,transcribed from the #aheh ,william    
,tweedie edition by ,david ,price1 email
  ccx#jgdpglaf4org                      
,,the                                   
,,london ,,pulpit4                      
99 99 99 99 99                          
,,by                              ,j4   
,,ewing ,,ritchie1                      
,,author ,,of ,,the ,,night ,,side ,,of 
,,london4        ,oh heavens6 from the  
,christianity of ,oliver ,cromwell1     
wrestling in      grim fight with ,satan
 and his incarnate blackguardisms1      
hypocrisies1      injustices1 and legion
 of human and infernal angels1 to that  
of      eloquent ,mr4 ,hesperus         
,fiddlestring1 denouncing capital       
punishments1      and inculcating the   
benevolences1 on platforms1 what a road 
have we      travelled6--,,carlyle',s   
,,latter-,,day ,,pamphlets4             
99 99 99 99 99                          
,second ,edition4                       
,,revised1 ,,corrected1 ,,and           
,,enlarged4                             

99 99 99 99 99                          
,,london3                               
,,william ,,tweedie1 #ccg1 ,,strand4    
,,mdccclviii4                           
,,john ,,childs ,,and ,,son1 ,,printers4
          ,dedication                   
,,to ,,john ,r4 ,,robinson1 ,,esq4      
,,dear ,,robinson1    ,in dedicating to 
you this edition of a ,work1 the        
contents of which  originally appeared  
under your editorial sanction1 ,i avail 
myself of one  of the few pleasures of  
authorship4  ,of the defects of this    
little ,volume  none can be more        
sensible than myself3 you will1 however1
 receive it as a  trifling              
acknowledgment on my part of the        
generous friendship you have  ever      
exhibited for an occasional colleague   
and                                     
,yours faithfully1                      
,j4 ,,ewing ,,ritchie4    ,,finchley    
,,common1     ,nov4 #g1 #aheg4          
,,the  ,,religious ,,denominations  ,,of
 ,,london4      ',homo sum1 humani nihil

 a me alienum puto1' said ,terence1 and 
the  sentence has been a motto for man  
these many years4  ,to the human what   
deep interest attaches6  ,a splendid    
landscape soon palls unless it has  its 
hero4  ,we tire of the monotonous       
prairie till we learn that man1 with    
his hopes and fears1 has been there2 and
 the barrenest country becomes  dear to 
us if it come to us with the record of  
manly struggle and womanly  love4  ,this
 is as it should be1 for        ',the   
proper study of mankind is man4'    ,in 
pursuance with this axiom1 we have      
devoted some little time to the  study  
of one section of modern men deservedly 
worthy of serious regard4  ,there is no 
subject on which men feel more intensely
 than they do on the  subject of        
religion4  ,there are no influences more
 permanent or powerful  in their effects
 on the national character than         
religious influences4  ,we  propose1    
then1 to consider the pulpit power of   
,london4  ,there are in our  midst1 men 

devoted to a sacred calling--men who1   
though in the world1 are  not of it--who
 profess more than others to realise the
 splendours and the  terrors of the     
world to come--to whom ,deity has       
mysteriously made known  his will4      
,society accepts their pretensions1 for1
 after all1 man is a  religious animal1 
and1 with ,bacon1 would rather believe  
all the fables in  the ,koran than that 
this universe were without a ,god4  ,for
 good or bad  these men have a          
tremendous power4  ,the orator from the 
pulpit has always  an advantage over the
 orator who merely speaks from the      
public platform4  ,glorious ,queen ,bess
 understood this1 and accordingly 'tuned
 her pulpit1'  as she termed it1 when   
she sought to win over the popular mind4
  ,we deem  ourselves on a level with   
the platform orator4  ,he is but one of 
us--flesh of our flesh1 and bone of our 
bone4  ,the preacher is in a  different 
category3 he in his study1 we in the    
rude bustle of the world2  he communing 

with the ,invisible and ,eternal1 we    
flushed and fevered by  the passing     
tumult of the day2 he on the mount1 we  
in the valley1 where  we stifle for want
 of purer air1 crying in our agony1     
',the world is too much with us2 late or
 soon1      ,getting or spending1 we lay
 waste our powers4'    ,we feel the     
disparity--that there ought to be an    
advantage on the  preacher's side--that 
there must be fearful blame somewhere1  
if his life  be no better than that of  
other men4    ,before we begin our      
subject1 we will get hold of a few facts
 and figures4  ,according to the very   
valuable ,report of ,horace ,mann on    
,religious  ,worship1 it appears that   
there are1 in ,england and ,wales1      
#aj1cih1jac  persons able to be present 
at one time in buildings for religious  
worship1 and that1 for the accommodation
 of such1 #cd1dfg places of  worship    
have been erected1 leaving an additional
 supply of #a1fdd1gcd  sittings         
necessary1 if all who could attend      

places of worship were  disposed to do  
so1 the actual accommodation being      
#h1gec1bgi sittings4  ,in  reality1     
however1 the supply more than keeps pace
 with the demand4  ',returning1' says   
,mr4 ,mann1 'to the total of ,england   
and ,wales1 and  comparing the number of
 actual attendants with the number of   
persons  able to attend1 we find that1  
of #aj1cih1jac 7#eh per cent4 of the    
whole  population7 who would be at      
liberty to worship at one period of the 
day1  there were actually worshipping   
but #d1fdg1dhb in the morning1          
#c1ahd1ace  in the afternoon1 and       
#c1jfd1ddi in the evening4  ,so that1   
taking any one  service of the day1     
there were actually attending public    
worship less  than half the number who1 
as far as physical impediments          
prevented1  might have been attending4  
,in the morning there were absent1      
without  physical hindrance1 #e1gej1eca2
 in the afternoon1 #g1bac1hgh2 in the   
evening1 #g1ccc1efd4  ,there exist no   

data for determining how many  persons  
attended twice1 and how many three      
times1 on the ,sunday1 nor1             
consequently1 for deciding how many     
attended altogether on some service  of 
the day2 but if we suppose that half of 
those attending service in the          
afternoon had not been present in the   
morning1 and that a third of those      
attending service in the evening had not
 been present at either of the  previous
 services1 we should obtain a total of  
#g1bfa1jcb separate  persons1 who       
attended service either once or oftener 
upon the ,census  ,sunday4  ,but as the 
number who would be able to attend at   
some time of  the day is more than #eh  
per cent4 7which is the estimated number
 able to  be present at one and the same
 time71 probably reaching #gj per       
cent4--it is with this latter number    
7#ab1edi1cbf7 that this #g1bfa1jcb  must
 be compared2 and the result of such    
comparisons would lead to the           
conclusion that1 upon the ,census       

,sunday1 #e1bhh1bid able to attend      
religious worship once at least1        
neglected to do so4'    ,the            
non-attendance appears to be greater in 
towns than in our rural  populations2   
and in this respect ,london is not      
unlike other places4  ,it  is difficult 
to classify its religious developments2 
but the principal  denominations may be 
stated as follows3                      
,,protestant ,,churches4    ,,british3  
,church of ,england and ,ireland4       
,scottish ,presbyterians3     ,church of
 ,scotland4     ,united ,presbyterian   
,synod4     ,presbyterian ,church in    
,england4  ,independents or             
,congregationalists4  ,baptists3        
,general4     ,particular4     ,seventh 
,day4     ,scotch4     ,new ,connexion1 
,general4  ,society of ,friends4        
,unitarians4  ,moravians1 or ,united    
,brethren4  ,wesleyan ,methodists3      
,original ,connexion4     ,new          
,connexion4     ,primitive ,methodists4 
,wesleyan ,association4     ,independent

 ,methodists4     ,wesleyan ,reformers4 
,bible ,christians4  ,calvinistic       
,methodists3     ,welsh ,calvinistic    
,methodists4     ,countess of           
,huntingdon's ,connexion4               
,sandemanians1 or ,glassites4  ,new     
,church4  ,brethren 7,plymouth74        
,,foreign3    ,lutherans4  ,german      
,protestant ,reformers4  ,reformed      
,church of the ,netherlands4  ,french   
,protestants4                           
,,other ,,christian ,,churches4         
,roman ,catholics4  ,greek ,church4     
,german ,catholics4  ,italian           
,reformers4  ,catholic and ,apostolic   
,church4  ,latter-,day ,saints1 or      
,mormons4    ,,jews4    ,in all1 #ce2 of
 these #bg are native1 and #h foreign4  
,these are all1 or  nearly all1 the     
bodies which have assumed any formal    
organization4  ,there  are1 in addition1
 many isolated congregations of         
religious worshippers1  adopting various
 appellations1 but none of them         
sufficiently numerous to  deserve the   

name of a sect4    ,of course1 the chief
 of these various denominations is the  
,church of  ,england4  ,in the ,handbook
 to ,places of ,worship1 published in   
#ahea1 by  ,low1 there is a list of #cga
 churches and chapels in connexion with 
the  ,establishment4  ,some of them have
 very small congregations1 and every one
  confesses it is a perfect farce to    
keep them open4  ,in some of the city   
churches1 thirty persons form an        
unusually large audience4  ,but most of 
them are well attended4  ,to these      
churches and chapels belong1 in round   
numbers1 #gjj clergymen4  ,the          
appointments of ministers to the parish 
churches are1 in most cases1 under the  
control of the vicars or rectors  of    
their respective parishes4  ,in the case
 of private chapels1 the party  to whom 
the property belongs has1 of course1    
nominally the right of  appointing the  
minister2 but1 eventually1 that         
appointment rests with the              
congregation1 for to thrust in an       

unpopular preacher against their wishes 
would be to destroy his own property4   
,for the parish churches1 again1  the   
right of appointing the clergymen is    
vested in various hands  according to   
circumstances1 which it would require   
too much time and  space to explain at  
sufficient length to make them          
understood4  ,the  patronage is1 in a   
great many cases1 invested in the       
,crown2 but the  ,bishop of ,london is  
also a large holder of metropolitan     
patronage4  ,the  ,archbishop of        
,canterbury is patron in several cases1 
and1 in some  instances1 holds his      
patronage conjointly with the ,crown4   
,in such cases1  the right of           
appointment is exercised alternately4   
,the ,lord ,chancellor  is sole patron  
of four or five livings in ,london1 and 
in six or seven  other cases exercises  
the right of patronage alternately with 
the  ,archbishop of ,canterbury1 with   
the ,bishop of ,london1 with private    
individuals1 and with the parishioners4 

,the parishioners possess the  sole     
right of patronage in only three or four
 instances2 and1 in one or  two cases in
 the ,city1 particular corporations     
possess the right of  appointing the    
clergy4  ,the doctrines of the ,church  
of ,england are  embodied in her        
,articles and ,liturgy4  ,her orders    
consist of bishops1  priests1 and       
deacons4  ,besides1 there are           
dignitaries--archbishops1 deans  and    
chapters1 attached to cathedrals1 and   
supposed to form the council of  the    
bishops1 archdeacons1 and rural deans4  
,the average income of a  beneficed     
clergyman is #cjj pounds a year2 of a   
curate1 #ha pounds4  ,the  number of    
church-sittings in ,london and the      
surrounding districts1  according to    
,mr4 ,mann1 is #dji1hcd4    ,next in    
order are the ,independents or          
,congregationalists1 who differ from    
the ,church of ,england more in         
discipline than doctrine4  ,they        
maintain  the independence of each      

congregation--that a church is simply an
  assembly of believers4  ,only two     
descriptions of church officers are     
regarded by them as warranted by        
,scriptural authority--bishops or       
pastors1 and deacons2 and the latter    
office with them is merely secular4     
,amongst them the deacon merely attends 
to the temporal affairs of the  church4 
,in the ,episcopalian ,church1 the      
deaconship is the first step to  the    
priesthood4  ,in ,london and its        
neighbourhood the ,independents have    
about #adj places of worship4  ,mr4     
,mann's return does not give them so    
many1 but he states the number of       
sittings to be #ajj1dcf4    ,the        
,baptists have much in common with the  
,independents4  ,like them1 they        
believe in the unscriptural character of
 state churches2 and1 like them1        
believe each church or assembly of      
faithful men to be able to manage its   
own affairs2 but they differ from nearly
 every other ,christian  denomination on

 two points--the proper subjects and the
 proper mode  of baptism4  ,according to
 them1 adults are the proper subjects of
  baptism1 and immersion1 not           
sprinkling1 is the proper mode of       
administering that rite4  ,as an        
organized community1 we find them in    
,england in #afjh1 about thirty years   
after ,robert ,brown had begun to       
preach the principles of ,independency4 
,the ,baptists have many  subdivisions4 
,the ,particular ,baptists preponderate3
 they are  ,calvinistic4  ,a remarkable 
unanimity of sentiment has always       
existed  among them1 except on one      
particular point--the propriety of      
sitting down  at the communion table    
with those who reject adult baptism4    
,mr4 ,horace  ,mann gives the general   
body #acj chapels2 ,mr4 ,low1 #aji4     
,the ,census  returns give them         
accommodation for #ed1bcd4    ,the      
,methodists have1 in all1 #aed chapels  
in ,london1 the larger number of  which 
belong to the ,wesleyans1 who are       

,arminians1 who are governed by a       
,conference1 and whose ministers are    
itinerant4  ,mr4 ,mann tells us they    
seldom preach in the same place more    
than one ,sunday without a change1      
which is effected according to a plan   
generally re-made every quarter4        
,london is divided into ten circuits4   
,then there are the ,calvinistic        
,methodists1 who were originated by the 
labours of ,george ,whitfield1 aided  by
 that devoted ,countess of ,huntingdon  
whose name yet lives in connexion  with 
one of the most remarkable revivals of  
religion in our land4  ,there  are      
several sub-divisions besides4  ,the    
original ,wesleyan body has  suffered   
much of late in consequence of the      
operations of the ,wesleyan  ,reformers4
  ,it is stated that1 by this division1 
the connexion sustained  a loss of      
#ajj1jjj members4  ,in ,london1 the     
,methodists1 including1 as in  the case 
of the ,baptists1 six or seven          
sub-divisions1 have sittings for        

#fi1fif4  ,of the number of attendants  
it is calculated about #ab1jjj are      
church members1 or communicants4  ,it   
may be as well to mention here1  that1  
with the exception of the ,irvingites1  
and1 of course1 the ,roman  ,catholic   
,church1 which only admits priests to   
the celebration of the  ,lord's ,supper1
 and of the ,quakers1 who do not profess
 to observe that  ceremony at all1 there
 are two classes of persons attending   
all churches  and chapels--the common   
hearers1 and the smaller class who      
profess to be  converted and regenerated
 men4  ,in the ,church of ,england the  
theory is1  every baptized man is this2 
and therefore every one has a right to  
approach what is called the ,table of   
the ,lord4  ,in the ,church of          
,scotland1 we presume1 it is the same4  
,an anecdote1 which was told by ,mr4    
,j4 ,haldane1 implies this3--that       
gentleman stated that once he was       
present  at a ,highland parish church on
 a sacramental occasion1 when there was 

a  pause1 for none of the people seemed 
disposed to approach the tables2 on  a  
sudden he heard the crack of sticks1    
and1 looking round1 saw one  descend on 
the bald head of a man behind him4  ,it 
was the ruling elders  driving the poor 
,highlanders forward much in the same   
manner as they were  accustomed to pen  
their cattle4  ,among ,dissenters only a
 certain class  are supposed to have    
this right--that class consisting of    
those who  profess to have become in    
their natures changed and sanctified to 
,god1  who are considered to be 'a      
chosen generation--a peculiar           
priesthood6'  ,they are received into   
the church after1 generally1 a careful  
scrutiny as  to their motives and       
convictions and character1 and1 at any  
rate1 amongst  ,dissenters are generally
 considered as the ,church1 for whom a  
,saviour  died1 and on whom he devolves 
the conversion of the world4    ,the    
remaining divisions of the church and   
chapel goers of ,london may now  be     

disposed of4    ,the ,presbyterians have
 #bc chapels1 some in connexion with the
 ,church of  ,scotland1 and some not4   
,the number of chapels thus connected is
 #e1 and  the number of ,scotchmen      
settled in ,london being about #acj1jjj1
 it is more  than probable that ,sawney 
is not the church-going animal abroad1  
he most  undoubtedly is when he is at   
home4  ,it seems that the ,scotch       
attending  ,presbyterian churches in    
,london1 even if they occupy every      
sitting1 are  not more than #ah1baa2    
and1 if ,sawney were not proverbially an
 economical  fellow1 one would be       
inclined to hint that you will catch him
 taking a  cheap railway excursion on   
the very day in which1 in his 'land of  
the  mountain and the flood1' it is     
deemed sinful to do more than walk from 
one's home to the nearest kirk4         
,next1 as regards numbers1 come the     
,unitarians1 who have #i chapels in     
,london1 and about #ccjj sittings4      
,by-the-bye1 we ought to have mentioned 

before this the ,roman ,catholics1  who 
have #ce chapels1 and of whom there     
were1 on the ,census ,sunday1 #ce1iid   
worshipping at one time4  ,in no case do
 the ,census returns give us the  real  
attendance4  ,we have merely the number 
of sittings1 or attendants1  morning1   
afternoon1 or evening4  ,in the case of 
,roman ,catholics1 we have  given the   
number of persons attending in the      
morning1 there being this  difference   
between them and other sects1 that with 
the latter1 the number  of sittings will
 be generally much greater than that of 
the attendants1  whereas with the ,roman
 ,catholics the reverse is the truth1 as
 they get  more out of their chapels    
than any other denomination can4    ,it 
seems the mild1 drab-coloured men1 who  
call themselves ,quakers1 and  wear     
broad-brimmed hats and square collars1  
and say 'thee' and 'thou1' of  whom     
,belgravia knows but little1 but who1   
nevertheless1 are foremost when  some   
great good is to be done1 and some      

outcast class is to be reclaimed  and   
saved1 are but a feeble folk1 as far as 
numbers are concerned4  ,the  'youngest 
of the four surviving sects which trace 
their origin to that  prolific period   
which closed the era of the             
,reformation1' they promise to  be      
soonest extinguished4  ,in #ahjj they   
possessed #dac meeting-houses2 in  #ahea
 they had but #cea4  ,mr4 ,low gives    
them #i chapels2 ,mr4 ,mann but #d1     
with sittings for #caea4  ,this latter  
number1 small as it is1 appears to  be  
considerably more than is required for  
their services4  ,the real  truth1      
probably1 is1 that ,quaker worship is   
too calm and phlegmatic for  this       
bustling go-a-head age4  ,in ,george    
,fox's time1 men held communion  with   
the ,invisible and ,eternal--with ,him  
who dwells in the light to which  no man
 can approach4  ,there are but few who  
care to do so now1 and  therefore is it 
that that race of practical             
philanthropists was far  larger in      

,george ,fox's time than ours4  ,as to  
the other sects1 it is  scarcely        
necessary that we do more than take a   
very hasty glance at them4    ,the      
,moravian ,brethren1 who date from      
#aggb1 with ,count ,zinzendorf at their 
head 7and who have no reason for their  
separate existence save the fact  that1 
when they appealed to the lot as to     
whether they should join the  ,lutherans
 or not1 the lot was against the        
junction71 have #b chapels and  #aajj   
sittings4    ,the ,jews have #aa        
synagogues and #cfib sittings4    ,the  
remaining congregations1 with the       
exception of the ,mormonites1 who  have 
now #cc places of worship1 are almost   
exclusively isolated4    ,there are #id 
chapels that thus defy classification2  
nor can we be  surprised that such is   
the case4  ,our boast is1 that every man
 is free to  worship ,god according to  
the dictates of his own heart--that     
religious  inquiry is unfettered amongst
 us--that every man who chooses may form

 a  sect for himself4  ,the advantages  
of this state of things preponderate    
over its disadvantages4  ,the           
philosopher may despise1 and the        
,christian  of a generous heart and     
catholic aspirations may regret1 that   
such should  be the case--may think it  
better that men had wider views--better 
that we  should stand on a broader      
platform than a sectarian one3 but we   
may not  quarrel with the conditions of 
religious existence4  ,we must feel that
  these sects and schisms denote        
religious life and thought--that their  
absence would be death--and that1 as the
 world grows and the truth  becomes     
clearer1 they will1 one by one1         
disappear4        ',thus star by star   
departs1         ,till all have pass'd  
away2      ,and daylight high and higher
 shines1         ,till pure and perfect 
day4      ,nor sink those stars in empty
 night1      ,but hide themselves in    
heaven's own light4'    ,the #id chapels
 we have referred to1 belonging to the  

,new ,church1 the  ,brethren1 the       
,irvingites1 the ,latter-,day ,saints1  
,sandemanians1 ,lutherans1  ,french     
,protestants1 ,greeks1 ,germans1        
,italians1 have accommodation for       
#ah1hcc4  ,of course some of these      
people have but little reason to give   
for the faith that is in them4          
,actually1 in this age of               
intelligence--in  these days of cheap   
literature and cheap schools--there are 
men and women  so sunk in ignorance as  
to credit the absurd pretensions of     
,joanna  ,southcote or ,joe ,smith2 but 
these people we must include4  ,we sit  
in  judgment on none2 and thus we give  
the church and chapel goers1 as         
follows3    ,church of ,england         
#dji1hcd  ,congregationalists           
#ajj1dcf  ,baptists                     
#ed1bcd  ,methodists                    
#fj1fif  ,presbyterians                 
#ah1baa  ,unitarians                    
#c1cjj  ,roman ,catholics               
#ah1bcj  ,quakers                       

#c1aeg  ,moravians                      
#a1ajj  ,jews                           
#c1fib  ,isolated ,congregations        
#ah1hcc                                 
#fia1gbc    ,according to the last      
returns1 we have the following          
population3  ,finsbury1 #cbc1ggb2       
,lambeth1 #bea1cde2 ,london 7,city71    
#abg1hfi2 ,marylebone1  #cgj1ieg2       
,southwark1 #agb1hfc2 ,tower ,hamlets1  
#eci1aaa2 ,westminster1 #bda1  #faa2 and
 with other places not classified1 in   
all1 #b1cfb1bcf4  ,if we  compare this  
with the figures ,i have given1 we shall
 see that1 if all the  accommodation    
that exists were used1 rather more than 
a quarter of the  ,london population    
frequented public worship4  ,in reality1
 the number is  less4  ,yet1 perhaps1   
the returns show as much religious      
observance as we  could expect4    ,by  
way of contrast1 let us see how the     
,london world that is not religious     
spends its ,sabbaths4  ,a very large and
 complicated organization would be      

required to collect the statistics of   
the habits of the population of  ,london
 on a ,sunday1 but an attempt was made  
on ,august #af1 of the present  year1 to
 throw some light upon the subject by a 
few gentlemen accustomed  to observe and
 estimate large numbers of people4  ,the
 outward  passenger-traffic by the      
railways during the morning appeared to 
be about  as follows3--    ,great       
,western1 by the #h and #i o'clock      
trains                      #aijj       
,ditto1 by the afternoon trains         
#bdjj  ,south ,western1 by the two early
 excursion trains                  #bejj
  ,ditto1 parliamentary                 
#bhjj  ,ditto1 afternoon train          
#ejjj  ,london and ,brighton1 with      
,south-,eastern1 ,north ,kent1 and      
other lines at ,london-bridge3     ,by  
morning trains                          
#aj1ejj     ,afternoon                  
#fjjj  ,great ,northern3     ,morning   
#aejj     ,afternoon                    
#bjjj  ,eastern ,counties3     ,morning 

#ahjj     ,afternoon                    
#dejj  ,north ,western3     ,morning    
#ahjj     ,afternoon                    
#ajjj    ,the steam-boats above and     
below bridge were crowded1 and the      
various  public gardens1 c1 on the sides
 of the river1 were also crowded4       
,about  #ad1jjj persons passed down the 
river1 and about #fjjj upwards1 beyond  
the  ordinary river traffic4  ,in       
,greenwich ,park there were about       
#hj1jjj  persons1 and ,gravesend and    
,woolwich were also crowded by visitors1
  estimated at #aj1jjj1 including the   
patrons of ,rosherville gardens1 c4  ,at
 #e o'clock there were nearly #bjjj     
persons in ,cremorne ,gardens1 and at #h
  o'clock fully four times that number4 
,hampton ,court was scarcely as  crowded
 by visitors as on some previous days1  
but the numbers there and  the          
excursionists to ,kew have been already 
estimated by the boat and  train4  ,in  
the ,regent's ,park the numbers have not
 been counted at any  time during the   

summer1 though some of the              
penny-a-liners have given  the exact    
number4  ,there was an immense crowd    
listening to the people's  subscription 
band in the ,regent's ,park1 and at a   
low estimate the numbers  considerably  
exceeded a hundred thousand4  ,in the   
,victoria ,park1 where  another people's
 band played from five till seven       
o'clock1 there were  about #fj1jjj      
persons present at one time4  ,the      
aristocracy had a very  large number of 
carriages in the ,hyde ,park1 and about 
#hjjj entered  ,kensington ,gardens     
during the afternoon4  ,from these      
estimates1 intended  to be free from all
 exaggeration1 it would appear that out 
of the  population of ,london1 about one
 quarter of a million were engaged in   
what  has been characterized as the     
public desecration of the ,sabbath4  ,if
 we  include servants1 omnibus-drivers1 
cabmen1 c4--persons who follow on the   
,sunday the usual avocations of the     
week1 of course this number is          

considerably increased4    ,it is       
cheering to think that the pulpit has   
advanced2 and to feel1 if it  have not  
its lights1 such as ,chalmers1 or       
,irving1 or ,hall1 it has become  almost
 freed from the buffooneries by which at
 one time it was disgraced4             
'',t is pitiful      ,to court a grin   
when you should win a soul2      ,to    
break a jest when pity should inspire   
,pathetic exhortation2 and to address   
,the skittish fancy with facetious tales
      ,when sent with ,god's commission 
to the heart6'    ,huntington1 the ,s4  
,s41 or ,sinner ,saved1 used to stop in 
the middle of his  sermons with         
exclamations such as--',there1 take care
 of your pockets6'  ',wake that snoring 
sinner6'  ',silence that noisy          
numskull6'  ',turn out  that drunken    
dog6'  ,rowland ,hill once preached as  
follows3        ',the mere professor    
reminds me of a sow that ,i saw an hour 
since      luxuriating in her stye1 when
 almost over head and ears in the mire4 

,now suppose any of you were to take    
,bess 7the sow71 and wash her2 and      
suppose1 after having dressed her in a  
silk gown and put a smart cap      upon 
her head1 you were to take her into any 
of your parlours1 and      were to set  
her down to tea in company3 she might   
look very demure      for a time1 and   
might not give even a single grunt2 but 
you would      observe that she         
occasionally gave a sly look towards the
 door1 which      showed that she felt  
herself in an uncomfortable position2   
and the      moment she perceived that  
the door was open1 she would give you   
another proof of the fact by running out
 of the room as fast as she      could4 
,follow the sow with her silk gown and  
her fancy cap1 and in a      few seconds
 you will find that she has returned to 
the stye1 and is      again wallowing in
 the mire4  ,just so it is with the     
unrenewed man4      ,sin is his         
element4'    ,could anything be weaker  
or in worse taste than that8    ,the    

pulpit has ceased to offend by any such 
exhibitions4  ,the men in the  pews have
 advanced1 and the men in the pulpit    
have had to do the same4  ,men of       
science and of intellect and literature 
must have men of science  and of        
intellect and literature to preach to   
them4  ,it is power the  ministry lacks4
  ,it fails because it is of the        
past--uses the language of  the         
past--prays the prayers of the past4    
,instead of seeking a revival in  the   
churches1 it had better seek its own    
revival4  ,we have some twelve  hundred 
clergy 7,church and ,dissent7 in this   
great ,babylon1 and yet the  devoutest  
worshipper can scarce name a dozen as   
superior men4  ,yet  preaching is not   
the difficult thing ministers affirm4   
,literary men1  enterprising merchants1 
sharp attorneys1 aspiring barristers1   
honourable  ,m4,p4s1 work infinitely    
harder1 though professing infinitely    
inferior  aims4  ,a popular actor       
certainly seeks no richer reward than a 

popular  parson2 but the former will    
throw into his performance a life of    
which  the latter appears to have no    
idea4  ,for the men who care not for the
  manner but the matter1 the pulpit has 
still less to offer4  ,where1 then1  is 
the wonder that in ,london1 where men   
are not driven to church or             
chapel--where they do not lose caste    
because they do not observe the         
required customs of respectable         
society--the mass are beyond the reach  
of  the preacher's voice1 listening1 it 
may be1 to the sermons on our stones    
and in our streets--the sermons the     
world's great ones and illustrious      
leaders preach1 when they worship       
railway kings1 or erect statues to      
royal debauchees8  ,what wonder is it   
then that in life's busy scene the      
still small voice of the pulpit grows   
weaker every hour8          ,,popular   
,,preachers4      ,church of ,england4  
,,the ,,rev4 ,j4 ,c4 ,m4 ,,bellew1      
,s4,c4,l4      ,one of the wonders to   

us1 looking back upon the middle ages1  
rich in all  the experience they lacked1
 is their faith in heathenism as a fact1
 long  after heathenism as a theology   
had given way to the victorious ,cross4 
,it  seems not only as if many          
,christian churches were erected on what
 were  once pagan temples1 but as if1   
under new names1 the old pagan          
superstitions still lingered1 as if     
their hold on the heart of man were  too
 firm to be driven out by any doctrine1 
however new or true4  ,in the  middle   
ages1 before a ,bacon had led forth the 
sciences from their house  of           
bondage--before men had ceased to       
theorize1 and to believe alone in       
facts1 and the truths facts utter1 what 
confidence1 for instance1 was  given to 
that pagan science1 or jargon1 for it   
ought not to be called a  science1 named
 astrology4  ,the old heathen gods still
 remained4  ,jupiter  and ,mars1        
,saturn1 and ,venus1 and ,mercury1 were 
still the arbiters of  human destinies4 

,take up the great philosopher of that  
age--,cardan for  instance--and you     
shall read in him more of the mysterious
 influences of  the heathen's ,jupiter  
than of the ,christian's ,god4  ,every  
educated man  exclaimed in language as  
plain1 though not1 perhaps1 so poetical1
 as that  of ,max ,piccolomini1 that--  
',still      ,doth the old instinct     
bring back the old names1      ,and to  
yon starry world they now are gone1     
,spirits or gods that used to share this
 earth      ,with man as with their     
friend2 and to the lover      ,yonder   
they move1 from yonder visible sky      
,shoot influence down1 and even at this 
day      ',t is ,jupiter who brings     
whate'er is great1      ,and ,venus who 
brings everything that's fair4'         
,something like this in the ,christian  
world prevails4  ,thus is it the ,old   
,testament binds with iron grasp men who
 profess to take their religion  from   
the ,new4  ,they tell you the law was   
the schoolmaster--that it was  the      

shadow of good things to come1 and yet  
for all that they do and plan1  the ,old
 ,testament is their perpetual          
precedent4  ,instead of the  recognised 
version1 ',all ,scripture is given for  
instruction1' some of the  good people  
we have referred to seemed as if they   
read confusion4  ,the  old ,commonwealth
 men blundered terribly in this way2 but
 every age has  had men guilty of       
similar blunders4  ,poor ,granville     
,sharpe had an  interview with ,mr4     
,pitt1 to plead the cause of humanity1  
and wasted the  golden opportunity by   
attempting to explain to that great     
,minister--to  whom the explanation was 
all unintelligible--the meaning of the  
little  horn in ,daniel4  ,in spite of  
,christianity1 men still cling to       
,jewish  rites and ,jewish creeds1 as if
 the ,temple of ,solomon still wore its 
ancient splendour1 as if the seed of    
,abraham still enjoyed their sacred     
birthright1 as if the sceptre had not   
departed from ,judah1 and ,shiloh had   

never come4  ,go into the churches of   
the metropolis any time you like1  and  
the probability is that in more than    
half the texts will be taken  from the  
,old ,testament1 and the certainty is1  
that in almost all1 all the  arguments  
and illustrations will have a similar   
source4  ,thus we have a  composite     
order of preaching4  ,it seems as if the
 preacher knew not on  which side to    
take his stand1 under which king to     
speak or die4  ,the hand  is ,esau's1   
but the voice is ,jacob's4  ,you hear as
 much of ,david as of  ,christ1 as much 
of the ceremonial of a worship of form  
and ceremony1 as  of the simplicity     
introduced by ,him who was born in a    
manger1 and had not  where to lay his   
head4  ,to break free from all this--to 
act in the living  present--to let the  
dead past bury its dead--to speak to the
 men of  to-day in the language of      
to-day1 is a great advantage to a       
preacher1  even if it require1 on his   
part1 a little extra care in the        

composition  of his sermons2 and no one 
knows this better than the popular      
,assistant  ,minister of ,st4 ,john's1  
,waterloo ,place1 ,regent ,square1      
,london--the ,rev4  ,mr4 ,bellew1       
formerly of ,st4 ,john's ,cathedral1    
,calcutta4    ,to give a man the        
position ,mr4 ,bellew has acquired1     
however1 something  further is needed4  
,peculiar qualities of thought or       
utterance1  especially the latter1 are  
essential to a man if he would be talked
 of on  all sides--run after by fine    
lords and ladies--in request all over   
,london  for charity sermons--and       
admitted to plead in the august presence
 of ,lord  ,mayors and ,princes of the  
blood4  ,in the first place1 then1 it   
must be  remembered that ,mr4 ,bellew   
preaches with all the studied           
earnestness of  the actor1 and every    
syllable tells as distinctly as if it   
were ,macready  declaiming on the stage4
  ,then he is an ,irishman1 and what    
,irishman is  not fluent and born to    

drive in the pulpit2 and what is        
wonderful1 though  an ,irish            
,protestant1 ,mr4 ,bellew avoids the    
role1 somewhat overdone1 of  a          
,mc,neile1 or a ,mc,gee1 or a ,maguire1 
and does not commit the absurdity of    
making his every sermon a wearisome     
protest against ,popery and the ,pope4  
,why should ,irish clergymen get wild on
 this head8  ,it is not1 says  ,goethe1 
by attacking the false1 but by          
proclaiming the true1 that good is  to  
be done4  ,and it is the same in        
religion2 the ,irish ,protestants have  
little to complain of--their history is 
written in the tears and blood of       
millions whom they have wronged for     
ages4  ,by the violation of all         
right--by means that will ever stain the
 ,irish ,protestant ,church with        
shame--by laws the most infamous the    
malice of man could devise1 have  they  
got to be where they are2 let them take 
the goods the gods provide  and be      
thankful4  ,if anything could make a man

 sympathize with ,roman  ,catholics1 it 
would be the history of the ,protestant 
,church since its  first establishment  
there by the strong arm of law4  ,on all
 other matters  ,mr4 ,bellew seems      
equally to avoid the errors of          
partisanship2 he ignores  the foolish   
ceremonial disputes of his own          
,church--the petty doctrinal            
discussions1 which are the more fiercely
 agitated the more trivial and          
worthless they in reality are4  ,his    
,christianity is something proud1 and   
majestic1 and divine1--a universal      
remedy for a universal disease1--not a  
skeleton of dead doctrine1 or a bone of 
contention1 or an obsolete word1  but a 
living1 healthy1 beneficent power4      
,but ,mr4 ,bellew has other attractions4
  ,not only are his sermons broad and   
catholic in tone1--not only are they    
enunciated with oratorical  effect1--not
 only are they heightened by the charm  
of a commanding  presence1--but they are
 in themselves highly polished1 full of 

passages  of rare eloquence1 and retain 
the attention of the hearers4  ,they all
  open well1 the exordium is always     
spirited1 and its tone is maintained to 
the end of the discourse4  ,thus one    
commences as follows1 ,eternity is  the 
answer to life's question--immortality  
is the hallowed reward of  life's holy  
works4  ,another has1 ,life is the      
expression of religion4  ,in another we 
get a quotation from ,tacitus pregnant  
with meaning1 ,truth  is established by 
investigation and delay4  ,then the     
circumstances of  the text are well     
brought out4  ,if ,paul speaks at       
,corinth1 we see that  licentious city  
with its groves and temples2 if on      
,mars' hill he  proclaims an ,unknown   
,god1 the orator1 with a lustre on his  
face brighter  than any genius could    
bestow1 is in our midst2 around him are 
the  restless ,athenians1 and in the    
background1 the marble statues of their 
deities--of silver-eyed ,minerva1 and   
,apollo1 lord of the silver bow4  ,if   

some divine word of the ,great ,teacher 
himself is the subject of  discourse1   
then the ,hebrew landscape is painted as
 only those can paint  who have trod the
 steps--as ,mr4 ,bellew has done--where1
 more than  eighteen centuries ago1 the 
,christ and his sorrowing disciples     
trod4  ,occasionally a little pompous   
verbosity may be detected2 instead of   
simply telling us how the earth's great 
ones are despised too often by  the     
world1 ,mr4 ,bellew says1 ',my          
experience of life1 and the more ,i read
  from all history1 sacred and profane1 
modern and ancient1 is this--the        
veritable heroes of humanity have       
generally been decorated with the       
epithets of popular insult4'  ,this is a
 little too much in the mouthing  vein1 
and reminds us of the singular encomium 
on ,mr4 ,bellew in the  ,morning        
,herald1 to the effect that our preacher
 'unveils the plan of  salvation in the 
most graceful and attractive manner'--as
 if ,mr4  ,bellew was a ,madame         

