all times when on shore a disorderly lot, with a strong tendency to +get drunk and quarrel; outside are the lodging-house keepers, and Jew +slop-sellers, and foul women and crimps, who lie in wait for poor Jack; +outside, nightly and daily, on Sundays and week-days, once a week and all +the year round, is the ever-deafening and ever-growing roar of London +life. + +On Saturdays this little old-fashioned meeting-house is opened twice a +day. Of sects, as we all know, there are many Lilliputian varieties. +One of the smallest of these is that of the Seventh-day Baptists. In +this country there are two congregations of them; one in Mill Yard, and +one far away in Gloucestershire, where, according to the common proverb, +“God is.” At one time they were a sect, as they are I believe at this +time in America. Here, in England, they have dwindled down to two +skeleton congregations, an endowment, and a Chancery suit. As there is +money a form of worship is kept up, though for all practical purposes the +cause is dead. There may be four grown-up persons besides the pew-opener +to form the morning service: there are just as many in the afternoon. +There is no week-evening service. At one time, many, many years ago, +there was a Sunday-school, but the scholars have grown up and moved away, +and none have come to take their vacant places. Inside the door you are +informed there are no pew-rents, no collections. Nevertheless, the +people keep away. In the pulpit is a learned man of an old-fashioned and +almost extinct type, and no one regards him; and yet I must confess there +was to me a fascination in the place. It was the ghost of what I knew in +youth. Long, long ago, there were just such old-fashioned meetings, with +just such sounding-boards over the pulpit, just such plain and high pews, +just such learned divines, just as deficient in all practical appeal. Up +in the window before me buzzed the very same bluebottle fly, only a +little more elderly and less active in consequence, which, in younger and +happier days, distracted the writer’s attention, and interfered sadly +with what would have been otherwise a profitable opportunity. There are +no meeting-houses now. If you want to see one as they were, in all their +original nakedness and want of grace, go to Mill Yard, Whitechapel. We, +of course, have wonderfully improved, and yet I have a tenderness for the +old meeting-house. How learned were their ministers, how awful and +orthodox their deacons! With what fear did I eye the man who gave out +the hymn, and with what greater fear the watchful individual who poked up +with his long stick inattentive or sleepy boys! + +But I return to Mill Yard. The Christian Church in our day has pretty +well agreed to get rid of or, at any rate, ignore what is read in the +Bible about the seventh day being “the Sabbath of the Lord your God.” At +one time this was not so. Now the tide has receded and left the +Seventh-day Baptists stranded on the mud. In doing so, the Church, of +course, has increased the difficulty some feel about the Divine origin +and perpetual obligation of the Christian Sabbath. Archbishop Whately, +for instance, could reason with the Christian who had exchanged, in spite +of the literal command of God, the Christian for the Jewish Sabbath, but +his arguments would fail to touch the Seventh-day Baptist, who would +contend that he was doing that which God had commanded. But the fear of +this has not led Christians to abandon what, in the opinion of most of +them, is the apostolic plan of meeting on the first day of the week. It +is to be hoped the fund left for the benefit of the Seventh-day Baptists +is not a large one. The mouldy appearance of Mill Yard Meeting-house +indicates that it is not. But it is enough to retain at his post a +gentleman who, perhaps, would be more profitably engaged elsewhere. +Certainly it does seem like a waste of power to have a chapel and a +service lasting nearly a couple of hours for one grown-up adult male and +three adult females, excluding the chapel pew-opener. I must say, with +the exception of a young gentleman in knickerbockers, who was so +astonished at the apparition of a real stranger that he kept staring at +me all the time of singing, all seemed to do their duty. The singing—and +there was plenty of it—was really and truly Congregational. Five or six +parts of the Bible were read, and the congregation followed with open +Bibles. The preacher laboured at his discourse, and quoted Hebrew and +Latin as if we had all been learned divinity students. Nor could he have +prayed with more fulness and power had the benches been filled with +living souls waiting to draw near to the Father of spirits and live. One +could not but respect the preacher, however useless seemed his learning +and misdirected his research. Yet I would be sorry to stand in his +shoes. He had hearers once—Where are they? Dead, or moved away, is the +reply. He says in 1840 he began “to officiate as afternoon preacher in +the ancient Sabbath-keeping congregation in Mill Yard.” He talks of +“nearly sixty years of close critical, philological, and exegetical study +of the sacred Scriptures;” of “more than thirty years of constant and +laborious exposition of them;” of his having fully, freely, fearlessly, +and repeatedly discoursed upon every part of natural and revealed +religion. In spite of his age, physically he is not unequal to his work. +He has a good voice, yet practically he beats the air. There are few to +listen to his words and respond to his appeal. I wonder—as in his quiet +study he reads the ancient versions of the Bible and laboriously +constructs his argument:—whether it ever occurs to him that there is +something better and grander than seventh-day baptism, or systematic +theology, and that is everyday Christianity. I wonder, too, while +looking on the dead graves and the long grass, whether it occurs to him +that in that region of all unclean and deadly sin it especially behoves +the preacher, in preference to ingenious speculation or antiquarian +research, to impress on the heart and consciences of men the yearning, +living love of God. It is not in the calm retreat, the silent shade, +that vice and irreligion can be confronted and changed into purity and +piety. One would fancy at Mill Yard the contrary opinion was held, as +the preacher goes on, expounding the Proverbs or the Book of Job to empty +benches, while close by the harlot plies her unhallowed calling, the +publican retails his vitriol gin, and mothers, with eyes artificially +black, knock about their little ones or cover them with kisses, as they +themselves are alcoholically stimulated into maudlin tenderness or +demoniac rage! If you want to see what an endowment can do for religion, +go to Mill Yard. No doubt those who left money for the place thought +they were doing God service. In reality, an endowment can but preserve a +corpse which had better be put away. We bury our dead out of our sight. +As it is in the material world so it is in the spiritual world. We love +to look on life; we shrink with abhorrence from the sight of death, when +Time’s decaying fingers have dimmed the lustre of eyes once bright as +stars, and plucked from beauty’s cheek the blushing rose. + +A more curious spot in all London is not than Mill Yard Meeting-house. +The day I was there, after a service of nearly two hours, it was +established by the learned minister, who is an F.S.A., and calls himself +elder of the congregation (he must often stand a good chance of being +junior as well), that the title of the Book of Proverbs was only to be +applied to the first part, that it consisted of divers distinct sections, +and that generally the book was found in the Bible after the Psalms. +Evidently the preacher is a learned, painstaking student of the Dryasdust +school—full of crotchets; but the biggest crotchet of all is that he +should go on preaching year after year in Mill Yard. + + * * * * * + +Mr. Spurgeon’s works and essays are so constantly before the public that +the briefest notice of them is all that is necessary here. In his great +Tabernacle near the Elephant and Castle, which is one of the sights of +London, he has a church alone consisting of 4700 members, and such is the +orderly arrangement that, as he said, if one of his members were to get +tipsy he should know of it before the week was out—a statement perhaps +true in reality if not literally. Enormous as his place of worship is, +it is always filled; but it represents, not so much a Christian Church as +a Christian community on a gigantic scale. In his Orphanage at Stockwell +some 135 boys are boarded, clothed, and taught. Then at Newington he has +established an Orphanage and School, and under his great Tabernacle is a +Pastors’ College, which in a couple of years takes the raw student from +the shop or the counting-house and sends him forth into the world a +ready-made divine, occasionally not a little to the dismay of those who +consider a good training and a careful preparation great helps to +ministerial usefulness. The students are lodged in families around, and +on the Sunday are principally employed in preaching in various districts +near London. Some of the Baptist places are very small indeed, and very +badly attended. It were better, one would think, that they were shut up +and merged with other churches or denominations. There is something +inexpressibly melancholy in the long lists of Zions, and Bethels, and +Mount Sions, where the pastor and the people scarcely live. Amongst some +of the Baptists there are some of Antinomian tendencies, and the +preachers of such doctrines have very large congregations. They are the +elect of God, and can never sin. As to their doctrine and its results, +one illustration will suffice. A member of one of the largest of these +Antinomian places unfortunately got tipsy, fell out of the cart in which +he was riding, and broke his leg. “Ah!” said his sympathizing pastor +when he heard of it, “what a blessed thing he can’t fall out of the +covenant.” The Antinomian believes that Christ paid, with his death, the +price of the pardon of a certain number. These are in the covenant, and +out of that covenant they cannot fall. There are in the Church of +England those who preach this doctrine, but their number is rare. Up in +Notting Hill is a Tabernacle built up and carried on by Mr. Varley, an +humble imitator of Mr. Spurgeon. Originally Mr. Varley was a butcher, +but he took to preaching; and finding that people came to hear him, and +that he did them good, he now devotes himself entirely to ministerial +work. At his Tabernacle, in St. James’s Square, there is accommodation +for 1200 hearers, and for the education of more than 500 children. This +history of these Tabernacles shows what may be done when suitable agency +is employed. Mr. Spurgeon’s subscriptions are really wonderful. Twenty +thousand pounds were given him by one lady for the purpose of founding +his orphanage. More than once 2000_l._ have been dropped into his +letter-box, as he told the writer of an article in the _Daily Telegraph_, +where, ludicrously enough, he appeared under the head of “Unorthodox +London.” “When recently attacked by illness, he began to despair; but +that same evening a lady left 100_l._ at his door, and 1000_l._ came in +immediately afterwards.” + + + +CHRISTMAS MORNING WITH THE YOUNGSTERS. + + +Amongst the most unpleasant recollections of an otherwise not unpleasant +childhood are those connected with attendance at chapel on the evenings +of Christmas Days. On such occasions there were circumstances, needless +to explain, and in which the reader would take no interest were they +explained, which compelled the writer to leave the pleasant fire and the +games and mirth of the season, and, putting on his coat, trudge manfully +in the dark and through the snow to shiver for an hour and a half at +least at meeting. Other people the writer well knew were enjoying +themselves. Father Christmas was not the rage then that he is now; +Christmas-trees were a later invention, and so were Christmas tales; but +still even in those far-away and benighted times there were cakes and +ale, and homely Christmas carols and a little fun on a Christmas night, +when blind-man’s-buff was in fashion, and snapdragon was to the little +ones a wonder and a joy. The writer felt, as he sat in the comfortless +square box of green baize and deal, and surveyed the scattered +congregation, how much more agreeable it would have been had the old +meeting been shut up on such a night, had the old minister saved his +sermon, had the old ladies and gentlemen who formed the congregation +dozed comfortably in their old arm-chairs at home. He arrived at the +conclusion then which he has ever since retained—a conclusion the +correctness of which no subsequent consideration has induced him to +modify—that services at church or chapel on Christmas nights are an +immense mistake. Christmas morning special services, however, are quite +a different thing, and especially where children are concerned. They at +any rate realize Christmas more fully than their elders, and assuredly it +is by them the religious aspect of the day may be most vividly felt. + +This is not a question for argument. More than forty years ago the late +Dr. Fletcher, of Finsbury Chapel, instituted a special morning service at +his own place of worship for Sunday-school children from the +Sunday-schools of the district. The avowed object of that service was +the benefit of the young. In time past it has been found to have had a +salutary effect. It has been continued by Dr. Fletcher’s successor, the +Rev. A. M‘Auslane, a minister whose manner, and personal appearance, and +mode of speaking qualify him especially for so delicate and difficult a +task. Mr. M‘Auslane hails from the land where Christmas is unknown. He +was a student under Dr. Wardlaw at Glasgow. He commenced his pastoral +duties in Dunfermline, but he has travelled south, and at Newport, in +Wales, where he stayed a short while, and latterly at Finsbury Chapel, +where he has now been eight years, he has caught something of the English +regard for Christmas Day, and preaches accordingly. I scarce think +London has a prettier sight to show than that of Finsbury Chapel on a +Christmas morning. It is full in every part. On the ground floor and +the first gallery are ranged the children and their teachers, and up +above there is another gallery full of adult spectators. As they sing +some of the finest of our hymns, such as— + + “Brightest and best of the sons of the morning,” + +the swell of their young voices is beautiful to hear. Their faces, full +of joy, were equally beautiful to see. To be preached to by a learned +man in a gown in a big chapel is something indeed for a little ragged +urchin to think of. Then what pains must have been taken to master the +tunes and sing them so well. Nor is this all by which the event of the +year—as it must be for some of them—is characterized. At some of the +schools the children, I believe, have a breakfast given them by the +teachers previous to starting. At all of them there is a distribution of +something satisfactory in the shape of buns. The muster is considerable. +The schools represented at the service I attended, in addition to that +belonging to the place, were Mile End, King Edward Street, Wood Street, +Spitalfields, Willow Walk, Ark Street, Paradise Street, the Weigh House, +the New Tabernacle, Bell Alley; Red Lion Street, Clerkenwell; Andrew +Street Ragged-schools, Union Walk, Jewin Street, James Street, City Road, +Ropemakers Street. The service commenced with singing— + + “Another year has passed away, + Time swiftly glides along, + We come again to praise and pray, + And sing our festive song; + We come with song to greet you, + We come with song again.” + +The Rev. W. Tyler then read a part of the fifth chapter of Matthew, and +offered up an appropriate prayer, in which a special reference was made +to the evangelistic work carried on in the City. Another hymn was sung, +and then came the sermon, the subject of which was Christ blessing +children, and the text of which was in Mark x. 14 and 16. Mr. M‘Auslane +described how a painter had portrayed the scene; not having the picture +there to show them, he would attempt a description of it in words. Some +might have thought Jesus too busy or children too insignificant. In +reality it was not so, and he believed that if Jesus came in this year +into London, He would act now as He did then. Sometimes people +forget—the butler forgot Joseph. Jesus Christ never changes. The +preacher endeavoured to bring out what the text teaches about Jesus and +children:—1. It taught that Jesus is attractive to children. Some men +and women children don’t like at all; others they go to cheerfully and +willingly. Jesus Christ draws them to Him just as the sun the flowers. +He is spoken of as the Sun of Righteousness. Why is a child not afraid +to walk through the valley of the shadow of death? It is because he sees +Jesus, and when he has passed through on the other side there is Jesus, +the most attractive in all that land. 2. The text taught that Christ +takes a deep interest in children. It was clear the Apostles did not, or +they would not have tried to prevent them from coming forward. He takes +the same interest now. It was to Him children had to be grateful for +bodies and souls, for kind friends, and the comforts of life. All power +is given to Him in heaven and on earth. Salvation is the gift of Christ, +and that is another proof of the interest He takes in children. If any +boy there had no father or mother, sister or brother, or friend, if he +stood in this cold world alone, let him take this thought with him—in the +morning as he rose from his humble cot, in the evening as he retired to +rest—Jesus cares for me. Here the preacher paused while the children +refreshed themselves by singing “The Pilgrims,” the boys asking, the +girls replying, and all joining in the chorus, the last verse of which +is— + + “Come, oh, come! and do not leave us; + Christ is waiting to receive us, + Christ is waiting to receive us, + In that bright, that better land.” + +Mr. M‘Auslane resumed. The text taught (3), Jesus prays for children. +It is true we have not the prayer, but, nevertheless, he believed that +Jesus prayed. The account in Matthew implies that He did. His prayer +would, in all probability, be that God would be the protector of these +children, and guide them all through life to the heavenly, happy land. +There was a young man once condemned to die. His brother, who had lost +an arm in the service of his country, went and pleaded for him. The +judges were overcome, not by his eloquence, but by the sight of the stump +of the amputated arm, and spared his brother’s life. Christ, in the same +way, might plead with the Father the five wounds received on Calvary. “I +have often heard an old man pray for children,” said the preacher, “and +have heard him ask for things which I am sure were not proper to ask for +for children. It was so long since he had been a child that he had quite +forgotten what children’s feelings were. It was not so with Jesus. But +you must remember also to pray for yourselves. Jesus prayed for Peter +that his faith might not fail, but it did, because Peter did not pray for +himself. 4. Christ wishes children to be happy, and they could not be +that without the pardon of sin and hope of heaven. 5. The text taught +that there are a great many children indeed in heaven. It is true there +were there Jesus, and the patriarchs, and prophets, and angels, and +apostles, but there were more children there, for of such is the kingdom +of heaven. That last text meant that the glory of heaven was open to +children, but it also meant that the population of heaven was made up of +children. They would be there of every colour,—from every quarter of the +globe. Last Christmas morning one little child was in that chapel who is +in heaven now. “Shall we go there when we die?” was the question which +concluded and enforced the preacher’s appeal, which was plain and simple +and thoroughly adapted to its end. Of course there were some little ones +who could not follow the preacher, but it seemed to me that evidently the +majority did. It is to be hoped they did, for none but those who live in +London can tell what are its trials and sorrows for such as they, or what +are their needs. From the Sunday-school even many a lad and girl has +gone astray. It was only a few weeks before that, at a midnight meeting +in the Euston Road of some eighty or thereabouts—I cannot speak within +one or two—some seventy fallen, weeping women confessed that they had +been Sunday scholars, and amongst them even there were Sunday-school +teachers! Of the hundreds who trooped joyously into Finsbury Chapel on +our last bright, joyous Christmas morning, who can say what may be the +end? Of this one thing, however, we may rest assured, it will be long +before some forget the wise, kindly words listened to then, the songs in +which they then took a part, or the prayers that then went up to heaven +for them. + + + +DR. PARKER AT THE POULTRY. + + +“What are you doing?” said lately one of London’s biggest D.D.’s to a +visitor from the country. “Oh, sir, I am in the ministry now,” was the +somewhat exulting reply. “Ah, but, my brother,” said the querist again, +“is the ministry in you?” Rather an important question that, and a +question to which, alas! many ministers would be unable to give a very +satisfactory reply. When I see a nervous, timid, feeble, hesitating, +wavering brother in the pulpit, I think of the Doctor’s question as one +from which such a man would instinctively shrink. + +Dr. Parker belongs to another and a rarer class. The ministry is in him +as a divine call, and not as an accidental profession. He speaks as one +having authority. In an age of negation, and mistrust, and little faith, +he is as positive as if spiritual truths had been audible to his bodily +ear and seen with the bodily eye. Amidst the perplexities of a theology +ever shifting in external phraseology, where man’s wisdom has darkened +God’s light as revealed in His Word, where the miasma of doubt has +repressed and stinted Christian life, he walks with a masculine tread, +and he does so not from ignorance but from knowledge, because he knows +how difficult is the way, how dark the path, how easily error comes to us +in the form of truth, how the devil himself can assume the shape and +borrow the language of an angel of light. He has got good standing +ground, but he knows how treacherous is the soil, and what pitfalls lie +open to catch the rash, and reckless, and overconfident. His is the +strength of the athlete who has become what he is by years of careful +training, protracted conflicts, and painful discipline, and in all his +words, and they are many, you can hear as it were the ring of victory and +assured success. Physically he looks and speaks like a man. What he +says he means, and what he means he believes. He is not the kind of man +to write an apology for Christianity; he would laugh to scorn the idea. +He can laugh at much, because, as Hobbes says, to do so implies +superiority, and Dr. Parker, strong in his faith in the everlasting +Gospel, has an immense feeling of superiority; and as you listen he takes +you up with him into his coign of vantage, and you laugh too. It is good +to see wit as well as logic and learning in the pulpit; to feel up in +that serene height, where the preacher has it all himself, and none may +gainsay him, there is humanity there, a flesh and blood reality, and not +a respectable academic ghost in whose brain there is hollowness and in +whose eye there is no fire of speculation. What a head the man +has—ample, well formed, well and fairly developed. What a voice the man +has—strong as a mountain torrent, impetuous, irresistible, mastering all, +carrying like a Niagara all before it. Dr. Parker is better off than +Paul. Apparently the earthen vessel in which he has his treasure is of +admirable adaptation and utility. + +London has gained and Manchester has lost Dr. Parker. Already he has +made himself no stranger in London. To many his “Ecce Deus” has +commended itself as the work of a vigorous thinker, and all have +confessed that his “Springdale Abbey” was full of very clever talk. No +ordinary preacher could have written such books, that was clear. In +Manchester he had become a success. How came he to be such? Partly I +have explained the reason. In the first place, in an age of doubt, of +negative theology, of blinding and bewildering speculation—when between +the so-called Christian and the Cross in all its eternal lustre has risen +up a fog of gloom—when the Gospel of unbelief and despair has come into +fashion, so that when we listen for the shout of psalm or the holy +exultation of prayer, we hear instead + + “An agony + Of lamentation, like a wind that shrills + All night in a waste land, where no one comes, + Or hath come since the making of the world.” + +Dr. Parker has a living faith. And then again he has a deep sense of +what the pulpit requires, and an unmitigated scorn of that kind of +preaching which is too common there. “Almighty God has to tolerate more +puerility in His service than any monarch on earth. If Christianity had +not been Divine it would have been ruined by many of its own preachers +long ere this. The wonder is, not that it has escaped the cruel hand of +the infidel (it can double up a whole array of crazy atheists), but that +it has survived the cruel kindness of its shallow expositors.” Whose +language, you ask, is this? Why, Dr. Parker’s own. The preacher who can +thus censure his fellows is bound to guard sacredly and constantly +against that which he condemns, and to come to his pulpit with every +feeling attuned and with every energy aroused for its gigantic work. +Give to such a man the requisite brain and tongue, let him have the +requisite delivery, let his lips be touched by that spirit which + + “Touched Isaiah’s lips with hallowed fire,” + +and you have a Dr. Parker. He has come to London—a difficult thing for +any man to do, but in this case the step has been undertaken under +peculiarly difficult circumstances. Time was when the City was the home +of citizens, and many of the wealthiest and most influential of them went +to the Poultry. That time has long gone by. It was when deacons shook +their heads at Mr. Binney as not quite sound. Of all places on the earth +the most deadly on a Sunday is the City of London, and especially that +part of it in which the Poultry stands. At St. Mildred’s, close by, it +is impossible, or seems to be so, to collect a decent congregation. Will +Dr. Parker succeed better? Some sort of answer was given to the +question, when to a crowded and attentive congregation he preached what I +may term his inaugural discourse. If I say it was an eloquent display I +shall excite the Doctor’s indignation, as he contemned the use of such +phraseology in his sternest and most indignant manner. Nor indeed with +regard to the discourse in question would the phrase be literally +correct. No one can doubt the Doctor’s eloquence, but in speaking of +himself and his hopes and purposes in connexion with the Poultry—in +showing the grand principles upon which he took his stand, and by means +of which he was placed beyond the fear of failure, he aimed at something +more than eloquent display. “I am preaching to myself as well as to +you,” said the Doctor in the course of his sermon; and such was in +reality the case. For the work which he has to do, for the programme +which he trusts to work out, truly indeed does the Doctor need the +guidance of that Providence which shall go before, and which shall make +the crooked places straight. This, indeed, was the Doctor’s text. You +will find it in Isaiah xlv. 2. From the beginning to the end of the +service this was the leading and appropriate idea. He commenced with +Cowper’s magnificent hymn, “God moves in a mysterious way.” The portion +of Scripture read was Christ’s commission to the seventy to go and preach +the Gospel all over the world; the prayer was an acknowledgment that the +human will should be subordinated to the Divine; and it was “Guide me, O +Thou great Jehovah,” which formed the closing song. + +As Dr. Parker told us he was going to publish his sermon (his sermons now +appear weekly, under the title of “The City Temple”), I need say little +of the discourse, of which I have already given the text. It began with +a reference to the triumph and danger of liberty—that man might go +whether with God or without Him. Man was free, nor was his religion one +of slavery. To those who considered such a statement to be a grand +contradiction of what we know of eternal decrees, it was sufficient to +reply that it could only be harmonized in the ecstasy of light and love. +God will not make everything straight, but only in proportion as we trust +Him and live with Him will our difficulties diminish. As to his text in +particular, remarked Dr. Parker, it was first a warning—there are crooked +places. It was a promise—the crooked places God would make straight: all +that we required was patience. Also it was a plan—God would go before +us. Say some, that is God’s sovereignty—that is the omnipotent Jehovah. +No, it indicated His love, His tenderness, His care. In such an idea we +do not dwarf God, but exalt Him. Then came the limitation of the +promise. This going before was a question of character. The steps of a +good man are ordered by the Lord. That, however, was no motive for +carelessness, but the reverse. The Doctor, in conclusion, spoke of +himself. He had been told that in leaving Manchester and coming to the +Poultry he was moving into a crooked place. In explanation he stated he +did not look for the ordinary course of a minister. He looked at London, +that immeasurable centre; he thought of the young men who come strangers +to the metropolis, and with no friends to guide and guard them; and if he +did not get people to come and hear him on the Sunday, he trusted they +would do so on the Thursday, when there would be a service from twelve to +one, when he would aim simply to touch the heart with a sense of sin and +forgiveness. He also intended to use the printing-press. He had great +faith in the printed page. It remained to be read at spare moments when +a man had nothing to do. Finally, said Dr. Parker, he spoke with fear +and trembling, but he came there with a strong determination to succeed, +and he appealed to all around to do their duty—not to carp, or criticise, +or say unkind words, but to resolve to labour and to be guided by +heavenly power and wisdom. At the close of the service there was a +collection. After this the immense congregation streamed out into the +open air, much to the astonishment of casual passengers, who did not +understand what was the matter. The Poultry has a prosperous look, and +they have got a new pulpit there almost as rotund, and bright, and +buoyant as Dr. Parker himself. + +I know not how the Sunday service succeeds, but the Thursday morning +service is wonderfully well filled. In this busy age it is scarcely +credible that in the busiest part of London, and at the busiest hour of +the day, a chapel as large as the Poultry can be crowded, and is +regularly crowded, with merchants and men of business and others. Yet +such is the case, and Dr. Parker has succeeded in an attempt which, until +he tried it, certainly seemed hazardous in the extreme. If the Doctor +seems a little bombastic, it may well be forgiven him under these +circumstances, especially when we remember that no preacher can succeed +in convincing others that he is worth hearing till he has become firmly +convinced of that fact himself. A modest man I fear is out of place +anywhere, but most of all so in the pulpit. It was in wisdom that Dr. +Parker was selected for his post. I should think he is a preacher +pre-eminently adapted to the young. Judged not by what he has done, but +by years, the Doctor is almost a young man himself. There is youthful +vigour in his full round face, in his small dark eyes; and certainly +there is no small store of youthful enthusiasm in his heart. In his +black hair and beard there is no suggestive tinge of grey. If he has +passed through and left the golden portals of youth behind, it can only +be but recently that he has done so, and there is still in him somewhat +of its grace and glory. In another respect also the choice of Dr. Parker +was appropriate. The Poultry Chapel is in the very heart of London; the +chances were that most of the young men present—and, I might add, of the +old ones too—were more or less engaged in some secular avocations. In +like manner, so the writer has always understood, the Doctor’s youthful +years were passed. Hence it came to pass the old Poultry Chapel is in a +flourishing state. The Doctor seemed in his right place, and, if we may +judge from appearances, the people seemed to think so. + + + +MR. LYNCH’S THURSDAY EVENINGS. + + +In a great city like London there are many sources of pleasure completely +overlooked. If people complain that life is dull—that it is +monotonous—that it presents to them few objects of interest or +attraction—I fancy they have chiefly themselves to blame. No man or +woman either with heart or head need lead a barren life either in the +country or in town. There is always something to do, to see, or to hear, +and in London especially is there much to hear of which Londoners know +but little. Such, at any rate, was the reflection of the writer one +Thursday night as he made his way along the Hampstead Road to a neat +little iron church on the left-hand side as you go from the City, and +just before you reach Mornington Crescent. Every Sunday morning there +preaches there the Rev. Thomas Lynch, the author of some choice prose and +poetry—a man at whom there was a dead set made by certain religionists a +few years ago, but who has long outlived that, and to whom that time of +trial and of trouble was undoubtedly a most blessed event, inasmuch as it +taught the gentle author of the “Rivulet” his strength, both as regards +himself and as regards the best of our religious teachers; and inasmuch +as it demonstrated to all anew, and more clearly than ever, how hard, how +cruel, how unmerciful dogmatic theologians could become. At that time +Mr. Lynch was preaching in a chapel in one of the streets running from +Tottenham Court Road into Fitzroy Square. He is now nearer Camden Town, +and preaches in a building between which and the pastor there seems to be +a kind of resemblance and sympathy; at any rate, as much as can exist +between what is abstract and concrete—between matter and mind. The +church is no Gothic edifice, hoary with time, but slender and modern, +and, as much as possible, graceful. You wonder it has not been swept +away by the storms of winter. A similar feeling exists when you look at +Mr. Lynch. There are great mountains of men, whose tread is terrible, +whose laugh is volcanic, whose heads are rugged rocks, whose bodies are +bulls of Bashan, whose speech is as the roar of an angry sea, whose faces +in summer parch you up like burning suns, or in winter darken you with +angry clouds. To this genus Mr. Lynch does in no way belong. The +fairies who assisted at Mr. Lynch’s birth did very little for him +physically—at any rate, they robbed his bones of all flesh, and made his +outward frame as spare as possible. It is to be wished also that they +had endowed him with better health. Yet his figure cannot be termed +ungraceful or his appearance unattractive. In his dress he is +scrupulously neat. Even on weekday services he wears the white +handkerchief, which when round the neck denotes that you are a swell on +your way to dinner, or a waiter, or a gentleman of the clerical +profession. His grey eye is full of enthusiasm, and kindles up a pale, +dark face that otherwise might be dull. His voice is stronger and +clearer than you would expect. You are agreeably surprised to find how +animated and vigorous he can become. After all, and in spite of +ill-health, time has dealt not ungently with Mr. Lynch. He is a trifle +bald, and you can detect a greyish tint in his hair—that is all; but Mr. +Lynch, I imagine, is not one of those who age fast. He has a happy +cheerfulness apparently, which compensates for the poetic sensitiveness +which frets away many a man’s, life, and which made a hard-headed +Wordsworth write— + + “We poets in our youth begin in gladness, + Whereof come in the end despondency and madness.” + +Indeed, Mr. Lynch’s cheerfulness is evidently, ever welling up out of his +heart and colouring all his thoughts and words. In his services this is +everywhere apparent. He has much of the lithe action of the comedian, +and he stands ever, like Garrick, between tragedy and comedy, one moment +ready to make you smile, and the next touching all that is most earnest, +most serious, most devout in our common nature. He leans on his little +desk, his hands before him, and talks away, sweetly and devoutly, about +things that interest all—things that have a spiritual bearing, things +that are secular and profane, only to the secular and profane. There are +not very many people to hear him; but then, they are hearers, and there +is sympathy between the preacher and the pews. The Iron Duke said, “When +you begin to turn in bed, it is time for you to get up.” In a similar +way it may be said, when the people begin to turn to look at the clock it +is time the preacher or lecturer was done. The other night I found Mr. +Lynch’s service occupied nearly two hours, yet it did not seem wearisome +or long. The service was commenced with chanting, and prayer, and +reading scripture, and singing. Then there was a text, and a lecture or +sermon from that text. On the occasion to which I refer the subject was +John Howe, as an illustration of that passage in Proverbs which +predicates of the man diligent in his business that he shall stand before +kings—a prediction literally verified in the case of John Howe, who was +chaplain to Oliver Cromwell—a man greater than any king—and who had +friendly converse with that Protestant hero, William the Third, the best +king England ever had. Very vividly did Mr. Lynch bring out all that was +noblest and brightest in John Howe’s character and career, dwelling with +evident unction on the many pregnant titles of Howe’s works, which he +seemed much to prefer to the works themselves, and in which he was right; +for Howe’s thoughts, it must be conceded, are not couched in the form and +language most easy of apprehension to the men of to-day; and from the +past, with some rare exceptions—those, of course, written in a dead +language being the chief—it is vain to extract literature for the study +and edification of the present. Religion is no exception to a universal +law; indeed, more than anything else, it is required of him who preaches +it that he should speak to living men in the living language of +to-day—not according to formulas that have long died out, or in terms +that have long become extinct; and this specially may be said of Mr. +Lynch, that as much as any one he realizes this great law, and does use +language and illustration and argument familiar to the men and women of +London in this latter day—that he does not cease to be a man when in the +pulpit, and deal with abstraction rather than with real life. When Mr. +Lynch began his ministerial career this virtue was rarer than it is now, +and of this desirable result Mr. Lynch deserves, at any rate, some of the +credit. Be that as it may, the writer has one other thing to say. It +seems to him that these Thursday evening lectures of Mr. Lynch’s deserve +a wide support. There are many in London who would be glad enough to +attend. There are many living out of town who would find it worth while +stopping an hour or two later on a Thursday evening. The service +commences at a quarter past seven; and I believe generally Mr. Lynch +takes some specific subject, such as “John Howe,” or “Bells,” or anything +which seems to him notable. The writer heard also on the night in which +he was there something about questions asked and answered; but on that he +can say, as he knows, nothing. