BOOKS.

UNORTHODOX LONDON.*

THE American practice of " interviewing " celebrated men, how- ever questionable its taste may be, is not without its value. Moreover, if statesman and others are willing to undergo an examination of this kind for the advantage of newspaper readers, it is hard to say why enterprising journalists should decline the office. We may add, too, that much depends upon the manner in which this kind of knowledge is obtained, and that which in one man's hands would be an impertinence, or at least an impropriety, may be not at all objectionable when undertaken by another. Dr. Davies, in this lively volume of what, without using the words offensively, may be best described as sectarian gossip, has endea- voured, in many instances, to correct his own impressions of a sect by a categorical examination of some of its members. In these rambles, therefore, through the religious bodies of London, he is able not only to relate how they worship, but what they believe. The papers composing the volume have appeared, with one or two exceptions, in the columns of the Daily Telegraph, and they are perhaps better fitted for serial publication than for continuous perusal in a volume. Slight and superficial such articles must of necessity be, and he who would soberly estimate the religious life of the Metropolis as it exists beyond the pale of the National Church, is not likely to gain from Unorthodox London the satis- faction which he seeks. The volume, however, contains much interesting information conveyed in a lively style, and the writer, considering the object he had in view, appears to have done the work well, and has won, we doubt not, the full approval of the readers of the Daily Telegraph.

The book consists of about fifty chapters, but as two or three chapters or papers are sometimes devoted to a single sect, the variety of the contents is not quite so great as might appear at the first glance. Yet it may boast of considerable diversity, and in the midst of much that is generally familiar—as, for example, the accounts of Dr. Cumming, Mr. Newman Hall, Dr. Brock, and the Rev. James Martineau—will be also found several highly curious and to most of our readers novel descriptions of sects which are probably unknown even by name. Dr. Davies in his vocation as

'Unorthodox London; or, Phases of Religious Life in the Metropolif. By the Rev. C. Maurice Davies, D.D. London: Tinsley Brothers. 1873. Daily Telegraph correspondent attended also the ministrations of some gentlemen whose sect, if the term may be used at all, begins and ends with their own congregations. Mr. Voysey is one of these solitary teachers, and Mr. Moncure D. Conway, of whom a vivid account is given here, has himself described the body in which he ministers as "almost the only—certainly the chief—free Theistic Society in London." There are bodies, again, which, although independent of any one teacher, are confined to a single congregation. Thus, for instance, the Seventh-Day Baptists have only one place of worship in Loudon, which was presided over until his death by Mr. Black, who is justly characterised by the writer as a profound scholar and a courteous gentleman. He informed me, says Dr. Davies, that he "thought in Latin, said his prayers in Hebrew, and read his New Testament lessons from the original Greek." We may add to this statement, that Mr. Black was an archmologist and a man of varied acquirements,—very simple-minded withal, and wholly unfitted, we should imagine, from our recollection of a pleasant evening passed in his company some years ago, to cope with the roughnesses of every-day life. Mr. Black was quite an enthusiast in his way, and lacked, so it seemed to us at the time, the common-sense required in every-day life. His learning was great, but it may be fairly questioned whether he knew how to use it wisely. This impression, which struck us very forcibly, is corroborated by the statements given by Dr. Davies. The congregation only numbered fourteen persons besides himself, the minister, and clerk, "to wit, six men, five women, and three children." For this little band an erudite and it is to be feared wearisome service was prepared,—" The portion of the Law read was the faithfulness of Phinehas, and the effect of the Hebrew pronunciation of the proper names was curious in the extreme. Long quotations were also given in the sacred language, and quite a lengthy discussion was introduced on

