883, at eleven of
the clock in the forenoon, at the Mansion House Justice Room,
in the said City, or before such other Justice or Justices of
the Peace for the same City as may then be there, to answer
to the said charge, and to be further dealt with according to
law. Herein fail not. Given under my hand and seal, this
29th day of January, in the year of Our Lord, 1883, at the
Mansion House Justice-Room aforesaid.
"HENRY E. KNIGHT,
"Lord Mayor, London."

The James Macdonald of this summons, who played the part of a common
informer, turned out to be a police officer. In the ordinary way of
business he went to the Lord Mayor, complained of our blasphemy and his
own lacerated feelings, and applied for a summons against us as a first
step towards punishing us for our sins. What a _reductio ad absurdum_
of the Blasphemy Laws! Instead of ordinary Christians protesting against
our outrages, and demanding our restraint in the interest of the peace,
a callous policeman has to do the work, without a scintilla of feeling
about the matter, just as he might proceed against any ordinary criminal
for theft or assault. The real mover in this business was Sir Thomas
Nelson, the City Solicitor, representing the richest and corruptest
Corporation in the world.

The Corporation of the City of London might be described in the language
which Jesus applied to the Town Council of Jerusalem eighteen centuries
ago--"They devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayers."
What could be more hypocritical than such a body posing as the champions
of religion, and especially of the religion of Christ! If the Prophet of
Nazareth were alive again to-day, who would expect to find him at a Lord
Mayor's banquet? Would he frequent the Stock Exchange, be at home in
the Guild-hall and the Mansion House, or select his disciples from the
worshippers in the myriad temples of Mammon? Would he not rather hate
and denounce these modern Pharisees as cordially as they would certainly
hate and denounce him?

If the City Fathers meant to protect the honor of God, they were both
absurd and blasphemous. There is something ineffably ludicrous in the
spectacle of a host of fat aldermen rushing out from their shops
and offices to steady the tottering throne of Omnipotence. And what
presumption on the part of these pigmies to undertake a def