OUR VISIT TO BRITAIN.
(Continued from page 252.)
The illness of our friend Mr. Bell (and we believe he is still our friend though domiciled in the camp of the aliens) was a passing cloud over our field of vision for the time. It was an opportunity lost for his permanent illumination. We had thought, that a man occupying his position in society would be able to command a respectful attention to the truth, and be the means of introducing it among the higher classes of the community. We were therefore the more anxious that he should come to a precise and comprehensive understanding of it. But it seems that this was not to be. The truth was not to present itself to the people of Newark under the patronage of the Manager of the Bank, an office that answers, as it were, to that of a priest in the house of Mammon. It is not the wise, the noble, and the rich of this world whom God employs in calling out a people for his name. He hath conferred this honor upon the unschooled, the weak, the ignoble, and the despised. Neither does he condescend to seek patronage for his truth. It will patronise all men who will heartily accept it; but asks patronage of none. Professors are too apt to court the favor of the influential under the impression that by their aid its progress would be more rapid and abiding. This, however, is a mistake. Proselytes would be made to the influence, which would control all things; while the truth would be practically acknowledged by the many only as a vehicle for its diffusion to the glorification o “Us,” rather than of God. This patronage-seeking spirit has been the ruin of many a good cause. Let us avoid it. We dislike to see a greater anxiety to convert a learned or wealthy man, than one of humbler station and attainments. We have often noticed it. It is generally labor uselessly expended; for the Lord’s people are rarely to be found among that class. “He hath chosen the poor in this world, rich in faith, to be the heirs of his kingdom”—James 2: 5. Let us bestow our labor upon these. If there be any of “the high-minded” standing by as spectators of our work, if God has any people among them, they will recognise the voice, and seek admission among the flock, to which, it is God’s pleasure, to give the kingdom. Though we regretted Mr. Bell’s sickness as the suffering of a friend, we felt very much as we have expressed ourselves in relation to his influence on the people. He hath dishonoured himself by entering the communion of the State-Church, which is the pride, pomp, and vanity of the world incarnate; but the gospel of the kingdom still lives in Newark. He was “the church,” as it were, while an elder in “this reformation.” As he has gone over to Satan, “the church” must therefore have gone with him. And this is probably the case; for we believe that nothing is left of “Campbellism” in Newark, since the gospel of the kingdom and Elpis Israel have pitched their tabernacle there. We produced no confusion in the church; nor was any excited; for there was no bigot among them, having more zeal than knowledge, to disturb the peace. We simply showed them the light; and they opened their eyes, and saw it, as will appear from the following note:
Newark, July 23, 1850.
Bro. Thomas:
Dear Sir, —I have been over to Nottingham. In conversation with Mr. Thomas Wallis, * and his lady, they informed me that they did not attend the evening meetings at Barker-Gate in consequence of their having nothing but baptism for remission of sins, of which they were completely tired. I asked them, why the brethren did not instruct each other in the Prophets and the Psalms? He said the Old Testament had been too much neglected. I am glad they are beginning to find it out. I am positive that the elucidation of Holy Writ as displayed in Elpis Israel will work in time a mighty reform. We are about changing our meeting room for one more eligible, lately occupied by a portion of the Baptists, who have agreed to smother their differences. It is more commodious and easy of access; and we having received lately a great accession of knowledge in the scriptures, feel greater confidence in standing before the people. We have now something to offer to their notice which they can comprehend; something tangible that they can lay hold of; and although at first it sounds strange in their ears, the public pay more attention than hitherto.
With kind regards from the brethren and myself, I remain,
Yours faithfully,
JOHN HAGE.
* Brother to the Editor. —Ed.
