if^^^SME'MSs^M^MJIi^A I ■ ■■ *L < MtL' Jf ,£\ '■Vr W-V ' JP i WfW MWiORVpi^pK^Aiigi President White Library. Cornell UNivERSiTY. __ Cornell University Library BR764 .025 1876 Unorthodox London : or. Phases of religl olln 3 1924 029 263 393 Cornell University Library The original of tliis bool< is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029263393 _^- ■/ / UNORTHODOX LONDON; OB, PHASES OF KEEIGIOUS LIFE IN THE METEOPOLIS. UNORTHODOX LONDON: PHASES OF RELIGIOUS LIFE IN THE METROPOLIS. REV. C. MAURICE DAVIES D.D. FORMERLY FELLOW OP THE UNIVERSITY OF DURHAM, 'IN MT FATHER'S HOUSE ARE MANY MANSIONS.' Siuavib §iaiim, ^tinsth. LONDON: TINSLEY BEOTHEES, 8, CATHEEIlfE ST., STEAND. 1876. , President White ^ Library JOHN CHlLDS AND SON, PBINTEBS. INTEODUCTION. The present edition of Unorthodox London contains the bulk of the chapters which formed the first and second series of that workj and also such portions of Heterodox London as seemed to be of permanent interest. The work as it now stands may fairly claim to be a practical illustration in objective form of the principles laid down in Mr Gladstone's ' Courses of Religious Thought.' Maijeicb Davies. CONTENTS. SERIESI. SOUTH-PLACE CHAPEL, FINSBUEY . MK CONWAY ON MAZZINI COLONEL WENTWOETH HIUGINSON UNITAEIANISM A EELIGIOUS ' EPOCH ' A SUNDAY LECTURE BY PEOPESSOE HUXLEY TABEENACLES TABERNACLE KANTEES . . A pastor's farewell . . THE WALWOETH JUMPERS JUMPERS OFF THE JUMP THE BIBLE CHRISTIANS THE SUEEBY TABEENACLB THE PARTICULAR BAPTISTS THE UNITED PEESBYTEEIANS THE CATHOLIC APOSTOLIC CHURCH THE NEW JERUSALEM CHUECH . THE NEW JERUSALEM CHUECH ON THE PLYMOUTH BRETHREN MR NEWTON AT BAYSWATEE A Quakers' meeting . . • • ■ ■ 1 .' ■7 ON BUDDHA . 12 . . . . 18 . . . 24 R HTTSLEY . 29 • ■ ■ • . 35 * ■ • ■ . 42 . . 48 . . 63 • • • • . 69 . . 64 ■ ■ • ■ . 69 • • • . 75 • • • • . 80 . > • . 86 . 92 r SPIRITISM . 98 , . . 104 • • • • . 109 . . 114 y vin CONTENTS. DE GUMMING IN CROWN COURT . . DE GUMMING ON THE PRESENT AND FUTURE OF EUROPE SUEEBT CHAPEL SATURDAY WITH THE SETENTH-DAT BAPTISTS THE GHRISTADELPHIANS A MORAVIAN SERVICE . . PATHEE IGNATIUS ' AT HOME ' . . AMONG THE ' JOANNAS ' THE SANDEMANIANS THE PLUMSTEAD ' PECULIARS ' . . A SERMON TO PELONS . . JUDAISM SYNAGOGUE SERVICE . . BLESSING THE PALMS . . PASSION-TIDE AT KENSINGTON . . HIGH MASS IN SOUTHWAEK TENEBEai TAKING THE VEIL RECEPTION OP A SISTEE OP MERCY CRIBS THE PASSIONIST FATHERS AT HIGHGATE THE GREEK CHURCH IN LONDON WALL 119 125 130 135 142 149 155 159 170 175 180 188 192 199 204 208 212 220 225, 229 232 235 SERIES II. THE WESTMINSTER COUNCIL THE PONTIGNY PILGRIMAGE A ' CATHOLIC ' UNIVERSITY COLLEGE MOODY-AND-SANKEYISM A NEW ICONOCLAST 242 247 263 267 279 CONTENTS. IX PAGE MB REVELL AT LADBEOEE HALL . . . . 285 A EETISED PEAYEE-BOOK . . . . . . 288 A GREEK EASTEETIDE . . . . . . . . 301 IN A FRENCH PASTUEE . . . . . . 306 A peize-pighteb's SEEMON . . . . . . 311 GREAT TEIBULATION . . . . . . . . 316 A LADT-PEEACHEE AT THE POLYTECHNIC . . . . 323 ' THE MEECHANTS' LECTURE . . . . . . 327 BEAMOISM IN LONDON . . . . . . 333 A MOZOOMDAR's SEEMON . . . . . . 339 THE JUBILEE SINGIES . . . . . . 344 A CAMPANOLOGICAL CONCEET . . . . . . 351 LADIES ON LIBEETT . . . . . . . . 355 AT THE CITY TEMPLE . . . . . . . . 361 A PEESIDENTIAL SEEMON . . . . . . 366 A PBEE CHBISTIAN CHUECH . . . . . . 371 A SCOTCH SYNOD IN LONDON . . . . . . 381 COMMUNION SUNDAY . . . . . . . . 384 BEEAKEAST WITH EAELY CHRISTIANS . . . . 390 THE JEWISH NEW YEAR AND DAY GW ATONEMENT . . 394 HUMAN ITARIANISM . . . . . . . . 399 MODERN QUAKERS . . . . . . . . 418 AT SUNDAY SCHOOL . . . . . . . . 423 APPENDIX 441 SEEIES I. TOOETHOLOX LONDON. SOUTH-PLACE CHAPEL,. FINSBUEY. BEING that far from singular anomaly in the Church of England, a clergyman uncharged with clerical duties, I have. employed my leisure in the examination of form^ of belief other than my own. I felt much interest in the study, and, I believe, derived consider- able benefit from it. I intend, therefore, under the above heading, to chronicle my wanderings 'beyond the Church' — that is, the Church of England 'as by law established.' That there is much to be gained from such a study is beginning to be tacitly conceded by the Established Church itself, since recent ecclesi- astical movements have been little else than a bringing together from opposite extremes of elements hitherto deemed uncongenial and incompatible. The 'Mission' or 'Eevival' of 1869 bore witness to careful explora- tions over the whole religious world, from the North Pole of Nonconformity to the most torrid regions of Romanism. That journey I propose systematically to make, and to set down its results for the benefit of stay-at-home travellers. On the plan of working from the circum- ference to the centre, I set off on a recent Sunday morning, resolved to make my first study at the widest possible radius, the very Ultima Thule of religious 1 3 UNORTHODOX LONDON. London. I name it 'unorthodox' London, simply on the principle that ' orthodoxy is one's own doxy, and heterodoxy everybody else's doxy.' I state clearly at the outset that the task I set before myself is to de- scribe, not to criticize or sit in judgment. If it be necessary at all to touch on my own religious convic- tions, it will bd enough to say, that I believe all those systems and forms of belief, whose outward manifest- ations in worship which I note, contain a greater or lesser measure of truth, — are gradual approxima,tions to truth ; and I can only picture them as they presented themselves to my mind, where I endeavom-ed to give them all ' a clear stage and no favour.' My religious wanderings commenced, then, probably as near the reputed North Pole as possible — namely, at South-Place Chapel, Finsbury. Mr Moncure D. Conway delivers a lecture here on Sunday mornings at 11.15 j and I select from my MS. notes one on 'The Church built by Voltaire,' as containing something like a summary of the doctrines set forth here. In a pub- lished sermon, ' Our Cause and its Claims upon us,' Mr Conway thus describes the religious body in which he ministers as ' almost the only — certainly the chief — free Theistio Society in London.' The chapel itself is that formerly occupied by W. J. Pox, close to the Moorgate Street Station of the Metropolitan Eailway. The subjects of Mr Conway's lectures are regularly advertised in the daily papers of Saturday ; and he is generally happy in his titles. For instance, the subject chosen for a discourse about the time of the opening of the (Ecumenical Council at Rome was 'Madonnas of Every-day Life.' In this he spoke of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception as 'an insult to maternity,' and the worship of the Madonna as the logical sequence of the Protestant doctrine of the Incarnation, being, moreover, simply the deification of the female principle in Nature. His Christmas sermon, again, ' Christ and Herod to-day,' was a comparison between the birth of Christ — the account of which was treated as legendary —and the conception of truth in the human soul from SOUTH CHAPEL, FINSSURY. 3 the operation of the Divine Spirit on the heart. Herod represented the worlds ever ready to crush the ' Christ- principle.' On the occasion of my visiting South-Place Chapel, I found myself one of a very small but evidently earnest and intelligent congregation, with a larger proportion of females and poor than I had expected. The chapel is, of course,, plain in the extreme, and contains none of the paraphernalia of worship except a pulpit, from which all the service — if one may so term what precedes the discourse — is delivered. Of service, however, in the ordinary acceptation of the term, there is scarcely any. Mr Conway, who is a bearded and by no means clerical-looking gentleman, mounts the pulpit in the garb of every-day life, and commences proceedings by giving out a hymn from Pox's Collection, which is effectively rendered by a well-trained choir. There is no pretence of congregational singing. This is done for the worshippers by the choir ; and from my point of view, of course, such an arrangement seems to give to the worship a degree of coldness, and to destroy the social element which so largely enters into our concep- tion of public devotion ; though at the same time I am aware, from painful experience, that in our own churches, where the theory is different, the result often comes to be the same — that is, the choir does all the singing. Three 'lessons' follow — one from the Old Testament, one from the New, and one from some religious work of more modern date. On the three occasions when I have been present, this last reading has been selected respectively from the works of Theodore Parker, from Bunyan's 'Pilgrim's Progress,' and from the ' Ancient Chaldee Oracles.' A second hymn is followed by a brief extempore address. Then comes an anthem; and during its performance, the congregation avoid the wearisome ordeal one has to undergo in a cathedral by sitting instead of standing. There is nothing out of place in this ; for, as I said, there is no congregational element either in hymn or anthem. The evident intention is to foster a devotional 4 UNORTHODOX LONDON: spirit in those present by bringing them to listen to sacred music. Another very striking peculiarity is, that there is no approach to anything like prayer. The whole service consists of preaching and singing. The sermon is read from manuscript, in a slightly American accent, with very little gesticulation, and only just sufficient emphasis to prevent it from being monotonous. Its matter is practical and scholarly, the language often warming into genuine eloquence, and deepening into pathos. On the subject of Voltaire, Mr Conway began by giving an account of his own visit to the philosopher's house at Ferney, near Geneva — ' that old battle-field of religious thought, where Calvin sought to make himself a Protestant Pope, and burnt Servetus for questioning the Trinity; where Arminius was educated in the Calvinism he did so much to destroy; and where Voltaire concentrated the spirit of Scepticism.' As he walked in the grounds, amongst the crowd of visitors were two young ' Divinity students,' who were ready with their antidotes against Voltaire's teaching, and repeated the current story of his awful death. ' The priests did all they could to make it awful,' said a Frenchman among the group, ' but it was really a noble death. When asked to recant, he turned his face to the wall, and said, "Let me die in peace." He appealed from the priests to God.' ' But,' said the student, ' did not Voltaire do much to destroy men's faith?' 'Not so much as Jesus or Paul,' replied the Frenchman. ' Then, again, he put nothing in the place of the faith he destroyed.' The Frenchman pointed to the little church built by Voltaire in his grounds at Ferney, with the motto over the porch, ' Deo erexit Voltaire.' That was the text of Mr Conway's discourse. ' That church,' he said, 'is the symbol of Protestantism in the world. The man who weeds and ploughs does as much for the future harvest as the man who sows the corn. Voltaire saved us from the Pope. Through his agency the Reformation took root in the intelligent classes. He SOUTH CHAPEL, FINS BURY. 5 set Protestant divines on tlie path to worship a God who could be served without degradation. He was, in factj a sceptic, when scepticism alone could sift the wheat from the chaflF/ 'The Divinity student shuddered at the word " sceptic." But why shudder f No nobler word was ever uttered in 'any language. The Greek verb which gives it to us, a-KSTiTew, means to consider, more literally, perhaps, to shade the eye in order to see more clearly. It thus means to look intently, so as to protect the vision from the garish light of prejudice. 'Priestcraft has contaminated many other noble words, such as " freethinker " and " heresy." But on these sceptics and freethinkers the whole right of private judgment rests. There is no middle course between Scepticism and Rome.' Mr Conway went on to argue that, as Professor Huxley defined scepticism to be the duty — nay, the religion — of science; as in worldly matters we reached our conclusions by suspension of judgment, so in the highest interests of all, we dare not discard the judicial method, to walk by blind tradition and prejudice. 'We live,' he said, 'in a time of unparalleled religious agitation, and the sudden influx of light must bring some discomfort to eyes long bandaged.' He compared this to the liberation of the debtors from Whitecross Street, some of whom wished to stay longer in their prison ; and one who had been, to our disgrace, incarcerated for twenty-seven years, stared vacantly about him in the streets when set free. * Such,' he said, ' is the case in religious revivals. Men seek to go back to the old Whitecross Street walls. The cases of Dr Manning and J. H. Newman are typical; and this was the feeling against which Voltaire fought like a martyr. He would not do homage to the Man of Nazareth in life ; but,' he added, in an eloquent perora-, tion, ' doubtless, when his last breath was drawn, that crucified One would be the first to welcome him, and to say — " Thou too hadst thy Pilate and thy cross ! " ' The great practical deduction dwelt upon was, that there is a destrudlue as well as constructive work in religioas reform — 'a time to build and a time to pull 6 UNORTHODOX LONDON. down ; ' just as in the Hindu faith the gods of Production and Destruction were equally energies of Brahma. The Bstablisher and the Iconoclast work for the same end. Jesus built no Temple ; He destroyed Pharisaism. Luther put no Church in the place of Rome. The destroyer is never popular, but he is none the less noble. He works by faith, just as the eye of the sower foresees the full harvest. So was Voltai're's work ' in the deep furrow.' Thus did he build that little church, whilst cathedrals crumbled round him. He knew man's deep need of religion : that church bore witness to it. Deo erexit Voltaire ! Such is an exceedingly crude outline of a sermon which, I fancy, the worshippers at South Place would be content to take as an epitome of their tenets. No mere analysis, however, can convey a fair idea of these discourses ; which, whatever else they may be, are full of thought. Of the religious principles of this strange outlying body, the same authority says, in a published sermon : ' Hair-splitting theology, historical criticism, metaphysics concerning Christ — surely, as long as Uni- tarians can only give these to human souls, they may as well leave them where they are. But there is, I trust, another, a liberated Unitarianism — or rather the son and heir of it, weaned from its timid mother — which feels the whole earth to be man's altar, the broad uni- verse his temple, humanity his Bible, conscience his priest, reason his prophet. To that great faith we who sit here may not have attained ; but I fain hope that to its magnificent summit we are heartily aspiring.' So, too, with regard to the numerical strength of the body. 'Two hundred people, already convinced, spend here one hour and a half every week; for the rest of the time this property does nothing at all.' Since writing , the above, a year or two ago, I learn that the average attendance at South Place is now from 300 to 350. The interior has been entirely repaired,- cushioned benches having replaced the old pews, and a platform with modern desk the pulpit. Having sojourned so long at the North Pole, I made . SOUTH CHAPEL, FINSBURY. 7 one step southwards, in the shape of a visit to the Society of Independent Religious Reformers in Newman Street, where Dr Perfitt officiates. My mind misgave me that I should be somewhat out of order in visiting this religious body after South Place j but I find they are really a step in advance, in the admission of prayer into their service. Dr Perfitt shows considerable grasp of his subjects — the one I heard him treat was ' The Right Use of Reason in Religious Debates ' — but his style is somewhat vituperative. The whole tone of the proceedings in Newman Street difiiers from South Place, where, if he can only tolerate hearing some of his favourite dogmas torn to shreds, a visitor can scarcely fail to be interested in the religioas phenomenon pre- sented to him. So far our subject has scarcely taken us among de- finite religious communities. These are simply groups of disciples gathering round individual teachers. After lingering awhile here, and witnessing other phases of this community, our next excursion will take us into the sphere of recognized ecclesiastical bodies, equally removed from those of whom we have now spoken, and from the regipns dignified with the dubious title of Orthodoxy. MR CONWAY ON MAZZINI. WHILST among orthodox churchmen a certain amount of prejudice exists against the introduc- tion of social or political subjects in the pulpit, that prejudice gradually dies away as we descend through the strata of Nonconformity, and finally disappears al- together when we reach the abysmal region of pure Theism. Naturally enough, when dogmas are quite Qutgrown, and anything like spiritual direction is a thing g UNORTHODOX LONDON. undreamed of, the Sunday sermon — even if it still re- tains that appellation — must take a wider scope than ordinary, and embrace in its regards that which it is now the fashion to call the ' religion of humanity ; ' but which, in common language, would be described as social and political questions of the day. At South-Place Chapel, Finsbury, still traditionally known as ' Fox's Chapel,' this is pre-eminently the case. A glance at the Saturday programmes in the papers will show that Mr Conway always keeps his congrega- tion well posted up in current questions. He does not even give his discourse the quasi-ecclesiastical title of a sermon. He calls it a ' discourse,' and the fact of Mazzini's death having occurred during the previous week, coupled with the orator's known proclivities, ren- dered it natural that he should announce 'Joseph Mazzini' as his subject. The circumstance had the effect of drawing to South Place a larger congregation than usual ; for, in general, Mr Conway's" assemblage is rather select than numerous. The chapel was by no means full, but the congregation was increased by at least a third, and it was easy to distinguish between the strangers and regular attendants, since some of the habitues have a custom of walking into their very pews with their hats on, and talking quite loudly whilst sit- ting there, as though to enter a standing protest against any notion of consecration attaching to their ' chapel.' The ' service,' as has been said, which precedes Mr Conway's oration, is simple in the extreme. Indeed, it is difficult to see in what sort of religious worship the pure Theist can, from the nature of his persuasion, en- gage. Singing forms a large ingredient in the service at South Place, and the vocal performances of the choir are above par. The hymn-book in use is a tremendously eclectic one, ranging from the most secular poets up to Keble, "Wesley, George Herbert, and John Henry New- man. After the opening hymn had been sung, Mr Conway read, in an equally catholic or eclectic spirit, first of all the forty-fourth chapter of the apocryphal book of Ecclesiasticus, then an excerpt from one of MR CONWA Y ON MAZZINI. cj Mazzini's Orations, and, thirdly, a poem, by AUingham, called 'The Touchstone/ These readings correspond to what we should call Proper Lessons in a church. Then followed an exceedingly brief ' Meditation,' which here takes the place of prayer, none the less eloquent for its brevity, and after this was sung the anthem, 'Happy and Blest,' about which it is enough to say that it was slightly beyond the powers of the choir. Thereupon followed the discourse, which was also brief in point of matter, though prolonged by Mr Conway's singularly slow and measured delivery. As an evidence how eagerly the speaker was followed, it was quite curious to notice, in contrast with the profound silence that reigned whilst he spoke, the entr'acte of coughs, sniffs, and other incidental fidgets, in which his auditory engaged when he came to a temporary stop, so much so, that unwary listeners were tempted to rise, thinking the proceedings were over. Mr Conway felt that no apology was needed for re- placing the allotted subject of the day with this notice of one who lay dead beside Pisa's leaning tower, and whom he graphically described as himself ' a tower that did not lean.' Mazzini, he said, had a special claim to be honoured in that building, for he, like those who gathered there, believed in the One Supreme Father of Mankind, in the inviolable order of nature, in an ideal humanity, whose witness and martyr he beheld in the crucified Peasant of Nazai-eth. It had been his own privilege, he said, to meet Mazzini often, and he never did so without reflecting, 'This is the most rehgious man I ever knew.' His life was duty organized. His simple creed was ' God and the people,' which he could not transfer from his heart to a dead symbol. This Mr Conway claimed as the aim of the society gathered iu South-Place Chapel, to uphold and aspire to that ideal of a creed expressed in character, a faith written in fidelity, of which Mazzini's life was, he said, the type, and is the monument ! This, the speaker said, he was aware, was not the general theory of the man. There was, he observed, a lo UNORTHODOX LONDON. ' police ' theory of Mazzinij wliicli was more universal. With regard to the charge that Mazzini was an assassin, he would as soon stop to prove that a lily is not night- shade. The King of Italy, who made this charge, had lived to hear his own Assembly pay a tribute to the friend of the people. The oppressor of France had read in the organs of the party which chiefly supported him in England, honourable estimates of the man he most dreaded. Mazzini was a conspirator. Yes. Night and day he and his brave comrades conspired how they might foil the foes of their country. He was called a revolutionist, too; and so he was, but in the same sense. Mr Conway then passed in rapid review the early biography of Mazzini, picturing him as being cast, a, mere boy, into prison by the Governor of Genoa, because, as that functionary told Mazzini's father, 'he was a young man of talent, very fond of solitary walks by night, and habitually silent as to the subjefct of his meditatiops ; ' and the Government, it was added, 'is not fond of young men of talent, the subject of whose musings is unknown to it.' It was much that he was obliged to lay aside hopes of forensic and. literary suc- cess, but still more that he had to see those young men who shared his hopes of a free and united Italy mou^it the scaffold. Mr Conway read a very long extract from a letter of Mazzini, showing the effect this failure of his hopes had upon him, and comparing him with Christ and St Paul. Mazzini's aim, however, lay out beyond Italy and em- braced humanity. In attestation of this fact, Mr Con- way read another letter addressed to himself by Mazzini in 1865, concerning the duty of America after she had conquered and expelled the internal foe of slavery. This made many persons think Mazzini restless and re- volutionary, because he did not rest when his original aim, the union of Italy, had been attained ; but it was hardly possible, he said, for one who so recognized the duties of nations to join in ai. thoughtless enthusiasm because Rome had . exchanged a weak Pope for a MR CONWA Y ON MAZZINL 1 1 degraded monarch. With a brilliant peroration, Mr Conway concluded a discourse which, whatever may be individual opinion as to its subject, can scarcely appeaf in any other light than a noble and outspoken tribute to one whom the speaker deemed worthy his homage : — ' So lived, so moved in the eyes of Europe,, that ap- parition of nobleness, Joseph Mazzini ; thus death found him, with eyes and hands still stretched forward, with feet still pursuing that aim which had called him in his boyhood, and which he knew to be the divinely assigned task of his life. He is gone, and the world is so much the poorer. But the young men of Italy will plant on his grave the cypress which he gave them for an emblem — emblem of mourning, but of faith that is evergreen. They will write there his and their motto, " Ora e sempre," "Now and for ever," they will remember these his words, — " Martyrdom is never barren . . . because each man reads on the brow of the martyr a line of his own duty." ' After the discourse a quaint 'hymn,' adapted from Chaucer, was sung, commencing with the following verse : — ' Britain's first poet, Pamous old Chaucer, Swanlike in dying. Sang Ms last song, When at his heartstrings Death's hand was strong. ' My from the crowd. Dwell with soothfastneaa,' &c. The whole service concluded with a very brief bene- diction, which, like some portions of the discourse, was delivered in so low a voice as to be almost inaudible. This was, in fact, the great drawback in the whole affair. More fire was wanting to make the discourse worthy of its subject-matter. The majority of the audience kept every nerve on the stretch to catch what was being said, but, even so, some of the sentences were quite inaudible towards their close. Certain young ladies and gentle- men gave it up. as a bad job, and talked pertinaciously j 12 " UNORTHODOX LONDON. no doubt on pleasanter subjects tbaneven dead patriots. As soon as the last words of the benediction were over, the congregation resolved itself unromantically into a meeting, and a gentleman stood up on a pew seat, arid discussed how best to change the chapel pulpit into a platform. COLONEL WENTWORTH HIGGINSON ON BUDDHA. SOME years ago a literary journal asked, in a sort of sentimental and despairing way, how it was that the clergy of the Church of England were so 'fatally un- interesting,' and why, with a message so incomparably grand to deliver, they faltered so in its delivery. I for- get what was the special panacea proposed for the clergy to become more interesting. The journal, I may premise, was not one which holds it impossible for a cleric under any circumstances to be other than fatuous ; but the form in which the question was asked goes really half- way towards an answer. It is just because the clergy have that weighty message to deliver — ' because,' in the words of a popular composition, 'they have nothing else to do ' — that they get into a certain groove, and therefore not unfrequently fail to claim or share sym- pathy with those outside that groove. To what an ex- tent this. is considered an evil will depend in a measure on the theological bias of those who judge. On the high sacerdotal principle th^ message is everything, and the man nothing. Up to a recent time very ' High ' Churchmen thought bad preaching rather a qualification than otherwise for ' a priest.' They have of late learned wisdom from other quarters in this respect. In lower strata personal in- fluence went for everything, and the very phrase ' going- COL. WENTWORTH HIGGINSON ON BUDDHA. 13 to church' degenerated into 'sitting under' Mr So- and^So. The happy mean is, of course, that theory which, recognizing the incomparable grandeur of the message, leaves endless room for personal qualifications in its delivery. Even a herald, simply announcing a proclamation, may mar it by speaking indistinctly, just as the porters at railway stations by fatal familiarity make the name of the place they call out utterly undis- tinguishable. If personal qualifications are to teill, as they simply must tell, there is no doubt that the Church of England is acting wisely in accepting lay agency in her ministrations^ and admitting what is equivocally termed ' strange preachers ' to her pulpit, as a safeguard against getting men of a single idea only. Those sects who are less rigid in point of ordination than the Estab- lished Church, and most of the recognized Protestant bodies, have, in this respect, an unquestioned advantage. Thus it was that Mr Conway, of South-Place Chapel, having first of all attracted me to the scene of his minis- trations by announcing a discourse from himself on ' John Sterling and Frederick Maurice,' was able to hold out a stronger inducement still when he wrote to say that the most brilliant American essayist next to Emer^ son would take his place, and lecture on ' Buddha.' 'Colonel Thomas Wentworth Higginson,' he added, 'is a descendant of an old pilgrim family, known in this country as author of the entertaining novel " Malbone, an Oldport Romance;" but much more valued in America for his brilliant " Outdoor Papers" and "Atlantic Essays.' He left the Radical pulpit some years ago for the struggle with slavery in Kansas, eventually exchanging the pen for the sword, and distinguishing himself in the late war as the organizer and commander of the First Negro Regiment, the adventures of which he afterwards embodied in a wonderful book, entitled " Army Life with a Black Regiment." ' Clearly I should not in this case listen to a man of a single idea,' or of restricted experiences at all events. Previous to Colonel Higginson's address, and in pre- sence, I am bound to say, of a very small congregation. 14 UNORTHODOX LONDON. Mr Conway performed tlie simple ' sei-vice * of this chapel by reacting the Beatitudes from St Matthew, and then, as if by way of commentary, an extract on ' Excellences,' from the ' writings of Buddha, which harmonized curiously with the passage from the Chris- tian Sermon on the Mount. Three hymns were sung, a very brief extempore 'meditation offered, and the ' service ' was over. Mr Conway announced that he had taken advantage of an old comrade passing through town, to ask him to deliver an address, and that conse- quently his own discourse on ' Sterling and Maurice ' would be deferred until next Sunday. He then subsided into the congregation, and Colonel Higginson took his place in the pulpit. He was a fine military-looking person, not at all like a man of one idea, and in a clear crisp voice said he had come to lecture at the request of a friend, and in honour of the old traditions of Fox's Chapel. He would have liked to speak to them viva voce, man to man, but the demands of London life were too strong on him to allow that, and he therefore read an essay prepared for a similar congregation in another place. It had often been questioned, he said, which type of reform was the higher — for the reformer to step up or to step down ; for the Carpenter's Son to enthrone himself in the heart of humanity, or for the King's Son to forego his throne and make kings wish to be beggars like him. These two types were embodied in the founders of the two greatest religions in the world — Christianity and Budd- hism. The rock-cut records of King Asoka, dating over 200 years B.C., were among the oldest reliable Budd- histic writings. MSS. may vary ; but stone is stone. From these we learn what thoughts seemed greatest to this Buddhist King — the Constantino of the new religion. These principles were very simple, and he would make his subject the character of the founder whose faith was so enshrined. Buddhistic books were so numerous as to be worse than a theological library. Buddhistic dates were uncertain even before the era of Asoka. The death of Buddha was generally assigned to B.C. 477 \ COL. WENTWORTH UIGGINSON ON BUDDHA. 15 and as he was eighty years of age, this would give B.C. 557 for his birth j but it was possible it dated some years farther back. His family names were Gautama or Sakya-Mouni, and Buddha meant the Illuminator. He was fabled to be without father, but was really the son of a king, and, as such, consecrated to be Prince Royal. He was married, surrounded by every luxury, and kept as far as possible from all sight of pain or suffering. One day, however, when he was being driven to the Royal Gardens, he saw, for the first time, an aged man, and being told by his servants that all, if they, lived, would grow to be like that, he said that birth was, indeed, an evil if it were destined to end in old age. On another occasion he went back thoughtful, having seen a sick person. The king, to banish such ideas, multiplied his son's pleasures, and doubled the guards around him. But, said the speaker, something entered the palace which no guards could keep out. He saw, at last, death. Neither did they keep out monks J and when Buddha saw one, and heard that it was a man who devoted himself to religion, he deter- mined that he would be a monk. He dressed himself in his royal robes, and took a farewell look at his old life ; but, just as he was about to leave it, the birth of his little son was announced. This was a new tie ; but he broke through it, and withdrew from the palace to be- come a recluse. Before finally leaving his home, he went into his wife's room, where she was sleeping with her arm around the child, and he dared not move it so as to see the infant, for fear of waking her. So he left the city and put on the dress of a beggar, carrying with him only those signs of a mendicant — the hatchet to chop his wood, the needle to mend his gar- ments, and the filter to strain the water he drank, lest he should destroy animal life. Then, after some years of asceticism, he elaborated his four great principles, which have been called ' The Wheel of the Law.' 1. He realized the fact of pain. 2. He went into the source of pain, which he found to be unregulated desires. 3. The destruction of pain by control. 4. The means of so destroying it by the practice of virtue. 1 6 UNORTHODOX LONDON. Buddha's experience was symbolized by tlie attacks of evil spirits upon him in a lonely forest. After that ordeal we find his heart became firm and pure — full of meekness and compassion. He hesitated awhile as to preaching truths which he felt few would understand ; but he made a solemn vow to Brahma that he would do so. He began ; and found that his work was not only religious but social. Caste stood in his way. In the lowest class were those who exercised the callings of executioners and grave-diggers. By no process of transmigration could they be reborn. Buddha stepped down from the palace to associate with these. He took the yellow robe of these poor beggars. If he was wrong, the mistake would not simply attach to this life ; but at the next transmigration he would become the meanest insect. So much did it cost to ignore caste in Hindostan. A disciple of Buddha asked a draught of water from a woman of the lowest caste, and she (like the woman of Samaria;) protested. The disciple said, ' I did not ask thy caste ; I asked for a draught of water.' Buddha and his followers said nothing against caste, but they defied it in practice. He went to Benares the sacred city, and preached to the poor in the fields. He showed favours even to fallen women in their degradation. Afterwards he returned to his palace, and found that his wife had taken the same course as himself. Then other female members of his family followed ; and finally five hundred women came to the monastery and made him receive them as fellow- workers. This institution of Buddhism has lasted over two thousand years ; and even a Roman Catholic bishop has said that Buddhism equalized women with men | Buddhist women occupy a higher position than any in the East. The great characteristic of Buddha's preaching may be summarized in this one maxim : 'If a man does me wrong, and I respond with love, the fragrance redounds to me ; the harm returns to him.' This, which is ex- tracted from a manual of ethics used in schools, brings us^ perhaps, nearer than anything else to the principle COL. WENTWORTH HIGGINSON ON BUDDHA. 17 of Buddhistic teaching. Buddha began preaching at thirty-five years of age, ahd preached for forty-five years, dying at the age of eighty. During all this time he 'went about doing good/ and advocating the theory of the four laws. He talked to farmers in language they could understand, drawing illustrations from their crops, &c. Then he turned aside into a king's house. Next he spoke to some poor Mary Magdalene. He was per- secuted all along by the Brahmin priests, ' with whose business he interfered.' Sakya-Mouni, or Guatama, died at last in the arms of his disciples. The Roman Catholic bishop says no moralist could have done better. He summarized, in fact, all the noblest principles of human action. He broke down caste ; he raised woman from her low estate. No form of religion has done so much for Asiatics as Buddhism. An educated American lady who had been a governess in Siam, said the strongest religious impression ever made upon her was when she stood by the deathbed of a Buddhist priest. We miss indeed in the system of Buddha the poetry of the Vedas. It is like coming down from the grandeur of the Hima- layas to the pastoral plains of Thibet. B.ut, as Tenny- son has said, 'Love is of the valley.' Buddha falls short, it may be, of the highest examples. The Roman Catholic bishop naturally contrasts him with Christ. St Hilaire says that Buddha was a perfect model of all the virtues. Every prophet has his one distinguishing trait ; and that of Buddha was renunciation ; that of Jesus was love. It may be said that Jesus preached love with renunciation, Buddha renunciation with love.. When humanity, he continued, makes up its accbunt of these two great .religious teachers, it will be seen that each admitted too much of the idea of renunciation, and omitted the Greek element of beauty. Buddhisrn and Messiahship caused this limitation. These ideas were not the mere reveries of later disciples; they came too much into the original teaching ; and great maxims were looked upon as incidental to this, which was the mere framework of a temporary drama. Long since the 2 i8 UNORTHODOX LONDON. curtain has fallen on the drama. Even the Jews are ceasing to expect a Messiah in visible form. Both of these great teachers ignored home, and taught an ascetic not a home virtue. Hence a certain amount of sombreness in their systems. They began from human pain, not from human joy. It is a relief to turn from these to Socrates ; but our race has got beyond the stage Where any single religious experience will suffice. We need all — need India, Judaea, Greece, and Eome. We want all types, all teachers. Buddhism is only one. His birthday is still kept significantly. There ai-e white-robed guests and a gorgeous banquet, and each guest goes out and brings in a poor beggar-woman, takes otf her squalid clothing, and puts on her the white banqueting robe. Such is the Buddhistic Christmas Day. Asoka tried long to find the body of Buddha. At last he succeeded. The tomb-door opened at a touch, and the lamps which had been lighted two hun- dred and eighteen years before were still lighted and full of oil. The flowers were fresh and beautiful as . those in the gardens, and the perfume more exquisite than that of new ones. ' More than two thousand years have now passed,' concluded Colonel Higginson, ' and we are opening this tomb again. The lights still burn ; the flowers are still fresh ; the perfume of that noble life remains immortal.' UNITAEIANISM, ME MAETINEAD IN LITTLE PORTLAND STREET. THOSE who live amid the higher strata of religious thought and associations will fail to realize the great gulf that lies between the subject of our last paper and the one now entered upon. To the orthodox, the limits UmTARIANISM. 19 of Theism and Unitarianistn are vague and undefined. They allow themselves to class both these bodies ^nder the elastic category of ' infidels ' — a category, let us not forget, which has been found comprehensive enough to embrace more than one prelate now on the Bench. Such persons will be surprised to learn that the Unitarian considers the Theist quite as far removed from orthodoxy as the ordinary Protestant does the Unitarian. He does not express his opinion quite so dogmatically, perhaps ; but really there is as much difference between the Theist and the Unitarian as between the Unitarian and ortho- dox Protestant, or again, as between the Protestant and the Roman Catholic. Bach, from his own more advanced position, regards those behind him as un- orthodox, though only the most advanced apply to them the name of heretical. That we have thus advanced will be quite evident from certain unmistakable landmarks. Taking Mr James Martineau's chapel, in Little Portland Street, as the focus of Umtarianism:proper, we find that the adjunct 'Reverend' is now prefixed to the minister's name; that he wears the Geneva gown and bands when offici- ating j and that he not only uses prayer, but a set form of prayer — a liturgy in the strictest sense; of the word. There are, it is true, considerable varieties of practice in this respect prevalent among the Unitarians. Some haveno set form of prayer ; many do not wear the gown; some, again, extemporize; whilst others, like Mr Mar- tineau, use a MS. sermon. Mr Martineau, however, is so eminently the ' representative man ' of his school, that it is absolutely essential to treat at length the special form the Unitarian; fe,ith assumes as embodied in his services. Again, as in Mr Conway's case, I was fortunate in my visit to Little Portland Street Chapel ; inasmuch as I heard what may, I fancy, be fairly considered a .typical discourse in reference to the preacher's opinions. The chapel, let me mention, is close to the Oxford Street Circus, and Mr Martineau preaches * on Sunday morn- * Mr Martineau resigned Ms position at the close of the year 20 UNORTHODOX LONDON. ings only, at 11.15. The congregation is not generally large, but consists entirely of the upper classes, as is evident from the string of carriages outside the door. On arriving at the chapel you find in the vestibule a placard bearing the number of the service about to be performed. This refers to the Book of ' Common Prayer for Christian Worship, in Ten Services, for Morning and Evening,' compiled by Mr Martineau himself. The first and second services are simple abridgments of the Motning and Evening Prayer of the Church of England ; such portions as have a Trinitarian bearing, everything in the shape of a creed, and all repetitions — ■ e.g. of the Lord's Prayer — being omitted, so aa to con- dense it within reasonable limits. The musical portions of the service are well rendered at Little Portland Street, by the choir, not by the congregation ; the hymns being taken from a collection compiled by the preacher. In fact, he may parody a well-worn adage, and say ' La chapelle, c'est moi.' Never was system more thoroughly represented by one man than Unitarianism at Little Portland Street by the Rev. James Martineau. The sermon, which I have ventured also to set down as a fair exponent of the opinions of this school — where they trench most closely on orthodoxy — was on the un- likely subject of the pre-existence of Christ. Mr Mar- tineau had read as his second lesson John xvii., and selected his text from the 5th verse : ' Now, Father, glorify Thou me, with Thine own Self, with the glory I had with Thee before the world was.' This I call an unlikely subject, because, from the stand-point of the humanity of Christ — generally considered characteristic of this body— it is a matter one would have expected to see quietly shelved. Mr Martineau commenced by saying that the doctrine depends entirely upon the value we assign to the Fourth Gospel. If that were written by John, or one in his position, and fairly represented the words of Christ, 1872, from ill-health. Changes have occurred in several of the places of -worship subsequently described ; but the present tense IS, in all cases, retained. UNITARIANISM, 21 there could be no doubt He did claim pre-existence. There are no traces of such a claim in Matthew and Luke. I was not a little surprised to hear the preacher say, ' One cannot but smile at the " Unitarian gloss " which, in order to expunge this doctrine from John's Gospel, makes the words " What and if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend up where Se was before " mean simply, " I have been telling you some hard things ; what if I were to tell you something harder still ? " ' There could be no doubt such a doctrine was attributed to Christ by St John, and the preacher proceeded to argue its probability, its possible source, and its effects on Christ's teaching. He alluded to the two different classes of ideas prevalent among the Jews as to the coming Messiah — the one coarse and literal, pervading the lower classes, pea-, santry, etc., which assigned no higher office to Messiah than the delivering His nation from the iron sway of Rome. This the educated saw to be hopeless; and the more refined notion of Messiah as a moral deliverer came to be accepted by them, and was the aspect under which that office presented itself to the mind of Jesus Himself. In Egypt, he added, there was not even a personal ele- ment of any kind in this expectation. It was not a * coming man ' who was looked for, but simply a wider diffusion of the spirit of truth. Now how, out of such a conception of Messiah's office, could Christ extract the idea of pre-existence ? It might, Mr Martineau argued, have come from Persia, which had imported largely into the Hebrew creed the foreign ingredients of tutelary spii'its, etc., and there- with, the Oriental idea of metempsychosis. But it might even have come from His own consciousness. Jesus always distinguished clearly between ideas and sensa- tions. ' The want, the sorrow, the humiliation which surrounded Him, He felt to come from without. But His clear sense of duty to God was something within. Whence did it come ? ' The preacher compared Christ to Socrates in his practical life, and in His martyrdom ; but to Plato in His contemplative spirit. 'The martyr and the sage were blended in the Divine Man.' Mr Marti- 22 UNORTHODOX LONDON. neau then referred at some length to' the doctrine of anamnesis, in Plato, according to which the soul had pre-existed in a purer state, and there gained its ideas. It was no disparagement to Jesus, he argued, thus to trace His ideas to a Platonic source, and the effects of such ideas on His teaching were shown to give it much of its simplicity, as also much of its authority. ' Holi- ness,' it was well observed, 'is never self-conscious. It does not even act with studied reference to good example and influence on others.' 'Doubtless,' con- . eluded the preacher, 'when JeSus passed behind the veil of disath, He would find that much which He had, in very humility, attributed to Divine ideas gained in His pre-existent state was really due to the promptings of His own pure spirit.' From this brief analysis it will be evident that Mr Martineau's sermons are addressed exclusively to an educated audience. Despite a little' hardness, the result of the sermon being diligently read from MS. (as is also the prayer that preceded it), there is a vein of poetry " running through most of his discourses, which shows that he still adheres to the opinion expressed in 1847 in the preface to his published sermons, ' Endeavours after the Christian Life.' He there says, — 'In virtue of the close affinity, perhaps ultimate identity, of re- ligion and poetry, preaching is essentially a lyric expression of the soul — an utterance of meditation in sorrow, hope, love, and joy, from a representative of the human heart in its Divine rela- tions. In proportion as we quit this view, and prominently in- troduce the idea of a preceptive and monitory function, we retreat from the true prophetic interpretation of the ofilce back into the old sacerdotal ; or — what is not, perhaps, so different a dis- tinction as it may appear — from the properly rehgious to the sim- ply moral.' Unitarianism, however, like other religious systems, is feeling the impetus of the revival spirit which is abroad ; and though the Unitarians are never likely to be a largely proselytizing body, or, it may be, to extend their principles among the less intellectual classes, we hiear of nighfe schools aad workiag men's missions at UNITARIANISM. 23 Bayswater, for instance. Large congregations of the middle and lower classes assemble at Mr Spears' s chapel in Stamford Street, Blackfriars j whilst at the Portland British Schools (where the prizes were distributed recently after a service in Mr Martineau's chapel) I find from the report that there has been an average of over 500 children on the books. There is also another movement at work amongst this body which is likely to mark an epoch in its history, and not improbably to cause a division in its ranks. On the one aide there are those who wish to abolish the name ' Unitarian ' as being in itself dogmatic, and to substitute ' Free Christian ' as the proper badge of a creedless body. Against this the old Conservative Unitarians, clinging to the traditional title, rebel. Mr Martineau, as might be expected from his nearness to the ' orthodox ' faith, sympathizes with the less exclusive of these views. Under his auspices, the ' Free Christian Union ' has been organized, the object of which is to * invite to common action all who deem men responsible, not for the attainment of Divine truth, but only for the serious search of it, and who rely for the religious im- provement of human life on filial piety and brotherly charity, with or without more particular agreement in matters of doctrinal theology.' As a proof of the ' broad ' basis on which this society rests, it may be mentioned that the devotional services held at the first anniversary in Freemasons' Hall, were conducted by the Rev. James Martineau and the Rev. William Miall, the sermons being preached by the Rev. Athanase Coquerel, of Paris, and the Rev. C. Kegan Paul, Vicar of Sturminster Marshall, Dorset. Besides these organized bodies (of whose dimensions, I fancy, many ' orthodox ' Protestants are unaware), there are some outgrowths of a -kindred spirit starting into existence at the present time, each having the tendency to secularize religious ideas, and to gather up those erratic spirits that now stand aloof from any definite- religious school. In the exercise of the functions entrusted to me, I have visited the afternopn meetings 24 UNORTHODOX LONDON. of the ' Sunday Lecture Society,' and also of the ' Church of Progtess,' each held in St George's Hall. At the former Dr Carpenter delivered a lecture on ' The Deep Sea.' From the verge of 'orthodoxy' to a Sunday afternoon discussion on life at 2500 fathoms below sea! It was a new sensation, reminding one of the English- man's furtive visit to the theatre on a Sunday evening at his first visit to Paris. The hall was well filled by an attentive audience of all classes, who had evidently come, not like myself, out of curiosity, but for the sake of real instruction. It was ' a sign of the times ' to note the round of applause with which the announcement was received when the Sunday afternoon lecturer quoted, in proof of some religious bearing of his subject, the name of his ' friend, the Eev. Charles Kingsley.' Then, again, what would our grandsires have said to a performance on Sunday evening of , Rossini's ' Stabat Mater,' with full band and chorus of one hundred and fifty ! On the principle, I suppose, that a good thing cannot be repeated too often, Mr Moncure D. Conway treated us to a repe- tition of his discourse on 'The Church erected to God by Voltaire,' delivered only two Sundays before at his own chapel. From Little Portland Street in the morning to the ' Church of Progress ' in the evening gave one a toler- ably exhaustive view of the outward and visible signs of Unitarianism and the Free Christian Church. A RELIGIOUS 'EPOCH.' T IHE multiplication of ecclesiastical judgments in re- cent times has enabled us to generalize in some measure as to the conduct of those who have been the objects of censure ; and it can scarcely have failed to strike us that the proceedings, subsequent to the judg- A RELIGIOUS 'epoch: 25 ment itself, have usually falleii very fiat. Before the case came ofiF, there was, in almost every instance, a vaticination that at last the critical mojnent had come. If So-and-so were condemned, a schism in the National Church would eventuate. Nay, names have been men- tioned. Such and such a leader of the particular party under censure would head a Free Church if So-and-so were held heretical. So-and-so has been declared here- tical, has been deprived or mulcted, as the case may be ; yet still no schism ensues. So-and-so simply collapses, and retires into no one knows what department of private life. It is the old story of ' parturiunt monies, nascetur ridiculus mus.' A short time since the Macko- nochie case was declared to be thus crucial. The Mackonochie judgment came, and yet no breach ensued. Nothing, indeed, could have been more tame and spirit- less than the way in which the judgment fell into the ranks of advanced Ritualism. Then the beginning of the end was deferred to the prosecution of Mr Bennett; the Bennett decision also came and went, and probably the end is as far off as ever. In the mean time, the Voysey case occurred, which was to have breached the position from another quarter. That event has come and gone, and still the walls of the National Establishment remained as entire as though they were really impregnable. Now, however, it seems that the apathy with which the decision was received is apparent rather than real. The silence is only that which pi-ecedes the storm. Suddenly an- nouncements appeared in the public papers that the Rev. Charles Voysey would occupy the rostrum at the ' Sunday Evenings for the People, St George's Hall, Langham Place,' organized by the National Sunday League, taking as the subject of his discourse, * Au Episode in the History of Religious Liberty ; ' the council expressing a hope that a considerable sum would be realized towards a fund for establishing him in London. Such au announcement would have been quite sufiicient to draw together a large audience, with- out the combined attractions of ' sacred music, by solo- 26 UNORTHODOX LONDON, ists, bands, and chorus/ In faet, by an early hour on the previous Saturday no reserved tickets were to be obtained for love or — ^that usually more marketable commodity — money. Before the hour appointed for the lecture the hall was filled with a vast audience ; and the stage occupied by a band and chorus proportionately meagre, in front of which a sort of pulpit had been erected for the lecturer. An excruciating chorus having been perform- ed in the feeblest manner, Mr Voysey appeared at his post and was received with enthusiastic applause. After a brief apology on the score of what the prospective lecture ought to have been, he plunged at once into the history of his personal connection with the Church of England during the last twenty years. A quarter of a century ago he was what he called ' converted,' and felt strong vocation for the ministry, but lacked means of carrying out his plans. A certain society for the support at the University of youths who felt a call for the ministry sent him to Oxford, upon a severe scrutiny as to his fitness. After a protracted paper examinations the candidate was handed over to eight clergymen, who examined him not only on doctrinal but spiritual matters. So he matriculated, and, during his college course, had to forward a terminal report of ' spiritual progress ' to the secretaries of the society. Eventually he rebelled against this bondage, ' and this rebellion,' he said, ' has ended in a liberty for which I have to thank that society and those secretaries.' It was considered ' slow ' to go to church in those days, but the lecturer attended all the University ser- mons, and found out that any possible doctrine could be sheltered under, the Thirty-nine Articles. Oxford, he said, was at that time the place to encourage young searchers after truth, by the very diversity of doctrines they heard enunciated from the University pulpit. The society, as a punishment for his rebellion, took his name off the books, and he was sent out into the world penni* less, within a year of his degree. He was reinstated by one whom he would venture to name as a * dear old A RELIGIOUS ' epoch: 27 saint,' wlio, thougt a strong Calvinistj respected his sincerity, and maintained him until he had taken his' degree. This was the Rev. John Hill, Vice-Principal and Tutor of St Edmund Hall. He obtained his degree and college testimonials, and was ordained in 1852 by Dr Musgrave in York Minster, ' the same place,' he observed, ' where, in 1871, 1 was tried for heresy.' Mr Voysey then detailed at great length the rise and spread of the Tractarian movement at Oxford, and the strong Evangelical opposition with which it was met ; whilst the subsequent Broad Church party showed itself ad- verse to each of these systems alike. Returning to his own case, he narrated his removal from curacy to curacy in consequence of his persistent opposition to dogmatism. This portion of the lecture, which referred to the period prior to his being bene- ficed at Healangh, having occupied nearly an hour in delivery, Mr Voysey said that, in order to prevent him- self or his audience from being wearied, some music would be inserted ; and, whether by way of travestie on the Babel he had been sketching, I cannot say, but the singers struck up the suggestive selection from St Paul, ' How lovely are the messengers that preach us ilm Oospel of Peace.' Mr Voysey then referred to the publication of ' The Sling and the Stone.' He had always laid down for himself the rule not to say one word in the pulpit which he did not then and there believe to be true. Stillj whilst unbeneficed, he had avoided openly attacking error. This answered for ten or eleven years. The time was not ripe. He had gained little by his reti- cence. He had been punished for heresy, and handed on from curacy to curacy. When beneficed, he deter- mined to do what he could to get rid of religions slavery. He was as anxious to teach his own parish- ioners the truth as he was to teach his own children. ' And so,' he said, ' I set myself to weaken the Bible by exposing its errors as to the relations between God and man, contrasting its many floble truths with its many abominations-.* 28 UNORTHODOX LONDON. In 1865, the Healaugh sermons were published as ' The Sling and the Stone,' first to set the example of attacking dogma, and secondly to show that the doing so was acceptable to the people. The work was largely- read by clergy and laity. He wished it to be distinctly understood that it was in no sense true that ' The Sling and the Stone ' was put forth to excite prosecution. He only wanted the public to profit by the teaching of his country parish, and to set them thinking. At first the attempt was made to ' snufi" out ' ' The Shng and the Stone.' The religious papers did not touch it. A bishop said in Convocation that it ' was not worth read- ing,' and the announcement brought hundreds of readers. The English Church Union marked him for their own. One gentleman confessed that it was ' dangerous ' and the writer a ' scandal,' and went over to the Church of Rome, leaving a benefice of £1000 a year, on account of the apathy of the authorities in hesitating to attack it. Eventually, the English Church Union and the^ Church Association ofiered £500 each for the prosecu- tion, and the latter body printed and circulated extracts from ' The Sling and the Stone.' ' So you see,' he ex- claimed, ' I have very much to be thankful for.' The lecturer spoke quite respectfully of the recent judgment, which, he said, was inevitable if the Thirty- nine Articles be made the criterion of truth. He had been condemned on thirteen out of fifteen points. He had feared only being condemned on one or two, which might have made his position more difficult. Speaking of the Thirty-nine Articles, which all along formed his chief subject of objurgation, he moved his audience to mirth by quoting, in reference to 'those venerable ■ Thirty-nine Articles,' the text, ' Whosoever shall fall on that stone shall be broken, but on whomsoever it falleth it shall grind him to powder.' With regard to the course he intended to pursue, the lecturer gave it out as his determination to identify him- self, for the present, with no sect, though having left the Church of England. Detached from all corporate bodies, he expressed a wish that this fact might form A SUNDA Y LECTURE BY PROF. HUXLEY. 29 no bar to an interchange of pulpits with all who might desire it. (Mr Voysey had, it may be mentioned, pTeached that same morning in the Unitarian Church at Croydon.) He hoped to establish a weekly service somewhere in London — a statement which elicited loud applause. The devotional part of this he wished to make an expression of religious feeling without super- stition or idolatry. He should call in the aid of music, and carefully avoid making his service too long or too 'rigid.' Any form that might be adopted would be subject to alteration to suit the tastes of the congrega- tion. In the pulpit he would claim that liberty which he was ready to concede to others, and hoped his own expulsion would speedily lead to that of the Thirty-nine Articles. The lecture, which lasted over two hours, was listened to with unflagging attention and interrupted by frequent bursts of applause. Such was the dawn of a new religious ' epoch,' A SUNDAY LECTURE BY PROEESSOE, HUXLEY. TTTHEN first I commenced these unorthodox effusions Y V — at once the evidence and history of my own wan- derings out of the ordinary grooves and ruts of ' ortho- dox' ideas — and while I was still lingering near the North Pole of Unorthodoxy, I mentioned, in passing, my visit to St George's Hall on a Sunday afternoou to hear Dr Carpenter lecture on ' The Deep Sea.' The fact of my having received a circular from the ' Sunday Lecture Society,' containing a statement of their past operations and projected work, showed me, not only that the work whose commencement I then chronicled 30 UNORTHODOX LONDON. was still going on, but that, it was progressing with every sign of success, and endorsed with the names of approvers so eminent as scarcely to allow of its being passed over silently in a series of papers professing to represent the current phases of religious life in London. Besides the world-known name of Professor Huxley,, the lecturer for the day, I found such names as Dr Spencer Cobbold, Professor Blackie, and Erasmus Wilson among the others; while, as though to remove any doubts as to the 'propriety 'of devoting, a Sunday to science instead of religion, specially so-called-^for may not the two be made synonymous ?^I descried two ' reverend ' titles among the lecturers. The Rev. Allen D. Graham, M.A., Oxon. (designated in ' Crock- ford for 1868 ' as Curate of St Paul's, Covent Garden), was to enlighten the Sunday audience on ' Witchcraft, and the Lessons we learn from it ' ; while the Rev. Pro- fessor Lewis Campbell, M.A., Oxon. (described as formerly Tutor of Queen's College, Oxford, and Vicar of Milford, Hants, now Professor of Greek in the Uni- versity of St Andrew's), was also announced, though without his subject being named. Need I say that these reverend titles removed any lingering scruples, and that I resolved to make Professor Huxley my preacher for the day ? In sober earnest, this Sunday Lecture Society had become now a fait accompli, and demanded notice. A few years ago, such an institution would have been deemed an impossibility. We might well ask then, as Mr Bellew did ask three times every week from that very rostrum : — ' Can such things be, And overcome us like a summer s cloud. Without our special notice ? ' Eight or wrong, the thing deserved to be known. The circular of the society said — ^and I believe truly ' The committee have spent, since the month of Decem- ber, upwards of £70 merely in advertising in the news- papers. No fewer than 6000 circulars, containing the A SUNDA y LECTURE B Y PROF. HUXLE Y. 3 1 list of persons approving the objects of the society, and 16,000 of the handbills announcing the present series of lectures, have been printed and distributed. Yet, not- withstanding this, the committee believe that the society's lectures are but little known of {sic) by re- sidents in London, or even in the immediate vicinity of St George's Hall.' Repeating my original warning, then, that my mission is simply to describe, not to criti- cize or pronounce for or against, I give the records of this Sunday's experience in the scientific portion of ' Unorthodox London.' The subject chosen by Professor Huxley was, ' The Forefathers of the English People on the Mainland of Europe and Asia.' He commenced by calling the at- tention of his audience to the two types oi- 'physique noticeable at the present day in Britain— rthe one tall, fair, and light-haired, the other short and dark, with curling black hair. Passing over the gradations ob- tained by intermixture, he found that these two types were existent in the earliest accounts of Britain — those, namely, of Caesar, Tacitus, and Strabo — which descrip- tions stood in much the same relation to the Romans as Captain Cook's account of Tahiti to us. Caesar tells us of the fair-haired inhabitants of Kent ; Tacitus men- tions the dark Silures of South Wales. In a linguistic point of view the peoples were one ; for English were non-existent, and there were only the two types of Celtic — ^the Cymric and Gaelic. The two races then were one, and the problem is, whence came these two races with one language ? Geography gives a suggestion. The east coast of Eng- land is separated by a brief space of sea from Scandi- navia, Denmark, North Germany, and the north of Prance. In the same way the south and south-east of England are separated by a still smaller space from France. Now, we may check the obvious inference deducible herefrom by noticing the distribution of races on the Continent. It would be possible. Professor Huxley observed, to draw an oblique hne from the mouth of the Seine to the mouth of the Rhone, and 32 " UNORTHODOX LONDON. divide the tall, fair people north of that line from the short dark people south of it. This fact is confirmed by the statistics of stature drawn up for pui-poses of the conscription. Such a line might, in fact, extend from the North of Ireland to the Himalayas, and still to the north would be the tall fair people, and to the south, the short dark. Such a difference was not traceable to climate, because still further north you come again upon dark people, to wit, the Laps, a Mongolian race quite distinct from the dark people of the south. The combined Continent may, then, be divided into three zones or belts : 1, the dark Laps ; 2, the fair Celts ; 3, the dark Celts. The distinction comes to be, then, between the Xantho-chroi, or tall and fair, and the Melano-chroi, or dark. The inference, therefore, was, that these two divisions of Celts came from the Conti- nent to our island. The invasion of the Saxons, Jutes, Danes, and Northmen, changed the language of Britain, hut added nb new physical element. Therefore, argued the Professor, we must not talk any more of Celts and Saxons, for all are one. ' I never lose an opportunity of rooting up that false idea that the Celts and Saxons are different races.^ If Professor Huxley could only get Pat to recognize this, he might do more to root out Fenianism than the suspension of Habeas Corpus or any amount of Church and Land Tenure Bills 1 Professor Huxley went on to prove the identity of the Grauls and Germans in the earliest historical times. Both were a fair-haired race, of tall stature and power- ful frame. He compared their habits, going into some am using details — for instance, these Celts were eminently a trouser-wearing race. Gaul was divided into Braccata and Togata — the former Celtic, the latter Eoman. The Highland costume of the present day, therefore, was eminently unnational. It was Roman, not Celtic. The Germans, too, were the earliest known possessors of soap ; proving again — as in their adoption of trousers — their superiority over the Romans. Possibly, how- ever, the soap was used rather as an ornament than for purposes of cleanliness, to redden the hair — a process A SUNDA Y LECTURE B Y PROF. HUXLE Y. 33 still adopted in the Fiji Islands. The hypothesis finally advanced was that the tall fair people north of the line ahove mentioned, breaking through the natural barriers of the Alps, Carpathians, and Hercynian forest in Europe, as through the Himalayas in India, dispossessed and virtually exterminated the dark people to the south, driving them into mountain districts, as the Britons were afterwards driven by successive invaders into Cornwall and Wales. ' * The ■ dark people are the remains of the southern mountaineers, sometimes, as in the case of the Basque people, proving their separate , origin by linguistic peculiarities, whilst the resemblances of Sanscrit, Latin, Greek, and modern European languages attest the supremacy of the nomadic inhabitants of the northern plains, across which, Professor Huxley observed, ' you might drive a cart for four or five thousand miles from Holland to China without encountering any elevation worth speaking of/ So, then, the upshot is, we are all one people, and, as was quaintly said, 'it is wicked to talk about Anglo-Saxons.' Teuton and Celt are dis- tinctions without a difference from this time forth and for evermore. The audience was a very large and intelligent one, comprising many eminent scientific men, quite a fair quota of ladies, a sprinkling of the rising generation, and altogether a collection of heads that would have delighted a phrenologist or physiognomist. Surely there is another old prejudice that must be rooted up by such a gathering as this. Whatever else we may be called, the English people must no longer be set down as a race of unmitigated Sabbatarians. It is against this, and this only, that the Sunday Lecture Society desire to protest. They are not a Church, like the body that gathers in the same hall later in the day, and calls itself ' The Church of Progress.' They carefully avoid all theological subjects ; but they hold that 'History, Literature, and Art, especially in their bearing upon the improvement and social well- being of mankind,' are proper subjects for Sunday study. 3 34 UNORTHODOX LONDON. It would be difficult to assail sucli a position — very diffi- cult to say where the practical sermon merges into the lecture. Then, again, the persons who attended the Sunday lecture, one could see at a glance, were not the people who go to church or are likely to do so until the calibre of the clergy and the style of sermons are widely differ- ent from the present. Mr Conway's congregation, as well as Mr Conway himself, and several leading Uni- tarians, were present ; but those who are familiar with Unitarian sermons, or with Mr ConWay's discourses, will be aware there is but- an ill-defined frontier line between them and a lecture by Professor Huxley. It will probably take some time to familiarize the present generation with Sunday lectures. There will be need of caution lest while we avoid one extreme we run into another. We do not want the Continental Sunday in London. In fact, despite all their small scorn of our Sabbatarianism, our Continental neighbours are to a large extent adopting and appreciating bur English ' Lord's Day.' But there is a wide difference between opening theatres and music-halls on Sunday, and opening museums or giving lectures on science and kindred subjects. Probably all, except very extreme religionists, will agree that, next to going to church, attending such a lecture as the one I have sketched above is a legiti- mate mode of spending Sunday ; indeed, we may yet see the day when even those who go to church in the morning, and perchance the evening too, may still find time in the afternoon for such an interesting disquisition as the one I listened to on the subject of our forefathers in the olden time. TABERNACLES. 35 TABBENACLBS.— MR YARLEY AND ME SPURGEON. IT is at the point where religious systems, avoiding the trammels of Establishment, strike the limits of doc- trinal orthodoxy, that they become important agencies for leavening the masses. Few men, and fewer women, are by nature philosophical in their belief; and even of these, only a minority venture out of the beaten paths of faith and practice — venture, if one may so say, to be original in these matters. So it is that large numbers, fretting at the restraints of the Establishment, differ from it in nothing else than emancipation from such restraints. The more advanced of Protestant Dissenters, and the lowest of Low Churchmen, meet and blend im- perceptibly one with the other; Protestant Dissent being a form of belief that tells largely upon the lowest middle and poor classes of London. Of this fact, the tabernacles stand the witnesses, and Mr Yarley is, to a large extent, the representative man. There are special gifts in Mr Spurgeon's case, which render him excep- tional rather than representative. For many years Mr Varley carried on the business of a butcher, in the Bayswater Road, and, during that period, managed to build the" Free Tabernacle, in St James's Square, Netting Hill, with accommodation for 1200 worshippers, at a cost of £2000, and also schools for boys and girls, where, at the time of my visit, "550 children were being educated. The dimensions of the Tabernacle pretty fairly re- present the congregation, that is, it is nearly always filled; and so great are the demands on Mr Varley' s time, in the way of preaching and pastoral work, that he has now given up business, and devotes himself en- tirely to ministerial labours. On the occasion of my 36 ' UNORTHODOX LONDON. visiting the Tabernacle, a bitter morning, I found it nearly full. The seats are entirely free and unappropri- ated — one great attraction for the poor, which^ with the more elastic liturgy, constitutes the secret why they will go to chapel, and will not go to church. It is a fact we have to face : Mr Varley was able to speak to the working man in propria persona, of his temptations ' in the brickfield and on the scaffold ; ' not merely to talk of him as a sort of curious animal, amongst well- dressed worshippers. It should be noticed, too, that there is no ' preaching down' to the level of the uneducated. The sermon would have done credit to any Established church in London. It was preceded by three cheerful hymns, sung by the whole congregation. There was a small choir, and a harmonium to lead it, and every man, woman, and child sang for himself. Praise, with them, was a part of worship. Between the hymns there was a readiag of Scripture, with an exposition, in the shape of a running comment on the chapters read. The selections were from the Pauline Epistles, and bore rather on nice doctrinal points, than on the broad tend- ency of Christianity. What sounded very strangely^ in the ears of one of a stricter sect, was that, even in giving out the hymns, Mr Varley criticized and com- mented on expressions occurring in them. A nrayer followed the second hymn — extempore, of course, and very earnest, but curiously accompanied with gesticula- tion. The subject of the sermon was, ' The veil on the heart,' from the text 2 Cor. xii. 18. Mr Varley referred to the case of Moses veiling his face, and immediately proceeded to apply the incident to the case of unbelief veiling the heart of hearers. It was a plain but practi- cal discourse, which might have been preached in any church in Netting Hill— and would have astonished some of the congregations if it had been — delivered without notes, in a clear, fluent style, and with just enough emphasis and gesticulation to carry home the words, but never for a moment degenerating into the least symptom of rant. The celebration of the Lord's TABERNACLES. 37 ' Supper followed, and the smallness of the numbers who partook of it bore practical evidence to the fact that every vestige of the sacramental system had died out of this body. The Communion does not even form here what it be- comes to the ' lowest ' of Established churchmen — the test of membership. The sole 'test' or qualification appears to be faith in Christ, and as far as can be judged, renewal of life. I could not but confess, as the long processions filed past me down nave and aisles at the conclusion of the service, that here was machinery admirably adapted to the work it had set itself to do, the influencing of the poor and the lowest middle classes -. — those very ones who manage to elude the grasp of systems more elaborately formulated and officered. The great secret is that a man like Mr Varley, without de- scending, adapts himself to the requirements of his flock, and so his words are unlike our studied pulpit phrase, which is confessedly too often a tongue 'not under- standed of the people.' As most persons have, at some time or other, visited Mr Spurgeon's Tabernacle at Newington, on a Sunday, and the characteristics of that gentleman's preaching are therefore generally familiar, a few words will suffice to record my own impressions on this subject. Indeed, the immediate effects of his oratory are even less striking than the numerous works of beneficence and elaborate ecclesiastical system, which, around the Metro- politan Tabernacle as their centre, have grown up as the indirect results of his preaching and personal in- fluence. Never did I witness a happier sight than that which greeted me inside the walls of Mr Spurgeon's Orphanage at Stockwell, in contrast to the dull, dark February morning outside. Here some 220 boys were boarded, clothed, and taught. They are lodged, not in large, uncomfortable corridors and halls, but in separate houses presided over by matrons — each a little home in itself. Nothing can exceed the comfort of aU arrange- ments in this Orphanage, It was ' visiting ' day when I was there, but even the attractions of widowed mothers 38 UNORTHODOX LONDON. and indulgent relations were not sufficient to distract the attention, of chubby juveniles from Mr Spurgeon, whom they hailed with the greatest enthusiasm, un- mingled with the smallest awe. From the Orphanage I passed to the Almshouses and Schools at Newington, close to the Elephant and Oastle station of the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway. In these schools, again, I was struck with the perfect order which reigned. A hundred and thirty boys moved like one compact mass, and sang their part-songs most creditably. Thence I passed to the Tabernacle itself. Now, I fancy, most persons have the idea that this is simply a 'preaching shop,' closed and doing nothing from Sunday to Sunday. Never was there a greater mistake. It is a perfect hive of busy workers, from seven every morning until night. The rooms behind and under this vast edifice are appropriated to the use of the Pastors' College, where young men are trained for the ministry without expense. They are boarded singly; also free, with families residing in the neighbourhood, — a plan adopted partly to avoid the temptations of ' collegiate ' life, and also to fit the young men for the humble posi- tions in life most of them are destined. to occupy. Here, again, dropping in quite unexpectedly, we found fevery one at his post, and the whole complicated machinery working without a hitch. In one room we opened the door on some thirty or forty young men celebrating the Lord's Supper. In another we found an aged lady, with about twenty grown-up girls around her, conducting a Bible-class. In the spacious rooms below, tables were being laid for 1600 for tea, as the annual church meeting was to be held in the evening. A secretary, and two clerks under him, besides Mr Spurgeon's private secre- tary, formed the staff required for conducting the correspondence. Nor was this all ; in another room was a man up to his eyes in his books, whose business it was to manage the ' colportage ; ' whilst in yet another was a sort of local Mudie's, where boxes of books are packed, and sent to former students, now pastors of outlying chapels, and by TABERNACLES. 39 them circulated from one to the other. Over all this labyrinth I was conducted in the most cheery way by the Atlas who bears on his single pair of shoulders the whole mass ; and this is the man whom we are too apt to regard as merely the preacher on Sundays. 'Mr. Spurgeon,' I could not help saying, ' you are a regular Pope.' /Yes,' he replied, 'though without claiming infallibility. This is a democracy, with a very large in- fusion of constitutional monarchy in it.' Then, again, with regard to the discipline of this body, which we are apt to underrate. Certainly no system of direction that ever was organized could equal the hold, which, by means of his elders and deacons, this pastor has over his flock. ' I have 4200 members on my church books,' said he, ' and if one of them got tipsy I should probably hear of it before the week was out.' The records of admission to the church, of ' dismission ' to other churches, and reception from them, are kept with the precision of a merchant's books, whilst each member of the church has a set of twelve communion, tickets, all ready perforated, ^ith dates printed, one of which he or she is bound to tear off and put in the plate each month, to attest presence at 'the ordinance.' The punishment, in case of neglect, or of moral failings, is censure and excommunication. Mr Spurgeon attributes all this success to the power of prayer. Twenty thousand pounds were given him by one lady, a member of a different religious .body, to found his Orphanage. On more than one occasion £2000 at a time have been dropped into his letter-box ; he has no idea by whom. When recently attacked by illness, he began to despair, but that same evening a lady left £500 at his door, and £1000 came in immediately after- wards. The world will, perhaps, more readily attribute all this to his immense personal irifluence, and will therefore be surprised to hear that he is in private life the most modest, unassuming, and genial of men. He pointed to his bookshelves, where were his sermons trans- lated into Welsh, French, German, Swedish, Italian, Dutch, to say nothing of endless American editions. 4b UNORTHODOX LONDON. Many of these foreign versions were produced without the publishers even sending him a copy, and were picked up casually by him in his travels. One edition, in good readable German type, was largely sold at the Leipzig Book Fair. This is enough to turn a man's head, but he speaks of himself in the most modest terms as ' no scholar.' I could not learn the precise accommodation afforded in the Tabernacle, but was able to make some approxim- ation by being informed that the area, including galle- ries, was about double that of Exeter Hall, which holds 3000. This is filled in every nook and comer on Sundays. The service commences at a quarter to eleven, and long before that hour an eager crowd assembles outside. At five minutes before, service time the doors are all thrown open to the public, and no seats reserved — a very good way of ensuring regularity amongst seat- holders. When Mr Spurgeon makes his appearance at eleven, therefore, the whole place is completely filled. The congregation seems very equally divided among inales and females, and consists almost exclusively of the middle class. There is no symptom of the very poor, or, to judge by outward appearance, of the very rich. Except a few old ladies seated round the pulpit, one does not see any possible source for all those thousands of ipound.s. The service consists of a short prayer of about five minutes ; then a hymn sung — of course, in unison-^by the whole congregation, without accompani- ment of any kind, one man only standing beside Mr Spurgeon to give the pitch. A reading and exposition of Scripture follow, the chapter chosen on the occasion of my visit being Colossians i. A second and much longer extempore prayer follows. In this I was con- siderably surprised to hear a quotation from Keble's * Christian Year ' : — ' O, may do earth-bom cloud arise, To hide Thee from Thy servant's eyes ! ' and also one from the Church of England service, 'In all our works begun, continued, and ended in Thee.' TABERNACLES. 41 Another hymn followed j and one cannot fail to be struck with the effect of these simple tunes sung by so vast a body of voices. One can quite understand Mendelssohn being so overcome as to shed tears when listening to the charity-children singing under the dome of St Paul's. The simple service I have here described occupied more than an hour, and then followed the sermon. It was taken from the last verse of the chapter read as the lesson, viz. Colossians i. 29 : — 'Whereunto I also labour, striving according to His working, which worketh in me mightily.' Its subject was the co-operation of man's individual effort with the influences of the Holy Spirit in the work of his own and his neighbours' salvation. It was a sound practical discourse, upwards of an hour in length, delivered without note of any kind, with all the preacher's old earnestness, but without a single trace of his former eccentricity. There was not a single * Spurgeonism ' from beginning to end ; or, at least, the only approach thereto was an assurance that we ' couldn't go to heaven on a feather-bed.' Remembering what Mr Spurgeon was when he came to London seventeen years ago, a boy of nineteen, one cannot but congratulate him on the change; while the vast building, with all its varied works — happily compared by himself to the cathedral in ancient times — bears witness to the sterling stuff there is in the man below all his eccentricity. What particularly struck me was his constant and copious reference to such authorities as Augustine, Chrysostom, and Gregory of Nazianzen. He also re- tains all his old fertility of illustration ; witness a capital story by which he illustrated the position that the work of the Holy Spirit in a man does not destroy the necessity of individual action, or reduce man to a mere machine. 'In the square of St Mark at Venice,' he said, 'there is a clock, and two bronze figures of men strike the hours on a bell. Nobody dreams of thanking the bronze tnen for doing so. One day an inquisitive stranger put his head between the hammer and the bell, and the bronze man knocked his brains 42 UNORTHODOX LONDON. out ; but nobody suggested that the bronze man should be hanged. We don't want bronze men cmd women for Christian work.' Altogether the service and sermon lasted over two hours, and all was done by one man. Yet I saw Mr Spurgeon in his private room afterwards, and found him as fresh and full-voiced as ever. He tossed me over half a sheet of note paper, which looked like the back of an old letter, asking me if I would like to have his sermon. There I found a clearly-written and logically-divided skeleton of the discourse I had just heard, which I retain among my archives of Unorthodox London. It struck me — this Tabernacle service — as like the old institution of prophecy in contradistinction to the priesthood of the Jewish Church, an institution we were too long accustomed to look upon as simply irregular and enthusiastic, but which later knowledge has shown to have been formulated in schools, and almost as elaborately disciplined as the established priesthood itself. TABERNACLE RANTERS. IT was under this undignified title — against which I desire to protest — as applied to the Primitive Method- ists, that I was counselled to adjourn to Mr Spurgeon's Tabernacle, to witness the proceedings of that body, at whose disposal the building is annually placed for their missionary meeting. Accordingly, I set out one May evening to see the Tabernacle ' on the rant,' expecting something very grotesque indeed. Something very strange and foreign to my ordinary experiences I did witness : and I fancy the occasion was far enough removed from common customs to render an account TABERNACLE RANTERS. 43 of it interesting. The Primitive Methodists, or ' Rant- ers/ as they are opprobriously termed, represent more truly the original genius of 'W esleyan Methodism than any of the various bodies — and their name is legion — into which the original secession from the Church of England has split up. When the other sections began to combine the wisdom of the serpent with the harmlessness of the dove, these Conservative Methodists still stuck to their old camp meetings, and, ' the authorities ' disapproving of such proceedings, a collision, and consequent exclu- sion, took place in 1808 : for it is not only Rome that sniffs heresy in independent thought or action. ' Re- ligion,' it has been said, ' according to these notions, is mainly dependent upon sudden and powerful excite- ment, to be produced by external causes. The means of excitement usually employed are singing, frequent public prayer-meetings, loud exclamations, the preach- ing of females, long-continued religious services, con- gregations assembled in the open air, and the separation of worshippers into different smaller communities, according to their professed religious condition. A caflip meeting itself is an attempt to employ all these means at once, and in the highest state of energy.' With this popular idea of Primitive Methodism in my mind I reached Mr Spurgeon's Tabernacle at six o'clock on the evening in question, and found symptoms of the camp meeting even at Newington. Large vans' of country people were disembarking at the doors ; and a glance at the interior of the conveyances showed that tnaterial provision had not been forgotten through anxiety for spiritual food. I found the Tabernacle about three-parts filled with people of all classes, but mostly of the lower middle and poor. ' , A vigorous hymn was being sung, evidently by every man, woman, and child in the place, as I entered and took my seat; after which a very long extemporaneous prayer was offered by a gentleman with a stentorian voice ; a second hymn followed, and the business of the evening may then be said to have commenced. That 44 UNORTHODOX LONDON. business was ostensibly a missionary meeting, whicb involved appointing a chairman and reading a report. To the former position a gentleman with a broad Northern accent was called, whose name was Burnitt, and described by the gentleman who introduced him as ' a successful London merchant, but also — what was better still^a Primitive Methodist, professing and official.' From the report it appeared that the first Primitive Methodist Mission Meeting was held near Belper, forty-nine years ago, when the poor people contributed their pence. Since that time, the progress of contributions had been very marked. In 1843 the income of the society was £845; in 1849, £3000; in 1856, £10,000 ;. in 1863, £16,255 ; and in 1869, £20,398. The distinguishing feature of the' present year had been the establishment of the first African mission, on a little island in the fiulf of Guinea, where there was no Christian, ' unless a Jesuit could be called one.' Here I heard the first symptoms of those utterances which afterwards occurred at frequent intervals during the meeting — ' Hallelujah,' ' Glory be to God ! ' — and which I hope it will not be considered irreverent if I insert parenthetically, after the manner of reporters. There was an old lady just behind me who fired off lier Hallelujahs like pistol-shots ; and, in fact, these inter- jectional utterances constantly went round the whole of the vast assembly like an irregular discharge of musketry, often bursting into a regular volley when something very telling was said, as, for instance, about 'Church parsons,' or the futility of receiving orders 'through the soft fat palm of a bishop.' I am free to confess, however, that the ' rant ' I heard that evening — if so it is to be termed — was rant of a very high order, and, in one instance at least, approached very nearly to natural eloquence, which only required culti- vation to make it acceptable in any assembly. A pro- posal, at the conclusion of the report, to swell the al- ready large income of the society by getting each one of the Connection to abandon beer and tobacco was re- ceived with much favour and a great many Hallelujahs, TABERNACLE RANTERS. 45 I cannot refrain from interpolating here a story on tlie subject of these exclamatory habits. A lady sat at a Primitive Methodist chapel, close by a poor man who was remarkably ill shod, and whose exclamations were in inverse proportion to his shoe-leather. He kept crying oat ' Glory be to God ! ' until he quite annoyed her ; and, on leaving chapel, the lady told him such was the case, promising him a new pair of boots if he would restrain himself within due bounds. He did so for several days ; but afterwards some particularly exciting cause occurred, and he started up in chapel, shouting out, ' Boots, or no boots, glory be to God ! ' I notice that there is something in the constitution of the Primitive Methodist fatal to the conventional usage of the letter H, though I am bound to confess that its absence in one position is compensated by unlimited aspirations where it does not ordinarily appear. I mention this as really the only drawback to the enco- mium I have to pronounce on the speeches. The Rev. Mr Whittaker, of Doncaster, gave me some curious statistics on the subject of the growth of Popery in England. Five hundred of the Church of England clergy had 'gone over' since 1845. The curate of a London parish had been recognized as having oflBciated in full Popish vestments in a Catholic Church at Rome ; and there were 960 clergymen in Church of England pulpits who had received, their orders from Rome ! This is startling. The Pope and Cardinals, it appeared, had met, and confessed that the great hindrance to Popery in England was — Primitive Methodism. This gentleman, who spoke at great length, had also some original notions on the ' Commercial Value of a Converted Englishman.' There was, he said, little use in a sleepy ' Hasia-hatic,' but there was ' henergy in thp Henglish' which made them worth converting. A Frenchman, too, he told us, if he were put on an island peopled by savages, would soon be tattooed like the rest of them ; whereas an Englishman would, in the same period of time, convert them all to decency and dress-coats. At the close of this gentleman's ad- 46 UNORTHODOX LONDON. dress, I found that the audience, both adult and in- fantile—the latter abounded — regaled themselves, or ■were regaled by their mammas, with refreshment. The President of the Conference was followed by a Mr Pugh, who expatiated over a wide field. Going through the different religions of the world, he came to the conclu- sion that there were nearly 700,000,000 without God or hope. There were, in round numbers, 300,000,000 Christians, but many of these were ' dark.' Evangelical Protestantism only numbered the small fraction of 80,000,000. Infidel philosophy, he remarked, denies a soul to Africans (a fact of which I was not aware), but Jesus Christ liked to ' experimentalize on difficult cases,' which were declared hopeless. This gentleman was great at quoting hymns ; and, as some familiar line struck their ears, the listeners would shout out, ' I know it. Hallelujah ! ' In fact, so great was the enthusiasm roused by this gentleman's quotations, that he had to request his auditory to restrain themselves until he came to the end of each verse, and ' then cry Hallelujah as long as they liked.' By the time the collection came on, the huge Taber- nacle was filled, and the lights were turned on to the full. The sight was most impressive, and the collection hymn sung in unison by that vast body of voice was quite overpowering. The Rev. Mr Kennedy,. M.A., a Congregationalist, made a short speech, in which he said he thought the Primitive Methodists were the best hands at getting people into the Kingdom ; but his denomination took better care of them when they got there. .At the same time he confessed he had never baptized more than one Primitive Methodist, and he did not turn out very well. Hereupon the last speaker, the Rev. Mr Guttery, of Wolverhampton (described by the chairman as a ' foost- rate star '), got up, and jocosely took the last speaker to task on having professed to nurse the infants to whom Methodism gave birth, and then pleaded guilty to the fact that the first time he ' washed ' one of the .infants it took so bad a cold that it never quite recov- TABERNACLE RANTERS. 47 ered. This gentleman, I must admit, possesses great elocutionary powers, and far exceeded tte other speak- ers in culture. He even ventured on a bit of Latin, ' TJnum summus (i.e.- sumus) corpus in Christo.' (The Hallelujahs which followed a translation of this were loud and long-continued.) He combated the idea of danger from Popery or Infidelity, graphically sketching the work of Wilberforce and Peabody, and challenging infidelity to show such fruits. ' The world,' he said, ' is gathering round the Carpenter's Son. " Ecce Homo " and " Ecce Deus " are but straws that show which way the wind is blowing ; ' and ' what was Christ but the Great Philanthropist ? ' Speaking of the growth of the connection, he said — and the idea of the estimate was original — ' Once in every six hours the pearly gates of heaven are thrown back for a Primitive Methodist to pass behind them.' Then he waxed political. ' Politics are not to be left to Church parsons.' (Great Hallelujahs, Glory be to God !) ' I have great confidence in Gladstone, and so I have in him from Birmingham — ^him with the broad shoulders.' ' I want to see the Church freed from the State. It puts me in mind of the story of a wife who was going to die, and said to her husband, " John, what'll ye do without me when I'm gone ? " " Oh, Janie, I shall manage," he replied. So may the Church say, " I shall manage " when the bishops have gone out of the House of Lords ' — as they will go.' ' ' Look at the bishops on the Irish Church question ? ' he said. ' They gave up the princi- ple without a struggle ; but they fought Zi/ce Methodists for the cash.' ' It puts me in mind of the story of Robert Hall and the Church parson. The parson couldn't see the fact of Hallbeing in orders. Hall wrote the word " God " very small, and asked him, "Can you see that?" " Yes," he said, " perfectly." He then laid a sovereign over it, and said, " Can you see it now ? " " No, of course I can't, because you've put the money on it." " And that's the reason why you can't recognize my orders," said Hall ; " the cash prevents you." ' He concluded by comparing his own orders with those 48 UNORTHODOX LONDON. of the Churcli of England. ' They love to trace theirs link by link back to the Apostles ; but there's only one link in my chain. I derive my orders, as Paul did, straight from Christ, not from the fat palm of a bishop's hand ! ' Amid the storm of plaudits that followed this speech I came away, after having sat four hours ; and, passing amid the crowd of Chick's vans and light carts outside the Tabernacle, could not but feel I had seen strange things that night, and that there was a good deal of ' method ' in the ' madness ' — even if madness it were — of the Ranters at the Tabernacle. A PASTOR'S FAREWELL. WITHOUT discussing the relative merits of church patronage and the voluntary principle, it is quite evident that under the latter system the personal charac- ter and influence of the minister are brought into more decided prominence, and, consequently, the rupture of those ties which always exist between a pastor and con- gregation becomes individualized on both sides. Even in great establishments, where, if patronage is not quite capricious, appointments are anything but elective, the coming or going of a new incumbent or new curate is always an event in the parish. Crowds will assemble to hear the former wearily plod through the Thirty-nine Articles, or see whether the latter looks very nervous at being ' trotted out ; ' and when the parting comes, in either case, every little Sunday-school scholar is ready with her mite for the large Bible or pocket communion service, which shall take its humble place beside the silver tea-pot from the district visitors, and the well-filled purse of guineas from the congregation on the inevitable day of the pre- A PASTOR'S FAREWELL. 49 sentation. But still in such cases it is very much a matter of routine. ' Le roi est mort, viva le roi/ might, save in exceptional cases of personal influence, be the motto of each parishioner. It is otherwise when that parishioner has had a voice in the election of a pastor, whom he conscientiously believes to be ' the right man in the right place.' That man's coming is a personal assertion of principle on the part of those who appointed him, whilst his going is felt as an individual loss, almost equivalent to a breach in the family circle. In a pastorate of forty years, the Rev. Dr Brock, whose farewell I am about to chronicle, has only filled two ministries — that of St Mary's Church, Norwich, to which he was appointed in 1832, and Bloomsbury Chapel, where he commenced his ministrations on the 5th of December, 1848. The handsome structure, so well- known from its position at the bottom of Gower Street, between Bedford Episcopal Chapel on the one side, and the French Church on the other, was the first of such edifices built by Sir Morton — then Mr — Peto, and accommodates between 1500 and 1600 persons. There Mr Brock, who has taken his degree of Doctor of Divinity since that period, formed his church, and has filled a position in the ranks of the Baptist body second to none, with the single exception of Mr Spurgeon. It is no small criterion of the character and tact of a man in Dr Brock's position that he has always been on terms of Christian fellowship, which in more than one case ripened into personal acquaintance and friendliness, with the incumbents of the two neighbouring churches of the Establishment, St Griles's-in-the-Fields, and • St George's, Blopmsbury. It is not enough to say that the rectors of those churches have generally been of evangelical proclivities, and so gravitated naturally in the direction of a neighbouring minister, prominent in the ranks of nonconformity. Tenaciousness often arises from the very fact of such proximity, local and doctrinal j but nothing of the kind has resulted in Dr Brock's case, and the neighbourhood has gained from the circum- stance. The St Giles's Refuge, for instance, is sup- 4 so UNORTHODOX LONDON. ported by the ministers of the three places of worship, and a Ragged School is actually worked in common. The St Giles's Mission is carried on by Dr Brock's agency, and Mr Hatton's work among the Street Arabs emanated from the same source, though now occupying an independent position. Dr Brock was also one of the first to inaugurate the veritable crusade of preaching in theatres and music- halls. He interested himself greatly in the welfare of the Young Men's Christian Association, and occupied, in the year 1869, the distinguished position of President of the Baptist Union, besides which, he was one of the founders of the London Baptist Association, and became widely known beyond the ranks of his own people as author of the popular " Life of Havelock." A distin- guishing feature of the Bloomsbury Chapel system was also what was called the midsummer morning Sermon, being a service held at seven o'clock, on the Sunday nearest midsummer day, specially for ' young men and maidens,' but largely attended by members of his own and kindred congregations. This service saw held under Dr Brock's auspices for twenty years. It seems strange, then, to begin to speak of such a man in the past tense, while he is still in life and health, but, on the 12th of January last, Dr Brock read a letter to his congregation, notifying to them that, in conse- quence of increasing bodily infirmity, he should relin- quish his pastorate in September. At a special meeting of the church, on the 2'6th of January, resolutions were passed, expressing the sorrow of the congregation at the impending change, and embodying one which has now a melancholy significance, since it spoke in terms of warm commendation of Mrs Brock, who has recently been removed by death. Under these combined circumstances, a great gather- ing might well have been expected to listen to the last two sermons of one who was bound to them by so many ties, and who had attracted around him a large congregation, not so much by profound and eloquent preaching, as by a tone of earnest piety, which extended A PASTOR'S FAREWELL. 51 beyond his pulpit ministrations into all tLe varied works of Christian charity gathering round Bloomsbury Chapel as their centre. At the eleven o'clock service every seat in the spacious edifice was filled, a large majority of the con- gregation being men, and many of them gray-headed men. The service was of a solemn character, prayer, thanksgiving, canticle, and hymn, all bearing more or less directly on the subject of death. When the time for the sermon came, Dr Brock enunciated as his. text the 16th verse of the 71st Psalm, ' I will go in the strength of the Lord God,' etc., appropriately chosen as having been the portion of Scripture which formed the subject of his first sermon. Much, he said, as we like to hear about a man whose name we know, still more do we like to know how his plans have answered. He opened this chapel with the text, ' I will go in the strength of the Lord God,' and he would tell them how that resolution had answered, though a bereaved home and a trembling hand were scarcely the instruments he himself might have chosen for enforcing them. He asked them to bear with his defects, and, when necessary, to take the will for the deed. The entire enterprise was new when he entered upon it, and the wish of the projector and himself was to make the service adapted to the present generation; He had watched the times, and was well acquainted with current literature, so that he knew well what was wanted, while sixteen years at Norwich had also helped him in acquiring that knowledge. Will 'the plan suc- ceed in my haijds ? was the question he always asked himself, almost with awe. He had then, in his wife, a helpmeet for him, but it was still with much hesitation he accepted the charge. Fashionable as it was then to ignore Christ, it had be- come more so since, and his after experience taught him that his solicitude had not been premature. His work had been no child's play. ' He had been often nearly overpowered, and had never been so wise a- man as when he adopted the words of the test for his rule of 52 UNORTHODOX LONDON. action. His preaching, he said, had ever been plain and open as the trumpet-blast, and largely on the topics of the day. He had not come there as a scholar or a philosopher, but to preach Christ crucified, and the old- fashioned Evangelical doctrine. Leading articles and reviews had borne testimony to the cha,racter of his labours, and many living witnesses in all parts of the world, in Canada, Australia, and the far West, as well as in that church, had also testified to it, while some had .gone beyond the grave to bear their witness. All had not been success ; he had had disappointments, but it was not difficult to see that these had been blessings. The completion of his ministry proved that his adoption of the text was right. He recommended it to every church and to every man. A thousand indications might be seen of the struggle that was coming. Younger men wiU be put to the test. ' May God send you,' he said, ' a minister who will preach the Gospel, not taking his cue from novelists, dramatists, communists, or moralists, but ad- hering to the good old path.' The sermon was listened to with breathless attention, and many a tearful eye b.ore witness to the intensity of feeling with which both the words and the circumstances under which they had been spoken were received. A large portion of the congregation wore mourning, in respect to the memory of Mrs Brock. In the evening Dr Brock preached to a vast congre- gation from -2 Thessalonians i., ver. 10, ' Because our testimony among you was believed.' The Lord's Sup- per was administered to a full chapel, no less than twelve chalices having to be used. The service was not concluded until a late hour, and it was announced that the Rev. T. W. Handford, of Bolton, would occupy the pulpit next Sunday, the report being circulated that he was on trial ' for the pastorate.' On the following evening the special valedictory service was held in the chapel, when a large attendance of ministers took place, and the testimonial, which took the form of an annuity fund, was presented. On the THE WALWORTH JUMPERS. 53 following Thursday morning, Dr Brook appropriately concluded his very last ministration among Ms people by a celebration of the Lord's Supper. THE WALWORTH JUMPERS. SECT-HUNTING-, like misery, makes a man ac- quainted with strange companions, and familiarizes him with curious experiences ; but of all the religious phenomena with which I have yet been brought into contact, the latest, and certainly the very strangest, have been those connected with the ' Jumpers ' at Walworth — the Bible Christians, or Children of God, as they pre- fer to have themselves called. Acting on ' information I had received/ I went one Thursday evening to a certain railway arch in Suther- land Street, Walworth Road, beneath which, in a verit- able nineteenth-century church-in-the-catacombs style, I had been given to understand that the Jumpers gathered thrice a week to listen to the preaching of an inspired woman from Suffolk. There was no difficulty in finding the, place, for before half-past six o'clock a mob had gathered round the rough tarred hoarding which formed the entrance of the sanctuary, and had begun hoarsely to clamour for admission. The door- keeper, who evidently knew the material with which he had to deal, admitted the claimants slowly, one by one, after close scrutiny. Young Walworth, in the shape of ragged shock -headed boys and draggle-tailed girls, was rigidly excluded, and a section of New Cut swelldom got in only by dint of considerable manoeavring and no little physical persuasion. On the muddy path between the hoarding and the arch, a slight obstacle intervened in the shafts of a 54 UNORTHODOX LONDON. waggon drawn up right across the dark and sloppy roadway, on which a few planks were laid, like the Ma- hometan sword-bridge for the feet of the faithful. The building was nothing more than an arch of the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway, roughly boarded in, and lighted with sundry old window-sashes, of which the broken panes too suggestively recalled the missiles of the Walworth Gentiles. A few movable benches and a great many rough planks extemporized into seats, held the place of pews, and the only arrangement approach- ing the idea of a pulpit, was a carpenter's table at the further end of the edifice, covered with green baize, and furnished with two coffee-cups and a collecting box. A single gas-pipe ran longitudinally down the archway, whence descended two burners that shed a dim if not exactly a religious light as I entered. The archway was speedily filled with a congregation consisting of fustian-clad men, women in about the proportion of two to one man, and babies in more than adequate force. Broadcloth was slenderly represented, and one portion of it Slight have been well away, for it consisted of the New Cut swells, who ensconced themselves in a corner, and began to talk loudly and whistle with their hats on. These New Cut swells had evidently come in for a ' lark.' In deference, I presume, to something un-Walworth- like in my outer man, I was motioned to a seat near the carpenter's table, among the faithful, who had begun to gather. As they met, the brothers and sisters, or the sisters one among the other, saluted with a kiss of peace ; no half-and-half stage salute, but a good whack- ing kiss that echoed all over the archway, and amused the New Cut swells considerably, for they proceeded at once to imitate the sound, and to remark audiblv ' Aint it nice r ' A little before seven o'clock the ' minister ' entered a tall, thin, Sufi'olk peasant woman, of middle age, with high cheek-bones and piercing eyes. She was accom- panied by a young good-looking girl of twenty, and an inane-visaged man in a black cloth coat and cordu- THE WALWORTH JUMPERS. 55 roys — a sort of compromise between the chapel and the world. The woman herself was arrayed, unclerically enough, in a. red merino gown, and somewhat jaunty black bonnet. She had a large prominent mouth with ptojecting teeth, and the muscles around the jaw bore that peculiar appearance often observed in habitual speakers, being strongly developed, and giving a sort of animal appearance to the lower portion of the face. In a tone which at first struck me as somewhat affect- ed, she requested all those who could not stay until nine tp leave at once, as the door would be closed when service begun, and no exit allowed afterwards. This arrangement, she explained, was necessary on account of the outsiders, whose noisy clamours for admittance combined with the frequent passage of trains to mar the tranquillity of the evening. The New Cut gentlemen, too, were troublesome all along, but generally got as good as they gave from the minister, who was quite equal to the occasion, and evidently accustomed to in- terruption. For instance, when the swelldom in the corner said something particularly rude, she observed, ■ ' I had heard, among my Suffolk people, of the superior wisdom of the Londoners, but if this be London wisdom commend me to my Suffolk ignorance.