THE IRREGULARS.
"What do you think of the Ranters, Mr. Hall?" I quote from the life of
the celebrated Baptist orator; "don't you think they ought to be put
down?"
"I don't know enough of their conduct to say that. What do they do? Do
they inculcate Antinomianism, or do they exhibit immorality in their
lives?"
"Not that I know of, but they fall into very irregular practices."
"Indeed, what practices?"
"Why, sir, when they enter a village they begin to sing hymns, and they
go on singing until they collect a number of people on the village green,
or in some neighbouring field, and then they preach."
"Well, whether that may be prudent or expedient or not depends upon
circumstances, but as yet I see no criminality."
"But you must admit, Mr. Hall, it is very irregular."
"And suppose I do admit that, what follows? Was not our Lord rebuking
the Scribes and Pharisees and driving the buyers and sellers out of the
temple very irregular? Was not almost all that he did in his public
ministry very irregular? Was not the course of the Apostles, and of
Stephen, and of many of the Evangelists, very irregular? Were not the
proceedings of Calvin, Luther, and their fellow workers in the
Reformation very irregular?--a complete and shocking innovation upon all
the queer out-doings of the Papists? And were not the whole lives of
Whitefield and Wesley very irregular lives, as you view such things? Yet
how infinitely is the world indebted to all of these? No, sir, there
must be something widely different from mere irregularity before I
condemn."
IRREGULAR AGENCIES.
Between Churchmen and Dissenters there are bodies claiming and often
receiving the support of both. The number of buildings used in London
every Sunday evening for theatre services now amounts to eleven, eight of
the eleven being engaged by a united committee, of which the Earl of
Shaftesbury is the chairman,--viz., Astley's, Standard, Pavilion, Royal
Amphitheatre, Sadler's Wells, Britannia, and the Metropolitan and Oxford
Music Halls. The other buildings are St. James's Hall and the Effingham
and Victoria theatres. One result of this state of things is rather
doubtful. Of the perniciousness of some of these places there can be no
doubt. It may be that some of them would have been closed ere this had
not the money received from the Sunday preaching made up for the losses
of the week. In one year in these places 122 services were held,
attended by 190,000 persons.
The London City Mission employs 361 agents. During the last year the
number of visits made by them to the houses of the poor amounted to
1,987,259. The number of visits which they made to sick and dying
amounted to 255,102. They gave away 6000 copies of the Bible; they
circulated 2,677,901 tracts; they held more than 36,000 Bible classes and
religious services indoors; they conducted 3764 out-of-door services;
they induced 1296 persons to partake of the Lord's Supper, 242
backsliders to return, 608 families to begin family prayer, 863 drunkards
to abstain, 141 shopkeepers to close their shops on the Sabbath, and 8297
children to attend ragged and Sunday schools.
In London there are 300 Bible women always at work; then there is the
Christian community founded in the days of John Wesley; the members of it
visit workhouses and lodging-houses in the East of London and preach in
the open air. Last year the number of open-air services held by them
amounted to 542; the number of addresses delivered, 1626; and the number
of hearers, including indoors and out, 379,370. The Society also visits
lodging-houses and the Juvenile Refuge, and gives free tea meetings,
which, as we may imagine, are very well attended. During the past year
255,477 tracts had been distributed, and altogether it had held 8573
services.
