LONDON, AND A SUNDAY THERE

Otago Witness, Issue 2810, 22 January 1908, Page 97

LONDON, AND A SUNDAY THERE

C*i By Rev. William Thomson*. In the middle of June there were in London 500,000 visitors— more than half the population of New Zealand. One "wonders what is the attraction. The explanation is that^ London has a peculiar spirit, which pervades the whole city : it is felt in every street, it seizes the receptive stranger, and is to most people^ a_ transformation, an inspiration, a blessing. It combines in itself the interest of ages, of civilisations, and all the varied ra«es of mankind. Babylon, Athens, Rome, Jerusalem, Paris, and New York, united in their literatures, laws, traditions, and activities purely humanitarian, would fall immeasurably short of modern London, and London is the incarnation of the typical Englishman. TO DESCRIBE JOHN BULL is somewhat difficult. He has many strains in his blood, some of which date back for thousands of years, others being more recent. It has taken the Roman, the Celt, the Saxon, and a few more to produce him, "but they have made him the best 1 fellow in the world. There is no man on the face of the planet who i& so tolerant as the -average Englishman. He loves liberty, is religious, but cares little about ecclesiasticisms, ie a ebead- ■ fast friend, remarkably truthful, honest and upright in his dealings ; and when you breathe the spirit of London, you ! will remember this greatest of all cities ' to be the creation of the greatest of men — the typical Englishman. The partners across the Tweed -and St. George's Channel are, of course, included. What is best in them is imported and assimilated in the life of the great capital. One has , only to live in London to realise how much Great Britain does for 'the world in the way of government, philanthropy, civilisation, progress, and liberty. The late Mr Bayard (American Ambassador) somewhat annoyed the good people of Wilmington when he described how one policeman could Tegulate the enormous traffic at Ludgate Circus by the movement of his hand : He raised it and every vehicle stopped — again, he gave the signal, and everyone moved on. The fact is that every London policeman has the ability which, if carefully developed, would qualify him to *h* the governor of one of the distant colonies. THE REV. R. J. CAMPBELL, of City Temple _fame, was the first I li&tened to on * Sunday after arriving in London. I reached the Temple about 10.30 a.m., and found a considerable crowd, mostly strangers, waiting for admission. Through the kindness of an office-beaTer I secured a very good seat. By 11 o'clock every pew was ' occupied. The choir were in uniform, and the women wore trenchers. The organ had a very fine tone, and was well played, but a cornet was also used, and I was told that it greatly helped the singing, which was thoroughly congregational. The intimations were of the usual kind, but there was one which must have astonished everyone who heard it. It astonished Mr Campbell, who said he never had. a request of the same kind before. It was tbis: There was a man in the congregation that morning who was meditating suicide on account of business troubles, and he requested the prayers of . the congregation on hie behalf. This was the first request of the kind made in the City Temple, and .some people, as the preacher said, "might think it out of t)1-ace : still, don't let us be too sure. May it not afford strong evidence of the ■duplex nature of man? One part- seeks to asrjire ; the other is of the earth--earthy,—and 'between the two there _is constant strife. How easy, but how sinfully, some people drift into censoriousness and- hor-sh judgment when one lapses from the right path — but _ j » "They know not what's resisted — " Don't let us be too sure," said Mr Campbell, and those who have some knowledge of mankind will agree with him. Thb Sermon. was on the Prodigal Son, and was the best I had ever heard on the subject. The elder brother was not condemned' as preachers have frequently condemned him. Even Professor Drummond fell, into tins mistake and failed altogether to 'explain bis actions: Jesus «did not condemn him The son's eondract was perfectly natural, and arose from a want of knowledge of* the father's ways. He would limit God to act within the accepted proprieties and respectabilities of a wellknown formula, and herein lay the error. It was judgment through lack of the knowledge of God and man, and failing to understand human nature, it is not likely fae could sympatlhise with Divine methods — a good man up to his measure, but so limited, narrow, stunted that his example and wor-ds are a hindrance to ; the ELingdom of God. Such men always | clog the wheels of Divine progress. Look at our churches in New Zealand ! In DunedSn 1 They charge the masses ■with . the guilt of the trinity of ignorance, "in- j difference, and laziness concerning public j worship. Nothing could be further from ! the truth. The real cause is the elder brother in the pulpit, the elder brother in the eldeehip, the elder brother as ■deacon, manager, steward, vestryman, and ■often as 'member — proper but lifeless, correct but cold, formal, icy, moral but | loveless, narrow, and unable to realise the all-embracing, eternal love of God. The other side reveals to us the love of God. One of His creatures went astray, i but there was a love which followed him, \ strove with him, refused to abandon him even in his lowest shame, constrained him to thought, to return in penitence to home and to his father's love. So shall it' be | with all God's creatures. The prospect. ( is often hopeless, the times are late, and i tf» *lder brother too irresponsive to the calls of divinest knre or hedaed by nna- J