^ She apologized for the 'ill-convenience' of the archway, and then the service began with a prayer by the young girl, who lifted one hand and prayed with fervour and a certain rough but genuine eloquence for ten minutes. She was followed, but not favourably, by the inane man ; then succeeded the minister herself, whose prayer was ' taller ' than the young girl's, but on that account not so eloquent. The girl reminded me forcibly of Dinah in 'Adam Bede.' The woman prayed volubly, and used her long arms freely in gesticulation. Know- ing what was to follow, I at first imagined that she was making mesmeric passes, but in this I was probably mistaken. After the box had been sent round, and a revival hymn sung, the sermon began. Now it, must be premised that the distinguishing doc- trine of these Children of God is the assurance that they 56 UNORTHODOX LONDON. will never die. Belief not only does away with previous sin, but exempts them from bodily death. The Lord is to come speedily and gather them to Himself, without the previous process of dissolution. From the date of their conversion, in fact, they are immortal. They die at conversion, and die no more. With peculiar delight, therefore, did I find the preacher selecting for her sub- ject the 11th chapter of St John, which contains the account of the resurrection of Lazarus. She spoke on this congenial topic for considerably more than an hour, but, instead of being content to take the narrative in its simple and beautiful form, she allegorized it in a way that would have astonished Origen himself. Lazarus, for instance, who had been four days dead, typified the people who died before the Mosaic dispensation 4000 years previously. Martha signified the Law, and Mary the Gospel. Speaking of the actual resuscitation, she kept asking, ' Why did Lazarus come back ? ' and the New Cut section, who would persist in thinking that every question was addressed personally to them, and demanded an audible reply, suggested that he 'Jiad got a return ticket.' 'No; he never was dead. He had died before,' etc. I am free to confess, however, that I should scarcely have gathered the peculiar doctrines of the sect from the sermon had I not come prepared with some previous knowledge, — so wrapped up was it in far- fetched imagery and aimlessly ' tall ' talk. • The sermon was fluent, and at times eloquent, but scarcely exciting. There was certainly not much in it to make one 'jump.' The preacher went so far as to assert that the brethren h^-d never ' given the under- taker a job yet, and didn't mean to.' I subsequently inquired the age and numbers of the sect, and found that it had been in existence seven years, and numbered some two hundred in London. It would be curious to calculate the effect of its wider extension on the present bills of mortality. Daring the discourse I had noticed more than one lady subside into an apparently comatose condition which I could easily have mistaken for natural sleeps — THE WALWORTH JUMPERS. 57 for tbe sermon was long and exciting — ^had I not noticed a peculiar twitching of the limbs, and an expres- sion of face like that which I have observed on the features of the mesmerised ; in fact, what mesmerisers call 'the superior condition.' The New Cut gentry- were immensely interested when these ladies began to drop off, and were proportionately disappointed when they woke up at the conclusion of the sermon, as though nothing had happened. I confess to. feeling dis- appointed myself when, after a queer, jumpy, John- Brown- Glory-Hallelujah kind of hymn, the meeting was dismissed without any Terpsichorean performance having taken place. However, we were not to be altogether unrewarded for our two hours' sojourn in that damp vault reeking with the odours of a too nearly- adjoining stable. When some . of the congregation had left — I think the New Cut swells among the number — two little girls got up and began to dance, much in the same way as they might do if a grinding-organ had struck up an appropriate air in a quiet street. They were followed by a youth of eighteen or nineteen, who hopped very much like Mr Stead in the 'Perfect Cure.' But all three wore that strange vacant countenance so suggest- ive of animal magnetism, and so diflScult — especially for children — to assume. A proud and happy father, dressed like a respectable tradesman,. stepped into the centre of the throng gathered round the children, and said, ' There, fellow Christians ! There's a sight to make you reflect. That is the power of the Holy Ghost.' It was, I agreed, a sight to make one reflect; but 1 could not quite follow the assertion as to its source. I spoke to a respectable woman next me, and learnt from her that every member of this sect, upon conversion, undergoes death — an actual process analogous to physical death, and exactly corresponding with it in external signs, only that it is not permanent. ' ' Some die very hard, in great agony,' she said ; 'others quite peace- fully.' They never 'jump' until after they have 'died;' that is, as I understand it, they are not liable to these S8 UNORTHODOX LONDON. magnetic affections in public, until they have been under the influence. Once under the influence, it may recur at any moment. I acquit the woman of having made mesmeric passes. I told her so, for she anticipated such an explanation, and disclaimed it. I am also well aware that to explain 'jumping ' by animal magnetism is very like explaining one difficulty by another; but I feel convinced that, whatever be the origin of the so-called mesmeric condi- tion, the same is the cause of 'jumping.' The magnetic ' sleep- waking ' may be induced without contact or passes — at least, so say its professors — and religious excitement is certainly an adequate cause to produce such an effect. ' Once dead, not only will they die no •more, but they suffer no pain, they feel no sorrow,' said my informant. During the whole of this time, the little girls and the hobbledehoy had gone on dancing ; and now a female who had up to this time been sitting still, grimacing and gesticulating in a slightly idiotic manner, jumped up and joined the dance. Her demeanour, however, was anything but happy ; she prayed as in an unknown tongue, and called out ' The devil ! the devil ! ' I mentioned this fact to the person with whom I was conversing, and she said, ' Yes, there is something wrong' — for even the immortals go wrong sometimes — adding, ' You see when they are in that state they have the gift of the prophecy and clear vision. She can see the state of those around.' I felt myself instinctively looking towards the corner the New Cut swells had vacated. Probably — as the spiritists would say — their presence had ' disturbed the conditions.' When deprecating to me any use of mesmerism or chloroform, the minister said, ' I wish I had been able to use the one or the other once or twice to-night,' alluding to those incorrigible gentlemen from Lambeth. I was of course obliged to personate an 'anxious inquirer' to the good lady who was my informant. She will see my little ruse now, aild — I hope — pardon me. I was an ' anxious inquirer,' though nob precisely in her. sense of the words. She begged me to come THE WALWORTH JUMPERS. 59 some evening 'if the Lord tarried/ to an address I will not name, because she gave it to me in confidence ; but it is there they have their more private meetings, and where ' deaths ' are of more frequent occurrence, though they may happen anywhere. The ' Children of God,' I found, had the Walworth 'world' up in arms against them. ' Some of the men wait for our brothers,' said a decent matron to me, ' and almost kill them.' Perhaps this is accounted for by the kissing", or, it may be, by the slender accommodation of the railway arch, which necessitates the exclusion of so many. It took two policemen to get us quietly out, and I kept on the qui vive, lest some honest Walworthian should mistake me for a ' brother.' The ' Jumpers ' are as old as history — older, as Nie- buhr tells us — in the persons of the Salii, or dancing priests of Mars ; and convulsionnaires have been common in many ages, and under widely different religious systems. My experiences beneath the railway arch at Walworth are only the latest, and certainly not the most picturesque or interesting, edition of phenomena rather curious than uncommon. JUMPBES OFF THE JUMP. IT is to the credit of our common humanity that eccentricities, whether of religious or of common life, tend to disappear with time. Either they are altogether eliminated, or they hide themselves from public gaze in proportion as cultivation advances. This fact has been curiously illustrated in the case of the Irvingites. In the days of their founder — the celebrated Edward Irving — ' miraculous tongues ' came suddenly into fashion; and, like Frankenstein, the gifted preacher 6o UNORTHODOX LONDON. was unable to lay the monster lie had raised. But as years advanced, and the sect grew in social status as well as in numbers, gradually the miraculous tongues fell into silence. On inquiry some years ago at the Irvingite Chapel on Paddington Green, I was informed that the gi^t of tongues was vouchsafed on a particular evening in the week, and then only in private — that is, in presence of none bub members of the Irvingite persuasion. If any one now pays a visit to the gorgeous cathedral-like building in Gordon Square, he will see nothing but an ultra- ornate service of the most decorous kind, and would no more expect ' miraculous tongues,' or anything else grotesque, than in Westminster Abbey or the Chapel Eoyal. What is called ' Spiritualism ' far excellence seems to be passing through the same phase. Dancing tables and locomotive bodies are giving way to trance-mediums and spirit-faces. This is all as it should be, and indicates a growing deference to common sense. t The same satisfactory process is traceable, though in an inferior degree, with regard to that remarkable body whose strange doings it was my lot to observe and chronicle — the Walworth Jumpers. They were, at the time I first saw them, in full swing, or rather 'jump,' under their uncomfortable railway arch, which became eventually too hot to hold them j and for a time the Jumpers were ' lost to sight.' After a brief retirement, however, the sect re-emerged into notice, and jumpings were again reported in a certain Little Bethel down a back slum in Chelsea, called College Place. Having reasons for renewing my acquaintance with the Jumpers, I steered my course for this retired spot, which is situated about midway between the South Kensington and Sloane Square Stations on the Metropolitan District Railway. The principal reason was this : One of the doctrines of this grotesque creed is, that its professors, upon adopting it, became immortal. They 'died' at conversion, and that obviated the necessity of any fur- ther submission to the ' common lot.' In fact, that ' lot ' was no longer ' common ' in their case. ' We JUMPERS OFF THE JUMP. 6i number two hundred, and have been in existence seven years without troubling the undertaker or th6 doctor/ were the words used to me by the gaunt Suffolk woman, Mrs Girling, who is the high priestess of Jumperism. I was informed, however, that .this ' death ' at conver- sion precisely resembled physical dissolution, and that Jumpers often ' died hard/ , My one desire was then to witness a Jumper's ' death,' and I was promised facilities for doing so. In the mean time the article on the Wal- worth Jumpers appeared — and simultaneously the body retired into private life. I never saw my Jumper's ' death,' and it appears I never shall. Even Jumperism has been paying its unconscious tribute to common sense and decency. It is sitting clothed, if not quite in its right mind, in College Place, Chelsea. The outward and visible sign of the Jumpers' taber- nacle at present is a sweep's broom projecting above the door of the next house, the sooty proprietor of which is accustomed to smoke his pipe at his front gate on evenings when the saints gather, and to indulge in rude remarks as they drive up in their neat phaetons and enter by the jealously guarded portal of Little Bethel. A fee of threepence is demanded of all non-Jumpers before they are allowed to enter, and the coin is found not only to fill the coffers of the Jumpers in a satisfactory way, but also to be prohibitory so far as regards the ' rough ' element, who were Mrs Girling' s chief opponents under the railway arch in Walworth. How far the de- mand of any fee for entrance into a place of public worship is legal, the Chelsea 'roughs' do not seem to have inquired. 1 have, sacrificed sixpence on the shrine of Jumperism, having attended the services on two evenings, and the result of my doing so is a conviction that the Jumpers are adapting themselves to the times. ' Cotch me a-payin' threepence to see their goings on,' was the derisive remark with which the gentleman next door closed our last conversation ; and I begin to think the sweep was right. Slowly, but perhaps the more surely, the Jumpers are gravitating towards common sense, and, as their uncommon nonsense was the only 62 UNORTHODOX LONDON. previous attraction, it becomes a question wkether it is worth while to visit them, unless, indeed, they ' lay on' the jumping again. The chapel in College Place is a cathedra], compared with the Walworth railway arch. It is a tolerably spacious building, well lighted and newly white- washed. I have come to the conclusion that chapels of this class are generally whitewashed in proportion to the pecu- liarity of the doctrines preached in them— the whiter the wash the stranger the creed. That of the Jumpers is transparently white, unmodified as yet by any soften- ing tint. The first Wednesday evening was a very quiet evening indeed. Some fifty persons of all classes were present, and on the platform, besides Mrs Girling and the pretty peasant girl and inane-visaged man who formed the ' ministry ' at Walworth, there were several other persons, w^om I catalogued in my rough notes as follows : Two sensible-looking men, two ditto women, one imbecile man, one ditto woman, one hobbledehoy, and three wooden-looking boys. These formed the choir, and sang the hymns very creditably, the pretty Dinah-looking girl leading the melody. Both she and Mrs Girling wore jaunty hats of the most unecclesiastical character ; and in all respects evidence was borne that the fortunes of the Jumpers had gone up. The kissing which took place between the brethren and sisters as they gathered, and which so provoked the ire of the chaste Walworthians, was more open and undisguised, • — every salute ringing through the building with a smart crack ; and, sooth to say, there were one or two of the sisters whom others than a Jumper might have been willing to greet. Three benches were placed so as to form an open square in front of the platform, like the orchestra or dancing-place for the chorus in the old Greek Theatre ; and here, I was given to understand, the jumping saints practised their devotions. The front seats were, of course, exclusively appropriated to the brethren and sisters. After a hymn, 'Jesus is here,' the inane man of the ancient triumvirate indulged in a sort of patter-prayer, most oflfensive in its glib-tongued JUMPERS OFF THE JUMP. 63 familiai'ity with sacred names and subjects. Then other hymns were sung, and Mrs Girling delivered a long rambling sermon, or rather an exposition of 2 Cor. iv. A cobbler, in his shirt-sleeves and leathern apron, was the only opposing element in that evening's proceedings. He commenced operations by singing -n-rong tunes to the hymns in a shrill falsetto — though that did not matter much, for Dinah easily sang him down ; but in the middle of Mrs Girling's sermon he put an abstruse theological question to the preacher, and, not receiving a satisfactory reply, strode off in the most majestic manner, uttering against the saints maledictions which were both loud and deep. When the meeting broke up without any ' manifestations,' there were some signs of dissatisfaction, and a few requests that money should be returned at the doors. However most of the congre- gation went, while I and a few others remained. Getting into conversation with Mrs Girling, who is most gra- ciously accessible, she distinctly repudiated the doctrine of the immortality of the saiats, which she explained by saying that Christ was coming immediately, and there- fore the elect would not die — a position which, as I vainly strove to show her, was common to a dozen sects, and which, it was equally futile to prove, was contrary to the express words of Scripture. ' "Twas throwing words away;' and Mrs Girling had so many more to throw away than myself, that I succumbed, and departed. The next Wednesday opened in a somewhat more promising manner. After a hymn, ' Across the river ' (pronounced in an affected w£of those not so far off, who, like the vagabond Jews in the chapter containing the text, did all they could to THE BIBLE CHRISTIANS. 67 -bring discredit on religion. He begged to disclaim all connection with these persons. ' They are/ he said, ' the enemies of Christ, and a stigma on the name of Christian. God have mercy on them 1 ' After a brief allusion to the ' false science ' of the day, so like that of Bphesus, and the false shame of Christians, which made them fear, the sneer of man more than the frown of God, the preacher Concluded a sermon which was well adapted to his coiagregation, but certainly the reverse of sensational. The service was over in less than an hour and a half, and concluded with a hymn and final prayer. Not only were there no violations of good taste in the discourse, but, in one or two points, there was evidence of scholarship, as, for instance, in the description of the circus, and of the Temple of Diana at Bphesus. Nor were these elements out of place. The congregation evidently followed and appreciated those portions of the discourse, which, on looking round, one might have feared would be a little above their comprehension. In subsequent conversation with the minister, and by Reference to the minutes and report of the Conference of 1871, I learnt that the body called the 'Bible Chris- tians ' seceded from the Methodists some fifty years ago. The cause of secession was that one O'Bryan, who aspired to be an Evangelist, was held ineligible on account of being a family man. The body of Bible Christians is, therefore, historically a standing protest against the celibacy of Evangelists. Their terms of Church-membership are the same as those of the Wes- leyans, with a natural leaning to the side of liberality. The sect originated in Bast Cornwall, and their num- bers are still large in the western counties. They also have missions in Canada, America, and Australia. By carefully elaborated tabular statements, I find the total ' strength of the body to be over twenty-five thousand, and their number of chapels in the various stations of the home department four hundred and six, realizing a revenue for the year of between eleven and twelve thousand pound*. London holds a very insigaificant 68 UNORTHODOX LONDON. position in point of numbers, possessing under two hundred full members, with only three chapels. The congregation at the Jubilee Chapel was far from large; certainly the building was not half full. The majority of persons seemed to belong to the lower and middle class of tradespeople. The two literary organs of the body are ' The Bible Christian's Magazine ' and ' The Youth's Miscellany.' Although the Bible Christians repudiate the woman whose ministrations at Walworth have lately become notorious, the female ministry is an institution among them, in so far that one Catherine Harris is down in their ' Clergy List ' as having officiated near Bodmin. In this, as in many other respects, the Bible Christians have, no doubt, kept pace with the times. For instance, I was specially informed that if I attended the public chapel I should find a ' masculine ministry.' This, as we have seen, \*^as the case ; and the female element is, moreover, represented by the single unit above men- tioned — the objectionable term of ' superannuated ' even standing over against the ecclesiastical lady's name. But, in the earlier records of the society, as gathered from the 'Jubilee Memorial Volume,' it appears that, in former years, female ministrations were much more frequent. Not only was Mrs O'Bryan, for instance, the original cause of strife, but she herself officiated, as well as her liege lord. No doubt a growing deference to public opinion explains at once the dying out of these irregular ministrations, as also the wider margin that now sunders this body from the Eanters, Jerkers, Jumpers, Rollers, Shakers, &c. In so far, then, as the name of Bible Christian can be appropriated by any one religious sect, it belongs to a peculiarly innocuous and utterly unsensational body of Wesleyans, separated, some fifty years ago, from the main stock by one of those hair-splitting distinctions without a difierence that have caused so many offshoots from the parent stem. It is, in fact, a point of discipline rather than of doctrine that divides them ; and, origin- ally, no schism at all seems to have been contemplated THE SURREY TABERNACLE. 69 by the connubial Evangelist any more ttan by the Wesleys themselves from the Church of England. There would appear in the half century of this body's existence to have been a disintegrating process at work in almost all religious communities. It is, perhaps, enthusiastic to hope that the obviously different way in which the tide of religious feeling now sets may one day gather the outlying sects of Methodism into one body, and the aggregate body itself into the comprehensive embrace of a National Church. Amid all the confessed diffi- culties of such a result, there are good and far-seeing men who will not acknowledge it to be impossible, or even improbable. None will doubt that ' it is a consummation devoutly to be wished ; ' and the visit to such an out- lying body as the Bible Christians — sober, decqrous, and capable of doing great good — makes one regret its comparative isolation, since the result thereof must in- evitably be to narrow its range and dW'arf its powers of usefulness. THE SURREY TABERNACLE. IT is inevitable, in religious even more than in secular matters, that every man of mark shall have his imitators, every man of substance his shadow. Failing originality, the next best method is closely to copy a man who is original ; and probably in this respect no one, save perhaps Whitfield himself, ever had so large a crowd of followers as Mr Spurgeon. Even in the Established Church itself, it is quite certain that Mr Spurgeon's oratory — for he is an orator, born not made — has given its tone to the preaching of a very coii- siderabie section not only of Evangelical but Ritualistic clergy; whilst one or two individual preachers could be named, the resemblance of whose style to the 70 UNORTHODOX LONDON. Apostle of Newington, is somefliiiig more than a coin- cidence. But, besides these — ^it may be unconscious- imitators, Mr Spurgeon has a veritable nmhra or shadow in the person of Mr James Wells,* who not only belongs to a branch of the same religious body— the Baptists — but has even gone so far as to found- a rival Tabernacle on the very outskirts of Mr Spurgeon's district; a kind of Gerizim compared with Zion, and not altogether dissimilar from the ancient institution in point of religious animosity. For, as ' the Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans,' so do the followers of Mr Wells regard the followers of Mr Spurgeon, ' and vice versa, the disciples of Mr Spurgeon those of Mr Wells as what we, from State Church point of view, are compelled to regard both alike — to wit. Unorthodox. Mr James Wells and his fqllowers belong to that more exclusive branch of the Baptist body termed ' Strict Baptists;' the term being applied to them because they rigidly deny Communion and Church fellowship to all but members of their own body. In their arguments against the Psedo-Baptists, they insist on the literal rendering of the Greek word ^airTiCai, and argue that it cannot be made synonymous with mere sprinkling, but of necessity demands immersion; and on this ground they feel justified in excluding from their communion all who do not hold the same views on that which to an outsider does not seem so very important a question. That this is no over- statement of their case is evident from the following passage in Booth's 'Apology 'for the Baptists : ' ' Whj do our brettren censure us as Tmcharitably rigid and inoorrigibl& bigots ? The principal reason appears to be this : tbey, ia general, admit that immersion La the name of the triune God, on a profession of faith in Jesus Christ, is baptism, real baptism ; while our fixed and avo-wed persuasions will not permit us to allow that infant sprinkling, though performed with the greatest solemnity, is worthy of the name. Consequently, though they, consistently with their own principles, may receive us to * Mr WeUs is since deceased. THE SURREY TABERNACLE. 71 a communion among them, yet we cannot admit them to fellow- ship with U8 at the Lord's table without contradicting our pro- fessed sentiments,' It is, then, as the umbra of Mr Spurgeon, and an exponent of the doctrines of this ' straitest sect ' of the body represented by him, that Mr James Wells demands a notice heue. The Strict Baptists have pitched their Tabei-nacle very near indeed to their less exclusive brethren at Newington, namely, in Wansey Street, Walworth Road. Here a very successful imitation — in miniature, of course — of the great Tabernacle, has been erected ; and Mr James Wells, whose origin is a very humble one indeed, is the minister. The congregation, as may be expected from the exclusive test of Church metobership, is by no means so large, even in proportion to the dimensions of ■the chapel, as Mr Spurgeon's; but still there was a very fair gathering when I visited it one Sunday morning. Nearly all seemed, of the lower middle or small tradesman^ class. In fact,. Mr Wells's oratory is scarcely of a style calculated to influence the educated mind, though powerful enough as addressed to those of a different calibre. The service was exactly the same as that which prevails at other dissenting chapels, con- sisting of a hymn, an exposition of Scripture, a. prayer, and a second hymn, forming the prelude to the sermon, which last, of course, according to this theory, forms the staple reason for assembling. The preached word is, so to say, the piece de resistance. The hymns on this occasion were well sung by the whole body of worship- pers; the last, which was 'Luther's Hymn,' seeming to call forth all their sympathies, especially in its anti- cipations of the horrors of the Last Judgment. The exposition, based on Golossians i., was a simple para- phrase calling for no special remark ; whilst the prayer, though involving a flow of words, was spasmodic, and the reverse of pleasing to a person not ' to the manner born.' The text of the sermon was taken from Psalm cii., V. 22 : ' When the people are gathered together, and the kingdoms, to serve the Lord.' Without per- 72 UNORTHODOX LONDON, haps being altogether a typical sermon, it still put forward strongly the Calvinistic principles of the sect, and was delivered in very plain homely English. Pass- ing over the annual gatherings of the Jews, at the three great feasts of Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles, the preacher applied the words to Christians of the present day, and considered, in the customary threefold division— 1st, the people; 2nd, their ingathering ; 3rd, the object of such ingathering, 'to serve the Lord.' We must first of all be 'regenerate' — that word so prolific in religious strife ! — :and then we ' come into experiences.' Even the people of God get low some- times. They are reborn to a consciousness of destitu- tion. ' Ah, that fallen nature ! that wicked heart ' (I am afraid it ought to be written ' 'art ') ' of ours ! ' This was the sentiment that ran, like a refrain, through the whole burden of Mr Wells's sermon. Then occurred a strange and somewhat complicated metaphor: 'As well may a withered autumnal leaf attempt to quench the conflagration of the globe, as a sinner try to do any- thing good.' Now, the consciousness of this necessity commends us to God. Often these ' poor destitute' say, / 1 can't pray ' — forgetting there are prayers which cannot be prayed, or which they do not call prayers. This was aptly illustrated by the simile of the infant who can only- cry, but not articulately express its wants. It needs a mother to find out what that cry signifies. So does God answer these ' unprayed prayers.' Detail- ing the different forms of 'commendation to God,' the preacher would ' name a Scripture or two.' (a) There was necessity, as in the case of the publican compared with the Pharisee, the blind man, the leper, &c. Then O) Faith. Everything is possible to him that believes. The sycamore tree has a deep strong root ; yet a grain of faith uproots it. ' I was reading the account of the root of the " sycamine "-tree the other day, and how deeply it is imbedded in the earth ; and then I thought of what Christ said, and it did me good.' Then there is (y) Prayer — even these prayers that can't be prayed. The Christian often doesn't know what he wants. ' He's THE SURREY TABERNACLE. 73 an uneasy creature. ' What do you ^?^nt ? ' says God. ' I don^t know/ replies the Christian ; 'but God knows.' Then, with regard to the ingathering, Christ is the centre of unity. The principle of unity is well set forth in the couplet : ' When nothing in themselves they see, but Christ is all in all.' Martyrs have weighed flames against an apostatizing conscience, yet never wavered. ' I have proved this too,' said Mr Wells, ' in the forty years that have gone by since I stammered out my first discourse, and am still where I then was, in God's truth ; and the mere book-read minister, the mere man- made pastor, is not the man to find out the righteous for this ingathering.' Having 'named a great many Scriptures ' in illustration of this point, he added — and it seemed to me an instance of preaching down to a congregation rather than leading a congregation up to the preacher — 'The sheep of Bozrah make a great noise. Now, the world can't endure that the people of God should make a noise. We haven't half enough noise among Free Grace Preachers. We hope to make a good deal more noise yet.' Again, Israel passed out of Egypt by means of the Paschal Lamb. 'And that's the gate, sir,' added Mr Wells, addressing no- body in particular, of course, but reminding one very forcibly of the way the little boys cry out the papers at a railway station, though apostrophizing nobody of the ■ male sex individually. ' You'll pass out of trouble, sii', and by and by pass out of the world by this Paschal Lamb.' Then, lastly, 'You'll say you haven't got through your text yet. Well, it's as much as I have ; but I do like dwelling on these experiences.' To serve the Lord was the object of this ingathering of the Jews at the annual festivals. It is important to serve God with gladness. ' If you want to get away from God's service, depend upon it you will one of these days.' Thence, by way of'anti-climax, the sermon passed into a demand for the ' usual quarterly collection.' Thanks to the liberahty of the congregation, there was not much need existing, but still he begged them to give something, 'just by way of amusement.' 74 UNORTHODOX LONDON. Now, here was^a sermon occupying- an hour in de- livery, fluently enunciated without notes, and eagerly listened to by a large congregation, who certainly would not have appreciated the most polished preacher reading a model composition from MS. There was, moreover, a shorthand reporter taking down the discourse verba- tim, which is published on the Wednesday succeeding its delivery, and sold for one penny ; and so the simple pastor's thoughts become literally 'household words' amongst his flock. I saw them liberally investing their pennies in the purchase of these sermons at the Taber- nacle door ; and one poor man who did so looked up at me as I passed, and almost smacked his lips as he said, ' Eh, he was good this mornin', wasn't he ? ' I cordially endorsed his opinion ; for I could not help thinking as I passed along the slums of Lambeth that it is thus — though in a form I may not altogether like — great ideas get instilled and infiltrated into the minds of the masses. Better than loafing in the New Cut that my simple friend should have spent his time and his penny at Mr Wells's Tabernacle, even though it be true, as some tell us, that if Mr Wells is the shadow of Spurgeon, Spurgeon is the shadow of Whitfield. Better, I repeat, even though our preacher of this morning shall, under ' such a view, have been only that most attenuated of all things, the ' shadow of a shade.' It is not eloquence of a very high order, perhaps; but still it is far better than the spurious eloquence of the infidel or pseudo- patriot ; as we may see in the following passage ex- tracted from the published sermon of Mr Wells, for which I saw my poor friend part with his evidently hard- eanied penny. The sermon is entitled 'The Good Shepherd's Voice : ' ' Perhaps I have more confused you than not in branching out upon this part ; but I am very fond of going from part to part in the mediation of Christ. I do not find the grass so sweet any- where as it is there ; I do not find the still waters rise anywhere as they do there ; I do not get so much honey and oil out of the rock anywhere as I do there ; I do not get so much boldness to live and die anywhere as I do there ; I do not see so much of God anywhere as I do there ; I do not see my sins and lose my fear of THE PARTICULAR BAPTISTS. 75 tLem any wkere as I do there j and I do not lose my troubles and rebellions anywhere as I do there. There I am. satisfied as with marrow and fatness, and am ready to say, — " My wUKng soul would stay In such a scene as this ; And sit and sing herself away To everlasting bliss." 'What a wonderful voice ! It may well be said that " never man spake like this man." Who could ingather otir souls as He has done P Who could have such a voice for us as He has by Calvary's wondrous cross .f There is every endearment there.' THE PARTICULA.R BAPTISTS. AMONGST other generalizings into which. I have been led in my study of numerous outlying bodies of Chris- tians, one very noticeable has been a sort of reticence — which I am unwilling to dignify with the title of modesty — on the part of a few sects. This feature has been most apparent where the tenets or practice of the body in question run violently counter to common sense or the ordinary observances of intelligent people. In the large majority of cases, I have supplemented the know- ledge gained from observation with that afforded me by members of the sect I am describing. Sometimes — as, for instance, in the cases of such unknown bodies as the Sandemanians and the Christadelphians — I have incorporated into my narrative the actual words supplied by courteous and intelligent professors of their tenets. In fact, there have been only three instances where in- formation has been refused or withholden. The Irving- ites and Positivists declined to supply such particulars as I sought, on the expressed and perfectly intelligible grounds that they did not wish for publicity. The Par- ticular Baptists, in the person of a leading man in their 76 UNORTHODOX LONDON. ranks, simply did not accord me the courtesy of an answer to my letter. It may be inferred, perhaps, that this silence was due to a wish to remain in obscurity ; yet such can scarcely be the case, since the very gentle- man to whom I allude advertises in a halfpenny local paper every week as follows : ' New Testament Baptists. — This ancient section of the visi- ble Church being much misunderstood, it is believed to be right to announce that the principles and practical efforts of Particular Baptists are more fully represented in the monthly issues of " The Earthen Vessel and Christian Eecord " than by any other publi- cation in existence. " The Earthen Vessel" has been edited for 27 years by Charles Waters Banks, the present Minister of John- son Street Chapel,, Netting HiU.' I have therefore been driven back in this case upon my original method, which, it may be remembered, was simply to visit each several place of worship, and faith- fully to record what I saw and heard. The fact that inferences so formed might occasionally do injustice to particular bodies of Christian people, led me to supple- ment such observation with personal inquiry. In this instance, if I fall into such error, the fault will rest not with me, but with those who refused the ordinary civility of a reply. Johnson Street Chapel and ' The Earthen Vessel ' form the only data for my observations. The recent deaths of two of the greater lights in the Strict Baptist Communion — Mr John Forman and Mr James Wells — seemed to render some notice of the sect oppor- tune at the moment ; else I might have been tempted to devote a little more time to unearthing this some- what retiring body of rehgionists. As it is, I must plead guilty to committing my crude ideas to paper after two visits to Mr Banks's Chapel at Netting Hill, and the perusal of a number of that singularly titled periodical, ' The Earthen Vessel,' to the contents of which I shall venture to direct critical attention by and by. Johnson Street is a dingy, ill-favoured slum, turning south out of High Street, Netting Hill, near the site of the former turnpike-gate, which still gives its traditional name to the spot as well as to the adjacent station of the THE PARTICULAR BAPTISTS. -^ Metropolitan Railway. At the comer of Johnson Street gather on a Sunday evening knots of those nondescript animals that are neither boys nor young men — neither gentle nor 'rough/ — but described under the wide category of ' cads/ making night hideous with their vile language, viler cigars, and vilest gallantries to the young ladies who also congregate in that locality. The Par- ticular Baptist Chapel situated, with such surroundings, in Johnson Street, is a low, beetle-browed edifice, bearing on its front the outward and visible signs of the strictest sect of Calvinism, as though one should have written thereupon the stern motto, ' All hope abandon, ye who enter here.' The porch and pillars of the edifice are much placarded with printed notices of ' The Earthen Vessel ' — ^the periodical publication I have mentioned as devoted to the interests of the sect, and edited by the pastor of the Johnson Street congregation; who, by the way, strict as his principles may be, does not hesitate to forget his Sabbatarianism, so far as concerns vending the current number of ' The Earthen Vessel ' among the faithful gathered for their Sunday devotions. ' An official undertakes the colportage from pew to pew, and the waiting congregation invest their pence in the ' organ ' with the grim air of doing something necessary to salvation. On neither occasion when I visited Johnson Street Chapel could I say that there was anything very dis- tinctive in the service or sermon. There was a good deal of handshaking and general conversation going on, contemporaneously with the trading in ' Earthen Vessels,' before the commencement of the service. Then a hymn was sung, after being conscientiously read through, to the familiar tune of ' French,' announced by a gentleman in the gallery. During the hymn a practi- cal door at the back of the pulpit opened in quite a sensational manner, and Mr Banks glided into the rostrum. He read 1 Kings xvii. without comment, and then uttered a long exteinpore prayer of that class which, it always strikes the hearer, would do equally well for a sermon,; nay, is, in many respects, a preliminary sermon 78 UNORTHODOX LONDON. in disguise. Then another hymn was sung ; the Jack-ui- the-box-like gentleman in the gallery again getting up and shouting out, it seemed almost incoherently/ Blooms- bury ! ' — which again referred to the tune. Then came the sermon, which, from some physical defects, fatal to oratory, it was not easy to hear, though Mr Banks did not spare himself. The text was taken frc^m 2 Kings, chap, ii., ver. 12 : ' And he saw him no more.-" It was divided in the staple threefold fashion, touching sepa- rately: 1. On the fact that Elijah was taken up. 2.' That Blisha saw him taken up. 3. That he then saw him no more. In days before books, the preacher said, God, amongst other methods, taught by men's names. Elijah formed a pretty long chapter in such teaching. He sprang up all at once ; and the scenes of his life were typical of Christ. He went to the widow of Sarepta, who had a little oil and a little meal — that is, she had only a, little of God's Spirit. She was a type of the Church. God sends his Son to the starving. Elijah was the true prophet, when many false ones were in the world. ' I don't say we have many false prophets in our day,' said the preacher, warming up to a climax ; ' but there are some. They shall be put down as Elijah put down the prophets of Baal. I would to God these false prophets had no false fire. Men can't always dis- tinguish false fire.' Here the mention of the priests of Baal beguiled the preacher into a long and highly allegorical adaptation of the sacrifice to modern times. The altar was Christ's humanity. The dust, stones, water around it were our sins. The fire came down and took them away. ' Just so the fire has taken damna- tion and death from all Christians. All frailty is taken clean away ! ' 'I remember well,' continued the preacher, waxing personal as he progressed, ' when God came and raised me up. The whirlwind had come and knocked me down. Elijah was taken ; but should no one follow him with healing power ? Gospel ordinances may be all very well, so may well-tuned harmonies ; but all are of no avail without ■salt,' (I confess myself THE PARTICULAR BAPTISTS. 79 utterly lost amidst the imagery of this passage, and can but (juote mechanically.) ' If a man can change his religion once, .he can do it any number of times; but God's people are glueA to him ! ' Prom these few ex- tracts, it will readily be gathered that the style of Mr Banks's pulpit oratory is somewhat colloquial. Indeed no more perfect example of the homely style could, perhaps, be adduced than the closing sentences of his protracted discourse : ' Where do you live now ? Why, a Christian man is living in lodgings. His 'ome is in •"eaven.' There may be, let us confess, better things in a sermon than literary merit or eloquence ; and one could not hear the preacher at Johnson Street Chapel without feeling sure that he was sincere, and conscientiously believed his Oalvinistic creed. Of Mr Banks as editor with twenty-seven years' experience, one cannot speak so leniently. Of course ' The Earthen Vessel ' is not exactly the kind of periodical which a casual reader ■would take up for an hour's light amusetuent. Nearly the whole of the number I consulted is occupied with' prose and poetical notices of Mr Porman ; but I regret exceedingly to say that Mr Banks allows hia correspond- ■ents to talk in more than one passage of 'sfrii-ling' faith, and to say that ' Mr R. L. still lays in affliction.' The verbiage of the sect, too, is prominent. Such and such a congregation has come out on the principles of free grace and strict communion j whilst the writer of a letter subscribes himself ' Yours, in covenant love,' and Brother Flory, at Cheltenham, holds a short afternoon service, ' which are often useful to those who cannot get out morning or evening.' 8o UNORTHODOX LONDON. THE UNITED PRESBYTERIANS. THE recent occurrence of the Presbyterian Tercen- tenary celebration naturally turned the thoughts of an erratic church-goer in the direction of a body which has so many associations, historical as well as theological, to recommend it to notice ; though I candidly confess to having set out on my Sunday peregrinations, for once, without much in the way of chart or compass, save in so far that I determined to visit a Presbyterian place of worship, under the idea that I should hear something of the celebration that had been taking place during the previous week. Now — as I have had to re- mark more than once before, in reference to other re- ligious bodies — one of the earliest discoveries made in the study of Nonconformity is the amazingly prolific character of the subject. Grouped under such a general head 'as Presbyterianism, for instance, are several sub- divisions ; and, as fate determined, it was to one of the less known branches I unintentionally drifted, instead of carrying out my original purpose of visiting some representative of what is usually considered the main body. Through a misdirection I failed to reach the church of Dr Donald Eraser, whom I had intended, as far as I had definite intentions at all, to mjake my repre- sentative man of English Presbyterianism ; and, instead of reaching my destination, I found myself in the church of St Paul's, Westbourne Grove, a place of worship be- longing not to the English Presbyterian Church form- ally so named, but to the body called the United Pres- byterians — it might seem almost on the lucus a non principle, seeing they are not united with the parent stem. I believe, however, the name was given on ac- count of their uniting into one several difierent offshoots THE UNITED PRESBYTERIANS. 8i wMch had from time to time separated themselves from the main trunk of Presbyterianism. St Paul's Churchj Westboume Grovej is a handsome Gothic building, and both internally and externally somewhat out of keeping with what one has, rightly or wrongly, been accustomed to consider the genius of Presbyterianism. I confess to having made up my mind to ' undergo ' a Sunday morning service at one of these churches as a not very pleasurable ordeal. I must acknowledge myself agreeably surprised in my experiences at St Paul's, which present themselves to my mind as a new endorsement of the principle that one should not judge any religious body beforehand or on hearsay — the very obvious deduction and moral of those studies in which I have been now for so long a time engaged. The congregation was not large by any means — in fact, there was but a sprinkling of people in the pews; but then it was raining pitilessly outside, and, moreover, the minister, the Rev. Walter Morison, B.A., is comparatively new, having only about a year since come frpm Glasgow to succeed the Rev. Dr King, now of Edinburgh. What surprised me very much more than the thinness of the congregation was to hear an excellent choir, singing, as I entered, to the accom- paniment of an equally excellent organ, not the old- fashioned unrhymed version of the Psalms which I had expected, but a hymn from a metrical collection. The old rugged Presbyterian Psalter was, indeed, bound up with these hymns ; but little of it was used during the service at St Paul's. The form of worship, indeed, was the very reverse of iriste. There was a brightness and cheeriness about it for -which, I fancy, few outsiders would have been prepared. After the preliminary hymn, the minister, a middle-aged, bearded gentleman, with just enough of the north-country accent to give a Scot- tish flavour to his ministrations, read from the pulpit the 104th Psalm, which was followed by what was quaintly enough called ' The Te Deum Chant.' It was, in fact, the Te Deum sung to an Anglican chant, modu- lating into the minor at the proper place, and then 6 82 UNORTHODOX LONDON. back again to tlie major towards the conclusion, just as is now the custom in the Church of England. In fact, as far as musical performance went, St Paul's Presby- terian Church was something more than on a par with the average of London churches. The Te Deum was followed by a second lesson from the New Testament, for which Mr Morison selected St. Matthew vi., 24 to the end — ^being that portion of the Sermon on the Mount where the Great Master schooled men in God's providence from the object-lessons of the birds and the flowers. This selection afforded a good illustration of the advantage to be derived from a discretionary power being vested in the minister as regards the choice of Scripture lessons — a principle already in a measure adapted in the new Lectionary of the Church of England by the arrangement of alternative lessons for the Third Sunday service, the Second Lesson being, in such case, left absolutely to the discretion of the reader.. In this instance the noble sketch of God's care in Nature in the 104th Psalm worked up to the lessons of Divine Providence in the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount j and this again dovetailed with the subject of the sermon — a symmetry which could have resulted from no fortuitous juxtaposition of Scripture lessons, however individually appropriate. The Second Lesson was followed by a rather long and very fervent extem- pore prayer, and then a portion of the same 104th Psalm — metrical version — was sung. The Lord's Prayer fol- lowed, ending the simple and therefore efTective service ; after which, without leaving the pulpit, Mr Morison commenced his sermon. I should have mentioned that he wore during the whole service the ordinaiy preacher's gown and large Geneva bands, rather forensic than ecclesiastical in their dimensions. The text was taken from the second chapter of the Song of Solomon, verses 10, 11, and 12 : 'Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away; for lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone ; the flowers appear on the earth ; the time of the singing of birds is come and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.' In the THE UNITED PRESBYTERIANS. 83 spiritual reading of this Cantiolej the preacher said, the Bridegroom is Christ, and the Bride the Church. Spring may be taken to represent any period in history when Christ leads forth the Church with joy. Such a period under the Old Dispensation was the return of the Jews from captivity. Such, too, were the Gospel era and Pentecost J such the Reformation in Europe ;• such the Revival of Missions and other times of refresh- ing, both in America and our own land. The Church literally hears the voice of Christ. Now, however, in the actual springtide God is writing this text in letters of ilowers, and speaking it in ■ the song of the birds. Let us, he said, learn the lessons deducible therefrom. 1. That God's scheme is not one of bare utilitarianism. We take, he urged, too. narrow a view of that word ' useful.' It applies not only to what is materially useful ; it may apply to a poem, a picture, or a grand composition in music. Look out, and see what kind of a world God has made. It is not a mere granary or workshop. See written in the blue sky, the green earth, the gleaming sea, the fact that beauty is an attribute of God. A broader piety will result from recognizing this fact. 2. Spring tells us of the good- ness and love of God. The world, as a whole, is made for happiness. It is not a prison, but a home. The beautiful is everywhere mingled with the useful. And yet it is not that God is not just. Gather the rose carelessly, and you find the thorn ; grasp at the water- lily, and you will drown. So in the moral world. Break its laws, and you suffer. The flowers are no heretical preachers, but most evangelical in this respect. 3. Spring teaches God's care in providence. The poor man goes out from the city and sits him down on a primrose bank, where the birds are singing above him. God speaks to him there, though not by a minister or a Bible. The primrose says to him, ' If your God is the same as mine, will He not care for you as well as me ? ' The bird's voice becomes articulate, and says the same. It was the very lesson that was taught to the fainting heart of the traveller, when he was seemingly lost in the 84 UNORTHODOX LONDON. wilderness. A single tiny flower told him of God's care, and inspired fresh effort. 4. God is faithful to His promise. The ' time ' of the singing of birds is come. To everything there is a time. God's providence is an intelligent oversight. 5. After sorrow comes joy. Spring succeeds winter. So in reaction after trials, in recovery from sickness, in alleviation after bereavement. So, also, in spiritual things is there what may be likened to the clear shining after rain. After the sense of sin comes the feeling of acceptance. There comes new life. Every backsliding is a relapse into winter; every re- acceptance a renewal of spring. And,- lastly, the Christian's death, happy and beautiful, repeats the initiatory words of the text, ' Rise up, my love, my fair one ; come away,' &c. The special lesson, carefully de- duced, was that we should be ready at God's call to go forth to any state of experience to which He summons us. Such are the merest outlines of a sermon which, it will be at once apparent, was the very reverse of dry or didactic. Some might even have objected that it was florid, but it was certainly in keeping with the church where it was delivered and the religious exercises by which it was preceded. The whole service, which lasted only from eleven to half-past twelve, ended with a brief extempore prayer and the Apostolic Benediction. Mr Morison had no assistaqce, conducting a morning and evening service, with sermon at each, entirely by him- self. I am indebted to the courtesy of the minister of St Paul's for supplementing my imperfect observations with definite and authentic information. The United Pres- byterian denomination has, he tells me, five hundred congregations in Scotland, and upwards of a hundred in England, some ten or a dozen of these being in London or the neighbourhood. The congregation is distinguished by being one of a few Presbyterian bodies which have adopted the aid of instrumental music in worship. The body is Evangelical in doctrine ; and as respects Church government, does not favour the theory of establishments; in this respect differing somewhat THE UNITED PRESBYTERIANS. 85 from tte Free Church in Scotland, and the .English Presbyterian Church. Negotiations for union, however, between the denominations are at present going on, and are not unlikely to be successful. The sentiment was strongly expressed in connection with the Tercen- tenary Celebration, in which some of the United Pres- byterians took part, that a divided Presbyterianism was an unworthy state of things after the lapse of 300 years. It was thought that the condition of Presbyterianism in the time of Elizabeth and for a while afterwards, showed it not to be an exotic in English soil. With regard to the claim of Presbyterianism to be the parent of British Nonconformity, it may not be uninteresting to quote a few words from a series of papers which appeared some years ago in a High-Church magazine, called 'The Old Church Porch,' edited by the Eev. W. J.'E. Bennett, of Frome. The animus of the papers would be inferred from the source, as also from the title under which they have been republished, ' The Church's Broken Unity.' This, however, is not to the purpose. The facts are more important than the deduc- tions. It is in these terms allusion is made to the subject of my present paper : ' When I gave you a list of the Separatists who surround and mutilate the Church of our Blessed Redeemer, I placed at the head of them the Presbyterians ; and I think I rightly placed them there, because the tenets which they hold are the source and fountain from which every other separation has flowed. Presbyterianism is the womb out of which has issued from time to time that innumer- able progeny of modem unbelief, scepticism, heresy, schism, and separation which has injured and threatens to destroy the Church of Christ.' These are bitter words, and, as such, would be out of place here, except as enabling us to place Presbyterianism on its proper pedestal as^what I have ventured to term it, and this quotation endorses it — the parent of British Noncon- formity ; some would, of course, say the parent of free thought and private judgment in Britain. As such — whether in the way of approval or disapproval, and we 86 UNORTHODOX LONDON. express neither here — we cannot neglect it. The ier- centenary Celebration has, indeed, come and gone, with a perhaps ominous quietude; but it set me thinking, and doubtless set others as well ; and may not impos- sibly have the effect of lending an interest beyond its own to this brief account of one of the later develop- ments of the oldest branch of Nonconformity in Great Britain. The United Presbyterian Church has a considerable number of missionaries in the West India Islands, and in Cafifraria, India, and China. It raised for all purposes during the year 1871, the sum of £325,176, this being somewhat over its ordinary income, which is contributed entirely in a voluntary way by the people. A,mong the more literary names of the ministers and members of the denomination at the present hour may be mentioned : — Dr John Brown, author of ' Rab and His Friends,' and 'Hor» Subsecivse,' son of Dr John Brown, the commentator, and great-grandson of John Brown, of Haddington, a Vue ' Scotch worthy ; ' George Gilfillan, of Dundee, the critic ; Dr Cairns, of Bei-wick ; Professor Calderwood, of Edinburgh University; and Dr Eadie, a member of the New Testament Revision Committee, and well known for his exegetical writings. THE CATHOLIC APOSTOLIC CHURCH. OF all the religious phenomena of the present genera- tion, the strangest, if not in its original idea, certainly in its subsequent developments, is that pre- sented by ' Irvingism,' as it is still called by outsiders, or the ' Catholic Apostolic Church,' as, with some apparent ambition, it is designated by its own adherents . The name, indeed, in its transition from the title of an THE CATHOLIC APOSTOLIC CHURCH. 87 individual Presbyterian minister to the pretentious ap- pellation of the Church Catholic and Apostolic, fairly enough embodies the varying fortunes of this remark- able religious body. Emerging, in the year 1830, from the unlikeliest of all religious bodies to give birth to such a system as we now see it, Irvingism seemed at first to promise nothing more than another ' Church ' of Preabyterianism, with a very strong rationalistic tinge as its distinguishing mark; since, be it remembered, the doctrine which caused the doors of the church in Eegent Square to be closed on the Eev. Edward Irving, once its Apollos and its pride, was not one that is now found among the tenets of the Catholic Apostolic Church. It. was, in fact, that of the peccability of Christ's nature ; whereas, on the subject of the Incar- nation, no sect can possibly be more orthodox than the Ii'vingite. The distinguishing marks of this body are : (1) the revival of the Apostolate, dormant since the death of St John, with the restoration of the fourfold ministry as a necessity of Church organization, and (2) the recognition of prophecy as a present mode of com- municating the directions of God's Spirit to man. Concede this second position, and not only the former may follow, but any amount of ' development,' greater even than that which has metamorphosed the dim conventicle in Newman Street into the cathedral-like edifice in Gordon Square, may be expected. For in- stance, entering the latter church a little while ago, on a week day, I was considerably surprised to see what I at first, in my innocence, took for two drinking-foun- tains, but which proved to be receptacles for holy water at the entrance, just as in a Roman Catholic church. I asked the attendant about it, and he informed me this had been the last direction given by the voice of pro- phecy. The list of the Apostolate, restored by the prophetic call in 1832, to its original number of twelve, has now dwindled to three. No provision, I find, has been made for filling up the broken ranks ; many of the adherents of this body, I fancy, tacitly believing that the failure of 88 UNORTHODOX LONDON. the apostolic office -will be but to herald the closing in of the existing dispensation. At present, however, this body, though not numerous, is in full vigour, and work- ing, as far as possible, with the exact organization pre- scribed in apostohc times. At the last census, I find, from one of their publications, they were outnumbered even by the Mormons in England, so that their supposed perfection of organization does not guarantee them any- thing like an apostolic amount of expansion. In fact, as I gather, they scarcely look or wish for this. Though protesting against being sectarian, they still stand aloof, behoving (and is not this of the essence of sectarianism ?) that they will be the ' first fruits ' to be gathered in at the Second Advent. So they are not a proselytizing body. They recognize the Anglicanj Boman, and Greek orders, and regard Protestant Dissent as ' an extension of the Diaconate.' In the beautiful Sanctuary of the Gordon Square church there is a tablet bearing the expression ' Pro Ecclesiis Anglicanis,' the plural number being significant. There are seven churches in London, and in every one a double daily service at 6 a.m. and 5 p.m. The principle is, that the first and last hours of the day should be sanctified by prayer and praise. The service is ornate in the extreme, and contains elements of Judaism, Anglicanism, Romanism, and the Greek ritual. At a week-day evening service that I attended in the church on Paddington Green, there were fourteen persons officiating, or rather in vestments, whilst the members of the congregation only amounted to twenty. The ' Angel ' or Head of the church was habited in a rich purple cope, incense was burnt, the ' Sacrament ' (which had been, of course, ' reserved ') was ' exposed,' almost as at Catholic ' Benediction,' and there were prayers for the dead. In fact, the general tone of the worship was far ' higher ' than that of the most advanced Ritualistic churches. And this is the daughter of John Knox's severe Scotch system. To witness, however, the full development of this cuXhhs, one must visit Gordon Square at ten o'clock on THE CATHOLIC APOSTOLIC CHURCH. 89 Sunday morning. There is a short ' forenoon sei-vice/ lasting about half an hour, and answering to the descrip- tion given above, except that, instead of fourteen, there are nearly fifty clergy in different vestments, and the ritual is altogether of a more florid character. After this comes the ' Eucharistic Service,' which is compli- cated and ornate as the Roman mass, though couched, it is true, in the vernacular, but making the sad mistake of wearisome length. The service, commencing at ten, and proceeding without pause, is not over until nearly one. The sacrificial vestments, on the occasion of my visit, were of white satin, with gold adornments ; the 'Angel,' as celebrant, wearing the cope. There were people in black tippets, and people in puce tippets, and people in short surplices, with coloured stoles (irrever- ently termed ' ribbons ' by the present Archbishop of Canterbury) sometimes over one shoulder, sometimes over both, all very picturesque and incomprehensible. There were others in a simple white dress, girt in with a cord at the waist. The effect was imposing ; but one could not help feeling that all this, in a Romish church, or even an English cathedral, comes with some sort of sa.nction, at all events on the score of antiquity. It is questionable as revived in Ritualism, almost more so when it comes with — as far as outsiders can see — no sanction at aU. Concede the prophetic utterance, and, as I have said, every detail has a meaning. But, failing this, it is simply the old fable of the world on the back of the elephant, the elephant on the back of the tortoise, and the tortoise standing on nothing at all. As a musical performance the Eucharistic service at Gordon Square is decidedly above par. The old and venerable-looking gentleman who performs the office of celebrant during two whole hours in that vast building must be blessed with the lungs of a Stentor. The rendering of the 'Preface,' in the monotonous cadence peculiar to ecclesiastical music, and then the burst of music from the choir in the ' Trisagion,' are very effective indeed. The 'Agnus Dei ' was also very sweet; but it struck me that the music chosen for the different parts 90 UNORTHODOX LONDON. of the service was as eclectic as tlie system itself, and this made the tout ensemble a little patchy. Though not called by the special name, there were virtually half-a- dozen anthems, and I know not how many repetitions of the Lord's Prayer, during the long morning service. So, then, our frequent repetitions in the Church of England service need not be a sign of unspirituality after all. A 'Homily' preceded the Nicene Creed, and was true to its name. There was no pretence of preaching power ; in fact, there was rather evident the studious avoidance of all rhetorical display. The subject was the allegory of the Sower, which formed the Gospel for the day here as in the Established Church. In fact, the resemblance throughout the service to that of the Church of England was so strong, as to force on one the question, — Why the separation ? Why, in any case, the separate ritual ? It seems really almost a distinction without a difference, a needless breaking of unity. Of course the reply is that the organization of the Established Church, adequate as far as it goes, is defective. A 'testimony' was, in fact, circulated some years ago to the bishops and clergy of the Church of England, requesting their attention to the fact that episcopacy did not involve apostolical succession ; but the evidence did not appear convincing, though the Irvingites boast, and, I believe, not without truth, that some of the Church of England clergy hold Irvingite doctrines, whilst ministering in the Establishment. If it be so, we do not grudge them their converts. Probably in allusion to this unapostolic character of the very large majority of Christendom, I find a special prayer in the Eucharistic Of&ce ' for the low estate of the Church.' At the same time an evident effort after comprehensive- ness is made in a note appended to the Nicene Creed. ' This creed,' it says, ' is printed as it was left at the Council of Constantinople.' With reference to the ' Filioque ' clause, ' One branch of the Church Catholic afiSrms on this point, whilst the other declines to affirm ; ' and the matter is therefore declared to be an open one ' until some competent authority pronounce upon it.' THE CATHOLIC APOSTOLIC CHURCH. 91 There is one question wMcli cannot, at this particular moment, fail to connect itself with those prophetic utterances on which, rests the whole fabric of the Catholic Apostolic Church, and that is the connection of those utterances with, or their difference from, the modern so-called ' spiritual ' manifestations. I mooted the question to the attendant at Gordon Square, who quite conceded the point that these 'spirit voices' are spiritual ; but he said, ' They are the work of evil spirits/ Then, however, occurs the very important question, how to discriminate between them ? I myself can distinctly recollect the prophetic utterances which used to take place in Newman Street, and other Irvingite places of worship, some thirty years ago. I have also visited every trance medium, and producer of the 'spirit voice,' amongst modern spiritists, and I fail to trace any difference. I am aware, of course, that a doctrinal test is proposed to ' try the spirits,' but I am ■equally aware that this test is only allowed by a fraction of one party. The two manifestations have in common the peculiar feature of 'unknown tongues.' I was present the other evening at an exhibition of the kind in a spirit circle, and the whole thing appeared to me a piece of clever actings but an eminent naturalist who was present, and who is deeply versed in savage dialects, gave it as his decided opinion that the words " uttered by this medium were . not nonsense words. Now, how, I ask, is one to discriminate between these manifestations and the prophetic utterances on which the whole structure is built up, of which the Gordon Squard Cathedral is the apex and embodiment? Furthermore, one of their own body, who for a long time exercised the prophetical office, has written ■ ' A narrative of facts characterizing the supernatural manifestations in members of Mr Irving's congregation, and other individuals in England and Scotland, and formerly in the writer himself.' The book, which reached a second edition, but is now out of print, con- tains an elaborate series of facts, which convinced the writer, Mr Baxter, evidently a sincere and inteUigent 92 UNORTHODOX LONDON. man, that tlie power which had wrought upon him was not Divine, but diabolical. Those who concede the facts of modern spiritualism, and do not attribute them merely to imposture or enthusiasm, in very many instances assign to them a similar origin. This is, to a great extent, the attitude assumed by the clerical, as opposed to the scientific mind. The great desideratum for the Catholic Apostolic Church, then, is some cri- terion that shall enable, not so much the initiated, as the public at large, to distinguish between those pro- phetic claims, ou which their Apostolate and Church are built up, and the utterances of those individuals who come to us with claims almost identical, but whom all, save a very few enthusiasts, divide into the two simple categories of deceivers and deceived — speakers either of their own ideas only, or of ideas derived from a source very different from what any Church would care to acknowledge as its basis. Probably as the latest outgrowth of the endlessly' varying religious instinct in -man, and, still more, as a wonderful and consummate systematizing of elements that seem at first sight to involve nothing but disorder, the scheme of which the Church in Gordon Square stands as temple and type is well worth the attention of the religious philosopher in this nineteenth century. THE NEW JERUSALEM CHURCH. ' fTlHERE is no God but our God, and somebody or X other is His Prophet,^ is the keynote of every new religion from Mahomet to Joanna Southcott. Either as the discoverer of a new system of Church organiza- tion, or as possessing special individual illumination — or b,oth — the soi-disctnt prophet comes before us claim- THE NEW JERUSALEM CHURCH. 93 ing our notice for the 'last new thing in churches.' Often the novelty is veiled under a specious return to- primitive antiquity ; but in the case of the New Jeru- salem Churchj popularly known as Swedenborgianism, such a pretence is not made. In fact, -'The New Church' is the title assumed by its adherents as a recommendation and claim to acceptance. They eschew, they say, the name Swedenborgian as savouring of the idea that their principles are founded on the assertions of Swedenborg; whereas they insist that he was but the servant of the Lord Jesus Christ to reveal afresh old truths which had been perverted by human traditions, and new truths which should complete the glorious edifice of Christ's Church, and which men were too coarse and corrupt to receive in darker days. These truths, which they receive, as they say, on the authority of the Bible, and from their accordance with sound reason, they allege as their foundations of thought, and not any ipse dixit of Swedenborg. Hence they prefer to be called 'The New Churchj' or, as they believe this system to be the fulfilment of what is said in the Apocalypse of the New Jerusalem, ' The New Jerusalem Church.' There are about one' hundred congregations in Great Britain, and a much larger number in the United States. Although the recent publication of White's ' Life of Swedenborg ' has made many persons familiar with the personal history and pretensions of the Swedish seer, it may still be well to recapitulate a few leading facts before narrating my visit to a Swedenborgian place of worship, principally for the reason that the worship itself really gives very little indication of the opinions held by the worshippers. The ritual resembles that of the Church of England, even more closely than is the case with the Irvingite services. We are told, too, with reference to -the Swedenborgians, as with reference to the Irvingites, that many clergymen hold the doc- trines of the sect whilst retaining their position in the Established Church. In fact, one of the most recent apologies is that written by the Eev. Augustus Clissold, 94 UNORTHODOX LONDON. M.A., described in ' Crockford' as of Stoke Newington, ■ London, ordained deacon and priest by the Bisbop of Salisbury in 1823; whilst another clergyman— whom, perhaps, it would be invidious to mention — attached as curate to one of our most important Metropolitan churches, makes no secret of his adoption of Sweden- borg's views, and has, in fact, lately pubhshed some sermons preached in the parish church, which are deeply tinctured with the views of the Scandinavian prophet. Swedenborg was born at Stockholm in the year of the English Eevolution, 1688, and, unlike Edward Irving, who was the visionary pure and simple, he com- bined with the enthusiasm of the mystic the practical intelligence of the philosopher. He occupied the position of Assessor to the Royal Metalhc College, or School of Mines, under Charles XII., a position that would seem somewhat antagonistic to the development of fanatical views in religion. That the wisdom of the philosopher may coalesce with religious eccentricity, however, has been recently proved to us from- the fact that Professor Faraday belonged to the sect of the Sandemanians or Glassites; a body scarcely recognizable from their insignificance, even in the records of Un- orthodox London. Swedenborg wrote voluminously, and his earlier works were such as bore upon his special calling as an engineer, or upon medical subjects. He spent much of his time in London, and it was there, in fact, that his prophetic mantle first fell upon him, in the year 1 745. He thus describes it : ' I have been called to a holy office by the Lord, who has most graciously manifested Himself to me, His servant, and, has opened my sight into the spiritual world, endowing me with the gift of conversing with spirits and angels.' It is impossible for one read- ing these words in 1870 not to be struck by the coincidence of Swedenborg's views, even more than those of the Irvingites, with the doctrines of the modern Spirit- ualists. We shall see that this coincidence extends into very minute details. Being anxious to hear what the Swedenborgians had to say on the subject of alleged THE NEW JERUSALEM CHURCH. 95 spiritual manifestations — sucli as table-turning, etc. — I took the opportunity, when purchasing a Swedenbor- gian book, to ask the question. I found that they too quite conceded the reality of the phenomena, and their spiritual origin. Tl^ey did not even, as the Irvingites, propounce the communicating spirits to be evil, but still denied the legality of holding communion with them. ' On what grounds ? ' I asked. ' Because Swedenborg's revelation was final. In fact,' Added my informant, ' this matter has well nigh caused a schism in our body, some members claiming the right of judging for themselves as to whether they shall communicate or not.' I cannot help thinking this is the line I should take myself, could I recognize the claims either of the ' spirits ' or Sweden- borg. The doctrine of finality, as appertaining to Swedenborg himself, is purely an assumption. After establishing his sect, and writing, botji voluminously and at wearisome length, on all sorts of subjects in heaven, on earth, and under the earth, Swedenborg died in London, in March, 1772. It was some years before even the nucleus of a sect was formed. The body has never been a large one. It has now five principal churches in London, and one or two small places of meeting in the suburbs. Its principal strength lies in the county of Lancashire. I attended, some years ago, an evening service in Devonshire Street, Islington, and recollect having been much struck with the musical portion of the service, which, so far as I can now recall it, consisted largely of selections from the Apocalypse, describing the New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven; a few verses being read by the clergyman, and then a portion- chanted, as a refrain, by the choir and congregation. The principal Swedenborgian church in London at the date of this article was that in Argyle Square, King's Cross, where the Rev. Dr Bayley was minister; but he has since removed to the Mall Chapel, Kensington. It was the Argyle Square Church I selected on a Sunday as my basis of operations ; and I could not help being struck by the fact, on entering the edifice, that there 96 UNORTHODOX LONDON. was positively nothing to tell the unlearned that it was not a Church of England' as by law established.' The building is a. large and handsome onej and the chancel, occupied by the communion table, was flanked on either side by the reading-desk and pulpit. Even when the clergy entered, a worshipper might have remained, unenlightened as to his being in other than an ' orthodox ' church. They were both elderly men, vested precisely as with the Church of England, in surplice and bands. In passing from the vestry to the reading-desk or pulpit, iDr Bayley opened a large Bible which was lying on the communion table upon a velvet cushion, and left it open during the whole of the service, though no use was made of it. This is done as a sign that their authority as a church and their teachings are derived from the Word of God. There it remained, facing the congregation, like the one Gavazzi used to wear em- broidered on his cassock. As though to keep up the illusion, the service opened with a hymn sung to the familiar tune of Eockingham. Then followed Confession and Lord's Prayer. Two Psalms (xxvii. and xxviii.) were next chanted. The music was much above par, and I noticed that the congregation sang fi'om the Tonic Sol-fa notation. In the Psalms the word ' Lord ' was restored to its primitive form of ' Jehovah,' and in the readings of the particular Psalms Swedenborg's strange phraseology was used. For instance, plural terms were largely affected, such as ' the Lord's contest with the hells,' ' falses,' and ' evils.' And other grotesque forms of speech were adopted. We were informed in the Prayer-book that ' human ' was a noun substantive, and 'conjugial' a term preferable to 'conjugal,' 'esse' to 'essence,' and so on. Two lessons from the Old and New Testaments respectively followed; then the Com- mandments, the first and second being joined to form one, and the tenth divided into two, as in the Lutheran and all other Churches on the Continent, and by all Churches up to the time of the Reformation. A 'Kyrie' was introduced for the first time, Dr Bayley explaining that the change was made at the suggestion THE NEW JERUSALEM CHURCH. 97 of some musical friends ; from wliicli we may infer that the Swedenborgian rubrics (if there be such things) are not so Draconian as those of the Establishment, but leave some little discretion to the minister to suit the wants of his congregation. A sermon followed on a text taken from' the second lesson — 8t Matt. xii. 7, 8 — ' If ye had known what this meaneth, " I will have mercy and not sacrifice," ye would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath Day.' It was a simple, common-sense discourse on Sabbatarianism, without peculiarity of doctrine in any shape. It might have been a Broad Church clergy- man of the Establishment who was delivering it. Dr Bayley is fluent, and preaches extempore, or from scanty notes, but makes no pretence to eloquence; though I can quite understand that his congregation — which was large, intelligent, and with its fair share of the male sex — would be attracted by his preaching as much as by the doctrine underlying, but scarcely avowed ; perhaps more so. Enlarging on the superiority of the Divine Law over oral tradition, the preacher was mildly sar- castic as to the minute prescriptions of Jewish tradition on the subject of the Sabbath ; as, e.g., its permission to wash the hands, but not to clean the nails. He then went on to give a ' scientific account of the creation,' which would have gladdened the heart of Bishop Colenso. ' God has never ceased to create, and never will,' he said. ' God does not rest on Sunday.' He then passed on to a spiritual or allegorical application of the scriptural account, worthy of Origen himself, showing that every church went through seven stages of progress, analogous to the six days of creation a.nd the Sabbath. Finally, he applied the matter' to individuals, and that at such length that he was obliged to let his subject stand over, to be resumed on the following Sunday. So, then, we had only come by a new and somewhat circuitous route to the same familiar end. Speaking broadly, we may say that the New Jerusalem creed superadds to slightly rationalistic views. of the Trinity and Atonement a highly allegorizing method of scrip- 7 • 98 UNORTHODOX LONDON. tural interpretation, and, with regard to Swedenborg himself, and his revelation, views almost identical with those of modem Spiritualism. Swedenborg had the power of inducing, in his own case, a state clearly the same as what we now call mesmerism or hypnotism. He himself says of it, in the ' Arcana Coelestia,' ' The man is reduced into a certain state which is a sort of middle state between sleeping and waking. ... In this state spirits and angels are seen, heard, and touched.' The resurrection of the dead is immediate, there being no pause or suspension of existence ; the fleshly body . is cast aside once for all, and never re-assumed — a spiritual body, now resident in the fleshly tabernacle, being the true self that survives. Sex remains, and marriages are consummated in heaven. In fact, the spirit-world is but the region of realities, whereof all things here are the phenomena. And so we come back to Plato again ; but Plato with a difference — that difference, however, scarcely so great as one might ex- pect when, in a different age and nation, men's thoughts recur to the old cycle ; seeming clearly to indicate some underlying law at work in such recurrence, and making good the assertion of the wise man — that there is no- thing new under the sun. THE NEW JERUSALEM CHURCH ON SPIRITISM. TO the uninitiated inquirer the line of demarcation between Swedenb.orgianism and modern Spiritual- ism — or Spiritism, as it is now called — must of neces- sity be shadowy and ill-defined'. It w ould appear, at first sight, that the position assumed by Swedenborg, as the prophet of the New Jerusalem Church, would almost ' NEW JERUSALEM CHURCH ON SPIRITISM. 99 oblige that Cliurcli to recognize the so-called revelations claimed by the Spiritualists. To a cerbaiu extent this is the case : that is, the Swedenborgians are prepared to admit — what a great many of us cannot admit — not only the genuineness of the phenomena, but also their Spiritual source ; nay, they advance a step further, and even identify the communicating spirits. It is here, indeed, they part company with the professed spiritual- ist, and approach very nearly, without quite reaching, the position assumed by the ordinary orthodox mind on the subject — that is, when orthodoxy does not go the length of denying the facts altogether. Where these facts are admitted, wholly or partially, the rationale usually appended is that their source is a diabolical one. The Swedenborgians adopt this theory in spirit, though varying the letter, and couching it in their own peculiar phraseology. They claim finality for the revelation of Emanuel Swedenborg. The Spiritualists, then, are in the position of a kind of Swedenborgian Nonconform- ists. The question of the legitimacy of spiritualistic communications has, in fact, gone far towards forming an open schism in the New Church. If the Spiritists may be correctly described as Swedenborgian Dissenters, the New Church, in its turn, is but an established, formulated, orthodox spiritism. The announcement, then, which had recently appear- ed, that Professor Tafel would lecture at the New Jeru- salem Church, Cross Street, Hatton Garden, on ' Mes- merism and Spiritism, as viewed by the light of the New Jerusalem Church,' offered an irresistible attraction to one who, like myself, has made it his business to ex- amine the nicer shades of religious belief. I must con- fess that I expected to find the New Jerusalem Church thronged with the spiritualistic . celebrities of London. I have got to know them pretty well by sight, but to my amazement I did not recognize one in Cross Street, Hatton Garden. Was it that the Sunday evening services of Mrs Emma Hardinge, at Cleveland Hall, demanded the undivided attention of the faithful, or — gently be it insinuated — do the Spiritualists lean to 100 UNORTHODOX LONDON. ' mutual admiration/ and avoid the possibility of hearing their creed roughly handled? They would certainly have done so had they been present at Cross Street ; butj as I saidj there certainly was not a Spiritist of any standing there on the occasion of Professor Tafel's sermon. The congregation was by no means so large as might have been expected, seeing the sermon had been freely advertised. Beyond one or two gentlemen, armed like myself with note-books, and seemingly bent on business rather than edification, the assembly appeared to con- sist of the regular attendants at the church. The service was exceedingly short, being composed of a few prayers and two hymns only, after which Professor Tafel plunged in medias res. It was a iiew sensation to hear such a topic broached by one arrayed in the familiar clerical attire of surplice and bands, though mounted withal on the rostrum of Nonconformity instead of the orthodox pulpit. " The question could not but occur — Why do the clergy not handle such topics -as these ? Spiritualism is emphatically a question of the hour, and has been fairly described by one of its adherents to be ' either a gigantic delusion or the most important sub- ject that can possibly be broached.' Gamaliel's argu- ment may be sound enough — that, if the thing be not from God, it will come to nothing; if it be from God, we must not fight against Him. Still, people have a perverse habit of thinking that if a subject is avoided, it is because it cannot be grappled with. This, however, by the way. Professor Tafel grappled with it hand to hand, beyond a doubt. He had read as the ' lesson from the Word' Deuteronomy xviii., which so emphatically denounces ' an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits,' or a wizard, or a necro- mancer;' and the^e denunciations he proceeded at once to apply to the modern Spiritualists. He spoke with alarm of the growing numbers of these people, whom he alleged to be counted by the hundreds of thousands. The men of science were aghast. This tilting of tables, if authenticated, entirely destroyed NEIV JERUSALEM CHURCH ON SPIRITISM. loi their theory of gravitation. These responses of invisible beings by raps on the table, or by the hand of writing mediums, distracted the minds of those who believed that man was going to rise again with his physical body, and who located the soul in the interim in some nonde- script place, either below or above the earth. The men of science believed in material existence only, and either denied the facts, or, admitting some of them, said they were beyond the pale of science, because they could not be explained by natural causes. In the mean time, the Spiritualists went their way unembarrassed, and their principles spread more widely day by day. . The ' theo- logians of the old school,' again, he said, were power- less. They went to the Bible to prove that it was wrong to consult diviners, yet they themselves, in the face of the Bible and of reason, taught the doctrine of the resurrection of the body. Science and theology were alike powerless to stem the rising tide of Spiritu- alism. The danger had, in one respect, abated of late. Common sense had begun to judge Spiritualism by its fruits, and these were anything but satisfactory. It had been found to have a bad effect on the mental and bodily health. Nevertheless a rational explanabion and exhibition of its dangers was still a desideratum. It was incumbent, then, on the ' New Church ' to supply that want. The works of Swedenborg bearing on the question had been written between 1747 and 1772, just one hundred years ago. The phenomena of modern Spiritualism were evidently not permitted by God until the corrective came in the revelations of Swedenborg. The teaching of the New Church, said the Professor, was that every phenomenon in the natural world is due to a spiritual cause. All objects in the three kingdoms of Nature — the mineral and vegetable as well as the animal — are produced and animated by corresponding objects in the spiritual world. Since God was in tho human shape, so all the spiritual world was in the human form, and the tendency to assume this form was inscribed on all nature. The New Church taught that the spiritual world keeps the natural world in order by 102 UNORTHODOX LONDON. influx. The Church therefore did not a j^non declare the phenomena of Spiritualism impossible. It viewed them in an affirmative state of mind; It believed in the im- mortality of the soul — that when the body dies, the soul enters at once into the spirit-world. This spirit-world it believed — with the Spiritualists — ^to be in and around the natural world, and therefore it acknowledged the possi- bility of men in this world conversing with the departed. The New Church, however, held it impossible to see the departed with the natural eyes. Those only could see whose eyes were opened by the Lord, and who were introduced by the Lord into the spirit-world. Emanuel Swedenborg's eyes were thus opened, and the Lord himself so introduced him, commanding him to write down what he saw. The Professor here went deeply into the arcana of what is termed general and particular influx, to appre- ciate which a previous acquaintance with the works of the Swedish seer is indispensable. Man he represented as in equilibrio between the influence of angels and spirits — presumably bad spirits — with his will left free. This is, in fact, the orthodox position, stated with technical differences of expression only. In a word the revelations of the Spiritists were traced to the (bad) spirits, and those of the New Church to the angels ; which, of course, every Spiritist would set down as simply 'begging the question.' Finally, the preacher dwelt at great length upon Swedenborg's writings, and read voluminous extracts to prove the untrustworthy nature of spiritual communications, a position which, I fancy, all but very bigoted- Spiritists indeed would freely concede. The spirits, he remarked, were very 'fond of making up stories.' Swedenborg was 'not allowed to believe them.' They were always ' inventing lies.' Then, again, man reacted on the communicating spirits, until those spirits really fancied they were the individuals they personated. These facts, he remarked, were written down by Swedenborg one hundred years ago, when he had little idea how far the ' talking with spirits ' would extend. The only means of revelation NEW JERUSALEM CHURCH ON SPIRITISM. 103 as to God and the spirit-world was the written word. Every other method was ' disorderly.' Surely it must have struck the preacher that he was here almost quoting the 'theologians of the old school' and the ' men of science ! ' " Suchj however, is the light in which the Ne^ Church regards modern Spiritism. Mesmerism was not touched, though included in the announcement.' A final objec- tion was couched in the somewhat broad ^ssertionj that almost all Spiritualists held Christ to be mere man^ after which the relations of Spiritualism and the New Church were summed up thus: Both recognized the existence of the spirit-world in and around the natural world ; both admitted that man enters the spirit- world, and lives immediately after his departure from the natural world. The Spiritualists made the revelations of spirits their criterion of truth, whereas the New Ohurch said there is only one criterion, the Word of God ; and if man studies this prayerfully, he is led into the 'state of illustration.' When new revelation is required, he said a ' vessel ' was chosen, and the work was not entrusted to ' low spirits.' Swedenborg's mind was prepared from childhood, and, whilst he read the Scripture, he was so illuminated that he was enabled to formulate his revealments 'in an orderly and rational manner.' As the distinguishing feature of Swedenborg was unquestionably the.cacoeiA.es scribendi, so is his disciple not altogether free from the cacoethes loquendi. The sermon was long but lucid, and no analysis can quite do it justice. I have endeavoured to lay it fairly before the public, remembering that my office in these papers is to describe, not to discuss, and so leaving them to say what amount of ' light ' the New Jerusalem Church of Emanuel Swedenborg throws on the confessedly dark — and, to some, the ' uncanny ' — subject of modertt Spiritualism. 104 UNORTHODOX LONDON. THE PLYMOUTH BEBTHRBN. IT is, in some respectSj an advantage, when entering on the study of an unfamiliar subject, to do so with a tnind entirely uninformed, and so without prejudice in reference to the matter on hand. This is especially my aim, in these studies of religious London — to make my mind, for the time. being, a tabula rasa, ready to receive whatever impressions may reach it from without. And probably in no section of religious development is this unbiassed judgment more essentially necessary than in the case of the so-called Plymouth Brethren. In the first place, the little that is popularly known, or sup- posed to be known, about them, turns out on inquiry to be quite wrong, and the very title a misnomer — so much so that they invariably treat it as simply a vulgar desig- nation, writing the name of their body, as I have done, thus, 'The (so.called) Plymouth Brethren.' The title appeal's to have originated in an idea that the sect originated in Plymouth, whereas the principal source was near Dublin, and instead of emanating from any of the outlying bodies of Nonconformity, many of their earlier apostles, and some of their present ministers, are ordained clergymen of the Church of England. It is usually imagined that the Brethren — for so they elect to call themselves — have transferred to the nine- teenth century the Apostolic doctrine of community of goods. That, however, as I imagined, is simply a popular fallacy. An intelligent member of their community, with whom I conversed on the subject, assured me they were not such poor political economists as that. They simply hold in great esteem that, primitive constitution of the Church, and trust largely to the power of prayer for the supply of their temporal necessities. I have found the endeavour to grasp the distinctive doctrines THE PLYMOUTH BRETHREN. 105 of this sect as diflScult as the attempt to catch Proteus. In factj their differentia hes rather in an absence of positive dogma, and a broad division of mankind into the Church and the world. Every 'denomination' is wrong, because division is wrong; which amounts to saying that on one side stands the Church — that is, the (so-called) Plymouth Brethren — on the other the world — that is, everybody who is not a Plymouth Brother, This, combined with an intense reverence for the written word — 'the Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing but the Bible ' — constitutes, broadly speaking, the special feature of the body. They date from the year 1827, and number, my informant supposed, possibly some 40,000 ; but as they have no external badge of distinction, and rather shun than court publicity or proselytism, it is not easy to gather statistics about them. The Brethren have. three principal places of meeting in London, and to one of these, the Priory, 198, Upper Street, Islington, I adjourned on a Sunday morning at eleven o'clock, armed with a few of the particulars above stated, and prepared to witness and report their fexpo- sition in public worship. The room, which is a moderate- sized school, was filled with a congregation of evident habituis, a very small portion at the back being railed off ' for those not in communion.' The service consisted principally of the singing of a large number of hymns, without instrumental accompaniment of any kind, and the reading of Scripture. There is nothing in the shape of pulpit or reading-desk, nor any person occupying the position of minister or president. There was, I suppose, some preconcerted arrangement as to who should read, pray, or give out the hymn ; but, to an outsider, it appeared that any of the Brethren took part without premeditation. Between each portion of the service, there was a long pause off several minutes, during which the congregation sat with eyes closed, seemingly engaged iu private prayer. The special object of the morning assembly (as I gathered at the door) was ' the breaking of bread/ This was done in the most homely manner io6 • UNORTHODOX LONDON. possible. A loaf of home-made bread was placed, in common plates, on a table in the centre of the room^ divided into quarters, and passed round the benches; each member helped himself or herself to a portion, literally ' breaking ' it off the quarter loaf. The wine was passed round in like manner, in large common tumblers, the administration of each element being pre- ceded by prayer. It was a simple ceremony j but the idea could not fail to strike one that its very homeliness- made it a close representation of the original supper in the long upper room and the daily bread-breakings of Apostles. After the Communion — as I suppose one may term it-^followed another hymn, sung to this tune of ' God save the Queen.' Whether this loyal melody was designed to occupy anything like the position of our Collect for the Queen I cannot say, but the effect was slightly incongruous. With this I imagined the proceedings would have closed, as I had been told there would be no sermon; but a sort of sermonette was introduced, it seemed — and, T believe, really was — on the spur of the moment. It was delivered by a very humble Brother indeed, in homely and not always accurate. English ; but he displayed minute knowledge of Scripture, and his sermon was intensely earnest — as the whole service had been — consisting I am sure, as the preacher kept telling us, of 'thoughts that had been pressing in inpon his own soul.' The two con- cluding prayers were offered by gentlemen of a very different mental calibre, and the congregation evidently numbered many persons of position and education. The names of ' intending and accepted brethren ' were then read, together with one who ' sought restoration,' and another who proposed to take to himself a Sister ; and so the proceedings terminated, without — as will be evident — anything having transpired to inform one as to the special doctrines of the body. As I emerged from the Priory I saw the congregation coming out of Unity Church, Upper Street, where Baboo Keshub Chunder Sen, the Hindoo Reformer, had been enlighten- ing the Unitarians on the doctrines of the Bramo Somaj ; THE PLYMOUTH BRETHREN. icfj tvhilstj a little lower down, another was beginning to besiege the doors of the Agricultural Hall, where Ned Wright was to preach to the working man. Qwoi homines tot sententice. On the succeeding Wednesday evening I had been informed that a series of twelve lectures on the Five Books of Moses was to be opened by one of the principal men belonging to this body, a Mr Kelly — for he eschews the title of Reverend, though he was, I believe, a minister of the Established Church, or certainly educated for the ministry. Thither I again adjourned in quest of information, and found a large congregation assembled> armed to the very teeth with their Bibles. I am bound to say that the lecture displayed an amount of critical and exegetical power for which I was not prepared. Mr Kelly is a fluent and pleasing speaker, with every word of the sacred text at his fingers' ends; and having, moreover, a very complete knowledge of Bishop Colenso's book on the first eleven chapters of Genesis, against which his remarks were naturally, in the first instance> levelled. Taking the first verse of the first chapter to embody the earliest creation of matter, the lecturer protested against the idea ot its being originally Created in con- fusion, but supposed an interval of undefined extent to have occurred between the narrative of the first and second verses, during which creation had, from causes unexplainedi got into confusion. He then plunged boldly into the Jehovistic and Elohistic theory, protesting against any diversity of documents, and, with great in- genuity, taking the name Elohim to refer to the Creative Power, whilst that of Jehovah pointed to the Covenant God of the Jews. Elohim was simply an historic name. Jehovah indicated special moral relationship. Passing on to the tree of life, he combated the idea that the smallness of the transgression was disproportionate to the punishment. The very essence of the matter lay in its smallness. It was simple disobedience to the exi pressed will of God. There was, and could be, no knowledge of good and evil ; that only came with the lo8 UNORTHODOX LONDON. Fall. He then passed on to consider the position of Paradise, and the naming of the objects of creation by- Adam, inferring from the fact of Eve's not being named until after the Fall, that the Fall occurred very shortly after creation — ' in fact, possibly on the very day.' I ought to have mentioned that, after assuming the unde- fined liiaius between verses 1 and 2 of Genesis i., Mr Kelly reads the succeeding days of creation as literal days of twenty-four hours. With regard to the actual Fall, he combated the idea that the narrative was in any way allegorical. It was not, as some supposed, the advent of lust that was typified; for lust did not come until after the Pall. After tracing the ancient mytho- logies to the eve of the Deluge, and the association of the ' sons of God ' with the ' daughters of men,' Mr Kelly applied the same method of explanation adverted to above in order to get over the two difierent accounts of the Deluge j and he concluded with arguments as to the unity of stock and the convergence of languages to a common point, showing himself fully conversant with modern controversy and well fitted to grapple with all its difficulties. Whatever else might be thought of the theories advanced, there could be no question as to their ingenuity and the minute acquaintance with the details of Scripture displayed in their exposition. The lecture, which was altogether extemporaneous, lasted an hour and a half, and I am free to confess I came away with a very different impression of the body from what I had previously possessed, when I thought them, as many I know do, only one other set of enthusiasts seeking to revive the first century literally in the nineteenth. I find — as one always does find in microscopic investiga- tions — that there is still a ' wheel within a wheel.' There exists a schism from this body, 'occupying a position sufficiently important to justify a place in these papers ; and the delineation of the offshoot will serve to bring into greater prominence still the distinguishing doctrines of the parent stock. MR NE WTOlf AT BAYS WA TER. j 09 ME NEWTON AT BAYSWATER. THOUGH the primary object of these papers is rather to describe opinions than individuals, yet it general- ly happens that one man stands forth as prominently representative of a particular school of thought — and occasionally^ as in the present instance, that an individual not only represents but exhausts, and in his single person embodies opinions so far diffused as to render their consideration necessary in a resume of religious London. As an offshoot from Plymouth Brethrenism, too, Mr Newton's creed and cultus serve to illustrate in a remarkable manner some of the principles of this little- understood but growing sect. It is twenty-three years since Mr Newton waiB virtui ally excommunicated- by, the Darbyite portion of the Brethren, so named from the leader of the exclusive school. The gravamen was an accusation of holding doctrines similair to those which brought Edward Irving into collision with Scotch Presbyterianism. It was, in fact, in the course of a controversy with the Irvingites that some unguarded expressions fell from Mr Newton's pen, making it possible to deduce from them the doctrine of the peccability of Christ's nature. Such a deduction was not made for several years, when the Brethren wished to exclude him fromi their ranks on account of certain peculiar views on prophetical subjects and matters of internal discipline. Then the old griev- ance was raked up, and the offending minister was ex, pelled and anathematized with a zeal worthy of an (Ecumenical Council at least, and curiously illustrative of the superior bitterness of the odium theologicum over other forms of ' envy, hatred, malice, and all uncharita- bleness.' The history of this dispute, ranging, as has been said, no UNORTHODOX LONDON. over more than twenty years, embraces a literature of its own. It has positively rained tracts. In the inno- cence of my heart, when first I commenced the study of Brethrenism, I inquired, ' Has it any literature ? Are there any published documents to guide me ? ' Any literature ! The bundle of broadsides before me, as I write, is a pleasing' satire on the question. The differ- ences between Mr Newton and the Brethren, however, may be, to a great extent, summarized under two or three heads. (1.) Whilst the Brethren exclude all denominations, and calmly date those documents, emanating from the Priory, Islington, as from ' The One Assembly of God in London,' Mr Newton — who, I should add, is a former Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford — acknowledges the three Creeds of the Church and the first eighteen of the Thirty-nine Articles of the English Church. (2.) Among the distinguishing doc- trines of the Brethren is the imminence of Christ's coming and the ' secret rapture of the Saints ; ' whereas, Mr Newton, basing his views on the revelations of pro- phecy, holds that certain events, to which I shall refer more at length in my account of his lecture, have yet to precede the closing-in of the present dispensation. (3.) The constitution of the Brethren is essentially democratic; it holds a 'many-men ministry;' whilst Mr Newton deems it essential to order that a. definite head, or 'one-man ministry,' should exist. 'Kinc illce lacrymcB ! On these seemingly insufficient grounds — insufficient except on the theory of an Infallible Church — Mr Newton has been expelled from ' The One Church of God,' and the members of that communion have been forbidden, under pain of excommunication and all sorts of uncomfortable things, from holding any intercourse with one whose doctrines are described as ' Satanic,' ' blasphemous,' ' deep, damnable, fundamental heresies.' The upshot of all this has been a schism in the body- one more among the many sects whose existence was held to be symptomatic of the world in contradistinction to the Church. Numerous ' followers ' joined Mr New- ton, in establishing a commodious iron church in the MR NE WTON AT BAYS WA TER. 1 1 1 Queen's Eoad, Bayswater, where, at the time of writing this paper, he preached on Sundays, and delivered a lecture, generally on some prophetical subject, on Monday mornings at eleven o'clock. The chapel is now closed, but Mr Newton retains, I believe, his in- terest therein. The subjects of Mr Newton's two preceding lectures, had been largely illustrative of his peculiar views. They were ' The Ephah of Zechariah,' and ' Exposition of Revelation xvii., xviii.' In the former-r-which, by the way, has been already utilized by him in reference to the Exhibition of 1851— r-the ephah is taken to repre- sent the spirit of commerce, in the same way as the crown represents monarchy, or the keys the Church ; and the woman within the ephah, pressed down with a leaden lid, symbolizes morality repressed by this com- mercial spirit. Everything bad is covered by Mr New- ton's ever-recurring bugbears, indifferentism and lati- tudinarianism. This spirit of commerce, levelling all religious differences, which Mr Newton considers im- moral, is carried to Shinar, where a house is builded for it. In this circumstance is detected an undoubted pre- diction of the revival of the ancient Assyrian Empire, with Babylon as its capital. Here the lawless spirit of commerce is to have full swing until the return of the Jews to Palestine, which will mark the close of this dispensation, and form the immediate precursor of the Millennium. These are the events which Mr Newton expects, in place of the secret ' rapture of the saints ' hourly anticipated by the Brethren. In his exposition of the two chapters, xvii. and xviii. of the Apocalypse, Mr Newton deals first with the person, and secondly with the history, of this woman borne in the ephah to Shinar — in other words, the description and destiny of this great city Babylon, which is to rise from its ruins on the Assyrian Plains as the head of the resuscitated Roman Empire. Above the pulpit from which he lectured Mr Newton had suspended a map embracing the territories of the Eastern and Western Empires, and divided into ten 1 1 3 UNORTHODOX LONDON. kingdoms, wHch lie considers to be ■symbolized by the ' ten horns of the beast/ He then proceeded to pass in rapid review the tendencies exhibited in modern politics towards a revival of the Eastern Empire. The Emperor of the French, he said, had expressed a hope that the jealousy of the Western Powers would no longer prevent the development of the East. Egypt, Syria, and Asia Minor are in process of re-civilization ; but that civilization is only secular, and on that account it must have an awful failure. The Euphrates, how- ever, is once more to become the great artery of the world, and the Buphratean railway will be the means of importing to the East the spirit of godless commerce. That a specious morality existed he did not deny ; but it was a form of godliness renouncing definite truth — that is, it did not hold the three Creeds and the first eighteen Articles. The climax of such latitudinarianism might almost seem to have been reached when a Mahometan ' oSiciated ' at the opening of the Ephesus and Smyrna railway. In fact, he said, we were begin- ning now to put in practice the late Lord Macaulay's distinctly ' atheistic ' doctrine, that Christianity had no more to do with legislation than it had with mechanics. Earl Russell cannot quite ' cave in ' to this ; but he says, ' Sustain all religions ; ' and look at the result : here we have Baboo Keshub Chunder Spn put forward ■^with all his awful Theism' on professedly Christian platforms, asked his opinion as to what we are to do with India, and last, but far from least, introduced to the British public by the Dean of Westminster (I am afraid Mr Newton called the Dean ' latitudinarian ') when he can;e to England at the invitation of the British and Foreign Unitarian Association. Now, says Mr Newton, God requii-es definiteness. ' Stanley ' says there is no necessity for that — says that Scripture does not exhaust truth, that there is truth in Shakespeare and Milton as well as in Scripture. This is exactly what Alexander and the Roman emperors said. They were ' latitudinarian.' And this spirit will grow and spread until a climax is reached ; that climax will be MR NE WTON AT BAYS WA TER. 1 1 3 marked by the return of the Jews to the Holy Land. This position was not proved at all, but advanced as a mere assertion. , Mr Newton recurred once more at this point to the political question of the hour as illustrative of prophecy, 'rhere was the need of a strong central Power amongst the representatives of the old Roman world (France, England, &c.), in presence of the threatening Powers of Eussia and America. All these ten kingdoms will need a strong federal union which is symbolized by the seven mountains — seven being the number of perfection, and the mountain typical of governmental skill. These diflferent branches of govern- mental perfection have never yet been concentrated. Napoleon approached their union most nearly, and so he himself approximated to the position of Antichrist ; but the Antichrist who shall comprise all these govern- mental functions in their perfection is yet to come; and he will be the 'Assyrian' of Isaiah x. Strangely enough, with all his love of order, Mr Newton strongly objects to constitutional monarchy, and ' goes in ' for the ' right divine of kings ' in a way that would have delighted the heart of a Stuart. He holds it as idle to ask the people how they will be governed as it would be to assemble the servants and children of a family and consult them how Paterfamilias should manage affairs. Such is the outline of a discourse, curious enough as delivered in London in the nineteenth century, and yet certainly interesting to those who are philosophical enough, or ' latitudinarian ' enough, to be able to appreciate the opinions of one with whom they fail to agree, and who evidently brings to the study — though it may be with a foregone conclusion — the work and devotion of a lifetime. It is only right to add, that Mr Newton does not seek publicity or aim at proselytism j though I doubt if any church in Bayswater ever gathered such a congregation as he attracted on a Monday morning — except, perhaps, for a fashionable marriage. But this gentleman and his ' followers ' are thoroughly in earnest. The Bible is to them the one rule of life. 114 UNORTHODOX LONDON. If commerce, constitutioBal. monarcliy, or Christian charity seems to clash with the Bible, then these things must go, and the Bible — as they expound it — the whole Bible, and nothing but the Bible, must reign supreme. To many of us, 'optimists and latitudinarians,' these things seem a little unreal. It looks somewhat like Infallibility, which may be made to attach to a book as well as to a man or to a Church. In fact, one is almost inclined to quote as a profros to Mr Newton's position, what a zealous defender of his wrote about the Brethren who ejected him. 