While we were at Nottingham subsequent to our visit to Lincoln, we were informed by a friend that it was the intention of Mr. J. Wallis and his confederates to make an attack upon us at a convention of church delegates to be held in September, at Glasgow. Some resolutions were to be got up by which we were to be put under a sort of ban or interdict. We considered we had this information from good authority, as it afterwards proved to be. Were we to allow a body of men, from various parts of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, to assemble in Glasgow, where we were then at work, and to sit in judgment and pass decrees upon us, and have no right to open our mouth in defence of our position and the truth? We did not think it expedient to give Satan this advantage over us. We wished to have the right to speak if attacked. If nothing were said concerning us, we should take no part in the proceedings, as the establishment and extension of Campbellism in Britain was not at all in accordance with our views of the public good. The church at Lincoln was on the printed roll of the denomination. It stood fair with the leaders, who had till recently been venerated by them as saints of the calendar after a certain sort. This church did not intend to send a delegate to the convention on account of the expense; otherwise they would. We were aware of this before we left Lincoln. Now, being in good odour there, we concluded to offer our services as their representative without any cost to them. If they accepted them, they were to forward our credentials to Glasgow in time for us to take our seat. The offer was readily agreed to, and we were accredited by the following letter addressed:
“To the meeting of Delegates of the Churches of the Disciples convened at Glasgow by notice in the ‘Harbinger’ and ‘Gospel Banner.’
Dear Brethren, —We being a congregation of believers in ‘the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,’ into whom we have been immersed, desire to be represented in your meeting, which we understand is convened for the purpose of promoting the best interests of the Congregations of Disciples in Great Britain and Ireland. We do therefore hereby appoint our esteemed brother John Thomas, from the United States of America, as the delegate of the church in Lincoln, that he may unite with you in consultation upon the best measures to be adopted in promoting the object for which the meeting is convened. We know of no one more interested and competent than he. We have unanimously received him into our fellowship. 1s.t—On the ground of his well known writings in the Christian Messenger, and of the high commendation which has therein been given of him. 2nd. —His admission to fellowship by the church in London. 3rd. —Of letters from America in his favour from brethren with whom some of us are well acquainted. 4th. —Of the general approbation of those who have been favoured by hearing him since his arrival in this country; and lastly, on the ground of our personal acquaintance; and we having heard him ourselves. We hope, therefore, brethren, you will cordially receive him as our representative in your council.”
Praying that you may abound in that wisdom which cometh from above, which is pure, peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and of good fruits, without partiality, &c. Thus may your deliberations be conducted in the letter and spirit of the truth, as in the presence and devout reverence of Him who is immortal, invisible, the only wise God; to whom be glory and dominion throughout all ages. —Amen. Signed on behalf of the church,
William Scott, Elder,
James Jackson,
John Turney,
Henry Clarke.
Lincoln, September 18th, 1848.”
Accompanying the above was the letter below expressive of the views of the church in respect to certain “items” published by Mr. Wallis as topics of deliberation for the delegates.
Dear Brother Thomas:
We have been requested by the brethren to express to you something of our views respecting the subjects to be mooted at the ensuing meeting. Mr. James Wallis enumerated eleven items. We have nothing to advance on the first six. The 7th is, that “the reports of the evangelists, and Campbell funds be considered and passed.” It has been reported that there is a surplus of the “Campbell fund” after defraying the expenses of Messrs. Campbell and Henshall. Should it be proposed that this surplus be paid over to Bethany College, with an understanding that young men should in return be sent over to Great Britain and Ireland, we should decidedly negative such a proposition as being circuitous, expensive, and as not promising any real speedy advantage.
We by no means approve the arrangements of the Edinburgh meeting in 1842. At which meeting a committee was chosen, and monies extracted from the congregations, and expended so as to yield but little advantage in speaking the truth generally amongst the churches. We think much may be done if mutual confidence can be established, and those churches possessing the means would give help and encouragement to these congregations which may need assistance, especially to those which may have one or more persons among them qualified for local, and in some instances, extensive evangelisation. Churches might thus be visited that have need of help. Churches might be planted, and the word of the Lord thus run and be glorified.
