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A NEWCHURCHMAN'S GUIDE Ta

LONDON

Compiled by

the Rev. Dennis Ducltworth

Refs.�

LJ/C - Swedenborgts Last Judgment� (Continuation)

NCH - The New Church Herald

NCL - New Church Life

RF - Hindmarsh' s Rise and Progress of the Nt.."\Y Church

A NE'tVCHURCHIviAN rS GUIDE TO LONDON

INTRODUCTION

This little Guide is offered to you with the vnsh that you ~ill greatly enjoy your visit to London. For London, as well as being a wonderful city two thousand years old, is also rich in its associations for the New~hurchmrol.

Swedenborg came to London up,{ards of eleven times: here the Arcana was published: here Swedenborg died: here lived Robert Hindmarsh, who called together the first receivers of the Heavenly Doctrines: here was born the organised New Church: here was the first distinctive New Church worship, in the little chapel off Great East Cheap.

Modern London, too, is a centre of the New Church. The Swedenborg Society has its headquarters at 20/21 Bloomsbury Way, W.C.1. Swedenborg House is the home and office of the Church in many ways. There are six active societies of the Church in the greater London area, as well as the New Church College at Woodford Green, Essex - just aeross the London County border.

London is big - very big: thirty miles across. It has grm-m rapidly during the past ~vo centuries. It is many times bigger than the London Swedenborg lmew. In 1750 London stretched from Marble Arch to just beyond the Tower, in a west-to-east direction; and from (Swedenborg House) to "The Elephant and Castle, in a north-to-south dll~ection. AlI beyond was open country. If we compare moùern London, in size, to a large envelope, then Swedenborg's

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London was about the size of the stamp!

In the Continuation concerning theLast Judgment,Swedcnborg vlr'ites of "the noble English nation." He loved England for its spirit of freedom, and the consequent "interior intellectual light" of its people. He was not blind to the insularity of the British, as when he notes their readiness "to contract intimacy with friends of their mm nation, and rarely w'i. th others." "Englishmen, fi he says, "are lovers of their country, and zealous for its glory, but regard foreigners much as a person looking through a telescope from the roof of a house regards those outside the city." But he adds, "they are kind in relieving each others necessities, and are lovers of sincerity." It was because of the freedom of the English press that Swedenborg could publish his works in London without interference - a privilege denied to him in his mm country. It is hoped that those who visit London today will not be ove!'liihelmed by the prevailing insularity of the inhabitants, but will find still, in the historic streets of this great city, a love of freedom, a little intellectual light, sincerity, and a general spirit of friendliness and help­fulness.

D.D. Finchley, 1956.

SWEDENBORG HOUSE

Address - 20/21 Bloomsbury Way, London, W.C.1.

Five-minute Ylalk from Holborn Underground Station (Central Line): ten-minute walk t'rom Tottenham Court Road Underground Station (Central and Northern Lines).

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Buses 19, 38, and 38A pass the door. Buses 68, 77, 77A, 188, 196, and others, pass very near. Most buses running along Oxford Street and New Oxford Street will be convenient.

It will be well to start our tour of London at Swedenborg House. The fine premises of the Swedenborg Society are situated in the heart of London. Just off the great artery of New Oxford Street, and fringL~g one of the famous old squares of' Bloomsbury, they stand in a district noted for its intellectual and artistic life. Nearby is the British Museum. Many large publishing houses are near neighbours. This is the bookman's London: it is also the traveller's London, for Bloomsbury abounds with hotels and boarding-houses, large and small. Many a visitor, strolling along Bloomsbury V/ay, has paused before a certain shop window, and caught his first sight of the name SVlEDENBORG. Yes, Svvedenborg House is splendidly situnted.

The Swedenborg Society was founded in 1810. For over forty years it had no permanent promises. rts stock of books l'las stored, and its meetings were held in private houses or public taverns. In 185~ the Society took on the occupancy of No. 36 Bloomsbury Street (now No. 1 Bloomsbury Street). Bloomsbury Street is a turning off ~Je"w Oxford Street - the third on the right beyond the junction with Bloomsbury Way; and here the Society dwelt for sevcnty-one years. In 1925, through the dètermination and generosity of a nL~ber of people - and especially of I~. David Wynter, the present large and handsome premises viere purchased.

Every New Church visitor to London should make a point of callL~g at, and inspecting, Swedenborg House. On the ground floor is the

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"shop" .... ~ rather elegant kind of shop, but nevertheless one in which the Society's publications may be bought. Do not miss the shmv-case in the corner, with its interestirig exhibits. Behind the shop is the Hall - beloved of aIl New Church Londoners. Classical in style, and perfectly proportioned, the Hall.will hold about a hundred-and-fifty people. The portraits on the wall.include SWedenborg hinself; the Reverend Samuel Noble, first secretary of the Society; Dr,J.J.Garth W~lkinson, translator of many of Swedenborg's scientific works, and pioneer of British homoeopathy; Robert Hindmarsh, founder of the New Church organisation; Charles Higham, the. New Church his torian; and the Reverend J.F.Potts, famed for his great ~ordance.