'They (the Brethren) tell you, "This is to be received. You are in darkness." But where is the difference between this "guidance" of the Brethren, and the "inner light" of Fox, and the "verify- ing faculty" of Colenso and the Eationahsts, and the Infallibility of Eome ? ' A QUAKERS' MEETING. THE present is, in many respects, an age of destruc- tive theology. Not content with declaring sermons unnecessary, and prayers by proxy foreign to the genius of a Church where free judgment reigns supreme, recent ecclesiastical criticism has even called in question the practice of reading Scripture lessons in church as suited only to an age and condition of society when people were unable to read for themselves. Supposing such canons allowed, we should be reduced to one of two extreme positions— Ritualism or Quietism— accord- ing as we developed the sensational or the spiritual element in worship exclusively. The tendency of the present day is decidedly in favour of the more sensa- tional element; and perhaps, therefore, it was on the principle of contrariety that I resolved to undergo an A QUAKERS' MEETING. iiS experience of the opposite kind by attending a Quakers' Meeting. I found that the Society of Friends had fe^ meeting-houses in London, and that most of these were situate in remote Bast-end regions. Fixing upon St Martin's Lane as the scene of my exploration, there, between Nos 110 and 111, I passed the portal of the Friends' Meeting-house, and found myself in a little old-fashioned, painfully-clean quadrangle where two or three sober-looking gentlemen, with stand-up collars and broad-brimmed hats, were engaged in conversation ; and one of them, in reply to my inquiry whether there was accommodation for strangers, quietly but courteous- ly handed me to a seat in the chapel. The Quakers of St Martin's Lane worship in a little, unpretentious building, painted from ceiling to base- ment with the favourite Quaker colour, and if possible cleaner than the quadrangle itself. There were seats around the four walls, and the centre of the building was fitted with benches running laterally ; while at the extreme end were two rows facing the entrance, which were raised on a dais, and were evidently intended for the use of some sort of ministers or officials. I was somewhat surprised at this, because I had always understood that the Quakers recognized no regular ministry. ■ Two difficulties occurred to me on entering the building. The first was with regard to my hat. Most of the congregation sat down with theirs on their heads ; but natural politeness, and a wish not to sail any longer under false colours, induced me to risk eccentricity by taking mine off. Then, again, there were boys in the chapel. I had never before exactly realized the existence of Quaker boys, any more than I had seen Quaker babies ; though, of course, if I had considered the matter, I should have known that, in the nature of things, both must exist. How iu the world, I asked, were' those boys going to get through two hours of silence ? However, there they w;ere, and in numbers sufficient to calm any fears as to the race of Quakers dying out at present. By eleven o'clock a fair congregation of some one hundred and fifty people had Ii6 UNORTHODOX LONDON. assembled, in equal proportions of men and women, the sexes being divided, and occupying different sides of the chapel, as in Ritualistic churches. And here let it be remarked very softly indeed that the young ladies, of whom a great many put in an appearance, were not at all what we generally understand or misunderstand as Quakerish in demeanour or attire. Silks rustled up the narrow aisle ; but they were not of the pretty silver- gray hue that Quakeresses are supposed to wear ; and the bonnets were as killing and had as many flowers in them as you would see in an average West-end church. Some few, indeed, were prim-shaped and sober-coloured — a sort of compromise between society in general and ■the Society of Friends in particular; and perhaps these were the most killing of all. I even noticed upon the ungloved hand of a youthful Quaker matron consider- ably more jewelled circlets than the wedding-ring and keeper. Some six or seven people of both sexes sat in the seats facing the- congregation; the exact centre being occupied by an elderly gentleman in what looked like High Church clerical attire, and a lady in the most correct Quakeress costume. I at once jumped to the conclusion that these were the ' oflBciating ministers ' — •whether rightly or wrongly will appear anon. The men, as a body, were no more Quaker-like than the women, with the exceptions named. The rest were in ordinary attire ; many having long beards, and some few quite a rakish-looking moustache. At eleven o'clock our ' silent service ' commenced. The only outward and visible sign that it had begun was the simultaneous removal of hats on the part of the congregation ; then, for nearly an hour there was silence — or, at least, silence broken only by the mundane noises of the little St Giles's boys and girls playing in the courts outside, and ever and anon by the far-off chime of Big Ben striking the quarters. There was no fidget- ing even on the part of those marvellous boys; and there was considerably less coughing than, I. feel certain, would have been the case in any other meeting. One by one they covered their faces with their hands and A QUAKERS' MEETING. 117 engaged in silent prayer, still retaining tlieii* sitting posture, which was never changed throughout the entire proceedings. I confess that before the ' Silent Service ' was finished ' an exposition of sleep ' came over me. I had quite migrated to Dreamland when the slow and measured accents of the lady who was occupying the centre of the raised seats, and on whom I had fixed as the officiating minister, startled me from my reverie. The Spirit had moved her, and she delivered a brief practical address on the necessity of personal holiness. The preacher, as I have said, was arrayed in full Quaker costume, and from beneath her gray bonnet peered a face such as one might have, seen under the wimple of a Lady Abbess, or in the painted figure of a Mater Dolo- rosa — a wan, ascetic countenance. Another quarter of an hour's silence followed the conclusion of this dis- course ; and then the clerically-dressed gentleman took up his parable. He was a well-built and tolerably rubicund, country-parson kind of individual — one from whom you would have expected a hasso profondo voice; whereas he spoke in the shrillest falsetto, preaching for about twenty minutes, and his address was more doc- trinal than that which preceded it. He spoke strongly against the possibility of ordinances such as 'bread- eating, wine-drinking, or water-sprinkling,' bringing Christ nearer to the soul than his own presence, which had been promised wherever 'two or three should be gathered together in His name.' These words were, in fact, though not formally, the text of his discourse ; and it struck me that, to an already initiated congregation, the teaching must have been very elementary indeed. Then, again, silence for another quarter of an hour or so ; and, suddenly, at the stroke of 'one, hats were re- assumed, and a general shaking of hands commenced, with animated conversation, and every appearance of relief from a conscious restraint. Eemembering our custom when ' Break ' was called in school-days, I almost expected the boys to start up with a war-whoop, but they were not more demonstrative than their papas. In little boxes affixed tO' the wall were tracts, looking not ii8 UNORTHODOX LONDON. unlike the time-tables similarly placed in the stations of the Metropolitan Eailway. I complied with an inacribeii invitation to ' take one/ and found it to consist of a brief r^sumd of Quaker doctrine and discipline, together with excerpts from some larger manual of 'Advice.' Among its paragraphs occur the following : — ' The Society of Friends believe that worship consists not in rites nor ceremonies, nor in an outward service. It is a heart-worship not to be performed by proxy one for another. ' Seeing that " God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth," it is their practice to sit down together in silence, to seek individually by heartfelt prayer for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, by whose aid alone true spirit- ual worship can be performed. 'The confession of the soul prostrate before God, the secret prayer of the afflicted, the earnest wrestling of spirit, the simple exercise of faith, the humble thanksgiving, the spiritual song and melody of the heart — these, though they may be unspoken, are among the sacrifices of true Christian worship, acceptable to God, through Jesus Christ. ' The Society of Friends regard vocal prayer and preaching as being also important parts of worship ; but they believe that these exercises should not be begun and ended at stated times, nor by previous arrangement, but only under the guidance and by the immediate help of the Holy Spirit : consequently they do not make use of congregational singing, nor of stated forms of prayer, in their worship ; nor do their ministers adopt the practice of pre- paring sermons beforehand. ' They believe that it is in accordance with the precepts of the New Testament that there should be no special appointment of one man to minister to a congregation ; but that " aU" (women as well as men) " may, " if called to it of God, offer prayer, " prophesy (or preach) one by one, that aH may learn and all may be com- forted." ' [1 Cor. xiv. 31.] Among the subjects of advice occur the following excellent items, common to all Christian bodies : — ' FoUow peace with all men, desiring the true happiness of all ; be kind and liberal to the poor, and endeavour to promote the temporal, moral, and religious well-being of your fellow-men. ' Watch with Christian tenderness over the opening minds of your children ; inure them to habits of self-restraint and filial obedience ; carefully instruct them in the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures ; and seek for abiUty to imbue their hearts with the love of their Heavenly Father, their Redeemer, and their Sanctifler. A QUAKERS' MEETING. n9 ' Guard watchfully against the introduction into your house- holds of publications of a hurtful tendency. ' Avoid vain sports and places of diversion, aU kinds of gaming, the unnecessary frequentiiig of taverns and other public-houses, and the improper use of intoxicating liquors ; and guard against such companionships, indulgences, and recreations, as by their influence may interfere with your growth in grace. ' Pinally, let your conversation be as it becometh the Gospel. Exercise yourselves to have always a conscience void of offence toward God and toward man.' Sachj in a few of its more salient points, is the simple worship of those by whom the memory of Fox and Penn is preserved among us still. As the old term ' Quaker ' is very properly dying out and giving place to the more expressive name of ' Friends/ so does the system itself seem to be following what is doubtless a natural law, and to lose some of its rigidity and eccentricity. Those matrons and maidens have learnt that matronly and maidenly purity may exist independently of an obsolete attire — nay, perhaps have laid to heart the fact that obstinate retention of antiquated dress and forms of speech that have been outgrown are really as affected as compliance with the latest requirements of ' Le FoUet ' or the adoption of the most vapid young lady^s perver- sion of her mother-tongue. The Society is confessedly on the decline ; nor are the causes of its decadence hard to find. Advancing intelligence tells us that, in order to avoid the Oharybdis of carnalism, there is no need to seek the Scylla of Quietism. DR GUMMING IN CROWN COURT. WHEN first I commenced these erratic theological studies, there were two 'representative men' I especially set before my mind's eye as deserving con- 120 UNORTHODOX LONDON, templation. First, tlie man who, rightly oi- wrongly, was reported to have fixed the date of the Day of Judgment ; and, secondly, one who could possibly be- lieve that a certain portion of his fellow-creatures were brought into existence simply to be condemned at last, no matter how sincere their efforts for salvation, while a certain other portion were created to be saved, inde- pendently of any efforts on their own part. I have realized these two ideas, not only with my mental vision, but with my bodily eyes and ears, and to their delineation I must now devote some attention. At the convergence of two courts which are opposite the entrance of Govent Garden and Drury Lane Theatres respectively, stands Crown Court Chapel, the shrine of Dr Gumming, of Millennial notoriety. Thither I wended my way on a Sunday morning, and, being directed by a placard to the proper entrance for ' strangers,' found a long queue, like that outside a Parisian theatre, gradually in process of absorption into the building. I defiled along with the rest, and, on entering, saw the well- known features, so familiar in the photographers' shops, of Dr Gumming himself, who had already entered the pulpit or desk — the two are one — arrayed in Geneva gown and bands. Proceedings commenced with an interminable hymn, of I am afraid to guess how many verses, fairly sung, without accompaniment, to a rather monotonous air. Prayer followed; and vohat prayer, think we ? Dr Gumming paraphrased — cj-edite posteri ! — the Lord's Prayer ! It was a fan-ago of the Lord's Prayer, the Litany of the Church of England, and the extemporaneous effusion of Dr Gumming himself. An anthem followed ; the ' audience ' — it was specially so termed by Dr Gumming — sitting, and then followed a Scriptural exposition. Now, either my visit to this chapel was most provi- dentially timed, or else Millenarianism forms the staple food of Dr Cumming's flock to an extent of which one dreads to think, for his exposition was based on the veritable 24th of Matthew itself, wherein occur the actual words that had prompted me to visit this particular DR GUMMING IN CROWN COURT. 121 shrine : ' Of that day and hour ' — that is, of judgment — ' knoweth no man ; no, not the angels of heaven ; but my Father only.' In the course of a long exposition, Dr Gumming did not say one word about this particular verse. The interpretation of the chapter was the obvious one of dividing it at v. 28, and applying the former portion to the destruction of Jerusalem, the concluding part to the Judgment. The most noticeable feature was the constant intrusion of Greek equivalents for English words, as though Dr Cumming's recent attack upon the Pope in Ecclesiastical Latin had given a classical turn to all his thoughts. For instance, we were informed that ' coming ' was irapovaCa, and ' kingdom,' /Sao-iXet'a, and ' witness,' jxapr'upi.ov, and that ' the world,' olKovp-evq, gave the name to the Pope's CBcumenioal Council. (Dr Gumming probably had not heard of the other etymology, which assigns the name to the French ieu,me — ' froth,' — or he might have made ' a hit, a palpa- ble hit.') As a summary, he requested any of his ' audience ' to open their morning papers and this chapter side by side, and compare the signs of the WAos ttJs olKovjie.vr\i. A ' paraphrase hymn ' from 2 Peter iii. followed, the burden of which was, — ' Yet as tlie night-'wrapped tHef, who lurks To seize the expected prize, ^o steals the hour when Christ shall come, And thunder rend the skies.' After a collect and Lord's Prayer began the sermon, and — toujburs perdrix ! — its subject was again selected from Matt. xxiv. 14, and was announced by the preacher himself as ' Good news from the Distant Land.' ' If I were to tell you gold had been found in Scotland,' said Dr C., 'what a rush there would be for the Northern train ! ' (There is, by the way, a popular idea that the rush is generally the other way, and that return tickets are not taken.) ' I have better news than that ; news for all — for the poorest inhabitant of Brewer's Court, or of Drury Court, which beats it hollow, I tell you ; ' though it was quite certain no denizen of Brewer's Court was there to hear, ' of that which is more satisfying 122 UNOJiTHODOX LONDON. tlian money or fame ' — commodities hardly likely to abound in either of the specified localities. ' We all feel life ebbing away, and ' — I am sorry to say Dr Gumming quoted Lord Dundreary — ' that man is a lunatic who does not look forward. The expiration of the Lease of Time is only determined in order to enable us to take possession of the Freehold of Eternity.' From this somewhat incongruous metaphor, Dr Gumming passed to the strongest, because most human, point of his sermon, and eloquently declared his belief that this land to which death conducted us was not really a dis- tant land. ' I do not believe,' he said, ' that at the hour of death there is one moment's suspension of conscious existence. Nay, I even believe that in the so-called in- sensibility or unconsciousness that often precedes bodily dissolution the dying person is still sensible, still con- scious. It is only that the electric wires of the nerves have lost the power of carrying messages from the inhabitants within to those outside. It has become a non-conductor.' The sermon then took a Broad Ghurch tone, but qualified by many narrownesses. This preach- ing of the Gospel to ' all nations ' was now literally ful- ' filled. Hinduism was beginning to assume the form of a ' detected imposture ; ' the crescent of Mahometanism was waning ; ' the spectral shadow of Rome ' was be- coming thinner. The Gouncil was the greatest blunder ever committed by an Infallible Pontiff. It disclosed to the world the divisions tearing asunder the body of her who had boasted, ' I sit as Queen.' All these things are in ' our ' favour. ' We ' are on the winning side ; though it was not quite clear to what an extent the ' we ' was meant to be inclusive. This kingdom of God, Dr Gumming argued, is not meat and drink, which he explained to mean, not a thing of dalmatics, copes, and incense. It is not Episcopacy nor Presbytery, not sect nor shibboleth, but righteousness, joy, and peace. All men, baptized and unbaptized, sprinkled or immersed — all are sons of God. , All are ' bom again,' if they only have love for God, and charity to forgive one another's sins. The Pacific of Eternity and the Atlantic of DR GUMMING IN CROWN COURT. 123 Eternity are now united by Christ, and no sands could evei' block up that channel. Above all, this kingdom of God is not Calvinism. Christ will save all who let Him save them'. ' Every man and woman here present/ exclaimed Dr Cumming, warming with his theme, ' may be a Christian before yonder dial points to one o'clock,' and it was then pointing to 12.20. ' I like,' he said again, ' to meet with an out-and-out infidel. I can say to such a man, " I respect you, for your doubt is manly." But I have no respect for the man who, believing that God has die's for him {sic), neglects that fact. Neglect is childish. This Gospel — this "good spell," or glad tidings — is now being preached in every land. We now preach KTjpiJcro-o/xei', this good tidings, good spell, in all the world, iv irda-rj r?j olKovixevrj, for a witness, els jxapripiov.' I here give really an unexaggerated speci- men of Dr Cumming's linguistic illustrations. This announcement is made, he argued, by means of the pub- lications of the British and Foreign Bible Society, not necessarily for the conversion of all the nations, but for a witness to them — a witness of the efficacy of the blopd that was shed for the remission of their sins, though those sins might be 'as scarlet.' The preacher here apologetically introduced an illustration which he did not feel sure to be ' chemically correct,' and about which I am quite unable to check him. A paper-maker told him that he could utilize all rags for the purposes of his trade — could make them all into white paper with the single exception of ' scarlet ' rags. Out of these he could only make pink blotting-paper. ' What a striking illustration ! The text in question, you see, does not say, " Though your sins be blue, or purple, or green," but " though they be scarlet, they shall be as white as wool." The impossibility of chemistry is the possibility of Christ.' This good news of the Distant Land it is the mission of the Christian preacher to announce as a herald, not to prove ' like the Scotch divines.' ' There was a certain M.P.,' said Dr Cumming, dropping his voice to the very lowest pitch, as though in recognition 124 UNORTHODOX LONDON. of the senatorial dignity, 'who sat here for years. When he came he was an Unitarian. He went away a believer.' Preaching — so I understood the preacher — was to fill up the gaps in revelation, and was better than all ' cathedrals and confessing-boxes.' Do not neglect it. Such was the substance of the peroration. Another paraphrase hymn on Eev. i. 5 — 9 was then sung — ■ ' ' Behold, on flying clouds He comes ; ' an extempore prayer was offered, and benediction was pronounced, and so I passed out into St Giles's, where the string of carriages outside Crown Court seemed little symptomatic of Brewer's Court or Drury Court, the inhabitants whereof, to judge by appearances, had given themselves up to traffic in birds. As I passed through Seven Dials I heard a despairing purchaser pathetically lament that ' 'en birds ' that Sunday morning were ' sellin' at cock prices ! ' It will be evident, from the foregoing sketch, that Dr Cumming's hearers are accustomed to ' strong meat.' To such a Millennium as he preached, and which he believed would be realized in this world, possibly none of us would object. It would, indeed, be only what we all pine for, as larger even than that ' common Chris- tianity' which so many talk about, so few realize; it would be a recognition of the universal fatherhood of God — a practice of universal charity to man. But in the course of this one sermon, Dr Gumming cut off from such charity the Hindus-, the Mahometans, the Roman Catholics, the wearers of copes and dalmatics, the fre- quenters of confessing-boxes and cathedrals — nay, in less severe terms, ' the Scotch divines ' themselves. Surely, then, the Broad Church principles with which he set out as his major premises become lost when made of individual application in the minor, as body after body of religionists is tried and found wanting. Such was the conclusion to which Dr Cumming's arguments led him — namely, to a very select Millennium, coexten- sive, it might almost seem, with his own congregation ; or else I was guilty of a very false process indeed in my visit to Crown Court. DR GUMMING ON EUROPE. 125 DE CUMMLNG ON THE PEESENT AND PUTUEE OP EUEOPE. SUCH was the momentous question proposed by Dr Gumming as the subject of a lecture at Myddelton Hall, Islington. It is not too much, to say that if he could solve it satisfactorily, he would establish that character of the nineteenth-century prophet to which, rightly or wrongly, he is supposed to aspire. It is pos- sible that a certain amount of prejudice exists as to Dr Gumming' s claim ; and no doubt the previous portion of the title, ' The outpouring of the Seventh Vial,' would lead many persons to doubt whether his treat- ment of the matter would be altogether a practical one ; yet, still, the subject was so supremely the question of the hour that it is no marvel the hall was filled with a vast audience, numbering many beyond Dr Gumming's immediate admirers and disciples. Any accurate de- lineation of the present, or probable forecasting of the future, of Europe was too urgent a desideratum, when ' the Pranco-Prussian War was scarcely over, to render us very scrupulous as to the quarter whence it may be obtained. Since the commencement of the Franco- Prussian War — ^indeed, subsequently to the capitulation of Sedan — ^Dr Gumming had published a work of some 300 or 400 pages bearing the same title as his lecture ; but the march of events was so rapid and unexpected that much still remained to be said. After stating briefly his method of Apocalyptic inter- pretation, and the division of the Book of Eevelation into twenty-one portions, devoted severally to the break- ing of the seven seals, the blowing of the seven trum- pets, and the outpouring of the seven vials, the lecturer stated it as his belief that we were living under the 126 UNORTHODOX LONDON. twenty-first epoch, or seventh vial, and proposed to read the details of Rev. xvi. in the light of current history, as reported in the daily papers, empannelling his audience as a jury to decide whether the one set of facts did or did not lie over against the other.. The result of the outpouring of the sixth vial had been the procession of three evil spirits from the mouth of the dragon, which Dr Gumming identified severally with the atheistic — including therein the Broad Church — school; the Roman heresy ; and its emissaries, the Jesuits and propagandists of every grade, both within and without the Established Church. Speaking of the activity of the Roman Catholic priests, Dr Cumming took such activity as a sign of sincerity, and paid a high tribute to Archbishop Manning, with whom he stated he him- self had enjoyed a friendly correspondence. According to the lecturer, the Archbishop could boast of having made 2000 converts in the N. W. district of London alone ! Here the Doctor inserted one of his character- istic anecdotes. A young nobleman had been a fre- quent attendant at his chapel in Crown Court, and Dr Cumming expressed his satisfaction at finding this re- presentative of the aristocracy had not been ' infected by Dr Pusey.' ' Do not mistake,' said a lady to whom he expressed his gratification; 'he does not come here because he is in love with you, but with a young lady in your congregation.' The papa of this young lady put the question to the aristocratic lover whether he •meant to go over to Rome, and, on being answered in the affirmative, the young lady of Crown Courb volun- tarily resigned ' the marquisate and £3000 a year ! ' Though not generally advocating ' sensation novels,' Dr Cumming recommended his audience to read ' Lo- thair' on this subject. He was also pleasantly sarcastic on the awkwardness of the Ritualists in ' genuflecting,' stating that, in attempting to imitate his Roman brethren, the Ritualist posed himself in the shape of a right-angled triangle. All these three influences were at work on the ' OEoumenical ' — i.e. the world — the ten kingdoms of Europe are being deceived by them ; and DR GUMMING ON EUROPE. 127 the result was the gathering of the forces to the great war of Armageddon. Now, ever since the opening of the first Crystal Palace of 1851, he continued, peace has been prophesied. What have been the results ? The Crimean war, the Indian mutiny, the American war, the Austro-Prussian, and now the Franco-Prussian wars. The characteristic of the present war is that the great Protestant Power of Europe is chastising the Catholic. ' And I see another war,' said the lecturer, ' predicted in the great hail of the Apocalypse.' Hail in the pro- phetic Scriptures means Northern invasion ; and to what can this refer but to Russia ? Russia believes it her destiny to rule in the East. The attempt was premature in 1854 J but ever since M. Thiers was at St Petersburg the trains in Russia have carried nothing but troops. Hence he infers that Russia is preparing to fulfil her destiny. Turkey is moribund, and, he concluded, the sooner she .is swept away the better. France is no longer a counterpoise to Russia. What remains but England ? And in what position are we ? Our only resource is at once to treble our army and volunteers. Passing from the Apocalypse to the Gospel of St Luke, the lecturer finds ' earthquakes ' to be a sign of the last times. If these be read to mean material shakings of the earth, 1868 bears in America the name of the ' earthquake year.' ' The sea and waves roaring ' was to be another sign. Has not this been fulfilled in the vast sea waves, sometimes sixty feet high, of which we have heard of late ? The New York Times began a leader with the words, ' We are not disciples of Dr Cumming ; but there is certainly something the matter with the earth.' ' It may be egotism,' the lecturer con- tinued, 'but I may remind you that in a lecture at Exeter Hall I stated, from a computation of the " time, times, and half a time," that the time of the Gentiles would expire in 1867. . If this be correct, I said, there will follow, after 1868, an unprecedented war, earth- quakes, and the deposition of the Pope. This was taken down in shorthand. Has it, or has it not, been fulfilled ? ' Dr Cumming here passed in review the 128 UNORTHODOX LONDON. recent events in Spain, Austria, and Italy; and, by way of climax, informed the audience that the last blow had now been given to Papal authority in Italy by priests resolving to marry. A young priest ' proposed ' to a lady, and, the fact having come out in confession, re- sulted, of course, in the banns being forbidden. The priest appealed to the .civil law, and it was decided, not only that priests, but even the Pope himself might marry, if he chose. Now, if all the priests married, Di" Cummin g decided that the Church would soon fall to pieces. Contemporaneously with this mutinous spirit within, there was a movement outside the Church. The Waldenses are reported to be rising all over Italy. Even Napoleon himself has not only withdrawn his soldiers from Rome, but, on one occasion, when he was ' inter- viewed ' by Dr Cumming and certain Protestant pasiews the ex-Emperor thus delivered himself: 'If I had my will, nio priest should rise above the level of the sole of my foot.' All this, said Dr Camming, followed close upon the decree of Infallibility. So the Apocalypse said that, when Babylon boasted ' I am Queen,' then her trouble should come. The consummation of this outpouring was to be that the Great City should be divided into three parts j and Dr Cumming quoted the Times correspondent (though he did not believe that gentleman read his Bible), who gave it out that the probable future of Europe would be a tripartite division, into Pan-Slavonianism, Pan- Teutonism, and Pan-Latinism, represented by Eussia, Germany, and the Catholic Powers respectively. Then, again, ' the cities of the nations ' were to fall. Reading this literally, what could it refer to but the surrender of Strasburg and Metz ? Adopting the reading of the Sinaitic text, which substitutes ' city of the nations,' it plainly referred to Paris — so eminently the city of all the nations of the civilized world. Here the lecturer, by way of peroration, referred again to the signs in the Sun, pointing out how the photosphere had been re- cently described as ' riddled with holes ; ' to a volcano in the moon, which ha^ been observed to be in active DR GUMMING ON EUROPE. 129 eruption in 1868-9 j to 'falling stars/ in connection with whicli he calculated the probability of our whole system gravitating to the Sun and so being destroyed ; and finally, among the ' signs of the times/ the aurora borealis of the past week was numbered. This phe- nomenon Dr Gumming believed to be identical with the ' primaeval light/ which existed before the creation of the Sun. ' I am not superstitious/ he concluded ; ' but certain signs are set down. Do not these corre- spond ? ' The question, of course, remains, Has there ever been a period when such signs did not exist ? Does not therefore the constancy of such signs seem designed to keep us always on the alert ; and rather to forbid, than sanction, such vaticinations on a subject which Scripture declares unknown to men and angels ? At all events, the lecture, which lasted nearly two hours, added little to our information as to the existing condition of Europe; whilst really the only prediction as to the future was one which has already occurred to the minds of politi- cians without any aid from prophecy, pointing to a pos- sible complication in the direction of Russia and the Eastern question. It was a clever adaptation of obscure prophecy to current events; and as such, no doubt, delighted the already initiated disciples.of Dr Gumming. We fear that neophytes would come away slightly dis- appointed at the meagre amount of information supplied in answer to that even still vexed question — the actual present, and probable future, of Europe. I30 UNORTHODOX LONDON. SUREEY CHAPEL. I WAS wandering in transponiine London one Sunday morning in search of a new heresy — I use the word in its literal, and therefore inoffensive, sense — when, finding the particular heresiarch of whom I was in quest had changed his quarters, the difficulty occurred to me how I should spend the morning profitably. The world of religious London was ' all before me where to choose ' my place of rest, and I eventually decided upon looking in on the Rev. Newman Hall at Surrey Chapel, Blaok- friars. It occurred to me that the occasion was peculi- arly opportune, since that gentleman had just returned from his tour in the East, and was about to put his renovated strength to the proof by preaphing morning and evening at Surrey Chapel, and in the afternoon at St James's Hall. Accordingly I gaii^ed the quaint circular edifice under the railway arch, whose uneccle- siastical ugliness perpetuates the memory of the oeler brated Rowland Hill, and was proceeding to make my way into the interior, after listening for a few minute g to the simple oratory of the open-a,ir preacher who was holding forth to a moderate knot of people in the chapel-yard, whilst a fringe of idlers from the New Cut dangled between that busy centre of Sunday traffic and the preacher, half inclined to join his congregation, but feeling the genius loci too strong for the nonce. Here, however, an unexpected difficulty met me. Even at the shrine of Dr Cumming strangers were allowed to enter one particular portion of the edifice. But at Surrey Chapel the regular congregation is so large that a passage has to be kept clear for them amidst the crowd of outsiders, and two stalwart doorkeepers found it no sinecure to do so on this particular morning, when, no SURRE Y CHAPEL. 1 3 1 doubt, the fact of the pastor's return swelled the num- bers of his flock. Some of the flock, indeed, had a little grace awarded them, and the consequence was that the service had advanced some way when I at last efiected an entrance. The large building was so nearly filled that the narrow passages between the ' wedges ' of pews had to be lined with seats, and I was fain to perch myself on a bracket, being fortunate, indeed, to get even that ; for directly the building was thrown open to the public it was literally crammed, and I fancy many must have gone away without getting in at all. > Now my curiosity had been awakened with regard to Surrey Chapel, by the fact of my having seen it set do'wn in my list of chapels quite apart from all others. 'After the various denominations had been duly catalogued, some four or five most heterogeneous creeds had been grouped together as ' other denominations,' and amidst these stood ' Surrey Chapel, Rev. Newman Hall, LL.B.' I had no notion, therefore, of what I was going to see, and was not a little surprised, when I did get in, to find the reading desk occupied by a curate in moSt orthodox surplice and bands, who was engaged in read- ing the Morning Prayers of the Church of England, whilst the Rev. Newman Hall himself — whom I recog- nized from his portraits, despite a beard and moustache which have recently supervened — was seated, in the same costume, in a sort of clergy pew beneath the pulpit. The late arrivals had been vouchsafed some grace, as I have said, for the curate began the Psalms for the day as I entered. These were read, and one marked difi'erence. from the Bstabhshed Chm-ch struck me im- mediately. All the congregation made the responses not only audibly, but in earnest voices, as though they really meant what they were saying. I never heard so much life put into a Liturgy before. It was, in fact, our Church of England service without the rigidity attaching to strict Rubrical observance. For instance, the second lesson was Matthew xiii., an extremely long chapter, which the officiating clergyman very wisely abridged by about one half. Surely a vast amount of 132 UNORTHODOX LONDON. the necessity for Liturgical revision would be done away with if some such discretion as this were left to the clergy. Between the lessons the ' Te Deum ' was sung to a regular cathedral service ; but again I was surprised to hear the congregation join it, instead of remaining mere passive listeners. After the second lesson the curate left the desk, and the Eev. Newman Hall took his place, saying the rest of the prayers. Up to the suffrages after the Creed, the service — whilst I was present — was exactly that of the Church of England; but here, as also in the Litany, the repetition of the Lord's Prayer was judiciously omitted. There were one or two verbal alterations in the Litany; e.g., 'From sudden and vnprepa/red death, good Lord deliver us,' and ' Bishops and teachers,' instead of ' Bishops, priests, and deacons ; ' whilst another suffrage was enlargedT- ' That it may please thee to protect our fellow-country- men scattered over the world, in the British Colonies and the United States of America, and to bless and keep all Thy people.' In the General Thanksgiving, too, which was recited heartily by all the congregation, a special clause was introduced with the words, ' The pastor of this church desires to offer thanks for the safe return of himself and fellow-travellers.' I dwell on these details because the service that morning at Surrey Chapel struck me in the light of a phenomenon, giving us at least a clue how to combine the order of a fixed Liturgy with the amount of adaptation necessary to make any formal prayer really express the spiritual necessities of a particular body of worshippers. The congregation consisted, for the most part, of solid middle-class men, with their wives and families, and though the service was in many respects ornate — the chol-al portions being of really rare excellence — it was quite evident that all sympathized with it. It was, in fact, an honest expression of their feelings, as far re- moved from formality as possible. The service concluded with the Litany, notice being given that the Lord's Supper would be celebrated at 3 P.M., and then Mr Hall ascended the pulpit. Having SURREY CHAPEL. 133 delivered a rather long but impressive extempore prayer, he gave oat as his text Romans xv. 29, ' I am sure that when I come unto you I shall come in the fulness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ.' The preacher remarked that, although uncertainty chequered the details of the Christian course, there was assurance as to the end, now, as in Paul's case. Bringing round the inquiry to the peculiar circumstances under which they, as pastor and congregation, met that morning, he observed that fulness consisted, 1st, in fulness of Gospel truth, and referred to Paul's preaching in ' his own hired house ' as an illustration of that fulness. Fresh from visiting the traditional house of Paul at Rome, Mr Hall placed the fulness of his teaching in the declaration of Christ's Divinity. ' We want a full Christ, not a limited one.' Christ's death was not only that of a martyr — it was a sacrifice — and He an atoning Mediator. All who appro-, priate this sacrifice by faith are saved, ' without man's ceremonies.' There is no need of purgatorial fire here- after, or even of long prayers ^ here. The result is immediate. Simply believe and be saved. ' I have seen,' said the preacher, ' ceremonial worship abroad ; I have seen a cold Protestantism. But what we want is a fall Christ, not only preached by us, but received by you. You are called the " laity," but in the Bible you are called kings and priests. Demand, then, a full Gospeh You want talent and genius if you can get them, but beyond these is a full Gospel. University degrees are trumpery ; Apostolical Succession as sound- ing brass in the absence of the full Gospel.' Then, secondly, with reference to the fruits, ' We believe,' he said, 'in Holy Baptism, but we do not believe that makes a child of God. The Holy Communion does not incorporate into Christ. Conversion is still needed. Do not think it is only the traffickers in the great street yonder, or the drunkards in its gin-palaces, that need conversion ; all need it.' He then passed on to speak of love, joy, and peace, as fruits of the full Gospel, and in an eloquent peroration he said, ' I have been wander- ing by the banks of the llissus, and over the plains 134 UNORTHODOX LONDON. of Attica; I liave seen Italy and Prance in all tlieir vernal beauty — so may we be full of the beauty of holiness ! ' From these extracts it will be seen that the tenets of Surrey Chapel do not differ in the main from those of Evangelical churchmen. In matters of discipline, indeed, it is only from the fact of not belonging to the State Church that this body can be brought within the limits of 'Unorthodox London.' 'We are no sect/ says Mr Hall himself ; ' we have no name ; we are sim- ply Christians. Eowland Hill never intended to leave the Church of England, but they forced him to do so, because he would preach wherever people would listen to him ; and he would fraternize with all who were trying to do good, though not in the Church of England.' And again, ' We never know what discord means. All are at work for God and man. There is no sectarian test of membership. We have Baptists, Episcopalians, Methodists, etc. etc. etc. We know nothing of these distinctions.' Amongst the good works done here — for Surrey Chapel is no mere ' prpaching house ' — are the education of 5000 children in Sunday schools, and 700 in week-day schools, by 450 voluntary teachers ; three! missionaries visit the houses of the poor ; and Sunday evening services are held in seventeen lodging-houses, among beggars, costermongers, etc. Benevolent so- cieties and penny banks minister to bodily necessities, while by a recent arrangement the chapel it&eW, instead of being shut up from Sunday to Sunday, through ideas of ' consecration,' is opened on week evenings for popu- lar education and amusement. Mr Hall frequently lectures himself, and such men as Mr Thomas Hughes and Mr Layard have helped him. Thousands of eager artisans, he says, avail themselves of this arrangement, which proves a counter-attraction to the gin-shop. Tem- perance, it should be added, is strongly advocated at Surrey Chapel. The only approach to test or form of Church member- ship consists in the subscription to a ' confession,' which is publicly renewed and ratified every year, and which> THE SEVENTH-DAY BAPTISTS. 135 after briefly setting forth the outlines of faith alluded to ia the above sermon, thus concludes : — ' We desire to present oiirselves — spirit, soul, and body — time, property, influence — a Hving sacrifice unto God. We will en- deavour in aU things to prove that we lov6 Him, by obejritig His commandments. We will endeavour, in private and public, in our bousebolds, in our business, in daily life, in all places, in all companies, to act as becometh. the Gospel ; to promote true reli- gion in the hearts of others ; to help the needy, comfort the sorrowful, and to diminish vice, ungodliness, and misery in the world, " looking for that blessed hope, the glorious appearance of ' our great God and Saviour, Jesus Ohrist." And knowing, from numerous past failures, how unable we are of Ourselves to do any thing that is good, we do earnestly implore the help of Him, with- out whom we can do nothing, but who has said, " My grace is sufficient for you." '. ' In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, to this our solemn Covenant . we do now severally and unitedly assent — with a solemn and a hearty — Amen.' SATURDAY WITH THE SEVENTH-DAY BAPTISTS; SURELY striitigeBt of all strange nooks and corners of ' Haunted London ' is the little chapel in Goodman's Fields where I spent a Sabbath afternoon with the Seventh-day Baptists- It was not without some difiS- culty that I traced out, by help of the Post-office Directory, this oasis in the great desert of East London. The chapel I found to be in Mill Yard, Hooper Square ; Hooper Square turns out of Leman Street, No. 89 ; and Leman Street runs at right angles to High Street, White- chapeL At Hooper Square accordingly I presented myself, but it was still with the greatest difficulty that I learned the locale of Mill Yard^ even from its nearest neighbours. It was an unlikely-looking, unsavoury place 136 UNORTHODOX LONDON. when I did find it. No. 15, I had learned, was the address of the minister, W. H. Black, described as ' anti- quary and record agent.' High gates with a wicket lay- between Nos. 14 and 16. I opened, and straightway found myself at the door of the minister's house ; a green churchyard was in front of me studded with gravestones, and filled with most unexpected trees, bounded on one side by the quaintest of old school-houses, on another by antique cottages, and on a third, as an anti-climax, by the only symptom of the 19th century visible— the arches of the Blackwall Eailway. I seemed to leave the waking world behind and pass into the region of dream- land, as the wicket closed. It reminded me forcibly of scenes in Dickens's ' Old Curiosity Shop.' Nor was the effect removed when the minister presented himself at my summons. A venerable scholar-like old man, arrayed in clerical black, and with a long white beard, received me most courteously, and begged me to wait in the vestry until service time. Here we engaged in convers- ation, and I found that this is the only place of worship for the particular body in London ; there being, in fact, only one other in England. On the wall was a tablet referring to afire which had occurred here in 1690, when the meeting-house was rebuilt. In this fire, the minister told me, a large and valuable collection of MSS. of the, Sacred Text had been lost — a loss he was doing his best to retrieve by making another collection. Mr Black also informed me that the body of Seventh-day Baptists^ though so small in point of numbers in England, is largely represented in America, where the University of Alfred belongs to them, and two colleges. Their journal is the ' Sabbath-day Recorder ; ' a copy of which he presented to me. While engaged in conversation of this kind, the hour for service drew on. I noticed that Mr Black bore with him, for use in the pulpit, a Greek Harmony of the Gospels with a Latin running com- mentary. I certainly had not been prepared for this. I expected to find some illiterate minister, with a hobby ridden to death|, when lo ! I found myself in the presence of a profound scholar and most courteous gentleman. THE; SEVENTH-DA Y BAPTISTS. 137 ■who informed me that lie thought in Latin, said his prayers in Hebrew, and read his New Testament lessons from the original Greek ! I then went into the chapel, which was small and in poor repair. The congregation only numbered fourteen persons besides myself, the minister, and clerk, to wit, six men, five women, and three children. I shall give the particulars of the service in detail, for they were very curious. Proceedings commenced with a short extempore prayer and hymn, after which a portion of the 119th Psalm was read. I was informed that every service comprised one of the divisions of this Psalm, a portion of the Law, of the Prophets, and of the Book of the Eevelation. The portion of the Psalm was given out under its Hebrew letter-title, 'letter Vau,^ and the authorship of the Psalm was attributed to Daniel. I could not help noticing, throughout the whole service, the boldness and freedom of Mr Black's criticisms. The portion of the Law read was the faithfulness of Phinehas ; and the effect of the Hebrew pronunciation of the proper names was curious in the extreme. Long quotations were also given in the sacred language, and quite a lengthy discussion was introduced on the subject of the ' dimidiated Vau \' It seemed incredible that the congregation could follow this. They did not look learned; but their attention did not flag — as yet. The portion of the Prophets was selected from the book of Judges ; which Mr Black includes among the prophetical writings. Then was read Psalm 91 in free translation. It was treated as a prayer of Moses at the ordination of Joshua, though it is one of the Psalms bearing no title. A second version of the same Psalm in blank verse was also read by Mr Black, with considerable elocutionary power. A metrical version of Psalm 19 by Dr Watts was then sung, without accompaniment, very fairly, considering the smallness of the congregation. After this followed a long exposition of Mark xii., which was first read in Archbishop Newcome's translation. Here Mr Black brought his classical learning to bear, as he had up to this time his Rabbinical. For instance, he 138 UNORTHODOX LONDON. argued that the ' Herodians/ genefalljr regai'ded as a political factioiij were simply the soldiers and attendants of Herod who had accompanied him to the Passover, and were called ' Herodiani ' just as Pornpey's men were called ' Pompeiani/ Here, again, the use of classical terms and foreign pronunciation was very remarkable ; as, for instance, ' Render to Kaisar the things that are Kaisar's ; ' ' Fetch me a denarius.' It was shown that it was a denarius, and not the shekel, that pointed the moral of this conversation ; as the shekel would have had no ' image ' upon it, such being contrary to the law. Mr Black evidently thought strongly on this point. ' Never would Jews or Mahometans put image of man on their coins,' he said j ' it is only Christians who dare do this.' Passing on to the Sadducee's question about the Resurrection, he treated the answer of Jesus, based on the quotation from ' The Bush ' as ' altogether un- satisfactory.' It was an wrgirnientum ad hominem, how- ever — a fighting the enemy with his own weapons. Soj too, in the summary of duty given to the Scribes, the two great corumandments were not designed to super' sede others, but were ' extensive principles underlying all special law.' In verse 35, again, where Jesus applied to Himself the quotation from the Psalms, ' The Lord said unto my Lord,' etc., Mr Black's criticism would have made an orthodox divine shiver in his shoeS. In the first place, he said, the Psalm was not David's, but attributed to David, and probably was written by Nathan. ' My Lord,' in fact, was David. Secondlyj it had no more reference to Jesus of Nazareth 'than to you or me.' It referred to the expected Messiah. It Was, again, an instance of the method adopted by Jesus of arguing on admitted principles. The exposition con- cluded with Rabbinical ^nd classical passages illustrating the episode of the Widow's Mite. He concluded by a very telling comparison. ' It is just as though some one should come and drop into the box, one by one, osten- tatiously, a string of Chinese coins. All would amount to little, though they made a great noise and display. And then some one came aaad dropped in quietly a THE SE VENTH-DA Y BAP TISTS. 1 39 dollar, wortli more than all, thougli given so modestly. So was this widow's mite.' Upon this followed a reading of the ' 60th section of the Apocalypse.' It commenced at the 10th verse of our 21st chapter, and embraced the description of the New Jerusalem. Mr Black treats the accepted date of the Book of Revelation as erroneous, and places it in the feign of Nero. This particular prophecy he regards as the complement of the end of Ezekiel. The tone of this part of the service struck me as almost Swedenborgian. Then followed a long and eloquent extempore prayer. There were, in fact, some noble passages here, quite free from all sectarian bias, and breathing the very widest charity. He prayed for blessing ' on all honest and sincere persons of whatever nation or profession : for Jews and Mahometans and Christians : for the raising up of reformers : and that all may be fitted for a nobler and purer state of society, and have their share in the First Resurrection.' It was now 4.30 p.m., the service having commended at three, and I really fancied all Was over ; when, to my surprise, ' here followed the sermon.' The text (Matthew XXV. 28, and two following verses) was read, first in free translation, and then in the ancient Greek, with modern or Romaic pronunciation. This, it should be mentioned. Was part of a course on the ' Harmony of the Gospels,' commenced eight years since. A former course, on a , like subject, occupied the same preacher fifteen years ! A course on Systematic Theology, commenced two years and a half ago, and, according to the published pro- gramme, embracing seven lectures, has not yet advanced to the end of No. 1. They do not do things in a hurry at Mill Yard. The sermon, which I must analyze very briefly, though it occupied nearly an hour, commenced by an explanation of the expression, ' The Kingdom of Heaven.' That kingdom is present. 'It is the fifth great monarchy spoken of by Daniel.' Every human being is responsible to the Ruler of the Universe for all 'talents.' That expression has passed into common language from this parable. When we die punishment HO UNORTHODOX LONDON. imnbediaiely ensues upon misuse. There is no interval. The next moment of consciousness is resurrection. ' The wicked die again, and die in pain.' There, nomi- nal religion is no good. To tell people it is so is only- like the story of the French King, who- was calmed by the assurance that God could not possibly turn out from heaven so perfect a gentleman as his Majesty. [At this period of the discourse, I am sorry to say, most of the female portion of the small congregation fell asleep, the children undisguisedly having a game among the has- socks.] The preacher then passed on to mention cer- tain local particulars relating to some malversation of the funds of the chapel, and his remarks were exceed- ingly severe. In fact, his earnestness elevated his style into something of the dignity of an old Scotch Coven- anter. ' Note what has been the case with our pei*se- cutors for the last two hundred years,' he said. ' Our prayers are heard, and down they go. May it be so now. It will be as long as we are faithful.' But little allusion was made to the Seventh-day Sabbath. England, he said, was least observant of this. ' Abroad I find churches always open, and I go into monasteries and Catholic shrines, and say my prayers in Hebrew, Greek, or Latin.' ' Saturday is still the Sabbath in common law. If Parliament sat on Saturday its proceedings would be noted " Sabbati." It is only in statute law that Sunday is made the Sabbath.' ' The Reformation is but a thing of yesterday. We go back to British — nay, to Eoman times ! ' A tract has been published by Mr Black, entitled 'Plain Reasons for the Religious Observance of the Seventh-day Sabbath (commonly called Saturday), as perpetually binding upon all Chris- tians, published for " promoting the cause of Truth," by the ancient Sabbath-keeping Congregation in Mill Yard, Goodman's Fields.' Of course the strong point is the retention of the Fourth Commandment, enjoining the observance of the Jewish Sabbath in the moral code of Christianity. The whole brochure, however, is full of interest ; placing the subject learnedly, and with all the force of conviction, before the reader. THE SEVENTH-DA Y BAPTISTS. 141 I must not forget to mention that Mr Black is a poet — and one of the irritahile genus vatum — too. A digni- tary of the Metropolitan Cathedral ventured on the assertion that Mr Black had sought to join the Jews. The 'Jewish Journals' repudiated the assertionj and Mr Black — I suppress lines that contain names or per- sonalities — thus unburthened himself : — ' Quoth , " 'Twere capital fun In London's cathedral to be a great gun l To gain such preferment, quite certain I feel , That the readiest way is Dominical zeal. ' " The Puritan writers I'll slaughter and slash — Their doctrines are easily proved to be trash ; But those simple people that meet at Mill Tard, To confute, I confess, is tremendously hard. ' " Then I'U try to despatch them at once, being few. By pretending their teacher, that Black, is a Jew.". ******* ' Eesolved on his purpose, he comes out in .print, Is a Canon install' d and has gold from the Mint.' I came away impressed with the idea that this was among the strangest of my experiences in Unorthodox London. Shall I add another ' idea ' also ? — that it would be no harm if some of our ' Sunday preachers would take a quiet run out on Saturday to Goodman's Fields, and carry away an original notion or two from the ' Praelectiones Theologicae Miliarenses ' and ' Prse- lectiones Bvangelicse Hebdomadales ' — as they are headed in the programmes — of the Seventh-day Baptist minister, William Henry Black, F.S.A. Mr Black has died since the above article was written ; but the worship of the Seventh-day Baptists is still con- tinued in Mill Yard. 142 UNORTHODOX lONDON. THE CHEISTADBLPHIANS. THE curious inquirer into the phenomena of religious life in London will find his sphere of observation greatly enlarged by a visit to the meeting-place of the Christadelphians, which, at the time of writing this paper, was a dancing academy, near the Gower Street station of the Underground Railway, but which has since been removed to the less festive region of Wellington Hall, Wellington Street, Upper Street, Islington. Nine persons out of ten will open their eyes at this portentous title, exclaiming, ' What ! yet another sect ? ' They will, therefore, in all probability, grow inquisitive, and find that their neighbour, No. 10, knows little more than themselves about the matter. They will probably wax etymological, and delude themselves with the idea that Christadelphian means ' brethren in Christ,' and is therefore, so to say, only Christian ' writ large,' and consequently a title which they could share in common with those who have adopted it as their distinctive ^.p- pellation. Nay, it is even possible that a visit or two to the Christadelphian ' Eoclesia ' will leave them compara- tively in the dark ; for the doctrines professed by the Christadelphians do not crop up at the surface of their religious practice, as embodied in worship, to the extent that we might expect, especially when we learn from other sources their violently revolutionary character. After paying several visits to the humble ' Ecclesia,' I confess to having failed to grasp the faintest outline of the doctrines professed by that body. That refuge of the destitute, the library of the British Museum, did not enlighten me ; nay, even the omniscient gentlemen in the centre of the reading room, who are ever so courteously ready to give information on all subjects, THE CHRISTADELPHIANS. 143 from tlie copyright of 'Cock Eobin' to a critical ques- tion in a Greek play^ — even these failed me. I am in- formed that, since the original appearance of this article, the defect has been remedied; Christadelphian books are no longer among the lihri desiderati, but such was the case when I first instituted my inquiry among the officials of our national museum. The name of Christa- delphian was to them unknown. Again I attended the morning ' breaking of bread/ at eleven on Sunday, and felt very much like an interloper, whilst some fifty habitues, mostly of the humbler class, ofi'ered up their simple prayer and praise, preached in turn their plain practical sermons, and partook, after their own homely fashion, of the bread and wine. I went on Sunday evening, as requested, ' with my Bible in my hand,* to ' hear the truth,^ and very solid truths I did hear, but nothing distinctive, nothing that might not have been preached in any church or chapel of London, orthodox or unorthodox. I attended a week-day lecture — still at the same place — on the subject of ' New Jerusalem, where and what it is,' and came away without having gleaned much more than the idea that it was to be the veritable Old Jerusalem restored and inhabited by the saints. Of the terms of saintship I learned comparative- ly nothing. It was only by placing myself in communi- cation with one of the body that I gained particulars of the history of Christadelphianism, and access to its somewhat voluminous but decidedly recondite literature. To an outsider— ^and it will presently appear in what an overwhelming majority we poor outsiders are — the meeting-place of the Christadelphians presents • no ap- preciable difference from that of the Plymouth Brethren. It resembles that sect precisely in the fact, for instance, of having no president or minister — the ' brethren ' officiating in turn ; as also in the sharp line of demarca- tion between the initiated and the profane, making an unfortunate outsider feel in a veritable minority of one on the occasion of his visits; while the ceremony of communion is so exactly similar as to render it worth the eonsidejation of the Christadelphians whether some 144 UNORTHODOX LONDON. distinctive mark should not be adopted to enable the uninformed to recognize the difference between them- selves and those sects all of which they so utterly con- demn and repudiate. The Christadelphian position will be best understood from an abridgment of an interesting document, drawn up for my special behoof by one of themselves, to whom, after wading through volumes of doctrinal and controversial matter, I applied in despair of gaining anything like an historical idea of the body, or its connection with other religious denominations. The Christadelphian s, he informed me, date their origin back to the first century. They claim, as the name XptoroC aSfXoC implies, to be brethren of Christ, — not in Christ, as I had imagined. The first Christa- delphians, therefore, he argues, were the Apostles. As to the history of the Christadelphian body during the centuries from the first to the nineteenth, little definite information can be given. The truth taught by Christ and the Apostles did not long continue to be held and set forth in its purity. The Christadelphian s of the first century were soon lost in the general body of those who embraced the mixture of Divine truth and Pagan philosophy which gained currency, and which my informant terms 'Paganized Christianity.' The first step which was made towards rescuing the truth from the obscurity into which it had been brought by the Church of Rome was the Reformation ; but this, though leading to the repudiation of some errors, and to the establishment of some truths, failed, according to Christadelphian ideas, to establish the truth apostolical- ly delivered. Subsequent steps towards the accomplish- ment of such an end have been, they say, the secessions from the Established Church of England, and the establishment of various dissenting bodies. These have assisted in bringing out isolated truths, but are still far from the possession of the whole truth. Christadel- phianism alone exhausts truth. The revival of the body in the present century has been effected through the instrumentality of John Thomas, M.D., the son of a Baptist minister who re- THE CHRISTADELPHIANS. 145 sided in London some forty years since. Dr Thomas emigrated to America in 'the year 1832, with the inten- tion of practising medicine in the United States. During thfe voyage, while placed in circumstances of great danger, he resolved that, if ever he reached terra firma again, he would not rest until he had found the truth, of which he then felt himself ignorant. Shortly after, his arrival in the United States, he joined the Camp- bellites, and was pressed by them, against his will, into speaking and preaching. This led him to study the Scriptures closely, and various diflSculties presented themselves to his mind, in the shape of apparent in- consistencies in the popular theology. He continued his investigations, and, his belief assuming a definite form, quite opposed to popular religion, he left the Campbellites, and propagated his belief by speaking and writing. This resulted in the formation of a number of churches (or as they — adopting the Greek word — term them ' ecclesias ') which subsequently adopted the name, ' Christadelphian,' as an alternative to the title of Thomasites. The Christadelphians, however, whilst thus incidentally connected with the Campbellites, disclaim ' emanation ' from any religious body. They consist, they say, of individuals gathered from almost every other denomination, as well as of those who were form- erly sceptics. There are some forty regular meetings of Christadelphians in this country ; but the body, besides being rigidly exclusive, is far from numerous. Dr Thomas died in March, 1871. Of Christadelphian doctrines the most concise sum- mary is found in a little pamphlet bearing the title of ' A Declaration of the First Principles of the Oracles of the Deity, set forth in a series of propositions demon- strating that the faith of Christendom is made up of the Fables predicted by Paul (2 Timothy iv. 4), and entirely subversive of the Faith once for all delivered to the saints.' Thus the hand of the Christadelphian is, like the Ishmaelite's, ' against every man.' The name of a Brother of Christ would seem rather to imply compre- hensiveness than the reverse ; and it is, in fact, curious 10 146 UNORTHODOX LONDON. to notice how, in these Thirty-six propositions, the Christadelphian does really manage to exhaust almost every form of heresy — and thus, while fancying himself exclusive, to become, in point of fact, simply eclectic. The kingdom of God is defined (Art. III.) as ' a Divine Political Dominion to be established on earth,' with the object of upsetting and superseding ail existing govern- ments. Its seat is to be Jerusalem, and its establish- ment preceded by a return of the Jews to Palestine. Jerusalem is then to be the ' Queen-city of the world, the residence of the Lord Jesus, the head-quarters and metropolis of the kiugdom of God, whose dominion will stretch to the utmost bounds of the globe.' This king- dom of God will last a thousand years, during which Christ and His saints will rule the mortal nations of the earth, sin and death continuing in a milder form than now. At the end of this period Christ will surrender His power to God ; an extensive revolt of the nations will take place, to be suppressed by a summary outburst of judgment. • Then will occur a resurrection and judg- ment of those who have died during the thousand years, and a judging of those who are alive at the end of that period, resulting in the immortalization, of the approved and the annihilation of the rejected. These righteous redeemed immortal persons will inhabit the earth for ever. So far the position is a blending of Judaism with Chiliasm. The immortality of the soul, says the Christadelphian, is 'a Pagan fiction.' Man is altogether mortal j his lije the same as that of animals ; and his ' faculties the attributes of his bodily organization,' by virtue of which he is superior to animals. In the death-state he is ' utterly unconscious ; ' and the resurrection is therefore an absolute necessity to a future life. Immortality can only be obtained through Christ, by believing God's promises and obeying His commandments, and is to be bestowed by Christ at His second coming, when He will raise and gather together such of the dead as have been, and such of the hving as are, responsible to God's law, THE CHRISTADELPHIANS. 147 punislimg the wicked with many or few stripes ending in the second death, or absolute destruction (there is no 'eternal torment'), and rewarding the righteous by bestowing on them immortality of body : ' immortality of life manifested through an vrndecaying body.' All these immortals are to reign with Christ on the earth, — not in heaven, which they say the Bible nowhere promises. The popular theory of hell is also ' a fiction ' derived from Paganism, the ' hell ' of the Scriptures in many cases being simply the grave, and in others Ge- henna, ' a locality in the land of Israel, which was, in past times, the scene of judicial inflictions, and which is again to become so on a larger scale.' The Devil of popular theology is, according to them, a myth : there is no such superhuman agent of evil. ' The Devil is a Scriptural , personification of sin in the ,flesh, in its several phases of manifestation, — subjective, individual, aggregate, social, and political, in history, current ex- perience, and prophecy.' There are no disembodied spirits — either human or superhuman. They maintain the Unity of God, — in opposition to the doctrine of the Trinity, — and that the Spirit is riot a personal God distinct from the Father, but that the Father dwells in heaven, and that the Spirit is 'the instrumental power of the Father, radiant from His person,' and by which He fills universal space. With regard to Jesus Christ, though denying Him to be ' very God,' or co-eternal with the Father, they equally dis- avow Unitarian doctrine, for they believe in His pre- ternatural begettal by the Holy Spirit ; that the Spirit dwelt in Him without measure ; that His death, as a sacrifice for sin, is an indispensable part of the plan of salvation ; and that He is now in nature equal with God, and that He is acting as a mediator for ' those who come unto God by Him.' They say He was not the ' eternal Son of God ' manifested in flesh, but God manifest in the flesh, the result of this manifestation being the Son of God. ' Baptism,' they add, ' is immersion in water, not sprinkling, and should not be administered to infants. 148 UNORTHODOX LONDON. but only to believers. To such it is the means of union with Christ, and is, therefore, necessary to salvation/ Such are a few of the tremendous clauses of the Christadelphian creed. It is a wonderful proof how much better most of us are than our beliefs, that one could go into the little humble 'Ecclesia' at' the Gower Street Dancing Academy, and come away without an inkling of these astounding doctrines. I was amazed to hear working men read and expound from their thumbed Bibles, showing the most complete familiarity with the sacred text. I listened to their sermons and lectures, and thought how well it was for them to be there, since veiy possibly more elaborate faiths would have failed to comprehend them. I joined in the singing of their simple hymns, and looked on at their homely breaking of bread, not without thoughts that it might typify more nearly than gorgeous rituals the original Supper. It was weeks and months before . I gathered the tenets of their marvellous symbolism, and I could not but think as I did so, that after all their differences were mostly on paper ; whilst in faith and practice I could trace no collision between them and many a sect with which my examinations have brought me into contact. I believe, if pushed home, the Christadelphian body would hardly consign all of us, except its very select numbers, even to annihilation — they charitably forego perdition. It may be that they would return an answer as liberal as any other body by nature sectarian to the demand which the very first ' Christadelphian s ' themselves put to the Master, ' Are there few that be saved ? ' A MORAVIAN SERVICE. 149 A MORAVIAN SERVICE. REFORMERS before the Reformation ' would form a fitting title for that remarkable body, representa- tives of the most ancient form of Protestantism, wio are usually styled Moravians, from the geographical position of one of their centres of influence, but whose self- adopted title is ' Unitas Fratrum — The Unity of the Brethren.' Though numbering only some three hundred out of the millions in our metropolis, and being gathered in only one congregation — that of Fetter Lane Chapel — still there are many "points connected with their history, doctrines, and discipline, which render this religious body especially interesting. The actual origin of the Moravians dates back as far as the year 1457, when some of the followers of John Huss organized a Church system, with episcopal government and" orders, and a strict discipline. Stamped out by Papal persecution, the society became extinct, or at all events dormant, in the year 1627; and it was not until the commencement of the eighteenth century that it revived under the auspices of the well-known Count Zinzendorf. Beneath his patron- age and subsequent episcopate, the society revived at Herrnhut as its head-quarters. The first mission to England was sent in 1728, at the request of the Countess Schaumberg-Lippe, a German lady, attached to the retinue of the Queen of George II. ; and by the, end of the year 1749 an Act was passed recognizing them as a Protestant Episcopal Church, and securing to them civil and religious privileges, with special reference to their settlements and missionary operations in the British colonies. The present Chapel in Fetter Lane was taken in the year 1740, when their previous place of meeting proved too small. It was in this chapel that Richard I50 UNORTHODOX LONDON. Baxter had formerly ministered; and to this — armed only with the postal information that it lay between 32 and 33j Fetter Lane — I adjourned on a Sunday morning to gain my first ideas of the externals of Moravianism. The chapel is plain in the extreme ; and the first im- pressions I received on entering it were the comparative emptiness of the benches and the cordial ■welcome I received from the chirpy old lady at the door^ who, in reply to my demand whether strangers were admissible, replied, ' Oh, yes ! we are always glad to see them,' and handed me a prayer and hymn book labelled 'For Visitors,' as though she had really expected me. I mention this, which may seem a trifling incident, because in my peregrinations among the different repre- sentatives of ' unorthodox London,' it is far from being always or often the case. I have too often found myi self, as a stranger, looked on almost with suspicion, aS though one necessarily came to criticize and cavil, in- stead of being engaged in the task of respectfully noticing those differences of doctrine and practice which, whilst they form a most interesting branch of study, certainly need not be a source of distrust or heartburnings between man and man. There was nothing of this kind at the Moravian Chapel in Fetter Lane. The visitor, be he who he maiy, is at once made at home. The con- gregation was very small indeed, numbering at no time during the service, I should think, more than thirty. The sexes are separated, just as at the Eitualistie churches; and I think I was right in counting only thirteen on the women's side, including my good- natured old pew-opener. The morning service, at which a prescribed form of prayer is used (that for the evening being extempore), consists mainly of a litany, a little longer, perhaps, than that of the Church of England, and embracing several suffrages coincident therewith. After reading from the pulpit a sentence from Scripture, exactly as in the Church of England, the minister recites the Lord's Prayer, and then proceeds to intone, with organ accompaniment and somewhat ornate inflections, the opening sentences of the Litany. The effect of this A MORA VI AN SER VICE. 1 5 1 sudden transition from reading to intoning is very striking ; and tlie passages were given with great eflfect by the Eev. A. C. Hass^, the minister of the congrega- tion. I had been prepared for the Moravians being great in hymnody ; but this quasi-choral element in the service, generally supposed incompatible with advanced Protestantism, struck me forcibly. The main portion of the Litany was, however, read. But here again a re- markable effect was produced by the insertion, at fre- quent intervals, of portions of hymns or of a chorale, the melody of which strongly reminded one of ' Luther's Hymn,' or 'Bin feste Burg'.' The congregation was not large, it is true, but every person sang, and the men gave the not always easy harmonies with great correctness and unmistakable energy, singing being a very strong point indeed with the Brethren. Two Scripture lessons, separated by a hymn, and followed by the ' Te Deum,' closed the actual service. The Old Testament lesson on the occasion when I was present was 2 Chronicles xv., and that from the New Testament James iv., the text of the sermon being selected from the former, 2 Chronicles xv. 2 : ' The Lord is with you while ye be with Him, and if ye seek Him, He will be found of' you ; but if ye forsake Him, He will forsake you.' To my great disappointment, I found that, instead of being in any way distinctive, the discourse was on the subject of the Stockwell tragedy. This was the more unfortunate, as the 15th of October is an interesting anniversary in the annals of the Moravian Church in England. On that day, in the year 1671, just two hundred years before my visit to Fetter Lane, died the learned Moravian Bishop, J. A. Comenius, who was sent for by the English Government in 1641, with a view of effecting an improvement of the educational system in the English universities and schools. The troubles between the king and Parliament prevented the scheme from being carried out, but his stay in England inspired Comenius with such love for her National Church, that ' he felt no hesitation in commending to her fostering care his own beloved but then scattered ■ Church, the 152 UNORTHODOX LONDON. oldest of the daughters of the Reformation — nay, which anticipated Luther's great movement by sixty year^:' One would have thought the celebration of such an anniversary more congenial with the spirit of the foraaer occupant of that pulpit — the stout old Puritan who wrote the ''Saints' Everlasting Eest' — than the morbid details of the last new slaughter. Not so, however, thought the Rev. A. C. Hass^. The entire service con^nded with a very brief extempore prayer and the blessihg. Failing to learn any particulars of the faith or practice of this body from the sermon on this occasion, I had to throw myself on the courtesy of the minister, who 'sup- plied me with a copy of the only kind of ' test ' reqaired from members of the congregations. It is called? The Brotherly Agreement, or Declarations and Rules agreed to by the Members of the Brethren's Congregations in Great Britain and Ireland.' As a summary of such doctrines it may be said that they acknowledge] Holy Scripture as the only rule of faith and practice, laying emphasis on the doctrine of the atonement. ' as being the centre and sum of all saving truth.' On the subject of discipline in individuals, the 11th article of the ' Brotherly Agreement ' says : ' Convinced of the weak-\ nes's and depravity of the human heart, we will, through! grace, watch over our own hearts, flee from temptation, \ and avoid whatever is likely to be a snare or stumbling- block to others. We regard it as inconsistent with our principles to attend balls, dances, theatres, and similar places of worldly amusement.' Very many funny things have been said about Moravian marriages, and the awful risks run in that body through couples being paired off by the elders after the casting of lots. It seems, however, that in this most delicate of all matters, just as in the carrying out of many other almost equally delicate details in the ' Brotherly Agree- ment,' little authority is exercised beyond the giving of judicious advice. The Moravians have, in this respect, kept something like pace with the times, at all events. With regard to general discipline. Synods form the legislative, and Boards of Elders the executive powers. A MORA VI AN SER VICE. 1 5 3 The Unity consists of three provinces — Germany, Great Britairij and North America, each with its Pro- vincial Synod. The orders are Episcopal, consisting of Bishops, Presbyters, and Deacons ; but the Bishops of the Moravian Church differ from those of the Establish- ment in having no special locality assigned to them. I find four English Bishops signing the Pastoral for the present year, ' addressed by direction of the Provincial Synod assembled at Pulneck, in June and July, 1871, to the Brethren's Congregations in Great Britain and Ireland.' Whilst the Moravian body, then, presents us with a very pretty miodel in miniature of a system of. ecclesias- tical discipline closely analogous to our own, there are two particulars in which it has developed itself far beyond all proportion to its scantiness in point of numbers and resources. These are its foreign missions and its educational work. Beside its Scripture Readers' Society in the North of Ireland, and Home Mission in North America and England, and the extensive diaspora work (as it is termed) of evangelizing among the National Protestant Churches on the continent of Europe, it can boast of having carried on more exten- sive mission work among the heathen than any other religious body. The fields of labbur are the "West Indies, Surinam, the Mosquito Coast, South Africa, the North American Indians, Greenland, Labrador, the aborigines of Australia and Central Asia. There are at present 15 mission districts, 87 mission stations, 319 agents, and 1101 native assistants. This work re- quired, in 1867, an outlay of £15,800, to be met by subscriptions from home. Truly one may well be puzzled, when visiting the tiny chapel and congrega- tion in Fetter Lano, to guess where the English metropolitan quota comes ftom. There are, on the European continent, 15 ' settlements ' or villages, almost solely inhabited by members of the Church, and several ' town ' congregations. These embrace to- gether above 6OOO members. In Great Britain and ■ Ireland there are four larger settlements, and 34 con- 154 UNORTHODOX LONDON.. gregations, with 5522 members. In North America there are 43 congregations, with over 11,000 members. The chapel in Fetter Lane is, as I have already said, the only one in London, its number of communicants being 150 out of a total of 300 Moravians in the me- tropolis and environs. The training institution for teachers and ministers is at Fulneck in Yorkshire, and there are several large boarding-schools connected with the body in different parts of England. If any one, tired of the unromantic routine of the present, wishes to throw himself back in imagination a few Christian centuries, he may do worse some Sunday morning than confide himself to the motherly care of the good old pew-opener at the little Moravian Chapel in Fetter Lane. There he shall hear the quaint old chorales which carry him back to the days of Luther and Huss — nay, the familiar talk of ' Agapae,' or ' Love- feasts,' bear him back to an epoch earlier still and. nearer the source of the Church's history. He may — • if there chance not to be a Stockwell tragedy on the taipis — hear an eloquent discourse on Christian morals, and he will come away edified both by sermon and service, even if he is not able to go quite as far as enthusiastic John Wesley, who, in his first experiences of Moravianism, exclaimed, 'God has given me the desire of my heart. I am with a church whose con-' yersation is in heaven, in whom is the mind that was in Christ, and who so walked as he walked. As they all have one Lord and one faith, so they are all par- takers of one spirit — the spirit of meekness and love.' FATHER IGNATIUS 'AT HOME: jss FATHER IGNATIUS 'AT HOME.' AT no period of tistory, probably, since the schools of religion and philosophy jostled one another in the streets' of Alexandria, have the forms of religious life been more exuberant and diversified than in London at the present time. To mention only the most pro- minent — quite apart from recognized sects or bodies, however unorthodox— we have the strangest spectacles of groups of religionists gathering round a single teacher, or linked together by a common sentiment, which would scarcely appear capable of forming a nucleus of spiritual life. Mr Bradlaugh, disavowing the negative creed of Atheism, dispenses to his hearers the novel doctrines of Anti- Theism. Mr Peebles, at the Cavendish Rooms, succeeding to the mantle of Mrs Emma Hardinge, discourses of Spiritualism to the accompaniment of approving raps, presumably from Hades. At St George's Hall, philosophers lecture in the afternoon on the Deep Sea, and on'Parasitic Animals, whilst, in the evening, ladies discourse sweetly of Shelley, to the accompaniment of a ' band and chorus of 150 performers.' Ned Wright, in the Gospel Hall, tries to reclaim his quondam associates, and last, not least, the Reverend Father Ignatius, having metamor- phosed to that time-honoured title his mundane appel- lation of the Rev. Francis Lyne — throws open the doors of his ' Benedictine Monastery,' No. 51, Hunter Street, Brunswick Square, and, by public advertise- ment, invites the curious or the sympathizing to hear him unburthen himself on a Saturday evening. Attracted by the invitation, I presented myself at that most unmonastic-looking abode, and, on knocking at the front door, was admitted by a thoroughly secular bOy, 156 UNORTHODOX LONDON. monastic only in his palpable aversion to soap, who desired me to mount to the drawing-room floor. In that apartment I found myself nearly 'Jack among the maidens,' in a congregation scarcely exceeding half a hundred, but still tilling the forms in the Benedictine salon. The front row was occupied by some dozen females in a quasi-religious costume of dark gown and white cap, something like those honest affairs servant- girls used to wear before the present apologies came in with chignons. What these people may be I have no notion. They ranged from girls in their teens to women of forty, and looked to me exceedingly out of order in a monastery. But ' Honi soit qui mal y pense.' Perhaps they were there to sing. They warbled like nightingales. In the small back drawing-room — and it was, as the theatrical gentleman in ' Nicholas Nickleby ' says, ' per- nicious snug ' — was fitted up a small altar on a footpace, with large crucifix and six composite candles. Soon after my arrival, the dirty page, now gorgeous in scarlet cassock, and surplice that would have shocked the Lord Chapiberlain by its brevity, lighted up. There was a good deal of running up and down stairs on the part of the coenobite brethren, but soon a procession entered, consisting of the Rev. W. A. Shoults, ai-rayed in lace skirt and surplice, the scarlet Sioolyte with censer, three or four very juvenile-looking brethren, with their ex- tinguisher cowls sticking strangely up above their heads, and last, but not least, Father Ignatius himself, in the garb of his order, and looking from his emaciated face down to his sandalled feet every inch a ' priest all shaven and shorn.' A service was then commenced, consisting of any number of psalms, with curious interpolations of melody, which nobody understood but Ignatius himself; the officiating priest least of all, for he had to be prompt- ed continually by the 'superior.' The people in the room had books ; but nobody near me had the faintest conception of what was going on. Then the resplendent page came and put a blue cloak on Mr Shoults, handing him the censer at the same time. He was not au fait at swinging this at all, and once or twice I thought he FA THER IGNA TIUS ' A T HOME: 1 57 would have thrown it into the congregation, and hurt some of us. As it was, he nearly poisoned us with the fumes J and there was an interval of coughing for several minutes, until somebody reasoned with him, and he desisted. Father Ignatius then offered an extempore prayer, and, as he 'posedi, himself to do so, one could not but be conscious of the picturesqueness of the situation. There is considerable sweetness in the young monk's face, but the expression of that, and the prayer he said, were tinged with just the slightest degree of affectation. Still, ' honour to whom honour is due ; ■" it was an utterance that showed him thoroughly in earnest, though some of us may deem him mistaken. After partaking publicly of light refreshment, in the shape of a glass of sherry, and bearing more than his share in a beautiful hymn, sung by all the congregation, he girded up his loins and commenced his sermon. Standing at the folding-doors of the back drawing- room, he read the words, from the narrative of Paul's shipwreck, in the Acts of the Apostles, ' Whose I am, and whom I serve;' and after picturing vividly the horrors of that night on the deep, when Buroclydon swept the stormy waves, he proceeded to apply the two clauses of the text to the cases of his congregation, whom, I was somewhat startled to find, he regarded as all ' elect saints.' This was certainly not stipulated in the adver- tisement, or I should not have ventured to come ; but so it was. Father- Ignatius informed us that he was far more Christ's than the Archangels Gabriel, Michael, or Raphael — nay, that we ourselves were, being 'blood- bought,' whilst they were only created. The style of the subsequent discourse may best be described as an evident copy of Mr Spurgeon, equalling his eccentrici- ties, but only faintly approaching his power. In truth, the Reverend Father seemed to me sometimes to shave the very edges, of profanity. For instance, he spoke of himself as 'having pawned himself in the devil's pawn- shop, till Christ came and took him out ! ' 'Do you know,' he added, ' I often think Christ must heme very lad taste to choose a poor wretch like' me.' Without at all iS8 • UNORTHODOX LONDON. quarrelling with, the sentiment, this seemed to me a strong way of expressing it. ' Whom I serve/ he kept on repeating over and over again — ' whom I serve ! Would you mind all standing up and repeatiug those words after me — whose I am, and whom I serve ? ' So up we all got, and said them like infants at school. ' Troubles,' he exclaimed, ' troubles drop off the saint, like water off a duck's back.' ' I always feel tempted to say fanny things when Fm preaching, and it appears to me when I haven't been thinking of Christ I get a fit of spiritual indigestion.' Some saints were so over- come, we were informed, by a sense of their own un- worthiness of God's love, that they were obliged to' cry out, ' No, don't. Lord ; please don't, this is too much.' Will Mr Lyne permit one who recognizes considerable power and sincerity in his preaching to repeat that ob- servation to him ? This is really too much. Without for one moment upholding the style deprecated by Sydney Smith, of clinging to the MS. sermon and velvet cushion of -the pulpit, one would venture to quote another authority perhaps scarcely recognized by Father IgnatiuSj and expostulate, in the words, ' This is coming it rayther too strong.' After the sermon came a collec- tion j and the Keverend Father showed that he knew how to combine with the harmlessness of the dove the wisdom of the serpent, by naively remarking that in future, at his Sunday evening service in Store Street Hall, the collection would precede the sermon, as some people who came there evidently thought he ought to pay the rent as well as preach to them. After this we subsided into informality. A clergyman present, whose name I did not catch, offered an extempore prayer, looking somewhat incongruous in his nineteenth century attire, by the side of the Benedictine brothers in their habits, and Mr Shoults in his lace skirts, not forgetting the red page with the censer. ' This clergyman, it seems, had come to look up male teachers for hia Sunday schools, and Father Ignatius put it to us individually whether we could devote. an hour or two to such an ex- cellent purpose. I informed him that I had other AMONG THE 'Joannas: 159 pressing occupations. I went down-stairs, and was struck as I passed by the particularly cozy and un- monastio aspect of the parlour on the gi-ound floor, in and out of which the white caps were flitting. And as I went out at the street door, memory seemed to take me back a step further still — to the time when I was a ' little tiny boy,' and one of my favourite pursuits with my brothers and sisters — so is the child the father of the man ! — was playing at church. AMONG THE ^JOANNAS.' SOME religious bodies appear destined, in the nature of things, as well as in the name of common sense, to die out and become obsolete. Foremost among such are the followers of Joanna Southcott. Originating to- wards the end of the last century with an old woman's assumption of immaculate conception, it would appear that, when her followers' hopes were disappointed by her speedy death and irrefragable medical testimony that her symptoms of impending maternity were only, like Queen Mary's, dropsical, the sect must have at once and for ever collapsed. But fanaticism has within it a more than feline tenacity of life. The sect lived on, and explained away the failure of its hopes, notwith- standing the extravagant layette that had been prepared for the expected Shiloh, by saying that a spiritual, not a material, birth was contemplated. It was, however, I own, with some surprise I learnt that this body had still 'a local habitation and a name' within the world's metropolis in this nineteenth century. Acting on information I had received I betook me to Westmoreland Road, "Walworth, where I had been in- formed the followers of Joanna assembled at the house i6o UNORTHODOX LONDON. of one Peacock, a cooper,; but I found that owing to tlie Walworth Common Improvement's, Westmoreland Road — at least, the Westmoreland Eoad of Peacock the cooper — was rapidly becoming a thing of the past. Trim little twenty-pound-a-year villas, with peagreen Venetian blinds, were everywhere rising up on the ruins of old Westmoreland Road, which stood bare, like an Australian clearing, with only here and there a patch of the old fusty habitations that had preceded the Venetian- blind epoch. I put a question to a passing policeman as to where the followers of Joanna Southcott met. Prom the peculiarity of the Christian name, which was historically unfamiliar to him, I am inclined to believe that the officer thought I was poking fun ; but finding me in earnest, he confessed entire ignorance of the body, and referred me for information to a watchman who was contemplatively smoking his Sunday morning pipe, like Marius among the ruins of the ancient West- moreland Road. Marius knew all about the Saints and the cooper ; and I followed his direction implicitly, but only, alas ! to find that the 'Joannas,' as they were universally called in the locality, had ' moved on.' After diligently inquiring at chandlers' shops, which were all in full swing that Sabbath morn in Walworth, and of twenty-pound householders airing themselves on their doorsteps, I at length spotted Mr Peacock's cooperage at 97, Trafalgar Street, around which I found I had been infructuodsly describing a circle. I went to Pea- cock's side door, and found the knocker diligently pegged down so as to be impracticable ; and was fain to state my difficulty to a 'huckster opposite, who as- sured me Peacock was at home, and advised me to try my knuckles. The Joannas, he said, met there. They were quiet folks, and never nafade no noise, but he could tell me no more, as he did not belong to them. In response to my knuckles a man emerged from the shop door, and at once introduced me to the inside of Mr Peacock's house ; while from a back parlour emerged the head and shirt-sleeves of Mr Peacock himself, who appeared to be in the act of enjoying a Sunday scrub-up* AMONG THE 'JOANNAS: i6i On my- stating that I wished to attend a meeting of the followers of Joanna Southcott, he said that I was rightly informed such meetings took place there. The Saints, he added, had been a good deal ' drove about ' by the Walworth Improvements, which he seemed to consider in the light of a special machination of Satan, and spent most of their time in 'mourning and lamentation,' a fact at which I, of course, expressed my sympathetic son-ow. All this colloquy took place whilst I was standing in a dark passage between the shop and back parlour, with the head and shirt-sleeves of Mr Peacock protruding from the half-opened door. At length I heard a vo,ice, which I fancied was a female one, suggesting that I . should be asked in ; and with an apology for the small- ness of the gathering and the humble character of the sanctum, Mr Peacock owned the soft impeachment that a meeting was even now going on, and, having opened the door and handed me a chair, he returned to an operation my advent had interrupted, that, namely, of lacing his boots ! The meeting was certainly a select one, as I found I only made number four. Besides Mr Peacock himself, there was an old infirm woman occupying a cosy chair in the corner, and she was introduced to me as Mrs Peacock. She was, I fancy, the proprietor's mother; and I afterwards discovered she was a sort of Elisiia to the deceased Joanna, at least upon her own showing. 'I've been in the battle fifty year, since Joanna died,' she said. Tm an old campaigner, sir.' A simple man well advanced in years too, with spectacle on nose, was reading from the ' Sealed Prophecies ' of Joanna, a re- markable combination of prose and verse, which gave one rather the idea of alternate pages taken from the prophecies of Ezekiel and the History of John Gilpin. At my request he continued his reading; but/ he went on so long, and I had to help him over so many pitfalls in the shape of long words, that I forgot my politeness after a while, and, commenced putting questions, so that eventually our meeting resolved itself into a conversa- tiouBjl one. The subject of the reading was principally n 1 62 UNORTHODOX LONDON. •«!H. some shrewdish. forecasting of events in the French Revolutionary War, and denunciations of ' bad harvests ' for national wickedness, a form of punishment which Joanna's early agricultural experiences naturally sug- gested. I was anxious to get the books out of the way and to come to facts ; and I asked to be allowed to take the titles, so that I might read them at the British Museum. Mr Peacock readily allowed me to book the titles, but said the copies of Joanna's works in the Museum were, he had been informed, forgeries placed there by Joanna's opponents. I was presented with a copy of a prayer, which I was told was an ' Indictment against Satan,' and an ' Address to the Bishops,' which had been inserted some years ago as an advertisemen t ■ in the ' Globe ' newspaper at an expense of £4, after having failed to elicit a reply when sent in the form of a letter to Lambeth, Fulham, and other episcopal palaces. During the reading of these documents, which were as diligently gone through for me as though I was incapable of reading, the old lady kept making ejacu- lations, Methodist-fashion, at any passage which dwelt on the impending triumph of the Saints, or demolition of Satan; and at the first convenient opportunity I put the question on which, I said, all appeared to' me to hinge, — did not the hopes of the Southcottians, or the Joannas, as they called themselves, collapse when -the good lady's condition was revealed by a post-mortem examination ? They smiled at my heathen ignorance, and pointing to the old lady in the comer, the two men said, 'There are our hopes. Mrs Peacock has taken Joanna's place.' I did not like to say what I thought, or to hint at the unlikelihood of a family at the old lady's advanced age, but I suppose my looks explained my difficulty, for the old woman herself came to the rescue and said, ' It aint a material birth we look for, but a spiritual one.' Then followed a long disquisition as to what would have happened if the bone had not been taken out of Adam. He could not in that case have been savedj but the fact of the rib having been AMONG THE ' JOANNAS: 163 removed showed that salvation would come through a woman. Pressing Mrs Peacock as to the distinctive character of Joanna's work, I found it to be the demoli- tion of Satan's power. Under all other systems, which were good in their degree, Satan had been allowed to go up and down in the earth. Now his ' indictment ' was ready, and a jury of twelve saints would literally 'sit upon' him. 'Pm expecting it every day, every hour, sir,' said the old woman ; ' a grand manifestation of power ! ' and I am sure the poor old soul was sincere. They had no bigotry about them, and were content, they said, to attend their parish churches or the meet- ing-places of any denomination, only claiming for them- selves a front place in the future contest with Satan. They were angry with the bishops for not having noticed their letter, though the old lady said she was sure a bishop had soon after paid her a private visit, disguised in a wig, wide-awake, and mean attire. Mr Peacock, too, was especially aggrieved with Mr Spurgeon, to whom he said he had made a mild appeal at a Taber- nacle tea-meeting, when Mr Spurgeon retired uncere- moniously, and his deacons expelled Mr Peacock forcibly from the premises. A curious little episode occurred in one of our de- moniacal colloquies ; in fact, all our colloquies that Sunday morning were more or less Satanic. While Mr Peacock was indulging in one of his diatribes, and quoting one of Joanna's long ballad rhymes with a fidelity worthy of an old Homeric rhapsodist, another female noiselessly entered at the door towards which my back was turned, and said over my shoulder, ' Please, sir, the old gentleman.' I really fancied for the moment Mrs Peacock's expectation was realized, but was relieved by Mr Peacock, who informed me it was only an old beggar-man come for his Sabbath dole of a penny. Before I left I was asked to append my name to the ' Indictment against Satan,' and a well-thumbed manu- script was produced for the purpose. A* ^^ same time Mrs Peacock pointed me to a chest in the corner, which she said contained a parchment documentj with over i64 UNORTflODOX LONDON. four hundred and fifty thousand signatures. ' That,' she added, ' is the flying roll of Zechariah,' and the old man who had been reading confided in me that his con- version had been brought about somehow or other by a dream of the ' flying roll/ With regard to signing the ' Indictment/ I could not, of course, object to subscribe to such a document, only I have a business-like habit of not liking to put my name to anything rashly, so — the good souls will, I am sure, forgive the ruse — I appended the name of one of my boys, who has shown such a pro- pensity to mischief, as sometimes to be entitled an imp. I thought, therefore, it might do him no harm to sub- stitute his name for my own. The following is the ' Indictment,' which afibrds at once an excellent illus- tration of the undoubted earnestness of these people, with the strange verbiage they have inherited from their Elijah. At the same time there is no doubt that the con- cluding paragraph did relate to a hope akin to that which was disappointed in Joanna's case. Whatever may be ' the interpretation now, when Mrs Peacock is advanced in years, there can be no question that an uninitiat- ed reader in 1838 would have reaid the peroration of this strange document as referring to an impending ' auspicious event.' 'February 22nd, 1838. ' O ! Grod, Most Holy, Holy, Holy, Blessed and Glorious Trinity, be pleased to hear my prayer and supplication in behalf of these Thy people that are assembled together. Be pleased to illuminate their understandings, and remove the veil of darkness that has so long stood between us Thy peoplp, who have signed for Thy coming and for Satan's destruction ; and Thy blessed and glorious kingdom to come, and Thy wUl to be done on earth as it is in Heaven. ' O ! Blessed Lord and Saviour, Thou didst set bounds for Satan, through Thy honoured servant Joanna ; that if he broke the bounds in any by temptation within or persecution without, he should lose his power and reign before the end of six thousand years. O ! Lord behold the havoc he hath made among. Thy people. O ! Lord avenge our injured cause or no flesh can be saved. According to Thine own words in the Gospel. ! blessed Lord in the bitterness of my soul do I cry unto Thee, that Thou wouldst reveal Thyself unto us, and decide this great contention. Thou hast counselled us to oast all on Satan, and AMONG THE ' JOANNAS.' 165 direful experience has caused us so to do, for lie has come to Thy people as an angel of Light, saying that he is the Christ, or he is the character, or he is the woman causing Thy people to err ; or this, or that is the child or children. ! Lord I beseech Thee of Thy great goodness to show the true Mother, and no longer let the Child be divided by the false one, for Thy mercy's sake. O ! Lord hear our prayers. O ! Lord I beseech Thee let this day decide this great cause, and remove the stumbling-block out of the way, for Thy mercy's sake. Let it be known throughout aU. the camp of Israel that Thou art risen indeed, to conquer sin, death, heU, and the grave, then all the earth shall praise Thee, from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same. Main- tain Thine own cause, for Thine own honour and great name. Let not the heathen say, where is their God in whom they have trusted ? We have waited for Thy salvation, ! God. ! come quickly and deliver Thy groaning creation that has so long laid under the tyranny of Satan that usurper. We are weary of his heavy yoke ; away with him, away with him, away with him from the earth ; and every soul will say the same when they have proved the Saviour's fame. O ! Lord, Thou knowest that I am not come before Thee with a double heart or feigned Kps. what shall I say unto Thee to constrain Thee to take up Thy abode in me, and take lull possession of my heart. ! Lord I claim it at Thy gracious hand, that Thou wilt for me the trial stand, and bring the traitor to his cross, and let him perish with hia dross. ! Lord we are not come to plead for what Thou hast not promised to our forefathers Adam and Eve, and hath continued Thy blessed word to all the patriarchs, prophets and apostles throughout Thy holy word for comfort and consolation to us Thy promised seed, who beheve the fulfilment of Thy promises. Thou hast said in Thy word to Thy Joanna, it is they that do in faith appear. Lord I believe Thy word is yea and amen. Thou art not a man to lie, nor the son of man to waver. ! let this petition reach Thy throne, and come up before Thee as our evening sacri- fice, acceptable in Thy sight. O Lord, I shall not be heard for my much speaking, but from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. O ! Lord it appeareth to Thy handmaid that we are come to the Eed Sea ; O ! let the spiritual Moses appear to command Thy children to cross, that we may reach the promised land, and there rejoice to see the foe to fall, who by disguise has conquered all. But now we hope that the strong man is at hand that will confound in every sound. ! Lord my soul crieth for vengeance from the ground, my soul had weU nigh slipped, but Glory be to Thy Holy Name. Thou hast held me up to praise Thy Holy Name, ! send me not empty away, but give me the request of my heart. ! Lord Thou didst not refuse to bear the blame man cast on Thee ; now, O ! Lord I beseech Thee to let Satan bear the blame the woman cast on he. Thou hast tried man, proved he is dead to knowledge, as Thou pronounced him i66 UNORTHODOX LONDON. after the fall. And now, dear Lord, I pray Thee to restore us from the fall. Oh! Lord Thou art just to cast him from the earth, and bring to man a second birth. Even so come Lord Jesus Christ ; ! come quickly. Amen and Amen. ' Eevelations, chap. xxii. verse 14. — Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have a right to the Tree of Life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. ' The sincere Prayer of Elizabeth Fairlight Peacock.' It is dated from — ' ' The Eoyal Manger, No. 3, Gloucester Place, Westmoreland Eoad, Walworth, Surrey. Where this prayer lies for signing, already signed over Pour Hundred and Pifty Thousand ! ! ! ' While there is added by way of postscript : — ' N.B. — ^Every serious inquiry answered by letter, post paid or otherwise.' The Epistle to the Bishops, which their lordships treated so cavalierly, is published as a penny pamphlet, with the following title : — ' A Warning to the Whole World, being a Letter sent March 10th, 1853, To the Bishops To let them know Their Dangers are near at hand and How they may escape the overwhelming scourge that is threatened to England for their neglect. By Elizabeth Pairlight Argus Peacock. Pourth Edition. Royal Manger, 3, Gloucester Place, Westmoreland Eoad, Walworth Common. N.B. — All inquiries answered. The King's Business requires haste. Price Id.' And the letter itself ran as follows : — ' To THE Lords Spiritttai. ' I hope you wiU receive' these few lines without prejudice, as I am about to lay before you things of the greatest importance to yourselves and our beloved Queen and the nation at large. I hope you will not treat this like crackling sparks under a pot, and put a deaf ear to the voice of the charmer, charm he ever so wisely. You are aware that the judgments of the Lord are upon the earth; and it is said in the Scripture of Truth that when that takes place the inhabitants of the earth shall learn Eighte- ousness. "What is righteousness?" ought to be our inquiry. Why Abraham obeyed, and it was accounted unto him for Righteousness. And the Lord is the same yesterday, to-day and for ever. And I am about to inform you that the time is come, for the Lord is to be justified for what he has done for man. AMONG THE 'Joannas: 167 But you are still keeping Him on tte Cross, by rejecting tlie visitation of the Spirit. Oh, that your eyes may be opened to see before it is too late ! The Lord has threatened our nation, with the sword, famine, and pestilence, for the neglect of the Clergy and Laity, in not looking into the great revelation that is given to His despised servant Joanna Southcott. Eemember the Lord said He -would choose the foolish things of this -world to* confound the mighty. And -who are so mighty as the clergy and laity in their o-wn estimation, and so -well supported for preaching about the sufferings of our Lord and His Apostles and Martyrs, -while you are doing the same and -worse ? Because the Jews did not beheve he was the Sa-viour of the woj:ld as you say you believe, therefore your condemnation -will be great if you do not immediately look into the sixty-five Books that the Lord has been pleased to reveal for our instruction, and to arm us against aU our enemies, spiritual and temporal. We shall not fear the monarch that is at the head of the French nation. The Lord has revealed the po-wer of the beast is given to him. We that stand faithful to the Lord and his anointed, he -will have no power over us. We shall have no fear of the Catholics or any foreign power that Satan may rise up against us. For the Lord has prepared a place for His faithful to fly to in the time of danger. I have every direction in my possession, for the Lord has revealed that He -will have a strong army. ' Jews and Gentiles shall agree, Joined in. Christian unity And my Spirit goes before them. They shall gain the victory. ' When they're in the field of battle They have nothing now to fear For my glory goes before them. Their deliverance now draws near. ' At this time the earth shall tremble And the Bridegroom's voice they'll hear They shall know from what I've spoken This shall be a happy land. ' And, in all humility, I beseech you to have an interview -with me. Eemember Balaam was reproved by the ass. And may I stand as the ass to reprove you in aU humility, is my sincere prayer. And may I with my friends stand ia the gap, to the saving of the nation from utter ruin. All the clergy are threat- ened for- their neglect ; the Lord has revealed that he -will let the foreign enemy in on you, and cut you all off. Oh that your eyes may be opened. Pray do not despise the day Of small things, lest you lose the great things of the Glorious Kingdom, that is about to be established on earth. I have the pleasilre to inform 1 68 UNORTHODOX LONDON. you that the new seed is sown for the kingdom, and in the name of the Lord let me invite you to come and taste of the supper before the door is shut. Our prayers are continually offered up to the Lord for you aU, as our Blessed Lord left the example for us, when on the Cross, as He prayed for His murderers saying, " Father, forgive them, they know not what they do." And you are ignorant of what you are doing ; you know not the great change that is about to take place. Do not think me too bold, as the nation stands at stake. It will he no use to warn when you are surrounded by foreign enemies, and nothing but death and destruction around you and your wives and families, who with yourselves and property will be cut oflf as cumberers of the ground. The Lord said by his handmaid, Joanna, that ' Every land he would visit first That England may awake. And here my anger it shall burn And make your hearts to quake. ' "Unless like thee they do begin To seek their chosen friend. And hear the words that come from me 'Tis deep what Thou hast penn'd. ' The grapes have made all nations drunk, The children now appear To end as Noah's sons began. Then see the deluge near. ' To run with blood, much like a flood. Abroad in every land 'Tis kindling fast ! the flames will burst ! Ohj how will England stand ? ' This was given by revelation to Joanna Southcott ; but we have a promise that a good centurion among the bishops will' be found. Oh, that he may appear quickly ! Oh, what an awful day we have arrived at ? Awful to unbelievers, but glorious to those who are waiting for the Lord's coming, when He will say to His poor and afflicted, rejected and faithful servants, " Well done good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord ! " WhUe on the other hand he will say, "Begone, ye workers of iniquity ; I know ye not ! " You must own that the Lord knows everything. But they did not come in the Lord's appointed way ; blindness in part happened to the Jews, till the fulness of tiie Gentiles be come in ; then all Israel was to be saved. It was the Child-birth that staggered the Jews, and it is the Child-birth that staggers the Gentiles. So the Lord has proved both houses of Israel dead to knowledge, that He might have mercy upon all. I shall tire you with my long epistle; a word to the wise is AMONG THE 'JOANNAS: 169 enough. Oh ! that you may .he some of the wise whom the. prophet Daniel speaks of. I have to inform you that the cries of the poor have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, and you have nourished your hearts in the day of trouble. But the end is come, praise the Lord, O my soul ! I am a true Protestant ; therefore I have a claim upon your sjnnpathy. If you think that I am misled to believe in the glorious promises throughout the Bible, and man to be reinstated into his paradisical state ; -what Christ died for, to destroy aU the works of the Devil — ^that, you affirm, was done when Christ expired on the cross — which I can- not believe while I see his works so prevalent all over the earth. He is now come in spirit to fulfil that, Eeverend gentlemen, I have no wish or desire in the least to insult you as ministers of the Church of Christ, but in faithfulness to God and man I have wrote this epistle unto you. Therefore I hope you will now em- brace the opportunity offered of searching into the prophecies of the late Joanna Southcott, for in all agep of the earth the Lord called, the prophets to reprove the shepherds. I, myself, had the command from the Lord to raise a standard in the year 1838, and to gather the names of the halt, and the lame, and the bUnd, to sign, as petitioners, for the second coming of Christ, and the Devil to be destroyed, and there are upwards of 415,500 signed as petitioners, of all sects and parties, Jews, etc. And by command of the Lord the standards of the twelve tribes of Israel was raised in 1848, which are for the gathering of the Jews, which are the Jews of faith, in believing this revelation which have been addressed upon. Eeverend gentlemen, if you will appoint a time and place for a deputation to wait upon you, we will with pleasure ; or if you will write a few lines in answer to this, we shall be glad to receive it. If there is no notice taken of this, you may depend that this letter must and shall be published to the world as a warning to the world. Eeverend gentlemen, I must now conclude by hoping that you may comply with my wishes. ' I therefore remain, ' To be your humble and most obedient servant, ' Elizabeth Fatrlight Peacock. 