Our Churches and Chapels - Atticus
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These are the Baptists. There are four or five chapels set apart for
their improvement in Preston, and the smartest of these is in
Fishergate. In Leeming-street it was in the chrysalis state; in
Fishergate the butterfly epoch has been reached. A dull, forlorn
looking edifice, afterwards taken advantage of by the Episcopalian
party, and now cleared off to make way for St. Saviour's church,
once formed the sacred asylum of a portion of the Baptists; but a
desire for better accomodation, combined with a wish for more
fashionable quarters, induced a change. The dove was repeatedly sent
out, and dry land was finally found for the Baptists in Fishergate.
In 1858 a chapel was erected upon the spot, and thus far it has
steadfastly maintained its position. It is a handsome building,
creditable to both the architect and the congregation, and if its
tower were less top heavy, it would, in its way, be quite superb. We
never look at that solemn tower head without being reminded of some
immense quadrangular pepper castor, fit for a place in the kitchen
of the Titans. In every other respect the building is arranged
smartly; if anything it is too ornamental, and in making a general
survey one is nearly afraid of meeting with Panathenaic frieze work.
On the principle that you can't have the services of a good piper
without paying proportionately dear for them, so you can't obtain a
handsome chapel except by confronting a long bill. The elysium of
antipedobaptism in Fishergate cost the modest sum of 5,000 pounds,
and of that amount about 800 pounds remains to be paid. Considering
the greatness of the original sum, the debt is not very large; but
if it were less the congregation would be none the worse; and if it
didn't exist at all they would be somewhat nearer bliss in this
general vale of tears. Fishergate Baptist Chapel is the only
Dissenting place of worship in the town possessing an exterior
clock; and it is one of the most orderly articles in the town, for
it never strikes and has not for many months shown itself after
dark. It used to exhibit signs of activity after sunset; but it was,
considered a "burning shame" by some economists to light it up with
gas when the Town Hall clock was got into working order, and ever
since then it has been nightly kept in the dark.
Fishergate Baptist Chapel has an excellent interior, and it will
accommodate about twice as many people as patronise it. Long stately
side lights, neatly embellised with stained glass and opaque
filigree work, give it a mild solemnity which is relieved by fine
circular windows occupying the gables. The seats are arranged in the
usual three-row style, and there is a touch of neat gentility about
them indicative of good construction, whatever the parties they have
been made for are like. Fashionably-conceived gas-stands shoot up
and spread their branches at intervals down the chapel; and at the
extreme end there is a broad gallery, set apart for the singers, who
need be in no fear of breaking it down through either the weight of
their melodious metal or the specific gravity of their physique. A
new organ is much wanted, and if a few new singers were secured, or
the old ones polished up slightly, the proceedings would be more
lively and agreeable. Nearly three of the members of the choir are
really good singers; the remainder are what may be termed only
moderate. What Lune-street is to the Wesleyans, so Fishergate seems
to be to the Baptists--the centre of gravity of the more refined and
fashionable worshippers. Very few poor people visit it, and it is
thought that if they don't come of their own accord they will never
he seriously pressed on the subject. The free sittings are just
within the door, on the left hand side, and we should fancy that not
more than 25 really poor people use them. The higher order of
Christians occupy the lower portion of the same range of seats, the
central pews, and those on the right side thereof.
The congregation consists almost entirely of middle-class persons--
people who have either saved money in business or who are making a
determined effort to do so. Good clothes, quiet demeanour, and
numerical smallness are the striking characteristics. Nothing
approaching fervour ever takes possession of the general body.
Religion with them is not a termagant, revered for her sauciness and
loved for her violent evolutions. It is a reticent, even spirited,
calmly orthodox affair, whose forerunner fed on locusts and wild
honey, and whose principles are to be digested quietly. There may be
a few very boisterous sheep in the fold, who get on fire
periodically in the warmth of speaking and praying; who will express
their willingness, when the pressure is up, to do any mortal thing
for the good of "the cause;" but who will have to be caught there
and then if anything substantial has to follow. Like buckwheat cakes
and rum gruel they are best whilst hot. At a night meeting they may
be generously disposed and full of universal sympathy; but they can
sleep out their burning thoughts in a few hours, and waken up next
morning like larks, with no recollection of their gushing promises.
