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
A book might be written about Church Life. I can only say Dr. Temple
tells us, that such commands as those in Leviticus as to tattooing,
disfiguring the person, or wearing a blue fringe, should be sanctioned by
divine authority, is utterly irreconcileable with our present feelings.
The Bible is before all things the written voice of the congregation,
writes Dr. Rowland Williams. The Pentateuch was not written by Moses.
The Psalms do not bear witness to the Messiah. The prophecies are
histories. Justification means peace of mind, or sense of the Divine
approval. Regeneration is an awakening of the forces of the soul.
Reason is the fulfilment of the love of God. The kingdom of God is the
revelation of Divine Will in our thoughts and lives. The incarnation is
purely spiritual. In London pulpits the preacher best known and most
identified with Broad Church theology is Professor Jowett, whose great
theme is that eternal punishment is inconsistent with all that we can
conceive of the requirements of justice or the character of God. Dean
Stanley says no clergyman believes the Athanasian Creed, and treats many
parts of the Bible as mythical. Of Father Ignatius and his
eccentricities it is needless to speak.
The following statistics will interest many:—“There is a weekly
celebration of the Holy Communion at 169 churches, more than one-fourth;
daily celebration at 20, nearly one-thirtieth; early morning celebration
at 159, one-fourth; evening celebration at 97, nearly one-sixth;
afternoon celebration at 5; choral celebration at 63, one-tenth;
saints’-day services at 198, nearly one-third; daily service at 132, more
than one-fifth; no weekday service at 104, one-sixth; full choral service
at 128, more than one-fifth; and partly choral service at 115, nearly
one-fifth; giving a proportion of nearly half where the psalms are
chanted; surpliced choirs at 137, more than one-fifth; paid choirs at 88,
nearly one-seventh; voluntary choirs at 231, more than one-third.
Gregorian tones are used exclusively for chanting at 46, one-fourteenth.
The weekly offertory is the rule at 128, nearly one-fifth. There are
free but appropriated seats at 141, nearly one-fourth; free and open
seats at 65, more than one-tenth. The Eucharistic vestments are worn at
20, being one church in every 31; incense is used at 7, one-nineteenth;
the surplice is worn in the pulpit at 83, more than one-eighth; and 26
churches are open daily for private prayer.”
Dr. Sherlock, afterwards Bishop of Bangor, in his “Test Act Vindicated,”
published in the year 1718, tells us that in the year 1676, upon a
calculation that was made, the Nonconformists of all sorts, including
Papists as well as others, were found to be in proportion to the members
of the Church of England as one to twenty. That this is not the case now
shows how the Church of England has misused her opportunities, or else
that her claims have been rejected by the nation at large.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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