We are decidedly adverse to the adoption of any system deputing individuals as a committee, invested with irresponsible authority, to whose custody all surplus monies of the churches are to be confided, thus constituting them “Lords over God’s heritage.” There is no such example among the apostolic churches. Until the churches become so purified, and disinterested, that mutual confidence be established, there never will be any good impression made upon the public mind.
Respecting our own church our number is about as given in the Harbinger. During the past year we have lost two by death, and four by removal. This number has been nearly made up by others uniting with us. We have during the summer immersed five: but have not increased by them on account of distance. They are probably united elsewhere.
The brethren are all well, and rejoice to hear of your success at Glasgow. They all desire to be kindly remembered to you; and subscribe ourselves in their behalf,
Yours faithfully,
WILLIAM SCOTT,
JAMES JACKSON.
Lincoln, September 25, 1848.
Such were our credentials and instructions, by virtue of which we proposed to take our seat among the “Reformers,” and to speak, if need be, on “the promotion of the best interests” of their churches, and in defence of our own position if assailed. It will be seen that every thing was perfectly regular. The church was on the list of “sister churches,” and in good standing. Mr. William Scott, a descendant of the orthodox writer of Scott’s Commentary, an elder, and formerly an evangelist, and colabourer with Mr. Wallis, our doctrine well searched into and approved; and freely welcomed to the table they had provided for all baptised persons who were willing to celebrate the death of Christ on their own responsibility. There seemed to be no flaw; no ground of cavil in our case. But in this we were reckoning without mine host.
The morning after our departure from Nottingham we left Derby for Scotland. We took the six o’clock train that we might reach Edinburgh that night; but a little adventure detained us much longer on the way. The train was standing about a hundred yards in advance of the Darfield station, and not being aware of the uncertain results of leaving the cars after they had passed the platform, we got out for an infinitely shorter time than it proved to be. Perceiving that the train was moving, we hastened to resume our place, which from the ground was not so easily gained as we imagined. We made a spring to reach the step and at the same time to grasp a hand extended to assist us; but the onward motion threw us from our feet, and rolled us from the ledge to the ground. In recovering our hat, we cogitated a second attempt. We found, however, that locomotiveness is quicker than thought incumbered by action. The train had acquired so much speed by the time we were ready for another attempt, and being about to enter the tunnel, we perceived that the attempt was both hopeless and dangerous. Fortunately for our baggage, the conductor saw the accident, but could not stop the train, as when once in motion, there is no halt between the stations. The situation was most unpromising for the fulfilment of an appointment in Glasgow on the morrow at half past seven P.M., distance 290 miles. The next station was Barnsley some four miles ahead. We pushed on thither as fast as running and walking alternately would advance us, in hope of arriving soon enough to telegraph the station-master at Normanton to take possession of our baggage. Normanton is ten miles from Barnsley, and a point at which the Derby train divides for Leeds and York. We were going to York, and as things in this life go very much by contraries, we very much feared our chattels and effects would take the route they ought not. We did not expect that we could pedestrianise four miles while the train locomotived fourteen; but knowing that there was often considerable delay at points of division and change of carriages, we faintly hoped that a message by lightning would arrive before it was too late. But imagine our chagrin when the Barnsley telegrapher informed us that the train had left Normanton already. “Telegraph, then, to Leeds, and tell them to return the baggage to Normanton by next train.” He could not do it. The wires terminated at Normanton. Just at this crisis a locomotive arrived unattached except to the tender, on which we took our stand. We shot off with the velocity of the wind with a tempest in the face from the rapidity of our flight. We were soon at Normanton, where we found our baggage in the custody of the station-master. The conductor had seen us fall at Darfield, and reported the accident to the master, who caused search to be made in the carriages for unclaimed effects; some showed themselves, and proving to be ours were shortly after returned to their owner in a wholesome state of preservation. The trouble, vexation, and fatigue of this untoward incident were thenceforth a caution to us in railway travelling, to presume upon nothing, and to be always at our post. Time and steam wait for no man in England. Its movements are clockwork by Greenwich time from John o’ Groats to Land’s End: —a precision that disciplines the public, and trains it to punctuality, promptitude, and caution. We improved by its monitions, and in travelling the world over, have now the satisfaction of finding ourselves invariably in advance of the time.
