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Unitarian
Places of Worship.—The following information
has been kindly furnished by the respective ministers, the “terms of
membership” being oven in their own words:
COLLEGE CHAPEL, Stepney-green.—Terms
of membership: “Annual subscription of not less than 5s., and a good
life.” Free seats. Classes, Sunday-school, and weekly evening lectures.
ESSEX-STREET CHAPEL, Essex-street,
Strand.— Terms of membership: “Seat
renting only. No profession of religious opinions is required. The habit of
attendance, as the occupant of a seat, constitutes membership, and confers
the right of voting on all questions of congregational interest.” Seat
rents, 400 at £1 6s. the sitting. The whole of the gallery (under the present
ministry), containing about 200 sittings, is free. Morning service only, at
11.15, except during the winter months, when special series of discourses are
given in the evening. The Liturgy of the Church of England, curtailed and
slightly modified, is used.
FREE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, Clarence-road,
Kentish Town.— Terms of membership: “All
seat-holders are members, and no doctrinal test whatever can be imposed,
either on membership or on participation in the communion service” Seat rents
from £1 1s. a year.
LITTLE PORTLAND-STREET CHAPEL.— Terms of
membership: None. Seat rents from £1 1s. to £2 2s. per annum.
LONDON DOMESTIC MISSION CHAPEL (Founded
1836), Spicer-street, Brick-lane, Spitalfields.— Maintained chiefly by
Unitarians, not for proselytism, but simply for the moral and religious
elevation
of the poor, and the working classes generally. There are no terms of
membership, and no seat rents. In addition to the Sunday evening service, the
mission maintains Sunday, day and evening schools and classes, a popular
library, savings’ bank, clothing and coal club, convalescent rooms ; and the
missionary, in accordance with the general name of the society, visits the homes
of the people connected with the institution, and is provided with a poor purse
for the relief of proved cases of necessity.
STAMFORD-STREET CHAPEL, Stamford-street,
Southwark, SE. Terms of membership:
“Payment of 5s. per annum and entry in register.” Seat rents
5s. per annum and upwards. This congregation is one of the old Nonconformist,
once styled “English Presbyterians.” It was originally ministered to by
clergymen rejected by the “Act of Uniformity, 1662” Like most other
Churches not compelled to use a creed, it came gradually to the Unitarian phase
of Christianity. The chapel in which they formerly met, in Prince’s-street,
Westminster, being required for Government buildings, the present one was built
in 1823. The façade has been praised as a pure specimen of the Greek Doric.
THE MALL CHURCH, The Mall, High-street,
Notting Hill, W.— Terms of membership: “A
small yearly subscription. No confession of any creed required either of the
minister or the congregation.” Supported by seat rents (amount not stated),
annual subscriptions, and half-yearly collections.
Charles Dickens (Jr.), Dickens's Dictionary of London, 1879