September, 1942
THE K I NG ’S BUS I NESS
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tlnguishing an incendiary bomb. No one was even hurt. It was not until some weeks later that the debris was removed and everybody on guard the night the bomb fell had back his streèt clothes. On this same night, one of the regu lar staff of the Cathedral went out, as was his custom, to perform the dan gerous job of ^poking for unexploded bombs. While walking aroùnd one end of the building in the darkness* he noticed a parachute. He suspected an air-borne spy. Imagine his sur prise when he withdrew the parachute to find beneath it a “land mine” which, had it exploded, would have blown up the entire end of the Ca thedral. John Wesley’s City. Rood Church Not far from St. Paul’s Cathedral is City Road Church, built by John Wes ley, at the-back of which lie the re mains of this renowned E n g l i s h preacher. On the other side of the rood from this c h u r c h is Bunhill Cemetery where are buried the bodies of Susanna Wesley and John Bunyan. Neither the church nor the parts of the cemeteries where these three lie buried have been ,touched by German violence. I visited the church and was es corted to John Bunyan’s grave, by a local clergyman. At the church I was given an eye-witness account of the fires which had devastated the area. On one side Of Wesley’s church was a factory, w h i c h I believe made jewelry. It was struck by incendiary bombs ajid began to burn with the wind in the direction of the Chapel. Men and women of the church, fire watching, put out a number of incen diary bombs, but realized that divine interposition alone could prevent the burning of the church if the wind con tinued. Realizing what was at stake, they prayed earnestly that this signifi cant church of Methodism might be saved. The wind reversed its direc tion. Later, fire broke out in a build ing on the other side of the church yard, ’and with the wind in reversed direction there was again the same risk of destruction of the c h u r c h . Again these people sought divine aid, and again the Wind changed. I was escorted through the church and around the church yard, front and rear. Although the heat froin adjacent fires had been great, I saw no damage e'xcept cracks in some of the upper windows. This church, as represented by those with whom I talked, still stands for Methodism as it was in the early days. Spurgeon’s Tabernacle Time would fail to tell of bombed London churches, including the Tem ple Church, St. Martin’s in the Field, and such as St. Giles in the Cripple-
gate where Crom well was married and where Milton is buried, but. a few words will be g i v e n to Spur geon’s Taberna cle, where I was baptized. I arrived in London late on a Saturday night and t h e n e x t morning attended services at t h e Tabernacle under the- pastorate of W. G r a h a m Sc r o . gg i e . The . church building already had been d am a g e d by b o mb s i n t h e n e i g h b orhood, and therefore the large auditorium was not used,: The smaller audito rium at the rear on a lower level was about two; thirds filled that m o r n i n g . The windows at the •back were board ed up and the place then had the usual untidy appearance of a bombed building.
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•Bla ckstone Studios, N. Y.
Robert W. Hambrook
cluding one high-ranking officer who sat next to me; I shall never forget the spirit of worship among these men as thfey sat, knelt, or stood in signifi cant reverence and then, still with the spirit of worship, marched back in orderly formation to their headquar ters. A few' miles from the coast Of Kent and not many miles from the same church, I worshiped one S u n d a y morning in a little country church, where the entire congregation eon-- sisted of twelve persons. The younger men, of course, were in the Forces or performing some essential service elsewhere. As the preacher, delivered his sermon, the air-raid w a r n i n g whined out. Then came the drone of airplanes and the blast of . the anti- aircraft guns, followed by the rat-tat- tat of the a i r c r a f t machine guns. While this was going on, although every one was conscious of it, no one showed the least bit of disturbance at the occurrences outside. Another Sunday morning I attended a f a i r l y large denominational city, church in a restricted'zone. The morn ing was misty and offered the pos sibility of surprise raids. A man met us at the church door and told us that the service would be held down stairs in the vestry beneath the pulpit. [Continued on Page 332]
Four months later, just before leav ing Lo n d o n , I heard rumors that Spurgeon’s Tabernacle had been de stroyed. Late on the next Saturday evening, I left the hotel and took the Underground to the “Elephant a n d Castle” station. When I came Up on the streets, I saw a typical picture of devastation in a bombed section. The area l o o k e d unfamiliar and strange, and because a number of roads met at this point, I had some difficulty in finding the Tabernacle location. What I saw is still vivid in my imagination. There stood the bare walls with steel girders open to the sky. I walked around the build ing completely gutted by fire. Not a vestige of wood remained and some of the wall structure had fallen. But we can thank God for the permanent character of the wo r k of the Holy Spirit in lives throughout the history of that famous Tabernacle. Church Services Under Varying Conditions During my. stay in England I visited many churches. Some of the services brought me rich spiritual blessing; others were a disappointment. I was thrilled one Sunday morning in a lit tle village church in southeast Eng land as I sat through a service iii which were about eighty soldiers, in
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