In two hours and a half after our arrival at Normanton, the train which left Derby at 9 A.M. came up. We took our seat in this for York, famous among the cities of England for its cathedral, being the capital of an archbishopric; and as the death-place of Constantius, whence his son Constantine “the great,” commenced that brilliant career which changed the face and constitution of the world, and placed him on “the throne of God.” (This is a Hebraism used in Revelation 12: 5. The addition of the name of God to a noun is a form of the superlative in Hebrew; thus the mountains of God are the highest mountains, and the throne of God the highest throne upon earth.) At this station we changed trains, transferring ourselves to one for Newcastle upon Tyne, celebrated for its coal trade, and railway bridge of dizzy height above the topmasts of the ships below. The rail route, skirting rather than through the town, affords a most forbidding view of the place. Blackness of darkness curtains the walls of its gloomy castle, and citizen abodes; and its atmosphere of smoke, a little more dense, would almost darken the sun. At two subsequent visits we stayed at Bell’s Hotel in the heart of the town. We then found handsome streets and fine houses under the smoke, the production of which is a source of vast wealth to the north of England generally. We made no stay at this time, but hurried on to Berwick upon Tweed, an old border town between the once hostile and independent kingdoms of England and Scotland. We arrived there at ten P.M., and as there was no train north till next day, we were compelled to put up at some hotel for the night. There is at Berwick also a stupendous railway bridge across the Tweed. Viewed from the old bridge below, it is truly aerial. We crossed it at aftertimes; but in 1848 it was not ready for trains, which now run to the Berwick station direct, but cautiously in the transit of the bridge. In our tours through Britain, we were much struck with the solidity, magnitude, and magnificence of the works upon the railway lines. Nearly all of them are double tracks, and so substantially laid down that the oscillation is comparatively nothing. When trains meet, they pass as a flash of lightning with a startling crash, the double motion being instantaneous. The way-stations are pretty fancy cottages in the Elizabethan style, often set off with tasty gardens of flowers and gravelled walks. The tunnels are many and of capacious bore. We passed through one near Bath of several miles in length. Its darkness was Egyptian, and its cold damp smell, earthy as the grave. The stations at Euston Square, Derby, York, &c., &c., are magnificent. In short, the works are calculated to excite the admiration of travellers, who have known what it is to cross the mountains of Pennsylvania and Virginia in the four horse boxes on leathers, called stages, or to rumble over the rails from Richmond, west, north, and south, at the rate of fifteen, or at most, twenty miles an hour. On our return from Plymouth to London, the train ran over the last 53 miles in 55 minutes. Within the memory of “the oldest inhabitant,” a thing was thought to be done with wonderful expedition, if it were performed “before you could say Jack Robinson;” but this was a funeral pace to travelling—no that’s a slow word—to streaking a mile a minute. Abreast of men, trees, posts, &c., they are vanished, as it would seem, in less than the twinkling of an eye. The trains do not all run at this rate. The fastest are the express trains, for which every thing on the same track gives way; the slowest are the Parliamentary, which stand by for every thing. All the companies are compelled by law to run Parliamentaries for the benefit of the poor at two cents a mile. This is the origin of their name, and it might be added, because also of their doing their work so slowly. They perform their trips, or rather journeys, about the rate of sixteen miles an hour.
