The City Temple

The following report of the speeches at the luncheon provided at the City Terminus Hotel is taken from a newspaper of the date: —

“The Dejeuner.

“A cold collation was served at the Cannon Street Hotel, to which about three hundred sat down: Samuel Morley, Esq., M.P., presided, supjiorted by the Revs. Dr. Parker, Dr. Binney, Dr. Thomas, Dr. Allon, E. R. Conder, Th. Marzialls; Dr. Underhill, etc.

“The Chairman: My dear friends, — I am very giad to find that it is thought, by those responsible for the conduct of these proceedings, that the custom of drinking toasts is more honoured in the breach than in the observance. We all feel that it would

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THE CTTY TE!lrPT.E bp xcry pleasant to have an opportunity of testifying that feeling which is, 1 may say, always paramount with Nonconformists especially — a hearty, loAnng allegiance to the throne — by singing a few Aers(»s of the National Anthem.

“The National Anthem having been heartily sung,

“The Chairmax said: My dear friends, — I am not sure that any apology will he needed from me for occupying this position. I am hei*e because Dr. Parker and his friends requested that 1 would take the chair. In performing the duty thus devolved upon me, I very gladly utter a hearty Godspeed to the enterprise which has to-day received its formal and distinct commencement. I am here as deeply interested in the prosperity of the City. I have been all my life largely connected with its trade, and interested in all that is connected with it. I confess to a feeling of great regret to see one after another of our places of worship moving out of the City. It would seem as if some of us had been behind Dr. Parker, and had caught him just as he was getting out over the Viaduct. He has gone away as much as he could, and still be in the City.

It seems as if some influence had altered his design — and it is not a slight influence that would alter Dr. Parker’s intention, for he is a man who chooses to think for himself, and to act in accordance with the dictates of his conscience; however, some influence has stopped him on the Viaduct. One is thankful to feel that the future meeting-house, or Temple, is clearly adapted to the necessities of the City. There is a very large population, in spite of what any one may say, which still sleeps in the City of London. In my own house of business, out of three hundred employed, over a hundred live there continually; and it is so in many houses. I am thankful that there should he within reasonable walking distance a place like this, which will be, I hope, a power for good. I rejoice in all efl’orts which show the power of principle. I hold it to l)e the best kind of anti-State Church teaching, while endeavouring to uphold our principles, at the same time to show the power of Nonconformity — that Ave are not looking externally for that help which we ought to provide. We have had our difficulties, which Ave look upon as discipline, but we jiay our own way and manage our own afl’airs, and it will be a blessed day for England, notwithstanding

THE CITY TE:NrPI.E a recent decision, when that principle shall be forced on the House of Commons by the manifest power it is exercising all over the country.

“Rev. Eustace R. Conder said he had been asked by Dr. Parker to be present to address a few words of encouragement, l)ut he felt that country brethren like himself would rather themselves derive encouragement from what they witnessed that day. He rejoiced in the testimony which had been borne that the whole power and value of Protestant Nonconformity consisted in their sj3iritual life. He was glad that the old flag of Nonconformity was to be nailed to so respectable a mast, in one of the main entrances to the City, and he trusted that it would float here until it was taken down for another flag which would float over all the other Churches alike.

“Rev. J. Thain Davidson said he regarded the invitation which he had received to be present on this occasion as a compliment, not so much to himself as to the branch of the Christian Church with which he was connected — the English Presbyterians; and who, he trusted, would, ere long, be found working as unitedly with the Independents as they did in America. He looked upon Dr. Parker as the Ward Beecher of the English pulpit; his influence in the City Temple would always l)e great, as he would always have a large clerical auditory.

“Rev. S. MiNTON regretted that he was the only minister of the Established Church present on this occasion. One of the most un-Christian sentiments he had ever read was one recently uttered in the House of Commons, that all other Christian Churches were to be regarded by the Church of England as hostile. He had been a minister of the Church of England for thirty years, and in his first parish he took the chair at a meeting in the Primitive Methodist chapel. He was led to this feeling partly by recoil from the feelings of ecclesiastical exclusivism, of which he saw so much at Oxford. With all his heart he would say to his Nonconformist friends there assembled, “Eor my In-ethren’s and companions’ sake I will seek to do thee good; yea, for the sake of the Lord my God I will wish thee prosperity.”

“Mr. Henry Wright said he felt, whoever was absent, he must be present to express

THE CITY TEAfPI.E his hearty sympathy Avitli Dv. Pavker in the great AA’ork to which ho had set his hand. He was born very near the city of London, and had had very much to do in his early days with its commerce. Whether Dr. Parker was about to erect an editice of the right size he coukl not say; whether that buikling, which was intended to hokl tAVo thousand live hundred people, would be full or not, AAOuld depend not so much upon its appearance as upon the power manifested within its Avails. He believed that Dr. Parker had the jiOAver to attract, and the power to feed those whom he attracts with AA-holesome food. There was among Nonconformists too great dis-I’egard about the ouAvard progress of our Own denomination. He honoured Dr. Parker foi” the honour he was conferring upon their denomination by erecting such a building, and he felt it was the duty of all Avell-Avishers to society and Avell-Avishers to the city of London to join as he did most heartily in wishing Dr. Parker Godspeed.