'Eoyal Manger, 3, Gloucester Place, Westmoreland Eoad, nearly opposite the " Hour Glass," Walworth Common,' ' A Public Meeting every Sunday Morning at eleven o'clock. Evening at six. Eemember India's Calamities, and how the English suffered, — a i'ulfilment of Prophecy — and what is now ta^g place.' ' This letter was published in the ' ' Globe " newspaper, Wednes- day, Sept. 25th, 1867.' Such was my visit to the ' Eoyal Manger/ now at 97y Trafalgar Street. I did not go to the Sunday evening 170 UNORTHODOX LONDON. gathering. They did not press it, for they said the time of their great gatherings was gone. Their numbers were too small, their resources too limited. I very much fancy if I had gone I should only have met the same simple trio, the old wizen lady in the arm-chair, the soft-voiced cooper in his shirt-sleeves, and the spectacled man who had been converted by the dream of the flying roll, reading from the ' Sealed Letters ' of the dead prophetess. THE SANDBMANIANS. IT is often a question with me, in these erratic studies of religious life in London, whether it is better to set down crudely the first impressions after attending any particular place of worship, or to wait a little and cor- rect those early impressions, as one often has to do, by subsequent study and investigation. By the first course, the salient points of any form of worship are more likely to be faithfully reported, though, naturally, one is liable to be led into inaccuracies in details or inferences from such external forms ; by the latter, piquancy of descrip- tion is apt to be sacrificed to minute and circumstantial explanation. The best method, perhaps, especially with a religious body so little known as the Sandemanians, is to chronicle, first of all, the mere externals, which every reader may check by attending the particular place of worship to which reference, is made ; and then to add such explanatory details as are' obtained by sub- sequent study or inquiry. When I set out on my voyage of discovery to Barnsbury Grove one Sunday morning, I really knew little more of the Sandemanians or Glass- ites than what the general public had probably learnt from the fact of the late Professor Faraday having been THE SANDEMANIANS. 171 a member of the body — a circumstance -whicli alone did much to rescue them from otherwise inevitable ob- scurity. I had heard that they carried to its extreme point the doctrine of ' faith without works/ and that a love-feast, very like an ordinary early dinner, formed part of their worship. I had heard sly hints that the ' kiss of peace ' was literally retained among them too ; but a somewhat prolonged experience had led me to discount considerably popular rumour on these matters. How far I had to do so in this case will by and by appear. To Barnsbury Grove, Islington, then, I bent my way, and found the Sandemanian Chapel externally very like other chapels. Entering, I made one of a moderate congregation, composed of all grades and both sexes, who had commenced worship by singing a psalm. At the farther end of the chapel were two rows of raised seats, one above the other; and in these were seated seven gentlemen, four in the lower and three in the upper bench, who were apparently the ministers for the day. The person who occupied the centre of the upper row was evidently the chief minister ; while the middle of the lower was filled by one who acted as sort of pre- centor, giving out the psalms and leading the singing. The version of the Psalter in use was unrhymed ; and at the conclusion of the first portion the Lord's Prayer was said by the chief minister, in a strange nasal voice, which may have been either natural or assumed. Sin- gularly enough, this presiding minister bore a strong personal resemblance to the late Professor Pai'aday — a fact which I should have certainly noticed even had I not known of Faraday's connection with the community. After the Lord's Prayer came another portion of psalm- ody, this time from the lugubrious 69th Psalm, sung to a melancholy tune, as slowly as possible ; then another prayer ; then another portion of Psalm 69th, followed by still another prayer, and still another portion of the same psalm. This went on until every gentleman on the two rows of seats had prayed, and a selection from the peculiarly mournful psalm had been simg over each. 172 UNORTHODOX LONDON. The effect was to me monotonous in the extreme. Dur- ing the whole period, however, people kept dropping into the chapel, so that comparatively few underwent the whole ordeal. After this remarkable exordium, which took up much time — for the prayers were long, and the psalms slow — four chapters were read in succession by the same person, without any break at all. These chapters were Numbers 13th, Ezira 8th, Psalm 37th, and St John 9th. Thus, with so little variety, did the service make pro- gress for one hour and fifty minutes ; and just when the Islington people were coming out of their churches, and I must plead guilty to- being at the very nadir of depres- sion, the most melancholy of the seven gentlemen got' up and began a sermon which lasted more than half an hour. He took for his subject an exposition of that most penitential Psalm, the 77th, ' I cried unto God,\etc. ; and though there really was nothing particular to cry about in his sermon, he kept weeping and almost losing his voice from emotion — nay, more than that, he made many of his congregation cry too, out of mere sympathy, for the discourse was rather critical than pathetic. I could not pretend to sketch its subject. The only definite idea which I could clearly trace Was, that thoughts of sin in the night were not to be explained away next morning by merely physical causes ; but when the preacher arrived at this point he broke down from sheer emotion, and passed on to some other topic, which gradually worked up to the same lamentable climax. I never remember undergoing such a protracted process of depression in my life. I am not exaggerating when I say that, throughoiut the whole service and sermon, the words kept ringing in my ears, as though I had really seen them forming a motto over the doorway, 'AH hope abandon, ye who enter here.' And yet— let nie make an honest confession of my fault — when I did, now and then, look round the congregation, I could not help for a moment marvelling at the substantial and intellectual appearance of many of its members ; and wondering still more to see many pretty girls near whom I felt I should THE SANDEMANIAJVS. 173 like to sit at the love-feast if the salute really were still an institution. However, the service was over; the good people fell to talking ; and I was quite glad to see the gloom disperse. I saw something else, too : that, as a stranger, I was expected to take my de- parture; so, not without a feeling of relief, I made my exit, leaving them to their, love-feast, with a pious wish that it might prove more cheerful than their service. So much was what I gained from a single visit to Barnsbury Grove Chapel ; and I am bound to put it on record that, if their worship does not belie them, the Sandemanians must be the most dismal people on earth. I should, however, have done my good friends grievous injustice had I not eked out my first information by subsequent inquiry. Their twofold title of Glassites or Sandemanians is derived from their founder, John Glass, a minister of the Scotch Kirk, and Robert Sandeman, his son-in-law, who developed Glass's doctrine. That doctrine may be gathered from the inscription on Sande- man's tomb at Danebury, New England. : ' Here lies, until the resurrection, the body of Robert Sandeman, who in the face of continual opposition from all sorts of men, long and boldly contended for the ancient faith, that the bare death of Jesus Christ, without a deed or thought on the pat t of man, is sufficient to present the chief of sinners spotless before God.' Glass was deposed by the Scotch Ecclesiastical Courts in 1728, after which he published his views in a work called ' The Testimony of the King of Martyrs concerning his Kingdom.' In 1757, Sandeman addressed a series of letters to Mr Hervey, occasioned by his ' Theron and Aspasio,' in which his opinions are set fotth at length, though his epitaph fairly summarizes them. He preached for a few years in London, and then emigrated to America, where bodies of Sandemanians exist, as well as in England and Scotland. The number of the body in London at present, however, is only one hundred. Popular rumour has not been so far wrong in its account of certain doctrines and practices of the Sande- 174 UNORTHODOX LONDON. manians, as that erratic organ is sometimes wont to be. Acting on their principle of taking every word of Scrip- ture in the literal sense, instead of adopting any formal creed or confession of faith, they retain, for instance, the Agapse, or love-feasts of the early Christians. The design of the feast, they say, is to cultivate mutual knowledge and friendship, to testify that all are brethren of one family, and to provide that the poor may have a com- fortable meal at the expense of the more wealthy. No member is allowed to be absent from this feast ' either through indifference or mere inconvenience.^ And kissing is an institution ! ' This (the love-feast) and oilier opportunities we take for the kiss of charity, or the saluting each other with an holy kiss ; a duty most ex- pressly exhorted to no less than five times in the New Testament . . ' At the love-feast each member salutes the person that sits next to him on each side. A delicate work indeed would sometimes be that of placing the brethren and sisters, if it were not ruled that they should take their seats by lots ; for the Sandemanians regard the lot as sacred. While they do not object to ordinary diversions, public or private, they shun cards, dice, and other games of chance, because they esteem the lot a sacred thing. The washing of the feet is also retained : not, it would seem, on any special occasion, but the ablution is performed ' whenever it can be an act of kindness to a brother so to do.' Another peculiarity of this religioHS body is their objection to second marriages. The possession of a second wife is a disqualification for eldership. That the bishop must be the ' husband of one wife' does not mean, they maintain, that he must not be a single man ; neither does it specify that he must not have two wives at the same time — cela va sans dire ; therefore, it must mean thai he is not to have a second wife after his first is dead. Such is the Sandemanian exegesis. It seems strange tjiat powerful and cultured minds in the nineteenth cezltury can accept these re- markable doctrines and practices. The repudiation of the worth of works especially makes the Sandemanian a cheerless creed, after all. No room for humble acts THE SANDEMANIANS. 175 of piety ; no space for hope ; all resolved into a cold, hard, mathematical acceptance of historical fact. The Sandemanians are better than their belief; their con- ditions of acceptance and church membership are strict, and many offences deemed venial in society entail ' ex- communication ' from the little gathering in Barnsbury Grove. My mission is, of course, simply descriptive ; and to the courtesy of one of the body itself I am indebted for an account of those private matters of disoipliiie which, of necessity, could not come under the notice of an out- sider. In all kindness, however, that outsider must be allowed to chronicle his own feelings of depression at the Sandemanian ceremonial ; and with the tremendous tenets of that body, and the mournful sermon on Psalm 69, in his mind, it is inevitable that he should, however slenderly, link the two together, and ask himself, critic- ally but not uncharitably, Do the two stand related as cause and effect ? More frequent attendance might possibly familiarize one with the rigid tenets and mono- tonous ritual of Sandemanianism. I simply narrate the result of a single experience, which of my own choice I should little care to repeat. The very rattle of the Metropolitan train, as I rode home, seemed to echo through the dismal vaults, like a refrain, the words which struck me as the motto for the Barnsbury chapel — ' Lasciate speranza ! ' THE PLUMSTBAD 'PECULIARS.' I MUST plead guilty to a weakness for peculiar people. The very name of the ' Odd Fellows,' for instance, always had a special charm for me, as presupposing originality. Eccentricity, when it stops short of being 176 UNORTHODOX LONDON. offensive, is sure to be amusing. It was suet a proclivity which determined me, as soon as the Plumstead cases cropped up, at any hazard to ' interview ' an Elder, or, at all events, a ' Peculiar Person ' of some grade or other. Armed accordingly with only the slight clue which was afforded by the name of the ' Windsor Castle ' public- house, in which was held the inquest on the poor children who, it was alleged, had died from the ' peculiarities ' of certain parents and presbyters, I set forth on a voyage of discovery to the certainly unromantic and apparently unsaintly region of Plumstead, in search of the saints, who had made it their mission to force upon the public a somewhat too literal acceptation of that precept of St James, ' Is any sick among you, let him call for the elders of the Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord ; and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up.' Competent tribunals will have to decide ■ whether. the social economy of the first century can be thus violently, and without adaptation, forced upon the nineteenth. The facts are patent. Two little children died from the practices — ^or rather non-practices — of the ' Peculiar People.' The risk had been run, confessedly by the ' unfaithful,' at all events, of having a pre-emin- ently contagious disease spread among the community by the manipulations of these 'Peculiars;' and. so it' wg,s that an irrepressible desire came over me to see what were the special peculiarities of these disciples of literalism, who in their, no doubt, honest desire to carry out minutely the directions of a particular passage in the Bible, appeared, at least to superficial observers, to neg- lect the broad principle prescribed by the very same teacher of proving their faith by their works — such works as should have for their end the social, no less than the spiritual well-being of their fellow-creatures. The opinions and practices of these ' Peculiar People ' have so obtruded themselves upon public notice during the last few years that nothing more than a passing reference thereto can possibly be necessary ; but many persons will boj unless I greatly err, as curiojis as I have confessed THE PLUMSTEAD 'PECULIARS.' 177 myself to learn what sort of people they can possibly be who make it their mission to foist upon society practices which strike one at first sight as so utterly abhorrent to all principles of social economy. Arrived at that most unrom antic suburb of Woolwich, I found no sort of difficulty in getting on the track of the ' Peculiar People/ The neighbourhood was literally up in arms against them — a fact on which I found the ' Peculiars ' greatly prided themselveSj as going to prove them in the coveted minority of the saints as opposed to the world. Were I to quote half the hard sayings which I gathered by diligent inquiry among the small shop- keepers and citizens in general, I should convert this article into a series of vituperations which I shall make it my business expressly to avoid. If unpopularity be a test of saintliness, the ' Peculiars ' are certainly at the head of modern hagiology. I first paid a' visit to the 'Windsor Castle^ public-house, and, on stating my mission, the smallest child in the worthy publican^s family became at once interested in my doings, and furnished me forthwith with the addresses of the elders. The ' Elder Sister ' of the body, I was informed, lived immediately round the corner, and to her domicile I ac- cordingly adjourned. I found a middle-aged woman, habited in a sombre dress and saintly bonnet, savouring of th^ Quakeress, who scarcely needed solicitation to initiate me into the mysteries of what I may venture to call Peculiar Popularity. She ushered me into a small front parlour, benched for prayer-meetings, which, she told me, took place nightly, and immediately brought to front the isolated text of St James, quoted above. I had inquired, by the way, for this good lady's husband, who seemed, as far as I could gather, to occupy a somewhat inferior position in the household, and was informed that he had gone, accompanied by two Sisters, on a mission of condolence to Brother Hurry — the father of the two little ones who had died of small-pox — then incarcerated in Newgate. I have no doubt that the "^Elder Sister' more than adequately represented her absent lord. Let me in justice add, she was a decent, cleanly, well-spoken, 12 178 UNORTHODOX LONDON. working woman, evidently full to the very finger-nails of her strange faith, and impressed with the idea that I was a lost sheep, straying by a special providence into the true fold. Pressing her as to what constituted the special vocation of a ' Peculiar,' I was told, vaguely enough, that it must be felt to be realized, and, once felt, would never be forgotten — which I could well believe. I left the ' Elder Sister ' with a conditional promise to come back to prayer-meeting if I could ; but I was still animated to press on, in the ardent hope of interviewing a real live elder ; nor was I doomed to be disappointed. The triumvirate who bore rule over the Plurastead Peculiars were, I ascertained, Elder Hurry, at that time in durance vile; Elder Hines, wh,o worked in a gas factory, and held a sort of Primacy among the Peculiars; and lastly Elder Vine, whose mundane occupation is — or rather was — that of a coal-carter at the Royal Arsenal, and who was one of the officiating ministers in the case of the poor infant whose death had formed the subject of the recent inquest. Perambulating the essentially slummy regions of Plumstead most affected by the Peculiar People, I came by and by to Elder Hines's abode. Elder Hines, I was informed by his wife, had gone to London to further the legal interests of Brother Hurry ; whereupon I hazarded a perhaps somewfcat in- felicitous question as to how it came that, while the saints dispensed with medical, they were not above legal assistance. By my ill-timed query I lost ground in the regards of Mrs Elder Hines, and could extract nothing more from her; so I passed on to the rustic cottage of Elder Vine, which stands on the very out- skirts of the parish. I was fortunate enough to find Elder Vine just returned from work, and about to undergo the far from superfluous process of washing. He came, however, courteously enough, begrimed as he was, in answer to my summons, and gave me every information. I hope I am not wronging Elder Vine when I say I rather fancy he thought I was a legal gentleman inclined to take up the case of Brother THE PLUMSTEAD ' peculiars: 179 Hurry in a somewhat Dodson-and-Fogg kind of way. However, I had attained my end. I was face to face with a live Peculiar Elder. Like all realized ideals, he disappointed me. He had only the same old hobby as the others, ridden perhaps rather more decidedly to death. The one item of information, however, which gave me real satisfaction was that he had that afternoon been dismissed from his employment at the crowded Arsenal unless he would promise to forego his ' elderly ' functions. He had, he told me, promised the head of his department that he would refrain from manipulating contagious cases, but that functionary very properly submitted that he could not make it his business to inquire whether Elder Vine were manipulating simple catarrh or confluent small-pox; that his business with Mr Vine was in his capacity of coal-carter, not Elder ; and consequently Elder Vine's occupation was gone, and he a martyr for conscience' sake. It might seem that, having been face to face with a Peculiar Elder in the flesh, my mission should have been accomplished; but rumour brought to my ears tidings of a certain coloured gentleman who was a bright and shining light among the Peculiar People. To this apostle's humble store I accordingly betook myself, and unearthed him easily, for, sooth to say, the Peculiars are net a retiring sect. He was airing himself at his shop door, and on my inquiry whether he belonged to the Peculiar People, seemed at first inclined to put in a modest disclaimer. He worshipped with the Peculiar People. He thought them good consistent Christian folk. He believed, however, that everything came ' from de Lord,' even — wonderful to relate ! — doctors. He did not believe the doctor cured. It was ' de Lord.' But he had a supreme conviction that ' de Lord ' could use all means, even doctors, if there was faith in the recipient. This coloured gentleman's Christianity seemed the most rational with which I had been brought into con- tact in this day of strange .experiences. He liked the Peculiar People's literal acceptance of ' de Lord,' but he i8o UNORTHODOX LONDON. was inclined to throw in ' de doctor ' too. He told me he had opened his wretched shop on Monday last with only £1 as capital, and, he added, ' de Lord ' had sent him customers. As he left me on the platform of the Plumstead Station I heard the little street-boys calling ' Peculiar ' after him, and saw him stride over the bridge amongst his tiny persecutors with an air of contempt that was simply superb. Such are the Plumstead Peculiars. Their faith and morality are beyond question. They are all poor, but help each other out of their common poverty in truly apostolic fashion. They gather at their nightly prayer- meetings. AU the long Sunday they spend in their little grimy chapel, some who come from a distance bringing their humble fare, and making a sort of pious picnic of their devotions ; but — alas for that inevitable but ! — they let their little ones die. They spread small- pox heedlessly among their fellow-creatures ; and why ? Simply because they will ride to death that one text which "tells of the prayer of faith, ■ utterly oblivious of the fact that the same writer who penned it added, ' Faith, if it have not works, is dead, being alone ; ' and are inconsistent enough, while repudiating the doctor for their sick little ones, not to hesitate to call in the lawyer to get their "Elder out of Newgate ! A SERMON TO FELONS. BY those who like to see life in all its varied phases an invitation from Mr Edward Wright is as little likely to be declined as one from Royalty itself. That name, as we have just written it, perhaps looks unfamiliar. It is of Ned Wright, the ex-thief, and now reformer of thieves, we speak. Those who hold, with Terence^ ' I A SERMON TO FELONS. 18 i am a man, and deem nothing human foreign to me/ will not lightly neglect Ned Wright's summons to supper. That summons, forsooth, comes on no per- fumed carte, nor does it politely state that ' Mr Edward Wright requests the pleasure bf Mr So-and-So's com- pany to supper on such-and-such an evening/ blending the Church and the world (as I have seen it on many an Evangelic invitation) by the delicate suggestion of ' Prayers at 9.30 ' in the corner. Not a bit of it. Ned Wright's bidding is of the bluntest, and goes straight to the point at once. This was the one that reached me : ' Mission Hall, Hales Street, High Street, Dept- ford. Admit the bearer to Ned Wright's supper for men and boys who have been convicted of felony. Doors open at 5.30. Supper at 6 precisely.' A strange hour, an ungenteel locality, and a gathering quite sui generis, but an invitation no more to be neglected than one from the Lord Chamberlain. True, there was sub- joined a paragraph in its - degree equivalent to our Evangelical host's 9.30 prayers, embracing the words, • '"Jesus only," Matthew xvii. 8; "He was wounded for our transgressions," Is. liii. 5 ; ' whilst — I hope I am not breaking confidence if I add — on the other side of the card, in stiff MS., was the postscript, containing, as usual, the most important item of all : ' Please take care that the tickets do not fall into the hands of detectives, and oblige yours truly, Edward Wright.' Mr Wright's request was no more than reasonable^ The presence of those gentlemen, highly useful on the proper occasion, would certainly have interfered with the pleasure of his expected guests ; and had I numbered any detectives among my bosom friends (which I take this opportunity of saying I do not), I certainly should have felt bound in something more than mere decorum to refrain from transferring my invitation to them. Now there is a grotesque as well as a serious side to aU mundane matters, from the birth and death of a. baby hippopotamus to a Thieves' supper. We have heard and read — nay, we have written — a good deal of the grotesque character of these gatherings j and a very 1 82 UNORTHODOX LONDON. Hogartliian picture, indeed do they present under that aspect. Suppose^ for a change, we look on them under their more serious phase to-night. We may or may-not care much about the spii^tual or moral bearings of the matter ; but it has a very important social bearing, too,' which may totich us more nearly. That seething mass of human beings gathered round the door of the little Mission Chapel down that dark a,nd singularly ill- favoured slum is well worth analysis. They are mostly boys ; and, as I thread my way among them, they sur- roand me, and clamorously beg for tickets : for it seems that the thief-population of Deptford exceeds the limits of Ned Wright's hospitality. Assuring them that I have no tickets, I escape their importunity by inter- viewing Ned Wright himself in a cottage adjoining the chapel, and my young suppliants beguile the tedium of waiting by kicking at the chapel door, and climbing up to the windows. The cottage, Ned tells me, was a noted low bi'othel, which .he has ' converted ' into a house for Bible women. Passing through this house, where Ned's wife and daughter and a few more female friends were taking tea, I came at length into the chapel, and found the guests seated, to the number of about a hundred, on alternate benches, prepared to use the unoccupied bench in front as a table. There was every age, from the lad of eleven, who had seen his seven days in Maidstone Gaol, to the gray-haired man and sturdy culprit who had ' done ' three terms of penal servitude. These hundred branded men and boys represent, if nothing else, gigantic mistakes in civilization. What- ever we may think of Ned's method or theology, we are at least indebted to him for bringing this peculiarly reserved animal — the habitual felon— into the daylight. Directly I entered, and passed up and down the riotous ranks with Ned, there was an obvious feeling of uneasiness at my appearance. 'Excuse me, sir, but is he a policeman ? ' was the question put to my cicerone and his assistants. Being set at ease on this point, they at once became affable, not to say demonstrative, and absolutely 'chaffy' ■'A SERMON TO FELONS. 183 in their attentions. The chief amusement of the hoys, who were largely in majority, was that of pulling each other's hair ; an occult pleasantry based,, I found, on the comparative recency of the ' county crop ' — that species of tonsure which all had undergone. One bullet-headed fellow of fifteen, who had just emerged from the retire- ment of Horsemonger-lane, was the object of special attention, but no human fingers, though lithesome as those of a Deptford prig, could get a grasp of that human stubble. A curly-wigged little chap of ten was , seated on a back bench ; and though my unpractised eye did not notice his exuberant chevelure, his clean- liness and prettiness led me to say, ' Surely, Mr Wright, that boy is not a thief ? ' ' You shall see,' said Ned. He went to the boy and asked him, ' Are you a thief? ' ' Yes, sir,' was the prompt reply, with a ready statement of the offence which had got him seven days in Maid- stone Gaol; ' Now, what did you sleep on when you were there, my boy 't ' ' Policemen's jackets, sir.' ' And how did you travel to Maidstone ? Did they take you in a coach and pair ? ' asked Ned. ' Yes, sir,' faltered the lad, evidently nonplussed. ' Ah ! you can go out, my boy ; I knew you were not a thief.' The practised eye had spotted him in a moment. He lacked ^not the white wedding robe, but the black qualifica- tion of conviction for crime, and so was walked out into the darkness. Ned tells me he has constantly to be on his guard against this kind of fraud. To get one of those paper bags now being handed round, each con- taining half a loaf and a bun, with a jorum of soup that is to follow, men and boys will assume a ' virtue ' though they have it not ; but they have no chance with Ned. He has been through it all himself, and is still as sharp as a nail. For instance, the soup is long in coming, and the boys beguile their time with conversation, loud and not refined, but for the most part within the bounds of decency. One young gentleman oversteps those bounds, and seasons his speech with something not to Ned's liking. He is requested to take his cap and go out, and for the future to ' keep his mouth clean.' It 1 84 i UNORTHODOX LONDON. was a weary waiting that, while the soup was sending its fragrant odours from the back kitchen ; and besides the methods of killing time above-mentioned, the guests — that is, the juvenile portion — lightened the tedium and displayed the ' ruling passion ' by appropriating each other's caps or bags of bread, one boy even secreting the poker from the fireplace, and being ignominiously caught by a Bible-woman, whom he wheedled over not to betray him. Before the soup came Ned extemporized a grace, and began by asking what was better than bread for the body. ' Cake,' suggested a boy — and it may be men- tioned, all had begun their meal by eating first the bun, which was meant for dessert. ' Soup,' suggested another. ' No ; not cake nor soup,' replied the host ; and then said a few words about ' bread for the soul,' while the guests stared anxiously at the back-kitchen , door. For the life of me, as I looked round on that motley assemblage, with their stubby heads now bared in deference to their host's request, I could not help thinking of ' a certain man who made a great supper and bade many,' and, when the first invited refused to come, sent out ' into the streets and lanes of the city ' to call the outcasts. Well, in due time the soup came, in huge basins ; and some of the smallest boys managed to stow away three of these, with much talk to lighten their labour. The men were quieter and ate less. There was a stolidity about them which was more painful to witness. I do not believe that throughout the evening they quite got over the idea that I was of the Executive. When supper was over, a big-mouthed youth in the front row said to me, in the most good-humoured way, and with- out the least idea of a breach of decorum, ' I say — feel my stomach' (he used a less elegant synonym), 'I'm as tight as a water-butt.' At the very back of the room was seated, shoeless and in rags, a singularly handsome and intelligent-looking man, with a long fair moustache and utterly woe-begone appearance on his face. I pointed him out to Ned, and asked by what freak of fortune he had come to herd with those from whom nature had so evidently marked him off. Ned told me A SERMON TO FELONS. 185 that lie was simply a born tramp, who never had ' had spirit to go in for a good 'bust,' as he termed it. So little does Lavater avail one in such a gathering. I thought he had been a clever rogue momentarily down on his luck. After supper, addresses were delivered, first of all by a gentleman who had been out to Port Arthur, and described in a graphic manner the horrors of convict life. Before commencing his narrative he prayed for a short time, and was responded to by an unmistakably burlesque ' Amen ; ■* but he soon riveted the attention of his audience when he told them how he had fallen in with a convict from Deptford in the prison chapel at Port Arthur, and how the man, who was sentenced to penal servitude for life, prayed him when he got back to ' go and speak to the Deptford boys,' and warn them by his example to give up thieving. He had never meant to be bad at first, but began by some small pilfering ; was shunned by good boys ; the police got to know him ; at last he was "^ nabbed,' and went on from small matters to great. ' Tell the Deptford boys,' he said, ' that if I only had the chance to come back to England again, I would die rather than be dishonest.' This gentleman concluded his very telling and appro- priate address by setting before them the practical value of honesty, and urged them not to be such fools and noodles as to thieve, but to ask God to make them wise and honest lads. Mr Kirkham, Secretary of the Open- Air Mission, foUowed with a brief narrative to illustrate Dr Watts's couplet : — ' AR that's ever got by tHeving, Turns to sorrow, shame, and pain.' He told a pertinent story of his recent experience as a juryman at Clerkenwell. A lad of fifteen was brought up for some comparatively trivial ofi'ence, but, in conse- quence of previous convictions, the Judge passed the severe sentence of seven years' penal servitude. The lad was overpowered, and fell on the floor of the dock praying for mercy, whilst his mother stood by without 1 86 UNORTHODOX LONDON. tears, gloi-ying in the knowledge that her son was the cleverest thief in the neighbourhood. ' If you had better mothers than this, boySj your'guilt is the greater. You may have mothers weeping over your fall. In any case, turn. There is not a boy here who may not give joy to angels to-night by his repentance.' Next followed Ned, with the wonted stories of his career told in their own vernacular. The gist of his address was still ' Thieving don't pay ; ' to which he added the aphorism, rather pointed than polite, ' You thieves are all cowards and fools.' At the great fire at Cotton's Wharf, Ned was following the ca.lling of a lighterman, and, coming down stream at the time, ran his barge ashore, stole a boat, and filled his pockets with money by rowing people at a shilling a head up and down to see the fire. ' What was the consequence ? ' asked he. 'Why, next morning I found myself lying dead drunk in a gutter in Tooley Street, with my pockets empty.' He next heard from a pal that the fat had run down the gratings into the sewers, where it had hardened, and was to be had for the taking. Ned and five others got sacks from a rag- shop, and" lanterns, and worked their way through the sewer, up to their middles in water, to where the fat was lying thick on the surface, ' like a tub of butter cut in two.' In his eagerness to reach it Ned out- stripped the rest ; and, just as he was nearing it, one of his mates opened his lantern to light a pipe. This caught the sewer gas, and ignited the fat between him and his companions. He stood there, and vowed to God if he got out he would alter his course ; then, plunging into the water, he swam under the fire, and got back safely. ' Just so,' he said, ' you are brave when being "jollied" by your pals, but cowards when in the silent cell. You are fools too. You get nothing out of youi; thieving. A lad in this room stole a pair of boots worth 5s. 6d., and sold them for a Id. ; another, a jug worth Is., for which he got a halfpenny.' Then a hymn was sung, to the tune of ' Just before the battle, mother ; ' and on went Ned again, actually forcing the fellows to listen to him with his tremendous lung-power A SERMON TO FELONS. 187 and peculiar habit of dropping down on any ' larky ' listener. ' Look you here ! ' he said. ' There was a fellow kicking at the door just now. I went out and found a chap as big and as ugly as myself, and I pinched his nose rather hard. You wouldn't do that if I was along- side you.' He ended with a really eloquent though homely pic- ture of Christ crucified between two thieves, and taking one with him to Paradise. ' The devil says/" he concluded, ' " Can God have such fellows as you in Heaven ? " Yes, He can. I have been worse than any of you. Before I was seventeen I fought young Cooper, of Redhill, for two hours and twenty minutes, was flogged in her Majesty's navy, and tried and convicted at Newgate for felony. I came, like that thief, to Jesus Christ. Take my word for it — thieving don't pay.' Two hours had now elapsed since supper; and, as the viands digested, some of the guests grew lively. The majority were wonderfally quiet, considering who and what they were. These noisy ones having been sent off, the remainder — ^nearly all boys — ^knelt down during another prayer, and sang another hymn, to the tune of ' The Bluebells of Scotland ' this time. Some personal experiences were gone into. One boy had been twice in Maidstone Gaol — once for fourteen days, for stealing walnuts, and again for seven days for knock- ing down chestnuts in the Park. He professed himself ready to work, and Ned took him in hand. The man whom I had noticed at the back also stayed till the very last. I asked Ned what for. ' To get a night's lodging and a suit of clothes. I hope to be able to get him the suit to-morrow. He is heart-broken,' added Ned, ' at the idea of anybody taking notice of him.' So ended the Felons' Supper. Ned has his own way of working, and talks more, perhaps, than one would like about the devil and hell-fire. But he knows his men, and speaks accordingly. If he does nothing more, he gives them a good meal, and glimpses of a cleaner life than they are leading. Those living bundles of rags, dirty and shock-headed though they be, are, at all i88 UNORTHODOX LONDON. events, a happy contrast, there on their knees, or re- calling from old Sunday-school days snatches of simple hymns, to the rabble outside, kicking and hooting at the door of the little chapel amid the congenial atmo- sphere of Hales Street, Deptford. JUDAISM.— THE WEST LONDON SYNAGOGUE. JUST as microscopic science is daily revealing diversi- ties where we had hitherto suspected nothing but uniformity, so a glance at religious life, carried one de- gree below the surface, brings to our notice manifold and unsuspected varieties of development in the religious idea or sentiment. There are probably few beyond the pale of Judaism who are aware that within this body, which is to them symbolical of unity itself, there are two opposite schools of thought, representing divergencies, not perhaps so great in degree, yet similar in kind to those which divide Christianity into Catholicism and Protestantism. The West London Synagogue of British Jews represents the more advanced school of thought among the Hebrew community; and, though their dif- ferences from the 'orthodox' touch no essentials, they are still sufficient to cause a withdrawal of countenance on the part of the Chief Rabbi, and therefore constitute the West London Synagogue (luasi Dissenters. After tabernacling first in a room in Burton Street, and next in a small synagogue in Margaret Street, the West London British Jews opened a handsome synagogue in Upper Berkeley Street, Portman Square. As this ad- vanced or ' reformed ' body is to a great extent com- posed of the higher or more educated classes, whose tendency is 'most to congregate' towards the west, the corresponding change of locality has become a necessity. JUDAISM.— THE WEST LONDON SYNAGOGUE. 189 The building, wliicli is an exceedingly handsome one of Byzantine character, was designed by Messrs Davis and Emmanuel, of Finsbury Circus, and has been erected by Messrs Myers, of Lambeth, at a cost of £20,000. It is capable of containing 1000 persons — that is, 500 males on the ground floor, and an equal number of females in the gallery. The organ, by Messrs Gray and Davison, is placed at the east end of the building behind the tabernacle. The religious ceremony, which attracted a large con- gregation, commenced with the carrying in procession of the ' scrolls of the law,^ and their deposition in the ark. This was performed, by Revs. Professor Marks, A. Lowy, and several influential Jewish laymen. During this portion of the proceedings some versicles were chanted, and, at its conclusion, an appropriate Hebrew, prayer was read by Rev. Mr Lowy, the assistant minis- ter. Then an eloquent sermon was preached by the chief minister, the Rev. Professor Marks. He selected as his text 1st Chronicles xx. 28 : 'And David said unto Solomon his son, " Be strong and of good courage, and do it ; fear not, nor be dismayed ; for the Lord, even my God, will be with thee ; he will not fail thee nor forsake thee until thou hast finished all the work for tlie service of the house of the Lord." ' This was read first in Hebrew, and then translated into English words dif- fering scarcely at all from the Authorized Version. This, the preacher observed, was a spiritual watchword, in which the Divine aid was promised to every good work. On this the starting-point of their new period of con- gregational history, he would deviate somewhat from ordinary pulpit utterances, and aim rather at delivering a public address than a homily. ' It was now,' he said, ' thirty years since the congregation, whose third syna- gogue he consecrated to-day, had started into being. J^^ever, in an equal time, had so much been done for the Jews of Britain. In those three decades the Jews had gained great advantages. The prejudices of centuries had been conquered, and the barriers of exclusion had come down, one after another, before the advance of I90 UNORTHODOX LONDON. civilization. Every disqualification had been removed, and there was absolutely no distinction between the Jew and his Christian brother. So had it been with our inner communal life. Education had made rapid strides. There were no longer religious tests at the universities ; and our youths had shown themselves well able to maintain their ground among their compeers. So, too, with schools for the poor. There were few among the Jews who now lacked the common franchise of educa- tion.' Passing to spiritual matters, it was impossible, the Professor remarked, to call up without pain the re- collection of what the synagogue was thirty years ago. The sacred office was performed more as a stereotyped task than as the spontaneous effusion of pious hearts. The ritual was burdened with pages of the private works of pious rabbis, and with polemical and metaphysical discussions quite alien from the spirit of prayer. Pulpit -teaching there was absolutely none. Such was the Anglo-Jewish Synagogue in the year 1841, when a few thinking Israelites formed a small congregation in Bur- ton Street, with a view of improving certain outward forms, for which improvements they had in vain petition- ed the ecclesiastical authorities. They were met in turn by stolid apathy, by honoured prejudices, and by heated opposition from those who reverenced mere antiquity. It was the common fate, he said, of all who heeded con- science and duty more than authority. ' So we went on our quiet way, and this synagogue shows our progress. In this we seem to see the literal fulfilment of our text. We have failed, it is true, to find conciliation in the acts of the clerical body ; but our lay. brethren of other synagogues have lost all angry feelings. Amongst educated laymen we see a nascent feeling that the spirit of Judaism is large enough to embrace in its loving grasp all who cling to the eternal principles of Moses and the Prophets, without rigid uniformity as to mere formulas. You Israelites,' the Rev. Professor said, in a powerful apostrophe, ' who would appropriate the genius of the age, must bend to the inexorable fact that the communal tie will be proved, not by narrowness, but by JUDAISM.— THE WEST LONDON SYNAGOGUE. 191 breadth ; not in unbending uniformity of ritual^ but by the great and immutable truths of Sinai/ All syna- gogues, he said, had awakened. They were no longer merely houses of prayer, but also of pulpit instruction. How far this fact was due to the iniluence of Burton Street, he did not pause to inquire. The fact was matter of history. Services had been abridged or sub- divided. Choral music had been introduced. The pulpit formed a prominent feature in every synagogue. •Contrasting synagogue life of to-day with the date of Burton Street, he thanked God that he had lived to see this triumph of the West London Synagogue. ' Yet,' he remarked in a different strain, ' a cloud descends, as I speak, to mantle my joy. The forms of many are absent from our midst. We see around us the offerings of filial piety to their memory, and, though separated bodily, we are yet one with them in spirit. Finally,' he concluded, 'I consecrate this synagogue to the love, knowledge, and reverence of the One only God and Father of all men, and to the doctrines revealed by Moses. I consecrate it to the same ritual that has ob- tained amongst us since we became a congregation, be- lieving that, white the principles of Judaism are im- mutable, its forms are capable of infinite adaptation, even as I believe that wherever God is worshipped in spirit — be it in synagogue, church, chapel, or mosque — there he is present. I consecrate it to the spirit of love that recognizes in every human being a child of God, a brother, and a sister, and to those humane principles which the Scripture says shall prevail when the promised Messiah appears, and when " the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." ' After the sermon Professor Marks offered a short prayer, and the ceremony concluded with the ordinary office for the day. 192 UNORTHODOX LONDON. SYNAGOGUE SERVICE. A SKETCH of the religions of London would perhaps be manifestly incomplete without some further reference to the oldest religion of all, and the cradle from which all the motley family has grown up. I allude, of course, to Judaism. Without going into the vexed question of the connection between this system and others possibly older still, like the Indian, it is enough for our purpose to remark that this is, in reality, the parent of all the Christian creeds, and, as such, demands something more than a passing notice. With the single exception of the opening of Professor Marks' Synagogue, in Upper Berkeley Street, I had not, at the time of entering on the present inquiry, ever been at a synagogue service, and, as I was aware that this particular place of worship embodied the most advanced section of ' Reformed ' Jews, I felt it would be hardly fair to make this the sole representative of the Jewish persuasion in London. Probably many persons are as little aware as I was myself up to a certain period, of the immense difference existing between the Reformed and Orthodox Jews. As the Jewish is eminently a national faith, this difference does not, of course, extend to essentials ; but, in point of discipline and ritual, the distinction may be not inaptly desci'ibed as almost identical with that existing between the Protestant and Catholic bodies in Christianity. The Reformers do not acknowledge the force of many of the traditional laws, which "are observed by the Orthodox Jews, and at the Berkeley Street Synagogue there is an organ accom- paniment to the service, and the prayers are considerably abridged. Detei-mined then to go to head-quarters for my inform- SYNAGOGUE SERVICE. , 193 atioiij I first of all attended a Friday evening service at the Great Synagogue, Duke's Place, Aldgate. As, according to Jewish mode of reckoning, Sabbath comes in at sunset on Friday, this would, of course, represent the first Sabbath service, and it is technically termed the ' Service of the Eeception of the Sabbath.' The hour varies with the time of year. On the fine autumn evening when I paced the little side street running out of the great metropolitan thoroughfare, with its quaint old-fashioned Jewish book-shops, the hour of service was half -past five. I got there half an hour before that time, and found the spacious building already lighted up, with large chandeliers suspended from the ceiling, and literally fulfilling tlieir name, since no gas is used in the Great Synagogue.' Eighteen dozen candles are used when the chandeliers are all lighted, and the efiect must be grand in the extreme. It was imposing enough on the occasion of my visit, when the edifice was only partially illuminated. It is with the greatest diffidence I always enter a place of worship, with the manners and customs of which I am unfamiliar. When I go to a Roman Catholic Chapel I am constantly divided in opinion as to whether I shall openly avow my Protest- antism by going to my seat straightway, or enter under false pretences with a genuflection. Most peculiarly did I feel this ' foreign ' sensation when I entered the Great Synagogue. Above all did my Christian courtesy seem to protest against the retention of my hat, but an obliging verger soon put me at my ease, gave me a prayer-book, with the Hebrew and English service, and handed me literally to the ' chief seat in the synagogue,' for I found, almost to my dismay, that I was representing Baron Rothschild. In the centre of the building on the basement was a large railed platform for the Reader, Wardens, and Choir, whilst at the end of the building was the 'Ark,' or veiled receptacle for the Law. Spacious galleries ran round the building, in which, behind a grille, were the places for the female congregation. Before the ark, and around the central platform, were huge tapers burning, 13 194 UNORTHODOX LONDON. just as one sees in a Roman Catholic place of worsMp. Indeed there were many points in which the ceremonial reminded me of the ritual of Catholicism. For instance, on entering the Synagogue most of the worshippers bowed towards the ' Ark/ just as the Roman Catholic makes obeisance towards the High Altar, and, at the conclusion of the service, the Chief Rabbi laid his hands on children, and blessed them, as a Roman prelate might do. Dr Adler, who is a venerable- looking man, entered in due time, clad in a sort of academic gown, with a purple collar and cap of the same colour, and took his place in a small pew on one side of the recess containing the Ark. In this pew he remained during the entire service, and most of the time with his back to the con- gregation, appearing to be absorbed in private prayer. The Reader took his place on the platform facing the Ark, and the Choir was ranged behind him, and presently the service began with a musical intonation on his part, to which the choir responded in a plaintive air, so ornate as almost to have a secular sound. It reminded me forcibly of that most pathetic Welsh melody, 'Ar hyd y nos ; ' I say this with no sort of disrespect. I was amazed at the musical beauty of the service. The Reader's part was most florid, and would have frightened a Minor Canon into fits, whilst the choral portions con- tinually reminded me of well-known airs, but throughout there seemed to run an undercurrent of plaintiveness — almost of sadness — as though it were really being sung by captive Jews, beside the waters of Babylon. I do not know whether this character is studiously given to the singing, or is really a spontaneous unstudied effect of the Jews' position as a dispersed people. It was singularly beautiful, and impi-essed me profoundly. If I must speak plainly, however, I cannot say that the service appeared to me to produce any perceptible effect on the congregation. There seemed that almost distrait appearance which one so often notices in Catholic as contrasted with Protestant worshippers. This results, of course, in these cases from the different genius of the service. In one case the priest to a great extent does SYNAGOGUE SERVICE. 195 something to whicli the congregation only express assent by their presence : in the other they themselves worship, with the minister only for their mouthpiece. I own I expected to find the latter charactetistic more largely permeate Jewish devotion, but I seemed to be dis- appointed. There was the constant dropping in of fresh members of the congregation, all through the service. Some were evidently praying heart and soul, but — so at least it seemed to me — praying hy themselves, and apart from the public service. Two young men behind me engaged in light conversation so loud as almost to annoy me, but prayed volubly and loudly at certain portions of the service. The effect of these exceedingly rapid prayers of the congregation was curious in the extreme. Some quite sang their prayers, others mur- mured- them in a low bourdon kind of voice, but all with the greatest rapidity. I soon lost myself in the intricate mazes of the prayer-book, and could not, until the very end, get over a kind of dissipated feeling at keeping my hat on ; but the musical beauty of the service lingered with me. The parting hymn, or ' Yigdal' (correspond- ing to the Christian Doxology), was really one of the sweetest compositions I ever heard. The Reader's portion was as difficult as the recitative of an opera, only more melodious, and quite different from the monoton- ous Gregorian music to which correspoading portions of the service are sung in a Roman Catholic Church. The prayer for the Queen and Royal Fafnily, which is used at every synagogue-service, sounded incongruous enough, since the names were inserted in the vernacular, whilst the body of the prayer was of course, like the rest of the service, in Hebrew. On the following morning I attended Sabbath service at the Bayswater Synagogue, in the Harrow Road, over which the Rev. Dr Hermann Adler, a son of the chief rabbi, presides. Here the congregation was larger than at the Great Synagogue, though many persons were still deferring their return to town until the opening of the Jewish new year. When this occurs every seat is full, for Bayswater is rapidly assuming the character of 196 UNORTHODOX LONDON. a Jewish colony. The Sabbath-morning service is much more comprehensible than that of the preceding evening. The taking of the scroll of the Law form the Ark to the Reader's place, and. its subsequent return, form landmarks by which the uninitiated can steer his course through the long and elaborate service. Again, as at the Great Synagogue, I was the only stranger present, and my alien condition was here more apparent as all the congregation, except myself, wore the dis- tinctive badge of the Tallith, or long white shawl or scarf. The chief minister and two readers were arrayed in academic gown and bands and very clerical hats, almost like a bishop's, with quite a prelatical rosette in front. The Rev. I. Samuel performed the Reader's part of the service most musically ; and the second Reader delivered with effect the long portions of the Law and Prophets for the day. Dr Hermann Adler also preached an eloquent sermon — of course in English, though with frequent Hebrew quotations. Taking as his text a dictum of the. Rabbi Akiba, — 'Ubetor haolam nadon, the world is ruled with goodness ' — he referred to his discourse of the previous Sabbath, which had been on the subject of the ' Compatibility of Man's Freewill with God's Providence.' His present subject he announced as an examination of the question, 'How Sin and Suffering in the World could be Reconciled with God's Superintendence.' The heathens of old met this pro- blem either by a sullen stoicism or vulgar epicureanism. Pure philosophy enables us to gi-asp the truth that ' the world is ruled with goodness.' Man's capacities for happiness prove this. It is true that there is much misery in the world; and yet it is quite evident that evil was not designed as the ultimate end of the Divine arrangement, but is incidental to a scheme in which human freewill forms an ingredient. Most of it is of man's own making; a result of our own folly. Man's heart of old ' fretted against the Lord.' ' You have heard, my brethren, in the portion, of the Law read to-day, the dire prophecies against backsliders. Our position as a dispersed people shows that not one word ■SYNAGOGUE SERVICE. 197 of that prophecy has failed/ Evil is inseparable from the fact of'man's free agency. If he had not the power of choosing between evil and goodj he would cease to be a rational creature. But still, with all this evil on man's part, God is as good as though man had never sinned. When we con- sider man's provocation and God's goodness, we must be penetrated with a sense of the Divine mercy. So far, moral evil has been glanced at ; but there is also physical evil in the world, in the form of famine, shipwrecks, volcanoes, etc., especially in the shape of sickness, for which we are not ourselves responsible, and which seem strictly acts of God. Now how can we reconcile this with His goodness ? Since the object of all nature is good, we may be sure that some good end ' is contemplated even here. It is just as when a father gives a bitter potion to a sick child. The child, in its ignorance, does not understand the act. We are not so ignorant as this. Science tells us that the same thunder- storm which wields the bolt of death purifies the air ; that the wind which destroys a ship dispels a pestilence. It destroys the few to preserve the many. We know little as yet of earthquakes and volcanoes, we are only beginning to learn that subterranean fires are perhaps as necessary sds the air and the sunshine. Pain, again, is hard to bear, but it is often a warning against vice. Sadden death is a great affliction, but it is worth a thousand homilies on the transitoriness of the world. So is poverty a trial, but its evident object is to restore moral health, and to teach self-denial. These are chas- tenings of God to purify you. Evil is finite, but God's goodness is infinite. But even still there is some evil which we cannot account for. We see vice pampered, virtue trampled down, for instance. But siball we doubt and despair because we cannot understand ? We see but an in- finitesimal portion of the scheme of Providence. We are only standing on the shore of the illimitable ocean. The time will come when we shall awaken to eternal life, and say with the Patriarch, ' Surely God was in 198 UNORTHODOX LONDON. this place, and I knew it not!' Then we stall see nature unveiled, and trace the course of the Almighty. We shall see evolved out of the chaos of history the great moral that all was contributing to the happiness of man. Then we shall confess ' all partial evil universal good.' Then we shall learn that the universe was 'ruled with goodness,' and that no really evil thing came from heaven, but all was wrought by God for our good. The sermon was very short, occupying scarcely twenty minutes in delivery, but was terse, practical, and to the point. Again a beautiful hymn, called ' Adon-Olam,' and the Synagogue service was over. In a subsequent conversation with one of the officiating ministers, I learnt the cause of irregularity in attending the Sabbath-eve service. Many of the congregation are engaged in business until the very hour of sunset, and consequently the alternative is forced upon them of either coming late or not at all. This is understood, and, consequently, late attendance does not assume the character of an irregularity as it would do at one of our services. From the same source I learnt that the Jewish popu- lation in Great Britain is 50,000, of whom 40,000 reside in London. Besides the division into Reformed and Orthodox Jews, there is another, based solely on the pronunciation of the sacred language, one portion adopting the German, and the other the Portuguese. The latter is the pronunciation used by Christian scholars. The principal educational establishment is the Jews' Free School, in Bell Lane, Spitalfields, where upwards of 2000 children are in daily attendance. The chief benevolent institution is what is termed the ' Board of Guardians.' The Jews in London also interest them- selves largely in the education of Deaf Mutes. BLESSING THE PALMS. 199 BLESSING THE PALMS. FOR any one who is really anxious to study the genius of Catholic oeremonialj and estimate aright the force of objective teaching in matters of faith, there is no period so opportune for observation as the season of Passion-tide, especially when it is culminating in Holy Week. From Christmas to Easter, the sacred history is, as it were, developed, act by act, like a mighty drama, in the services of the Church ; and, from the position which the death and resurrection occupy in a sacramental system like that of Rome, it is inevitable that' these should form, as it were, the pivot on which all turns. To the devout Catholic, then — for I am not speaking of the mere formalist in this or other creeds — nothing- can be more intense, or less sensational, than the growing interest with which he advances through the shadowed season of Lent to Passion-tide, Holy Week, and Good Friday, as if along the Via Dolorosa to the steeps of Calvary itself. He lives over again that life he feels was once lived for him in the Holy Land. The rude birth at Bethlehem, the thirty years of veiled home-life at Nazareth, every jot and tittle of the three years' ministry among the Galilean Hills, are as fresh as they were eighteen hundred years since ; and the death he endeavours to reproduce even more per- fectly than the life-— for, in his theory of redemption, though the passion was life-long, it was the death that was atoning. From the dawn of Palm Sunday, com- memorating the last entry into the Holy City, to the evening of Good Friday, when the brief history of the Man of Sorrows was closed in deathy the religious exercises of the devout Catholic are of the most severe and overwhelming kind; and, even to the outside ob- 200 UNORTHODOX LONDON. server^ most impressive and picturesque. Without lor one moment passing judgment on other forms of faitn ■which are less demonstrative, there can be no doubt that this objective teaching does take an immense hold of those who, from their present constitution, are swayed to a large extent by their senses ; and some account of Catholic ceremonial from such a point of view can scarcely lack interest even for those who differ toto ccelo in their own theories or practice. On Palm Sunday, then, is commemorated the entry of Christ into Jerusalem, on the first day of the Passover week, from Bethany. On that occasion, the sacred narrative informs us, the great crowds of those who had come up for the annual festival hailed the Nazarene teacher with genuine popular enthusiasm, and roused hopes in His followers that, at last, the time for actual ■ Messiahship, as they deemed it, had come. ' They took branches of palm-trees and went forth to meet Him, and cried " Hosanna ! " ' Having been informed that the Archbishop of Westminster would officiate at the Benediction of the Palms, which still perpetuates the memory of this striking incident, I went, some time before the hour appointed, to the Pro- Cathedral, Ken- sington, which I found draped with purple, the pictures of the Stations veiled, and every superfluous ornament removed. A small congregation was gathered for Low Mass, nearly every member being clothed in black j and certainly nothing could be further removed from the ' sensational ' than the whole tone of this service. There was no music of any kind. The low, monotonous sound of the priest's voice at the end, and the occasional ) tinkle of a little bell at the more solemn portions of the celebration, were all that broke the silence. Soon after half-past ten this congregation dispersed, and that for ' High Mass assembled. It gradually assumed vast proportions ; and by the time the Archbishop arrived the spacious edifice was full, without being crowded. Dr Manning, on reaching the Sacrarium, proceeded at once to the archiepiscopal throne on the north side of the chancel ; where he was joined by Monsignor Capel • BLESSING THE PALMS. 201 and, after a sliort interval of silence, during which he and his attendants remained picturesquely grouped at the throne, he proceeded to vest himself. One by one the Archbishop assumed the amice, girdle, stole, cope, and mitre; and, when this was done, the choir and clergy of the Cathedral entered, the former in black cassocks and surplice, the latter in rich purple vest- ments, but all in solemn silence. Being seated, by the courtesy of a member of the congregation, immediately in front of the high altar, I had ample opportunity of noticing all the details of the Very striking ceremony which took place. On the super-altar were several veiy large branches of real palm, and on a table on the north side huge bundles of the same, waiting for benediction. I had previously inquired of the verger what it was customary to substitute for palm, and was told by him that real palms were used at the high altar, but box and other cheap substitutes were used for the general con- gregation. In this, however, he was mistaken : none but real palms were used throughout ; and, as these are procured with some difficulty, and every member of a large congregation was supplied with a good- sized branch, the expense must have been very great. The actual Benediction service which precedes High Mass, and is of much greater length than I had antici- pated, commences with the Collect, Epistle, and Gospel, which were read by the celebrant and his assistant priests, the Archbishop still occupying' his throne. These were, of course, in Latin, and, on their conclusion, the Archbishop commenced the Benediotion proper, by reading a prayer commencing ' Auge fidem,^ etc. Several prayers, special to the occasion, followed, in one of which supplication is made that ' as the dove returning to the ark brought the olive-branch ... so whosoever receives this creature of the olive-tree may find protection of soul and body.' The Archbishop then fumed the bundles of palm branches with incense, sprinkled them thrice with holy water, and proceeded to distribute them to the clergy and choir. Many of these were of gigantic size ; those held by the Arch- 202 UNORTHODOX LONDON. bishop himself and Monsignor Capel could not have been less than nine or ten feet highj and by the time the whole large body of priests and choristers were so provided the effect was very striking indeed. Some of the palms were quite yellow, and appeared to be dried ; others were fresh and green. A very small gentleman of the choir in spectacles, who, of course, came in for one of the largest, seemed almost overweighted with his treasure. When each of the occupants of the chancel had received a branch, smaller portions of the same were distributed to the whole congregation, who advanced to the foot of the altar, as if for communion, and received the branch from the officiating priests, reverently kissing it as it was given. I had my little child with me, and, of course, tiny heretic though she was, nothing would do, but she must have her palm- branch. I put the case fairly to the gentleman in a surplice who was marshalling the long files of the con- gregation to their places, and, I am -bound to say, he acceded to her request as readily as though she had been of the number of the faithful; and the child's green palm-branch now surmounts a portrait of the Archbishop which has for many years hung in my study. After this distribution occurred by far the strangest, and to me at first a scarcely intelligible, portion of the ceremony. A procession was formed of all the occu- pants of the chancel, who, chanting a lugubrious kind of anthem, passed to the west end of the church, and right out of the great doors, which were closed upon them. Only two of the choir remained ; and in this position a hymn was sung antiphonally, the singers left inside taking one verse and those outside the other in alternation. The hymn was written in ecclesiastical — or at least, certainly not classical — elegiac couplets, commencing as follows : — ' Gloria, laus, et honor tibi sit, Eex, Ghriste, Bedemptor ; Cui puerile deous prompsit Hosanna piuin. Israel es tu Eex DavidiSj et inclyta proles, Nomine qui in Domini, Eex benedicte venis.' To this was responded : — BLESSING THE PALMS. 203 ' Coetus in excelais te laudet ctslicus omnis, Et mortalis homo, et ounota creata simul.' There were a great many couplets of this kind, and the effect of the large body of voice without responded to by the duet inside, was remarkable in the extreme. At last, the cross-bearer outside knocked with the foot of the cross at the door, which was thereapon opened, and the procession re-entered and passed again to the chancel. A Catholic Manual of Devotion for Holy Week explained this proceeding, as follows : — ' This ceremony represents our pilgrimage in this moi-tal life, in which we unite in the prbmises of God with the blessed in Heaven, and live in hopes that the gates thereof will be opened through the merits of the cross of Christ.' After this the regular High Mass pro- ceeded as usual ; but, although there was no sermon, the service lasted until nearly two o'clock — the Bene- diction of the Palms not being over until after twelve. Among the more interesting ceremonies of the week may be mentioned the oflB.oe of Tenebrse, which is celebrated on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday even- ing; the Consecration of the Holy Oil on Thursday morning ; and the Washing of the Feet. The Preach- ing of the Three Hours' Agony, too, on Good Friday, is a ceremony of the most interesting character. Though situated in the centre of the wealthiest suburb of London, the Pro- Cathedral has a large congregation of poor among its regular attendants. They were, of course, represented to their fullest extent on Sunday morning, and, as is ever the case at Catholic churches, received equal attention, and went away happy with as big a piece of palm as the wealthiest member of the congregation. 204 UNORTHODOX LONDON. PASSION-TIDE AT KENSINGTON. TITHETHER we like it or not, it is impossible for qs TT to ignore the growing importance of the sesthe- tical element in religious matters — that element which addresses the feeling of devotion through the channels of the senses, and by means of such accessories as music, colour, and all that is technically comprised under the term ritual. We live in an age of adapta- tion ; and, as Rowland Hill said he saw no reason why a certain objectionable personage should monopolize all the good tunes, so there seems no adequate cause why, within due bounds, such an important element as the sssthetical should be monopolized by any one school of religious thought. There is a noticeable tendency to realize this principle on all hands. There was a time when mere decency of ritual was deemed ' Romish,' whereas slovenliness is now decidedly the exception and not the rule. The connection, again, of sesthetical beauty with advanced doctrinal opinions, or excessive regard for the sacramental system, must always have struck sensible persons as an egregious non sequitur ; and after the performance of Bach's Passion- Musik, with full band and chorus, and sermon by Dean Stanley, in Westminster Abbey, the inconsequential alliance of aesthetics with advanced doctrine will probably be patent to all. There is no doubtthat in this, as in most other respects, we may gain a good deal by studying the manners and customs of those who differ from us; and a little mild eclecticism will do us no harm. Some such notions as these, floating dimly and vaguely enough through my mind, made me determine to ' do ' the Roman Catholic Cathedrals of London during Holy Week and Easter-tide, especially as the Archbishop of Westminster was to preside over the PASSION-TIDE AT KENSINGTON. 205 ceremonies of the former period — no longer at the dingy old quasi-Cathedralj but really Chapel, of Moor- fields, but in the handsome edifice known as the Pro- Cathedral, Kensington, which has recently grown up like Aladdin's Palace, and stands a noble monument of Catholic devotion and liberality. I commenced my rounds on Maundy Thursday, the dies mandati, of the one command of all others — and, strolling into the Pro- Cathedral at mid-day, for the purpose of studying the list of services, was fortunate enough to light on one of the most significant ceremonies of the season, viz., the washing of the feet, in imitation of Christ before the Last Supper. To many of us this ceremony appears to savour of literalisn\, from the fact of our not being educated up to it; and, indeed, there is always the danger of such ceremonies degenerating into the grotesque. Twelve little boys from St Charles's Col- lege, Bayswater, arrayed in white gowns, with trousers tucked up and feet in slippers, received ablution at the archiepiscopal hands of Dr Manning, who previously arrayed himself in a capacious apron for the purpose. Amongst twelve young gentlemen, averaging perhaps a dozen years each, it would not be in the nature of things if somebody, did not look on the matter in a way the reverse of serious ; and I much regret to say that one of the washed did giggle unmistakably during the process. In the evening of this day the service of Tenebrse was performed, which is very striking. Twelve lighted tapers are arranged on a stand, six on each side of a central one also burning. These twelve tapers are one by one extinguished while the choir chant appropriate psalms, and are supposed to represent the Disciples, who ' all forsook him and fled.' The centre taper represents the Light of the World Himself, and finally this is extinguished, typifying the darkness of His passion. ^ In addition to other ceremonies connected with this day — such as the blessing of the oil, chrism, &c., — takes place the procession of the Blessed Sacrament to what is called ' the Altar of Repose ' — an altar in a side 2o6 UNORTHODOX LONDON. chapel, wherej after the denudation of the High Altar, the consecrated Host remains during the night of Maundy Thursday, for use at the mass of the Pre- sanctified on Good Friday. The origin of this expres- sion, so [little understood by other than Roman Catho-. lies, lies in the fact that there is no consecration of the wafer on Good Friday, and therefor^ the reserved, or presanctified — preconsecrated — elements of the previous day have to be used. This quasi-mass took place at Kensington, at ten o'clock on Good Friday. The tout ensemble of the stripped altar swathed in rich purple, the black vestments of the officiating priests, and the solemn tones of the music were imposing in the extreme. The sacrament was carried back ii^ procession, under a canopy borne by four laymen, from the Altar of Eepose to the High Altar ; after which the hymn ' Vexilla E,egis prodeunt' was sung, and the ' Improperia,' or 'Re- proaches,' to music by Palestrina. Rather an amusing incident occurred with reference to the word ' Impro- peria.' I saw it on the service-list, and, not being posted up in ecclesiastical Latin, was fain to confess my ignorance to the doorkeeper. With ineffable scorn he informed me it was Latin, and that was the extent of his information. Two ecclesiastical gentlemen came to my aid, and were sure they could find it in their books. They hunted their books diligently, but could not find it, and I did not find it until I got home, and turning to Dr Smith's Dictionary, found ' Improperium — ii., n, reproach, taunt, (Ecclesiastical).' At midday the preaching of the Three Hours' Agony was commenced by the Archbishop, consisting of a series of short sermons on the words of Christ upon the Cross, with intervals of silent prayer and the singing of hymns. In many parts of this fertile and congenial subject Dr Manning seemed to be the ' Archdeacon Manning ' of old times again, as we can remember him in his sermon on the ' Sleep of the Faithful Departed.' Amongst the ' bits ' that thus live in the memory were the pictures of the agony of nailing to the Cross, the rending of the wounds when the earth quaked, and, PASSION-TIDE A T KENSINGTON. 207 notably, the horrors of the supernatural darkness. The manner of the preacher was most impressive, and his simple black cassock, with purple girdle, more im- posing than the most gorgeous vestments. There was, however, one serious drawback to the effect of this service, which, perhaps, one would not have noticed so much were it not that the charge is so con- stantly brought against the Church of England of ex- ^S eluding the poor from her services. The whole Church was 'appropriated,'' the centre to shilling, the sides to sixpenny, seats. There was literally no place for the poor except standing-room under the gallery at the back. Of course, at High Mass on Easter Sunday, where there is great expense for band, etc., one can understand this ; but it seemed out of place at a simple service like that of the Three Hours' Agony. It was utterly im- possible for a poor person to be present at the whole of it. Later in the day the Stations of the Cross were sung ; and the opening ceremony of the morning was a prayer ' for all sorts and conditions of men ' — ' even heretics,' my informant added. This, we may recollect, has its counterpart in our own Good Friday Collect, where the National Church prays for all ' Jews, Turks, Infidels, and Heretics.' There can be no doubt that if this assthetical element in religious teaching be legitimate, that at the Pro- Cathedral, Kensington, is of a very high order. There are, indeed, even in these days of local school-boards, those who can thus be taught only by the eye and ear. To such as these the ceremonial portion of the Roman Catholic worship comes directly home; and I could not fail to be struck with the numbers who availed them- selves of it — coming into their church as though it really was their own, stopping often only a few minutes ; but one could not help thinking how favourably those moments would contrast with the rest of their often dark and squalid lives. This is as it should be, and is a particular wherein we should do well to relax a little of our rigidity aud formality. Especially does it seem a pity, where such a principle is established, to violate it 2o8 UNORTHODOX LONDON. in the least degree by anything like a distinction between rich and poor. At all events, let nothing be said about the poor people being afraid of the beadle at a fashion- able church after the numbers I saw turned back on Good Friday by the inflexible demand of ' one shilling for the centre, sixpence at the sides.' Outsiders, of course, who are attracted, like myself, by the cere- monial, ought to pay for their accommodation ; and I resolved very cheerfully to invest my mite on Basterjf Sunday morning at St George's Cathedral, Southwark. HIGH MASS IN SOUTHWARK. HAVING described the Passion-tide services at the Pro- Cathedral of the Archdiocese of Westminster, I proceed by way of pendant, to chronicle the Easter Sunday Mass at the Cathedral Church of St George's, Southwark. There is a vast difference between the two ceremonies, even apart from, and far beyond, the inevit- able difference of tone and sentiment which we should of course expect to find characterizing respectively the great fast and the greatest feast of the Christian year. If it be true, as I ventured to surmise, that a literalism almost amounting to the materialistic attaches to some of -the ceremonies of Passion-tide — the washing of the feet, for instance, and the carrying of palms — this can scarcely be predicated of the Easter JDay Mass at St George's, Southwark. It has been the custom for some years to celebrate this event with ' the sound of cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music,' — in other words, with Mozart's 'Twelfth Mass,' rendered by a full band' and chorus ; insomuch that it requires an effort of something like religious Dar- winism to trace in this elaborate ceremonial any resem- HIGH MASS IN SOUTHWARK. 209 blances to that Last Supper in the long upper room, with its simple Hallel-Hymn. So it is, however. Easter Sunday at St George's, Southwark, has long been a favourite resort of Anglicans — especially Anglican clergymen- — anxious for a mild religious dissipation, and who feel it some sort of excuse for leaving their parish church that they are anxious to hear Mozart^s Twelfth. Accordingly, I joined the vast throng of my co-religion- ists, and by half-past ten o'clock I found myself com- fortably seated in the already crowded Cathedral. . Seated, we will say, but not much about the comfort. I occupied the half-hour of waiting in casting about in my mind what the peculiar cast of character is that prompts vei'gers in churches and box-keepers at theatres always to put the earliest arrivals in the worst possible places. The Cathedral of St George, instead of being placed in the hands of gentlemanly laymen, as is the case at the Pro-Cathedral, is consigned to three or four vergers in property gowns, who have as much idea of arranging a large crowd as they would have of marshalling the forces of the German Empire. First of all, the gentleman in the gown put me into a seat which had the double dis- advantage of being behind the preacher and out of view of the altar. On my mildly remonstrating, he removed me to another where I could see the altar but not the preacher, except at the risk of dislocating my neck. I attempted to make a clean breast of it and explain my reasons for desiring to command both ceremony and sermon ; but the gentleman was inexorable, and did not appreciate the Fourth Estate. This half-hour was spent by the congregation in very uncatholic conversatioti. It was easy to see at a glance that the large majority were not hahituh of the church — were, in fact, like myself, of a foreign creed. The gentlemen of Herr Meyer Lutz's band occupied them^ selves with tuning their instruments, and, soon after eleven, a small procession entered from the sacristy, the choir singing the 'Ecce Sacerdos,' by Lutz, as they did so. To criticize the beautiful, even if somewhat sensuous, 14 2IO UNORTHODOX LONDON. strains of Mozart's best-known mass would be super- fluous. The vast congregation, whioli became irretriev- ably lost and utterly bewildered amid the mazes of the ceremony at the altar, brightened up as one by one their old favourites, 'Kyrie Eleison,' 'Gloria in Excelsis,' ' Bt Incarnatus,' or the sparkling ' Dona nobis pacem,' acted as landmarks to guide their devious ways. Dr Danell, the bishop of the diocese, was the celebrant, and his magnificent voice and perfect intonation harmonized perfectly with the efforts of the choir. Considering the importance of music as an adjunct of Roman Catholic worship, it is astonishing how few priests have any musical ability or voice — as astonishing as the absence of such talent is among the dignitaries of our own cathedrals. Here, however, is a notable exception. The sermon was preached by Dr Morris, Bishop of Troy, whose voice was scarcely powerful enough to fill so large a building, and who, moreover, suffered from a cough which was almost as distressing to his congregation as to himself His sermon was taken from the Gospel of the day, the text consisting of the words, ' You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen. He is not here ' (Mark xvi. 6). It was a plain and season- able discourse, of a devotional character, on what he termed the ' stupendous phenomenon' of the resurrection of Christ. Laying controversy aside, the preacher con- fined himself to the one proposition which asserted the connection between Christ's resurrection and our own. At times he warmed into real eloquence, as, for instance, when he touched on the instantaneous effect of the resurrection of Christ in converting many of the disciples from vacillating cowards into brave men. I fear, how- ever, the physical infirmity of the speaker made his words inaudible to most of his congregation. After the Creed, Mr Santley sang the ' Sanctum et terribile ' of Persoglini, and the band performed a march by Herr Meyer Lutz during the offertory. The service, which commenced almost punctually at eleven, was not over until nearly half-past two. There was a rumour that the Empress of the French was present. I even heard some HIGH MA SS IN SO UTHWARK. 2 1 1 French people expressing satisfaction that her Majesty- looked so well. I could not ascertain, however, from the authorities that her Majesty had been present, though she was the previous Sunday. Perhaps that was suffi- cient for an ardent Bonapartist. Such, then, is the development in this nineteenth century of that simple ceremony of the first, which we have named, and still name, the Lord's Supper ; only less ornate than the Buoharistic office of the Greek. Church, and not more so than many Communion services celebrated in churches of the Established religion on the same day. There is one remarkable instance in which ecclesiastical discipline has altered the character of this institution. In order to comply with the regimen of receiving the mass fasting, it has been virtually made to be no longer a ' supper,' but a midday meal. In fact, the Evangelical school, who have recently signified their intention of conforming to order by wearjng copes at celebration, are certainly more true to old tradition in this respect also, since by adhering to what is con- demned as the ' irregular ' custom of evening com- munions, they preserve, at all events, the place of this significant ceremony, whilst the simplicity of their com- memorative feast seems truer to the original spirit of the Founder. Still, far off as the development may have carried adherents of the Sacramental system, whether in our own or the Roman Catholic Church, it is impossible to question the august character of the ceremony. The exquisite words of the service — identical with our own Communion office in many places — set to the music of Mozart, and rendered by Herr Meyer Lutz's efficient band and chorus, went far to realize Tennyson's con- ception of ' perfect music set to noble words ; ' whilst the many thousands of Protestants who thronged the vast building proved the power of such influences to soften that bitterest of all hatreds, the odium theologicum, and to bridge over the vast chasm of difference, doc- trinal and ceremonial, between ourselves and the Church of Rome. 212 UNORTHODOX LONDON. TBNEBR^, DARKNESS ! so runs the import of that expressive word which I have here used to symbolize the influences surrounding us in the religious world at Passion-tide; besides forming, as it does, the title of one peculiarly significant service which I make it my mission to describe. Well, indeed, may that word be taken as characteristic of those tremendous hours which elapsed between the Betrayal on Wednesday and the Death upon the Cross on Friday. ' Darkness ' — gradually gathering, deepening darkness — ' was over the earth ; ' and yet a darkness that was not Egyptian — a gloom through which fitful gleams of the glory beyond ever and anon showed themselves, to prove the cloud had yet the silver lining. We scarcely realize, perhaps, to what an extent these old traditions, falsely deemed effete, still linger on amongst us ; how thoroughly this cold, critical age of ours becomes childlike again in matters of faith at those solemn crises in the Sacred History, Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, and Ascension-tide. And yet a very slender glance below the surface, such as I now propose to take, will convince us that this is the fact— that the old faith and the antique love are not dead, even if sleeping. Though it be very doubtful whether Loudon is at the present moment educated to bear such a representation as the Ober-Ammergau Passion-play in her midst, yet certain it is that England — cold, un- Catholic Englaqd, as she is called — had since Wednes- day, indeed since Sunday, been acting over again, in her own informal way, the majestic drama of the Passion. Nay, more j though one body of religionists has bornOj perhaps^ the principal part in this repre- TENEBR^. 213 sentatioil, yet no section even of ultra-Protestantism had been able to remain rigidly aloof from the leavening influence of the great idea which was at the moment animating us all. The task I proposed to myself was to trace the different developments of that idea in those various religious bodies which I had for long made my special study; and to note carefully those evidences which surround us at such a season that, cold and life-' less though some miscall it, the national faith is not defunct, dormant though it sometimes appears. ' And, sitting down as I do to sum up my experiences of the last few days of Holy Week, that one word ' Tenebrae,' seems to gather them to a head. A dark- ness that is yet not all dark ! A gloom pierced with glories, as stars stud the night-sky ! Looking back for one moment to Sunday, when the Palms were blessed in the Catholic churches, one seems to see in the Passover-crowds crying ' Hosanna ! ' bright scin- tillations of that unearthly glory. It was the one weird moment of brightness that often precedes the storm at sun-down, /rhen, on Monday and Tuesday, quiet days of ' waiting for the end,' came the Temple- teachings daring the day — came the purple evenings at Bethany, to close them in with that loving converse so' faithfully chronicled by the pen of John the Beloved. It is on the Wednesday when Iscariot's foul bargain was made, that the gloom perceptibly deepens — that the lightning-cloud of the Passion seemed to have gathered its electric forces, to burst in the thunder-clap of Friday. And so it was surely in keeping with these associations that out fi-om London's Abbey rang on Tuesday evening the strange chords of Sebastian: Bach's ' Passion- Musik.' One who heads a school of religious thought, vulgarly deemed unimaginative, did much to gainsay such an idea "by gathering those vast throngs at Westminster to thrill them with that grand and absorbing theme. By way of commencing my Passion-tide studies I attended the picturesque service of Tenebrae, properly so called, at the Pro-Oathedral, Kensington, on Wed- 214 UNORTHODOX LONDON. nesday evening. This office, in primitive times, was sung at a very early hour on the mornings of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday, but is now recited by anticipation on the evening preceding each of these days. It, is so called from the ceremony of gradually extinguishing the lights, until, at the close of the office, the church is left in complete darkness. Fifteen candles are arranged on a triangular stand in the chancel, which is completely denuded of ornament ; and during the monotonous recitation of the Penitential Psalms and passages from the Lamentations, fourteen out of the fifteen lights are slowly extinguished. This, it is said, represents the defection of the disciples, when 'they all forsook Him and fled.' The centre taper isleft burning, while the six tall candles are also put out on the High Altar during the recitation of the ' Benedictus.'' This, in turn, expresses the failure of faith on the part of the Jewish nation. At length only the centre taper of the fifteen is left burning, and this is not extinguished at all, but concealed under, the Epistle end of the altar, and again brought out burning, to signify that, though Christ in His humanity died, yet as to His Divinity He was still alive. During the dark- ness, the ' Miserere ' is chanted, and a noise is made in the church, to represent the disturbance of nature at the crucifixion. Such is an outline of this solemn service, which, sensuous as some may deem it, material as, no doubt, in some respects it is, still enchains the attention of those who perhaps could not be reached by other methods. The congregation was not very large, but there was a good proportion of poor : and, though the office is very long, and to an outsider almost weari- some, all the attendants remained absorbed until the very end. As far as I could see, there were no strangers present except myself.' It requires some previous information as to what is being done to enable one thoroughly to appreciate the ceremony ; but when the climax is at length reached, and the doleful cadences of the ' Miserere ' echo out through the gloom, it must be TENEBR^. 215 a veiy unimpressionable nature indeed whicli could fail to be moved by the situation. The sacristan's office at a Catholic church during Holy Week must be anything but a sinecure. During the -night which succeeds the Tenebrae Service, the Altar of Repose, as it is termed, has to be vested and decorated for the reception of the Host, which remains upon it from Maundy Thursday to Good Friday, as no consecration takes place on the latter day ; the mass then celebrated being thence termed the Mass of the Pre- Sanctified. These side-altars, both at the Pro- Cathedral and the Church of the Carmelite Friars at Kensington, were beautifully decorated, and the bril- liancy of their lights formed a striking contrast to the rest of the church, which was still veiled in sombre hangings. On Maundy Thursday, at eight o'clock in the morning. Archbishop Manning went through the process of consecrating the oil at the Pro-Cathedral, after which mass was celebrated, and the office of the Pedilavium, or Washing of the Feet, took place, the Archbishop performing that ceremony upon twelve boys from St Charles's College, Bayswater. I feel it due to those young gentlemen to say that they went through their somewhat trying portion of the affair this time with great gravity and decorum. In fact, the whole service was most impressive. The Archbishop preached on ' The Dereliction of Our Lord upon the Cross,' instead of the ' Three Hours' Agony ; ' and also on Easter Sunday his subject was ' The Kingdom of the Resur- rection' — a subject which those who remember 'Arch- deacon ' Manning of years ago will know to be sin- gularly adapted for treatment by him. The Ritualistic Churches, as might be expected, have incorporated into their services several of the distinctive features of Catholic ceremonial. The ' Reproaches ' and 'Three Hours' Agony' — offices undreamed of in the simple philosophy of the Protestant — are on the list of Holy Week services for all the most ' advanced ' of the London churches. Strangely enough, too, the Pedi- 2i6 UNORTHODOX LONDON. lavium, or Wasliing of the Feet, has been retained until within a very few years by the Moravians. It had been clebrated in private, but is now discontinued ; but this simple and little known religious body still enters warmly into the ceremonies of Holy Week.. On Maundy Thursday they gather in the evening, and read a har- monized account of the transactions of that eventful day, singing their favourite hymns at frequent intervals, as though to represent the Hymn which on that ' solemn eventide' was sung in the 'large upper room' before the Great Sufferer went, with His disciples, to the olive^garden for the last time. The Lord's Supper is then celebrated at an hour deemed unsuitable by those who hold that such celebration and participation must be preceded by the ecclesiastical > regimen of fasting ; but with many hallowed associations surely to recom- mend it, seeing it is at the traditional hour when the command was given — ' This do in remembrance of Me ' — a command which has since sent this Maundy Thurs- day down through the ages titled with the name of the Dies Mandati. Being anxious to ascertain whether Passion-tide, and especially Good Friday, was in any external form ob- served by the more rigid of the Protestant Dissenters, I put myself in communication with one who may well be regarded as their ' representative man,' and whom it would, perhaps, be scarcely fair to name more particu- larly. "Whilst 'expressing intense sympathy with the event, he told me he still felt bound to abstain from any outward observance of the day ' as a protest against superstition.' The ceremony of the Washing of the Feet at the Carmelite Monastery, Kensington, was slightly hurried ; and, to an outside observer, appeared to be got over in rather a perfunctory manner. The congregation was small, on account, no doubt, of the inclemency of the weather, which involved an involuntary feet-washing on the part of each member of the congregation who had the misfortune to walk to the church. In their habits of black and white, and with bare feet, the fifteen * sad TENEBR^. 217 and silent monks' streamed noiselessly into the chancel, and with them came the prior, in full vestments, with two assistants, bearing a gilt ewer, basin, and towel. He just touched the foot of each of the brethren ; not giving them anything like the ablution with which the Archbishop had favoured the young gentlemen in the morning. The service was a very short one, and was immediately succeeded by Tenebrse. The contrast be- tween the High Altar, lighted only by six tall dim tapers, and the Altar of Repose, glowing through the gloaming with its many lights, and now surrounded by a crowd of devotees in prayer, again seemed to convey perfectly the idea of contrasted gloom and glory. Strange that, among the observances of Maundy Thursday, none seem to touch directly upon Geth- semane ! Surely a lesson might be learned from what the Greek Church so aptly terms, in a Litany suffrage, the ' unknown sufferings,' and the ministering angel whose visit is chronicled by only one Evangelist — the lesson, namely, never out of place, that, wherever the Agony is sent, there is sent, too, the Angel of Strength —another aspect, again, of the gloom and the glory ! And now the Passion has reached its clifnax. That popular preacher, Monsignor Capel, preached the ' Three Hours' Agony,' from twelve to three o'clock, at the Chapel of Our Lady, St John's Wood. In the Estab- lished Church the day was observed thoroughly, in all respects, as a Sunday; and though in only a few churches any external change of ornamentation or vest- ment noted the season, yet in every one, without ex- ception, the pulpit utterances bore reference to the great subject of necessity uppermost in all men's, thoughts. But one more ceremony claims notice for the evening of Maundy Thursday. In a very praiseworthy spirit of imitation of the pattern set at Westminster Abbey, the London Church Choir Association held a special service at St Botolph's, Aldersgate, consisting of Even- ing Prayer, and ' The Passion of Our Lord according to St John, by G.. F. Handel,' and Sermon. This meeting 21 8 UNORTHODOX LONDON. tad a special interest from the fact that it gave us the production of a work of Handel not hitherto known in this country — the ' Passion Oratorio/ as it is called in the preface to the score published by the German Handel Society, where it is described as ' the earliest work of Handel's youth, published at Hamburg, in 1704, when he was only nineteen years of age.' The order of proceeding on this occasion was as follows : First, the introductory symphony was played by Mr J. J. Stephens, organist of St Matthew's, City- road, previous to the commencement of the service. The prayers were then intoned by the Eev. W. Sparrow Simpson, Minor Canon of St Paul's, and Rector of St Matthew's, Friday Street, as far as the suffrages before the Psalms, when a pause was made, the officiating clergyman retiring to the Communion Table, and the first portion of the Passion music was sung by members of the Choir Association, with a chorus of about forty- five voices, and the accompaniment of a small band in addition to the organ. The form the oratorio assumes is the recitation by the tenor voice of the actual narra- tive of St John, subject only to a few verbal alterations to suit the music, which have been judiciously made by Mr Russell Martineau. At the conclusion of the first portion Mr Simpson ascended the pulpit in place of the Rector of St Botolph, who had been announced, and delivered a very brief address. He took no text, but informed his hearers that they were gathered to cele- brate, after a manner once usual in England, the Passion of Christ. Three centuries and a half ago it was cus- tomary to have similar celebrations in every church in London. In the old registers of his own parish, he said, there were accounts showing the sums paid from time to time to those who ' sang the Passion.' They were, no doubt, quaint old tunes they then used, but they did their very best. Probably in the ancient church which stood on the site of the one where they •were now assembled, there had been, on Palm Sundays and Good Fridays, recitations of the Passion. There still remained, moreover, in the Gospel and Second TENEBRAl. 219 Lesson for Palm Sunday, as they stood in our Liturgy, relics of the old custom. Luther carried this usage into the Reformed Church of Germany j and the two greatest composers of that nation. Bach and Handel, had written music for the Passion. It had been thought well, he added, to revive such celebrations. Those who ■were present in the Abbey last year when Bach's music, ■was performed for the first time at a religious service in England, testified to the edification of the rite. It spoke to the heart. God had many ways of speaking to the heart — by architecture, by painting, and especi- ally by music. Who could tell, he asked, how subtle was the influence of art to penetrate man, strangely compounded as he is ? As the ice melts before a little genial heat, so the heart which is deaf to eloquent appeals will often melt at the notes of an old hymn, heard years ago from the lips of a dead mother. He concluded a very brief, and therefore telling address by an eloquent admonition to his hearers, to take home to themselves the thrilling incidents of the Agony and Death ! That was the object of the night's gathering. The music was only a means to that end. ' Behold the Man of SoiTows ! ' he said, ' and let the sight lead to self-abasement. Say "With Thy cross on my brow I have gone into the ■world and crucified Thee afresh ! Here 1 lay myself at the foot of Thy Cross. By Thine Agony and bloody Sweat, by Thy Cross and Passion, by Thy precious Death and Burial, by Thy glorious Resurrection and Ascension, good Lord deliver me ! " ' Then was sung the second portion of the Passion-music, after which the service concluded with the Prayer of St Chrysostom, a hymn, and the Apostolic Benediction. Mr J. R. Murray, the organist of St Botolph, acted as condifctor, and the whole performance went steadily and well. Besides the immediate appropriateness of such a service to the day, it can scarcely be but that such gatherings must have a most appreciable efl"ect on the cultivation of musical art. It is not, however, under such an aspect, or in any way critically, that I am now viewing the matter, but 220 ihiORTHODOX LONDON. as a part — and a very distinctive one — of the ceremonies that have gradually led us on to the anniversary we celebrate to-day. Upon Good Friday ensues what in the Church of England ritual is termed Easter Eve, or, in the language of Catholic ceremonial. Holy Saturday, when of the Man of Sorrows it could be written, in Keble's beautiful words : ' At length the worst is o'er, and Thou art laid Deep in Thy darksome bed ; All still and cold beneath yon dreary stone Thy sacred form is gone ; Around those Hps, where power and mercy hung, The dews of death have clung.' On that day the chastened ritual of the Church of England simply bids us wait — wait for the light to shine in upon the darkness. The ceremonies of the Romish Church for Holy Saturday are numerous and compli- cated. Chief among them is the kindling the 'new fire'' from flint and steel, and lighting up the lamps in church. Our attitude seems more in keeping with the Watchers by that Garden-grave. Already when we use those words, ' It is finished ! ' which rang out so marvellously in Handel's massive chords through the quaint old City Church, the first faint upslanting ray of light seemed to emerge above the dark hills, and for one more year of our lives the light of the Festival of Spring began to disperse the gloom of Passion-tide and Holy Week. TAKING THE VEIL. A CEREMONY to which recent debates had lent more than its intrinsic interest occurred at the Church of St John of Jerusalem, in the public reception of a postulant into the order of ' Our Lady of Mercy.' TAKING THE VEIL. 221 There is to the ordinary secular mind something ab- horrent in the idea of a young girl thus girding herself about ' with narrowing nunnery walls ; '■ and it may well be doubted whether the mind of England be not too largely imbued with Protestantism ever to outgrow its objection in so far as the contemplative orders are con- cerned. In reference to these, no doubt many of us would be inclined to quote to any young lady of our ac- quaintance who displayed proclivities for the novitiate : — ' Examine well your blood, Whether Tou can endure the livery of a nun, For aye to be in shady cloister mew'd,- To live a barren sister all your life, Chanting faint hymns to the cold, fruitless moon. Thrice blessed they that master so their blood, To undergo such maiden pilgrimage ; But earthlier happy is the rose distilled Than that which, withering on the virgin thorn, Grows, lives, and dies in single blessedness.' But the case is widely different with those ' Sisters of Mercy ' who have of late years grown more than ever into genera] favour, and even infused their spirit into our popular Protestantism. It is not for us to inquire what causes have concurred to drive the young devotee from the world to ' religion.' Enough for us that she devotes her ' single-blessedness/ not to the selfish pur- suit of ' contemplation,' or the futile endeavour to anticipate heaven upon earth, but to the tending of that great family ,of sick and sorrow-laden and sinful who are so tenderly termed His ' little ones ' by our common Master, Christ. Such are the objects proposed to them- selves by the Eeverend Mother Prioress and Sisters of Mercy of the Convent of St John of Jerusalem. At- tached to this institution is the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem and St Elizabeth of Hungary, 47, Great Ormond Street, W.C, established in 1856 by the late Cardinal Wiseman, and handed over to the Sisters by Archbishop Manning on the feast of St Elizabeth, 1868. In the pastoral which transferred the hospital to its 222 UNORTHODOX LONDON. present managers, the Archbishop thus speaks of its objects : — ' The hospital is intended chiefly for three classes : First, for in- curable cases for which the other hospitals provide no permanent help. It is no doubt a wise charity which requires that those whom it cannot cure shall give place to those who may be restored to health and strength. But because they cannot be cured they must not, therefore, be abandoned ; and this hospital opens itself for their relief. A second class for whom the hospital is intended are patients suffering from chronic or long-protracted illness. The rapid succession demanded by the great multitude of sufferers around us makes it necessary that such lingering cases should give place to the more urgent and criticaL But for the very reason that they are so long aflflicted they have a demand on our compassion. Lastly, the hospital has a ward, for children, who, while they are under medical treatment, are at the same time carefully teught and educated. This last work of mercy, by itself, would give to the hospital an irresistible claim on our charity.' It was into the ranks of ' Sisters ' working for these excellent objects that I went to see a postulant admitted ; and a brief sketch of the ceremony, together with an epitome of the sermon preached by Monsignor Capel on the occasion, can scarcely prove other than interesting to those at least who have common charity — shall we not say common sense ? — enough to confess that good may be done, and is done, in Christ's name, and for the love of mankind, even inside convent walls. The celebrant on this occasion was Bishop Morris, who took his position in a chair on the top step of the altar, the Sisters, abput twelve in number, entering in procession, preceded by a cross-bearer — first the novices, then the professed, and, lastly, the Superioress holding the postulant's hand. The hymn, ' gloriosa Virginilm,' was first sung ; and, after a taper had been lighted and presented to the postulant, the sermon commenced. Monsignor Capel stood on the top step of the altar, the postulant remaining seated in the centre of the choir, whilst the Sisters were grouped around her. The preacher, who took no text, commenced by ob- serving that the great mark of Christ's redemption was its generosity. An isolated act would have accomplished TAKING THE VEIL. 223 it ; but for thi*ee-and-tliirty years were those acts con- tinued. The passion was life-long. Any single detail of it would have suflSced to ransom ten thousand worlds. Now this generosity is to be reflected in the redeemed. Whilst all are to give up vice^ and obey God's laws, some are called to exceptional and higher perfection. This is how they reflect Christ's generosity. It was thus He spoke to the young man : ' If thou wilt be perfect, sell all and follow Me.' It is necessary that a return be made to God for man's revolt. So the first thing man has to do is to submit his freewill to God. The stars and seas in their motions obey only a physical law ; but man has freewill to dedicate to God ; and this is the sacrifice in respect pf which perfect souls imitate Christ's generosity. But, more than this, Christ stripped Him- self of all which the world admires. His house was a mean one. He sanctified labour. . He made poverty not the crime we often seem to think it, but sanctified it into a virtue. Such was His life ; He calls not all to this, but to certain souls He says as He said in Pales- tine — says to them in the solemnity of silence — ' If thou wilt be perfect, sell aU thou hast, and follow me.' This resignation is the second manifestation of generosity. Thirdly, there comes a gift one scarce can venture to dwell upon — the gift of purity. None ever dared ques- tion Christ's purity. They called Him- a blasphemer, and said He had an evil spirit, but they never called ihai in question. This is the gift that makes men like angels. So was His mother a virgin both before and after His birth. John, too, was the beloved disciple, because he was ever pure. So must we, if we wish to be perfect. St Paul says, ' He that giveth his daughter in marriage doeth well ; but he that giveth her not in marriage doeth better.' ' Now you are here to-day,' he continued, ' to stand as witnesses to one who feels this attraction from the world. Such a step as she takes can only be taken publicly, in presence of the Bishop or his delegate. She is brought hither by sisters who have forgotten home and parents, and given up their time and fortune to . devote themselves to God's work. 324 UNORTHODOX LONDON. This child comes to join them. She gives up. all she possesses, or may possess. She consecrates to God her virgin purity, so that, at the last, she maybe of the hundred and forty and four thousand who follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. Now, it would be idle for her to pretend to do all this at once ; so the wisdom of the Church has enjoined a two years' novitiate. During this time she will have full liberty to return to her home, should she change her mind.' ' And as to you, dear child,' he proceeded, ' who come to give us this great example. Eemembet it is God's grace alone that can Carry you through religious life. There will be trials here as there would have been for you in the world. So there will be deep need of perseverance. Do not fancy that you can do all at once. All will sometimes look cold. God will seem to hide his face. But, dear child, remember that every soul which draws near to God passes by the desert to Para- dise. Determine to go on, cost what it may. To-day you die to the world ; henceforth your -life is hid with Christ in God- One closing thought : to-day, dear child, you leave home and parents, but not to lose them j rather to super-naturalize all those natural relations. May God perpetuate your decision.' Nothing could exceed the tenderness and earnestness of this address, which produced a deep effect on the small congregation gathered in the Sisters' Chapel. At its conclusion the postulant assumed the habit, having been up to this time arrayed in secular attire. The white veil was then placed upon her head by the Lady Superior, after having been blessed by the Bishop. The ' Veni Creator ' was sung ; and, after the postulant, now a novice, had saluted all the sisters, the ceremony — which had been simple and impressive in the extreme — concluded with the Benediction service. The Hospital of the Sisterhood adjoins the chapel, and at present has forty beds, thirteen sisters being in attendance, including the one just admitted to her novitiate. And thus, though it be with what she would deem an heretical blessing, do we leave our young friend. RECEPTION OF A SISTER OF MERCY. 