The million-peopled city
Garwood, John
1853
Concluding Appeal.
Far more needs to be done for their welfare. They have been too long neglected and forgotten, as a class. They have carried Christians in their omnibuses, but Christians have little carried them in their hearts. Are they some- times rude and unmannered ? What else could be expected in men who are so deprived of time and opportunity for improvement ? Instead of these circumstances hardening us against their instruction, they only illustrate how urgently | |
243 | this instruction is needed. will elevate them. They are now estranged from, and unacquainted with, its blessings. Let our readers consider for a moment how it would be with them, if they were thus situated,-if they had no Sabbaths,-if they could never enter the house of God,-if they were robbed of almost every endearment of social life, and through a long London winter, saw their children only asleep,-if they had only the public-house in which to take shelter from the wet, and cold, and fatigue, of the sixteen hours' daily labour,-if they were treated with almost constant scorn and suspicion, and had as their asso- ciates only those whose position was alike disadvantageous. It is easy to blame these men, but how would it have been with ourselves ? God in his great goodness has dealt more mercifully with us. His providence has cast our lot more favourably; and his grace alone has made us to differ. But these men are our brethren. They minister to our comforts. They have introduced a new order of convenience and luxury, which would have surprised a former generation. Let us, then, consider them as above their cattle, and as possessed of souls in value equal to our own. And let us not be unmindful to provide for them means by which their peculiar snares may not prove their eternal ruin, but by which their souls may be sanctified and fitted for glory. |