The million-peopled city
Garwood, John
1853
Urgent Appeal as to the Heathenism of so Large a Body of Men.
"Let us only seriously imagine these 10,000 men, with a corresponding proportion of women and children, all con- centrated in one spot, instead of, as now, scattered through various districts of the metropolis; let us try to think of them as inhabiting a separate portion of London, and exhibit- ing palpably to the eyes of the neighbouring people all the peculiar characteristics of what they practically are, HEA- THENS IN THE MIDST OF A CHRISTIAN CITY. If Christians saw them thus locally isolated, and their condition more | |
228 | strongly brought to the light by viewing them in the mass, we are sure that the sympathies of Christians would be as much drawn out towards these unfortunate classes as they now are to the dark tribes of, or the more polished Heathens of. |
" Yet wherein lies the difference ? Only in this: that in Christian England the wants of civilized people, and too often the requirements and example of real Christians, force these 10,000 men to be habitual Sabbath-breakers, and, consequently, as much estranged from God and the realities of eternity, as if they were dwellers in a land that knew not God." | |
" Ten thousand men in London alone! Would that these and their too-much neglected families, a total, probably, of some [30,000 or] 40,000 souls, could be collected together as one distinct perishing population, their spiritual condition made apparent, and the absence of all remedy hitherto exist- ing brought vividly home to the consciences of Christians !" | |
"It is indeed no narrow question, but an evil of gigantic dimensions and of peculiar moment. When recently, the religious spirit of the country was roused in respect of the transmission and delivery of letters on the Lord's-day, it was stated that, setting aside 2,000 persons in London unemployed on Sunday, there were 10,000 in the provinces, holding situa- tions directly from the Postmaster-General, all engaged for the Post-office, in the every-day business of life, some part of Sunday. The hardship so inflicted was thought, and justly so, to be grievous. But the writer pleads, not for 10,000 scattered throughout England, but for 10,000 in the metropolis alone; and those not partially employed only, but interminably and slavishly,-on the Sunday exactly as on other days. This phase of London life is truly surprising in its character, and cannot but induce thoughtfulness in every Christian mind." | |