There is accomodation in the chapel for about 400 persons, but the
average attendance is not more than 200; and there are only about 90
"members." Not much difference between the morning and evening
attendance is noticed. The baptismal Thermophylae is generally
guarded by the sacred 90, and looked at by the fuller 200. The pew
rents are very high; but this evil is compensated for by the
comparative absence of those solemn gad flies which come in the
shape of collections. At some places of worship contribution boxes
and bags are seen floating about rapidly nearly every other Sunday,
for either home expenses or perishing Indians; but at Fishergate
Baptist Chapel incidental requirements are blended with the pew
rents; and for other purposes about two collections annually
suffice. That is all, and that ought to make attendance at such a
place rather agreeable.
The primal government of the chapel is in the hands of four deacons;
but they are not very officious like some pillars of the church:
one of them is mild and obliging, the second is wise-looking and
crotchety, the third is disposed to pious rampagiousness in his
lucid intervals, and the fourth is a kindly sort of being, with a
moderate respect for converted dancers and hallaleujah men. Some
theological writers say that there are "evangelists" as well as
deacons in connection with Baptist government. There may be some of
this class at the Fishergate Chapel; but we have not yet seen their
sacred personages. The place is highly favoured with clocks. Not
only is there a specimen of horology outside, but there is one
within, and it may be called a worldly-wise creature, for it never
gets beyond No. I in its striking. Tradition hath it that once when
there was no clock in the chapel, the preacher used to overshoot
most uncomfortably the ordinary limits of time; that the
congregation, whilst fond of sermons, did not like them stretched
too violently; and that they resolved unanimously to purchase a
clock. Probably this story is groundless; but it is a fact
nevertheless that the clock is so situated as to be only fully and
easily seen by the preacher. More than three-fourths of the people
sit with their backs directly to it. And it is furthermore a fact
that, whilst when there was no clock the usual time of deliverance
was passed, the congregation are now released with scrupulous
exactitude. They got into the open air one Sunday evening when we
were there about 16 seconds before eight, and the preacher had
abandoned the pulpit by the time the Town Hall clock gave its
opinion on the question.
In winter there is a Sunday morning prayer meeting at the place; but
in summer the members can't stand such a gathering, either because
too much light is thrown upon the subject, or because the attendance
is too small, or because early prayers are not required at that
season of the year. A prayer meeting is, however, held all the year
round, on a Wednesday night, and it is favoured, on an average, with
about 20 earnest individuals, who sometimes create what might, if
not properly explained, be considered a rather solemn disturbance.
These parties meet in the Sunday school, which is beneath the
chapel. The average attendance of scholars at this school is not
very large. When buns and coffee are astir it may be computed at
200; when ordinary religious instruction is simply placed before the
juvenile mind the attendance may be set down at about 100.
In the chapel and immediately before the pulpit, there is a square
hole, usually covered, which in denominational phraseology goes by
the name of the "baptistery." In the first ages of Christianity such
places were made outside the church, and were either hexagonal or
octagonal, then they became polygonal, then circular, and now they
have got quadrangular. Two of the finest baptisteries in the world
are at Florence and Pisa; that at the former, place being 100 feet
in diameter, made of black and white marble, and surrounded with a
gallery on granite columns; that at the latter being 116 feet wide,
and beautifully ornamented. The biggest baptistery ever made is
supposed to have been that at St. Sophia, in Constantinople, which,
we are told, was so spacious as to have once served for the
residence of the Emperor Basilicus. But there is no marble about the
baptistery in Fishergate Chapel, and no one would ever think of
transmuting it into a residence. It is used two or three times a
year, and if outsiders happen to get a whisper of an intended
dipping, curiosity leads them to the chapel, and they look upon the
ceremony as a piece of sacred fun, right enough to look at, but far
too wet for anything else. This dipping is, indeed, a quaint, cold
piece of business. None except adults or youths who have, it is
thought, come to sense and reason, are permitted to pass through the
ordeal, and it is recognised by them as symbolic of their entrance
into "the Church." Sometimes as many as six or seven are immersed.
