VII.
MONCURE DANIEL CONWAY.
"His hearers can't tell you on Sunday beforehand
If in that day's discourse they'll be Bibled or Koraned;
For he's seized the idea (by his martyrdom fired)
That all men (not orthodox) may be inspired."
MR. CONWAY'S inspiration may be questioned, but none will gainsay his total heterodoxy. If he is not a prophet, it is not his fault: he is the least orthodox preacher in London. "His faith has centre everywhere, nor cares to fix itself to form."
The congregation of South-place Chapel, Finsbury, are Nonconformists who non-conform very much. Their Bible is called "The Sacred Anthology,"—a book of ethnical Scriptures, collected and edited by Mr. Conway. The purpose of the work is simply moral. "He has aimed," he says in the preface, "to separate the more universal and enduring treasures contained in ancient Scriptures from the rust of superstition and the ore of ritual;" and he has succeeded in his aim. To good rationalists "The Sacred Anthology" ought to be what "The Garden of the Soul" is to good Romanists. "The utterance does not wholly perish which many peoples utter; nay, this is the voice of God."
At South Place the condemnation of the Pharisees