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. +THE UNITARIANS. + + +“In the apostolical Fathers we find,” writes the Rev. Islay Burns, “for +the most part only the simple Biblical statements of the deity and +humanity of Christ in the practical form needed for general edification. +Of those fathers Ignatius is the most deeply imbued with the conviction +that the crucified Jesus is God incarnate, and indeed frequently calls +Him, without qualification, God. The development of Christology in the +scientific doctrine of the Logos begins with Justin and culminates in +Origen. From him there proceed two opposite modes of conception, the +Athanasian and the Arian, of which the former at last triumphs in the +Council of Nice, and confirms its victory in the Council of +Constantinople.” By the Ebionites Christ was regarded as a mere man. By +the Gnostics he was considered as superhuman; but in that capacity as one +of a very numerous class. The doctrine of the absolute unity of God, +alike in essence and personal subsistence, was held by the Monachians, +who are divided respectively into Dynamistic and Modalistic. As the +latter held that the whole fulness of the Deity dwelt in Christ and only +found in him a peculiar mode of manifestation, it was assumed that the +natural inference was that the Father himself had died on the Cross. +Hence to these heretics the name of Patripassians was applied by the +orthodox. Sabellius, who maintained a Trinity, not of divine Persons but +of successive manifestations under the names Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, +was one of the chief Patripassians. The Arian controversy, as Dean +Stanley shows, turned on the relations of the divine persons before the +first beginning of time. + +If Dean Stanley be correct, at this time the Abyssinian Church is +agitated by seventy distinct doctrines as to the union of the two natures +in Christ. It is clear, then, no one man can epitomize all that has been +uttered and written on this pregnant theme, over which the Church +contended fiercely three hundred years. “Latin Christianity,” writes +Dean Milman, “contemplated with almost equal indifference Nestorianism +and all its prolific race, Eutychianism, Monophysitism, Monothelitism.” +When the Reformation quickened free inquiry and religious life, Socinus +appeared; the epitaph on his tomb shows what his friends thought of his +doctrine. “Luther took off the roof of Babylon, Calvin threw down the +walls, Socinus dug up the foundations.” Furious persecution was the fate +of the holders of his opinions; Servetus was burnt by Calvin; and Joan +Bocher was sentenced to a similar fate by the boy-king Edward VI. for +denying the doctrine of the Trinity. With tears in his eyes as he signed +the warrant, he appealed to the Archbishop. “My Lord Archbishop, in this +case I resign myself to your judgment; you must be answerable to God for +it.” + +Unitarianism has made way in England. When Lord Hardwicke’s Marriage Act +became law the Unitarians in England were a small sect, and had not a +single place of worship. It was not till 1779 that it ceased to be +required of Dissenting ministers that they should subscribe to the +Articles of the Church of England previous to taking the benefit of the +Toleration Act, and even this small boon was twice thrown out in the +Upper House by the King’s friends and the Bishops. In 1813, however, one +of the most cruelly persecuting statutes which had ever disgraced the +British code received its death-blow, and the Royal assent was given to +an Act repealing all laws passed against those Christians who impugn the +commonly received doctrine of the Trinity. It was no easy matter to get +this act of justice done; the Bishops and the Peers were obstinate. In +1772, we read, the Bishop of Llandaff made a most powerful speech, and +produced from the writings of Dr. Priestley passages which equally +excited the wonder and abhorrence of his hearers, and drew from Lord +Chatham exclamations of “Monstrous! horrible! shocking!” A few years +after we find Lord North contending it to be the duty of the State to +guard against authorizing persons denying the doctrine of the Trinity to +teach. Even as late as 1824, Lord Chancellor Eldon doubted (as he +doubted everything that was tolerant in religion or liberal in politics) +as to the validity of this Act, and hinted that the Unitarians were +liable to punishment at common law for denying the doctrine of the +Trinity. Yet the Unitarians have a remote antiquity. They can trace +their descent to Apostolic times, and undoubtedly were an important +element in the National Church, in the days of William and the Hanoverian +succession. + +Dr. Parr, says Mr. Barker, “spoke to me of the latitudinarian divines +with approbation. He agreed with me in thinking that the most brilliant +era of the British Church since the Reformation was when it abounded with +divines of that school;” and certainly Unitarians may claim to be +represented at the present day in Broad Churchmen within the +Establishment, and in divines of a similar way of thinking without. They +have been much helped by their antagonists. No man was less of a +Unitarian than the late Archbishop Whately, yet, in a letter to Blanco +White, he candidly confessed, “Nothing in my opinion tends so much to +dispose an intelligent mind towards anti-Trinitarian views as the +Trinitarian works.” + +As a sect, the Unitarians are a small body, and at one time were much +given to a display of intelligent superiority as offensive in public +bodies as in private individuals. They were narrow and exclusive, and +had little effect on the masses, who were left to go to the bad, if not +with supercilious scorn, at any rate with genteel indifference. There +was in the old-fashioned Unitarian meeting-houses something eminently +high and dry. In these days, when we have ceased to regard heaven—to +quote Tom Hood—as anybody’s rotten borough, we smile as a handful of +people sing— + + “We’re a garden walled around, + Planted and made peculiar ground;” + +yet no outsider a few years ago could have entered a Unitarian chapel +without feeling that such, more or less, was the abiding conviction of +all present. “Our predominant intellectual attitude,” Mr. Orr confesses +to be one reason of the little progress made by the denomination. A +Unitarian could no more conceal his sect than a Quaker. Generally he +wore spectacles; his hair was always arranged so as to do justice to his +phrenological development; on his mouth there always played a smile, half +sarcastic and half self-complacent. Nor was such an expression much to +be wondered at when you remembered that, according to his own idea, and +certainly to his own satisfaction, he had solved all religious doubts, +cleared up all religious mysteries, and annihilated, as far as regards +himself, human infirmities, ignorance, and superstition. It is easy to +comprehend how a congregation of such would be eminently respectable and +calm and self-possessed; indeed, so much so, that you felt inclined to +ask why it should have condescended to come into existence at all. Mrs. +Jarley’s waxworks, as described by that lady herself, may be taken as a +very fair description of an average Unitarian congregation at a no very +remote date. Little Nell says, “I never saw any waxworks, ma’am; is it +funnier than _Punch_?” “Funnier?” said Mrs. Jarley, in a shrill voice, +“it is not funny at all.” “Oh,” said Nell, with all possible humility. +“It is not funny at all,” repeated Mrs. Jarley; “it’s calm, and what’s +that word again—critical? No, classical—that’s it; it’s calm and +classical. No low beatings and knockings about; no jokings and +squeakings like your precious _Punch’s_, but always the same, with a +constantly unchanging air of coldness and gentility.” Now it was upon +this coldness and gentility that the Unitarians took their stand; they +eliminated enthusiasm, they ignored the passions, and they failed to get +the people, who preferred, instead, the preaching of the most illiterate +ranter whose heart was in the work. + +In our day a wonderful change has come over Unitarianism. It is not, and +it never was, the Arianism born of the subtle school of Alexandrian +philosophy, and condemned by the orthodox Bishops at Nicea; nor is it +Socinianism as taught in the sixteenth century, still less is it the +Materialism of Priestley. Men of the warmest hearts and greatest +intellects belonging to it actually disown the name, turn away from it as +too cold and barren, and in their need of more light, and life, and love, +seek in other denominations what they lack in their own. The Rev. James +Martineau, a man universally honoured in all sections of the universal +church, confesses:—“I am constrained to say that neither my intellectual +preference nor my moral admiration goes heartily with the Unitarian +heroes, sects, or productions of any age. Ebionites, Arians, Socinians, +all seem to me to contrast unfavourably with their opponents, and to +exhibit a type of thought and character far less worthy, on the whole, of +the true genius of Christianity. I am conscious that my deepest +obligations, as a learner from others, are in almost every department to +writers not of my own creed. In philosophy I have had to unlearn most +that I had imbibed from my early text-books and the authors in chief +favour with them. In Biblical interpretation I derive from Calvin and +Whitby the help that fails me in Crell and Belsham. In devotional +literature and religious thought I find nothing of ours that does not +pale before Augustine Tauler and Pascal; and in the poetry of the Church +it is the Latin or the German hymns, or the lines of Charles Wesley or +Keble, that fasten on my memory and heart, and make all else seem poor +and cold.” This is the language of many beside Mr. Martineau—of all, +indeed, to whom a dogmatic theology is of little import compared with a +Christian life. + +Let us attempt to describe Unitarianism negatively. In one of his +eloquent sermons in its defence, the late W. J. Fox said, “The humanity +of Christ is not essential to Unitarianism; Dr. Price was a Unitarian as +well as Dr. Priestley, so is every worshipper of the Father only, whether +he believes that Christ was created before all worlds, or first existed +when born of Mary. Philosophical necessity is no part of Unitarianism. +Materialism is no part of Unitarianism. The denial of angels or devils +is no part of Unitarianism.” Unitarianism has no creed, yet briefly it +may be taken to be the denial of a Trinity of persons in the Godhead, or +of the natural depravity of man, or that sin is the work of the devil, or +that the Bible is a book every word of which was dictated by God, or that +Christ is God united to a human nature, or that atonement is +reconciliation of God to man. Furthermore, the Unitarians deny that +regeneration is the work of the Holy Spirit, or that salvation is +deliverance from the punishment of sin, or that heaven is a state of +condition without change, or that the torments of hell are everlasting. +It may be that the Broad Churchman entertains very much the same +opinions, but then the Unitarian minister has this advantage over the +Church clergyman, that he is free. He has not signed articles of belief +of a contrary character. He has not to waste his time and energy in +sophistications which can deceive no one, still less to preach that +doctrine so perilous to the soul, and destructive of true spiritual +growth, and demoralizing to the nation, that a religious, conscientious +man may sign articles that can have but one sense and put upon them quite +another. Surely one of the most sickening characteristics of the age is +that divorce between the written and the living faith, which, assuming to +be progress, is in reality cowardice. + +In our day we have seen something of an Evangelical Alliance, that is, a +manifestation of the great fact that people are yearning after a Catholic +union, and are caring less and less for denominational differences. The +Unitarians all speak and write of the orthodox as of a body of Christians +perfectly distinct from themselves. Yet there is an approximation +between them, nevertheless. Unitarianism, as it becomes a living +faith—as it leans to the theology of the sweetest singers and most +impassioned orators of the universal Church—becomes in sentiment and +practice orthodox; while orthodoxy, as it grows enlightened, and burst +the bonds of habit, and, laden with the spoils of time, gathers up the +wisdom and the teaching of all the ages underneath the sun, sanctions the +Rationalism and the spirit of free inquiry for which Unitarianism has +ever pleaded and its martyrs have died in our own and other lands. +Actually, at the meeting of the British and Foreign Unitarian Society, an +effort was made to get rid of the title altogether, and to call +themselves instead a British and Foreign Free Christian Association, on +the plea that the Christian Church consists of all who desire to be the +children of God in the spirit of Jesus Christ His Son, and that, +therefore, no association for the promotion of a doctrine which belongs +to controversial theology can represent the Church of Christ. To this +Unitarianism has attained in our time. This is the teaching of Foster, +and Ham, and Ierson, and Martineau—a teaching seemingly in accordance +with the spirit of the age. Unitarian theology is always coloured with +the philosophy of the hour, and consequently it is now spiritual and +transcendental instead of material and necessitarian. + +As regards London, the statistics of Unitarianism are easy of collection. +In their register we have the names of fifteen places of worship, where +Holy Scripture is the only rule of faith, and difference of opinion is no +bar to Christian communion. In reality Unitarians are stronger than they +seem, as in their congregations you will find many persons of influence, +of social weight, of literary celebrity. For instance, Sir Charles Lyell +and Lord Amberley are, I believe, among the regular attendants at Mr. +Martineau’s chapel in Portland Street. At that chapel for many years +Charles Dickens was a regular hearer. The late Lady Byron, one of the +most eminent women of her day, worshipped in Essex Street Chapel, when +Mr. Madge preached there. In London the Unitarians support a domestic +mission, a Sunday-school association, an auxiliary school association, +and a London district Unitarian society. + + + +AGGRESSIVE UNITARIANS. + + +It is not often that Unitarianism is aggressive, or that it seeks the +heathen in our streets perishing for lack of knowledge. Apparently it +dwells rather on the past than the present, and prefers the select and +scholarly few to the unlettered many. Most Unitarian preachers lack +popular power; hence it is that their places of worship are rarely +filled, and that they seem tacitly to assume that such is the natural and +necessary condition of their denomination. It is with them as it used to +be with the old orthodox Dissenters in well endowed places of worship +some thirty or forty years ago. Of them, I well remember one in a +leading seaport in the eastern counties. I don’t believe there was such +another heavy and dreary place in all East Anglia, certainly there never +was such a preacher; more learned, more solemn, more dull, more +calculated in a respectable way to send good people to sleep, or to +freeze up the hot blood and marrow of his youthful hearers. Once and but +once there was a sensation in that chapel. It was a cold evening in the +very depth of winter. There was ice in the pulpit, and ice in the pew. +The very lamps seemed as if it was impossible for them to burn, as the +preacher in his heaviest manner discoursed of themes on which seraphs +might love to dwell. All at once rushed in a boy, exclaiming “Fire, +fire!” The effect was electric—in a moment that sleepy audience was +startled into life, every head was raised and every ear intent. Happily +the alarm was a false one, but for once people were awake, and kept so +till the sermon was done. It is the aim of Mr. Applebee in the same way +to rouse up the Unitarians, and in a certain sense he has succeeded. He +has now been preaching some eighteen months in London, in the old chapel +on Stoke Newington Green, where, for many years, Mrs. Barbauld was a +regular attendant, and where long the pulpit was filled by no less a +distinguished personage than Burke and George the Third’s Dr. Price; the +result is that the chapel is now well filled. It is true it is not a +very large one; nevertheless, till Mr. Applebee’s advent, it was +considerably larger than the congregation. Before Mr. Applebee came to +town he had produced a similar effect at Devonport; when he settled there +he had to preach to a very small congregation, but he drew people around +him, and ere he left a larger chapel had to be built. I take it a great +deal of his popularity is due to his orthodox training. It is a fact not +merely that Unitarianism ever recruits itself from the ranks of +orthodoxy, but that it is indebted to the same source for its ablest, or +rather most effective ministers. + +In the morning Mr. Applebee preaches at Stoke Newington; in the evening +he preaches at 245, Mile End. It seems as if in that teeming district no +amount of religious agency may be ignored or despised. In the morning of +the Sabbath as you walk there, you could scarce fancy you were in a +Christian land. It is true, church bells are ringing and the +public-houses are shut up, and well-clad hundreds may be seen on their +way to their respective places of worship, and possibly you may meet a +crowd of two or three hundred earnest men in humble life singing revival +hymns as they wend their way to the East London Theatre, where Mr. Booth +teaches of heaven and happiness to those who know little of one or the +other; nevertheless, the district has a desolate, God-forsaken +appearance. There are butchers’ shops full of people, pie-shops doing a +roaring trade, photographers all alive, as they always are, on a Sunday. +If you want apples or oranges, boots or shoes, ready-made clothes, +articles for the toilette or the drawing-room, newspapers of all +sorts—you can get them anywhere in abundance in the district; and as you +look up the narrow courts and streets on your left, you will see in the +dirty, eager crowds around ample evidence of Sabbath desecration. I +heard a well-known preacher the other day say it was easy to worship God +in Devonshire. Equally true is it that it is not easy to worship Him in +Mile End or Whitechapel. The Unitarians assume that a large number of +intelligent persons abstain from attending a religious service on Sundays +in the most part “because the doctrines usually taught” are “adverse to +reason and the plain teaching of Jesus Christ.” Under this impression +they have opened the place in Mile End. In a prospectus widely +circulated in the district, they publish a statement of their creed as +follows: 1. That “there is but one God, one undivided Deity, and one +Mediator between God and man—the man Christ Jesus.” 2. That “the life +and teachings of Jesus Christ are the purest, the divinest, and truest;” +His death consecrating His testimony and completing the devotion of His +life; his resurrection and ascension forming the pledge and symbol of +their own. 3. “That sin inevitably brings its own punishment, and that +all who break God’s laws must suffer the penalty in consequence;” at the +same time they “reject the idea with abhorrence that God will punish men +eternally for any sins they may have committed or may commit.” Such is +the formula of doctrine, on which as a basis the Unitarian Mission at +Mile End has been established, and to a certain extent with some measure +of success. It is charged generally against Unitarians that they have no +positive dogma. The Unitarianism of Mr. Applebee has no such drawback. +He has a definite creed, which, whether you believe it or not, at any +rate you can understand. In the eyes of many working men, that is of the +class to whom he preaches at Mile End, he has also the additional +advantage of being well known in the political arena. As a lecturer on +behalf of advanced principles in many of our large towns he has produced +a very great effect. I confess I have not yet overcome the horror I felt +when I saw at the last election how night after night he spoke at +Northampton on behalf of Mr. Bradlaugh’s candidature. Surely a +secularist can have no claim as such on the sympathies of a Christian +minister. Yet at Northampton Mr. Applebee laboured as if the success of +Mr. Bradlaugh were the triumph of Gospel truth, and as if in the pages of +the _National Reformer_ the working men, to whom it especially appeals, +might learn the way to life eternal. But Mr. Applebee is by no means +alone. In Stamford Street Chapel and in Islington you have what I +believe the Unitarians would consider still more favourable specimens of +aggressive Unitarianism. + + + + +CHAPTER X. +THE WESLEYAN METHODISTS. + + +Tertullian wrote in his apology, or rather in his appeal, to the heathen +persecutors on behalf of the Christians of his age, “We are but a people +of yesterday, and yet we have filled every place belonging to you—cities, +islands, castles, towns, assemblies, your very camps, your tribes, +companies, palaces, senates, forum. We leave you your temples only. We +can count your armies; our numbers in a single province will be greater.” +The language was boastful, but it was founded on fact. Wesleyan orators +might indulge in a similar rhetorical flourish. In 1729 John Wesley +returned to Oxford, intending to reside there permanently as a tutor. He +found that his brother Charles, then a student at Christ Church, had, +during his absence, and chiefly through his influence, acquired views and +feelings corresponding with his own, and had prevailed on two or three +young men to unite with him in receiving the Lord’s Supper weekly, and in +cultivating strict morality in their conduct, and regularity in their +demeanour. “Here is a new set of Methodists sprung up,” said one. The +name took at once, and was thenceforth applied derisively to the little +band. To this company John Wesley united himself; and of it his ardour +and his wonderful talent of organization and for ruling his fellows soon +made him the head. In the world’s history a hundred and thirty years is +but a little while; the fathers and founders of Wesleyan Methodism have +as it were but recently passed away. There may be some living now whose +little eyes saw Wesley’s body carried to the grave in 1791, or whose +young ears heard the last public utterances of the dying saint. And now +it appears from the recently-published returns of the Conference that the +total number of members, not mere attendants, at Wesleyan places of +worship, is in Great Britain at the present time 342,380, being an +increase of 5310; and there are upon trial besides for Church membership +24,926 candidates. A people which have thus grown, which have thus +become a power in the State, to whom Dr. Pusey has appealed for aid, +surely are well worth a study. + +In an exhaustive work by Mr. Pierce we have, as it were, the inner life +of Wesleyan Methodism, methodically arranged and placed in chronological +order. “The attempt,” says the Rev. G. Osborn, D.D., in his Introductory +Preface, “is made in honesty and candour; and has required a large amount +of labour on the part of the compiler, which, however, his love and +admiration of the system have made, if not absolutely pleasant, yet far +less irksome than under other circumstances it would have been.” We +must, in fairness, add that Mr. Pierce has certainly exhausted his theme, +and his non-Wesleyan readers. A catechism of 800 large pages of small +type is more trying than even that of the Assembly of Divines. Surely it +was possible to do what Mr. Pierce has done in a more readable form. +Still, however, his work is invaluable as a cyclopædia of Wesleyan faith, +and organization, and practice. + +Mr. Wesley had originally no intention of seceding from the Church of +England. Dr. Stevens, in his very interesting work, has shown how, step +by step, he was forced into secession, and was compelled, by the force of +circumstances—the irresistible logic of events—to abandon his very strong +Church principles. In this respect Conference has rigidly adhered to +Wesley’s teaching. “What we are,” it stated in 1824, “as a religious +body we have become both in doctrine and discipline by the leadings of +the providence of God. But for the special invitation of the Holy Spirit +that great work of which we are all the subjects, and which bears upon it +marks so unequivocal of an eminent work of God, could not have existed. +In that form of discipline and government which it has assumed it was +adapted to no preconceived plan of man. Our venerable founder kept only +one end in view—the diffusion of Scriptural authority through the land, +and the preservation of all who had believed through grace in the +simplicity of the Gospel. This guiding principle he steadily followed, +and to that he surrendered cautiously but faithfully whatever in his +preconceived opinions he discovered to be contrary to the indications of +Him whose the work was, and to whom he had yielded up himself implicitly +as His servant and instrument. In the further growth of the societies +the same guidance of Providential circumstances, the same signs of the +times, led to that full provision for the direction of the societies, and +for their being supplied with all the ordinances of the Christian Church, +and to that more perfect pastoral care which the number of the members +and the vastness of the congregations (collected not out of the spoils of +other churches, but out of the world which lieth in wickedness) +imperatively required.” Thus, practically abhorring the name of Dissent, +Methodists became Dissenters themselves, and certainly as a sect put +forth, as the above extract teaches, the strongest claims to a Divine +origin and sanction. + +In 1784 Conference had a legal habitation and a name. All power was then +placed in its hands as regards the Wesleyans. “The duration of the +yearly assembly of Conference shall not be less than five days nor more +than three weeks.” It has to fill up vacancies by death, elect a +President and Secretary, expel or receive preachers—who must, however, +have been in connexion with it as preachers for twelve months,—and +regulate all the affairs of the body. Appointments of preachers are +limited for three years. According to the original rule, no person could +be a member of the Methodist Society unless he met in class. If he +neglected to do so for three weeks in succession (if not prevented by +sickness, distance, or unavoidable business), he was considered by such +neglect to exclude himself. Consequently, the meeting in class is still +made a fundamental condition of membership, and is indeed the only gate +of admission into society. Once a quarter each of these classes is +visited by one of the travelling preachers, for the purpose of +ascertaining the spiritual state of every member, and giving to each a +ticket or printed badge of membership, by the production of which he is +admitted to any of the more private means of grace. The preachers are +instructed to give notes to none till they are recommended by a leader +with whom they have met at least two months on trial. If in the opinion +of a leader any reasonable objection exists to the character and conduct +of any person who is on trial, such may be stated, and, if established to +the satisfaction of the meeting, the ticket may be withheld. No +backslider after gross sin may be readmitted till after three months. +All members are expected to meet in the classes belonging to their +respective circuits, and all persons acting as local preachers, +class-leaders, stewards, conductors of prayer-meetings, or sustaining any +other office in the body, are expected to belong to the circuits in which +they reside. In order to avoid conformity to the world, it is forbidden +to teach children dancing, to dress according to the fashion of the day, +to drink spirits, to smoke tobacco, or take snuff, to indulge in evil +conversation or strife. Music, and such-like diversions, are also +interdicted. In the Conference of 1836 similar injunctions were +repeated, as it observed with sincere regret in some quarters “a +disposition to indulge in and encourage amusements which it cannot regard +as harmless or allowable.” The strict observance of the Sabbath is +enforced. On that day members are not to employ a barber, or to trade, +or go to a feast, or engage in any military exercise. In 1848, convinced +of the great and growing importance of a careful observance of the Lord’s +day to the Church of Christ and the nation at large, the Conference +appointed a committee to watch over the general interests of the Sabbath, +to observe the course of events in reference to it, to collect such +information as may serve the cause of Sabbath observance, to correspond +with persons engaged in similar designs, and to report from year to year +the result of their inquiries, with such suggestions as they may think +proper to offer. The duty of family worship is strongly recommended. +The power of expulsion is conferred only on preachers, who have ever +appointed leaders, chosen stewards, and admitted members. No one is to +belong to the society who is guilty of smuggling or bribery at elections. + +For the support of their ministers most careful provision has been made. +The direct means by which funds are raised is that of weekly and +quarterly collections in the classes, and quarterly collections in all +the chapels. It is expected that every member, in accordance with the +original rule of Mr. Wesley, should contribute at least one penny per +week and one shilling per quarter. + +I have spoken of the class meetings. Band Societies are the same, except +that they are divided into smaller companies and are on a stricter plan +as to the faithful interchange of mutual reproof and advice. The +questions proposed to every one before he is admitted are such as these: +Have you forgiveness of your sins? Have you peace with God through our +Lord Jesus Christ? Have you the witness of God’s Spirit with your own +that you are a child of God? Is the love of God shed abroad in your +heart? Has no sin, outward or inward, dominion over you? Do you desire +to be told of all your faults? Do you desire that every one of us should +tell you from time to time whatever we fear—whatever we hear concerning +you—that in doing this we should cut to the quick and search your heart +to the bottom? And so on. Again, at every meeting it is to be asked, +“What known sins have you committed since our last meeting? What +temptations have you met with? How were you delivered? What have you +thought, said, or done of which you doubt whether it be sin or not?” To +the members of these bands the minutest injunctions are given. Amongst +other things, they are to “pawn nothing—no, not to save life.” + +Society Meetings were instituted by Mr. Wesley immediately after the +formation of the first Methodist Society, and were regarded by him of +great importance in a spiritual point of view. All preachers were to +hold them on the Lord’s day; only those members who had tickets were to +be admitted. On these occasions the society is to be closely and +affectionately addressed by the preacher on those important subjects +which relate to personal and domestic religion. A Methodist love-feast +is a meeting at which none are present but the members of the society, +and such as have obtained special permission from the minister. The +meeting begins with singing and prayer, after which the stewards, or +other officials of the society, distribute to each person a portion of +bread or cake, and then a little water. A collection is then made for +the poor. Liberty is then given to all to relate their religious +experience in accordance with the words of the Psalmist—“Come and hear, +all ye that fear God, and I will tell what He hath done for my soul.” +This service is usually held once a quarter, continues about two hours, +and is concluded with prayer. The times for holding public +prayer-meetings are not fixed by any established rule of the connexion, +but are left to the discretion of the superintendent of the circuit, who +usually appoints such times as may be most convenient to the people of +the district. Prayer-meetings are generally held on Sunday mornings and +week-days. Missionary prayer-meetings are held once a month, and +meetings in private houses for prayer are strongly recommended. +Quarterly days of fasting and humiliation are also held. The religious +services known as Watch Nights are usually celebrated on the New +Year’s-eve, but they are not always confined to the close of the year, +for it is the custom of some places to hold them quarterly. On the first +Sunday afternoon in the New Year, a solemn service is held entitled the +Renewing of the Covenant. It generally commences at two and closes at +five. None but members or those who have obtained special permission +from the preacher may be present. + +Baptism is regarded by the Methodists as a dedicatory act on the part of +Christian parents. The Sacrament is their most solemn and sacred +festival. In the bread and wine they see no mystical efficacy, but a +significant emblem of the body and blood of Christ; but they do not make +it the test of Church membership. Originally the Wesleyans went to their +parish church for the purpose of celebrating it, and it was not till +after Wesley’s death that the body received the Sacrament in their own +chapels, and from their own ministers. + +On the Sabbath morning public worship is usually commenced by the reading +of the Church of England service in a more or less abridged form. The +Conference has appointed that, where this is not done, the lessons for +the day, as appointed by the Calendar, should be read. A hymn is then +sung from a hymn-book compiled by Charles Wesley, and subsequently much +enlarged. Extemporaneous prayer follows; then another hymn; then, unless +the Church service has been previously used, the reading of portions of +the Scriptures; then an extemporaneous sermon, and the worship is +concluded with singing and prayer. With the exception of the Church +service, the same order is observed in the evening. + +Among Wesleyan institutions must be placed first and foremost pastoral +instruction. Catechumen classes for the instruction and edification of +the young are held by catechists. Sunday-schools were next established; +then day and infant schools. In 1843 steps were taken for the +establishment of the Wesleyan normal schools in Westminster. This led in +1856 to the establishment of the Westminster Training College. Other +schools, such as those at Sheffield, Taunton, and Dublin exist for the +children of such as can pay for a good education for their children. The +Kingswood and Woodhouse Grove Schools are supported by the denomination +for the free training of the children of preachers. Then steps were +taken for the establishment of the Wesleyan Theological Institution at +Richmond and Didsbury. In 1866 it was resolved to have one at Headingley +for training missionaries. The responsibility of recommending candidates +for the ministry originally rested upon the superintendent. He proposes +him to the quarterly meeting. The candidate is then recommended to the +ensuing annual district meeting, and they recommend him to Conference, +who decide. The candidate must previously have been a local preacher. +After a certain time of trial the candidate is ordained or admitted into +full connexion, after a private examination by the President and a few +senior ministers whom he may select. The ordination is by imposition of +hands. No travelling preacher can marry during the term of his probation +without violating the rules and rendering himself liable to be dismissed +from his itinerancy. There are besides, assistants and superintendent +preachers. Every preacher shall be considered as a supernumerary for +four years after he has desisted from travelling, and shall afterwards be +deemed superannuated. No person is eligible to be a local preacher +unless he be a regularly accredited member of society, and meet in class. +He has to undergo an examination of a private nature. + +It would take far more space than I have at command to continue the +subject. The Wesleyans have a Stationary Committee to draw up a plan for +stationing ministers; a Committee to guard their privileges; a Committee +to look after and support worn-out preachers; another to consider the +case of the widows; another for the maintenance of the children of +ministers; another for the Home Mission and what is called the Contingent +Fund. In 1862 Juvenile Home and Foreign Missionary Societies were +established. The General Wesleyan Missionary Society, as it is now +known, dates from 1817. + +The chapels are, of course, the property of the denomination, and the +same may be said of the preachers’ dwelling-houses. There is a Chapel +Loan Fund, a Connexional Relief and Extension Fund, a Wesleyan Chapel +Committee, and a Metropolitan Committee for the same purpose, which, +since 1862, has granted 11,625_l._ to nineteen chapels in the +metropolitan districts, which cost altogether 89,499_l._, and gave +accommodation to more than 17,000 hearers. + +The Methodist Book Establishment consists of the President and +ex-President, the members of the London Book Committee, thirty-nine +travelling preachers, and the representatives of the Irish Conference. +There is also a Wesleyan Tract Society. + +Such is Methodism on paper; of Methodism in practice we can only say +_Circumspice_. In London there are 132 Wesleyan, 54 Primitive Methodist, +52 United Methodist Free Church, 9 Reformed Wesleyan, and 13 Methodist +New Connexion Chapels. + + + +AT A WATCH-NIGHT SERVICE. + + +Methodism has one special institution. Its love-feasts are old—old as +Apostolic times. Its class meetings are the confessional in its simplest +and most unobjectionable type, but in the institution of the watch-night +it boldly struck out a new path for itself. In publicly setting apart +the last fleeting moments of the old year and the first of the new to +penitence, and special prayer, and stirring appeal, and fresh resolve, it +has set an example which other sects are preparing to follow. In the +Church of England the Methodist plan is being extensively carried out. +On last New Year’s-eve there were midnight services in the churches in +all parts of London. Especially have the Ritualists availed themselves +of the opportunity. Dr. Cumming chose the occasion for preaching a +sermon to young men, and Mr. Spurgeon’s great congregation met, as usual, +to see the old year out and the new year in. But after all, the +Methodist services were the most numerous. In the metropolitan district +they advertised services on watch-night at no less than seventy-three +chapels, and there were other smaller ones at which watch-services were +held, though they were not advertised. At first sight there seem to be +many obvious objections to midnight meetings. They keep people up late; +they keep them out in the streets late; they interfere with the routine +of business and the prescribed order of domestic life; they cause +delicate people to wake up next morning with an aching brow and a fevered +frame. To others they bring catarrh, disorder of the mucous membrane, +cold, necessitating as a remedy water-gruel and cough mixtures. +Obviously, however, these are minor considerations. It may be asked: Is +not the soul, that never dies, of more value than the body, which +to-morrow may be dust and ashes? The life that now is—what is it +compared with the life that is to come? + +Last year’s eve I was one of a crowd that found their way to the ancient +head-quarters of Wesleyanism—the fine old chapel which, it is to be +hoped, will not be improved off the face of the earth, in the City Road. +It was an unpleasant night to tear one’s self away from one’s study fire +or the friendly circle. The rain was heavy, the streets were a mass of +mud, and the melancholy lamps, which are the disgrace of such a +metropolis as London, did little more than make the darkness visible. +Over all the City a Stygian gloom prevailed, except where the light +blazed forth from the gin-palaces, which seemed, as I passed, to be doing +a roaring trade, and to be filled with sots but too happy to find an +excuse for the glass. Occasionally also a cigar shop threw out a little +ray of light on the pavement and across the street, and now and then from +an upper window the lamps gleamed, and you heard the click of billiards. +So still was the traffic that even the beggars had gone home. Here and +there an omnibus, here and there a cab crawling for the last time, for +the new Act was to come into operation the next day—here and there a +policeman, here and there a belated clerk, here and there an +unfortunate—such were all you saw as you paced along the deserted City +that night. You could almost fancy its inhabitants had fled as if an +enemy were on its way, or as if the plague ran riot in its streets. A +little after ten the scene began to change. Doors were opened by heads +of families doubtful as to the state of the weather. Up area steps +creeped ancient males and females to do what they had done years and +years before. Children, young men and women, fathers and mothers, +masters and servants, got out into the streets. I followed them, and was +soon seated in the chapel in the City Road. All round me were monuments +of Wesleyan worthies. It were a task too long to describe their virtues +or record their memories here. Up in that pulpit Wesley preached, and +there the imprint of his genius yet survives. It is hard to realize what +a power Wesleyanism is. I did not expect to see many; in reality the +commodious chapel was well filled. The service began at half-past ten, +but it was not till long past that hour that the congregation had +entirely assembled. It seemed to me this was a great mistake. For half +an hour or so the opening and shutting of doors and the entrance of +hearers interfered much with the comfort of those who had already come. +Under these circumstances the service was trying to all taking part in +it. Neither preacher nor hearer had a fair chance. In reality the +attraction of the night was the sermon of the pastor of the place, the +Rev. M. C. Osborn, and he did not begin till his pulpit had been occupied +by an assistant for an hour. After it was all over it puzzled me to +perceive what had been gained by the preliminary service and the +assistant’s sermon. The assistant was a young man, and it was the sort +of a sermon a properly trained young man would preach. The subject was +the barren figtree, a striking subject treated with all the tediousness +of commonplace. It was clear the preacher had read more than he felt, or +he would not have spoken of the responsibility of a figtree, or bothered +himself with the threefold sense which cropped up under his three +divisions—first, as to the figtree, then as to the state of the Jews to +whom Christ told his parable, and then as to its applicability at the +present time. His great virtues were fluency, perfect coolness and +self-possession, and a distinct and powerful utterance. When he came to +the terrible climax, when he spoke of the condemnation which awaited the +finally impenitent, when he repeated how there could be no hope for such +as they, how for them there was agony of which no tongue could tell the +horror, or no imagination conceive, there was no pathos in his tones, no +tear trembling in his eye, no sign of sensibility in his heart. The +Saviour wept over Jerusalem as He saw the coming fate of the city that +had mocked at His warnings, that had stoned the prophets, that was to +crucify Himself. It did not seem to me that the sermon produced much +effect. When it has been the writer’s privilege to converse with +Wesleyans they have contrasted their warmth with the coldness of the +services of other denominations; but in Episcopalian church or +Independent or Baptist chapel—nay, at a Quaker’s meeting—such a service +as that preliminary to Mr. Osborn’s appearance might have been held +without causing any sensation on account of its extra warmth and fire. +It was plain, and simple, and orthodox, and when it was over the people +seemed to feel that the proper thing had been said, and that was all. + +Mr. Osborn next entered the pulpit, while the people were singing with +well-trained voices and without the help of an organ one of the +well-known Wesleyan hymns. His appearance excites confidence. As he +stood up there seemed in his face something of the fatherly feeling of a +real, not a conventional bishop. A lay brother engaged in prayer. In +spite of its boisterous tone and stentorian _Ohs_ and _ands_ it was deep, +and heartfelt, and impressive, and invoked the responses which custom +permits in a Wesleyan chapel alone. Then came a short sermon from Mr. +Osborn, from the text in Jeremiah which tells how “the harvest is past, +the summer is ended, and we are not saved.” In his hands the text +suggested three thoughts—1. There are special seasons for men to become +religious. 2. There is a possibility of letting such seasons pass away +unimproved. 3. A time will come when the consciousness of such neglected +seasons will awaken in the mind bitter memory and unavailing regret. The +sermon was in its way wonderfully ripe and full. To every man living +under the Gospel is salvation offered. To some that offer is made in +youth, or by the preaching of the Gospel, or by providential +dispensations, or by revivals of religion occurring in their +neighbourhood. But God never coerces any one, nor interferes with man’s +free will. Human law proceeds upon the supposition of man’s perfect +ability to control his actions, and God does the same. The grace of God +is resistible, as the Bible shows in the case of the Antediluvians, of +Pharaoh, and Jerusalem; but too late people who resist that grace will +remember it, and that remembrance will form the most bitter ingredient in +their lot. As it is, when people are going wrong, they refuse to think. +The preacher then dwelt on the last words—not saved. Most powerfully did +he carry out that meaning as he pictured the shipwrecked mariner who sees +the sail that was to have saved him pass out of sight; or as the besieged +army behold the succour that was to have rescued them cut off; or as the +criminal left for execution hears there is no reprieve for him; or as +that poor woman with her babe and little ones, who found the other night +(alluding to a tragedy which had just occurred) the fire-escape failed to +reach them, and fell a sacrifice to the devouring flames. But whilst +there was life there was hope; and then the preacher appealed to all on +that last night of the old year to accept God’s offer of life, and to +cast themselves at His feet. For about ten minutes every head was bowed +in silent prayer. In that great assembly I saw no wandering eye; and +then, just after the clock had struck twelve, all rose to sing— + + “Come let us anew our journey pursue;” + +and after a short prayer by the preacher for blessings during the coming +year, the service closed, and out I went into the streets, suddenly as it +were wakened up into life—while church bells rang out the old 1869, and +rang in A.D. 1870. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. +THE QUAKERS. + + +Modern Christianity, it is often said, has little in common with that of +apostolic times: I fear it is equally true that the Quakerism of to-day +has little in common with the heroic Quakerism of an earlier day. It was +in 1646, during the prevalence of civil and religious commotions, that +George Fox commenced his labours as minister of the Gospel, being then in +the twenty-third year of his age. It was a hard time of it he and his +disciples had; no men ever fared worse and for less provocation given, at +the hands of arbitrary powers, than did the Quakers. Baxter thus +describes them:—“They made the light which every man hath within him to +be his sufficient rule, and consequently the Scripture and ministry were +set light by. They spake much for the dwelling and working of the Spirit +in us, but little of justification and the pardon of sin and our +reconciliation with God through Jesus Christ. They pretend their +dependence on the Spirit’s conduct against set times of prayer and +against sacraments, and against undue esteem of Scripture and ministry. +They will not have the Scriptures called the Word of God. Their +principal zeal lieth in railing at the ministers as hirelings, deceivers, +false prophets, &c., and in refusing to swear before a magistrate, or to +put off their hat to any, or to say _you_ instead of _thou_ or _thee_, +which are their words to all. At first they did use to fall into +wailings and tremblings at their meetings, and pretend to be intently +acted on by the Spirit, but now that is ceased. They only meet, and he +that pretendeth to be moved by the Spirit speaketh, and sometimes they +say nothing but sit an hour or more in silence and then depart.” The +most fiery, the most untameable of men were the old Quakers, now a Friend +is the sleekest and fattest of men; lives in a style of the utmost +comfort, and wears the best of everything; there are no such homes of +luxury, no such lives of ease as amongst the Quakers. It is no wonder +they are a long-lived race. They mingle little with the world, and find +a peace which often the worldlings miss. As a religious organization +they are becoming weaker every day; they have a few chapels in various +parts of London, but as the old worshippers die off no new ones appear. +At their last annual meeting Mr. R. Barclay, who referred with +satisfaction to the fact that all over the land, Sunday by Sunday, 1100 +Friends were engaged in teaching 1400 children and 3000 adults, regretted +to find that no other Church had declined so much either in this country +or in America since 1720. In the United States 13,000 seats were closed +in the meeting-houses between 1850 and 1860. “If,” said he, “other +Churches had declined as we have done, Christianity must have died out.” +As regards the metropolis they seem to be in a little better condition; +the last statistics of membership show an increase of 95 in the year, the +whole number being 6608 males, 7286 females; total, 13,894; the births +exactly balanced the deaths. There were 121 new members from +convincement and 61 resignations, against 31 disownments there were 19 +reinstated. The habitual attenders at the places of worship are 3803, +being an increase of 145. It was remarked by a senior Friend that the +resignations were fewer and the convincements more than in any year since +accounts had been kept; Mr. Tallack gave it as his opinion that the +Society was never more healthy, not even in the first years of its +existence; J. Grubb believed that there was a considerable change for the +better, both as regards public and private prayer. It is to be hoped +such may turn out to be the case. The great characteristic testimony of +the Friends, particularly against ecclesiastical pretensions on the one +side and against religious forms on the other, is as much requisite now +as ever; there is, as one of their official documents remarks, “a strong +tendency in the human mind to substitute the form of religion for the +power, and to satisfy the conscience by a cold compliance with exterior +performances while the heart remains unchanged. And inasmuch as the +baptism of the Holy Ghost and the communion of the body and blood of +Christ, of which water baptism, and bread and wine, are admitted to be +only signs, are not dependent on those outward ceremonies or necessarily +connected with them, and are declared in Holy Scripture to be effectual +to the salvation of the soul, which the signs are not, Friends have +always believed it to be their place and duty to hold forth to the world +a clear and decided testimony to the living substance—the spiritual work +of Christ in the soul and a blessed communion with him there.” +Practically, in the promotion of temperance and education, in the +improvement of prisons and prison discipline, in the advocacy of +universal peace and freedom, in philanthropy and charity, the Friends +have ever led the way. For such ends they have freely sacrificed money +and time, and energy and life itself; nor do they forget those of their +own household, as it were; every poor Friend who may be unable to earn a +livelihood usually receives aid from his brother members to the extent of +20_l._ to 40_l._ per annum (administered privately in general), according +to age or infirmity. When the poorer Friends are out of a situation they +are often helped to obtain employment by various arrangements under free +registries, and by the aid of private inquiries for vacancies. In +addition it may be remarked that a large number of charitable bequests +and special funds have been bequeathed for the local or general benefit +of the members of this religious community. The City of London owes much +to Quakers, who in time past by their industry and self-denial laid the +foundations of many of its noblest charities and its most princely +mercantile establishments. + + + +JONATHAN GRUBB AT THE AGRICULTURAL HALL. + + +Long, long ago the wise men came from the East, and from the east of +England has come to us a man wise, in the opinion of his friends, in the +best wisdom. It is of Mr. Jonathan Grubb I write, who has been living in +Sudbury for many years, and who for the last twelve or fourteen has +almost entirely devoted himself to missionary work in various parts of +England, Scotland, and Ireland. I think as a temperance lecturer he +first came before the public. It was the sin of drunkenness which first +led him to lecturing. He had seen the evils of intemperance; he had seen +what poverty, what wretchedness and crime were its results; and much and +deeply moved thereby he mounted the platform, which more or less ever +since has been familiar with his name. While in Cornwall on one occasion +he found an opportunity of talking on something else—on that common +salvation without which, in the opinion of pious people, temperance +itself is of little worth. The opportunity was one of great spiritual +benefit, and ever since he has been engaged in what is called by the +denomination to which he belongs—the denomination whose energetic and +untiring philanthropy has been honoured all the world over—the +denomination which, from the days of George Fox, has ever borne a silent +protest against the frivolities of fashion and the vanities of +life—public preaching. In the opinion of those excellent people an +ordinary minister is not a public preacher at all. They reserve that +title exclusively for one who, like Mr. Grubb, goes out into the world, +as it were, collects the crowds by the wayside, on the seashore, in the +crowded street, and there, to those for whose souls few care, who +otherwise would perish for lack of knowledge, proclaims that Gospel which +tells how, for such as they, pardon can be secured and life and +immortality brought to light. In our day no Friend is more extensively +engaged in this work than Mr. Grubb. In all parts of Suffolk his labours +have been many. In various districts of the metropolis he has been +similarly engaged. He has also spent much time in Ireland—where he has +been listened to and aided by Roman Catholic and Protestant alike. It +was only on one occasion that he has ever been prevented from preaching +by the intrusion of a mob, and that was (tell it not in Gath, publish it +not in the streets of Askalon) in no less ancient and respectable a +borough than that of Bury St. Edmunds. In the filthiest and most +depraved districts of London, in the very heart of Roman Catholic +Ireland, he has never been interfered with at all. Of course some of +this success is due to Mr. Grubb himself. With his one aim to tell how +sinners may be saved, he has been remarkably successful in avoiding +collision with class feelings and sectarian animosities. His manner is +also eminently kind and gentle; but after all does not his experience +also show, what we have long believed, that honest, simple, faithful +preaching is never exercised in vain? It may be also said that some of +Mr. Grubb’s qualifications are hereditary. By birth he is an Irishman +(he comes from Tipperary), and his mother was an eminent Quakeress, and +extensively useful in her day. It was a sermon from her that was the +instrument, humanly speaking, in the conversion of one of the most +respected of our open-air preachers in London at the present day. We +take much from those to whom we owe our being. Why should we not also +inherit some of their excellences? The question may be asked though not +answered here. + +But to return to Mr. Grubb. The last time I heard him he had a truly +magnificent congregation at the Agricultural Hall, Islington. Mr. Thain +Davidson’s well meant effort to attract outsiders, and to keep up a large +Sunday-afternoon service, now that the novelty of the thing has passed +away, seems as successful as ever. He and his people have lately moved +into the new hall, a most commodious building, and right well do they +fill it. It will be much to be regretted if this scheme fall through for +want of funds. It appears much good has resulted from it. Not a week +passes but cases occur in which it has been shown how awakening have been +the addresses delivered. A service that only lasts an hour is a +desideratum. No one could have listened to Mr. Grubb without feeling how +his kind of address is pre-eminently adapted to encourage and stimulate +the religious life, to arrest the attention of the impenitent, and to +touch especially the hearts of the young. Mr. Grubb takes no text, +preaches no formal sermon, aims at no rhetorical flight, does not strike +you as being very intellectual, or very original, or very learned. It +may be that he is all three—it certainly is not for me to say that he is +not—but whether he be so or not, it is clear that he judges and judges +rightly that, at the Agricultural Hall on a Sunday afternoon what is +wanted is not the glare of the rhetorician, not the learning of the +divine, not the elaborate argument of the trained logician, not the fancy +of the poet, not the dramatic action of the elocutionist, but the tender +beseeching of one who, saved by Divine mercy himself, and assured of all +its fulness and omnipotence, would force a similar boon on all around. +It was thus he preached on Sunday afternoon. He seemed to speak out of +the depth of a holy love, in language very simple, abounding with the +commonest, and, as some might think, most worn of Scripture quotations, +yet with a pathos that, as it came from the heart, at once reached the +hearts of all his hearers. A more homely or plainer-looking man than Mr. +Grubb you don’t often see. As he stood there, with his sunburnt, honest +face, with his suit of sober black and grey, with his rustic air, you +felt that his power (for there was not a single unattentive hearer) was +such as a Whitefield or a Wesley wielded, and which has never been +exerted in our world in vain. Man’s fallen state, his need of pardon, +his need of pardon now, the danger of delay, the duty of all instantly to +receive the proffered grace—such were his themes. He told them he had +stood by the death-bed of a woman who had believed that there was no +mercy for such a wicked old sinner as she was, and had heard her song of +joy as she passed from the poverty and sorrow of earth to the wealth and +joy of heaven. Yes, for all there was mercy, and that all there present +might attain it was his prayer; and as thus he spoke, light came to his +eye and animation to his voice, and, with uplifted arm and flowing +utterance, he gave you his idea of the true evangelist—the man always +needed in our land—and it is to be feared, in spite of all our boasted +Christianity, never more than now. But it is not for me to say what are +Mr. Grubb’s peculiar qualifications for his work. What they are may be +best gathered from his abundant labours. In his own denomination it is +well known how numerous are his efforts and how great his successes. He +is a fitting representative of active and spiritual Quakerism. Men say +that body is not what it was; that it is losing its power; that it has +little hold upon the people; that it makes no converts. It may be so, +but if it has many such ministers as Mr. Grubb in its midst, as much as +any it is fitted with a living ministry which will go out into the +highways and hedges and bring back to the fold those who have wandered +far away. His appeal is not to the high and mighty, to the rich, the +learned, or the great, but to the poorest of the poor. Mr. Grubb’s +mission is evidently a special one. Amongst fallen women, in districts +where ragged-schools and churches are required, in corners of our land +where no regular means of grace exist, he finds special charm and need. +It is pleasant to see him supported by the good men and true of his own +denomination and others. It is evident that at the Agricultural +Hall—perhaps all the better for its not being professedly such—we have +the true idea of an Evangelical Alliance, an alliance for Christian work +rather than of Christian creed, an alliance practical, not speculative, +not in form and dogma, but in life and love. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. +THE MORAVIANS IN FETTER LANE. + + +What virtue there is in an if. Without going as far back as the Book of +Genesis, and thinking what a different thing life would have been if the +mother of us all had not plucked and eaten + + “The fruit + Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste + Brought death into the world and all our woe,” + +it is very obvious much depends upon the ifs. If Sir Robert Peel had +encouraged the advances of Disraeli, how different would have been the +state of politics in this country. If Louis Philippe had shot Louis +Napoleon when he had the power to do so, the Orleanists might have been +the rulers of France. If old George III. had had brains as well as +self-esteem and a stubborn will, what untold horrors might have been +averted from England and Ireland. If Balthazar Gerard had not fired his +pistol at William the Silent, Belgium at this time would have been as +intensely Protestant as it is now intensely Catholic. If John Wesley had +perished in the fire at Epworth Parsonage, where would have been the +Methodist Revival of the last century? And if Wesley himself had not +broken from the little band who met in Fetter Lane, what sect in England +would have equalled in numbers or usefulness that of the Moravians? Now, +in this teeming London they have but one place of worship, and that but +very indifferently filled. It does not even present the usual appearance +of a place of worship, and thus attract notice; the stranger passes it +by. Yet it is a place of surpassing interest, one of the hallowed spots +of London, where sinners have wept, where souls have rejoiced, where the +power and presence of God have been marvellously displayed. Let us go +there; we pass along a passage till we come into a very old-fashioned +meeting-house. There we shall find plenty of room. There are two +hundred communicants, and at certain times they are all present, but they +are scattered far and wide, and in general the place has a very deserted +look. The benches—there are no pews—are most uncommonly hard to sit on. +There are galleries, and in one of them there is an organ. The place is +neat and clean. The service itself calls for no especial notice. It is +much like that of other denominations. The liturgy is exclusively that +of the Moravians. The preaching is such as you may hear elsewhere. +Attached to the place is a skeleton Sunday-school. There is light about +the place, but it is not very powerful. It suggests more that of the +setting than of the rising sun. I confess I see no reason why this +should be the case, why the Moravianism, so powerful in many places, so +blessed in missionary efforts, should be so powerless here. Moravianism +is older than Lutheranism. It has an apostolical descent more genuine +than that of the English or the Romish Church. Pre-eminently it may +claim to have followed the leadings of Providence. Nowhere is there a +trace of the gradual elaboration of any plan dictated by human wisdom. +The leading men in the Ancient Unity, the emigrant founders of Herrnhut, +Count Zinzendorf himself, and those of his fellow-labourers who were +instrumental in introducing the Church into England, were all led +gradually and by a way which they knew not to results they had not +contemplated. As an anonymous writer, one of their body, remarks, “What +a striking proof is here afforded of the wisdom and faithfulness of God! +Surely it well becomes the members of a community which has been so +undeservedly favoured to inquire whether they, as individuals and +collectively, have faithfully improved the privileges bestowed upon +them.” + +But about the chapel. Turn to Baxter’s Diary, and we find the place +mentioned there. He writes: “On January the 24th, 1672–3, I began a +Tuesday Lecture at Mr. Turner’s church in New Street, near Fetter Lane, +with great convenience and God’s encouraging blessing.” It is, writes +Mr. Orme, that between Nevill’s Court and New Street, now occupied by the +Moravians. It appears to have existed, though perhaps in a different +form, before the Fire of London. Turner, who was the first minister, was +a very active man during the Plague. He was ejected from Sunbury, in +Middlesex, and continued to preach in Fetter Lane till towards the end of +the reign of Charles II., when he removed to Leather Lane. Baxter +carried on the morning week-day lecture till the 24th of August, 1682. +The church which then met in it was under the care of Mr. Lobb, whose +predecessors had been Dr. Thomas Goodwin and Thankful Owen. This church +still exists, but on the opposite side of the way, under the care of the +Rev. J. Spurgeon. The Moravians came into possession of the building in +1740. They had previously met in Fetter Lane, but in a smaller room. +The present chapel was then known as the Great Meeting-house, or +Bradbury’s Meeting-house. Tradition says that the place was once used as +a saw-pit, and as a place of asylum when the State Church was busy at the +work in which it has ever been untiring, no matter how remiss in other +matters—that of enforcing its rights real or fancied, and disregarding +those of other men. Tradition also says that the place was built, for +the same reason, with two modes of egress, that the good men in the +pulpit might have an additional chance of safety. It was in the meeting +that Emmanuel Swedenborg was for a time accustomed to worship. It was in +the old place that Whitefield and Wesley attended, and where, as Southey +writes, “they encouraged each other in excesses of devotion which, if +they found the mind sane, were not likely long to leave it so,” but of +which Wesley writes in very different language. Let us hear what he +says. “About three in the morning, as we were continuing instant in +prayer, the power of God came mightily upon us, insomuch that many cried +out for exceeding joy, and many fell to the ground. As soon as we were +recovered a little from that awe and amazement we broke out with one +voice, ‘We praise Thee, O God! we acknowledge Thee to be the Lord.’” “It +was a Pentecostal season indeed,” wrote Whitefield. Let me add that it +was there, and not in the present meeting, that Wesley stood up and read +from a written paper such of their doctrines as he contemned, especially +that of there being no degrees of faith short of perfect assurance. He +had learnt much from the Moravians. They had found him a mere Ritualist, +they had left him a converted man, but he had outgrown his teachers, the +mild and loving and placid Germans of Fetter Lane. “I have borne with +you long,” said he at the end of his discourse, “hoping you would turn; +but, as I find you more and more confirmed in the errors of your ways, +nothing now remains but that I should give you up to God. You that are +of the same judgment, follow me.” When he had thus spoken he withdrew. +This breach was never healed, and from that day to this Moravianism has +never in this country, and especially in London, recovered from the blow. + +It may also be said that the impulse given to the religious life of +England by the Moravians has tended naturally to their decrease. Their +speciality was to preach the atonement made for sin by the blood of +Jesus, and happiness in communion with Him. In the dark days, when they +came over, this doctrine was far less commonly believed than now, and in +proportion as it has been preached by Churchmen and Dissenters has there +been a decline of Moravian influence. In reality, what they came here to +do has been done by others who had learned how to do it from them. All +Evangelical sects teach now what they teach, and even where they now +break fresh ground it is found those whom they have influenced prefer to +take part with churches of a more native origin or British character. As +regards London the position of their chapel is very much against them. +An out-of-the-way situation is as undesirable in a spiritual, as in a +commercial point of view. In their church government they are +Episcopalian, and meet at certain great occasions in synod. At one time +they much favoured the lot, but now that is rarely used, and their +marriages are not arranged by it as was formerly the case. A bishop is +an elder appointed by the synod to ordain ministers of the church. The +latter are sent to a congregation, but it exercises a veto. The +congregation is ruled by a committee chosen by the communicants. They +claim not to be Dissenters; it was the opinion of Archbishop Potter they +were not. They trace their pedigree from Zinzendorf to Huss, from Huss +to the Greek monks, Theodorus and Cyril, who in the ninth century +introduced Christianity into Moravia and Bohemia. But after all they +chiefly glory in the fact of preaching, to use one of their own hymns— + + “That whoe’er believeth in Christ’s redemption + May find free grace and a complete exemption + From serving sin.” + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. +THE SWEDENBORGIANS. + + +If the reader be told that there exists in this enlightened age a sect +who believe that the day of judgment is passed, that it took place nearly +a hundred years ago, that the Christian dispensation is at an end, that +Emmanuel Swedenborg daily visited the spiritual world, and made +acquaintance with its inhabitants, that he was directly appointed by God +to describe to men the scenery of heaven and hell, and the world of +spirits, and the lives of their inhabitants, and that through him the +Lord Jesus Christ makes his second advent for the institution of a new +Church described in the Apocalypse under the figure of the New Jerusalem, +at once you exclaim, this is “one of the things no fellah can +understand.” Nevertheless, such actually is the fact—nay more, it may be +observed, that the number of Swedenborgians is on the increase; that they +have a hundred chapels in England, and a larger number in America, and +that this sect, while it has excited the rude laugh of ignorant folly, +has attracted to itself some of the greatest intellects of the day. +Emerson claims for Swedenborg that he was a “colossal soul;” and Mr. +Kingsley speaks of him, though not very correctly, as a “sound and severe +and scientific labourer, to whom our modern physical science is most +deeply indebted.” The Swedenborgians, says Theodore Parker, have a calm +and religious beauty in their lives, which is much to be admired. I +should fancy the artist Blake was a Swedenborgian. Amongst the active +Swedenborgians of the past I find such names as John Flaxman, sculptor; +William Sharpe, engraver; the Rev. Joseph Gilpin, curate to Fletcher of +Madely; and James Hindmarsh, one of Wesley’s preachers; Charles Augustus +Tulk, a friend of Joseph Hume, and M.P. for Sudbury in 1821; Samuel +Crompton, the inventor of the spinning-mule, of whom it was truly +remarked by his biographer, “Few men, perhaps, have ever conferred so +great a benefit on their country and reaped so little profit for +themselves.” In our time Swedenborgianism was represented in Parliament +by Mr. Richard Malins, now Sir Richard, and a Vice-Chancellor. Mr. Hiram +Power, the American sculptor, is a zealous missionary of the +Swedenborgian faith. The chief of the living Swedenborgian literati in +this country are Dr. Garth Wilkinson, and the Rev. Augustus Clissold, +formerly of Exeter College, Oxford. Other well-known names in connexion +with the sect are Mr. Isaac Pitman and Mr. George Hartly Grindon. + +The Society shows signs of life. In Islington there is a college for the +education of young men for the ministry. Mr. W. White, no friendly +witness,—he was driven from the community on the question of +spiritualism,—writes on the testimony of Her Majesty’s inspectors:—“There +are no better schools of their class in England than those maintained by +the Swedenborgians of Manchester and Salford, in which about fourteen +hundred children are educated.” The Swedenborgians have besides a +national missionary institution, with a very limited income, and two +societies for the production of tracts, one in London and the other in +Manchester. The London Missionary and Tract Society of the New Church +had in 1865 an income of 209_l._, and circulated 32,000 tracts. The +Manchester New Jerusalem Tract Society had the same year an income of +154_l._, and circulated 100,000 tracts; their chief society is that for +printing and publishing the writings of Emmanuel Swedenborg, established +in London in the year 1810. “For half a century,” writes Mr. White, +“this society was the happy meeting place of all who had any lively +interest in Swedenborg, whether citizens of Hindmarsh’s New Jerusalem, or +Churchmen like Clowes, or Quakers like Harrison, or unattached like +Tulk.” In 1845 the Swedenborg Association was formed in London to +promote the sale of Swedenborg’s writings, which were translated by Dr. +Wilkinson, the Rev. Augustus Clissold, and Mr. Strull. In 1854 it was +thought advisable that the Society should establish a book depôt of its +own. Accordingly the Rev. Augustus Clissold subscribed 3000_l._ for the +purchase of suitable premises. A house was taken in Bloomsbury Street. +In 1865 there were 3016 volumes disposed of, valued at 217_l._, and the +income of the Society from subscriptions and donations was in that year +205_l._ The operations of the Society are not, however, confined to its +sales. Swedenborg’s works are kept in print, and often are given away to +libraries and to persons of eminence at home and abroad. It does not +appear that Swedenborg’s writings have ever been very popular. The first +volume of the “Arcana Cœlestia” was published in 1749, and was completed +in 1756, in eight quartos. The book fell stillborn from the press. In +his “Spiritual Diary” Swedenborg describes the fact, and thus accounts +for it:—“I have received letters informing me that not more than four +copies have been sold in the space of two months. I communicated this to +the angels. They were surprised, but they said it must be left to the +Lord’s providence; that His providence is of such a nature that it +compels no one; and that it is not fitting others should read the ‘Arcana +Cœlestia’ before those who are in the faith.” + +I hasten on to finish what I have to say as to the Swedenborg +organization. There are many of his admirers who believe that the +attempt to form a separate sect was not a wise one; certainly Swedenborg +himself did nothing of the kind. Fletcher of Madely, who read “Heaven +and Hell,” and used to declare that he regarded Swedenborg’s writings “as +a magnificent feast set out with many dainties, but that he had not an +appetite for every dish,” when asked why he did not preach the new +doctrines, candidly confessed, “Because my congregation is not in a fit +state to receive them;” and so, in the opinion of many, people might be +Swedenborgians, as members of other churches, without setting up a new +denomination. Such was the opinion of the chief apostle of +Swedenborgianism in England, the Rev. John Clowes, for the extraordinary +term of sixty-two years rector of St. John’s, Manchester. A complaint +was laid before his Bishop, Dr. Porteus, charging him with the denial of +the Trinity and the Atonement, and with holding heretical opinions. The +Bishop summoned him to Chester, “read to him the several charges, heard +patiently his reply to each, made his remarks (which discovered plainly +that he was by no means dissatisfied or displeased with his opinions), +and dismissed him with a friendly caution to be on his guard against his +adversaries, who seemed disposed to do him mischief.” And no wonder. +Swedenborg took almost as great liberties with the Pentateuch as Bishop +Colenso himself. + +Robert Hindmarsh, a printer, in Clerkenwell Close, the founder of the +sect of “the New Church signified by New Jerusalem in the Revelation,” +was not of the same way of thinking as Clowes or Fletcher. In 1783 he +held meetings at his own house; he had an audience of two. In 1784 he +was joined by others; chambers were rented in New Court, Middle Temple, +under the title of “The Theosophical Society, instituted for the purpose +of promoting the heavenly doctrine of the New Jerusalem, by translating, +printing, and publishing the Theological Writings of Emmanuel +Swedenborg.” Meetings were held on Sundays and Thursdays, at which +portions of Swedenborg’s writings were read and discussed. In 1787 a +chapel was opened at Great Eastcheap. In 1797 Proud came to Cross +Street, Hatton Garden, a place built expressly for him; and very large +congregations for some years attended on his ministry. In time the +chapel became deserted, the preacher ceased to draw. In 1812 it was sold +to the managers of the Caledonian Asylum, and then for a time Irving +blazed in it, the comet of a season; and then once more it came back to +the Swedenborgians; and now, at any rate of a Sunday night, it is a sad, +lonely spot. Proud was succeeded by Noble, an engraver, who commenced +his ministry in 1819, and continued it till 1853, when he closed it by +his death in his seventy-fifth year. One of the blessings promised in +the Old Testament to those who keep the Commandments seems to be +pre-eminently enjoyed by the Swedenborgians, and that is length of days. +Swedenborg himself lived to be eighty-four. + +From the Wesleyans the Swedenborgians got the idea of a conference which +was to govern the new Church. As represented in conference, the +Swedenborgians form a congregation of 3605 members, divided into +fifty-five societies. In London there are four societies, containing, +says Mr. White, 566 members. In 1807 one was held, at which they decreed +no one should act as minister who had not received their ordination, and +recommended all who would enter the New Jerusalem to receive baptism at +their hands. Since 1815, conferences have been held regularly in various +towns. Conference has for its organ the _Intellectual Repository and New +Jerusalem Magazine_. + +The faith of the new Church is briefly this:— + + “That there is one eternal, self-existent God, who is Infinite Love + and Wisdom, the Creator and Sustainer of all things. + + “In the fulness of time and for the redemption of man, He took upon + Him human nature by birth of a virgin, and became God manifest in the + flesh in the person of Jesus Christ, in whom dwelleth all the fulness + of the Godhead bodily. + + “The Lord Jesus Christ is the one only true object of Christian faith + and worship, and in Him is centred the Divine Trinity of Father, Son, + and Holy Spirit. The divinity of the Father being the soul of the + Son, and the humanity of the Son being the body of the Father, whence + proceeds the Holy Spirit to regenerate and save mankind. + + “The Lord became our Redeemer by subduing the infernal hosts, and + glorifying His humanity, without which no man could have been saved, + and by which all men are capable of being saved by belief in Him; + such belief implying a faithful obedience to the Divine laws, as the + means of receiving the gifts of salvation. + + “The Sacred Scripture is the Word of God, and contains within its + external or literal sense an internal or spiritual sense, being thus + Divine. + + “On the death of the natural body, man rises again in a spiritual + body, and according to the quality of his life here, lives in + happiness or in misery hereafter. + + “Now is the time of the Lord’s second coming, not in person, but in + the power and great glory of His Holy Word, to establish a new and + permanent Church, testified in the Revelation by the holy city—New + Jerusalem descending from God out of heaven.” + +As a philosophy Swedenborgianism is the exact opposite of Materialism. +Everything in nature, Swedenborg tells us, exists first in spirit. “We +are created by the Lord, so that during our life in the body we may +converse with spirits and angels, as indeed was the habit of the people +of the most ancient times.” During his worldly life “he (man) is not +seen in spirit, because he is immersed in nature.” God is in +everything—is the life of everything. In heaven all is love—in hell all +is selfishness. There is besides a spiritual world. + +There are four Swedenborgian congregations in London. The principal one +is that in Argyle Square, King’s Cross, at which preaches the Rev. Dr. +Bayley—a tall, pleasant gentleman, in the prime of life. Outside, the +place presents the appearance of a well-built, superior sort of chapel; +inside, the massive pillars give it almost a cathedral appearance. It +holds about 700 people; there are no galleries, and it is generally well +filled. The people have a respectable appearance, and some of them have +arrived at the dignity of “carriage folk.” The preacher is attentively +listened to, and if passages of Scripture are referred to in the course +of the sermon, there is at once an appeal to innumerable Bibles. There +is service twice a day; and in the afternoon there is a conversation +class, at which the Sunday-school teachers meet and take tea together. +In the course of the week there is a theological class; and then, in +connexion with the chapel, there are societies of a friendly and +philanthropic character; there is also a lending library, and a day as +well as a Sunday school. At either school the average attendance is the +same—about three hundred. + +At the far end, as you enter, there are two desks or pulpits, one for the +minister and another for the assistant reader. The minister is in the +one on the right-hand side. Between them is the communion-table. Both +the minister and the assistant are dressed alike, in white robes—typical, +we may suppose, of the doctrine and the life. + +The service begins with a hymn, followed by certain passages from the +Bible, in which all the congregation join, with the help of an efficient +organ and choir. Then the minister reads, while the congregation kneel, +a prayer of confession and supplication, ending with a prayer to “our +Father who art in the _heavens_.” Then the congregation stand while the +minister reads the Ten Commandments or the Beatitudes. Again passages +from the Psalms are sung, and there is another prayer, varied according +to its being the first, or second, or third, or fourth Sunday—a variation +deserving to be imitated if ever we have a reformed Book of Common +Prayer. In these prayers there is a scrupulous avoidance of evangelical +formulas. Of course we hear nothing of the blood of Christ to wash away +the stain of sin; and if terms are used common to other denominations, +they are carefully toned down. Instead, praise and adoration are offered +“for the establishment of a church upon earth as the means of raising us +to heaven, and may it be increasingly receptive of those exalted +principles which constitute Thy spiritual Zion; and may it speedily +advance to that glorious state which is the subject of prophetic promise. +Grant that the holy city, New Jerusalem, descending from Thee out of +heaven, may be more and more extensively welcomed; and that all who are +enabled to perceive its heavenly nature may show forth the knowledge of +Thy truth by a life in agreement with its dictates.” Hymns, more +philosophical than theological, are sung, and sacred anthems. No +reference is made to other churches, or to other bodies of Christians. +Amongst the special services we find Christ is thanked for His victory +over the _hells_. God is, we are told, one in essence and in person; and +in Him is the Divine Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. The +partaker of “the Holy Supper,” as it is called, is required “to +acknowledge that the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is the only God of +heaven, and that His humanity is divine.” In the Marriage Service we are +told, “Love truly conjugal is the union of two minds, which is a +spiritual union, and all spiritual union descends from heaven. Hence +love truly conjugal comes from heaven, and its origin, from the marriage +of goodness and truth there.” But while we have been looking through the +liturgy, the preacher has read a short prayer, and has commenced his +sermon, the text of which, you may be sure, is taken from the Old +Testament. Let us listen. I have said it is sure to be taken from the +Old Testament. The reason is, Swedenborg rejects the Acts of the +Apostles, and the Epistles, or, rather, declares that they have no +“internal sense.” + +Once upon a time, as the story goes, an aged minister was asked the +reason why he abounded in expositions in preference to regular sermons. +His reply was, because when he was persecuted in one text he could flee +unto another. Swedenborgian preachers need no such excuse. According to +their master, Scripture has a threefold sense—_the celestial_, _the +spiritual_, and _the literal_ or natural. In this Swedenborg was not +original. He recognised a threefold sense in Scripture corresponding to +the threefold nature of man—as body, soul, and spirit. This idea was +undoubtedly suggested to him by the threefold division of mankind +according to the Gnostic system. “The _celestial_ sense,” writes the +Rev. Mr. Clowes, “according to Baron Swedenborg, involves in it +whatsoever relates to the Divine love, and whatsoever has a tendency to +excite that love in the will and affections of the devout reader. The +spiritual sense, again, involves in it whatsoever relates to the Divine +wisdom, and whatsoever is communicative of that wisdom to the devout +reader’s understanding and thought. And lastly, the natural or literal +sense involves in it whatsoever relates to the expressions of the Divine +love and wisdom, and is best adapted to convey those heavenly principles +to the reader’s mind, and to impress them on his life.” According to +this method, then, the Swedenborgian has a fulness and a liberty which, +in the pulpit, should give him a power of amplification denied to those +whose Biblical exegesis is of a more old-fashioned character. If, for +instance, as Swedenborg says, the history of the Creation in Genesis +means the rise of the most ancient church—if by Noah is meant the ancient +church in general—if Shem typifies true internal worship, Ham corrupt +internal worship, Japheth true external worship, and Canaan corrupt +external worship—it seems to such as the writer the Swedenborgian +preacher may do what he likes, and in his flights of rhetoric may leave +his brethren of other denominations far behind. Take, for instance, the +plague of frogs. An ordinary preacher could make but little of it; but a +Swedenborgian will tell you that frogs mean false doctrines, and then +what room you have for expansion! Again, if I take the word Egypt in the +Old Testament to mean the “natural principle,” how much more can I say +than he who means by Egypt—Egypt and nothing else! At the same time this +very liberty seems to hamper and confine the Swedenborgians. There is +something narrow and pedantic about their preaching. As Swedenborg +studied the Bible and read no other book, so they seem to confine +themselves exclusively to Swedenborg; and as they have none of them his +genius, or his fulness, or his power, the result is something very +far-fetched and tame and second-hand. You feel that in accordance with +their own system of interpretation they might do much more than they +actually do. “It is unquestionably true,” however (writes Mr. George +Bush, late Professor of Hebrew in the University of New York), “that the +piety inculcated by the doctrines of the New Church is of a more genial +and cheerful stamp than that which is usually found under the auspices of +the prevailing creeds, because the doctrines impart a higher and sublimer +view of the infinite love and benignity of the Lord towards the human +race, as willing the salvation of all, and ordering every event of His +providence with a view to eternal ends of mercy in regard to each +individual, and incessantly aiming to withhold him from hell, so far as +it can ‘be done consistently with his moral freedom.’” When Tennyson +writes:— + + “Behold we know not anything; + I can but trust that good shall fall + At last—far off—at last to all, + And every winter change to spring. + + “That nothing walks with aimless feet, + That not one life shall be destroyed, + Or cast as rubbish to the void, + When God hath made the pile complete”— + +he merely reproduces Swedenborgianism. Again, the Swedenborgians claim +for their system an active philanthropy superior to that of any other +sect. If heaven and hell are in us—if, as we develop the good we arrive +at heaven, or as we develop the bad we sink into a deeper hell—no sects +have greater provocatives to a godly life, and we might expect in their +preaching a glowing sympathy with human right and popular progress, which +assuredly in their pulpits in England finds but little utterance. +Swedenborg teaches, in the strongest manner, that no man can lead a +spiritual life apart from civil and moral life. Again and again he +argues that the life which leads to heaven “is not a life of retirement +from the world, but of action in the world. A life of charity, which +consists in acting sincerely and justly in every situation, engagement, +and work, in obedience to the Divine law, is not difficult; but a life of +piety alone is difficult, and such a pious life leads away from heaven as +much as it is vulgarly believed to lead to heaven.” The Christianity of +his day he proclaims again and again to be worthless. It was founded on +opinion, not on conduct. He who believes otherwise than the Church +teaches is cast out of its communion; “but he who thieves, if he does not +do so flagrantly, lies, betrays, and commits adultery, if only he +frequents a place of worship and talks piously, passes as a religious +man.” When a great abuse has to be attacked—when a hoary wrong in Church +and State has to be swept away—when help is to be given to the wretched +and the perishing, have we ever seen the Swedenborgian minister coming to +the front as a leader? On the contrary, you will find him in his New +Jerusalem ignoring humanity altogether, and torturing with tedious +complacency Genesis and Revelation alike. If I were a preacher of any +denomination, I would have Swedenborg’s works by me. They should be the +fruitful source of many an argument to illustrate or arouse; but if in +the future the pulpit is to maintain its place and power, the +Swedenborgians, unless they turn over a new leaf, must retire into the +background. Look at Cross Street, Hatton Garden, for instance, on a +Sunday night; you will not find thirty people there; yet it stands in the +midst of a teeming population, where the devil preaches to a crowded +congregation every day and every hour. Let it not be supposed, however, +that Swedenborgianism is perishing for lack of new blood. It was only a +few days since I heard of a clergyman of the Church of England, who had +resigned his living in consequence of his joining the Swedenborgians. Of +the fancies of Swedenborg let me say there are those to whom they suggest +much—reveal much. According to the man’s own statement, he was sent from +God, and saw and revealed the secrets of the invisible world. Sometimes +his revelations are very indecorous. Here is one. “Spiritual angels +dislike butter, which was made clear to me from this circumstance: that +although I am fond of butter I did not for a long while, even for some +months, desire any, and during which time I was in association with them; +and when I had tasted butter I found it had lost the pleasant flavour it +once had to me. That the spiritual angels caused this aversion was plain +from the fact that when a celestial angel was with me, and I was impelled +to eat some good butter, the spiritual angels caused an odour of butter +to rise from my mouth to my nostrils by way of reproach; still, however, +they are much delighted with milk, and when I partook of some the relish +was more grateful than I can describe. Milk belongs to the spiritual, as +butter does to the celestial angels—not that they delight therein as +food, but on account of their correspondence.” I should have said +Swedenborg divides all angels into two orders—the celestial angels are +the angels of love or the will, the spiritual angels are those of truth +or the intellect. Angels, according to Swedenborg, are poor guides in +worldly matters; “they only regard the good intention, and can be adduced +to affirm anything which promises to advance it.” + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. +THE IRVINGITES, OR APOSTOLICAL CHURCH. + + +If the absence of brotherly love for religious people, if a scorn of all +who worship God different from themselves, constitute heresy—and surely +the Apostle John shows that it does very clearly—then there are no such +heretics in London as the Irvingites, who worship in a very magnificent +cathedral in Gordon Square. Irving, I imagine, with all his genius, had +a very uncatholic spirit. Take, for instance, his celebrated missionary +sermon. Requested by the directors of the London Missionary Society to +preach the annual sermon at Surrey Chapel—how did he begin? + +When he ascended the pulpit he entered on a kind of audible soliloquy. +Said he, “How shall I encourage myself to address the thronging multitude +by whom I am surrounded? I will even cast about for a few examples. +There are three of a notable character which now strike me: that of the +Apostle Paul preaching before the Jewish Sanhedrim, that of Bernard +Gilpin preaching before the Court of King Edward VI., and, that of a +Scottish Divine preaching before the Commissioner of the General +Assembly. On these three examples, as on a sacred tripod, I feel my +spirit propped; but especially the last, the Scottish Divine preaching +before the Commissioner of the General Assembly. If he could venture to +encounter the hoary-headed eldership and substantial theology of the +North, surely I may, without fear, address myself to the flimsy +evangelism of the South.” In this kind and flattering way did Irving +speak of the great body of English Dissenters. + +Of the Irvingite Church, the late Drummond, the banker, M.P. for Surrey, +was also an elder, and the same spirit lent bitterness to his sarcastic +and biting tongue. It was a treat to see and hear him, especially when +the topic was at all theological. Irving describes Drummond as one “who +hath taken us poor despised interpreters of prophecy under your wing, and +made the walls of your house like unto the ancient schools of the +prophets.” But out of his own house Drummond seemed to have taken little +else or nothing under his wing. His mission apparently was to preach +that in nothing was there anything—that we were all whited sepulchres. +The Egyptians placed a skeleton at their feasts to remind them of their +mortality. The Sultan Saladin, it is said, had a similar message dinned +daily into his ears by a herald especially appointed to that purpose. +Mr. Drummond voluntarily took that duty on himself. In his eye we were +all morally dead; all virtue was gone clean out of us; the Church was in +darkness and in the valley of the shadow of death. Nor had Dissent one +ray more of Gospel light. Under the mask of patriotism he saw the +grovelling soul of the placeman; in the love of liberty the desire of +licence; in the rulers of the land a lamentable lack of understanding; in +the people a blind, senseless, untaught mass. Drummond was such a one as +Tennyson describes:— + + “Thou shalt not be saved by works; + Thou hast been a sinner too. + Ruined trunks on wither’d forks, + Empty scarecrows I and you.” + +Thus did he perorate with the thinnest of voices, and gentlest manner, to +a House of which, for many sessions, he was the delight and puzzle, all +the while he was a member of the Irvingite Church. + +A great claim is set up by this Church. Like Aaron’s rod, it is to +swallow up all the rest. So great is its hatred of sects, it forms a new +one. While calling itself the holy and Apostolic Church, it makes no +exclusive claim to the title. It acknowledges it to be the common title +of the one Church baptized unto Christ. It claims to be no body of +separatists from the Church of England. The members recognise the +continuance of that Church from the days of the Apostles, and of the +three orders, bishops, priests, and deacons, by succession from the +Apostles. They have no sympathy with Dissent in any of its forms. That +is schism, and is to be condemned accordingly. They meet in separate +congregations, but they are not open to the charge of schism, on the +ground of their meeting being permitted and authorized, so they say, by +an ordinance of paramount authority which they believe God has restored +for the benefit of the Church. At once their ecclesiasticism strikes the +most superficial observer; the idea of the Church, that it is a mere +assembly of believers, is rejected by them on every occasion and in every +way. Their great glory is that the Apostolical order exists and is +manifested in them. + +Their special teaching is something more. It is often asked, Are the +days of Pentecost gone never to return? Have miracles ceased from among +men? Cannot signs and wonders be still wrought by the Holy Ghost? As a +rule, the Church answers this question in the negative. It teaches that +the age of miracles is past; that they are no longer necessary; that in +the fulness of time the Divine will was made known to man; and that the +Church needs not now the signs and wonders by which that revelation was +attested and declared. A large, or rather an active body, some few years +ago sprang up in Scotland, crossed the Border, and extended to England, +and enrolled amongst their members many in what may be termed an +influential position in life. Enter their churches, and you learn, +according to them, the gift of tongues still exists, signs and wonders +are still manifested to the faithful, miracles are still wrought by those +upon whom God has conferred the gift. Still, as much as in Apostolic +times, does the Divine afflatus dwell in man, and the man so endowed +becomes a prophet, and declares the will of God. “The doctrine of +Christ’s reign upon earth was at first,” says Gibbon, “treated as +profound allegory, was considered by degrees as a doubtful and useless +opinion, and was at length regarded as the absurd invention of heresy and +fanaticism.” A similar process has been in operation with regard to the +power of working miracles and speaking in unknown tongues. Against this +process the Irvingite or Catholic Church is a living protest. + +It is now many years since a magnificent Gothic cathedral was commenced +in the corner of Gordon Square, between what at one time was Coward +College and the handsome building erected by the Unitarians, and known as +University Hall. Architecturally the new church may take high rank. The +cathedral, still unfinished, is perhaps the most extensive modern work of +the kind that has been undertaken. The Early English style has been +adopted generally for the exterior, but inside the style of the roof and +stone carvings is Decorated. The flat ceiling of the aisles, with rich +traceried bosses and spandrels, is very effective. The ornament +throughout, of which there is a considerable quantity, displays careful +design. Indeed, in the opinion of competent critics the execution could +not be surpassed. There are daily services in the church; on Sunday +there are four. In the evening there is a sermon addressed to strangers. +It may be added here that, under the title of Catholic Apostolic +churches, there are in all seven buildings registered in London. To +each, I believe, appertain an evangelist, an apostle, a prophet, and an +angel; and as each officer is peculiarly distinguished by his dress, in +the cathedral in Gordon Square an effect is sometimes produced almost as +scenic as any in a Roman Catholic cathedral. There are chairs for some, +and benches for others; as much as possible they come and go in +procession. All that is wanted to make you believe that you are in a +Roman Catholic place of worship is a little incense, a few more banners, +a little more life in the pulpit, and, above all, the presence of +considerable numbers of the poorest of the poor. Here, indeed, the +resemblance fails; there are no poor, comparatively speaking. Everyone +is distressingly genteel; and I could swear more than once when I have +been present, the preacher, so fashionable has been his lisp, has been, +if not Lord Dundreary himself, at any rate his own “brother Thwam.” The +hearers must be wealthy and liberal—the service of the church, and the +church, all indicate this. + +I do not here enter into the question how far Church authority extends, +whether apostolical gifts are to be looked for in our day rather than the +apostolic spirit. I am not even definitely able to sum up the teaching +of the lights of Gordon Square. They avoid putting their doctrines in +print—and seem to seek to make converts by sly insinuation rather than by +open statement. All I can say is—and any outsider can see it—that with +apostolic pretensions these men avoid every appearance of apostolical +simplicity. They must meet not in an upper room, but in a gorgeous +cathedral, where they must clothe themselves in every variety of +ecclesiastical millinery, and appeal to the senses, to the eye and to the +ear, rather than to the brain or heart. Thus is it, when genius fails, +men have recourse to art. Irving would preach for hours to enraptured +audiences. The church has no Irving now, but rejoices instead in mosaic +pavement, fine music, man millinery, and elaborate ceremonial. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. +THE FREE CHRISTIAN UNION. + + +Many professedly Christian people, and many who are in no way such, have +long been of opinion that there is something that is wrong about our +present religious organizations; that they tend to separate rather than +unite; that what society requires is not dogmatic theology, but freer +Christian union. Rightly or wrongly—and that is a question not to be +discussed now—this idea has led to the formation of the society whose +title heads this article. In June last year the first practical attempt +was made towards the formation of such a society. In the winter previous +the basis of union was agreed on, and in the month referred to the +anniversary was held in Freemasons’ Hall. Believing that in the vain +pursuit of orthodoxy men have parted into rival churches, and lost the +bond of common work and love; that doctrinal uniformity is become +increasingly difficult, while at the same time there is a growing and a +strengthening of moral and spiritual affinities; that the Divine will is +love to God and love to man, and that equally broad should be the terms +of pious communion among men, the new Union requires a spiritual +fellowship co-extensive with these terms, and aims by relieving the +Christian life from reliance on theological articles or external rites to +save it from conflict with the knowledge and conscience of mankind, and +bring it back to the essential conditions of harmony between God and man. +The Society proposes to issue publications to illustrate the spirit of +unsectarian Christianity, and to furnish the means of undogmatic +instruction; to give aid to persons suffering for conscience sake from +the spirit of exclusiveness; to watch legislation so far as it bears on +religious freedom; to help existing sects to widen their basis, and to +encourage the formation of congregations where the terms of communion +shall be broad and undogmatic. Further, it aims at the establishment in +London of a central church for the maintenance of Christian worship and +life, apart from doctrinal interests and names, the services of which +will be conducted by ministers of various ecclesiastical positions. +Amongst the committee of this Union may be noted the names of George +Dawson, Esq., the Rev. J. Martineau, and the Rev. W. Miall. The Rev. P. +W. Clayden is one of the secretaries. + +To the promoters of this new religious organization the attendance the +first night must have been eminently gratifying. The large hall was well +filled, and outside there were as many cabs and private broughams waiting +about as at the Opera when a star of the first magnitude is engaged. On +the occasion there was a special form of prayer devised, which was read +by the Rev. Mr. Martineau, and two hymns were sung, one of Wesley’s— + + “The saints on earth and those above + But one communion make.” + +And another from the Breviary— + + “Supreme Disposer of the heart, + Thou, since the world began, + With heavenly grace hast sanctified + And cheered the heart of man.” + +Besides there was a chant, in which all joined, and a small band to sing +the Amen. Two sermons were preached; one by the Rev. Athanase Coquerel, +the far-famed leader of the section of the Reformed Church of France +which does not sympathize with orthodoxy. In the personal appearance of +this celebrated preacher there was little that was heretical or foreign. +With his round face and stout frame you might have taken him for one of +the sleekest of Anglican divines. Nevertheless his sermon was French in +its construction and style of delivery and emphasis. His text was—“One +thing is needful.” His argument went to show that that one thing needful +was the love of God, and that forms of faith and ritualism were so many +hills in our way, which blinded the view and impeded our appreciation of +this grand fundamental truth. The discourse, which lasted half an hour, +over, the Rev. W. Miall engaged in extemporaneous prayer, in which there +was a special reference to the death of the Rev. Mr. Tayler, of +Hampstead, one of the committee of the Union, and a Professor of +Manchester New College, London; and then came the Rev. C. Kegan Paul, +Rector of Upminster, in Dorsetshire, with another sermon. It is scarce +necessary to observe that Mr. Paul—a fine, tall, muscular man in the +prime of life, with a black beard and with a voice almost as sonorous (a +Frenchman’s lungs always seem better than an Englishman’s) as Pastor +Coquerel himself—is a man much distinguished by collegiate success and +Eton fame, and that his sermon evinced high intellectual culture. His +text was, “He is not here, but is risen,” and his aim was to show how men +seek the dead Christ rather than the living one. The Reformation was an +attempt to get rid of ritualism and formalism, and now again it is felt +that religion can no longer be confined in an article. It is not only +the Bible we must consult, God has written His Word in life and humanity. +They were not Theists; Christ was a name symbolical of humanity, and they +were, as a matter of fact, Christian men. Nor would they get rid of +Christian phraseology as long as the feeling of the heart clothes itself +in language hallowed by the use of ages. A change is passing over +society, and we have now to study religion in connexion with nature, +science, progress, life. Still, nothing that has nourished the soul of +man can die. All that has been is a part of what is to come, and +sustained by this truth we are not to faint or fail. And then came the +benediction, and ministers and people went home. In this Church of the +future, as it aims to be, it is clear there will be nothing derogatory to +the ministerial office. The committee were seated in various parts of +the hall, while the ministers in black gowns occupied the platform. +Apparently never in Freemasons’ Hall had there met there men more +spiritual and anxious for Divine guidance, and devout. As to the issue +of it all we can safely and reverently wait. + +There are two sides to every picture—two aspects, at the least, in which +human schemes and organizations may be viewed. On the first night, as +regards the Free Christian Union, we had the one view which must have +cheered its promoters; on the next, when the business meeting was held, +when we were told of what the Society had done and what it was going to +do, an element of a very different character appeared. In this great +capital, at this season of the year, when London is crowded with +notabilities, the managers had to go to Cambridge for a young man to +preside, who had—we say it respectfully—really a physical +disqualification for the office. Then there was a very young gentleman, +quite unknown to fame, called on to second a resolution, and forced on to +the platform from the body of the hall to say that and nothing more. As +a matter of fact, the Society had enrolled, we believe, a couple of +congregations, and voted a grant of 5_l._ to the Free Christian Church at +Lynn. Nevertheless, with a platform on which few men save those +connected with the Unitarian denomination appeared, and with but little +response even from that body, the Society aims to influence the public +mind, especially by the press, by the publication of essays on the +connexion between scientific theology and pure religion, the Bible as +literature, dogma, prophecy, miracles, the possibility of a national +formula of public devotion, the ethics of conformity, the place of +religion in education, the limits of State action in ecclesiastical +organizations. In some quarters it was evident that the feeling was that +the Society had better aim at some practical work, such as the +reconstruction of the National Church on the bases laid down in its own +preamble; and one speaker, forgetful of the fact that the Church of Rome +denied the right of private judgment in matters of religion _in toto_, +asked whether any effort had been made to secure its sympathy and +co-operation. It says little for the meeting that such a puerile +question was politely received. As to speaking, indeed, the meeting was +a failure, or would have been had it not been for the presence of +Athanase Coquerel, who spoke in English at great length with the utmost +freedom and warmth, and who had much to say of his own struggles on +behalf of Free Christianity in France, of universal interest. + +It appears in its early days the Protestant Church of France was entirely +exclusive, and its confession of faith was drawn up by Calvin and Beza. +One of its forty articles decreed that the sword had been put by God into +the hands of reigning princes, magistrates, &c., not only to enforce +obedience to the second table of the Ten Commandments, but also to the +first. Another article implied that little children, even unborn babes, +are condemned to eternal perdition in hell; and if they die without +baptism can in no way whatever be saved. By-and-by a little more +elasticity was imported into this creed, and the Liberal party continued +to live, even when, as in 1685, Louis XIV. shut up all the Protestant +academies in France. An English writer had truly remarked that no Church +had suffered so long and so much from persecution as the Reformed Church +in France, and he was right—the last pastor who was hung in Paris +suffered that penalty only as recently as the year 1762. A young pastor +preaching at Nismes had for one of his hearers Lafayette, and he and +Lafayette got from Louis XVI., in 1787, an edict that gave the French +Protestants civil rights, and since then the Church has revived, but at +the same time it has steadily and consistently refused to re-enact the +old rigid creeds. At present there were two parties in the Church, one +orthodox the other Liberal. In the Church at Paris, consisting of +bankers, with whom Guizot always acted, the Consistory is orthodox. That +Consistory was formed in 1802 by Napoleon, who selected for that purpose +the twelve persons most wealthy. In 1848 this Consistory was re-elected +by universal suffrage, and this was the cause of great changes. The +ultra-Conservative feeling of the day retained the old set in office, and +they, feeling themselves invested with additional power, began that +persecution of M. Coquerel’s father which continued till the last hour of +his life. Of that persecution he, the speaker, had his share, and at +last to support him the Union Protestante Libérale was formed. In a +little while after he had spoken, to a certain extent favourably, of +Renan’s work, he was excluded from the Church, and M. Martin Paschaud as +well. As to himself he had obtained leave with two young ministers to +commence preaching in a hired room. At the same time, as they had not +been legally ejected from the Church, they can baptize, marry, perform +funeral services—in short, do everything but preach. In conclusion, the +speaker said how rejoiced he was to find in England an attempt made to +establish such a Society. It was the want of the time, and long he +trusted might they continue to uphold the banner of peace and love. + +It is clear, outside the meeting at Freemasons’ Hall the idea is +entertained that this was simply a Unitarian movement. Evidently such is +the feeling of leading Unitarians themselves. One of them, the Rev. Mr. +Ierson, who preaches in a beautiful and costly chapel in Islington, to a +congregation that does not half fill the place, evidently so regards it. +After the annual meeting, from the text, “Blessed are the peacemakers,” +he preached a sermon on behalf of the new organization. He was delighted +with what had been done. In the devotional service he had witnessed more +life than he had ever seen in a Unitarian service before, and he was +thankful for it. At the same time Mr. Ierson expressed his regret that +the movement did not aim to accomplish something more, and also regretted +that it did not succeed in enrolling beneath its banner men of +sufficiently diverse sentiments. This was not difficult to account for, +continued the reverend gentleman. The Independent Churches, meaning by +that term Baptists and Congregationalists, have great fear of each other. +The ministers are afraid of the people, who look well after them. In +many places, if a man shakes hands with a Unitarian he is straightway +denounced as a Unitarian himself. Nor was this altogether wrong. The +real fact was that it would be found, directly any one approximated in +civility to the Unitarians, he had either given up the doctrine of +eternal damnation or some of the other dogmas of his body, and was not +completely, and in the old-fashioned sense of the term, orthodox. +Meanwhile the duty of the Unitarians was very obvious. They had to be +more than ever charitable and deferential to all Christians, whatever +their denomination. It was something to get men to respect each other, +to believe each other to be honest, however they differed in faith and +dogma. In his own opinion the Free Christian Union would have had a +better chance had it been originated by another body of religionists. +Even as regarded themselves he feared many of them were not sufficiently +educated up to the mark; but at any rate it was something for the +Unitarians to be associated with such a catholic and Christian union. + +One word more may be said. At the business meeting one of the speakers +was the Rev. Leigh Mann. Distinctly he avowed a belief the reverse of +Unitarianism, and distinctly he glorified the association as one in which +men of the most opposite dogmas could meet. In such an utterance we have +an indication, how significant or eccentric time alone can tell. At any +rate, while confessing that hitherto there has been little of Christian +union founded on dogma, we may anxiously ask, is there a better chance if +the common bond be work? + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. +THE LONDON ECCLESIA. + + +In the independent way, Baxter, describing the Westminster Assembly of +Divines, says, “I disliked many things.” After mentioning what those +things were—their making too light of ordination, their unnecessary and +unscriptural strictness about the qualification of church members—he +adds, “I disliked also the lamentable tendency of this their way to +divisions and subdivisions and the nourishing of heresies and sects.” +The soul of the good man was wearied, as well it might be, with these +differences, so trifling yet so fiercely discussed, with this waste of +power, with this spirit of wrangling and contention, with these quarrels +of Christian with Christian, when the world was only to be made better, +and the true Church only to be built up, by a holy life. In our time the +tendency of some minds to fly off into fresh sects is greater, perhaps, +than ever. In one street you see a placard up stating that here the +Gospel is preached, and nowhere else. A good man says he is weary of all +this sectarianism, and at once hires a room and starts a new sect. A +man’s conscience is too sensitive to allow him to worship with a one-man +ministry, or with any existing denomination. He shakes his head, and +mourns over their worldliness, their carnality, their want of spiritual +life; but does he better it by standing aloof, by shutting himself up +with a few dismal-minded people, who come with their Bibles, and see in +them, not what sound scholarly criticism teaches, but that which their +own morbid fancy suggests? As men of the world, these things are to be +looked at practically, and by the light of common sense. Here are +certain religious agencies at work—by them people are being strengthened +in the Christian life, trained to Christian work, in their way promoting +the welfare of man, and glorifying God. I may affect a superior piety, I +may refuse to associate with common Christians, I may leave them; but +what is the result? That as far as I can I put hindrances in their way. +Ignorant people look up to me as a saint, and the church and the minister +where I have any influence are to the extent of that influence damaged. +A gentleman writes to me—“Those who now represent the London Ecclesia, in +recognition of the constitution and order of its organization, are, in +this metropolis, myself and three others;” and then quotes—“‘Strait is +the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be +that find it.’” It is in Peckham this new religious body meets. At such +meetings they do not admit strangers, in fulfilment of the ordinance of +the Lord which enjoins us to assemble “ourselves together to worship God +in spirit and in truth,” and commands us—“If there come any unto you and +bring not this doctrine (the doctrine of the Christ), receive him not +into your house, neither bid him God speed.” + +For the doctrines of this new sect I must refer the inquirer to a +pamphlet published at 22, Paternoster Row, called “The Truth as it is in +Jesus, defined in the Constitution and Order of the London Ecclesia, or +immersed believers of the things of the Kingdom of God and the name of +Jesus Christ.” In this pamphlet we have a summary of the faith delivered +to the saints contrasted with the erroneous dogmas of popular theology, +and also the apostolic rules for an ecclesiastical organization. In +America, and many parts of England, Ecclesias, as they call them, exist. +The document to which they subscribe their names is an exceedingly +lengthy one, nor is it very intelligible. I should say that wherein they +differ from other Christians in point of doctrine is this, that +“everlasting life is the gracious gift of God through our Lord Jesus the +Christ—the clothing upon the living soul or mortal body of life of a +justified believer, with the quickening spirit or house which is from +heaven, or the swallowing up of his death nature in the life of the +Divine nature, so that this corruptible puts on incorruption, and this +mortal puts on immortality by an impartation of spirit-life energy into +every fibre of its organism, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, +during the sounding of the last trumpet; and according to his type the +Lord Jesus, the saint then becomes a son of God in power by a spirit of +holiness, through a resurrection from among the dead, and cannot sin +because he is born of God, and lives and moves and has his being in the +essential goodness and peace and blessedness of the Divine existence.” +Hence “the physical and moral impossibility of _an immoral agency of +evil_ exercising the attributes of an uncreated spirit—omniscience, +omnipotence, and omnipresence—emanating from the Supreme Good, to +antagonize His purposes and defeat the counsels of His will concerning +the redemption of the Adamic race for the glory of His name.” + +So far I quote what the followers of this new sect call their Marturion. +As people generally can neither understand nor find time to read such +verbose and minute confessions of faith, let me add that they believe +that punishment on the finally impenitent is “the infliction on him as a +living soul or mortal body of life of the many or few stripes in +execution of his sentence until the appointed hour of his final doom +arrives—to utterly perish in his own corruption.” Furthermore, I glean +that with them the Devil simply means sin in the flesh. As the reader +will have gathered from the title of their confession, they baptize with +immersion; they deny, amongst other things, the common doctrine of the +Trinity, or that Christ is God and had an existence independent of the +Father; that the Holy Ghost operates of His own power as God; that God +fashioned man after His own image; that the serpent was an incarnation of +an immoral intelligence; they deny the common ideas of heaven and hell; +that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses the sin of the whole world, so +that infants, idiots, and believers obtain eternal salvation under the +covenanted and uncovenanted mercies of God; or that the knowledge of the +glory of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the seas, +through the instrumentality of the orthodox ministry as ambassadors of +Christ, beseeching men in His stead to be reconciled to God by believing +in the Gospel, and in the Jesus they present as the Way, the Truth, and +the Life, and that Christ is with them always, even to the end of the +world. Their appeal is, however, to the Bible, and its inspiration is +one of the cardinal articles of their creed. + +Let me now speak of their order. They meet every Sunday for worship, and +for the purpose of celebrating the Lord’s Supper, and have, besides, +occasional meetings for the exposition and study of Scripture. The +executive consists of a presiding elder and deacons elected by the +members. A candidate for church membership is required to make a written +confession, and every one joining the Ecclesia, either by immersion or by +admission from other Ecclesias, is to sign the articles of constitution +and order of which I have given a brief outline. + +As regards the service, any brother is at liberty to take a part. Of +course this is the defect of this system—as of all such, where the public +are concerned. As a rule, nothing can be more inedifying or dreary or +repelling than amateur preaching, and this is manifestly the weak point +of all the good people who find preachers so unprofitable, and who so +delight in the sound of their own voices. As evangelizing agencies they +are a failure. They produce no impression on the world. Men of sense +want something more thoughtful, more in accordance with the facts of +life, and the young are driven to the other extreme. I believe this +remark will hold good of most of these super-refined Christians. They +have a wonderful command of Scripture language. They can talk by the +hour, and they are intensely ignorant, as all people who shut themselves +to one book and ignore God’s Word in His works must be. They may edify +each other, they certainly have no power of edifying any one else. + +The rules of their Sunday service are—Prayer, singing, comprehensive +prayer, offered up by one of the brethren at the instance of the +presiding brother on behalf of the members of the one body, the +administration of the Lord’s Supper, exhortation from or exposition of +the Word by any brother who wishes to respond to the invitation of the +presiding brother, and the Lord’s Prayer in conclusion. After the +communion, there is a box placed on the Lord’s table to receive, at the +close of the service, the free-will offering of the brethren for the +common good of the Ecclesia in every work of faith and labour of love. +Besides, there is a monthly charge made to each of the brethren which is +handed over to the brother responsible for its satisfaction on the last +Sunday of every month. I find I have omitted to state that one article +of faith is the restoration of the Jews, and the reign of Christ and His +saints upon the earth for a thousand years. Already there has been, as +was natural, division in the camp. The Christadelphians are an offshoot, +as I understand. They are very adventurous people, these +Christadelphians. They welcome strangers in their midst. The original +Ecclesias contend for the application of the principle of separation in +communion worship. + + + +THE CHRISTADELPHIANS. + + +The love of names is one of the strongest passions of which human nature +is susceptible. In starting a newspaper, in publishing a book, in +opening a shop, a good name is half the battle. Years and years ago +there was an individual advertising his academy as Hogflesh. How +disgusting! Respectable parents objected, and the name became Hoflesh. +A little while since a poor fellow, tortured by the jeers of the world, +advertised that, for the future, instead of bearing the monosyllable +unpleasantly suggestive bequeathed him by less scrupulous or +thicker-skinned parents, he would henceforth call himself, and be called +by others, Mr. Norfolk Howard. (I should not wonder if by this time, +with his new name, the man has married an heiress.) Poor Charles Lamb +once wrote a farce, but as it turned out that the hero of it was Mr. +Hogsflesh, good society would have none of it, and straightway it +vanished into limbo. Our fathers can remember what ridicule was showered +down on Dissenters by the _Edinburgh Review_, and what laughter there was +at them all over the land when the Rev. Sydney Smith told how Mr. +Shufflebottom was ordained at Bungay. It is to be feared that in the +religious world names have had even a greater influence than amongst the +profane. What good men have been persecuted and suffered wrong because +they bore the name of a sect distasteful to an imperious majority! How +the mob have thirsted for their blood! “These are Christians—away with +them to the lions,” said they of old Rome. “Down with the Roundheads!” +was the cry of country squire and rural parson when a few devout men such +as Richard Baxter and others more or less known to fame met in a small +room to keep alive the spirit of piety and prayer amongst themselves. It +was the same when Wesley and Whitefield, often at the peril of life, +proclaimed in parishes of England sunk in ignorance Gospel truths. There +are thousands who, like the late Isaac Taylor, of Ongar, could tell how a +“Church and King mob” kept them in perpetual fear, because they were +“Meetingers.” There are yet parishes in Suffolk and Norfolk where to go +to chapel is to insure your being despised as a “Pogram,” and cut by all +the dignities of the village, even if you have the learning of a German +professor and the piety of a saint. In the Babel of London, however, it +is different; here, there is a rage for new names, and there are +preachers and people ever ready to resort to a new name, as if novelty +were a possibility in our day, after eighteen hundred years of +theological hair-splitting and threshing of straw. The Christadelphians +are the latest production in this way. They meet in Crowndale Hall, +Crowndale Road, St. Pancras Road, every Sunday; in the morning, at +eleven, for the breaking of bread, and worship; in the afternoon at +three, when there is a Bible-class especially for inquirers, when +opportunity to ask questions respecting the one faith is afforded; and at +seven in the evening, when we are told the Word of God is expounded in +harmony with the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of +Jesus anointed. One of the most active teachers is Mr. Watts, late of +Vernon Chapel, King’s Cross Road. The Athenæum Hall, Temple Road, +Birmingham, seems to be the headquarters of Christadelphian publications. +There are published there the _Christadelphian Shield_, the _Biblical +Newspaper_, and the _Ambassador_, monthly periodicals, and other +publications more expensive, and aiming to be standard works. + +This, I take it, is the epitome of their faith:— + + “One God, the Eternal Father, dwelling in heaven in light of glory + inconceivable; one universal irradiant Spirit, by which the Father + fills all and knows all, and when He wills, performs all; one Lord + Jesus Christ, Son of God, begotten by the Spirit of the Virgin Mary, + put to death for sin, raised from the dead for righteousness, and + exalted to the heavens as a Mediator between God and man; man a + creature of the ground, under sentence of death because of sin, which + is his great enemy—the devil; deliverance from death by resurrection, + and bodily glorification at the coming of Christ and inheritance of + the kingdom of God, offered to all men on condition—1, of believing + the glad tidings of Christ’s accomplishment at His first appearing, + and of His coming manifestations in the earth as King of Israel and + Ruler of the whole earth at the setting up of the kingdom of God; 2, + of being immersed in water for His name; and 3, of continuing in + well-doing to the end of this probationary career.” + +This is the teaching of the new sect. They rejoice in their emancipation +from the bondage of orthodoxy. Mr. Watts says:—“My past nineteen years +of religious life I regard as so much lost time taken up with the fables +and follies of man’s fleshly mind, systematized upon a pagan theology; +and although I honestly thought myself right, and strove hard to lead +others, yet I am now fully persuaded it was all done in ignorance of the +true knowledge of God.” He tells us the Evangelical party in the Church +or Dissent do not know the Gospel. “Nothing can be more clear,” he says, +“than that this (their doctrine of the resurrection) first item of the +Gospel as preached by Jesus and the Apostles does not form any part of +the teaching either of those who pretend to be the successors of the +Apostles, or the sects and parties of Dissenters who have imbibed their +system of theology from the same polluted stream.” The doctrine of the +soul’s essential and inherent immortality is a pagan myth. For the +heathen there is no future life; for them what Macbeth wished has come to +pass, and life is indeed + + “The be all and the end all here.” + +The mere belief of this doctrine relieves orthodoxy of the perplexing +problem, What becomes of the heathen? and of course strikes at the +foundation of the doctrine of purgatory. Yet we are not to suppose there +will be no punishment for the wicked and the disobedient; they shall +beaten with stripes, and then, according to the righteous Judge, enter +upon that second death state, from which there shall be no +resurrection—an opinion the direct opposite of that of Origen and +Archbishop Tillotson, first promulgated in modern times by Dr. Rust, +Bishop of Dromore. The Calvinistic formula is also, in the opinion of +the Christadelphians, a mere travesty of the subject of the atonement. +As to man in general, he is born to die. God treated the first man +federally. He put him on probation, and in him all his successors stood +or fell. We never read of immortal, never-dying souls in Scripture, and +to foist such a meaning on 2 Cor. v. 8, as that it proves the existence +of a separate state of disembodied spirits, is to handle the Word of God +deceitfully. Once Mr. Watts believed in a kingdom in the sky, a throne +in the heart, a seed of Israel, a New Jerusalem and promised land, all +mystically referring to something at present existing in the so-called +Christian Church. He does so no longer. His eyes are opened, the light +is come, and he and his friends, chiefly juveniles, rejoice; and if they +have the true light, who shall say they have no reason to rejoice? +Farewell, writes Mr. Watts, in a poem considered poetically of doubtful +merit— + + “Farewell to the false, I welcome the true, + And begin the year with Christ anew.” + +This reference to poetry reminds me that the Christadelphians have a +hymn-book of their own, to frame which appears to have been a matter of +no little trouble. With the hymns used by Christian churches in general +they find much fault. They require something manly and robust, whereas +the churches of all denominations rejoice in what is sentimental, and +their songs of praise and devotion are described as “oceans of slops.” +Whether the Christadelphians have much improved theirs, I leave the +reader to judge. As a specimen I quote one verse from Montgomery’s +well-known poem, “The Grave.” In their hymn-book I find it printed thus. +I quote from memory:— + + “There is a calm for saints who weep, + A rest for weary Weyyah found; + In Christ secure they sweetly sleep, + Hid in the ground.” + +At present the Christadelphians do not seem very flourishing. In their +little room—which is miscalled a hall—there are about forty of them of an +evening, quibbling earnestly, and to the best of their ability. + +In taking leave of the Christadelphians, let me refer to a passage in our +Church history. It is notorious that the celebrated Henry Dodwell, +Camden Professor of History in the University of Oxford, in order to +exalt the power and dignity of the priesthood, endeavoured to prove that +the doctrine of the soul’s natural mortality was the true and original +doctrine, and that immortality was only at baptism conferred upon the +soul by the gift of God through the hands of one set of regularly +ordained clergy. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. +SOME MINOR SECTS. + + +There are two classes of people of whom a wise man should be wary. He +who comes to you in a jolly, confidential sort of way, and tells you that +you know that he never pretended to be much of a saint, and he whose +saintship is so sublimated that he finds all denominations in grievous +error, and must form a new sect for himself. It is to be feared that +such men are in a very bad way, and have most erroneous conceptions of +God and His dealings. It is certainly remarkable that they are chiefly +to be met with in the most ignorant sections of professors—amongst the + + “Petulant capricious sects, + The maggots of corrupted texts.” + +Any liberal culture seems fatal to them. As soon as they manage to +pronounce their h’s and to talk grammatically, they can worship with +other Christians, can rejoice in the magnificent inheritance which has +come down to the Church of our day from the sanctified intellect of +former times—can derive edification from an educated ministry—possibly +may sing the songs of a Keble, and may be able occasionally to join in a +form of prayer which was found adequate for the expression of the +spirituality of a Martyn or a Wilberforce. + + + +THE PECULIAR PEOPLE. + + +In London, if we are to believe what we hear in some quarters, the real +seat of true and undefiled religion is to be found amongst the small body +who meet in an obscure street leading out of the Walworth Road. The +neighbourhood is not a very attractive one, and is inhabited chiefly by +retail tradesmen, who must find it in these hard times a struggle to make +both ends meet. You must look sharp to find the place of which you are +in search. In a row of shops opposite Lion Street you will see one in +the day-time with the shutters up. On the shutters you will see one or +two little bills headed Christian Meeting House, containing an +invitation, as follows:—“Dear friend, you are affectionately invited to +the following meetings.” Then you have a list of the times of meeting, +an announcement that all seats are free, and the text, “For both He that +sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all one, for which cause He +is not ashamed to call them brethren.” If you enter, you see a few +benches in what is meant for a shop, and a few more in the room behind. +Where the window is there is a desk, at which the chairman or conductor +of the meeting sits. By the door is a little box into which the +offerings of the faithful are poured. As a rule the place, which cannot +hold more than forty or fifty adults comfortably, is well filled by very +poor people. It is the only place of meeting of the sect in London. +They are numerous, so they say, in Essex, Sussex, and Surrey, but in the +Walworth Road they are few and not popular with their neighbours, who +possibly know no better. Now and then up comes a street-boy and makes a +hideous noise through the keyhole; but the Peculiar People have got used +to that. I should fancy with the keen-witted artisans of London they +make but little way. The reader may remember that a little while ago +some of these people figured in a police-court. They had refused all +proper medical aid for a child, and it died in consequence. They have +great faith, these poor people. They have great scorn also for people +more benighted than themselves. They speak contemptuously of the time +when they knew no better, when they trusted in forms, and attended on a +one-man ministry, and were humbled and dejected on account of sin, and +called themselves miserable sinners, and confessed that they had done the +things they ought not to have done, and left undone those things which +they should have done. All that sort of feeling and talk is all wicked +in their opinion; for theirs is the glorious liberty of the sons of God +and joint heirs of heaven. Religion has no difficulties for them, no +mysteries; nothing beyond the reach of man, heights to which he cannot +ascend, depths which he cannot fathom. To come together and declare +their unspeakable joy is all that they have to do. For this the beginner +is as competent as the grey-headed believer, the sister as well as the +brother, the ignorant man as well as he who has had a college education. +Triumphantly they ask— + + “When the Lord would speak, + Think ye he needs the Latin or the Greek?” + +Of course not. And thus in turn they all preach and pray with a zeal +which literally is not according to knowledge. If a man cannot say he +lives without sin, they set him down as no Christian. At one time they +held that as the Spirit of God only teaches one thing, that if true +so-called Christians disagreed in Church matters, one of them was a child +of the devil; and as they were not at all backward in applying this +doctrine, they were split up as fast as they gathered together. They +have a great deal of the Methodist leaven amongst them, and at prayer, or +while speaking is going on, express their feelings in a way which, to a +stranger, may be considered unnecessarily noisy. Their leaders seem to +be a small tradesman in the Southwark Road, and a little, pale, wizened +female, whose utterances and prayers are of the most extraordinary +character—a sort of sing-song, now rising and then dropping, in a way +which in a secular personage and on secular subjects would be ludicrous +in the extreme. But they profess to have no leaders. They have elders, +who are simply elders. They become such by lapse of time alone. + +As to their organization, I much question if they have any. One brother +assured me there were rules, but as the price was fourpence, and as trade +was slack, he had been unable to procure a copy of them. In answer to +our appeal, an elder said there were such, but they were under lock and +key, and he could not find them for us; whereupon another brother reached +out a New Testament, with the assurance that there, and there alone, were +their rules. What information we could get we had to fish out by +questions. As to Church membership, they have no preliminaries. All who +come are of the Church; those whom the Lord calls will join them, and if +the Lord has not called them they will soon drop away. They consider +that every service is the sacrament, and they have no special form. In +the same way they have no baptism—infant or adult, creeds, confessions of +faith, forms of prayer, ministers set apart and trained to preach;—all +these things they have done away with. By communion as brother with +brother, and sister with sister, they can cherish the true Christian +life. If one of them lack anything, let him or her ask of God. How +familiarly and at times irreverently they pray, the reader can well +imagine. It is difficult to say common things with propriety, says the +old Latin proverb. It is more difficult to introduce them into prayer, +to inform the Lord that Brother Jones would have been present had he not +been unable to come, and to explain the peculiarly distressing +circumstances of Sister Smith. For acting on the world outside, they +have great faith in out-of-door preaching, an exercise in which they take +great delight, and for which they consider themselves peculiarly +qualified. They forget, as one has wittily remarked, that if the Lord +does not need man’s learning, still less does He need man’s ignorance. +As to the financial question, they get over that without much difficulty. +Their expenses are next to nothing, and each brother or sister is ever +ready to contribute his mite. They have nothing to pay for pew-rents; +they have no minister’s salary to collect; they have no educational +institutions to support; the rent of a room in a back street is no +serious item; and as to church furniture, that is easily supplied—a +door-mat, a dirty desk, half a dozen old forms, a second-hand Bible or +so, a greasy hymn-book that has done duty many times, and they have all +that they require. It is not for me to judge my brother. To show him +how fatal is his fluency of tongue, how presumptuous his hope, how +unfounded his joy, is a thankless task. All I would suggest is, that he +should exercise a little of that charity of which he stands in need +himself, and not fancy that to him has been revealed what men of greater +piety and higher intellect have been unable to discover. Another +objection may also be taken. In an ancient town, with a fine old castle, +many, many years ago, there was an attempt to form a volunteer regiment. +Unfortunately all wanted to be officers; the consequence was, the +regiment came to grief. The Peculiar People have too many officers. +Where every one has an equal right to teach, the number of the taught +will be small indeed. + + + +THE SANDEMANIANS. + + +In this our day one of the expiring sects of Christendom is that of the +Sandemanians. At no time have they been a very powerful denomination +either from their numbers, their influence, or their wealth. They have +never yet made their mark upon the world, nor are they likely to do so +now. The late Professor Faraday was one of their elders, and for a time +conferred on them a little of his world-wide reputation; but one swallow +does not make a summer, nor does one great man confer greatness on a +church. The eccentricity of men of genius is proverbial. Sharp, the +engraver, believed in the lunatic Brothers and the impostor Joanna +Southcote; Irving in the gift of tongues and the power of working +miracles; Swedenborg in his faculty of piercing the veil which envelopes +all sublunary affairs and realizing what we are taught to consider will +only be revealed to us when the heavens and earth shall pass away as a +scroll, and time shall be no more. Even our great emancipator Luther, +the Moses who led forth—to borrow a figure from Cowley—our modern Israel +from its house of bondage, and brought them into the promised land, +testified to a visible appearance of the Prince of Darkness, to get rid +of whom he had to dash his ink-bottle, a type, as it always seems to me, +of the victory yet to be achieved by means of print over the devil and +all his works. But Faraday is gone. No longer can the Sandemanians +boast the possession of one of England’s greatest philosophers; and they +have now little power of influencing or predominating in society. They +seem to me a very plain and humble folk, aiming at keeping up in their +own hearts Christian love, and in their own circle primitive practices, +rather than in aggressive movements, without which no church or +denomination can expect in this busy age long to live. + +There is one Sandemanian church in London, up in Barnsbury, at the corner +of one of the streets running out of the Roman Road. The original church +was founded in the year 1760, in the Barbican. City improvements +necessitated its removal to this site, where it has now been erected four +or five years. It was in the old chapel that Professor Faraday used to +take his turn in preaching. In the new chapel his widow is still one of +the worshippers. As you pass the place you would not see anything very +extraordinary. It is a neat, simple structure, of white brick, with no +architectural pretensions of any kind. It only differs from other places +of worship in having no board up announcing to what denomination it +belongs, nor the name of the preacher, nor the hours of assembly, nor +where applications for sittings are to be made, nor to whom subscriptions +are to be paid. Indeed, the only reference at all to an outside world +seems to consist in the putting up a caution intimating that the building +is under the guardianship of the police, and persons evilly disposed had +better mind what they are about. Thus, and thus only, is the recognition +of an outer world lying in darkness and needing the true light of the +Gospel in any way acknowledged. They have service twice on Sunday, in +the morning and afternoon, and a week-day meeting on Wednesday evening. +They have no Sunday or day-school, no tract distribution, no district +visiting, no minister, and no other means of acting on the world or +forming religious opinion. Indeed, I fancy they are averse to anything +of the kind. “We are utterly,” I read in one of their publications, +“against aiming to promote the cause we contend for either by creeping +into private homes or by causing our voice to be heard in the streets, or +by officiously obtruding our opinions upon others.” Even if you enter +their place of worship there is no pew-opener to show you to a seat. +They claim simply to obey the commands of the Bible implicitly, to be a +church founded for mutual edification and love—nothing more. The +stranger who for the first time attends will be struck with the absence +of the pulpit, instead of which he will find two large desks, one above +the other, in which are seated three or four elderly persons; the +attention which is paid to the reading of the Bible; the illiterate way +in which those who preach and pray do so; and the length and dulness of +the service. The morning service, for instance, begins at eleven, and is +never over till half-past one. No wonder the Sandemanians are not a +vigorous sect. I believe they have but one place of worship in England, +three or four in Scotland, and more, how many I know not, in America. +The chapel in Barnsbury will seat, I imagine, from three to four hundred +people, and it is always nearly full, and attended by people in +respectable appearance. Of the really poor they seem to have none at +all. + +The Sandemanians originated in Scotland, in 1728, as a kind of reaction +against Presbyterianism and Calvinism. Mr. John Glass, a minister of the +Kirk, was deposed by the Presbyterian Church Courts because he taught +that the Church could be subject to no league or covenant—that faith was +simple belief—and that Christianity never was, nor ever could be the +established religion of any nation without becoming the reverse of what +it was when first instituted. Mr. Robert Sandeman, one of his elders, +however, by his numerous writings, left on the new organization the +impress of his name. In these days, when metaphysical speculation has +little encouragement amongst Christians, the Sandemanians tell us they +have no formal creed or confession of faith—that they simply follow +Scripture practice, and that is all. For this purpose they meet together +on the first day of the week, not only to read and hear the Word, but +particularly to break bread or communicate together in the Lord’s Supper; +to pray, which is done by several in turns; to listen to an exhortation +from one of the elders. They are a Christian republic. At the +conclusion of every prayer—whether pronounced by the elders or the +brethren—the whole church say Amen, according to what is intimated in 1 +Cor. xiv. 16. In the interval between the morning and the afternoon +service they have their love-feast, of which every member partakes, when +they salute each other with a holy kiss. The children are all baptized, +on the plea that if one of the parents believes the children are not +unclean but holy, and because it is written in Acts, “Believe on the Lord +Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved and _thy_ house.” They deem it +unlawful to eat flesh with its blood; they wash each other’s feet; they +hold all things in common so far as the claims of the poor and the Church +are concerned; they forbid no amusements but those connected with the +lot, such as cards or dice; their elders are chosen from amongst them on +account of their piety and character, and are ordained by prayer and +fasting, and laying on of hands. A deacon is elected in the same way, +minus the fasting. Any one who appears to understand and believe the +truth may be admitted into their fellowship. When a person is +excommunicated the act takes place in the presence of the whole church. +Two elders must be present at every act of discipline. It may be further +stated that in every church transaction, whether it be receiving, +censuring, or expelling members, or choosing officers, or in performing +any other business, unanimity is deemed indispensable. If there is a +dissenting brother, after the reasons of the dissent have been stated, +and judged unscriptural by the church, he is expelled. The Sandemanians +allow neither government by a majority nor a representation of +minorities. + +As an outsider I should say nothing was ever more uninteresting, nothing +ever more calculated to alienate from religion intelligent young people, +than the services conducted by the Sandemanians. The elders and deacons, +excellent men undoubtedly, are singularly deficient in oratorical +ability. I think the worst sermon I ever heard in my life was preached +by one of them. They cannot even read the Bible in an impressive and +edifying manner, nor is their psalmody much better. They have a literal +version of the Psalms, and they sing them through, a couple of verses or +so at a time. I give one specimen I heard, not the last time I attended +there:— + + “Moab I will My Wash-pot make, + O’er Edom cast my shoe; + Do thou, O land of Palestine, + Triumph, because of Me.” + +The modern hymnology, of which all sections of the Church are justly +proud, exists in vain for them. Their church seems utterly destitute of +intellectual vigour; and when, as in these days, brains are beginning to +rule, the piety that rejects or ignores them is in danger. There is a +relation between the Bible and modern thought of which the good people +who preach dull sermons and make dull prayers up in Barnsbury have no +idea. + + + +THE SOUTHCOTTIANS. + + +Incredible as it may seem, there are, in these days of penny newspapers +and universal enlightenment, Southcottians in London. They may be met +with in the neighbourhood of Kennington Common, and in one of the +forlornest spots in Islington, Elder Walk, Essex Road. Thence they issue +documents worthy of Bedlam. I have now before me their “Midnight Cry, +Behold the Bridegroom cometh.” And this august warning and bruising and +inviting announcement is “to and for whomsoever it may concern of +Mammon-crushed Israel.” One extract I fancy will suffice—one at any rate +I must give, otherwise such religious lunacy will be held incredible. + + “Oh, dutifully observe now, O all Israel, (namely) O Judah and + Ephraim, that this Universal Marriage overture unto you, together + with these Proxy Marriage lines and record, are made and offered you + entirely because ‘I am’ and Jesus Christ is Life, Love, and Light + everlasting, and because of His power and right to give, and the Son + of Man’s to receive, and the worthy Woman to bring Him forth, and + Israel’s to inherit,—viz., the promises unto Adam, Eve, Noah, + Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, and all their seed, who were originally + the void waters and dark-faced deep until God said, Let there be + Light and there was Light. And from henceforth there shall be Light, + and both Light and Love abundantly in Heaven, here below as in Heaven + above, for in the beginning God created Heaven and Earth, and did, + and is, and will finish on the sixth day the same and all the host of + them.” + +The main instrument in the above precious compilation is Whatmore, one of +Joanna Southcott’s chosen apostles. The paper referred to is issued from +No. 9, Elder Walk, Essex Road, Islington, London, of Britannia Zion. It +states, as far as I can gather, that in August last year something of +importance was to take place. “A month since and the gauntlet has been +successfully run; therefore, Whatmore, now has Thy lowly instrument +Watmore Whatmore, John, to submit of and by Thy worthiness, O Lord God. +Oh, shall I submit a Song of Solomon, or a Lamentation of Thy Prophet +Jeremiah, or a sermon of Thy immortalizing mount, unto Thy flock, O, O, +O! Submit, love,” &c., &c. I gather that the mystery of God is to be +finished speedily by unveiling His Bible word, and His codicil thereto by +His spouse, “the wonderful Queen of prophets, Joanna Southcott, that thus +sons and daughters by her womanhood may greatly replenish the earth, and +that the poor now suffering from the murdering love of money in +consequence of unjust stewardship may fare better in time to come.” This +seems to be the only idea I can extract from the Southcottians. All +mammon laws are to be abolished, money currency is to be destroyed, there +is to be no more selling, martyring, and bartering of humanity and their +requirements, “thus saith the Lord Jehovah, by J. Watmore Whatmore, and +J. G. Grant, of Zion.” + +As these prophets speak of the spouse of God, Eve the second, called +Joanna Southcott, Queen of the prophets, who in 1802 opened her +commission, and declared herself to be the woman spoken of in +Revelation—“the Bride, the Lamb’s wife, and clothed with the sun”—let me +briefly tell her story:— + +Joanna was born at Gettisham, in Devonshire. Her parents were in the +farming line, and members of the Established Church. She herself was in +service or in industrious employment, “without,” writes her biographer, +“any other symptom of a disordered intellect than that she was attached +to the Methodists.” Nevertheless, it was Mr. Pomeroy, the clergyman +whose church she attended at Exeter, who appears to have encouraged her +to print her prophecies and to assume spiritual gifts. The books which +she sent into the world were written partly in rhyme, all the verse and +the greater part of the prose being delivered in the character of the +Almighty. Her discourses were nothing else than a mere rhapsody of +texts—vulgar dreams and vulgar interpretations. Her fame spread, and +seven wise men from different parts of the country, the seven stars, came +to believe in her. Among the early believers were three clergymen, one +of them a man of fashion, fortune, and noble family. As her followers +supplied her with money and treated her with great reverence, the more +extravagant were her assertions and the loftier her claims. The scheme +of redemption was completed in her. If the tree of knowledge was +violated by Eve, the tree of life was reserved for Joanna. Her greatest +triumph was a conflict with the devil, which lasted a week. According to +her own account the devil had the worst of it. She gave him ten words +for one, and allowed him no time to speak. Very ungallantly, at the +termination of the dispute he remarked no man could tame a woman’s +tongue; he said the sands of an hour-glass did not run faster. It was +better to dispute with a thousand men than one woman. After this dispute +Joanna is said—and her followers believed it—to have fasted forty days. + +Shortly after commencing her mission, she published the following +declaration:— + + “I, Joanna Southcott, am clearly convinced that my calling is of God, + and my writings are indited by His Spirit, as it is impossible that + any spirit but an all-wise God that is wondrous in working, wondrous + in wisdom, wondrous in power, wondrous in truth, could have brought + round such mysteries so full of truth as in my writings; so I am + clear in whom I believed, that all my writings came from the Spirit + of the Most High God. + + “JOANNA SOUTHCOTT.” + +One of her means of making money and increasing her influence was the +sealing of such as signed their names to a declaration intimating a +desire for Christ’s kingdom to be established upon earth, and the +destruction of that of the devil. Whoever signed his or her name +received a sealed letter containing these words:—“The sealed of the Lord +the elect. Precious man’s redemption to inherit the tree of life, to be +made heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ.” To this document +Joanna’s name was appended. In December, 1813, she declared her +pregnancy, and prophesied that she should have a son that year by the +power of the Most High. Her followers now increased rapidly, and chapels +were opened for promulgating her doctrines. As the time drew nigh +presents of all descriptions, it was said, came in unasked. There was a +magnificent cot for the expected Messiah, manufactured by Seddons. All +the articles used on such occasions—as laced caps, bibs, robes, papboats, +caudle cups, &c.,—were lavishly supplied; and when it appeared that the +poor woman had died, asking pardon for her late blasphemous doctrines and +past sins, the delusion was still kept up, and her followers believed +that she would reappear. It was only after a _post-mortem_ examination +that the fiction of a miraculous conception was dispelled. Joanna was +sixty years old at the time of her death, and was buried privately in +Marylebone Upper Burying-ground, near Kilburn. + +The present leader is John Whatmore, formerly a smith, but who has been +led in a marvellous way, according to his own confession, to believe in +Joanna. He is an open-air preacher, and may be met with in London +Fields, Somers Town, and elsewhere pursuing his calling, which apparently +is not very lucrative. He has two boards joined together, on which some +unintelligible jargon is printed, which he calls his two sticks. These +he holds up to view, at the same time calling out, “Britannia! Ephraim! +Judah!” Then he commences his oration, a strange medley of Scripture and +nonsense. According to him the world is in the worst possible way; and +the devil has a fine time of it. The present commercial system of +society by no means meets with Whatmore’s approval. The poor are rotting +off, and woe to them to whom such a catastrophe is due. There are many +disciples, he tells us; but fear of this world and a false sense of shame +prevent them from declaring themselves. There must be some, otherwise +the man could not get a living. His library seems to consist chiefly, if +not exclusively, of the New Testament and his own absurd hand-bills, +which a printer supplies him with on the chance of his selling them. In +answer to my inquiry as to where he attended when not preaching himself, +his reply was that he sometimes went to the Agricultural Hall; but they +were not advanced enough for him, and so he falls back on himself, and +goes about to do what he thinks is—or at any rate what he says he thinks +is—the Lord’s work. There is no bounce about him. He is apparently a +muddle-headed, well-meaning mystic; about as mad or sane as others of his +way of thinking. That he is wretchedly poor, that he is ignorant, that +his language to ordinary folks seems simply unintelligible, perhaps in +certain quarters may be accepted as signs of his Divine commission. At +any rate, he is a representative man. If he is ignorant and talks +nonsense, what must be the ignorance and the nonsense existing in those +who listen to him? How dense must be the ignorance, how crass the +nonsense cherished in his hearers! It may be asked, and this is a +question I put to the religious public, is not the manifestation of such +religious folly a reproach to our age? If the Church had done its duty, +would such a folly have been possible? + + + +THE SPIRITUALISTS. + + +Somehow or other the Spiritualists are under a cloud in this country, and +their leader—Mr. Home—has been compelled, in consequence of the decision +of a highly-prejudiced and extremely ignorant jury, to hand over to Mrs. +Lyon a very handsome sum of money which she had conveyed to him in +consequence of representations made by him to her that such was the +desire of her deceased lord and master. Up to that time Spiritualism was +making great way, and Mr. Home, as its high priest and apostle, was in +request with the nobility, and was the friend of kings and emperors. He +had married a Russian Countess; he wore a diamond ring on one hand, given +by the Czar, and on the other hand another, the present of the Emperor of +France. His speaking eye and melodramatic manner made him in society a +really charming man; literary ladies were enthusiastic in his favour. A +spiritual Athenæum was opened in Sloane Street, Chelsea, at which a very +eminent man gave the inaugural discourse, and at which there were spirit +drawings displayed, and spirit poems read—all suggestive of the fact that +the spirits were very ordinary people, after all. But it was not so much +there as at the houses of his friends that Mr. Home tried best to display +his powers. At such times there was a wonderful parade of religion. +Previous to his attending a _séance_, a friend of the author was asked +whether he believed in the doctrine of the Trinity; “because,” said the +fair questioner, “we find that the spirits do not like to appear before +sceptics;” and the Bible was read, and prayer offered up in apparently +the most reverent, and earnest, and occasionally the most tiresome +manner. Then came a few childish tricks, such as a handkerchief conveyed +by spirits _under_ the table, the accordion played by spirits _under_ the +table, and other intimations of what was said to be spiritual agency, but +all equally out of sight. A few marvellous things were said by +Home—secrets occasionally—which the hearer thought no one knew but +himself, but secrets of the most uninteresting and unimportant character. +And then the unbeliever passed out, scarcely knowing whether to laugh or +weep; whether he had assisted at a religious meeting or a farce; whether +he had been in the company of a mortal fitted for a solemn mission to an +idle and adulterous generation seeking after a sign, or whether all he +had seen and heard was but the clever manœuvring of a clever professor of +legerhave to take his stand with the Brothers Davenport and other +doubtful mediums who have had their day. + +The Spiritualists in this country set great store by Home. They have +never been able in our cold climate to raise mediums worth talking about. +The latter have been chiefly American importations. Mr. Harris came as a +preacher of Spiritualism, and, after a few Sundays at Store Street, +vanished like a spirit, and was heard of no more. A _Spiritual Magazine_ +was started. Mrs. Marshall and her niece, of 22, Red Lion Street, +Holborn, were declared by that—we presume official authority—to be +“Media.” Then came the solid testimony of a learned American judge, +declaring “the first thing demonstrated to us is that we can commune with +the spirits of the departed; that such communication is through the +instrumentality of persons yet living; that the fact of mediumship is the +result of physical organization; that the kind of communion is effected +by moral causes; and that the power, like our other faculties, is +possessed in different degrees, and is capable of improvement by +cultivation.” But the sect did not prosper. Then came grotesque +indications of spiritual presence. Not content with table-rapping, the +spirits had recourse to all kinds of antics, and the subject of +Spiritualism became more and more distasteful to the intelligent, and +more and more popular with that large class of idle wealthy men and women +who have no healthy occupation, and are always in search of excitement. +The climax was reached when the _Cornhill_ told how Mr. Home floated in +the air, how heavy tables would leap from one end of the room to the +other, how music was produced on accordions, “grand at times, at others +pathetical, at others distant and long-drawn,” when those accordions were +held by no mortal hands. “I can state,” wrote Dr. Gulley, of Malvern, +“that the record made in the article ‘Stranger than Fiction’ is in every +particular correct; that the phenomena therein related actually took +place, and moreover that no trick-machinery, sleight of hand, or other +artistic contrivance, produced what we heard and beheld. I am quite as +convinced of this last as I am of the facts themselves.” Well might the +Spiritualists crow; had not Robert Owen and Lord Lyndhurst also believed? +Was it not uncharitable to say that they were in their dotage? The +testimony of such men settled everything. + +In America, Spiritualism is more prosperous than in England. In the +“Plain Guide to Spiritualism” Mr. Clarke tells us there are in that +country 500 public mediums who receive visitors; more than 50,000 private +ones; 500 books and pamphlets on the subject have been published, and +many of them immensely circulated; there are 500 public speakers and +lecturers on it, and more than 1000 occasional ones. There are nearly +2000 places for public circles, conferences, or lectures, and in many +places flourishing public schools. The decided believers are 2,000,000, +the nominal ones nearly 5,000,000; on the globe itself it is calculated +there are 20,000,000 supposed to recognise the fact of spiritual +intercourse. In Paris and the different parts of France the +manifestations have been almost of every kind, and of the most decisive +and distinguished character. “Great numbers of persons have been cured +by therapeutic mediums,” writes William Howitt, “of diseases and injuries +incurable by all ordinary means. Some of these persons are well known to +me, and are every day bearing their testimony in aristocratic society.” +Writing thus, Mr. Howitt defines Spiritualism “as the great theologic and +philosophic reformer of the age; the great requickener of religious life; +the great consoler and establisher of hearts; the great herald to the +wanderers of earth starved upon the husks of mere college dogmas.” “I +believe,” says Mr. C. Hall, “that as it now exists, Spiritualism has +mainly but one purpose—to confute and destroy Materialism, by supplying +sure, and certain, and _palpable_ evidence that to every human being God +gives a soul, which He ordains shall not perish when the body dies.” +This, as good old Isaak Walton says, in narrating Dr. Donne’s Vision, +“this is a relation that will beget some wonder; and it well may, for +most of our world are at present possessed with an opinion that miracles +and visions are ceased.” + +What is Spiritualism? Ask its opponents. They regard it as necromancy, +a practice not only forbidden under the Old Testament, but which even in +the New we find classed by St. Paul under the general denomination of +witchcraft, with such works of the flesh as idolatry, murder, adultery, +and drunkenness, concerning all of which the Apostle Paul adds the solemn +declaration (Gal. v. 19–21), “That they which do such things shall not +inherit the kingdom of God.” Such undoubtedly is the feeling entertained +with regard to Spiritualism by the great majority of orthodox Christians, +who are quite satisfied by Scripture testimony, who accept what they +think God has revealed to them in His Book, and who seek or require +nothing more. In a weak but well-meaning work just put into my hands +(“Spiritualism and other Signs”) I read: “The whole system is essentially +opposed to faith in, and walking with, Jesus Christ, and the