Transcribed from the 1858 William Tweedie edition by DavidPrice,
by
J. EWING RITCHIE,
author of the “night side of london.”
“Oh heavens! from the Christianity of OliverCromwell, wrestling in grim fight with Satan and his incarnateblackguardisms, hypocrisies, injustices, and legion of human andinfernal angels, to that of eloquent Mr. Hesperus Fiddlestring,denouncing capital punishments, and inculcating the benevolences,on platforms, what a road have we travelled!”—Carlyle’s Latter-day Pamphlets.
Second Edition.
revised, corrected, andenlarged.
LONDON:
WILLIAM TWEEDIE, 337, STRAND.
mdccclviii.
p. ijohn childs and son, printers.
TO JOHN R. ROBINSON, ESQ.
Dear Robinson,
In dedicating to you this edition of a Work, the contents ofwhich originally appeared under your editorial sanction, I availmyself of one of the few pleasures of authorship. Of thedefects of this little Volume none can be more sensible thanmyself: you will, however, receive it as a triflingacknowledgment on my part of the generous friendship you haveever exhibited for an occasional colleague and
Yours faithfully,
J. EWING RITCHIE.
Finchley Common,
Nov. 7, 1857.
‘Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto,’ saidTerence, and the sentence has been a motto for man these manyyears. To the human what deep interest attaches! Asplendid landscape soon palls unless it has its hero. Wetire of the monotonous prairie till we learn that man, with hishopes and fears, has been there; and the barrenest countrybecomes dear to us if it come to us with the record of manlystruggle and womanly love. This is as it should be, for
‘The proper study of mankind isman.’
In pursuance with this axiom, we have devoted some little timeto the study of one section of modern men deservedly worthy ofserious regard. There is no subject on which men feel p.2more intensely than they do on the subject ofreligion. There are no influences more permanent orpowerful in their effects on the national character thanreligious influences. We propose, then, to consider thepulpit power of London. There are in our midst, men devotedto a sacred calling—men who, though in the world, are notof it—who profess more than others to realise thesplendours and the terrors of the world to come—to whomDeity has mysteriously made known his will. Society acceptstheir pretensions, for, after all, man is a religious animal,and, with Bacon, would rather believe all the fables in the Koranthan that this universe were without a God. For good or badthese men have a tremendous power. The orator from thepulpit has always an advantage over the orator who merely speaksfrom the public platform. Glorious