The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-11-15
NEGLECT OF OLD CHURCHES Splendid Edifices Falling Into Decay. LATTER YEAR DEVELOPMENTS Rowland Hilps Church Falls on
 Bad Days. story of HI. Remarkasi. Career .s Preaeher--somethins es the De- cay of chureh-Goiase In London in Reeeat Years.
 
LATTER YEAR DEVELOPMENTS


 churches for the most part 50 nsgieet- ed as they are in London. Until re- cent years, the religious fervor of the nation has always produced the neces- sary funds with which to comf at tic ravages of Time and the eucroat h. ments of Progress
 In these later days. however. 1t hfs been a different matter. There haa been too much of religious aiss, nt to suggest that the nation undertake the needed repairs There Is muc1 tslki of religion but little depth of ffelirg and the natural results are decay of building and congregation together
 A remarkable light was thrown on these conditions by a recent tithe-clain Inquiry held in the ves.cy room of St. -Olave,ss church in Tooley Street. One witness declared that at one se.yice at which his wife and himself wero present. there were but these weIskfp- pers beside themselves. Not long ago 1t was stated that the aggregate Sum day morning. collection of ten city churches. the rectors of which receive in salary and government aid some
 S2s,000 a year, was less than $f0. In these same ten churches the attendance
 was only 213 on the day in question and 1t would have been easy to ind another half dozen buildings where the average congregations were from seven to twenty-five.
 This paucity of worshippers ie scarcely d cause for wonder when 1t Is
 reflected that ten of these churches minister to an average of 14T parrish. toners each while seven others rrovide 1880 seats for 649 parishioners all told
 Four of these churches would accom-
 modate every possible worshipper in
 the seventeen parishes.
 It was such indifference as this that
 brought Rowland Hill's famous chapel
 to the level of an ordinaFy workshop
 and after serving that purpose for a
 time to have placed on 1t For Rent sign. 4 hundred yards down Black
 Frlars road. 1t stands derelict and neg
 lected. For half a century it exer- cised a wonderful influence over the res
 ligious life of London. It was in Sur rey Chapel that Hill tlIundered forth
 his anathemas and drew fashionable crowds to listen to his elequence and
 wit. The building never was attrac-
 tive and 1t is less so now. It Is ugly. nctaEonal and dirty. It was built in its odd shape to keep the devil from hiding in any of the corners, so 1t waa said. and it's building waa as odd as the product of the workers.
 HilI had been an ,ttinerant~ preacher but tiring of this had sought London as his field. He preached to the work men. and thsnastoe tlie erdfnergs folk. Later came the fashionables. but 1t was only after a tragedy in which Hill showed a spiflt that won for him many admirers. His church had not been popular at the outset and as time went on, 1t became less so. He had hardly gathered a large crowd when a report was spread that the church be- ing on marshy ground was in danger of sinking. The new terror took form one night when the place was crowd ed and a rush was started that w&s only allayed by the calmne3s Of tie preacher who used 1t as a text for a sermon such as Sheridan described when he said that he went to hear Hill because the preachers ideas come red bot from the heart" Southey also was regular attendant for the reason that he liked the singing. ..
 The musical part of the service wss not always orthodox. When the coun- try was threatened with invasion by Napoleon, Hill held a special service at which were sung Rule Britannia" and the national anthem. Then came the introduction of an organ which gave great offense not only to the preacher but to many of the cong.e- gation. For fifty years Hlll held forth and then for twenty years more Rev. Newman Hall held sway. Hill was buried in his own church but when the last service was held there in March. 1881, his body was given a more per- manent resting place under the Lincoln Tower of Christ Church. And now the famous old chapel is to let.
 Better cared for. but nearing decay even then, is the parish church of the Battersea section. It was built in TITO but there are something's about 1t much older than that. The east win dow is said by experts to date back to 1920 and some of the monuments in the gallery are of about the same date. Near the church warden's seat are two wands with metal knobs at the top. These recall the ritual of the oIden days. It is a tradition that when Bat tersea was fashionable village. it was the custom of the vicar to proceed in l his full canonicals from the vicarage to the church while the beadle in gold laced coat and hat, went before him bearing one of these slaves. The larg- 1 CT one has this quaint inscriptions: vertue and integrity are their own Care not for envey or for what comes
 from thence.
 Those who have seen the fine old ca tn edral at Chartres will be rejoiced to | learn that WllH Ine new yedT, steps VIII be taken to counteract the ravages of | time upon the building. For nearly | 900 years the city has possessed this 1 cathedral which was founded by Bish- | op Fulbert. His church was destroyed | by fire and again in ll94 the new build l ing met the same fate. The greater | part of Notre Dame was finished in | l240 and this. in 1880. narrowly es- | capped a bad fire. The belfry of the old | tower went down and much other dam | age was done. The two spires of diff | rerent construction and the thirteenth | century stained glass windows are features of the old cathedral.
 St. Marys of Soho has also had a | most remarkable history. It was | founded through the influence of Dr. | Compton. then Bishop of London, for 1 the Greek archbishop of San1os and | his flock who had been driven from | their island by the Turks during the | reign of Charles II. This Is commem- l orated by a large Greek cross in the | rose window. Since then this tickle | edifice has been successively a meet I Ing house for Huguenots and Baptists | and was being turned into a music hall | when 1t was captured by the Estab- | lished Church.
 St. Giles-in tn e Fields, the rectory of | which was but recently vacated, was | the chapel of a leper hos. pital that stood in a village separated | from London and Westminster by the 1 fields still oddly commemorated in the 1 This chapel was followed by brick church which the Puritans accounts contain comic payment" to