In the Marchant Room, on the first floor, the student will find dcsk, with pen, ink, and paper, and books of reference aIl around. Next door is the office - the inner sanctum of the secretaries, treasurer, and office staff.

The Society's library is housed in the Wynter Room, on the second flaor. This is a carefully kept and fully catalogued collection of Swodenborg's works in aIl editions. Here, too, m~ be seen Swedenborg's ring, the table he used in his London lodgings, the Mouravieft silver-botmd Greek Testament, the Mooki copy of "The Truc Christian Religion," and other relies. But the Wynter Room is the committee room of the Society, and - generally speaking - the committee room of the Church. The Conference Council, the New Church College Council, the New Church Missionary Society, the British Acaderny, the 1956 General Assembly Committee, and many other meetings of the Conference and the General Chur~~, sit round its table. \ïhat plans are put

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forward here! VJhat propositions discussed, and resolutions passed:

On IlO a.c~ollllt f;hould the visitor omit the basement. In the Gardiner RClom, surronJlù.ed by the shelves of the Conference Library, sits the manager of the New Church Press, ready to sell or give the booklets and pamphlets published by that body. In another room in the basement, the Society keeps its l\.rchives, manuscript translations, historical material "Swedenborgiana" , annotated volumes of the Writings and much correspondence of early New Church people in this and other European countries. lmd finally - before climbing the stairs again - the visitor should peep into the stock rooms. Here are New Church catacombs ­rooms illld cellars and corridors, filled from floor té ceiling with stock - with new and second-hand volumes, bOW1d and unbound copies, plates, sheds, packing, string, and sealing wax: aIl thnt one yrould expect to find "down below" in an up-to-date and thorough-going publishing house.

In -1910 the Swedenborg Society celebrated its centenary;-vith a great congress of New Church people from many parts of the world (See the"Transactions of the International SYvedenborg Congress, Il published by the Society). The Coneress \Vas houscd in the King's Hall, Bolborn Restaurant, Kingmvay - immediately opposite the Bolborn Underground Station. The building was éJ.amaged in the Second Y!orld V,iar, and - at the time of compiling this Guide - is being demolished or extensively remodelled. But the visitor should note the site of an outstanding event of the pasto

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SWEDENBORG'S LONDON

Emanuel Swedenborg (whose name a t this time ­before the ennoblement of the fe~ily - was Svedberg) first visited London as a young man of tr{enty-t~7o, a graduate of Uppsala University, getting to lcnow the world. This was in 1710. He came with the scant approval of his father, Bishop Jesper Svedberg. His first letter home, dated London...z." Octobcr 13th, 1710,is apologetic in tone, and reveals a certain home-sickness.

The voyage from Gëteborg to London was adventurous. The ship was boarded by the crew of a Danish privateer, \Vas fired upon by an English guard-ship by mistake, and was becalmed on a aand-bank in a dense fog. The vessel anchored in the Thames, just off Wapping Old Stairs. Thi~ is reached today by walking east from the Tower of London, and turning down Gravel Lanc. It is a district where, not many years ago, men carried knuckle-dusters in their pookets, and policemen walked about in hvos and threes. It is perfectly respectable today. Near Wapping Old Stairs, in Swedenborg's time, stood an inn, to which pirates were brought, made insensible with gin, and hung. Swsdenborg narrowly missed being hung - not for piracy, but for ignoring the quarantine regulations ­a serious offence. The plague had broken out in Svreden, and aIl on board ship were commanded to stay there for six weeks. Swedenborg's youthful impatience got the better of him: he left the ship, was caught, and severely reprimanded probably only escaping the gallm7s because he was the son of a distinguished bishop.

The London of this time was a fair and flourishing city. The Augustan Age of llrt and

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Literature had dawned, and genius was abroad.

Queen Anne was on the throne, to be followed by the first three Georges~ London was newly­built after the Great Fire, and Swedenborg speaks of "the magnificent St. Paul's Cathedral, finished a few days ago." In Westminster Abbey he kissed the tomb of Casaubon (at the corner of the nave and south transept). Isaac de Casaubon, a Swiss theologian, translator, and qritic, had been dead nearly a hundredyears. He v;as a great Latinist; and Swedenborg, fresh from college, seems to have had a veneration for him.

