THE MINOR SECTS OF LONDON.
LONDON during the past fortnight has had plenty of proofs of the work done by the Church of England, and the doings of the great Nonconformist bodies are always in evidence. We are apt, however, to forget that side by side with the great and well-recognised religious organisa- tions there are working a number of small and almost un- known sects. Many of those who claim to know their London well, well enough indeed to be quoted as authorities upon the ways of the poor, the very poor, and the residuum, are indeed, either ignorant of, or have thought unworthy of notice, one of the most curious and interesting of all the spiritual factors at work in our midst. This potent element for ulti- mate good (supplied by the minor sects of London) is to be found in nearly every mean street, in obscure " no-thorough- fares," stable-yards, scantily furnished " best " rooms in tiny jerry-built houses, wherever, in fact, it can find a lodgment cheap enough for its poverty ; and in the mouths of its votaries it has seldom any name beyond the generic posses- sion of all,—" Christianity." The fantastic appellations figuring in denominational returns are in many, nay, most, cases the impromptu coinage of unauthorised representatives pressed by inquirers to " give it a name," and refusing to be satisfied by the answer to his oft-repeated question of "What do you call yourselves ? " of the one word " Christians."
Regarding with feelings almost akin to fear the Church as by law established, independent of each other, and yet most vigorously alive, these minor religious bodies supply certain needs among a people hungry for spiritual food, yet so keenly critical that they are apt to be distrustful of all accredited purveyors thereof. One of the most notice- able features among them is a fissiparous tendency, common indeed to all primitive forms of life in the animal kingdom because necessary, but in the religions world a fatal bar to any really important warfare against the giant evils of the day. Yet to them this inherent tendency to sub- division is a proof that they are really fall of vital energy, and they are always ready to overwhelm a critic by a calm reference to the early Churches, often confined to members of one family. But the characteristic indelibly stamped upon all these "gatherings," as their phrase goes, is their family like- ness to, and undoubted descent from, that quiet though powerful body of Nonconformists,—the "Plymouth Brethren." From this unostentatious wing of the Christian Church they derive their unconcealed dislike of any denominational title, for although the Plymouth Brethren have tacitly accepted the qualification of " Plymouth," their own designation is simply " Brethren " or "Bible Christians." Even among them are to be found well-marked divisions, such as "Ex- clusives" (who admit none to their worship without the most stringent previous investigation), and the " Open Brethren " (who regard the responsibility of fitness for Communion as resting upon the individual applicant). It is this line of cleavage in the parent body that has operated more powerfully than any other in the enormous multiplication of tiny independent gatherings, although the individual interpretation of the Scriptures by earnest but unlearned members runs it closely. For these people are before all things Bible students according to their intellectual means, accepting in the great majority of cases the theory of verbal inspiration in its fullest sense, and ready to brand as a heathen man and a publican any one who should venture to question the literal accuracy as well as absolute necessity of every comma and conjunction within the covers of the Book. But—and what the reservation means takes considerable experience to realise—this worship of the letter produces in the minds of unlettered men some of the strangest exegetical results conceivable. A large number spiritualise every statement, wrenching them from their contexts and combining them arbitrarily to snit preconceived theories, until a careful listener may hear all the ancient heresies resuscitated and paraded as new products of deep research in Peckham or Paddington. pale ghosts that long ago vexed the righteous souls of Paul and Apoilos at Ephesus, Antioch, or Corinth. A less numerous body are fiercely literal, allowing of no double meaning even in a parable, and contending almost savagely for actual permanence of punitory
flames, winged and feathered angels, vitreous seas, and a holy city of the same height of walls as it hath length and breadth. The one great test, however, the one lever whereby the sinner may best be brought to love God and keep His Command- ments, is the awful prospect of an eternal furnace torturing yet unconsuming. Few, indeed, are the gatherings where a certainty of this is not an indispensable condition of fellow- ship, the weapon without which no brother can hope to stand up in the open air and win souls for Christ.
In one particular all the orthodox conventicles are alike. (The word " orthodox " is used merely to distinguish them from the fringe that profess strange doctrines generally hailing from America, and bearing so small a proportion to the " Christians " that they may be safely left to be dealt with in a paragraph at the close.) This similarity is in the ritual of the simple ceremony which is the central act of Christian worship. They call it "the breaking of bread." And he would be a strangely cold-hearted man who, knowing the story of the Last Passover of our Lord as it is told in the Gospels, could witness unmoved the usual Sunday morning celebration in one of these little sheds, for they are often nothing more. When the pre- parations necessary for the ceremony are finished, the faithful brother who has made them takes his place and awaits the coming of the "gathering." They drop in casually, for punctuality is rare. When at last a reasonable number has arrived or it is getting so late that the meeting must begin, some brother rises and says, " Shall we sing number 186 ? " While the rest are finding it he reads it through, and somebody starts the tune, instrumental accom- paniment being universally dispensed with at this service. Many curious vocal results are often the consequence, but the practice never alters. Then some one prays, extem- pore, of course, some one else gives out another hymn, or reads a chapter, or says a " word." All is informal, no one leads,—in theory. Presently some one rises, and here theory always breaks down. For in practice the solemn function is always confined to two or three, who take it in turns, although theoretically the very latest convert may do so. Another hymn follows the completion of the ceremony, and, as it may happen, more prayer or a discourse upon some knotty point of Scripture, usually highly controversial, and generally calculated to remove the tender impression of what has immediately preceded it with the utmost rapidity.
In the evening strenuous efforts are made, if it is in winter, to get the passers-by within and preach to them, red-hot Gospel in truth, but often with a wonderful amount of genuine eloquence and dramatic power, utterly unlike the expository performances of the same individuals. But in summer, locking up the hall or shed, the little band sally forth, bearing, like Levites the Ark of the Covenant, their faithful old harmonium, wheezy and weather-beaten from many a storm. Arriving at their "pitch," tacitly secured to them by long usage, they sing and preach and pray, often continuing their labours for four hours at a stretch. They are genuinely in earnest, contriouting out of their scanty salaries a large proportion towards the rent of the "Hall," or for the help of a brother who is ill or out of work. Fiercely intolerant, with the narrowest possible outlook upon life, they are nevertheless the salt of the neighbourhood in which they live. Unfortunately for the wellbeing of their neigh- bours, a cardinal point in their creed is to take no part in the government of this world. In it, but not of it, they so misconstrue their duty towards their neighbour as to refuse to vote, refuse to take any interest in local matters, to regard, in fact, this life as an evil that must be endured, not enjoyed. Amusement and sin are with them convertible terms. As a result of this short-sightedness their lives are very grey and incomplete. And jealousy of one another, aspira- tions for the chief places in their tiny circles, cramp their usefulness and make them helpless to stem the rising tide of wickedness which often seethes around them.
Here and there among these fervent disciples of a harsh creed are to be found small conventicles of religionists who are possessed by a craving for novelty, yet are not able to discern that in the strange doctrines they discuss are only to be found the dry bones of ancient schisms decked in modern trappings. They, too, are earnest proselytisers, but their in- fluence is very small. For our sober British minds do not readily embrace extravagances in religion, and besides, there is an innate sense of propriety (for lack of a better word) that saves even the most ignorant from gross forms of superstition, or such caricatures of religion degenerating into license as have disfigured many places in America. The Peculiar People have certainly come into conflict with the law, yet no one would deny that they are in all other respects but their distrust of doctors blameless sectaries. And in spite of our inevitable feeling of pity for so much energy wasted because isolated and mutually distrustful, it must be admitted that the minor sects of this great city make for the righteousness which exaltedh a people.
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