,mantilini1 and the plan of salvation   
was the last new  fashion4  ,perhaps for
 this singular criticism ,mr4 ,bellew is
 in some part  accountable4  ,our       
readers may have seen a caricature of   
two popular  preachers1 under the title 
of ,brimstone and ,treacle4  ,brimstone 
is  supposed to represent the youthful  
hero of the ,surrey ,music ,hall3 the   
pulpit ,adonis1 curled and scented and  
lack-a-daisical1 called ,treacle1 is    
supposed1 though very wrongly1 for ,mr4 
,bellew is no man-milliner1 to  typify  
the subject of this sketch4  ,in spite  
of grey hair and sallow  cheeks1 ,mr4   
,bellew has somewhat too much the       
appearance of a lady's man1  and his    
,christianity is evidently that which   
will do credit to the best  society2 nor
 is this to be wondered at4  ,has he not
 an uncle a ,bishop1  and has he not the
 elite of the beau-monde to hear him8   
,,the ,,rev4 ,,thomas ,,dale1 ,m4,a4    
,in the good old times1 before the      
,reform ,bill was carried and the       

,constitution destroyed1 at a period    
long prior to the introduction of  cheap
 'busses and penny steamers and the new 
police1 stood an old church  in the     
north of ,london1 in which the          
parishioners of ,st4 ,pancras were      
accustomed to meet for public worship4  
,in spite of its unadorned  appearance1 
it was a venerable pile4  ,according to 
some1 it was the last  church in        
,england where the bell tolled for mass1
 and in which any rites  of the ,roman  
,catholic religion were celebrated4  ,in
 its burying-ground  twenty generations 
now sleep the sleep of death4  ,grimaldi
 the clown1  ,woollet the engraver1     
,william ,godwin1 ,mary ,wolstonecraft1 
,walker1  immortalized by his           
,pronouncing ,dictionary1 ,woodhead1 the
 reputed author  of the ',whole ,duty of
 ,man1' ,jeremy ,collier1 the writer    
against stage  plays and the successful 
combatant of ,dryden1 ,ned ,ward1 author
 of the  ',london ,spy1' ,theobald1 the 
hero of the early editions of the       

',dunciad'  and the editor of           
',shakspeare1' ,boswell's friend1 the   
,corsican ,paoli1  here await the       
resurrection morn4  ,what passions1 what
 hopes1 what virtue  and vice1 what     
loved and loving forms1 what withered   
anatomies1 have here  been laid down6   
,tread gently6--every bit of dust you   
tread on was once a  man and a brother4 
,tread reverently6 for here human hearts
 bursting with  agony--the mother       
weeping for her children1 the lover for 
his bride--have  seen the last of all   
they hoped for under the sun4  ,you may 
hear a good  sermon here from the old   
text3 ',vanity of vanities1' saith the  
preacher1  'all is vanity4'  ,such is   
the lesson we learn here--that all the  
shows of  the world are poor and little 
worth--that false is        '--the light
 on glory's plume1         ,as fading   
hues of even4      ,and love1 and hope1 
and beauty's bloom1      ,are blossoms  
gather'd for the tomb--         ,there's
 nothing true but heaven6'    ,but we   

may not linger here4  ,time came and    
went1 and1 as usual1 wrought  wonders4  
,st4 ,pancras ceased to be ,st4 ,pancras
 in the fields4  ,it was  laid out in   
broad streets and handsome squares4  ,it
 was lit up with gas4  ,it echoed to the
 roll of carriages4  ,it witnessed the  
introduction of  flunkies1 with glaring 
livery and tremendous calf4  ,upon its  
broad  pavements flaunted1 in all their 
bravery1 city lords and city ladies4    
,of  course1 the old church would not do
 for such as they4  ,early ,christians  
might worship ,god in a barn1 but modern
 ones1 rich and respectable--of  course1
 if they are rich they must be          
respectable--would not for the life  of 
them do anything so ungenteel4  ,so a   
new place--the first stone of  which was
 laid by a ,royal ,duke1 notorious for  
his debts and his connexion  with ,mrs4 
,clarke1--was built1 with a pulpit made 
out of the old  well-known ,fairlop oak1
 on the model of a certain great heathen
 edifice1  and the ,st4 ,pancras new    

church reared its would-be aristocratic 
head4  ,alas6 alas6 it was on the       
unfashionable side of ,russell-square4  
,that  difficulty was insurmountable1   
and so the church has to stand where it 
does4  ,however1 the frequenters try to 
forget the unpleasant fact1 and to  make
 themselves as genteel as they can4     
,take your stand there at eleven on the 
,sabbath morning4  ,what a glare of     
silks and satins--of feathers--of       
jewels--of what cynics would call the   
pomps and vanities of the world6  ,with 
what an air does that delicate  young   
female--,i beg her pardon1 ,i mean young
 lady--foot it1 with ,jeames  behind    
carrying her ,book of ,common ,prayer6  
,united ,belgravia could hardly  do the 
thing in better style4  ,enter the      
church1 and you will see the  same      
delightful air of fashionable repose4   
,if the grace that is divine  be as     
common there as the grace that is       
earthly1 ,mr4 ,dale's charge must  be a 
happy flock indeed4  ,with what an air  

does it bow at the name of  ,jesus6 with
 what a grace does it confess itself to 
consist of 'miserable  sinners6'  ,one  
would hardly mind1 in the midst of such 
rich city  merchants and their charming 
daughters1 being a miserable sinner     
himself4  ,such opulent misery and      
fashionable sin seem rather enviable    
than  otherwise4  ,at any rate1 the     
burden of such misery and such sin seems
 one  easily to be borne4    ,but       
prayers are over1 and yon immense       
congregation has quietly settled  into  
an attitude of attention4  ,all eyes are
 turned in the direction of  the pulpit4
  ,we look there as well1 and see a man 
rather below the  average height1 with  
fresh complexion1 mild grey eyes beneath
  light-coloured eyebrows1 with a       
common-place forehead1 and a figure     
presenting altogether rather a pedantic 
appearance4  ,this is the ,rev4  ,thomas
 ,dale1 ,m4,a4  ,he looks as if the     
world had gone easy with him2 and  truly
 it has1 for he is a popular            

,evangelical preacher--perhaps1 next to 
,mr4 ,melville1 the most popular        
preacher in the ,english ,church4  ,he  
is a  popular poet--he is ,vicar of ,st4
 ,pancras1 and ,canon of ,st4 ,paul's4  
,mr4 ,dale reads1 and reads rapidly2 his
 enunciation is perfectly distinct2  his
 voice is somewhat monotonous1 but      
musical2 his action is very slight4     
,you are not carried away by his        
physical appearance1 nor1 as you listen1
  does the preacher bear you            
irresistibly aloft4  ,his sermons are   
highly  polished1 but they are too      
invariably the same4  ,there are no     
depths nor  heights in them4  ,they are 
all calm1 subdued1 toned down4  ,they do
 not  take you by storm3 you miss the   
thunder and the lightning of such men as
  ,melville and ,binney4  ,mr4 ,dale's  
sermons are1 like himself and like his  
poetry1 polished and pleasing4  ,all    
that man can do by careful study ,mr4   
,dale has done2 but he lacks            
inspiration1 the vis vivida1 the vision 

and  the faculty divine1 which1 if a man
 have not1 ',this brave overhanging     
firmament--this majestical roof fretted 
with golden fire'--'is but a foul  and  
pestilent congregation of vapours4'     
,yet ,mr4 ,dale has an immense          
congregation4  ,i take it that he suits 
the level of the city magnates  that    
crowd his pews4  ,philosophy1 poetry1   
passion are quite out of the  reach of  
such men1 whose real god is the ,stock  
,exchange1 and whose real  heaven is the
 three per cents4    ,another and a     
better reason of ,mr4 ,dale's immense   
congregation is1 that  his charity is   
unremitting--given in the best way1 in  
the shape of work  instead of alms--and 
irrespective of the religious sect of   
the recipient4  ,i have heard of several
 such cases that do him much honour4    
,and1 after  all1 in the pulpit as well 
as elsewhere1 conduct tells more than   
character in the long run4  ,hence his  
personal influence is great2 and1  of   
course1 that helps to fill the church4  

,nor can we much wonder4  ,what         
eloquence is stronger than that of a    
holy1 a useful1 a devoted life8  ,acts  
speak stronger than words4  ,i see more 
power in an act of charity1  done in the
 name of religion and of ,god1 than in  
the passionate and  fascinating gorgeous
 rhetoric of an hour4    ,mr4 ,dale is a
 good ,greek scholar1 and has translated
 ,sophocles4  ,it is  easy to see why   
,sophocles should better suit him than  
,a,eschylus or  ,euripides--the polish  
of the one would please him better than 
the wild  grandeur of the others4  ,of  
him1 as a poet1 ,i cannot speak very    
highly4  ,his versification is          
correct--his sentiment is good4  ,to the
 very large  class of readers who will  
accept such substitutes for poetry as   
the real  thing1 our divine is a poet of
 no mean order4  ',what we want1 sir1'  
said  a publisher to me the other day1  
'is a lively religious novel4'  ,mr4    
,dale's poetry answers to these         
conditions3 hence its success4    ,his  

poetry was a great help to his          
popularity4  ,when he was rector of the 
parish of ,st4 ,bride's1 and evening    
lecturer at ,st4 ,sepulchre1 he was more
  intimately connected than at present  
with literary pursuits1 and was much    
run after4  ,about that time ,annuals   
were the rage1 and ,mr4 ,dale edited a  
religious ,annual called ',the ,iris1'  
and young ladies learnt his verses by   
heart1 or copied them into their albums4
  ,at one time ,mr4 ,dale was           
,professor of ,english ,language and    
,literature at the ,university ,college1
  in ,gower ,street4  ,however1 as a    
,tory and a ,churchman1 he seems to have
  found himself out of his element      
there1 and left it for ,king's ,college1
  ,strand1 at which place he held a     
similar appointment4  ,it was thought   
that church preferment had something to 
do with this2 that his chances  were1 in
 consequence1 in danger2 that in high   
quarters the ,university  ,college was  
regarded with an unfavourable eye3 so   

,mr4 ,dale threw it  overboard4  ,such  
was the rumour at the time4  ,of course1
 to some men1  such conduct may seem    
only wise--prudent2 but if ministers of 
religion  thus shape their conduct1 with
 a view to worldly success1 what chance 
have they of regenerating the world8    
,if such things be done in the green    
tree1 what may we not expect in the dry8
  ,a teacher of living  ,christianity   
surely should be the last to desert a   
cause1 merely because  it is weak1 and  
unfashionable1 and poor6    ,as a       
writer1 ,mr4 ,dale has been most        
untiring4  ,his first poem came out in  
#ahbj4  ,it was the ',widow of ,nain1'  
and was read with delight in religious  
circles4  ,in #ahbb he published another
 poem1 called ',irad and ,adah1 a  ,tale
 of the ,flood2 with ,specimens of a    
,new ,translation of the ,psalms4'      
,about this time the poetic inspiration 
appears to have died1 for since  only a 
few occasional verses have appeared from
 ,mr4 ,dale's pen1 and  henceforth he   

seems to have betaken himself to prose4 
,in #ahcj he  published a volume of     
',sermons1 ,doctrinal and ,practical2'  
in #ahce1 ',the  ,young ,pastor's       
,guide2' in #ahcf1 ',a ,companion to the
 ,altar2' in #ahdd1 ',the  ,sabbath     
,companion2' in #ahde1 ',the ,good      
,shepherd3 an ,exposition of the  #bcrd 
,psalm2' in #ahdg1 ',the ,golden ,psalm1
 being an ,exposition1 ,practical1      
,experimental1 and ,prophetical1 of     
,psalm xvi4'  ,besides these            
publications1 he has printed several    
occasional sermons4  ,he has now        
attained a high position in the         
,establishment1 which certainly can     
boast  few more faithful or laborious   
men4  ,originally not intended for the  
,church1 his subsequent success has     
justified his devotion of himself to    
her service4  ,altogether his lot has   
been cast in 'pleasant 'places1' and  he
 has had 'a goodly heritage4'      ,,the
 ,,hon4 ,,and ,,rev4 ,r4 ,,liddell4     
,st4 ,paul's1 ,knightsbridge1 has done  

what it is a very hard thing to do1     
created a sensation in this our         
phlegmatic and eating and drinking and  
money-making and merry-making age4  ,it 
professes to be a ,puseyite1 and  not a 
,protestant1 place of worship4          
,puseyism1 says a red-haired ,saxon1    
foaming with indignation1 is next door  
to ,roman ,catholicism1 and a  ,puseyite
 ,church is half-way to ,rome4  ,true1  
my perturbed brother--true4  ,but what  
of that8  ,some are inclined to think   
that ,church of ,englandism  is akin to 
,roman ,catholicism1 and that all its   
churches are halfway to  ,rome4  ,that  
brutal old tyrant1 ,henry the ,eighth1  
was a ,roman ,catholic at  heart1 and   
had faith in himself as an infallible   
,pope4  ,his genuine  daughter did the  
same4  ,laud1 who lacked the discretion 
of that  strong-minded woman whose      
',christ was the ,word that spake it1   
,he took the bread and brake it1        
,and what the ,word did make it1        
,that ,i believe and take it1'    is a  

splendid specimen of ingenious          
mystification on the vexata questio  of 
transubstantiation1--,i question whether
 ,charles ,james ,bloomfield1  ,bishop  
of ,london1 could have returned a more  
confused and unmeaning  response1--died 
for his ,roman ,catholic tendencies4    
,to this day ,england  remembers who it 
was1 with red1 swollen face1 and brown  
apparel1 and  collar with a spot of     
blood on it1 made his maiden speech in  
,parliament  by indignantly informing   
the ,house that ,dr4 ,alabaster had     
preached flat  ,popery at ,st4 ,paul's1 
and in our own day ,mr4 ,gorham has     
failed in  obtaining a legal decision   
against the ,roman ,catholic doctrine of
  baptismal regeneration4  ,the mistake 
is1 in supposing that the ,church as  by
 law established is ,low ,church4  ,if  
it were so1 then1 of course1 out  ought 
to go the whole crop of ,puseyite       
priests1 in spite of the tears and      
hysterics of female piety4  ,on the     
contrary1 the ,church of ,england is    

like the happy family in                
,trafalgar-square4  ,beasts of the most 
opposite  description there dwell       
together in peace and unity4  ,dogs and 
cats there  sleep side by side4  ,in the
 prospect of a common maintenance       
natural  enmities are forgotten4        
,conformity is impossible4  ,i cannot   
use my  brother's words with his exact  
meaning4  ,i must put my own            
interpretation  on the creeds and       
articles to which ,i subscribe1 and so  
long as the ,state  ,church is a chaotic
 mass of heterogeneous materials--so    
long as it has no  definite voice1 nor  
law--so long as bishop clashes with     
bishop1 and at  times with himself1--for
 we may have here a ,puseyite1 there an 
,evangelical1 here a fox-hunting        
divine1--there must be everywhere       
heart-burning and scandal1 and the      
degradation of ,christianity itself4    
,but1 exclaims my vehement red-faced    
,saxon friend1 you are making ,papists  
by letting the ,puseyites remain4  ,i   

don't know that4  ,papacy is alien to   
human nature1 or it is not4  ,if it is  
not1 you cannot get rid of it4  ,if  cut
 down to-day1 it will sprout up again   
to-morrow4  ,it springs from a          
tendency1 ,i take it1 in the human      
heart4  ,in a mild form1 that tendency  
gently blooms as ,puseyism4  ,a cold in 
one man may1 by means of gruel1 be      
removed in a week4  ,in another man1 it 
may deepen into deadly decline4         
,puseyism may retain as many in the     
,english ,church as it may send to      
,rome4  ,your ,low ,churchman may say   
the ,puseyite has no business in the    
,church at  all4  ,well1 the other may  
say the same of him1 and there is no one
 to  decide as to who is right4  ,king  
,james ,,ii4 said1 ,hooker's ,apology   
made  him a ,papist1 but ,hooker was not
 responsible for this1 and is still     
rightly looked on as one of the         
brightest ornaments of the ,church of   
,england as by law established4  ,men   
make strange leaps4  ,many a convert  to

 ,rome has been won from the ranks of   
,methodism4  ,many an infidel has  been 
born and bred in the very bosom of the  
,roman ,church4  ,a ,puseyite may       
become a ,papist1 but he also may not1  
and so may other men4  ,some people  say
 there is ,popery everywhere4  ,i listen
 to a ,wesleyan ,reformer1 for          
instance1 and he tells me that the      
,conference is ,popish1 and that the    
,president is the ,pope4  ,if so1 it is 
hard to blame the ,puseyites for        
exhibiting the priestly tendency1 more  
or less apparent1 as some affirm1  in   
all priests4    ,i imagine the crime of 
,puseyism1 in the eyes of most          
churchmen1 is the  crime of a pretty    
woman in an assembly of haggard crones4 
,the ,puseyite  place of worship is     
always neat and clean1 and worth looking
 at1 and it  attracts when others fail  
to do so4  ,the causes of it must be    
various4  ,why does one graceful woman  
robe herself in simple muslin1 and      
another  dazzle you with her gorgeous   

attire8  ,you may be a philosopher4  ,if
 that  woman can be your companion1 can 
feel as you feel1 and love as you love1 
you care not for her attire4  ,but she  
knows that the world has a  different   
opinion4  ,the ,puseyite becomes an     
object of interest4  ,on a  small1 very 
small scale1 he is a hero4  ,true1 to   
fight about little  ceremonials argues  
the possession of a brain of but limited
 power1 but  his opponents are in a     
similar position4  ,if you deny worship 
to be the  simple genuine feeling of the
 heart--if you make no provision for    
that--if you turn it into a form1 why   
then1 possibly1 the more of a form  it  
is the better4  ,i confess the way in   
which they intone the service at  ,st4  
,paul's is pleasant to listen to4  ,it  
is not worship1 ,i grant4  ,neither is  
mumbling the thousandth time over a     
printed form of words  worship4  ,what a
 dull thing an opera would be1 read1 and
 not sung4  ,it is  true people do not  
make love1 or do business1 or address   

each other in  music1 in real life1 but 
in an opera they do1 and the effect is  
great4  ,so it is with the ,church of   
,england service4  ,intoned it may be   
unintelligible or theatrical1 but it is 
attractive nevertheless4  ,it is  not   
natural1 but what of that8  ,the soul   
bowed down with a sense of sin1         
yearning for peace and pardon1 in its   
agony and despair will vent itself  in  
broken sentences1 and will turn away    
from all ceremony--from even the        
sublime liturgy of the ,church of       
,england1 as poor1 and cold1 and vain1  
inadequate to the expression of its     
hopes and fears4  ,but why those who  go
 to church as a form find fault with the
 people of ,st4 ,paul's because  their  
form is a little more attractive than   
their own1 ,i confess ,i cannot         
understand4    ,but ,i have forgotten   
the ,hon4 and ,rev4 ,r4 ,liddell1       
,m4,a41 a man of small  mental calibre1 
who has done the next best thing to     
achieving greatness1  and has achieved  

notoriety4  ,in a letter he wrote to the
 late ,bishop of  ,london 7in which he  
wickedly told his lordship if he had    
'any distinct  wish upon the subject1 he
 is ready to comply with it1' as if     
,charles  ,james ever had any distinct  
wish with reference to ,church matters71
 he  styles himself a loyal son of the  
,church4  ,at any rate1 he is a brother 
of ,lord ,ravensworth1 and perhaps that 
is almost as good4  ,his public  career 
is now of about twenty years' standing4 
,originally1 he was curate  of ,barking1
 ,essex2 thence he removed to           
,hartlepool2 and when it was found      
desirable to send ,mr4 ,bennett to      
,frome 7not ,rome71 ,mr4 ,liddell was   
selected to fill his vacant place4  ,it 
is questionable whether any  successor  
could have been appointed more agreeable
 to ,mr4 ,bennett4  ,mr4  ,liddell has  
certainly followed most religiously in  
the steps of his  predecessor4  ,st4    
,barnabas is what it was pretty nearly  
in ,mr4 ,bennett's  time4  ,in ,st4     

,paul's a little more discretion is     
shown1 and if you are  struck with any  
difference in the manner of performing  
divine service  at ,st4 ,paul's to that 
used in other places1 you draw a        
comparison in  favour of the former4    
,the congregation is exceedingly wealthy
 and  aristocratic4  ,you are struck as 
much with its air of high life as with  
its ,high ,church appearance1 and having
 thus a double charm1 ,i need not  add  
that ,st4 ,paul's is crowded in every   
part4  ,if success be a true test1  ,mr4
 ,liddell is most indisputably in the   
right4    ,as a preacher1 ,mr4 ,liddell 
does not shine4  ,pale1 with light hair 
and  complexion--rich1 for the place is 
worth #aejj pounds a-year at the        
least--he would all through life have   
remained an obscure1 gentlemanly  man1  
had he not fortunately fallen in with   
the ,puseyite tendencies of a  large and
 influential section in the ,english    
,church4  ,his voice is clear  but not  
full2 and1 as one of his bitterest      

opponents told me1 he can  preach a good
 sermon when he likes4  ,but his        
teaching is not that which  can do the  
man much good4  ,eschewing the common   
evangelical doctrines1  and holding     
views inconsistent with free inquiry and
 the growth of manly  thought1 he has   
but little left him to do in his        
discourses but to  expatiate on the     
sanctity of the priestly office1 and the
 mysterious  powers possessed by the    
,church4  ,these are his favourite      
topics4  ,to win  the truth--to lead a  
god-like life--to bring back man1 the   
wanderer1 to  heaven and to ,god1 seem  
minor matters at ,st4 ,paul's1 so long  
as the  pillars are wreathed with costly
 flowers1 and that the service is       
intoned4  ,and to this teaching the     
world of fashion in its unfathomable    
puerility submits1 and men who are our  
legislators1 men who are high in  rank  
and influence1 men whose example is law 
all over the land1 take it  for truth4  
,mr4 ,liddell styles his congregation   

highly educated and  devout4  ,he is    
right in that statement4  ,men who have 
sat under him and  his predecessor1 who 
have believed them with unshrinking     
reverence1 who  have taken every        
statement as the truth1 have been highly
 educated1 but  in a wrong direction4   
,granting that ,mr4 ,liddell is right1  
what avails  his teaching8  ,is not his 
mission grander and more comprehensive  
than he  deems it8  ,has not man        
something better to do than to learn to 
bow1 to  intone1 to admire flowers1 and 
to look at painted glass8  ,in the      
universe  around him1 can the priest    
find no voice more audible than his own8
  ,does  not his own ,church convey to  
the listening ear sublimer revelations8 
,if  it be not so1 ,puseyism is a thing 
worth fighting for--worth dying for2 if 
it be so1 the minister and the 'highly  
educated' and devout congregation  at   
,st4 ,paul's have made a terrible       
mistake--a mistake which the friends  of
 pure and undefiled religion may well   

mourn and lament4      ,,the ,,rev4 ,f4 
,d4 ,,maurice4      ',if ,i saw1' wrote 
,john ,sterling to ,archdeacon ,hare1 in
 #ahdj1--';if ,i saw  any hope that     
,maurice and ,samuel ,wilberforce and   
their fellows could  reorganize and     
reanimate the ,church and the nation1 or
 that their own  minds could continue   
progressive without being revolutionary1
 ,i think ,i  could willingly lay my    
head in my cloak1 or lay it in the      
grave1 without  a word of protest       
against aught that is4'  ,since then    
,wilberforce has  become a bishop1 and  
there is no danger of his becoming      
revolutionary2  ,maurice has gone on    
seeking to reanimate the ,church1 and   
the ,church now  raises the cry of      
heresy1 and the ,council of ,king's     
,college deprive him  of the            
,professor's ,chair4    ,the real       
difficulty--which ,sterling deemed      
invincible--which has proved  too strong
 for ,professor ,maurice1 is that1      
whilst there is such a thing  as        

development in religion1 the ,church of 
,england is not the place for  it4  ,the
 ,church of ,england was a compromise2  
but it was a compromise  between ,geneva
 and ,rome1 and a compromise now dating 
three hundred years4  ,it was never     
deemed that it would require a wider    
platform1 or that it  would have in its 
pulpits men of larger vision or of more 
catholic view  than the men it had      
already4  ,if it had a view at all1 it  
took1 like  ,lot's wife1 a backward     
glance to the tabernacle and its        
service--to the  law delivered amidst   
thunder and lightning on ,sinai's sacred
 head4  ,it  looked not to the future4  
,it knew not that there were1           
',somewhere underneath the sun1         
,azure heights yet unascended1 palmy    
countries to be won4'    ,it made no    
provision for the growth of man's free  
and unfettered thought4  ,consequently  
it is the ,church of ,england only in   
name4  ,out of its pale1  divorced from 
it1 there is more of intellectual life  

and independent  thought than there is  
in it4  ,this is the condition of its   
existence4  ,it  is associated with     
certain creeds and articles and rites3  
harmonizing  with them1 you have a      
position in society1 you have a certain 
yearly  stipend1 and chances of         
something better1 as ,samuel of ,oxford 
knows well4  ,the ,church of ,england   
was never meant to be the nursery for   
thought4  ,you  have made up your mind  
immediately you matriculate at her      
,universities4  ,your career for the    
future is to maintain those articles4   
,in a word1 you  must conform4  ,the    
task has been hard1 and few great men   
have stooped to  it1 and fewer still    
have done so and lived4    ,but a man   
must not quarrel with the conditions he 
has imposed on himself4  ,you have your 
choice4  ,you wish to preach the truth4 
,well1 you can do  so1 in the ,church or
 out of it2 but in the one case you are 
more or less  tied4  ,you may preach the
 truth2 but it must be ,church's truth1 

if you  take the ,church's pay4  ,of    
course1 this is a disagreeable position 
to an  independent man2 at the same     
time1 it is not without its             
corresponding  advantages4  ,you get    
into good society1 you have a           
respectable living1  you may marry an   
heiress1 or become tutor to a ,prime    
,minister or a  ,prince4  ,outside the  
,church men of intellect generally have 
taken their  stand1 for it is perilous  
to tamper with convictions in order to  
maintain  a position4    ,it is easy to 
see how1 in ,maurice's own case1 what   
power has been thrown  away in this     
tantalizing task4  ,had he started      
fresh1 with no creed for  him to conform
 to1 with no position to maintain1 he   
would have been a far  more vigorous    
thinker than he has ever been4  ,but he 
has ever had to come  back to the       
,church--to the doctrines and teachings 
of men4  ,a ,church that  shall embrace 
the religious life and thought of       
,england1 coexistent with  the nation1  

after all is but a dream4  ,were there  
such a ,church1 ,maurice  would hold no 
mean rank in it4  ,but the ,state       
,church is not such1 and  cannot be     
such1 unless its articles and creeds be 
glossed over with a  ,jesuitry not more 
ingenious than fatal to all moral       
growth4  ,but each  generation tries the
 hopeless task4  ,the men of intellect  
and purpose in  the ,church have felt   
themselves in a false position1 and have
 laboured to  get out of it4  ,they have
 trusted to one and then another4  ,for 
a long  time ,mr4 ,maurice has been the 
coming man4  ,the ,church was once more 
to be  a power--to have the nation's    
heart--to enlist the nation's intellect 
on  its side4  ,writing in his usual    
bitterness1 ,carlyle says3        ',the 
builder of this universe was wise1      
,he plann'd all souls1 all systems1     
planets1 particles6      ,the plan he   
shaped his worlds and aeons by1         
,was--,heavens6--was thy small          
,nine-and-,thirty ,articles4'    ,mr4   

,maurice has accepted this language as  
sober truth1 and has made that  truth   
the pole-star of his ministerial life4  
,most of our readers know               
,lincoln's-inn-fields4  ,it abounds with
 lawyers4  ,in one part of it surgeons  
are plucked1 and in another1 clients4   
,it has  a small chapel not far from    
,chancery-lane1 and if the residents of 
,lincoln's-inn-fields attended it1 there
 would be but little room for           
strangers4  ,however1 this is not the   
case1 and thus ,i managed to get in4    
,it is a curious old place4  ,it was    
built by ,inigo ,jones2 and the then    
popular and admired1 but now forgotten1 
,dr4 ,donne1 preached the  consecration 
sermon4  ,the walls have reechoed to the
 oratory of ,secker  and ,tillotson4    
,the windows are of stained glass1 and  
one of them1  containing ,st4 ,john the 
,baptist1 was executed at the expense of
 ,william  ,noy1 the famous             
,attorney-,general of ,charles ,i4  ,in 
the crypt1 underneath  the chapel1 are  

buried1 ,alexander ,broome1 the cavalier
 song-writer2  ,secretary ,thurloe1 who 
had chambers in the ,inn2 and that stern
 ,puritan1  ,william ,prynne1 who wrote 
about ',the ,unloveliness of ,love      
,locks4'  ,during  ,term time this      
chapel is open for worship every        
afternoon at three2 and  the preacher is
 the ,rev4 ,mr4 ,maurice4               
,considering the position ,mr4 ,maurice 
has attained1 and the notoriety         
attaching to his name1 your first       
feeling is one of wonder that he has    
not a larger congregation4  ,after      
writing more books on theology than any 
other clergyman of the day--after       
teaching more youth--after mixing up    
himself more with the working classes   
than almost any other man ,i know       
of--one is surprised that ,mr4          
,maurice's audience is not larger2 and  
,i can  only account for it by supposing
 that his task is impossible1 and that  
he  is fighting a hopeless fight2 or on 
the supposition that1 after all1 ,mr4   

,maurice's place is not the pulpit1 but 
the professor's chair3 yet that he  has 
a numerous class of followers1 the sale 
of his books is an  unanswerable        
proof--a sale1 however1 much commoner   
amongst ,dissenters1 ,i  have good      
reason to suppose1 than amongst the     
clergy of the ,established  ,church4    
,mr4 ,maurice has the true appearance of
 the professor--short dark  hair1 sallow
 face1 precise manner3 all indicate the 
man of study and  thought4  ,his voice  
is clear and agreeable1 though not      
strong4  ,his  reading is very rapid1   
but1 at the same time1 emphatic4  ,as to
 action1 he  has none4  ,he aims more at
 what he says than how he says it2 and1 
if you  listen1 you will find food for  
thought in every phrase4  ,you can      
hardly  imagine that the man before you 
has been charged with heresy1 he seeming
  to differ in no other respect from    
other clergymen1 save in his superior   
power of ratiocination and in the wider 
inductions on which he bases his        

doctrines4    ,what ,mr4 ,maurice's     
opinions are he has taken full care to  
place before  the world4  ,he is a      
churchman in the fullest sense of the   
term4  ',i have  contended1' he writes  
in his ',kingdom of ,christ1' 'that a   
,bible without a  ,church is            
inconceivable2 that the appointed       
ministers of the ,church are  the       
appointed instruments for guiding men   
into a knowledge of the ,bible2  that   
the notion of private judgment is a     
false notion2 that inspiration  belongs 
to the ,church1 and not merely to the   
writers of the ,bible2 that  the        
miracles of the ,new ,testament were the
 introduction of a new  dispensation1   
and were not merely a set of strange    
acts belonging to a  particular time2   
lastly1 that the ,gospel narratives must
 be received as  part of the necessary  
furniture of the ,church4'  ,one would  
have thought  such churchmanship as this
 would have satisfied any one4          
,however1 the  cry of heresy has been   

raised1 principally1 it seems1 because  
he denies  the doctrine of eternal      
damnation--an awful doctrine1 we do not 
venture  to affirm or condemn here4     
,because he has done this1 he has been  
branded  with infidelity2 and ,the      
,record1 and ,the ,morning              
,advertiser--neither  of them journals  
distinguished for talent1 but rather the
  reverse--hounded on the public        
indignation against ,mr4 ,maurice1      
forgetting that no man has so earnestly 
laboured to ,christianize--not the  dark
 tribes of ,polynesia1 for then these   
journals would have been  redolent with 
his praise--but the savages with white  
faces and dark  hearts that we meet in  
our streets every day4    ,it is        
melancholy to think that wretched       
theologians may aim their small  shot at
 such a man1 merely because his idea of 
,god and ,christianity may  be less     
fearful1 more loving and humane1 than   
their own4  ,surely a man  may love ,god
 and his neighbour as himself--may      

believe ,christ suffered  for the sins  
of the world--without being hooted by   
every ignorant or  unreasoning fool1    
because1 on other matters--matters      
merely  speculative--matters too dark   
for man ever to fully inquire into or   
completely to understand--his opinions  
differ from their own4  ,proud as  we   
are of our press1 yet such exhibitions  
should make us mourn1 that at  times it 
can so far forget ,christian charity and
 common sense1 and  descend so low4     
,one thing is clear1 that there is no   
tribunal in the  ,church that can       
satisfactorily settle the question of   
heresy2 and another  thing is clear1    
that whilst so many men differing so    
widely from each  other are in the      
,church1 the question with the majority 
of them cannot be  one of principle but 
of pay4  ,churchmen should be the last  
to raise the  cry of heresy1 for it is a
 revelation to the world of what must   
ever be  their weakness and their shame4
    ,mr4 ,maurice1 after all1 is thrown 

away where he is3 all his life he has   
been in an uncongenial position4  ,the  
son of a dissenting minister1 the       
habits he acquired have clung to him    
from his earliest youth4  ,hazlitt      
tells us how a man so nurtured grows up 
in a love of independence and of  truth2
 and such a one will find it hard to    
retain a connection long with  any human
 organization and creed4  ,then1 as the 
brother-in-law of  ,sterling1 ,maurice  
would naturally be led to modes of      
thought and action  other than those the
 ,church had been in the habit of       
sanctioning4  ,eminently religious1 he  
never could have been what he was to    
have been1 a  lawyer2 but as an         
independent writer on religion1 as a    
co-worker with  ,isaac ,taylor1 of      
,ongar1 for instance1 what might he not 
have done8  ,another mistake of         
,maurice's is1 that his mission is to   
the poor4  ,his  style is the very last 
that would be popular with such4  ,in   
the pulpit or  out1 ,maurice preaches   

not to the public1 but to the select    
few--to  literary loungers--to men of   
ample time and elevated taste--to men of
  thought rather than of action--to men 
freed from the hard necessities of      
life1 and who can leisurely sit and     
listen to his notes of 'linked          
sweetness long drawn out4'  ,hence is it
 that he is more a favourite with       
intellectual dissenters than with       
churchmen1 and that ,i believe at       
,lincoln's-inn-fields his congregation  
is made up more of the former than  the 
latter4  ,they love his efforts at      
self-emancipation2 they admire his      
scholarship1 his piety1 his taste4      
,they eminently appreciate him1 as he1  
like the intellectual power of the poet1
                 ',through words and    
things      ,goes sounding on a dim and 
perilous way4'    ,the absence in him of
 all that is cold and priestly--his     
human  sympathies--his love to the      
erring and the weak and the doubting1   
whom he  would reclaim1 are qualities   

with which the better class of          
religionists  would heartily sympathize1
 and with which perhaps they would      
sympathize  all the more that they come 
to them couched in language of          
dream-like  beauty1 all glorious1 though
 misty with 'exhalations of the dawn4'  
,as a writer1 ,mr4 ,maurice is well     
known for his ',history of ,metaphysical
  ,philosophy1' his ',view of the       
,religions of the ,world1' his          
',articles of  the ,church considered   
with ,reference to the ,roman ,catholic 
,controversy1'  and his ',essays1' which
 are more especially intended to grapple
 with the  difficulties ,unitarians feel
 in connection with orthodox doctrine4  
,they  have all obtained an extensive   
sale2 but they are not for the public2  
not  for the men who buy and sell and   
get gain--who rise early and sit up     
late2 but for the student and divine4   
,hence it is that ,maurice and the      
school with whom he acts1 such as       
,kingsley1 ,hare1 and ,trench1 can never

  reanimate the ,church of ,england1 nor
 win the operatives over to it4  ,that  
they do great good1 ,i admit2 that they 
have a mission1 ,i grant2 but not  where
 they fondly deem it to be4  ,there is a
 destiny that shapes their  ends1 and   
the issues1 ,i doubt not1 must be for   
the good of man's soul1  for the cause  
of truth1 for the glory of ,god4        
,,the ,,rev4 ,h4 ,,melville1 ,m4,a4     
,the great ,john ,foster 7who1          
by-the-bye1 in his essay on ',decision  
of  ,character1' has much mischief to   
answer for1 as every obstinate mule     
quotes his authority when1 against all  
advice and entreaty and common  sense1  
he persists in going wrong--poor ,haydon
 always quoted ,foster7  wrote one of   
his best essays1 ',on the ,aversion of  
,men of ,taste to  ,evangelical         
,religion4'  ,the professors of         
,evangelical religion1 ,i think1        
scarcely forgave him4  ,the sanctuary1  
it was thought1 should have a           
shibboleth of its own4  ,in its peculiar

 terms and general formation it  should 
differ from the ordinary language of    
other men4  ,if persons of  taste were  
kept away--if the men of intellect and  
science and learning  stood aloof--it   
mattered little2 for the wisdom of the  
world was folly1  and it was ordained   
that it was to be brought to nought by  
the weak in  years and                  
understanding--'out of the mouth of     
sucklings and babes4'  ,the  religious1 
,i fear1 some of them with a certain    
kind of pride--for there  is a pride in 
the ,church as well as in the world1 and
 we all know whose                      
',darling sin      ,is the pride that   
apes humility'--    took pleasure in    
their cant terms1 and sprinkled them as 
plentifully in  their sermons and       
prayers as ever did skilful cook in     
time-honoured  ,christmas pudding4      
,wilberforce once took ,pitt to hear    
,cecil4  ,when they  came out1          
,wilberforce tells us he was surprised  
by ,pitt telling him he  could not      

understand a word of the discourse4     
,there was nothing  wonderful in that4  
,pitt had never been to hear an         
,evangelical preacher  before4  ,his    
world had been a different one4  ,he was
 a stranger amongst  strangers4  ,their 
language was not his1 and conveyed no   
meaning to his  ear4  ,greek or ,hebrew 
would have been as intelligible to him4 
,pitt's  case was a common one then1 and
 is a common one now4  ,foster's ,essay 
has  lost none of its point or power4   
,there are still not unfrequently in the
  services of our churches and chapels1 
in the peculiar phraseology of the      
pulpit1 some grounds for the aversion of
 men of taste to ,evangelical  religion4
  ,however1 there are illustrious       
exceptions3 one of the most  illustrious
 of these is ,henry ,melville4    ,would
 you hear him1 reader1 then for awhile  
you must leave the shop or  the         
counting-house1 and penetrate with us to
 the very heart of our great            
metropolis4  ,the ,golden ,lecture1 as  

it is called1 a lectureship1 ,i         
believe1 belonging to the ,mercers'     
,company1 and worth about #djj pounds   
a-year1 is delivered every ,tuesday     
morning1 and ,melville is the lecturer4 
,the church of ,st4 ,margaret1 in       
,lothbury1 is the spot selected1 and it 
is  an appropriate place for a ,golden  
,lecture1 for everywhere around you1 you
  have--        ',gold and gold1 and    
nothing but gold1      ,yellow and hard1
 and shining and cold6'    ,on one side 
is the bank that hides such treasures in
 its mysterious and  well-guarded cells4
  ,an hour's quiet walk in one of them1 
my good sir1  would make you and me     
independent for life4  ,every step of   
our way we are  surrounded by gigantic  
companies2 ,we walk on enchanted ground2
 we breathe  enchanted air4  ,fortunes  
here are made and lost in a day4  ,it   
was well  that the piety of our         
forefathers selected such a spot1 that  
once in the  bustle of the week ,god's  
voice might be heard as well as that of 

