Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1897-12-10
A SUNDAY IN LONDON.
me subject d Very Interesting Lecture BY
Rev. CA. Hayden.

large audience assembled at the Uni
versalist church, Thursday evening. and
listened to the eloquent words of the
pastor. Rev. c. A.. Hayden, who in his
usual easy and original manner. delivered
a lecture upon "A Sunday in London. -
that delighted the people.
The Sunday spoken of was one nassad
by Mr.. Hayden and friend there. about
nine years ago. during the time that that
INDUSTRIOUS preacher. Rev. Charles Spur
geon. was holding the London audiences
spellbound by his eloquence.
Mr. Hayden told of their arrival in
London on Saturday evening. and some of
his impressions of the city. Early Sum
day morning. they started out for west
minister Abbey, where they were to at
tend the forenoon service. Very vivid
were his descriptions of the place called
the "Parthenon of English history"
Whcrc. Kings queens. generals. poets. and
all the illustrieus people who made up the
past of the nation. are entombed The
place that most impressed him was the
poets corner. where there is a bust of
has been thus honored by the English
public. He gave a description of ali the
chapels. which are crowded with the
tombs and monuments of the kings, the
Oldest among which is that erected to-
the memory of Edward the, Confessor.
Mr.. Hayden said: 81 sat dreaming
through the two hours service. hearing
the sermons in the marbles and their
forgetting entirely the
preacher. the people. and all that was GO
ing on about me, until brought to myself
by the people. who were repeating We
are all miserable Sinners which was I'M
true of all those entombed. as
well as those all around. but l would not
have dared to say so, for the English.
of all others, dislike to be told how
wicked they are.
1.-The sermon was commonplace the
music grand. The organ and chant boys
exactly fitted the atmosphere of the
place. but the sermon did not, and l doubt
if any could. 1t was to me a morning
long to be remembered"
In the afternoon they attended St.
Paurs cathedral, which is the eastern,
as the abbey is the western point of Lon
dons religious services. St. Pauls was
first built in the year 610 A. D.. by Ethel
built having IS chapels and 200 priests.
where the full pomp and ceremonies of
the Romish church were carried on for
many years. when it was again burned,
in 1866, after which the present one was
erected. 1t contains the largest bell in
weighing u.4H pounds. and is
never tolled except on the occasion of a
death in the royal family. Mr.. Hayden
said he could read England's history bet
ter in the abbey and the cathedral than
in any book ever printed upon the SUBJ
ject. The sermon there he liked no better
than the one at the abbey. as it seemed
to the place.
In the evening. they went to Mr.. Spur
geon's tabernacle. which Mr.. Hayden de-
scribed as an immense, plain building,
without ornament. There was no organ.
and no pulpit. only a bare platform, with
a table and a chair upon it. and it was
thus that the great preacher depended
upon his own powers to draw an audi
ence. How we'll he succeeded, everyone
knows. as his large auditorium that
would hold between 5000 and 5000 people
was almost always filled. The hymns
were read. verse by verse. before they
were sung and Mr.. Spurgeon used no
notes while preaching.
Mr. Hayden described him as "A living
soul, thoroughly in earnest, rebuking the
sins of the people. He drew the contrast
between the abbey or St. PauIs. and the
describing the former as
things with a history. while the latter
was making a glorious future.
The whole of Mr.. Hayden's address was
listened to with breathless interest by
the audience from start to finish.
A violin solo was rendered by Mr.. Harry
Blodgett. IA vocal solo by Mrs. Georgia
Clark, and an organ voluntary by Miss
McClench.