Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1867-07-10
THEATRE PREAcHrNG

Il udb lu6I IclAIAC0 AAOA4 L@uEAGA0s VI
the night of the 10th inst, in tn
Park Theatre Brooklyn, gave som
account of the wonderful Lay Preach
ing movement that began few year
ago in London, and has since sWep
over the entire kingdom, comprehend
in the ranks of the lay, or unordainet
preachers, men in every rank and con
| dition in life, from Peers of the realm
to weavers and carpenters. After sing
ing by the congregation, led by six lit
tie girls from the Howard Mission
New York, followed by prayer and tn
customary reading of the scriptures
the Rev. gentleman announced tina
he should preach no set sermon, but
merely give some account of the move
ment and of two or three Of the mos
noteworthy of the lay preachers whit
have sprung from the lower ORDERS
He said:
"When asserted last Sunday thai
there are over 5000 laymen preaching
the Word of God every Sunday in Lon.
don City alone, many may have tho
that l ovsrstated the case: but wher
l tell you that the Rev. G. II. Spur
geon alone has GOO men from hi:
church, every one of whom preache:
somewhere every Sunday, and that
one of these members has Bible class
of over 200-that nearly every Chris.
tian merchant breaches, that nearly
every Christian employer in business
takes his Bible and finds, every Sun
day, some place to preach, and that
hundreds of others do likewise, you
must admit that l did not say too
much. The way of these preachers
who have no churches or lecture rooms
of their own, is to take Bible, and
generally one or two persons to sing
hymns, and to mount stump, wag-
on, or go into beer-shop, or any place
where they would be tolerated, and be-
gin to sing, read ssd preach. L was
astonished to find that everybody
breaches laymen not only preach and
pray, but they baptize and administer
the sacrament, without regard to the
fact that they are not ordained. The
English people dislike exceedingly the
title of Reverend" Mr. SpuTgeon
tells his friends never to address him
by that name. The dislike comes from
the establishment of legal church,
which exercises the right of collecting
tithes and church rates by process of
law, from everybody, whether they at
tend church or no, and people have
natural prejudice against being COM
PEELED to pay for religious privileges
whether they enjoy them or not. Lord
who began this movement
many years ago, said that not one in
twenty of the common people ever en-
ter a church, not being able to pay the
pew rent, and that this theatre preach
ing arose from that fact. On one spe-
cial Sunday all the churches in Lon
don invited the working classes to
come and listen to sermons prepared
for them, and every church
was crowded. One great feature of these
preachers is that they begin by afford
ing the poor temporary relief, as well
as giving them merely spiritual advice,
and we shall never accom- plish any
thing in this country till we do the
same thing. They began with "tea
when the people were first
given all they wanted to eat aud were
then gradually interested in religious
matters, until many were converted be-
fore they knew it. When once large
meeting of the working classes were
asked to state themselves, in their own
way, reasons why they never go to
church, representative men from more
than dozen trades, butcher, sad
der, a shoemaker, ETC., each stated
the same fact, they could not 90 to
church because pew-rent is so high
and in this country it is too much so.
ikejustice, has become lux
1ry, and few can get it unless they pay
for it. The most costly church ever
built in the world was built on lions
hill, by order of Christ, and yet it was
as free to the poorest as to the richest.
This great movement also provides
for the people. In the
city of Liverpool, under charge of
Christian committee, every Saturday
night, the very best actors that the
,ity affords, play at one of the largest
theatres. They produce unexeeption-
able plays, psntoplines and so forth,
Ind the people crowd the house and
hat they may not feel that they are
.reated like psupers, the men and wo-
men are charged penny (nearly a |
.hree cents, our currency,) and the |
children are thrown in free. This may |
ieem a strange business for Christians |
% be engaged in but l am bound to
isy that these performances have, 1 |
5erilY believe, been a means of grace,
% tens of thousands. The theory of it |
S this-that many of the working
classes spend their money in drink, but !
when they attend these theatres with |
heir families, they soon discover that
{ is much better to spend the evening
here with their wives and children /
han at the bar-rooms with people who
OBJ them of their money-from the
heatre conducted in this way, to the
sunday meeting the graduation is
,asy, and so many a man finds him.
elf Christian before he suspected he
vas on the road.
Another great influence is exerted
" ladies who go about teaching the
women Of the working classes how to
ceep their houses and themselves clean
nd comfortable; / don't know exact
y what original sin" may be, but my
pinion is that dirtiness and idleness
ome as near TO it as anything we can
Richard Weaver, one Of
he most noted Of the lay preachers,
7as originally a collier; he was drunk
I'd, prize fighter. and bad, danger
US man. he is now 40 years old in
Sol he was strangely converted, and
e Immediately began to 60 about tel ,
ing his experience, and preaching.-i
lie had one of the worst fathers ever /!
man ves cIrrsad with Int a oood