It is not kno..-m where, or ....vi th whom, Swedenborg stayed on his first visit to London. He moved from place to place, staying with those from ...."hom he could learn a craft. "1 put my lodgings to some use," he ...vrites to Benzelius, his brother-in-law. He wàs certainly not the first, or the last, Scandinavian to do this. "1 study Newton daily," he writes again. He made the acquaintance of Flamsteed, the Astronomer Royal, Halley, and other members of the Royal Society - possibly at the headquarters of that Society in Crane Court, off Fleet Street. Swedenborg had, to use his O\"ffi V/ords, "an immoderate desire" for knowledge; and he bought books, both for himself and for libraries in Sweden, in Paternoster R~7. He was therefore "short of cash," and cqmplains to Benzelius that his father is not sufficiently mindful of the needs of a young student. He visited Sion College Library in London Wall (now on Victoria Emb~~kme~~), which whetted his appetite to see the Bodleian at Oxford.

These feu facts can be given, but little else can be said ...-vith certainty about

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S~edenborgts first visit to London. But he was to return again and again in later years, and to record his activities more precisely.

TOURS THROUGH LONDON

to seek out places associated with Swedenborg and with the New Church.

These are planned, that you may wander along from place to place without fatigue, this little Guide Book in your hand. Take the bus to Ludga. te Circus, and you are at the heart of S\ledenborg' s London. Travel west along Fleet Street, north towards ClerkenV/ell, or east to St.Paul's and the City, and you tread the ground that Swedenborg once trod. You are, mareover, in the cradle of the infant N~v Church organisation. Take ID.th you a modern street map, yet realising that such a map cannot be a true guide to the London Sv~edenborg kne...: for the topography of a great city is cantinually changing. You 'irill need to leap about - mentally, of course - from date to date, for it will be impossible to follaw a time-sequence as you go exloring. The London pavements are hard: take the simple straight- fO~7ard way, and let the dates take care of themselves.

ROUTE NO.1

Starting from Ludga,te Circus, walk up Ludgate Hill tO'iJ'ards St. Paul' s. The Church of St. Mar t in-wi thin-Ludgate is on the left. This marks the position of the city gate, built ­according to popular traditian - in 66BC by King Lud, who is said to have built the city's first walls. Adjoining the church is "Ye Olde London" pudlic housc. This was The London Coffee House, where, in 1783, Robert Hindrnarsh called

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the first public meetjng of receivers of the Heavenly Doctrjnes (RP.14). Five people attended, ~vho immediately adjourned to The Queen's Arms Tavern, St. Paul' s Churchyard, "and drank tea together~" (It is said that a ceHar of "Ye Olde London" is the old 'condemned cell' of Newgate Prison) •

St. Paul' s Churchyard is the area, jn­cluding the roadway and buildings, immediately s urrounding the cathedral. The Queen' s Arms Tavern no longer exists; but it stood on the south side of the Churchyard - i.e. the right­hand side, facing the cathedral - at the corner of Dean's Court (site of the Westminster Bank). The Svredenborg Society possesses an illustration of it. It was a tavern used for the famous club meetings of Dr. Johnson, David Garrick, and others; and there is a record of Johnson' and the meIribers of the Ivy Lane Club dining there on December 3rd, 1783 - just nvo days before the Hindmarsh meeting (Gentleman's Magazine, Lib. XV. 15). Describing this first New Church meeting, Hindmarsh says, "To hear the story of each other's first reception of the doctrines, and to observe the animation tha t sparkled in the eye and brightened up the countenance of each speaker, as it came his turn to relate the particulars of that by him never-to-be-for­gotten event, ",as itself a little heaven" (RP.16).

Sir Christopher Wren' s masterpiece, St. Paul's Cathedral, stands before you. Blackéned now by the smoke l~om a million chimneys, it was, in Swedenborg's day, white and fresh. A climb to the Vfhispening Gallery, the Stone Gallery, the Upper Gallery, and the BalI will be rewarding for those with energy and a steady

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head; while in the Crypt may be seen the tombs of great Englishmen - including Wren's, with its famous inscription: "Lector , si monumentwp. reguiris, circumspice" (Reader, if you seek his monument, look around you).

Leaving the cathedral, make your way to the north-east corner of St. Paul's Churchyard, to Paternoster R~{ - just behind Nicholson's draper's shop. Paternoster Raw is a ruin. Before the war it was a narrow thoroughfare, lined with bookshops - a real gem of old London. It had been a publishers' and booksellers' lair for hundreds of years, and its printers' signs, hung above the doors and windows, were lore for the antiquarian. In the mid-eighteenth century, at NO.1, under the sign of "The Bible and Dove," was the shop of John Lffi7is, publisher of that greatest of theological and expository works, Swedenborg's Arcana Caelestia. Swedenborg came many times to this shop, during the years of publication (1749-1756). On Horwood's Map of the City of London, of 1799, No.1 Paternoster Row is shawn as being on the right-hand side, a few paces dmYn from Cheapside.