the subject of the dimidiated Van It seemed incredible that the congregation could follow this." They may, however, have benefited, as the old women did, by the blessed word "Mesopotamia." A great deal more of the comments and discourse must have been quite as difficult to understand. Dr. Davies notes, for instance, the use by Mr. Black of classical terms and foreign pronunciation. Even the text of the sermon which followed after a service of an hour and a half was read first in free translation, and then in the ancient Greek, with modern or Romaic pronunciation. "This, it should be mentioned, was part of a course on the 'Harmony of the Gospels,' commenced eight years since. A former course on a like subject occupied the preacher fifteen years! A course on 'Systematic Theology' commenced two years and a half ago, and according to the published pro- gramme embracing seven lectures, has not yet advanced to the end of number one." When we think of the three Seventh-Day Baptist children who were doomed to sit under this learned but tedious scholar, it is quite a relief to be told by Dr. Davies that on the occasion when he was present, they were undisguisedly having a game among the hassocks, while at a certain period of the discourse the women were asleep.

Do our readers know that Joanna Southcott has still her followers in London? Like the Seventh-Day Baptists they are very few in number, but not too obscure or insignificant to escape the eager investigation of the newspaper correspondent. The " Joannas " meet, it appears, in a humble room in Walworth, and the congregation on the occasion of the author's visit was limited to four,—that is to say, three believers and one heretic. One of the trio, a certain Mrs. Peacock, well stricken in years, has taken

Joanna's place, but she was careful to inform Dr. Davies, "It

ain't a material birth we look for, but a spiritual one." According to the same lady, the distinctive character of Joanna's work is the demolition of Satan's power, and they felt aggrieved that the

bishops to whom they have appealed for assistance in this good work have failed to respond. The letter sent to their lordships

was dated from "the Royal Manger." "Mr. Peacock, too, was

especially aggrieved with Mr. Spurgeon, to whom, he said, he had made a mild appeal at a Tabernacle tea-meeting, when Mr.

Spurgeon retired unceremoniously, and his deacons expelled Mrs. Peacock forcibly from the premises." One peculiarity of peculiar sects is the extreme length of their devotional services.

The Sandemanians, for instance, who are known to the outer world as having included Faraday among them, and one or two most able Indian officers, appear to be a depressed and depressing body. In London they number about one hundred members, and from Dr. Davies' experience of a service he attended in Barnsbury Grove Chapel he infers, if their worship does not

belie them, that they must be the most dismal people on earth. A monotonous service of one hour and fifty minutes was followed by

a melancholy sermon which lasted more than half an hour, and to this succeeded the Love Feast, before which, of course, the strange visitor had to take his departure. But not content with what he saw, Dr. Davies gained additional information from a Sandemanian, and learnt, among other things, that the feast is accompanied by the kiss of charity :—" At the love-feast each member salutes the person that site next to him on each aide. A delicate work, indeed, would sometimes be that of placing the brethren and sisters, if it were not ruled that they should take their seats by lot ; for the Sandemanians regard the lot as sacred."

It is not a particularly long stride if we pass from this sect to another almost as peculiar, but more popular. The Plymouth Brethren, like the Romish Church, boast of infallibility. They alone have the truth in its purity and simplicity, they alone are separate from the world, and consequently they only form the Church of Christ. If they cannot worship with their brethren, they generally decline public worship altogether, either with orthodox Dissenters or National Churchmen ; but there are, happily, shades of bigotry, and some of the brethren are less irrational and more tolerant than others. The Brethren do not allow that they form a sect, and yet they are divided among themselves, the Derbyites having excommunicated the Newtonians. As a sect, for such we must call them, they are remarkable for a reverent and diligent study of the Bible, and they are especially fond of unfulfilled prophecy. In the frequency with which they partake of the Holy Communion, which is called the breaking of bread, they come nearer to the practice of the Church of England than to that of the orthodox Dissenters. "The special object of the morning assembly," writes Dr. Davies, "(as I gathered at the door,) was the breaking of bread.' This was done in the most homely manner possible. A loaf of home-made bread was placed in common plates on a table in the centre of the room, divided into quarters, and passed round the benches ; each member helped himself or herself to a portion, literally " breaking " it off the quarter loaf. The wine was passed round in like manner in large common tumblers, the administration of each element being preceded by prayer. It was a simple ceremony ; but the idea could not fail to strike one that its very loneliness made it a close representation of the original supper in the long upper room and the daily bread- break- ings of the Apostles." The same thought occurred to Dr. Davies, who is himself a clergyman of the Established Church, when he witnessed the simple rites of the Christadelphians, a very exclusive body, with even more peculiar views than the Brethren in their interpretation of unfulfilled prophecy. They regard the immor- tality of the soul as a "Pagan fiction," believing that it can only be obtained through Christ for his true followers, and that the wicked after suffering punishment are utterly destroyed. On many other theological doctrines they are entirely at variance with orthodox Christians, but their differences seem to the writer to be mostly on paper, whilst in faith and practice he could trace no collision between them and many a sect with which his examinations have brought him into contact. "I believe," he adds, "if pushed home, the Christadelphian body would hardly consign all of us, except its very select numbers, even to annihilation,

