The Cockpit

The Cockpit in central London is named after the cockfights which took place here until outlawed in 1849. My Dictionary of Pub Names states that the viewing gallery for such entertainments is still erect, but my inner nonconformist (and the time of day) did not attempt to execute corroboration. By its main entrance, under a Victorian admonishment for courage, was a sign:

Any person with soiled clothing or dirty boots will not be served

Fair enough, this place has higher standards than the average grog house. Yet I did wonder how anyone living or working in the City would manage to dirty himself to such an extent. The Lord Jesus speaks in Revelation 3:4-6:

You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

Christ takes our soiled, filthy rags, and clothes us in His own righteousness. If the landlord of the Cockpit will not admit the dirty and muddied, how much less the King of Heaven, who is righteous in all His ways?

Lay aside the garments that are stained with sin,
And be washed in the blood of the Lamb;
There's a fountain flowing for the soul unclean,
O be washed in the blood of the Lamb!

-Elisha Hoffman, 1878