Walk along a1eapside (site of the Great Market of London in medieval times), past the church of St. Mary-le-Baw (of Baw BelIs fame) , and, unsuspectingly, you are in Poultry. At the house of Thomas Wright, Watchmaker to the K..-ing, No.6 Poultry, was held, on Tuesday, July 31st, 1787, a meet:ing that may be regarded as "the commencement of the New Church in its external and visible form." The Sacrament of the Holy Supper was administered to eleven persons, ill1d five others were baptised into the faith of the New Church (RP.58). The communion cup used on this occasion is still in regular use in the church at North Finchley. On Honvood's Map,

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No, 6 Poultry is shown as being on the right, just beyond Bucklersbury, and almost opposite Old Jmvry.

A few steps will bring you to the hub of the City of London - to the Mansion House, the offici al residence of the Lord Mayor (on the right), the Royal Exchan~e (straight ahead), and the Bank of England (on the left), Speak­ing of the English in the Spiritual World (LJ/C.42), Swedenborg describes "t\'fO large cities like London, into which most of the English enter after death. l was permitted to see them, and also to walk through them. The middle of the first city answers to that part of London, England, where the merchants meet, called the Exchange."

Just beyond the Mansion House, turn right into King William Street, ....hich runs south to the Monument and London Bridge. This street vv<as built in the middle 1830's, and much old property was demolished to make Vlay for it. At its junction with Cannon Street (this portion of which ,/aS previously named Great East Cheap) stood Maidenhead Court, in which was the Great East Cheap Chapel - the first ever used far New Church ~orship. James George "!hite, in his book, "The Churches and Chapels of London," tells us that Maidenhead Court ,ras removed about 1831 for the con­;::·~rudioTl of tho nO".i thoroughfare. Of the Chapel he says, "This was a large square building with three galleries, holding about seven hundred people. Underneath the Chapel v..-ere shops, and the way to i t from Grea t East Cheap was through a passage into the Court. The origin of the Chapel is involved in much obscurity." The Chapel was ovmed by the Baptists till 1760, when the

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lease expired, and later occupied by the Swedenborgians and German Lutherans, t ill i ts demolition in 1820. Hindmarsh mentions that it was rented for .t:30 per annum, and that "at the end of the passage, in the street that led to the place of worship, was placed a painted board, on vfhich was inscribed, "The New Jerusalem Church;" and over the entrance of the Chapel was the inscription, "Nmv i t is allowable," in conf'ormity to the memorable relation in the True Christian Religion, No. 508" (RP.59,61). Maidenhead Court is shawn on the old maps of the City. The first New Church society occupied the Chapel for six years - from January 27th, 1788, to the end of the year 1793. The first five meetings of Conference were held here, and the first New Church ordinations were performed within its ,-,ralls. Reader, tread lightly on this hallQli,red spot~

Continue now along Eastcheap and Great Tower Street to the Tower of London. (You must, on some other occasion than this, visit the Tower and its environs). Keep to the north of the Tower, y.nd enter ;aoyaX M§t Z~~:et. c rossing the Minories (where Sweden­: once lodged) ana nem!rii' Street. Continue in an easter ~rec ~on a ong Cable Street ­a narraw street, gloomy, and at first sight, forbidding. A very mixed population lives here - Je~~sh, negro, Indian, Asiatic,and, oddly enough, Scandinavian - on the fringe of dock-land. This was Scandinavian London in Swedenborg' s time; and names like Thollander, Carlson, and Svenne are still to be seen. The second turning on the right (Fletcher Street) leads into Wellclose Sguare. Here Swedenborg once lodged for ten weeks, with his friend Eric Bergstrom, landlord of

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the Kingt s Arros Tavern; and it is probable that he stayed here at other times too. The tavern has long since disappeared, and the square has deteriorated - though a few houses still retain a trace of their former elegance. The church in the centre was originally the Danish Church, where Magister Aaron Mathe9ius, a bitter opponent of Swedenborg, was actfng pastor.

Return to Cable Street, and the third opening on the right leads into Swedenborg Square, formerly Prince's Square - in which stood the old S'1edish Church. Swedenborg worshipped here, his flD1eral was here, and he was bUl:' ied in a vau1t beneath the altar at the east end of the church. In 1908 his body was removed to Sweden, where i t no".{ liee in Uppsala Cathedral. The church was dem­olished, and the ground on which it stood made into a garden. Swedenborg Square is absolutely delightful, if you visit it - as l did - on a warm and smmy autumn day. The garden is neat, well-kept, and full of flowers. Wooden seats surround a small pond, and little children playon their swings and romdabouts. Perhaps you may chat with one or two of the old people who live in the cottages of the square, and who weIl remember the old Swedish Church. "This used to be a high class neighbourhood," says one old man, "but now ••• ?" Yes, now Swedenborg Square is a relie of former days - one of those quaint spots of historie association, hidden in the heart of London. Swedenborg's name is commemorated here in the East End, with its teeming populaoe fram aIl over the world.