,mammon4    ,but it is time we enter    
,st4 ,margaret's4    ,like most city    
churches1 it is small and cold and      
mouldy--seeming to  belong more to the  
past than the present age4  ,however1   
for once1 it is  alive again4  ,the old 
seats once more abound with beauty1 and 
wealth1 and  fashion--or1 at any rate1  
with so much of them as belong to ,city 
dames4  ,we have left the roar of       
,cheap-side and ,cornhill2 but1 after   
all1 we have  the world with us here as 
well as there4  ,for awhile we shall    
forget it1  for there is the preacher1  
and already the magic of his voice has  
charmed  every ear4  ,i know no more    
magnificent voice4  ,i know no statelier
 air4  ,it always carries me back in    
fancy to the days of the elder ,pitt--or
 to  the earlier times of               
,bolingbroke--or to that still earlier  
day when the  ,hebrew ,paul preached1   
and the ,roman ,felix trembled on his   
seat of  splendour and of power4        
,tall1 of dark complexion1 with grey    

hair and blue eyes1 with a face lit  up 
with genius--the most brilliant preacher
 in the ,english ,church3 such  is      
,henry ,melville4  ,his action is simple
 and singular4  ,when he commences      
scarcely any is observable4  ,then as he
 flies along1 and warms as he  proceeds1
 the head is dropped with a convulsive  
jerk1 and the right hand  is raised1 and
 the climax is ejaculated 7for so rapid 
is his delivery it  can scarcely be     
called preaching7 with a corresponding  
emphasis4  ,no  sooner is the text      
enunciated than he plunges at once into 
his subject1  developing and            
illustrating his meaning with a         
brilliancy and rapidity  unparalleled in
 the pulpit at the present day4  ,you   
are kept in  breathless attention4  ,the
 continuity of thought is unbroken for  
an  instant4  ,every sentence is        
connected with that which precedes or   
follows2 and1 as the preacher goes on   
his way like a giant1 every instant     
mounting higher1 every instant pouring  

out a more gorgeous rhetoric1  every    
instant climbing to a loftier strain1   
you are reminded of some  monster       
steam-ship ploughing her way across the 
,atlantic1 proudly  asserting her       
mastery over the mountain-waves1 landing
 her precious cargo  safe in port4      
,when she started1 you trembled for her 
safety2 she was so  lavish of her power 
that you feared it would fail her when  
she needed it  most4  ,but on she wends 
her gallant way1 scattering around her  
the mad  waves as in play4  ,i can      
compare ,melville with nothing else1 as 
he stands  in that pulpit--in that sea  
of human souls--drowning all discord by 
his  own splendid voice1 mastering all  
passions by his own irresistible will1  
piercing all scepticism by his own      
living faith4    ,and yet ,melville is  
not what some understand by the term1   
'an  intellectual preacher4'  ,he does  
not aim to demonstrate the              
reasonableness of ,christian truth--to  
convince men whose understandings       

reject it4  ,with the large class who   
are perpetually halting between two     
opinions1 who to-day are convinced by   
one man1 and to-morrow by  another--who 
have lost themselves hopelessly in      
,german  mysticism--,melville has no    
sympathy whatever4  ,i never heard him  
use the  terms objective and subjective 
in my life4  ,of honest intellectual    
doubt1  with all its pain and horror1 he
 seems to have no idea4  ,melville      
always  is as positive as ,babington    
,macaulay himself4  ,in no circumstances
 could  he have been a ,blanco ,white1  
or a ,francis ,newman1 or a ,froude4    
,as a  churchman he stands rigidly      
inside the pale of the ,church4  ,his   
,god is a  personal ,god4  ,his ,christ 
descended into hell4  ,his heaven has a 
golden  pavement1 and shining thrones4  
,wordsworth tells us--        ',feebly  
must they have felt1 who in old times   
,array'd with vengeful whips the furies4
      ,beautiful regards were turned on 
me1      ,the face of her ,i loved4'    

,melville never could have written that4
  ,his hell is physical1 not  mental4   
,it is a bottomless pit where the smoke 
of their torment ever  ascends--where   
the worm never dies--where the fire is  
not quenched4  ,in  all other matters   
his vision seems similarly clear1 and   
intense1 and  narrow4  ,beside the      
,church1 whose creed he preaches1 and   
whose articles  he has subscribed1 and  
whose emoluments he pockets1 he knows no
 other4  ,his ,holy ,catholic ,church is
 that which the ,state pays to and      
supports4  ,his successors of the       
,apostles are those whom ,episcopalian  
bishops  ordain4  ,his redeemed and     
sanctified ones consist only of those   
who have  been confirmed4  ,according to
 him1 error from the pulpits of the     
,state  ,establishment is sanctified1   
owing to some mysterious power its      
pulpits  possess4  ,pulpits outside the 
,church are not only destitute of that  
power1 but1 alas6 destitute also of all 
saving grace4  ,i have called  ,melville

 a brilliant preacher4  ,he is that2 but
 his brilliancy1 like that  of          
,sheridan1 is the result of intense     
preparation4  ,i write not this to      
disparage him4  ,i consider it much in  
his favour4  ,in these days1 when  the  
pulpit contains so small a part of the  
learning or the intellect of  the age1  
no pulpit preparation can be too        
intense1 or elaborate1 or  severe4  ,it 
is said ,melville writes and re-writes  
his sermons till they  arrive at his    
standard of perfection4  ,it is said he 
not unfrequently  devotes a week to the 
composition of a single discourse4  ,i  
can quite  believe it4  ,every sentence 
is in its proper place--every figure is 
correct--every word tells--and the whole
 composition bears the stamp of  subdued
 and chastened power4    ,considering   
how rich the ,church to which ,mr4      
,melville belongs is1 and how           
transcendently his talents outshine the 
mild mediocrities by which its  pulpits 
are adorned1 ,mr4 ,melville cannot be   

considered to have been very  successful
 in the way of patronage4  ,his income  
from ,camden-town ,chapel1              
,camberwell--a place of worship         
belonging to a relative--was about #ajjj
  pounds a-year3 he resigned that when  
he was made ,president of ,haileybury   
,college4  ,as ,chaplain of the ,tower1 
,i believe1 he has about #cjj pounds    
a-year4  ,i have already stated what his
 ,golden ,lectureship is worth4         
,certainly1 he is not a poor man1 but1  
compared with some of his brethren1  he 
cannot be considered very rich4  ,he has
 published several sermons4  ',fraser1' 
some years since1 in a severe criticism 
on them1 detected  several remarkable   
coincidences between passages in them   
and in ,chalmers'  ,sermons--of whose   
style1 certainly1 ,melville strongly    
reminds one4  ,but ,i  am not aware that
 the criticism did ,melville much harm2 
and he is still  in as great request as 
ever4  ,i am told there is no such      
successful  preacher of charity sermons 

in ,london3 no other preacher is so     
successful  in taking money at the      
doors4  ,as an orator1 in the ,church or
 out of it1  no man can produce a       
greater effect4  ,he strikes the chords 
with a  master's hands4  ,at his bidding
 strong men tremble and despair1 or     
believe and live4      ,,the ,,hon4     
,,and ,,rev4 ,,mr4 ,,villiers4      ,i  
know not that there is a happier berth  
in the world than that of a  fashionable
 ,evangelical preacher in this          
enlightened city and enlightened  age4  
,see him in the pulpit1 adored by the   
women1 envied by the men6  ,wherever he 
goes he is made much of4  ,the shops in 
his neighbourhood  abound with his      
portrait2 his signature graces a        
thousand albums2 young  ladies of all   
ages and conditions work him his worsted
 slippers2 his  silver teapot and his   
easy chair are the contributions of his 
flock4  ,if  there be an elysium on     
earth1 it is his private residence4  ,if
 a man is  to be deemed fortunate this  

side the grave1 it is he4  ,if mortal   
ever  slept upon a bed of roses1 such is
 his enviable fate4  ,in old times men  
suffered for their religion2 were deemed
 as dirt and dishonour2 were  things to 
point at and to shun4  ,in old times    
they had to suffer more  than this3 the 
man who would be loyal to his conscience
 or his ,god might  not look for        
happiness and peace on earth4  ,he had  
to wander in  sheepskins and goatskins2 
he had to renounce father1 mother1      
sister1  brother--all that was dear to  
him as his own life4  ,from the fair    
enjoyments of the world and the bright  
love of woman he had to tear  himself   
away4  ,a sad1 solitary life1 and a     
bitter and bloody death1 were  what     
,christianity entailed on you in the    
olden time4  ,ay1 you must have  been a 
strong man then to have borne its yoke4 
,and yet1 sustained by a  living faith1 
young1 tender1 delicate women bore it as
 if it were a  wreath of flowers4  ,men 
might talk of self-denial and taking up 

the cross  then3 they did so then4  ,but
 they are gone2 and now1 if you wish to 
learn  self-denial and take up the      
cross1 you must renounce ,christianity4 
,its  sleek and popular minister can    
tell you little either of one or the    
other4  ,religion now dresses in silk   
and satin1 goes to court1 has all       
,belgravia hallooing at her heels4  ,her
 ways indeed are ways of  pleasantness1 
and her paths1 paths of peace4  ,dr4    
,watts was right--        ',religion    
never was design'd1      ,to make our   
pleasure less4'    ,take1 for instance1 
the honourable and reverend rector of   
,st4 ,george's1  ,bloomsbury4  ,as the  
brother of a ,lord1 ,mr4 ,villiers has  
great claims on a  ,british public2 as a
 canon of ,st4 ,paul's1 the rector of a 
well-filled  church1 still greater4     
,bloomsbury ,square is not exactly high 
life1 but  it is respectable4  ,the     
better sort of professional men and     
merchants  abound in it4  ,its          
neighbourhood is a step in a genteel    

direction4  ,it is  not part and parcel 
of that vulgar place1 the ,city4  ,it is
 on the way to  the ,west-end4  ,one    
might live in a worse place4  ,its      
natives are  civilised1 eschew steel    
forks1 and affect silver spoons4  ,most 
of them  speak ,english1 and a few have 
carriages of their own4  ,the place has 
seen  better days2 but it is not        
altogether of the past4  ,it abounds    
with the  latest fashions4  ,it can talk
 of the last new novel4  ,even its      
religion  smacks of the genteel--carries
 a morocco prayer-book1 with silver     
clasps1  is followed by a page with     
buttons of shining hue1 and has its     
services  performed by men of honourable
 and exalted name4  ,many in the ,church
 have  been born in low stations--have  
risen up to high rank1 nevertheless4    
,still it is a merit to be of           
aristocratic descent1 and even in the   
,church  that fact is as patent as in   
the world4  ,it is only in ,turkey that 
birth  carries no weight--but then the  

,turk is but little better than one of  
the  wicked4    ,independently1 however1
 of these considerations1 ,mr4 ,villiers
 must have  been a popular preacher4    
,he is a fine1 well-made man2 his figure
 is  prepossessing--a great thing in a  
public speaker4  ,weak1 stunted1        
deformed1 wretched-looking men have no  
business in the pulpit4  ,a man  should 
have a portly presence there4  ,he      
should also have a fine voice1  and ,mr4
 ,villiers is singularly happy in this  
respect4  ,in the ,church  there is not 
a man who can read its stately service  
with more effect4  ,and that service1   
well read to the hearer in a fitting    
mood1 is a sermon  itself4  ,nor does   
,mr4 ,villiers' merit end here4  ,he is 
no dull drone when  the service is over 
and the sermon has begun4  ,with        
downcast eye he reads  no moral essay   
that touches no conscience and fires no 
heart4  ,on the  contrary1 he is        
exceedingly active and energetic in the 
pulpit4  ,he looks  his congregation in 

the face--he directs his discourse to   
them4  ,he takes  care that not a single
 word shall lose its aim4  ,his musical 
voice is  heard distinctly in every part
 of his crowded and enormous church4    
,mr4  ,villiers is not an intellectual  
preacher2 nor is he a man of original   
mind2 nor does he revivify old themes1  
so as to make them seem fresh and  new4 
,the common truths of orthodox          
,christianity are those which form the  
staple of his discourses4  ,to convert  
the sinner and edify the saint are  his 
aim4  ,philosophy and the world's lore  
he passes by4  ,his plainness  makes him
 popular4  ,the poorest can understand  
what he says1 and they  love to hear    
him1 especially when he denounces the   
fashionable follies of  high life4      
,against such fashions ,mr4 ,villiers is
 always ready to  protest4  ,the theatre
 and the ballroom are the objects of his
 bitterest  denunciations2 the          
frequenters of such places find no mercy
 at his hands4  ,of course this         

plainness delights his congregation4    
,as they frequent  neither the one nor  
the other1 they care little what harsh  
things he says  of those who do4    ,out
 of the pulpit we know little of ,mr4   
,villiers4  ,one does not hear of  him  
at ,exeter ,hall4  ,the ,freemasons'    
,tavern seldom echoes the sound of  his 
voice4  ,his parish duties seem to      
absorb him4  ,he does not publish a  new
 volume of theology every month1 like   
,dr4 ,cumming1 though he has  published 
a volume or two of his ,sermons1 and    
some of his ,lectures to  ,young ,men4  
,to be sure he has enough to do where he
 is4  ,but still many  ministers attempt
 much more1 and his preaching cannot be 
a very severe  tax on his mental powers4
  ,robert ,montgomery published a book1 
called  ',the ,gospel before the        
,age'--the ,gospel of ,mr4 ,villiers    
certainly has no  such claim4  ,the     
school to which he belongs has very     
little reference to  the age--has a very
 easy way of settling all the problems  

of the  heart--never seems to imagine   
that there can be two sides to a        
question  at all4  ,this makes it very  
easy work for preacher and people4      
,such  being the case1 the wonder is not
 that ,mr4 ,villiers preaches so well1  
but  that1 with his powerful voice and  
action1 he does not do it better4       
,since the above was written            
,episcopalianism in ,bloomsbury has     
sustained a  loss--,mr4 ,villiers is now
 a bishop4        ,the ,independent     
,denomination4      ,,the ,,rev4        
,,thomas ,,binney4      ,all the world1 
,i take it1 is acquainted with the      
,monument1 which1        ',like a tall  
bully1 lifts its head and lies4'    ,you
 have been to see it1 or you have passed
 it as you have rushed to take  the boat
 to ,greenwich1 or ,hamburg1 or the     
',diggins4'  ,in either of these  cases1
 unless you had been too much absorbed1 
you might have seen a  plain1           
substantial building1 evidently devoted 
to public worship4  ,there  is nothing  

peculiar about its appearance2 but there
 is something peculiar  in the man who  
generally fills its pulpit--for it is   
the ,weigh-,house  ,chapel1 and the     
preacher is the ,rev4 ,thomas ,binney4  
,let us suppose it is a ,sabbath        
morning1 and the time half-past ten4  ,a
  stream of people has been flowing for 
the last quarter of an hour to the  door
 of the above-named chapel3 a few in    
private carriages--some in  cabs--the   
rest on foot4  ,the larger portion      
consists of males1 and1  again1 that    
majority consists of young men4  ,they  
come1 evidently1 from  the shops and    
warehouses and counting-houses of this  
great metropolis4  ,they belong to the  
commercial classes4  ,they are the raw  
material out of  which are evolved1 in  
process of time1 aldermen1 merchant     
princes1 and  ,lord ,mayors4  ,they are 
such as ,hogarth1 were he alive now1    
would sketch  for his industrious       
apprentice4  ,a few medical students    
from the  neighbouring hospitals1 and   

men of law or literature from the more  
aristocratic ,west1 and you have the    
usual congregation to which the ,rev4   
,thomas ,binney ministers in holy       
things4    ,it is something to preach to
 these twelve hundred living souls2 to  
place  before them1 immersed as they are
 in the business and bustle of this     
world1 the reality of that which is to  
come2 so to speak that the voice  of    
,god shall be more audible to them than 
that of gold4  ,yet1 surely1 if  it can 
be done by man1 he can do it whom we now
 see1 with reverent step1  ascending the
 pulpit stairs4  ,what power there is in
 those great limbs1  that full chest1   
and magnificent head6  ,nature has been 
bountiful to him4  ,such a man as that  
you can't raise in ,london or           
,manchester4  ,you can  imagine him the 
child of the mountain and the           
flood--learning from nature  and his own
 great heart and the written ,word--wild
 and strong and fierce  as the war-horse
 scenting the battle from afar4  ,you   

see he has a warm  heart1 human         
sympathies2 that1 in short1 he is every 
inch a man--not a  scholastic pedant1   
nor an intellectual bigot1 nor an       
emasculated priest4  ,oh1 it is pitiful 
to see in the pulpit1 preaching in      
,god's name1 some  poor dwarf who has   
never had a doubt nor a hope nor a noble
 aim1 and who  enunciates your damnation
 with the same heartlessness with which 
he tells  you two and two make four4    
,there are too many of such in our      
pulpits--men made ministers in some     
narrow routine of theological study1  in
 some college where they get as accurate
 an idea of the world against  which    
they have to warn men as the ,chinese   
have of us4    ,it was not so in the    
grand old apostolic times4  ,paul1      
,peter1 ,james1 and  ,john preached of  
what they had seen and heard and known  
and felt4  ,too  generally the modern   
preacher tells you what he has read1 and
 which1  parrot-like1 he repeats4  ,it  
is not so with ,binney4  ,you see all   

that man  has to go through1 he must    
have gone through--that scepticism must 
have  stared him in the face--that      
passion must have appealed to him in her
  most seductive forms--that the great  
problem of life he has not taken  upon  
trust1 but unriddled for himself--that  
he has gone through the  ,slough of     
,despond--passed by ,castle ,doubting1  
and sees the gilt and the  rouge in     
,vanity ,fair3 or1 as he says himself in
 his life1 'the man has  conquered the  
animal1 and the ,god the man4'  ,such a 
man has a right to  preach to me4  ,if  
he has known1 felt1 thought1 suffered1  
more than ,i1 he  is master1 and ,i     
listen4  ,such a man is ,binney4  ,i can
 yet read in his  face the record of    
passion subdued1 of thought protracted  
and severe1 of  doubt conquered by a    
living faith4    ,well1 the service has 
been begun4  ,the congregation has      
joined in praise2  and now it is hushed 
and still1 while in accents feeble at   
first1 but  gradually becoming louder   

and more distinct1 the preacher prays4  
,the  liturgy of the ,english ,church is
 beautiful and touching1 but it is cold 
and unvarying4  ,it does not1 with its  
eternal sameness1 answer to the         
shifting moods of the human soul4  ,such
 prayers as those of ,binney do4  ,they 
bear you with them4  ,your inward eye   
opens and refines4  ,earth grows  more  
distant1 and heaven more near4  ,for    
once you become awe-struck and  devout4 
,for once there comes a cloud between   
you and the world and the  battle of    
life4  ,you are on the mount1 and       
breathe a purer air4  ,your  heart has  
been touched1 and you are ready for the 
preacher and his  discourse4  ,at first 
you hardly hear it4  ,the great man     
before you seems  nervous1 awkward1 as a
 raw student4  ,he runs his fingers     
through his  scanty hairs4  ,he takes   
out half a dozen pocket-kerchiefs and   
blows his  nose4  ,being asthmatic1 you 
are compelled to cough1 and you have    
immediately the preacher stopping1 to   

turn on you a withering glance4  ,but at
 length you catch1 like a gleam of      
sunshine in a ,november fog1 a  fine    
thought in fine language4  ,your        
attention is riveted4  ,what you hear   
is fresh and original1 very different to
 the common run of pulpit  discourses4  
,the preacher warms1 his eye sparkles1  
his voice becomes  loud1 his action     
energetic4  ,you listen to powerful     
reasoning and  passionate appeal4       
,binney has been compared to ,coleridge4
  ,i don't think  the comparison good4  
,he is far more like ,carlyle4  ,the    
latter1 a  ,christian1 with a good      
digestion1 would preach precisely as    
,binney4  ,binney is a ,christian       
,carlyle1 with the same poetry and      
power1 the same  faculty of realizing   
great and sterling thoughts2 but with a 
light upon  his way and in his heart    
which ,carlyle has never known4    ,i   
have said ,binney is not the kind of man
 born in great cities4  ,you see  that  
in his physical frame2 it is also       

evident in his mental character4        
,everything about him is free and       
independent4  ,whatever he is1 he is no 
narrow-hearted sectarian1 shut up in his
 own creed1 having no sympathies        
outside his own church4  ,i take it that
 he sees also a certain kind of         
goodness in the world2 that he does not 
feel        ',what a wretched land is   
this      ,that yields us no supplies2' 
that he thinks life is to be enjoyed1   
and that genius1 and wit1 and  beauty1  
are far from sinful in themselves4  ,the
 result is1 ,binney's  experience of    
life is greater than that of most       
ministers1 and he keeps  abreast of the 
age4  ,he studies to understand its     
thought1 to answer its  questionings1 to
 lead it up to ,god4    ,and yet this   
man--with his great ,catholic heart1    
standing by himself1  tied down by no   
creed or common organisation--because1  
in a moment of  excitement1 seeing what 
was to him a dearth of truth and life in
 the  ,establishment1 he said that it   

destroyed more souls than it saved1 has 
been looked upon as the incarnation of  
all that is fierce and narrow in        
political ,dissent4  ,never was a bigger
 blunder made4  ,as regards all such    
matters1 ,binney is a latitudinarian4   
,i dare say even sharp-scented          
theologians may see a little of what    
they call heresy occasionally  wrapped  
up in the sermons of the ,weigh-,house  
,chapel4  ,the charge is a  common one  
in the mouths of those who would make a 
man an offender for a  word4  ,the curse
 of the pulpit and the pew1 hitherto1   
has been that such  snarling critics    
have abounded in each4  ,to such1       
,binney is a terrible  stumbling-block4 
,they cannot understand him1 and yet    
they dare not  condemn4    ,mr4 ,binney 
is still in the prime of life4  ,he was 
born somewhere in the  north1 where they
 have bigger heads and frames than we   
southerns have4  ,he was educated at    
,wymondley ,college2 he was then        
settled1 as the phrase  is1 at ,bedford1

 from which place he moved to ,newport1 
in the ,isle of  ,wight4  ,about twenty 
years since1 he was invited to the      
,weigh-,house  ,chapel1 where ever since
 he has remained4  ,his income from that
 source  must be very respectable1 as   
the ,weigh-,house ,chapel congregation  
is  pretty well to do in the world1 and 
can afford to pay its pastor            
handsomely4  ,as an author1 ,mr4 ,binney
 has gained extensive popularity1       
although he has not done much in that   
respect2 and his first work1 the  ',life
 of the ,rev4 ,s4 ,morrell1' a friend   
and fellow-student of his own1  was a   
most extraordinary performance--just the
 thing a man like ,binney  would write  
when young4  ,it has1 however1 long been
 out of print4  ,his  principal work is 
',discourses on the ,practical ,power of
 ,faith4'  ,his  sermons have been his  
most frequent publications1 and his     
,lecture on ,sir  ,f4 ,buxton--a lecture
 delivered to young men1 with whom ,mr4 
,binney is  always popular--has been    

reprinted on both sides of the          
,atlantic1 as ,i  believe also has been 
his last published work1 ',how to ,make 
the ,best of  ,both ,worlds4'  ,i       
believe1 also1 ,mr4 ,binney has written 
some poetry4  ,i  recollect a few       
powerful lines1 with his name to them1  
commencing with--        ',eternal      
light--eternal light1         ,how pure 
that soul must be1      ,that1 placed   
within thy searching sight1      ,it    
shrinks not--but with calm delight      
,can live and look on thee4'    ,his    
sermons often are prose poems4          
,occasionally they are common-place4    
,we are all dull at times2 but they are 
generally lit up with        ',the light
 that never shone      ,on shore or     
sea4'    ,i fancy1 sometimes1 ,mr4      
,binney imagines that he has now made   
his  position1 and that1 therefore1 less
 exertion is required on his part than  
formerly4  ,a weaker man would have sunk
 into the idol of a coterie long  before
 this4  ,a minister is never safe4      

,popularity is often a fatal  boon4     
,some men it withers up at once4        
,perhaps the most remarkable thing about
 our subject has yet to be said4        
,though the popular pastor of a popular 
,london congregation1 he is still  plain
 ,thomas ,binney--still without the very
 questionable honour of an  ,american   
,d4,d4 appended to his name4      ,,the 
,,rev4 ,,baldwin ,,brown1 ,b4,a4        
,the pulpit is an old institution--next 
to the theatre1 perhaps the oldest  we  
have4  ,to almost every generation of   
men on this small isle set in the       
silver sea it has revealed all that it  
has had to communicate relative to  this
 world or the next4  ',thanks to the aid
 of the temporal arm1' writes  ,thierry 
of ,edbald1 ,king of ,kent1 'the faith  
of ,christ arose once more1  never again
 to be extinguished1 on both banks of   
the ,thames4'  ,before  that the pulpit 
had been introduced1 and it remained    
powerful when  ,england1 at a monarch's 
nod1 forcibly dissolved the spiritual   

union she  had so soon contracted and so
 long maintained with ,rome4  ,to the   
,protestants the pulpit was more        
essential than to the ,catholics4  ,to  
the  ,protestants who dissented from the
 ,established ,church it became more    
important still4  ,without it they were 
nothing4  ,dissenting vitality  depends 
upon the pulpit4  ,if that be weak and  
cold1 unable to get at the  heart and to
 act upon the passions of the multitude1
 ,dissent melts like  snow beneath the  
warm breath of the south4  ,if it be    
otherwise1 ,dissent  flourishes and     
grows strong4  ,the history of sects is 
the history of  individuals4            
,whitfield1 ,wesley are instances4  ,in 
the ,church of ,england  it is          
otherwise4  ,that has a status          
independent of the pulpit4  ,without    
any particular individual1 it has a     
service elaborate and solemn and        
complete1 and more attractive than from 
its eternal monotony1 in spite of       
,puseyite natural attempts to the       

contrary1 one would imagine would be the
  case4  ,yet it is becoming confessed  
the ,dissenting pulpit has ceased to  be
 what it was4  ,i own ,i hardly         
understand why4  ,tom ,moore tells in   
his  diary that no exercise of talent   
brings so immediate a result as oratory4
  ,i believe every one who has ever got 
upon his legs will say the same  thing1 
and where can the orator have a wider   
field than in the pulpit8  ,at the best1
 the senate or the bar have nothing of  
equal interest4  ,i  believe the        
difficulty may be partly explained in   
two ways4  ,in the first  place1 the    
pulpit is too much a repetition of      
creeds and theologies that  are becoming
 extinct2 and in the second place1 there
 is a dead weight in  the pews which    
masters the pulpit1 and deadens its     
intellectual life4  ,i  believe many a  
minister says things in private         
conversation that he has  not courage   
enough to utter in the pulpit1 and that 
when he tries to do  so1 owing to the   

vagueness of theological terms1 what he 
says in one  sense is understood by his 
hearers in another4  ,no wonder then    
that the  pulpit is so barren of power1 
and that many a man of gifts and parts  
in  our days of universal reading       
prefers the press to the pulpit1 and    
chooses rather to teach with his pen    
than with the living voice4  ,yet the   
pulpit is not wholly deserted4  ,it can 
still boast its consecrated  talent4    
,it has still in it men who would have  
succeeded1 had they tried  other        
professions--who have something more to 
distinguish them than a  sleek          
appearance or a fluent voice4  ,to this 
class does the ,reverend  ,baldwin      
,brown belong4    ,some years back      
,clayland's ,chapel was erected in the  
,clapham-road4  ,a  dissenting ,d4,d41  
famed for his eloquence and wit--for his
 book against  the theatre--for his     
encounter with ,sidney ,smith--for the  
strict  orthodoxy of his reviews in the 
,evangelical ,magazine--and for sundry  

indiscretions not quite so orthodox1    
became its minister4  ,the reverend     
gentleman failed to gather around him a 
flock4  ,he preached and none came  to  
hear him4  ,the pews were unoccupied1   
and the quarterly returns were  small4  
,he abandoned the chapel1 and with      
dubious fame1 and an appearance         
somewhat too much that of a bon vivant  
for the minister of a religion  of      
self-denial and mortification of the    
flesh1 went down to ,warwickshire  to   
become the pastor of a village          
congregation1 and in time to die4       
,clayland's chapel then was placed under
 the care of the ,rev4 ,baldwin  ,brown1
 then a young man fresh from ,highbury  
,college1 to which place he  had gone   
after completing his education at       
,university ,college1 becoming a        
graduate of the ,london ,university1 and
 having been1 ,i believe1 called to  the
 bar4  ,mr4 ,brown is now in the prime  
of life4  ,he cannot be much above      
thirty4  ,he attained his position      

earlier than ministers generally do4    
,his father was a man of some standing  
in the world1 as well as in his own     
denomination4  ,his uncles were no less 
distinguished personages than ,drs4     
,liefchild and ,raffles1 and last1 and  
not least1 he had that easy  confidence 
in his own powers1 which are great1 and 
his attainments1 which  are greater1    
without which you may have the eloquence
 of ,paul1 or the  piety of ,john1 and  
yet no more move the world or the most  
insignificant  portion of it than a     
child can arrest a steam engine1 or than
 a lady's  parasol can still a storm4   
,mr4 ,brown's settlement at ,clayland's 
,chapel has been successful4  ,the      
cause--to borrow the conventional       
phrase--has prospered2 the chapel has   
been filled1 and the church has         
considerably increased4  ,his fame has  
grown4  ,he has become a man of note4   
,at ,exeter ,hall his voice is often    
heard4  ,undoubtedly some of his success
 is due to the circumstances ,i  have   

already mentioned1 but undoubtedly the  
greater part of it is due to  himself   
alone4  ,it is something for a man to   
find a position already made  for him4  
,it saves him many a year of herculean  
and unregarded toil2 but  to keep a     
position is almost as difficult as to   
make it1 and this ,mr4  ,brown has      
succeeded in doing4  ,the reason of this
 must be sought for in  ,mr4 ,brown     
himself4  ,the man must have some       
speciality to fit him for his  work1 or 
he cannot be successful in it4  ,that   
,mr4 ,brown has this is1 ,i  take it1   
beyond a doubt2 nor can you long attend 
upon his ministry  without finding such 
is the case4  ,mr4 ,brown's             
distinguishing  characteristic is       
freshness4  ,there is nothing stale or  
conventional  about him4  ,he evidently 
preaches what he thinks4  ,his speech is
 a living  speech1 not a monotonous     
repetition of old divinity4  ,he has    
wandered out  of the conventional       
circle4  ,he has come in contact with   

great minds4  ,he  has had a richer     
experience than generally falls to the  
lot of the  divine4  ,he views things   
broadly and in a manly manner1 not from 
the  narrow platform of a sect4  ,his   
faith is a living one4  ,his            
,christianity  is practical--that by    
which men may shape their life as well  
as square  their creed4  ,instead of    
wandering weakly and sentimentally in   
other  lands and in other ages1 he      
brings his mind and heart to bear upon  
the  realities of the present day4  ,the
 questions of our age1 not of past      
ages1 he discusses in his pulpit4  ,the 
day that passes over him is the  day to 
which he devotes his energies4  ,he     
gives you an idea of  earnestness and   
activity and independence--of a mind    
well educated and  drawn out--filled    
with ,christian truth1 and earnest in   
the application of  that truth4  ,he is 
not a great rhetorician--his strength   
seems to be in  his common sense4  ,if  
the ,bible be true1 the sooner man gets 

that idea  into his head and acts       
according to it1 the better4  ,if man   
have to obey  the ,divine law1 the      
sooner he submits himself to it the     
happier he will  be in this life as well
 as in that which is to come4  ,i know  
there is  nothing new in this1--that    
other men attempt to teach the same     
thing1--that all divines are saying it  
one way or another every ,sunday2  but  
the merit of ,mr4 ,brown is that he says
 it as a man of common-sense  would say 
it to men possessed of                  
common-sense--that he does not wrap his 
meaning in the unreal verbiage of a     
mystic and unreal theology--that he     
takes his teachings1 and arguments1 and 
illustrations from real life--and  that 
he talks of religion as men of the world
 of consols and railways2  and no man   
can do this1 to whom religion is not the
 business of his life4  ,in personal    
appearance there is nothing particularly
 remarkable about ,mr4  ,brown4  ,he is 
tall--thin--of light complexion1 a very 

different style of  man to the fat1     
indolent-looking old gentlemen that     
figure in the picture  gallery of a     
certain popular religious magazine1 but 
with an appearance  of intellectual     
activity and readiness for his work and 
age1 to which few  of the good old      
conventional divines now happily        
gathered to their  fathers ever seem to 
have had an idea4      ,,the ,,rev4     
,,john ,,campbell1 ,d4,d4      ,if the  
reader has ever been in the habit of    
attending public meetings1 he  must     
occasionally have seen an amendment     
proposed by a man evidently in a        
minority1 yet proposed nevertheless4    
,the man who does this is a man of      
confidence1 of good lungs and nerve4    
,first1 the meeting will not hear  him  
at all4  ',down1 down6' is the universal
 cry4  ,but the man stands  firm1 fixes 
his arms across his breast in the manner
 of the ',napoleon  musing at ,st4      
,helena' of the late ,mr4 ,haydon4  ,he 
knows that that angry  hubbub cannot    

last long3 that the indignant public    
will be out of breath  in five minutes2 
that the more frantic it is now1 the    
more exhausted and  quiet it will be    
anon2 and1 with a calm smile of pity1 he
 waits the  result4  ,all that he has to
 do is simply to stand still1 and1 if he
 does  this long enough1 there is no    
meeting on the face of the earth that   
can  refuse him a hearing4    ,in some  
such manner has the ,rev4 ,john         
,campbell made good his position in  the
 religious world1 or rather in that one 
section of the ,congregational  body    
over which he rules with a rod of iron4 
,at times there has been a  hubbub1 but 
the ,doctor knows no hubbub1 however    
loud and angry1 can last  long2 and to  
the mass1 destitute alike of information
 and principles1 it  is a real blessing 
to get hold of a firm1 dogmatic man1 who
 knows his own  mind1 and who will      
kindly take care of theirs4  ,fluent in 
pen1 meagre in  attainment1 seemingly   
master of no one subject1 yet writing   