225 Her step is not yet irrevocable. It may be slie will advance from her novitiate to final 'profession/ and, assuming the black veil, bid good-bye for ever to the world outside her convent walls. It may be, on the other hand, she shall yet hear a voice Divine calling her back to that world, and to wifely, motherly work there. RECEPTION OF A SISTER OP MERCY. ON the festival of St Elizabeth occurred the always interesting ceremony of the admission of a postulant to her novitiate, at the same Church of St John of Jeru- salem, Great Ormond Street. Additional eclat was lent to the proceedings by the announcement that the Arch? bishop of Westminster would be the celebrant, and long before half-past three o'clock, the hour appointed for the ceremony, the little chapel was overfilled, although half-a-crown was charged for admission. It was evident . that a large section of the congregation was composed of Protestants, and several clergymen of the Church of England ensconced themselves snugly at the back of the chapel, evidently taking great interest in the pro- ceedings. The Archbishop, having taken his place in front of the altar, arrayed in mitre, and attended by two chaplains, the procession entered, consisting of cross-bearers, professed, and novices, and lastly the Lady Superior and postulant, who was arrayed in a secular dress. The hymn, '0 gloriosa Virginum,'- having been sung, and a suitable prayer ofTered, the celebrant blessed a wax candle, lighted it, and pre- sented it to the postulant. The form of benediction was curious enough, comprising the -following words :— ' Benedic candelam istam ; infunde ei, Domine, bene- dictionem ccelestem, ut quibuscumquo locis accensa sea 15 226 UNORTHODOX LONDON. posita fuetit, discedant principeS tenebrarum,' etc. Hereupon followed the sermon, the Archbishop stand- ing on the top step of the altar during its delivery. He selected for his text 1 John iii. 2, ' It doth not yet appear what we shall be/ etc. ' We never know/ said the preacher, 'the grace God gives us until we enter into possession of it. This is a law of grace, lying over against an analogous law of nature. In nature we have first the seed, then the blade, then the full corn in the ear; and the tree is renewed year by year, whilst its falling leaves fertilize the soil in which it grows. These perish as they multiply ; but not so is it with the work of God in the soul. If not hindered, this is eternal. It continually advances to perfection, and when or how that perfection is attained we know not. We are made like His Son. The power is given in baptism, and between baptism and final perfection there is perpetual progress. Childhood is full of joy, full of visions of coming life ; it lives greatly in the future. So ought we in Spiritual life. " Our conversation is in heaven." We "set our affections on things above." We are " dead, and our life is hid with Christ in God." This is heavenly-mindedness. We know not what we shall be ; we only know we shall be like Him. As in child- hood we know not what we shall be in maturity, and only get to realize it little by little, so now we have but a feeble conception of what we shall be on our death- beds, when this world passes away like a vision, and the realities of the unseen world open upon us. Then we shall be ready to say, "I seem now only for the first time to see." So, tco, with the final vision of God. We have no conception of it now — until changed into His image — of the state where there is no death, no sin, no sorrow, no pain, no tears. This great law applies especially to her who takes to-day the habit of religion. There was a time,'' he said, addressing the postulant, ' when you little thought you would voluntarily separate yourself from your kindred to devote yourself to Christ. Perhaps you can remember when first the thought entered your mind. You hardly dared desire such a RECEPTION OF A SISTER OF MERCY. 227 lot. But the attraction grew. He attracted you who said, " If I be lifted up, I will draw sill men unto Me." It was the attraction of the five wounds of His sacred heart that drew you on to this resolution. Perhaps it was combated by friends, it may be even by your own will. You wei-e half unready to take up the cross. The world looked brighter then when you were leaving it. You hesitated with your foot on the threshold. God worked in you. You knew not what you should be. He added His grace, and the balance turned. May God receive you, and give you peace ! You have chosen, like Mary, the better part. Those who choose Christ are rich, and no bankruptcy of this world can reach them. All else passes away — home and all that makes it happy — but you are united to His sacred heart for ever. A few words as to the work going, on here — the care of the sick in this hospital. There is nothing greater or more like Christ's work, except the care of souls. Christ was physician as well as priest. He has handed down the two-fold office to his pastors, and with them associated women like those devout ones of old who followed Him from Galilee, and ministered to Him of their substance. They share His ministry of com- passion. There are for them special promises of a grace like His own. He makes their heart tender, their touch gentle, like His. There are in this house forty-five beds, twenty-eight occupied, but seventeen standing empty for want of money. ' Since I entered this house,' concluded the Archbishop, ' a pious and charitable per- son has given funds for the permanent foundation of one bed. Go and do likewise, if you can. In any case, aid by your prayers and alms. These sisters are as literally dependent on Providence as the fowls of the air. And now, child,, come make the consecration of yourself, and receive the holy habit ; and may He who has begun this good work in you perfect the same to the day of Jesus Christ.' After the sermon the postulant retired to put off her secular dress, the celebrant blessing the religious habit, whilst the choir chanted the psalm, 'In exitu Israel.' 228 UNORTHODOX LONDON. At its conclusion the nov>ice reappeared in the dress of her order, and received from the celebrant the cincture, veil, and ' church cloak.' ' Veni Creator Spiritus ' was sung, and this young girl had left the world behind her. It is no breach of confidence to state- that the present novice was a Miss Power, belonging to a wealthy family in Waterford, and then twenty-two years of age. She was to bear in religion the name of Sister Mary Evan- gelist. After the beautiful Benediction service of the Church had been sung, we inspected the hospital. Chronic and incurable cases are admitted, and a large majority of the inmates are children, several of them suffering from spinal complaints. They were all clean aiid comfortable, and as happy as they possibly could be in their little beds, the good sisters flitting noiselessly about. Whilst we were passing from one ward to another the Arch- bishop bounced — though the term is scarcely archiepis- copal: — up the stairs. He had appeared feeble and ascetic to the last degree in church, but here his Grace took the stairs two at a time, and, after exchanging a few cheery words, hoping we had seen the hospital, ceremony, etc., bounded into the children's ward,, which he stated to be his great attraction. Certainly, if a lady determines to go out of the world, or rich folks are troubled with superfluous means, there are worse chan- nels to which the thoughts of one or the other may turn than the Hospital of the Good Sisters of St John of Jerusalem, for which the Archbishop pleaded so elo- quently. CRIBS, 229 CEIBS. THE realistic tendencies of the present day which keep our stage supplied with such dramas as ' The Streets of London/ ' After Dark/ and ' Fotmosa/ are not by any means confined to secular histrionic repre- sentations. There exists on a higher range what has been happily termed a 'pictorial religion,' which, despairing of bringing home even the most striking Gospel truths subjectively to the mind of its adherents, finds it necessary to represent them objectively in the way of pictures, images, candles, and, at one particular season of the year, cribs. As far as I am aware, this peculiar form of object-lesson is characteristic of the £.oman branch of the Catholic Church, and has not yet been adopted into the Anglican section. I S9.y this veiy guardedly, not only because it is always so dangerous to assert a negative, which one could not prove, but also because from general precedent it seems so very unlikely that there is any ceremony of the Roman Church which our imitative friends, the Ritualists, have not copied. However, so it is ; all my experience of this mode of religious teaching has been gathered at head-quarters, that is, I have visited only Catholic cribs. Strange to say, my difficulties in gaining this experience have been great. Though it is a favourite objection of Catholics against Protestants that they keep their churches shut, and though most of the pronounced Ritualistic churches are open at Christmas for ' private devotion,' the Catholic churches were, as a rule, rigidly closed, except at serv- ice time. I called on the Innocents' Day at five or six such churches at the west and east ends of London, and in no one case could I enter the building. The sole exception on that day was afforded, not by a church at 230 UNORTHODOX LONDON. all, but by tie Nazareth Convent at Hammersmith, though even there I found my visit an ill-timed one, this particular festival being marked by a sort of con- ventual saturnalia, the youngest novice assuming the rank of lady superior, and that functionary — as a nuu herself said — being ' nowhere ' for the time. However, the politeness of the good sisters would not allow me to make a fruitless visit, and I could not but confess that the convent cribs showed a great deal of taste, and their arrangement seemed a peculiarly fitting employ- ment for the poor little children and aged persons whom those excellent ladies support at that wonderful estab- lishment. I cannot do better than advise visitors to look in on this good work, where a few toys for the children's Christmas-tree, or some old wearing apparel, or, indeed^ the smallest donation of any kind, will be thankfully ■ received and usefully employed. Let us not forget; that the household of 300 in that Nazareth Convent is supported by the daily labours of some fifty gentle ladies. The first church at which I succeeded in gaining admittance by going at service time, was St Mary of the Angels, Bayswater, where Archbishop Manning formerly presided. The crib at this church, constructed in a vault at the west end, was a sort of miniature Madame Tussaud's, with wax figures decidedly the worse for wear, some of them lacking a finger or two. The peculiarities of this crib are that the babe is em- maillotte, or twaddled, after the fashion of French infants, and also the introduction of an old lady — presumably the grandmamma St Anne — with a large basket of provisions. Some rakish-looking shepherds, who had decidedly seen service, were tending sixpenny sheep in a corner cupboard, and the Magi, in the shape of gorgeously apparelled dolls, were wending their way across a desert of scouring sand opposite. The most practical portion of this thoroughly real (if not lifelike) picture was a small counterpane neatly spread for the ofierings of the faithful, who reverently play ' chuck- penny ' after peeping, apparently preferring this mode CRIBS. 23 1 of contribution to depositing their half-pence in the box provided for the purpose, and forming a somewhat in- congruous object in the foreground. At the Pro-Cathedral, Kensington, the idea upper- most in the mind of him who designed the crib had evidently been to represent in the liveliest colours the poverty that surrounded the great transaction he was depicting. A wisp of straw, a cheap doll with un-. comfortably scanty shirt, two Christmas-trees, and a child's night-light constituted the whole tableau, con- trasting strangely with the rich adornments cropping up here and there in this magnificent church, as strangely, indeed, as this church itself, which' has sprung up like Aladdin's palace, contrasts with the poverty of many of the Established churches in this richest suburban parish. By adroitly timing my visit at the hour of mass on the Festival of the Circumcision, I managed to find the doors of the Carmelite Church in Silver Street open. Could it be that the monks were afraid Archdeacon Sinclair, who lives just opposite, will come and ' take possession' in the absence of his own parish church ? The crib here, which, I was informed, was the work of one monk, was very elaborate indeed. There was a theatrical back scene, a practical bridge in middle distance, and a water- fall beneath, with numbers of people, besides the Magi and Shepherds, wending their way towards the group of dolls in front that represented the Holy Family. I was very curious to see what direction the genius of the Fathers of the Oratory would take in the way of cribs ; so I attended high mass, and heard an excellent New- Year's sermon from Father Dalgaims, on a Sunday morning. The crib was on the south side of the Sacra- rium, and looked very theatricalindeed. Not only w,as the Virgin arrayed in a kind of Corsair jacket of bide with yellow braid, but one of the latest stage effects, viz., the ray of brilliant light, was thrown on the principal •figure of the group from one side. There was a very large number of worshippers at this shrine, which was decidedly a little in advance of the others I have seen. There was, however, a kindred vein 232 VNORTHODOX LONDON. running through all these different examples, and — shall we be very uncharitable if we say it ?— ^that not of the highest sentiment. The outward representation of such a scene as this must be very refined indeed to be other than painful. The crib at Bethlehem, like the bedizened hwmbino, seems from a Protestant point of view not only decidedly babes' meat, but that not of the healthiest kind. There is another meaning which the title of this article would certainly suggest to the mind of a schoolboy, great or small. He applies it to those translations of the classics which form — as he thinks — a royal road to learning, doing for him what he ought to do, and pro- fesses to do, for himself. The Christmas cribs attempt a like hopeless task, the same as that which forms the goal of all worship which outruns moderation in cere- mony, viz., the making objective, and suggesting from outside to the worshipper what can only be subjective, and the promptings of a spirit of devotion from within. If this theory be a true one, we may congratulate our- selves that, with all their recent additions, few, if any, even of our most advanced churches, have as yet numbered amongst their apparatus of devotion Christmas cribs. THE PASSIONIST FATHERS AT HIGHGATE. IN one of the pleasantest of suburban spots, right on the slope of Highgate Hill, and occupying the whole of one of its sides, stands the Religious House of the Passionist Fathers, known correctly as St Joseph's Retreat, but among the profcmilm vulgus termed ' Holy Joe's.' A most interesting ceremony was brought to my notice at St Joseph's Retreat, in the celebration of the Festival THE PASStONIST FATHERS AT HIGHGATE. 233 of St Paul of the Cross, founder of the order. He died at the age of 81, in the year 1775, and was canonized by the present Pope. This being the first occasion ou which his festival had fallen on a Sunday, High Mass was celebrated by three members of the Dominican Monastery, Haverstock Hill, his Grace Archbishop Manning assisting pontifically. The chapel of the Passionist Fathers is a modest edifice, but was beauti- fully decorated for the occasion. The chapel of St Paul on the north side of the chapel was a perfect blaze of light, and exhibited in a monstrance the relics of the saint. The Lady Chapel on the opposite side was also exquisitely adorned with flowers in a manner which ex- hibited the most perfect harmony of colours. Precisely at eleven o'clock a procession, consisting of the choir, members of the Passionist order, and celebrating priest, with deacon and subdeacon, entered from the western door, and were soon followed by the Archbishop and his attendant priests. The mass performed was Haydn's third, various pieces of music suitable to the occasion being inserted at intervals. Amongst these was a most taking composition termed ' The hymn of St Paul of the Cross,'' which was sung at the offertory. In coarse of the mass the Archbishop ascended the altar steps, and preached from Philippians ii. 21, 'AH seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's.' These words, said the Archbishop, were spoken only thirty years after the Lord Jesus ascended, while the sweetness of his visible presence had hardly passed away, whilst the light of Pentecost was bright amidst the dis- ciples, and the blood of Stephen warm and fresh on the earth. We should have thought that the love of Jesus Christ and the lessons of the self-sacrifice learned on Cal- vary would have issued in energetic constancy of their hearts to Him ; but the Apostle, looking round sorrowfully and with a breaking heart on the men of his day, uttered the words of the text. What happened then had hap- pened in difierent generations since. In the early Church there had been numberless declinings and revivals. That which revived the love of Jesus Christ had been con- 234 UNORTHODOX LONDON. templation of the Passion and the five sacred wounds. In the middle ages, when the love of the world had waxed cold, St Francis of Assisi was raised up, and bore impressed upon his body the mysterious signs of the Passion. In later days— in the last century— God rai sed up Paul of the Cross, and imprinted on him from early childhood, not, as on St Francis, the stigmata, but the love of the Passion, which issued in the life of an Evangel- ist and preacher of the Cross. After this brief panegyric on the saint, the Archbishop proceeded to examine the text in detail ; and, in a highly practical manner, point- ed out how there were only two centres on which the soul of man could rest, viz., self and God. After sketch- ing the selfish life in its most salient points, he proceeded to say that, as the Apostle tells us in the text, and as we see in the lives of SS. Francis and Paul of the Cross, the one truth which teaches us to deny ourselves is the Passion. To contemplate the Passion, to have the crucifix always before us, to look through the five sacred wounds into the sacred heart, has power to melt and to subdue ua. There is, so to say, an assimilating power in the Passion. The Archbishop then enumerated at length some of the effects of such contemplation, viz., a return of love for love, holy jealousy for the honour of Christ, personal sorrow for sinj generosity in its largest sense, and love of the Cross. The sermon concluded with a twofold exhortation — to pray and work with intention to save souls, and to look for no reward in this world. The discourse, on the whole, was practical, rather than merely encomiastic. There were, ever and anon, flashes of the old picturesque style, as, for instance, when the preacher pictured as among the works of generosity the rescuing one little child from the London streets, or made continual reference to the Man of Sorrows; his own wan, emaciated face lending additional significance to his words. There was a large congregation, and the service was admirably performed, without any hitch. In the afternoon Monsignor Capel preached after vespers. GREEK CHURCH IN LONDON WALL. 235 THE GEBEK CHURCH IN LONDON WALL. IT might seem at first sight a misnomer to include iu a volume bearing the title of ' Unorthodox London ' a paper on that religious body which assumes to itself, ipar excellence, the title of ' Orthodox.' In addition, however, to the fact that aZi the religious communities of which mention has been made, advance, either im- plicitly or explicitly, a precisely similar claim, boasting that their adherents alone represent the Ancient, or embody the latest development of the Modern, Church, it must also be remembered that, by our preliminary definition of Orthodoxy, that term was to be applied exclusively to the Establishment, not as implying cen- sure on other systems, but using the term simply in its ordinary apd colloquial acceptation. , I have been amused to notice how many of my correspondents who have kindly revised what I have written, have felt bound for conscience' sake, and from an easily appreci- able es'prit de corps, to protest against the term ' Unor- thodox ' being applied to the bodies they represent. The fact of the scattered members being now collected into a volume, will render such process unnecessary, because the limitation under which the term is used will stand in the forefront of the series. Above all other religious bodies, the Orthodox Greek Church, or Holy Eastern Church, would of course repu- diate the obnoxious epithet ; and I am fain therefore to repeat in my last chapter what I enunciated at the opening, namely, that the term ' Unorthodox ' is used only from the stand-point of the Church of England, ' as by law established,' and therefore, it is to be hoped, with such reservation, quite inoffensively. I had indeed fondly imagined that, when I had pro- 236 UNORTHODOX LONDON. ceeded from South Place Chapel, Finsbury, to Eoinan Catholic London, I should have gone from the pole to *^^be torrid region of religious London, but, as the travel- ler scaling what he believes to be the ' very last ' peak still sees another before him, so, even after embodying Eoman Catholic London, I find the Greek Church claiming attention. Curiously enough too, like Oliver Goldsmith's ' hare whom" hounds and horns pursue,' I find I have run in a circle, and come in at the death almost where I originally set out, for Mr Conway, the representative of the North Pole of pure Theism, is located on one side of Finsbury Circus, and the Greek Church, which may be taken as the equatorial region of Ecclesiasticism, lies on the other. So small an interval of material space sunders religionists who, in every other respect, are so far from each other. I- I confess, with an honesty which is, I believe, some- what unusual, that I had been fain to forego writing on the Greek Church. I paid several visits to the strangers' gallery of the handsome edifice in London Wall, but when I came away I found my notes so meagre, and my knowledge of what had been taking place so slight and confused, that I had well-nigh given up the attempt as hopeless. I went of course to the British Museum, and diligently read the Rev. John Mason Neale's work on the Greek Church. I carefully copied down the six parts of the Mass of the Catechumens, the five of the Mass of the Faithful, and the twenty portions of the Anaphora or Ofiering, and then attended the Bucharistic Service at London Wall once more; but, I was still in the dark. I found the Roman Mass to be simplicity itself compared with the Greek Eucharist, but finally, as a last resource, I called on the Rev. Narcissus Morphines at the Church-house, and with a little help from him, succeeded in grasping at all events the outline of the service, though I must in justice add that what follows is still the result of my own individual impressions, and that this courteous priest is in no way responsible for any statements I may make, or the almost inevitable errors into which I may fall, GREEK CHURCH IN LONDON WALL. 237 Let me warn those, then, who purpose being present at the curiously ornate service of the Greek Church in London Wall, that they must first journey to Mr Masters in New Bond Street, and provide themselves with ' The Divine Liturgy of St John Chrysostom.' With this volume in my hand I found my final visit much more edifying; for though the service as it stands in that manual is considerably abridged in practice, there are certain landmarks by which a stranger can steer his course ; and, except in the matter of pronunciation, the Greek is the same as that of our school-days. The arrangement of a Greek Church differs in many respects from that of a Roman or Anglican place of worship. The sanctuary is separated from the body of the building by a large screen, with doors and a curtain, so that, at the most solemn portion of the Bucharistic service, the priest is completely cut off from the choir and congregation. This screen has two side doors for the entrance and exit of the deacon, and is adorned with paintings, whilst along the top and under the large cross which surmounts the whole runs the inscription : TO STEPEi2MA Ti2N EHI 2E nEnOI©OTi2N 2TEPEi220N KTPIE THN EKKAH2IAN 'HN EKTHSil T12 TIMIii SOT AIMATI. Before this 1 screen, which really runs along the top step of the altar, sanctuary lamps and tapers burn, and there is a place for the Reader, by whom the opening portion of the service is performed at the north side. There are two galleries in the church, one for strangers and another for the choir, and under the latter is the Gynseconitis, or women's portion of seats. The male worshippers occupy the centre of the nave, which is fitted with oak misereres — those uncom- fortable arrangements which we find in the stalls of several cathedrals, and which necessitate an ungraceful attitude between sitting and standing. There are, generally, about a dozen people in various stages of be- wilderment, in the strangers' gallery, who often leave in despair long before the service is over, but who will certainly be tempted to stay if they provide themselves with a service-book ; for, when once comprehended, the 238 UNORTHODOX LONDON. Greek Eacharistio Celebration is very beautiful, and much, more akin to our own Communion service than the Roman Catholic Mass. The attendance of strangers was much larger at my last visit than ever I had seen it before. Possibly the recent appearance of a Greek pre- late in our midst had somewhat stimulated public curiosity in that direction. Public service commences at eleven with what is called the 'Opdpos ; but, as this consists mainly of a mono- tonous delivery of certain Psalms, etc., by the Reader, it is not very interesting, and the main body of the con- gregation do not come until nearly midday, when the choir also arrive. The service is over before one, so that it possesses, at all events, the merit of brevity. There is no sermon except in Lent ; the whole interest being centred on the sacrifice of the Eucharist. Among the worshippers in the strangers' gallery that Sunday I found one who announced himself to me as a Roman Catholic. He must have been an erratic one ; for mem- bers of that communion are, I am informed, forbidden to enter a Greek Church. He was following the service devoutly from his St Chrysostom, and bitterly deplored the schism of East and West, debating anxiously whether it might not be that ' the old was better.^ He was evidently much impressed with the title of ' Ortho- dox,^ appertaining to the Eastern Church. At the commencement of the Bucharistic service the centre doors open, with something of effect, and show the celebrant vested in satin, and the altar draped rich- ly, and having lighted candles, a cross, and silver-bound book upon it. This book of the Gospel the priest brings forward, when it is devoutly kissed by each member of the congregation. He is attended by a deacon, habited in a simple surplice of white, with blue cross on the back, who bears a huge lighted bougie. The congrega- tion — especially the female portion — cross themselves devoutly and genuflect at this and other parts of the service. Indeed, their zeal in this respect quite throws the Ritualists and Roman Catholics into the shade. The altar is censed, and service begins with a Litany GREEK CHURCH IN LONDON WALL. 239 and Antiphons, sang alternately by the priest and the choir. The singing is excellent, and without accompani- ment. Some of the clauses of the Litany, too, are ex- ceedingly beautiful, and it reappears ever and anon, like a refrain, during the service; the choir responding after each petition, KtJpte k\er\tTov. Foremost among the land- marks, which all can recognize, are the hymn known as the Trisagion, or 'Holy, holy, lioly;^ the exquisite 'Hymn of the Cherubim ; ' the ' Sursum Corda ; ' and the Nicene Creed. The last is simply said by the Reader with the congregation ; as is also the Lord's Prayer in the Post-Oommunion. This gives a congre- gational element to the service, which forms its points of similarity to our own. The narrative of the institution of the Lord's Supper is also gone through, as in the English Prayer of Consecration ; but, in the Greek Ritual, the actual consecration itself takes place at a later stage. The congregation do not communicate at this service, but at an earlier portion of the day, as is also the custom in the Church of Rome. The Post- Communion is exceedingly brief, and very rapidly chanted, so that the congregation has broken up, and is chatting outside, or helping to fill the long line of car- riages in waiting, quite in good time for a traveller from the west to catch the first Metropolitan train at the Moorgate Street Station. In my private conversation with the Rev. Narcissus Morphinos, I found that Roman and Anglican orders, and even Baptism, were a,like ignored by the Greek Church. Apart from the Tilioque' question — that is, the insertion in the Nicene Creed of the Procession of the Holy Ghost from the Pather ' and the Son ' — the Greek Church regards the Roman as hopelessly irregular in the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper. Trine Immersion is considered essential in the former, and the baptism of Rome and England stigmatized as ' clinical ' only ; while the withholding the chalice from the laity by the Roman Catholic Church is held to be a direct and positive breach of Christ's command, ' Drink ye all of this.' The prohibition from reading Scripture, 240 UNORTHODOX LONDON. and substitution of another Head of the Church in the place of Christ, are also items in the long list of defects which the Eastern has made out against the Western Church, England has copied Eome, and aggravated, her defects, therefore England is as hopeless as Rome. I asked how it was the Archbishop of Tenedos had been present at Anglican Services, and was answered, with a shrug of the shoulders, that what he did he did as an individual, and must not be held as committing the Greek Church to his practices. ' Scripture in its. literal sense,' said the good, simple-minded old man, 'is the sole guide of the Greek Church;' but then, ■ alas, every religious body, from the Jews to the Jumpers, had said that to me ! He took down Bing- ham's ' Origines Ecclesiasticse,' and said, 'Read those volumes; there, in the Church of the First Three Centuries, you find described the Greek Church of to- day.' Disclaiming all idea of proselytizing or shaking my faith in my own church, he made me read aloud to him passages from the Greek Liturgy and then those from the Greek Testament on which they were based, smiling tolerantly at my barbarian pronunciation of the grand old words, and at my confession that they were actually embodied in the Ritual ; only I fancied I could point him to corresponding passages in the English Communion Service, and the Romish Missal too, for the matter of that. He pai-ticularly wished to draw my attention to the fact that the Greek Church did not pray io the Virgin Mary, but for her, along with the other saints ; and also that, while retaining the Athan- asian Creed, they did not use it in public worship, or make it a bone of contention, as he regretted to see the Church of England was doing. So, then, literally by a circuitous route, have we come to the end of the present series of sketches. They were to be no more, and they were to embrace no expression of opinion, whether favourable or adverse. Such a study as that which has occupied me for more than two years can scarcely fail to leave a man some- what broad in his opinions, even if the entry on such GREEK CHURCH IN LONDON WALL. 241 an inquiry did not presuppose him to be so at the outset. He sees that there is something good in every creed, however grotesque to him. He sees still more plainly how much better men often are than their creeds, and how largely the common sense of mankind is tacitly laying bigotry aside, and so far at least imi- tating the example of our typically ' Orthodox ' estab- lishment in that it allows men to think for themselves. Perhaps no happier symbol of the religious thought of our century could be found than that same much- maligned Establishment which comprehends in her wide embrac6 a Stanley and a Bennett, a Mackonochie and a Maguire ; or, if a less egotistic image ^be de- manded of me, I seem to see it in the silver-haired Greek priest calmly ignoring all claims to Catholicity on the part of Rome and England, and at the same time, in the most deliciously illogical way, saying — ' Mind I do not want to proselytize, or to shake your conscientious belief in your own Church ! ' 16 SERIES II. THE WESTMINSTER COUNCIL. SMOKING my after-dinner cigar one summer day in 1873, I was startled from my suburban repose by the far from infrequent apparition of a Hansom cab driving up, tenanted by a rather dirty little boy, whom I at once divined to be a ' devil ' — I mean, of course, a printer's devil. Just such an appearance had broken in upon my serenity on a certain July evening in 1870, when a fac-simile of that boy had driven up in like manner, and ordered me off to the seat of the Franco- Prussian war. ' Cross to-night ' — were the laconic instructions — 'Foreign Office passport enclosed. See in Paris, and arrange for separate routes.' I wondered whither that begrimed juvenile was going to send me now. There was no war on at this time ; the greatest event of the hour was the impending Roman Catholic Council at St Edmund's College, Ware : and that academic institution was to be, I found, my des- tination. Armed with- a letter of introduction to Monsignor Patterson, the President of the College, I was soon on my way to the Shoreditch station. Here I found evident signs of preparation for the morrow, when the Council was to open at early morning. There were a few priests — most having already gone to Ware ; and with two of these, and a gentleman whom I soon discovered to be a ' converted ' Anglican clergy- THE WESTMINSTER COUNCIL^ 243 man, I enjoyed a pleasant trip down to Ware in the soft summer evening. I was for taking up my quarters in the village j but my ex- Anglican friend assured me I should greatly offend the hospitable feelings of the College authorities if I did Sfc. ' Come up and dine in refectory/ he said, though he himself had no sort of invitation ; ' and if they have room, I am sure they will stow you away.' I need not say it was much more consonant with my tastes to accept than decline this very informal bidding ; and after a most enjoyable walk across country with my new friend and two sociable priests, we entered these academic halls as though we were students in residence returning from an evening stroll. Above the fine old College of St Edmund's floated, as I entered, the Papal Standard ; and, having gained the great hall, I found myself at once in the centre of a crowd of ecclesiastics, representing every grade of the hierarchy, and many of the .orders of the Church, from the Sub-deacon up to the Archbishop of Westminster himself, whom I saw enjoying the balmy summer evening in front of the College. Here was the brown gaberdine of a Franciscan friar or Capuchin monk ; here the white habit of a Dominican ; here the sombre attire of a Benedictine, a Jesuit, or a Passionist Father. The bishops were distinguished by the gold chain and pectoral cross ; and what struck me more than anything else was the absence of all hauteur, and appearance of universal fraternity, pervading this, to me, most strange gathering. I could not help contrasting it mentally with a meeting of Protestant bishops, archbishops, and clergy — not so much, perhaps, to the disparagement of the latter as in its utter divergence from it in every possible respect. Travel-stained as we were, we sat down to dine, and I was soon quite at home with my ecclesiastical neighbours. With something of antique hospitality I was forbidden to seek the village hostelry, and was comfortably — though not, of course, luxuriously — lodged in some young student's quarters, for the alumni of St Edmund's were then in vacation. The 244 UNORTHODOX LONDON. beautiful Benediction Office of the Church was sung during the evening, and I had an opportunity of ex- amining the noble chapel, one of the works of the elder Pugin. The High Altar is rich in the extreme, and at the entrance of the Sacra*ium stand four huge candela- bra, flanked with adoring angels. The choir is oak- stalled throughout, and divided from the ante-chapel by ■ a rood-loft, in which is an excellent organ. There are many smaller chapels, including those of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, St Edmund, St Joseph, and a beautiful mortuary chapel. Besides these each bishop had fitted up for him, in different large rooms, an altar at which to say mass on the morning of the opening of the function. The only drawback to my perfect comfort that night was that my neighbour in the next student's rooms — a worthy Franciscan friar — snored most vigor- ously. But the fresh air and the country walk made me pretty well proof against this ; and I dare say I was soon doing the same. At six o'clock next morning a bell was rung along the corridors, and masses began to be sung. I felt the most unconscionable heretic to be lying there under the very shadow of the crucifix, whilst all my good neigh- bours were getting up and going to devotions. When I emerged, I found every chapel, permanent or extem- porized, occupied by a bishop or priest reciting the holy office. There were scarcely any lay visitors besides myself. Sir fieorge Bowyer officiated as notary, vested as a Knight of Malta with a doctor's gown. Lady Herbert of Lea was also present at the function. Directly after breakfast tbe procession began to form in the Studium, the archbishop and bishops coming from the further end of the corridor to' vest, fhey were then arranged as follows : — 1. Cantors; 2. Officials of the Synod ; 3. Theologians of the Bishops ; 4. Theo- logians invited by the Synod ; 5. Canons of Suffragan Cathedrals ; 6. Seminaries and metropolitan clergy ; 7. Thurifer with thurible; 8. Sub-deacon with archiepis- copal cross, and two acolytes with lighted candles; % Two mitred Benedictine Abbots; 10. Metropolitan THE WESTMINSTER COUNCIL, 245 Canons, among whom were tlie Ministers of the Mass and Assistant Priest and Deacon ; 11. Bishops, two and two, with chaplains ; 12. The Metropolitan Archbishop, blessing with his right hand, and holding the pastoral stafiF in his left; two assisbant-deacons, two masters of the ceremonies, the archbishop's assistants, train-bearers, chaplains, and gentlemen of the household ; 13. Apos- tolical Prelates and superiors of the religious orders of the province. Among the bishops were, besides the Metropolitan, Dr Brown, O.S.B., Bishop of Newport and Menevia; Dr Ullathorne, O.S.B., of Birmingham; Dr James Brown, of Shrewsbury ; Dr Roskell, of Nottingham ; Dr Vaughan, of' Plymouth; Hon. and Rev. Dr Clifford, of Clifton ; Dr Amherst, of Northampton ; Dr Cornthwaite, of Beverley ; Dr Chadwick, of Hexham ; Dr Danell, of South wark ; Dr Herbert Vaughan, of Salf ord ; and Dr O'Reilly, of Liverpool. Besides these were the Most Rev. R. B. Vaughan, O.S.B., Archbishop of Nazianzum, and Coadjutor- Archbishop of Sydney; and Most Rev. Dr Howard, of Neo-Csesarea. The mitred abbots were the Right Rev. Dr Burchall, of St Michaels, Hereford, and the Right Rev. Dr Alcock, Abbot of St Augustine^ s, Ramsgate; the former is President-General of English Benedictines, the latter representing those of Monte Casino. The religious orders established in England were re- presented by Father Galway, of the Society of Jesus ; Father Bernard, Provincial of the Passionists; Father Coffin, Provincial of the Redemptorists ; Father King, of the Dominicans ; Father Anselm, of the Franciscans ; Father Emidius, Commissary-General of the Capuchins ; Father Rinolfi, Provincial of the Order of Charity ; and Father Blosio, of the Order of the Servites of Mary. , A more magnificent couf d'oeil can scarcely be imagined than when, having sung the first verse of the ' Veni Creator/ while all around knelt, the vast proces- sion passed through the grounds to the chapel. The brilliant sun lit up the various. rich vestments, and made many persons exclaim that they had never seen any-. 246 UNORTHODOX LONDON. thing like it out of Rome ; whilst, at the same time, one felt that it was not a mere pageant, but a real represent- ative gathering of Catholic England. Bach chapter sent its procurator to take part with the bishops in the deliberations of the Council. On reaching the chapel, the Archbishop passed to the chancel and vested, after which he celebrated High Mass to a plain chant. The grouping was perfect, and all went without any hitch, as smoothly as though it had all been rehearsed beforehand. After the Mass, the Litany of the Saints' was sung, as is usual at high functions, and some psalms froni one of the day-hours were chanted before the congregation left. The sermoi* was not delivered, as usual, during the Mass, but after its conclusion, and so formed part of the proceedings of the Synod— a fact which necessitated the withdrawal of all except members of the Council. It was preached by Dr Ullathorne, O.S.B., Bishop of Birmingham, and was a scholastic discourse addressed purely to theologians, and bearing strictly on the spirit- ual life. The business of the Council was done by congrega- tions, each consisting of three bishops, with ten or twelve members. Among the subjects set down for discussion were Liturgy, Discipline, Morals, and Educa- tion. The bishops alone voted, the other members having only a deliberative voice in the Assembly. The proceedings of the Council ranged over a fortnight, and concluded with a solemn public function similar to that at which I was present. There was, on one day, a solemn requiem mass for the souls of those prelates de- parted since the last Council. All this was explained by the Archbishop himself, who most courteously apolo- gized for the exclusion of the press, as necessitated by the place which the sermon occupied in the proceedings. As one looked along the lines of bishops and clergy, whether unbending in refectory, or staid and solemn in the holy office, one could not but feel that the real power of the Catholic Church was present at the Council, or quite forbear from wondering what effect such deliberations might have on the faith of England. The immediate THE PONTIGNY PILGRIMAGE. 247 results were Paray-le-Monial and Pontigny. May we add eaj post .facto the Cardinalate of Archbishop Man- ning and the Papal Jubilee? Is not England to be converted ? THE PONTIGNY PILGRIMAGE. IN my self-chosen capacity of ecclesiastical Ulysses, I felt it absolutely necessary that I should ' follow ' the Pontigny Pilgrimage of 1874. I might have my own private opinion as to whether pilgrimages in general were exactly the sort of institution adapted to the needs of the nineteenth century ; and also might cherish my own ideas as to the advisability of crossing from New- haven to Dieppe (for I may mention I am an uncom- monly bad sailor) ; but I really felt I should be a traitor to my principles if I neglected such an opportunity of ' seeing the cities of many men and learning their cus- toms J ' while, as for the contingencies of possible mal de mer, I was not quite so heretical as to suppose that all the ways of a pilgrimage should be ways of pleasant- ness or its paths peace. Quite prepared to boil my peas, I was yet aware that when I assumed the cockle- hat and sandal shoon peas of some sort would be a pre- requisite. It was, I own, with some diffidence that I applied to Monsigner Patterson, at St Edmund's College, Ware, for a card which should prove my ' good faith ' to Messrs Cook and Co., for I was well aware that, in one sense, Monsignor Patterson could not possibly endorse; the quality of my faith, but I need not say that it was in a colloquial, and not an ethical sense, my faith was to be guaranteed ; so I received my ' Pilgrim's card ' by. the next post, which I duly exchanged for Messrs Cook's coupons a week before the pilgrimage began. 248 UNORTHODOX LONDON. That preliminary week I devoted to fulfilling my bap- tismal vow in the way of hearing sermons, and also studying the literature of the pilgrimage ; for I confess, with shame and confusion of -face, I had hitherto known little of St Edmund, and less of Pontigny. On Sunday, August 23rd, I went to the fashionable ' Pro ' at Kensington, and was sorry to hear the Archbishop of "Westminster take the opportunity of railing at the press. It seemed to me rather a left-handed compli- ment to the British public when his Grace said that if the press were to represent his Holiness the Pope as having horns and hoofs (which Heaven forefend !) the community was gullible enough to believe it. I mag- nify mine office, of course j on the ' nothing- like- leather ' principle, I suppose we all do, more or less. But I don't think the press is quite so omnipotent as that comes to. When, with a touch of satire, the Archbishop divided the Established Church into two portions, 'one verging towards Eome, the other towards German Rationalism, I felt awfully Teutonic, and dis- creetly buried my face in my note-book. On Sunday, the 30th, Monsignor Patterson preached his final sermon at the ' Pro/ to a not very large' con- gregation, though the Exposition of the Blessed Sacra- ment, closing in the ' Triduum ' of observances, ought to have proved an attraction. Two religieuses in black habits, with white veils, were kneeling before the High Altar, on which blazed more than a hundred and fifty tapers ; but these ' watchers ' decamped when Vespers began. The sermon was a plain and practical one, principally devoted, it appeared to me, to an apology for the sensational character of the impending pilgrimage. Monday, August 31st, however, was the real commence- ment of the business of the expedition, if it be allow- able to apply so mundane an expression to a nineteenth century pilgrimage. Kensington, which is rapidly be- coming the focus of Roman Catholic influences in London, was to be the head-quarters of the pilgrimage, of course ; and here Monsignor Patterson was to deliver his farewell address to our devoted band, who were to THE PONTIGNY PILGRIMAGE. 249 attend Compline Service and receive Benediction at liis hands. It was still light when I sought the Pro-Cathedral and found the faithful assembled in goodly numbers j intending pilgrims being distinguished by a small red heart-shaped badge, surmounted by a cross, and also being placed in seats of honour in the church. I wore no badge ; but my pilgrim's ticket procured me a front • seat close to the altar. Flanking the chancel arch were white banners of the Immaculate Conception and the Blessed Sacrament, with others ; and the High Altar was literally covered .with tapers and floral decorations. The side altars of the Sacrament and of the Virgin were also tastefully adorned. In fact, all was en fete for the occasion. It is not every day an English pil- grimage sets out for a foreign shrine. Soon after seven o'clock, the great organ pealed forth one of those magnificent voluntaries so familiar to those who frequent the ' Pro ;' and, softly be it spoken, a great many besides the faithful do frequent it on Sunday evenings when they have got their regular church-going over. The imitation of the human voice by the voix c4leste stop of this instrument is perfectly marvellous. At half-past seven a large procession of clergy and assistants entered the chancel, among the former being Monsignor Capel, in purple vestments, and the Bishop of Amycla in full episcopal attire. The latter at once commenced the office of Completorium or Compline, which is the last office before bed-time, and consists of night-prayers, psalms,- and hymns ; among the psalms being the appropriate 91st, sung to one of the most tuneful of the Gregorian tones, and the hymn being the 'Te lucis antetterminum.' The office ends with the Nunc Dimittis. At its conclusion Monsignor Patterson, entei-ing from the sacristy, clad in purple vestments, proceeded at once to the pulpit, and gave out some notices referring to the details of the pilgrimage, emphatically urging punctuality on intending pilg.ims. 'And now, my brother pilgrims,' he said, ' though the work appears 250 UNORTHQDOX LONDON. facile, those who went last year can attest that the facilities for ordinary traffic are apt to break down and interfere with comfort.' His words would therefore be few, and directed to the actualities of the case. He had received expressions of warm sympathy from a dignitary of the English Church. (Who can this sympathetic dignitary be, I wonder ?) This was a time, he urged, when the extemation of religion was especially, necessary, and the method of pilgrimage had been dictated by the circumstances of persecution in which the Church was placed. So it fell back on the ancient method of visiting the tombs of the martyrs. That was the rationale of pilgrimages. . In special reference to the morrow Monsignor Patterson said we should have to suffer. Let us do so with patience. We should try to have at heart the unity of God's Church, and seek to offend no one, but rather to dissipate prejudice. The moral order of the Chirch was conditioned by the Prayer of Christ before His Passion. Let us pray for unity, to gain which every true Catholic heart would shed the last drop of its blood. Let it be a pilgrimage of prayer. If we went forth in the spirit of the Great Saint who once so firmly ruled England, our prayer would be heard. Let us go and show forth the beauty of God's Catholic Church, that others may be attracted to enter with us into the holy place, and so be with us in glory hereafter. After the sermon, which was very judiciously abridged, the Benedictus was chanted, and the special prayers for the pilgrimage intoned by the Bishop of Amycla, supplication being made that ' the angel Raphael might accompany us on our way, and that we may return to our homes in peace, safety, and joy.' He then gave us his episcopal benediction, sprinkling us with holy water, of which, being in the front seat, I got my full share. The great altar was then lighted up to its full brilliance, and the Hymn of St Edmund's Pilgrims sung to the particularly lively tune generally used for Faber's hymn, ' The Pilgrims of the Night.' The effect of this part of the service was most imposing. THE PONTIGNY PILGRIMAGE. 251 and the whole concluded with the benediction of the- Sacrament. The great advantage of this service is that everybody knows it, and they have taken two of the best of our hymn tunes for their ' Salutaris ' and ' Tantum ergo;' while' the Litany of Loretto'is set to the most taking of measures : so we — yes, we — all bore part in it full-voiced. The Litany was more ornate than usual, and the solo parts effectively rendered by a professional soprano voice. Such was the Benediction of the Pontigny Pilgrimage — ^perfect as a spectacle; but whether to issue in the reconversion of England remains to be seen. A balmy morning succeeded the stormy night, and I really began to have hopes of the day. We took in pilgrims at all the stations along the Metropolitan Dis- trict Railway, and Victoria Station looked quite orna- mental with its decorated voyageurs. Monsignor Capel was there to bid us bon voyage, but was not able to accompany us, being, it was whispered, subpoenaed upon a certain well-known law case. Most of our party wore their badges, and there were symptoms of impending processions in banner-poles, which had to be stowed away with difficulty along the whole length of third- class compartments. Departing amid the cheers of the crowd, we began our devotions at once, the .priests re- citing in a low monotone the office of the rosary. We sped quickly to Newhaven thus, alternating the scene with prayers and conversation, and so embarked on board the boat Bordeaux, the sea looking very white and wicked indeed. We sang— again amid the plaudits of those assembled — the perennial Hymn of the Pilgrims ; but as soon as we got out of the harbour, a big wave washed over us, and changeait tout cela. Most of the pilgrims were speedily reduced to a recumbent posi- tion, and some of them — I was no exception — suffered severely; but in mid-channel the wind fell almost miraculously, and we entered the port of Dieppe with becoming dignity. There the Mayor boarded us forth- with, and proffered hospitality, which, I regret to say, was not accepted, for by this time we were a hungry 252 UNORTHODOX LONDON. band of pilgrims, and had to rush from boat to train without broBiking fast till we came to Rouen, though we dawdled — as French trains knov^ how to dawdle — at Dieppe. From Dieppe to Paris, I greatly regret to state, all distinctive idea of a •pilgrimage was lost. We were no longer favoured with a special train, but quartered by Messrs Oook along with the outside world, who came by the ctdinary mundane boat. This greatly exercised the souls of the faithful for a while, but some young priests accepted the situation so far as to smoke like steam-engines the whole journey. It was late — very late — when we reached Paris — after ten o'clock, in fact ; and our expected arrival had not much effect on the Parisians. A few — principally priests and devouecs — united to welcome us at the Rue St Lazare Station, whence omnibuses, specially chartered, conveyed us in batches of a dozen or so to our several hotels. Strange to say, though all preparations had been made in advance, we found the worst accommodation in Paris of anywhere along the route. The host and hostess were quietly making up their accounts on the table of the salle a manger at the H6tel Hollande, Rue Radziwill, to which I was chartered, and we were told it was ' trop tard ' for everything except some wretched cold meat. A Frenchman has no idea of anybody wanting anything after six o'clock dinner ; though one would have thought he might make an exception in the case of- a pilgrimage. A magniticent storm of thunder and lightning, which really might have been got up for our especial benefit, was raging over' Paris that Tuesday night. The flash of the lightning and the roar of the thunder were simultaneous and incessant. But we were wearied pil- grims, and it would have taken a good many storms to keep us awake. Next morning we went to Mass at Notre Dame des Victoires, which was celebrated at six or seven altars in a very gorgeous fashion indeed. Just as last night it was ' trop tard/ so this morning nothing THE PONTIGNY PILGRIMAGE. 253 was ' encore pret.' The hotel accommodation in Paris was the great ' hitch ' of the whole affair. However, we took expensive voitures a remise (the omnibuses failing to come in time), and sped to the Boulevard Mazas, passing the ruins of the Hotel de Ville, where a special train was waiting to convey us by the Lyons Railway to St Florentin. Here we were thoroughly enpileiin, and recited end- less Paternosters and A.ve Marias before we came to our' destination. Vines soon began to crown the slopes of the hills, and an exuberance of fruit at the wayside stations warned us that we were in sunny Burgundy. Arrived at St Florentin, the most heterogeneous collec- tion of vehicles- waited to convey us to Pontiguy; but we were pilgrims — most of us — and would do the eight kilometres of dusty road on foot, or perish in the attempt. With banners flying and surpliced priests in attendance, we set out manfully on out long walk, the Bishop of Amycla and Monsignor Patterson, each in full vestments, being amongst our party. It was hot — very hot — and we were glad to purchase peaches and grapes from the kneeling peasants in the road. By and by, when we had come in sight of the fine old Cistercian Abbey Church, crowning the hill- top at Pontigny, the French pilgrimage, with the Arch- bishops of Westminster, Sens, and Ghambery, came out to meet us, bearing a reliquary which contained the right arm of St Edmund, and the Frencli ecclesiastics wailing dismally on ophieleides, euphoniums, and other brazen instruments of torture. I ran out in the middle of a field so as to get the whole thing at a coup d'oeil, and scenically it was perfect, acoustically very much the reverse. Climbing the steep ascent into the village, we found the whole place en fite, and preparations for illuminating the avenue up to the abbey door were well advanced. There we learned the nielancholy fact that Pere Barbier, the procurator, on whom devolved all the preparation for us at the house, had fallen dead just as the English procession came in sight. I saw him lying 2S4 UNORTHODOX LONDON. on his pallet bed calm in death, arrayed in his simple cassock, and with the crucifix clasped in his rigid hands ; a weeping brother telling us how he had only passed on at the head of the procession beyond the confines of this world to a better and more enduring one. The church itself is a long low building, as seen from outside ; but the interior is very imposing, and quite cathedral-like in extent. The nave is in the severest style of the early or transition Burgundian Gothic ; and the structure, which dates from 1150, is the only perfect church of the Cistercian Order which remains. Behind the altar, in the choir, is the shrine of St Edmund, in the style of the early part of the thirteenth century. The peculiarity of this church is that the naves run right round the transepts ; and behind the choir there are seven apsidal and two rectangular chapels. The choir itself is a splendid specimen of thirteenth century work, and is to be reproduced in the new priory chapel at Downside, near Bath. The procession passed at once into the choir, but left after a few prayers had been said,' and we then ad- journed to the refectory of the monastery to tax the hospitality of the good Fathers, which we did to the fullest extent, without mak^g any appreciable difference to them. Cold viands, ripe fruits, and capital Burgundy, were provided without limit ; and when we had fed to our hearts' content we sought our baggage and lodgings, . and so passed the time until vespers. Pontifical vespers were sung in the evening; and I never heard so sonorous an effect produced by the chanting of the simple Gregorian tones as on this occasion. The whole body of the choir was appropriated to the English pilgrims ; but I preferred rather to wander in the aisles which ran right round the church, transepts and all, and the severe beauty of which quite grew on one. A procession aux cierges ensued ; and the Hymn of St Edmund, written by the late Cardinal Wiseman, in Latin worthy of the old monastic days, haunts me still as I remember that apparently endless line that passed round the aisles and out into the illuminated avenue THE PONTIGNY PILGRIM A GE. 255 right into the village streets. ' beate mi Edmunde ! cum Maria preces funde ' was the burden or refrain which, set as it was to a simple processional air, it will take me a very long time to forget. The hymn, apart from its present associations, is very characteristic and redolent of the old monastic style. We' sang the whole thing diligently through, with the first stanza several times repeated by way of refrain : — Beate mi Edmunde, Sic pro me; ad PUium Dei, Cum Maria pieces funde, Ut per vos sim placens ei. It concluded with the stanza : — Salve An^liae flos et decor ! Sana patriam ; labor, precor, Hseresis sit irritus ! Tuus, in nos hie cKentes, Et quot seminant jam flentes, Large fluat spiritus ! Surely va. one of the queerest of Burgundian cottages did I find myself quartered that night j for we took Pontigny by storm, and only the clerical pilgrims could be accommodated in the monastery and house of the sisters. I was not clerical there, so had to be billeted on a villager ; and very comfortably the Pontigny pea- sants are housed, if I may judge by my surroundings. True, the floor of my apartment was bricked, but the room was large, the bed soft and capacious, and the coverlet sufficient to smother a dozen Desdemonas at once. One's only aim on a hot September night was to cast it as far away as possible into a corner. The Vesper Service, on Wednesday, was certainly one of the finest ever listened to, and the long marclie aux flambeaux afterwards would have delighted the heart of a Ritualist had any been, like John Gilpin's chronicler, 'there to see.' From midnight, too, the shrine and chapels were occupied by priests saying Mass, and the faithful attending the same. By the way, that fact led to an interesting little episode connected. with myself. 256 UNORTHODOX LONDON. I have said that I was billeted on a peasant, and I was glad enough to retire very early, for I was wearied with my day's experiences. Next door to me was quartered a Catholic gentleman, with whom I had formed an, acquaintance en route, for the afifair was like an ecclesi- astical picnic in this way, everybody talked to everybody else. This excellent pilgrim felt bound in conscience to break his night's rest by attending Mass in the small hours, so did not return to his domicile until deep in the early morning. Just as I got into bed I heard his asthmatic landlady knock at the door of my domicile, and the peasant who was housing me walked unceremoniously into my chamber to ask if I knew what time the gentle- man was likely to turn in. Merely saying that I had left him in church, and could not be responsible for his habits, I turned to sleep again, and should have got on very well but for a lively Burgundian baby who was sleeping in the kitchen, and seemed to be protesting in his infantile patois against the change of dormitory. At midnight, having been aroused by the wailing of this injured innocent, I heard the asthmatic old lady call again and inquire as to the probabilities of Monsieur turning up ; but when my peasant looked in again to ask me I pretended to be asleep, so as to avoid the question. Next morning, as soon as I opened my eyes, I heard the old lady in the kitchen again. She was inveighing bitterly against her pilgrim, who had not turned in until two in the morning, whilst I — ^model that I was — had been in bed since ten. Such is the justice of the world. I, for my heretical love of bed, was credited with all the cardinal virtues, while my poor friend, pacing the weary night with unboiled peas in his boots, was set down as a roysterer. The Low Mass at eight, celebrated by the Archbishop of Westminster, was very striking indeed, from the quietude of the ceremony and the evident earnestness of those who communicated. Thousands of French peasants and hundreds of French priests had now flocked into Pontigny, and thronged the choir, nave, and aisles of the vast Priory church. When the Mass was over the THE PONTIGNY PILGRIMAGE. 257 hospitable fathers again entertained us at breakfast in their refectory : and when the meal was ended I went once more, at their invitation, to see their brother who had fallen asleep so strangely just as the pilgrims, for whom he had made it his special care to provide, came in sight. He was lying on a pallet-bed clad in his simple soutane, and holding a crucifix in his hand, looking quite calm, and with something approaching a smile on his pale face, which was turned a little away from us towards the wall. On a table by the head of the bed stood a vessel of holy water, and one by one those who entered sprinkled a little on the cassock of the dead priest. One of the fathers stfll stood silently at the foot, with tears streaming down his cheeks as he gazed on the lifeless form ; and in the little grave-yard hard by the sexton was even then digging the grave to receive the remains. At ten o'clock the great bell rang out for High Mass, and everybody went to church. The French priests were literally stacked behind the altar. The three Archbishops' sat in the chancel. The Bishop of Amycla officiated, and we — all the rest of us pelerins, lay or cleric — crowded in where we could. I got distressingly near the gentlemen who played the ophicleides and euphoniums ; and in my unregenerate state I thought the Gregorian cadences of the Mass excessively monotonous, and was glad when the Archbishop of Westminster began to preach. Taking his text from the words, ' Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty,' the Archbishop said, never to the latest day of his life would he forget the Pilgrims of England emerging from the wood yesterday to mjngle with the Pilgrims of France. 'I claim,' said the Archbishop, 'the same faith and jurisdiction which was bestowed on St Edmund yonder by the sovereign Pontiff. Those who came to meet the great Church of France were,' he said, ' the sons of martyrs and confessors, and, as Irenseus says, " Ubi ecclesia ibi spiritus." In the chapel at my right hand St Thomas of Canterbury received a vision from Christ promising the Church should be glorified in his blood. 17 258 UNORTHODOX LONDON. Here St Edmund lived the life of a saint for the liberties of the Church. There he lies still. He was truly the English saint, and therefore I speak of the liberties of the Church of England. I claim for the church of Canterbury, after St Peter's, the glory of bearing wit- ness to the liberties of the Church. What is the liberty of the Church? The sole and supreme authority. to choose the priest and bishop. This belongs to the Church. Kings and princes can lay no hand on this Divine liberty. All liberties co-exist with this, eccle- siastical, political, and social. This our Saxon fore- fathers recognized. These liberties passed into the unwritten laws of England. These liberties were violated in the person of Thomas, the most glorious of all our land. But St Edmund is in all our hearts to-day. You know why he was here. Seeing that his enemies would not receive his words, he withdrew from England, as Christ and St Paul withdrew. With that right hand which lies here, and which we yesterday carried in pro- cession, he blessed England, and hither he was brought six hundred and forty years ago to lie in death. No war or revolution has ever violated that shrine. It is to this hour a testimony of God's providence. Six hundred years ago a King of France was here to cele- brate Bdmund^s translation, and since that day there never has been seen such a sight as this. This is, indeed, a day of glory to England. Would to God that all England could share it. Pray first for the unity and consolidation of Prance. Pray for this sanctuary of St Edmund, and then for England — for her bishops and priests, that they may learn the sweetness of St Ed- mund, the fortitude of St Thomas ; and for the people, that they may persevere in the paths of piety. Pray, too, for that England which does not belong to us. England owes a reparation to the Church. She has re- stored the material structure of her cathedrals. Surely this is the prelude of a better restoration — making ready the sanctuary for the Lord. Pray for the filial spirit of piety to the Mother of God, and that England may make reparation to the Vicar of Christ. If Eng- THE PONTIGNY PILGRIMAGE. 259 land will not do it for itself, we must do' with England as those who bear the child to the font — let us stand sponsors for the future of England. Finally, pray for the world. It was never so neai* a crisis as now — never fallen so far from unity as now. Modern progress and civilization have dvawn governments from the unity of the Church. The Church stands, and will stand. The desolations of the world will continue till the world is purified.' The Archbishop concluded with a fervent appeal for the Church of St Thomas at Rome. For my part, I sympathized much more with a subsequent announcement made by Monsignor Patterson, to the effect that a collection would be made for the expenses to which the Fathers of St Edme had been put in enter- taining us. It must have been simply ruinous ; and I am quite afraid to calculate the thousands of bottles of Burgundy we must have extracted from the Priory cellars, or the depredations we must have made in the poultry-yards and fruit-trees of the community. I never found oat that the proposed collection was made, or I would gladly have contributed to it, for I had lived en prince at Pontigny ; and really the only expense I was put to was for being billeted on the good peasant woman who admired my early hours, and for that entertain- ment I was charged the ruinous sum of — one franc ! After High Mass we dined again in the refectory, at least some of us who were specially invited, in com- pany with the Archbishops and the civil authorities who came to do honour to the English. These latter in- cluded the Prefect, Sub-prefect, and Receiver- general of the department, the commandant of the military sub- division, and representatives of all the oldest families in Tonne. Such doings had never been known in Pontigny before. There was also an al fresco entertainment in the orchard, where an altar had been erected, from ■which the three Archbishops eventually gave a blessing all at once — a sort of three-barrelled benediction— and then the visit to the shrine was over. We had only to make our exodus. "We did make it in every kind of trap available for miles round Pontigny. Omnibuses 26o UNORTHODOX LONDON. were chartered, shanderydans rigged up, and peasants* carts impressed. I travelled in the last, wedged in between two remarkaljly well-fed priests, who would have been invaluable in case of a ' spill.' None such occurred, however. The road was lined with people; and the Archbishop of Westminster went out some way in procession, and stood by the roadside to give us his final benediction. ' Vive I'Angleterre ! ' 'Vive la France Catholique ! ' were the cries that echoed along the whole of that now populous road. The' Bishop of Amycla and Monsignor Patterson passed me in a market cart precisely similar to the one I occupied, and in due time we got to our special train, which left St Florentin at 4.30. I must not omit to mention that in the final proces- sion we sang the proscribed hymn which gave some offence to neighbouring powers at Paray-le- Menial as having an occult political reference ; and I am afraid we all thought it the nicer because a little naughty. The objectionable refrain was, it may be remembered — ' PitiS nom Bieu, c'est pour notre patrie, Sauvez Eome et la France, Au nom du SacrS Cobut.' And so the pilgrimage was over. I came to Paris with as 'jolly ' a party as ever it was my good fortune to meet. In our carriage were a Benedictine friar and two fathers of that order, a Dominican Italian priest, a young secular priest, two Catholic laymen, and my exceedingly heretical self. We passed on to Dieppe the same night, leaving most of the rest to follow in the morning J and after an exceedingly disagreeable passage to Newhaven,- which literally prostrated us all, and was about the only trying portion of the pilgrimage, we sped on by special train to London, and so ended our very pleasant outing, where we had begun it on Tuesday, upon the platform of the Victoria Station. As a numerical success, Pontigny did not equal Paray, and is even said to have resulted in a pecuniary loss to Monsignor Patterson. But though the number of pil- THE PONTIGNY PILGRIMAGE 261 ■ grima was smaller, tlie devotees will not allow that the prestige of pilgrimages is on the wane. It was perfectly- natural, they say, that the Sacr^ Cosur itself should draw better than a saint, however eminent and respectable. The number of English pilgrims was disappointingly small; but what was wanting in mere bulk was amply made up in enthusiasm. It was, no doubt, a most en- joyable outing — ^brief, but delightful. The only incident which threw any gloom over the excursion was the death of Procurator Pere Barbier. It was a gloomy episode enough ; but it is only fair to say that its occurrence did not damp the ardour or diminish the hospitality of the good Peres de St Edme. How many bottles of wine must have been extracted from the monastic cellars, or how many chickens met with premature ends among the ecclesiastical homesteads, it would be diffi- cult to calculate. The fathers made up their minds to do the thing well, and they spared no expense. The old virtue of hospitality certainly came into full relief during the few days spent by the pilgrims at Pontigny. The modem science of political economy has thrown some discredit on the antique almsgiving of the convent gate, which, it holds, encouraged vagrancy and mendi- cancy; but this affair at Pontigny was exceptional. Like Christmas — or like the ecclesiastical picnic it has been christened — it comes but once a year, and should certainly bring good cheer when it does arrive. It was literally a big Cook's Excursion, and the catering would have done credit even to the hotel coupons of that-en- terprising firm. Then, again, on the score of sesthetic effect, there was a good deal to be said in the way of praise. There were incongruities, as a matter of course, for the ideas of the Middle Ages were being grafted on the nineteenth century. Monsignor Patterson in his purple vestments looked oddly enough, scrambling to catch a train ; and more than once the Itinerarium was broken in upon by an irreverent guard appearing at the carriage window when the train was in full motion and crying Out, ' Vos billets, messieurs,' or interrupting the five-and-fortieth Ave Maria in the Joyful Mysteries of 262 UNORTHODOX LONDON. the Rosary by throwing wide the door and shouting, ' Melun ! Vingt minutes d'arret.' The meeting of the French and English processions at the foot of the hill whereon the magnificent Cistercian Abbey stands (mght to have been a climax, and would have been, had not the Hymn of St Edmund's Pilgrims been taken up in two utterly different times and tunes at the opposite ends of the procession, while the active ecclesiastics in the centre with ophicleides and euphoniums nearly blew themselves into fits by starting the tune in a third key to set the other two straight. Each pursued the any- thing but even tenor of his way, innocent of what the others were doing; but the effect from the middle of a field skirting the line of procession was distressingly discordant. The Vesper-service and procession auid derges of Wednesday evening were perfect. Never did Gregorians come forth with so sonorous an unison; never wax chandlery was indulged in with so unsparing a hand. At the Low Mass on Thursday, as during all the small hours that succeeded midnight on Wednesday, the quiet business of the visit to the shrine was being done. The pilgrims confessed and communicated at the High Altar or in one of the many chapels that star it round, while an incessant single file passed up the nar- row stairway to gaze on the features of the Archbishop some seven centuries dead, and who lay there in his glass case looking so ludicrously like a pickled prelate. But the faithful could not see it so. They reverently placed their chaplets on the shrine to be blessed by the dead man, or bent to kiss the step of the tiny chapel where a Divine apparition warned St Thomas k Becket of his impending martyrdom; It was a night to be much remembered by Pontigny; and when the eight o'clock bell rang for the Bishop of Amycla's Mass in the morning, they went at it again as though nothing had happened. Mr Eavenstein, in his ' Statistics of Religious Denominations,' calculated that, under ordi- nary circumstances, one Dissenter did as much church- going — or rather chapel-going — work as ten Churchmen. It would be satisfactory to know how far the Romanist A 'CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY COLLEGE. 263 ol" the Methodist exceeds the normal average when the religious pulse is at fever-heat in the thick of a Revival or a Pilgrimage. A 'CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY COLLEGE. THIS institution, situated in ' Old Court Suburb ' of Kensington, and which had befen opened for the re- ception of students for some time, was, shortly after his elevation to the Sacred College, formally inaugurated by Cardinal Manning in presence of most of the bishops and a large number of the Roman Catholic nobility, in- cluding, amongst others, the Duke of Norfolk, the Earl t)f Denbigh, Lord Ripon, &o. &c. Proceedings commenced soon after half-past three o'clock in the temporary chapel attached to the College, when a procession passed from the College consisting of choir, acolytes, and clergy. Cardinal Manning, and the following bishops, the latter habited mostly in purple dress, with gold pectoral cross : — Dr Brown, Bishop of Newport and Menevia ; Dr Vaughan, of Plymouth ; Dr Yaughan, of Salford ; Dr Cornthwaite, of Beverley ; Dr Amherst, of Northampton j Dr Bagshawe, of Notting- ham ; Dr O'Reilly, of Liverpool ; Dr Danell, of South- wark; Dr Clifford, of Clifton ; the Coadjutor Bishop of Amycla; and the Mitred Abbot of Ramsgate. The Cardinal was habited in scarlet cassock and biretta, his train being borne by two priests. Passing to the extreme east end of the chapel, which was crowded to the doors, the Cardinal knelt before the altar while the choir chanted the ' Veni Creator Spiritus,' the students, who were seated in the centre and habited in the ordinary undergraduate gown, bearing their full share. This was followed by a sermon, delivered from the top step of the altar by Monsignor Capel. He elo? 264 UNORTHODOX LONDON. quently compared the position of the Catholics in found- ing their College to that of St Mark at Alexandria, and / then passed on to notice the curious coincidence be-) tween the mission of St Aiigustine by Pope Gregory i and the fact that his Eminence Cardinal Manning had| newly come invested with his recent dignity, as it were,', under the auspices of St Gregory himself, whose title he bore in the Sacred College. He dwelt forcibly on the ' liberality displayed by the Catholic laity in founding the College, saying that in seven months they had con- tributed more than £5000. He congratulated himself on the staff of professors he had been able to gather round him — men of eminence in the universities of Ox- ford, Cambridge, Dublin, and London, many of whom had, be said, in a true Catholic spirit, given up lucrative posts of honour to cast in their lots with him. He con- cluded with an eloquent tribute to the conduct and dili- gence of the students. At the conclusion of his sermon, Monsignor Capel passed to the Rector's chair, amid the Professors, who were habited in their gowns and academical hoods ; and the Benediction Service was then celebrated by the Cardinal. When this was over an adjournment was made to the Lecture Theatre of the College, where the Cardinal occupied the centre of the platform, with the bishops ranged round him, and two little boys in scarlet cassocks and surplices at his feet ; the Rector and Pro- fessors occupying the front ranks of seats beneath. An address was then read by Monsignor Capel from the Rector, Professors, and Students, to which Cardinal Manning replied. If, he said, he regarded that high office to which he had been promoted simply as a dignity, he should fear it. Honours were often real dangers to those who received them. He prayed, therefore, that he might not look upon his elevation as a mere honour or dignity — though it was both — and that they might never per- ceive any change in his life or spirit in consequence. He looked upon it rather in the light of a commission to carry on a warfare. He believed the Holy See was A 'CATHOLIC* UNIVERSITY COLLEGE. 265 approaching the greatest crisis through which it had gone for three hundred years ; and he hoped he should not be found wanting. In this hope lay his greatest consolation. The preacher had said that he came direct from the source of English Christianity. 'Ten years ago/ he said, ' when I knelt to receive the pallium first worn by St Augustine, the Holy Father turned and said to me in an undertone, " I am not Gregory, but I have the same faculties." This was his testimony to the imperishable identity of the Church.' To-day the restored hierarchy in England did its first collective act in founding an institution which was to be the common property of the Province of Westminster and the thirteen Bishops of England. It was not an University, but University College, so called because it was the first of the kind, and intended hereafter to form part of a confederated University. It was not designed — at least not now — that there should be one^- common centre, as in the ancient universities. The six or seven colleges scattered over England would form, if he might so say, a dispersed university, which would be more suited to the present exigences of England. It was better that the Higher Education should not be concentrated, but that the centres should be multiplied. It would be like opening up so many separate fountains of learning to irrigate the country around each. - He was not only content with such an arrangement, but he preferred it for two reasons. 1. The History of the Middle Ages, when knowledge was thus concentrated, was one of perpetual conflict and controversy. 2. The Universities of Italy and Germany even now generated intellectual aberration^ which was dangerous to the Church. At Bologna, Paris, Padua, and Pavia; intellectual errors had ai'isen ; and he thought the separate system more healthful. Each College, therefore, of which this was one, along with Ushaw, Stonyhurst, Oscott, Downside, Prior Park, and others, would preserve perfect autonomy. It was the object of the Holy See and the Council in establishing this College to carry out the commission 266 UNORTHODOX LONDON. Euntes docete omnes gentes, not only by teaching the- Catechism, but by insuring the highest culture of the intellect. It was desired to secure union between all branches of intellectual culture, revealed and scientific. They were indivisible ; distinguishable, but not to be divided. Lastly, it was desired to perpetuate the Catholic method. A great authority had said that in the Catholic system there could be no Higher Education. ' I commend this to the Rector and Professors,' said the Cardinal with a smile. A Catholic University, added this authority, there could not be, because the Catholic method could not embrace science and philosophy. It was the un-Catholic method which made havoc of the world. He concluded by bearing testimony to Mon- signor Capel's untiring industry in this institution, at a time when there was only a horizon of poverty before him J and announced that the donors of £500 would have the privilege of nominating for life one student exempt from all fees. Monsignor Capel described the building and its edu- cational apparatus. Already they have had two dona- tions of 500 and 300 volumes to the Hbrary, and he had purchased a collection of 10,000 more with a herbarium. Professor Mivart had acquired a good geological collec- tion, aild founded a museum ; and Professor Barth had a laboratory where twenty-five students could be taught at a time. There was also a Student's Club in the College. He hoped one day to build round the ground, on which the present building stood, three sides of"a quadrangle, with accommodation for 800 or 900 students. The Cardinal and Rector then conducted the visitors over the building and grounds ; and the effect of the varied costumes of His Eminence and the Bishops and Priests in the latter was quite picturesque, so much so as to startle the Old Court Suburb out of its serenity, when the company withdrew for refreshment to Mon- signor Capel's house, opposite the College gates. MOOD Y-AND-SANKE YISM . MOOD Y- AND- SANKEYISM. WHILE the American Evangelists were working in the great provincial towns of England and Scot- land previously to their London visit, the outer circle, so to say, of the influence they were exerting elsewhere seemed to extend to the metropolis; and what was publicly announced as a ' Great Spiritual Awakening ' seemed to be taking place, as if in anticipation of their advent. Daily prayer-meetings, held at noontide in the very heart of the City, were among the machinery used to promote this influence : and at one of these I made it my business to be present. There are few more suggestive sights than the fre- quent City churches, which, even in these days of demolition, still 'point with taper spire to heaven/ among the multitudinous shops and warehouses : few more significant sounds than the far from frequent bell pealing out from such spires, and calling men to wor- ship. But when it does so sound, and one enters the sacred edifice, the contrast of the quiet service within^ and the din and noise without, is, indeed, perfect. It was such an experience I sought one Monday, when, having read the announcement that intercessory prayer for London would be ofiered at midday in the Moorgate Hall, and continued every day at the same hour, I sped on the wings of the Underground to Moorgate Street, at the intersection of which thoroughfare by London "Wall the hall in question stands. It is among the busiest of our London streets at noontide; and a curious crowd was gathering outside the chapel — ^for it was so called until the present — ^^to see what in the world people could b© thinking of to seek a place 'a£ worship on a Monday at noontide. :So 268 UNORTHODOX LONDON. it was, however, they were seeking it, and in goodly numbers too. By the time I got in, the body of the hall was full, and stragglers had begun to drift into the galleries — a large portion, of course, women, but with a goodly sprinkling of men, most of them evidently devoting their dinner hour to. this religious service, and not a few of the genuine working class, with the signs of labour on their brawny hands. They were already singing the opening hymn by the time I arrived, for time pressed, and there was no need to wait for a con- gregation ; and they sang it full-voiced from the collec- tion of Ira D. Sankey, the recent revivalist. To this succeeded an opening address, read from MS., by a soft-spoken old minister, who entirely failed to make us hear, and who grievously scandalized a working man, boxed up in the same pew with me, because he read instead of spouting. He was a tall, venerable man, this old minister, and stood erect as an arrow, with his spectacles hoisted on to his forehead, and I afterwards learnt he was Mr Mannering, late of Bishopsgate Chapel, During his ten. minutes of dumb show I had leisure to take stock of the surroundings. The Hon. Captain Moreton, R.N., occupied the chair, and around him were some twelve or fourteen gentle- men and ministers, elderly, substantial-looking men, and all evidently brimful of the most intense earnest- ness. The chapel itself was ugly enough to bear out any of Mr Gladstone's assertions in the Omitemporary as to the unsesthetic character of the English people ; but the congregation was a sight to see. By the time Mr Mannering got to the end of his tether he elevated his voice a little, and I could just gather that the gist of his address was the excellent advice, ' In essentials unity; in non-essentials charity.' At the conclusion of the address — which I fear cast rather a damp on the proceedings — the chairman asked us to engage for a few minutes in silent prayer, and read several ' requests for prayer,' which had been sent to him. A congregation at Bexley Heath requested our prayers; another in Dublin, and yet another at some MOODY-ANDSANKEYISM. 269 place in Cumberland, each specifying its peculiar needs with some minuteness. A widow would have us pray for the conversion of her daughter : and a working man who had been through the Crimean War, wished to believe, but felt that the door was shut against him. We were asked to pray for God's blessing on a little book which had been given to him, called 'The Open Door.' After a very brief pause. Captain Moreton offered a prayer with much gesticulation, and which sounded to an outsider rather like a sermon in disguise. It was accompanied all the way through by those peculiar groan-like ejaculations on the part of the hearers which are common in such gatherings. The burden of the prayer was that London might be stirred up ; while outside one heard the din of Moorgate Street, and inside the response, continued in a strong crescendo, made the strangest medley of sounds ; but the effect was very striking. A sonorous ' Amen ' concluded this portion of the devotions. At its conclusion the tshair- man stated the order of proceedings, and made an earnest request for brevity on the part of ' brothers ' who should take part in them. After the hymn he was going to give out, ' the meeting would be open.' But no brother would be ' allowed ' to take two exercises, or on any account to give out a hymn. The one selected by Captain Moreton to be as it were the line of demarcation between the ' close.' and ' open ' part of the proceedings, was taken from Mr Ira D. Sankey's ' Sacred Songs and Solos,' and was set to a very lively tuiie indeed, as were most of those sung on the occasion. It opened thus : — ' Have you on the Lord believed ? Still there's more to follow ; Of His grace have you received ? Still there's more to follow ; Oh, the grace the Father shows ! Still there's m.ore to follow ; Freely He TTih grace bestows, Still there's more to follow. Ohohus. More and more, more and 'more, always more to follow ; Oh, His matchless, boundless love! Still there's more to follow.' ^^o UNORTHODOX LONDON. An aged minister on the platform followed with an eloquent prayer for more power of the Spirit on ' the masses.' Might it be outpowered on every family where there was an unconverted child or servant. ' Shake this great city/ he prayed, with an earnestness that provoked an audible response. It was the great wish of all those who prayed that day — that London might be ' shaken.' Another prayer was offered by a person in a pew, the chairman making a particular request that the brothers who were moved to pray woald stand up, and not put their hands before their mouths, because the congregation were straining their ears to hear them. 'No bellowing or bawling, only speak out.' Then followed another hymn, the opening verse of which combined the strangest collection of metaphors : — ' Let us gather up tte iunheamis. Lying all around our path ; Let us keep the wheat and roses, Casting out the thorns and chaff; Let us find our sweetest comfort In the blessings of to-day, With a patient hand removing All the briars from the way. Then scatter seeds of kindness, then scatter seeds of kindness, Then scatter seeds of kindness, for our reaping by and by ; ' and another person far up in a cavernous gallery prayed again that London might be shaken. There was no holding back among the brethren. Sometimes two rose together; but there was no confusion. One readily gave way ; and it was still a prayer for shaking. ' If the Cross of Christ could not shake London, the case of London was hopeless.' ' Yet another prayer followed, this time by a man with a thin inaudible voice (at which the chairman looked annoyed, almost cross), and while he was praying that London might be shaken I had time to take stock of the occupants of my pew. There were two ladies — one of whom was much affected 'and in tears most of the time — two working men, evidently fresh from their labour, and obliged to return to it before the meeting MOODY-AND-SANKEYISM. 271 was quite over, a young man of a superior class in society, and myself. The quaint Old Testament phrase- ology of the prayers and address fell strangely on the ears of one accustomed to a different oultus ; but the earnestness of the whole proceedings could not fail to strike the most casual observer. A young man stood up and read a few verses from his well-thumbed Bible : then another — quite a lad — stood as he was in the passage, between the pews, and offered a prayer, fervent though grotesque ; and once more, finally, the strange hymn-book was laid under contribution. The singing was even more Spirited and vigorous than the prayers — very much more so than the addresses. This time the hymn was : — ' In some way or other the Lord mil provide : It may not be my way, It may not be thy way ; And yet, in His own way, " The'Lord will provide." Ohoetts. Then we'll trust in the Lord, and He will provide ; Yes, we'U trust in the Lord, and He wiU provide.' The hour was now up, but one more ' request ' was read by the chairman. It was for a blessing on a medical consultation then taking place in a case of a child suffering from gastric fever— a blessing whether in life or death. With this special supplication the meet- ing ended. The clock struck one ; and we passed out into the bustle of Moorgate Street once more. After undergoing a long period of waiting and pro- bation, almost like the Lenten vigil of the more ortho- dox of her inhabitants, London at length received the visit of the American Evangelists, as it had become customary to call them, though the term Apostle might seem almost a fitter one to convey an idea of the in- fluence these gentlemen had been exerting elsewhere. England had become for them, so. to say, another ■ Decapolis, and it was, indeed, an interesting problem whether the vast effects they have produced elsewhere 273 UNORTHODOX LONDON. were destined ta be reproduced in the metropolis, or whether it should be as of old when Galilee was recep- tive but Jerusalem remained obdurate. For more than a week previously preparatory services had been held in the Agricultural Hall and other places, while an experiment — which turned out abortive through causes unconnected with the Evangelists or their friends — was made to compass a tabernacle service in Messrs Edgington's mammoth pavilion at the Kennington Oval. On the Sunday before their arrival, too, the burden of many sermons among their more immediate sympathizers was * How shall we receive them ? ' But in truth the actual, though not the nominal, preparations for Messrs Moody and Sankey stretched much further back, and long antedated the announcement of their arrival. For a considerable period the noontide prayer- meetings alluded to above had been held in the heart of the City daily — a marvellous parenthesis in the whirl of business — where the hymns of Ira D. Sankey had become familiar in men's mouths. This had been a movement outside the Establishment, but the influence which radiated from these Evangelists as a centre seemed to have 'crossed the frontier line of the Church of England herself On all sides there had been What might be claimed to be a 'great spiritual awakening.' The employment of lay agency in the Church had also received an immense impetus of late. It is not only — if at all — that there has been a dearth of clergy, but it has been ascertained that there are depths which can better be sounded by lay than clerical instrumentality, and this fact had certainly paved the way towards that climax of lay evangelism at which we had now arrived, even if their work elsewhere did not suggest or sanction the idea. A preliminary prayer-meeting was held at Exeter Hall, and was fairly attended, though neither of the Evangelists was present. Lord Radstock presided, and the Rev. Mr Chapman, chaplain of the Lock Hospital, delivered a suitable address. The number of, ministers, clergy, and laymen on the platform was very large, and MOODY-AND-SANKEYISM. 273 the singing of Mr Sankey's beautiful hymns was admir- ably condu'cted by Miss Bonar and a choir of ladies. Those selected were, first, the lOOth Psalm, which was given full- voiced and formed a most appropriate com- mencemetit ; then ' Rejoice in the Lord,' with its refrain, ' Sound His praises, tell the story ; ' then ' I hear the Saviour say, thy strength, indeed, is small ; ' and finally, ' Hallelujah, thine the glory, revive us again.' It was in every respect a real revival service. The 'requests for prayer ' were numerous and significant. At the Agricultural Hall, in the evening, the gather- ing was all that could possibly be desired; every inch of the vast' building was filled with a congregation numbering probably 15,000, representing all sections of the population of London. During the hour of wait- ing some of the best known of Mr Sankey's hymns were sung by an excellent choir, especially the beautiful one, ' TeU me the old, old story.' The pianissimo rendering of some of the passages in this was exceed- ingly telling, and could be heard distinctly over the whole building ; for example, the touching stanza — ' Tell me the story softly, That I may take it in, That wonderful redemption, God's remedy for sin.' With admirable punctuality, Mr Moody made his .ap- pearance on the platform exactly at half-past seven, by which time the whole of the hall was filled. With some abruptness, and in a decidedly provincial accent, he gave out the verse, ' Praise God, from whom all bless- ings flow ; ' adding, ' All sing ; let's praise God for what He's going to do.' The congregation responded heartily, every man and woman appearing to join full-voiced in the doxology. Then followed a brief prayer, after which Mr Moody gave out the 100th Psalm, again adding, ' Let all the people siug,' and certainly all the people did. It was a fine sight to see that vast assemblage rise, and a treat, to hear their powerful unison. After a brief silent prayer, Mr Moody ofiered a special suppli- 18 274 UNORTHODOX LONDON. cation for London. It was a great city, he said, but God was a great God. ' Thou God of Pentecost,' he said, ' give us a Pentecostal blessing here in London.' Then followed a solo by Mr Sankey, ' Jesus of Nazareth pass- eth by,' and for the first time was heard the clear notes of that rich voice ringing through the recesses of that spacious building. One excitable gentleman caused a little contretemps by proposing a chorus, evidently not wishing that Mr Sankey should have it quite to himself, but Mr Moody was an admirable manager, and easily restrained the interrupter's unseasonable zeal. After ' Eock of Ages ' had been sung to the tune of ' Rousseau's Dream,' the climax of the evening was reached. Mr Moody read a passage from 1 Cor. i. 17, with following verses, and commenced his address. God's people, he said, had generally been looked upon as the greatest fools in their respective times. Moses was not the sort of person we should have selected tq save three millions of people, and when he asked who he should say had sent him, God ' drew him a blank cheque, and told him to fill it in with the name of Jah whenever necessary. Samson slew his enemies with what ? The jawbone of an ass. Be alwa,ys ready to grab up the first jawbone of .an ass you come to, and let the world laugh as much as it likes.' London, he said, was a big city, but. there were people enough in that hall then to save London. Amongst other unlikely people whom God had chosen to subserve his ends, he instanced ' The little tent-maker of Tarsus,' and ' The Bedfordshire Tinker who wrote the " Pilgrim's Progress." ' His great fear, he said, in coming to London was lest the people should trust in man and forget God. The very teaching of the text was that God was everything and man nothing. There were hun- dreds of better preachers in London than himself, and yet he specially asked the aid of ministers in the metro- polis, because he was not coming to undo their work, but simply to supplement it. He asked the aid of parents, too, and concluded an impressive and capti- vating address, comprised within most modest limits, by telling a story of a poor mother who had come to MOODY-AND-SANKEYISM. 275 him in Liverpool to tell him how she had lost her son, a fine lad of seventeen, whom she believed to be in London. ' Perhaps the lad is before me now,' he said ; ' if so, let me tell him his mother loves him still, and so too, like that poor mother, God loves us all.' On this he based a very fervent appeal for unity, and suddenly broke off as if inspired by the occasion, calling on Mr Sankey to sing the appropriate hymn, ' Hold the Fort.' It was impossible to imagine a more signal success than that which attended this opening meeting. There was nothing sensational in the address, though there were several outbursts of genuine eloquence, agreeably varied with quaint touches of humour that provoked a smile, while they conveyed truths which one felt would go straight home to the hearts of the hearers. The proceedings terminated with the benediction, which was pronounced by the Rev. Dr Allon, of Islington. I purposely avoided ' following ' Messrs Moody and Sankey in their work at the Agricultural Hall in the same way as some correspondents had done, because I wanted to see whether the work really would prove ephemeral, as its detractors predicted, and also because it seemed slightly uninteresting, and not a little unfair withal to report addresses every day, which must in the nature of things involve considerable repetition. I waited with considerable curiosity to see first whether the interest would continue at the North of London, and what probabilities there seemed to be of its being reproduced in other districts, especially at the West End. One day a circular letter was addressed by Mr Moody to the clergy and ministers of the fashionable West End, inviting them to attend a meeting at the Opera House, Haymarket, on a Wednesday morning at ten o'clock, in anticipation of commencing work there the next week. I made a point of being present at that meeting, which consisted of about a hundred and fifty individuals, mostly clerical, but including a few well-known laymen ; among others, the Earl of Shaftes- bury, Sir Harry Verney, Mr Samuel Morley, M.P., Mr S. Blackwood, &c. As I passed up the familiar stair- 276 UNORTHODOX LONDON. case, and peeped through the box-doors into the house, I found extensive preparations being made, and every-, thing smelling of fresh-planed deal. The pit was boarded ' over, and looked like the arena of a large circus, while the stage resembled the seats in an infant school, rising tier above tier. On all sides were heard the sounds of axes and hammers, and with one hasty glance I sped towards the place of conclave. In the chair was the Eev. C. D. Marston, vicar of St Paul's, Brompton, where he succeeded the Rev. Capel Molyneux ; and on his right hand was seated Mr Moody in lay attire, and seeming to take little interest in a somewhat warm dis-' cussion which was going on around him- He toyed with his umbrella after the manner of a man who had made up his mind and was not to be moved from his purpose, and my subsequent experiences proved that I read his physiognomy aright. The point in debate was this — a large building had been erected at Bow for Bast London, and the Victoria Theatre was shortly to be secured for the South. The North had already been provided i"or at the Agricultural Hall, and Mr Moody was so elated with his success there that he could not entertain any proposal to abandon it entirely. In fact he had but one answer (like Wordsworth's little girl) to all questions, and it was 'I wun't.' The original scheme was, it appears, that one month should be given to each London district. That period had now expired at Islington, though the tenure of the hall still continued. Mr Moody averred that the month at the Agricultural Hall ought to be considered one of six weeks, for it had taken him a fortnight to feel the people's pulse, and now his success was most marked. He tested it by the inquiry-room. 'I could not,' he said, /with a clestr conscience, leave 10,000 people at Islington to speak to 3000 at the Opera House.' In reply to those who sug- gested that a diflFerent class would be reached there, he said the poor man's soul was as valua,ble as the rich man's, and seemed to imply that his own mission was rather to the lower and middle than to the upper classes. To this the Earl of Shaftesbury replied that though it MOODY-AND-SANKEYISM. 277 was quite true that the poor man's soul was worth as much as the rich man's, yet Mr Moody must remember that when one of the upper ten thousand was converted his wealth and influence were turned into a right chan- nel, and so he became the means of doing more good. He believed that the simple Gospel preaching of Mr Moody was just what was wanted to win these people, and suggested that he should make the experiment for a week ; but Mr Moody played with his umbrella, and looked, though he did not say, ' I wun't.' When, how- ever, Mr Marston leant over to him and suggested that he should leave himself in the hands of the meeting, then he not only looked, but said in an extremely audible stage whisper, ' I wun't leave myself in the hands of no meeting nor no committee.' ' 'Twas throwing words away,' as Wordsworth said of the immovable little girl above mentioned, and gradually the meeting accommo- dated itself to this view of -things. Mr Morley pleaded, and minister after minister pleaded, that the West should not be neglected. Mr Moody did not think they were being neglected. He thought if he stirred the people up at the morning and afternoon services they would listen to another minister at night. On this the assembly was divided. Some thought that the evening service had better be given up altogether if Mr Moody would not come. Others said that would be a confession of failure. Local ministers urged that there was a vast poor population as well as rich around the Opera House ; that Westminster and Chelsea would send their contin- gents to swell the evening congregations. ' Try it for a week,' again suggested Lord Shaftesbury ; ' and if you can't get on with us immovable people, turn to the Gentiles.' But Moody was adamant. He smiled, but his heart was with his Islington Gentiles. A young minister in the back benches timidly said that if Mr Moody could not come Mr Sankey might ; but the reply- was still, ' No, Sankey wun't.' I never in all my life saw a man so thoroughly impenetrable to all sugges- tions as this American Evangelist. I have no doubt he owes his success greatly to this, and the meeting evi- 278 UNORTHODOX LONDON. dently thought so too. They accepted what they might fairly have considered discourtesy in another person as a sign that Mr Moody was overruled to do the work in his own way. Eventually it came to a show of hands. Formal resolutions were framed — (1) That the morning prayer meeting and afternoon Bible class should commence on the following Tuesday, under the personal superintend- ence of Messrs Moody and Sankey; and (2) that the evening meeting should be held without him, whilst he divided his attention between Bow and Islington. This was to be tried for a week, and it was suggested that the meeting should choose a superintendent for the even- ings ; but no, again the inflexible Mr Moody must name the man, and he named him in two syllables — ' Black- wood.' About this there was no difficulty. The meeting had in fact already named Mr Stephenson Blackwood, who accepted the office, and' all was pleasantly settled. This nearer view of Mr Moody gave me, as I have said, a very probable clue to his marvellous influence. He was what the Spiritualists call ' positive ' to a degree I had never witnessed before. I am quite sure if Mr Moody sat at a seance and wished no manifestations to take place, none would. His manner was brusque to a degree that was ludicrous. He always referred to a speaker as ' that man.' ' That man has made my speech for me,' he said of somebody with whom he agreed. ' He's said just what I was a-going to say.' It seemed a mar- vellous instance of history repeating itself — the herds- man of Tekoa, without man's qualifications, carrying point after point against the Amaziahs, who had all external advantages to command — if mortals ever could command — success. A NJEW ICONOCLAST. 