Interesting Letter from London.
By W. M. Jones
Our readers will not fail to be interested in the following letter from Bro. W. M. Jones of London, England. Since the visit of Bro. Andrews in Great Britain, every fact and landmark of Sabbath-keeping in England is invested with a new interest to us; and the kind reception given to our missionary, as well as an earnest love for the down-trodden Sabbath of the Lord, has endeared Bro. Jones to the Seventh-day Adventists of America. The letter explains itself, and its facts are worthy of remembrance.—ED. REVIEW. Dear Bro. Andrews:—In the crowd of interesting associations in London and elsewhere, which in a very short time you tried to number, it is no marvel that a few inaccuracies should be found in your favorable notice of the Sabbath-keeping landmarks in Great Britain. These I will now correct, and also add descriptions for the benefit of our friends who may be anxious to preserve in their scrap-books every reliable item of Sabbath history, be it biographical, geographical, or doctrinal. In the REVIEW of Nov. 3, for Bull Stake court read Bull Stake alley. This was the name in John James’ time, and is so called in the account of his martyrdom. It is true as you say, “names seem never to change in London,” or if they do change it is only partially so, as in this case. On a corner, at the entrance to the alley, now named court, you saw a public house, or ornamental grog-shop, the gilded sign of which reads, “The Horse and Leaping Bar,” an institution not a little significant as may be seen when taken in connection with other circumstances. Your readers can trace on the maps of London the route through which Mr. Trask was whipped, beginning near the Houses of Parliament and following (on the northwest side of the Thames) the Strand and Fleet streets to Farringdon street and Blackfriars’ Bridge. The Fleet prison, at or near the east end of Fleet street, was standing within the remembrance of Mrs. Jones. The prison, or the place where it stood, in which Mrs. Trask suffered so long and so heroically, we did not visit. In that time it was called the “New Prison in Maiden Lane” which is near Euston Station, where we met you all on your arrival. At Tyburn there was a stream of water: burn meaning brook. There was a tree by the side of the brook, and if the gallows stood there it is said to have been built over the water. Instead of St. James’ Park, read Hyde Park, which is close on the south side of Oxford street, across which the Tyburn flowed. For Pinner’s Hall, read Pinner’s Hall, and for Notton read Natton. Newgate prison where John James was confined, and Mrs. Trask for a time, was also the place where Francis Bampfield was last imprisoned, and where he died. It is a very formidable looking building, and is nearly midway between St. Paul’s Cathedral and Smithfield. The first place occupied by Joseph Davis after he came out of Oxford Castle, was a garret in the Little Minories, near to a house where Isaac Newton lived. Afterward he made use of a middle room, till at length he was so prospered that he took the whole house, or another house in the same locality. In less than eight years “a general storm arose,” and he retired to private lodgings for some years. The last twenty years of his life he was in business in a house on Sparrow Corner in the Minories, a place that was pointed out to you. The house now there is four stories high, and is used as a public house, with the euphonious name on the top, and figures to match, of “The Crown and Shield.” It looks upon the Tower of London and the Thames. Though he suffered so much in prison, lost his wife, and several times had his property confiscated, he prospered beyond all his expectations. He purchased two estates for the benefit of the Mill Yard church (Pinner’s Hall not included). Five pounds annually were to be given to each of the seven churches in the country, of which Natton only survives. One of the estates has been squandered by mismanagement. The Mill Yard property was bought by the church in Davis’ lifetime, he and the Steads, who were wealthy, contributing largely for this object. In passing Pinner’s Hall I always feel like taking off my hat, for the place was chosen by very earnest prayer and by lot. The last place of meeting for this church was in the White Baptist Chapel in Eldon street. It was gathered by Francis Bampfield, who was the Whitfield or Apollos of the Seventh-day Baptists. From his church went the indefatigable Stephen Mumford to plant Sabbath truth in America. From his children, a sister, took the torch and lighted your Sabbath fire; and you have your prototype in Mrs. Trask, who subsisted in prison fifteen years as a voluntary vegetarian. Doubtless she would have hated the use of tobacco as much as you do had it been in use in her day. Think of it! Fifteen years in prison for the Seventh-day Sabbath! Her last will and testament was: “Bury me neither in church nor church-yard, but in the fields.” No one knoweth her grave unto this day, but she will not be missing in the bright morning. Noble woman! God grant that her fidelity and sacrifice may be largely imitated. The following are the principal Sabbath memorial places in London:—Bull Stake Alley, where was the “Meeting-place” in which John James was apprehended while preaching the gospel on the Sabbath day. Tyburn, where he was hung and “suffered to be dead before he was cut down; the Hangman taking out his Heart, and burning his Members and Intrails, returned his head and Quarters back to Newgate, put in a basket in a cart, and from thence were disposed of by the King, (viz.) his Quarters to the Gates of the City, and his Head first upon [London] Bridge, but afterwards (by appointment) taken down thence, and put upon a Pole in White-Chappel over against the passage to the Meeting-place, where he and his company were apprehended.” [Extract and a true copy. W. M. J.] It is perhaps well to notice that Oliver Cromwell was buried at Tyburn. London Bridge : where the head was exposed. White-Chapel High street : opposite the Alley where the head was also exposed. See above. The Four Gates of the City : of which Aldgate was one, not a quarter of a mile from the Alley. Westminster Pillory ; The Strand and Fleet Streets : The Fleet, Newgate, and Maiden Lane Prisons : The Anabaptist Burying Ground : in Alder’s gate street, where Francis Bampfield was buried. Abney Park Cemetery : where Elds. Shentone and Black are buried. Mill Yard Cemetery : where Joseph Davis, Carathwaite, Noble, Burnside, Slater, and others of blessed memory, are buried. These all died in the faith that the blessed Sabbath would yet be acknowledged by all the earth. Little Minories : where Davis first did business and from which the second anointed Charles’ servants drove him. Sparrow Corner : where Davis lived twenty years and died in peace. Mill Yard Chapel and parsonage : and to complete the list should be mentioned Wedgewood’s building near the Royal Exchange. He was a seventh-day keeper, and an ardent one, though not a Baptist. And still another point of interest is the house in Trinity Square where President Kenyon died. It overlooks the place of execution on Tower Hill, the Tower itself, the Thames, and the beautiful Square or Park just in front of it. The cause of the low state of Sabbath interest in England you have stated fairly and truthfully; and you might have added that the sneering, frowning influence from the religious world around them had much to do with the diminishing of the numbers of the faithful. You observed, to your disgust, the public house or gin shop at the entrance of Mill Yard Passage on Leman street. Profligacy and vice attend and support these institutions. The approach is unpleasantly blocked, and who can help it? Our memorial places are desecrated by the shame of humanity. But shall we murmur? The very Sabbath of the Lord in our language and in the French, is made to bear a heathen and idol name, Saturday. It is the butt end of the mop-scrub and rush-business of the week; and as if confident that God had not abolished his Sabbath the Antichristian power has used sixteen-hundred years in fierce endeavors to load with odium the day of his choosing, and blot its sacredness from the memory of the church and the world. Still let us not murmur but rather cry, “How long, O Lord, how long?” Let us gird on afresh the armor, for the promise is sure: “It shall come to pass that . . . from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord.” Isa. 66:23. Pardon the length of the additions to your valuable article, and with kind regards I am, dear Bro. Andrews,
Yours very truly,
W. M. JONES.
15 Mill Yard, Goodman’s Field, London, Nov. 18, 1874.