vehemently on  all1 the ,doctor is      
precisely the man to give the law to    
that low class of  readers more or less 
present in all religious denominations4 
,it is easy  to see what he is1 and what
 he is not4  ,he is not an accomplished 
orator1  for he eschews the graces of   
the platform4  ,he is not a man of      
learning1  for learning softens the     
manners4  ,he is not a man of lofty     
grasp of  thought1 for he has never said
 a word1 or written a line1 that is not 
narrow and sectarian and one-sided4     
,but he is hard1 energetic1  confident1 
loud in voice1 and boisterous in manner2
 as unabashed as the  ,duke of ,york's  
monument in ,waterloo ,place4    ,you   
can see what manner of a man ,dr4       
,campbell is in the twinkling of an     
eye4  ,it is not often he preaches now2 
but if you chance to be at the          
,tabernacle1 in the ,city ,road1 when he
 does preach1 you will feel the         
description of him is correct4  ,the    
memory of that ,apostle in an age of    

sensualism and sin1 ,george ,whitfield1 
still sheds a fragrance round the       
dreary-looking chapel1 in which some few
 hundreds1 chiefly of the poorer  sort  
of small tradesmen1 meet1 ,sabbath after
 ,sabbath1 and where the  ,editor of the
 ',christian ,witness1' of the          
',christian ,penny ,magazine1' and  of  
the ',british ,standard1' occasionally  
harangues4  ,if you go1 gentle  reader1 
take with you a good stock of patience1 
for you will not find the  service easy1
 or the sermon short4  ,there1 in the   
very pulpit where  ,whitfield1 the      
persuasive1 the silver-tongued1         
stood--the ,whitfield1 whom  lords and  
ladies flocked to hear2 who lit up with 
light and life a wicked  and adulterous 
generation--an age destitute alike of   
faith and heart and  hope--you will see 
a big cumbrous man1 of severe face and  
repulsive  manner1 with a voice harsh   
and rough as a mountain-stream4  ,the   
face is  almost hidden between two      
uncomfortable collars1 which create your

  sympathy for the unfortunate mortal in
 such an unpleasant fix4  ,continuing   
your search1 however1 you see piercing  
eyes beneath bushy  brows1 a nose of a  
decided character1 a most firm chin1 and
 a head of  thick grey hair1 the        
obstinate irregularities of which would 
throw a  fashionable hair-dresser into  
despair4  ,moore wrote of ,castlereagh  
that--        ',he gave out his small   
beer with the air of a chap      ,who   
thinks to himself1 ',t is prodigious    
fine tap4'    ,just so preaches ,dr4    
,campbell4  ,in the pulpit he has it all
 his own way4  ,you cannot contradict   
him4  ,you cannot even intimate dissent2
 and he  harangues with the air of a    
judge4  ,evidently the congregation has 
been  dragooned into what it is1 for the
 preacher gives no sign of intelligence 
or vigour4  ,he takes a text and        
preaches from it4  ,the divisions of the
  sermon are the sentences of the text1 
and he talks in the most desultory      
manner imaginable4  ,the oratory belongs

 to the deadly-lively school1 and       
consists of mild common-places1 pumped  
out with a ferocity reminding one  of   
the stern ,puritans of the olden time1  
but rather out of place in the          
,tabernacle in which the ,doctor reigns 
supreme1 and which we suppose is        
licensed for public worship1 according  
to ,act of ,parliament4  ,moderate  your
 expectations if you go there4  ,dr4    
,campbell has been far too busy a  man  
to master the thought and aspect and    
characteristics of our age4  ,of  what  
man in ,england1 in ,london1 in the     
nineteenth century1 is aiming at1  he   
seems to have but a remote idea4  ,so   
blind is he that1 if he wants a         
heathen1 he puts on his spectacles and  
reads you an account of one out of  some
 old ,missionary ,magazine4  ,nor does  
the ,doctor atone for this by the       
beauty of his style and the perspicuity 
of his tone4  ,his voice is husky  and1 
at times1 inaudible2 his manner1 bad4   
,sheridan had a bad voice1 so  had ,fox1

 so had ,burke2 but these men were      
orators1 nevertheless4  ,dr4  ,campbell 
is not one1 and never was one4  ,he     
builds up no lofty structure4  ,he bears
 you on no unfaltering wing far1        
',far above this lower world1      ,up  
where eternal ages roll4'    ,he        
overflows with no brilliant eloquence1  
and burns with no celestial  fire4  ,he 
never ascends into the region of beauty 
and splendour1 and life  and light4     
,his is not the magic art to take you   
from step to step along  the ,christian 
path1 till your soul heaves1 and you    
exclaim1 ',it is good  to be here6'  ,on
 the contrary1 he leaves you flat and   
cold and dull4  ,he  amplifies1 and     
waves his right arm1 and quotes texts1  
and repeats a  feeble sentence          
emphatically2 but that is all2 he makes 
no progress4  ,in  going from ,edinburgh
 to ,stirling1 by water1 you are carried
 backwards and  forwards1 by the winding
 of the stream1 in the most remarkable  
manner4  ,you see ,stirling long before 

you approach4  ,you keep going1 and yet 
you  don't seem going on4  ,dr4         
,campbell winds just in the same way4   
,you have  talk without effect2 action  
without progress2 words without thought4
    ,the real truth is1 ,dr4 ,campbell  
is one of the failures of the age4  ,his
  ',martyr of ,erromanga' has been his  
only creditable work4  ,no man has      
talked more1 or done less4  ,he attempts
 too much4  ,he would be  everything1   
and is nothing4  ,superficiality has    
ever been his bane4  ,a  fatal          
copiousness of words has ruined him4    
,more golden opportunities  than those  
he has had1 no man ever had4  ,a failure
 in the pulpit1 he  turned himself to   
the press2 and a powerful body1 with an 
organization in  almost every town and  
village in the land1 rallied round him  
as their  chief4  ,to circulate his     
publications the most gigantic efforts  
were  made4  ,the 'pulpits were tuned1' 
the ,sunday-school was invaded1 the     
congregation was taken by storm4  ,like 

most men whose invective powers  are    
strong1 the ,doctor can flatter1 and he 
did so with a vengeance4  ,the  model   
church was the church which took in the 
most of the ,doctor's  publications4    
,the successful minister was the        
minister who sold the most  of them4    
,the people of whom the ,doctor had     
hopes were the people who  subscribed   
#ds4 #d;d4 per quarter to ,bolt ,court4 
,but the ,doctor can bear no rival2 he  
must reign supreme4  ,john ,childs1 of  
,bungay1 and ,dr4 ,adam ,thomson1 of    
,coldstream1 destroyed the ,bible       
monopoly2 but ,dr4 ,campbell had the    
command of the press1 and took the      
credit to himself4  ,an eminent         
publisher started a newspaper and a     
religious magazine1 and the ,doctor     
looked coldly on him till he sold the   
newspaper and gave up the magazine4     
,when the ',anti-,state-,church         
,society'  was formed1 the ,doctor was  
one of its members1 but it had a ruling 
spirit  who was not the pastor of the   

,tabernacle1 and the ,doctor's zeal soon
 died  away4  ,the ,doctor also         
professes to be with the ,teetotalers2  
but they  don't all go to ,bolt ,court1 
and the ,doctor damns them with faint   
praise4  ,if the ,congregationalists    
grow restive1 it matters little2 they   
have no  chance against him2 they have  
been delivered over to the ,doctor1 body
 and  soul4  ,it is in vain they        
struggle to be free4  ,will the ,doctor 
publish  what would militate against    
himself8  ,will the ,doctor withhold    
from  publishing when it gives him the  
chance of an easy triumph8  ,of course1 
a  man is a fool to enter into a        
controversy with a newspaper editor4    
,the  editor is omnipotent2 you must    
give in4  ,if it is folly to kick       
against  the pricks1 it is the height of
 folly to encounter the editor of a     
newspaper4  ,hence the ,doctor's        
triumphs have been easy2 but they have  
been due more to the weakness of his    
foes than to any strength of his  own4  

,as to the utter weakness of the ,doctor
 in execution1 let us turn to the       
',british ,banner4'  ,a man may be      
heavy1 rambling1 in the pulpit2 but with
  his pen he may be quite the reverse4  
,the ',banner1' when under the          
,doctor's care1 was a failure4  ,that   
was to have been a paper to             
,christianize the world2 to win over the
 discontented infidelity and  chartism  
of our age2 to pervade the land with a  
living ,christian faith3  for this1     
,doctor ,campbell had a support such as 
was never given to man  before4  ,the   
,doctor told us that there was an       
infidel press2 that that  infidel press 
circulated by tens of thousands2 and    
that it behoved  ,christian men to try  
and arrest such a state of things4      
,christian men  believed the ,doctor1   
and invested him with tremendous power4 
,and what  has been the consequence8    
,that the world has a fresh sectarian   
paper1  and that the readers of the     
infidel press remain just where they    

were4  ,is this a success8    ,take     
another test4  ,the ,london weekly      
papers exchange with the country  ones2 
the consequence is1 many of the leaders 
appearing in the former are  reprinted  
in the latter4  ,this is about the best 
test you can have of  what a newspaper  
is4  ,the editors of the country papers 
are very fair  representatives of the   
intelligence of the age4  ,what they    
reprint must  be generally good4  ,you  
would expect this to be so1 and it      
actually is  the case4  ,the papers     
which have the highest reputation for   
talent and  clearness of view are       
precisely the papers most quoted from4  
,but who  ever saw a reprint of a leader
 from the ',british ,banner'8  ,if the  
leaders  in the ',banner' were as       
distinguished for the vigour of         
language1 for the  correctness of their 
views1 they would be reprinted as       
extensively as the  papers the ',banner'
 was intended to supersede4  ,if the    
,doctor's aim were  good1 if it were    

desirable to start a paper that should  
be ,christian1 and  yet popular1 so that
 it should circulate everywhere1 the    
,doctor's failure  has been complete2   
for he has not only not done so1 but he 
has hindered  the men who would4        
,like most vituperative men1 ,dr4       
,campbell is terribly thin-skinned4     
,you  may praise1 but you must not      
blame4  ,he seems conscious that honest 
criticism would tear him to shreds and  
tatters4  ,we heard of a ,scottish      
paper in the habit of giving pulpit     
portraits4  ,it was expected the        
,doctor would be served up in course of 
time4  ,the ,doctor let it be           
understood that1 if anything of the kind
 were done1 he would write the  paper   
into the ,broomielaw3 and the matter    
dropped4    ,the last time ,i heard the 
,doctor he was preaching about the      
,chinese4  ,he  told us1 what most of us
 knew well before1 that ,china was a    
very large  country1 that it had a wall 
eighteen hundred miles long1 that       

,confucius  lived three or four hundred 
years before ,christ2 but there was one 
thing  he did not tell us--that the     
,chinese call a man of talk1 and        
swagger1 and  rhodomontade1 a paper     
tiger4  ,but perhaps the ,doctor was    
wise1 as  comparisons are odious4       
,after all1 that such a man1 with his   
fulsome  eulogies and violent invective1
 should have come to be a power1 is a   
melancholy fact--a fact indicating that 
,dissent will have to undergo a  very   
formidable purifying process before men 
of taste1 and intellect1 and  learning  
will be found willing to join its ranks4
      ,,the ,,rev4 ,,thomas ,t4 ,,lynch4
      ,the one great want of the        
metropolitan pulpit is men abreast of   
the age1  who can sympathize with its   
pulsation1 can respond to its wants1 can
  permeate it with a living faith4  ,the
 majority of the men in the pulpit      
cease to be such when they get there4   
,of the human heart1 as it is  fevered  
with passion1 or boils over with desire1

 they know nothing4  ,they  see men     
under a mask4  ,smith does not talk to  
his minister as he does to  ,brown2 with
 ,brown he is facetious--occasionally a 
little loose--and1  after a good dinner 
and a bottle of wine1 speaks in terms   
almost of  approval of fashionable      
follies4  ,the minister comes in and the
  conversation is changed--allusions are
 made to the ',evangelical              
,magazine'--the ,missionary ,society is 
referred to--something is said of       
,sunday ,schools1 and the world for a   
time is dropped4  ,smith1 junior1 acts  
in a similar way4  ,before his minister 
he assumes a virtue1 if he have it      
not--is sedate--quiet1 anything1 in     
short1 but what his intimates find  him 
to be4  ,it seems to be the condition of
 the pulpit that it shall see  life     
under a mask2 and as to thought1 that   
does not move in the regular  time-worn 
ruts1 that is condemned at once4  ,it is
 not the thought of the  pulpit1 and it 
therefore must be false4  ,it may be    

born of vigorous  intellect2 it may have
 been nursed by years of severe thought2
 to get at  it1 the thinker may have    
sacrificed many an early                
friendship--many a  cherished           
association--many a sacred tie2 but1    
nevertheless1 the pulpit  would blast it
 with its stern anathemas1 and          
pronounces it a crime4  ,occasionally1 a
 man in the pulpit can act differently4 
,some few years  back1 when ,professor  
,scott1 then of ,university ,college1   
,london1 now of  ,owen's ,college1      
,manchester1 was in town1 it seemed as  
if an honest  attempt was made to meet  
and win to ,christianity the philosophy 
that was  genuine and earnest and       
religious1 though it squared with the   
creed of no  church1 and took for its   
textbook the living heart of man rather 
than the  written ,word4  ,in our time  
the same thing is attempted4  ,the man  
who has  had the courage to make the    
attempt--and to whom honour should be   
given  for it--is the ,rev4 ,thomas     

,lynch4    ,judged by externals1 the    
,rev4 ,thomas ,lynch is a failure4  ,he 
is a small  spare man2 his bodily       
presence is contemptible2 he is a reed  
shaken by  the wind4  ,you get no idea  
of the church militant when you look at 
him1              ',of the drum         
ecclesiastic1      ,beat with fist      
instead of a stick4'    ,he is none of  
your bully ',bottoms1' to roar 'so that 
the ,duke will say1  let him roar       
again4'  ,his chapel is in the very     
unfashionable  neighbourhood of         
,tottenham ,court ,road4  ,his hearers  
are few and far  between4  ,out of the  
immense crowd of church and chapel goers
 in this  great city1 not three hundred 
can be got to hear him2 and yet ,i know 
no  man better worth your hearing4      
,your popular orators1 your ,dan        
,o',connells  and your ,dr4 ,leifchilds1
 are big men--and yet your small men    
have often  the organization favourable 
to the development of poetry and        
thought4  ,so  is it with ,mr4 ,lynch4  

,it is the old ,gospel he preaches2 but 
he handles  it in a new and fresh form4 
,what is wearisome from others1 comes   
with a  peculiar fascination from him4  
,the truths common-place men have made  
prosaic and common-place1 the magic of  
his genius can render quite the         
reverse4  ,his is the rare power1 given 
to the true poet alone1 'to clothe  the 
palpable and the familiar with golden   
exhalations of the dawn2' and  his also 
is the still rarer power to show piety--
        ',sitting as a goddess bright1  
,in the circle of her light4'    ,you   
see that ,christianity to him is life   
and power--no form of words1 but  a     
reality2 that it fills his heart2 that  
it works in his intellect2 that  it     
sanctifies his utterance4  ,hence it    
comes fresh to you as it does to  him2  
it is alive with the light of genius and
 of ,god2 with him it is  applicable to 
the conditions of existence1 to man's   
need and nature--no  tinkling cymbal--no
 empty brass4  ,a brother and a man     

preaches to you2  your equal in         
philosophy1 in thought1 in lettered     
lore2 your superior in  what is greater 
and nobler still4  ,yes1 that frail man1
 with an imperfect  frame--with a voice 
so weak that you can scarcely hear      
him--with an  appearance so homely that 
you would never think that in such a    
casket a  soul of any greatness could be
 enshrined--can speak to you of the     
great  things of ,god--of righteousness1
 and temperance1 and the judgment to    
come1 so that you--worldly scoffer or   
philosophic sceptic though you  be--must
 listen with admiration and respect4    
,a tale is told of a certain divine who 
was much given to a practice  common in 
the ,scotch ,church1 though not very    
popular here--of exposition4  ,once upon
 a time1 when remonstrated with1 the    
worthy preacher1 with a  candour        
deserving of all praise1 replied1 that  
he did so because1 when he  was         
persecuted in one text1 he could flee to
 another4  ,mr4 ,lynch needs no  such   

practice4  ,his ,bible is no sealed     
book1 but a revelation of light1  and   
splendour1 and truth4  ,to him there is 
nothing common1 or barren1 or  unclean4 
,all is food for his intellect1 always  
active--and his fancy1  always copious  
and rich4  ,nor even does that1         
luxuriant though it be1  lead him       
astray4  ,all the while he is in        
earnest1 illustrating1 as he  himself   
writes in that choice book of his1      
',theophilus ,trinal'--that             
'the powers that play in fancy1         
,can a holy earnest show1      ,as the  
colours of the bubble         ,shine    
serenely in the bow4'    ,his theology  
we will describe in his own words4  ,in 
the book we have  already referred to1  
he writes3 ',human nature1 like ancient 
,job1 is foul  and sore with disease1   
spirit-worn1 and weary with incessant   
strivings of  heart4  ,the              
,philosophies1 as friends1 come with    
their sympathy and  wisdom2 but their   
words are dark clouds1 edged brightly1  

which reveal the  splendours of truth   
behind them1 but disclose not the orb2  
and to the  parched heart they are but  
as clouds1 with a wind indeed1 but      
without  rain4  ,but after the          
discoursings of philosophy with human   
nature1 there  is heard the voice of    
,god1 saying1 ,i am2 behold my works2   
hope and  believe6  ,as experience      
enlarges1 spiritual questions           
accumulate1 till  at the last they pass 
into one great question concerning the  
world and  human life1 which the heart  
expresses not in words1 but which fills 
it  with a mute agony of wonder4  ,to   
this question there is no answer1 or    
hope of any1 till the voice of ,god is  
heard1 saying1 ,i am6  ,this voice  from
 a whisper rises till it has the sound  
of many waters4  ,happy are we  if we   
believe and feel that the man of        
sorrows1 and of success after  sorrows1 
,jesus1 the ,son of ,god1 is still his  
real and sufficient  representative4    
,he is ,god's surety to the world4  ,he1

 bearing the sins  of the world1 bears  
also its difficulties4  ,in the faith of
 ,christ have  the men of many          
generations found fixed standing-place1 
immovably secure4  ,in him they have    
heard the voice1 ,i am6  ,here we rest1 
they have  said2 our ,god1 we will not  
distrust thee6  ,he bears the golden key
 of  love that shall unlock the secret  
of the world4  ,this key is a key of    
escape from a prison2 key of entrance to
 a palace4  ,oftentimes1 in life1  we   
may seem as those who struggle in a wide
 stormy sea1 knowing their  strength    
only by the greatness of their          
ineffectual efforts4  ,yet are we  safe4
  ,for though we may feel as if rather  
drifting in a slight skiff  over        
boisterous waters than making way over  
them in a strong vessel1 yet  if1 after 
dreary days1 ,columbus found the land   
which reason taught him to  hope for1   
much more shall we reach the country    
promised to the faithful4'    ,having   
thus referred to ',theophilus ,trinal1' 

a book which has already  reached a     
second edition1 we may as well add here 
that ,mr4 ,lynch has  published a sermon
 explanatory of his views and aims1 and 
,four ,lectures  delivered at           
,manchester1 on various forms of        
,literature1 and is1 and has  been for  
some time1 one of the principal         
contributors to a magazine  called the  
',christian ,spectator'--a magazine     
understood to be intimately  connected  
with that section of the religious world
 of which ,edward ,miall1  late ,m4,p41 
and ,editor of the ',nonconformist1' is 
the great exponent and  type4  ,in this 
sketch it is impossible altogether to   
ignore the ,lynch  ,controversy2 let me 
describe it in a few words4  ,in #ahef  
,mr4 ,lynch  published a volume of      
religious poems called the ,rivulet1    
some of them  for private perusal1 some 
for public worship4  ,the ,eclectic     
,review had a  favourable notice of the 
book2 the ,morning ,advertiser was      
sorely offended  with this review1 and1 

in the style of criticism peculiar to   
that  journal1 proceeded to show that   
the ,rivulet was deeply tainted with    
deadly heresy4  ,some leading ministers 
of the denomination to which ,mr4       
,lynch belonged generously declared     
their belief that ,mr4 ,lynch was a man 
to be honoured for his ,christian creed 
and life1 whatever the reviewer  might  
think4  ,this led to a still further    
storm4  ,not content with  attacking    
,mr4 ,lynch1 the ,morning ,advertiser   
made the protesting ministers  the      
subjects of its censure4  ,the ,british 
,banner endorsed all these  charges1 and
 gave to them1 to the immense delight of
 the ,record on one  side and the       
,reasoner on the other1 a wider         
circulation4  ,considerable  confusion  
followed--reverend gentlemen and        
,christian laymen quarrelled  with all  
that bitterness which usually           
distinguishes the  divine--pamphlets and
 letters were plentiful as blackberries4
  ,actually  the ,congregational ,union 

postponed their autumnal meeting on     
account of  the strife thus generated4  
,the upshot of the whole matter was1    
that the  publicans complained1 and the 
,advertiser for a time directed its     
attention to more congenial subjects    
than those connected with               
theology--that ,dr4 ,campbell's         
connection with the ,british ,banner was
  terminated1 and that ,mr4 ,lynch had a
 much speedier sale for his poems  than1
 ,i fear1 otherwise he would have had4  
,that ,mr4 ,lynch has no larger         
congregation1 ,i take it1 is a reproach 
to  the ,christian ,church4  ,one would 
think that there was a divorce between  
it and talent and taste1 or ,mr4 ,lynch 
would preach to crowded benches4  ,as it
 is1 however1 more time is left him for 
the press1 and1 after all1  the world is
 ruled by what is read1 not heard4  ,the
 spoken word may  die--the printed one  
must live4  ,what of truth there is in  
that is  immortal4  ,it will forever bud
 and blossom and bear fruit4    ,in     

conclusion1 it may be as well to state  
here that ,mr4 ,lynch is a  minister of 
the ,congregational body1 and that his  
chapel is in ,grafton  ,street1         
,tottenham ,court ,road2 that he was    
educated at ,highbury ,college1  and    
then became minister of a small body of 
seceders from ,dr4 ,leifchild's         
congregation4  ,he is young yet4  ,he is
 older in thoughts than in years4  ,his 
inner life has been of richer growth    
than his outer one4  ,a popular         
preacher he can never become2 but to men
 of thought1 especially to men of       
literature--to the school of ,tennyson  
and ,coleridge--his will always be a    
welcome name4      ,,the ,,rev4 ,s4     
,,martin4      ,is the language of the  
,psalmist1 descriptive of himself1      
universally  true8  ,is it true that man
 is born in sin1 and shapen in iniquity2
 that  he is depraved2 that he hates    
what is good1 and loves what is bad8    
,if it  be so1 that fact1 of itself1    
sufficiently accounts for the war ever  

carried on between faith and reason1 the
 church and the world4  ,if it be  so1  
it is vain that philosophy attempts to  
break down the line of  demarcation1 and
 to lead men to what it deems a purer   
faith4  ,at its best  and highest it is 
powerless--nothing better than1 in the  
language of  ,carlyle1 ',thrice refined 
pabulum of transcendental moonshine4'   
,the only remedy for this is to return  
to the practice of the ,wesleys and  the
 ,whitfields of an earlier day1 to      
proclaim the naked truth3 ,that man  is 
a rebel against ,god--that he is        
destined to eternal perdition--and  that
 every step he takes1 till his heart be 
touched by divine grace1 and  won by the
 attraction of the cross1 leads him     
further and further in his  downward    
way4  ,it is a terrible doctrine1 this2 
yet1 strange to say1 it  is a popular   
one4  ,the men who preach it are the    
most popular preachers4  ,their ,gospel 
tramples on intellect1 and they do the  
same4  ,according to  them1 the weak    

things of the world1 and the things that
 are despised1 are  powerful to bring to
 nought things that are2 and1 therefore1
 they take  their stand above the       
science and literature and philosophy of
 man1 which  they hold but as dirt in   
comparison with the truths they teach   
and the  discoveries they reveal4       
,their appeal is not to the intellect or
 the  taste4  ,for neither do they care4
  ,they display no pride of learning1 no
  affluence of imagination1 no pomp of  
words4  ,they abound with no thoughts   
rich and rare4  ,the perilous paths     
which the human intellect finds for     
itself1 when in wandering mazes lost1   
they altogether ignore4    ,hence their 
immense success4  ,the common mass of   
church and chapel goers  are not given1 
by mental speculation1 to trains of     
abstract and  protracted thought4       
,generally1 their education is of the   
most limited  description1 consisting of
 little more than is requisite for the  
ordinary  business of ordinary life4    

,the ,london bourgeoise are not a very  
learned folk4  ,were a ,coleridge set   
down amongst them they would say1       
',much learning hath made this man mad4'
  ,they would at any time prefer a      
,hall to a ,john ,foster1 or such a man 
as ,robert ,montgomery to ,professor    
,maurice or ,mr4 ,lynch4  ,but they can 
be reached through the heart1 and  they 
love so to be reached4  ,nor on         
religious matters is this very          
difficult to do so4  ,the chief         
requirements are simplicity and         
earnestness--that you should not reason1
 but command and appeal4  ,the  more    
simply and authoritatively this is done1
 of course1 the better it is  done4  ,an
 audience does not love to be           
distracted1 or to have its mental       
powers severely taxed2 but it comes to  
be excited1 to be quickened1 to be      
delivered for a time from the things    
which are seen and temporal1 and to     
realise those which are unseen and      
eternal4  ,the men who aim straight at  

this end--if they have at all the       
requisite amount of voice and           
manner--are sure to have an audience    
fit1 and not few4    ,thus ,mr4 ,martin 
has won his way1 and become a power in  
the pulpit4  ,about  fifteen years      
since1 he came to ,london from a        
provincial college--a  college which the
 self-satisfied young gentlemen of      
,highbury1 with their  acknowledged     
popular preaching talents1 regarded in  
much the same way as  ,nazareth was     
regarded by the ,jews4  ,a new chapel   
had just been erected in  ,lambeth by   
the ,congregationalists1 and immediately
 ,mr4 ,martin filled it4  ,where there  
had been a few wretched hovels there    
rose up a temple crowded  with          
worshippers4  ,every part was full4     
,the preacher was young2 his  style was 
exceedingly simple2 but he had the calm 
self-possession of a  man with a mission
 to men's souls1 and he had a clear     
voice1 and a manner  grave and1 at      
times1 pathetic or severe4  ,it was     

seldom that men had  seen1 on such young
 shoulders1 so old a head2 and the      
,dissenting world  rushed to hear the   
boyish preacher who seemed miraculously 
endued with  the wisdom and gravity of  
age1 and whose popularity even seemed to
 have  left him simple and unaffected1  
in spite of it all4  ,in time1 a new    
chapel was erected in ,westminster1 not 
far from the residence of royalty2  and 
of that chapel ,mr4 ,martin became the  
minister4  ,there he yet remains1  and  
there his popularity is as great as     
ever4  ,you are lucky if you get a      
seat1 the chapel1 which has recently    
been enlarged1 being always full4       
,mr4 ,martin's forte is seriousness4    
,he appears always solemn and devout4   
,in the man himself you see no sign of  
great intellectual power4  ,dressed  in 
sober black1 close buttoned to the chin1
 you see a young man1 with a  pale heavy
 face1 worn down by work4  ,you may     
listen a long time before  fire flashes 
from those eyes and lips1 or before that

 brain thinks out of  the commonest     
style of pulpit thought4  ,it is really 
remarkable with how  little             
instrumentality ,mr4 ,martin produces so
 great an effect4  ,he looks  perfectly 
unimpressible--as if the world's        
vanities never could charm  him--as if  
he passed his life in some hermit's     
dismal cell1 and not in  the city's     
passionate and restless crowd4  ,you    
would fancy that he was  the inhabitant 
of an altogether different sphere1 that 
he never laughed  or smiled or read     
',punch2' and this appearance1 ,i take  
it1 is some help  to his pulpit success4
  ,charles ,fox said it was impossible  
for any one to  be as wise as ,lord     
,thurlow looked4  ,i would not go so far
 as to say that  no man can be as devout
 as ,mr4 ,martin looks1 but certainly   
his appearance  must be in his favour   
with the large class who attend public  
worship1  although his nasal twang is   
not very agreeable1 and his face itself 
is  more indicative of the priest of    

narrow thought and of ascetic habits1   
than of the man with glowing sympathies 
and generous life4    ,in the pulpit all
 this tells4  ,wait awhile1 if you are  
sceptical1 and you  will soon be        
convinced of the fact4  ,the mass around
 you will soon be  permeated by the     
preacher's power4  ,as he unfolds his   
subject--as he goes  directly to the    
point--as1 with plain and terrible      
language1 he warns men  of sin1 and of  
its fearful results--as he expatiates on
 the terrors and  splendours of a world 
to come--as he realises the day when the
 trumpet  shall sound1 when the grave   
shall give up its spoil1 when the dead1 
small  and great1 shall stand before    
,god--you see that he has got at the    
heart  of his audience--that it hangs   
upon his lips--that he sways it at his  
will--that at his bidding it trembles   
and despairs--or that it believes  and  
hopes1 and loves and lives4  ,and all   
this seems done with little  effort1 in 
the boldest and plainest language       

possible4    ,a man of one book is      
always a formidable foe4  ,mr4 ,martin  
is a man of one  book4  ,that one book1 
as he reads it1 proclaims one           
fact--salvation by  the cross2 and to   
proclaim that fact is the one mission of
 his life1 and  the one message on his  
lips4  ,out of that book other men may  
get more2  out of it ,mr4 ,martin gets  
but one great and all-absorbing idea4   
,this  being the case1 one is not       
surprised that ,mr4 ,martin is not met  
with  frequently out of the pulpit1 or  
that what little he has published has   
been in the sermon line4  ,he has       
identified himself with ,ragged ,schools
  and the ,early ,closing ,movement1 and
 the ,united ,kingdom ,alliance for the 
,suppression of the ,liquor ,traffic2   
and has1 ,i believe1 written and spoken 
in their favour4  ,but the pulpit is his
 peculiar sphere3 there he is           
great--there he has no rival near the   
throne--there he speaks as one  having  
authority1 as an accredited ambassador  

from ,god to man4  ,in thus  acting he  
shows his wisdom2 for there he has      
achieved a success which men  of greater
 brilliancy1 of wider intellectual      
power1 have often sought in  vain4      
,cowper draws his model preacher3       
--',simple1 grave1 sincere--      ,in   
doctrine uncorrupt2 in language plain1  
,and plain in manner2 decent1 solemn1   
chaste1      ,and natural in gesture2   
much impress'd      ,himself1 as        
conscious of his awful charge1      ,and
 anxious mainly that the flock he feeds 
,may feel it too2 affectionate in look1 
,and tender in address1 as well becomes 
,a messenger of grace to guilty man4'   
,mr4 ,martin might have sat for the     
portrait4      ,,the ,,rev4 ,a4 ,j4     
,,morris4      ,the ,rev4 ,a4 ,j4       
,morris is an ,independent1 alias a     
,congregational1  minister at ,holloway4
  ,of course my fashionable readers     
don't know where  ,holloway is4  ,i may 
as well then briefly inform them that it
 is a suburb  of ,london1 not far from  

,islington and the ,new ,cattle ,market4
  ,holloway  belongs to the ,dissenting 
part of ,london4  ,the metropolis is cut
 up into  sections3--,quakers congregate
 in ,tottenham1 and ,edmonton1 and      
,stoke  ,newington2 ,jews in            
,houndsditch2 the ,low ,church party is 
very strong in  ,clapham2 at the east1  
down by the river1 there is an immense  
number of  ,baptists2 in that large     
district1 known at election times as the
 ,tower  ,hamlets1 ,dissenting chapels  
are plentiful as blackberries1 while in 
the  more fashionable districts of      
,chelsea and ,brompton you will hardly  
find  one4  ,the philosopher of         
,malmesbury 7,sir ,w4 ,molesworth could 
have shown  you the passage in the      
,leviathan7 argues that a man should    
always be of  the religion of his       
country1 and thus is it these sects have
 become  hereditary in their respective 
localities4  ,you never hear of         
,puseyism in  the ,tower ,hamlets2 you  
might as soon expect to find the        

,italian ,opera  there as a ,st4        
,barnabas4  ,almost all the ,dissenting 
families of ,london  have been born1    
brought up1 and gathered to their       
fathers in one  locality4  ,to this day 
the ,dissenters of ,london are buried on
 almost the  very spot where ,de ,foe   
wrote his satires1 and ,dr4 ,watts his  
hymns4    ,in spite1 however1 of this   
intuitive faith in the past1 a faith no 
logic1  no mental illumination1 can root
 out or destroy1 dissent has its new    
chapels and new men4  ,of these latter  
the ,rev4 ,a4 ,j4 ,morris is one4       
,people who read ,mr4 ,ruskin1 and talk 
sentimentally about architecture--a     
practice very rare among architects     
themselves--will see in ,mr4 ,morris's  
chapel something of the character of the
 man4  ,it is new1 but still it         
appropriates to itself what is graceful 
and useful in the past4  ,for  instance1
 it has more of an ,episcopalian        
character than dissenting  chapels at   
the time of its erection generally had4 

,up to that time  dissenters had prided 
themselves on the uncomely and          
unpoetical aspect of  the places in     
which they met for public worship4      
,your dissenting chapel  was generally a
 square1 built of the ugliest red brick1
 and rendered  hideous internally by    
square deal boxes1 called pews1 in which
 the people  sat under a common-place   
divine1 generally as plain as the place4
  ,such  was the meeting-house1 as it   
was termed in the hallowed days of      
dissent1  in the good old times4  ,the  
whole affair was an abomination to men  
of  taste4  ,mr4 ,morris has introduced 
a great reform--he has abolished the    
pew system4  ,he has as graceful a      
gothic chapel as heart could desire2    
his place of worship is reverential and 
in keeping with its character4  ',that  
man of primitive piety1' as glorious old
 ,isaak ,walton termed him1  ,mr4       
,george ,herbert1 says in his ,temple3--
                    'quit thy state1    
,all equal are within the church's      

gate4'    ,such certainly is the        
language of ,mr4 ,morris's chapel1 and  
such ,i imagine  more or less would be  
the language of ,mr4 ,morris himself4   
,having entered the chapel and got a    
seat1 a matter of some little           
difficulty1--for the place1 which is not
 very large1 is almost always  full1--of
 course you naturally look in the       
direction of the pulpit4  ,there you    
will see a man in the prime of life1 of 
average size1 with a  light complexion1 
with a head nearly bald1 and with what  
little hair it  can boast of a colour   
popularly known as sandy4  ,the head is 
well shaped1  round and compact1 and    
complete4  ,mr4 ,morris's appearance is 
that of a  recluse1 of a student of     
books and his own thoughts rather than  
of  manners and of men4  ,he wears no   
gown1 but1 nevertheless1 has an         
ecclesiastical appearance1 partly       
possibly resulting from the fact of his 
wearing an ,m4,b4 waistcoat4  ,m4,b41   
perhaps it may be as well to observe on 

the authority of a late ,edinburgh      
,reviewer1 means ,mark of the ,beast1   
and  was a term used by clerical tailors
 to denote those square1 closely        
buttoned vests1 much affected at one    
time by curates and other young  people 
suspected of a ,puseyite tendency4  ,mr4
 ,morris's voice is loud1 but  not very 
agreeable4  ,he has a singular mannerism
 which is anything but  pleasant till   
you are used to it1 and when1 as was the
 case the last time  ,i heard him       
preach1 the reverend gentleman          
asks--',ow shall we lay up for          
ourselves treasure in ,eaven8' you are  
apt to forget the gravity of the        
occasion1 and to indulge yourself with a
 feeble smile4    ,in what ,mr4 ,morris 
himself says1 however1 you will find no 
occasion for a  smile4  ,what he says is
 worth hearing4  ,in this unsettled age 
you will  see that he has settled       
convictions--that his religion is a real
  thing--that it is that which his      
intellect has fed on--that by which he  

has squared his life--that by the truth 
of which he lives1 and by the  lamp of  
which he is prepared to find his way    
when he comes to the valley  of the     
shadow of death4  ,the peculiarity of   
,mr4 ,morris as a preacher  seems to me 
to be healthy manliness4  ,he preaches  
as a man to men4  ,those  whom he       
addresses are most of them engaged in   
business1 and his aim is to  teach them 
that ,christianity is as fit for the    
counting-house as it is  for the        
closet--as fit for the week-day as the  
,sabbath--as fit for the  world as it is
 for the church4  ,some men once in the 
pulpit seem to  forget that there is    
such a thing as the living present4     
,they are  perpetually dwelling on the  
past1 trying to make dry bones live4    
,they  can tell you what the old divines
 said4  ,they can quote their favourite 
commentators4  ,they can parody the     
religion of men whose religion at any   
rate was a real thing1 but that is all4 
,of our times they have no idea4  ,of   

the human heart1 as it beats and burns  
in this age of the--        ,steamship  
and the railway1 and the thoughts that  
move mankind1    they are profoundly    
ignorant4  ,they are strangers in a     
strange land4  ,amongst us but not of   
us--of an alien race and speaking an    
alien  tongue--with garments1 it may be1
 unspotted by the world1 but without the
  strength and the heart and the rich   
experience which contact with1 and      
mastery over1 the world alone can give4 
,mr4 ,morris is not one of this         
class--nor is he a painter of idle      
pictures1 whose talk is of fields ever  
clothed in living green--of white       
garments--of pavements of sapphire and  
of shining thrones--nor is he a dreamy  
sentimentalist lisping out the          
attributes of the ,majesty of heaven and
 of earth in terms of maudlin           
endearment1 as some drivelling dotard   
might tell of the goodness and the      
virtue and the precocious cleverness of 
the child of his old age4  ,were  ,mr4  