Spiritualist +knows it.” The writer quotes the well-known text: “Now the Spirit +speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the +faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, speaking +lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron.” At +the same time there are many in the Christian Church of undoubted piety +and intelligence who are believers in Spiritualism. After all, however, +they are the exception rather than the rule. Amongst all sects there is +a condemnation of Spiritualism of a very sweeping character. In this one +thing Wesleyans, Low Churchmen, and Congregationalists are agreed. The +outer world, the Secularists and the Positivists, of course regard +Spiritualism with the same scorn and unbelief with which they regard all +religion, whether true or false, whether old as the hills or but +yesterday’s creation. + +“It is wonderful that five thousand years have now elapsed since the +Creation of the world, and still it is undecided whether or not there has +ever been an instance of the spirit of any person appearing after death. +All argument is against it, but all belief is for it.” Such is a +sentence I borrow from Dr. Johnson. It is as applicable to the present +time as to that in which he lived. + +In conclusion, let me add, as a distinct organization, hitherto +Spiritualism has failed in this country. I hear nothing of the +_Spiritual Athenæum_ now, nothing of Mr. Harris, either as preacher or +poet, very little even of Mr. Home. Strange that a man who could not +write an ordinary note decently should have been a favourite medium of +the spirits. I am aware, however, the Spiritualists will extract an +argument out of that last remark of mine in favour of Spiritualism. A +young Jewish convert it is said would go to Rome. His teacher, a priest, +feared, knowing Rome too well. On his return he questioned his pupil as +to what he saw in Rome. “Ah!” said he, “I am persuaded now your religion +is of God, otherwise it would have perished of the wickedness of its +professors.” + + + +THE CAMPBELLITES. + + +In America of late years there has been an enormous increase of what are +called the Campbellites. They now number in that country 500,000, have +fifteen colleges, and a large university with 800 students; they have +2000 churches, and 1000 regular ministers. They are also well +represented as regards literature. They have one quarterly, six or seven +weeklies, two ladies’ magazines, and several Sunday-school papers. In +London they are not a numerous class. They have places of worship in the +Milton Hall, Camden Town, and in College Street, Chelsea. The truth is, +as regards chapels and churches, public worship is as much a social as a +religious institution. Fashion has a great deal to do with the +attendance. It is the fashion to go to church. It is not the fashion to +run after new sects or preachers of new doctrines. In a flourishing +church there are societies which bring people into contact with one +another—these promote in their turn, like the far-famed ale of Trinity, +“brotherly neighbourhood.” The old ladies get a habit of +gossiping—Jones, Brown, and Robinson take tea together—and then young +people form alliances in consequence often of a serious and matrimonial +character. It is uphill work, then, in London for a little isolated +cause. The odds against its permanent success are infinite. Still the +Campbellites are making way. They have a fine base of operations in +America, and they are spreading over England,—if they are not doing much +in the Metropolis. They are good, pious people, and earnest in the +conviction that they alone understand and maintain apostolical charity; +and deeply deploring the present divided and unhappy state of the +Christian Church, and with a view to unity, they increase the number of +divisions by withdrawing from all other religious bodies, and forming a +fresh one of their own. + +Who are the Campbellites? I will endeavour to answer the question. +Their creed, as they tell us, is simply the Messiahship. According to +them, the Christian creed thus presents for individual and immediate +acceptance the one living, personal, loving, Divine, all-wise and +omnipotent Saviour from ignorance, sin, and rebellion. Humanly devised +and written creeds demand faith in abstract metaphysical, theological, +ecclesiastical, and political propositions, and have so effectually +supplanted the good confession, that though admitted as a doctrine, few +churches or professors of the present day would consider themselves safe +in depending solely on its saving faith or belief in God’s testimony as +contained in His Word, as delivered by apostles and prophets, and as +corroborated by signs and wonders, and divers miracles and gifts of the +Holy Spirit. Campbellism distinguishes the Gospel not only from the +words of men, but from Scripture generally—that Jesus is its subject. It +apprehends him not only as Jesus of Nazareth, but as God manifest in the +flesh—the Son and Christ of the Father consecrated to the high offices of +Prophet, Priest, and King. It recognises the applicability and reference +of the Saviour’s mission and work to the individual himself as clearly as +if he were the only sinner for whom Christ has died; nor is it a mere +intellectual assent, but a willing, heartfelt reception of the truth and +surrender of the whole man, body, soul, and spirit. Now, as I imagine +most orthodox Christians would say as much, and would state their belief +in similar terms, with the exception of the Presbyterians and +Episcopalians, who have the advantage or disadvantage, whatever it may +be, of having to repeat a creed of more scholastic character, the +question still remains, why cannot the Campbellites worship with other +Christians? I must frankly confess there is in their services nothing +more fitted to make an impression upon the world than there is in the +services of other denominations; neither at Chelsea nor in Camden Town do +you get from their preachers an idea that they are men of greater power, +higher spiritual life, deeper experience, or more usefulness than are +others. Clearly this definition of Christian belief is no warrant for +another schism, even though the aim be Christian unity, and the putting a +stop to the endless differences which are the grief of the Christian and +the laugh of the worldling. Their form of worship is eminently simple +and dissenting—a revival, it may be, of that of apostolic times—that I +cannot say as, according to some, there are remains of a liturgy in the +Pauline epistles. It is not clear how the ancients worshipped, but it is +clear the Campbellites simply sing and pray, and read the Scriptures and +deliver an address. They are Baptists, and they believe that Baptism is +essential to salvation. Baptist churches are numerous in London. No +Baptist need hire room, or chapel, or barn, or hall, and meet there to +edify himself and his friends apart from the great and active community +who feel as he does in that matter. The Campbellites maintain that many +things are wrong which are done in other churches. They assume that +there was a greater purity in apostolic times than now, and they aim to +revive it. For this purpose they exalt the power of the Church, and +depreciate that of the ministry. I don’t learn that they have all things +in common, though that was certainly one of the most prominent features +in apostolic times; but they draw a sharp line between the Church and the +world, and in their Sunday services almost ignore the latter. They have +little of that charity which hopeth all things, which thinketh no evil, +which is long-suffering. If they are building a chapel they would not +take the money of an unconverted man. If they were collecting +subscriptions for the sending out Evangelists, for the printing of +religious books and tracts, for the support of a Christian ministry, they +would refuse those of worldly men. More logical or more consistent in +small matters, they make no provision in their books of praise for the +unconverted man. I find in their hymn-book no one verse in the whole +volume is designed to be sung simply by the unconverted. Their hymns are +for those who, having the spirit of adoption, cry, Abba Father! It is +proper, says the writer of the preface to the volume to which I refer, it +is proper for convicted sinners, who do not know the way, to seek +salvation, but they are not called to sing their sorrow, much less are +Christians called to unite with them. Again, he tells us the unconverted +have no need to sing prayers for pardon. What then, I may ask, are they +to do? The answer is that, they may stand and listen and be sung at, as +well as preached at. Mr. King, the writer already quoted, says, “Though +there are not hymns for the unconverted to sing, there are appeals to the +unconverted to be sung by the church.” Practically, however, the +arrangement differs little from that of other churches. A book is put +into your hands, and the chances are, people who are in the habit of +singing sing. As only immersed adults are Christians, it is not clear +what the young people who attend their service are; that they sing I can, +however, testify. It is to be feared that the Campbellites are not +exempt from the faults of all religious worship, as manifested in +strength of expression. If men and women believed what they say or sing +in all our churches and chapels, little would remain for us but the +Millennium. + +The Campbellites do seek to guard against this danger. It is the Church +that sings. It is the Church that worships. All Christian worship is in +Scripture confined to Christians, and necessarily so, for worship offered +by any one else is not Christian. Thus it is only on the faithful in +Christ Jesus that the various items of Christian worship are enjoined: +they are profaned and prostituted when applied to any others. In the +morning of the Sabbath the Church meets by itself to break bread and sing +and pray; on such occasions the members exhort and edify one another. In +the evening the service is of a more general character; appeals are made +to the unconverted, and they are invited to attend. + + “All you that are weary and sad come, + And you that are cheerful and glad come, + In robes of humility clad come, + Away from the waters of strife. + Let youth in the freshness of bloom come, + Let man in the pride of his noon come, + Let age on the verge of the tomb come, + Let none in their pride stay away.” + +As a matter of fact, the unconverted do not avail themselves of the +offer. It is a small place of meeting, the Milton Hall, but it is quite +large enough, and more than large enough for the church and congregation. +One brother prays and reads the Scriptures and gives out a hymn, another +brother delivers an address, another brother concludes with prayer, and +then there is a prayer-meeting after. The advantage of the Campbellites +seems to me that they are only a little duller than their neighbours. +The little ones around me, when I attended, found it hard to keep awake, +and yet the service is short. It commences at seven and closes a little +after eight. As they have no paid ministry, as their elders and deacons +take the chief parts in the service, even after supporting an evangelist +their expenses are not heavy, and in this they find a plausible plea. +If, say they, half a dozen churches are built where one would be enough, +and half a dozen ministers are kept where only one is required, clearly +in consequence of these divisions amongst brethren, there is a lamentable +waste of money and power and spiritual influence. Unfortunately, as +regards London there is no force in the plea, and will not be till the +time comes when the various sections of the Christian Church shall have +made all necessary provision for the spiritual wants of the metropolis. + + + +THE MORMONS. + + +Thirty years ago, writes Hepworth Dixon, in that glowing account of +Mormonism which, next to “Spiritual Wives,” he seems to consider as the +crowning glory of his life,—“thirty years ago there were six Mormons in +America, none in England, none in the rest of Europe, and to-day (1866) +they have twenty thousand saints in Salt Lake City; four thousand each in +Ogden, Prono, and Logan; in the whole of their stations in these valleys +(one hundred and six settlements properly organized by them and ruled by +bishops and elders) a hundred and fifty thousand souls; in other parts of +the United States about eight or ten thousand; in England and its +dependencies about fifteen thousand; in the rest of Europe ten thousand; +in Asia and the South Sea Islands about twenty thousand; in all not less, +perhaps, than two hundred thousand followers of the gospel preached by +Joseph Smith. All these converts have been gathered into the temple in +thirty years.” + +The other day the Mormons of the London district met at the Music Hall, +Store Street, and held a conference. Mr. Franklin Richards, the +President, delivered an address. From his speech it appeared that in the +metropolis there were nine branches, one hundred and seven elders of +conference, fifty-three priests, twenty-four teachers, thirty deacons. +During the six months preceding 132 persons had been baptized, sixteen +cut off or had died; the total number in the London district, including +officers, was 1172. I imagine the Mormonites flourish better in +districts less enlightened. Around Birmingham they are very sanguine, +and I have seen the miners in Merthyr Tydfil by thousands listening to +the gospel according to Joe Smith and Brigham Young. + +The principal place of worship of the Mormons or Latter-day Saints is in +the Commercial Road, but there are others; one of them is in George +Street, Gower Street. In that locality there is a very shabby dancing +saloon, from which the graces seem long since to have departed. At three +o’clock every Sunday afternoon the Mormons assemble there. On a raised +platform may be seen seated some seven or eight men, apparently decent +workmen. Below them is a table, around which are a few lads, who set the +tunes and take round the sacrament, which is administered every Sunday to +all, including any strangers and children who may feel disposed to +partake of it. Benches fill up the rest of the room, which are occupied +chiefly by females with their families—including, of course, the baby, +the inevitable feature in all gatherings of the lower orders. All seem +enthusiastic and very friendly, and wretchedly poor. Their idea of +Mormonism seems to be chiefly that of a successful emigration scheme, +only mixed up with a little of the religious phraseology, which is most +fluently uttered unfortunately by the unthinking masses to whom words do +not represent ideas. You might fancy as you enter that you had made a +mistake, and got amongst the Primitive Methodists. The hymns are very +much the same, and so is frequently the style of prayer. Sermon there is +none, but instead you have addresses, the burden of which is generally of +one kind. The speaker is thankful that at last he has known the Lord, +and wishes he had done more for Him, and hopes, if health and strength be +spared, to do more. There is also generally an address of a wider +character. The Lord is calling them out of this country, where the +Gentiles have the rule over them, and they are to hasten, old and young, +to the City of the Saints. They are to pay their debts, mend their old +clothes, save all they can, and then those that cannot pay for their +voyage will be helped to join the settlement in Utah. Apart from the +prayers and hymns, these meetings seem secular rather than spiritual,—to +have reference more to this world, than the next. If, as it seems to me, +the Mormonites in this country have had a Methodist training, they have +managed to eliminate pretty completely the Methodist theology; but, +perhaps, they treat it as they do the Bible. The Mormons profess to +believe in it, at the same time they omit its spiritual teaching +altogether. Their theology may be best explained in one of their own +hymns:— + + “The God that others worship is not the God for me, + He has neither part nor body, and cannot hear and see; + But I’ve a God that lives above, + A God of power and love, + A God of Revelation,—Oh, that’s the God for me! + Oh! that’s the God for me; oh! that’s the God for me. + + “A church without apostles is not the church for me, + It’s like a ship dismasted, afloat upon the sea, + But I’ve a church that’s always led + By the twelve stars around its head, + A church with good foundations—oh! that’s the church for me! + Oh! that’s the church for me! oh! that’s the church for me! + + * * * * * + + “The heaven of sectarians is not the heaven for me, + So doubtful its location, neither on land nor sea, + But I’ve a heaven on the earth, + The land that gave me birth, + A heaven of light and knowledge—oh! that’s the heaven for me! + Oh! that’s the heaven for me! oh! that’s the heaven for me!” + +Such are the songs sung, with a fervour unknown in better attended and +genteeler places of worship. + +The Mormons speak of us as Gentiles, yet in reality they take our creed +and add to it polygamy and communism. Their belief as regards Father, +Son, and Holy Ghost is almost orthodox, and if they claim to be divinely +ruled and to have the power of working miracles, do not other sects the +same? Like the Quakers, they can dispense with religious forms. Like +the ancient Israelites, they are a peculiar people, but what is peculiar +to them, and that which constitutes the secret of their success, is +this—that they preach to the poor, and wretched, and starving, that the +kingdom of God has been founded upon earth, that it belongs to the +saints, and that they are the saints. Man, they say, is part of the +substance of God, and he will become God. He was not created by God, but +existed from all eternity. He was not born in sin, and is only +accountable for his own misdeeds. Angels, it seems, from what Young told +Hepworth Dixon, “are the souls of bachelors and monogamists, being +incapable of issue, unblessed with female companions, unfitted to reign +and rule in the celestial spheres. They have failed,” said Young, “in +not living the patriarchal life—in not marrying many wives. An unmarried +Mormon fills but a low scale in the order of things.” Man being of the +race of God becomes eligible for a celestial throne: his household of +wives and children being his kingdom, not on earth only, but in heaven, +polygamy is thus his highest duty, and most glorious privilege. In the +East, polygamy does not answer. The races with one wife there breed +faster than the Turks. In the city of the Mormons, under polygamy, +births are very numerous. The actual wives of Young are twelve! the +twelve apostles own from three to four each. Young has forty-eight +children, and all have their quivers full. The women, according to Mr. +Dixon, dislike polygamy nevertheless. + +In this country and among the Mormons the doctrine of polygamy is not +that on which much stress is laid. Here the Mormon preaches temperance, +sobriety, honesty, industry, the need of saving up money, and the +advantages of emigration to Utah. In the _Millennial Star_, the organ of +the community, one brother writes from Wales:— + + “The Word of Wisdom is quite a text with us of late, and is producing + very good effects. We see its fruits manifested among the Saints, + several of the brethren leaving off tobacco and other things that are + injurious to the constitution. _The tea is a matter that bothers the + sisters considerably_, but in the face of this difficulty many are + leaving it off, and pronouncing it of no beneficial effect in any way + whatever. I think that much will be done by abstaining from those + things towards clothing those children that are very thinly clad.” + +It is in this way that Mormonism has spread. It has come to the poorest +of the poor, and used their own language. Its phraseology is that dear +to the natural heart. We are all too prone to throw our responsibility +on others: It is the Lord who saves me. It is the devil who makes me +bad; and it is a great help to the ignorant and uneducated, not merely to +have spiritual states shadowed forth in earthly language, but to feel +that, after all, heaven is here in the shape of comfortable dwellings, +wives and children, raiment to wear, and a bellyfull. “This is great +encouragement to the saints in their pilgrimages here in old Babylon, and +stimulates them to more diligence in building up the kingdom of God, and +delivering themselves from the yoke of tyranny and oppression, to enjoy +the liberty of the people of God in the valleys of the mountains.” Thus +writes one of the elders with reference to certain manifestations of the +gift of tongues; but I quote the passage here as applicable in an eminent +degree, and as illustrating the religious phraseology, affected no doubt +for certain ends by the Mormons. The kingdom of God, for instance, of +the theologians may be difficult of apprehension to the illiterate and +the rude; but if it means to me a good house and good living in Utah, it +at once assumes an attractive form. If to live in England is to live in +Babylon, of course it is my duty to emigrate; and if Brigham Young is the +Lord’s deputy on earth, then to disobey his call is an act of sin. So +degraded are many of our brethren and sisters in this Christian land, +where we have one parson at the least in every parish, that they are +utterly unable to contemplate anything apart from its accidental forms. +Their God is a God of parts and passions; their religion is one of +sensation; their heaven a loss of physical pains and the presence of +physical delights; they become at once an easy prey to the Mormonite +preacher when for ten pounds he offers them the realization of their +hopes, not at the end of life, but now, and tells them that in the Land +of the Saints they shall hunger no more, nor thirst any more. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. +ADVANCED RELIGIONISTS. + + +The Church of Progress. + + +At length, if I am to believe what I hear and see, the religious problem +of the age has been solved, and I am presented with a form of worship +which is in accordance with the discoveries of science and the dignity of +man. In St. George’s Hall, Langham Place, this new association meets; +its president is Baxter Langley, Esq. It dispenses with prayer, and with +the reading of the Bible, but instead there is a performance of sacred +music by a choir of a hundred voices, with solos sung by professional +ladies and gentlemen specially engaged, and then the President himself, +smiling and buoyant as if it were an election meeting, as chairman, +performs many solos on his own account. In short, as a paper lying +before me says, “Everything will be done to make the service delightful, +whilst instruction will be secured by a popular lecture each evening from +some gentleman eminent in science, literature, or art.” + +It seems to be a speciality of this Church of Progress that it disappears +in summer altogether. It is only in the winter time that its doors are +thrown open—not at all to the poor and needy, but to those who can pay. +Is not this a little hard? Life is short, and the disciple of progress +may well mourn that for him half the year exists in vain. Then, again, +this Church of Progress, as much as the oldest and most-abused Churches +of Christendom, makes very rigorous requirements on the pocket. Sixpence +is the minimum paid. If you would hear comfortably you must pay a +shilling. If you would have a seat where you can see and hear still more +comfortably you must shell out half-a-crown. Now, if a man goes with his +wife and family, it is obvious that the sum he will have to pay will be, +if he have but a scanty income, no small consideration. It is true that +a reduction is made if you take tickets for the course, but what I find +fault with is that the casual poor have no chance of being benefited by +this new gospel—that it does not appeal to them—that it ignores them +altogether. I may hear the greatest of Dissenting preachers, I may sit +under deans and bishops—nay, I may listen to the finished accents of an +archbishop—without putting my hand in my pocket, but for the lecture at +St. George’s Hall, and the sacred minstrelsy there, I must at the least +pay sixpence. The sum is a small one, but it has a tendency to narrow +the Church and to limit its influence—it must keep outside many who +otherwise would worship there. Why should the Church of Progress only +appeal to the man with sixpence in his pocket? Is it only the capitalist +whose soul is worth looking after? For common people will any old-wife’s +fable do? + +A more serious fault may be found with the Church of Progress. “We are +not animated by any spirit of antagonism,” they say; “and as we propose +to occupy a new field of utility, we see no reason why our assemblies +should be regarded with hostility by other bodies.” “Our religion is +positive and constructive, not negative and aggressive.” “Our Church is +founded upon the recognition of the primary importance of human welfare; +and its purpose will be to develop the power of philanthropy by education +in the truths of science and philosophy, and by the elevating influence +of the highest and purest art.” What Protestant Church cannot say the +same? As to art, whence does the Church of Progress get its music, which +perhaps is its chief attraction, but from the Churches which it tells us +are losing their hold upon the minds of the people? It rears +philanthropy: what was Peabody? It talks of philosophy: what were such +philosophers as Sir David Brewster or Professor Faraday? Equally +delusive is its denial of antagonism. It is founded for those “whose +religious ideas find no suitable exponent in any of the existing +Churches.” The existing Churches more or less appeal to the Bible, and +to Christ as Master, and place before the mind as consolation, or +warning, or allurement, the splendours and the terrors of a world to +come. In the new Church all this is set on one side. Science, not +dogma, is to be the teacher, and they sing— + + “Reason and love! thy kingdom come, + Oh, Church of endless ages rise! + Till fairer shines our mortal home + Than heavens we sought beyond the skies.” + +Is it true to say that between this new light and the old there is no +antagonism? Is it honest to say, as they do in the address already +referred to, “we ask no one to adopt or deny any of the creeds of the +Churches. We shall endeavour to promulgate truth, and truth is always +Divine”? Is it not clear that no one can join the Church of Progress +unless he has ceased to believe in the creeds of the Churches? that it is +impossible to believe in Christ and Baxter Langley as well? When Pilate +said unto the Jews, “Whom will ye that I release unto you, Barabbas, or +Jesus which is called Christ?” none but an idiot would have said there +was no antagonism between the two. Again, it may be asked, by what right +do these “earnest, conscientious men and women” in Langham Place call +themselves a Church? Is it for the sake of deceiving the public? To +teach art, or science, or literature, is not religion. Why, then, define +as a Church people who meet on a Sunday to hear lectures on science, +literature, and art? Undoubtedly, people may do worse on a Sunday night, +but in listening to such lectures they have no right to say they are at +church. + +Mr. George Jacob Holyoake is also one of their lecturers; and if he be +not antagonistic, what is he? Of all irrepressible men Mr. Holyoake is +undoubtedly the most so. You meet him everywhere. Not a social science +meeting, nor a political gathering, nor a philosophical discussion exists +within reach of London but he is present at it, to take part in its +discussions as the exponent of the views, and feelings, and desires of +the British working man. If London is demonstrative, as when a Garibaldi +appears upon the stage, foremost of those who meet to do him honour is +Mr. Holyoake. In the House of Commons he is similarly prominent. In the +Speaker’s gallery or in the lobby you may see him all night long, here +speaking to a member, there listening to one as if the care of all the +country rested on his shoulders. I don’t fancy Mr. Holyoake is the great +man he takes himself to be. I deny his right to be the exponent of the +class of whom he condescends to be the ornament and shield. I admit his +boundless activity, his wonderful talent for intrusion, the cleverness of +his talk. I admit, too, the energy with which in the course of a now +extended career he has travelled the land, with a view to convince his +fellow-men that there is no future, that he who says there is but repeats +the old worn-out fiction of the priests, and that it is for this world +rather than the next that we must labour and strive. Undoubtedly for Mr. +Holyoake some extenuation must be made. A man may well doubt the +Christianity which instead of removing his religious doubts throws him +into gaol for the crime of expressing them. Nevertheless, I may doubt, +if not the sincerity,—for about that there can be no question—at any rate +the truth and wisdom of his creed; and may, after all, prefer the light +of the Gospel to that which he asks me to admire. I may admit that there +have been quacks, and impostors, and charlatans in the religious +world—that the Church has fearfully failed in its mission—that, armed +with the sword of the State, it has been often a curse and a blight—but +it does not follow that the truth, of which the Church should be the +living organization, has no existence, that it has no mission in this +world, that the Bible is to be trampled under foot, that the Saviour is +to be abolished, and that for man, instead of the narrow path and the +heavenly crown, nothing is left but that he should eat, and drink, and +die. Such, however, I believe, is Mr. Holyoake’s Gospel. As to his +utterances on Sunday when I heard him, they were of the poorest character +possible. The subject was the common people; and after describing three +or four classes of them, he finished with the inculcation of the by no +means original idea—that they were not so bad as they seem, that we had +to respect in them the humanity which, under favourable circumstances, +might be developed into something better. I never heard Mr. Holyoake +preach before, and I shall take care never to hear him again. As a +speaker, one of Mr. Spurgeon’s rawest students would beat him hollow. + + + +THE INDEPENDENT RELIGIOUS REFORMERS. + + +The Theists in London are, we are told, very numerous, and yet, till +about ten years since, no steps had been taken by them to provide public +buildings in which to assemble for instruction and conversation, and no +church had been opened in which they could invite their friends to hear +the principles of Theism explained and defended. In order to supply that +want, Dr. Perfitt, a layman, resolved upon renting South Place Chapel, +Finsbury Square, for the purpose of delivering lectures and discourses +upon various religious topics. In 1858 the Society of Independent +Religious Reformers was organized out of the hearers he had thus gathered +around him. A committee was elected, rules were passed, and the +following were declared to be the objects of the Society:— + +1. To secure the association and co-operation of all persons who are +desirous of cultivating the religious sentiment in a manner essentially +free from the evil spirit of creed, from the intolerance of sectarianism, +and the leaven of priestcraft; of those persons who respect the authority +of reason, and reverentially accept the decrees of conscience. + +2. To discover and methodize truths connected either with the laws of +nature, the progress of thought, or the lives of good men in all ages and +countries, so that they may be rendered of practical value as guides to a +healthy, moral, and manly life. + +3. To assist, as in the performance of a religious duty, in the +regeneration of society by co-operating with every organized body whose +aim is to abolish superstition, ignorance, drunkenness, political +injustice, or any other of the numerous evils which now afflict the +community. + +To carry out these ideas the noble painting gallery, built by the late +Sir Benjamin West, in Newman Street, Oxford Street, was procured and +fitted up. This large hall seats 1500 persons. A good organ was +erected, and schools and a library were talked of. At this place, on +Sunday mornings, the public are treated to what is called a free +religious service, based upon the great facts and principles of +intellectual Theism. In the evenings popular lectures are delivered +bearing upon science, history, or religious free thought. In both cases +Dr. Perfitt is the orator. On many occasions the Doctor has appeared in +public. Under not very pleasant circumstances—for he had little +support—he appealed to Finsbury, but in vain, to send him into +Parliament. It is clear, then, what of success the man has accomplished, +or of good the man has done, has been chiefly in connexion with the +Society of Independent Reformers. We were told in 1863 “the church in +Newman Street is but the forerunner of hundreds which will rest upon the +same foundation.” Dr. Perfitt has been more than seven years in Newman +Street, and quite twenty at his work. A man can do a great deal in such +a space of time if he has a fluent tongue, as is abundantly illustrated, +not to go beyond our age, in the careers of Father Mathew, Father +Ignatius, John B. Gough, or Mr. Spurgeon. Irving did not last so long, +yet, metaphorically speaking, he managed to set the Thames on fire. It +is clear Dr. Perfitt has peculiarly advantageous conditions under which +to work. In the first place, as his aim is— + + “To serve the truth where’er ’tis found, + On Christian or on heathen ground”— + +he has a wide field over which his oratory may range. It cannot all be +barren from Dan to Beersheba. In the second place, according to the +Independent Religious Reformers, the great want of our times is such as +they are. “It is well known,” they tell us, “that although the orthodox +religious establishments are earnestly supported, they cannot gain the +hearts of the people. The intelligence of England has outgrown the old +creeds and formulas. Theism is secretly approved by thousands.” The +time, then, is ripe for such a mission as Dr. Perfitt proposes. The hour +has come, and he is the man. It is not in his negative and critical +aspect that he is to be judged. In the position in that respect he has +assumed there is no novelty. Unfortunately, the Church of England, like +all established churches, more or less lays itself open to the most +irreverent criticism. The new wine cannot be put in the old bottles. We +can quite agree with him that “the majority of the clergy have no just +conception of what, according to the nature of things, they are called +upon to do;” that St. Paul would find himself sadly out of place were he +called