dral. There are chairs for some,
and benches for others; as much as possible they come and go in
procession. All that is wanted to make you believe that you are in a
Roman Catholic place of worship is a little incense, a few more banners,
a little more life in the pulpit, and, above all, the presence of
considerable numbers of the poorest of the poor. Here, indeed, the
resemblance fails; there are no poor, comparatively speaking. Everyone
is distressingly genteel; and I could swear more than once when I have
been present, the preacher, so fashionable has been his lisp, has been,
if not Lord Dundreary himself, at any rate his own "brother Thwam." The
hearers must be wealthy and liberal--the service of the church, and the
church, all indicate this.

I do not here enter into the question how far Church authority extends,
whether apostolical gifts are to be looked for in our day rather than the
apostolic spirit. I am not even definitely able to sum up the teaching
of the lights of Gordon Square. They avoid putting their doctrines in
print--and seem to seek to make converts by sly insinuation rather than
by open statement. All I can say is--and any outsider can see it--that
with apostolic pretensions these men avoid every appearance of
apostolical simplicity. They must meet not in an upper room, but in a
gorgeous cathedral, where they must clothe themselves in every variety of
ecclesiastical millinery, and appeal to the senses, to the eye and to the
ear, rather than to the brain or heart. Thus is it, when genius fails,
men have recourse to art. Irving would preach for hours to enraptured
audiences. The church has no Irving now, but rejoices instead in mosaic
pavement, fine music, man millinery, and elaborate ceremonial.

CHAPTER XV.
THE FREE CHRISTIAN UNION.

Many professedly Christian people, and many who are in no way such, have
long been of opinion that there is something that is wrong about our
present religious organizations; that they tend to separate rather than
unite; that what society requires is not dogmatic theology, but freer
Christian union. Rightly or wrongly--and that is a question not to be
discussed now--this idea has led to the formation of the society whose
title heads this article. In June last year the first practical attempt
was made towards the formation of such a society. In the winter previous
the basis of union was agreed on, and in the month referred to the
anniversary was