With a devotional meeting at the Church Army Chapel in Upper Berkeley Street, the Bishop of London’s Evangelistical Mission began its Monday evening services. Having collected a few followers, this little party marched to Hyde Park, naturally picking up others on the way who had been attracted by the crowd. Arrived at Hyde Park, the clergyman conducting the meeting for the evening, proceeded to the sward near the Marble Arch, and there, within a few hundred yards of Tyburn, the very spot where Christian martyrs were hanged and sacrificed—unmolested and undisturbed and absolutely free to express whatever thought came to him—he held forth on the subject of the Gospel.
Could anything be more marvellous than the change that has come over the spirit of the people since those terrible persecutions that took place in the sixteenth century?
Until comparatively lately the speakers in Hyde Park were all of a rough and tumble order, and so they mostly are still; but under the leadership of the Bishop of London quite a new element has been introduced, and excellent speakers, including not only ’Varsity men in Holy Orders, but also men following other walks in life, now hold forth in Hyde Park. To mention but a few, one finds the following well-known names among the speakers in the summer of 1907:
The Rev. F. C. Webster, All Souls’, Langham Place.
The Rev. W. R. Mounsey, Secretary of the Bishop of London’s Council.
The Rev. Guy Rogers.
Mr. C. T. Studd, the noted cricketer, one of the famous “Cambridge Seven” who volunteered for mission work in China.
The Rev. Russell Wakefield, St. Mary’s, Bryanston Square.
The Rev. S. A. Selwyn, Hampstead.