“Rev. Dr. Bixney said forty years ago he laid a stone and delivered an address which liecame so celebrated that when asked to officiate on this occasion he thought he had better let well alone; moreover, he thought that Dr. Parker, as minister of the church, ought to deliver the address to the people on this occasion Dr. Parker was a fellow-countryman of his own, and in Northumbrians there was generally the raw material of power. There was a great deal of power in Dr. Parker; but as he had not been so long under the sweet, softening influences of the South, sometimes there had been sayings and doings of Dr. Parker which had a little struck upon his ears: but he felt such confidence in the man, such a belief in his principles and worth, his earnestness, sincerity, and truthfulness, and in the power which God has conferred upon him and out of AA’hich will come mighty issues, that he felt inclined to take his stand l)y his side. Dr. Binney then read a somewhat lengthy extract from a paper written by himself twenty -fi’e years ago, in which he had sketched the characteristics desirable in a minister, and which he thought were supplied in the case of Dr. Parker. There was another reason why he was there that day. He thought that a great deal more than was at all called for had been made about that Corporation grant. Prom the first, both by writing and speech, he had told his friend Dr. Parker that he wished it had not been done. Under the circumstances, the present exigencies of the controversies of the times, he wished that it had not occurred. There were times when it would not have attracted any observation, Init at the present crisis it might have l)een as well not to have given this opportunity to their opponents for remark. The act being done under the influence of the feelings and motives which prompted it, he thought it was going too far to make such a terrible piece of work about it. He remembered in old Stepney Meeting how proudly Dr. Fletcher used to look at the four columns presented by the States General of Holland. Not only did Dr. Fletcher see nothing inconsistent in his roof being sustained by the States General of Holland, hut he regarded it as something of Avhicli to ho proud. He (Dr. Binney) looked upon this gift of the Corporation from a very diflerent point of view from that in which it was regarded by some people. He connected it with the past history of the City. There was something very interesting in the thought that the old Poultry Chapel stood on the site of a gaol in which John Bradford and other martyrs and confessors were confined. There was an interesting indication of the change of the times in the change of the edifice built upon that site. He looked upon this gift of the Corporation as a similar indication of the change of character of the times. After the period when Nonconformists were put in prison, there were still forms of petty social persecution; among the rest was the Corporation and Test Act. In the early part of the last century, when the Corporation of London was luilding the Mansion House, the Common Council, and, he supposed, the Court of Aldermen, passed a resolution that the fines of those persons who would not serve the office of sheriff should go towards the erection of the Mansion House. He would not say that this was done purposely by the Corporation; hut it was the fact that ahont that time a very great number of Nonconformist godly men were elected to the office, and, refusing to prostitute a sacred ordinance in order to qualify themselves to hold it, had each to pay a fine of five hundred pounds. Those sums went to the erection of the Mansion House and that beautiful room the Egyptian Hall. He never kncAv how it came to he called the Egyptian Hall,

except it was from that particular circumstance, AA’hich bore so close a relation to the exactions of Pharaoh. He did not know whether it was very pleasant for Nonconformists, when invited by the Lord Mayor, to feel that they were going into their own house. When some members of the Corporation, looking back upon these exactions, offered this j)eppercorn of acknowledgment as a kind of solatium to their conscience, he hardly knew how they could well refuse their friends, the Corporation, that satisfaction. He had great pleasure in being present to express his brotherly interest in Dr. Parker’s effort, and his hope that God’s blessing would rest upon his labours in London.

“K,ev. D. Thomas rejoiced that this building was to be erected in the city of London. Young people from the country never needed faithful preaching more than they did after spending a week of dissipation in the metropolis. He knew as a matter of fact that members of their Churches had got no good, but harm, by a stay in London. He hoped that those London ministers who have a high reputation would remember that they ordinarily have among their hearers a number of young persons who are at that time exposed to special temptations, and would have a word in season for such. In this way they would be doing an amount of good the full value of which they would never learn in this world.

“Rev. G. W. CoNDER joined in congratulating Dr. Parker on the event of the day.

“Rev. E. White testified to his great and growing resiject for Dr. Parker’s honesty of character, which was being applied to the exposition of the Sacred Scriptures. Dr. Parker appeared to he possessed by an overpowering desire to know the meaning of God’s Word, and to syread abroad that knowledge. Mr. Martin’s recent address was likely to make a salutary impression, not only upon the Dissenting press, but on a good many Christian people, in guarding them against too sweeping generalisations as to the spiritual condition of others. He rejoiced to think that the Lord was their Judge, and he questioned whether He would not, in looking at a Mahommedan, judge the man inside. When Nonconformity began, it was not a political movement, it was a spiritual, religious, and theological movement; it would be an evil day if they made the political aim of religious equality take precedence of Christ’s glory. He felt the thrashing which they had had in the House of Commons. The minority of thirty less ought to teach Nonconformists a lesson. If ever he wrote a book it should be upon the superstitions of Dissenters. Why could not they have had a printed form of prayer that day which everybody could have read if they could not hear? Our religion should not consist in protest against somebody’s mistakes, but we should have the right thing in our Churches.