,morris either of these1 he might have a
 larger audience--he might be  a more   
popular preacher--but he certainly would
 be a less useful one4  ,he  thinks1 and
 he gives you something to think about  
as well4  ,his own creed  he has not    
taken upon trust1 nor does he want you  
to do so either4  ,he  has a clear1     
definite conception of spiritual        
realities1 and he aims to  give you the 
same4  ,mr4 ,morris has not genius--but 
he has intellect clear  and             
strong--perhaps a little deficient in   
fire1 and a habit rare1 but  invaluable 
in a minister1 of independent thought   
and action4  ,as a  preacher he ranks   
high in his denomination4  ,out of the  
pulpit he is  almost unknown4  ,as a    
platform orator ,i know not that he has 
any actual  existence at all4  ,i       
imagine he belongs to that growing class
 in all  denominations who have less    
faith in public religious meetings every
  year4    ,as a writer1 ,mr4 ,morris   
has acquired some little reputation2 not

 that he  has written much1 but that    
what little he has done has been well   
done4  ,his chief performance is1       
',religion and ,business1 or ,spiritual 
,life in  one of its ,secular           
,departments4'  ,the ,spectator--a      
journal not much  given to theology1    
especially that of ,dissent--was        
compelled to confess  it was a 'series  
of able and thoughtful lectures on the  
union of  ,christianity and business1   
addressed apparently to a ,nonconformist
  congregation4  ,the topic is treated  
forcibly1 without the mannerism         
frequent among dissenters1 and the rules
 of life enforced are not  impracticably
 rigid4'  ,he has also published several
 sermons2 ',christ1  the ,spirit of     
,christianity1' is one4  ,a ',review of 
the ,year #ahej' is  another2 and       
another is the ',roar of the ,lion1'    
which1 as it was  suggested by the papal
 aggression1 and was praised in the     
,british  ,banner1 was1 ,i should fear1 
an inferior production4  ,his last work 

is1  ',glimpses of ,great ,men2 or1     
,biographic ,thoughts of ,moral         
,manhood1' a work  intended to          
illustrate1 by the examples of ,oberlin1
 ,hampden1 ,luther1 ,fox1  ,bunyan1     
,cromwell1 ,milton1 ,moore1 ,de ,foe1   
,knox1 ,whitfield1 ,foster1 ,irving1    
,christian heroism in its beauty and    
power4  ,the sketches are short but     
practical and to the point1 well worthy 
especially of the attention of  the     
young1 for whose benefit they were more 
especially designed4        ,the        
,baptist ,denomination      ,,the ,,rev4
 ,,william ,,brock4      ,in the times  
of ,robert ,hall1 when the talents of   
that rather over-rated  orator gave the 
,baptists a lift in public estimation1  
and made them  respectable1 save in the 
eyes of gentlemen of very strict ,church
  principles1 the ,rev4 ,mr4 ,kinghorn1 
a strange spare man1 a keen debater1    
and a great ,hebrew scholar1 presided   
over a select ,baptist congregation1  at
 ,st4 ,mary's1 ,norwich4    ,norwich at 

that time was very literary4  ,william  
,taylor1 the first  ,englishman to sound
 the ,german ,ocean1 and to return laden
 with its spoils  of heresy and         
erudition1 lived there2 as did also     
,wilkin1 the ,editor of  the best       
edition of that rare light of ,norwich1 
,sir ,thomas ,brown1 and  ,william      
,youngman1 a severe critic1 though a    
writer little known beyond  the city in 
which he so long resided4  ,at that time
 ,norwich drove a  considerable trade in
 logic as well as in woollens4  ,the    
whole city had a  disputatious air4     
,the weaver-boys--and ,william ,johnson 
,fox1 now ,m4,p4 for  ,oldham1 was one  
of them--learned to dispute and define  
and doubt4  ,there  ,harriet ,martineau 
philosophised in petticoats1 and ,george
 ,borrow1 at its  grammar-school1 fitted
 himself for the romance of his future  
life4  ,in a  city thus given to thought
 were required1 in the pulpit1 men of   
superior  power--especially in the      
,dissenting pulpit2 for1 while the      

clergyman of  the ,establishment can say
 ,hear the ,church6 his ,dissenting     
brother can  only say ,hear me6 and that
 he must say to people1 the condition of
  whose existence is free thought4      
,at ,norwich1 ,mr4 ,kinghorn1 it was    
considered1 was equal to his post1 and  
held it long4  ,he gathered around him a
 congregation rich and  intelligent4    
,he instilled into their minds the      
strictest principles of  ,baptism4  ,to 
their communion-table none were to be   
admitted--no matter  how pure their     
creed1 how consistent their life1 how   
,christian their  heart--unless they had
 been the subject of water immersion4   
,it seems  strange that men should ever 
have quarrelled about such trifling     
matters2  and yet to their heaven ,mr4  
,kinghorn and his flock would admit none
 but  the totally baptised4  7,if       
sectarians had their own way1 what a    
place  this world would be67  ,but1 in  
time1 ,mr4 ,kinghorn obeyed the common  
law  and died1 and the church had to    

seek out a successor4    ,after several 
ministers had preached on probation1 the
 choice fell upon  the ,rev4 ,william   
,brock--then1 ,i believe1 a student     
fresh from the ,baptist  ,college at    
,stepney4  ,the choice was a happy one4 
,the cause prospered1  the church       
increased1 the place was enlarged1 and  
still the pews were  full4  ,it was     
considered a great treat to hear ,mr4   
,brock4  ,of course the  female sex     
fluttered round the new pastor4  ,of    
course the gentlemen  fluttered round   
them4  ,an air of taste pervaded the    
chapel4  ,it was  called the fashionable
 watering-place4    ,but this was not to
 last for ever3 a time was coming when  
the pastor  would be removed4  ,amongst 
the great railway contractors1 one of   
them1 it  seems1 was a ,baptist1 and an 
,m4,p4  ,sir ,m4 ,peto--for it is he to 
whom ,i  allude--became ,m4,p4 for      
,norwich1 and bought an estate in the   
neighbourhood4  ,this naturally led to  
his connection with ,mr4 ,brock1 and    

this connection led to ,mr4 ,brock's    
removal to ,london4  ,in the immediate  
neighbourhood of the baronet's          
residence1 ,russell ,square1 there was  
no  popular ,baptist preacher4  ,to go  
every ,sunday to ,devonshire ,square1   
where  the elite of the ,baptists did   
congregate1 was a long and dreary ride4 
,it were far better that the mountain   
should come to ,mahomet than that       
,mahomet should go to the mountain4     
,sir ,m4 ,peto did not wish in vain4    
,these great railway contractors can do 
what they like4  ,in a very short  while
 a very fashionable chapel was built in 
the neighbourhood of ,bedford  ,square4 
,it stands out in bold relief by the    
side of a tawdry  ,episcopalian         
chapel-of-ease and a ,french ,protestant
 place of worship4  ,as  soon as the new
 chapel was completed1 ,mr4 ,brock was  
duly installed as  pastor4    ,mr4      
,brock's debut in ,london was a decided 
success4  ,the chapel1 which1  ,i should
 think1 could contain fifteen hundred   

hearers1 is invariably  crammed4  ,if   
you are late1 it is with difficulty you 
will get standing  room4  ,the genteel  
part of the chapel is down stairs1 and  
if you do get a  seat1 you will find it 
a very comfortable one indeed4  ,in a   
very snug  pew1 at the extreme end on   
the right1 you will see ,sir ,m4 ,peto  
and his  family4  ,half-way down on your
 left you will see the spectacles and   
long  head of ,dr4 ,price1 ,editor of   
the ',eclectic ,review4'  ,lance1 the   
beautiful  painter of fruits and        
flowers1 also attends here1 but ,i      
believe you will  find him in the       
gallery4  ,the people all round you look
 comfortable and  well fed1 and no one  
presents a more comfortable and well-fed
 appearance  than the ,rev4 ,w4 ,brock  
himself4    ,there he stands1 in that   
handsome pulpit1 in that                
richly-ornamented  chapel1 with all     
those genteel people beneath him and    
around him--a  stout1 square-built      
man--a true type of ,saxon energy and   

power--without  the slightest           
pretensions to elegance or grace4  ,such
 men as he are not  the men young ladies
 run after1 fall in love with1 get to   
write in their  albums1 buy engravings  
of for their boudoirs2 but1             
nevertheless1 with  their strong        
passionate speech1 and indomitable      
pluck1 they are the men  who move the   
world4  ,during the war1 we are told1 it
 was the weight of  the ,british        
soldiery that carried everything before 
it4  ,the ,frenchman  might be more     
scientific1 more agile1 more skilful    
every way1 but the  moment the word was 
given to charge1 resistance was         
hopeless--you might  as well try to stay
 the progress of a torrent or an        
avalanche4  ,what the  ,englishman is in
 the field1 ,brock is in the pulpit4    
,you are borne down  by his weight4  ,he
 gives you no chance4  ,on comes the    
tide1 and you are  swept away4  ,you are
 learned--evidently the man before you  
has little  more than the average       

learning picked up in a hurry1 in a     
second-rate  academic institution4  ,you
 like to theorise on the beautiful and  
divine--the preacher before you cares   
nothing for your flimsy network1  born  
of ,plato and ,schelling4  ,you explain 
away and refine--,brock does  nothing of
 the kind3 ',it is in the ,bible--it is 
there6' he exclaims1 and  that is       
sufficient for him4  ,you may say it is 
absurd1 it is opposed to  reason and    
common-sense4  ,you can no more move    
,brock than you can the  ,monument4     
,i take it1 this is the secret of       
,brock's success3 he is positive and    
dogmatic1 and people want something     
positive and dogmatic4  ,it is only  one
 day in the week that ,smithers can     
spare for theology2 and1 wearied  with  
the cares of six working days1 he       
requires the theology he gets on  the   
seventh shall be positive and plain4    
,with the monk in ',anastasius1'  he    
feels that life is too short to hear    
both sides4  ,the ,british public  does 

not like to be bothered4  ,it likes     
everything settled for it1 and  not by  
it4  ,hence it is ,macaulay's ',history 
of ,england' is so popular4  ,your      
popular preacher must be dogmatic3 the  
more dogmatic he is1 the more  popular  
he will be4  ,brock's earnest dogmatism 
does everything for him4  ,there is no  
great beauty in his style1 there are no 
bursts of splendour  in his sermons1    
there is no speculation in his eye2 but 
he has a vehement  tone1 is plain1      
affectionate1 practical1 full of point  
and power4    ,brock is one of the      
,catholic ,baptists1 and will admit to  
the table of  their common ,lord all who
 believe in ,christ as their common     
head4  ,he has  not improved by his     
removal to ,london4  ,he preached better
 sermons in  ,norwich than here1 and he 
has got a slight affectation which ,i   
don't  remember at ,norwich4  ,he mouths
 his a's as if he had1 to use a common  
phrase1 an apple-dumpling in his mouth1 
and occasionally painfully  reminds you 

of a vulgar man trying to speak fine2   
but ,i believe this is  unconsciously   
done on his part4  ,at ,norwich he was  
an ardent politician1  advocated        
complete suffrage1 defended the         
,anti-,state-,church movement1 and  is1 
,i believe1 one of the few leading      
,london ,dissenting ministers who  still
 fraternise with the ,association now   
known as the ,society for the           
,liberation of ,religion from ,state    
,patronage and ,control4  ,as a platform
  orator1 he is very effective3 he is   
everywhere the same--everywhere you  see
 the same hearty dogmatism and genial   
sincerity4  ,you may differ from  such a
 man1 but you cannot dislike him2 you   
would rather have him for a  friend than
 a foe4  ,to his own denomination he is 
a tower of strength4  ,he is the first  
man who has made the ,baptists popular  
at the ,west-end4  ,till ,brock came1   
the ,baptist congregations in the       
neighbourhood were very  meagre4  ,brock
 cannot do for his sect what ,hall did1 

or what ,john ,foster  did4  ,by his    
writing he does not appeal to the       
religious cultivated mind  of ,england1 
nor by his graceful eloquence does he   
commend it to men of  taste2 but he     
speaks to the practical ,english mind1  
to the shop-keeping  middle class1 of   
whom ,i believe he was originally one1  
and to the door of  whose instinct and  
hearts he evidently holds the key4      
,scarlett  succeeded1 we are told1      
because there sat listening in the      
jury-box  twelve ,mr4 ,scarletts4  ,for 
the same reason ,mr4 ,brock succeeds4   
,the men  he speaks to are men of like  
passions with himself4      ,,the ,,rev4
 ,j4 ,,howard ,,hinton1 ,m4,a4      ,in 
a very unaristocratic neighbourhood--in 
no more fashionable a locality  than    
that of ,devonshire ,square1            
,bishopsgate ,street--preaches the ,rev4
 ,j4  ,howard ,hinton1 till ,mr4 ,brock 
came to ,london the acknowledged great  
man  of the ,baptist denomination4      
,nor was this title undeserved4  ,if the

 possession of a powerful  mind--subtle1
 analytic1 acute--a mind fertile in the 
destruction of  fallacies1 and in the   
reception and exposition of great       
truths1 gives its  possessor any weight 
at all1 ,mr4 ,hinton must1 in any rank  
of life1 have  occupied no mean place4  
,still more may be said in his favour1  
especially  in his character of a       
,christian minister--that his language  
is  forcible--that his own feelings are 
strong--that in season and out of       
season it is evidently his aim to       
expound and declare1 to the utmost of   
his ability1 ,christian truth4    ,yet  
,mr4 ,hinton has a very small           
congregation4  ,i should think          
,devonshire  ,square ,chapel cannot     
contain more than five hundred hearers  
at the very  outside--a very small      
proportion1 it must be admitted1 of the 
intelligent  frequenters of public      
worship in ,london4    ,the real reason 
of this scant attendance1 ,i suppose1 is
 that ,mr4 ,hinton  has no clap-trap    

about him--that he has none of the      
fascinating airs of  the popular        
,evangelical divine--that he has long   
past that time of life  when young      
ladies take an interest in their darling
 minister--and that1  if you wish to get
 any good from the preacher1 you must   
not merely listen  to him1 but must use 
your own intellectual powers as well--an
 exertion  far from common amongst the  
church and chapel goers of ,london4     
,six days  in the week those who have   
brains are working them in this crowded 
city1  and the seventh they wish to be a
 day of rest4  ,they take the ,sabbath  
as  a pleasant opiate--as a kind of     
spiritual ,godfrey's ,cordial for the   
soul--that they may go back to the world
 with renewed energy and power4  ,to    
such ,mr4 ,hinton does not preach3 with 
such he is no favourite4  ,no  singer of
 sweet songs--no player upon pleasant   
instruments is he4  ,tall1  sickly with 
the work and study of a life1           
grey-haired1 inelegant as all           

book-worms and men of thought--with the 
exception of ,sir ,bulwer  ,lytton--are1
 with a voice by no means melodious1 but
 tremulous with  emotion as it is played
 upon by the soul within3 such is       
,howard ,hinton4  ,if you stay to       
listen--if you have sense enough to see 
the heart in that  ungainly frame and   
the intellect in that capacious         
brain--you will hear a  sermon that will
 repay you well4  ,from whatever subject
 he is preaching  on ,mr4 ,hinton always
 manages to extract something new2 you  
are really  instructed by his sermons2  
your views become clearer and more      
enlarged2  you understand better the    
,christian scheme4  ,mr4 ,hinton is more
 than what  ,i have here implied4  ,he  
is something more than a great reasoner 
or acute  divine4  ,he has a heart1 and 
he speaks out of it to you4  ,he excites
 your  emotions as well as convinces    
your understanding4  ,there is flame as 
well  as light in that pulpit--flame1   
perhaps1 all the more glowing that you  

did not expect to find it there4  ,on   
all subjects ,mr4 ,hinton is an         
independent1 an original1 and a fearless
 preacher4  ,on some he is  peculiar--on
 most he is far ahead of the            
denomination to which he  belongs4      
,this is1 especially1 the case with     
regard to the strict  observance of the 
,sabbath4  ,mr4 ,hinton believes that it
 was made for man1  not man for it--a   
fact of which the denominations which   
pride themselves  on being ,evangelical 
seem to have become utterly oblivious4  
,mr4 ,hinton  sees in ,christianity a   
principle at variance with the          
observance of set  times4  ,he sees in  
man's nature abundant reason why the man
 who does not  profess to be religious  
should not be chained down to a form4   
,he sees  the man of genuine religion   
will so shape his life that every day   
shall  be a ,sabbath1 and be religiously
 observed2 and that1 if he be not       
religious1 it is worse than mockery to  
ask him religiously to observe a  day4  

,it is to the credit of ,mr4 ,hinton    
that he has ably and faithfully         
preached this doctrine--a doctrine      
which1 if it be much longer denied by   
the clergy of this country1 threatens to
 be attended with most disastrous       
results4  ,it is dangerous to establish 
an institution which the ,author of     
,christianity never made2 and if        
ministers choose to say that            
,christianity  is inconsistent with     
fresh air--inconsistent with the        
preservation of  physical               
life--inconsistent with the laws the    
,god of nature has ordained1  the       
certainty is that the lower classes in  
'populous cities pent1' who  toil from  
morning till night six days in the week1
 will do as they now  practically       
do--reject ,christianity altogether4    
,i have said ,mr4 ,hinton's theology is 
original4  ,a short sketch of it will   
soon make this clear4  ,thus1 while he  
holds the doctrine of human  depravity1 
he contends that ',no man is subject to 

the wrath of ,god1 in  any sense or     
degree1 because of ,adam's sin1 but     
every man stands as free  from the penal
 influences of his first parent's crime 
as though ,adam had  never existed1 or  
as though he himself were the first of  
mankind4'  ,calvinism ,mr4 ,hinton in   
toto explodes4  ,he says3 ',without     
being moved  thereto by the ,spirit of  
,god1 and without any other influence   
than the  blessing which ,god always    
gives to the use of means1 you are      
competent to  alter your mind towards   
,god by obeying the dictates of your own
  conscience1 and employing the         
faculties of your own being4  ,think on 
your  ways1 and you will turn your feet 
to ,god's testimonies4  ,this is what   
,god  requires you to do in order to    
obtain deliverance from ,his wrath2 and1
  except you do it without regard to any
 communication of ,his ,spirit1 he      
leaves you to perish4'  ,at times ,mr4  
,hinton seems to contradict himself4    
,but1 after all1 is not the theme one on

 which the human intellect can  never be
 perfectly consistent and clear8    ,at 
one time ,mr4 ,hinton was much in public
 life4  ,in the ,anti-,slavery          
agitation he took a conspicuous part4   
,he was also connected with the         
,anti-,state-,church ,association1 and  
is still a great advocate of voluntary  
education4  ,within the last few months 
several able letters have  appeared1    
from his pen1 on this subject1 in the   
',daily ,news4'  ,but on the  platform  
he is not often heard1 as was his wont4 
,mr4 ,hinton was settled1  ,i believe1  
originally1 at ,reading1 where he won a 
high reputation--,i am  told the ,rev4  
,mr4 ,milman1 the poet1 who resided in  
,reading at the time1  always spoke of  
,mr4 ,hinton as by far 'the most        
original-minded man among  us'--and came
 to ,london when ,dr4 ,price resigned1  
on account of ill  health1 the pastorate
 of the church in ,devonshire ,square4  
,mr4 ,hinton  then became his successor4
    ,his publications are various4  ,the

 following list will show his industry  
at least3 ',athanasia1' in four books2  
',on ,immortality in #ahdi2' ',letters  
written during a ,tour in ,germany in   
#ahea2' ',memoirs of ,william ,knibb1   
the  celebrated ,missionary in          
,jamaica2' ',a ,history of the ,united  
,states of  ,north ,america2'           
',theology1 or an ,attempt towards a    
,consistent ,view of the  ,whole        
,counsel of ,god2' ',the ,work of the   
,holy ,spirit in ,conversion            
,considered2' ',elements of ,natural    
,history2 or1 an ,introduction to       
,systematic ,zoology1 chiefly according 
to the ,classification of ,linnaeus4'   
,besides1 ,mr4 ,hinton has written      
pamphlets in favour of ,voluntaryism in 
religion and education1 and published   
sermons innumerable4  ,in the pulpit  or
 the press1 his labours are most        
unremitting4  ,he may be denied the     
possession of great talent1 but all must
 admit his power of persevering  toil4  
,the only drawback in connection with   

,mr4 ,hinton1 ,i am told1 is that his   
temper is rather uncontrollable--that he
 is rather more rugged than need  be3   
indeed you will not attend long at      
,devonshire ,square before you find     
this to be the case4  ,it is a pity it  
should be so4  ,a man should have  more 
command over himself4  ,young preachers 
may be put out by a cough1 or  any other
 sign of indifference2 but old practised
 hands should have long  outgrown that4 
,,sheridan ,,knowles4      ,a playwright
 in the pulpit seems an anomaly4  ,the  
stage and the pulpit  have generally    
been at bitter war4  ,jeremy ,collier   
had the best of it in  his day1 and ,i  
believe would have the best of it in    
ours4  ,the stage with  its paint and   
sawdust and glaring gas--the stage as it
 is--is the last  place to which an     
earnest man would turn with hope4       
,originally  religious1 it has long     
ceased to be such4  ,it has become      
simply an  amusement--if the            
reproduction of all that is heartless   

and flippant and  rotten in society be  
considered as such4  ,our ,english      
,catos don't go to  the theatre at all1 
and when one who is not a ,cato goes    
there1 it becomes  to him a sight       
melancholy rather than otherwise1 unless
 he have sunk  altogether into the      
unhappy life of that dullest of all     
dogs1 a gay man  about town4  ,as to the
 stage being a school of morals1 the    
idea is the  most preposterous that ever
 entered the head of man4  ,at the best1
 when  it collects a goodly             
company--when it is lit up with         
beauty--when it  resounds with          
merriment--when it is electrified by    
wit--it is a pleasant  place for the    
consumption of an idle hour4  ,more it  
is not now4  ,more it  has never been   
since people could read and write4      
,more it can never be4    ,yet even the 
stage has had its saints1 as in old     
times the world gave up  its            
high-spirited and gay to the cause of   
,god4  ,if emperors have become  monks1 

it is not wonderful nor surpassing the  
bounds of probability that  men should  
give up writing plays and take to       
writing sermons instead4  ,a  few years 
back ,gerald ,griffin exchanged the     
world for a monastery4  ,in  our own day
 ,sheridan ,knowles is an example of a  
still greater change1 for  he has left  
the stage for the pulpit1 and has       
consecrated the evening of  his life to 
the advocacy of ,christian truth4  ,i   
fear in this latter  character he is not
 so successful as in his former4  ,well 
do ,i remember  him at the ,haymarket4  
,it was the first time ,i ever was      
inside a theatre4  ,the enjoyment of the
 evening1 ,i need not add1 was intense4 
,a first visit  to a theatre is always  
enough to bewilder the brain4  ,you     
never see men  of such unsullied        
honour--women of such gorgeous          
beauty--scenes of such  thrilling       
interest in real life--and when ,i      
learned that the drama itself  was the  
production of ,knowles1 my admiration of

 him knew no bounds4  ,but  ,i confess  
in the pulpit he did not appear to me to
 so great an advantage4  ,it may be that
 ,i am older4  ,it may be that time has 
robbed me1 as he does  every one else1  
of the wonder and enthusiasm which1 to  
the eye of youth1  makes everything it  
looks on beautiful and bright4  ,it may 
be that ,i1 as  every one else does1    
feel daily more deeply--                
',the inhuman dearth      ,of noble     
natures2'    but nevertheless the fact1 
,i fear1 is but clear1 that ,knowles    
does not  shine in the pulpit as he did 
on the stage1 which he has now renounced
  some years4  ,of course he has a crowd
 to hear him1 for a player turned       
parson is a nine days' wonder1 and run  
after as such4  ,the question is  not1  
can he read well8 not1 can he convey his
 thoughts in elegant  language8 not1 can
 he compose a lecture which1 to his own 
satisfaction1  at least1 can demolish   
insolent popes and self-conceited       
,unitarians1  against which classes he  

principally labours2 but can he         
preach--preach  so that men are         
awe-struck--acknowledge a divine        
influence1 and shudder  as they look    
back on the buried past8  ,i fear this  
question must be  answered in the       
negative4    ,let us imagine ourselves  
in one of the numerous ,baptist chapels 
of the  metropolis--for to that         
denomination of ,christians does ,mr4   
,knowles  belong--while he is preaching 
in the pulpit4  ,you see a shrewd1      
sharp-looking old gentleman1 dressed in 
black1 with a black  silk-handkerchief  
around his neck1 and with a voice clear 
and forcible as  the conventional old   
sea-captain of the stage4  ,he takes a  
text but  remotely connected with his   
discourse1 and begins4  ,you listen with
 great  interest at first4  ,the        
preacher is lively and animated1 and is 
apparently very argumentative1 and nods 
his head at the conclusion of  each     
sentence in a most decided manner1 as if
 to intimate that he had  very          

considerably the best of the argument4  
,now1 this is all very well  for five   
minutes1 or even ten2 but when you find 
this lasting for an  hour--with no heads
 for you to remember--you naturally grow
 very weary4  ,knowles1 ,i imagine from 
his preaching1 seems to think argument  
is his  forte2 never was a man more     
mistaken in his life4  ,his sermons are 
bundles of little bits of arguments tied
 up together as a heap of old  sticks1  
and just as dry4  ,he seems an honest1  
dogmatic man1 certainly not  a great    
one1 and clearly but a moderate preacher
 after all4  ,a man may  eschew the     
conventionalities of the stage1 and the 
conventionalities of  the pulpit1 and   
yet fail4  ,mr4 ,knowles is a case in   
point4  ,as a  lecturer1 ,i am told he  
has been very successful in ,scotland4  
,he seems to  suit the ,scotch better   
than the ,english4  ,he lectures against
 ,popery1 and  the ,scotch will always  
listen with kindly feelings to the man  
who does  that4  ,i don't imagine that  

in ,london ,mr4 ,knowles will do much4  
,he is  very controversial4  ,theology  
is to him a new study1 and he rushes    
into  it with all the zeal of a juvenile
 enthusiast4  ,this suits the ,scotch1  
but not the ,english4  ,we are a more   
tolerant folk4  ,we are all orthodox1   
of course1 but our orthodoxy takes a    
milder form4  ,we tolerate a clever     
,george ,dawson1 an infliction against  
which ,scotland rigidly rebels4  ,we    
may be one nation1 but we are far from  
being one people4  ,we yet live on      
different fare4    ,i have already said 
,mr4 ,knowles is a ,baptist4  ,he has   
been connected with  that sect ever     
since he left the stage and became a    
religious man4  ,it  was in ,glasgow1 ,i
 believe1 that he1 to use the common    
phrase of the  evangelical sects1 came  
to a knowledge of the truth4  ,it was in
  consequence of his attendance on the  
ministry of the ,rev4 ,mr4 ,innes1 a    
,baptist minister in that city1 that the
 change took place--and that he  was led

 to look upon the world1 and man1 and   
his relation to them both1  in a new    
light4  ,it was in ,glasgow that he was 
baptized1 and became a  member of the   
church4  ,that he should turn preacher  
was natural4  ,accustomed to address    
public audiences1 there was no necessity
 why he  should give up the practice1   
and there were many reasons why he      
should  not4  ,accordingly1 every       
,sunday almost he is engaged in         
preaching1 and  occasionally takes      
lecturing engagements in the country4   
,he is also  ,professor of ,elocution at
 the ,baptist ,college1 ,stepney--a     
teacher of  deportment--a clerical      
,turvey-drop to the pious youth of that 
respectable  institution4  ,this is all 
very well4  ,if art is of use--if it can
 make  the eloquent more eloquent1 and  
the dull less so--its aid should surely 
be invoked by the ,christian ,church4   
,i would only add1 that ,mr4 ,knowles is
 an ,irishman1--that he was born in     
#aghd1--;and that his plays1 especially 

the ,hunchback1 still retain  possession
 of the stage4      ,,the ,,hon4 ,,and  
,,rev4 ,,baptist ,,noel4      ,next in  
estimation in this great democratic     
country to a real live lord  is a real  
live lord's relative4  ,if you can't    
shake hands with a real  peer1 it is    
something to shake hands with his       
brother4  ,it is impossible  to get     
people to believe that human nature is  
everywhere the same2 that  ,god has made
 of one blood peers and people1 black   
and white4  ,in this  unsettled age1    
perhaps1 faith in the peerage is as     
abiding a conviction  as any whatever4  
,nor is it limited to what is called the
 world4  ,the  ,church participates     
deeply in the folly2 no piety is so     
acceptable1 has  so genuine an odour1 as
 piety in high life2 no homage is       
considered so  graceful to the ,lord as 
the religion of a lord4  ,a lord at a   
,bible  meeting--a lord stammering a few
 unconnected common-places about        
,missionary ,societies or the conversion

 of the ,jews--a lord writing a book  on
 the ,millennium1 throws the religious  
world into a state of heavenly  rapture4
    ,this1 ,i take it1 is the origin of 
the success of the ,hon4 and ,rev4      
,baptist ,noel as a preacher in this    
great metropolis4  ,if ,baptist ,noel is
  not a lord himself1 he is of lordly   
origin4  ,his mother was a peeress in   
her own right1 and1 as a tenth son1 he  
must have a little blue blood in  his   
veins4  ,his sister is1 or was1 a lady  
in waiting to the ,queen4  ,his  brother
 is an earl4  ,he himself1 at one time1 
was one of the royal  chaplains4  ,he is
 redolent1 then1 of high life3 what a   
delightful thought  for the ,london     
shopkeepers and tradesmen1 who were wont
 to resort to ,st4  ,john's ,chapel1    
,bedford ,row6  ,i really believe that  
these good people felt  that by going to
 hear him they were killing two birds   
with one  stone--getting into the very  
best society1 and at the same time      
worshipping the ,god of heaven and of   

earth4    ,but this is not ,baptist     
,noel's only claim4  ,his position has  
done much  for him2 but his real merits 
have done much more4  ,it is something  
to  find a man who is brought up to the 
,church1 honestly devoting himself to   
his sacred calling2 scorning the pomps  
and allurements of the world2 in  season
 and out of season a faithful minister  
of ,christ4  ,with his high  rank1 with 
his family influence and the family     
livings--for to suppose  that the family
 has not such1 is to deny that it is a  
respectable family  at all--though a    
younger son1 ,baptist ,noel might have  
led a haughty and  luxurious life--a    
life of sensual indulgence or lettered  
ease4  ,for such  a course he could have
 quoted precedents enough4  ,but        
religious truth had  sunk deeply into   
his heart4  ,his creed was no scholastic
 dogma1 but a  living faith4  ,with his 
inner eye he had seen the vanities of   
this world1  and the awful realities of 
the next2 that all men were guilty      

before ,god2  and that it was only by   
faith in the atonement that the guilt   
could be  wiped away4  ,hence his       
perseverance1 his single-mindedness1 his
 zeal1 ,he  preached1 not to please     
men's fancies1 but to save men's        
souls--not to  lull them into a         
deceitful peace1 but to induce them to  
fly for mercy  from the wrath to come4  
,true to this unvaried theme1 ,baptist  
,noel leaves  to others gorgeously to   
declaim1 or learnedly to define1 or     
coldly to  moralize4  ,evidently with   
him1 for such matters1 life is too short
 and  eternity too long4    ,hence he is
 one of the plainest preachers of the   
metropolis4  ,he aims at  your heart1   
not at your head4  ,he touches your     
affections1 if he cannot  master your   
understanding4  ,he may win you over by 
his gentleness1 though  he fail to      
convince you by his power4    ,such1 as 
a preacher1 is ,baptist ,noel4          
,immediately he rises in the pulpit  you
 feel that you have that undefinable    

mystery1 a gentleman1 before you4  ,few1
 indeed1 are the gentlemen who surpass  
him in elegance of appearance1  or      
urbanity of manner4  ,he is about       
fifty-five years of age1 tall1 and of  a
 fine figure2 his hair is of a light    
brown colour1 his complexion is  fair   
and pale1 his face long1 and his        
features handsome4  ,he has a high      
forehead1 deep-set blue eyes1 a long and
 rather aquiline nose1 and an           
expressive mouth4  ,his voice is rich   
and silvery1 not 'harsh and  crabbed1'  
but        ',musical as is ,apollo's    
lute2'    and so indeed it ought1 for   
,baptist ,noel rarely concludes his     
sermons  within an hour4  ,if his       
eloquence be compared to that of a      
stream1 it  must be that of no mountain 
country1 but of peaceful plains1 of one 
of  which it may be said that           
'through delicious meads      ,the      
murmuring stream its winding water      
leads4'    ,he is remarkably fluent2 his
 sentences are particularly smooth and  

well  constructed1 and his voice gently 
modulated3 of action1 he can be said    
scarcely to have any4  ,baptist ,noel is
 a thorough ,englishman in this         
respect4    ,as a thinker1 he has been  
more remarkable for his freedom and     
candour  than for his consistency and   
depth4  ,he has always held1 in the     
main1  what are called ,evangelical     
views1 but his views have not always    
been on  all matters the same4  ,at one 
time he was an opponent of ,millenarian 
views--he then became strenuous in their
 favour--now he has returned to  his    
original opinions1 and opposes them as  
warmly as before4  ,he acted a  similar 
part with reference to the ,british and 
,foreign ,bible ,society1 and  his      
amiable little tract1 on the ,unity of  
the ,church1 was considered very        
inconsistent1 by ,churchmen and         
,dissenters alike1 with his position as 
a  minister of the ,establishment4      
,as a writer ,mr4 ,noel's principal work
 has been that on the ,union of  ,church

 and ,state1 in which he justified1 at  
considerable length1 his  secession from
 the ,establishment4  ,he has also      
published an account of a  tour in      
,ireland1 to which he was sent on a     
visit of inspection by the  ,whigs a few
 years since2 and he has also written a 
little poetry1 some of  which has found 
its way into print4  ,it is hardly      
necessary to say that  it is of that    
common character which it is said       
neither gods nor men  allow4    ,to     
many1 ,mr4 ,noel's whole career as a    
,churchman was very offensive4  ,they   
had no idea of a clergyman of the       
,church of ,england standing on the same
  platform with a ,dissenting brother4  
,i believe1 by his conduct1 ,baptist    
,noel drew down upon himself more than  
one ,episcopal rebuke2 and1  therefore1 
few were surprised when the time came   
when he burst the bonds  that had long  
held him1 and became the minister of the
 ,baptist church1  ,john ,street1       
,bedford ,row--a church formed by the   

,rev4 ,john ,harrington  ,evans1 like   
,mr4 ,noel1 originally a clergyman of   
the ,establishment4  ,still  the effort 
was a bold one4  ,by such a step he had 
nothing to gain1 and  much to lose4     
,worldly considerations would have      
prompted him to remain  where he was4   
,i honour him that he obeyed the        
dictates of conscience4  ,men do so     
rarely1 and1 when they do so1 they are  
but rarely honoured4  ,the religious    
world made much more of ,baptist ,noel  
when he was in the  ,church than now4   
,scarcely a religious public meeting was
 held in the  metropolis without ,mr4   
,noel being put down in the bills as one
 of the  speakers3 now his voice is     
rarely heard4    ,this is strange1 but  
true4  ,regret it as we may1 such is the
 fact4  ,it  was when ,baptist ,noel    
preached at ,st4 ,john's that he was run
 after4  ,what  crowds filled that      
dreary place6  ,how difficult it was to 
get a seat  there6  ,the dingy1 dirty   
old building itself was enough to draw a

 crowd4  ,it was built for that fiery1  
foolish priest1 ,sacheverell4  ,scott1  
famed  for his ,commentary on the       
,bible1 was a curate there4  ,there also
 preached  the scarcely less celebrated 
,cecil4  ,in his steps followed ,daniel 
,wilson1  the ,bishop of ,calcutta4     
,wilberforce had worshipped there4  ,the
 building  itself was a fact and a      
sermon as well4  ,the place had a       
religion of its  own4  ,the neighbouring
 pulpit in which ,baptist ,noel now     
officiates has  nothing of the kind4    
,perhaps1 however1 the less ,dissent is 
encumbered  with tradition or history   
the better4  ,as it is1 the soul is     
sluggish  enough4  ,leaden custom lies  
too heavy on us all4      ,,the ,,rev4  
,c4 ,h4 ,,spurgeon4      ,i fear there  
is very little difference between the   
,church and the world4  ,in both the    
tide seems strongly set in favour of    
ignorance1 presumption1  and            
charlatanism4  ,in the case of ,mr4     
,spurgeon1 they have both agreed to     

worship the same idol4  ,nowhere more   
abound the vulgar1 be they great or     
little1 than at the ,royal ,music ,hall 
on a ,sunday morning4  ,mr4 ,spurgeon's 
service commences at a quarter to       
eleven1 but the doors are opened an     
hour and a half previously1 and all the 
while there will be a continuous  stream
 of men and women--some on foot1 some in
 cabs1 many in  carriages--all drawn    
together by this world's wonder4  ,the  
motley crowd  is worth a study4  ,in    
that ,hansom1 now bearing a decent      
country deacon  staying at the ,milton1 
you and ,rose dashed away to ,cremorne4 
,last night1  those lovely eyes were wet
 with tears as the ,piccolomini edified 
the  fashionable world with the         
representation of the ,harlot's career4 
,that  swell was drinking pale ale in   
questionable company in the             
,haymarket--that gay ,lorette was       
sinning on a gorgeous scale4  ,this man 
was paying his needlewomen a price for  
their labour1 on which he knows it  is  

impossible for them morally to live2 and
 that was poisoning a whole             
neighbourhood by the sale of adulterated
 wares4    ,a very mixed congregation is
 this one at the ,surrey ,gardens4  ,the
 real  flock--the aborigines from ,park 
,street ,chapel--are a peculiar         
people1--very plain1 much given to the  
wearing of clothes of an ancient        
cut--and easy of recognition4  ,the men 
are narrow1 hard1 griping1 to look      
at--the women stern and unlovely1 yet   
they1 and such as they alone1 if we  are
 to believe them1 are to walk the pearly
 streets of the ,new ,jerusalem1  and to
 sit down with martyrs and prophets and 
saints--with ,abraham1 and  ,isaac1 and 
,jacob--at the marriage supper of the   
,lamb4    ',the toe of the peasant comes
 so near the heel of the courtier1 he   
galls  his kibe4'  ,here is a peer1 and 
there his tailor4  ,here ,lady ,clara de
  ,vere kills a weary hour1 and there is
 the poor girl who sat up all night  to 
stitch her ladyship's costly robe4      