—they charitably forego perdition." The same generous belief is necessary in examining the rigid doctrines of all narrow-minded dogmatists. The creed if exhibited in its plainness may be revolting, and yet with a strange inconsistency, it may be accepted by holy men and women, whose gentle, chari- table lives, and loving hearts show how little hold it has on their innermost life. Some hurtful influence such a creed possesses, no doubt, but less perhaps on those who receive it with urquestioning faith, than on the wandering sheep whom it repels still further from the fold. A very interesting chapter is devoted to the good work carried on by the Rev. Newman Hall in Surrey Chapel, which, as the writer truly says, is no mere preaching house, since under its shadow 5,000 children are taught upon the Sunday and 700 in week-day schools, by 450 voluntary teachers. A longer account is given of the Tabernacles presided over by Mr. Varley and Mr. Spurgeon, and perhaps there is no religious success of the day, within the limits of Unorthodox London, so remarkable as that achieved by the latter gentleman, whose coarse jests and unjust and unseemly comments upon the clergy of the National Church may be condoned, on consideration of the solid services he is rendering to civilisation and Christianity. To hear Mr. Spurgeon's remarks on those from whom he differs, we should say that he was painfully uncharitable, but his life, in contradiction to his bitter words, has been full of charitable labour. For like instances of successful ministerial power we scarcely know where to look, for the influence exercised by Wesley and by Whitfield was dissimilar in character. Wesley had powers of organisation and government of the rarest order ; he was a scholar, a logician, a man of the most varied knowledge, a gentleman by birth and education, and to these gifts and acquisi- tions be added that of pulpit eloquence. Wesley required a large range, and it was necessary that wherever he went he should be recognised as ayspiritual ruler. Whitfield, with a heart of over- flowing charity and a disposition full of the most exquisite tender- ness, was in creed a Calvinist, and herein there is a resemblance to Mr. Spurgeon, whom, again, he resembles in the gift of oratory and in the comparative lack of education. Here, however, the likeness ceases, for Whitfield's whole strength, and it was tre- mendous, seemed to be in the pulpit. Mr. Spurgeon's influence, on the other hand, although remarkable as a preacher, is more diversified than Whitfield's ; while from Wesley he differs in almost every respect, and his power, unlike that of either of them, - is exercised in a special locality. When we think of Mr. Spur- geon, we think immediately of the vast and commodious, if ugly building, known as the Metropolitan Tabernacle, over which this Protestant Pope (if the two words can be placed in conjunction) holds unquestioned supremacy. "Certainly no sys- tem of direction that ever was organised could equal the hold which by means of his elders and deacons this pastor has over his

flock. have 4,200 members on my church books,' said he, and if one of them got tipsy, I should probably hear of it before the week was out."

Many thoughts, some sad enough, some far otherwise, will occur to the reader of these interesting pages. He may be vexed with human nature when be observes the miserable trifles which are allowed to create a discord between men whose faith is the same on all great points, but he will allow scope for diversity, and feel charitable towards all but the intolerant, when he reflects that if truth is but one in substance, it has many aspects, and presents itself differently to different minds.