Return to Cable Street, turn left, and then right, along Leman Street, to Aldgate East, where you will find buses running to moat parts

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of London.

ROUTE NO. 2

This .vill be a shorter route, but one packed with intercst for the New Church visitor. The starting place, again, i8 Ludgate Circus.

Under the railv:ay bridge, on the south wall, is an inscription: "In a house near this site was publishcd, in 1702, the Daily Courant, first London Daily Newspaper." Thus, ~~s the baIl set rolling! Look west, along Fleet Street - the home of the great British newspaper industry; for this is the way we go. The birth of the New Church was possible only whcre "freedom of the press" existed; and this eJo.."Ï.sted in England in 1749, when the Arqana was first published by John Le'-1is, and printed by John Hart, of Poppin' s Court, Fleet Stre et.

Poppin' s Court (now Poppin' s AIley) is the first on the right in Fleet Street, going west. It is likely that Mr. Hart's home and printing shop was dŒl'm the alley to the left, on the site nm. occupied by Beaverbrook Nmvs­papers, Ltd. &7edenborg spent many evenings with the Hart fmnily, when the Arcana was being printed; and it i8 interesting to note that, a t this time, in Gough Square nearby, Dr• Johnson, Il the grea t Lexicographer ,Il was busy; Samuel Richardson, on the other side of Fleet Street, was VITiting and publishing his novels Clarissa and Pamela, with Oliver Goldsmith as proof-reader; and not far away în the Inner Temple, Vlilliam Cowper and Edmund Burke were sucking their pens in the uncongcnial environment of a solicitor's office. Maybe Swedenborg rubbed shoulders

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wi th these "giants" in the busy neighbourhood of "Grub Street" - as Fleet Street was nick­named.

Salisbury Court, off Fleet Street (the second opening on the left) is associated with an earlier visit of Swedenborg. In 1744­he travelled to London from Holland with a certain John Sermiff, "a pious shoemaker, Il and a member of the Moravian Church. Senniff introduced him to Paul John Brockmer, a gold­watch chaser, of Salisbury Court, with whom he lodged for two months. This part of London is still the home of goldsmiths, silversmiths, and jevrellers. Swedenborg thus lived almost next door to one of the most beautiful of Wren r s churches - St. Bride 1 s; and in the shadow of the notorious Bridewell Rouse of Detention.

Walk along Fleet Street, past the great nev/spaper offices. Note "Ye aIde Cheshire Cheese" restaurant, the hatmt of Dr. Johnson. We know that S\7edenborg was accustomed to dine at an inn in Fleet Street: was it this? See also Johngon t s house in Gough Square - a_

]1!1J: etïwttp\e=:()f à bouse or SwëêLêfibmg':s:::::dâi. Crane Court (the last on the right before Fetter Lane) is probab~ where Swedenborg met Flamsteed, Halley, and other members of the Royal Society, at the Socie~ls head­quarters.

Turn the corner, and walk a little way up Fetter Lane, ta see the site of the old Moravian Chapel, where Swedenborg worshipped for a short time 'while staYing with Brockmer. He was attracted by the Moravian simplicity of life, but was repelled, at length, by the theological teaching. The Moravian Brethren (officially named. the Unitas Fratrum) are a

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Protestant sect, originally from Bohemia. They are distinguished by their puritanical simplicity of lif~ and manners, and ~arnest, austere piety. They have no doctrine beyond the Brotherhood of Man, and have always been great missionaries and educators. Their Chapel in Fetter Lane, until completely destroyed by bombing in the last war, was one of the small historie chapels of London. Built in the reign of James the First, i t escaped the Great Fire, and survived many a religious riota John Wesley resigned from' membership of the Fetter Lane Chapel four years before Swedenborg's attendance. The Chapel was entered at No. 32 Fetter Lane, and also t'rom Nevill' s Court - the third opening on the right: nŒ{ 0.11 destroyed.

Return to Fleet Street, and walk on a little way to Temple Bar. The old bar, or gateway, be~veen the City of London and the City of Westminster, was removed in 1878; and that useless obstruction to traffic, the "dragon" or "griffin" memorial, Vias put up in its place. This i3 the spot, where, on state occasions, the sovereign "knocks upon the door Il on entering the City from Westminster, and the Lord Mayor surrenders his sword of state. In Swedenborg's day, the heads and limbs of persans executed far treason were displayed on spikes above the centre pediment of the Bar, and there was a fine trade of letting spy-glasses at a half­penny a look~

To the right lie the Law Courts, and to the left lies the Temple. The Temple, as we knew i t before the war wrought havoc there, had not alterea much in two hundred years. It is one of the most charming spots in London, combining as i t does antiquarian