The Open-air Mission needs also to be recorded. It is calculated that in
the summer our open-air preachers address every Sunday nearly half a
million of persons in the metropolis alone. It must also be remembered
that of late, by the closing of public-houses, the number of idle,
covetous, mischievous persons thrown on our streets is considerably
increased. On Sundays it is evident that the blockage of the streets is
greater than ever. In such places as Trafalgar Square, and the
steam-boat piers, and in all our back streets, there are thousands of
boys and men gambling and demoralizing one another. The Open-air Mission
catches some of them, and in the lowest neighbourhoods--where the most
depraved live--its agents generally receive a favourable hearing; one
exception is recorded, which occurred at the Royal Exchange. Preaching
last year commenced there in April, and went on with many striking
instances of success till May 9, when a band of secularists,
humanitarians, and infidels came to oppose,--one man reading the Koran,
while the agent of the City Mission was as usual about to commence his
service. On the next Sunday the opposition was still greater, being
reinforced by Roman Catholics and their priests. Under these
circumstances preaching was suspended, only to be reopened when the
excitement and the danger of a breach of the peace shall have passed
away. The Society aims at open-air preaching, special visitation,
domestic visitation, and conferences for mutual intercourse. The visit
to Epsom belongs to the second class of these subjects. Twenty-one
agents had been there during the race week, 60,000 tracts had been given
away, many addresses had been given, and a Bible-stand erected. At this
latter place, on the last wet Friday when the Oaks was being run, they
sheltered a couple of hundred of poor starving wretches, and for five
hours kept up preaching and praying on their account. Their service on
the Sunday before the races was very interesting. On the Monday they
held a service for the benefit of the gipsies, one of the speakers at
which was the Dean of Ripon, better known perhaps as the Rev. Hugh
M'Neile.
Of the 60,000 Arabs of London there are 20,000 in the Ragged Schools.
The Female and Domestic Bible Missions now number 230 paid agents, each
with her district and lady superintendent, and expend some 11,000_l._ a
year, exclusive of between 6000_l._ and 7000_l._ which is paid to it in
instalments by the poor themselves for Bibles, clothes, and bedding.
The Young Men's Scripture Association has been very successful. Nearly
200 of a Sunday afternoon attend the Bible class in Aldersgate Street.
It has twelve branches in different parts of the town.
Connected with no denomination are six or seven chapels or rooms, where
as they meet they break bread in the morning and preach the Gospel in the
evening. In addition, the Plymouth Brethren have some thirty places of
worship, and their dulness and isolation from the world, which cause them
even to avoid discharging their duties as citizens as inconsistent with
the spiritual life, indicate the little they need be taken into account
as a religious body aiming in any way to influence the religious life of
London. According to the late Mr. Buckle, good people really do very
little good. I fancy this is the case as far as the Plymouth Brethren
are concerned.
* * * * *
THE END.
BY THE SAME AUTHOR.
* * * * *
In Crown 8vo, cloth, price 7_s._ 6_d._,
THE NIGHT SIDE OF LONDON.
NEW EDITION REVISED AND ENLARGED.
* * * * *
CONTENTS.
Concerning London--Aristocratic Amusements--The Alhambra--The Modern
Theatre--The Casino and the Argyll--The Bal Masque--Judge and Jury
Clubs--The Cave of Harmony--Discussion Clubs--Cremorne--Life in the
East--Caldwell's--The Strand as it was--The Police Court--Up the
Haymarket--The Music Hall--Public-houses--Leicester Square--A Midnight
Meeting.
OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.
"Mr. Ritchie has with well-meant and terrible truthfulness described the
temptations to which the youth of our great metropolis are exposed. 'The
Night Side of London' is a fearful and, we believe, faithful
representation of the extent to which unlawful and revolting
licentiousness lays its bait and ruins its victims. . . . It is well
that our employers of labour and those who are anxious to keep up the
age-long conflict with the flesh and the devil should know how sleepless
are the powers of evil, how omnipresent the inducements to illicit
pleasure. Our author has touched this desperate evil with deep
conviction, extensive knowledge, and delicate hand."--_British Quarterly
Review_.
"The author has revised and enlarged his former accounts of London life,
and has now brought his observations down to the present period. He has
contrived to bring within the compass of one volume all the objectionable
and disgusting sights and doings in this great metropolis, and it will
certainly astonish the reader to find what innumerable sins are committed
daily and nightly within his reach."--_Observer_.
"Mr. Ritchie has done good service in the cause of public virtue by the
publication, and now by the enlargement and revision of this book. He
has looked upon and described some of the dark aspects of London life
with an ability and an earnestness which should secure for this hook a
cordial welcome in many homes. His heart and intellect revolt at the
awful spectacles which he has witnessed, and it would be greatly to the
advantage of our young men if they could meet with this high-minded book
in all our institutes and libraries. Mr. Ritchie's book should be known
far and wide."--_Literary World_.
