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Sept. 22, 1909. THE PRESBYTERi;
few passers-by in the desert of squares and streets
have the look of uneasy spirits risen from their graves.
It is appalling. After an hour's walk in the .Strand
especially, and in the rest of the city, one has the
spleen; one meditates suicide." TJiat was written
some years ago and perhaps London has changed
some, but not a great deal. It seemed as quiet on
Sunday morning as Edinburgh did on the preceding
Sunday, and that is saying a great deal. In the afternoon
in going to church 1 had occasion to pass along
the Strand, London's great thoroughfare. It was al
most deserted. On a week day it is one seething mass
of humanity. All this did not suit M. Taine and gave
him the blues- It had just the opposite effect on the
Christian. He rejoices to see the greatest city in the
world observing the Lord's day. About dark the
crowds begin to move and some of the penny picture
shows begin to open, and I saw a few saloons'open as
i returned troni church at night. But .during the daylight
hours of the Sabbath London is closed tight and
fast and the people are observing the day quietly.
I made every lawful effort on Saturday to find out
something about churches and church services. I
bought several papers hoping to find some church notices.
But I found none. I went to some Christian
publishing houses and inquired about churches and
services, but learned very little. I thought they could
at least tell me in what paper I could find church notices.
At last I appealed to the hall porter, who is a
walking bureau of information in these English hotels,
but he gave me very little light. I wanted to attend a
Presbvterian church, but I could not even locate one
I know there are a number of them in London. I
know too that there must be Some way of getting the
the information he needs in regard to churches. It
way. I thought of what would have happened if I had
not been interested in churches. I suppose I would
have just drifted as thousands do. There ought to be
some way even in a great city like London to bring
churches directly to the people, strangers and all. I
. know it is a great problem. I wondered, too, if the
stranger in our American cities finds it difficult to get
the information he needs in regard to churches. If
all ended in my deciding to gc to the morning service
at Westminster Abbey, which was not far from my
hotel, and to the evening service at Wesley's Chapel.
The service began at ten- o'clock at Westminster
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rvuucv. we, my ivieinoaisi irienas ana i, were
there on time. The congregation was not large, but
people kept pouring in until practically every seat was
filled. It seemed very strange to be worshipping
there among the statues of England's great men. It
is very much like worshipping in a cemetery. Nor
were they all good men, the men represented by those
statues and tablets. Some of them were bad enough.
Things get fearfully and wonderfully mixed over here
where they have a State Church. The nation's heroes
have monuments and statues in the churches and ca+
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invuiaui ic^diums ui wuitl iiid^ ii<*vc uccn ine moral
and religious character of these heroes. We have
been accustomed to associating good people with
churches. It is not so here. They went through
with the regular Church of England service, with all
sorts of intonations and incantations and with all
manner of vestments and paraphernalia. They say
OF THE SOUTH. 5
it is very beautiful. That may all be so, but my
poor soul would starve on a Cathedral service.
Canon H. Hensley Henson was the preacher. I had
read a book of sermons by him and had read much
of him. He is one pf the most scholarly and one
of the most thoughtful men in the Anglican Church.
But he is too liberal with the non-conformists to be
popular with the Anglicans. Recently he accepted
an invitation from Rev- T. H. Towett to sneak at some
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meeting in Digbeth Institute, Birmingham. The
Bishop of that territory immediately protested, saying
that Canon Henson had not gotten his permission
to speak in Birmingham. Canon Henson replied
that he was going to speak in a non-conformist church
and did not need the permission of the Bishop at
Birmingham. As a result Canon Henson is on trial
at this moment for going to Birmingham without
the Bishop's permission. I give this little incident
not only to show Canon Henson's liberality, but to
throw a little sidelight on conditions over here.
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me ii-Ai wus l v_or. 15: 1-4, ana tne-wnoie aritt
of the sermon was a defense of the historical gospel.
It was an evangelical and scriptural sermon and centered
about the cross. I was glad to hear such a
sermon in Westminster Abbey and from a man who
is considered a free lance. When I came out I was
rather shocked to find numbers of venders at each
gate selling post cards of the Abbey. Canon Henson
ought to play the part of Nehemiah for awhile and
drive them away.
But it was the evening service that interested me
most. That was at Wesley's Chapel. John Wesley
himself laid the cornerstone of that chapel in 1777,
during the days of the American Revolution, and he
was pastor of the chapel for a number of years. We
went a little early that we might see Wesley's monument
before service. Before I speak of that, let me
say a word or two about the old cemetery just across
the street from the chapel. It is called Bunhill
Melds Cemetery. Originally Bunhill was probably
Bonehill. This was the burying ground of the nonconformists
from 1640 to 1852. It is not very large
and yet 120,000 people are buried in it- They have
a way in London of digging graves fifty feet deep and
burying people on top of one another until it is full.
I believe I had rather be cremated. We went into
this old cemetery and stood by the graves of John
Bunyan, John Owen, Isaac Watts, Daniel Defoe, Susannah
Wesley, and other notables. We felt that
we were on holy ground. Tohn Weslev is not buried
in this cemetery, but in the little cemetery behind his
chapel. There is a very simple monument over his
grave. There is another and better one in front
of the church.
But the hour of service has arrived. The evening
service in all the churches over here is at half past six
or seven. The regular minister was on his vacation.
A very young man was supplying the pulpit.
There was a large congregation. The people did
not take the absence of their pastor as an excuse to
stay at home or run around some where else. The
congregational sino-ino- wac finocf T
o ~o ? o o t jl nay t utaiu
in England. Literally everybody sang. But these
English people just will not sing any tune that I
know. Even when I know the words, which is rare,
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