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interest and rural quiet. "Who enters here leaves noise behind." It is a collection of' courts, lanes, squares, gardens, and passage­""rays, where barristers have their rooms and legal men their chambers. The Temple is of particular interest to the New Churchman because it was the first domicile of the infant New Church. Hindmarsh, after des­cribing the Queen 1 s .Arms Tave:rn meeting, says (RF.17), "In the course of the following week we engaged chambers in the Inner Temple, near Fleet Street; and to make our next meeting more public, wc caused an advertisement to be inserted in sorne of the newspapers, stating the objeci:.swe had in view, and giving a general invitation to aIl the readers of Emanuel SYvedenborg' s Wri tings, in London or elsewhere, to join our standard." We do not know where these chambers were; but Hindmarsh goes on to say that, after meeting two or three times in them, he and his friends took more convenient rooms in New Court, Middle Temple. New Court lies between Middle Temple Lane and Essex Street, and "contains only one large house, which oocupies the entire west side (RP.23)." The meetings in New Court were attended by many persons of reputation and talent, including James Glen, of Demerara, who took the new doctrines to America; F.H. Barthelemon, the Royal Musician; John Flaxman, sculptor, Lieutenant­General Rainsford, Governor of Gibraltar; possibly William Blake and his father; and others destined to play an important part in the grovrth of the New Church organisation. The Temple takes i ts name from Solomon 1 s Temple in Jerusalem; and it is more than interesting that the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, should have had its first foundation here.

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Essex Street, just to the west of the Temple, is of interest, because at No. 31, the home of George Prichard (two-thirds of the way down, on the left), on 26th February, 1810, was held the first meeting of the London Printing Society - now lmown as the Swedenborg Society.

ROUTE No. 3

Again the s tart is a t Ludgate Circus; and before travelling north, we make a slight sojourn south - to Blackfriars, site of an anciemt Dominican monastery. Walk up Ludgate Hill, turn left down Creed Lane, and right along Carter Lane. The first narrow street on the left is Friars Street, at the bottom of which, on the left, is Hutchinson House ­a publisher's depèt. This is certainly the site - and possibly the actual building - of the Friars Street New Church society, which commenced in 1792 under the leadership of the Reverend Manoah Sibly, as an offshoot of the Great East Cheap society. The society rented premises in Store Street, off Tottenham Court Road; then in Red Cross Street, Cripplegate; then in Cross Street, Hatton Garden; and finally in Cateaton Street, near the Guildhall; before erecting the 'Temple' in Friars Street in 1802/3, on a sixtY years' lease. Under Sibly the society in Friars Street prospered, and in time became the Argyle Square, King' s Cross, society - and now the North Finchley society. Hutchinson House has a vaguely ecclesiastical appearance. On Horwood's map (Faden's edition of 1813), the chapel is clearly shown on this spot.

Return .to Ludgate Circns, and wall<: in a northerly direction along Farringdon Street ­

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not one of the most attractive of Londan's highways. Look out for Cross Street, or rath~r Saint Cross Street, as it is known today - àbout the seventh opening on the left~ At No. 16 are the offices of Baird and T~tlock (London), Lw., and their partners, Hopkin and Willi~~, Ltd. - chemists. An entry at No. 17 leads to the firm's warehouse behind the offices - and this is the fabric of the old Cross Street) Hatton Garden, church. Hindmarsh says (RF.169 , "The remnant of the society formerly meeting in Great East Cheap, ever since their removal frOID tha t place of worship entertained the design of erecting a more convenientbuilding. This offered i tself in the year 1796, in Cross Street, Hatton Garden, when three individuals of the society, viz.,Mr. Ralph Hill, of Cheapside, Mr. Richard Thompson, of Snow Hill, and mYself, enterei into a negotiation with the proprietor to purchase the freehold astate, called Hatton House." The purchase, the building of the church, and the opening ceremonies, are des­cribed in detail - followed by an account of the society' s rather prccarioua early history. In time the society settled d~m, and continued here for nearly eighty years. The name ever associated with the Cross Street, Hatton Gardens, church is that of the Reverend Samuel Noble ­author of the famous "Appeal" on behalf of the New Church, a...'1d brilliant advocate of the Heavenly Doctrines throughout his long ministry, It is said that William Blake composed his poem, "The Divine Image," in one of the pews of the church; and the baptismal rcgister cantains the name of Richard D'Oyly Carte, famed for his produotion of the immortal Gilbert and Sullivan operas, In 1783/4 the society moved to Camden Road, Hollovmy - and has now merged into the North Finchley society,

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Continue along Farringdon Street (here named Farringdon Raad) ta its junction with Clerkenwell Raad, turn right, and immediately left, into Clerkenwell Green - a bit of real old London. Clerkenwell Close leads out of the Green - a narrow winding road through sorne rather "dawn-at-heel" property. No. 32, the home of Robert Hindmarsh, "Printer ta His Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales," seems ta be the only house demolished during the war. The small bombed site is on a corner, immediately opposite the premises of George Brown (City) J Ltd., Notice end Sign-board Contractors. Horwood's map of 1799 shows this spot as No. 32, and the numbering is unchanged today. Here, then, lived Hindrnarsh, and here he had his Sunday morning meetings (when the Writings were read in Latin), before ever the New Church as an organisation was thought of.