They put on old or special garments suitable for the occasion, and
the work of baptism is then carried on by the minister, who stands
in the figurative Jordan. He quietly ducks them overhead; they
submit to the process without a murmur; they neither bubble, nor
scream, nor squirm; and the elders look on solemnly, though
impressed with thoughts that, excellent as the ceremony may be, it
is a rather shivering sort of business after all. After being
baptised, the new members retire into an adjoining room, strip their
saturated cloths, rub themselves briskly with towels, or get the
deacons to do the work for them, then re-dress, comb their hair, and
receive liberty to rejoice with the general Israel of the flock.
Such baptism as that we have described seems a rather curious kind
of rite; but it is honestly believed in, and as those who submit to
it have to undergo the greatest punishment in the case--have to be
put right overhead in cold Longridge water--other persons may keep
tolerably cool on the subject. People have a right to use water any
way so long as they don't throw it unfairly upon others or drown
themselves; and if three-fourths of the people who now laugh at
adult baptism would undergo a dipping next Sunday, and then stick to
water for the remainder of their lives, they would be better
citizens, whatever might become of their theology.
The Rev. J. O'Dell is the pastor of Fishergate Baptist Chapel, and
he is an exemplary man in his way, for be only receives a small
salary and yet contrives to keep out of debt--a thing which a good
deal of parsons, and which many of the ordinary children of grace,
can't accomplish. He is well liked by his congregation, and we have
heard of no fighting over either his virtues or defects. He has
quite a clerical look, and, if he hadn't, his voice would give the
cue to his profession. There is an earnest unctuous modulation about
it, which, as a rule, is acquired after men have flung overboard the
common idioms of secular life. The salary of Mr. O'Dell is about 160
pounds a year, and although he would like more, he can make himself
and Mrs. O'Dell, and the younger branches of the house of O'Dell,
comfortable on that sum. Some pastors gnash their teeth if their
purse strings are opened for less than 300 pounds a year; Mr. O'Dell
would purchase a pair of wings, and sing "'Tis like a little heaven
below," if his stipend was raised to that figure. There is nothing
very extraordinary in the preaching style of Mr. O'Dell. It lacks
the cunning of that rare old Baptist bird, who once went by the name
of Birney, and it is devoid of that learned and masterly eloquence
so finely worked by the last minister of the chapel, who used to
read some of his sermons over to the deacons, before trying them
upon the other sinners in the chapel; still it is sincere, straight-
forward, and theologically sound. It never reaches a point of
raving, is never loudly pretentious, or ferocious in tone. Mr.
O'Dell will never be a brilliant man; but he is now what is often
much better--a good working minister. He will never occupy the
position of a commander, will never even be a lieutenant, but he
will always be a good soldier in the ranks. He has neither a lofty
imaginative capacity nor a dashing ratiocinative faculty, but he has
a clear sense of the importance of his pastoral duties, he goes
easily and earnestly to work, makes neither much fuss nor smoke, and
if he does now and then seem to pull queer faces in his sermons--
give odd twists to some of his muscles--that does not debar him from
preaching fair even-sounding sermons, soothing to his general
hearers and pleasing to those who have to pay him. There are a few
people whom Mr. O'Dell's sermons fail to keep awake; but as such
parties are probably better asleep than in a full state of
consciousness, no great harm is done. He has all sorts of folk to
deal with--men who are pious, and smooth creatures quietly given to
humbug; people who practice what they are taught, and a few so
wonderfully good that if they called a meeting of their creditors
they would begin the business by saying, "Let us pray;" individuals
who follow their duties calmly, and make no show about their work;
and respectable specimens of indifference, who go to chapel because
it is fashionable to do so. But they seem all complacent, and the
"happy family" element predominates. Mr. O'Dell suits them; they
suit Mr. O'Dell; and if he had only a fuller chapel--a better
salary, too, wouldn't be despised by him--he could send up his
orisons with more courage, and preach to the sinners around him with
the steam hammer force of a Gadsby.
No. VI.
ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH.
"My respecks to St. George and the Dragoon," wrote the gay and
festive showman, at the conclusion of an epistle--penned under the
very shadow of "moral wax statters"--to the Prince of Wales. And
there was no evil in such a benevolent expression of feeling.
