STREET-PREACHING.
THE other evening, as we are told in the Daily Papers, a person of clerical appearance, who was preaching to a knot of people in Carlton Gardens, was stopped, and his congregation dispersed, by one of the Police constables.
" The gentleman, in a subdued tone, said that he believed that he was com- mitting no offence in expounding the gospel to his hearers. The constable re- plied, that while he was holding forth, half a dozen pockets might be picked; and repeated his orders to the reverend gentleman to move on. '' The constable, of course, did his duty in enforcing a regulation of Police; but, if there is such a regulation, why is it not enforced in other instances? Why have we, every evening, the exhibition of" reverend gentlemen' holding forth to as many of the crowds that pass by Charing Cross as are idle enough to be attracted by the Stentorian lungs of the preacher ? Is it because the very good reason assigned by the constable for preventing a mob in Carlton Gardens fails of its cogency at Charing Cross? Or is it that there 'is a respect •of persons, and that the great apostle of the Unknown Tongues, and his deputies who vouchsafe to illuminate the pur- 'liens of Charing Cross,tare permitted to exercise a privilege de- -tied to the less distinguished members of their fraternity ? A laub is • collected last enough 'at %Charing Cross ; and the only difference between the mob gathered by IRVING himself, and one collected by the humblest of his imitators, is, that the gaping crowd assembled to gaze on a lion of the day will afford an ampler harvest for thieves and sharpers than the few stragglers assembled round an ass. _ Street-preaching is wholly unnecessary. The multitudes of churches, chapels, and meeting-houses, in every corner of this metropolis, are sufficient to accommodate all who seriously wish to perform the rites of religion. The churches, which are open to all, and where the poorest may, if they choose it, hear Christianity preached in its purest forms, are more than half empty ; and the only crowded assemblies are those where the preachers administer a sort of intoxicating draught, making religion consist in enthusi- astic impulses, and utterly disregarding it as a steady regulator of the duties of life. But even those who wish to have the benefit of this species of preaching, have ample means of obtaining it in places where the services of religion are conducted with decorum and solemnity. They can obtain it without forming a part of a crowd, full of idlers, scoffers, and thieves; one portion of whom are vacantly loitering, in place of prodeeding on their way and their business, another are turning the preacher and his effusions to (generally well-merited) ridicule, and a third are industriously diving into the pockets of their neighbours.
These exhibitions, then, as the Police regulations afford the means, ought to be put down wherever they appear. They are a scandal to religion, and injure its cause, by the ridiculous and indecent air which they throw over its ordinances. By preventing these " reverend crentlemen," great and small, from doing what no others of his Majesty's lieges are permitted to do—raising mobs in the streets—the greatest and most offensive of all nuisances would be abated: for what nuisance can be so offensive as the sight of a man, in the garb and attitude of a minister of religion, making himself; the character which he assumes, nay, the Holy Word which he profanes, subjects of scorn and merriment to every idle passer-by ?
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