,here is a blasphemer come to  laugh1   
there a saint to pray4  ,can these dry  
bones live8  ,can the  preacher touch   
the heart of this listening mass8       
,breathed on by a spell  more potent    
than his own1 will it in its anguish and
 agony exclaim1 ,what  must we do to be 
saved8  ,you think how this multitude   
would have melted  beneath the          
consecrated genius of a ,chalmers1 or a 
,parsons1 or a  ,melville1 or an        
,irving1--and look to see the same      
torrent of human  emotions here4  ,ah1  
you are mistaken--,mr4 ,spurgeon has not
 the power to  wield 'all thoughts1 all 
passions1 all delights4'  ,it is not in 
him to  'shake the arsenal1 and fulmine 
over ,greece4'  ,in the very midst of   
his  fiercest declamation1 you will find
 his audience untouched2 so coarse is   
the colouring1 and clumsy the           
description1 you can sit calm and       
unmoved  through it all--and all the    
while the haughty beauty by your side   
will  fan herself with a languor        

,charles ,matthews in ',used ,up' might 
envy4  ,look at the preacher2--the      
riddle is solved4  ,you see at once that
 he is  not the man to soar1 and soaring
 bear his audience1 trembling and       
enraptured1 with him in his heavenward  
flight4    ,isaiah1 the son of ,amos1   
when he received his divine commission1 
exclaimed1 ',woe is me1 for ,i am       
undone1 because ,i am a man of unclean  
lips1 and ,i dwell in the midst of a    
people of unclean lips6' but the        
popular minister of ,new ,park ,street  
,chapel has no such trembling           
forebodings2 no thought of his own      
unworthiness1 no fear that he is        
trespassing on sacred ground1 or that he
 is attempting a task beyond his        
powers1 impedes the utterance of his    
fluent tongue4  ,not a trace of the     
scholarship1 or reading1 or severe      
thought1 or ,god-sent genius1 or of     
that doubt in which there lives more    
faith than in half the creeds1 will  you
 find in the whole of his harangue4     

,on the pulpit1 or rather the platform1 
,mr4 ,spurgeon imitates ,gough1 and     
walks up and down1 and enlivens his     
sermons with dramatic  representations4 
,he is 'hail fellow1 well-met' with his 
hearers4  ,he has  jokes and homely     
sayings and puns and proverbs for them4 
,nothing is too  sacred for his         
self-complacent grasp2 he is as free and
 unrestrained in  ,god's presence as in 
man's4  ,eternity has unveiled its      
mysteries to him4  ,in the agonies of   
the lost1 in the joys of the redeemed1  
there is nothing  for him to learn4     
,his 'sweet ,saviour1' as he            
irreverently exclaims1 has  told him    
all4  ,of course1 at times there is a   
rude eloquence on his lips1  or1 rather1
 a fluent declamation1 which the mob    
around takes for such4  ,the orator     
always soars with his audience4  ,with  
excited thousands  waiting his lightest 
word1 he cannot remain passionless and  
unmoved4  ,words and thoughts are borne 
to him from them4  ,there is excitement 

in  the hour2 there is excitement in the
 theme2 there is excitement in the      
living mass2 and1 it may be1 as the     
preacher speaks of a physical hell  and 
displays a physical heaven1 some sensual
 nature is aroused1 and a  change may be
 effected in a man's career4  ,little   
causes may produce  great events2 one   
chance word may be the beginning of a   
new and a better  life2 but the         
thoughtful hearer will learn nothing1   
will be induced to  feel nothing1 will  
find that as regards ,christian         
edification he had much  better have    
staid at home4  ,at the best ,mr4       
,spurgeon will seem to him a  preacher  
of extraordinary volubility4  ,most     
probably he will return from  one of    
,mr4 ,spurgeon's services disgusted with
 the noisy crowding1  reminding him of  
the ,adelphi rather than the house of   
,god2 disgusted with  the common-place  
prayer2 disgusted with the questionable 
style of  oratory2 disgusted with the   
narrowness of the preacher's creed1 and 

its  pitiful misrepresentations of the  
glorious gospel of the blessed ,god2    
disgusted with the stupidity that can   
take for a divine afflatus brazen       
impudence and leathern lungs4  ,most    
probably he will come back confessing   
that ,mr4 ,spurgeon is the youngest1 and
 the loudest1 and the most  notorious   
preacher in ,london--little more2 the   
idol of people who dare  not go to      
theatres1 and yet pant for theatrical   
excitement4    ,when ,mr4 ,whiteside    
finished his five hours' oration on     
,kars1 ,lord  ,palmerston replied1 that 
the honourable gentleman's speech was   
highly  creditable to his physical      
powers4  ,a similar reply would be      
suitable to  ,mr4 ,spurgeon4  ,you come 
away1 having gained nothing except it   
may be a  deeper disgust for the class  
of preachers of which ,mr4 ,spurgeon is 
a  type4  ,we have heard somewhat too   
much of ,negative ,theology--it is time 
we protest against the ,positive        
,theology of such men as ,mr4 ,spurgeon4

  ,there are no doubts or difficulties  
in his path4  ,the last time ,i heard   
the reverend gentleman1 he had the      
audacity to assure us that the reason   
,god allowed wicked men to live was1    
that as he knew they were to be  damned1
 he thought they might have a little    
pleasure first4  ,mr4 ,spurgeon  is one 
of the elect4  ,his flock are in the    
same happy condition4  ,god  chooses    
them out of the ruins of the fall1 and  
makes them heirs of  everlasting life1  
while he suffers the rest of the world  
to continue in  sin1 and consummate     
their guilt by well-deserved punishment4
  ,if he sins1  it matters little2 'for 
that vengeance incurred by me has       
already fallen  upon ,christ my         
substitute1 and only the chastisement   
shall remain for  me4'  ,mr4 ,spurgeon  
has heard people represent ',god as the 
,father of the  whole universe4  ,it    
surprises me that any readers of the    
,bible should so  talk4'  ,to the higher
 regions of thought ,mr4 ,spurgeon seems

 an utter  stranger--all his ideas are  
physical2 when he speaks of the ,master1
 it is  not of his holy life or divine  
teaching1 but his death4  ',christians1'
 he  exclaims1 'you have here your      
,saviour4  ,see his ,father's vengeful  
sword  sheathed in his heart--behold his
 death-agonies--see the clammy sweat    
upon his brow--mark his tongue cleaving 
to the roof of his mouth--hear  his     
sighs and groans upon the cross4'       
,again1 he exclaims1 ',make light of    
thee1 sweet ,jesus6  ,oh1 when ,i see   
thee with thy shirt of gore1  wrestling 
in ,gethsemane--when ,i behold him with 
a river of blood  rolling down his      
shoulders1' c4  ,all his sermons abound 
with similar  instances of exaggerated  
misconception4    ,mr4 ,spurgeon steps  
on the very threshold of great and      
glorious thoughts1  and stops there4    
,of ,god he speaks as irreverently as of
 ,christ4  ',oh6'  cries the sinner1 ',i
 will not have thee for a ,god4'  ',wilt
 thou not8'  says he1 and he gives him  

over to the hand of ,moses2 ,moses takes
 him a  little and applies the club of  
the law1 drags him to ,sinai1 where the 
mountain totters over his head1 the     
lightnings flash1 and thunders  bellow1 
and then the sinner cries1 ',o ,god1    
save me6'  ',ah6 ,i thought thou        
wouldst not have me for a ,god4'  ',o   
,lord1 thou shalt be my ,god1' says the 
poor trembling sinner2 ',i have put away
 my ornaments from me4  ,o ,lord1  what 
wilt thou do unto me8  ,save me6  ,i    
will give myself to thee4  ,oh6  take   
me6'  ',ay1' says the ,lord1 ',i knew   
it2 ,i said that ,i will be their  ,god2
 and ,i have made thee willing in the   
day of my power4'  ',i will be  their   
,god1 and they shall be my people4'     
,here is another passage4  ,preaching at
 ,shipley1 near ,leeds1 our young divine
 alluded to ,dr4 ,dick's  wish1 that he 
might spend an eternity in wandering    
from star to star4  ',for me1' exclaims 
,mr4 ,spurgeon1 'let it be my lot to    
pursue a more  glorious study4  ,my     

choice shall be this3 ,i shall spend    
#ejjj years in  looking into the wound  
in the left foot of ,christ1 and #ejjj  
years in  looking into the wound in the 
right foot of ,christ1 and #aj1jjj years
 in  looking into the wound in the right
 hand of ,christ1 and #aj1jjj years more
  in looking into the wound in the left 
hand of ,christ1 and #bj1jjj years in   
looking into the wound in his side4'    
,is this religion8  ,are such           
representations1 in an intellectual age1
 fitted to claim the homage of          
reflective men8  ,will not ,mr4         
,spurgeon's very converts1 as they      
become  older--as they understand       
,christianity better--as the excitement 
produced  by dramatic dialogues in the  
midst of feverish audiences dies        
away--feel  this themselves8  ,and yet  
this man actually got nearly #bd1jjj to 
hear him  on the ,day of ,humiliation4  
,such a thing seems marvellous4  ,if    
popularity  means anything1 which1      
however1 it does not1 ,mr4 ,spurgeon is 

one of our  greatest orators4    ,it is 
true it is not difficult to collect a   
crowd in ,london4  ,if ,i simply  stand 
stock still in ,cheapside in the middle 
of the day1 a crowd is  immediately     
collected4  ,the upper class of society 
requires finer weapons  than any ,mr4   
,spurgeon wields2 but he preaches to the
 people in a homely  style--and they    
like it1 for he is always plain1 and    
never dull4  ,then  his voice is        
wonderful1 of itself a thing worth going
 to hear1 and he has  a readiness rare  
in the pulpit1 and which is invaluable  
to an orator4  ,then1 again1 the matter 
of his discourses commends itself to    
uneducated  hearers4  ,we have done with
 the old miracle plays1 wherein ,god the
 ,father  appears upon the stage in a   
blue coat1 and wherein the devil has    
very  visible hoofs and tail2 but the   
principle to which they appealed--the   
love of man for dramatic representations
 rather than abstract  truths--remains1 
and ,mr4 ,spurgeon avails himself of it 

successfully4  ,another singular        
fact--,mr4 ,spurgeon would quote it as a
 proof of its  truth--is that what is   
called high doctrine--the doctrine ,mr4 
,spurgeon  preaches--the doctrine which 
lays down all human pride--which teaches
 us  we are villains by necessity1 and  
fools by a divine thrusting on--is      
always popular1 and1 singular as it may 
seem1 especially on the ,surrey  side of
 the water4    ,in conclusion1 let me   
not be understood as blaming ,mr4       
,spurgeon4  ,we do  not blame ,stephani 
when ,caliban falls at his feet and     
swears that he's 'a  brave god and bears
 celestial liquor4'  ,few ministers get 
people to hear  them4  ,mr4 ,spurgeon   
has succeeded in doing so4  ,it may be a
 pity that the  people will not go and  
hear better preachers2 but in the       
meanwhile no one  can blame ,mr4        
,spurgeon that he fearlessly and        
honestly preaches what he  deems the    
truth4        ,the ,presbyterian ,body4 
,,the ,,rev4 ,,john ,,cumming1 ,d4,d4   

,a tale is told of a fashionable lady   
residing at a fashionable               
watering-place1 at which a fashionable  
preacher preached4  ,of course the      
fashionable chapel was filled4  ,it was 
difficult to get a seat3 few could  get 
more than standing-room4  ,our          
fashionable heroine1 according to the   
tale1 thither wended her way one        
,sabbath morning2 but1 alas6 the ground 
was preoccupied4  ,there was no room4   
,turning to her daughters with a        
well-bred smile1 she exclaimed3 ',well1 
my dears1 at any rate we have done  the 
genteel thing6' and1 self-satisfied1 she
 departed home1 her piety  being of that
 not uncommon order1 that requires a    
comfortable  well-cushioned seat to     
itself4  ,for some reason or other1 it  
is now  considered the genteel thing to 
go to ,dr4 ,cumming1 and the consequence
  is1 that ,crown ,court ,chapel        
overflows1 and that pews are not to be  
had  there on any terms4  ,i should have
 said that nowhere was there such a     

crowd as that you see at ,dr4           
,cumming's1 if ,i did not recollect that
 ,i had  just suffered a similar squeeze
 over the way1 when ,i went to see the  
eminent tragedian1 ,mr4 ,brooke4    ,i  
believe the principle of there being    
such a crowd is the same in both  cases4
  ,the great mass of spectators see in  
,mr4 ,brooke a man of fine  physical    
endowments1 and a very powerful voice4  
,they are not judges of  good acting2   
they cannot see whether or not an actor 
understands his  part2 they have no     
opinion on the subject at all3 but ,mr4 
,brooke has a  name1 and they run to    
hear him4  ,it is the same with ,dr4    
,cumming4  ,the  intrepid females1 the  
genteel young men1 who go to hear him1  
are no more  judges of learning and     
ability than any other miscellaneous    
,london mob3  but ,dr4 ,cumming has a   
name4  ,carriages with strawberry leaves
 deposit  high-born ladies at his       
chapel4  ,lord ,john ,russell goes to   
hear him4  ,actually1 he has preached   

before the ,queen4  ,so the chapel is   
crammed1 as  if there was something     
wonderful to see and hear4    ,i confess
 ,i am of a contrary opinion4  ,i       
cannot--to quote the common  phrase of  
religious society--'sit under' ,dr4     
,cumming4  ,i weary of his ,old         
,testament and his high-dried ,scotch   
theology1 and his ,romanist             
antipathies1 and his ,millennial hopes4 
',you tell me1 ,doctor1' ,i would  say  
to him1 'that ,i am a sinner--born in   
sin1 and shapen in  iniquity--that ,i am
 utterly and completely bad4  ,why not1 
then1 speak to  me so as to do me good8 
,i care nothing for the ,pope6  ,immured
 as ,i am in  the business of the       
world--with difficulty earning my daily 
bread--,i have  little time to think of 
the ,millennium1 or to discuss whether  
the ,jewish  believer1 some two thousand
 years ago1 saw in his system anything  
beyond  it and above it--anything       
brighter and better than itself4  ,the  
student1  in his cell1 may discuss such 

questions--as the schoolmen of the      
middle  ages sought to settle how many  
angels could dance on the point of a    
needle--but ,i1 and men like me1 need to
 be ministered to in another way4  ,men 
who preach to me must not wrestle with  
extinct devils1 but with real  ones4    
,what ,i want is light upon the living  
present1 not upon the dead  and buried  
past4  ,around me are the glare and     
splendour of life--beauty's             
smile--ambition's dream--the            
gorgeousness of wealth--the pride of    
power4  ,are these things worth living  
for8  ,is there anything for man higher 
and  better8 and1 if so1 how can ,i     
drown the clamour of their seductive    
voices1 and escape into a more serene   
and purer air8'  ,and how am ,i to  know
 that these professing ,christians1 so  
well dressed1 listening with  such      
complacency while ,dr4 ,cumming         
demolishes ,cardinal ,wiseman--are      
better than other men8  ,as tradesmen1  
are they upright8  ,as members of  the  

commonwealth1 are they patriotic8  ,as  
religious men1 are their lives  pure and
 unspotted from the world8  ,i want not 
theories of grace1 but  what shall make 
men practically do what they            
theoretically believe4  ,it  is a human 
world we live in4  ,every heart you meet
 is trembling with  passion1 or bursting
 with desire4  ,on every tongue there is
 some tale of  joy or woe4  ,if1 by     
mysterious ties1 ,i am connected with   
the ,infinite and  ,divine1 by more     
palpable ties ,i am connected with what 
is finite and  human3 and ,i want the   
preacher to remember that fact4  ,the   
,hebrew ,christ  did it1 and the result 
was that his enemies were constrained to
 confess  that 'never man spake like    
this man1' and that the 'common people  
heard  him gladly4'    ,dr4 ,cumming    
preaches as if you had no father or     
mother1 no sister or  brother1 no wife  
or child1 no human struggles and        
hopes--as if the great  object of       
preaching was to fill you with ,biblical

 pedantry1 and not to  make the man     
better1 wiser1 stronger than before3    
perhaps it may be  because this is the  
case that the church is so thronged4    
,you need not  tremble lest your heart  
be touched1 and your darling sin        
withered up by  the indignant oratory of
 the preacher4  ,he is far away in      
,revelation or  in ,exodus1 telling us  
what the first man did1 or the last man 
will do2  giving you1 it may be1 a creed
 that is scriptural and correct1 but    
that  does not interest you--that has   
neither life1 nor love1 nor power--as   
well adapted to empty space as to this  
gigantic ,babel of competition1 and     
crime1 and wrong1 in which ,i live and  
move4    ,the service at ,crown ,court  
,chapel is very long2 the ,scotch       
measure the  goodness of their services 
by their length4  ,you must be well     
drilled if  you are not weary before it 
is over4  ,the chapel itself is a       
singular  place4  ,you enter by an      
archway4  ,the gallery steps are        

outside2 the  shape is broad and short2 
a galley runs on three sides1 and in one
 is  placed the pulpit1 which boasts1   
what is now so rare1 a sounding-board4  
,as no space is left unoccupied1 the    
chapel must contain a large number of   
persons4  ,the singing is very          
beautiful--better1 ,i think1 than that  
of  any other place of worship in       
,london4  ,there is some sense in that1 
for  the ,scottish version of the       
,psalms of ,king ,david is not one whit 
more  refined1 or less bald and         
repulsive1 than that of our own         
,sternhold and  ,hopkins1 or ,tate4     
,but1 nevertheless1 the singing is very 
beautiful4  ,dr4  ,cumming himself looks
 not a large man1 but a sturdy          
determined man1 with  good intellectual 
power1 and that power well cultivated1  
but all in the  dry ,scotch way2 though 
so little does the ,doctor's speech     
betray him1  that you would scarcely    
notice that his pronunciation was that  
of a  native of the ',land of ,cakes4'  

,he is young-looking1 his hair is dark1 
and his complexion is brown4  ,as he    
wears spectacles1 of course1 ,i can  say
 nothing about his eyes2 or1 as he wears
 a gown and bands1 as to the  robustness
 of his frame4  ,he looks agile and well
 set2 strong in the  faith1 and master  
of texts innumerable wherewith to       
support that faith4  ,a polished1       
graceful1 self-contained1 and           
self-satisfied man4  ,he may be  a man  
of large heart and sympathies2 but he   
has not the appearance of  one4  ,he    
rather seems a man great in small       
things1 tediously proper and            
scrupulously correct--a great gun1 ,i   
imagine1 at an ,evangelical             
tea-table--and1 with his ultra          
,protestantism 7he is a countryman of   
,miss  ,cuninghame's1 and every         
,scotchman hates ,popery as a certain   
personage  does holy water71 he is a    
tremendous favourite at ,exeter ,hall4  
,indeed1 ,i  do not know that there is  
at this time a more popular performer on

 those  boards1 and he is a favourite   
with people whose favour pecuniarily is 
worth something--with people who can    
afford to buy his books4  ,hence1  also1
 he is one of the most copious religious
 writers of our day4    ,it is vain to  
attempt to give an account of the       
,doctor's works1 when  'every month     
brings forth a new one3' their name is  
,legion4  ,there is  only one man who   
can be compared with ,dr4 ,cumming in   
this respect1 and  that is that         
notoriously hardened sinner1 ,mr4 ,g4   
,p4 ,r4 ,james4    ,i read in one place 
of ,dr4 ,cumming that 'he has everything
 in his favour2  his singularly handsome
 person1 his brilliant flow of poetic   
thoughts1  his striking talents1 and his
 burning ,protestant zeal1 combine to   
make  him one of the most interesting   
speakers of the day2 and when we add to 
all this1 his modest simplicity and     
humility 7qualities as becoming in  one 
of his years1 as they are rare in one of
 his powers71 we need not  wonder that  

he is generally admired and beloved4'   
,another admirer  writes3 ',when hearing
 ,dr4 ,cumming1 one is reminded of the  
description of  ,silver-tongued ,smith1 
one of the celebrated preachers of      
,elizabeth's  time4  ,but though the    
subject of our sketch is truly          
silver-tongued1 the  solemnity1 at      
times1 almost the severity1 of his      
manner preserves him  from anything like
 tameness4  ,perhaps there is not a     
firmer or more  fearless preacher than  
the ,doctor--a fact which has been      
proved over and  over again of late1 as 
his ,romish antagonists have found to   
their cost4  ,dr4 ,cumming's manner in  
the pulpit is pleasing4  ,he seldom uses
 any other  action than a gentle waving 
of the hand1 or the turning from one    
part of  his congregation to the other4 
,he is no cushion-thumper1 and depends  
for  effect more upon what he says than 
on the graces of action4  ,not that he  
is ungraceful at all--far from that3    
what we mean is1 that he is in this     

respect directly the opposite of those  
pulpit fops who flourish their  bordered
 pieces of inspiration-lawn in the      
pulpit1 and throw themselves  into such 
attitudes as compels one to believe that
 the looking-glass is  almost as        
essential a preparation for the pulpit  
as the ,bible itself4'    ,dr4 ,cumming 
is a warm supporter of ,establishments1 
a sworn foe of  liberalism1 which he    
declares to have 'charity on its mantle1
 and hell in  its heart4'  ,he is a good
 hater4  ,these things may fit him to be
 the idol  of ,crown ,court1 but do     
little more4  ,the large vision which   
looks before  and after1 which makes man
 a philosopher1 which teaches him to see
 the  good in all human developments of 
thought and action1 and calmly and      
lovingly to abide their legitimate      
results1 has been denied him4  ,the     
consequence is1 he has sunk into the    
apostle of a coterie1 and 'gives up  to 
party what was meant for mankind4'      
,,the ,,rev4 ,,james ,,hamilton1 ,d4,d4 

,it is a remarkable fact that a         
,scotchman has never led the ,house of  
,commons4  ,the real reason is1 ,i      
imagine1 that ,scotchmen are not        
generally  very oratorical4  ,the ,scots
 suffer from the fercidum ingenium which
 old  ,buchanan claimed for them1       
undoubtedly2 but it does not generally  
assume  an oratorical form3 it finds    
other ways of development4  ,it leads   
,sawney1  junior1 to bid farewell to the
 porridge of the paternal roof1 to cross
  the ,tweed1 to travel in whatever dark
 and distant land gold is to be had1    
and a fortune to be won4  ,but there it 
stops4  ,joseph ,hume was a model of  a 
,scotch orator4  ,there was not a duller
 dog on the face of the earth  than that
 most excellent and honoured man4  ,one 
would as soon listen to a  lecture from 
,elihu ,burritt1 or sit out a pantomime1
 as listen to a speech  from the        
,scottish ,joseph4    ,so it is with the
 ,scottish pulpit4  ,it is generally    
hard and heavy1  destitute of life and  

power1 abstruse1 metaphysical1 learned1 
and  consequently dull4  ,yet there have
 been splendid exceptions4  ,the fiery  
and holy ,chalmers was one1 and ,edward 
,irving was another4  ,the ,scottish    
,church in ,regent ,square was at one   
time a place of no common repute4       
,irving1 with his splendid face1 half   
fiend half angel--with his intellect    
hovering between insanity and genius1   
the companion of fanatics and           
philosophers--there        ',blazed the 
comet of a season4'    ,to this day his 
name yet lives4  ,in spite of the       
delusions and follies  with which his   
name was connected--in spite of the     
reaction1 the natural  result of all    
enthusiasm1 no matter what--,irvingite  
churches remain  amongst us to this     
present hour4  ,but at one time they    
threatened to  pervade the land4  ,all  
,london flocked to ,regent ,square      
,church3 the  religious world was in a  
state of intense excitement4  ,timid men
 and  nervous women went there1 ,sunday 

after ,sunday1 till they became almost  
mad4  ,unknown tongues were heard2      
strange sights were seen4  ,some thought
  the end of the world had come1 and    
were seized with trembling and fear4    
,it was a time of wonder1 and mystery1  
and awe2 but it passed away1 as  such   
things in this world of ours must pass  
away4  ,the great magician  died4  ,the 
crowd that had wondered and wept at his 
bidding1 went to  wonder and weep       
elsewhere4    ,under such circumstances1
 to attempt to fill the vacant pulpit   
was no  easy task2 and yet that it has  
been done1 and done successfully1 is    
evinced by ,dr4 ,hamilton's success4    
,it is a fact that he preaches there    
every ,sunday to a crowded church2 that 
there1 where there were divers          
prophesyings and bewilderment universal1
 now order reigns2 that the only  voice 
that you hear there now1 besides that of
 the preacher1 is that of  the          
precentor1 as he reads the bald version 
of the ,psalms1 to which the  modern    

,scotch stick as immovably as did their 
fathers to the ,covenant in  the days of
 ,montrose4  ,this is an undeniable     
fact4  ,nor does it surprise  you when  
the ,doctor makes his appearance in the 
pulpit4  ,at first1  perhaps1 you are   
rather surprised4  ,there is certainty  
nothing taking  about the man4  ,he     
looks tall1 strong1 and awkward1 with a 
cloudy face1  and a fearfully drawling  
voice2 a man1 not timid1 but not        
striking--plain  and unaffected--better 
fitted for the study than for the       
fashion of ,may  ,fair4  ,if you look   
closer1 you will see indications of a   
calm1 untroubled  heart1 with deep wells
 of fine feeling1 of tenderness and     
strength  combined4  ,but still the     
,doctor is not the man to make a        
sensation at  first sight--very few     
ministers are4  ,one can understand this
 in a way4  ,in certain families1 it is 
said1 the good-looking are put into the 
army--if fools1 into the ,church4  ,yet1
 generally1 the jewel is worthy of  the 

casket4  ,if the one be rich and        
beautiful1 the other is so as well4     
,plain and slouching as he is1 ,i am    
told the ,doctor succeeded in engaging  
the affections of a lady possessed of   
considerable property4  ,but this is  by
 no means remarkable3 clergymen of every
 denomination make as many  successful  
marriages as most men4  ,one would think
 that they took the  common wicked      
standard of wicked men1 and judged a    
woman's worth by the  extent of her     
purse4  ,i fear that there are as many  
fortune-hunters in  the ,church as there
 are in the world4    ,if ',hudibras'   
had been written in our day1 we should  
at once have  supposed that ,dr4        
,hamilton had helped the poet to a hero4
  ,like ,hudibras1  the ,doctor         
'scarce can ope      ,his mouth1 but out
 there flies a trope4'    ,he has been  
called the ,moore of the pulpit4  ,an   
admiring critic says of  him3 ',like the
 poet of ,lalla ,rookh1 he possesses    
vivid imagination1  brilliant fancy1 and

 sparkling phraseology4  ,his sentences 
are strings of  pearls1 and whatever    
subject he touches he invariably adorns4
  ,his  affluence of imagery is         
surprising4  ,to illustrate some        
particular  portion of ,scripture1 he   
will lay science1 art1 and natural      
history under  contribution1 and        
astonish us by the vastness of his      
acquirements1 and  his tact in availing 
himself of the stores of knowledge      
which1 from all  sources1 he has        
garnered up in his mind4  ,but plenteous
 as are the  flowers of eloquence with  
which he presents us1 their perfume1    
their  sweetness1 do not cloy4  ,we     
listen in absolute wonderment as he     
pours  forth a stream of eloquence1     
whose surface exhibits the iridescent   
hues  of loveliness--one tint as it     
fades away being succeeded by another   
and a  brighter4  ,and a pure spirit of 
earnest piety pervades the whole of the 
sermon1 the only drawback of which1 to  
southern ears1 being the broad  ,scotch 

accent in which it is delivered4'       
,perhaps this character is a little     
coloured4  ,something must be set down  
in it for effect4  ,still the           
characteristic of the ,doctor's oratory1
  whether in the pulpit or on the       
platform1 is poetry4  ,he is a prose    
poet1  and his genius makes everything  
it touches rich and rare4  ,as becomes a
  divine1 he sees everything through an 
,eastern medium4  ,he is at home in  the
 ,holy ,land4  ,jerusalem is as dear to 
him as ,london4  ,all the scenes of     
sacred story1 in the dead and buried    
past1 live before him1 and are  realized
 by him as much1 if not more1 than the  
most exciting scenes of  the living     
present4  ,he follows the ,christ as he 
treads the path of  sorrow--sees him in 
the manger--in the temple disputing with
 the  doctors--in the crowded streets   
followed by an awe-struck ,hebrew       
mob--alone in the wilderness--or dying1 
amidst fanatic scorn and hate1 a        
triumphant death3 and the ,doctor tells 

you these things as if he were          
there--as if they had but happened      
yesterday--as if he had come fresh  from
 them all4  ,hence there is a pictorial 
charm in his preaching1 such  as is     
possessed but by few1 and excelled by   
none4    ,this is also characteristic of
 the ,doctor's writing4  ,he has used   
the  press extensively4  ,i see he has  
just issued an account of one of the    
sufferers in that unhappy missionary    
expedition to the island of ,terra  del 
,fuego1 the result of which was the slow
 death1 by hunger1 of the  parties      
engaged4  ,his cheap series of tracts1  
entitled ',happy ,home1' are            
considered1 by the religious world1     
exquisite productions4  ,they are much  
in demand4  ,this1 however1 is easily   
accounted for4  ,the pastor of a rich   
,london congregation can always have a  
good sale for his works4  ,the  wealthy 
members of his church will buy them for 
distribution2 even the  very poor will  
make an effort to procure them4  ,bad or

 good1 they are  sure to have a         
respectable sale4  ,happily1 in ,dr4    
,hamilton's case1 this  respectable sale
 is deserved4  ,his publications have   
the same beauties as  his sermons4  ,it 
is to be regretted that the small       
tracts1 published by  well-meaning men1 
with the best of motives1 should be so  
little adapted  to that end4  ,in       
reality1 they do more harm than good4   
,the very class  they are intended for  
do not read them2 and those who do are  
precisely  the class that need to be    
stimulated into some life higher and    
grander  than your small tract-writer   
can generally conceive of4  ,it is to   
the  credit of ,dr4 ,hamilton that he   
does not disdain to write little books  
on  great subjects1 and thus seek to    
rescue the tract system from the        
contempt into which1 owing to the       
injudiciousness of its friends1 it has  
so extensively fallen4    ,we have only 
to add here1 that the ,doctor sides with
 the ,free ,scotch  ,church1 and that1  

of that remarkable movement1 he was one 
of the earliest  and warmest friends4   
,miscellaneous4      ,,the ,,rev4       
,,william ,,forster4      ,aristophanes1
 were he alive now1 ,i imagine1 instead 
of aiming his wit at  the philosophers1 
would have a turn with the theologians4 
,theirs is the  real cloud-land4  ,in   
spite of the inherent conservatism of   
human nature  in theology1 you cannot   
keep up the old landmarks4  ,nay1 such  
is the  perverseness of human nature1   
that the more you try to do so the less 
chance there seems of your succeeding4  
,to the reign of the ,saints  succeeded 
the madness and the profligacy of the   
,restoration4  ,lord  ,bolingbroke      
always said it was ,dr4 ,manton's       
,commentary on the #aaith  ,psalm1 which
 his mother1 much against his           
inclination1 compelled him to  read1    
which made an infidel of him4           
,holyoake1 the leader of the            
,secularists1 was brought up in the     
,sunday ,school at ,birmingham4  ,thomas

  ,cooper1 the author of the ',purgatory
 of ,suicides1' was a ,methodist local  
preacher4  ,william ,johnson ,fox1 who  
has done as much as any man to  destroy 
orthodoxy in persons of intelligence and
 position in society1 was  at one time  
pastor of an ,independent church4       
,sterling was long a  clergyman of the  
,church of ,england1 and poor ,blanco   
,white traversed every  point of the    
religious compass1 earnestly seeking    
rest1 and unfortunately  finding none4  
,is there1 then1 no religious truth8    
,is man ever to be surrounded by        
doubt--to be ever void of a living      
faith--from age to age to turn an       
anxious eye above1 and there see        
'no ,god1 no heaven1 in the void world--
      ,the wide1 deep1 lampless1 grey1  
unpeopled world'8    ,is it all dark    
cloud-land when we have done with this  
fever we call life8  ,religion is man's 
attempt to answer this question4  ,a    
church is an  attempt to answer it in a 
certain way4  ,the true church is the   

church  which gives the true answer4    
,but who is to decide8  ',the ,catholic 
and  ,apostolic ,church1' says one2 'the
 ,bible1' says another4  ,but1 then1 who
  is to decide as to which is the       
,catholic and ,apostolic ,church1 or as 
to  what the ,bible says8  ,in all these
 cases the final appeal must be made to 
the intellect of man4  ,but man's       
intellect grows with his growth1 and    
strengthens with his strength4  ,i am   
not to-day1 either in body or in  mind1 
what ,i was yesterday4  ,to-morrow ,i   
shall be a different man again4         
,changing myself1 how can ,i subscribe  
an unchanging creed8  ',excelsior' is   
my motto4  ,i believe that              
'through the ages one increasing purpose
 runs1      ,and the thoughts of men are
 widened by the process of the suns4'   
,and it is vain1 therefore1 that you    
seek to tie me to a creed1 or to        
stereotype what should be a growing     
faith4  ,my aim is loyalty to my        
conscience and ,god4  ,where they lead  