George, the particular party referred to, occupies a prominent
position in our national escutcheonry, ant the "Dragoon" is a unique
creature always in his company, which it would be wrong to entirely
forget. The name of the saint sounds essentially English, and it has
been woven into the country's history. The nation is fond of its
Georges. We had four kings--not all of a saintly disposition--who
rejoiced in that name; we sometimes swear by the name of George; and
it plays as good a part as any other cognomen in our universal
system of christening. Nobody can really tell who St. George was,
and nobody will ever be able to do so. Gibbon fancies he was at one
time an unscrupulous bacon dealer, and that he finally did
considerable business in religious gammon. Butler, the Romish
historian, thinks he was martyred by Diocletian for telling that
amiable being a little of his mind; ancient fabulists make it out
that be killed a dragon, saved a fair virgin's life, and then did
something better than either--married her; medieval men, with a
knightly turn of mind, transmuted him into the patron of chivalry;
Edward III made him the patron of the Order of the Garter; the
Eastern and Western churches venerate him yet; Britains have turned
him into their country's tutelary saint; and many places of worship
have been dedicated to this curiously mythologic individual. We have
a church in Preston in this category; and it is of such church--St.
George's--we shall speak now.
In 1723 it was erected. Up to that time the Parish Church was the
only place of worship we had in connection with what is termed "the
Establishment;" St. George's was brought into existence as a "chapel
of ease" for it; and it is still one of the easiest, quietest, best
behaved places in the town. It was a plain brick edifice at the
beginning, but in 1843-4 the face of the church was hardened--it was
turned into stone, and it continues to have a substantial petrified
appearance. In 1848 a new chancel was built; and afterwards a dash
of Christian patriotism resulted in a new pulpit and reading desk.
The general building, which is of cruciform shape, has a subdued,
solemn, half-genteel, half-quaint look. There is neither
architectural maze nor ornamental flash in its construction. It is
plain all round, and is characterised by a simplicity of style which
could not be well reduced unless a severe plainness were adopted.
Its position is not in a very imposing locality, and the roads to it
are bad and irregular. Baines, the historian, says that St. George's
Church is situated between Fishergate and Friargate--rather a wide
definition applicable to about 500 other places ranging from
billiard rooms to foundries, from brewing yards to bedstead
warehouses in the same region. That brightest of all our historical
blades, "P. Whittle, F.A.S.," states that it is located on the
south-west side of Friargate--a better, but still very mystical,
exposition to all not actually acquainted with the place; whilst
Hardwicke comes up to the rescue in the panoply of modern exactness,
and tells us that it is on the south side of Fishergate. These
historians must have missed their way in trying to find the place,
and in their despair guessed at its real situation. There are many
ways to St. George's--you can get to it from Fishergate, Lune-
street, Friargate, or the Market place; but if each of those ways
was thrown into one complete whole, the road would still be
fifteenth rate. Tortuousness and dimness mark them, and a strong
backyard spirit of adventure must operate largely in the minds of
some who manage to reach the building.
The churchyard of St. George's has nothing interesting to the common
mind about it. The great bulk of the grave stones are put flat upon
the ground--arranged so that people can walk over them with ease and
comfort, whatever may become of the letters; and if it were not for
a few saplings which shoot out their bright foliage periodically,
and one very ancient little tree which has become quite tired of
that business, the yard would look very grave and monotonous. The
principal entrance can be reached by way of Lune-street or Chapel-
walks; but when you have got to it, there is nothing very peculiar
to be seen. It is plain, rather gloomy, and in no way interesting.
The interior of the church wears a somewhat similar complexion; but
it improves by observation, and in the end you like it for its
thorough simplicity. No place of worship can in its internal
arrangements be much plainer than St. George's. If it were not for
three stained windows in the chancel, which you can but faintly make
out at a distance, nothing which could by any possibility be termed
ornamental would at first sight strike you. On reaching the centre
of the place you get a moderately clear view of the pulpit which
somewhat edifies the mind; and, on turning right round, you see a
magnificent organ which compensates for multitudes of defects, and
below it--in front of the orchestra--a rather powerful
representation of the royal arms, a massive lion and unicorn,
"fighting for the crown" as usual, and got up in polished wood work.
