The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1868-09-19 00:00:00

SINGULAR SCENE IN LOMBARD-
STREE T, LONDON.

lant Friday afternoon there was a serious disturb-
ance in Lombard-street, arising out of certain pros
needirgs which are taking place every Friday at the
church of St. Nicholas Aeons and St. Effinund.the-
King,, lsanbardstre, t, London. Every Friday, at
one o clock, there is a i.•,drt a la ice at the church, and
the sermon is preached by the Rey, J. L. Lyne, who
is better known as Father Ignatius, of tb. I bineffictine
monastery at Norwich, and whose progec.lia ;1 in that
city not very long ag,dd exited a ginsi deal of puhlic
attention. At present he has a similar institution at
Laleham, and one in Hunter-street, Brunswick-square,
while he himself is °SE iating in Lombard-street on
Fridays sant Sundays whether with or without the
Bishop of London's licence does not appear to be
known. Some of the largest congregations ever seen
in a London church are to be seen there on Fridays ;
indeed, hundreds of strong men constantly struegle in
vain to obtain admission, and this wan notably the
case last Friday morning, when the police had some !
difficulty in keeping the street clear for the ordinary
purposes of business.
In order to explain the strange occurrence, it will be
necessary to mention that on the preceding Friday
Mr. Lyne preached an extremely animated sermon
from the :(.-ith verse of the Itlth chapter of St. Luke's
Gospel, and explain. that the Jericho in which the
events recorded happened was like Lombard-street, it
was a place which was under tiod's curse—not that he
meant ft moment to say that Jericho was ever so
had as .t.mbard-otreet, for Jericho, bad as it was,
the potale never raised up a god of gold, and then fell
sloeii to worship it. There %yore, he said, many blind
people in Jericho, huh,' they were all blind, but not
bliml in the natural sense. Tlwy had a sort of Lom-
kiard-street bffidneirs about them. They tick shadows
for the snl.stanec, and saw no more than the bankers,
merchants, money changers, clerks, even down to the
errand boys of that neighbourhood. These people, he
affiltdd, were not obliged to sit down begging, like the
blind man in the teat ; he wished they were ; but they
'amc engaged day and night with their gold, thew
ledgers, their perpetual rounds of filth anti bestiality.
It was evident on Friday morning that Mr.
Lyne was to receive a practical rebuke for these out-
spoken views, and long before the service was open
some hundreds of well-dressed men, evidently holding
!good positions in City houses, assembled in the street
for the purpose of receiving the "Father." Arch-
nleacon limiter, the Rev. On Allen, rector of St.
Geord4e the Martyr, the Rev. C. J. Goodhart, minister
of l'ark Chapel, Chelsea, and dithers, were present
during the service, but went away immediately the
service was over. Mr. Lyne had preached a sermon
from the words (John ix., tffi)---" One thing I know,that
&teems I was tit, n 4, nom I see."
There WWI nothing remarkable in the sermon,
except the impassioned manner in which it was
delivered, but the people outside, anti who had gathered
strength by the accession if many others who had
fin-mei part of the densely-packed congregation, waited
until nearly half-past two o'clock, when Mr. Lyne
came out, :mil with a friend got into a Hansom cab.
Before he sat down lie raised his hat to the crowd,
evidently supposing them to be sympathisers with his
views, but a howl of execration arose whibi must have
startled him. The cabman whipped his horse and
dartill Mr, but the crowd followed and endeavoured to
pull hack the cab, and would probably have succeeded
in doing some serious mischief had not the police on
duty peremptorily interfered. The crowd—amongst
which there was not.. single "rough"—continued their
shouts until the cabman cleared Lombard street, and
then the gentlemen who had taken part in the pro-
ceedings quietly returndid to their respective offices.
Altogether it was one the most remari: able scene,
ever witnessed in the City of Ldindon, anti certainly the
most remarkable ever witnessed in connection with any
ecclesia.stical matter them