,i follow4    ,in some such way1 ,i     
imagine1 has ,mr4 ,forster1 late pastor 
of the  ,congregational chapel1 ,kentish
 ,town1 reasoned4  ,originally a        
minister in  ,jersey1 he was invited to 
the metropolis about twelve years since4
  ,at  that time he was an ardent       
,calvinist4  ,the investigation which   
led him to  abandon unconditional       
election1 the final perseverance of the 
saints1 and  the special influence of   
the ,holy ,spirit1 shattered the whole  
system of  opinions in which he had been
 educated1 and which he had hitherto    
faithfully upheld4  ,other changes      
followed4  ,his views of the ,trinity   
were modified4  ,the consequence was1   
when a new chapel was built for him1  in
 ,kentish ,town1 it was agreed that all 
definition of ,god1 ,christ1 and  the   
,holy ,spirit1 should be avoided1 and   
that the clause1 ',this place is        
erected for the worship of ,god1 as the 
,father1 through the ,son1 and by  the  
,holy ,spirit1' should be placed at the 

head of the deed4    ,after further     
investigation1 ,mr4 ,forster found that 
he could not even  subscribe to         
that--that he had ceased to regard      
,christ as a mediator at  all--and1     
consequently1 he resigned the charge of 
a church1 which1 owing  to his labours1 
had become flourishing and great4  ,now 
his banner bears  the motto of ',free   
,inquiry4'  ,he preaches in a handsome  
chapel in ,camden  ,town4  ,his church  
calls itself a ,free ,church4  ,it      
promises to be a  successful one4  ,it  
is well attended1 though it has much to 
contend  against4  ,the orthodox will   
not forgive ,mr4 ,forster his desertion 
of  their camp2 and the ,unitarians1    
who1 in their way1 are often as         
narrow-minded and dogmatic as the most  
orthodox themselves1 cannot  exactly    
hold out the right hand of fellowship to
 a man who professes to  be free--who   
claims to know no master--whose appeal  
is to the law and to  the testimony1    
rather than to the doctrines and        

opinions of men4    ,thus ,mr4 ,forster 
gravitates1 like ,mahomet's coffin1     
between heaven and  earth4  ,yet his    
condition is by no means a rare one4    
,that a large number  sympathise with   
him1 the attendance at his chapel is    
convincing proof4  ,coming out from the 
orthodox1 he bears testimony against    
them4  ,in his  farewell sermon to his  
,kentish ,town congregation he says3    
',how little  have the contents of the  
,bible to do with men's personal belief6
  ,how  seldom are men taught to rely on
 their own powers in the investigation  
of  the truth6  ,how few are the        
,christians who sit at the feet of      
,jesus1 or  frequent the apostolic      
college6  ,if ,dissenters have renounced
 the  infallibility of the ,pope1 have  
they not bowed their necks to a yoke    
almost as heavy and galling8  ,if they  
have given up the ,thirty-nine          
,articles1 have they on that account    
conceded to each other the right of     
judging all things for themselves8  ,if 

the ,trentine pandects are not  retained
 as the law of their religious faith and
 life1 are they not bound  by the       
,institutes of ,calvin1 the ,westminster
 ,confession of ,faith1 the  ,assembly's
 ,catechism1 the ,minutes of            
,conference1 and the ,sermons of        
,wesley--the creeds of chapel           
trust-deeds1 the ,congregational ,union 
,confession of ,faith1 or by the        
writings of ,howe1 ,watts1 ,doddridge1  
,gill1  ,fuller1 ,hall1 ,priestly1      
,watson1 ,channing1 and of other great  
men1 who  ought to be dear to their     
hearts1 but not lords of their faith8   
,are we  not all of us more or less     
guilty of this servility8  ,have we not 
yet to  learn that there is no via      
media--no middle way between ,reason and
  ,rome8  ,there is1 unhappily1 floating
 over us an invisible and unexpressed   
opinion1 to which all1 in the main1 must
 agree4  ,it hovers over the  pulpit and
 the pew2 over the church and           
congregation2 over the  professor's     

chair and the students' form2 over the  
family and the school2  over the ,bible 
and the ,commentary4  ,all thought1 all 
sentiment1 all  investigation1 all      
conclusions1 all teachings1 are         
controlled by it4  ,it  is this which   
checks free inquiry2 shuts the mouths of
 those who have  convictions which fit  
not the ,procrustes' bed1 according to  
which all  opinions are to be shortened 
or stretched2 makes hypocrites of those 
who  cannot afford to keep a conscience1
 or have not courage to brave the       
consequences of honesty2 turns the      
pulpit too often into the chair of      
restraint1 concealment1 or compromise4  
,wherever this tyranny is obeyed1  there
 cannot be much depth of conviction1    
vitality of sentiment1 growth  of       
knowledge1 and improvement of religious 
life4  ,if this principle were  applied 
to science1 it would paralyse all the   
energies of investigation1  and make the
 wheels of progress stand still4  ,if   
churches will not  respect individual   

liberty--will not let their ministers   
and members  investigate the            
,scriptures1 and theology1 the fruit of 
other men's  examination of the         
,scriptures1 as fearlessly1 impartially1
 and rigidly as  men inquire into       
,nature and the human results of        
searching into  ,nature--such as        
astronomy1 chemistry1 and any other     
branch of  science--then it is the duty 
of every ,christian1 in ,god's name1 and
 the  name of human nature1 to resist   
the imposition4  ,it may cost him       
friends1  income1 reputation1 station1  
and much which he highly values4  ,he is
  bound1 at whatever sacrifice1 to      
maintain his inborn and inalienable     
freedom4  ,in this way the yoke of the  
creeds would be broken4  ,the  churches 
would be turned into the seats of       
liberty4  ,a noble1 manly piety  would  
grow up among us4  ,the truth1 whatever 
it is1 would be discovered4  ,a new     
state of things would be instituted4    
,every man would be respected  as he    

rejected human authority over his       
conscience--refused to allow  uninspired
 men to make his creed as his furniture1
 his bread1 or  books--tested all       
opinions by the light of his own        
reason--chose to give  an account of his
 convictions1 or the use of his powers  
in obtaining his  convictions1 to none  
but his ,maker4  ,self-respect1 love of 
truth1  reverence to ,god1 benevolence  
to men1 call upon us all to stand by our
  native right and duty of searching    
into all truth contained in all  creeds1
 confessions of faith1 catechisms1 and  
all other documents1  whether human or  
divine4  ,the obligation lies in our    
power of searching  into whatever       
concerns our moral culture1 spiritual   
life1 and religious  duty4'    ,mr4     
,forster1 in accordance with the        
sentiments here advocated1 has left  the
 ,congregational body with which he was 
connected1 and has founded a  ,free     
,church4  ,whether that church will     
answer the wants of our age1 time  will 

prove4  ,if the work be good1 it will   
stand4  ,if it be better than           
old-fashioned sectarianism1 it will     
remain4  ,if it speak to the heart of   
man1 it cannot die4  ,mr4 ,forster has  
great qualifications for his task4  ,he 
is in the prime of life4  ,his manner in
 the pulpit is pleasing4  ,his  sermons 
evince careful preparation1 and the     
possession of a considerable  amount of 
intellectual power4  ,at times he rises 
into eloquence4  ,some of  his published
 sermons are inferior to none that have 
been published in  our time1 and have   
been received well in quarters where1   
generally1  little favour is shown to   
the pulpit exercises of divines4        
,though unwearied in the discharge of   
pastoral duties1 ,mr4 ,forster has      
found time for other labours4  ,of the  
,temperance ,reformation he has been    
one of the ablest and most eloquent     
advocates1 and often has ,exeter ,hall  
reechoed his impassioned advocacy in its
 behalf4  ,he carries abstinence  to an 

extent rare in this country1 and        
abstains entirely from the use of       
animal food4  ,at one time he was an    
ardent member of the party of           
,anti-,state ,churchmen1 of which the   
late member for ,rochdale is the glory  
and defence4  ,latterly he seems to have
 mixed but little with that body4  ,we  
can well imagine that his time has been 
otherwise occupied--that his  situation 
must have been one of growing difficulty
 and danger--that the  claims1 on the   
one side1 of a church orthodox on all   
great questions1 and  of truth and duty1
 or what seemed to him as such1 on the  
other1 must have  cost him many a weary 
day and sleepless night4  ,that he burst
 his bonds  and became free--that he    
tore away the associations of a         
life--argues the  possession of honesty 
and conscientiousness1 and fits him to  
be the  preacher of the free inquiry of 
which he has afforded so signal an      
example in himself4      ,,the ,,rev4   
,,henry ,,ierson4      ',can you tell me

 where ,mr4 ,fox's ,chapel is8' said ,i 
to a young gentleman  who had evidently 
been in the habit of passing it every   
,sunday4  ',no1  indeed1 ,i cannot1' was
 the reply4  ,i put the same question to
 a  policeman1 and with the same result4
  ,yet ,south ,place1 ,finsbury ,square1
  is a place of no little pretension4   
,it has been the home of rational       
religion for some years--of the religion
 of humanity--of religion  purified from
 formalism1 bibliolatry1 and cant4      
,there the darkness of  the past has    
been rolled away1 and the light of a new
 and better day  appeared2 and yet the  
scene of all this was unknown to the    
dwellers in  the immediate              
neighbourhood4  ,there is a light so    
dazzling that it can  only be seen from 
afar1 that close to it you can see      
nothing4  ,it may be  this is the light 
radiating from ,south ,place4    ',there
 is a religion of humanity1' writes ,mr4
 ,fox1 'though not enshrined  in creeds 
and articles--though it is not to be    

read merely in sacred  books1 and yet it
 may be read in all1 whenever they have 
anything in them  of truth and moral    
beauty2 a religion of humanity which    
goes deeper than  all1 because it       
belongs to the essentials of our moral  
and intellectual  constitution1 and not 
to mere external accidents--the proof of
 which is  not in historical agreement  
or metaphysical deduction1 but in our   
own  conscience and consciousness2 a    
religion of humanity which unites and   
blends all other religions1 and makes   
one the men whose hearts are  sincere1  
and whose characters are true1 and good1
 and harmonious1  whatever may be the   
deductions of their minds1 or their     
external  profession2 a religion of     
humanity which cannot perish in the     
overthrow  of altars or the fall of     
temples1 which survives them all1 and   
which1  were every derived form of      
religion obliterated from the face of   
the  world1 would recreate religion1 as 
the spring recreates the fruits and     

flowers of the soil1 bidding it bloom   
again in beauty1 bear again its  rich   
fruits of utility1 and fashion for      
itself such forms and modes of          
expression as may best agree with the   
progressive condition of mankind4'      
,and this religion of humanity is to be 
met with in ,finsbury ,square4  ,i am   
not aware there is anything new about   
it4  ,every school-boy is familiar  with
 it in ,pope's ,universal ,prayer2 but  
latterly1 in ,germany1 in ,england1  and
 across the ,atlantic1 it has been      
preached with an eloquence of  peculiar 
fascination and power4  ,theodore       
,parker and ,ralph ,waldo ,emerson  have
 been the high priests in the new       
temple1 which fills all space1 and      
whose worship is all time4  ,in         
,england1 as an organisation1 whatever  
it  may have done as a theory1 it has   
not succeeded4  ,here ,william ,johnson 
,fox1 originally a student at the       
,independent ,academy1 ,homerton1 then a
  ,unitarian minister1 and now the      

member for ,oldham1 and the ',publicola'
 of  the ',dispatch1' has been its most 
eloquent advocate4  ,if any man could   
have won over the people to it1 he1 with
 his unrivalled  rhetoric--rhetoric     
which1 during the agitation of the      
,anti-,corn-,law  ,league1 will be      
remembered as surpassing all that has   
been heard in our  day--would have done 
it2 and yet ,fox never had his chapel   
more than  comfortably full--not even   
when the admission was gratis1 and any  
one who  wished might walk in4  ,but now
 the place has a sadly deserted         
appearance4  ,you feel cold and chilly  
directly you enter4  ,the mantle of ,fox
 has not  fallen on his successor2 and  
what ,mr4 ,fox could not accomplish1    
most  certainly the ,rev4 ,mr4 ,ierson  
will not perform4    ,at half-past      
eleven service every ,sunday morning    
commences at the chapel  in ,south      
,place4  ,you need not hurry3 there will
 be plenty of room for  bigger and      
better men than yourself4  ,the worship 

is of the simplest  character4  ,mr4    
,ierson commences with reading extracts 
from various  philosophical writers1    
ancient and modern2 then there is       
singing1 not  congregational1 but simply
 that of a few professionals4  ,the     
metrical  collection used1 ,i believe1  
is one made by ,mr4 ,fox1 and is full of
  beautiful poetry and sublime          
sentiments2 but the congregation does   
not  utter it--it merely listens while  
it is uttered by others for it4         
,singing is followed by prayer4         
',prayer1' says ,montgomery 7,james1 not
  ,robert7--           'is the soul's   
sincere desire1      ,uttered or        
unexpress'd1         ,the motion of a   
hidden fire1      ,that trembles in the 
breast4'    ,mr4 ,ierson's prayer is    
nothing of the kind3 no fire trembles in
 the  breast while it is offered up4    
,it is a calm1 rational acknowledgment  
of  ,divine power and goodness and      
beauty4  ,then comes an oration of half 
an  hour1 the result of no very hard    

reading1 and the week's worship is at an
  end1 and the congregation1 principally
 a male one1 departs1 not much  edified1
 or enlightened1 or elevated1 but1      
perhaps1 a little puffed up1  as it     
hears how the various sects of          
religionists all1 like sheep1 go        
astray4  ,such must be the inevitable   
result4  ,you cannot lecture long on    
the errors of ,christians1 without      
feeling convinced of your own           
superiority4  ,the youngest green-horn  
in the chapel has a self-satisfied  air4
  ,beardless though he be1 he is        
emancipated4  ,the religion which a     
,milton could make the subject of his   
immortal strains--which a ,newton  could
 find it consistent with philosophy to  
accept--which has found  martyrs in     
every race1 and won trophies in every   
clime--he can pass by as  an idle tale  
or an old wife's dream4    ,mr4 ,ierson 
himself is better than the imaginary    
disciple ,i have just  alluded to4  ,he 
has got to his present position1 ,i     

believe1 by honest  conviction and      
careful study4  ,originally1 ,i think1  
he was a student at  the ,baptist       
,college1 ,stepney2 then he became      
minister over a ,baptist  congregation  
at ,northampton1 and there finding his  
position at variance  with his views1 he
 honestly relinquished his charge4  ,i  
fear such honesty  is not so common as  
it might be4  ,i believe1 in the pulpit 
and the pew1  did it exist1 our         
religious organisations would assume a  
very different  aspect4  ,the great need
 of our age1 it seems to me1 is         
sincerity in  religion--that men and    
women1 that pastor and people1 should   
plainly  utter what they think4  ,i     
believe there is a greater freedom in   
religious  thought than really appears  
to be the case4  ',how is it1' said ,i  
to a  ,unitarian1 the other day1 'that  
you do not make more progress8'  ',why1'
  was the answer1 'we make progress by  
other sects taking our principles1      
while retaining their own names3' and   

there was truth in the reply4    ,still1
 it is better that a man who ceases to  
be a ,churchman1 or a  ,baptist1 or an  
,independent1 should say and act as ,mr4
 ,ierson has done4  ,he will lose       
nothing in the long run by honesty--not 
that ,i take it ,mr4  ,ierson has       
achieved any great success1 but he gives
 no sign of any great  talent4  ,he is  
not the man to achieve any great        
success4  ,people who  believe his      
principles will stop at home unless     
there is in the pulpit a  man who can   
draw a crowd4  ,fox could scarcely do   
this4  ,such men as  ,ronge1 or ,ierson1
 or ,macall1 who lectured to some forty 
people in the  ,princess's ,concert     
,booms1 cannot do it at all4  ,mr4      
,brooke might1 if he  could be spared   
from ,drury ,lane--so could ,macready or
 ,dickens1 or  ,thackeray2 but in these 
matters everything depends upon the man4
    ,of course the first question is1   
thus emancipated--,why worship at all8  
why rise betimes on a ,sunday1 shave at 

an early hour1 put on your best         
clothes1 and1 mindless of city fog and  
dirt1 rush hurriedly to ,south  ,place1 
,finsbury ,square8  ,if ,i take the ,new
 ,testament literally1 ,i take  with it 
the command relative to the assembling  
of ourselves together1 and  have a      
scriptural precedent for a course       
sometimes very wearisome and  very much 
against the grain2 but with free reason1
 an emancipated man1  the case is       
altered4  ,i am in a different position 
altogether4  ,custom is  all very well  
to the holders of customary views4  ,i  
expect a secret  feeling lies at the    
bottom1 that1 after all1 church and     
chapel going is  good--that worship in  
public is a service acceptable to       
,deity4    ,it may be1 and this ,i      
believe is the great secret of the      
success of  churches and chapels1 that  
people don't know how to spend their    
,sundays1  especially in country towns1 
without going to a place of worship4    
,you  cannot dine directly you have had 

your breakfast2 you must allow an       
interval4  ,now1 you cannot1 especially 
if it looks as if it would rain1  and   
your best hat might be damaged1 fill up 
that time better than in a  place of    
worship4  ,so1 even ,mr4 ,ierson gets a 
congregation1 although it  is made up of
 people who see in him a man not a whit 
more qualified to  teach religious truth
 than themselves1 and who maintain the  
right of  individual reason1 in matters 
of religion1 to its fullest extent4  ,he
 has  no claim to being heard2 yet they 
go to hear him4  ,they claim the right  
of private judgment2 yet they take his4 
,worship1 in its ordinary sense1  they  
deem unnecessary2 yet they approach to  
it as nearly as they can4  ,such is the 
incongruity between the religious       
instinct on the one side1  and the      
logical faculty on the other--an        
incongruity1 however1  proclaiming that1
 reason as you will1 man is a religious 
animal after  all2 that he has the      
faculty of worship1 and must worship2   

that1 take  from him his sacred         
books--his ,shaster1 his ,koran1 or     
,bible--still the  heart is true to its 
old instincts1 and believes1 and adores1
 and loves4  ,true is it1 that man1     
wherever he may be1 whatever his creed  
or colour1  still        ',bound to the 
earth1 he lifts his eye to heaven4'     
,,the ,,irvingites4      ,are the days  
of ,pentecost gone never to return8     
,have miracles ceased  from amongst men8
  ,cannot signs and wonders still be    
wrought by men  filled with the ,holy   
,ghost8  ,the larger part of the        
,christian ,church  answers this        
question in the negative4  ,it teaches  
that the miracles are  dumb1 that the   
need of them has past away1 that in the 
fulness of time  the ,divine will was   
made known1 and that the ,church needs  
not now the  signs and wonders by which 
that revelation was attested and        
declared4    ,a large body1 however1 has
 lately sprung up amongst us1 holding   
opposite  views4  ,enter their churches1

 and1 according to them1 the gift of    
tongues  still exists--signs and wonders
 are still manifest--miracles are still 
wrought4  ,still1 as much as in         
apostolic times1 does the ,divine       
afflatus  dwell in man1 and the man so  
endued becomes a prophet1 and declares  
the  will of ,god in known or unknown   
tongues4    ,for some time past1 a      
magnificent ,gothic ,cathedral has been 
in process of  being built in ,gordon   
,square4  ,it stands near where once    
stood ,coward  ,college1 and where still
 stands ,university ,hall1 a ,unitarian 
,college1 and  not far from the         
,university ,college1 which a certain   
,ex-,lord-,chancellor  took under his   
especial care4  ,on ,christmas ,day it  
was thrown open for  the performance of 
the worship of ',the ,holy ,catholic    
,apostolic ,church1' a  body better1    
perhaps1 known to the community at large
 as ,irvingites1 or  followers of       
,edward ,irving4  ,originally1 ,i       
believe1 the sect sprang up in          

,scotland1 and ,edward ,irving merely   
joined it1 and the form of worship      
which now prevails was not fully        
established till after his death4       
,after  ,irving left the ,scotch        
,church1 the body took refuge in ,newman
 ,street1  where they have remained till
 the present magnificent place was      
opened4  ,there are to be seven         
cathedrals in ,london2 each cathedral is
 to have  four places of worship        
attached to it2 and to each service in a
 cathedral  appertain an evangelist1 an 
apostle1 a prophet1 and an angel4  ,the 
angel  is the presiding spirit1 an      
apostle seems to be what a bishop is in 
the  ,english ,church4  ,there is an    
apostle for ,england1 another for       
,france1  another for ,america1 and     
another for ,germany4  ,to every        
cathedral there  are twenty-four        
priests4  ,the angel is magnificently   
clad in purple1 the  sign of authority4 
,the next order1 the prophets1 wear blue
 stoles1  indicative of the skies whence

 they draw their inspiration4  ,the     
evangelists wear red as a sign of their 
readiness to shed their blood in  the   
cause4    ,the ,cathedral is well       
attended3 upwards of #ajjj communicants 
are  connected with it4  ,service takes 
place in it several times a-day1 and on 
the ,sunday evening a sermon is         
preached1 which is intended to enlighten
  and to win over such as are not       
connected with the church4  ,many       
distinguished persons are office-bearers
 in the church1 such as ,admiral        
,gambier1 the ,hon4 ,henry ,parnell1 ,j4
 ,p4 ,knight1 ,r4,a41 ,mr4 ,cooke1 the  
barrister1 ,major ,macdonald2 while     
,lady ,dawson1 ,lady ,bateman1 ,lady    
,anderson1 are amongst its members4     
,henry ,drummond1 the eccentric ,m4,p4  
for ,east ,surrey1 has the credit of    
being connected with this place2 but1   
while it is true that he is an          
,irvingite1 it is not true that he is an
  office-bearer of the church4  ,those  
who join the church offer a tenth of    

their annual income towards its support1
 and this promise1 it is  believed1 year
 after year is faithfully kept4  ,the   
,cathedral itself is an  evidence of the
 liberality of the people4  ,attached to
 the church is a  small1 but very       
elegant1 chapel1 which is to be used on 
rare occasions1  and which was raised by
 the ladies1 who contributed the        
magnificent sum  of #djjj pounds in aid 
of the work4  ,the chief beauty of the  
church1  however1 is the altar1 which is
 carved out of all sorts of coloured    
marble1 and is superbly decorated4  ,the
 service-book put into your hands  is   
called ',the ,liturgy and ,divine       
,offices of the ,church1' but ,i do not 
learn from the members of the body that 
they think themselves exclusively  the  
church1 and that there is no salvation  
out of their pale4  ,they  merely       
profess to be one portion of the church1
 to take within their  comprehensive    
fold members of all other churches2 and 
this1 to a very  considerable extent1   

has been the case4  ,the ,irvingites    
have taken their  converts not from the 
world1 but the church4  ,they have made 
proselytes1  not ,christians3 the       
members of other churches have come over
 to them4  ,in  their ranks are many    
,dissenters and ,churchmen1 and amongst 
their priests  are many who have been   
clergymen in connection with the        
,dissenters or the  ,church of ,england4
  ,they profess to be above the common  
distinction by  which sect is fenced off
 from sect--,catholic and ,protestant   
come alike to  them4    ,the ,liturgy   
appears to be compiled from the rituals 
of the ,greek1  ,anglican1 and ,roman   
,churches1 with a slight preponderance  
to the latter4  ,the apostle of the     
church is ,mr4 ,john ,cardall1 formerly 
a lawyer's clerk1  but called to his    
present office1 as he himself states1   
about twenty  years ago1 by the voice of
 prophecy4  ,this call is acknowledged  
by the  community4  ,he rules the whole 
body with irresponsible authority4  ,he 

is  the final appeal4  ,on his decision 
everything rests4  ,he claims spiritual 
preeminence over not only the churches  
in his own communion1 but over all  the 
churches of all baptized ,christians    
throughout the world1 nay1 over  all    
bishops1 priests1 and deacons1          
,anglican1 ,greek1 or ,roman1 not       
excepting even the ,pope himself4  ,the 
,liturgy and ,service-book is           
understood to be his compilation4  ,he  
has also published a work1 entitled     
',readings upon the ,liturgy1' which is 
privately circulated1 and is said1  by  
those who have seen it1 to be an        
interesting and peculiar book1          
abounding in the interpretations of the 
symbols and types of the ,old           
,testament1 and an ingenious endeavour  
to adapt them to the purposes of  the   
,christian ,church at the present day4  
,in the ,liturgy1 besides what is  found
 in that of the ,english ,church1 there 
are prayers for the dead1  invocation of
 saints1 transubstantiation4  ,the      

authority of the church1  the power of  
the priesthood1 and the existence of    
actual living apostles  to rule the     
church universal1 are acknowledged and  
enjoined4  ,the chief  minister of the  
church1 or1 as he is called1 the angel  
or bishop1 is ,mr4  ,christopher ,heath1
 who1 for many years1 carried on        
business in the  neighbourhood of the   
,seven ,dials4  ,he was also called     
miraculously to his  present post4  ,the
 other ministers1 of whom there are a   
vast number1 are  all well paid for     
their services1 on an average much      
better than many  ,london incumbents4   
,several of them have been military men3
 they are not  formally educated for    
their work1 but called to it4  ,they are
 not  man-made ministers--they claim a  
,divine sanction and power4  ,nor are   
they  taken from the well-educated      
classes4  ,they assert that the ,spirit 
may  qualify any man1 no matter how     
humble his occupation or his birth4     
,some  of them1 ,i am told1 have been   

tailors1 tinkers1 shoemakers1 barbers1  
but  are now filled with divine light1  
and may do the signs and wonders done   
by the apostles in an earlier day4      
,with apostolic pretensions1 these men  
are careless of apostolic  simplicity4  
,they must meet1 not in an upper room1  
but in a gorgeous  cathedral2 they must 
array themselves in grotesque garments2 
they must  have tapers and              
incense--,roman ,catholic forms and     
ceremonies4  ,one would  have thought   
that the name of ,edward ,irving would  
have been kept free  from such things2  
that his followers would have been above
 them2 that  they would as much as most 
realize the spirituality of ,him who    
dwells not  in houses made with hands1  
and whose temple is the lowly and       
contrite  heart4  ,genius like ,irving's
 would have lent grandeur to a barn2 and
 now  the master is gone1 and having no 
more an orator to enchant them1 the     
church worships in fretted              
aisles--treads mosaic                   

pavements--rejoices in  fine music and  
elaborate ceremonial4    ,thus always is
 it3 when nature fails1 men have        
recourse to art4  ,we have  no actors   
now1 but1 instead1 we have a stage      
splendidly decorated1  regardless of    
expense4  ,we put ,shakspere on the     
stage in a way that would  astonish     
,shakspere himself3 but we have no      
,shakspere4  ,is not this a sign  of    
weakness8  ,when a beauty betakes       
herself to jewellery1 and invests       
herself with borrowed graces1 is it not 
a sign that ,time is dealing in  his    
old-fashioned cruel way with the rose   
upon her cheek and the lustre  in her   
eye8 and is it not so with the          
,irvingite ,church8  ,is not its pomp   
and splendour a sign that it is not so  
rich in apostolic gifts as it  claims to
 be8  ,paul1 ,i think1 would hardly feel
 himself at home in ,gordon  ,square4   
,since the above was written1 the       
,census ,report has appeared4  ,it has a
  sketch supplied by a member of the    

,catholic ,apostolic ,church4  ,from it 
we  learn that that ,church makes no    
exclusive claim to its title4  ,it      
acknowledges it to be the common title  
of the one church baptized unto         
,christ4  ,the members of that body deny
 that they are separatists from the     
,established ,church4  ,they recognise  
the continuance of the church from  the 
days of the first apostles1 and of the  
three orders of bishops1  priests1 and  
deacons1 by succession from the         
apostles4  ,they justify  their meeting 
in separate congregations from the      
charge of schism1 on the  ground of the 
same being permitted and authorized by  
an ordinance of  paramount authority1   
which they believe ,god has restored for
 the benefit  of the whole church4      
,and1 so far from professing to be      
another sect1  they believe that their  
special mission is to unite the         
scattered members  of the one body of   
,christ4  ,the speciality of that       
religious belief--that  by which they   

are distinguished from other ,christian 
communities--consists in their holding  
apostles and prophets to be  abiding    
ministeries in the church4      ,,edward
 ,,miall1 ,,esq4      ,in these latter  
days men have come to think that no man 
has a right to  enter a pulpit unless he
 prefixes ,rev4 to his name--unless he  
wears a  white handkerchief round his   
neck1 and scorns to get a living except 
from  the revenues of the ,church4      
,with them a daw                 'is    
reckoned a religious bird1      ,because
 it keeps a cawing from the steeple4'   
,you have been ordained1 therefore some 
mysterious virtue attaches to you4  ,you
 have ceased to be a man1 and become a  
priest4  ,you live in a  different world
 to what we common-place sinners do4    
,the priest has a  different tailor to  
the rest of mankind4  ,we can tell him  
by his  superfluity of white linen and  
superabundance of black cloth4  ,we can 
tell him by the downcast eye and the    
short-cut hair4  ,we know him not by    

his works1 by the beauty of his living  
faith1 or the savour of his holy  life1 
but by his dress4  ,the tailor makes us4
  ,one dummy it adorns with  red1 and   
that is a soldier4  ,another it dresses 
in fashionable costume1  and that is the
 star of ,bond-street and the lion of   
the ball-room4  ,another it arrays in   
antiquated vest and sober black1 and    
that's the  divine4  ,manners do not    
make the man1 but the tailor does4      
,yet1 happily1 the world is not given up
 to universal flunkeyism4  ,we have     
still some who recognise the god-like   
and divine in man2 women not            
everlastingly falling in love with new  
bonnets1 or manhood not utterly  lost in
 the contemplation of new atrocities in 
the way of checks for  trowsers or      
stupendous collars for the neck4        
,strange as it may seem1 it  is no more 
strange than true1 that there are some  
who can see poets in  shoemakers or     
whisky-gaugers2 heroism in the daughters
 of fishermen2  philosophy in ,norwich  

weaver boys2 apostles in tent-makers or 
,jewish  sailors2 and something greater 
and grander still in the ',galilean     
,lord  and ,christ1' the faith in whose 
divine mission has made ,europe and     
,america the home of civilisation1 of   
intelligence1 and life4  ,faith in      
reality has not yet died out amongst us4
  ,there are still men who dare to  take
 their stand on living and eternal      
truths--who look beyond the crust1  and 
see the gem within--who see duty urging 
them on1 and become  insensible to aught
 else4  ,such men make                  
martyrs--missionaries--reformers2 on a  
small scale1 such are village  ,hampdens
 or ,miltons1 inglorious and mute4      
,such men are sure1 sooner or  later1 to
 have an earnest crowd of devotees1 to  
exercise a powerful  influence on their 
age1 to be the teachers and founders of 
a school4    ,of this class1            
undoubtedly1 ,edward ,miall1 the editor 
of the  ',nonconformist1' is one of the 
latest4  ,originally a student at       

,wymondley  ,college1 then 'settled1' as
 the phrase is1 at ,ware1 then the      
pastor of a  respectable congregation at
 ,leicester1 he was ,m4,p4 for ,john    
,bright's own  borough of ,rochdale1 and
 is1 as the ,times confesses1 a         
distinguished  ,nonconformist4  ,i      
imagine few of my readers require a     
description of his  thin and wiry frame4
  ,as a platform speaker1 or as a mere  
orator1 ,miall  is not very effective2  
he delights his admirers1 but he does   
not do more4  ,in the pulpit1 few men   
are more fitted to shine4  ,men enter a 
place of  worship under different       
feelings to those with which they run to
 ,exeter  ,hall or the ,london ,tavern4 
,in the one case you are in something of
 a  reverential mood1 and you are not   
disappointed by the want of physical    
power4  ,with eternity for his theme1   
the preacher soon causes you to  forget 
a feeble voice or a bodily presence not 
adapted for effect4  ,the  sermonising  
tone is in keeping with the pulpit1 and 

if every word seem to  have an air of   
preparation1 and to tell of labour1 you 
think that it is  only after mature     
preparation a man should speak of       
religious truth to  his fellow-men4     
,calm self-possession is essential to   
the sanctuary1 and  there you miss not  
the abandon which elicits the cheers of 
an excited  audience4    ,in the pulpit1
 ,miall could always command attention4 
,his manner1 if  somewhat artificial and
 prim1 evinced the possession of a mind 
earnest  and decided4  ,his language was
 nervous2 his views were broad and      
catholic4  ,you felt that the man before
 you was no reproducer of other  men's  
thoughts1 no worn-out echo1 no empty    
sound2 that the ,christianity  he       
preached he had found to be good for the
 intellect and soul of man2  that it was
 the foundation of all his knowledge2   
that on that1 as a great  fact1 he had  
rested all the hopes and aspirations of 
his life4  ,seemingly  void of all      
animalism--a rock with a gleam of       

sunlight on it--an  incarnate idea--a   
voice crying in the wilderness--a reed1 
but not shaken  with the wind--,edward  
,miall is an admirable illustration of  
what a man  with a principle may do4    
,it was a bold step for him to give up  
the  pulpit and to start a newspaper2 it
 was a still bolder thing to circulate  
that newspaper in the ,dissenting world1
 with unmistakable quotations from      
,shakspeare staring you flat in the     
face1 and to accustom that world1 used  
to a very watery style of composition1  
to language remarkable for its  elegance
 and power4    ,the effect was          
startling4  ,miall at once became the   
object of the  intensest hero-worship4  
,the old idols were utterly cast out and
  destroyed4  ,old gentlemen1 who had   
led a pompous life for half a century1  
suddenly found themselves of no account4
  ,their power had passed away as  a    
dream4  ,students in ,dissenting        
,colleges went over en masse to this    
second ,daniel4  ,it was a time of      

intense political excitement4  ,the corn
  laws taxed the poor man's food2       
,chartism reared its hideous head2      
everywhere angry discontent prevailed4  
,miall thought the time had come  for   
,christian men to interfere2 he felt    
that the struggle for political  rights 
was not inconsistent with the utmost    
purity of ,christian life2  that the    
,church1 by its sanction of existing    
abuses and its reverential  worship of  
the powers that were1 had done much to  
alienate the popular  mind from         
,christianity itself2 he felt that the  
,church1 loaded with ,state  pay1 would 
always be liable to suspicion1 however  
excellent her creed or  pure her clergy2
 and he felt1 therefore1 that in asking 
men's political  rights1 and the        
dissolution of the union between ,church
 and ,state1 he  should demonstrate to  
the world that ,christianity meant      
something more  than corn-laws1 or      
tithes1 or the celebrated ,chandos      
clause--something  more than a          

comfortable living for younger sons4    
,it is false to suppose  that ,miall    
left the pulpit when he left ,leicester4
  ,his labours in his  new sphere were  
but a continuation of his labours in the
 old4  ,in  everything he was unchanged4
  ,he was merely continuing his         
,leicester  work1 appealing1 not to a   
county-town1 but to the nation at large4
  ,he  had changed his platform2 but his
 mission remained the same4  ,instead of
  using a feeble voice1 he had recourse 
to a powerful pen4  ,his pulpit was  the
 editorial chair1 his church the        
,english race4    ,place ,miall in the  
pulpit1 and a glance will tell you the  
man4  ,you can  see he has been brought 
up in a divinity college2 he has all the
 prim and  unfashionable air of youths  
reared in such secluded spots4  ,his    
pale face  tells of thought4  ,you see  
in his small clear eye that thought     
crystallises in his brain4  ,his        
clenched hand1 his determined teeth1 his
  shrugged-up shoulders1 prepare you for

 the tenacity with which he clings  to  
what thoughts come to him4  ,on the     
hustings and elsewhere1 ,miall is  the  
same--not elated when applauded1 not    
depressed when reviled2  unbending1     
imperturbable1 mild of demeanour1 yet   
inflexible in purpose4  ,yet1 after all1
 his success has been more personal than
 in what he has  done4  ,who ever talks 
of complete suffrage now8--yet that was 
,miall's  darling idea when he first    
appeared in the political world1 and the
  ,association which calls him          
father--which is to emancipate religion 
from  the fetters of the ,state--it must
 yet be confessed by its most ardent    
admirers1 has got a considerable amount 
of work to do4    ,it does seem strange 
that so pale1 calm1 unmoved a man as    
,mr4 ,miall seems  to be1 should have   
wandered out of the pulpit and the      
study1 with its old  books and          
everlasting commentaries1 and exchanged 
all that elysian  dream-land for the    
fever of politics and the bustle of the 

newspaper4  ,it  seems stranger still   
that he should have succeeded1 that he  
should have  found favour with our      
turbulent democracy1 not partial to the 
use of  soap1 or particularly passionate
 in their attachment to abstract        
principles4  ,strangest of all is it    
that he should have managed to be       
returned as an ,m4,p4  ,we should have  
been the last to have prophesied for    
,miall such a career4  ,cato at the     
theatre1 ,colonel ,sibthorp at a ,peace 
,congress1 an ,irish patriot speaking   
common-sense1 could not surprise us     
more4  ,yet that ,miall has achieved    
what he has1 shows how much may be  done
 by the possessor of a principle4       
,miall is a principle1 an abstract      
principle embodied--that man is         
everything1 that the human being is     
divine1 that the inspiration of the     
,almighty has given the meanest of us   
understanding4  ,from the ,bible he got 
that principle1 and that is the         
unerring test by which every case is    

weighed and every difficulty solved4    
,in religion it led him to reject       
ecclesiastical organisations and claims1
  the traditions of the ,fathers1 the   
pretensions of divines--everything by   
which the priest is exalted and the     
people kept down4  ,in politics1 the    
same rule held good4  ,if all men are   
equal--if ,god has made of one blood    
all nations that dwell upon the face of 
the earth--what need for  aristocratic  
usurpation or the legislation of a      
class8  ,if all are equal  before ,god1 
surely they should all be equal before  
man4  ,thus1 when angry  ,chartism was  
asking for universal suffrage1 and the  
,church was preaching  contentment and  
the duty of submission to superiors1 and
 the danger to  religion when a man     
became political1 ,miall felt that the  
time had come  for him to step out of   
the conventional circle of the pulpit   
into a wider  and freer sphere1 and to  
show that ,christianity was not alien to
 human  right1 and that a man might love