279 A NEW ICONOCLAST. THERE is little doubt that the effect of the Public Worship Bill, giving as it does almost unlimited power to the Bishop in camera, will have the effect of greatly augmenting the Free Churches outside the pale of the Establishment; and already, at the time of writing these chapters, a preliminary and almost pro- phetic activity seemed to have taken possession of those unorthodox bodies. Several of these I hope forthwith to examine in detail ; but before doing so there is one gentleman who, as I write, is in that interesting transi- tion state wherein we are fortunate to catch a convert ; while a second, whom I noticed in such a transition state in the first series of these papers, has now found temporary resting for the sole of his foot. ' Eikonoklastes ' wrote John Milton, with correct classical spelling, in his celebrated answer to the Eikon Basilike, ' the famous surname of many Greek Emperors who, in their zeal to the command of God, after long tradition of idolatry in the Church, took courage, and broke all superstitious images to pieces ; ' and, somehow or other, the massive periods of the sturdy old Puritan would come ringing into my mind as I paced breathlessly up the lofty staircases of the Memorial Hall, in Farringdon Street, to hear a clergy- man of the Church of England lead off a series of Lec- tures on Difiestablishment, to be delivered under the auspices of the Liberation Society. It seemed but a little while ago I had been present at the laying of the foundation-stone of this fine building ; and here it was now in working order, and already forming the head- quarters of our. modern iconoclasts ! Surely there is no new thing under the sun. Taking its rise with literal a8o UNORTHODOX LONDON. image-smashing in the times of the Eastern Emperors, that term had been but slightly metamorphosed under the Stuarts and Commonwealth so as to include the break- ing down of the Monarchy and Episcopacy ; and here it was, two centuries afterwards, still alive in Farringdon Street, no longer concerned with such trifles as the Exeter reredos, and certainly with no disloyal ideas of 'putting down' Queen Victoria, but simply bent on dissolving what it no doubt conscientiously believes to be the unhallowed union of Church and State. It was surely well to hear what a clergyman newly emerged from the Church of England — if indeed yet passed from that chrysalis condition — had to say in favour of this panacea for all the ills the Church is heir to. The Memorial Hall, which is at the. top of an appa- rently interminable flight of stone steps, is a handsome Gothic building, so very correct that one really looked round in half dismay lest it should not be iconoclast after all, and one would have lost the advantage of a good euphonious title which would not be 'understanded' of the common people at first. The ' storied windows ' were indeed filled with the figures of the old Puritan divines ; and one exceedingly sarcastic lady behind m'e said, in reference to the handsomely-decorated platform with brass lectern for the lecturer and elaborate chair for the president, that it was the ' High Altar.' It will answer that purpose admirably if the ' Catholic ' party do one of these days get the upper hand, and there be another Nonconformist stampede from Blackfriars. Six or seven rows of the front seats were labelled ' Eeserved,' and I noticed the ministers and their ladies pass to these. For myself, not being 'liberated,' I sat humbly down on a back seat, though I had my white tie on just as though I had been a ' minister ' too. I got there very early ; and when the gas was turned on, to the full in the beautiful coronoe, I thought I had never seen a more ornate rendezvous for avowed iconoclasts. During the always irksome period of waiting for pro- ceedings to commence, I listened to a lively discussion going on behind me between two old gentlemen, one I A NEW ICONOCLAST. 281 presume an iconoclast, and the other an Eikon-Basilike man. The Church of England, said the latter, was a tower of strength against Romanism : while the other avowed she was nothing better than a buttress of Rome. ' What do you say of Romanizers in the Church ? ' asked this one. ' Are there no Socinians among Dissenters ? ' rejoined the other ; and either that or the entry of the lecturer and presidents shut up the Liberationist. The chairman — a member of Parliament — referring to the memories of the place in which they were assembled, and even pointing to the figures in the windows, which we could not see, as it was dark out- side, stated that the policy adopted there would be the same as that of Mr Miall elsewhere. By the same faith and courage they were resolved to succeed. The question then and there to be agitated might not come home to an Englishman in the same way that questions of free trade and finance did, but it appealed to every thoughtful and educated Englishman with a power for good as remarkable and as far-reaching as those ques- tions had done. It concerned not the mere physical condition of the subjects, but aimed to release them from the mental and moral trammels which were only to be thought of to be realized. The lecturer appeared as one lately a minister of the Church of England, and he deserved their hearty thanks for the course he had adopted. It showed that there were plenty of men in the Church ready to join those outside. He said he c^uld understand the feelings of those inside the Church, as he was bound to it by very tender ties, but he could not approve of the shocking union be'tween the Church and the State, and he desired for it the spiritual life of truth, that perfect toleration might exist, and that no particular creed should be set up above another. They could Understand how a Church- man, if he could step down from his lofty height and meet, his fellow-men in preaching the Gospel, would breathe more freely. They mourned over the sale of hvings, and the struggle about education, which would all be reduced to nothing when one creed was not 282 UNORTHODOX LONDON. allowed the advantage over others. Men were now divided because of the tone of domination assumed by Churchmen through the union of Cliurch and State. When men began to think on that question they will see the vast amount of power which is wasted through that union, and would then devote themselves to spread- ing those principles until right should be done. It was said that the enterprise was viEist, and so it was, but it was because of its effect upon the mental and moral development of the country that they engaged in it. Englishmen were naturally Conservative, and would not advance in the path of progress until their minds were convinced, and that was the work the Liberation Society was engaged in doing, with a full apprehension of its difficulty, but undaunted by the prospect before them. But vast as it was, it was not more so than those conflicts which had been fought out in times past, and they must not forget the moral, force which could be brought to bear on the subject. There was a public opinion which could not be put down, and even those who based the existence of the Church of England upon the argument that it was God's truth were now obliged to give their reasons for the assertion. If they came to argument, it would be their duty to show their fallacies, and he believed that ultimately victory would crown their cause. Not being at first aware of the senatorial dignity of this gentleman, I began to feel almost aggrieved at his much speaking, and wondered whether he was going to introduce the lecturer at all, or give the lecture himself. -At length, however, he announced the Rev. Mr Heard, late of All Saints', Pinner, and a tall, bearded gentleman, with an evangelic expanse of shirt-front, advanced to the brass desk and read his lecture from manuscript. In commencing his address, Mr Heard said he was but a young recruit, and might be compared to the Uhlan officer who crossed the frontier and fired the first shot in the war of invasion in France. The battle of religious liberty was fought in the seventeenth A NEW ICONOCLAST. 283 century, when the Toleration Act passed, but the cam- paign for religious equality was only now opening. To use those dangerous watch-words, 'Liberty, Equality, Fraternity,' it appeared to him that they marked the three acts of the drama of Disestablish- ment. Liberty was the cry of the seventeenth century. Equality was that of the nineteenth, and when they had reached that. Fraternity and the free intercom- munion of the Churches would come of itself, perhaps in the twentieth century. At this point, a working man at the back of the hall, who, I fear, did not lean to teetotal principles, rose to address the meeting, and had to be summarily expelled. He covered his retreat with some remarks not at all complimentary to the lecturer, the audience, or the cause commemorated in that Memorial Hall. I could not help thinking what a pity it was that theological working men could not reserve their pota- tions until after they have been to controversial lectures. Both beer and theology are so apt to get into the heads of excitable people. Having borne very good-humouredly this interrup- tion, the lecturer returned to the subject of Disestab- lishment. To attain that they must not ' rest and be thankful,' but follow in the steps of their predecessors. He should treat his subject that evening less on the ground of abstract principle than on that of the special difficulties of Churchmen, arising from anxiety as to the future of the Church when its connection with the State was dissolved. After pointing out the fallacies involved in the idea that it is the duty of the State to maintain and establish the Church, the lecturer stated the case of those who held the principle of Establish- ments on other grounds. It was said that the alliance was more for the benefit of the State than the Church. As that was a political difficulty it might be left to the State to answer for itself. Another supposed difficulty was the impossibility of keeping Church parties to- gether without the cohesive clamp of the Establishment, a difficulty which the Church had created for itself by 284 UNORTHODOX LONDON. its own Act of Uniformity, and whicli would disappear with that Act. A third difficulty was thought to be that of dealing with country parishes without a ^scheme of endowment. But he thought that a sentimental difficulty appalling only to those who were ignorant of the power of Voluntaryism. It was ordained that those who preached the Gospel should live of the Gospel, and their best security was in relying on the promise of their Lord. The last difficulty he should mention was the argument that the State never formally estab- lished the Church or endowed it, and therefore had no right to disestablish or disendow it. They replied to that by saying that a Church which was nationalized to some extent under Henry VIII. by the deprivation of the Romish hierarchy, may be nationalized still further under Victoria by the deprivation of an ex- clusive clerical corporation, and the throwing open the Church to the use of the various denominations under the control of a board of public worship. Coming at last — and quite modestly at the end of a long lecture — to personal matters, Mr Heard said he had arrived at the conclusion that an Established Chursb ■must be exclusive ; and therefore he left the Establishment, and cast in his lot with the Free Churches — a statement which I need not say was re- ceived with vehement cheers. Twice lately he had been taken to task by the Bishop of London — and here the cheers were exchanged for hisses — simply for doing what Mr Fremantle had endeavoured to do at the City Temple. (Here again there were loud cries of 'Shame ! ') He felt therefore that the time had come for him to claim his freedom. We had had enough of ecclesias- tical prosecutions, and therefore he had -simply enclosed his licence to the Bishop of London. There was some more speechifying from the ministers and laymen present ; but the great attraction was over when Mr Heard thus announced himself a Coriolanus in the Volscian camp. I was literally inundated with papers of the Liberation Society as I came out ; and found the list of episcopal salaries look not so large as A NEW ICONOCLAST. 285 usual side by side witli Messrs Moody and Sankey's figures. However, the battle of Iconoclasm has begun in real earnest ; and there is no disguising the fact that Mr Heard's lecture was a very telling, because a very temperate, discourse; quite different from this which was handed to me by an exceedingly juvenile Iconoclast as I came out — it forms part of ' The Age of Dis- establishment : '— ' Who believes that England alone will resist the universal tide of religious equality ? She will not — she must not — she cannot. The shadow is turning upon the dial towards the hour when this nation will decree that thenceforth all religions shall stand upon the foundation of their own faith and liberality, and that hour will witness the downfall of that highest barrier which has for ages prevented the fusion of our nation into one harmonious and organic whole. Fictitious and usurped siipremacies are incon- sistent with the unity of any people, and it is vain to expect that the Nonconformists of England will rest for one moment until every man, whatever be his creed, stands on the same level, without favour or disparage- ment, in the eye of law. To accomplish this is our purpose, which we believe to be in accordance with the will of God, the claims of justice, and the highest in- terests of the nation and of the world.-" Bikonoklastes the First never wrote anything like that! MR EEVBLL AT LADBROKB HALL. THE other Iconoclast to whom I referred is Mr Revell, recently a Nonconformist minister, who made his dilut at Mr Conway's chapel, and is now holding Sunday Evening Services at Ladbroke Hall. To this place I paid a visit. 286 UNORTHODOX LONDON. For a long time after I got there I thought I was going to be the congregation. A lady was playing sacred music on a grand pianoforte on the stjige ; and two boys were playing hide-and-seek in and out of the stage doors on either side of the proscenium, in the intei-vals of brushing the green baize which covered the desk in the centre. There was, in fact, a good deal more hide-and- seek than brushing going on. However, the congrega- tion dropped in by small driblets, and by and by Mr Eevell made his appearance on the stage, dressed in the attire of every-day life. There was a sober scene ' set, ' but the whole arrangement looked rather theati'ical. There strikes me as always something more or less dissi- pated about the appearance of a grand piano, and of course the stage accessories did not help to tone this down. The services commenced with a hymn nicely sung by a young lady who had joined the pianiste. We bore our part but mildly and timorously, for there were not enough of us to embolden one another; but we all had hymn- books given us, and I found they were selections from Mr Conway's volume used at South Place Chapel. Then there was a reading on the subject of ' Beauty,' from some secular work, the name of which I did not catch. Another hymn followed by way of canticle ; this was Tennyson's stanzas from 'In Memoriam,' commencing ' Strong Son of God, immortal Love ! ' but slightly altered. Then came a second reading from Carlyle ; and at the conclusion of each Mr Revell said, ' Here end-e able, but cold and unemotional. I am sure there would have been a larger gathering if Mr Revell had carried out in practice his own excellent theory. UNORTHODOX LONDON. A EEVISED PRAYER-BOOK. THERE is', perhaps, no man who occupies a more thoroughly unique position in the ecclesiastical world than the Rev. Charles Voysey, who may be described as formerly vicar of Healaugh, Yorkshire, and now of St George's HaU, Langham Place. Though deprived of his benefice for unsound teaching, he still claims to belong to the Church of England; and has elaborated at St George's Hall a form of theistic worship which would, indeed, bespeak the Anglican Communion comprehensive could she be proved elastic enough to contain it. Such is his attitude, however ; he declines to join any of the existing religious bodies, and especially eschews the name of Unitarian, though, of course, holding the doctrines of that communion. He waits, in fact, until the Church of England is ' broad ' enough to welcome him back, like a theological Prodigal, to her maternal arms. One of Mr Voysey's first acts when, having made his d.ehut at the Free Christian Church, Croydon, he pro- ceeded to elaborate the St George's cultus, was to com- pile a liturgy. In doing this he adhered pretty closely to the letter of the Book of Common Prayer, excising all that militated against a theistic creed. He speaks thus of his attempt in the preface to the first edition : — ' This Prayer-Book was compiled under the conviction of the editor's inability to adopt the old Nonconformist worship, with its long extempore prayer, even had it been preferred by the congrega,tion. He believed how- ever that, as some form must be used, the form most likely to find acceptance would be one which was already partly familiar to English ears, and yet stripped of all that has become obsolete and out of harmony with a pure Theism.' A REVISED PRA YER-BOOK. 289 After using this manual of devotion for three years,. Mr Voysey or his congregation, or probably both, felt that they had outgrown it ; and the result has been the revision of this volume and the adoption of another, which he still speaks of as a modestaMempt to adapt the Liturgy of the venerable Church of England to a pwrely theistic worship. On a recent Sunday this book was to be used for the first time, and Mr Voysey was advertised to preach a sermon on ' The Reasonableness of Worship/ Now I own to some difficulty in realizing the theistic position iu reference to worship, and went, in real curiosity, to see what I could gather from observation as to the genius and essence of this studiously nondescript body of re- ligionists. I found the hall well filled; or at least there were cards on a veiy large proportion of the seats showing that they were let, and most of these were occupied during the morning. Mr Voysey himself. With a blue pilot coat surmounting an intensely clerical dress, as though to signify a compromise between the Church and the world, was conversing with little knots of his paulopost congregation, and by him I was ushered courteously into a private box. It sounds grotesque to say this ; and there was a feeling of something like dis- sipation in entering that loge an premier for Divine worship ; but one soon got reconciled to that. Indeed, it was not the first occasion by very many on which I had worshipped at the shrine of St George and the Dragon ; and I have long since learned to get readily acclimatized to unfamiliar ecclesiastical, surroundings in the course of my varied peregrinations. The 'use' of St George's Hall is curious enough to warrant a de- scription in detail. The service opened with a selection from an entirely new set of Scriptural sentences, of which Mr Voysey read four. Indeed, generally speaking, the service had rather a tendency to err on the side of length as com- pared with the orthodox one; at least, such was my impression. A new exhortation of great length followed, 19 ago UNORTHODOX LONDON. and a quasi-confession, each much, longer than the Church of England forms. I was surprised to notice this after reading the following passage in the preface : — ' The most striking change will be found, perhaps, in the introductory portion of the service. Not ourselves alone, but a large portion of conforming members of the Church of England also, have completely outgrown the taste for the old " Dearly Beloved," " The General Con- fession," and " The Absolution." A clergyman, who was and is perfectly orthodox, confessed to me that these were quite out of place in a mixed assembly, and as an introduction to worship. Centuries ago the serv- ice began at the Lord's Prayer, and a little later Psalms and Introits of praise were sung as an opening; a much more fitting prelude to devotion than the miserable whining introspection and confession of sin, the exag- gerated terms of which stamp them with insincerity, ' It is quite possible for rare occasions to arise when such confession would be true and appropriate, but equally impossible for numbers of well-conducted happy people to use them with anything like sincerity every week at a certain hour.'' Now, however, 1 came upon the most complete alter- ation of all. Mr Voysey had revised the Lord's Prayer ! Two of its clauses were changed so as to stand thus : ' Forgive us our trespasses as we should forgive them that trespass against us ; and leave us not in temptation.' The First and Second Lessons, which were separated by an abbreviated Te Deum, were read from an article in the Boston Index on the subject of ' Worship in the Nineteenth Century.' First Lesson. Worship is the expression, or an expression, of the religious sentiment. The worship has not created the sentiment, but the sentiment has created the worship. The worship, whatever form it has taken, has been the natural language of the sentiment. And so now or in the future, whatever form of utterance the religious A REVISED PRAYER-BOOK. 291 sentiment may adopt as its natural language, that will be worship j if it adopt the same for a number of people, then common, or public, worship is the result. The question, then, at the root is the permanence of the religious sentiment. And when I look back upon the history of the human race, and see how vast a part the religious sentiment has played in human history, how active and constant and fertile it has been from the very rudest beginnings of man's career, how large a share it has had in his interests and how mightily it has affected his destiny, how it has built up some nations and destroyed others, pervaded the affairs of all ; how it has inspired art and created literatures, and shaped thought and determined private conduct, and built up gigantic and peculiar institutions of its own, and moved great masses of men with a common enthusiasm and purpose, — when I look back upon all this, and see what a power the religious sentiment has been, it does not seem to me at all probable that this power has all been a mistake, that it has all rested on a mere superstition, on a false conception of things, and that under the increasing knowledge and culture of modern times, it is now near the end of its career. I see, indeed, that the religious sentiment has made mistakes, some of them grievous and great ; I see that for want of knowledge it has allied itself often to superstition, and for want of humanity to bigotry. I see and admit the alleged evils and corrup- tions that have sprung from dogmatism, sectarianism, ecclesiastioism, idolatry, — they are indeed; from my habit of thought, almost too constantly before my eyes ; and yet, in spite of all, the religious faculty is to me the noblest endowment of the human mind, — the crown, so to speak, of the long struggle of the ' Cosmical Life •" to develop a finite being of reflective intelligence and volition. And this sentiment seems to me as ineradica- ble from human nature as it has been the constant ac- companiment of human nature's historic career. The consciousness of relation to the power whence he has sprung, once having been developed in man and making an integral part of his nature, it is indeed impossible to 292 UNORTHODOX LONDON. conceive of its being extinguished while man remains. Not by culture, scientific or other, is this sense of re- lationship to the inscrutable creative energy of the uni- verse — call it, with Tyndall, ' Cosmical Life,' or call it ' Deity ' — to be lessened. Rather by every day's fresh intelligence will our sense of the mysterious relationship be deepened and broadened and brought more into ac- cordance with facts, while from the very nature of the case something of the infinite mystery must for ever remain concealed, enticing the mind upwards to bound- less search. But let me add that, in saying that the religious sentiment is the natural and ineradicable root of worship . and of all historical religions, I do not use the word - sentiment as synonymous merely with feeling or emotion. I do not believe that the religious sentiment would have been so powerful in history, if it had been only an emotion. But I use the word sentiment as in- volving both perception (or an intellectual act) .and feeling ; as including also the sense of moral obligation. I use it as denoting the entire disposition or tendency or faculty of the human mind which has resulted in religion. Historically, this disposition or tendency has always been of a complex nature. There has been the feeling of wonder, of awe, of reverence, or it may be of fear, aroused by some remarkable scene or occurrence ; and accompanying it, some mental judgment or conception concerning the phenomenon, referring it to a more than human power ; and also an impulse to some line of con- duct for effecting conformity with the power. Or the mental perception of human relation to some super- human power may have come first, and often, I believe, did, and the emotion was subordinate to it. All that I wish now to say on the point is, that I use the term religious sentiment as including all these phases of mental action, and that historically all these elements have been present to make religion the great power it has been. But though man's nature and history would seem .to A REVISED PR A YER-BOOK. 293 prove the permanence of the religious sentiment and of some form of worship as the expression of it, the question still remains whether the institution of a Sun- day service like this is a kind of expression that best meets the demands of the cultivated religious sentiment of the present age. In other words, can we show the present utility of this service — utility in the fine sense of enlarging and feeding man's higher nature ? The question of what may come in the future, when the ' coming man,' with the garnered wisdom of all centuries added to his own inspiration, shall appear on this planet, we may dismiss as little concerning us who are on the planet to-day and responsible to some extent for its condition. Admitting that the religious sentiment is the creator of its forms of worship, and that with in- creasing light and culture it transforms old forms and creates new ones, we may have to admit our ignorance as to what kind of worship the future may bring, but may also safely leave the problem for the future to sdve. But for the present, and so far as seems probable from man's present condition, for many a year and generation to come, I for one cannot doubt the utility of a specific organization for the promotion of religious culture and hfe, and of a specific religious service set apart in place and time like this. Here we are, on this earth, iinmersed for the most part in material pursuits, more or less gross, in buying and selling and getting gain, in taking care of our bodies or our estates, in the drudging toil of shops, or farm, or counting-room, or household, in eating and drinking, and providing the wherewithal to be clothed ; and day after day this immersion goes on, absorbing our faculties, using up our energies, and draining oif our vitality. And yet we all confess that there are parts of our natures — aspirations, desires, capacities for thought and action — that this daily routine of material pursuit, whether it be necessary or voluntary, does not satisfy. Nor is it the office of the Sunday service to meet these higher demands of human nature : to feed these better aspirations, hopes, impulses of the human 294 UNORTHODOX LONDON. mind', to cultivate just that side of life which is admitted to be the nobler side, and which yet is left to so large an extent uncultivated by the hard necessities or cus- toms of daily toil amid lower interests. The Sunday service is intended to appeal to the moral and spiritual nature of man in distinction from the physical, to his rational nature as having the rightful supremacy over carnal appetite and passion. It aims, or should aim, to rouse the better motives, to quicken conscience, to stir generous impulses into activity, and to plant them where they are wanting ; to awaken a stronger love and. admira- tion for goodness ; to open, purify, and cultivate the best affections of the heart. It seeks to make men more zealous for the truth, and more heroic in the defence of it ; less selfish and more self-sacrificing, more kind, more benevolent, better citizens. It finds them fallen and vicious, and it strives to utter some word that shall renew their courage, and help them to restor- ation. It finds them in despair, and it speaks and pleads for hope in darkness, and it endeavours to show the dawning light. It finds them amid trials and under crushing burdens, and it strives to show how obstacles may be surmounted by the brave soul, and made into steps of ascent to power and virtue. It finds them sit- ting in the valley of the shadow of death, and it points them to the old hope of the Hereafter, or to the new doctrine that death is but a phase in the eternal pro- cess of life. Second Lesson. Thus the Sunday service, for two or three hours one day in the seven, comes into our busy life as a quick- ener of moral effort and of spiritual aspiration, to the end of lifting the whole of our life to a higher level. In the midst of our material cares and callings, our moral struggles and failures, it holds before us the noble aim of Ideal Excellence. And even those of us who may not be so wholly engaged in material callings, but whose pursuits may be more mental and literary, or even philanthropic, may find it no small benefit to have the A REVISED PRA YER-BOOK. 295 routine of our pursuits thus regularly interrupted, and oar thoughts and feelings turned to other channels, in a common religious service with our fellpw-men. For the advantage comes in part from the social communion as well as from the uplifted individual aspiration. In a word, if the phrase spiritual nature of man, including his higher mental and moral na,ture as distinguished from the lower motives to which the ordinary pursuits and occupations and customs of life appeal, has any ineaning, if there be any such higher part of our natures, any possible higher life than that with which our days are now most familiar, anything above these absorbing cares and tempting passions of the flesh, then the specific religious service which appeals to these higher motives, and aims to strengthen and develop this higher life of man, is amply vindicated as having a right to be, and may be expected to survive so long as it shall answer such high ends. And as helps to this aim let us have all the accessories that are within our reach from art and culture. Worship may be very-real, and attain for some hearts its ends, in a meeting-house of Quaker plainness and under conditions of whatever ex- temporaneous speech may chance to arise from the con- gregation, or of silence, which is often better than speech. But there is danger of spiritual inertness under such conditions. Most of us are in need of such appliances as appeal to the eye and the ear, and to the cultivated reason, to stir our spiritual thoughts and emotions to activity. Music often touches with up- lifting power places in the heart where the word of the preacher fails to penetrate. Forms of beauty in archi- tecture and colour lend also their gracious influence in awakening the emotions of reverence and aspiration. But all such accessories appeal chiefly to the reli- gious emotion, and a church cannot live on emotions. There must be living thought in the pews, and the living word in the pulpit ; thought and word abreast with the time, and palpitating with the spirit of divine life that is freshly flowing in the world to-day. I have already said that in the history of religion, emotion and 296 UNORTHODOX LONDON. mental perception, feeling and thought^ have been tie constant factors in all healthy, normal, -and powerful religious development. And so it must be to-day, if religion is to preserve its ancient prestige and power. And this is a point on which I should take decided issue with a portion of Professer Tyndall's late address, if I rightly understand it. He speaks of giving up to religion the region of the emotions, while he would have it abandon the province of thought on the great problems of existence, and thus he apparently encourages the notion, popular among cer- tain classes of theologians, that religion and science are of incompatible temperament, and must be divorced; though, at the very close of the address, there are some words of a different tenour, and, as a whole, it seems to me most admirable. But against the statement above alluded to, in the name of religion itself, con- sidered in its nature and its history, and in behalf of the dignity of my oflBce as a religious teacher, I would enter a protest. I would make the protest, too, in behalf of the present and future interests of religion and of mankind. The weakness of religion to-day, the very reason why it is losing its hold upon so many thought- ful and cultivated people — and people that, though not much cultured, are full of the thought of the age that is in the air — is because this very divorce has to a con- siderable extent taken place, and religion is already too much given up to feeding the emotions. A religion that is wholly absorbed in the region of the emotions cannot, I believe, long survive among an enlightened people. Emotion has its proper office, and it is a very important one; but it is thought that guides the emotions, and, in the long run, safely moves the world. A religion without thought is emasculated, and must dwindle to decay. And if, under the emotional influ- ences of this place, if amid these surroundings of art and beauty and elegant comfort, this society or its minister should ever become enervated in thought, and forget their obligations to ideas, and sink into mental stagnation, then I pray that some old iconoclast may A REVISED PRAYER-BOOK. 297 rise from the grave, some Luther, or George Fox, or George Whitfield, and raise the trumpet-voice of reform, and sweep from these walls all their beauty, and silence the music, and leave the congregation in a plain meeting- house, or drive it into a hall or a barn, or into the open air, where it may hear with undistracted mental ear' the living voice of truth. For better unadorned and deso- late walls, with living and earnest thought within, than, all possible elegance and beauty of an emotional religion with mental death. And if the Sunday service of religion, while it kindles the emotions of the spiritual nature, must at the same tima aim to awaken thought, and to keep pace with its progress, much more must it serve to sustain and to strengthen the natural principles of morality. This, the final point, is also in its practical aspects the chief point. Matthew Arnold has defined religion as ' morality suf- fused with emotion.' Philosophically this may hardly pass as a complete definition. But practically the de- finition is excellent, because it lays the emphasis where, in the common afiairs of life, it most needs to be laid. Taking mankind in general, the emotional nature in religion does not need so much to be aroused as it needs to be guided by a wise knowledge and a true moral culture. And one sees sometimes such lamentable illustrations of an intense emotional piety combined with a feeble moral sense, and even with positive im- morality, that one is tempted to exclaim, ' Emotion is notiiing — morality is everything.' Apd certainly, if re- ligious emotion does not issue in good works, it proves itself of little worth; and to many souls it doubtless operates as a delusion and a snare. They mistake an inflated currency of feeling for the solid coin of virtue. The emphasis, then, must be placed on moral conduct, and all religious feeling brought to that clear test. We may say of emotion that it is desirable, but of morality that it is a necessity. Given two persons, one of whom shall be emotionally religious, even to a high degree, fluent in prayer-meeting, zealous for his church, ready at any time to speak of his conscious relation to God, but 298 UNORTHODOX LONDON. weak in morals ; and the other shall be simply upright, vigorously honest, pure, generous, merely a moral man, as the saying is, but shall have never known what it is to be thrilled with a sense of the Divine Presence ; and I am sure that the latter will go into heaven before the former. I would rather anywhere take the chances of the merely moral man than of the merely pious man. The merely pious man, by his aspiration, his feeling, his sentiment, is reaching upward through the air to get his hold on G-od. The moral man, though he may. be utterly unable to say what the phrase ' presence of God ■" means, and has no consciousness of it, yet actually dwells nearer to it ; for that line of strict integrity which marks his daily conduct is the identical pathway where the Divine Presence walks. And at this day, so rife in public and private corrup- tion, when we hear and see so much of self-seeking intrigue in politics, of dishonesty in trade, of embezzle- ment and swindling in financial institutions, of mercenari- ness in public men, of loose licence in domestic relations, of portentous evils menacing the sacredness of marriage and the stability of the family, surely the Church has a special call, as it has in the Sunday service a grand opportunity to proclaim, with all the emphasis at its command, the primal obligation and sanctity of the moral law. Whatever it may do or neglect to do for the culture of the religious emotions, it has a solemn duty in up- holding public and private morality, which it cannot evade without peril to itself and society. A^hatever be the mej,ns this must be the end. Whatever else may come into religion to give it grace and symmetry, this must come as its abiding substance. For the old prophet- voiced words have lost none of their truth, and need to be uttered to-day with fresh energy : ' Who shall abide in thy tabernacle ? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill ? He that walketh uprightly, and ■ worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart. He that slandereth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour. He that sweareth to his own hurt, and A REVISED PRAYER-BOOK. 299 changeth not. He that doeth these things shall never be •moved.'' It certainly was something novel to see a clergyman in full canonicals reading the Lessons from a newspaper instead of a Bible ! The Jubilate was sung to a ' service ' as it would be called in a cathedral — an elaborate com- position like an anthem, and then followed a long series of coUectSj each concluding with a choral ' Amen ' from an unseen choir hidden behind the red drapery which swathed the act-drop. What with a Glastonbury chair and crimson baize over the rostrum (which in its nude state on a Sunday afternoon looks like a gallows or incipient guillotine) St George and the Dragon appeared more ecclesiastical than could have been expected under the circumstances. When the ordinary Morning Prayer was ended, and a hymn had been sung — the music, by the way, being particularly good — Mr Voysey proceeded to the ' Service of Praise and Thanksgiving,' which, commencing with a choral 'Sanctus,' consisted of a number of suffrages to which the choir and congregation responded melo- diously, ' We thank Thee, O Father, Lord of Heaven and Earth.' An interval of silent prayer followed ; and the whole concluded with the Epilogus to F. W. New- man's ' Theism,' sung as an anthem. The final clauses of this composition, and one passage in the Prayer for the Church Militant (revised), were the only ones I noticed where reference was made to a future state ; and these did not enable me to grasp any very clear con- ceptions as to the opinions held by Mr Voysey and his followers on this subject. Of course where no formal creed exists, one can only infer the belief from passages in the hturgy. The former, from the Epilogus, was — ' 80 shall we love thee while we live, and partake of thy joy, And triumph over sorrow, and fulfil thy work. And be numbered with thy saints, and die on thy bosom.' The second substituted for the ordinary clause in the 300 UNORTHODOX LONDON. prayer for the Churcli Militant the following words : — ' We also bless Thy holy Name for all Thy servants departed this life into Thy hpme above ; beseeching Thee to give us grace to follow all good examples, that with them we may be partakers of Thy heavenly kingdom.' Previously to the sermon, Mr Voysey made a state- ment as to the expenses of his services, for which there was to be a special collection. They cost, he said, a hundred pounds a month. This sum was not met by thi3 seats which were let ; and the weekly offertory was only intended to give strangers an opportunity of contri- buting. He might, he added, double or treble the amount if he adopted the plan of handing the plate to each person individually ; but he would rather have no money at all than make their contributions compulsory. Hospital Sunday showed that there was no need of such ' extortion ; ' but still he could not disguise the fact that the general fund was not in a satisfactory condition. Bight hundred pounds had just been carried over to the General Building Fund; but, unless there should be permanent resources, a building fund would be of no avail. He exhorted the congregation to bring their friends or themselves to make donations. If one-fifth or one-sixth of the congregation would subscribe ten pounds a year each, all would be well. He was not in straits, but he wanted to be secure against anxiety. Among the occasional offices in this book, is one for the Burial ' or Cremation ' of the dead, which again throws some light on the doctrine of a future state : — (Here the body is to be committed to the furnace) ' In faith and hope, then, we commit unto the flames the body of our dear brother here departed, in sure and certain hope that his soul hath ascended into the rest of God, and Js at peace in our Heavenly Father's home; believing that we, too, shall soon be numbered among the happy throng, and meet again in everlasting joy.' Such, surely, is one of the strangest ecclesiastical experiments of the day. There must be a certain amount of fascination in such a position. Mr Voysey is as purely his own master as Pope Pius himself. In A GREEK EASTERTIDE. 301 leaving the Churcli of England for any other body a clergyman exchanges one service for another, or at most can be only said to compass quite a limited authority ; but here is an autocracy beside which that of the most despotic civil ruler or infallible spiritual guide sinks almost into insignificance. He may parody some his- toric wbrdsj and say, ' L'Eglise, c'est moi/ A GREEK EASTERTIDE. THERE is a rumour — only a faint, vague, and far-off one at present, but still a rumour — that we are likely to have, ere long, an English-speaking congrega- tion of the Holy Eastern Church in London. Charmed, perhaps, by the adopted title of Orthodox, and the claim put in by. the Greek Church to be based on a purely apostolic model, several converts, some of high position, have recently passed from the Anglican to the Greek communion. I could mention names j but do not quite know whether it would be proper for me to do so, as the matter is scarcely public property at present. Hitherto, however, there have been only two Greek churches in London; one, the well-known church in London Wall, described in the first series of these papers, where the Rev. N. Morphines is the priest ; and the other, the chapel of the Russian Embassy at 32, Welbeck Street, served by the Rev. B. Popofi'. In the former the service is performed in modern Greek or Romaic, at the latter in Russ ; but there has been up to this time no church or chapel in London with the service in the vernacular. Sunday, April 25, 1875 (our fourth Sunday after Easter), was, according to the Eastern calendar, Easter Sunday, and I took the opportunity to renew my 302 UNORTHODOX LONDON. acquaintance with the Greek ritual, which is exceed- ingly imposing. I know not why, but though it is ornate in the extreme, it seems much more like one's own Eucharistic service than the Romish Mass, at least to me. I have carefully studied the two services under the guidance of a priest in each denomination respect- ively ; and, I must confess, I seemed, apart from all prejudice, able to enter much more readily into the spirit of the Greek than the Roman ritual. This may be simply an idiosyncrasy of my own, and need imply no judgment as to their relative intrinsic merits. The liturgy used at the church in London Wall is that of St John Chrysostom, which can be purchased in a small volume, with the English translation arranged in parallel columns with the Greek ; and a visit to the Strangers' Gallery in that church on any ordinary Sunday will quite repay the trouble of a journey to the uttermost ends of London for any one who is interested in studying a foreign and highly ancient ritual. Late in the evening of the Vigil of Easter I presented myself at 32, Welbeck Street, and found a most intel- ligent and courteous attendant airing himself on the doorstep. The service, he informed me, would be at eleven, but no stranger could by any possibility be admitted. On my telling him who I was, and my purpose in being present, he relaxed his rule in my favour. I really had some most interesting conversa- tion with this man, who was thoroughly posted up in his subject. (It was not, by the way, from him that the rumour of an English Church of the Greek Com- munion reached me.) In the Oriental Church I was vastly interested ; but unfortunately there was an Oriental wind blowing at the same time, which made the doorstep rather a more airy situation than I should have selected had I been free to act; but. the man's post was there, and he stuck to it like a sentinel on duty. The great merit of the Greek Communion, according to him, was that there was no Pope in its economy. The churches and sees were virtually inde- pendent, he said ; thus confirming what I had already A GREEK EASTERTIDE. 303 gathered in my previous study of the subject as to the perfect elasticity of system pertaining to the Holy Eastern Church. I had some preliminary difficulty next morning in obtaining entrance to the church in London Wall ; but was again rescued by a civil attend- ant — this time from the opposing arms of a rigid City policeman. The Strangers' Gallery was generally re- served on this day, and was, he believed, at that time quite full ; but I could mount and try. I did so, and found myself among a motley group of all nations, many being Greek sailors carrying lighted tapers in their tattooed hands. Several of those present had quite a Jewish cast of features, and there were a few English, evidently lost in bewilderment. Two young men, who looked very like University men, were sharing a Liturgy of St John Chrysostom, and gave me an occasional peep at it. They were hunting hope- lessly amid its pages as I entered, and I was just able to tell them that the introductory portion of the serv- ice was special to Easter. I recognized, in fact, a beautiful Troparion, as it is termed, which the choir was singing as I entered, and which Dr Littledale thus translates : — ' Christ hath risen from the dead, Death by death down doth He tread, And on those within the tomb He bestoweth life.' This was repeated at frequent intervals throughout the whole Eucharistic Service, and the melody was most delightful. The choir sings without accompani- ment, and is of rare excellence. I could just see, by craning my neck over the heads of people in front of me, that the whole church was ablaze with the light of tapers cairried by all the male portion of the congrega- tion, while huge clusters of candles burnt beforfe the screen that hides the altar, and the candelabra and sanctuary lamps were all hghted in honour of Easter morn. As new arrivals kept dropping in, there was hearty hand-shaking and exchange of greetings, quite 304 UNORTHODOX LONDON. , putting one in mind of the old Christian salutation on that same morning, ' The Lord hath risen.' The Greek ritual seemed to realize as intensely the joy of the Eesurrection as the English does that of the Nativity at Christmastide. When the special service was over, the Liturgy of St John began, and continued for about two hours. A foreign priest, with long black beard and olive complexion; assisted Mr Morphinos, and the vestments of each were of rich white satin. The acolytes wear an English-shaped surplice, with a light blue cross em- broidered upon it. The Liturgy, which really divides at the Sursum Oorda, consists of two portions — the Prothesis and the Anaphora ; and the two most striking hymns are the Cherubic Hymn and the Trisagion. The canon of the Mass is gone through with the veil drawn between the sanctuary and congregation, but the greater portion of it is chanted aloud, the congregation and choir bearing their part, and only a certain portion being said in secret by the priest and deacons. The celebrant in the Greek Church consecrates five small loaves, each of which is, stamped with letters signifying, ' Jesus Christ conquers.' These he divides with what is called the holy spear, and sets aside portions for the Holy Lamb, for St Mary, for nine prophets, apostles, a,nd martyrs, together with a portion for the living and another for the dead. After consecration the elements are brought forward, veiled, in front of the altar screen, and elevated before the people, but there was no com- munion. A very beautiful prayer, too, is that called the Prayer of the Entrance, which I would translate freely thus : — ' Lord our God, who hast appointed in the heavens troops and armies of Angels and Archangels for the service of Thy Glory, let there be, with our Entrance, an eritrance of Holy Angels, worshipping with us, and joining us to glorify Thy goodness. For. to Thee be- longs all glory, honour, and worship, to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now and ever, and to eternal ages. Amen.' A GREEK EASTERTIDE. 305 At one period in the service, tlie foreign priest in his magnificent robes stood fronting the congregation, and held the silver-bound .Gospel for them to kiss. All advanced, one by one, gray-headed men and tiny children, kneeling reverently as they kissed the sacred volume.' I could not help noticing throughout the service that, though the doctrine of the Real Presence was prominent, it never merged in transubstantiation ; and also, while special honour was paid to the Virgin Mary, there was nothing that could be construed into Mariolatry. I fancy the Eastern Church has never been a missionary or propagandist body to the same extent as the Western; but I cannot help thinking that, to persons who left the Anglican Communion in search of more advanced doctrine and ritual, there would be less violence .in the transition to the Greek than to the Eomish Church. But this is foreign to my purpose. Whatever else the Greek Church may be, and whether, as the late Dr Neale thought, she is to form the future basis of reunion in Christendom, we can, at all events, concede to him that she presents ' the phenomenon of a permanent Christian society and doctrine external to the Eoman obedience.' The Patriarchates still occupy what were the great centres in the generations immediately succeeding the Apostlesj and though I could scarcely go so far as my commu- nicative doorkeeper in Welbeck Street, who opined that the litual then and there to be carried out by Mr Popoff was identical with that of the Apostles them- selves, still the very names of the Liturgies — those of St James, St Mark, St John Ohrysostom, and St Basil — attest their great antiquity, , and make us feel that in the orthodox Greek Church we have a curious link binding us to the very earliest ages of our faith. Dr Neale, in his ' History of the Holy Eastern Church,' speaks of her as already 'extending herself from the Sea of Okotsk to the palaces of Venice, from the ice- fields that grind against the Solevetsky monastery to the burning jungles of Malabar, embracing a thousand languages and tongues, that bind them together in the 20 3o6 UNORTHODOX LONDON. golden link of the same faith, offer the tremendous sacrifice in a hundred liturgies, but offer it to the same God, and with the same rites, fixing her patriarchal thrones in the same cities as when the disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.' IN A FRENCH PASTURE. THERE are few phases of social life more curiously noteworthy than the eagerness with which people in a foreign country combine to celebrate the customs of the Fatherland. From the captive Jews singing their Hebrew melodies on the banks of Euphrates down to Englishmen eating rosbif hien sanglani and slabby Tplxim-bodeng in the Rue de la Madeleine in Paris, and deluding themselves that they are keeping Christmas k I'Anglaise, the illustration holds good; and it was prettily exemplified, too, at a little chapel in the Mon- mouth Road, Bayswater, whereinto I strayed one Sun- day. As Melancholy did with the youth- in Gray's Elegy, so had I often in the course of my devious wan- derings marked this place of worship for my own. The pastor, the Rev. Jules Marc Henri du Pontet de la Harpe, is a man of many advertisements, who does not hide his light under a bushel ; but wisely, in these days of keen competition, lets the London public know what he is doing. Consequently it was from no lack of previous invitation that I had not gone thither before. The Eglise Evang^lique Fran9aise, in Monmouth Road, is the tiniest of buildings, unpretending without, and coloured within, as to its bare walls, a delicate French gray, so that it is national to its very whitewash, if it be not Hibernian to say so. It wanted a quarter to» eleven when I got there, and eight little children were IN A FRENCH PASTURE. 307 being catechized by a French schoolmaster and mistress in the front seats around the pulpit. I was accompanied by my little daughter, and great was her astonishment to hear such young children able to speak French so fluently, her own dialect of that language being at present somewhat of the Stratford-atte-Bow order. They repeated a prayer all together, and ended by singing a little French hymn whioh sounded quite in the style of the Waters of Babylon. While this was going on, a female verger was en- gaged in arranging the pulpit cushions, putting a glass of water within easy reach of the preacher, and also laying the little table with its fair white cloth, simple communion plate, and huge pile of bread for the Lord's Supper. I was again unfortunate in my experiences with this lady, though the way she treated my request for a seat was quite characteristic of the locale. She did not fly at me snappishly, as a good lady in a chapel had done the week before, but assured me with the most efiusive politeness that she would put us in a s^at immediately j but left us aU the morning to cool on one side with the draught from the adjacent door, and on the other to bake by the aid of a fierce little French stove, about the size and shape of a sugar-loaf, hard by. It was an exact illustration of the opposite courses adopted in the allegory of the Two Sons who were told to go into the vineyard. One said, ' I will not ; ' but afterwards repented and went. That was the truculent Methodist above-mentioned, who eventually relented so far as to send me up-stairs. The other said, ' I go, sir, and went not.' That represented the suave lady of the Eglise Evangeliqne Prancaise. I fancy she was pressed for room, however. The chapel was homoeopathic in its dimensions ; and the female congregation large. There were not a dozen men ; and at least half of those seemed to be officially engaged for the impending collection. The other six were youths. There are no such things as French boys. When the catechizing was over and the congregation had settled, and while my own hopes of a seat were 3o8 UNORTHODOJt LONDON. growing fainter and faintbr, a nasal little harmonium somewtere in an upper gallery struck up, as if in derision, '1 waited for the Lord/ and the false and flattering pew-opener handed me a torn copy of the Cantiques, or Hymn Book. I then saw she did not mean to move us to more eligible quarters. What business had we, I dare say she thought, by the Waters of Babylon? Presently the Pastor entered, down centre, as they would say on the stage. He was a handsome black- haired and whiskered gentleman, coiffe quite after the English fashion, and wearing the costume now obsolete in the Establishment, of Geneva gown and extensive bands. It was the quondam attire of the pet parson revived; and in some respects, if he will excuse my saying so, M. du Pontet de la Harpe revived the man- ner, too. After a few appropriate words, he gave out a hymn, which was sung to a thoroughly French melody, with the accompaniment of the harmonium. All the hymns were strikingly characteristic, and exceedingly well sung. I transcribe two stanzas from this one — ' Dieu de veritS, pour qiii seiil je soupire, Unis mon coeur st toi par de forts et doux noeuds, Je me lasse d'ouir, je me lasse de lire, Mais non pas de te dire, C'est toi seul que je veux. ' Parle seul k mon ame, et que nuUe science. Que nul auteur, docteur, ne m'explique tes lois. Que toute creature en ta sainte pr§sence S'impose le silence Bt laisse agir ta voix.' A lesson from the Prophets was then read, without any attempt at elocution, but in a simple unaffected style, so that every syllable reached even my dull Britannic ears, to which the sounds of the French language had long been unfamiliar. This was followed by a rather long extempore prayer, in which the Deity was addressed by the name of ' Eternel,' and great stress was laid on the natural depravity of man. It was IN A FRENCH PASTURE. 309 followed by another hymn, whicli bore reference to the approaching F6te de Noel : — ' Ouvrez-vous, portes des cieux, Tressaillez, o§leates lieux, D'une all6gress6 nouvelle ! ' Then — strangely enough, and not without semblance of repetition — came another lesson. Psalm cvii., and another extempore prayer, followed by a third hymn. I am afraid this repetition made me inattentive. I looked round at my neighbours, most of whom were, as I said, of the female sex ; and all those in the same seat, which was at the very back of the chapel,' seemed to be servants. The physiognomies were plainly Celtic, and the women had put on their little bits of English finery quite French-wise. What is the occult law, I wonder, which makes a French modiste,, like a French cook, able to make so much more of slender materials than our English ' artists ' ? I also noticed that the Pastor had in his Bible quite a High Church-looking marker of coloured ribbon, with I.H.S. emblazoned upon it J and I trembled with fear lest anything in the shape of KituaUsm should insidiously have crept like a wolf into that little French pasture. The second prayer was rather a strange combination ; at one time quite conversational, at another breathing such a tone of mystic devotion as suggested the Brahminical Nirwana, or absorption of the devotee in the deity. The suc- ceeding cantique was set to the tune of ' Adeste Fideles,' and bore on the subject of the Communion that was to follow — ' C§16brons son amour, Louons sa mSmoiie, Et dans la foi oombattons oiaque jour, Sainte victoire ! Etemelle gloire ! Seigneur, qu'aveo les Anges Nous ohantons tes louanges_ A ton banquet au celeste sejour.' After a brief extempore prayer, occupying the place of our pulpit collect, M. du Pontet de la Harpe gave out 310 UNORTHODOX LONDON. as Ms text St Matthew iii. 8, 9, and commenced his sermon. It was a skilful and eloquent analysis of Repentance, blended all along with fierce invectives against external and ceremonial religion. Building on this ceremonial religion the Jew, in the time' of John Baptist, said he had no need of repentance, he was of the seed of Abraham. So, too. Christians said they went to Church, they were ' en r^gle avec Dieu ' with- out repentance; and these two were reminded that God could of the very stones beneath their feet raise up children unto Abraham. The expression did not refer to actual stones — ' C'est absurde.' It related to nominal Christians whose hearts, prior to repentance, were hard as stones. It was not a matter of sentiment or ceremony, no ; — that was absurd too — a blasphemy. Ton feel it is impossible to be a matter of ceremony. ' Vous sentez,' he kept repeating with much gesticulation, ' c'est d^grader Dieu — homme — religion ! ' In Abraham all the nations of the earth were blessed; and so, among Christians, there was neither Jew nor Greek, barbarian nor Scythian, bond nor free. All were the ' sainte famille de Dieu,' not according to the flesh which was sinful, but by the regimen of repentance that sin was done away, as it was expressed in *■ ce chapitre superbe ' he had read from the prophet, w^iere they were told how their sins, though red like crimson, should be made white as snow. Then another final diatribe against ceremonialism. It was not by 'actes du culte,' but by the ' actes de la vie, tons les jours, tons les instants,' that this was to be effected. ' Vous avez compris ? ' he kept asking. The one was the condition of the stones 'point de foi, d' amour, de zMe,' the other that of the ' enfants d' Abraham.' ' C'est par la predication de I'Evangile qu'il faut esp^rer faire des pierres les enfants d' Abraham.' The sermon eventually merged into a prayer, and the service concluded with a very comprehen- sive form, which embraced petitions for all sorts and conditions of men ; for the Queen and Royal Family ; for the sick and the poor — ' pour tons ceux qui pleurent — A PRIZE-FIGHTEKS SERMON. , 311 le nombre en est si grand,' it was touchingly said. It also embraced the Lord's Prayer and the Apostles' Creed, and finished with the old Jewish benediction pronounced with extended hands. Very few communicants seemed to remain, and all who had voices were invited to come and join a practice of Christmas hymns on the ensuing "Wednesday evening. A PEIZB-PIGHTER'S SERMON. IT would really seem, in these wonderful days on which we have lighted, as though the situation of Horace's First Satire were realized, and fate had said to some of us ' mutatis discedite sortibus ' — ' Your lots are changed,- be off ! ' Only the merchant does not become a soldier, or the lawyer a sailor, but the fashion seems to be for everybody to turn parson. We have had converted thieves, and regenerated colliers; and at the time of which I write the last lion of the theological world was Bendigo, the converted prize-fighter. Rumours of strange doings at the Cabmen's Mission Hall, King's Cross Circus, attracted me strongly in that direction ; and the contemporaneous occurrence of a clerical throat rendering me hors de combat on Sunday morning, I took the opportunity of presenting myself at this new shrine of my devotions. I got there, as usual, a good deal too early, and found the Mission Hall proper closed; but went on a tour of inspection amongst all the different doors, and at length found one that yielded to my efforts. This was on the basement^ the hall itself being on the first floor. I entered, and found myself at Sunday-school. Judging from the small numbers assembled, I should say either that the cabmen are not a prolific race, or else that they do not appreciate the value of religious 312 UNORTHODOX LONDON. education. There were only six girls and three boys present, with six teachers to attend to them, three maje and three female. Happily the proceedings were brief, for it was nearly eleven o'clock, consisting only of a hymn and the Lord's Prayer. In the former it seemed as though the author or compiler had chosen lines with as many aspirated syllables as possible, all of which, I need scarcely say, were studiously omitted by the singers. The tune of the hymn ' was ' Home, sweet home ; ' and after the last verse a little gentleman among the con- gregation would insist upon appending the ordinary refrain from the song. I say 'the congregation,' for everybody as they came did as. I myself had done, and we were requested to wait there until the room up-stairs was opened ; so we really did form a select little con- gregation. An old gentleman in a clerical hat and white beard sat reading the Church Times. I thought it was well for him that nobody knew what he was about. In due course we were ushered up-stairs ; but even •then had a quarter of an hour to wait before proceedings commenced. The interval was devoted to moral talk on the part of the adults; while the three schoolboys, who were placed in front under the pulpit and facing the six school-girls, amused themselves with shooting light missiles into the young ladies' faces. At 11.15 there was a suppressed exclamation from three awakened cab- men behind me, ' Here's Ben,' and I saw a tall man pass into the small vestry in the corner, which looked scarcely big enough to hold him. The hall itself was a neat building with a double gallery, and the usual arrange- ment of pulpit and benches, all in clean stained wood. In a few minutes the minister, who announced himself on the bills as the Rev. Mr Dupee, entered in violently clerical costume, with Bendigo in lay attire on his right, hand in the rostrum; while a timid tenor in the gallery sang ' I will arise,' to a harmonium accompaniment. I saw from the hymn-books that this Rev. Mr Dupee had been the organizer of the ' Hallelujah Band' — whatever that might be — at Wolverhampton. We began with the hymn ' Before Jehovah's awful A PRIZE-FIGHTER'S SERMON. 313 throne,' and th.en the Rev. Mr Dupee engaged in prayer, with frequent and loud ejaculations from his con- gregation. Among the clauses of his prayer was one that Brother Bendigo, having been engaged for many years in fighting his country's battles, might now fight as valiantly for Christ. He also besought in a sten- torian voice, and amid much interjectional applause, that Infidelity, Ritualism, and Popery might be put away (the old gentleman had hidden his Gliurch Times), and that Her Majesty might be converted ! There were also special sufirages for lunatics, cabmen, and prisoners ! Then we had another hymn from the Hallelujah book — ' How happy every child of grace Who kuows his sins forgiven ! ' the conclusion of which was a hope that we might, in the curious phraseology of this school of religionists — ' Greet the blood-besprinkled bands Upon the eternal shore ! ' Thereupon followed a Scripture lesson, Acts ii., in which I was surprised to hear the reader trip over what J. thought was a favourite and comforting word, Mesopo- tamia. He called it Mesopotonia, and also leaned to long penultimates in Phrygia and Libya. He concluded by saying, ' Here ends this encouraging portion of Holy Scripture.' Then there was another hymn to the Tantum Ergo tune, and I found my three Sunday-school lads, with the versatility of boyhood, amusing themselves by try- ing the eflect of stopping and unstopping their ears throughout its progress. During all this time Bendigo stoodj old man though he was, erect as an arrow on the right hand of the sleek parson. He was a slender, clean-limbed personage, and I should never have suspected his former occupation from his appearance ; but there was considerable hard- ness about his wrinkled face, and his eye was bright and clear as an eagle's. I could quite believe that in his 314 UNORTHODOX LONDON. earlier days it would have been difficult for an antagonist to catch that eye napping. I saw that the third finger of his left hand had been broken, I presume during some of ' his country's battles.' Before Bendigo's address we had one from a brother of the presiding minister, who — the Eev. Mr Dupee informed us— used to go to fights with Bendigo. ' We are all of one town,' he added, ' and I used, when a boy, to follow that man, and pray that he might be converted.' This Dupee the un-reverend was a capital old fellow, and told first-rate stories of adventures he had had when selling Bibles at fairs. First of all he gave us, in good North-country dialect, a homely exposition of the Exodus- — his text or motto being 'Go forward/ though he apologized for never having been ' 'prenticed to parson- ing.' I liked him all the better because ^he had not. He gave a long account of an altercation he haid with a man at a fair, who told him he had no right to be selling Bibles there; but he overcame him with a text, and ' went off singing Hallelujah.' Hallelujah seemed to run in the Dupee family, both lay and reverend. There was also another excellent story of his being taken up by a policeman for the same offence, and going off with the constable singing a hymn to the tune of ' Pretty Polly Hopkins.' He sang two verses of it, and marched dramatically up and down the rostruin, the congregation joining in with him full-voiced, and beating time with their feet. ' Christ for me - e, Christ for me,' was the refrain, which was lustily taken up by all except the apathetic Sunday-school children ; but he was a rare old ranter was this un-reverend Dupee. ■ Another hymn followed, and it was about half-past twelve before time was called for Bendigo, and then the Rev. Mr Dupee brought him in with a slight sermonette on his own account, as if he did not like the laity to have all the talk. For thirty years, he said, he had been trying to get ' Bendy,' and now he had got him. Ben had been beside himself for sixty years, but for the last two had been in his right mind, preaching Christ. In his wild times he had. been a brave fellow. He had- A PRIZE-FIGHTER'S SERMON. 315 fought twenty-one prize-fights ; and when he was going to fight Ben Caunt, he was offered £1000 to lose, an offer which he acknowledged by pitching into the street the man who made it. He could not read from the, book, but he could do that which was better still, read his title clear to mansions in the skies j and with that remark he gave him a sounding pat on the back and yielded place to him in the pulpit. Bendy's address was very brief, and uttered in a rapid nervous manner, which-r-besides the loss of his teeth — made it difficult to follow him. When he began to be good, he said, his friends gave him a fortnight, and said he would be locked up again by that time. The tagrag and bobtail, when he did not get locked up, began to say, ' If God can save Bendy, He can save me ! ' He compared himself graphically enough to the dying thief, and told us how he had got his little ' country seat ' and £1 a week for the rest of his life — ■ so strangely did the material and spiritual blend in this exceptional sermon. It was fifty-five years ago, he said, that he first came up to town to fight Burke, and all through that time, though he was making so much; money, he never had a penny to bless himself It was Dick Weaver who converted him. The most amusing part of his address was his account of the ministrations of the prison chaplain. He was particularly interested in the combat of little David and big Goliath, so much so that, when the chaplain was telling him, he antici- pated the result by saying, ' I do hope the little 'un will lick the big 'un ! ' Even in his ' wild state ' he used to like to hear preaching, but got snubbed when he tried to go to church. Now people said, ' Bendy's making a good thing of it.' ' Bendy's togs are better than they used to be.' ' You're right,' he continued ; ' at •sixty-three years of age, and after fighting twenty-one prize-fights, I feel like a boy. Champion of England is a big title, but took a deal of trouble to get, and was no good when I got it. Now I'm struggling hard for another crown,' He sat down long before we expected or wished ; and^ 3i6 UNORTHODOX LONDON. the Rev. Mr Dupes took up his proverb again. That maiij he said, was a miracle. We might not have been able to follow, he thought, because all his teeth had been knocked out. He was one of twenty-one children, and the youngest of three at a birth. His parents, brothers, and sisters were all dead, and so was every man he ever fought with ! On the following Sunday Bendy would be at the Hall again. There would be thi-ee services, at 11, 2.30, and 6.30. At the last Bendy would receive the Lord's Supper. He had not done so hitherto because, being a teetotaller, he had scruples as to the wine ; but the cup on this occasion would be filled with unfermented juice of the grape, so that any Good Templar or teetotaller might partake with Bendy. It is the fashion now-a-days to disbelieve conversions, from that of Constantino downwards ; but whatever we might think of the method, there could be no doubt that Bendy's conversion had landed him on a better life than his old one. A single fact like that ex-champion of England, I could not help thinking, was, after all, worth a hundred theories. GREAT TRIBULATION. r T is remarkable to what an extent those sects which . are one degree elevated above the vulgar denuncia- tions of the conventicle, fall back on the Great Tribu- lation as a sort of make-weight. We are all familiarj of course, with the mild joke appertaining to Crown- court, ' The Great Tribulation — Gumming upon Earth ; ' but it is really strange to find how much stock, so to speak, is made out of this apparently unprolifio article of theological produce. I was attracted one Tuesday GREAT TRIBULATION. 317 evening to the cathedral-like structure of the Catholic Apostolic Church in Gordon Square by seeing that this same Great Tribulation was to form the first in a series of sermons ; and it struck me at once that I should find an old friend with a new face, so I girded up my loins and set out for a new ecclesiastical ' experience.' As I passed from the unfragrant mews in Torrington Place, under the portal of this splendid church, I was greeted with the welcome odour of incense. The nave was lighted, but the choir in gloom, the three lancet windows of the Lady Chapel beyond just showing their rich tints against the evening sky ; and the organ was being played softly as the congregation assembled. Courteous attendants, some in cassocks, others in the garb of ordinary existence, handed hymn-books to each stranger as he entered, passing them on to the seats, all of which were. free. Two gentlemen in surplices and red stoles — ' ribbons,' as the Primate once termed them — entered and took seats near the choir steps : and an excellent mixed choir in one of the aisles commenced the service by singing a hymn. Thereupon followed what was in some respects an abridgment of the Church of England service. There was, first of all, an exhortation, which I should think was original : then followed the Confession, nearly as it stands in our service-book, with just a few verbal alter- ations. The Absolution was the same as that of the Church of En,gland, and was followed by the Collect for the Second . Sunday in Advent, ' Blessed Lord,' &c. Then a lesson was read from Isaiah xiii., commencing at verse 6, followed by portions of the Prayer for the Church Militant, all reference to Bishops being studiously avoided. The second and third Collects for Evening Prayer were added: and the General Thanksgiving brought to its close about as heterogeneous a service as one could well listen to. Another hymn was sung, and then the younger-looking of the two clergymen ascended the pulpit for the Great Tribulation. He looked as little like a man who had ever seen trouble or tribulation as any one could well imagine. 31 8 UNORTHODOX LONDON. A fresh, hale, clean-shaven face was his in all parts (as Cffisar says) except the upper lip, which bore a cavalry moustache. High shirt collars, which a less reverent writer than myself would term * gills,' stood Muff above his stole, and looked incongruous enough in his exceedingly clerical attire. Now that he was closer I could see that his stole was fastened with a gold cord in front with two bright tassels. His face struck me as a sort of compromise between Monsignor Capel and Mr Edmund Tates. After a preliminary Collect and Paternoster, he stood surveying his congregation just as Mr Bellew used to do at his readings, gazed severely at some- body who moved out or in, and then, without enun- ciating any text, plunged boldly into the middle of the Great Tribulation. The French Eevolution, in the last century, he said, marked an epoch in the history of Christian people. The altars were desecrated, and the Churches turned into Temples of Reason. Religion was clean swept away ; and not only the laws of God but the laws of man — ^international law itself, amongst others, were forgotten. Mob law prevailed. The influence of this state of things was not transient but permanent, and extended to succeeding genera- tions. Christian men and Christian nations were not the same since as they had been before. That par- ticular nation was a warning to us, if, after we had been redeemed, we did not 'take care what we were about.' A similar state of things obtained in 1852; but it was put down with a strong hand. So, again, under the Commune, the Reign of Terror would have been reproduced if men had been strong enough to do it. It was not the will but the power that was wanting. So, too, it spread once more to other nations in the shape of international Societies and Leagues. The object was to bring about a state of anarchy. The principles of the first French Revolution were still GREAT TRIBULATION. 319 spreading, not only abroad — in Paris,, Vienna, and St Petersburg — but in England. Look, lie said, at the state of English society. Vice was kept out of the wide street, but only to lurk in by-ways. "We were in the midst of a season gayer than we had had for many years. What was there behind it all? Law- lessness and vice. Strong police and military forces were necessary; for society was being disintegrated, especially among the lower orders. Servants set themselves against their masters; working men and agricultural labourers against their employers. There was a handsome veneer, but society itself was rotten. There was nothing good in it except the varnish with which it was overlaid. Pausing awhile in his catalogue of- woes, he proceeded to say — Look at the political world. Sovereigns were visiting one another and exchanging congratulations; they were crying peace, and simultaneously arming to the teeth. They were building forts and' ironclads, and making endless experiments in the art of destruction. Famine was desolating India; and yet we were told that all was well. If we looked from a religious point of view, we still saw restlessness. Rome was rent and torn; in Ger- many the religious question was likely to undo all the boasted unity. At home the great question of the Session was a religious one. It was an endeavour to restrain the lawlessness of the clergy. The Press — the greatest power of all — was simply bent on setting parties at variance one with the other. Scepticism was giving it out on all hands that the Church was merely a worldly institution. Men sought other means of regenerating the world— such as Temperance Socie- ties, Benefit Societies, and what not- Virtue and morality were to be put in place of God. So, too, God's day was desecrated. Sunday was made a public holiday, a day for taking trips, going to see one's friends, or going on excursions. There was another power of evil abroad too — a 320 UNORTHODOX LONDON. spiritual power. Even the clergy sought evil spirits. They had left off going to God in order to go to. the Devil. All this, he. held, was the outcome of the French Eevolution ; but what did it mean ? We had only to turn to God's Word, and we should find our answer at once. We had come to the last daysj and these things were precursors of the Great Tribulation, and the reign of Antichrist. We could see this in the revelations of the Hebrew Prophets, in the words of Christ and His Apostles, and, lastly, in the Apocalypse. He here quoted largely from each source, scarcely ever needing to refer to his Bible, and reciting long texts with wonderful facility. I employed my time while I had not to write in taking stock of the congregation, which was mostly composed of heavy old ladies and unintellectual-looking men. Paul, he continued, de- scribed a state of society at Corinth really very little worse than any at the present time — not one that was utterly irreligious, but that had a form of godliness without the power thereof. But we had not got to the worst yet. There were still the Seven Trumpets to be blown and the Seven Vials to be poured out, and then King Antichrist was to rise. Then the Lord would come and destroy Antichrist. That was to be the order of events — the Great Tribulation, the Reign of Antichrist, and the Victory of Christ. It might be said — why draw this gloomy picture ? That was just the point. Why ? See your position, he said. You are in covenant with God — a covenant to defy the Devil. That was the vow of our baptism. All these nations of which he had been speaking were God's people. A way and means of grace were given to all in the fourfold ministry. The covenant of the Spirit made at Pentecost included that ministry. We vowed to follow Christ, and we had not. We had pampered the flesh instead. Look at the civilization around. It resolved itself into luxury, amusements, dress. Was this keeping the flesh in death? And GREAT tribulation: 321 yet we were in covenant with God. Grod did not love this world, and we did. That was God's controversy with us. We had despised the ministry He ordained. We said it was only meant to last for a time; that Apostles were only necessary to launch the Church, and then she might be left to get to heaven as she could. So said not the Scriptures. These Ministries were to continue till we all came to perfection. Then again he bade us remember — this stern preacher, whose outward man seemed almost to belie the tre- mendous doctrines he was enunciating— r-how all previous dispensations had ended in judgment. The days of Noe issued in the Flood. The Jewish Dispensation beginning with Abraham ended in the ruin of Jerusalem, and in the name of a Jew being a reproach and a taunt. Now we were standing in the same critical position. God let that French Revolution come as the first shock of the earthquake. It did startle men. It made them look into their Bibles. This was why he was speaking to us of these things. We had been breaking the covenant for ages and generations, and God had sent what we read of in the daily press, and in the history of the last century. But we might still ask, who are you ? You are no better than we, it might be said. No ; and the pro- phets of old were no better than their brethren ; but God called them — called Noah, Lot, Isaiah. We come, because we are sent to tell you that God has restored the Ministers of His Church. We are sent by the Apostles, and the Apostles by Christ (?). This is our testimony. It was announced on the handbills of the sermons that opportunity would be given after each, for per- sons to make inquiries of the minister in the Church ; and there (where I have printed a query), was my great difficulty with' the Catholic Apostolic Church. I could get no historic account of the revival of the Apostolate. I would ask that night, if I found a ' likely ' minister. All we say is, he concluded, read the signs of the 21 322 UNORTHODOX LONDON. times. Be warned j, or else you will find yourselves under tlie reign of Antichrist before you know it. With the Mission of Judgment was a Mission of Mercy bound up ; and that would be the subjact on Tuesday next. It was particularly hard to alarm Englishmen with a sense of danger; but now God would have us tremble. Don't let all pass like water from a duck's back. Amen. There was considerable power, intellectual and phy- sical, in the sermon, which was succeeded by another hymn and the Apostolic benediction, the latter pro- nounced with outstretched arms. I saw my ' likely ' minister ; indeed he did not wait for me to see him. He saw me and made up to me, as they always do at Gordon Square. He was, however, a feeble man, the very antipodes of the preacherj with whom I would far rather have exchanged words. The preacher's name, he informed me, was Wells. He held no position of eminence, being simply ' one of the priests of the Church.' As to how the Apostolate was restored, it was, he told me, by the voice of prophecy — 'the only way it could be.' The ranks of the Apostles were thinned by death ; indeed there were only three alive, and they did not much expect that the ranks would be filled up, because they felt the work was done. There might be another call, but they did not look for it. The voice of prophecy was still, he said, heard among them — mostly in the exposition of Scripture by the prophet in the public services of the Church, some- times, but rarely, among the congregation. I could not help thinking how the charismata of the early Church had passed through the same ordeal of organ- izing and methodizing until they seemed to be lost altogether. There are few more interesting phenomena than this same Catholic Apostolic Church. All looked so correct that one scarcely dared at first to include it in the ranks of Unorthodox London. It need scarcely be said that I do it without the slightest inclination to oSence, and in the technical meaning of the term only. It has A LADY-PREACHER AT THE POLYTECHNIC. 323 changed vastly since the days of Edward Irving ; but is now pushing to the front with the riew energy of the phoenix. Who shall forecast its effect on our day and generation ? A LADY-PREACHER AT THE POLYTECHNIC. AMONG the various offices which the exuberant am- bition of advanced ladies claims now-a-days as their own, the pulpit has not yet asserted: itself as much as might have been expected ; in fact,, of .the three learned professions, medicine is that which has been specially patronized by the fair sex. That the law has not been so attractive we can well understand, for the female mind is the reverse of legal, and an unromantic judicial bench would, it is to be feared, oppose the ' call ' of any modern Portia. But that the pulpit should remain un- sealed by feminine ambition is remarkable. If, however^ the actual pulpit is not occupied by ladies, the platform, which may be regarded as a kind of outwork leading to the citadel, has been successfully carried; and from Mrs Girling, the Suffolk peasant who represents the Jumpers, up to the aristocratic lady of whom I propose to speak in this paper, we have a whole series of aspir- ants to platform celebrity. The present position, how- ever, and the well-known antecedents of Mrs Thistle- thwayte, made me more curious to hear her utterances than those of the various speakers, spiritualistic, scien- tific, or strong-minded, who lure us from time to time to sit at their feet ; and I readily repaired to the Poly- technic on a recent Sunday, having received two ten- shilling tickets for reserved seats; such being the somewhat high tariff at which this lady rated her attractions. The admission was free, but the reserved 324 UNORTHODOX LONDON. seals cost half-a-sovereign. The occasion, however, was a charitable one ; and it was, I suppose, considered that those who were inclined to contribute would do so in the way of paying a high sum for seats. Be that as it might, I found the Great Theatre of the Polytechnic fully galleries, unreserved seats, reserved stalls, and all. The vast assemblage was singing the familiar hymn, ' Ashamed of Jesus, can it be ? ' to the tune which usually accompanies the '0 Salutaris Hostia' in the Roman Benediction Service. There was a harmonium on the platform played by a young man j and three ladies in sober, almost Quakerish attire, were leading the voices, but the hymn was well taken up by all present, rich and poor, and there were a great many of the latter — a remarkable number of aged women, I noticed, as I gazed around while they were singing. •On the platform were five persons ; three ladies, young but demure — almost sad-looking, 6ne elderly gentleman, and a second, a tall, handsome, soldierly man, whom I inferred to be Mrs Thistlethwayte^s husband. She her- self stood behind a baize table and lecture-desk in the centre, habited in solemn black. It was something like a quarter of a century since I had seen that face — then, perhaps, the loveliest in London. There it was again — the same face, but toned and chastened by lapse of years and changed experiences. The eyes retained much of their former expression— I noticed it especially when the preacher, in the course of her address, warmed into more than usual eloquence — but the mouth was sad, and the whole face like that of a Mater Dolorosa. When the hymn was finished, Mrs Thistlethwayte uttered a brief invocation, and then engaged in prayer j eloquently enough, but it struck me that her manner was a little disti-aU. I noticed, too, that her white hands were covered with rings. I know not why, but I had expected to see more outward and visible signs of asceticism than I found present. It is so one always sketches ideal pictures, and is half disappointed, though A LADY-PREACHER AT THE POLYTECHNIC. 325 witliout tlie slightest occasion or excuse, to find them not realized. Prayer over, the preacher told us that she had come forward to aid in the establishment of a school church for the children of miners in Gloucestershire, where they might be taught the truths of the Blessed Book she held in her jewelled hand — the best antidote, in her opinion, to Unions and Communes. She bade us, from what we knew of the Commune in Paris, picture the horrors of a Commune in England — a Commune in London ! The everlasting truths of that Book taught them what to be ashamed of — taught us of the upper classes as well as the poor. To be ashamed of what ? Poverty ? Ko ; but to be ashamed of sin, ashamed of rejecting the Saviour. She then spoke of her last week's sermon and collection for the same object, and told how the tears rolled down her cheeks when she saw among the collection the numerous pence of the poor. ' All I have myself,' she said, ' I give away, and in iisking your alms for this purpose I am not, therefore, telling you to do what I do not do myself.' She then went on to the sermon proper, and was glad to notice that so many had their Bibles with them. She chose her text from St John xi. 19 — 21, which she read with much emphasis, though I could not help thinking I detected a provincial accent in her speech. Did thia raising up of Christ's body herein predicted take place ? She would read another passage from the 20th chapter of the same Gospel, which was the narrative of Mary Magdalene's visit to the Holy Sepulchre. Mary Magda- lene was therein bidden go to Christ's brethren and announce Him risen ; so was she herself sent to us. Eeferring to 1 Cor. xv. and Rom. vi., as further an- nouncing the grand truth of a risen Christ, she exclaimed, ' Why, it's great ! Why, it's magnificent ! Whoever confesses this truth shall be confessed before the angels in Heaven. There may be here some poor crossing- sweeper who shall be thus confessed before archangels. God has said it. How cold we are, then, to be ashamed of Him ! ' 326 UNORTHODOX LONDON. An old Scotch divine bad said that this first witness of the Resurrection, Mary Magdalene, was one whose name was worthy of the deepest reverence. She was not — and I was surprised, almost again disappointed, to find Mrs Thistlethwayte taking this line — she was not the 'Sinner of the City,' as some thought. St Luke, chap, viii., militated against this view ; and she could, she said, weep when she found this woman placed in a wrong position. She had met women of every grade, but she had never met one who was worthy to be called Magdalene. Her theory was that by the expulsion of the seven devils it was simply meant that this woman had been cured of insanity by Christ. Her gratitude to Him was for 'reason restored upon an abdicated throne.' Henceforth life was given up to Him. She went to Jerusalem with Him when He went up thither to die, though it was not the custom for Jewish women to ' go up ; ' but what cared she for custom ? Beal love forgets self. Perhaps it was Mary's first sight of Jeru- salem — and here the -preacher drew a glowing picture of her own first sight of the Holy City. She stood by the cross to witness the greatest drama the world had ever seen. The sun was ashamed to look on it ; but this woman feared not. She remained last at the cross : and then she was first at the tomb. She found it empty, but she waited. It was the grand May morning of our holy religion. She went 'and told His brethren that Christ had risen. She stood alone weeping — the 'pose with which these words were delivered was perfect — and then took place that meeting; write it, God, on every heart here ! He was victor over death for you. He conquered death and hell for you and yours. Be in earnest, my sisters, like her. Hers was the grandest embassage ever given. Go tell my brethren I am risen. It was given, not to a Church, not to a man, but to a woman. Dear, precious people, she burst forth, I stand here not in my own power, but, God helping me, in gratitude to Him who shed His Blood that I might be washed pure and white. I would lay down my life that you may have hope ! A LADY-PREACHER AT THE POLYTECHNIC. 327 To each sister I would say. Are you a believer? Then go and call a brother. We women were first in the fall, let us be the first in the New Creation ! Men, do you believe ? Then you are risen with God's Son. You are kings and priests, though none may see your crown. Be good soldiers, and then, when death comes, you shall know in whom you have believed. Be faithful. We women need your strength. Be our best friends. Out of Jesus we are nothing, in Him we are everything. It had been, she said, in a glowing peroration, the dream of her girlhood to see the Mount of Olives, the one place that had not been tampered with in succeed- ing ages. She stood there where Mary mistook for the gardener Him who was the gardener of every blade of grass and every flower in the wide world, who had created the rose of Sharon, and the vines on the hill- side. She looked out over the land of Moab,and as she did so, there came into her mind Mrs Alexander's beautiful lines on the Burial of Moses, with which she closed her address by reciting from memory. The above are but fragments of a long sermon, not, it may be, logical, or even always coherent, but evidently sincere, and full of deep significance to those present (and I fancy there were ma.ny such), who could remem- ber the preacher more than twenty years ago. THE MERCHANTS' LECTURE. lOR those in search of the sensational in religious _ matters, I still must think there is nothing more effective than the contrast of the great busy City of London at midday during the week, and those few churches and chapels which open their doors charily F 328 UNORTHODOX LONDON. to worshippers, whether in public or private devotion. Though one cannot guess why such should be the case, it would seem as though it were foreign in some way or other to the genius of the English Church to make any provision for private devotion in church for her members. It is done in some churches, I know; but these are so exceptional as to prove the rule ; that rule being far too generally that they are rigidly shut, except at service time on Sundays, when the gorgeous beadle, so graphically alluded to by Charles Dickens, is sta- tioned there as if to keep off all but ' respectable ' people. And yet, when we come to think of it, what place have those ' non-respectable people ' — the poor — got to pray in, if their church is closed against them ? Their mis- called homes are often not fit places to live in, much less to concentrate the mind on prayer. There can be little doubt that the more frequent practice of this private devotion in church among the Roman Catholics is one reason (among other obvious ones) of the greater hold that communion, and those who in our communion imitate its regimen, have over the poor. They feel that the church is their home; the region of their best emotions ; the place where their prayer is wont to be made. There is no more imposing sight than the poor peasant in a continental church utterly absorbed in prayer when no service is going on, and deaf to the sounds of the busy world outside the sacred house. By way of realizing anew something of this idea, I accepted the invitation one sees every Tuesday morning in the Times to attend the Merchants' Lecture at the Weigh House Chapel in Fish Street Hill, close to the Monument, at noon of that day. The lecture was, I perceived, to be preached by the Rev. W. W. Aveling, of Kingsland. All seats were free, the advertisement went on to assure me, and there would be ' no collection.' Being safely landed at the Mansion House, after a more than usually protracted journey by the Metro- politan Railway, I sped towards the Monument, when it wanted only some two minutes to the meridian hour. Of course under such circumstances one is button-holed THE MERCHANTS LECTURE. 329 by an acquaintance who has sometliing important to communicate, and equally, as a matter of course, one has to shake him off almost rudely. This occurred to me just as I was getting into a fit state of mind to note the contrast between the quietude of the Weigh Housp Ohapel and the din of Fish Street Hill. In my state of absorption I recollect suggesting to my acquaintance that he should accompany me to a pew, and that he fled precipitately at the bare idea. I had never been in this chapel before, among all my devious wanderings, and was struck with the handsome arrangements of the interior. At the end farthest from the door was a fine pulpit of carved stone, an alto-relievo representing the Last Supper. Behind this, occupying the apse, was an organ with richly-gilt pipes, and beneath it the usual table, at which Mr Aveling was, at the time of my arrival, standing and reading from the Bible. What with the Metropolitan delays and my but- ton-holing acquaintance I had got quite late ; however, there were many later. In fact people kept dropping in and out during the whole service and sermon, which I interpreted as a sign that they were really of the class for whom the lecture was intended — business people able to snatch only a few minutes from the midst of their occupations. There was a considerable majority of men too, which — without being ungallant — 1 also recognized as a good sign. One seems to be always able to get a congregation of ladies. There was a very fair contingent at this chapel ; and I know not why, but there was a pervading characteristic about them which I should find it quite impossible to put into words, but which made me feel that I had met them before at every dissenting chapel I had ever attended. Probably their numbers would have been larger but for the simultaneous meeting for the Week of Prayer, and also for the Noon- tide Prayer in Moorgate Street, which I have described in these pages. Mr Aveling then, standing at the table underneath the pulpit, was reading a psalm appropriate to the occa- sion (for it was the first lecture in the New Year), in a 330 UNORTHODOX LONDON. clear distinct voice, and with marked, but by no means exaggerated, emphasis. He was arrayed in simple clerical dress without any gown. To the reading of this psalm succeeded a rather long — but not too long — ex- tempore prayer. It struck me as curious that when Mr Aveling prayed that we might be blessed in our domestic relations he specified 'husbands,' but not 'wives.' Considering the service was meant for merchants, I understood this at once to be a lapsus lingum, and thought it argued that Mr Aveling must be as much accustomed as myself to a preponderance of the female element in week-day services. But the prayer was exceedingly eloquent, and the modulation of the voice perfect, especially when, at its close, he besought, in well-chosen periods, that when our time came, the sun might set for us, not in a blaze of splendour, but calmly and quietly, so that those who loved us should feel that, though we were absent from the body, we were present with the Lord. The single hymn, too, which was sung was appropriate, and the congregation bore their parts in it as though its chords were familiar. I am always struck by the sing- ing power manifested in these chapels. A woman be- hind me sang in a rich clear voice, so as to be heard all over the large building, the words — ' Time is earnest, passing by : Death is earnest, drawing nigh, Sinner, wilt thou happy be ? Time and Death appeal to thee.' There was more of the ' destructive ' element in the composition than I liked ; but I did not forget that I had wandered beyond my own limits, and was not there to criticize, but to listen and describe. As the text of this lecture, Mr Aveling took the words occurring in Bcclesiastes ix. 10 — ' Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave, whither thou goest.' There was an old adage, he said, that whatever was THE MERCHANTS' LECTURE. 331 worth doing was worth doing well. There was a place assigned for everybody, and a definite end for each one's existence. Our wisdom was to find out what that place and what that end was, and then to obey in reference to it the injunction of the text. Standing at the open- ing of the year we should remember that thought and action projected their consequences into the future, and touched chords that would vibrate throughout eternity. Dividing duties into Relative or Social on the one hand, and Individual or Personal on the other, he pro- ceeded to pass in review the former. As he did so, I found it necessary to move somewhat nearer the pulpit, and then perceived that, opposite to the gaily-decorated organ, at the other or street end of the chapel, was a bright-coloured window, being a copy of Rafiaelle's car- toon of St Paul preaching on Areopagus. Personal duties, hov/ever, said the lecturer, were more appropriate to the occasion. It might seem a work of supererogation to tell a man he should take care of him- self; but 'many don't,' he observed. They cared for the visible, the present, the material. The body was so clamorous that it would be attended to. The mind was cultivated, too, but though the. spirit's necessities were really as clamorous as those of the body, we were often deaf to them. We might go on ignorant of the existence of the spirit within us, if God did not find methods to reach our consciences. To neglect the spirit was to commit suicide. What, then, must we do ? Without answering that question exhaustively, he would say — ^Apply to every duty the injunction of the text. Bring to bear on spiritual matters the same energy as was given to worldly concerns. 'Will you pardon my saying,' he continued, ' that many of you would have been in the Gazette long ago; if temporal interests had not weighed with you more than spiritual ? ' He had not one word to say against attention to temporal interests — his text enjoined it. 'But I don't , believe,' he said, 'in doing anything in a half-hearted way. I am going to speak 332 UNORTHODOX LONDON. strongly — bat if I made up my mind to do a wicked thing I would do it with all my might.' We Londoners, he went on' to say, were not usually considered deficient in energy. If you crossed London Bridge of a morning, you saw earnestness on every face. The very mode in which men moved along showed that their whole soul was in what they were about. If that were only carried into religion all would be well. He traced this principle through such duties as at- tendance on the means of grace, and especially dwelt on the importance of hearty singing. So in Bible- reading. He traced back to its original the word rendered 'Search the Scriptures.' It was a word of great energy — the Word that would be used of search- ing a mine. _ If they so sought, they would find gems flashing round them. Looking for brass, they would get gold; seeking for iron, they would find silver. Prayer, self-examination, self ' crucifixion ' were also subjected to the same searching analysis. Finally, he would speak one word as to the reason given in the text for this earnestness, ' There is no work,' &c. That was a solemn thought ; work could only be done on this side of eternity. It reminded him of Mat- thew Henry's quaint saying, 'If the work of life be not done when our time is done, we are wndone for ever.' 'If I read the Bible aright,' continued Mr Aveling, ' probation is confined to earthly life. There is nothing to encourage hope for another opportunity. It is not in the Book. Even if there be hope of a chance in another world (and I know it is a favourite theory with some people), it ought not to regulate our actions, because God's express condition is that work shall be done here and now. We don't dream of evading death — at least, any of us except that " poor mother among the Shakers." See, then, that the end of life be realized before death comes.' The lecture became a little too theological towards its close, and then, of course, it exceeded its limits, but only by a few minutes. On the whole, it was very prac- BRAMOISM IN LONDON. ' 333 tical and appropriate, and concluded with heartily wish- ing us a happy new year. A brief prayer and the apostolic benediction sent us forth into the whirl of the Great City again ; and the contrast came .sharply back when a boy clamorously de- manded of me to buy ' Jon Duan ' for ninepence. BRAMOISM IN LONDON. PROBABLY since the era of the homoousian and the homoiousian so great a difference has not turned on a single syllable as that between Brahminism and Bramoism. The former is, as is well known, a religious system abstruse in matters of faith and ornate in practice as Romanism itself; the latter, rendered familiar to us by the presence in our midst some years ago of Baboo Keshub Chunder Sen, head of the Bramo Somaj, is very much of the same kind of revulsion against Brahminism which Protestantism is against Roman Catholicism; only Brahminism has run, as in some cases Protestantism seenis not disinclined to do, into the antithesis of a. pure Theism. Being informed, then, that the coadjutor of Chunder Sen, and present representative of the Bramo Somaj in London, was to preach at Mr Conway's chapel in Pins- bury, I adjourned thither for the purpose of learning from personal observation something of the principles of that vast confraternity which I had heard was spreading in India. He had already preached for Mr Voysey, and at St George's Hall, and at the Unitarian Chapel in Stamford Street, Blackfriarsj so that one could gather by the nature of his sympathies and associations something of the preacher's principles. It 334 UNORTHODOX LONDON. was no doubt a similar proclivity that led him to Fins- bury, to tbe shrine once known as ' Fox's Chapel/ the presiding genius of which is now Mr Moncure D. Conway. It is a significant evidence as to the spread of the very broadest theological — or anti-theological — opin- ions, that it was with some diflBculty even I, as a favoured individual, could find a seat in Mr Conway's chapel. The bustling pew-opener was all politeness, and, moreover, knew my purpose in attending; but for a long time she could only offer me the alternative of a draughty seat at the back, which would have in- volved rheumatism, or one in front which might have endangered dislocation of my neck, had I endeavoured to catch a glimpse of the preacher. However, she pre- sently disposed of me in a populous pew, and I had leisure to look round and notice how the well-filled chapel was dotted over here and there with bright-eyed Asiatics, who had come to witness the once rare phe- nomenon of their countryman delivering himself in an English pulpit. It may be worth while to repeat a brief outline of the service at this, which is very much the most advanced place of worship in London ; in fact one where any form of worship at all strikes one almost in the light of an incongruity. Proceedings began with the singing of a hymn from a collection recently made for use in this chapel, and which is really a manual of very eclectic poetry indeed. It was per- formed with unusual musical ability, and I regret I have not the hymn-book by to quote the words. Then Mr Conway read from his own book, the Sacred Anthology, first of all the manifestation of God to Elijah as the Still Small Voice; secondly, a Puranic myth of King Vena; and thirdly, a Meditation from the Vedas, commencing, ' May that soul of mine which mounts aloft in my waking and my sleeping hours, an ethereal spai-k from the Light of Lights, be united by devout meditation with the Spirit supremely blest and supremely intelligent;' each of the six portions of which the Meditation was composed concluding with BRAMOISM IN LONDON. 335 the same aspiration, which ran through it like a burden or refrain. A second hymn followed, sung to the tune, 'Alia Trinita Beata,' and then succeeded a quasi- prayer, or rather meditation, wherein we were exhorted to attain by an effort to a proper exaltation of mind. I could not help noticing the different attitudes assumed by the congregation during this religious exercise. Some bent as if in prayer, and others sat listlessly, according, as I suppose, to their different tempera- ments. The preacher, who was a dark, negro-like man, sat by while Mr Conway conducted the service. He was clad in the conventional Hindoo coat, long as a Kitualist's soutane, but toned down with a gold Albert watch-chain. An anthem was sung while we sat ; and the brief ' devotions ' were over. The preacher then took Mr Conway's place at the desk, and .gave out as his text, in a strange musical voice, some Sanscrit words, which he said contained a deep well of meaning and truth, and which he after- wards translated thus : — ' In the golden recess of man's soul dwelleth the immaculate Spirit of the Supreme God.' It saddened him, he said, to think how the greatest privileges were often abused. This was ex- emplified in the word Eevelation. It was a blessed word, the noblest man could utter, the making-known of the supreme unseen Spirit to the aching heart of humanity. It had been painfully abused, and its sub- ject misunderstood, until it was made to apply to matters little calculated to inspire religious ideas. He had for instance, he said, great reverence for sacred books j a sincere reverence for that book outspread before him, the Christian Bible. So had he for the ' Scriptures of his Fatherland,' which had been a fount of truth over all the world,- and his veneration for them was, as it should be, great and sincere. But, he added, my book or your book is a book only. In my country it is usual to divide revelation into two classes — (1) That revelation of which we hear, of which we are reminded as a matter of memory, and (2) that revela- tion which is spoken to us, and which we hear directly. 336 UNORTHODOX LONDON, There could not, lie held, be a deeper or truer division. It would not ' do •■ to say that the Bible revealed nothing, that the Hindoo Scriptures suggested nothing: and he did regard the Scriptures of the Hindoos, of the Mahometans, and of the Christians as revelations, but in the secondary, subordinate, and indirect sense. He would be the last to discourage Scriptural studies, because he knew from experience that the Bible, the Vedas, and the Koran had taught him many things, and developed in him principles which he never had before. Our men of the Bramo Somaj, he said, do read from books the revelations of great thinkers. We have a little book of our own containing such utter- ances, which we read from week to week, and treasure, honour, and reverence ; but we are always alive to the dangers attending such regard for a book. In the north of India, in that classical spot the Punjaub, the country of the Five Waters, there was a race physically and morally strong, amongst whom there grew up a simple soul that gradually put aside the deities of Hindoo Orthodoxy and the fanaticism of Mahometan- ism. Such a one sat down beneath the shade of the trees and by the banks of the Iprdly rivers, and com- posed hymns and anthems. That man died ; the Sikhs degenerated in spiritual matters ; they became political and orthodox ; and they now worshipped the book con- taining those simple utterances. Such, he said, is the ■fate of all books. We of the Bramo Somaj remember this, and fear lest it might attach to the little book we have compiled. When we raise our eyes to the figures described by the stars on the map of God's Heavens; when, from the material universe, there stand out before you the wisdom and love of God, then all books are lost. Before any books — Koran, Bible, or Vedas — existed, that was where men got their inspiration. The spirit of worship was older than the oldest book. Star, bird, flower, sun, told men of God; and man said, ' These are Thy glorious works. Parent of Good ! ' The universe supplied the elements out of which books BRAMOISM IN LONDON. ^2,7 were subsequently compiled. To us in the Bramo Somaj the universe is such a book. My country is a beautiful country. My heart swells when I think of the cloudless skies of my fatherland, its majestic rivers, its mountain chains. It swells, too, when I remember the sublime traditions of my Aryan forefathers. And thus also it was with every land. But, as was the case with books, so, too, the material universe was a second- ary source of revelation. There was a world which the eye saw not, the ear heard not, yet the light from which came pouring into the soul. It was well to study the external universe around us, but better still the universe of the spirit within us — that unseen world into which we should go when we shuffled off this mortal coil. Let us, he urged,, learn the sweet Gospel of Truth and Peace in the world of the heart. The soul of the true teacher was the best source of revelation. Because we had left some errors should we, therefore, he asked, defy the authority of religion ? Should we disregard great men ? If he could not advise his hearers to disregard books or the material universe, how could he advise them to disregard these teachers of the Gospel of Peace ? He referred to no -one mati or country. Truth was incarnated in great souls who came into the world to tell of life here and hereafter. So did he reverence the name of Jesus (blessed be His soul!). Often did he think how he would like to sit at the feet of those great Teachers, and like a child learn the truths they knew. No matter whether they were men or women ; whoever spoke so to him was to him a revelation, and he would confide his sorrows to such a one. He would ask such ones how he might approach his God, and profit by their joys and sorrow, and aspire to be crowned with that crown of success God had put on their brow in the tranquillity which God's servants always enjoy. No, we must not disregard the stream of revelation which comes from the hearts of men, and which was far more real than the out-and-dried dogmas of which the volumes of the world were full. Of these he was 22 338 UNORTHODOX LONDON. weary and sick at heart. He had read book after book, he had seen dogma opposed to dogma. Let all be silent. Let the Word of God speak. By His words I receive strength. Such revelation is from the world of spirits. But — Vanity of Vanities ! — ^what avail books or men, if there be in me no corresponding chord of sympathy ? We live in different worlds. The wicked man lives in the world of self, and the influence of the good man is lost. Jesus is persecuted and crucified, as others have been like Him, because there was no chord of sympathy between Him and those who heard Him. Then where, he asked, was the final appeal of simple humanity? Only one direct source of might existed "for all — and again he almost chanted the musical words of his Sanscrit text. There, he said, I take my final stand. There is medicine for the sick; there food for the strong. The true revelation is here (and he laid his hand on his heart). It is silent. There is no noise when it comes; but the feelings stand transfigured. Doctrines come flashing, and flowing; motives of life no book can teach. God speaks : let the whole world be silent. What mattered it to Saul of Tarsus that he had persecuted Christians ? What matters it to me that I have lived in idolatry ? You perhaps have been great sinners; but the voice of the Lord came, and Saul was made a new man, and the heathen was sancti- fied before the throne of the Great God of Love. The Kingdom of Heaven is brought into the world ! The spirit is always ready to speak. Do you tell me of seers and prophets of old, and say that inspiration is dead now ? I decline to accept your dogma. Prophets and seers did and do live wherever God is worshipped in spirit and in truth. Has creation ceased? Are not men born now as of old ? Then why should the stream of truth have ceased ? Why is it only the soul that has stagnated ? It cannot be. The stream of revelation is still flowing; not perhaps to you or me ; but there are some souls that still look up to heaven just as seers of old did for guidance. BRAMOISM IN LONDON. 