“Dr. Underhill, as representing the Baptist denomination, agreed that Nonconformity was not so much a political position as the assertion of the crown rights of the Redeemer in His Church. With regard to the Corporation gift of the pulpit, he should be inclined to criticise the opinions of their friend and father, Mr. Binney; but he rejoiced to feel sure that from that pulpit there would go forth no uncertain sounds as to the great and solemn truths essential to the soul of men and the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. He rejoiced that the Independents were about to have this Temple; the Baptists had for many years had such a building in the Metropolitan Tabernacle.

“Rev. Dr. Parker referred to several letters he had received from friends unable to be

A PREACHEK’S LIFE

present — Mr. Eergnc, Dr. Halley,Mr. Hadfield (who sent fifty pounds), Mr. E. Baines, and specially regretted the ahsence of Dr. Spence, his honoured predecessor at the Poultry. He expressed his obligations to the newspapers; not a single penny had been spent on advertisements, yet all the noAvspapers with which they had communicated had taken very kind notice of this Memorial Stone meeting, and drawn more direct attention to it than would have resulted from any form of advertisement. He recognised this as a most valuable contribution to the engagements of the day. He rejoiced that they had had Mr. Binney, who was a king of men, to lay the Memorial Stone:

‘Tis a rich, rough gem, deny it who can, The heart of a true Northumbrian.

And if he wished to pick out a typical countyman, he would not choose Lord Eldon, Lord Stowell, or George Stephenson, but would be content to have the whole thing settled by the stature, the capacity, the influence, the majesty, and the force of Thomas Binney. He thanked the friends connected with the late Poultry Chapel for the liberal assistance which they had rendered, and the gentlemen who had taken part in the day’s proceedings.

He felt stronger and younger for the speeches. As Mr. White had said, he wanted to know what God in His Bible means; and when he concluded that he had caught the meaning, it was unkind and unjust if anybody spoke of him on that account harshly, ignobly, or disdainfully. If a man had made a mistake in his interpretation of the meaning, he would have him talked to nobly and fraternally, not sneeringly and with undervaluing expressions. One result of the carping criticism to which he had been thus exposed had been a gift of one hundred pounds. The friends at the Poultry would not have needed any aid but for the large expense which they were weekly put to in respect to places of meeting, and he trusted that the three thousand pounds required would be contributed previously to the opening of the building.

“The Chairman said he should be happy to give two hundred pounds towards the three thousand pounds and he believed if the ladies would call on business men in the City, as suggested by Mr. Willans, there would be a disposition to recognise the claim.

The proceedings then terminated.

The following are some of the letters referred to: —

From Hev. John Stoughton, D.D.” My Dear Dr. Parker, — I am sorry that there is no chance of my being with you on Monday, so I send a line to express my congratulations. May you have a good day and enjoy God’s blessing. Should my life be spared I hope to be disengaged when the Chapel is opened, and some day, should I not be too old, I may, I trust, occupy your pulpit.

“Yours very truly,

“John Stoughton.”

From Edward Baines, Esq., M.P.

“Dear Dr. Parker, — I had hoped to attend the laying of the Memorial Stone of your ‘City Temple ’ on Monday, though I feared I should not be able to be with you at the Cannon Street collation.

“I now find, with regret, that I shall be absent from town on Monday, and therefore unable to attend either. Will you accept my sincere wishes for the prosperity of your great undertaking and for the continued success of your ministry; and, as I see that sums of five guineas will be laid upon the stone, will you accept my humble contribution with the rest.

“I am, dear Dr. Parker, yours truly,

“Edward Baines.

‘•The Rev. Pr. Parker.”

From W. R. Spicer, Esq.” My Dear Sir, — I regret to say that I am obliged to be out of town on Monday, which will prevent my being with you on that day.

“I trust you will have a large attendance and warm sympathy in your new and interesting undertaking.

“As the Temple is to be a City Church, you must be good enough to put our firm (Spicer Brothers) down for fifty pounds. With best wishes,

“I am, my dear sir, yours truly,

W. B. Spicer.”

Froyn Bev. David Thomas, D.D,” I should much liked to have been with you, to have joined in the festivities and congratulations of the hour. Few men in the history of the world have had opened up to them such a sphere of influence and usefulness as that on which you are entering Long may you live faithfully to occupy it!

“David Thomas.”

What has been done in the City Temple from first to last others must one day relate. What hath God wrought! To Him only be all praise! Te Deum Laudamus!