 ,god and his brother-man as well4  ,it 
does seem strange now that men should   
ever have doubted so plain a truth4     
,how it was doubted some few years      
since1 only men like ,miall can tell4   
,miall's ,anti-,state-,churchism was    
also obtained by a similar process4  ,if
  there were no need of priests1 if     
every man could be a priest unto ,god1  
what need of ,state patronage and pay8  
,at the best they could but corrupt  and
 enervate the ,church4  ,it was teaching
 it to rely on a worthless arm  of flesh
 rather than on the living ,god4        
,with such views1 ,miall may surely be  
included in the ',london ,pulpit4'      
,tried by his own theory1 he is a       
legitimate subject for a sketch4  ,the  
truth he held in ,leicester he holds in 
,london1 and he is still as much a      
divine in the ',nonconformist' office as
 when he was pastor of an  ,independent 
,church4  ,occasionally he preaches in  
one or other of the  metropolitan       
pulpits1 and the studied discourse      

read--but read with  admirable          
distinctness--is of a kind to make you  
regret that ,miall is so  seldom seen   
where he is fitted to do so much4  ,if  
you have not an orator  before you in   
the common acceptation of the term1 you 
have before you a  master of argument1  
gifted with a clearness of expression   
and a high  order of thought1 rare      
anywhere1 especially in the pulpit      
now-a-days4  ,buckingham wrote of       
,hobbes' style1 that        ',clear as a
 beautiful transparent skin1      ,which
 never hides the blood1 yet holds it in2
      ,like a delicious stream it ever  
ran1      ,as smooth as woman and as    
strong as man4'    ,of ,miall's style   
precisely the same may be said4  ,it is 
always as clear1  sometimes as cold1 as 
ice4  ,as a still further proof of      
,miall's claim to  be considered a      
religious teacher1 witness his ',british
 ,churches' and his  ',basis of         
,faith1'--books eminently adapted for   
the age in which we live4  ,yet ,miall  

can speak to the poor1 and does so4     
,the teetotalers have built  a hall     
called the ,good ,samaritan ,hall1 on   
,saffron ,hill4  ,it is a low           
neighbourhood4  ,it is surrounded by the
 dwellings of the poor1 and it is       
erected there as a light for that dark  
spot1 by means of which the  drunkard   
may emerge into a higher life4  ,the    
last time ,i heard ,miall was  there3   
the room was full4  ,on a table1 dressed
 in an old blue great coat1  stood      
,miall1 preaching to men and women1     
gathered from the highways and  byways1 
from the crowds for whose souls no one  
cares4  ,surely that was a  finer sight 
than if1 arrayed in lawn1 he was        
preaching to the fashion and  wealth of 
,vanity ,fair4      ,,cardinal          
,,wiseman4      ,roman ,catholicism     
seems part and parcel of human nature4  
,luther was not  more a product of his  
age than ,leo ,x4  ,that one man should 
be a ,papist  seems as natural as that  
another man should be a ,protestant4    

,our sects  and schisms are not a very  
edifying sight4  ,the greater number of 
them  are eternally wrangling1 and      
uttering at the best but discordant     
sounds4  ,few of them make any provision
 for the sensuous1 for the love of      
decency  and order and solemn           
ceremonial1 which is characteristic of  
some minds4  ,many of them are actually 
contemptible when you come into close   
collision  with them1 and examine their 
working1 and watch their effect4  ,the  
harder1 the more literal1 the more      
matter-of-fact they are1 the greater  is
 the chance that some subjected to their
 discipline should rebel  against it and
 become converts to the ancient faith4  
,mr4 ,lucas was a  ,quaker till he      
became the editor of the ,tablet4  ,it  
is very probable  that ,robert ,owen may
 yet die in communion with ,rome4  ,the 
,roman ,catholic  ,church offers        
unity--rest for the tempest-tossed--and 
to the young and  the ardent and the    
impassioned an attractive worship and an

 imposing  form4    ,by the side of     
it--the ,protestant substitute for      
it--the ,evangelical  ,alliance seems a 
poor thing indeed4  ,hence it is that   
the cry of ,roman  ,catholic ascendancy 
has always been raised ever since the   
,church of  ,england appropriated its   
wealth and seated itself in its place4  
,it  always has been in danger from the 
,church of ,rome1 and it always will4   
,human nature is always the same4  ,what
 has grown out of it at one time  will  
grow out of it another4  ,heresy1 as    
,sir ,thomas ,browne well put it1  is   
like the river ,arethusa1 which in one  
place is lost sight of1 but only  to    
reappear further on4  ,each age has its 
own development4  ,each age but  repeats
 the past1 as the son in his turn       
reproduces the blunders and the         
youthful follies of his sire4    ,it is 
true we get wise1 and--                 
,departing leave behind us              
,footprints on the sands of time4       
,but the coming age will not take your  

wisdom--will not follow your            
footmarks--will experiment for itself4  
,tell your passionate son that the  fair
 face he now dotes on1 in ten years he  
will have forgotten1 and he  cannot     
believe you4  ,it is just as vain to    
believe that the section who  believe in
 ,rome will cease to do so4  ,roman     
,catholicism has some  congeniality with
 man1 and therefore ,protestantism will 
always be in  danger from it--and the   
more honest this ,protestantism is--the 
more it  takes its stand upon the truth 
and nothing but the truth--the more it  
relinquishes the political ascendancy it
 has assumed1 the greater that  danger  
will become4  ,cardinal ,wiseman is an  
illustration of this4  ,queen           
,elizabeth or ,oliver ,cromwell would   
have soon put a stop to ,cardinal       
,wiseman's career1 but they would have  
done so in spite of the principles  of  
religious liberty4  ,now those          
principles are acknowledged1 and        
,england  trusts in ,exeter ,hall--and  

,dr4 ,cumming4  ,protestantism may well 
be in  danger4    ,one ,sunday1 hearing 
that the ,cardinal was to preach at     
,brook ,green1  ,hammersmith1 ,i made   
the best of my way thither4  ,the church
 was crowded1  and ,i considered myself 
lucky in being shown by the woman who   
acted as  pew-opener into a good seat4  
,yet this good luck had to be paid for4 
',a  shilling1 sir1 if you please1' said
 the woman curtseying4  ',a what8' ,i   
repeated4  ',a shilling1 sir1 if you    
please1' was the reply4  ,the woman     
seemed to consider it so reasonable a   
charge that ,i of course complied  with 
her request4  ,at the same time1        
recollecting that for half that sum  you
 are admitted into what ,i suppose is   
considered the dress circle in  ,st4    
,george's ,cathedral1 ,i did think that 
sixpence would have been  sufficient4   
,the service was conducted in the usual 
manner4  ,it was  longer than that of   
the ,church of ,england as practised at 
,st4 ,barnabas1  and a good deal more   

attractive4  ,after mass had been       
celebrated1 there  was a hush1 and      
immediately a procession from the side  
door2 what the  procession consisted of 
,i cannot say4  ,my eyes1 and those of  
every one  else1 ,i suppose1 were turned
 upon the ,cardinal alone4    ,and first
 let me describe the ,cardinal's        
gown2--it was composed of rich  red     
silk2 besides he had a red cap1 which he
 laid aside when preaching1  and1 in    
addition1 he had a very handsome robe   
round his neck1 and a lace  or muslin   
gown of shorter extent than the red one1
 which came down to his  feet4  ,only   
that fluent writer the ,court newsman1  
or he who tells in the  columns of the  
,morning ,post of the finery of ,drawing
 ,rooms1 when the  beauty of ,england   
prostrates itself before royalty1 could 
do justice to  the dress the ,cardinal  
wore4  ,of course it was a grotesque    
one--but it  was a finer dress than that
 of an ,english ,bishop1 who seems all  
sleeves1  and if you do make an object  

of yourself1 the more striking the      
object is  the better--so that1 as far  
as dress is concerned1 the ,cardinal    
beats one  of our ,archbishops hollow4  
,i think also in his preaching he would 
be  more than a match for them4  ,him   
you can hear4  ,he is a tall1 stately   
man4  ,there is an air of power about   
him4  ,his voice is loud1 and brassy1   
and unpleasant1 but it is not           
monotonous1 and his action is very      
animated  and good4  ,he stands before  
the altar1 and takes a text which       
generally  forms an appropriate         
introduction to his discourse1 and      
delivers a  well-reasoned1 argumentative
 address1 not cut up into heads1 as the 
manner of some is1 but connected and    
complete4  ,with a fine voice1 the      
,cardinal would be a very effective     
preacher4  ,as it is1 he does very      
well4  ,i should say he has little      
imagination1 little sentiment1 little   
rhetoric1 but that he has great stores  
of learning and power of argument4  ,he 

is very plausible1 and seems very       
earnest and sincere1 he preaches        
principally of the peculiar doctrines of
 his ,church2 how it is the one on      
which ,god's ,spirit rests2 how it is   
the one true guide to heaven2 how it    
has the one true ,divine utterance1 to  
which1 if man do not listen1 he is  lost
 for ever4  ,the ,cardinal has a square1
 massive face1 with anything  but a     
pleasant expression4  ,he is yet in his 
prime4  ,his hair is brown1  his        
complexion fresh1 but inclined to be    
dark4  ,his eyes are concealed by       
spectacles4  ,a fat1 double chin1 and   
large cheeks1 minus whiskers1 give  him 
a very sensual appearance4  ,but it is  
not a pleasant sensuality1 the  jolly   
sensuality of a ,falstaff or an         
alderman1 the sensuality suggestive  of 
good dinners1 with good company to      
flavour them4  ,it is the sensuality  of
 a proud1 arrogant1 and imperious monk4 
,cardinal ,wiseman is by birth a        
,spaniard1 and by descent an ,irishman4 

,he  was born in #ahjb4  ,at an early   
age he was sent to ,st4 ,cuthbert's     
,catholic  ,college at ,ushaw1 near     
,durham4  ,from thence he was removed to
 the ,english  ,college at ,rome1 where 
he was ordained a priest1 and made a    
,doctor of  ,divinity4  ,he was         
,professor for a time in the ,roman     
,university1 and then  made ,rector of  
the ,english ,college at ,ushaw4  ,dr4  
,wiseman came to ,england  in #ahce1 and
 in the winter of that year delivered a 
,course of ,lectures on  the connection 
between ,science and ,revealed          
,religion1 which1 when  published1      
obtained for him a high reputation for  
scholarship and  learning in all        
divisions of the ,christian church4  ,he
 subsequently  returned to ,rome1 and is
 understood to have been instrumental in
 inducing  ,pope ,gregory ,,xvi4 to     
increase the ,vicars ,apostolic in      
,england4  ,the  number was doubled1 and
 ,dr4 ,wiseman came back as coadjutor to
 ,dr4 ,walsh1  of the ,midland          

,district4  ,he was appointed president 
of ,st4 ,mary's  ,college1 ,oscott4  ,in
 #ahdg he again returned to ,rome4      
,this second visit  led to further      
preferment4  ,he was made ,pro-,vicar   
,apostolic of the ,london  ,district1 in
 place of ,dr4 ,griffiths1 deceased4    
,subsequently he was  appointed         
coadjutor to ,dr4 ,walsh1 and in #ahdi1 
on the death of ,dr4 ,walsh1  he became 
,vicar ,apostolic of the ,london        
,district4  ,in ,august he went  again  
to ,rome1 not expecting1 as he says1 to 
return1 'but delighted to be            
commissioned to come back' clothed in   
new dignity4  ,in a ,consistory held  on
 the #cjth of ,september1 ,nicholas     
,wiseman was elected to the dignity of  
,cardinal by the title of ,saint        
,prudentia1 and was appointed           
,archbishop of  ,westminster--a title   
which drove silly churchmen into fits1  
and which  made even ,dissenters wild4  
,under the ,pope he is the head of the  
,roman  ,catholic ,church in ,england1  

and a ,prince of the ,church of ,rome1  
at which  place he now principally      
resides4  ,his sojourn in ,england is   
understood  to be but temporary4  ,he   
has published several sermons1 and a few
  volumes1 in support of                
transubstantiation and the other        
doctrines of the  church of which he is 
such an ornament4  ,but his literary    
reputation is  principally based on the 
series of lectures to which ,i have     
already  referred4    ,the ,cardinal has
 no great love for our age1 and little  
love for ,england1  if we are to judge  
by his epistle to his clergy on the     
,indian ,mutiny4  ,in  a sermon on the  
,social and ,intellectual ,state of     
,england1 compared with  its ,moral     
,condition1 published in #ahej1 he asks1
 ',are we convinced that  the real moral
 tone of society in every part is on the
 increase8  ,is it  not notorious that  
crimes1 and crimes even that were       
unknown among us a  few years ago--that 
deeds of violence which not even the hot

 passionate  blood of the ,south is here
 to palliate--that such crimes as these 
are  increasing in the great masses of  
our population8  ,is it not well known  
that the relations of the family are    
sadly isolated1 and that multitudes     
live without a consciousness of their   
sacred nature8  ,are we improving  the  
people in regard to these things8  ,are 
we doing anything to convince  them more
 thoroughly1 and upon true ,church      
grounds1 of their great duty  to ,god1  
to society1 to their families1 and to   
themselves8  ,i fear we must  answer no2
 and ,i will say boldly that there are  
reasons why it should be  so4  ,there   
are immense obstacles in the religious  
institutions of the  country to this    
being possible--because it is not in    
their power to come  home to the        
feelings1 to the affections of the poor4
  ,they raise not up  any who devote    
themselves to them--who sacrifice       
themselves for them--who  find a higher 
reward than man can give in making      

themselves servants of  the servants of 
,god4  ,and what is the visible result  
of this8  ,that any  great institutions 
which make us think that we are acting  
so powerfully  on the masses1 reach not 
to the very depths of the miseries which
 have to  be probed1 and which have to  
be healed4  ,we are content with raising
 the  position of the artizan1 with     
making him more intelligent1 with       
providing  him with the means of        
education1 with instructing him in his  
leisure hour  to store his mind with    
knowledge4  ,all this is good1 and yet  
the  institutions that work upon that   
class have not of their own nature a    
direct moral tendency4'  ,all this may  
be true or not1 yet it is clear  that   
the institutions which the ,cardinal    
would recommend1 equally fail1  so far  
as morality is concerned4  ,a           
,protestant is not less moral than a    
,catholic4  ,the population of ,england 
is as moral as that of ,france4  ,roman 
,catholic ,ireland can boast no         

superiority over ,protestant ,scotland4 
,luther has not to answer for all the   
sins of the world4      ,,the ,,rev4    
,,doctor ,,wolff4      ,there are some  
people who maintain the ,wandering ,jew 
to be a myth4  ,i  believe the          
contrary--that he exists amongst us1 and
 that he is known to  men as ,dr4       
,wolff4  ,i hope the ,hon4 ,mrs4 ,norton
 will make a note of this4  ,it is a    
fact of which she ought to be aware1 as 
should ,dr4 ,croly1 and  especially     
,dumas1 otherwise his wondrous tale will
 be incomplete4  ,yes1  ,dr4 ,wolff is  
the ,wandering ,jew--not the melancholy 
personage of the poet  and the novelist1
 but a fat jolly ,jew1 for whom 'the law
 having a shadow  of good things to     
come' has ceased to exist1 and to whom1 
if ,i may  imagine by his portly        
presence and unctuous face1 the good    
things have  already come4  ,we may look
 long ere we see in his countenance     
'the settled gloom      ,the fabled     
,hebrew wanderer bore1      ,that dared 

not look beyond the tomb1      ,that    
might not hope for peace before4'    ,on
 the contrary1 all seems peace within   
and without1 so far as ,dr4 ,wolff  is  
concerned4  ,had he any inward sorrow1  
had he been borne down by its  agony1   
had the accents of despair been ever on 
his lip1 and its terror  ever glancing  
from his eye1 he would have been a very 
different man4  ,nevertheless1 the ,dr4 
is the ,wandering ,jew1 but in reality1 
and not in  romance2 he becomes a       
,christian1 marries a lady of title1 and
 becomes a  clergyman of the ,english   
,church4  ,nominally1 he is not of the  
,london  ,pulpit4  ,he has a local      
habitation and a name1 but he is of no  
place4  ,he  is of an unsettled race4   
,i have no doubt but that he preaches as
 much  out of his own church as in it1  
and that he has as much right to be     
included in the ,london ,pulpit as in   
any other4  ,at this time his voice is  
often heard in ,london4  ,it really is  
surprising that the ,bishop1 or some    

admiring friend1 such as ,mr4 ,henry    
,drummond1 has never given him a        
metropolitan charge1 or built him a     
chapel somewhere in the vicinity of  the
 ,clapham sect4  ,one would have thought
 he would have done as well1 at  any    
rate1 as ,mr4 ,ridley ,herschell1 than  
whom he is a great deal more            
interesting1 and not half so heavy4     
,what is the ,society for ,promoting    
,christianity among the ,jews about8    
,what is ,exeter ,hall thinking of8  ,is
  ,dr4 ,wolff too fat for sentiment8    
,must female youthful piety lavish its  
tenderness on a younger man8  ,does a   
converted ,jew cease to be  interesting1
 the same as common ,evangelical        
curates1 when their hair gets  grey or  
their heads bald8  ,must a converted    
,jew1 too1 lose his charms as  he gains 
flesh1 as any ordinary ,adonis of pious 
tea-tables8  ,alas6 alas6  ,i fear these
 questions are to be answered in the    
affirmative4  ,woman is  woman          
everywhere1              ',as fickle as 

the shade1      ,by the light quivering 
aspen made'--    in cave ,adullam1 or in
 the select ,christian ,society of      
,camberwell--as in  the theatre or the  
ball-room1 or1 as ,mr4 ,bunn would say1 
in halls of  dazzling light4  ,i stop   
not to moralize over the bitter fact4   
,i merely  lament it2 and if ,i deduce a
 moral1 it shall soon be told4  ,it     
would be  but to bid the male ,cynthia  
of the pulpit make the best of his      
fleeting  popularity--a popularity      
fading with the first dawn of the double
 chin1  or the first bud of the grey    
hair4  ,dear brother1 such is your      
inevitable  fate4  ,stern destiny will  
make no exception in your favour4       
,other white  hands will be pressed as  
warmly as your own4  ,other lips shall  
speak  oracles1 or move the heart of    
woman to laughter or to tears4  ,for    
others1  divine eyes shall moisten the  
best ,french cambric1 and worsted       
slippers  shall be worked by fairy      
hands4  ,every dog has his day4    ,on  

his legs1 whether on the platform or in 
the pulpit1 ,dr4 ,wolff is one  of the  
extraordinary men of our time4  ,in     
shape he is somewhat of a tub4  ,wrap it
 up in black cloth1 put on it a big head
 with a fat face1 let that  face have   
small eyes1 a slightly ,jewish nose1 and
 be of a light  complection1 jolly and  
sensual1 and you have ,dr4 ,wolff4  ,to 
complete the  picture1 let the figure   
have a ,bible in his right hand1 and let
 him read  from it incessantly with a   
foreign pronunciation1 but with a       
musical  voice4  ,as a preacher or a    
lecturer the ,doctor is but an          
indifferent  model4  ,he gets off the   
rail as soon as he starts4  ,he gives   
you a  heterogeneous mass of raw        
material1 gathered in every country     
under  heaven4  ,he talks of ,bokhara as
 familiarly as we do of the ,bank2 he is
 as  much at home in ,palestine as we in
 ,piccadilly4  ,he begins a sentence    
with  ',as ,i was last in ,abyssinia1'  
as we should say1 ',when we were last in

  ,chancery-lane2' or he says1 ',as ,i  
was smoking with the ,schah of ,persia1'
  as we should speak of smoking a quiet 
pipe with ,smithers of the ,strand2  and
 then he loses himself1 shouts as if he 
were a war-horse going into             
battle--bursts out into unknown         
tongues--sings ,hebrew melodies in what 
the distracted ,puritan calls 'the      
blessed tongue of ,canaan1' and has a   
wild look in his eye as if he were      
speaking to his own people by the       
silent waters and ruined temples of     
,babel1 and not in a ,christian church  
and speaking to ,christian men4  ,the   
,doctor is a rhapsodist1 not a          
lecturer4  ,he belongs to the men who   
have died out amongst us1 to the  bards 
and scalds of ancient days4  ,he is out 
of place amidst the  conventional       
proprieties and ecclesiastical decorums 
of the modern  church1 and especially in
 that section of it which in this       
country is  honoured with ,state        
patronage and pay4  ,i wonder how ,dr4  

,wolff ever could  have become a        
clergyman--or ever settled down4  ,was  
it ,lady ,georgiana  that produced the  
wondrous change1 that tamed the rover of
 the desert1  and turned him into a     
husband and a rector8  ,it is wonderful 
what woman  can do1 yet even woman      
cannot accomplish everything4  ,she     
cannot make the  ,doctor get into a     
pulpit and preach a sober sermon in a   
sober way4  ,she  cannot alter his wild 
and eccentric nature1 which makes him an
 original1  almost a mountebank1 which  
in another man would be intolerable4  ,i
 must  candidly confess that with one or
 two exceptions no public man ventures  
so near the verge of absurdity as ,dr4  
,wolff4    ,my own opinion is1 that the 
,doctor1 as ,i have already stated1 is  
the  ,wandering ,jew4  ,it is only fair1
 however1 to give facts which would lead
  the reader to an opposite opinion4    
,the ,doctor tells us himself he was    
born in #agif1 in a little village in   
,bavaria1 at which place his father  was

 a ,rabbi4  ,at an early age1 long      
before the reasoning power was          
developed1 or before he had sufficient  
information to justify him in  taking   
the step1 he renounced the religion of  
his fathers1 and set up for  himself as 
a ,roman ,catholic4  ,after wandering   
about the country1 at times  working for
 a living1 and at times subsisting on   
the charity of friends1  he made his way
 to ,rome1 and became a student1 first  
at the ,seminario  ,pontifico1 then at  
the ,propaganda4  ,the ,doctor seems to 
have stumbled at  the doctrine of the   
,pope's infallibility1 and to have been 
compelled to  leave in consequence1 and 
tries to make out a case of hardship in 
his  dismissal4  ,he says he was        
dismissed without a fair hearing4  ,it  
does not  seem so4  ,in writing to his  
friends1 he had said he would always be 
an  enemy to the anti-,christian tyranny
 of ,rome4  ,no wonder then that ,rome  
dismissed him4  ,after wandering about  
the ,continent1 and learning to read    

and speak ,french as he rode on the     
rumble of ,mr4 ,haldane's carriage from 
,montauban to ,calais1 he arrived in    
,london in ,june1 #ahai1 and became     
,london ,agent to the ,society for      
,promoting ,christianity among the      
,jews4  ,in order that he might be      
better fitted for his work1 he spent    
some time  at ,cambridge under the care 
of the late ,dr4 ,lee4  ,his journeyings
 and  perils have been great4  ,he has  
been sold as a slave thrice1 condemned  
to  death thrice4  ,he has been attacked
 with cholera and typhus fever1 and     
almost every ,asiatic fever4  ,he has   
been bastinadoed and starved4  ,he has  
been carried away by pirates4  ,for     
eighteen years he has traversed the     
most barbarous countries of the world1  
and yet he looks as if he had  never    
known a sorrow or gone without a dinner 
in his life4  ,he thus sums  up his     
labours3--',i began in #ahba1 and       
accomplished in #ahbf1 my  missionary   
labours among the dispersed of my people

 in ,palestine1 ,egypt1  ,mesopotamia1  
,persia1 ,crimea1 ,georgia1 and the     
,ottoman ,empire4  ,my next  labours    
among my brethren were in ,england1     
,scotland1 ,ireland1 ,holland1  and the 
,mediterranean1 from #ahbf to #ahcj4  ,i
 then proceeded to ,turkey1  ,persia1   
,turkistaun1 ,bokhara1 ,affghanistan1   
,cashmere1 ,hindostan1 and the  ,red    
,sea1 from #ahca to #ahcd4'  ,in #ahce  
the ,doctor left ,england for a         
,missionary tour in ,abyssinia--thence  
for ,bombay--thence for the ,united     
,states4  ,in ,june #ahch he received   
priest's orders from the ,bishop of     
,dromore1 and became curate of          
,linthwaite1 near ,huddersfield1 where  
he had  the princely income of #bd      
pounds a-year--thence he moved in #ahdj 
to the  curacy of ,high ,ryland1 near   
,wakefield4  ,in #ahdc1 at the desire of
 the  ,stoddard and ,conolly ,committee1
 he undertook to ascertain the fate of  
those officers1 and entered ,cabul1     
where again he was in danger of death1  

but saved by the friendly power of      
,persia4  ,he is now rector of the ,isle
  of ,brewers1 ,somersetshire1 but has  
been recently in ,london1 lecturing and 
preaching4  ,hence his parishioners see 
but little of him4  ,he is here and     
there and everywhere4  ,the ,doctor     
should never have settled1 or if he did 
settle it should have been in ,london1  
where there is something fresh1 and     
wonderful1 and stirring every day4      
99 99 99 99 99                          
,,the ,,end4                            
99 99 99 99 99                          
,,john ,,childs ,,and ,,son1 ,,printers4
                                    99  
99 99 99 99             ,just           
,published1 price #cs4 #f;d41 bound in  
cloth1                      ,,second    
,,edition1 ,,revised ,,and ,,enlarged1  
,,the ,,london ,,pulpit4                
,,by                             ,,james
 ,,ewing ,,ritchie4    ,contents3 ,the  
,religious ,denominations of            
,london--,sketches of the ,rev4 ,j4  ,m4

                                        
,bellew--,dale--,liddell--,maurice--,mel
ville--,villiers--,baldwin              
,brown--,binney--,dr4                   
,campbell--,lynch--,morris--,martin--,br
ock--,howard  ,hinton--,sheridan        
,knowles--,baptist                      
,noel--,spurgeon--,dr4 ,cummins--,dr4   
,james  ,hamilton--,w4 ,forster--,h4    
,ierson--,cardinal                      
,wiseman--,miall--,dr4 ,wolff1 c4  c4   
99 99 99 99 99                          
,,opinions ,,of ,,the ,,press4    ,mr4  
,ritchie's pen-and-ink sketches of the  
popular preachers of ,london  are as    
life-like as they are brilliant and     
delightful4  ,the thought of  producing 
them was a happy one1 and has been      
carried out in the volume  before us    
with much agreeable animation4  ,the    
collection of silhouettes  herein       
presented to our contemplation will be  
especially acceptable1 we  conjecture1  
to our country cousins1 as a guide among
 the more generally  known of the       

metropolitan ecclesiastics4  ,it will be
 perceived at a  glance that the writer 
has familiarized himself with the       
subject1 before  undertaking its        
treatment4  ,chapter after chapter      
brings the popular  preachers of the    
,capital before our mind's eye in a sort
 of stately  clerical procession4--,the 
,sun4    ,without going so far as the   
late ,sir ,robert ,peel1 and saying that
 there  are three ways of viewing this  
as well as every other subject1 it will 
be  allowed that the clerical body may  
be contemplated either from within one  
of their special folds1 and under the   
influence of peculiar religious  views1 
or in a purely lay historical manner1   
and1 so we suppose we ought  to say1    
from the 'platform of humanity' at      
large4  ,the latter is the idea         
developed in ,mr4 ,ritchie's volume1 and
 cleverly and amusingly it is done4     
,one great merit is1 that his characters
 are not unnecessarily spun out4  ,we   
have a few rapid dashes of the pencil1  

and then the mind is relieved  by a     
change of scene and person 4 4 4 ,he    
displays considerable  discrimination of
 judgment1 and a good deal of           
humour4--,the ,inquirer4    ,there is   
considerable verisimilitude in these    
sketches1 though they are  much too     
brief to be regarded as more than mere  
outlines4  ,it is possible  however to  
throw character even into an outline1   
and this is done with  good effect in   
several of these smart and off-hand     
compositions4--,tait4    ,it is lively1 
freshly written1 at times powerful1 and 
its facts  carefully put together4  ,it 
bears the stamp of an earnest spirit1   
eager  in its search after truth1 and   
strongly set against affectation and    
pretence of every sort4--,globe4        
,some of the sketches are very          
good4--,literary ,gazette4    ,they are 
penned in a just spirit1 and are of a   
character to afford all  the information
 that may be needed on the subjects to  
which they refer4  ,the author's        

criticisms on preachers and preaching   
are candid1 and for  the most part      
truthful4  ,this book ought therefore to
 be  popular4--,observer4    ,they are  
written with vigour and freedom1 and are
 marked by a spirit of  fairness and    
justice--an admirable trait1 if we      
recollect how much the  spirit of       
partisanship governs such strictures as 
a rule4--,weekly  ,dispatch4    ,a      
sketch of the comparative force of the  
religious denominations in  ,london1 and
 notes upon the chief popular preachers1
 orthodox or  dissentient1 republished  
from a newspaper--we think the ,weekly  
,news and  ,chronicle4  ,the book1 which
 is written in a sufficiently impartial 
spirit1 will interest many people and   
offend few4--,examiner4    ,in this     
volume we have within a moderate space  
pen-and-ink sketches of  most of the    
popular preachers of the metropolis4    
,we are bound to say  that they are     
drawn with fidelity1 and that the       
admirers of each ,sabbath  orator whose 

mental lineaments are placed before us  
will easily recognise  the prominent    
features of the original4  ,although    
brief1 they evince  discrimination and  
talent2 a fluent style being one of     
their chief  recommendations1 not much  
space is devoted to each4  ,the writer  
only  reviews the most striking         
characteristics1 and his sympathies are 
manifestly with those who display most  
liberal and manly tendencies in  their  
religious expositions4--,sunday ,times4 
,what ,mr4 ,francis did some few years  
since for the parliamentary orators  of 
the age1 ,mr4 ,ritchie has in the volume
 before us effected for the  pulpit     
orators of the day4  ,in brief but      
graphic delineations1 he gives          
daguerreotypes1 as it were1 of the      
living manners of the chief popular     
preachers of various ,christian         
denominations4--,the ,church and ,state 
,gazette4                               
99 99 99 99 99          ,just           
,published1 price #cs4 #f;d41 bound in  

cloth1      ,,the ,,night ,,side ,,of   
,,london4                               
,,by                             ,,james
 ,,ewing ,,ritchie1                     
,,author ,,of ,,the ,,london ,,pulpit4  
,contents3 ,introduction--,seeing a ,man
 ,hanged--,catherine-,street--,the ,bal 
,masque--,up the ,haymarket--,canterbury
 ,hall--,ratcliff-,highway--,judge and  
,jury ,clubs--,the ,cave of             
,harmony--,discussion ,clubs--,cider    
,cellars--,leicester-,square--,dr4      
,johnson's--,the ,sporting              
,public-house--,the  ,public-house with 
a ,billiard-room--,the ,respectable     
,public-house--,the  ,hungerford ,music 
,hall--,highbury ,barn--,boxing         
,night--,the                            
,mogul--,caldwell's--,cremorne--,the    
,costermongers' ,free and ,easy--,the   
,southwark ,music ,hall--,the ,eagle    
,tavern--,the ,police ,court--,the      
,lunatic  ,asylum4                      
99 99 99 99 99                          
,,opinions ,,of ,,the ,,press4    ,we   

would wish for this little volume an    
attentive perusal on the part of  all to
 whom inclination or duty1 or both1 give
 an interest in the moral1  the social1 
and the religious condition of their    
fellow-men3 above all1  we should wish  
to see it in the hands of bishops1 and  
other  ecclesiastical dignitaries--of   
metropolitan rectors and fashionable    
preachers--of statesmen and             
legislators--and of that most           
mischievous  class of men1 well-meaning 
philanthropists4  ,the picture of life  
in  ,london1 of its manifold pitfalls of
 temptation and corruption1 which are   
here presented to the reader's eye1 is  
truly appalling4  ,no one can rise  from
 it without a deep conviction that      
something must be done1 ay1 and  that   
soon1 if the metropolis of the ,british 
,empire is not to become a  modern      
,sodom and ,gomorrah4  ,what that       
something is to be the writer does  not 
indeed indicate--that is not his object2
 what he aims at is1 to let  one part of

 the world of ,london know how another  
part of the same world  spends its days1
 ay1 and its nights4  ,the disease is   
laid bare by him1 it  is for others to  
devise the remedy4--,john ,bull4    ,mr4
 ,ritchie is favourably known to us2 nor
 do we think this little  volume will   
detract from his reputation4--,daily    
,news4    ,not ill done in parts1 it is 
not done in a fast spirit or affectedly2
  and the moral tone throughout is      
healthy enough4--,illustrated ,london   
,news4    ,mr4 ,ritchie's sketches are  
lively and graphic in style1 and convey 
truthful pictures of some of the dark   
phases of ,london life4  ,his book  may 
be regarded as supplementary to the     
,hand-books and ,guides of the          
,metropolis1 which lightly touch upon   
topics which are here specially         
described and vigorously commented      
on4--,literary ,gazette4    ,we have    
derived considerable amusement1 as well 
as some information1  from a perusal of 
this volume1 whose somewhat fanciful    

title is1 however1  very suggestive of  
its contents4  ,these comprise the      
haunts chiefly of  our night-roving     
population4 4 4 4  ,all that is known in
 the shape of  haunts and habits is here
 delineated with an unexaggerated       
fidelity we  must bear testimony to4    
,in effect1 the whole is a very gloomy  
and  forcible piece of word             
painting--literal1 true1 and graphic4   
,we accept  this little volume          
cordially1 and recommend it as warmly to
 the attention  of our readers4--,weekly
 ,dispatch4    ,the idea is             
excellent4--,tait4    ,this book is     
elegantly written2 the style is even    
simple1 and is  occasionally the vehicle
 of a manly pathos1 somewhat stern1     
indeed1 but  all the more real1 perhaps1
 on that account4  ,this book will be   
read with  pleasure and profit4--,weekly
 ,times4    ,in the ',night ,side of    
,london1' ,mr4 ,j4 ,ewing ,ritchie draws
 a most  painful1 but1 we have reason to
 believe1 not an over-coloured picture  

of  the fearful temptations which abound
 in our great metropolis4  ,the evils   
which seduce many a young man from the  
path of duty1 and keep down the  poor in
 their poverty and degradation1 are     
traced to the love of  intoxicating     
liquors1 and the abundant facilities    
which are afforded for  the             
gratification of that fatal passion4    
,mr4 ,ritchie writes in an  earnest     
manner1 and his book contains           
information which demands the  careful  
consideration of the moralist and the   
social  reformer4--,inquirer4    ,almost
 every line bears the stamp of truth1   
and the rising generation  would do well
 to take great heed to its revelations4 
,of old1 ,rome had  its public censor of
 manners1 and ,london needs such an     
officer as much as  ever did that       
ancient mistress of the world4  ,mr4    
,ritchie has performed  this office for 
us1 and the community owes him its best 
thanks4--,people4    ,there is a        
matter-of-fact reality about the        

sketches1 but they are  chiefly         
remarkable for the moral tone of the    
reflections4  ,generally  speaking1     
painters of these subjects rather throw 
a purple light over the  actual scenes1 
and say nothing of the consequences to  
which they lead2  ,mr4 ,ritchie is ever 
stripping off the mask of the mock      
gaiety before him1  and pointing the end
 to which it must finally               
come4--,spectator4    ,mr4 ,ritchie     
contents himself with a graphic and not 
over-drawn  description4--,economist4   
,it is written in a sketchy and dashing 
style1 and is a most readable           
work4--,sunday ,times4    ,the book is a
 good book1 and carefully written2 so   
much so1 that  notwithstanding the title
 and repulsive nature of the subject1 it
 may be  perused by all classes without 
fear of offence4  ,a knowledge of what  
goes  on in this huge metropolis1       
whether for good or evil1 is desirable  
for  all who inhabit or frequent our    
,modern ,babylon4  ,and1 as regards the 

dark  side of the picture1 ,mr4 ,ritchie
 deserves great credit for the tact and 
delicacy with which he has embodied the 
information which this book             
conveys4--,indian ,news4    ,mr4        
,ritchie has long been known as a clever
 writer in some of the  newspapers4 4 4 
4  ,mr4 ,ritchie possesses a fluent and 
clear style4--,the  ,weekly ,chronicle4 
,these graphic and powerful sketches1   
the result of keen1 extensive           
observation and high literary           
talent4--,alliance ,weekly ,news4    ,we
 hail ,mr4 ,ritchie as a social         
reformer1 and trust he will not merely  
rest satisfied with exposing1 but will  
seek at the same time1 by personal      
effort1 to illume1 ',the ,night ,side of
 ,london4'--,the ,weekly ,journal of    
the ,scottish ,temperance ,league4      
,we have kept ,mr4 ,ritchie's book lying
 on our table1 hoping that we might     
find an opportunity for making it the   
basis of an article on the fearful      
evils which it discloses4  ,we must be  

satisfied1 however1 for the  present1   
with recommending all our readers who   
are anxious to promote the  social and  
moral regeneration of our great cities  
to read it carefully2  and to remember1 
while they read1 that ,london does not  
stand alone1 but  that1 all our larger  
towns are cursed with abominations1 such
 as those  which ,mr4 ,ritchie has so   
vigorously and effectually              
described4--,eclectic ,review4    ,it   
sketches and spreads out before us many 
of the ,night ,scenes of ,london  with  
great vividness and truth4--,the        
,christian ,news4    ,it is a book of   
off-hand sketches1 but they afford the  
reader many truly  instructive glimpses 
of those apples of ,sodom and grapes of 
,gomorrah--the  amusements that are     
furnished for the metropolitan public by
 the vendors  of intoxicating           
liquors4--,evangelical ,repository4     
,anything of their sort more striking   
and vivacious cannot be conceived2  the 
more complete descriptions are as       

buoyant and racy as the briefer2 a  few 
strokes of the pen place a scene clearly
 before the mental vision1  and in very 
few instances can it be reasonably      
charged upon the writer  that he is     
sacrificing fact to fancy1 the literal  
to the ideal4  ,then  comes the caution1
 wisely insinuated1 the moral reading of
 the gay  illusion1 the exhibition of   
the interior corruption of the fruit1   
fair  and fascinating to behold4  ,so   
suggestively1 yet so skilfully1 is this 
done1 that we should not be surprised to
 hear that the perusal of this  volume  
had drawn away many votaries of vice    
from its debasing follies4  ,certain we 
are that the author's dramatic style is 
used with wonderful  effect1 and in a   
manner that we hope to see long employed
 on kindred  subjects and for kindred   
ends4--,weekly ,record4                 
99 99 99 99 99                          
,,london3 ,,william ,,tweedie1 #ccg1    
,,strand4