We see no reason why there should not be something put up
contiguously, emblematic of St. George and the dragon. It is very
unfair to the saint and unjust to the dragon to ignore them
altogether--The Ten Commandments are put on one side in this church-
-not done away with, but erected in a lateral position, very near a
corner and somewhat out of the way. One of the historians previously
quoted says that St. George's used to be "heated by what is commonly
called a cockle"--some sort of a warmth radiating apparatus, which
he describes minutely and with apparent pleasure. We have not
inquired specially as to the fate of this cockle. It may still have
an existence in the sacred edifice, or it may have given way, as all
cockles must do in the end, whether in churches or private houses,
to hot-water arrangements. The pews in St. George's are of the old,
fashioned, patriarchal character. They are of all sizes an
irregularity quite refreshing peculiarises them; there are hardly
two alike in the building; and a study of the laws of variety must
have been made by those who had the management of their
construction. Private interests and family requirements have
probably regulated the size of them. Some of the pews are narrow and
hard to get into--a struggle has to be made before you can fairly
take possession; others are broader and easier to enter: a few are
very capacious and might be legitimately licensed to carry a dozen
inside with safety; nearly all or them are lined with green baize,
much of which is now getting into the sere and yellow leaf period of
life; many of them are well-cushioned--green being the favourite
colour; and in about the same number Brussels carpets may be found.
There is a quiet, secluded coziness about the pews; the sides are
high; the fronts come up well; nobody can see much of you if care is
taken; and a position favourable to either recumbent ease or
horizontal sleep may be assumed in several of them with safety. The
general windows, excepting those in the chancel, are very plain; and
if it were not for a rim of amber-coloured glass here and there and
a fair average accumulation of dust on several of the squares, there
would be nothing at all to relieve their native simplicity. The
pillars supporting the nave are equally plain; the walls and ceiling
are almost entirely devoid of ornament: and primitive white-wash
forms the most prominent colouring material. The gas stands, often
very elaborate in places of worship, have been made solely for use
here. Simple upright pipes, surmounted by ordinary burners
constitute their sum and substance. The pulpit lights are simpler.
Gas has not yet reached the place where the law and the prophets are
expounded. The orthodox mould candle reigns paramount on each side
of the pulpit; and its light appears to give satisfaction.
There is no Sunday school in connection with St. George's. In some
respects this may be a disadvantage to the neighbourhood; but it is
a source of comfort to the congregation, for all the noise which
irrepressible children create during service hours at every place
where they are penned up, is obviated. Neither children nor babes
are seen at St. George's. It is considered they are best at home,
and that they ought to stay there until the second teeth have been
fairly cut. The congregation of St. George's is specifically
fashionable. A few poor people may be seen on low seats in the
centre aisle; but the great majority of worshippers either
represent, or are connected with, what are termed "good families."
Young ladies wearing on just one hair the latest of bonnets, and
elaborated with costly silks and ribbons; tender gentlemen of the
silver-headed cane school and the "my deah fellah" region; quiet
substantial looking men of advanced years, who believe in good
breeding and properly brushed clothes; elderly matrons, "awfully
spiff" as Lady Wortley Montague would say; and a few well-disposed
tradespeople who judiciously mingle piety with business, and never
make startling noises during their devotional moments--these make up
the congregational elements of St. George's. They may be described
in three words--few, serene, select. And this seems to have always
been the case. Years since, the historian of Lancashire said that
St. George's "has at all times had a respectable, though not a very
numerous, congregation." The definition is as correct now as it was
then. The worshippers move in high spheres; the bulk of them toil
not, neither do they spin; and if they can afford it they are quite
justified in making life genteel and easy, and giving instructions
for other people to wait upon them. We dare say that if their piety
is not as rampant, it is quite as good, as that of other people.
Vehemence is not an indication of excellence, and people may be good
without either giving way to solemn war-whoops or damaging the
hearing faculties of their neighbours. Considering the situation of
St. George's Church--its proximity to Friargate and the unhallowed
passages running therefrom--there ought to be a better congregation.
Churches like beefsteaks are intended to benefit those around them.
It is not healthy for a church to have a congregation too select and
too fashionable. Souls are of more value than either purses or
clothes. More of the people living in the immediate neighbourhood of
St. George's ought to regularly visit it; very few of them ever go
near the place; but the fault may be their own, and neither the
parson's, nor the beadle's.