339 We do not, lie concljided, hold the material universe as identical with the Spirit of God. We have dis- carded Pantheism ; but still we hold the world as the throne qf God. The star-spangled heaven is His canopy. The sun and moon are the lights of His cathedral. • The flower-decked earth is the floor of His temple. When the soul opens to Him, the Sun of Righteousness streams in as the light at yonder windows. It is the law of the Universe. It streams into palace and hovel alike. We have the real source of revelation open when we open our hearts to God. This is the true Atonement. There is one pulse between Divinity and humanity, and men stand sanctified and glorified, children of one Father with whom they shall dwell in time and eternity. He followed up his sermon with a brief but eloquent prayer, standing picturesquely with upturned face, as if consciously enjoying the revelation of which he had spoken. A MOZOOMDAR'S SERMON. SINCE the visit of Baboo Eeshub Chunder Sen to this country, several years ago, the subject of Bramoism has been kept pretty steadily before the British public. The Bramo Somaj in India is a body which, in its recoil from Brahminism, has lighted pretty nearly on pure Theism with a sort of proclivity towards Christianity. As such it claims kinship with Unitarianism in Engf land ; and it was in the chapel of Mr James Martineau, then of Little Portland Street, that Baboo Keshub Chunder Sen made his Uhut. Seeing that his cousin, the President of the Bramo Somaj, was to deliver a Sunday sermon at the same place, I made up my mind to be present, and went in good time, anticipating a 340 UNORTHODOX LONDON. crowd, for it used to tie diflScult to get a seat at Little Portland Street. But since I was last there, Mr Martineau had left ; and so — it might almost be said — had the congregation. I had no difiBculty in getting a front seat that Sunday. This was once the focus and centre of London Unitarianism ; but the glory had departed, or rather had raimified from the centre to the circumference. The new church in the Mall, Kensing- ton, seems to have absorbed a good many of those who formerly worshipped at Little Portland Street. Mr Martineau, too, was a man of mark, whose place will not be easily supplied : a fact significantly attested by the circumstance that, since his resignation, the post of preacher at that chapel had not been filled up. Mr Martineau' s influence still lingers in Little Port- land Street in the shape of the Prayer-Book and hymns which he compiled for the use of its congregation. By the former^ with its ten services, is secured a fixed ritual ; two of those services being almost abridgments of the Church of England Morning and Evening Prayer. Oa the occasion of my visit the third service was used, which is not quite so much like that of the Established Church, but still such as to secure congregational wor- ship, and to warrant a brief description here. The officiating minister, habited in a black Geneva gown, took his seat under the pulpit, and the preacher — on this occasion the Indian gentleman above-men- tioned — took his place in a pew. He was a fine stal- wart man, quite dark, and arrayed simply in the long cassock-like coat of every-day life. The service com- menced with a sentence or two from Scripture, and a brief exhortation. There was neither confession nor absolution, and the Jubilate was sung by an excellent choir in the gallery, in place of the ' Psalms for the Day.' Then was read the 1st Lesson (Proverbs viii.), followed by Isaiah xliii. (headed 'JEfcce Servus meus') as a Canticle. A second Lesson (St John i.) came next, and then the Psalm ' Benedic, anima mea.' There was, of course, no recitation of a Creed. Prayers and a Proper Collect followed, the Sundays being reckoned A MOZOOMDARS SERMON. 341 after Christmas and after Whit-Sunday respectively. This was the Sixteenth Sunday after Whit-Sunday. It struck me that the service was coldj though the musical arrangements were perfect, and that the congregation were rather present to have something done for them by a reader and choir than to do it for themselves in the way of social devotion ; an instancCj surely, of the way in which extremes meet — the severe theological cultus of Unitarianism approaching in this respect the o^us ojaeratum of the Catholic Church, except in so far that the service was directed purely to the ear instead of the eye of the cpngregation. A remarkable feature was a Commemoration of the Departed, which occurs, I believe, in every service. Three hymns were sung during the morning prayer ; but I could not follow them, as the young lady next me in the pew did not offer me a sight of her book. There was an absence of the petits soins strangers usually experience in an alien place of worship ; but by and by a gentleman saw my desolate condition, and brought me a hymnal from the other end of the chapel. The service ended with the Jewish Benediction. The preacher then passed to the pulpit, and gave out, first in Sanscrit, and then in English, a text, the source of which he did not mention, consisting of the words, ' Infinitely true and infinitely wise is the Lord of Lords.' Ages ago in India, he said, they recognized the power of God. Ages ago the Universe was a wild waste, over which brooded the Spirit of Grod, and all that has been subsequently evolved was involved in Him then. The cause is always before the effect ; and He is the cause of causes — the great uncaused cause. In Him reason means harmony, goodness, love, reconciliation between truth and truth, and between all things good and true. Eeason alone does not represent the mind of God ; but the whole heart does. I am not prepared to define reason as one faculty. It is the entire essence of humanity which makes the greatness of man's soul. One essential attribute is that it reveals itself. Accord- ingly God's reason revealed itself in the beginning in 342 UNORTHODOX LONDON. external nature. Its first characters were written on the glorious firmament^ the sun, moon, and mystic stars, and the vast volume of the world. In the material world reason coincides with revela- tion. There is no conflict. All laws are harmonious. Reason is reflected on the revelation of the material universe. What are the special applications of this harmony? All our wants are satisfied, our instincts called forth by the world in which we live. Here is perfect adaptation. But still there are certain wants which the world cannot satisfy. Man's nature demands greater revelations than those of the material world, something higher, deeper, and more beautiful. Our spirit is still unsatisfied. I am pleased, he added, to find that some of the greatest thinkers of your country do admit those deeper wants of the soul. Sceptical as the age is we cannot ignore those deeper wants. That higher revelation is furnished by history. Do not be startled ; to me history is not dead. It does not merely relate the past.^ To me it is a progressive dispensation. To toe history means a record of God's dispensations to the world. God is not dead or inactive, nor is history. It is a grand unfolding of that light which man's soul demands. In the progressive services of great men I find that deeper revelation which the world cannot give. But then here lies the problem of problems. How are we to reconcile reason with the revelations of his- tory ? This is the question we must answer or remain for ever unsatisfied. I solve the question of the revel- ation of the external world by the faculties with which I am furnished. Then shall my soul hunger and thirst in vain ? If my physical nature is satisfied, so will my spiritual nature be. I shall interpret God's revelations through my own instincts. But no. Men stand up and try to interpret them for men according to their prejudices. They could manu- facture artificial wants, dogmatize, philosophize. Let theologians write as they will ; but 0, let the simple man alone who wants to know his God through nature and history ! Let me stand face to face mth God ! A MOZOOMDAR'S SERMON. ' 343 Do not accuse God because men try to intercept tlie light of his revelation. No ; let all human theology be put asidoj and let us stand directly before God, as His nature is expressed in the great events of the world. Very simple are the instincts which interpret God's events. 1. The world is moving on, and we must seek and accept the new truths. Let the great discoveries of the physical world comej and by them let us inter- pret God's other revelations. If we do not so discover them, we must be content to live in darkness. Not only do I not fear, but I hail the light that science is emitting. By it I interpret God's mind. Light can never be against light, or truth against truth. The first test, then, is the test of the enlightened intellect. That which does not bear the test shall fall. Best that it should do so. 2. But love is a test beyond the enlight- ened intellect. This instinct of love interprets God's love. So too (3.) there is the element of righteousness and purity. I dare not charge God of that of which I should be ashamed. Do not charge God with the impurities encrusted upon human action. Let the three instincts, of the intellect, the emotions, and the con- science, judge of the revelations of God in history. The sense of necessities quickens these instincts. Man wants to know God as the old Indian anchorites did. They sought and found Him; and I trace in their utterances evidence of the fact. After these sages came others who tried to discover God's attributes. In India they did •discover much of this, but not the relation of man's soul to God. Centuries after there came another. Jesus came and revealed that relation. In India they merged themselves in the depths of Deity until they lost self-consciousness. ' Humi)le Jesus ' found God speak- ing to the depths of the human heart. He stood and found He was one with His God. The true saintliness of Jesus consisted in discovering these relations, which would conquer all that was gross and little in man's nature, and make him like God. All cannot retire from the world; but all can discover God's light in their own conscience. Jesus recognized this 344 UNORTHODOX LONDON. light in all, even in the publicans and sinners ; dormant, perhaps, but there still. This is the one common bond among all our differences. This bond Jesus sought to bring out. So must we try to find this light in our- selves and others. I cannot understand religious bit- terness. Once recognize this light, and every sect and religion, past and present, is illumined by it. The ultimate light we need will not be found in books, but by direct communion with the Spirit of God. Thus, and thus only, will the difiiculties of individual souls and of communities be ultimately removed. The preacher concluded with an eloquent extempore prayer to the Great Spirit for this reconciliation ; and the service ended with the hymn — ' Restore, Father, to our time restore, The peace that filled Thy mfant Church of yore.' THE JUBILEE SINGERS. MY eye happening to light upon an announcement that a 'Service of Song' would be given by the American Jubilee Singers at the great Metropolitan Tabernacle on a Wednesday evening, I determined to be present. Seeing that the doors opened at seven, and pro- ceedings commenced at half-past, and being provided with a press ticket of admission, I thought I would still get there by a quarter past, for I reckon punctual- ity among the cardinal virtues. I know the capacities of Mr Spurgeon's great building, and was not a little surprised to find it crammed to the doors to hear these nine emancipated slaves sing their ' Songs of Zion ; ' no longer, thank God, hanging their harps on the willows, and chanting those strains sadly 'in the strange THE JUBILEE SINGERS. 345 land/ but singing them half jubilantly, half plaintively, in the way of recollection ; for it is so, in half sadness the reminiscence of a past joy or sorrow ever comes back to us with something of sadness still. My magic pass took me to the foot of the pulpit, where I could hear splendidly, but only just see the heads of the singers, who had entered Mr Spurgeon's rostrum before I got quite settled — three rows of faces, all of pure African type, and several of real African tint, though some were nearly as white as the Teuton. Mr Spurgeon said a few characteristic words by way of opening, and informed us that nearly all these ladies and gentlemen had been slaves themselves, while all were closely connected with those who had been in bondage. For his life, he said, he could not imagine anybody ' owning ' them, except it might be some gentleman possessing one of the ladies as his wife — at which the ladies smiled complacently, and I dare say blushed, only I could see none except the ' dark ' ones, and blushes were invisible in their case. They would sing, he said, the songs they used to sing in old slave times, and when the Northern army was coming South to their deliverance. They seemed to him to 'preach in music' There was a force in their singing which went to the heart. His own sluices of tears did not lie very near the surface. It was not easy for books to make him weep, but the sluices were drawn when he heard the Jubilee Singers. Some of their words, he went on to say, were gro- tesque, and seemed nonsense (in truth, they looked almost profane to me when I read them on the pro- gramme). When such appeared to be the case we must take it for granted that we lacked intelligence to understand them — a canon of criticism which I thought would be very convenient to many an aspiring poet- aster. There was a real mystic deep philosophy which we could not understand without having been in the position of these people, in the cotton plantation with a 'tingling back.' To an audience who had been in slavery their effect would be electric. So might it 346 UNORTHODOX LONDON. be to us who sympathized with them. They had then got, he added, £8000. They wanted £14,000 for the buildings at Fiak UniveTsity. They ought soon to get the other £6000, be off quickly with it, and soon come back for £6000 more. Mr Spurgeon talks of his thousands as lightly as the Shah of Persia ! Then there burst on our ears, soft, low, and weird, the iirst strains of the song, ' Steal away to Jesus,' which, I confess, was one of those whose diction sounded strange, until T learnt that it was what they sang at night when they were precluded from coming to religious service, and literally ' stole away ' to it in disobedience of orders. Then the words took a new significance ; and I was even able to follow Mr Spur- geon' s application of them to the dying Christian — ' Steal away to Jesus, Steal away home, I ain't got long to stay here.' These words were sung by way of burden after every verse, the last being — ' Tombstones are bursting, Poor sinners are trembling, The trumpet sounds in my soul, I ain't got long to stay here.' Then, with a burst of exultation, in full chorus — ' Steal away to Jesus ! ' The song itself was very plaintive- and touching, but came to a really majestic climax, ending as it did in the Lord's Prayer, exquisitely harmonized, and recited softly, as if by stealth, until it came to the words, ' For Thine is the kingdom,' when it swelled into a noble crescendo, diminishing again to almost breathless, pianissimo at the final 'Amen.' I could understand the thrilling effect of the Jubilee Singers then, and how the pathos of their wild harmonies made bearded men weep. Next came a Jubilant Song of Liberation, bearing the quaint title, ' Go down, Moses.' Pharaoh, or ' Ole THE 'JUBILEE SINGERS. 347 Pharaoh/ as he is disrespectfully termed, is, naturally enough, the hiie noire of the coloured people. The defiant way in which the chorus yelled out after every line, ' Let my people go,' was something that must be heard to be appreciated. When one of the gentlemen had to represent Pharaoh in solo, ho ' made him a very distressing person indeed, as though the reiterated ' Let my people go,' had really been too much for him. This strain was encored vociferously j for its dramatic effect was most striking ; and the minstrels, whose re- pertoire, especially on the subject of ' Ole Pharaoh,' is an extensive one, replaced it with another — ' Did not ole Pharaoh get lost IntheEedSea?' Commenting on what had been sung, just to give the singers some rest, Mr Spurgeon said, 'I'm un- commonly glad old Pharaoh did get lost. Slavery was our old Pharaoh; and wherever slavery of blacks or whites exists, may it be like old Pharaoh, and get lost in the Eed Sea.' ' Many Thousand Gone ' was the next song. These words were again the burden, and followed each of the lines — ' No more peck o' corn for me, Many thousand, &c. No more driver's lash for me, &c. No more pint o' salt for me, &c. No more mistress' call for me,' &c. And after this, at special request of Mr Spurgeon, though it was not in the programme, was sung the well-known ' Glory, Hallelujah ' chords of ' John Brown,' with a wonderful climax at the Hallelujah. Parenthetically, Mr Spurgeon said he was glad there was no more possibility of ' fugitives '—some of whom he feared ' took us in mightily.' He referred to one in particular for whom they had subscribed, in order to enable him to buy back his father. He didn't believe he ever had a father. He believed he was like Topsy, 348 UNORTHODOX LONDON. and ' growed ; ' at all events lie ' growed ' rich bv their contribntions. ' Mary and Martha's just gone long, To rmg those charming bells,' was the title of the next piece, the burden being — ' Free grace, and dying love.' Some of the verses provoked audible mirth in the audience, especially one which alluded to the two great theological schools coming under Negro observation, and which bore a special significance as sung there in the very focus and head-quarters of the English Baptists — ' The Methodist and Baptist's just gone long. To ring those charming bells. Gho. Or3ring, Free Grace and Dying Love, 0, 'wav over Jordan, Lord, To ring those charming bells.' ' I am trying to find out what the title of the next song means,' said Mr Spurgeon. ' Brother, you ought to be here, to hear the Jordan roll ! ' 'I think,' he added, ' it means you ought to be a Baptist. Read it thus, my Wesleyan and Oongregationalist friends ; and may it be blest to some of you " unwashed brethren." ' ' Eoll, Jordan.roll ! I hope to go to Heaven when I die. And hear the Jordan roll.' I could not get the idea of pious 'Ethiopian sere- naders ' out of my mind, as they sang thus in a weird unison, 'With just a harmony at the final cadence, and a real roll, like a deep full river, on the last word. Then came a solo by the very darkest lady. Again a wild touching, song, taking us back, as we were told, to the times when there was little prospect of the ' hallowed grave ' for the Negro bondsman — ' You may bury me in the east. You may bury me in the west. But I'E hear the trumpet sound In the morning ! ' THE JUBILEE SINGERS. 349 This was repeated, at vociferous request, and fresli verses added from the apparently inexhaustible store. The last strain to which I stayed to listen — for the service promised to be lengthy, and prolixity in such matters always appears to me a mistake — was one the words of which had struck me as singularly irreverent • when I saw them on the programme — ' Gwine to write to Massa Jesus To send some valiant soldiers, To turn back Pharaoli's army, Hallelujali ! Hallelujah ! ' This last interjectional word 'Hallelujah' — like the traditional 'Mesopotamia' — seemed really to do these singers good as they enunciated it. The song itself bore reference to the time of the Liberation, when, as Mr Spurgeon pertinently observed, there was a ' good deal of that kind of writing done down South.' They were waiting for the Northern army to come and free them ; and these were the words that expressed their terrible tension — ' Tou say you are a soldier, fighting for your Saviour, To turn back Pharaoh's army. Hallelujah ! To turn back, &c. When the children were in bondage they cried to the Lord, He turned back Pharaoh's army. Hallelujah ! &c. "When Moses smote the water, the children all passed over, And turned back Pharaoh's army. Hallelujah ! &c. When Pharaoh crossed the water, the waters came together. And drowned ole Pharaoh's army. Hallelujah ! ' &o. So ended my experience with the Jubilee Singers. I seemed the only one out of those congregated thousands who came away when the ' ladies and gentlemen ' went to refresh. When I passed into busy Newington, I was haunted with those wild weird strains, as one who hears the bagpipe pictures the Highlands. While I sped along the Metropolitan Eail, on my homeward way, I smiled as I read ' The Gospel Train' m their strange libretto, and mused how many ways there are of doing God ' acceptable service ' — 3 so UNORTHODOX LONDON. ' The gospel train is coming, I hear it just at hand, I hear the oar-wheels moying. And rumbling through the land. Gho. Get on board, children, Get on board, children. Get on board, children', Por there's room for many a more. ' I hear the beU and ■whistle. The oomi&g round the curve ; She's playing all her steam and power. And straining every nerve. Oho. Get on board, &c. ' No signal for another train To follow on the line, sinner, you're for ever lost. If once you're left behind. Oho. Get on board, &o. ' She's nearing now the station, O sinner, don't be vain. But come and get your ticket, And be ready for the traia. Oho. Get on board, &c. ' The fare is cheap and aU can go. The rich and poor are there. No second class on board the train. No difference in the fare. Gho. Get on board, &,o. ' There's Moses, Noah, and Abraham, And all the prophets, too, Our friends in Christ are all on board, 0, what a heavenly crew. Cho. Get on board, &c. A CAMPANOLOGICAL CONCERT. 351 A CAMPANOLOGICAL CONCERT. rjlHERE is a distinct advantage gained by adopting for i- a treatise or an entertainment a nice long unpro-: nounceable name that shall be, as the Article says, ' not understanded of the people.' I remember one of the earliest criticisms on my own sermons when, ages ago, I was a country curate in the wilds of West Somerset- shire, was to the effect that the critic, an old peasant woman, ' liked 'em so much because they were chock full o' hard words as nobody couldn't understand.' I fancy if the canons of criticism were always stated with such outspoken candour as this, that remark would be found to apply to a good many more pretentious works than my incipient discourses ! Even, however, when the epithet ' campanological ' is translated into the vernacular, and it is made evident to the uninitiated that a Campanological Concert simply means a handbell ringing entertainment, there is still a nice weird sound about the very name of bells which fits them for the subject of an article when Christmas is drawing near, and everybody is preparing to quote Tennyson's ' Ring out, wild bells, in the wild sky.' One would be puzzled to account for this epithet ' wild,' except by presupposing poetic licence, which covers as many incongruities as the digamma itself. Edgar AUan Poe's romantic jingle of ' The Bells ' also occurs to the mind, and might seem to some of us to justify the epithet ' wild,' were it not that Poe is already undergoing the process of whitewashing, or semi-canonization, which Mr Froude has applied to Henry VIII., Mr Jesse to Richard III., and somebody else to Nero. Fresher still in the recollection of all of us is the perpetual ding-dong of the sleigh-bells in the ears of Matthias at the Lyceum ; 352 UNORTHODOX LONDON. SO that, on the whole, when two mild-looking tickets came inviting me to a ' Campanological Concert,' I decided, yes I would go, just as I was on the point of consigning them to my capacious waste-basket. I would go and hear what a Campanological Concert was like. The last I had heard was in the old cathedral town where I was born, and where the ringers, every Christmas, used to come round in the dead of night, and, after a very wild campanological exercitation indeed, extem- porize a benediction on the inmates of the house whom they had aroused, and feel injured if they did not receive a substantial fee for their delicate, but somewhat dis- sipated, attentions. It was, strangely enough, to a Baptist Tabernacle the tickets invited me ; and when I entered I found the space below the pulpit occupied with a long table on which were placed multitudinous bells of all sizes, up from the muffin-bell of domestic life to the size of a small pail. I was accompanied by a young lady of the mature age of twelve, who, of course, insisted upon selecting a front seat, exactly under the twelve biggest bells ; and was only induced to shift her quarters on the expostulation of the worthy pastor of the chapel, who I fancy had fears of my cerebral safety if we retained our original position. Our Campanologists were the Royal Poland Street Temperance Handbell Ringers, who are proud of being able to boast that they have four times been commanded to perform before Royalty. Their conductor, Mr Miller, on entering with his four confreres, immediately pro- ceeded to request the expulsion df all babies, and then the five indulged in a sort of burlesque opening in verse, about which I will only say I think it might be judiciously omitted.. All sorts of entertainments are suggested, just as in the opening of a pantomime j and, of course, every- body knows that campanology will eventually carry off the palm. It does, and the five gentlemen commence a pretty waltz-like air called ' The Snowdrop,' and taken pianissimo. I had seldom heard anything sweeter ; and it was some time before I could analyze my campano- A CAMPANOLOGICAL CONCERT. 353 logiats sufficiently to see how they prodaced their effects. Mr Miller and another performer, who seemed to have their hands full of bells, I found were responsible for the air, or soprano part, and made up an octave between them, having two bells in each hand, and rapidly snatch- ing up from the table those which represented accidentals, or which were above or below the octave. A youno- gentleman, apparently of a nervous turn of mind, who was answerable for the alto, kept scrambling about among his bells as though he were catching a mouse or, searching for something in a hurry. The tenor was. calmer, but liable to spasmodic attacks, due, perhaps, to sympathy with the adjacent alto. The bass was cool as a cucumber, and swung about his ihuge pail-like bells with the ease of an Atlas : but so gently did he do his spiriting that I might — as my young companion reminded me — have sat inside one of his miniature Big Bens with- out being seriously discomposed. Mr Miller was a gentleman running over with fun, and his appearance really justifies one's anxiety as ' to whether the continued strain on his brain and biceps ■ may not be too much for him. He is so thin as posi- tively to make one's eye ache to look at him ; but how thoroughly I appreciated his fun when he introduced ' The Keel Kow ' as ' The Newcastle, or Tyneside An- them.' It brought to my mind an exercise in which I myself once engaged whilst a guest in a Durham house. A ' Geordie,' or pitman, wagered that he would dance to the tune of ' Weel may the keel row ' longer than I would play it on the fiddle. He had unlimited con- fidence in his legs, I in my fingers. We played, and danced until everybody else was tired, though we were not ; and the result was a drawn battle. After this piece, the excitable young alto descended to a harmonium, and we all sang, campanologists and audience, a ditty alluded to above, [^enti tied / Scatter Seeds of Kindness.' I fancy we thought we did the chorus rather well ; but the irrepressible Mr Miller said he was glad he found himself in face of a conscientious audience, for 23 354 UNORTHODOX LONDON. he found we had given ourselves no applause for that performance, and that was — exactly what we deserved. Handel's 'Harmonious Blacksmith' followed, and I confess I did not know, until Mr Miller told us, that the particular blacksmith in question lived at Little Stan- more, 'just up the Bdgware Road/ The variations on this air were a perfect marvel of manipulation. The first soprano looked and acted like a distracted muffin- man, and the excitable alto fairly threw one of the bells over his head, to the great danger, of Mr Miller, who was performing his part with a grim air of determination on his face, as though he would do it or die in the attempt. Then we had the sweet old chimes of boyhood rung out, but with a considerable 'difference' — as Ophelia says; and several familiar tunes interspersed, such as ' Hark, the vesper hymn is stealing,' ' Home, sweet home,' &c. Then Mr Miller gave us a sermon on tract distribution, which was a mistake, and a recitation on 'People will talk' — good, but out of place. The sweet air ' Mandolinata ' followed on the bells; and then Mr Miller meandered into a dissertation on change- ringing, winding up by telHng us the number of changes that could be rung on twelve bells, and how long it would take to do — viz., 479,001,600 in seventy-six years and three days, at twelve per minute. The eh.ef-d'(jeuvre, if one may judge by difficulty, was Sir Michael Costa's March in 'Eli,' in which no fewer than sixty-six; bells were manipulated by the five execut- ants. The bass is elaborate in the extreme; but our placid performer went through it without turning a hair. More singing followed ; then the ' Men of Har- lech ' and the ' Westminster Chimes Polka,' by Mr Miller ; the composer giving us a brief history of big bells in general, from the Giant of Moscow down to Big Ben. Then came what I thought — and what, it appeared, Her Majesty considers — their masterpiece, ' The Blue Bells of Scotland.' The variations on this air were brilliant in the extreme ; but the pjsp of the original melody was to me far more overpowering, and unapproachably pathetic. Why should this weird effect LADIES ON LIBERTY. 355 attach to bells more than any other instruments to ti6kle the senses ? By way of doing justice to all the component parts of the British Empire, Mr Miller would add an Irish air- one of those soft, soothing Irish melodies ; and straight- way the band broke, at presto, into — ' Eory O'More ! ' The whole entertainment concluded with — ' God save the Queen,' and when it was done, I really felt I could sympathize with the sentiment of the worthy pastor of the chapel, however much I might join issue with the expression. He said he should like to ' lay in bed all day and dream of the music he had been hearing that evening.' LADIES ON LIBERTY. THERE was once a popular prejudice that the best guardians of English liberties were Englishmen ; and even now in certain quarters the idea obtains that, journalistically speaking, the Englishman is the British Palladium; but, on the whole, it is b'eginning to be true of this, as of a good many other exploded theories, nous avons chwngd tout cela. Since the development of the strong-minded element in what was once — wrongly again ! — deemed the weaker sex, woman and not man holds the shield of our liberties. Did not Jove himself concede the aegis to that strong-minded lady, Minerva ? Which thing, no doubt, was an allegory. Though it was not a Sunday to tempt one forth or make folks forego the post-prandial nap — the custom of most of us on that particular aprh-midi — yet the announcement that Miss Fenwiok Miller, ' of the Ladies' Medical College,' was going to devote an hour at St George's Hall to an apotheosis of that Apostle of Liberty, John Stuart Mill, murdered sleep for me at 356 UNORTHODOX LONDON. least, and made me dare even the Sloughs of Despond left by the Fulham District Board of Works — alas, the misnomer !— rin Western London, so as to present myself in due season at the shrine of St George — fitting locality for our young Pallas to brandish her aegis ! Very softly be it spoken, the fact that it was a youth- ful Athene, and not one of the cod-eyed spectacled Minervas, who was to assume that mythologic shield, lent alacrity to my steps. I entertained pleasant recol- lections of Miss Fenwick Miller's bonny face and musical voice from certain experiences at the Dialectical Society, where I had heard her handle the most tremendous topics in presence of those Socratio gentlemen — topics from which a middle-aged Pallas Athene would have shrunk in spinsterly horror, and whereat all the genus Grundy lifted up their hands, eyes, and noses in blank dismay. As for me, I am afraid I rather liked it. It seemed as if it were the first instalment of that ' liberty, equality, and fraternity ' which are to prevail when Astrsea Redux brings back the golden age of Paradisiacal innocence. I would go and get a second instalment in the shape of that young lady's lecture on ' John Stuart Mill and his Critics.' A very manful — no, I mean a very womanly — apologia was that with which Miss Miller favoured the large audience who deprived themselves of their Sunday snooze to listen to her musical cadences. I could not help thinking how much the success of an orator — or oratress, if there be such a word — depends on the intonation of the voice. Miss Miller's is suave as the voice of Spurgeon or the proverbial sucking dove. It is not my present purpose, however, to follow Miss Miller in her elaborate defence of Mr Mill. In fact, it only occurred to me to bracket Miss Miller along with another lady whose utterances on the subject of Liberty I proceed to narrate. The coincidence of two smooth- spoken ladies taking up their prophecy on the same subject in the course of one short week seemed too curious to pass unnoticed, and might not unreasonably be read as a sign of the times. LADIES ON LIBERTY. 357 In the second instance where the aegis of liberty waSj during the same week, wielded by female hands, Pallas Athene was not a spinster, but a married lady, whom for that reason I forbear to mention by name. Pallas Athene proper has only herself to think of; and, when she announces her name publicly, I feel I may do the same. But where a possible Mr Pallas comes in as a factor in the problem with the additional contingency of Misses and Master Pallas, I am not sure that I have the right to print names, and content myself, therefore, with speaking of the lady who lectured on the Tuesday evening at South Place Chapel on Civil and Religious Liberty as Praxagora — a term I have used before in the same connection. Praxagora, the classical scholar will recollect, is the heroine in Aristophanes' comedy of the ' Ecclesiazusae,' who assumes the marital costume in order to obtain admission to the Athenian House of Commons. 'The name struck me as typical of those advanced ladies who purpose scaling the walls of St Stephen's by the ladder on which Woman's Suffrage is only the first round. The weather during the week had certainly been most adverse to the female champions of our liberties. It rained piteously again when I. betook me to South Place Chapel on the Tuesday evening : but the large building was well filled with an audience of more than average intelligence, who had paid Is. or 6^. each to hear Praxagora state, as we knew she would, some of those defects of liberty, civil and religious, which existed, and to hear her remedy for the same. When I entered, a little late, I found proceedings had commenced. The lady, supported by Mr Conway alone, was in the midst of a glorification of the French Revolution. No contrast could be greater than be- tween the quiet, ladylike appearance of the lecturess, her gentle bearing and silvery voice, and the tremend- ous doctrines to which she gave utterance. After eloquently defending the French Revolution, Praxagora went on to say that though things were not exactly the same in England as they were in France on the 3S8 UNORTHODOX LONDON. eve of the outbreak, still there were existent among us many of those remains of feudalism which were swept away by the French Eevolution. We had not free thought in religion, or free action in politics. Among the minor evils thus surviving in our midst she specified those appertaining to the tenure and transmission of land, the law of primogeniture, a stand- ing iirmy, with promotion on account of birth, &c. These, she said, 'must be swept away.' This was an ever-recurrent phrase with Praxagora. Everything that did, not quite coincide with her notions was to undergo the sweeping process forthwith. These legal infringements on liberty we could ' sweep away,' if we would. In France, before the Eevolution, and in England now, the king, nobles, and clergy, thought all was going on very well and comfortably, while the Re- publican clubs were growing up in their midst. She passed on to draw a vivid picture of the 'homes' deemed good enough for the poor, and especially instanced the huts appropriated to married soldiers at Woolwich, in which she said Her Majesty would not allow her cattle to be stowed at Windsor. And yet there was no rebellion. Only the talk in the Re- publican clubs before mentioned was not exactly loyal ; in fact, it might be said that treason was talked there. The Government thought they could crush this out; but the leaders of popular, opinion knew the forces they could reckon upon. The Queen and the Prince of Wales thought they made us supremely happy by occasionally driving through our streets. Now Praxa- gora would be the last to disparage loyalty, but it must be the golden loyalty due to some great man or great principles, not the ' pinchbeck loyalty ' which attached itself to the Duke of Edinburgh, or any member of the Eoyal household. Praxagora inveighed bitterly against taxation of the necessaries of life, and claimed that all taxation should be direct, and those who paid the taxes should have a voice in imposing them; whereas a large proportion of the working LADIES ON LIBERTY. 359 classes, and (whicli was evidently where the shoe pinched) 'all women' were unrepresented. Why was there no Hampden to teach. us how to resist this unjust taxation ? Had we not courage enough to say, ' These things shall not be so ? ' Eeading from a tabular state- ment by Mr Watts in the National Reformer, Praxa- gora stated that while the upper classes were taxed only to the extent of \0d. in the pound, the lower classes, by means of indirect taxation, were mulcted to the extent of four shillings and fourpence. On the fertile subject of the Game Laws, Praxagora went deeply into the item of Deer Forests, to which one- tenth of the area of Scotland was now devoted; so that you might walk from Aberdeen to the Atlantic entirely through forest. ' Clear out the people ! ' was the principle avowedly acted upon in laying down the land in these forests. But the land, like the air, argued Praxagora, was nobody's property. Speaking of a standing army as a standing menace, which must be got rid of — ' swept away ' — Praxagora sarcastically supposed the Duke of Cambridge attained to the dignity of Commander-in-Chief by personal bravery, as did the Duke of Edinburgh to his naval captaincy. Praxagora' s powers of — shall I say it? — ' chaff' are unlimited, and the extreme quietness of her demeanour made her sarcasms even more telling. The proposal to ' sweep away ' the standing army was ap- plauded to the echo. Look what the standing army had just done in Spain, an4 was likely soon to do in France. What good was it here except to corrupt the society of garrison towns, and put men to saunter up and down outside Royal palaces, taking care of those who had no need to be taken care of ? As to Electoral Reform, that would not be perfect until every adult person was represented. To strike at the House of Lords was to strike at a dying institu- tion. But persons and institutions took a long time dying. The House of Lords was a disgrace to a free country, and stood in the way of every reform until menaced. Therefore it, too, must be 'swept away.'. 36o UNORTHODOX LONDON. Puppet kings and queens would be less injurious when this 'toy-house' was gone, and then might come the times of the glorious Eepublic. So ended this rather fierce tirade on the political side, not bawled out with the lungs of a female Cleon, but lisped as some pretty flirting girl might simper love sentences at a ball. Then Praxagora diverged to ' Eeligious Liberty. She spoke not as a Freethinker or Secularist, 'though Freethinker and Secularist I am,' she added, amidst vociferous plaiudits, but as a citizen of a com- munity pretending to be free. She pleaded for the Roman Catholic as for the Atheist, that conscience should be held sacred. The Church of England as by law established was an egregious monopoly. It had been an anachronism ever since the Church had ceased to be co-extensive with the nation. ■ It was a mere creature of the State. Of the truth or falsity of its tenets Praxagora said nothing. She protested against the establishment of any religion or irreligion, and, as she had before asked for a Hampden, she now called for a Cromwell, and this time not in vain. A voice suggested Sir Charles Dilke as the Coming C. The law affecting infidels and against blasphemy were passed under review, and Mr Woolrych's decision on the previous day, not to accept the testimony of a witness who avowed his disbelief in a God, came in for very severe comment at Praxagora's hands. She demanded that a fair fight should take place on platforms without aid from the strong arm of law ; and having impeached one and all of these viola- tions of civil and rehgious liberty at the bar of public opinion, Praxagora wound up with a beautiful perora- tion full of day-stars and figures clad in white, cloud- less skies, and all the rest, and sat down overwhelmed with applause. When I saw Praxagora afterwards jogging along by the Metropolitan, I thought anybody who sat opposite that comely matron would be puzzled to guess that AT THE CITY TEMPLE. 361 ten minutes ago she had been demohshing Queen, Constitutionj and Church with her scathing oratory from the tribune at Fox's Chapel. AT THE CITY TEMPLE. AMONG- the noteworthy institutions of rehgious London the Thursday morning sermon at the City Temple occupies a prominent place. It is a favourite fallacy to represent the London clergy as gentlemen who merely drone away existence in a letisser-aller kind of way; who have booked a comfortable sinecurCj and only ask to be let run quietly along in the old ruts. Will anybody who feels inclined to bring this indict- ment against the clergy simply calculate the amount of labour involved in g'etting up two sermons for Sunday, and one for an intermediate week day — not sermons of the class which are advertised as sold at 2s. 6d. a dozen, lithographed by the sermon-mongers — veritable sermons in stones — but such as will bring an educated congregation of men to church or chapel at inconvenient hours or working days. The labour of the leader-writer or magazine contributor is child's play in comparison. Working men — by which I mean not only artisans, but workers with brain and muscle aiike^do throng the commodious aisles of the City Temple at midday on a Thursday — though the day and hour are not exactly the most commodious for either the brain or body-workers. I proved this on a recent Thursday, when I paid a long-proposed visit to this place, ren- dered famous by. the episode of Mr Freemantle's frus- trated dibut. I could see at once there was going to be a congregation ; for it was a few minutes after the 363 UNORTHODOX LONDON. stroke of noon wiien I alighted at the Farringdon Street Station, and quite a httle stream of people was busy scrambling up the steps to the Holborn Viaduct. By some kind of freemasonry which I cannot explain, I knew they were bound, like myself, for the City Temple, though we were not any of us of that sex generally supposed to be the exclusive attendants at noontide services on week-days. No sooner did we present ourselves breathlessly in the spacious aisles ;,of the handsome building than we were ushered by courteous male attendants into the best seats empty. There was a large congregation present, nearly two-thirds of the pews being full when I arrived. Mounted in a goodly pulpit, the gift of the Corpora- tion of London, Dr Parker was reading in a singularly impressive voice the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount as I entered. So strangely does one's eye catch trivial details, that I believe one of the first objects I noticed was a large bouquet lying by his side, and seeming to illustrate graphically enough the words he was reading. He was attired in Geneva gown and bands, and his delivery at once gave the idea of a consciousness of power. I was not at all surprised at the largeness of the congregation that had assembled, though a bitter north-east wind was blowing outside, and the second of Messrs Moody and Sankey's services was on at Exeter Hall, and might have drawn the curious thither. I should fancy Dr Parker's was a steady congregation. They all looked as though they were at home ; at least, the large majority did. When the Scripture reading was over, Dr Parker offered an extempore prayer embodying the ideas of the passage. It was somewhat florid — perhaps on such a theme it could scarcely be otherwise— but very fervid, eloquent, and, above all, brief. Then a hymn, still bearing on the topic of God's Providence, was sung without accompaniment, the melody being led by a bearded gentleman sitting in an official chair under the pulpit. It was a good old standard tune which everybody could sing ; and I be- AT THE CITY TEMPLE. 363 lieve everybody did sing it. There were certainly more men than women in the congregation^ and I always think a strong unison of male voices very fine. This was the whole of the simple service — Bible-reading, Prayer, and Praise ; then came the sermon. Having first read through Psalm cxxxviii. in the same emphatic manner as he had the passage from the Great Sermon, Dr Parker fixed on the concluding words as his text: 'Forsake not the works of Thine own hands.' He proposed to examine the natural claims we had on God. We did not ask to be here in this world, but here we are, and therefore we had a right by nature, by the state of things in which we found ourselves, to say that, under such circumstances, we ought not to be forsaken. It was not enough to bring us here. If we had asked to be brought, then we might have divided the responsibility. You yourselves, he said, allow the efficacy of such an appeal. A child, it may be, left you ten years ago, and though that child could not plead virtue, it could groan forth the heart-breaking word, ' Bad as I am, I am your own flesh and blood. I have done wrong, but don't let me rot. This flesh is your flesh. May I not come home on that natural claim ? ' So we could say to God: 'Thou didst not make us thoughtlessly. That would have been unworthy of a work which comprised within it the stars and the angels. Don't forsake us.' Some said, the preacher continued, that, as vessels of wrath, God had the right to dash us to pieces just as the potter had the work of his hands. No ; God might dispose thus of masses of men, but he dealt differently with individuals. The text was a lawful, a pathetic, and an universal appeal. Now what was God's answer to this pathetic cry of forsaken man ? The whole constitution of nature, he again submitted, was God's answer by anticipation. It would have no meaning else. For every desire of man there was a provision : for his hunger a table, for his thirst fountains of living water — springs perennial and inexhaustible. The answer came before the cry. Nature 364 ^-UNORTHODOX LONDON. would be one huge waste if this were not so. We might prove it by common things patent to all. Suppose, for one moment, though it might tax ima- gination to do so, nature without man. Let an angel come down to look over and note it. Let him be a Eecording Angel with pen and tablet. Here he would see food in abundance— the teeming orchard, the golden field — see flowers and fruits on all "sides. When he had made his inventory, he would ask, Why these things ? He would listen for a footfall, and hearing none would say, ' There is , something wanting. Here is . a feast spread, but no guests — a Banqueting Hall deserted ! ' Then let the human race be introduced; and the angelic heart is satisfied. 'Ye are the guests,' the Doctor exclaimed in a fine apostrophe, 'ye who are created in the image of God ! ' Now might the angel say, ' I can enter the last line, and go back to Heaven with a full report.' Take another picture, nearer home now — a miniature. Here is a dwelling- — and still we know nothing of the human race. We look on with wonder. For whom is all this arrangement ? There is a dog sleeping yonder. But is it all for the dog? No. There are books on the shelves. These can't be for the dbg. There is a little bright bird. Ah, that's it. It's all for you. But no ; there are pictures, which the bird can't appreciate. There is a sleek 'long-backed' cat; but there is an instrument of music, which cannot be for the cat. All is a solemn irony so far; when lo, a bright-eyed child comes in, and all is explained. The inferior creatures are there on sufferance; but this life absorbs, or will one day absorb, all these surroundings. So with nature. The lion and the leopard, the behemoth and the fowl, do not explain it. Man's nature is the key that opens the lock. It is he who makes the great house a home. So when we are asked. Will God forsake the works, of His hands ? we may take the whole scheme of nature for our answer. The whole constitution of things — mountains, streams, forests, fowl, and fish — are a pledge that God will not forsake man. He makes His rain to AT THE CITY TEMPLE. 365 fall and His sun to sMne on all — on the man who prays and on the man who blasphemes. You ask what is man's natural claim on God. This is the infinite reply. No bird ever sang the pathetic refrain of the text. The young lion finds his mouthful of food. It is man only that realizes the idea of being forsaken. The greater the life the greater the need; just as it had been curiously said, the more glorious the intellect the nearer to insanity. It is man who cries, ' Why standest Thou so far off, God ? ' Millions of human voices were gathered up in that cry from the Cross, ' My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?' We see man's greatness in his distress. As man suffers more than beast or bird, so he can enjoy, and know, and realize more. Are ye not much better than they ? It is we who have forsaken God. The forsakenness is not on man's side. His children have gone from Him to be guests at the devil's table. All we, like sheep, have gone astray. Does God forsake the righteous ? Don't let us give an opinion to-day. Let an old man speak — a bright old man, with silver locks on his shoulder, and an eye like a star. He has a harp in his hand; and thus the old minstrel sings : ' I have been young and now am old, yet saw I never the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging their bread.' David never saw the child of God dead on his Father's doorstep). If you are forsaken, ask yburselves whether you have been righteous. Paul and David— the great reasoner and the greater singer — answe?-, ' Cast down — ^but not forsaken ! ' ' Make you his service your delight, Hell make your wants His care.' The above is only a condensation of a long and elo- quent discourse. Some of the 'bits' were worthy of Charles Dickens. For instance, picturmg the abode of a poor widow, Dr Parker spoke of ' a place out of which evenj a sheriff's officer could not take more than the shaS)w, and would not take that because he could not sell 366 UNORTHODOX LONDON. it.' ' I have been as nearly forsaken as any man in the world. I looked around on all sides, but could see no way out — no lateral way, only a vertical- one ! ' It was, one could not help thinking, just the sermon many a man with care upon his forehead might want to carry back with him to his counting-house or his shop that Thursday morning, and the listening to which might be the greatest possible relaxation and relief for him. There was nothing showy or sensational in the sermon, though it was full of sustained eloquence, and glittered with bits of quiet humour. But you knew it was a sermon that came from the heart, even had the ' preacher never uttered the pathetic words, ' I have been as nearly forsaken as any man in the world ! ' A PRESIDENTIAL SERMON. IN my examination of the different outlying bodies beyond the pale of the Church of England, I am free to confess that I have done scant justice to the Wes- leyans, a religious community which, whether by its numbers or nearness to my own form of faith, ought, I am aware, to have a very early claim on me. I resolved to repair my error by going to head-quarters and hear- ing Dr Morley Punshon, the President of Conference for the current yeq,r, and simultaneously to examine as much as I could in detail the different sections into which the main body has, since its foundation, broken up. Dr Punshon's chapel stands in Warwick Gardens, Kensington, and is such a handsome Gothic building that the Bishop of Lincoln himself might mistake it for a church. I knew it of old, however j and, haying taken care to assure myself that Dr Punshon was going A PRESIDENTIAL SERMON. 367 to preach, presented myself at the portal somewhat late, so that the congregation might get seated before I in- truded. I looked in on the basement, where a female of grim aspect, after scanning my outer man, sug- gested sharply I had better go up-stairs. I ought to mention that I had arrayed myself in a kind of subdued Evangelical clerical costume, so that I might at a pinch pass muster for a Nonconformist ; but the female Cer- berus evidently sniffed the Establishment, and told me, in the accents of a tartar, I had better go up-stairs. I always get on better with male than female pew-openers, and was quite relieved to find one of my own sex in charge of the gallery, whereto I retired discomfited. He at once beckoned me' to a seat, and volunteered to supply me with a hymn-book. He put me in the back row, and behind a pillar ; but I did not expect a chief seat in the synagogue. Before I started that morning some one suggested I should want a prayer-book, which I, in my ignorance, declared would be unnecessary. I was soon corrected, however. When I got settled in my gallery, I found a youthful curate was reading a lesson from one of the Prophets in a large pulpit inside the communion rails. This young man wore no gown, but a very clerical costume — much more like the Establish- ment than my own. His tie was of the very nattiest ; and a budding beard and moustache formed no incon- gruous additions in these hirsute days. While he read the lesson with admirable emphasis and clear articulation, ' I had time to take stock of my surroundings. There was generally a shiny look about the chapel, as though everything, including the congregation, had been newly varnished. The seats were low, the galleries retiring, and everything in the most correct ecclesiastical taste. The position of the pulpit was strange to me; and the addition of a table covered with red baize sur- mounted by a small white marble font with a chamber towel ready for use, did not diminish the peouharity. There seemed to me a sort of struggle between order and chaos discernible, ending in a drawn battle between the conflicting elements. The pulpit had succeeded in 368 . UNORTHODOX LONDON. attaining the ' Eastward position,' but the table at its base did very well for a quasi-altar, and was flanked, north and south, by two semi-ecclesiastical hall chairs of oak. The font was locomotive, and might be sup- posed to occupy its abnormal position under protest. After the lesson was finished, I was surprised to hear the Te Deum commenced by an excellent choir of men and boys who occupied the front of an organ gallery over the pulpit; and still more surprised to find the congregation usiug the Church of England Book of Common Prayer. The very lessons themselves were those I should have heard if I had gone to my own church. The Jubilate followed the Second Lesson, during which the curate ran down the pulpit steps quite in a frisky manner, and Dr Punshon took his place and resumed the service with the Apostles' Creed. The suffrages and collects followed, and the service ended just as our own, the General Thanksgiving being taken by the whole congregation with the minister. Then there succeeded a baptism of a female infant — which explained the chamber towel. Again the service was an abridgment of the Church of England form, even the portentous word ' regeneration ' occupying its accus- tomed place. Dr Punshon took the child from the father and handed it, after sprinkling it thrice, back to the mother, saying, ' I return you your child/ and adding a brief but very telling extempore address. In its course he defended infant baptism, and pictured the 'proud and blushing mothers of Salem' bringing their little ones'to Christ. He attributed no magical virtue to the water, he saidj yet still, if the ceremony wrought its proper effect, that water might be to the child as a ' holy chrism.' Then followed the sermon, delivered in a clear voice, and — as far as I could see by twisting my neck round the iron pillar — ^with just enough gesticulation to mark the emphasis, without ever for one moment degenerating into the faintest semblance of ' rant.' The text was the beautiful one from Col. i. 12, and the subject of the dis- course ' The inheritance of the Saints in light.' Truly A PRESIDENTIAL SERMON. 369 did St Paul say, observed the' preacher, that if in this life only we Christians had hope, we should be of all men the most miserable. Sad, indeed, were it if all our hopes ended in the sepulchre ; and the Gospel flashed a new revelation on God's purposes in this respect. It told us that the grave was not the goal. The great thought of the text was that preparedness was neces- sary for this future life. In that word ' meet ' lay the pith of the whole. The ignoring the claims of this world gave a handle to the Infidel who — one class of infidels at least — looked upon the present life simply as a parenthesis between two eternities, and having no affinity with either. Even many so-called Christians deemed that we had no personal connection with the world to come. But we should remember that the present was not only a condition of probation, but of discipline. We were always scattering seeds, and the trifles which made up the sum of life constituted our characters for ever. So it was the Apostle pressed on triflers that assurance, ' Be not deceived ; God is not mocked ; for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap.' The character now being formed should endure for ever. Owing to the taint of original sin, a change must supervene, so as to fit us for heaven. Even analogy pointed out this fact. This world was adapted as a dwelling-place for the creatures placed upon it, and the creatures were in turn adapted for it. There was a theology which depreciated this world, and prescribed austerity as the rule of life. It ignored all the Bible except its lessons of self-denial. It enjoined a perpetual cloud on the brow and a sequestration from all enjoy- ment. Professors of such a system so exalted the blessedness of death as almost to justify suicide ; but all analogies were against this ' savage, sour theology.^ No ; this world, he said, was not a dungeon where the spirit should chafe for freedom. It was a very Alhambra of delight and beauty apart from sin; and sin was in the man, not in' the world. It was not in woodland, stream, or mountain, not in the songsters of 21 370 UNORTHODOX LONDON. tlie grove. All nature was ' loyal to God ! ' These false friends, however, led the Infidel to argue that he must exalt the present life ; and so it was that old- fashioned errors were dressed up under the name of Secularism; but let us not, he urged, yield to this ' impudent unbelief.' Godliness, said the Scripture, was profitable to all things, having the promise of the life that now is as well as of that which is to come. Christianity was so large that it must have two worlds as its theatre. It claimed and needed both worlds, the present to toil in, the future for rest. So regarded, it was a sunny and beautiful thing to live, even while . the cloud might be weeping sweet tears. Yes ; those words were true, ' This world is very lovely ! ' If, then, we saw in this world siach adaptation, let us extend the analogy to the next. That was the leading idea of the text. If the same tastes remained with the man then he might be happy if Heaven were but a repetition of earth. But the circumstances of Heaven were difierent, and demanded certain conditions of mind which the natural man had not. Therefore the man must be prepared for the place as well as the place for the man. Were man to enter Heaven as he now is, it would be unparadised for him at once. Had this change, he asked his hearers, come to them ? It was not enoagh that in time of sorrow or of reverie they should picture Heaven as embracing all earth's beauty without earth's changes— even as the daring painter had represented the Plains of Heaven — and that so they should cry out for the wings of the dove that they might flee away and be at rest. They might do all this, yet be making no preparation for the Heaven of the Bible — might be only sighing for a Paradise of Poetry. In fact, it was not a ' real honest heaven ' for which by such anticipations men Were made meet. Let us ponder it well, then. If we educated our children with a definite view towards their future life, 'why, in God's name,' did we not educate ourselves after the same fashion ? We were but infants yet to A FREE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 371 come of age. When the Books were opened it might be that among those books should be the very primers and school-books out of which we had educated our children, and that the Judge should say to us, ' You admitted the principle in your children's case, but you neglected it in yourselves ! ' It was a consummate sermon, spreading, in one un- broken flow of eloquence, over more than forty minutes. Dr Punshon speaks in a rapid manner though with perfect articulation, but so as to render it difficult to transfer to paper the richness and copiousness of his illustrations. The above, it need scarcely be said, are only a few headings of one of the finest sermons to which it has ever been my good fortune to listen, and which nothing but the absence of gown or surplice would 'have informed me was other than the utterance of an exceptionally eloquent preacher in my own Church ; just as, under the same reservation, I might have followed the service without being conscious of any- thing save one or two very judicious abridgments, or dreaming that I had wandered past the frontier of orthodoxy into the confines of the larger Church of England. , A FREE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. THERE is something at first sight as fascinating in the idea of a Free Christian Church as in Mr Bright's notion of a Free Breakfast Table — a sort of Rule-Bri- tannia, BritonS-never-never-shall-be-slaves ring lurks in the very title ; and the more judicious Unitarians who are anxious to keep aii cowrant with the times are wise in their generation to merge the more distinctive in the general title, which has the transcendent merit of not saying more than is necessary, and leaving imagin- 372 UNORTHODOX LONDON. ation to expatiate to any extent as to the immunity from all restraint of those who assume the title. And if a Free Christian Church seems so attractive in its point of contrast to our tolerably liberal Establish- ment, with its easy discipline and liberties only pre- vented from degenerating into licence by the prospective action of the Public Worship Bill, what must such a cultus be to a man who passes to its influences from the very midst of Roman bondage ? I had heard of such an one on the outskirts of London — for West Croydon is but a London suburb now — ^the Rev. Robert Rodolph SuflSeld, at whose chapel Mr Voysey made his Mhut when he left the Established Church some years ago; and it struck me I should like to see in what direction the mind of an ex-priest would run when it shook off the fetters of Roman responsibility, and became fre& to act for itself. Mr Suffield left the Church of Rome simply, I had heard, because the dogma of Papal Infallibility was fulminated fromthe Vatican, and had no further quarrel with the Holy See. He was not, I was given- to under- stand, a vulgar convert who went about crying, ' Un- clean, unclean \' as to all the institutions he had left behind him ; and yet here he had shot off from Rome to a very advanced stage of Rationalism. Clearly the Pere Suffield was a man to be interviewed, and I inter- viewed him accordingly. Mr Suffield's little iron church stands close to the West Croydon Station, and the congregation was already assembling when I arrived. It is the very tiniest of its race ; and was fairly full some time before service com- menced. A large harmonium stood about the centre, and an excellent choir performed the musical portion of the worship, which consisted of hymns taken from the Rev. J. Martineau^s collection. The prayers were ex- temporaneous, or read from MS., I could not discover which. They were very eloquent and impressive, and had the rare merit of not erring on the side of prolixity. There was, of course, a distinct theistic tone traceable throughout. I had come, however, to hear the sermon. Taking for his text the words from St Paul's Epistle A FREE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 373 to the Thessalonians (i. 5, 21), 'Prove all ttings, hold fast that which is good/ Mr Suffield — who, by the way, wore no surplice or gowu throughout the service — stated that Revivalism and Ritualism were the two popular religions. Were they true ? Were they beneficial ? If not, should they be supplanted by some other creed, or by a principle, a method of action ? He thought we had had enough of creeds, new and old. The answer, of course, was by an appeal to common sense — in other words, by Rationalism. 'Rationalism, as I understand the term,' he said, ' does not by any means exclude mystery or disparage poetry, romance, and the ideal. It says they are beautiful and glorious, but they are handmaids, not masters. Rationalism does not deny the mysterious in the universe. In the very depths of our reason we recognize the mysterious. Rationalism does not deny the hidden influences of God, but Rationalism says even such must be judged by our common sense and con- science, by the laws of right reason, which God has given tx) man, whereby he can be saved from becoming the slave of absurd and dangerous illusions. Two of those illusions I now proceed to' glance at, namely. Revivalism and Ritualism. I use these words in the way they are understood in England by the common sense of people who have no object to be attained by playing at words. I address honest, straightforward persons, and not those induced by Dr John Henry Newman or Mr Maurice to use words in a non-natural sense, whereby language, creeds, and formularies can be made to mean anything Ijut what straightforward per- sons know full well was originally meant. ' Thus persons wishing to darken counsel with words, might enter on sophistical arguments to prove that we are all Revivalists and all Ritualists. It is very easy to prove that a Quaker is a Ritualist, and that a Rationalist is a Revivalist ; and as there is no one in the world but what deems reason to have an office, it would be easy to prove that a Romanist is a Rationalist. I would com- mend such amusing but deceptive subtleties to the ladies 374 UNORTHODOX LONDON. and young people who belong to the mystical esthetic section of a well-known Church party, and to all other people who, like Dr Newman, are rather ashamed of their religion, and therefore defend it with the most pertinacious, subtle, and indignant skill. Juvenile dreamers must dream their dreams, and fanciful persons must weave their fancies, and clever ecclesiastics must explain away encyclicals, trusting to Providence and to the confusion bf tongues that the Pope may never hear the explanation. I speak to those who, when they say a thing, mean it, and not its opposite ; who, when they read ppetry, mean poetry; when they recite a creed, mean dogma — to those who consider that accuracy of language, that simple straightforward veracity of word and act, is an essential in religion as in business. ■ 'Thus, by EevivaHsm I understand the Evangelical Religion in prominent action. The Evangelical Religion, though of small numerical consideration in the world generally, is in England numerically strong, embracing as it does about, half the Established Church, and all the less intellectual members of the Congregationalist, Presbyterian, Baptist, and Wesleyan sects. Dr Arnold defines the Evangelical to be ' a good Christian, with a narrow understanding, a bad education, and little know- ledge of the world;' but as some of the disciples of Ritualism might equally lay claim to be comprehended in that definition, we must particularize. The Evan- gelical, like the Ritualist, behoves in the depravity of all mankind, the eternity of future punishment, and the redemption procured for a few by the satisfaction ren- dered to God by the death of His Son, who is also the eternal and coequal God. So far the Ritualist and Evan- gelical agree ; now comes the difference. The Evan- gelical says that the saving effect of that blood of the God-Son is obtained through an act of the mind, through a strong feeling generally called forth by an external mode. The Ritualist says it is obtained through Sacra- ments, that is, through certain rites administered by men divinely appointed for that office. Thus, Anglican Ritualists and Romanists entirely agree in principle ; the A FREE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 375 only difference is-, that each considers the other damned in consequence of a mistake about the persons commis- sioned to administer these rites. The Anglican Ritual- ist regrets that the Romanist is in the deadly sin of schism, he being separate from Archbishop Tait, while claiming that he himself is the true sacerdotal successor of the Apostles. The Romanist at once anathematizes and ridicules the Anglican Ritualist as entangled in the double devilry of schism and heresy. The Evangelical applies the .blood of Christ to his soul by the vivid effort of his imagination. The Ritualist applies it to his soul by the more elaborate process of a mechanical act per- formed in the spirit and way prescribed to him by his pi'iestly superior. The Evangelical gets his minister, or evangelist, or deacon, to decide for him whether the vivid act of his imagination has been of the right degree and sort. ■ ' The act of the imagination whereby an Evangelical persuades- himself that he has got the blood of Christ applied to his good is called conversion. When such conversions are wrought on a large scale, it is called a Revival. Thus an absurd and lowering superstition is all at once brought to light and propagated in England. Most chapel-going people, and a very large number of church- going people, hold the Evangelical Religion; thus a well-advertised Revival ought to attract great numbers, almost as many as would be attracted by a popular idol in Northern India, by a miraculous Madonna in France, by a prophetical utterance in the Holy City of the Mormons, or by a Kenealy gathering in Hyde Park. The Revivalist seeks Mr Moody in the inquiry- room. The Ritualist seeks Mr Maokonoohie in the vestry. These superstitions are melancholy, but, as they exist it is best that they should be made manifest. Amidst these superstitions Rationalism is advancing with firm and onward steps. 'Rationalism would triumph much more widely if Rationalists were not so compromising, so timid, and so difi&dent. Many Rationalists say there have always been superstitions, the world is full of superstitions now. 376 UNORTHODOX LONDON. Consistent Rationalists only form the smaller groups of / the independent and the thoughtful, therefore we have ) j not courage to proclaim our Rationalism. Many Ration- ( I alists are inconsistent, and conceal themselves under j j forms they disbelieve, or content themselves with an indolent freedom — rearing their children as serfs. As / / Rationalism, according to my definition, implies the ' supremacy of conscience as well as of common sense, I do not acknoT^jledge under that religious and honourable name those indolent people who have not the courage to avow their convictions. ' The Evangelical Religion, never strong in the in- telligence and learning of its votaries, has been losing more and more amongst the thoughtful members of churches and chapels. Ministers of Orthodox chapels are compelled to keep in the background the real basis of their sect, and to retain the presence of their more educated hearers by adopting the rationalistic methods, and softening down those dogmas which chiefly shock the natural conscience, and are chiefly opposed to science and common sense ; but the rank and file still cling to the mediasval theology. ' The hopeful sign of the recent revivalist movement has been its rationalistic basis in external management ; it has traded upon the principles of common experience. Miracles in the way of sudden deaths have come in after- wards to magnify the Divine mercy ; but all the ground- work has been laid for months. The two Evangelists formerly visited England, and took their measure of us, and then laid their plans with a prudence deserving of success. A special newspaper was started; all the Evangelical agencies had been put in motion for months ; all rational means adopted with consummate care ; the system of large outlays and large returns; all the Evangelical ministers and clergy united to co-operate and to speak; all the Orthodox chapel and church-going population appealed to for the whole of the existing Evangelical element ; the very music and hymns prac- tised for months; advertising on an enormous scale; telling anecdotes invented, and discourses carefully A FREE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. ^77 prepared and repeated over and over again. Wien the Christian World commenced reporting the Evangelical utterances, the editor received a solicitor's letter warning him that the Evangelists would prosecute him for breach of copyright if he continued the publication. Indeed, the piiblioation of their discourses and anecdotes had already led to serious inconveniences. So the prepara- tions of this movement were eminently business-like, and therefore deserving both praise and success. In its progress the rationalistic element has never been quite absent, and therefore the mischief done has not been so great as might have been. Thus the medical statements testify that this movement has not produced so many cases of insanity and immorality as frequently arise in America. ' The reckless statements as to miraculous interven- tions made by the Evangelists, I regard as amongst the proofs of their convictions and inaccuracy. For what conceivable reason their sincerity and personal goodness should be doubted, passes my apprehension. We have daily experience as to the positiveness of credulity, and the power of personal conviction as to foolish and mis- chievous superstitions, and all superstitions have ele- ments of truth, goodness, and common sense. No good man will impute insincerity and bad intentions to another unless compelled to do so by irrefragable evidence. I attach as little credence to Mr Moody's anecdotes as to his superstition and his sudden deaths ; but when a man has persuaded himself that he is a divine agent, arguments easily arise. ' " The Apostles were ignorant and foolish men ; I am an ignorant and foolish man, therefore I am an Apostle." " Glever people laughed at the Apostles ; clever people laugh at me, therefore I am an Apostle. " " The Apostles worked miracles ; I am an Apostle, therefore I work miracles." " Saul was suddenly converted on liis way to Damascus and became a Christian, therefore no one can be a Christian unless he be suddenly con- verted." " The Evangelists spoke about Jesus Christ ; and I speak about Jesus Christ, therefore I am an 378 UNORTHODOX LONDON., Evangelist." "Those who opposed the Apostles, thereby blasphemed Jesus Christ, and unless converted went to hell; those who oppose me, blaspheme Jesus Christ, and die and go to hell ; " and Mr Thomas "Walker blasphemed Jesus Christ, in Mr Moody his Evangelist ; he was struck dead in his hotel, and would have gone to hell, but a newspaper reporter, in spite of the prayers against a critical spirit, thought he should like to hear what the coroner said about the sudden death. It appeared that Mr Thomas Walker, though deserving death, had not actually died, but had made a hearty breakfast and driven off with a companion in a fly the morning after his very sensible jokes at good Mr Moody's absurdities. ' No wonder that Evangelists object to reporters; as much as they denounce argument, proof^ and criticism. Dr Rowland Williams, Vicar of Croydon, and a Canon, A.D. 1497, preaching at St Paul's said :— " We must root out printing, or printing will root out. us." ' However, they cannot escape all the inconveniences of publicity. ' All this is very sad. It is the same absence of men- tal ballast which leads others to seek the like supersti- tious support from a priest, a cope^ chasuble, and confessional. ' Leave, your dry unfruitful dogmas, Paitii unreasomng, credence bUnd ; All the little narrow circles, Where you wander self-conflned. Splashing in the mire and puddle Of your small sectarian pond. Heedless of the mighty ocean. And the boundless Heavens beyond. ' Is there nothing more to preach of Than the letter of your law ? Nothing left to feed the people But the barren husk and straw ? Nothing for the unbelievers In a creed their souls disclaim, But eternity of torm,ent, And the nnconsuming danie ? A FREE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 379 ^ Nobler themes -fehaii these in-vite you, If you'd throb as throbs the time ; And would speak to hearts o'erburdened Words more human, m.ore sublime ! ' God— our God — ^whose works surround us, Preaches in the summer wind. In the tempest of the ocean, , In the silence of the mind ; In the sparkles of the planets. In the splendour of the sun, In the voice of all Creation — " God is love, and God is one ! " ' God is love — and love eternal ; All things change, but nothing dies ; Find this Gospel, and expound it - In the Bible of the skies. ' O'er the starry vault of midnight. See the countless worlds outspread, — Homes perchance of nobler creatures Than our planet ever bred ; Larger than the earth and fairer, — And then limit, if you can, God's great love to one poor corner. And one little creature — ^man ! ' The sermon^ wHcli I have thus abridged, was full of humour^ and often soared into eloquence; but I am quite sure either a E/Ovivalist or Ritualist would have joined issue with its logic ; while of course those who heard it had come with the foregone conclusion that Rationalism was the only panacea for all tlie ills that religious flesh is heir to. In the afternoon Mr Suffield lectured at St Greorge's Hall on Monasticismj and I followed him as devoutly as though I had been a promising convert myself. He sketched most amusingly the monastic institutions of the Middle Ages, and insisted on it that the ascetic portion was only one exceptional adjunct of their system. Monasteries were the centres of intellectual culture and artistic taste, and agricultural skill ; while the fathers excelled even in such pursuits as horse-racing and steeple-chasing. They acted plays in their sacristies and refectories which were so broad as to shock even 38o UNORTHODOX LONDON. the barons of the period. Therefore, argued Mr Suffield, the best way to reproduce them was not by copying literally their ascetic institutions and customs, but to keep au courant with the times in all these different departments of social progress. A very pleasant and possibly not an untrue view to take of those same Monks of old. It was the doctrine of the Papal Infallibility which drove Mr SuflBeld from the Roman Catholic Church out into the far countries, as it seems likely to drive many more ; but the way in which he speaks of the old system shows what a hold it takes and keeps upon its votaries. I quote from a pamphlet of his entitled ' Five Letters on a Conversion to Roman Catholicism ' : — For twenty years I was Apostolic missionary, and discharged duties not unimportant in many parts of England, Ireland, Scotland, and France. I published a work {' The Crown of Jesus '), which obtained the widest circulation, was publicly commended by all the arch- bishops, and received the Papal blessing. I left the Roman Catholic Church on the day on which the Papal Infallibility was proclaimed. I never incurred, even in the smallest matter, the censure of any ecclesiastical superior. I never even had a quarrel with any Roman Catholic, lay or ecclesiastic. Therefore I have none of the bitterness which sometimes is found as the result of conflict. I have the most perfect and intimate acquaint- ance with all the minutest workings of the system in all departments of the Roman Church. All who have known me in public or in private during the last three years, can testify to the affectionate kindness of my feelings and speech as to all the Roman Catholics, whom I have known at any period of my life. * * * * * For myself, under the circumstances I felt bound to speak, but it has been with pain. When Anglican con- verts have left the English Church — in which they had passed so many happy and holy years — they speedUy published against it diatribes, in which they seemed to delight, for they dipped their pen in gall. I cannot say A SCOTCH SYNOD IN LONDON. 381 that it is with any approach to such feelings I write of Roman Catholics. I know that, theoretically, they can- not reciprocate my affection and esteem; but it has been always a 'delight to me when I have been able to clear them from unjust aspersions ; it is with sadness that I warn against that fearful despotism, under which they must, as time advances, be prostrated more and more. May some of these, dear to me by a thousand memories, obtain courage to investigate, and then, conscientiously shaking off the incubus, arise as the freed children of the Universal Father. A SCOTCH SYNOD IN LONDON. THERE is something almost pathetic in the position of a faith, strongly bound up with one country, located in another, however tolerant. It always savours of sing- ing the Lord's song in a strange land ; and though Presbyterianism may be said to be thoroughly domestic- ated in England, yet I can never hear the broad accents of a Scotch minister south of the Tweed without feeling as if I were listening to those same Jewish captives ' by the waters of Babylon.' I was attracted to Edward irving's old church in Regent Square, one Monday evening in May, by an announcement that the Scottish Synod for England would commence its annual sitting there, when the Rev. Donald Eraser would preach ; and on bending my steps thither found a large congregation assembled, or rather assembling, for they dropped in by detachments during the entire evening, the service com-- mencing at the unusually early hour of six. I was handed to a seat by a tall verger in a dress-coat, with the most unmistakably Caledonian visage, who smiled blandly as familiar members of Dr Dykes's con- 382 UNORTHODOX LONDON. gregation took the seats he assigned them, many of the front pews being separated by a red cord from the rest of the church to accommodate the impending Synod. Precisely at six o'clock Dr Fraser ascended the pulpit, habited in gown and bands, his snow-white hair looking from the distance almost like a forensic wig> and giving him the appearance of a barrister. A curious oak canopy surmounts the pulpit, probably by way of sounding-board, but it looks very much as though it would topple over and precipitate the preacher from its dizzy height into the pew below. The service, which was striking from its utter sim- plicity, beganwith the singing of a metrical psalm to one of the quaint old Scottish tunes. This was followed by an Old Testament reading from Bzekiel, in which Dr Fraser's well-known powers of elocution were admir- ably displayed. An extempore prayer bearing on ministerial duties came next, and then one of the hymns following the psalms in the collection used at the Church, and specially adapted ' for ministers.' The singing was of course unaocompaaied, and led by a precentor with powerful voice, who occupied a position below the pulpit. Then Dr Fraser read 1 Peter v., and immediately pro- ceeded to the exposition, which was to form his sermon for the evening. The chapter commences, it will b6 remembered, with the words — ' The elders ' — that is, the presbyters — ' which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder '—or presbyter ; but in nearly every instance Dr Fraser used the term bishop as equivalent in its sense of overseer to that of presbyter. The Epis- copate was needful now as then, he said. It was neces- sary that each congregation should have its group of bishop-presbyters, and that these should meet in Pres- byteries and Synods. Peter had an overwhelming claim to personal authority, but it was, said the preacher, only little men who stood on ofiB.cial importance. E,eal heroes like Peter and Paul put themselves on a level with their fellow-men. Feed the flock^-' episcopize ' the flock — was the command. (It is perhaps impossible for thope out of the Anglican Church to understand how strangely A SCOTCH SYKiOD IN LONDON. 383 these ' episcopal ' terms sounded coming from such a source.) This shepherding of the sheep was the crucial question of the day. It was no use to say that all presbyters are bishops, unless the Christian episcopate could be recognized in the presbyters above the chaos of system, anti-system, over-system, and under-system. Then, again, they were not to lord it over God's heritage. They were not 'lord bishops.' So, when the chief- shepherd, the archbishop (and there was no archbishop but Christ), should appear they should receive a crown of glory at the great day of coronation ! • Another hymn called ' Pressing on ' followed, and then Dr Fraser descended from the pulpit, and, occupy- ing the Moderator's chair, ' constituted the Synod by prayer.' Names were called over, and Dr Fraser pro- posed as his successor in the oflBce of Moderator for the ensuing year one who had been thirty years in the ministry, and nine years in his present charge, the Rev. John Mathieson, minister of Hampstead. The name was received with much applause ; and Mr Mathieson, being fetched from the vestry by the smiling man in the dress-coat, passed to the Moderator's chair, and read from MS. his inaugural address. In broad Scottish accent quite different from Dr Fraser's diction, which had not the suspicion of a ' brogue,' Mr Mathieson eloquently dwelt on the present aspects of Presbyterianism in England. He congratu- lated his co-religionists on their unity, while they were, he said, ' broad ' enough to embrace different opinions on niinor matters. He threw in a word of commendation on the American evangelists, ' who have moved the myriad- peopled city,' he said, ' as it has never been moved be- fore.' It might have been that their own ministers had relied too much on intellect, and that God was teaching them a lesson in these men, whose lips had been touched by a live coal from the altar. In the last ten years the English congregations had increased from 106 to 160, and that not chiefly in the North, where such increase might have been expected, but in the South, where they were more scattered. Perhaps the state of the Church 384 UNORTHODOX LONDON. of England might lead people to look at Presbyterianism as the safeguard against Eomanism under the form of Ritualism. He concluded a most interesting excursus by dwelling on the prospects of Church extension, of union with the United Presbyterians, and eventually of a complete unanimity which might once more make people say, 'Behold, how these Christians love one another ! ' COMMUNION SUNDAY. IT is only under some reservation that the following ecclesiastical experience can be said to bear reference to Unorthodox London, or indeed to the metropolis in any sense, since its locale is the Highlands of Scotland. But of the Cockney traveller, even more than of the Parisian, it may be said that he carries his nationality with him ; and in the land where the Presbyterian is the established form of faith, I felt myself very literally indeed ' Unoi'thodox London.' My subject and myself seemed for the moment to change places. With that charming inconsistency observable in some perverse natures, I found myself one year waiting until summer and autumn had quite departed, excursion trains were at an end, and tourist tickets all expired, when I set out on an unseasonable journey to the capital of the Highlands. From thence I wrote, with a bright November sun shining down on the Ness which flowed under my windows, as if that luminary were disposed to fool me to the top of my bent, and make believe that it was only rather late summer ; while the salmon were leaping as though they enjoyed the joke too. I invented something I called ' business,' which was sufficient to satisfy myself, if nobody else, as to the sanity of the step I took in suddenly rushing off from COMMUNION StJNDA V. 385 London to Inverness, and by the way I stopped at Perth, to pay a visit to the home of the ' Fair Maid '■ (which I found remarkably like other third-rate tenements, ratter out of repair, down a back street), and also to have a look at the round tower which forms a curious append- age to the Cathedral at Brechin, the meaning whereof is just as obscure as it was before I left the flags of Fleet Street. Having attended to these preliminary details, I pushed on to Inverness. It is very refreshing ' to one who hath been long in city pent ' to notice the first symptoms of having got across the Scottish border. It came to me in the shape of an exceedingly intoxicated Caledonian drover who got into my carriage in mistake for his own, somewhere north of Carlisle, after alighting in an infructuous search for more 'whusky.' He had been selling cattle at Manchester, and told me twenty times over of a certain little ' Hieland bull ' which he had bought for ' eight pun ' and sold for ' twenty-fower pun.' He boasted that he ' niver telFt a lee to a mon ; but, egh, I have tell't lees to t' weemmen,' he added, and the old goat told me lots of unsavoury stories of his youth, illustrat- ing his faculty for ' tellin' lees to t' weemmen.' When I landed in the High Street of Inverness with a small boy carrying my bag, it seemed as though I had entered a city of the dead, and I asked the lad whether the shops were usually shut by 6.25 ; but the youthful aborigine was thinking of his impending ' sax- pence,' and did not care to enter on the matter. At the lodging I had engaged I found the landlady had gone out. It was ' Fast Day,' the servant girl informed me ; and it seemed likely to prove literally so in my case. I went back to the station, and I found nothing but sandwiches, which I rejected, as I had been living on them for the last two days. At the Station Hotel the waiter was much too genteel to realize the idea of a chop, and proposed a heavy dinner, which I declined, much to his disgust, and was going home resolved to fast like the rest of the good folks at Inverness — ^though I had no idea what they or I had done to be reduced to, 25 386 UNORTHODOX LONDON. suck a measure — when lo ! I saw tte liospit9,ble door of the Quees's Hotel standiBg open, and on representing my bona fide ti'avelling condition to the landlady was soon supplied with aU I wanted, and tended by the prettiest waitress it has ever been my lot to see on either side of the border. If it was easier to find a god than a man in ancient Athens, it is certainly easier to find a church than a house in Inverness; and I had arrived on the day of preparation for the six monthly celebration of the Communion. During the whole of Thursday the. shops were shut, and thus it was I found the Highland metropolis so silent. I no longer regretted^especially after its pleasant sequel — my little diflBculty as to a meal, since I should be in a position to see some of the observances .of a Scotch Communion Sunday. On ' Sabbath ' morn, however, a sort of esprit de corps led me to attend first of all the celebration of the Communion according to the Scottish oflBce at the Episcopal Cathedral. I went thither on Friday to morning service, when I formed the only adult male element in the congregation, the rest consisting of three ladies and a boy. There was a goodly g?ithering ou the Sunday morning, however, and the Cathedral is a splendid building only just consecrated. As I went along Ness Walk, and by the fairy-like islands, I saw every imaginable sort of conveyance bringing the country folk in to Communion Sunday. Indeed, throughout the two days previously, the city resembled some Catholic place on the Continent ; the good wives, in their clean white caps, coming and going incessantly, with their Prayer-books in their hands. No possible devotion to the Mass could exceed that of the Scotch folk in prospect of Communion Sunday. No doubt the infrequency of the celebration has something to do with the solemnity of its observance. The morning service and sermon at the Cathedral were both taken by the Provost, who was quite un- assisted, and had a hard morning's work. The choir was goodj the boys' voices being especially clear, COMMUNION SERVICE. 387 putting one in mind of the fresli crisp Highland air the children breathed; while the faint Scotch accent, discernible in their articulation, rather added to the piquancy of their singing. The chants were Anglican, and everything was exceedingly hearty, without a symptom of anything that could be called excess. In fact the cultns of Inverness Cathedral would hardly be deemed ' High ' in London, but it was exceedingly imposing. The sermon was a special one on the subject of the death of a member of the congregation, and the Provost took a double text — ' The heart knoweth its own bitter- ness, and a stranger doth not intermeddle with its joy;' and ' Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.' He traced the growth of Christian life here as consisting to a large extent in the develop- ment of sympathy and elimination of selfishness. When we took a larger view and looked beyond we saw that, except in so far as individuality was retained, there would be no bounds to sympathy, none of those limita- tions which here made up personality. The address was short but exceedingly eloquent and much to the purpose ; so that the previous disappointment which I felt at not hearing the Bishop himself was quite removed. The Scottish Communion office bears considerable resemblance to the English, but has its points of differ- ence as well.. It opens with the Lord's Prayer and Collect for Purity, but the use of the Ten Command- ments is optional, their place being supplied alternatively (and it was so on this occasion) by Christ's Summary of the Pecalogne. After this'the final Kyrie was sung j and then came a prayer for grace and strength,, or a collect for the Queen. Provost Powell, like a loyal subject, chose the latter. The Collect, Epistle, and Gospel for the day succeeded, and the general con- gregation left after the Qffertory. The speciar Com- munion Service then commenced with the Sursum Corda and Sanctus. Immediately came the Prayer of Con- secration, which is longer than in the English office, comprising, besides our prayer, a special Oblation of the Eleniienits; (as in the Grreek Bkehari&tic office), an 388 UNORTHODOX LONDON. Invocation, and certain portions of our Church Militant Prayer. Then came the ' Prayer for the whole State of Christ's Church/ which, again, is longer than ours, and comprises the following beautiful sentences — which were specially appropriate under existing circumstances : — ' We bless Thy holy name for all Thy servants who', having finished their course in faith, do now rest from their labours. ' And we yield unto Thee most high pra,ise and hearty thanks for the wonderful grace and virtue declared in all Thy saints, who have been the choice vessels of Thy grace, and the lights of the world in their several generations, most humbly beseeching Thee to give us grace to follow the example of their steadfastness in Thy Faith and obedience to Thy holy commandments, that, at the day of the general resui-rection, we and all they who are of the Mystical Body of Thy Son, may be set on His Right Hand, and hear that, His most joyful voice, " Come, ye Blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."' Then followed the Lord's Prayer repeated, the Confession, Absolution, and Comfortable Words, as in our ofl&ce. The sentences of administration were simply ' The Body of our Lord Jesus Christ which was given for thee;' and 'The Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ which was shed for thee, preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting life,' the communicant responding ' Amen.' I noticed that the celebrant maintained the Eastward Position throughout. The office concluded with a Thanksgiving and the Gloria in Bxcelsis. After leaving the Cathedral I went to the Free High Kirk, where I believe there was just one place vacant> into which I 'was put ; and I fear this one place was obtained by undue compression of the polite pew- opener. I was rather dismayed to find that I was among the faithful, the non-communicants being in the gallery. The desks in the pews were covered with white linen, and the deacons were already bearing round huge plates of bread and immense chalices of wine. The bread was cut into long slices, and I passed it on COMMUNION SUNDA Y. 389 when it came to me ; but tte civil pew-opener would not hear of this, and I had to break a piece off and eat like the rest. The wine seemed to be nnfermented, and had to be continually replenished from flagons which the deacons carried round with them and placed on the ground when not in use. A more complete contrast to the office I had just heard in the Cathedral could not be imagined. The minister (Dr Black), a young man clad in academic gown and Geneva bands, sat beneath the pulpit, and during the administration kept reading passages of Scripture and reciting verses of hymns from memory. In the interim between these the silence was profound. This minister had a most pleasing voice, without a soupcon of Scotch accent, and was peculiarly happy in his quotations, recitations, and expositions. The ceremony concluded with an address from another minister, who spoke in a bro^^d Scotch dialect, and based his remarks on a strange mystical passage in the Song of' Solomon. The address, how- ever, was extremely apposite; but I could not help thinking how little the worthy gentleman would have liked the resemblance which still struck me between a continental Sunday and this Scottish Communion Sabbath. He was bitter against the Papists, exhorting them to carry the influence of this Communion in their hearts, not to wear it in the shape of a crucifix round their necks. • He scarcely wondered that a Eoman Catholic never knew any real peace (a fact of which I had not been aware), because they only worshipped a dead Christ. It seemed to me just another instance of how much better we are than our creeds, and how of all Christian virtues the ' greatest is Charity.' When I narrated my morning's experience to certain friends I had formed iq Inverness— the most sociable and hospitable of places !— they at first shook their heads in incredulity, but eventually laughed heartily over their toddy at the idea of ' Unorthodox London ' having been put into a,pew and allowed to communicate, nay, invited to do so, by mistake. ' We couldn't have done it/ they assured me. 390 UNORTHODOX LONDON. Perhaps the good folks were in a proselyting mood, and thought they would convert me. BREAKFAST WITH EAJRLT CHRISTIANS. I THINK I never realized so intensely the fact of my being a working man as I did when I accepted the invitation of the Young Men's Christian Association to breakfast at their rooms in Aldersgate Street, London, at six A.M., and afterwards attend their annual meetings I sped through the clear air of a genial spring morning and caught the first workmen's train to the City, and found by the time we had got two or three stations down the line we had only nine workmen standing in our compartment in addition to the ten who were seated. The accommodation on the Metropolitan is utterly inadequate, and all distinctions of class quite disregarded. If any one wants to see the 'working men in their thousands,' he had much better take one of these early trains than attend a Hyde Park demon- stration ; only he will be considerably more ' acrowged ' — to adopt the artisan's phraseology. When I reached the institution in Aldersgate Street I found the whole place laid down to a heavy breakfast, and it may be supposed our appetites were sharpened by our early rising. I failcy the Christians young and old did con'- siderable justice to the viands. I know I did. As soon as breakfast was ovpr — and I must not omit to mention that the Early Christians were female as well as male — we adjourned to the large lecture-hall, where Mr Alderman M' Arthur took the chair, and after a hymn had been sung from the special collection of the Association, commencing with the words ' Early, my God,' &c., and prayer by the Rev. J. Webster, we pro- BREAKFAST WITH EARLY CHRISTIANS. 391 beeded to business. We were informed by the chair- man that the Young Men's Christian Associations of Melbourne and Chicago were represented by two gentle- men who would address us, and Mr M'Arthur then gav6 us some interesting details of his early experiences of the Young Men's Christian Association when he came as a young man to London. He often used to take his cup of coffee there, and was pleased to find that the old waiter ' James'' was still alive. He owed further obliga- tions to that Association, for when he was in business and wanted an assistant he got one from them, who proved a treasure to him, and rose rapidly to be a partner, but was removed by an early death. The Association was in fact a young men's club. He con- cluded by reading amid great applause a portion of Lord Chief Justice Cockburn's speech at the opening of the Manchester Athenaeum, on the value of intellectual pursuits. The Rev. J. J. Halley, from Melbourne, then made a most telling and humorous speech, saying he was com- missioned to convey the love of the Christian young men in Australia to the Christian young men of London; and he was quite sure that had the former known that ladies would have been present they would have sent their love to them too. He gave a graphic account of life in the colonies, where he said there was a fine Opening for good men but none for fools. Dr Barntodo, of Stepney, preached a sermon^^though he disavowed any intention of doing so-^on the subject of earnestness in Christian work ; and on sitting down was violently attacked by the next speaker^ the Kev. R. C. Billing, who said early rising had made him pugna- cious, and he had a quarrel with both the preceding speakers — with Dr Barnardo for contrasting his own excellent speech with ministerial utterances, and with Mr Halley for wanting to decoy all the best young men over to Melbourne. The Rev. M. C. Osborji, who was inti'oduced by the chairman as his own pastor, said it was difficult to say when men ceased to be young; some in that assembly had gray hair or bald heads. In 392 UNORTHODOX LONDON. manner as well as matter this gentleman was most successful, displaying genuine enthusiasm without a tinge of what the most fastidious could call fanaticism. I could not help noticing, that although he belonged to the Methodist Connexion, his dress was intensely- clerical, with orthodox coat, and something remarkably like Roman bands. This was the case with most of the Nonconformist ministers present. Then came the gentleman from Chicago. The Hon. Mr Farwell — such was his name — had a most telling American accent, and claimed for his people on his side of the river the characteristic of being wide-awake. He had just come over, and had already conveyed the greetings of the Toung Men's Christian Association in Chicago to the Convention at the Opera House and to the Presbyterian Synod. He had come four thousand miles just to look in on Brother Moody's meetings, and told some most interesting stories of his own work in the inquiry-room. On the very first day he had gained a ^reat ' large- looking' Scotchman and his wife, which he thought a very wide-awake thing to have done. Several other speakers followed, and then, as it was near nine o'clock and many had to go to business, the Doxology was sung ; but we who remained had the privilege of hear- ing Mr Hunter, the Baptist Missionary in the Highlands, sing a most characteristic hymn. In responding to the vote of thanks, the chairman remarked that Charles Lamb said he did not like getting up until the world was comfortably warm, but he thought that if he could have been at that meeting he would have found plenty of warmth of heart. It was indeed a most hearty gathering, and gave one a vivid notion of the work being done all over the world by Young Men's Chris- tian Associations. The Association was formed in 1844, in order to the improvement of the character and social condition of young men engaged in commercial pursuits. Its objects are both missionary and educational. It seeks to bring men under the influence of Christian principles, and to lead them to exhibit the appropriate results in all the BREAKFAST WITH EARLY CHRISTIANS. 393 duties and engagements of life. It has, during the twenty-eight years of its existenqe, enlisted the volun- tary missionary efforts of 4365 young men, who, as members of the Association, have sought (as many hundreds of them are still seeking) to lead their com- panions in the paths of virtue, to protect the young from temptation, and to reclaim those who have fallen into evil habits. Its useful labours have secured the support of some of the large^st commercial houses in . London, while the fruits of those labours, in addition to the membership of the Christian Church, and in the supply of eflBcient agents in every department of re- ligious and benevolent service, have been acknowledged by the representatives of the Church in all its sections. The public lectures at Exeter Hall, inaugurated by the society, and sustained for more than twenty years, have been circulated in a total of 100,000 volumes, while of the single lectures the sale in one year reached 111,500, and was in every year considerable. The work is at present sustained in the City of London as follows : — By the activities of 750 members in the spheres of their daily calling ; by Bible classes, held every Sunday afternoon, attended by a weekly average of 200 young men, probably by a yearly aggregate of not less than 3500 ; by devotional meetings thrice in each week; by frequent addresses by ministers of the Gospel ; by the ' annual distribution of tracts and invitations to the extent of 60,000 copies; and by its library and reading- rooms, which are frequented by an average of 1000 young men per annum, and in connection with which classes are formed to afford to young men opportunity of acquiring a knowledge of the French, German, Spanish, and Latin languages. Mathematics, English composition, and vocal music. ' There are nine branches of the Association in the metropolis. In Great Britain and Ireland 200 similar associations have been formed through its example, many of them by its direct opera- tion. The movement has spread itself, from this centre, over France, Holland, Belgium^ Switzerland, and Ger- many; is represented in Spain, Italy, Greece^ and 394 UNORTHODOX LONDON. Egypt, in India, Chinaj and the Australian Colonies; and exercises in British North America, and in the United States, an influence even larger than in the mother country. The total number of Associations exceeds fifteen hundred. The attention of the Baptist Home Missionaiy Society for Scotland, to which reference has been made, is chiefly directed to the Highlands and Islamds of Scot- land, containing a population of about 4'00,O00-^5)ine- fourth of whom inhabit the Islands. Some of the parishes are about sixty miles long, and from sixteen to fbrty miles broad j and a single parish extends, in some cases, over six, in others over eight, and even ten islands. A great portion of the people are thus pre- cluded from attending their parish churches, While their poverty, for the most part, prevents them from supporting preachers. To these, therefore, the Gospel can generally be made known only by itinerant laboui*- ers. The Society employs from eighteen to twenty-five approved and tried missionaries. THE JEWISH NEW TEAR AND DAY OF ATONEMENT. THERE is no more curious link binding the present with the past than the persistent traditions and ceremonies of modern Judaism, surviving as they do in the very busiest centres of modem life, and amongst a people exceptionally qualified to play their part in the active business of the worldi To pass along the London streets on a Friday evening or Saturday morn- ing, and see the shops of the Hebrew tradesmen closed when commercial life is elsewhere at its zenith, shows JEWISH NEW YEAR &- DAY OF ATONEMENT. 