conceived notions of its extent and limits, but can we conceive of Jesus failing of Iris object? Can we think of God being defeated ; of God failing in his work ; of God's purposes and aims ending in utter and irretrievable ruin? Cardinal Newman's Description of a ' g-enxleman aptly describes the Rev R. J. Campbell. '" It is almost a definition of a gentleman to say he is one who never inflicts pain. I ... Be carefully avoids whatever > may cause a jar or a jolt- in the minds of those with whom he is caet. . . . All r restraint or suspicion or gloom or resentment. . . . If foe engages in controversy of any kind his disciplined intellect preserves him from the blundering discourtesy of better, though less educated, minds. . . . Nowhere shall we and greater candour, consideration, indulgence." I spoke to Mr Campbell after service for so, few minutes. A number of ■ persons, among them several Americans, ■ came to speak to him. 1 took my turn among the rest. He has a most pleasing and gentlemanly manner. He is very cordial, (rank, and candid. His voice in the pulpit, though not strong, is agreeable^ in private conversation it is friendly and utterly devoid of any provincialism. He speaks the best English, and I could not help noticing how very simple his language was. If he can get a plain Anglo-Saxon word to express his meaning lie never uses any other. His face seemed to have something of the meditative Oriental in it. , It is thoughtful, contemplative, and calm. THE "FEMALE" SUFFRAGETTES occupied some attention in the afternoon. I went with a fellow passenger for a stroll in Hyde Park, and, to our amusement, -we came across these irreconcilable women, who were " holding forth " from a lorry platform. Whatever Englishwomen may think of the franchise, I should say the suffragettes are bad advocates of their cause. The " chairman "—" — said by some in the crowd to be General French's sister— was a study. "What Scotch eong does she remind you of?" "I said to my companion. "Kate Dalrymple," was the reply. '' Dark lightning flashed from Roderick's eye," when he looked on his Saxon foeman, but woe betide Caanpbell-Barmerman, Asquith, Gladstone, or any Cabinet Minister if the " chairman " of that meeting with * her ■■Amazon following could storm the House of Commons. " STo maidens' clasp would be round them thrown." In fact they seemed to have the " Speaker " in their " eye " all the time, even when they did for a moment cease to denounce the House of Commons — -and took to denouncing the men of England instead. But what was the Souse of Commons? It wae an ignorant body of men, who knew nothing about women, who kept their • place by brute force, and who enslaved women, trampled on them, robbed them of their rights, and made the intolerable life which the women of England were compelled to live full of misery, hardships, and untold burdens. The men of England were no better. They crushed the women of England in the dust, they ate all the plums, but they made the women to plant' all the trees. They got the gold, but it was the women that earned it. For thousands of yeairs the women of England were the beasts of burden ±o the men, and all this unspeakable wrong and injustice were imposed on the English women by force. But the day was coming when the women would stand it no longer. It was difficult to account for all this foolish declamation. They reminded me very forcibly of the words of a very wise man whose experience of -women was not the happiest : " A foolish woman is clamorous : «he is simple and knoweth nothing. It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop than with a brawling woman in a wide house." There -was not a. goodlooking maid— they were all maids— old or very old maid-s^ — among them, T am sure there was never a man in England who " proposed " to one of theui. Perhaps that accounts for their philosophy and politics. lam certain it explains their opinion of . Englishmen. I knew an old maid in my early boyhood— Ann Urquhart — whose opinion of "the men" was determined by the attentions — or the want of them — they 6howed her. I had every respect for poor Ann, -whose chances it "the marriage market, she being unable to Tead or write, ""were severely handicapped. At last one Dugald, a well-known shepherd came along, and 1 Ann's prospects for a time seemed to be very bright. In the course of four or five weeks the shepherd moved on to the Highlands with his flock, and Ann's bliss came to an end. Dugal-d wrote his fair one, but, receiving no answer, his love faded away, and Ann's heart sunk within hex. When someone more mischievous than sympathetic asked Ann what her opinion ' of men was, she delivered herself much in these words: "Inteed their no goot ; i their here to-toy and there to-morrow, and there's Tugal, wi' a' his fun an' nonsense I an' promises, an' who pufc 'iru inteed, he's j no petiter than the rest." r I "But what about Sandy Fraser, Ann .' " Sandy Fraser is slimst like Colin's tog. He likes a goot preakfast. He'll pc after the money." * i "And what about Dan Fowler, Ann? j " Och ! didn't you hear? Tan is going ! to the High, roa-d nearly every nicht, an' j they're tellin' me they'll pc hearin' the fiddle going there and everything withoot stoppinV (A young lady of a somewhat prepossessing appearance in Dan's eyes lived at the High road.) "Well, Ann, but there's Tommy Taty." \ "Tommy Taty! Tommy wid expec? ' you to live on the smell o' a fresh herrin' [ i for a week. Tout pc potherin' me ! ! I They're all like Tonal Gaelic's coo up 1 there, she'll no come to ccc the neehors pit when she wants to steal their foggage." j (This was a sly, but probably a pertinent, hit at the way they dealt with Ann's affections.) N Ann r s education and environment pre-

* beyond private protest, but that which sowered her produced the suffragette. THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, where Spurgeon preaoehd, drew me in the evening. The Rev. Mt Brown preached, and I liked him verjr much, but there was nothing new or striking in anything h© said. The old Tabernacle was destroyed by fire and the new one, after the same plan, is much, smaller, but contains about 3000. I missed the old voice, the great presence, and the remarkably vivid and original sayings; but a C. H. Spurgeon only appears, not in a decade, but once or twice in a century.