A FEW PARTICTTLIRS ABOUT LONDON.

Manawatu Times, Volume II, Issue 94, 12 September 1877, Page 3

A FEW PARTICTTLIRS ABOUT LONDON.

On June 17, at- the City Temple, D*. Joseph Parker preached m the - morning, from Prqverhs ,x\ 3 — -" The Lord will not suffer the soul of the righteous' to' famish. " He said m asking for contributions to the hospitals of London, /they -were asking help for institutions which powerfully represent the practical side of Christianity. -' Through the healing of the body, ' Christianity symbolises, the healing of the soul.- When Jesus Christ opened the eyes of the blind, the act was not self-complete ; it was meant to indicate that there was an inward vision whose sight he had come to__restore,' and to help towards faith m his power to open the eyes of the soul. Christianity builds hospitals, as certainly as it builds, ch'urchs, and' it claims the physician as an ally as certainly as it claims the" preacher. Marvellous as is the whole economy of London, there nothing more marvellous thanits elaborate network of charities. Are we sufficiently alive to the wonders of the city m which we live ? Do you know that London, taking a radius of 15 miles from Charing Cross, covers nearly 700 square miles? "Within these; limits its population exceeds' 4,200,000 inhabitants. In London there is a . birth every four minutes, and m every six minutes there is a death. If you could put all the streets m London, into one straight line, the line would be 7,000 miles long, nearly 100/ miles longer than from London to San Francisco. A marvellous city, then, is London

m extent. What is it morally ? Is it as virtuous as it is gigantic? As an average more then 73,000 persons are taken into custody by the police every year. More than one- third of all the crime committed m this country is committed m London. Twenty-six thousand persons are annually brought before the London magistrates charged with being d ruiik and disorderly. Nor is this very extraordinary if we consider that if its beetvshops and gin palaces were set one after another m a straight line they would reach from London to Oxford. London has more churches and chapels than any other city m the world, yet more than' a million of its inhabitants never enter a place of worship. London is the richest city m the world, yet it has as many paupers as would occupy every house m Brighton. This then, is the great field within which we have to work. It requires no special courage to say that its resources are equal to every demand, and I trust this will be shown by a noble contribution to the Hospital Sunday Fund." The collection after the sermon amounted to nearly £95.