London at the End of the Century:A Book of Gossip
a Beckett, Arthur William
1900
TWO LEADERS OF RELIGIOUS THOUGHT.
In it may appear out of place to take a sedate view of life, and life in London on a Sunday is at its sedatest. So I will touch very lightly upon what is known as the Nonconformist Conscience. It has been my good fortune to come across a large number of divines, from Cardinal Manning at one end of the list to the Rev. C. H. Spurgeon at the other. I take these two good and great men because they have left us, and the language of eulogy is saved the possible reproach of being flattery by the sad barrier of the grave. | |
The first time I met Cardinal Manning was when he was living at York Place, and then was an archbishop and not a member of the Sacred College. I had come to him at the request of the proprietor of a paper to see if he would purchase the copyright. I shall never forget the interview. Dr. Manning was kindness itself, and, in spite of the natural inclination | |
27 | to chaff a lad-I was little more than a lad in those days-who had come upon an absurd errand, refrained from the temptation. My paper was devoted to the Turf in a great degree, and yet it was my duty in the interests of the needy proprietor to show a way to utilising it as a so-called journal. I suggested to His Eminence (that was to be) that to the races might be added said Dr. Manning with a smile, |
And there did. | |
Many a time afterwards I met Cardinal Manning, and he not unfrequently referred to the occasion when I tried to induce him to become the proprietor of the . He was one of the kindest and best of men. | |
Both Cardinal Manning and Mr. Spurgeon were very fond of a joke. The last time I saw the latter was on a Sunday some months before his death, when I was induced, in company with a High Church Anglican clergyman, to pay a visit to the Tabernacle to hear the reverend gentleman preach. We found the place crowded, and, at the suggestion of one of the attendants, tried our luck at a door in the rear of the premises. We found that we had come upon the private entrance reserved for pastors. Our names were | |
28 | taken in to Mr. Spurgeon, who was conducting the service. He came out and gave us both a hearty welcome. In the course of a few minutes we found ourselves seated on a sofa in the pulpit. A gentleman was reading out the verse of a hymn, and when he had finished he turned round to us and courteously invited us to lead the singing. This was slightly embarrassing to my clerical friend, because his costume was markedly ecclesiastical, and to me because my voice is not very strong and has never been exhaustively cultivated. Besides, I was not quite certain that the sentiment of the hymn had, from a purely theological point of view, my whole-hearted approval. However, the congregation, which numbered some thousands, managed, so far as we were able to judge, to get on very comfortably without our assistance. After the hymn came Mr. Spurgeon's address, which was full of light and shade, by turns witty and solemn, and always interesting. We had a short chat with Mr. Spurgeon after the service was over, when the genial pastor suggested to my High Church friend that, although it would be scarcely fair for him in any of his discourses to adopt any of his jokes, he was quite at liberty to use his controversial arguments. |
