The million-peopled city
Garwood, John
1853
Soundness of Protestant Feeling among the English Working-classes.
Very numerous as are the Irish in London, they have not succeeded in bringing over to their religion any portion of our own working population. This alone is encouraging, considering their zeal and our own negligence and indiffer- ence. The following quotation on this subject is taken from the " Magazine," of November, :- | |
" The general testimony of our missionaries is, that although from the influx of Irish there has been a great accession to the number of Roman Catholics, there has been no accession at all among the poor from a change of senti- ments having been effected. The triumph of Popery in London of late, great as it has been, has been almost exclu- sively among the educated and higher orders of society, And it has been particularly ineffectual in its effects, God be praised, among the poor. We do not think 50 perverts could be found on our 250 districts, comprising, as these do, probably 500,000 individuals. The following extracts from the Reports of missionaries will confirm this, and will be | |
287 | read probably with some surprise, but, we feel assured, with a great thankfulness to God:- |
"(1.)' Since I have been on this district (1 3/4 year), I have not known one case where a nominal Protestant has become a pervert to Popery. But during that time 2 Roman Catholics have left the Romish Church.' (2.) I have been on this Romish district nearly 13 years, and not one instance of perversion from Protestantism to Popery has taken place on it during that period.' (3.) ' One of the most wealthy Romish congregations is on my district, and great exertions have been made by those connected with it to proselyte. But I can only number 51 Roman Catholic families, and I do not know of more than 4 or 5 during the 5 years I have been here, who have joined their ranks, and these were rather through the treachery of the clergymen of two Protestant churches. One of these clergymen has since himself joined the , and the other has been silenced by the Bishop of London.' (4.) ' Of the 202 Roman Catholic families on my district, I am not aware of a case where a proselyte has been made to Popery of late, although there are 3 females who became perverts years ago.' (5.) 'During the 5 years I have been on this district, I know of no one proselyte to the among the poor, which is the more remarkable, as 2 clergymen of the Church of England who officiated on the district were seduced.' (6.) ' During 9 years' labours, I have only met with 1 woman, with 2 or 3 of her children, who have gone over to Popery, but I have met with many who have become converts to Protestantism.' (7.) 'In 4 years, I have only known 1 family converted to Popery, and in that instance the poor man has been known to be of unsound mind for years, and has a silver plate in his head. His wife followed him, simply because she thought she was obliged. The late movements have made Popery more unpopular than ever with the | |
288 | people.' (8.) 'Although the priests are so active on this my Popish district, the only increase in Roman Catholics is from importations from .' (9.) 'There is neither a single perversion to Popery on this Popish district, nor a single Englishman who is a Papist.' (10.) 'With all the efforts of the nunnery on my district, the sisters of mercy, and the priests, every Roman Catholic here states that he was bred and born such.' |