upon to preach to the congregation of a fashionable suburban +church; and that there would indeed be a flutter and commotion raised +were “the Archbishop of Canterbury, cutting himself adrift from the level +of Belgravia, to stand out before men denouncing woe upon the butterflies +of fashion and the Dundrearies of Parliament as Jesus denounced the +Scribes and Pharisees of old.” But the saying these things does not +constitute a man the founder of a new and better sect. Mr. Froude tells +us “the clergyman of the nineteenth century subscribes the Thirty-nine +Articles with a smile as might have been worn by Samson when his +Philistine mistress bound his arms with the cords and withs.” It is +scarcely possible to write a bitterer thing of the clergy, yet Mr. Froude +is not, so far as we are aware, an Independent Religious Reformer. Even +of the Church of which such hard things may be said, and justly said, we +may argue that its theory of the identity of Church and State is a noble +one, and that the dream of such men as “the judicious Hooker,” of +Coleridge, of Dr. Arnold, is that of all who, in stately cathedral or +humble conventicle, pray Sunday after Sunday to the common Father, “Thy +kingdom come, Thy will be done upon earth as it is in heaven.” Man is a +religious animal; the heart is true to its old instincts. There is no +peace for his soul, no rest for the sole of the foot, no shelter for him +in the storm, no brightness in the cloud, no glory in the sun, no hope in +life, no life in death, unless he can believe, adore, and love. But we +have forgotten Dr. Perfitt. Well, we need be in no hurry. If you go to +Newman Street you will find very few people there by eleven. The +exclusively religious service, as one of the hearers informed us it was, +generally commences at a quarter past, where in the large hall about a +hundred may be collected together, the majority, of course, males, +chiefly of the lower section, I should imagine, of the middle class. +There is music; then the Doctor reads a chapter of the Bible, and takes +it to pieces; then there is more music; then a prayer, and a half-hour’s +sermon, from a regular text, according to the fashion of the orthodox, +but generally coming to a very unorthodox conclusion. Indeed, the former +come off hardly at the Doctor’s hands. He demolished them as easily as +if they were so many men of straw; President Edwards, Richard Baxter, Mr. +Spurgeon, the apostles, and their great Teacher, all look very small by +the side of the clear, logical, learned, fluent, sarcastic, infallible +Doctor, who is the heir of all the ages under the sun; who talks of +Zoroaster, and Vedas, and Shasters; who is as familiar with Brahma and +Buddha as if he had assisted at their birth, and who knows what’s o’clock +in Sanscrit better than you or I, my good sir, in ordinary English. +After the sermon comes the collection, and the congregational +dinner-hour, for the sale of the beer for which, the neighbouring publics +open just as the Independent Religious Reformers, exhausted by the +Doctor’s omniscience, require the refreshing fluid. + +“Hae, sirs!” said an elderly female in a remote part of Scotland, as for +the first time she saw a black man; “hae, sirs, what canna be done for +the penny!” Assuredly some such feeling must be entertained by the +listener who for the first time hears Dr. Perfitt in his rostrum in +Cambridge Hall. For a pound a year you may have this pleasure every +Sunday, and become one of the Independent Reformers. What more can man +desire? + + + +SOUTH PLACE, FINSBURY SQUARE. + + +The religion of humanity has been for a time dominant in South Place, +Finsbury Square. Its oldest and original teacher in connexion with the +place was the late W. Johnson Fox, M.P., a popular writer and eloquent +orator, who did much in his day and generation on behalf of freedom in +trade, in politics, and religion, and did it well. Nor did he labour in +vain as regards himself. Born in an humble position, he became a student +at Homerton College and an orthodox Dissenter. In a little while he +joined the Unitarians, and then left them for a freer and fuller +religious creed and form of worship. He had many friends. His letters, +signed “Publicola,” in the _Weekly Dispatch_, were the delight of the +working classes; and his Anti-Corn-law orations charmed all, and there +were tens of thousands who had the privilege of listening to them. He +was returned to Parliament by the electors of Oldham, and a monument +erected to his memory there still perpetuates his name. He died at a +ripe old age, ever having preserved the character of an independent and +honourable man. As a religious teacher he was no extraordinary success. +It was rarely indeed that South Place was very full. Of course, the +hearers were the very _élite_ of the human race. Wherever you +go—especially among sects not particularly orthodox or popular—the men +and women with whom you come in contact are no ordinary men and women. +By a happy dispensation of Providence they fail to see themselves as +others see them, and are as firmly convinced of their own intellectual +superiority over a benighted British public as they are of the truth of +their principles and of their ultimate success. + + “There is a religion of humanity,” said Mr. Fox, “though not + enshrined in articles and creeds, though it is not to be read merely + in sacred books, and yet it may be read in all wherever they have + anything in them of truth and moral beauty,—a religion of humanity + which goes deeper than all because it belongs to the essentials of + our moral and intellectual constitution, and not to mere external + accidents, the proof of which is not in historical agreement or + metaphysical deduction, but in our own conscience and + consciousness,—a religion of humanity which unites and blends all + other religions, and makes one the men whose hearts are sincere, and + whose characters are true, and good, and harmonious, whatever may be + the deductions of their minds or their external profession,—a + religion of humanity which cannot perish in the overthrow of altars + or the fall of temples, which survives them all, and which, were + every derived form of religion obliterated from the face of the + earth, would recreate religion as the spring recreates the fruits and + flowers of the soul, bidding it bloom again in beauty, bear again its + rich fruits of utility, and fashion for itself such forms and modes + of expression as may best agree with the progressive condition of + mankind.” + +It was in accordance with these ideas that the Sunday morning services in +South Place were carried on. + +After Mr. Fox came Mr. Ierson, and a nearer approximation to regular +Unitarianism. But the place did not prosper; there were far too many +empty benches. He was succeeded by a gentleman formerly a Baptist +minister, but who had outgrown his sect, and for a little while there was +harmony and progress. Again there was an interregnum. “Seekers are,” +said old Oliver Cromwell, “next best to finders.” In London, especially +in these unsettled days of free inquiry, are many such, and to such the +pulpit of South Place was freely offered. I do not fancy as a rule +seekers are good preachers. To say anything effectually you must have +something to say. To make others weep you must weep yourself. With mere +negations you can never sway the minds or influence the lives of men. In +orthodox places of worship there is often much of dreariness. The +clergyman whose heart is not in his work is a miserable spectacle for +gods and men, but the dreariness of heterodoxy is infinitely greater; and +of all things under the sun the most miserable in the clerical way is the +sight of a would-be philosopher feebly diluting or expanding, as the case +may be, windy platitudes or transcendental moonshine. Under such an +infliction, as it may well be imagined, South Place did not flourish +greatly. At length, in due course, a man appeared to continue the work +which Mr. Fox had originated. His name is Mr. M. D. Conway. I believe +he is of American origin, and evidently under him the cause is in a +prosperous state. When I say prosperous, the term is not to be +understood as it would be in orthodox circles. The latter class of +religionists, when they say that a place is prosperous imply by the use +of such language that a place of worship is well filled; that men are +turned from sin to holiness, from serving the devil to serving God, that +the place is a centre of religious life and activity, and that all, young +and old, rich and poor, are to the best of their power and means +co-operating in Christian work. Prosperity in this sense cannot be +predicated of South Place. Its doors are only opened once a week. There +is no religious, or educational, or philanthropical agency connected with +the chapel; but there are more attendants than there were, and that +encourages Mr. Conway and his friends. Indeed, there is a talk amongst +them of establishing a Sunday-school. At the same time it seems to me +that the class of people who go to South Place are not socially or +intellectually what they were in Mr. Fox’s time—when the Cortaulds would +come up all the way from Braintree to hear Mr. Fox, when City lawyers +like the late Mr. Ashurst, and City magnates like the late Mr. Dillon, +were amongst the audience; when on a Sunday morning might be seen there +such men as Sir J. Bowring, or Macready, or Charles Dickens, and others +equally well known to fame. They left when Mr. Fox left. I believe Mr. +P. Taylor, M.P., still keeps up a connexion, more or less fitful and +uncertain, with the place. Sir Sydney Waterlow also still retains a +couple of sittings, but he is rarely there. Nevertheless, the +congregation has greatly increased; the chapel is quite three parts full. +Still they use the little book of hymns and anthems selected by Mr. Fox; +and the musical part of the service, always a great matter at South +Place, is as well conducted and as attractive as ever. + +Mr. Conway is a very advanced thinker. The character of his preaching +and praying is purely theistic. He wars with dogmas in every form. It +may be a wing to-day, a fetter to-morrow. For him there are no sacred +books, or rather he places them all on an equality. For his motto he +goes to India, and quotes the Brahma Somaj. In this respect he is a true +follower of the late Mr. Fox, whose fascinating oratory owed very little +of its charm to that which orthodox Unitarians or orthodox Christians +hold highest and holiest; whose aim was more to pull down than to build +up, and who had a greater faculty for the exposition of Christian +fallacies than for the enunciating of truths and principles needful to +humanity in its hour of temptation, distress, danger, or death. Few have +his exquisite humour, his power of sarcasm, his acquaintance with modern +literature, his copious command of polished language, his expressive yet +calm delivery, his gentleness almost as touching as that of woman; but +that which was lacking in him often made men his inferiors in intellect, +his superiors in the art of arousing the spiritually dead, or in giving +to the moral wastes in our midst the vigour, the beauty, the fertility of +life. + + + +THE SECULARISTS. + + +It is a sign of the times when Infidelity visits the workshop or the +factory, and challenges the admiration of the men in fustian—the men +whose hard labours and horny hands have helped to make England what it +is, and who in an increasing ratio are making their influence felt on the +Exchange where capital seeks investment, in the ancient halls where the +teachers of the next generation are training, in the study of the +political philosopher, in Parliaments where practical people assemble to +legislate after their necessarily imperfect fashion for the general weal. +It is said of Sir Godfrey Kneller that he was deeply shocked at hearing a +common labourer invoking imprecations on his own head. Some such feeling +must be entertained by the old-fashioned, scholarly sceptics at all times +met with in highly intellectual communities. Religion was a good thing +for the poor; it taught them to know their place, to be humble, +industrious, and not to murmur when deprived by human agency of the +rights to which all are born, or when by the same agency they were made +to bear innumerable wrongs. For such religion was intended; and for such +considerations it was right and proper that it should be accepted by +society—sanctioned by the law—its ministers rewarded and salaried by the +State. It was under the influence of some such feeling that Napoleon the +Great is reported to have said, if there were no God, it would be +necessary to invent one; and in a proportionate manner do the +philosophers feel alarm and indignation when the working man, for whom +such trouble has been taken,—for whom religion has, as it were, been +discovered,—for whom an Establishment, the most richly endowed with this +world’s goods in Christendom, rejoices to call itself the poor man’s +Church,—turns round, and, in his coarse, rough way, says, “Ladies and +gentlemen, I am much obliged to you. I see your little game. Pray don’t +take any trouble on my account. Please to leave me to go to the bad in +my own way. Give me the right to the free inquiry you claim for +yourselves, and don’t quarrel with me on account of its results.” Really +it seems to me the Secularist has the best of it. I may regret his +conclusions. I cannot blame his independent spirit. + +Of the men who talk in this way it may be said, at any rate as regards +the metropolis, Robert Dale Owen was the teacher and apostle. Owen was +the first to proclaim to the masses that there was no such thing as moral +responsibility; that a man’s character was formed for him partly by +nature at his birth, and partly by the external influences to which he +was exposed. As man, there was for him no choice of right or wrong. Any +religion, and emphatically that of Christ, which proceeds upon the +supposition that man can lay hold of eternal life, can accept the offer +of God’s mercy, can believe and live, is false and to be rejected with +disdain. Owen was a man of blameless life—a man who made great +sacrifices of wealth, and time, and labour, on account of his ideas. As +his last apologist has well stated, “his condemnation of religion was not +the result of libertine excesses, nor of a philosophical conceit, but +followed honestly from the shallow theory he had adopted.” Amongst the +poor, ignorant, superficial denizens of our crowded cities he was hailed +as the regenerator of manhood, and made many converts. Nor are they to +be blamed. Owen met with an attentive hearing from such as Brougham and +Bentham, Earls Liverpool and Aberdeen, Jefferson and Van Buren, the Duke +of Kent and the King of Prussia; actually, we believe, he was presented +at Court. It is true in his old age he became a believer in spirits, +after all, and was buried in the little churchyard of Newton, +Montgomeryshire, in the sure and certain hope of a glorious resurrection +to eternal life; but by that time the truth or falsehood he had +proclaimed had sunk into many minds, had been re-uttered by many tongues, +had been commended to the working classes by no less a master of language +and argument than George Jacob Holyoake. Certainly, in the hands of the +latter, Owenism, under its new name of Secularism, lost none of its +power. The master was apt to be egotistic—dogmatic—much given to +repetition—very diffuse. Mr. Holyoake’s enemies cannot conscientiously +say he is that. His friends, many of them the cleverest of London men, +claim for him talents of no common order. A shop in Fleet Street was +opened—the _Reasoner_ was established—and Mr. Holyoake went all over the +land to emancipate the human mind, spell-bound by priestcraft, and to +roll back the double night of ages and of ignorance. In a little while +he retired from business, the shop in Fleet Street was shut up, the +_Reasoner_ reasoned no more—Mr. Holyoake ceased perambulating. Still we +have a genuine Apostolical succession: Mr. Bradlaugh takes up the +wondrous tale, and the _National Reformer_ records the triumphs of his +cause. According to him, all is prosperous. Hope paints a glorious +future—when man’s + + “Regenerate soul from crime + Shall yet be drawn, + And Reason on this mortal clime + Immortal dawn.” + +Yet what is the fact? The _National Reformer_ costs 10_l._ a week, and +it does not pay. Its readers tell us their name is legion; yet it does +not pay. At any rate, it is constantly appealing to its public for +support. In every workshop or factory, in all our great hives of +intelligence and life, the Secularists boast their thousands. All the +intelligent operative manhood of England is, according to their own +account, theirs; yet their organ—the child of a giant—is very weak on its +legs, and very short of wind. + +The headquarters of the Secularists is Cleveland Street, a street lying +in that mass of pauperism at the rear of Tottenham Court Road Chapel. In +that street there is a hall, originally erected, I believe, by Owen +himself. At any rate, it is the resort of the illuminated to whom his +philosophy has opened up a new moral world,—which, as regards +appearances, is little better than the benighted Egypt out of which they +have departed. Here you will find no free Gospel. The Secularists are +determined to make the best of this world. If you wish to enter, you +must pay; if you wish to show your gentility and sit near the lecturer, +you must pay twopence more. Previous to the lecturer commencing, a boy +goes up and down the room selling copies of the _National Reformer_, and +a table at one end is devoted to the sale of publications of a similar +character. + +Cleveland Hall, every Sunday evening, then, is devoted to what are called +Popular Free-thought Lectures. The doors open at seven, the lectures +commence at half-past. The programme for the month of August, which I +have now before me, will give the reader an idea of what is meant by free +thought:— + + “On Sunday evening, August 2, Mr. Charles Watts—An Impartial Estimate + of the Life and Teachings of the Founder of Christianity; on Sunday + evening, August 9, Iconoclast (Mr. Bradlaugh)—Capital and Labour, and + Trades’ Unions; on Sunday evening, August 16, Mrs. Harriet Law—The + Teachings and Philosophy of J. S. Mill, Esq.; on Sunday evening, + August 23, Mrs. Harriet Law—The Late Robert Owen: a Tribute to His + Memory, Drawn from a Comparison of Present Institutions and their + Effects, with those Advocated by that Eminent Philanthropist; on + Sunday evening, August 30, Mrs. Harriet Law, an Appeal to Women to + Consider their Interests in Connexion with the Social, Political, and + Theological Aspects of the Times.” + +Let me add, discussions are invited at the close of each lecture, and +that, as may be anticipated, after a discussion the combatants remain of +the same opinion. Nevertheless, the Secularists enjoy these discussions +immensely—and no wonder, as on all such occasions they form not a +majority merely, but almost the entire assembly. It is not often they +find their match. Men who can meet them on a common platform are rare. +A sincere Christian is shocked and pained, and loses his temper. Every +cock can crow on his own dunghill; and at Cleveland Hall the Secularists +have it all their own way, and are merry at the expense of their +opponents. Nor is this all; they often indulge in a style of abuse which +sounds even to tolerant ears uncommonly like blasphemy. In fact, they +are often needlessly antagonistic, and vulgar, and coarse. + +I have said Cleveland Hall is the headquarters of the society, for there +is a society of which Mr. Charles Watts is secretary. There is another +hall in the City Road; lectures are also, I believe, delivered elsewhere +in London on a Sunday evening, and there are at least four or five +secular societies. In the summer time they have open-air lectures on a +Sunday morning in different parts of London. When the writer has been at +Cleveland Hall, the room has generally been half full of respectable and +sharp working men, all very positive and enthusiastic. There are not +many women present, but, of course, there is the irrepressible baby. The +lecturers are generally the persons whose names I have already given, who +occasionally vary the scene of their labours by provincial engagements. +Their work, whatever it may be, has now been going on for some years. +This argues, on their part, some special fitness, and an adaptation of +what they say and think to the class to whom they appeal. In this +respect they set many of the clergy a good example. The people at +Cleveland Hall do not call out for quarter of an hour lectures. Nor do +they require anything in the way of music, or choral performances, or +floral decorations, or altar lights, to make the service interesting. +For children, whether they go to church or chapel, you must provide +shows. For men nothing more is needed than logic and the human voice. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. +THE IRREGULARS. + + +“What do you think of the Ranters, Mr. Hall?” I quote from the life of +the celebrated Baptist orator; “don’t you think they ought to be put +down?” + +“I don’t know enough of their conduct to say that. What do they do? Do +they inculcate Antinomianism, or do they exhibit immorality in their +lives?” + +“Not that I know of, but they fall into very irregular practices.” + +“Indeed, what practices?” + +“Why, sir, when they enter a village they begin to sing hymns, and they +go on singing until they collect a number of people on the village green, +or in some neighbouring field, and then they preach.” + +“Well, whether that may be prudent or expedient or not depends upon +circumstances, but as yet I see no criminality.” + +“But you must admit, Mr. Hall, it is very irregular.” + +“And suppose I do admit that, what follows? Was not our Lord rebuking +the Scribes and Pharisees and driving the buyers and sellers out of the +temple very irregular? Was not almost all that he did in his public +ministry very irregular? Was not the course of the Apostles, and of +Stephen, and of many of the Evangelists, very irregular? Were not the +proceedings of Calvin, Luther, and their fellow workers in the +Reformation very irregular?—a complete and shocking innovation upon all +the queer out-doings of the Papists? And were not the whole lives of +Whitefield and Wesley very irregular lives, as you view such things? Yet +how infinitely is the world indebted to all of these? No, sir, there +must be something widely different from mere irregularity before I +condemn.” + + + +IRREGULAR AGENCIES. + + +Between Churchmen and Dissenters there are bodies claiming and often +receiving the support of both. The number of buildings used in London +every Sunday evening for theatre services now amounts to eleven, eight of +the eleven being engaged by a united committee, of which the Earl of +Shaftesbury is the chairman,—viz., Astley’s, Standard, Pavilion, Royal +Amphitheatre, Sadler’s Wells, Britannia, and the Metropolitan and Oxford +Music Halls. The other buildings are St. James’s Hall and the Effingham +and Victoria theatres. One result of this state of things is rather +doubtful. Of the perniciousness of some of these places there can be no +doubt. It may be that some of them would have been closed ere this had +not the money received from the Sunday preaching made up for the losses +of the week. In one year in these places 122 services were held, +attended by 190,000 persons. + +The London City Mission employs 361 agents. During the last year the +number of visits made by them to the houses of the poor amounted to +1,987,259. The number of visits which they made to sick and dying +amounted to 255,102. They gave away 6000 copies of the Bible; they +circulated 2,677,901 tracts; they held more than 36,000 Bible classes and +religious services indoors; they conducted 3764 out-of-door services; +they induced 1296 persons to partake of the Lord’s Supper, 242 +backsliders to return, 608 families to begin family prayer, 863 drunkards +to abstain, 141 shopkeepers to close their shops on the Sabbath, and 8297 +children to attend ragged and Sunday schools. + +In London there are 300 Bible women always at work; then there is the +Christian community founded in the days of John Wesley; the members of it +visit workhouses and lodging-houses in the East of London and preach in +the open air. Last year the number of open-air services held by them +amounted to 542; the number of addresses delivered, 1626; and the number +of hearers, including indoors and out, 379,370. The Society also visits +lodging-houses and the Juvenile Refuge, and gives free tea meetings, +which, as we may imagine, are very well attended. During the past year +255,477 tracts had been distributed, and altogether it had held 8573 +services. + +The Open-air Mission needs also to be recorded. It is calculated that in +the summer our open-air preachers address every Sunday nearly half a +million of persons in the metropolis alone. It must also be remembered +that of late, by the closing of public-houses, the number of idle, +covetous, mischievous persons thrown on our streets is considerably +increased. On Sundays it is evident that the blockage of the streets is +greater than ever. In such places as Trafalgar Square, and the +steam-boat piers, and in all our back streets, there are thousands of +boys and men gambling and demoralizing one another. The Open-air Mission +catches some of them, and in the lowest neighbourhoods—where the most +depraved live—its agents generally receive a favourable hearing; one +exception is recorded, which occurred at the Royal Exchange. Preaching +last year commenced there in April, and went on with many striking +instances of success till May 9, when a band of secularists, +humanitarians, and infidels came to oppose,—one man reading the Koran, +while the agent of the City Mission was as usual about to commence his +service. On the next Sunday the opposition was still greater, being +reinforced by Roman Catholics and their priests. Under these +circumstances preaching was suspended, only to be reopened when the +excitement and the danger of a breach of the peace shall have passed +away. The Society aims at open-air preaching, special visitation, +domestic visitation, and conferences for mutual intercourse. The visit +to Epsom belongs to the second class of these subjects. Twenty-one +agents had been there during the race week, 60,000 tracts had been given +away, many addresses had been given, and a Bible-stand erected. At this +latter place, on the last wet Friday when the Oaks was being run, they +sheltered a couple of hundred of poor starving wretches, and for five +hours kept up preaching and praying on their account. Their service on +the Sunday before the races was very interesting. On the Monday they +held a service for the benefit of the gipsies, one of the speakers at +which was the Dean of Ripon, better known perhaps as the Rev. Hugh +M‘Neile. + +Of the 60,000 Arabs of London there are 20,000 in the Ragged Schools. + +The Female and Domestic Bible Missions now number 230 paid agents, each +with her district and lady superintendent, and expend some 11,000_l._ a +year, exclusive of between 6000_l._ and 7000_l._ which is paid to it in +instalments by the poor themselves for Bibles, clothes, and bedding. + +The Young Men’s Scripture Association has been very successful. Nearly +200 of a Sunday afternoon attend the Bible class in Aldersgate Street. +It has twelve branches in different parts of the town. + +Connected with no denomination are six or seven chapels or rooms, where +as they meet they break bread in the morning and preach the Gospel in the +evening. In addition, the Plymouth Brethren have some thirty places of +worship, and their dulness and isolation from the world, which cause them +even to avoid discharging their duties as citizens as inconsistent with +the spiritual life, indicate the little they need be taken into account +as a religious body aiming in any way to influence the religious life of +London. According to the late Mr. Buckle, good people really do very +little good. I fancy this is the case as far as the Plymouth Brethren +are concerned. + + * * * * * + + THE END. + + + + +BY THE SAME AUTHOR. + + + * * * * * + + In Crown 8vo, cloth, price 7_s._ 6_d._, + + + +THE NIGHT SIDE OF LONDON. + + + NEW EDITION REVISED AND ENLARGED. + + * * * * * + + CONTENTS. + +Concerning London—Aristocratic Amusements—The Alhambra—The Modern +Theatre—The Casino and the Argyll—The Bal Masqué—Judge and Jury Clubs—The +Cave of Harmony—Discussion Clubs—Cremorne—Life in the East—Caldwell’s—The +Strand as it was—The Police Court—Up the Haymarket—The Music +Hall—Public-houses—Leicester Square—A Midnight Meeting. + + OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. + +“Mr. Ritchie has with well-meant and terrible truthfulness described the +temptations to which the youth of our great metropolis are exposed. ‘The +Night Side of London’ is a fearful and, we believe, faithful +representation of the extent to which unlawful and revolting +licentiousness lays its bait and ruins its victims. . . . It is well +that our employers of labour and those who are anxious to keep up the +age-long conflict with the flesh and the devil should know how sleepless +are the powers of evil, how omnipresent the inducements to illicit +pleasure. Our author has touched this desperate evil with deep +conviction, extensive knowledge, and delicate hand.”—_British Quarterly +Review_. + +“The author has revised and enlarged his former accounts of London life, +and has now brought his observations down to the present period. He has +contrived to bring within the compass of one volume all the objectionable +and disgusting sights and doings in this great metropolis, and it will +certainly astonish the reader to find what innumerable sins are committed +daily and nightly within his reach.”—_Observer_. + +“Mr. Ritchie has done good service in the cause of public virtue by the +publication, and now by the enlargement and revision of this book. He +has looked upon and described some of the dark aspects of London life +with an ability and an earnestness which should secure for this hook a +cordial welcome in many homes. His heart and intellect revolt at the +awful spectacles which he has witnessed, and it would be greatly to the +advantage of our young men if they could meet with this high-minded book +in all our institutes and libraries. Mr. Ritchie’s book should be known +far and wide.”—_Literary World_. + +“Mr. Ritchie is well known as a lively and amusing writer, but in the +work before us he has given us something more permanent than amusement +and more valuable than mere mirth. The facts and figures of London life +as here drawn with the shadows of night upon them are enough, and more +than enough, to rouse to greater activity the efforts of all +philanthropic and Christian souls to do more than is done for the sins +and sorrows of our modern Babylon.”—_The Rock_. + +“Messrs. Tinsley Brothers publish a new and revised edition of Mr. J. +Ewing Ritchie’s very interesting and well-written sketches, entitled “The +Night Side of London.” The present issue contains some additional +matter, giving the benefit of the author’s most recent +observations.”—_Morning Star_. + +“Much information is given which is both curious and interesting; and the +comments and suggestions put forward by the author are full of sound +sense and high toned morality.”—_City Press_. + + * * * * * + + In Crown 8vo, price 10_s._ 6_d._, + + + +BRITISH SENATORS; +OR, +POLITICAL SKETCHES, PAST AND PRESENT. + + + * * * * * + + CONTENTS. + +Inside the House.—The Right Hon. Benjamin Disraeli, Lord Stanley Sir John +Pakington, the Right Hon. S. H. Walpole, the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone, +the Right Hon. R. Lowe, the Right Hon. J. Stansfeld, Mr. Layard, the +Right Hon. E. Cardwell, the Right Hon. G. J. Goschen, Sir R. Peel, C. +Gilpin, Esq., the Right Hon. H. Brand, the Right Hon. J. Bright, Jacob +Bright, Esq., P. Taylor, Esq., J. White, Esq., G. Melly, Esq., T. Hughes, +Esq., A. S. Ayrton, Esq., E. Baines, Esq., H. S. P. Winterbotham, Esq., +J. Cowen, Esq., Mr. Alderman Lusk, Sir F. Crossley, Mr. Newdegate, G. H. +Whalley, Esq., C. Reed, Esq., S. Morley, Esq., H. Richard, Esq., W. +M‘Arthur, Esq., Milner Gibson, J. A. Roebuck, B. Osborne, Edward Miall, +the Right Hon. J. Whiteside, J. S. Mill, Lord J. Russell, Lord Lytton, +Viscount Palmerston, Sir J. Graham, W. J. Fox, R. Cobden; T. S. Duncombe, +H. Drummond, Sir C. Napier, Sir C. Lewis, Lord Herbert. + + OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. + +“A critic, whether clever or otherwise, may be allowed to congratulate +Mr. Ewing-Ritchie on the sparkling and intelligent volume which he has +been able to put together out of a number of personal sketches written at +various dates within the last few years. It is difficult to write +personal sketches of living celebrities with entire good taste; but we +think the author of this book has gone near to mastering the difficulty. +The characteristics of public men are struck off with real felicity. Mr. +Ewing-Ritchie writes in a pointed, perspicuous, somewhat _staccato_ +manner, and is never too long. His volume is one thoroughly well adapted +for its purpose.”—_Pall Mall Gazette_. + +“Mr. Ritchie seems to have hit the happy medium in simply outlining the +characters of the men whom he touches at all. . . . Yet, Mr. Ritchie +never fails to produce a characteristic likeness, though his view of a +man seems to be always taken on the wing in the heat of action and +excitement. This of itself is a merit that adds much spirit to the +current of his criticisms. . . . In the main, his sketches are as clear +as they are brief. . . . A good feature of this book is its general +fairness.”—_London Review_. + +“We can bear testimony to the fidelity of Mr. Ritchie’s representations, +the spirit of impartiality shown in his estimates of character, the +breadth and liberality of his sentiments, and the very interesting +character of his book.”—_Literary World_. + +“His lively style and his avoidance of anything subtle or disputative, +though he never conceals his political sympathies, united with his ample +resources of Parliamentary and political knowledge, fit him admirably for +this modest undertaking. Mr. Ritchie has seen and remembered and +described many Parliamentary incidents, and those who want to know what +the House of Commons is like, how its principal men have gained their +positions, and how they comported themselves therein, will find him a +pleasant guide.”—_Morning Star_. + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RELIGIOUS LIFE OF LONDON*** + + +******* This file should be named 32844-0.txt or 32844-0.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/2/8/4/32844 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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