That something needs to be done for this pitiable outcast population
must be evident to all who have read these particulars as to their
condition--at least, to all who believe them. We are quite prepared for
incredulity. Even what we have indicated seems all too terrible to be
true. But we have sketched only in faintest outline. Far more vivid must
be our colours, deeper and darker far the shades, if we are to present a
truthful picture of "Outcast London;" and so far as we have been able to
go we are prepared with evidence, not only to prove every statement, but
to show that these statements represent the general condition of
thousands upon thousands in this metropolis. Incredulity is not the only
difficulty in the way of stirring up Christian people to help. Despair
of success in any such undertaking may paralyse many. We shall be
pointed to the fact that without State interference nothing effectual
can be accomplished upon any large scale. And _it is_ a fact. These
wretched people must live somewhere. They must live near the centres
where their work lies. They cannot afford to go out by train or tram
into the suburbs; and how, with their poor emaciated, starved bodies,
can they be expected--in addition to working twelve hours or more, for a
shilling, or less,--to walk three or four miles each way to take and
fetch? It is notorious that the Artizans Dwellings Act has, in some
respects, made matters worse for them. Large spaces have been cleared of
fever-breeding rookeries, to make way for the building of decent
habitations, but the rents of these are far beyond the means of the
abject poor. They are driven to crowd more closely together in the few
stifling places still left to them; and so Dives makes a richer harvest
out of their misery, buying up property condemned as unfit for
habitation, and turning it into a gold-mine because the poor must have
shelter somewhere, even though it be the shelter of a living tomb.
The State must make short work of this iniquitous traffic, and secure
for the poorest the rights of citizenship; the right to live in
something better than fever dens; the right to live as something better
than the uncleanest of brute beasts. This must be done before the
Christian missionary can have much chance with them. But because we
cannot do all we wish, are we to do nothing? Even as things are
something can be accomplished. Is no lifeboat to put out and no
life-belt to be thrown because only half a dozen out of the perishing
hundreds can be saved from the wreck? The very records which supply the
sad story we have been telling, give also proofs of what can be done by
the Gospel and by Christian love and tact and devotion. Gladly do many
of these poor creatures receive the Gospel. Little match-box makers are
heard singing at their toil, "One more day's work for Jesus." "If only
mother was a Christian we should all be happy," said one; and on his
miserable bed, amidst squalor and want and pain, a poor blind man dies
with the prayer upon his lips, "Jesus, lover of my soul, Let me to Thy
bosom fly." Another writes, "You have filled my heart with joy, and my
little room with sunshine." A second, who now regularly attends a place
of worship, says, speaking of the visits of the missionary, "Before he
came to visit me I used to sit and make match-boxes on Sunday, but a
word now and then has enabled me to look up to the Lord. I don't feel
like the same person." Another who himself became a missionary to his
own class, and exercised great power over them whenever he spoke, was
able to say, "I was as bad as any of you, but the Lord Jesus had mercy
upon me, and has made me better and so happy." This man had been a
"coal-whipper" of notoriously evil life, and was rescued through his
casually going into a room in one of the courts of which we have spoken,
where a missionary was holding a meeting. Such results should rebuke our
faithlessness. Even in these dark and noisome places the lamp of Life
may be kindled; even from these miry spots bright gems may be snatched,
worth all the labour and all the cost.
It is little creditable to us that all our wealth and effort should be
devoted to providing for the spiritual needs of those who are
comfortably conditioned, and none of it expended upon the abject poor.
It is true that we have not half done our duty to any class, but this
fact is no justification of our having wholly neglected this rescue
work. To shut up our compassion against those who need it most, because
we have not yet done our duty to those who need it less, is a course
that we should find it hard to justify to our Master and Lord. His tones
were ever those of pitying love even to the most sinful outcast, but
would they not gather sternness as He met us with the rebuke: "This
ought ye to have done, and not to have left the other undone"? An
"exceeding bitter cry" is this which goes up to heaven from the misery
of London against the apathy of the Church. It is time that Christians
opened their ears to it and let it sink down into their hearts. Many
pressing needs are taxing the resources of the London Congregational
Union, but the Committee feel that this work amongst the poor must no
longer be neglected, and that they must do all they can to arouse the
Churches of their order to undertake their share of responsibility. They
have determined to take immediate action. Having selected three of the
very worst districts in London, from which many of the foregoing facts
have been gathered, they have resolved at once to begin operations in
the very heart of them. No denominational purpose will sway them,
except that they will try to awaken their own denomination to a sense of
its duty; but there will be no attempt to make Congregationalists or to
present Congregationalism. Deeper, broader and simpler must this work be
than any which can be carried on upon denominational lines. In such a
forlorn hope there is no room for sectarianism. The Gospel of the love
of Christ must be presented in its simplest form, and the one aim in
everything must be to rescue and not to proselytize. Help will be
thankfully welcomed from whatever quarter it may come, and help will be
freely given to other workers in the same field, if only by any means
some may be saved. It is impossible here and yet to give details as to
the methods which it is proposed to pursue; suffice it to say that in
each district a Mission Hall will be erected, or some existing building
transformed into a Hall having appliances and conveniences requisite for
the successful prosecution of the Mission. Services and meetings of all
kinds will be arranged, and, as far as possible, an agency for house to
house visitation organized. An attempt must be made to relieve in some
wise and practical, though very limited way, the abounding misery,
whilst care is taken to prevent the abuse of charity. In this matter the
injudicious and inexperienced may easily do more harm than good,
pauperising the people whom they wish to help, and making hypocrites
instead of Christians. To indicate what we mean we may mention one case
pointed out to us of a woman who attended three different places of
worship on the Sunday and some others during the week, because she
obtained charitable help from all. But we cannot on this account refuse
to try some means of mitigating the suffering with which we come into
contact. Therefore this must be attempted along with whatever other
means the Committee, in conference with those who have had long
experience of this work, may think likely to answer the end they have
before them. Their hope is that at least some, even of the lowest and
worst, may be gathered in; and their aim will be to make as many of
these as they can missionaries to the others; for manifestly those who
have been accustomed to speak to and work amongst a somewhat better
section of the community will not be so likely to labour successfully
amongst these outcasts as will those who have themselves been of their
number. The three districts already fixed upon are, as it will be
understood, intended only to afford a field for the immediate
commencement of this beneficent work. Other districts will be occupied
as funds come in and the resources of the Committee are enlarged; but
even the comparatively limited operations already undertaken will
necessitate so great an expenditure and require so much aid from those
who are qualified for the work, that they cannot wisely attempt more at
present. For not only will the cost and furnishing of Halls and of
carrying on the work be very large, but a relief fund will be needed as
indicated above. The Committee, therefore, can only hope to carry
forward with any success the project to which they have already put
their hands, by the really devoted help of the churches which they
represent.