"Mr. Ritchie is well known as a lively and amusing writer, but in the
work before us he has given us something more permanent than amusement
and more valuable than mere mirth. The facts and figures of London life
as here drawn with the shadows of night upon them are enough, and more
than enough, to rouse to greater activity the efforts of all
philanthropic and Christian souls to do more than is done for the sins
and sorrows of our modern Babylon."--_The Rock_.
"Messrs. Tinsley Brothers publish a new and revised edition of Mr. J.
Ewing Ritchie's very interesting and well-written sketches, entitled "The
Night Side of London." The present issue contains some additional
matter, giving the benefit of the author's most recent
observations."--_Morning Star_.
"Much information is given which is both curious and interesting; and the
comments and suggestions put forward by the author are full of sound
sense and high toned morality."--_City Press_.
* * * * *
In Crown 8vo, price 10_s._ 6_d._,
BRITISH SENATORS;
OR,
POLITICAL SKETCHES, PAST AND PRESENT.
* * * * *
CONTENTS.
Inside the House.--The Right Hon. Benjamin Disraeli, Lord Stanley Sir
John Pakington, the Right Hon. S. H. Walpole, the Right Hon. W. E.
Gladstone, the Right Hon. R. Lowe, the Right Hon. J. Stansfeld, Mr.
Layard, the Right Hon. E. Cardwell, the Right Hon. G. J. Goschen, Sir R.
Peel, C. Gilpin, Esq., the Right Hon. H. Brand, the Right Hon. J. Bright,
Jacob Bright, Esq., P. Taylor, Esq., J. White, Esq., G. Melly, Esq., T.
Hughes, Esq., A. S. Ayrton, Esq., E. Baines, Esq., H. S. P. Winterbotham,
Esq., J. Cowen, Esq., Mr. Alderman Lusk, Sir F. Crossley, Mr. Newdegate,
G. H. Whalley, Esq., C. Reed, Esq., S. Morley, Esq., H. Richard, Esq., W.
M'Arthur, Esq., Milner Gibson, J. A. Roebuck, B. Osborne, Edward Miall,
the Right Hon. J. Whiteside, J. S. Mill, Lord J. Russell, Lord Lytton,
Viscount Palmerston, Sir J. Graham, W. J. Fox, R. Cobden; T. S. Duncombe,
H. Drummond, Sir C. Napier, Sir C. Lewis, Lord Herbert.
OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.
"A critic, whether clever or otherwise, may be allowed to congratulate
Mr. Ewing-Ritchie on the sparkling and intelligent volume which he has
been able to put together out of a number of personal sketches written at
various dates within the last few years. It is difficult to write
personal sketches of living celebrities with entire good taste; but we
think the author of this book has gone near to mastering the difficulty.
The characteristics of public men are struck off with real felicity. Mr.
Ewing-Ritchie writes in a pointed, perspicuous, somewhat _staccato_
manner, and is never too long. His volume is one thoroughly well adapted
for its purpose."--_Pall Mall Gazette_.
"Mr. Ritchie seems to have hit the happy medium in simply outlining the
characters of the men whom he touches at all. . . . Yet, Mr. Ritchie
never fails to produce a characteristic likeness, though his view of a
man seems to be always taken on the wing in the heat of action and
excitement. This of itself is a merit that adds much spirit to the
current of his criticisms. . . . In the main, his sketches are as clear
as they are brief. . . . A good feature of this book is its general
fairness."--_London Review_.
"We can bear testimony to the fidelity of Mr. Ritchie's representations,
the spirit of impartiality shown in his estimates of character, the
breadth and liberality of his sentiments, and the very interesting
character of his book."--_Literary World_.
"His lively style and his avoidance of anything subtle or disputative,
though he never conceals his political sympathies, united with his ample
resources of Parliamentary and political knowledge, fit him admirably for
this modest undertaking. Mr. Ritchie has seen and remembered and
described many Parliamentary incidents, and those who want to know what
the House of Commons is like, how its principal men have gained their
positions, and how they comported themselves therein, will find him a
pleasant guide."--_Morning Star_.