The Religious Life of LondonRitchie, J. Ewing (James Ewing)
Religion
The Religious Life of London
Ritchie, J. Ewing (James Ewing)
London (England) -- Religion; Religious thought -- England -- London
The Campbellites do seek to guard against this danger. It is the Church
that sings. It is the Church that worships. All Christian worship is in
Scripture confined to Christians, and necessarily so, for worship offered
by any one else is not Christian. Thus it is only on the faithful in
Christ Jesus that the various items of Christian worship are enjoined:
they are profaned and prostituted when applied to any others. In the
morning of the Sabbath the Church meets by itself to break bread and sing
and pray; on such occasions the members exhort and edify one another. In
the evening the service is of a more general character; appeals are made
to the unconverted, and they are invited to attend.
“All you that are weary and sad come,
And you that are cheerful and glad come,
In robes of humility clad come,
Away from the waters of strife.
Let youth in the freshness of bloom come,
Let man in the pride of his noon come,
Let age on the verge of the tomb come,
Let none in their pride stay away.”
As a matter of fact, the unconverted do not avail themselves of the
offer. It is a small place of meeting, the Milton Hall, but it is quite
large enough, and more than large enough for the church and congregation.
One brother prays and reads the Scriptures and gives out a hymn, another
brother delivers an address, another brother concludes with prayer, and
then there is a prayer-meeting after. The advantage of the Campbellites
seems to me that they are only a little duller than their neighbours.
The little ones around me, when I attended, found it hard to keep awake,
and yet the service is short. It commences at seven and closes a little
after eight. As they have no paid ministry, as their elders and deacons
take the chief parts in the service, even after supporting an evangelist
their expenses are not heavy, and in this they find a plausible plea.
If, say they, half a dozen churches are built where one would be enough,
and half a dozen ministers are kept where only one is required, clearly
in consequence of these divisions amongst brethren, there is a lamentable
waste of money and power and spiritual influence. Unfortunately, as
regards London there is no force in the plea, and will not be till the
time comes when the various sections of the Christian Church shall have
made all necessary provision for the spiritual wants of the metropolis.
THE MORMONS.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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