The Express.
London, England, 1865-06-02 00:00:00

‘II;VENING,

PREACHING TO•'HE RIOH.

Mr. Brownlow North delivetad one of a eyries of
religions addresses at Willies Rooms, a few days
ago. Though apparently unconnected with any
special institution or incorporated society, these
meetings are in reality a portion of a great whole,
being neither more nor less than another develop-
ment of that revivalist movement which is still
making itself felt in various of London.
Differing widely in their surrouncliiiiirgitii, in the ability
they display, and in the results they are able to
show, the promoters of the gatherings we refer to
are alike in ruling motive, similar in their indiffer-
ence to mere secular opinion, and identioal in
spiritual aim. Mr. Brownlow North's addresses
are so far exceptional that they are given at a
fashionable hour, in a fashionable locality, and
to fashionable people. The cards of invitation
simply say, "At the request of several friends,
Mr. Brownlow North has consented to deliver,
addresses at Willis's Rooms," without giving
any hint as to their subject matter being of a
religious character, save that supplied by the
speaker's name. beee cards are only sent to
people whore names figure in the "Court
Guide ;" and it is confessedly that the upper
classes may receive the spiritual instruction so
freely accorded to those below them, that such
meetings are held. Observers who were aware
that Mrs. Thistlethwayte's Sunday ministra-
tions at the Polytechnic have attracted many
of the aristocracy, over and above the respectable
middle-class men and women, who rather than
the very poor seem to make up the bulk of her
congregation—that prompted by curiosity, or a
higher motive? members of the government, in-
cluding a cabinet minister, clergymen, noblemen,
and ladies of title, as well as notabilities is the
worlds of letters and of art, have been among her
auditory, and who hastily inferred therefrom that
the bigner classes of this country would eagerly flock
to a service designed solely for their spiritual
benefit, were proballly somewhat disappointed at
the aspect of Willis's Rooms at the lecture of Mr.
North. The absentia of male bearers was marked,
and the ladies filling the bench's seemed to be
rather of the class already "called "—to employ
the conventional phraaeologf—than the hardened
unrepentant sinners to whom Mr. North's powerful
denunciations and able appeals were particularly
directed. I

Quite ninety-five per cent, of those present were
females, and had little to distinguish them from a
mixed assembly drawn together for a more mundane
purpose. The two fair hearers who brought their
crochet-case, midget r!aeidly at work up t,',the very
moment of Mr. North's appearance on the platform,
aptly symbolised that desire to make the best of
both worlds which is so difficult to eradicate even
from purified human nature ; while the nods of
critical approval perceptible in other quarters
whenever a portion of especially strong
spiritual meat was given out proved the doc-
trines heard to be familiar, and that their enunciation
occasioned reither amazement nor dismay. Indeed
it was impossible to avoid the conclusion that to
the majority of those present the typical sinner so
vigorously denounced was the sinner of the parks,
the streets, the clubs, the mansions, and the shops
around, and an altogether distinct personage from
the sinner who attends religious meetings without
entering into their spirit, or who hsa the phrase-
ology of Christianity on the lip, without its tenets
and teachings influencing the actions or touching
the heart. This must have been so, or the thrilling
exhortation could never have been borne so pla-
cidly. Mr. North is familiarly spoken of as an
" awakening " preacher, audit is only fair to say be
is fully entith d to the adjective. Steering be-
tween the wild extravaganoe of a Habakkuk Biro-
klewrath on the one hand, and the faustical
denunciatiou of a Balfour of Burley on the other,
be calmly puts forward a proposition, and sake his.
hearers to follow it to its legitimate conclusions.
Men and c omen must die, after death the judg-
ment, and after judgment endless torment or
eternal blies. Such are his leading statements, the
novelty being that they are delivered with the prac-
tised ease of a man of the world, who knoas what is
called IK 3iety, its weakness and its strength, and
who deliberately runs counter to its customs,
because he believes the salvat'on of souls to be of
higher importance than the canons of etiquette.
There was no singing at this weekday service,
and after offering up with feeling a commendably
short prayer, Mr. North gave out this toxt from
the Epistle to the Epliesisns :—" That at that time
ye were without Christ, being aliens from the com-
monwealth of Israel, and strangers from the cove-
nanta of promise, having no hope, and without God
in the world." The question between the people
present and God, commenced the preacher, was
whetber they would believe what their own reason,
learning, and sense told them, or whether they
would believe what God himself bad said in the
Bible. And this opening statement formed the
keynote to the sermon. The practical atheism of
the unreflecting churchgoer, of the man or woman
who joins Sunday after Sunday in the liturgy with-
out really caring for the things they profess to seek,
was strongly, almost fiercely, denounced. The
parable of Dives and Lazarus was brought forward
to show that contentmen, in our station, unless it
be subordinate to our love for God, is in itself a
heinous sin, while the rch man's cry to "Father
Abraham " was quok d to prove the first prayer for
intercession ever made to a saint to have come up
from bell. Those present were warned that if they
did not feel the want of God it was just as a corpse
did not feel it, and the realistic view taken of
biblical truth was well shown by the argument that
Dives had endured the torment for 1,800 years,
and would endure it for all time, as if 1 e
were a real instead of an allegorical personage.
Although it would be very unfair to quote the
preacher in Crabbe's "Borough"—

" We're pardoe'd ?either for belief nor deed,
For faith nor practice, principle nor creed ;
Nor for our sorrow foe our former sin,
Nor for our fears when better thoughts begin ;
Nor prayers we pelisses in the rause avail,
All sweet remorse, all soft eostritiou fail ;
It is the call! till that proclaims us free,
Is darkness, doubt, and bondage we must be ;
Till that means us, we're ui vain endured,
And all is over when we're once assured."
as accurately representing the tenets put forward in
Mr. North's sermon—it must be said that occasional
touches in it brought the quotation forcibly to mind.
Of the energy and sincerity of the preacher it would
be difficult to speak too highly, and the one matter
for regret was that more of the class for whom his
exhortations were obviously meant were not present.
Mr. North's avowed belief that p- ople of his own
station need reformation and repentance to
the full as much as the poor pariahs and
outvote for whom special services are
held must command sympathy and respect for its
honesty and downrightness. Further, if an
earnestness which at times becomes almost painful
in its intensity ; if a faith which believes in its
mission and rises superior to external circumstances
—a faith which casts bread upon the waters, and
seed upon stony ground, with the utmost confi-
dence in results ; if an obvious purity of purpose,
and a steadfastness of belief which knows not hesi-
tation, and will not listen to doubt—if any or all
of these qualifications fit a man for the task of
making proselytes, assuredly Mr. North's labours
should be crowned with success. His great difficulty,
as it seemed to us on the occasion referred to, lies in
the thick crust of indifference through which he is en-
deavouring to pierce, an indifference which asserts
itself by neglecting his invitations. Major Pentlen-
nis repeating the responses with much unction, and
always attending church when in the country,
because he considers it his duty to society,
is after all a far more difficult subject
to deal with spiritually than Nancy or
Bill Sykes. The hard, selfish philosophy of the
former gentleman is an almost insuperable bar to
religious enthusiasm, while in the untrained rugged
natures of the latter, words of kindness, peace, and
mercy take root and fructify in a way incredible
to all who are unacquainted with the results of
London missionary effort. What would be the
precise effect of Mr. North's "awakening" exposi-
tion bad it been delivered in the same room when
some fashionable revel was at its height, or if it
• were brought thoroughly home to the strollers in
IPall-mall, was • perhaps pardaaable speculation,