St Paul's Church, Walkden

St Paul’s Church in the Greater Manchester town of Walken seems like an interesting, though fairly ‘standard’, mid-Victorian parish church. Built in 1848, it was enlarged in the 1880s and then, remarkably, ‘restored’ in 1904. Whether the word is used as a euphemism for making it more medieval-looking, or whether it had succumbed to serious, physical decay in so short a time, is not clear. The Church of God is always inclined to veer from His word with each passing generation; she must be subject to constant reformation and restoration to biblical principles and primacy.

I cannot couch for St Paul’s right now, though of the wider denomination, many of us have grave concerns. We dissenters at Salem Chapel must also heed the warning; if God has been pleased to revive us in recent years, we shall still be in need of restoration and reformation as the decade wears on.

Revive Thy work, O Lord,

Thy mighty arm make bare;

speak with the voice that wakes the dead,

and make Thy people hear.

Revive Thy work, O Lord,

while here to Thee we bow;

descend, O gracious Lord, descend!

O come and bless us now.

-Albert Midlane, 1858