Walk on, past Hindmarsh's house, and take the first turning left - Bovrling Green Lane; this will bring you again inta Farringdon Raad. Cross the road, and walk a few steps north, ta find Topham Street, formerly Great Bath Street. Ornnia mutantur - how the times, and the eus toms, and the situations change: This little collection of prefabs, surrounded by tall and ugly tenement flats, was once a fine square of desirable suburban residences - Cold Bath Square, vdth its spring of medicinal waters. Swedenborg took lodgings at No. 26 Great Bath Street, the house of Richard Shearsmith, a peruke (or wig) maker; here he had a "paral ytic stroke," just before Christmas, 1771; and here he died on Sunday, 29th March, 1772. The house - and indeed, the whole stréet - was destroyed in the 'blitz,' and there is ~ome little doubt as ta just where No. 26 stood. The entire area was rebuilt in thelast century,

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and the numbering of the houses was altered. Ro~vood's map of 1799 does not show a No. 26 ut all. However, the Swedenborg Society possesses photographs of the house thouW1t to be that (or on the site of that) in which ~vedenborg lodged: see NCL. June 1929. 321: and NCR. November 1950. 189: for interesting information. Swedenborg also lodged at one Ume in fràrnêr Streefl(at a right-e.ngle with Topham Street, with lia Mr.s. Carr, next to

e e lon. Il The site of the Red Lion is still to be seen, and the house next door was probably on the spot nov. occupied by F.H. Norman & Co., Ltd., Wood Merchants. The district has much deteriorated, and is now an Italian neighbourhood. Topham Street is named after the famous "Strong Num of Islington" - an entertainer of c.1750, one of whose 'attractions' was to eat a live chicken, bones and feathers and all! Perhaps, when the pre­fabs. are removed and the street is rebuilt, the City Corporation may agree to perpetuate a name more honoured and of greater worth than that of Islington's Strong Man.

Come out into the busy thoroughfare of Rosebery Avenue, and take a bus (No. 19,38, 38A,176) to "The Angel," Islington. Cross the road J and walk along to CharIton Place (on the right): this will lead you to the top of Gerrard Street: down which, the first opening on the left is Devonia Road. The large Polish Catholic Church was, until 1931, the New Church College. Devonshire Street, Islington. A fund for the establishment of a college was begun in 1845; seven years later the ground .vas purchased; and about 1857 the buildings, including the fine ch"lpel, were completed. The first student for the ministry te be educated at the college was Redman

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Goldsack. of Australia - father of the Reverend S.J.O. Goldsack. The New Church College today, in Sydney Road, Woodford Green, Essex, has a much more rural setting (See NeE. Special College Edition. January 24th, 1948) •

TtŒ ChlJRœ :ru MODERN LONDON

It is not the purpose of this little Guide to attempt to describe the societies of the New Church in London today, nor to give anything but the barest outline of their histories; but rather to give the visitor a little useful and practical information to enable him to visit those societies if he so wishes. There are six N~{ Church societies in the Greater London area - here presented in alphabetical order.

The Anerley Society of the New Church.

Address - Waldegrave Road, Upper Norwood, S.E.19.

Nearest station - Crystal Palace (Law Level). Buses No.2 and 3 from central London, or any but going to the Crystal Palace. WaIdegrave Road is at the bottom of Anerley Hill, which goes dm;n steeply from the bus terminus. Divine worship on Sundays: 11a.m.and 6.3Op.m.

The Anerley society is in the south of London, in the vicinity of Croydon. It came L~to being as a result of lectures delivered in the Aner ley Tovm Hall by the Reverend Peter Ramage and others. The church wa.s built in 1883, with 1~. R&~ge as first rrJnister of the society.

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The Cambanvell Society of the New Church.

Address - Flodden Road, Camberwell New Road, S.E.5.

Nearest station - Kennington Oval: then walk along Cambervrell Nmv Road to Flodden Road (on the right). Buses No. 68,68A,196 from Swedenborg Rouse (Southampton Row), or any bus going to Camber­weIl Green: then walk along Cambenvell New Road to Flodden Road (on the left). Divine ~orship on Sundays 11a.rn. 1st and 3rd Sundays at 6.3Op.rn.

