The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-07-13
THE REF. J0srWH P.ARKER.
Preacher nt the City Tsmp'c, Lo"don-
 Man Like Cromwcii-T TMtrty-Two Years In the Temple Pulpit and sun Vigorous, Impressive md P0puiar-A

Man Like Cromwell TMtrty-Two
 Years i'm the Temple Pulpit and stiii
 Vigorous, Impressive md Popuiar-A A
 Genius in the Use "f Language.
 To the Editor of the Journal and Courier:
 London, July 3.-A minister of the
 Gospel who for thirty-tWo years can
 shine as a pulpit star of the first mag
 nitude in a city like this which has so
 many stars and meteors in it's ecclesl-
 astlcal Armament is surely phenome-
 non of more than passing interest, and it was just that many years ago last
 Sunday since the name of Joseph Par
 ker was first put upon the sign board of a London church To be exact, however, it was not a church of which
 he became pastor at that time; 1t was
 chapel Thirty or forty years ago
 there were two classes of meeting-go- CTS in this country-those who went to
 church and those who went to chapel, The former included those only who
 gave adherence to what is called the
 Church of England, while into the class
 known as "Chapel-folk were gat hered
 the divided hosts of Nonconformity
 and Dissent, chief amongst these being Baptists, Wesleyans, Congregational-
 ists Presbyterians. Between church and chapel the line of nomenclature is not drawn now so sharply, and one Of the earliest revolts against custom which was surely tending to belittle those who were constantly called chap
 el people was that of Joseph Parker,
 who very soon after taking the pasto- ! to of al abn rn1 in he Poultry, Cheapside, transferred this seemingly inconsequential plant into
 new edifice, standing on the main
 thoroughfare from the city to the West End, and ambitiously dubbed this new
 center of churchly enterprise, the City
 Temple,
 To-day the City Temple is almost as
 well known in London as the Mansion
 House or St. Pauls cathedral It was
 a bold stroke to establish this new ven-
 ture at HoIborn Viaduct. Its location
 made 1t conspicuous from the start.
 City Temple looked at first like an in-
 truder, for were there not already.
 within stones throw of this site, two houses of worship of the regular Church of England sort? Yes, indeed,
 and just around the corner, just be-
 yond the Old Bailey and Newgate pris- on there was the great St. Paurs it.
 self. But here it was, nevertheless, where this daring man, who, strange to say, hadn't been trained in any college,
 but who had grit and brains, pious | faith in God and not particle less faith in himself, chose to establish the City Temple which, from the position it has gained since, may not be inap-
 propriately called the St. Paul's Cathe- dra of English Nonconformity while
 the man who has regularly ministered
 in this widely known church, adding to
 his Sabbath appeals twelve o'clock sermon to business men every Thurs day, might surely be styled, without disrespect to others, and without any
 serious implication, of prelacy toward himself, the Primate of the once-de- spised chapel-folk.
 But one must be very careful In as- sociating anything prelatical with the
 name of Joseph Parker. To properly characterize his work, and perhaps, also, to fully appreciate his striking
 personality, you have to remember that the antecedent of City Temple, that chapel in the Poultry stood for the
 strictest Puritanism and had line of descent stretching clear back to Oliver Cromwell The cause represented to- day by a stately edifice at Holborn Vi-
 aduct and by one of the greatest pulpit
 geniuses of this age, had its original
 meetings in Anchor Lane, Thames street, and was founded in 1640 by pr i Thomas Goodwin, who, besides being president of Magdalen college, Oxford,
 had the unique distinction of being
 chaplain to old Ironsldes. Somehow
 this sort of history seems to fit Parker
 exactly. With a background like this his rugged figure and truly ,eonine face, which always has, even in its kindliest moods, an expression of impe-
 riousness, are in perfect harmony,
 Of this I couldn't help thinking yes terday when I looked at that statue of | Cromwell which stands outside of Westminster Hall They kaven't yet given him niche on the inside and 1 perhaps never will. Some think it dan
 gerous to have the image of this great | Commoned even so near to Parliament
 as it is. But there this statue was yes l terday, and having so recently been at | City Temple, it seemed to me that in 1 the figure of Cromwell I could see a | rough outline of Joseph Parker. The
 same firm set of the feet and legs, the
 same bulging chest, indicative of bot tled-up energy against wrong, the same sinewy neck, similar beauty of
 beature Strength is always beautiful 1 in it's way, and you would pick Parker
 out from among any thousand men as
 one who probably believed in God, but
 who certainly believed in himself and
 who must be, from his very look and
 manner, the strong, unfinching cham | pion of some great cause In this im-
 pressive way Cromwell must have been
 beautiful, spite of his red nose and not
 withstanding facial warts. So, with it's encircling shock of hair only a little
 gray. with it's persistent inclination to
 tilt itself back, sure token of self-suf- | ficiency, and with redness of face in-
 dicative of full blood and strong vitali- | ty even in old age, is the head of Jo-
 seph Parker a thing of beauty.
 l Sti1l it wasn't pr. Parker's own peau- | ty that people complimented when they
 used to say that seeing him arm in arm l with his now sainted wife made them | think of Beauty and the Beast" and | this alllsion to the lovely and now de-
 parted helpmeet-his second one-who l came into his life just when the ma 1 ture, rugged strength of this great oak reeded to be softened and adorned a