THE LAST SERVICE.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLV, Issue 67, 20 March 1911, Page 2

THE LAST SERVICE.

FAE OF LONDON CHURCH

FLOODED BY ALIENS

LONDON, Jan. 23. The commercial Boad Baptist Chapel ceased to exist last night. As a place of Christian worship it has been overwhelmed by the flood of alien immigration which has changed the character and conditions of life in this part of Stepney, and tie

building has been sold to a syndicate to be turned into a picture theatre.

The church itself—that is, the congregation and organisation as distinct from the building in which it has •carried on its work—is one of the oldest Nonconformist institutions in London. It dates from the time of Crojmweli; and continues the traditions of the church established in the year 1653 upon Tower Hill. From various causes it has removed on sev^rat" occasions, but always has remained within a mile and a-half of the' site of the. original foundation, and since the year 1821 has occupied its location in Commercial Road.

Now, after more than 250 years, it must search for some new sphere of activity further afield. Temporarily, so as to preserve the continuity of the church's history, the Sunday services will be held in the Council schools in Dempsey Street, off Jubilee Street. But that part of Stepney is also almost entirely alien and non-Christian, so that as soon as arrangements can be made a site is to be found for a new chapel somewhere in the suburbs, where the old traditions may be hopefully continued. DWINDLING CONGREGATION. As the character of the neighborhood on both sides of Commercial Road has been changing, and the native residents have been crowded' out by the swarms of immigrant aliens, one after another of the local chapels has been driven out of the district, or out of existence. The Methodist Free Church in Jubilee Street, after serving for some time as a Salvation Army barracks, became an Anarchist club, and is Tn<*v a picture show. The Methodist Chapel in Cannon Street Road is now a Jewish synagogue. A former Primitive Methodist Chapel in Sutton Street is now used as an ice store. A synagogue in Philpot Street was formerly a WVckliffe Congregational Chapel, and the schools opposite have also become a synagogue. The Commercial Street Baptist Chapel has ceased to be a place of worship, and in Little Alie Street another Baptist chapel has become a synagogue, while Queen Street Congregational Chapel is a refuge for outcasts. The Commercial Road chapel has seen its church membership shrinking, its congregations dwindling, and its income disappearing as the English population has been "driven away. It has become >no longer possible to provide a choir. Sunday services have been attended sometimes by no more than twenty people. At last the pastor, the Rev. Joseph Fletcher, who has held the ministry of the church for thirty-seven years, and his deacons have been forced to recognise that it is hopeless to endeavor any longer to carry on the chapel as