In 1862 a course of Sunday evening lectures in Kennington Hall was arranged by Messrs. George Dm1n and Isaac Gunton. These led to the formation of a committee, and eventually of a society, in 1864. Two years later, the society was received into member­ship of the General Conference, and a plot of land was leased. The church premises were dedicated in 1867. For a number of years the society was under the leadership of 1~. E. Austin, and then under the ministry of the Reverend W.C. Barlow.

The Finchley Society of the New Church.

Address - 71 Gainsborough Road, North Finchley, N.12.

Nearest station - Woodside Park (Northern Line): then a ~vo-minute walk up Woodside Park Road. Buses - from Moorgate, 609: from High Holborn, 517 and 617: from Willesden and Cricklewood, 645 and 660: from Golders Green, 125 - to Tally-Ho Corner, North Finchley: then walk along the High Road to the fifth turning on the left - Woodside Park Road. The church is at the junction of VToodside Park and Gainsborough Roads. Divine worship on Sundays: 11a.m. and 6.3Op.m.

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The Finchley society came into being in 1954, as a result of the emalgamation of the Argyle Square and Carnden Road societies. These two societies were the descendants respectively of the Friars Street and Cross Street, Hatton Garden, societies: thus, the Finchley society is the great-grandchild of the first society ever established - that in Great East Cheap. The church in Argyle Square, King' s Cross, was bombed to the gI"ound in the early days of the \Var; and the lease of the Campden Road premises expired in 1952 - though a part of them (in Parkhurst Road, Holloway, N.7.) is still in use for Sunday School and other activities. The society has strong traditions, and possesses many records of the early New Church. The Reverend Dennis Duckworth was invited to be i ts first minis ter.

The Kensington Society of the New Church.

Address - 5 Pembridge Villas, Westbourne Grove, North Kensington, W.11. Nearest station - Notting Hill Gate (Metropol­itan and Central Lines); then walk down Pembridge Villas. Buses No. 27,27A,28 and 31 stop at the door. Buses No. 7,15,23 and others pass near. Divine worship on Sundays: 11a.m. and 6.30p.m.

The Kensington society formerly existed in Palace Gardens Terrace, W.8., in a handsome church erected at the expense of Mr. John Finnie, and given to the Reverend Dr. Jonathan Bayley in 1872. The society was first formed of members from Argyle Square, resident in West London: the first name on the membera t

roll is that of the Reverend William BrulSe (of Bruce's Commentaries). The society moved to Pembridge Villas in 1925. The fine lignum ferrum pe"ls are from the old College Chapel in

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Islington, and the handsome panelled reredos came frOID the liner, the Mauritania.

Michael Church Society of the General Church.

Address - 131 Burton Road, Brixton, S.W.9. Nearest station - Kennington, and Kennington

Oval. Buses No. 109 and 133 from Kennington station, or any bus going along Brixton Road~ Alight at "The iVhite Horse, 11 which is a few paces beyond the end of Burton Road. Divine worship on Sundays: 11a.m.

Michael Church is a society of the r~neral

Church of the New Jerusalem, with headquarters a t Bryn Atbyn, Pa., U.S.A. It was founded in 1891, as a society in connection with the Academy of the New Church - an educational establishment. The premises were built in 1892, at thG expense of V~. C.J. \Vhittington, and were intended primarily for a school. The Reverend R.J. Tilson was the first pastor, from the foundation to 1938. The society was officially adopted by the General Church in 1927/8.

The Willcsden Society of the New Church.

Address - 90 High Road, willesden Green, N.W.10 • opposite the Public Library. Nearest station - Willesden Junction. There are many ways to Willesden, but bus No. 8 from Marble Arch to the Public Library is convenient. Divine vfOrship on Sundays: 6.3C'p.m.

In 1882, a few of the members of the Kensington society met for worshipand study in Willesden. This lcd to the founding of the

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society in 1884, vdth bœ. (afterwards the� Reverend) R.W. Freeman as leader. The school� building is dated 1889, and the church, 1910.�

The New Church College.�

Address - 13 Sydney Road, Yfoodford Green, Essex.� Nearest station - Snaresbrook (Central Line):� then No. 20 or 20A bus to Sydney Road, Woodford� Green.� Bus No. 38A t'rom Victoria (and from Swedenborg� Rouse) passes the end of Sydney Road.�

The College is about ten miles from the centre of London, in the north-east, and on the fringe of Epping Forest. It is a three­storied building, standing in a large garden, with very attractive aurroundings of common land and foreat. The Principal of the College lives on the premises; the tutors visit the College for classes. The College exists to train Students for the ministry of the General Conference of the N~v Church. Easter and Summer Schools for laymen (and women), and a Ministers' School, are yearly occasions at the College. The visitor to London should not fail to see the College, and - if time permits - something of the great forest nearby.

And here, we finish our little Guide to London.

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