395 that the old faith is still alive in the hearts of this singular people just as it was 'it the brave days of old ' in Palestine. Whether that which is now called Judaism adequately represents the Mosaic faith and practice (a question ^hich is debated to some degree within the pale of modern Judaism itself) we will not discuss. The Jew finds in his religion what' the Christian poet Keble has so well expressed under the words — ' The trivial round, tie commoa task, Will furnisli all we need to ask — Eoom to deny ourselves, a road To bring us daily nearer God.' The occurrence of two of the great annual festivals furnished material for illustration — first, in the Read- ing of the Law on the day of Atonement; secondly, in Waiting for the Shofar (or 'Cornet') at the New Year. The Day of Atonement"— or rather, as it is called in the Hebrew, the Day of Atonements (Yom Kippurim) — ■ is called by the Rabbinical name of Yoma, that is, the Day par esccellmice. It was celebrated on the tenth day of the seventh month, called in the Old Testament" Ethanim, but by the Jews in later times Tisri. Accord- ing to the uniform voice of tradition (says the ' Speaker's Commentary ') it was the first day of the civil year, in use before the Exodus, and was observed as the festival of the New Year. To us this would imply a season of joy, but not so to the Jew. It was said in the Rabbinical writings that ' as the merits and the sins of a man are weighed at the hour of his death, so likewise every year, on the festival of New Year's Day, the sins of every one that cometh into the world are weighed against his merits. Every one who is found wicked is sealed to death j but the judgment of the intermediate class is sus- pended until the Day of Atonement. If they repent they are sealed to life, but if not they are sealed to death ' (Hilchoth T'aohuvah, c. iii. 3, quoted in McCaul's 'Old Paths'). 396 UNORTHODOX LONDON. Witt this great annual fast of expiation was con- nectedj in ancient times, the significant ceremony oi the scapegoat, still retained among some of the ortho- dox Jews to the extent of sacrificing a cock on the eve of the Day of Atonement. The Order of Atonements, published at Breslau in 1830, gives minute directions for this sacrifice. Having taken the fowl into his hand, the sacrificer repeats certain verses of Scripture, and then, ' moving the atonement round his head,' he adds, ' This is my substitute — this is my commutation. This cock goeth to death; but may I be gathered, and enter into a long and happy life, and into peace.' ' As soon as one has performed the order of the atonement, he should lay his hands on it, as the hands used to be laid on sacrifices, and immediately give it to be slaughtered.' ' This custom,' says Dr McCaul, ' ex- tensively prevalent among the Jews, proves abundantly the internal dissatisfaction of the Jewish mind with their own doctrines, and the deeply-rooted convictioa of their hearts that without shedding of blood there is no remission of sin ' (' Old Paths,' p. 302). The ordinary sacrifices and atonements of the year did not suffice to complete the reconciliation between the congregation of Israel — which was to be called a holy nation, but in its very nature was still altogether involved in sin and uncleanness — and Jehovah, the Holy One — that is to say, to restore the reconciliation and true vital fellowship of the nation with its God, in accordance with the idea and object of the old covenant — because, even with the most scrupulous observance of these directions, many sins and defile- ments would still remain unacknowledged, and there- fore without expiation, and would necessarily produce in the congregation a feeling of separation from its God, so that it would be unable to attain to the true joyousness of access to the Throne of Grace, and to the place of reconciliation with God. This was met by the appointment of a yearly, general, and perfect expiation of all the sins and uncleanness which had JEWISH NEW YEAR &= DAY OF ATONEMENT. 397 remained unatoned for and uncleansed in the course of the year.* The Feast of Trumpets {Bies Clangoris et Tuharum) came in on the first of Tisri, and was one of the days of Holy Convocation and commencement of the New Year. It was to be a Shabbath Shabbathon, or Sabbath of Eest, and on it were blown both kinds of trumpets, the straight horn and the cornet. This was the Shofar, described by Professor Marks as ' a loud-sounding in- strument, made of the horn of a ram, or a chamois, sometimes of an ox, and used by the ancient Hebrews for signals, and, among other purposes, for proclaiming the New Year.' Rabbinical traditions represented this epoch as the anniversary of the Creation of the World ; and besides its significance as the opening of the year, it was, so to say, the introduction to the immediately succeeding Day of Atonement. The ' Sounding of the Comet ' no doubt bore reference to the words of the prophet Joel, ' Sound the trumpet (cornet) in Zion, sanctify the fast, proclaim the solemn assembly.' This custom is stiU retained; and Professor Harks adds, ' The sounds emitted from the comet in modern times are exceedingly harsh, although they produce a solemn effect.' _ f The following prayer is said by the person who sounds the cornet before he begins : — ' May it be acceptable in Thy presence, Lord, my Gfod, and the God of my Fathers, the God of Heaven and the God of the Earth ; the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob ; the great God, mighty and tremendous, to send me the holy and pure angels who are faithful ministers, and faithful in their message, and who are desirous and wilhng to justify Israel ; and also the great angel Patzpatziah, who is appointed to present the merits of Israel, when they sound the cornets this day ; and likewise the great angel Tas-h- bash, who is appointed to declare the merits of Israel, and confound Satan with, their sound of the comet ; * Eael and Delitzcli on the Pentateuch., 398 UNORTHODOX LONDON. and the great princes who are appointed over the comet, Enkatham and Pastam ; and the great angels Hadamiel and Sandalphon, who are appointed over our sounding, who introduce our sounding before the throne of Thy glory; and also the angel Shamshiel, who is appointed over the joyful sound, and the angel Prasta, who is appointed to superintend pywpt ^^^ they may all be expeditious in their errand; to in- troduce our soundings before the veil, and before the throne of Thy glory ; and mayest Thou be filled with mercy over Thy people Israel ; and lead us within the temperate line of strict justice ; and conduct Thyself towards Thy children with the attribute of mercy, and sufier our soundings to ascend before the throne of Thy glory.' — Prayer for the New Year, p. 81. Among the ceremonies connected by some of the orthodox Jews with the Day of Atonement, the fol- lowing are mentioned by Dr Kitto in his ' Cyclopsedia of. Biblical Literature : ' — ' Towards evening of the 9th of Tisri, and before they take their last meal for twenty-four hours, they repair to the synagogue, and each inflicts on his neighbour thirty-nine blows with a piece of leather. This infliction is called ms^JS, in expiation of these sins which are punished by the law of Moses wiih flogging. Most of the Jews on that day (of atonement) wear a white gown — the same shrouds in which they are buried; while all of them are obliged ,to stand the whole day without shoes or even shppers.' HUMANITARIANISM. 399 HUMANITARIANISM. WHAT ! ' I fancy I hear my readers exclaim, ' yet another ism ! ' It was the fact of that additional ism, and the circumstance that I myself strongly hold the maxim, ' Homo sum, nihil humanum a me alienum puto/ which led me forth one Sunday morning to Penton Street, Islington, where, I had been- informed, a Humanitarian Lecturer, one Mr Porey, was to hold forth on the subject of Socrates, at the Claremont Hall. PentonYille Hill on a Sunday morning is greatly sxii generis. Flocks of people pass and repass to the multi- tudinous churches and chapels of Islington, and early bakings monopolize the attention of many of those who do not worship. Besides such there is always a large number of folks everywhere on Sunday going, like Geha^i, ' nowhither,' and among these, in the exercise of my recent Christian liberty, I passed leisurely along smoking my cigar on the Sunday morning I had resolved to devote to Humanitarianism. Punctuality, as I had already proved on a previous Sunday, when I went to hear Mr Povey lecture on Spinoza, is not among the cardinal virtues of the Humanitarians. Long after eleven o'clock, when I had in vain sought to pay my threepence at Claremont Hall, and found nobody to take it, I adjourned to a stationer's shop opposite, in full trade that Sunday morning, and under pretence of buying a threepenny notebook, asked the communicative proprietress about the Humani- tarians. She knew very little, save that they were new-comers; and while I was talking to her a young man entered Claremont Hall with an air of authority. I flew at him and questioned him ; but' found he had only come to light the fire. Then a dejected boy took up 400 UNORTHODOX LONDON. His station, arranging and re-arranging some large posters about the lecture, but it was full half-past eleven before the presiding genius, Mr Kaspary, and the lecturer, Mr Povey, put in an appearance. A bright- eyed little pianiste came a few minutes earlier; for, ecclesiastical prodigals as we were, there was to be ' music,' though not ' dancing' for us. There was not a symptom of an audience, either now or when the lecture commenced; at least there were only myself, the lecturer's daughter, Mr Kaspary, and the dejected boy, who had a bad cough. The bright-' eyed pianiste played a nice solo, and then the lecturer read the fifteen rules or doctrines of the Humanitarians, which are appended below. Then another solo, and the lecture commenced. The lecturer was an elderly scholarly-looking man, and' I really regretted that he had no audience, as I did also that the young man who attended to the fire had not been more successful in his department ; for it went out at an early stage of the proceedings, and the cold was Arctic. Man, said the lecturer, is all related, and every one is an actor of a principal or a subordinate part in the drama of the world : whichever part he plays he is so conjoined with his fellow-players that his character cannot be understood without naming and explaining the dramatis personce (actors of the play in which he has acted) : — 'All the 'world's a stage, And aU tlie men and women merely players, And one man in his time plays many parts.' When the scenes, too, are described, through which the chief comedian or tragedian has passed, we possess nearly all the means possible of remembering his history, of divining his motives, of seeing his errors, of witnessing his virtues, and deriving excitement to imitate his excellences, or warning to avoid his errors, his faults, or his crimes. Sophroniscus, a sculptor, and Phoenarete, the midwife, were respectively the father and mother of Socrates, the hero of our discourse. HUMANITARIANISM. 401 Crito was a wealthy noble whose service to Boorates was very important. Euripides, the tragic author, was a most intimate friend of Socrates. Aristophanes, the comic dramatist, had much to do with his portrait as it has descended to us. Protagoras is a philosopher who prophesied the future eminence of Socrates. Zopyrus, a physiognomist. Plato, a disciple of Socrates. Xenophon, historian of Greece and Persia, also a disciple. Aspasia, a handsome, learned woman, professor, a general lover. Phidias, the most eminent sculptor of Greece. Alcibiades, a young nobleman and also a disciple of Socrates. Anytus and Melitus, his accusers of crime. Laches, a companion of Socrates in the wars. Xantippe, wife of Socrates. Connus and Damon, teachers of music. Zeno of Blea, the philosopher. Scopas of Cranon. Eurylochus of Larissa, and Archelaus of Macedonia, Sovereign Princes. To haifioviov, the familiar spirit of Socrates. The Pythia, a priestess of Apollo at Delos. Grooms, farriers, slaves, salesmen in thp Agora or market, cattle-drivers, &c. Our first scene, though partly imaginary, must be necessarily true. In the humble home at Athens, with workshops attached, alternately lived the young Socrates, and received instructions in due time (in addition to that which was purely elementary) in the art of sculp- ture, by which it was intended he should gain his living. He must have been a strange, eccentric boy, for we find that his father consulted the priestess of Apollo at Delphi as to what teachers he should procure for his son. The answer of the Oracle was that if he 26 402 UNORTHODOX LONDON. were left to Ms own bent he would teach himself. It would be better than a thousand masters. The period in the history of Greece in which he flourished was from about 469 to 400 B.C., so that when Greece was resting he passed a long life within one year of the threescore and ten to which so few arrive. He was of a very inquisitive turn of mind, and, although he makes use of all means within his reach, yet he depends chiefly on himself for answers to the great problems that are suggested to his mind from time to time. We may suppose that he learnt the art of sculpture well, since for a time he had to earn his living by it, and there is a tradition that a fine group of the Graces was executed by him and publicly exhibited. But how was it that he had leisure to pursue study, and live the free and unconstrained Hfe that he did ? Crito, the wealthy noble, stepped forward, and afforded him the means of living, and removed him from the workshop. He went about here and there in Athens, constantly inquiring, and by this means gained an immense deal of knowledge of men and things. Protagoras said that he would become great in philosophy. Now, the period in which he flourished was one in which multitudes of self-styled philosophers existed, as well as real ones. In the world of poetry there were Sophocles and Aristophanes, and Phidias in sculpture, Among the friends of Socrates was the poet Euri- pides, so noted for the moral sentences in aU his plays, and which may have been suggested by Socrates, as the style of Socrates may have been poetized by Euripides. Fancy the two friends working together for one com- mon end — the one to make men happier and better by mingling morality with fable, and the other by direct and plain instructions. Now Euripides persuaded Socrates to study the writings of Heraclitus, who prided himself on his depth and obscurity. HUMANITARIANISM. 403 ' Begone, ye blooklieads, Heraolitus cries, And leave my labours to the leam'd and wise.' Euripides asked Socrates how lie liked them. His answer is beautiful. ' What I understand . is excellentj and I have no doubt that what I don't understand is equally excellent.' He learned dialectic or the art of disputation from Zeno of Elea, and some geometry from Theodorus of Gyrene. He made use of all knowledge for the purpose of illustrating the chief topic on which he spoke. Prodicus was the fashionable teacher of rhetoric/ and from him he is said to have had instruction. Socrates was frequently at the house of Aspasia, the celebrated courtesan, beloved by Pericles and Plato, but also a teacher of eminence. He is also said to have studied music under Connus and Damon ; he is also stated to have played on the lyre. His knowledge of music he used only, as many other parts of knowledge, for the illustration of his ideas. ' He now conversed with every man at his own home, submitted to be familiarly approached and reviewed without reserve, and instead of waiting to be consulted by his votaries only, volunteered to mingle in the business, interests, and pleasures of everyday life.' He declared himself a citizen of the world. The stranger, the mechanic, the slave was enlightened by his wisdom, improved by his advice, and consoled by his humanity. According to Plato, he admitted the transmigration of the soul, that it had been possessed of unbounded knowledge in a pre-existing state, and that it would exist for ever hereafter. The scene in which all these conversations took place was chiefly the Agora or market-place at Athens. Here he conversed and argued till he convinced the salesmen and the cattle-drivers that their own welfare was inextricably bound up in that of their country, and that to suffer an injury was nothing to stain the soul, but to inflict an injury was. 404 UNORTHODOX LONDON. Socrates did not countenance warj but yet he served his country two or three times as a patriotic soldier. In the Chersonese, at Potidaea, while others were clothing themselves with additional garments, he was observed in his usual dress walking barefoot on the ice with more ease than others with their shoes. Socrates rescued his friend Alcibiades from death. Laertes, the historian, says that at the battle of Delium Socrates also saved Xenophon. Socrates escaped from Delium in company with Laches and Alcibiades, and thus saved his friends as well as himself by his sagacity. On his return to Athens he continued his avocation as a ' cross-questioner of men.' His grand idea was to remove from the minds of the Sophists and their disciples the false impression they had of their own knowledge. With eveiy one of this kind he so ques- tioned and obtained admissions, that the questioned^ person ended by confessing that he knew nothing of that which at the beginning he professed to know everything. He hereby created many enemies. He is at last accused by Melitus and Anytus, men in power, of cor- rupting the youth of Athens, and introducing other new deities. The Apology of Socrates by Plato, is the work which gives us the best idea of Socrates in his grandest aspect, the preference of death to the violation of wha,t he held to be right. He says to the judge, ' Though I love and reverence you, I shall obey God rather than you. If you kill me you will not hurt me so much as you will hurt .yourselves. I compare the public to a great sleepy horse that wants a gadfly to stir it up. When I am gone it will go to sleep, till somewhat stir it up again.- If we think death an evil we are in error, it is only the way to another life. No evil can happen to a good man in life or death.' You all know the story of his death. Socrates said that he had a familiar spirit that always prevented him from going anywhere or doing anything that would be hurtful.., Plutarch wrote a treatise, 'De Genio Socratis,' HUMANITARIANISM. 405 Apuleius de Deo Socratis. Xenophon and others said that this spirit both enjoined and forbade things. The Greek is hainoviov (a little deity), not ©eos, a God, or Aaifxav, a demon or spirit. It always gave him counsel (yi/wjuij), and advised him chiefly in small matters. It gave him a sign (a-rjjueioz') in small things. One of the writers on this has said that the Gods work on the principle of association in the mind, and that not to act without internal advice was so a habit that his quick exercise of judgment became. a sense by practice. He taught by this deference to conscience that intellectual culture without moral practice is a wild- fire, and that conscience is the voice of God. The grand lesson to be drawn from this is the power of practice. By this perceptions become so vivid that they enlist the passions on their side, aiid overbear all the solicitations of external temptation. Then followed a lecture on Earnestness, but I failed to gather much of the distinctive character of Humani- tarianism either from the lecture itself or from the fifteen rules that preceded it. These were as follows : — ' Fifteen Docteinbs of the Eeligioi^ of God. ' 1. The only God is eternal and indivisible. ' 2. The human soul is eternal, both past and future. ' 3. All finite parts of the unbounded universe are eternal, ' 4. The earth is the only and eternal abode of the human soul. ' 5. The soul feels neither pleasure nor pain without a body. ' 6. Every infant has pre-existence, or is a person risen from the dead. ' 7. Every person or human soul is immortal, or will be born again as an infant. ' 8. The male and female sex have equal intellectual, moral, social, and political rights and duties, since men and women are alike responsible to God and humanity for their thoughts, desires, and actions. 4o6 UNORTHODOX LONDON. ' 9. Sins are black spots in the human soul, but merits are the sparkling diamonds in her. The black spots in the soul can be washed away only by the water of repentance, and the purifier of direct or indirect jresti- tution; but the sparkling diamonds can be implanted in the soul only by the instruments of wisdom and goodness. ' 10. All persons are inevitably rewarded for their good thoughts, desires, and actions, but unavoidably punished for their evil ones. '11. God does not interfere capriciously in the actions of mankind, but the human soul is capable of having the will and the power to desire and carry out possibilities. Human beings are, therefore, responsible to Grod and to their own race for their actions. ' 12. God is the universal Providence, but mankind are their own special providence. To beg of God and to rely on His interference is severely puaisfaed by Him ; but the knowledge and implicit faith that those who work, and perseverin^ly and gratefully employ the in- finite and Divine gifts that are in existence, will meet with success in due time, is richly rewarded by God. ' 13. The government by the best and wisest, chosen by the majority of Humanitarians, and the co-operation of all healthy Humanitarians, constitute the only politic- al form of government and social state advocated and sanctioned by the "Religion of God." '14. All true science, philosophy, and morals are derived from God, and are the only true "Religion of God " which will be the real " Saviour " of the whole human race ; but all the present false religions are priestcraft, or falsehood mingled with truth, which have been, are, and will be the chief cause of all the misery with which mankind has been, is, and will be afflicted. '15. Persons can only live happily after death by the use of the present life for the creation of good desires and great talents in themselves, and for the improvement of external circumstances, so as to make real heavens in themselves and a real paradise upon earth, which latter HUMANITARIANISM. 407 is the only true and eternal abode of all human souls belonging to this globe.' Nor if the articles failed me, did I gain much by falling back on the simple formulary — •The Peater op Htjmanitaeians. ' All merciful God ! in whom all beings are, accept our sincere thanks for Thy goodness. Tho.u hast given all to all, and we adknowledge that but for the ignorance, wickedness, and indifference of many erring brothers and sisters, all mankind would live in a real paradise. ' Accept our vows to love our own soul by enlightening her, to love our own- body by living virtuously, so as to render our present hfe long and happy. ' We therefore vow to love each and all members of the human family as ourselves, by setting them a good example, by assisting them in their bodily sufferings, and by enlightening their minds, so as to render them as happy as ourselves, since this alone is the true prepara- tion for our own progressive bliss after death. ' To fulfil our vows we solemnly promise to God and to humanity to perform the twelve principal duties, and to keep the constitution of Humanitarians, and to try with all our might to promote the spread of the " EeHgion of God." ' I had a longish conversation with Mr Kaspai-y, which I could have heard better if the energetic young piaiiiste had not played her pretty fantasias so forte, and found that really Humanitarianism was simply Pantheism with Transmigration very prominently in front. He quite assumed the seer, and said he had got to ' know ' the truth of what he taught. I mildly tried to substitute ' strong conviction ' or ' reasonable presumption ' for knowledge, but it was no use. ' 'Twas throwing words away,' as the poet says of the pertinacious little girl ; so with .this thoroughly earnest German Jew. He had elaborated Humanitarianism, and not all the cold of the Claremont Hall or the neglect of the Pentonville people 4o8 UNORTHODOX LONDON. could keep tim and his father-in-law (for such was the, lecturer) quiet. To them I felt sure Schiller's words di/id apply : their earnestness was their life ! According to the pamphlet which my good friend gave, . me, the profession and practice of Humanitarian princi- ples would at once bring about something more than the Millennium. I confess I could not — and cannot— quite see how the recognition of metempsychosis could produce these most desirable effects ; and I rather fancy I had heard the same idea promulgated with regard to one or, two other religions into which it had been my lot to examine. But Hnmanitarianism was peculiarly prolific in promise : — ' The " Religion of God," as the true religion, will provide that every one may enjoy true liberty, but will prevent any ope from becoming a tyrant. It will give the power to do good to each and all, but will prevent any one from doing evil. It will provide a comfortable house, the best suitable clothing, and wholesome food, for each and all. It will give a real education to every .child, and will make men more manly and women more virtuous, loving, beautiful, charming, and ladylike. It will make good husbands and wives, good parents and children, good brothers and sisters, good republican citizens, and truly great republican leaders, since every healthy, grown-up Humanitarian will be voluntarily a useful member of society.' I cull one or two. passages from this manual which seem to bear on the metempsychosis question ; but I am free to confess they leave me far from clear : — 'Death is, therefore, nothing else than a temporary sleep of complete unconsciousness and forgetfulness, from which the soul passes on, by the power of God, to the stage of dreams, until she gradually awakes to find herself provided with new means, or material organs ; yet with the same desires and talents as acquired and possessed in the preceding life, and which in conjunction with external circumstances insure unerringly her reward and punishment for the good and evil thoughts, desires, and deeds practised by means of her own former human body, since the laws of God reward all that is good HUMANITARIANISM. 409 and punish all that is evil, without respect of time and person/ ***** ' There cannot be more perfect rewards and retribu- tion for the human soul than those resulting from in- herent desires and talents, outward circumstanceSj the loss of recollection at death, and the successive union with her organized human bodies and her severance from them. 'The human soul can neither produce life without successive births, nor entirely lose her recollection, and be born again, without successive deaths, nor progress in wisdom, love, and happiness, so as to convert her evil nature into a good one, without her successive losses of the old bodies and of recollection, and the successive acquisition of her newly-organized bodies. ' The loss of recollection, the existence of inherent desires and talents, called genius in man and instinct in animals, the successive births, lives, and deaths, not only insure the progress of the wise and good, but also the gradual conversion of the foolish and the wicked, so that all human souls are becoming less and less miser- able, and growing more and more happy. 'Real human bliss is, therefore, progressing, and real human misery is slowly receding, but neither the fool's paradise nor the lake of fire and brimstone has any real existence.' Among the contemplated arrangements for the world- wide spread of Humanitariauism is a complicated series of offices — and I am puzzled to guess how long it would be before they would be filled out of the present slender numbers. First among the ' Constitutions ' stands the following : — 'I. The Saceed Langtoag-b. ' The first of the writer's discoveries with which it pleased God to benefit mankind being made in England on Sunday, June 17th, 1866, and the "Religion of God" 4IO UNORTHODOX LONDON. being written and first taught in the English language, the author, who is a native of Germany, considering himself nothing more than the chosen instrument of God (as every one ought to be), or the real servant of the human family whom he wishes to unite in one great and happy family, in spite of distance, and the present different classes, languages, colours, and religions, con- siders himself bound to declare English as the universal and sacred language of all Humanitarians, and therefore in time of all mankind. Without one common language there can never be peace and a real fraternity amongst mankind, and as English is the language most spoken in the world, and the Anglo-Saxons have been, are, and will be the pioneers of morality, liberty,, and social hap- piness, the Humanitarians of all nations in the world will follow the example of the German author, and accept the English language, not as chosen by a man, but by Providence, to become universal. ' All important books written in the dead languages only, and all important books which have been or will be written in any other spoken language, shall be trans- lated into English. The dead languages will not be taught as hitherto, but" in every school, whether in Europe, Asia, Africa, America, or Australia, English shall be taught besides the native language, so that all Humanitai'ians, whether born and educated in France, Germany, Russia, Spain, China, or Egypt, will be able to fraternize with each other, especially as distance will be reduced, still more by the discoveries of scientific men or the teachers of the " Religion of God." ' These teachers of Humanitarians in all nations, must therefore speak English fluently, besides their native language ; but they have no need to know or to teach any of the dead languages, which are nearly useless, and make the majority of pupils disgusted with learning," and waste time, which would be much better employed in teaching a language universally spoken, and common sense by means of history, literature, practical science, and philosophy. ' However, Divine service shall be conducted in the HUMANITARIANISM. 41 r native language of the respective country until all are educated as Humanitarians, understand the sacred language wellj and speak it fluently. The universal language will be one of the chief keys to open the doors of the material and intellectual progress for all the people.' But — I suppose it is heterodox to say, as one might have expected— it is in the matter of matrimony that Humanitarianism, eccentric all along, is most peculiar. Among the manifold 'officers' of the Humanitarians (directors and chief directors, presidents, chief presi- dents, &c.), whose duties and modes of election are minutely described in the book, I find no mention of priests, but some such there must be, as is manifest from the following ' service,' which I subjoin in full as a fitting conclusion of this curious subject — curious as being a creed and culture elaborated from the brain of one man, who ' knows ' it to be all right : — ' HUMANITAEIAN MaEEIAGES. ' The love of man for woman and of woman for man is an essential part of human nature. Therefore, al- though sexual love may be temporarily suppressed or perverted, yet it cannot be eradicated from human nature. For the- God of Nature corrects with physical and mental pain not only those who suppress human nature by celibacy, but also those who corrupt human nature by polygamy and licentiousness. ' That the God of Nature corrects not only individuals who practise celibacy, but also society which approves of the example and teaching of the erring Jesus and Paul as regards matrimony — viz., that a life of celibacy is holier and therefore better than a married life — may be seen in countries in which Christianity seduces the m.ost conscientious Christians to become priests, monks, and nuns. ' That the God of Nature corrects not only individuals who practise polygamy, but also society which esteems the polygamists Abraham, Isaaoj Jacob, Moses, Davidy 412 UNORTHODOX LONDON. Solomon, and Mahometan Saints, may be observed in countries in which the Bible seduces Christians to be- come Mormons, and in Mahometan countries. ' That the God of Nature corrects not only individuals who live licentiously, but also society which regards the social evil as a necessary evil, may be especially seen in the Capitals of Christian countries. ' As every principle, the approval or the practice of which is corrected by the God of Nature, is a vice, celibacy, as recommended by the erring Jesus and Paul and practised by Christian priests, monks, and nuns, as well as polygamy and licentiousness, are therefore vices. ' The love of man for woman and of woman for man in uncorrupted human nature is, however, divine ; for it leads to the marriage bf the two lovers, and the God of Nature blesses only those who approve and practise monogamy (i.e.), the union by marriage of one man with one woman and of one woman with one man. 'That the God of Nature pervades with bliss the husband .and wife, who, each forgetting self in the happiness of the other, are united by marriage in the holy bond of rational love, every Humanitarian husband and wife will know. ' The lives of loving and virtuous husbands and wives, especially when blessed with children, whom they educate to become healthy, intelligent, and loving men and women, are the holiest lives human beings can lead. For it is as great wisdom and virtue in husbands and wives to be -parents of such children, as it is folly and crime to be murderers ; since virtuous parents not only prolong their own lives, but are the means of giving life to others : whereas murderers not only shorten their own lives, but take the lives of others. ' As every principle the practice and approval of which is rewarded by the God of Nature is a virtue, and the approval and practice of monogamy is more blessed than that of any other virtue, a Humanitarian marriage is, therefore, the most meritorious act of human life, and the solemnization of matrimony is the holiest per- formance sanctioned by the " Religion of God." HUMANITARIANISM. 413 'In Humanitarian countries the solemnization of matrimony by any adult Humanitarian, according to Humanitarian rites, is sufficient to make two lovers husband and wife. In other countries, hbwever, Humanitarians will in addition conform to the laws regarding matrimony if such laws require civil and not ecclesiastical marriages. The " Eeligioin of God " for- bids marriages between relatives in the direct line, but recommends only marriages of persons not related either by consanguinity or affinity. The " Religion of God," however, sanctions only love marriages, and the matri- monial alliance of two lovers of different creeds, nations, and races is especially meritorious.' 'The HtJMAwiTAEtAN Solemnization op Matrimony. ' At the day and time a/ppointed fojr the solemnization of matrimony the persons to he married shall come before the officiating Humanitarian with at least two tvitnesses,. The officiating Humanitarian may then give a lecture or confine himself or herself to reading passages from the " Religion of God " referring to Humanitarian marriages, after which the officiating Humanitarian shall say : — ' The omnipresent God of Nature and we are witnesses that these two lovers have come here with the avowed intention of uniting themselves in holy matrimony as husband and wife. We, Humanitarians, acknowledge that the God of Nature, who is the only infallible being in existence, has been teaching in all countries and during all eternity that the love-marriage of one man with one woman and of one woman with one man is the only union of sexes conducive to human happiness. A married life is, therefore, the holiest life any man or woman can lead, for the God of Nature is blessing matri- mony for the following and other reasons : — ' 1. To satisfy the holy demand of uncorrupted human nature for sexual intercourse by the Only means con- ducive to the physical, intellectual, and moral health of both sexes. 414 UNORTHODOX LONDON. ' 2. To satisfy the holy desire of uncornipted human nature for the society, sympathy, friendship, love, con- fidence, help, and comfort of one of the other sex. ■^ 3. To satisfy the holy longing of uncorrupted human nature for propagating and improving our race in our children, thereby providing for ourselves happier human lives upon this earth, after the disorganization of our present body. ' 4. To make individuals forget self and think of the happiness of others. ' 5. To unite estranged families and nations in a bond of friendship. ' 6. To mitigate the inequality, prejudices, and animo- sity created by erring or wicked priests and politicians. ' As you two lovers present wish to be married, I ask you in the interests of society and in the name of the God of Nature, who knows the secrets of all souls, and rewards and corrects instantly every human thought, desire, and act, to confess if either of you know any impediment why you may not be religiously joined to- gether in holy matrimony. For, if you are united other- wise than the " Religion of God" or the just laws of all countries allow, you are neither joined together by the God of Nature, nor is your matrimony lawful. ' If both lovers answer " I know of no impediment," then shall the officiating Huma/nita/rian ask them : — ' Do you love each other ? Have you resolved to for- get self and try to make each other happy ? Do you believe yourself capable of maintaining a family ? ' If both answer " Yes," the officiating Humanitarian shall address the man : — ' "Wilt thou have this woman to thy wedded wife, to live together after the Divine precepts of the " Eehgion of God," in holy estate of matrimony ? Wilt thou love, comfort, and honour her, and keep thee only unto her, so long as ye both shall live ? HUMANITARIANISM. 415 * If ths man answers " I mil," then shall the officiating Humanitarian ask the woman : — ' Wilt tliou have this man to thy wedded husband, to live together after the Divine precepts of the " Religion of God/' in the holy estate of matrimony ? Wilt thou love, honour, and comfort him, and keep thee only unto him, so long as ye both shall live ? ' If the teaman answers " I will," then shall the officiating Humanitarian cause the man with his right hand to take the woman by her right hand, and to say after him as follows : — ' I M. take thee N. to my wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love, honour, and to cherish, till death us do part, according to the holy precepts of the " Religion of God," and thereto I plight thee my troth. ' Then shall they loose their hands, and the woman with her right hand taking the man hy his right hand, shall like- wise say after the officiating Humanitarian : — ' I N. take thee M. to my wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love, honour, and to cherish, till death us do part, according to the holy precepts of the " Religion of God," and there- to I plight thee my troth. ' Then shall they again loose their hands, and the man shall put a plain gold ring on the fourth finger of the woman' s left hand, and shall address her after the officiating Humanitarian : — '1 give you this ring as a memorial of our wedding, and as a sign to society that you are a married woman. Let it always remain on the fourth finger of your left hand, both as a remembrance that I am your husband, and as a protectionfor yourself and others from tempt- ations. 4i6 UNORTHODOX LONDON. ' Then the woman shall put a plain gold ring on the fourth finger of the man's left hand, and shall address him after the officiating Humanitarian : — ' I give you this ring as a memorial of our wedding, and a sign to socie]by that you are a married man. Let it always remain on the fourth finger of your left hand, both as a remembrance that I am your wife, and as a protection for yourself and others from temptations. ' Then shall the man and woman give each other loth hands, and the officiating Humanitarian shall say : — ' Forasmuch as M.. and 'S. have consented together in holy wedlock, and have witnessed the same before the God of Nature and this company, and thereto have given and pledged their troth either to other, and have declared the same by giving and receiving a ring, and by joining of hands, I pronounce that they be man and wife together, in the name of the infinitely wise, just, and merciful God of Nature, and in the name of society. Let, therefore, neither man nor woman come between husband and wife, whom love has united, and whom society and the God of Nature have joined in holy matrimony. ' And you, husband and wife, let your example be a joy to Humanitarians and a light to the Heathens, and the God of Nature will bless you according to your merits — viz., in proportion as you keep the holy pre- cepts of tha " Eeligion of God," May all of us deserve a blessing.' After all, the duties of Humanitarianism did not appear to be so special as to require all this new appa- ratus. They are, in fact, very much like those pre- scribed by most other religions. ' I%e Twelve Principal Duties ofSumanitcmans towards themselves and all human beings, as taught by God Mvmself through the Laws of the Universe. '1. Be neither suicides, drunkards, nor bigots, but prolong your lives and render them happy. HUMANITARIANISM. 417 '2. Be neither credulous fools nor deriding and deceiving sophists, biit educate yourselves and mankind at large. '3. Be neither murderers nor tyrants, but take an interest in the material and political welfare of all human beings. ' 4. Be neither monks and nuns, nor polygamists and Bible communists, but marry to live with one wife or husband. "^5. Be neither neglectful as parents, nor ungrateful as children, but be good parents and dutiful children. ' 6. Do not embitter your lives either by quarrels or deceit, but be loving and truthful husbands and wives. ' 7. Be neither toiling slaves nor useless idlers, but work and rest moderately. ' 8. Hate, with all your soul, deceit, slander, and crimes, but love, and convert by the judicious mercy, all criminals and impostors. ' 9. Be neither indifferent nor prejudiced towards any newly-discovered knowledge, but take an interest in every truth. ' 10. Be neither misers nor vagabonds and thieVes, but assist, if rich, or ask for assistance, if poor, since unavoidable poverty is no disgrace. '11. Be neither silent nor perjurers, but be true witnesses. '12. Do not honour either hereditary titles 'and orders, or despise the children born out of wedlock and of criminal parents, but esteem and imitate all truly noble men and women, so as to acquire a really noble' nature.' 27 438 UNORTHODOX LONDON. MODERN 9UAKBRS. THERE is no more engaging or solemn subject of cpntfimplation than the decay of- a religious belief. Right or wrong, by that faith men have lived and died, perhaps for centuries; and one cannot see it pass out from the consciousness of humanity without something more than a cursory thought as to the reasons of its decadence. Being led by exceptional causes to t^ke a more than common interest in those forms of belief ^hich He beyond th© p,ale of the Church of England, I was attracted by a notice in the public journals that on th^ following morning the Society of Friendg ■\vouId assenible from all parts of England and ppen a Confer- ence to inquire into the causes which had brought about the impending decay of their bodyr So, then, the fact pf suph decay stood coiifess,e4- In most cases the very last persons to realize the unwelcome truth ape those who hold the doctrines that are becoming effete. Quakerism must, I felt, be in a very bad condition indeed when its own disciples called together a confer- ence to account for its passing away. Neither men nor communities, as a rule, act crowner's' quest on their own (decease. That faith, it was clear, must be almost past praying for which, disbelieving, as our modern Quietism does, the efficacy of assemblies, and trusting all to the inward illumination of individuals, should yet summon a sort of Quaker CEcumenical Council. I thought I should like to probe this personal light myself, and by inquiring of one or two of the members of the body, learn what they thought of the matter. I was half inclined to array myself in drab, and tutoyer the first, of the body I chanced to encounter in my walks abroad. But then it occurred to me how very seldom one did MODERN QUAKERS. 419 meet a Quaker nowadays except in the ' month of May- ing.' I actually had to cast about for some time before I could select from a tolerably wide and heterogeneous circle of acquaintance two names of individuals belong- ing to the Society of Friends ; though I could readily remember half-a-dozen of every other culte, from Ultra- montanes down to Jumpers. These two, at all events, I would 'interview,' and so forestall the Conference with a little select synod of my own. It was possible, of course, to find a ludicrous side to the question ; but, as I said, I approached it seriously. Sydney Smith, with his incorrigible habit of joking, questioned the existence of Quaker babies — a position which, if proven, would, of course, at once account for the diminution of adult members of the sect. It was true I had never seen a Quaker infant ; but I did not therefore question their existence, any more than I believed postboys and certain h'umble quadrupeds to be immortal because I had never seen a dead specimen of either. The question I acknowledged at once to be a social and religious, not a physiological one. Why is Quakerism, which has lived over two hundred years, from the days of George Fox, and stood as much perse- cution as any system of similar age, beginning to succumb to the influences of peace and prosperity ? Is it the old story of Capua and Cannae over again ? Per- haps it is not quite correct to say that it is now begin- ning to decline ; nor, as a fact, is this Conference the fi.rst inquiry which the body itself has made into its own incipient decay. It is even said that symptoms of such an issue showed themselves as early as; the beginning of the eighteenth century ; and prize essays have been from time to time written as to the causes, before the Society so far fell in with the customs of the times as to call a council for the present very diflfioult and delicate inquiry. The first prize essay by William Rountree attributes the falling off to the fact that the early Friends, having magnified a previously slighted truth — th^ of the Ind'welling Word — fell into the natural error of giving it an undue place,, so depriving their repre- 420 UNORTHODOX LONDON. sentations of Christian doctrine of the symmetry they would otherwise have possessed^ and influencing their own practices in such a way as to contract the basis on which Christian fellowship rests. A second prize essay, called ' The Peculium,' takes a still more practical view, and points out in the most unflattering way that the Friends, by eliminating from their system all attention to the arts, music, poetry, the drama, &c., left nothing for the exercise of their faculties save eating, drinking, and making money. 'The growth of Quakerism,' says Mr T. Hancock, the author of this outspoken essay, 'lies in its enthusiastic tendency. The submission of Quakers to the commercial tendency is signing away the life of their own schism. Pure enthusiasm land the pursuit of money (which is an enthusiasm) can never coexist, never co-operate ; but,' he adds, ' the greatest loss of power reserved for Quakerism is the reassump- tion by the Catholic Church of those Catholic truths which Quakerism was separated to witness and to vindi- cate.' I confess myself, however, so far Quaker too that I care little for the written testimony of friends or foes. I have, in all my religious wanderings and inquiries, adopted the method of oral examination j so I found myself on a recent November morning speeding off" by rail to the outskirts of London to visit an ancient Quaker lady whom I knew very slenderly, but who I had heard was sometimes moved by the spirit to enlighten a little suburban congregation, and was, therefore, I felt the very person to enlighten me too, should she be there- unto moved. She was a venerable, silver-haired old lady, clad in the traditional dress of her sect, and looking very much like a living representation of Eliza- beth Fry. She received me very cordially; though I felt as if I were a fussy innovation of the nineteenth century breaking in upon the sacred, old-fashioned quiet of her neat parlour. She ' thee'd and thou'd ■" me to my heart's content : and — to summarize the conversa- tion I held with her — it was to the disuse of the old phraseology and the discarding of the peculiar dress -that MODERN QUAKERS. 421 she attributed most of the falling off which she was much too shrewd a woman of the world to shut her eyes toJ These were, of course, only the outward and visible signs of a corresponding change within ; but this was why the Friends fell off, and gravitated, as she confessed they were doing, to steeple-houses, water-dipping, and bread-and-wine worship. She seemed to me like a quiet old Prophetess Anna chanting a ' Nunc Dimittis ' of her own on the passing away of her faith. She would be glad to depart before the glory had quite died out. She said she did not hope much from the ' Conference, and, to my amazement, rather gloried in the old irreverent title given by the Independents to her fore- fathers from their ' quaking and trembling ' when they heard the Word of God, though she preferred still more the older title of ' Children of the Light.' She was, in fact, a rigid old Conservative follower of George Pox, from the top of her close-bordered cap to the skirts of her gray silk gown. I am afraid my countenance expressed incredulity as to her rationale of the decay; for, as I rose to go, she said, 'Thou dost not agree, friend, with what I haye said to thee — nay, never shake thy head J it would be wonderful if thou didst, when our own people don't. Stay; I'll give thee a note to my son in London, though he will gainsay much of what I have told thee.' She gave me the letter, which was just what I wanted, for I felt I had gained little beyond a pleasant experience of old-world life from my morn- ing's jaunt. I partook of her kindly hospitality, was shown over her particularly cosy house, gardens, and hothouses,' and meditated, on my return journey, upon many particulars I learnt for the first time as to the early history of Pox ; realizing what a consensus there was between the experiences of all illuminati. I smiled once and again over the quaint title of one of Fox's books which my venerable friend had quoted to me — viz., 'A Battle-door for Teachers and Professors to learn Plural and Singular. You to Many, and Thou to One; Singular, bne, T/iom; Plural, Many, Ybw.' While so meditating, my cab deposited me at the door of a 422 UNORTHODOX LONDON. decidedly 'downy' house, at tte "West End, where my prospective friend was practising in I will not mention which of the learned professions. Both the suburban cottage of the mother and the London menage of the son assured me that they had thriven on Quakerism; and it was only then I recollected that a poor Quaker was as rare a personage as an infantile member of the Society. The young man — who neither in dress, discourse, nor manner differed from an ordinary English gentle- man — smiled as he read his mother's lines, and, with a decorous apology for disturbing the impressions which her discourse might have left upon me, took precisely the view which had been latent in my own mind as to the cause of the Society's decay. Tho- roughly at one with them still on the doctrine of the illuminating power of the Spirit in the individnsll conscience, he treated the archaic dress, the obsolete phraseology, the obstinate opposition to many innocent customs of the age, simply as anachronisms. He pointed with pride to the fact that our greatest living orator was a m&mber of the Society ; and claimed for the underlying principle of Quakerism — namely, the superiority of a conscience void of offence over written scripture or formal ceremony — the character of being in essence the broadest creed pf Christendom. In- judicious retention of customs which had grown meaningless had, he felt sure, brought down upon the body that most fatal of all influences — contempt. ' Tou see it in your own Chiirch,' he said. ' There is a school which, by reviving obsolete doctrines and practices, will end in getting .the Church of England disestablished as it is already disintegrated. You see it even in the oldest religion of all — Judaism. You see, I mean, a school growing into prominence and power which discards all the accumulations of ages, and by going back to real antiquity, at once brings the system more into unison with the century, and prevents that contempt attaching to it which will accrue wherever a system, sets its face violently MODEkN QUAKERS. 4123 against the tone of current society.' He tHoiigM lilie Conference ijuite unnecessary. ' Thei'e needs no glidst come from the dead to tell us that, flor^tio,' he said, cheerily. 'They will find out that Quakerism is not a proselytizing religion/ he added ; ' which, of ' Course, we knew before. They will point to the' fashionable attire, the gold rings, and lofty chignons' of our yormger sisters as direct' defiiance of primitive Custom. I am unorthodox enough' — and he smiled as he used that word — 'to think that the attire is more becoming to my ybun'ger sisters^ . jiist as the Society's dress is to my deair mother.' That y6nn^ man, and the youthful sisters'' he told me of, stood as embodied answers to the' question I had proposed to' niy'self. They were outward and' visible evidehbes of the doctrine of Quaker 'development.'' The idea ik not d«ad. The spirit is living still. It is the spirit that underlies all read religibn^-namely, the personal relation of the human soul to &od' as the source of illumination. That youiig main wias as good ^ Quaker at heart as George Fox or. William PeAn themselves j and the ' apology ' he offered for his traiisfbrin'ed faith was a better one th'aii' Barclay's own. I am' wondering whether the Gorifereiice will come to any- thing like so sensible aconcliision as to why Quakerism is deeliliing. AT SUNDAY SCHOOL. IT is a very significant e'vidence of heterodoxy when a' religious body, foregoing the ordinary appellation of church or' chapel, bestows on its place of Sunday meeting the philosophic title of ' sohooL' Such is the case with the Positivists, or followers of August© Comte, who gather week by week on Sunday morning 424 ' UNORTHODOX LONDON. and evening in a small lecture room in Chapel Street,. Bedford Row, on whicli they bestow the old appella- tion of the Positivist School. ' I have visited this school on two recent occasions, and heard lectures by the chief apostles of Positivism in London, Dr Congreve and Dr Bridges, each of which seems sufficiently distinctive to merit a report. There would seem to be a tendencyon the part of most religious bodies, in these days of keen competi- tion, to push to the front, and no longer elect to 'blush unseen ; ' arid even that coy and demure damseli, Philosophy, is catching the contagion from her more impulsive and gushing sister. A year or two agdj when I was collecting materials for this work, two religious bodies stood rigidly aloof and refused me all information. They did not want to be 'done.' These were the Irvingites (or Catholic Apostolic Church) and the Particular JBaptistS. The former seemed to think ventilation in the columns of a penny paper infra dig. and un- Apostolic ; the latter never answered my letter at all. Since then the Irvingites have cbme out strongly in the advertising way. It seems to have struck them that, though penny papers were not, of course, an institution in Apostolic times, yet still their existence is a necessary and legitimate development of civilization. Be that as it may, the. Catholic Apostolic Church rivals Professor HoUoway in .the extent of its advertisements, and seeks a platform in every hall in London, while it must have pretty well made the fortune of its bill-poster. The Catholic Apostolic Church is wise in its generation ; not so the Particular Baptists. They blush unseen as ever, and still vend their ' Earthen Vessels ' down the little chapel in Johnson Street, as though there was no world at all outside Netting HiU. So when I entered the Positivist School a few Sun- days since, I did so much in the same way as a gentle- man likely to be 'wanted' presents himself at one of Ned Wright's exclusive suppers. I secreted my note-, book as furtively as I had my cigar on the Metropolitan AT SUNDAY SCHOOL. 425 Eail. But it was no use. Some men, as Malvolio says, have greatness thrust upon them ; and since the publication of ' Unorthodox London/ I cannot enter a conventicle without being ' spotted ' forthwith. A . cheery gentleman who had given me most of the in- formation I had gathered on a previous visit, some years before, was warming his hands at a stove, and no doubt his heart simultaneously by talking to a young lady — I presume a Positivist, but I know pretty. I saw from his manner he remembered me. I believe if I were to go in the gasb of an Ashantee chief they would still find me out. However, we said nothing, except about the weather, and such other safe topics ; and in course of time the lecturer and his small audience arrived. This lecturer was Dr Congreve, who had on my previous visit firmly but courteously declined to give me information, simply on the quite intelligible ground that the Positivists did not seek publicity. They were glad to see all who came, and were, of course, open to be reported ; but they wished criticism to come purely from without — a canon which none will deem other than sound. There were very few Sunday scholars at school that morning. The weather outside was miserable; and inside Dr Congreve was on a heavyish subject, namely,, the Positivist Doctrine of Submission. The special phase, however, to be treated that particular morning, was a very fascinating one indeed, being an inquiry as to whether the great leaders of thought in past ages believed in the bases they laid down for their teachings.. Dr Congreve, at some length, divided the past and pre- sent experience of humanity into three epochs, which he named respectively the Initial, the Transitional, and the Final. In the organic periods of the Great The- ocracies and of the Highest Catholicism, he thought there was no doubt that the leaders of thought dM believe the doctrines they proclaimed. The success and prevalence of the doctrines were an evidence that they did so. Even in times of dissolution, like those of Aristotle, there was in this philosopher, for instance, a 426 UNORTHODOX LONDON. respectful toleration of the old Polytheism, though quite different from that of Plato. So in the oases of Bacon and Descartes, there was no attack on the ancient faith, but a reverent acquiescence which, never- theless, was only provisioHarl. When the dissolution was very advanced the attitude became more daring. The higher speculative minds demanded change j the lower would still hold on provisionally to old faiths and forms. ' We have,' said Dr Congreva; ' for the time being eliminated the name of God ; but there is no reason why in process of time it should not be replaiced,- though standing, of course, as the representative of a new idea, namely. Humanity.' Well, this was a bit profound ; and as- I dared not use my note-book, lest the lecturer should see and denounce me, I fear I carried away but a few frag- ments of a masterly discourse. Professor Beesly was among the scholars, or audience, or congregation — I never know which to Call it^^and, as soon fi,s the lecture was over, I prepared. tc go: but not a bit of it. My cheery friend fished me out, and presented me incontinently to the lecturer as the author of ' Unorthodox London.' I hope I blushed ; I honestly tried to. At all events, I smilingly reminded the' Doctor of our previous correspondence, and he re- peated to me once more what v^ere his sole and cer- tainly reasonable objections to giving me information. The Positivists are very &r above pufSog themselves ; that was all. He told me that on Sunday evenings Dr Bridges was delivering a course of lectures on the Great Names in the Positivisl; Galendar-^those to which the months are dedi. IT 28 BOSSTJET .s 1 Si SEVENTH MONTH. l^s EIGHTH MONTH. !l ■3|| CHAELEMAGNE. Si^'i DANTE. S n o FEDERAL CIVILIZATION. & o MODERN EPIC POETRY. Mon. June 18 1 Theodorio the Great July 16 1 The Tronhadonrs 19 2 Pelayo M W 2 Boccaccio . . . . Chaucer. Wed." „ 20 3 Otho the Great Benry the Fowler. „ 18 SRahelalB Swlfi. Tliur. ., 21 4 St Heniy , 19 4 Cervantes Fri. „ 22 6 Villiers La VaUtte. „ 20 6 La Fontaine .. .. Btimi, Sat. „ 23 6 Don John of Austria John SobUski. .. 21 SDeFoe Goldemith. SUH. ,. 24 7 AlPKED ., 22 7 ARIOSTO Mon. Tues. Wed Thur. Fri. 26 8 Charles Martel 23 8 Leonardo da Vinci .. Titim. ** 26 9 The Old Tmered, » 24 9 Michael Angelo Paul Veronese. " 27 10 Richard I SiUadtn,. „ 25 10 Holbein .. .. .. Bembramtt. 28 11 Joan of Arc ., .. Ma/rina. 12 Albnqnerque .. Sir W. BaUigh. 26 11 Poussln Lemem: !'. 29 „ 27 12 Velaaquea .. .. MwrUlo. Sat. 30 13 Bayard „ 28 13 Teniers Bubens. Sun. July 1 14 OODFEET ,. 29 M 2 16 St Leo the Great .. Leo IV. f> 30 15 FtDissart .. .. Jofimitte. iS™" 3 16 Gerbert .. .. Peter Damltm. „ 31 16 Camoens .. .. Spetwer. Wed! „ 4 17 Peter the Hermit Aug. 1 17 The Spanish Romancers Thur. 6 18 Soger StEliffias. TT 2 18 Chateaubriand Fri*. e 19 Alexander in Becka. „ 3 19 Walter SSott .. .. Cooper. Sat. 7 20 St Francis of Aaaisi .. StVominic. » 4 20 Manzoni Sun. .. 8 21 INNOOENI m. ,. 6 21 TASSO Mon. „ 9 22 St Clotilde 6 22 Fetrarca [andBunya». TueB. „ 10 23 St Bathilda St Mathilda of TuxiaKy. „ 7 23 Thos. 4 Eempis Louia of Granada Wed. ., 11 24 St Stephen of Hungary Mat. Cor- s 24 Mme. de Lafayette Mvu. de Sta^l. Thur. ,. 12 as St Elizabeth of Hungary Ivinus. 9 25 F6n£lon .. St FranoU o/ Sales. Fri ,, 13 26 Blanche of Castile „ 10 26 Klopstock ..' .. (iesmer. Sat. „ 14 27 St Ferdinand IIL . . Alfimio X ., 11 27 Byron .. Miaa Mereeeur, Shelley. 28 HilLTON Son. .. 16 2S SAINT lOTJIS „ 12 AT SUNDAY SCHOOL. 439 1. NINTH MONTH. GUTENBERG. MODERN INDUSTRY. u TENTH MONTH. SHAKSFEAKE. THE MODERN DRAMA. Mon. Tues. Wed. Thur. Fri. Sat. Sun. Mon. Tuea. Thur. Fri. Sat. Sun, Mon. Tues. Wed. Thur. rn. Sat. SUH. Mon. Tues. Wed., Sat. Sns. Aug. 13 ,. 14 ., 15 „ 16 „ 17 ,. 18 „ 19 „ 20 „ 21 .. 22 „ 23 ■ ,. 24 ,. 25 „ 26 „ 27 ,. 28 „ 29 ., SO „ 31 Sept. 1 2 3 4 ,. 6 .. 6 „ 7 ,. 8 9 1 Marco Polo .. .. Chardm. 2JaquesCoeur .. .. Qreaham. 3 Vaaco de Gama . . Majdlan. 4 Napier BHggs. 6 Laoaille DeUmOire. e Cook Tasmtm. 7 COLUMBUS 8 Benvenuto Cellini Amontons .. .. Whetxtatone. 10 Harrison .. Pierre Leroy. 11 DoUond Oraham. 12 Arkwright .. .. Jacgfiard. 13 Cont« 14 VATTCAirSOir 16 Stevin TnrriixlU. 16 Mariotte .. .. Boyle. 17 Papin Warceater. 18 Black 19 Jouffroy .. .. '.. Fulton. 20 Dalton Thilorier. 21 WATT 22 Bernard de Palissy 23 GngUelmini .. .. Siquet. 24 Duhamel (du Monceau) Bourgelat. 26 Sausaure Bmguer. 26 Coulomb .. .. Borda. 27 Carnot Va/ubwn. 28 MOHTGOLFIER Sept. 10 ,. 11 ., 12 „ 13 >, 14 „ 16 „ 16 „ ■ 17 „ 18 .. 19 „ 20 „ 21 ,. 22 .. 23 ., 24 „ 26 „ 26 „ 2/ „ 28 „ 29 ., 30 Oct. 1 2 3 „ 4 .. 6 ., 6 „ 7 1 Lopez deTega .. Montalven. 2 Moreto .. .. OuilleTn de Oastro. 3 Rojas &uevara. 4 Otway 6 Leasing 6 Goethe 7 CALIffiBON 8 Tirso 9. Vondel 10 Racine . 11 Voltaire 12Metastasio .. .. AlfieH. 13 Schiller 14 COKNEILLE 15 Alarcon 16 Mme. de MoteviUe Mme. Bolamt. 17 Mme. de Sevigni Lady Montagu. 18 Lesage Sterne. 19 Madame de StaSl Miss Fdgeworth. 2IM0I&E ■• ■■^^'^'^- 22PergDler>i .. .. Palestrimi- 23 Sacchini OrMry- 24Gluck LuOy- 25 Beethoven .. .. BamUl- 26 Rossini Weber- 27 Bellini Donizetti- 23 mOZART '1 Mon. Tues. Wed. Thur. Fri. Sat. Sou. Mon. Tues. Wed. Thur. Fri. Sat. Sto. Mon. Tues. Wed. Thur. Fri. Sat.; Sns. Mon. Tuea. Wed. Thur. Fri. Sat. Son. 1 ^ T.T.KVENTH MONTH. SESCABTES. MODERN PHILOSOPHY. fl TWELFTH MONTH. FREDERICK II. MODERN POLICY. Oct. 8 ,. 9 „ 10 ., 11 ,. 12 „ 13 .. 14 ., 15 ,. 16 ,. 17 ■■ 18 „ 19 „ 20 .. . 21 „ 22 ., 23 .. 24 ,. 26 ,. 26 „ 27 „ 28 „ 29 30 31 Nov. 1 2 3 4 1 Albertus Magnus J'o^ of Salisbury. 2 Roger Bacon .. Saymo7uiI/uUy. 3 St Bonaventura . . Joachin. 4 Ramus .. The CwrdMdl of Gam. 6 Montaigne ,.. .. Erasmus. 6 Campanella .. Sir Tlumtaa More. 7 ST Thomas AauiNAS 8 Hobbea Spinom. 9 Paacal .. .. OiorMno Bnmo. 11 Yauvenarguea . . Mme. de Lwmbert. 12 Diderot DucUs. 13 Cabanis . . . . Oeorge Leroy. 14 LORD BACON 15 Grotius Cu^as. 16 Fontenelle .. .. Mafli^pertms. 17 Vico Herder. 18 FrSret .. >. WincUemomi. 19 Montesquieu .. t^Agueaeeau. 20 Buffon Ohen. 21 LEIBNITZ 22 Robertson .. .. Oibbort 23 Adam Smith. .. .. JDunoyer. 24 Kant Fichte 25 Condorcet .. .. Ferguson 26 Joseph de Maistre . . Baimld 27 Hegel .. .. Sophie Germain 28 HTTME Not. 6 .. 6 „ 7 ., 8 . 9 ., 10 ,. 11 „ 12 ,. 13 „ 14 ,. 15 ,. 16 ,. 17 „ 18 >, 19 .. 20 . 21 ,. 22 „ 23 ., 24 • ., 25 „ 26 ,. 27 „ 28 „ 29 „ 30 Dec. 1 2 1 Marie de Molina 2 Cosmo di Medici the Elder 3 Philip de Oominea OuMeiardim,. 4 Isabella of Castile 6 Charles V Siatus V. 6 Henri IV. 7 LOUIS XI. 5 L'H6pital 9 Bameveldt 10 Gustavus Adolphus 11 De Witt 12 Ruyter 13 William HI. 14 WILLIAM Tan sujEvr 16 Ximenes 16 Sully • Oxmstiem. 17 Mazarin Walpole. 18 Colbert LmiaXIV. 19 D'Aranda .. .. Pombal. llElgHEIJEIl" ^^^'^'^'■ 22 Sidney LanibeH. 23 Franklin .. .. Sampd^ai, 24 Washington .. .. Kosevasko. 26 Jefferson .. .. Maddson. 28 Bolivar .. Tmsiaint L'Ouvertin-e. 27 Francia 28 CROMWELL 440 UNORTHODOX LONDON. V '^ b ' •^-a ■og o> fj r n Mon, Dec. 3 Tues. ,1 4 Wed. „ 6 Thur. .. 8 Fri. ., 1 8a,t. 8 Son. „ 9 Mon. ., 10 Tues. .. 11 Wed. „ 12 Thur. ,. 13 Fri. .. 14 Sat. .. 16 Sou. ., 18 Mon. ,. V Tues. ,, 18 Wed. ,. 19 Thur. „ 20 Fri. • ,. 21 Sat. .. 22 SUH. „ 23 Mon. ., 24 Tues. „ 26 Wed. „ 26 Thur. ,. 27 Fri. „ 28 Sat. „ 29 Sun. „ 30 THIRTEENTH MONTH. BICHAT. MODERN SCIENCE. . 1 Copernicus > . . Tyclw Brake. 2 Eepler Halley. 3 HuyghenB .. .. Varignon. 4 James Bernouilli Johm, BemmbUU. 6 Bradley Roeimr. 6 Yolta ' Sawsewr. 7 GALILEO 8 Vieta .* .. .. S .. Sdfieele. 16 Priestley . . • . Davy. 17 Cavendish 18 Ouyton Morreau . . Oeoffiroy. 19 Bertbollet 20 Berzelius ■• •> Bitter. 21 LAVOISIER 23 Harvey Oh. Bell. 23 Bdiirhaave .* .. atahl, 'M Linneaus . . Bernard de Juasieu, _j Haller Vtcgd'Azyr. 26 Lamarck '.. .. Bla^mjule. 27 Broussais ,, .. MorgagTvL 28 GALL a A I s fl«2 aSS D'P.P- "■g^ft ■ i So P-ffl .*" « pupUs and require adjourmnent to other premises in the immedialte neighbourhood. His great scheme of a Catholic university has been rather forced upon him ah extra. Monsignor Capel favoured the view of Dr Newman for establishing a college at Oxford ; but Archbishop Manning was strong on the separate university ; and, like a good obedient son of the Church, Monsignor Capel yielded. This institution, which also stands in Wright's Ijan'e, Kensington (and a detailed account of which is given above), is only in its second term, and numbers twenty alumni. Indeed, the formal opening had only taken place at Eastertide last, under circum- stances of great pomp. The staff is a strong and distinguished one, especially in physical science and kindred faculties ; Mon- signor Capel wishing to prove that Catholio teaching does not in- volve either the suppression of scientific research or its pursuit after the method of Huxley. In school and university Monsignor Capel has, with the acumen of a veteran educator, determined to have not only men intellectually qualified for each post, but also trained teachers. Monsignor Capel, be he rightly or wrongly identified with the Catesby of ' Lothair,' is of singularly suave and attractive demeanour, and eminently qualified for the work of proseljrtism., in which his success has been very great, the conver- sion of the Marquis of Bute being almost of the nature of a climax. He is in the plenitude of his power, and may be seen daily flitting about in purple cassock and biretta in the purHeus of Wright's Lane, where his work Hes, so to say, under a blanket. A large estate recently acquired is soon to be appropriated to the purposes of a medical school and hospital; and certain arrangements are contemplated-^of which it would be out of place to speak now-— calculated to give additional naportanoe and usefulness to this nascent institution. Amid all these varied labours of teaching, preaching, aSid propagandism, Monsignor Capel stiE finds time to enter vigorously into ourrent controversy, as his recent passage- at-arms vrith the eloquent Canon of St Paul's sufficiently shows. Here, of course, his former book-learning, and also his minute acquaintance with Puseyite traditions and 'parsons'— as it is customary with the Bomish to term the English clergy--becomes of immense advantage to him. His acquaintance, fpr instance, with the Anglo-Catholic manuals of devotion is so minute as to make an EvangeKoal or Broad Churchman stare. Monsignor has studied it as -he would a science. He says — and we can well ■448 APPENDIX. believe it, while listening to his earnest incisive speech— that he makes it a rule never to take up a subject -without, as far as possible, exhausting it. He may thus be taken as the very tjrpe and embodiment of that young Eomanism which, not content with being talented, is conscientiously aggressive, and, whUst Ultra- montane in its principles, is largely absorbent of all those secular and social aids_^which men of smaller calibre consider incompatible with, or even antagonistic to, ' the Paith.' The title of ' Monsignor,' it may be mentioned, is given to Papal chamberlains, domestic Papal chaplains, domestic prelates, and bishops. The first two are addressed ' Very Eeverend ; ' the latter two, ' Eight Eeverend.' The chamberlains and chaplains change at the death of the Pope ; but the prelates retain their office and dignity for life. The Pope conferred the dignity of prelate on Monsignor Capel about two years ago. His title in full, therefore, is ' The Eight E«verend Monsignor Oapel, D.D., Domestic Prelate of Pope Pius IX., and Eector of the Oatholio University College, Kensington.' THE GEBEK CHUECH. Marsden says : — ' The most recent computations give the num- ber of those Christians who are comprehended in the communion of the Greek Church, as 50,000,000 in Eussia ; 12,000,000 in Turkey; Greece, including the Montenegrians, 800,000; the Austrian dominions, 2,800,000; the patriarchate of Alexandria, 5000 ; Antioch, 150,000 ; and Jerusalem, 15,000 ; in all about 65,500,000. ' In doctrine, the Greek Church differs but little from the Church of Eome. It receives tradition as a joint rule of faith with Holy Scripture. But while the Pope may authorize new traditions, those of the Greeks are stationary : thw include the writings of the Greek fathprs to the time of John Damasciensis, early in the eighth century, and the decisions of the first seven general Councils recognized as such: the two Councils of Nice, three Councils of Constanfinople, and those of Ephesus and Chalcedon. The Greek Church admits the seven sacraments of Eome ; but with regard to Baptism, it teaches that the chrism, or unction with oil, is necessary to complete the sacrament ; and it makes use of the chrism likewise as an extreme unction when death ap- proaches, and to anoint the sick, that they may recover, and receive remission of sins. Baptism is performed by the immersion of the infant three timea The Lord's Supper is administered to the laity in both kinds. The doctrine of transubstantiation, which may be traced in Chrysostom's treatise on the priesthood, became soon after an accredited dogma of the Eastern Church. The Greek Church rejects the doctrine of purgatory, and that of works APPENDIX. 449 of supererogation ; nor does it assign infallibility to its head, the Patriarch, or address him. as the vicar of Christ. It dififers from the Chnrch of Rome in rejecting image- worship, though paintings are allowed, and receive a superstitious homage ; and, above all, in the absence of that intolerant and ambitious spirit which denounces all other Christian sects as heretics, and enforces sub- mission to her authority by the sword. Besides the ancient creeds, the doctrines of the Greek Church are to be sought in her liturgies and confessions. Of the former there are four, used in various places, and substantially agreeing with each other.' — IHctwnary of Christian Churches and Sects. PEBSBTTEBIAN CHUECH IN ENGLAND. Presbyterianism derives its name from the Government of its Churches by Presbyters or Elders, chosen by the members, and ordained to the spiritual oversight and rule of the congregations. Bach church or congregation has a body of Presbyiiers or Elders associated with the Pastor, and known as the Church Session. Presbyteries are composed of the minister, and a representative elder from each of the Church Sessions within a given district, whomeet together periodically, quarterly, or monthly, andoftener, if necessary, to 'consult for the interests of the churches within their bounds, exercise a general superintendence over their affairs, and decide, as a court of appeal, on cases broiight before them by conflicting parties. The first Presbytery in England was formed at Wandsworth in 1572 ; but the intolerance of the times pre- vented such a development of the system as it reached in Scotland, and in all the other Eeformed Churches of Europe. The Pres- byterians remained in the Church of England, and formed the leading Puritan element in her bosom, until. the days of the Long Parliament, and Laud, and the Westminster Assembly, when they revolutionized Church and State, and raised Presby- terianism to the position of the established religion of England. Overthrown politically at the Eestoration, crushed ecclesiastically by their ejection from the National Church under the Act of TJni- formitv, and denied the right and liberty of such presbyterial organization as was necessary to the stability and extension of their system, a large portion of them gradually emergedinto Congregationalism, and others lapsed into Arian and Socinian error (hence the name of ' Presbyterian,' by which Unitarians, who hold Presbyterian endowments, style themselves, and are known in many parts of England). Some; however, continued to retain congregational presbytery, and adhered to the orthodoxy of the old Puritan or modern Nonconformist type. It was the collecting into one body of these scattered fragments of the old orthodox Presbyterianism of England, which m the year 1836 29 • 450 APPENDIX. formed 'The Englisli Presbj'terian Ohurcli,' now numbering 153 Congregations, with 658 Elders, 1080 Deacons or managers, 26,856 Communicants; divided into 8 Presbyteries, meeting periodically, and combined into a general Synod, meeting annually. It is provided with a Theological College, partially endowed ; it has its Home, Jewish, and Foreign Missions; with a staff of 15 European labourers, ministerial and medical ; Day and Sabbath Schools, with 24,228 Scholars ; a Church-building and Debt-ex- tinction Fund ; and an allowance to Aged and Infirm Ministers, and to the Widows and Orphans of deceased Pastors. £95,791 were raised by this body for Church purposes in 1874. SUMMARY OF THE PEINCIPLES OF THE UNITED PEBSBTTEEIAN CHURCH. The United Presbyterian Church was formed in the year 1847 by the union of the United Secession and Relief Churches. After the union of the two portions of the Secession Church in 1820, an impression was produced on the mind both of the United Secession and ReUef Churches, that though each had been greatly blessed of God as a separate denomination, yet a union between them was scriptural, desirable, and practicable— their views of doctrine, discipline, and government being found to be identical, ^fter the subject had been long and puayerfully considered by the respective Synods, a union was consummated on 13th May, 1847, when both, according to previous arrangement, met together and adopted the following articles as the Baiei of Union. ' 1. That the Word of God contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, is tlie only rule of Faith and Practice. ' 2. That the Westminster Confession of Faith and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms are the confession and catechisms of this Church, and contain the authorized exhibition of the sense in which we understand the Holy Scriptures ; it being always under- stood that we do not approve of anything in these documents which teaches, or maybe supposed to teach, compulsory or perse- cuting and intolerant principles in religion. ' 3. That Presbyterian Government, without any superiority of office to that of a teaching presbyter, and in a due subordination of church courts, which is founded on, and agreeable to, the word of God, is the government of this Church. ' 4. That the ordinances of worship shall be administered in the APPENDIX. 451 United Oliurcli as th^ have been in botli -bodies of wkioli it is formed ; and that the Westminster Directory of -worship continue to be regarded as a compilation of excellent rules. ' 5. That the term of membership is a credible profession of the faith of Chxist as held by this Church— a profession made -with intelligence, and justified by a corresponding character and de- portment. _' 6. That -with regard to those Ministers and Sessions -who may think that the 2nd section of the 26th chapter of the Confession of Faith' authoi-izes free communion — that is, not loose or indiscrimin- ate communion, but the occasional admission to fello-wship in the Lord's Supper of persons respecting -whose Christian character satisfactory e-ndence has been obtained, though belonging to other religious denominations — they shall enjoy in the united body ■what they enjoyed in their separate communions — the right of acting on their conscientious convictions. ' 7. That the election of ojffice-bearers of this Church, in its several congregations, belongs, by the authority of Christ, ex- clusively to the members in full communion. ' 8. That this Church solemnly recognizes the obligation to hold forth, as -well as to hold fast, the doctrine and law of Christ, and to rnake exertions for the universal diflfusion of the blessings of his gospel at home and abroad. ' 9. That as the Lord hath ordained that they -who preach the gospel should live of the gospel — that they who are taught in the word should communicalte to him that teacheth in all good things — that they who are strong should help the weak — and that, ha-ving freely received, thus they should freely give the gospel to those who are destitute of it — this Church asserts the obligation and the privilege of its members, inil-uenced by regard to the authority of Christ, to support and extend, by voluntary contri- bution, the ordinances of the gospel. ' 10. That the respective bodies of which this Church is com- posed, -without requiring from each other any approval of the steps of procedure by their fathers, or interfering -with the rights of _private judgment in reference to these, unite in regarding as still valid the reasons on which they have hitherto maintained their state of secession and separation from the Judicatories of the Established Church, as expressed in the authorized documents of the respective bodies, and in maintaining the la-wfulness and obli- gation of separation from ecclesiastical bodies in which dangerous error is tolerated, or the discipline of the church, or the rights of her ministers or members, are disregarded.' To this basis was appended the foUo-wing solemn resolution :— ' The United Church, in their present most solemn circum- stances, join in expressing their grateful acknowledgment to the great Head of the Church for the measure of spiritual good which He has accomplished by them in their separate state — their deep sense bf ihe many imperfections and sins which have marked their 452 APPENDIX. ecclesiastical management— and tteir determined resolution, in dependence on the promised grace of their Lord, to apply more faithfoUy the great principles of Church fellowsHp— to be more watchful in reference to admission and discipline, that the purity and efficiency of our congregations may be promoted, and the great end of our e'xistence as a coUectiTe body may be answered with respect to aU within its pale, and to all without it, whether mem- bers of other denominations, or the world lying in wickedness. And in fine, the United Church regard with a feeling of brother- hood all the faithful followers of .Christ, and shall endeavour to maintain the unity of the whole body of Christ by a readiness to co-operate, with all its members, in all things in which they are agreed.' At the time of the union, the two Synods together represented about 500 congregations. WESLEYAN METHODIST. The body of Christians, now known as Wedeyan Methodists, arose about the year 1730 ; their founder being the Rev. John Wesley, who with his brother Charles and other students at Oxford, being excluded from the pulpits of the Established Church, took to preaching in the fields, and to the erection of chapels. From the strict regularity of their lives they were called Methodists. Hence their present name. The Chief Ecclesiastical Court of the Wesleyan Methodist Church is, by the Eev. John' Wesley's Deed of Declaration (enrolled in Chancery, and dated February 28,1784), defined to be ' The Yearly Conference of the people called Methodists,' and to consist of ' Preachers and Expounders of God's Holy Word, com- monly called Methodist Preachers.' The number of members forming this Conference is one hundred ; but besides these, there are present at its meetings other ministers, authorized by their District Meetings to attend, and who take part in the proceedings. The principal business transacted at the Conference is the reception of Probationers — the ordination of Ministers — the examination of the moral and public character of every Minister and Preacher on trial — their appointment to Oirouits, and the general supervision of the various institutiotis. SOCIETY EHXES. The following Eules were written and published by Mr Wesley, and are recommended as briefly expressing the duties enforced in the Holy Scriptures : — APPENDIX. 453 1. In the latter end of the year 1739, eight or ten persons came to me in Jjondon, who appeared to be deeply convinced of sin, and earnestly groaning for redemption. They desired (as did two or tJiree more next day) that I wovild spend some time with them in prayer, and advise them how to flee from the wrath to come, which they saw continually hanging over their heads. That we might have more time for this great work, I appointed a day when they might aU come together ; which from thenceforward they did every week, viz., on Thursday in the evening. To these, and as many more as desired to join with them (for their number in- creased daily), I gave those advices from time' to time which I Judged most needful for them; and we always concluded our Meetmg with prayer suited to their several necessities. 2. This was the rise of the United Society, first in London, and then in other places. Such a Society is no other than ' a company of mm having the form, and seeking the power of godli- ness: united, in order to pray together, to receive the word of exhort- ation, and to watch one over another in love, that they inay help each other to work out their salvation.' _ 3. That it may the more easily be discerned whether they are indeed working out their own salvation, each Society is divided into smaller companies,' called classes, according to their respective places of abode. There are about twelve persons in every Class ; one of whom is styled the Leader. It is his business, I. To see each person in his Class once a week at least, in order To enquire how their souls prosper ; To advise, reprove, comfort, or exhort, as occasion may require ; To receive what they are willing to give, towards the support of the Gospel. II. To meet the Ministers and the Stewards of the Society once a week, in order To inform the Minister of any that are sick, or of any that walk disorderly, and will not be reproved ; To pay to the Stewards what they have received of their several classes in the week preceding ; and To show their account of what each person has contributed. 4. There is only one condition previously required in those who desire admission into these Societies, viz., ' a desire to flee from the wrath to come, to he saved from their sins.' But wherever this is reaUy fixed in the soul, it will be shown by its fruits. It is there- fore expected of all who continue therein, that they should con- tinue to evidence their desire of salvation. First. By doing no harm, by avoiding evil in every kind : espe- cially that which is most generally practised. Such as — The taking the name of Grod in vain : The profaning the day of the Lord, either by doing ordinary work thereon, or by buying or selling : Drunkenness : buying or selling spirituous liquors : or- drinldng them, unless in cases of extreme necessity. 454 APPENDIX. Fighting, quarrelling, hrawUng ; brother going to law with brother : returning evU for evil, or railing for railing : tbe using many words in buying or selling. The buying or selling un-customed {or smuggled) goods : The giving or taMng things on usury, i.e., unla-wfvil interest. Uncharitable or unprofitable conversation : particularly speaking evil of Magistrates or of Ministers : Doing to others as we would not they should do unto us : Doing what we know is not for the glory of God ; as The putting on of gold or costly apparel: The taking such diversions as cannot be used in the name of the Lord Jesus : The singing those songs, or reading those boohs, which do not tend to the knowledge or love of God : Softness, and needless self-indulgence : Laying up treasure upon earth : Borrowing without a probability of pajdng : or taking up goods without a probability of paying for them. It is expected of all who continue in these Societies, that they should continue to evidence their desire of Salvation. Secondly. By doing good, by being in every kind merciful after their power, as they have opportunity : doing good of every possi- ble sort, and, as far as is possible, to all men : To their Bodies, of the ability that God giveth, by giving food to the hungry, by clothing the naked, by visiting or helping them- that are sick, or m prison : To their Souls, by instructing, reproving, or exhorting all we have any intercourse with, trampling under foot that enthusiastic doctrine of Devils, that ' We are not to do good, unless our hearts be free to it.' By doing gpod, especially to them that are of the household of Faith, or groaning so to be; employing them preferably to others, buying one of another, helping each other in business: and so much the more, because the world will love its own, and them only. By all possible diligence and frugality, that the Gospel be not blamed. By running with patience the race that is set before them, denying themselves and taking up their cross daily : submitting to bear the reproach of Christ : to be as the filth and ofiFscouring of the world ; and looking that men should say all manner of evil of them falsely for the Lord's sake. It is expected of aU who desire to continue iix these Societies, that they should continue to evidence their desire of Salvation. Thirdly. By attending on aU the Ordinances of God : such are — the public worship of God : The Ministry of the Word either read or expounded : The Supper of the Lord : Family and private prayer : Searching the Scriptures : and Fasting or abstinence. APPENDIX. 455 These are tlie Q-eneral Eules of our Societies : all wliicli we are taught of God to observe, even in Hia-written Word, the only Eiile, and the sufficient Eule both of our Faith and Practice. And all these we know His Spirit writes on every truly awakened heart. If there be any among us who observe them not, and who habitually break any of them, let it be made known to them that watch over that soul, as they that must give an account. We will admonish him of the error of his ways ; we will bear with him for a season. But then, if he repent not, he hath no more place among us. We have delivered our own souls. May 1, 1743. ' < J. and C. Wesley. PEIMITIVE METHODISTS. This enterprisiag section of the Christian Church is a genuine original branch of Methodism, and is neither a spht nor division from any other body. It originated with ten persons who had been converted from the world by Evangelistic efforts, and who, in March, 1810, formed themselves into a Society at Stanley, in Staflfordshire. The Society soon began to extend its influence for good, spreading through England, Ireland, and Scotland, to the Channel Islands, the United States, Canada, Australia, New South Wales, Tasmania, Queensland, New Zealand, Fernando Po, &c., and is now entering on operations in South Afripa. According to the statistics of the connexion recently published, the English and Canadian Conferences have associated with them 160,658 members; 1005 traveUing, and 14,751 local preachers; 9997 class teachers; 6552 chapels and other preaching places; 3506 Sabbath schools, containing 296,512 scholars, taught by 48,973 teachers ; and 44 day schools, with 4317 pupils. UNITED METHODIST EEEE CHUEOHES. This connexion was formed in 1857 by the amalgamation of the Wesleyan Association and the Wesleyan Eeformers. It has in Great Britain 334 ministers, 3361 lay ministers, 67,648 members, 1560 chapels and preaching-rooms, and 165,528 Sunday scholars. It has missions in Wales, Ireland, Jamaica, East and West Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and China. Ifehas 42 missionaries on foreign stations, 6112 members, and 491^ Sunday scholars. The receipts for missions during the past year amounted to £11,770. The formation of the United Methodist Free Churches was occasioned by the assumption and exercise of undue authority on 4S6 APPENDIX^ the part of the Methodist Conference, composed exclusively of itinerant preachers. The Conference claims and exercises sole legislative authority in the connexion : from time to time enacting laws, which are made obligatory upon all the local officers and other members of the societies composing the body ; without allowing them, by any system of representation, to participate in making the laws by which they have to be governed. In the year 1835 the Conference, in opposition to the wishes of a large portion of the members of the connexion, made new laws, which invest its itinerant preachers with ultimate sole judicial and executive authority. So that they now may, whenever they think proper, expel members from the society (as they did in 1835 and 1849), against whom no charge has been proved to the satisfaction of any leaders' meeting, and even although the leaders' meeting has acquitted the accused member from the alleged offence. * The general principles of this body are : — ' First, That this Association recognizes and holds, as the only and sufficient rule of faith and practice, and also of Church government, the Holy Scriptures, especially the New Testament of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ ; and regards as matters indifferent — so far as membership with a Christian Church is concerned — whatever is not manifestly enjoined in those infallible records. ■ ' Second, That on subjects of Christian doctrine, this Association concurs in those sentiments generally taught in the theological writings of the Eev. John Wesley, and which are admitted, by the various branches of the Methodist community, as beiiig consistent with the Holy Scriptures. ' Third, That each circuit in the Association has the right and power to govern itself by its local courts, without any interference as to the management of its internal affairs.' — Connexional Regula- tions of the United Methodist Free Ohwrclies, 1860, BAPTISTS. The first General (Arminian) Baptist Church is said to have been formed in London in 1607 ; the first Particular (Calvinistic) Church in 1616. The General Baptist New Connexion (Ortho- dox) was estabHshedin 1771. They nownumber 21,231 members. There are about 2400 churches in England, Wales, Ireland, and Scotland ; and about 250,000 members. The Old General Bap- tists, Unitarian and Christian, have only about 13 churches, and 400 members. The Baptists publish two newspapers, the Baptist (BUiot Stock), \d., and the Freeman, 2d. • See * Exposition of the Laws of Conference Methodism,' by Eev. B. Eckett. Published at the Book Boom of the United Methodist Free Churches. APPENDIX. 457 NEW JERUSALEM CHUEOH (SWEDBNBORGIANS). This body of Christians, who accept the teachings of Emanuel bwedenborg, and worship the Lord Jesus Christ as the only God, dates from about 1788, and has been steadily increasing for many years past. They, now number upwards of seventy societies in ?■ ^""^ and Scotland. They possess a General Conference, which governs aU general matters connected with the organization. In America this body has spread much more rapidly than in England. In addition to adherents to be found in every town and village, 108 regularly organized church societies exist there ; and m five or sis of the princij)al cities German churches exist as well as English. All the societies, through representatives at a General Convention, held yearly, manage the business common to the whole Church. FEEE CHEISTIAN CHUEOHES. The following extracts from letters of the Eev. Eobert Eodolph SufiBeld, addressed privately to me, or extracted from his published works, serve to place in a clearer light what is perhapS the most remarkable, as certainly the most recent, religious phenomenon alluded to in the foregoing pages : — * March 31st, Wednesday Night, ' My dear De Davies, ' I have just this moment returned from Newcastle, and found your kind and interesting letter at the top of a pUe ; so I will answer it first, for I do really feel very anxious that your forthcoming work should direct the attention of thoughtful men to the possibility of a religious position securing public worship and religious sympathy and moral support, without beiag pledged thereby to any foregone conclusions. ' In America the Unitarians have, if I can trust hostile state- ments in the Index, placed themselves under the Unitarian Asso- ciation of the country, and, thereby committed themselves to some limitations, ex. gr., to the Christian name. In England, that is not the case. The Unitarian Association is pledged, at present, to the Christian name, to Christianity under some form, or ideal; but no chapel, no congregation, is under the Association. AU the congregations called 'Unitarian,' 'Free Christian,' or ' Presby- 458 APPENDIX. terian English ' (of the origmal foundations) are quite independent, and quite unfettered. Individuals may be narrow or bigoted ; others may, without narrowness or bigotry, hold opinions which I and others reject, and may elect their ministers with view to the opinion held by the majority ; but nothing preyents the change of opinion, and the consequent change of liturgy and of ministers. ' Dean Stanley, by his public remark to me at Sion College, seemed not aware of the existence of all these unfettered oongre- fations throughout the country ; and he admitted that such might ecome the next phase of religious progress. 'E. E. S.' n. From a letter published as Appendix to the ' Vatican Decrees,' and the ' Expostulation.' * » ♦ # * * ' ' Having understood that those who are commonly called Uni- tarians, Free Christians, or Christian Theists, thus agree in the liberty inspired by self-difi6ldence, humility, and charity, to carry on the worship of Q-od, without sectarian requirements or sectarian opposition ; that they possess a simple but not vulgar worship, a high standard of virtue, intelligence, and integrity; and these after the Christian type, moulded by the Christian traditions, and edified by the sacred Scriptures : holding the spirit taught by Jesus Christ, and the great thoughts by virtue of which he built up the ruins of the moral world; and yet not enforcing the reception of complicated dogmas as a necessity, or accounting their rejection a crime : a communion of Christian worshippers, bound loosely together, and yet by the force of great principles enabled quietly to maintain their position, to exercise an influence elevating and not unimportant, and to present religion under an aspect which thoughtful men can accept without latent scepticism, and earnest men without the aberrations of superstition, or the abjeotness of mental servitude to another — such approved itseK to my judgment, and commended itself to my sympathy. ' I intend adhering to the pursuits of the clergyman and of the Christian teacher, and cotamimioations are in progress in another part of England which may terminate in my accepting there a duty confoi-mable to the habits of my life, and which will not throw me into a position of hostility or embarrassment as to those honoured and loved Catholic friends vrith whom so greatly I should prize, if it were possible, to maintain kindly intercourse, inasmuch as I am only externally severed from them by my being unable to believe certain dogmas which a Catholic is bound to regard as essential. Thus I hope I have not only thanked you for your obKging ofiPer, but adequately explained my position, and showed APPENDIX. 459 that tlie future you were commissioned, to liold out to me in tlie Established Church would not be deemed possible by the authori- ties who have done me the honour and kindness to communicate in my regard, as soon as they are made aware that the Articles and the Athanasian Creed would be amongst the insuperable barriers to my entertaining such a proposal. ' Many write to me evidently under a grievous misapprehension. They anticipate from me recMess denunciations of that vision of beauty which I . have left, simply because, like a vision, it had everything but reality. Allied as I am by relationship with some of our ancient Catholic families, allied by the ties of friendship with many more of them, I feel it is a shame to myself that any stranger could suppose one word of mj' lips, one lliought of my mind, could cast moral reproach on those beautiful and honoured homes where old traditions received a lustre greater even than antiquity and suffering can bestow — crowned with the aureola of charity, nobleness, purity, and devotedness. Such memories print on my heart their everlasting record. To cease to believe and to worship with them was a martyrdom, which none but the Catholic can understand. ' I have ascended now to another stage of my life ; to rise to it needed sufferings of the mind and of the heart, the sacrifice of everything in the world I cared. for ; but I perceive a work to do, and, by the blessing of God, I shall strive to perform it. Youth, strength, vigour, and hope return to me with the expects^tion. Truth obtained by suffering is doubly dear to the possessor. — ^Very sincerely yours, •Egbert Eodolph SiraTiELD. ' To the Eev. &c. &c.' in. From a ' Note ' to a sermon by the same author. Mr Suffield heads this in MS. ' My own position : ' — ' From the intuitions of the human mind ; from its reasonmgs, feelings, and aspirations ; from its sense of right and wrong ; from all these combined in the experiences of mankind, and presented to us in the history of humanity, we can obtam a Eehgion of Lif e and Hope, of discipline and trustful repose ; such, held with diffi- dence, with earnestness, with reverence, with fortitude, and with tenderness, revealing itself in harmony with science, and with our highest moral and spiritual aspirations, gathermg into itself from all Churches, Sects, and Scriptures, whatever is of universal appli- cation, will keep evolving itself to the soul of man, and presenting to us as much of certainty as is obtainable in the ordmary affairs of life ; why demand for the future a certainty of a kind essentially differing from what is adequate for our daily actions and our daily °'^The only theory of God's moral government which conforms to our sense of justice in presence of the various opposing behefs held 46o APPENDIX. by men equally good, trutji-loving, and anxious, is thatwtiat is really important is attainable by aU — ^namely, to be truthful in ■word and act to whatever we tlmik, to strive to think as correctly as we can, and to practise according to our light and [means, the best to which we see our way. Such is the best and the happiest religion.' IV. The following letter from the Eev. J. B. Heard, to his former parishioners, has been. received since the publication of the article ' A New Iconoclast.' ' Woodridings, Pinner, July 25th, 1874. 'My deab Friends, ' Under any circumstances, I think the pastoral tie is one so sacred that it should not be sundered without a frank and free explanation on the part of the pastor to his flock ; but especially is this the case under the peculiar circumstances which compel me to resign the charge at Woodridings. Were I leaving for pro- motion or for a better living, my removal would seem to some of you quite a natural and proper step to take ; but as my reasons are of a very different kmd, and grow out of the existence of a legal Establishment and its repressive action on the free play of spiritual forces, I feel the more bound to give you ah explanation in writing, and so to clear up misunderstandings which have arisen with regard to my course in the future. ' I have for some time held the conviction that Oaesarism, or the supremacy of the civil power in spiritual things, is a national evil. Its only vindication arose from the fact that such a barrier was necessary perhaps at the time of the Keformation, and to some extent is so still against that other and worse tyranny of Clerical- ism. In God's moral government of the world, one form of oppression or repression of Divine truth is sonietimes raised up to check another. As for myself— who was born and educated as a member of such a National Church, and who took orders heartily approving of the pure and Protestant teaching of its formularies — ^I have only lately felt any scruple about officiating as a minister in that Church on account of my convictions as to the general question of Establishments. ' But the opportunities which I have had, during the last four or five years, of mixing with Christians of all denominations, have taught me how small and insignificant were our diflferences, and how deep and real our agreements. I have asked myself with astonishment wha/t it is that separates us still, and I can find no barrier against the reunion of Evangelical Christendom except the Establishment. ' That institution— more civil than religious, and more political even than ecclesiastical — emphasizes me class distinctions of society. It is the State Church that invests the ministers of the APPENDIX. 461 meek and lowly Jesus with the pride, pomp, and circumstance of a worldly hieraroliy. It is this which turns Christian bishops] into prelates, which makes them peers in Parliament ; and, by its law of patronage, has come to regard a solemn spiritual trust as a piece of property which may be bought and sold in the open market. It has thus created a scandal for which there is not another parallel in all Christendom. ' As for myself, I have long sought for Christian union, and have laboured in my humble way to show fraternal recognition to all faithful ministers of Christ's Gospel, whatever their denomin- ation. Now it happened on two occasions last year, when on deputation for the Eeligious Tract Society, that I felt called on to show that fraternal reoognitibn by preaching in Nonconformist pulpits, and on both occasions was presented to the Bishop of London by the Incumbents of these parishes (one of them an ad- vanced Bitualist, practising confession and other Eomish cere- monies) for intruding into their parishes, and officiating without their consent. My defence of my conduct to the Bishop of London was this : that I had committed no breach whatever of the Act of Uniformity, either of its letter or of its spirit, and that my only ecclesiastical offence lay in a breach of one of those canons which are binding on the clergy but not on the laity. My real offence, however, lay in not acting on those exclusive principles of Church communion which have become the unwritten tradition of the Church since the days of the Laudian divines. Thus I came ' perilously near,' to use the Bishop's own expression in his letter of remonstrance to me, ' doing evil that good may come.' Now, as I do not agree with the Bishop that I was doing evU in this case, and do not believe that good can in any case come out of doing evil, I had to face the question, in what consisted the sin of schism, which, by implication of my Bishop, I had committed. In oth^r words, I had to ask myself, Did I believe in apostolical suc- cession at all, or in the Divine right of an Episcopal Church to consider herself the exclusive channel of God's grace to men ? Holding, on the contrary, as I do, that all our existing forms of Church government and organization are of no more importance to the spirit athirst for the living God than the shape of the cup is to the man who is parched with thirst, I have been reluctantly compelled to decide between obeying the higher law of unity or the lower law of uniformity. I do not complain of the Bishop's interpretation of what my duty should be ; it is narrow and un- sjTnpathetic, but it is the strict letter of the canon law, which regards every parish as a preserve into which no trespassers, especially of the clerical order, may intrude, under penalties which are awful exactly because they are indefinable except in a lawyer's biU. of costs. ' For myself, I have resolved to obey the higher law, and have accordingly sent back my licence to the Bishop, which I shall not seek to renew until either the two Acts of Henry VIU. and 462 APPENDIX. Charles Il.-^the one of Supremacy and the other of Uniformity — are repealed, or else until the Church is othei-wise nationalized so as to open its communion to those who were ejected for conscience' sake in 1662. ' Having thus explained my own course of conduct, I wish to add a remark on one or two expressions in my farewell sermon, which may otherwise be liable to be misunderstood. I used the expression, " That, for myself, I :had learned to live above ordinances," which might seem to weak minds to disparage the sacraments and services of the Chnrch. Now, I should grieve to hiirt the consciences of any whose "faith is fixed in fqrm." But my justification for using such an expression is, that it is sub- stantially the teaching of that great apostle, who certainly used a very disparaging expression of those who exalted the external at the expense of the internal and spiritual. He desired the PhUippians to beware of the circumcision, which he called the concision, when that Divine ordinance, the Sacrament of the Old Testament Church, was set up as an exclusive channel of salvation. Now, I should speak of either or of both of the two sacraments in the same way to any who misuse them, by. confounding a moral and spiritual ordinance with certain magical powers supposed to inhere ia the priest as such. Moreover, if I cared for the support of human testimony, I shoidd quqte that of Dr Frazer, the Bishop of Manchester, with whom I am almost in verbal agreement on that subject. 'Again, I said that "I desired to be a High Churchman," using the phrase not in the colloquial sense but the true. By this I only implied a desire, which I have long felt, to realize church communion and the fellowship of all believers in Christ, which is impossible, from the nature of the case, in a National Church. This desire may excite the ridicule of the worldly, and the scornful contempt of those who are at ease as to this world and the next, but no serious Christian of any persuasion wiU regard it as any other than a genuine desire of the spiritual nature, though it may always be fairly open to question whether one external community is more favourable to spiritual life than another. This question each one must judge for himself. As for myself, my convictions are that a spiritual and a National Church are a contradiction in terms ; and consequently, that for those who are ia a legal state of mind, conforimity to an Act of Parliament governed Church is as natural and easy as it is difficult to those otherwise minded. I ought not, perhaps, to dwell on this topic, lest I should seem to reflect on myself and others who have long attempted to reconcile these standing contradictions by drawing distinctions between the Establishment and the Church. But compelled as I nowam to decide between the two, by the act of the Bishop enforcing on me his interpretation of the Act of IJniformity, I- have no hesitation in saying of myself "we must obey God APPENDIX. 463 rather ttan men." It is better to dissent from a law-made CliUTch, than from truth and conscience. It is better to lay down social advantages and a worldly position of some comfort than to palter with convictions, and leave the laity under the impression that the clergy are slower than other people to see the path of duty and honour. ' I have only, then, to say to you farewell, under the conviction that life is too short to waste it in controversies with bishops as to the interpretation of musty canons enacted in the reign of James I. Again, it seems to me to be a waste of time to carry on feeble protests against Bitualism such as those of the Church Associa- tion, to agitate the country, and, as the last resort of aU, to appeal to Parliament to pass a special act " to put down the Ktualists," as the Prime Minister described the Public Worship Bill. We shall see whether legal enactment can restrain spiritual forces of any kind. To me it seems like "putting new wine into old bottles," and time will tell whether oui- legislators, who in perfect good faith are trying to save the EstabU^ment, are not actually hastening its overthrow. ' I may be wrong in this view of the case ; but if so, I am wrong with some of the most far-seeing men of the day. But, for myself, the conviction is decided that the voluntary tie is the only one under which a spiritual truth can be safely held in its purity and integrity ; and I mean to act accordingly. I have only, then, to bid you farewell, and to thank you each and all for much kindness during the past, and much forbearance with my many short- comings. May each of you be able to say, " I know in whom I have believed; " may each of you be " fully persuaded in your own mind ; " and ever remember, as my parting word to you, that it is a very small matter hereafter what external communion you belong to on earth, provided you are joined to the Lord by faith, and are members of, that Church of the firstborn whose names are written in heaven. ' Tour faithful friend and late Pastor, 'John B. Heaed.' THE EEV. JOSEPH PAEKEE, D.D. This eminent clergyman, whom it is scarcely fair to identify with any seci, is the author of the well-known works ' Ecce Deus,' ' The Paraclete,' ' Ad Clerum ' (a. Book for Preaohers), and ' A Horailetic Analysis of the Gospel of St Matthew.' His age is forty-four, and he was born at Tyneside, Northumberland. He was eleven years in Manchester in succession to the Eev. Dr Eobert Halley. 464 APPENDIX. The City Temple accommodates 2500 persons, and the total cost of land and building was £60,000. It includes school-room, class- rooms, and every land of convenience. From an exhaustive article in the British Quarterly Review, No. 85, called ' Religion in London,' we gather the following par- ticulars as to the statistics of chapel accommodation in 1865 as compared with 1851, when the census of religious bodies was taken : — 1 Congregationalists . , . Baptists Wesleyans U. Methodist Free Churches Methodist New Connection Primitive Methodists . .' Calvinistic Methodists . , Church of Scotland . . . English Presbyterians . . United Presbyterians . . Society of Friends Unitarians . . . Pl3Tnouth Brethren Foreign Lutherans Roman Catholics . Catholic & Apostolic Church Latter-Day Saints . . . 1861. 1865. Increase Sittings. Sittings. since 1851 100,436 ... 130,611 . .. 30,175 54,234 ... 87,559 . .. 33,325 44,162 ... 52,454 . .. 8,292 4,858 ... 13,422 . .. 8,564 984 6,667 . .. 5,683 3,380 9,230 . 5,850 800 3,790 . .. 2,990 3,886 5,116 . .. 1,250 10,065 ... 12,952 . .. 2,887 4,280 ... . 4,860 . 580 1661.' 1865. Sittings. Sittings. Increase. Decrease 3,157 .. . 3,179 ... 22 ... 3,300 .. . 4,440 ... 1,140 ... 230 . . 3,360 ... 3,130 ... 3,002 .. . 3,502 ... 500 ... 18,230 ., .31,100 ...12,870 ... 2,700 . . 5,020 ... 2,320 ... 2,640 .. . 1,630 ... — ... 1,110 PLACES OF WOESHIP IN LONDON AND THEIR ACCOMMODATION. 1851 . . 1865 . . Increase No. of Places of Worship. 1,097 1,316 219 Sittings. 698,549 917,895 219,346 Population. 2,362,236 3,015,494 653,258 Proportion per cent, of Population accommodated. . 30-2 . 30-4 There has thus been an increase of accommoda,tion in fourteen years of about 31 per cent. Had the increase been threefold it would only have sufficed to meet the increase of population Tatmg 52 per cent., Mr Mann's estimate, as the maximuni number •to be provided for, the following result is obtained : APPENDIX. 465 DEFICJENCT OF ACCOMMODATION.' Number of persons unprovided for in London in 1851 . 669,514 Ditto in 1865 . .jt 831,387 Increased deficiency 161,873 If all the persons in London who are not physically disqualified, or for any legitimate reasons, were to attend church or chapel at the sam.e time, 52 per cent., or more than one-half the population, would be shut out for want of room. THE END. JOHS CHILDS AKD SOB, PSIBXEB8. j^,«a.j^\«AWMi*i*«M»*"