We left Berwick for Edinburgh at half past nine, and arrived there about noon. Dunbar, celebrated for the decisive battle between Cromwell and the Covenanters, lies midway between Berwick and Edinburgh. All along this line the scenery is beautiful. Several fine views of the German ocean present themselves. The country is diversified with hill and dale, land and water, parks and well cultivated farms with interesting variety, after crossing the Tweed. At Dunbar the rail bears off to the west, but touches the coast again at the Haddington station, where the Frith of Forth, and “Kingdom of Fife” beyond come into view. The run is then nearly all the way in sight of the Frith till within a mile or so of Edinburgh, when, just as you catch a glimpse of Arthur’s Seat, and Salisbury Craig, the train dives into a tunnel of outer darkness, which ends not till you are greeted by returning day at the platform of the deep-delled terminus at the base of South Bridge and the Castle Hill. We had to wait about two hours for the starting of the train to Glasgow; so having confided our baggage to the care of one of the station-police, we made our way to the Castle as the best position for a view of Edinburgh in the shortest time. We were not at the wall three minutes before we were joined by a very communicative gentleman, who seemed to be familiar with all the localities of note in the depth below and the heights beyond. We wondered at the interest he appeared to take in extending our knowledge of men and things. We took note of his exterior from hat to shoe. He was respectably attired. He must be some gentleman of leisure who kindly compassionates the ignorance of strangers, and as opportunity offers gratifies his own benevolence in supplying the wants of those who desire to learn the memorabilia of Auld Reekie. This is very gracious. How one would like to do something to prove their appreciation of his disinterestedness. But his appearance forbids it. Nothing more can be thought of than a smile, a bow, and an expression of thanks in the blandest tone. More than this would be offensive in the extreme. After all, these proffered attentions are not agreeable. One is burdened by the obligation felt to the unknown; and uneasiness from the apprehension of what may come in the application of the discourse. Before we admit a stranger to such familiar and unceremonious tête-à-tête, we like to know something about him. We like not to be picked up for an acquaintance by every philanthropist who may think proper to set his mark upon us. This was our feeling in the instance before us. We therefore determined to shorten our visit, and to bid the gentleman, so topographically profound and so exuberantly communicative, adieu as courteously as possible. We felt greatly obliged to him for his attentions; thanked him for the information he had given; sorry we could not remain longer, but must go; and bowing as gracious an adieu as we were able, were turning to depart. Judge our surprise, reader, when the gentleman put his finger to the rim of his chapeau, and asked us for “something to drink!” Wha-at, aye? Yes, what did you say, sir? “He would like a drink of beer, for he had had nothing that day.” Such is the world—a vain show; a whited sepulchre without, but within a chamber of the dead. A great sham, a social masquerade, in which things are the very reverse of what they do appear. This gentleman was a little sham, but a type of a numerous class in the capitals of Europe. We were afterwards greatly annoyed by their officiousness on the Continent. On the field of Waterloo they dogged us to the summit of Mont St. Jean; but finding at length that we could be victimised neither by their “relics,” nor their service, they turned upon us, and cursed us heartily for Russians. We gave our thirsty mentor of the Castle-yard a trifle, not as a token of affection, we confess, but as the speediest riddance of his presence that could be devised.
After sauntering over a few of the adjoining streets, and renewing the strength of the outward man at a refreshment room, the time arrived for the departure of the train. We reclaimed our baggage, and took seat for Glasgow, a distance of thirty miles west of Edinburgh via Linlithgow. We arrived at the City of the Clyde, great, populous, magnifical, and filthy, at half past four P.M., on Friday September 15th; where we found our only acquaintance in Scotland—acquaintance by correspondence alone—waiting for us in great anxiety, lest we should not appear in time for meeting at half past seven that night. Our arrival set his mind at rest. He had made appointments, and we were on the spot to avail ourselves of whatever might turn up propitious to the truth in the undeveloped, and to us unexpected and astounding future.
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“To destroy Antichrist is Christ to come. The conversion of the Papacy is a dream of Evangelical Liberality; and so is a spiritual advent, that precious absurdity of the same unlearned school.”
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