The old meeting-house held about 700 people, and was
filled every Sunday. It was not the gifts of the minister,
certainly after the days of my early childhood, which kept such a
congregation steady. The reason why it held together was the simple
loyalty which prevents a soldier or a sailor from mutinying,
although the commanding officer may deserve no respect. Most of the
well-to-do tradesfolk were Dissenters. They were taught what was
called a "moderate Calvinism", a phrase not easy to understand. If
it had any meaning, it was that predestination, election, and
reprobation, were unquestionably true, but they were dogmas about
which it was not prudent to say much, for some of the congregation
were a little Arminian, and St. James could not be totally
neglected. The worst of St. James was that when a sermon was
preached from his Epistle, there was always a danger lest somebody
in the congregation should think that it was against him it was
levelled. There was no such danger, at any rate not so much, if the
text was taken from the Epistle to the Romans.
In the "singing-pew" sat a clarionet, a double bass, a bassoon, and
a flute: also a tenor voice which "set the tune". The carpenter,
to whom the tenor voice belonged, had a tuning-fork which he struck
on his desk and applied to his ear.
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