THE RED CHURCH, BETHNAL GREEN.
Ire TIM EDITOR OF THE ..SPECTATOS."1
Sin,—Your influential journal having given currency to some extracts from articles reflecting injuriously on this church, per- mit me to break the silence which I have heretofore imposed upon myself.
Many of the statements, which are founded on hearsay, can be met by a direct contradiction ; to others, which have been attested by credible eye-witnesses, the answer is that misbe- haviour is very rare and exceptional. Some allowance must also be made for the class of people.
Looking at the moral degradation of the lower orders twenty
years ago, it was resolved to open a free church. A few typical cases may serve to show the working of the system :-1. A bright young girl comes to me the day after her marriage in reference to her certificate. Seeing her condition, I said, "It's better to be really married, isn't it?" " Ra-a-ther," she replied, with significant emphasis, which emboldened me to add, I see you are a young woman who knows what is right, and values what is right. My wonder is that you should allow yourself to run into such terrible risks." " Well, you see, Sir," she replied; "it was like this ; I hadn't a comfortable home; mother was always going on at me, and there was no room in the place ; and when you are not comfortable at home, if a person is kind to you, then you feel it." "So I sup- pose you took a walk together, and he said a few kind words to you, and you agreed to go home with him and be married whenever you could." "That's just how it was, Sir !" 2. A gentleman in the City told me that a woman came to him for admission to the Maternity Hospital, and on asking how many children she had, she replied, "Seven ; but only two of them were born in wedlock, the other five were born before the ' Red Church' was opened." 3. Many soldiers of the Reserve, before they went to the Soudan to give their bodies to the eagles, came to be married, each to the partner of his home and mother of his children.
But why more ? We have had much praise, and much blame, taunts, and scoffs. We are not greatly concerned about either, provided we can serve the poor, and see ourselves in the mirror of a clear conscience, wherein-
" L'huom fin in mezzo It l'anima si vede,
Si ohs It lusinghe poi di se non credo,
Ne It ohi der biasmo It torte gli voleese."
—I am, Sir, &O., THE VICAR OP THE "RED CHURCH."
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