A Tale of One City: the New Birmingham: Papers Reprinted from the "Midland Counties Herald"Anderton, Thomas
History
A Tale of One City: the New Birmingham: Papers Reprinted from the "Midland Counties Herald"
Anderton, Thomas
Birmingham (England); Birmingham (England) -- Social life and customs
Owing to the lack of monetary support the Birmingham Bishopric Scheme
is dead, or in such a very sound trance that it is hardly likely to
revive. At its birth it was not very strong, and its early existence was
jeopardised by conflicting ideas among its sponsors, chiefly caused by
the difficulties in the way of raising all the money required.
Birmingham, therefore, had to settle itself down and be content with a
Suffragan Bishop, at least for a time, and this, it is thought, may
prove to be a good long time.
In connection with the Birmingham Unitarians I may here, perhaps,
appropriately allude to a matter connected with the growth of our modern
city. The New Meeting House of the Unitarians in which Dr. Priestley
ministered was situated on the east side of the town, and as the
congregation was migrating westward they desired to have their place--I
won't say of worship, but their place of meeting, nearer to their homes.
Moreover, moved by the advancing spirit of the age, they wished for a
more important and ornamental looking edifice than the extremely plain,
I might say ugly, structure which their fathers had attended. Unitarians
may appear to be rather rigid and frigid, but they have an intelligent
appreciation of art and beauty.
Accordingly some forty years ago they selected a site on the west side
of the town, and erected what was then considered a handsome place of
meeting, which they called the Church of the Messiah, and which was
opened in 1862. The architect of this Church did not seem to be unduly
weighed down with Unitarian ideas. By accident or design he marked the
edifice with emblems of the Trinity, for at the very entrance there is a
large opening encircling three arches, which are suggestively
emblematical of the Three in One.
The building of this somewhat florid structure, and the move of the
Unitarian church from east to west, provoked a considerable amount of
caustic comment and humorous criticism at the time. These advanced
Unitarians were scoffed and sneered at for deserting the simple
tabernacle of their ancestors, and one which was associated with the
revered name of Dr. Priestley. They were also mocked for their greater
iniquity in selling their tabernacle to the Papists. Yes, the New
Meeting House of the Unitarians became a chapel of the Roman Catholics.
They rendered to the priests the things that were Priestley's, as they
were reminded by a facetious paper published at the time. But, however
much the Unitarians may have been chaffed and sneered at for abandoning
their old conventicle, they have lived it all down, and, if I mistake
not, Joseph and his brethren, the Kenricks, the Oslers, the Beales, and
others, now congregate in peace in their un-Unitarian-looking Church of
the Messiah.
VII.
MR. CHAMBERLAIN'S ASSOCIATES.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account