Transcribed from the 1800’s Religious Tract Societypamphlet ,
TALK ABOUT SOCIALISM
WITH AN OLD SHOPMATE.
THERELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY, INSTITUTED 1799.
56, PATERNOSTER ROW, AND 65, ST.PAUL’S CHURCHYARD.
Thinks I to myself the othersabbath afternoon, as I sat alone with my Bible beforeme—thinks I to myself, that was a comforting text inGod’s holy word that our minister preached from thismorning; “All things work together for good to them thatlove God:” and a capital sermon it was, too, that he gaveus; for though it cut me to the heart on account of my sins, itbrought the tears into my eyes, on account of God’s mercyand grace.
Well, I read the chapter that the text was taken from all tomyself; for my Nancy was gone to public worship, and I was leftto take care of the house, and our little Mary, and the young onein the cradle. The house was clean and tidy, and everythingwas quiet, and I felt happy like. Trust me for having asmany cares as my neighbours; a poor man ought not to expect to bewithout them, nor, for the matter of that, a rich man neither:but I felt happy, and though I said nothing, my heart thankedGod.
Thinks I to myself, we are bad enough as it is; ay, the verybest of us; but if places of worship were to be shut up, and wehad no ministers to preach to us, and had no Bibles to read, weshould be a deal worse than we are: and this set me a thinkingabout the blessing of the sabbath day, and the comfort of prayer,and the peace of mind there is in thinking of the salvation ofChrist, and the promises of God. Not that I can always getthe comfort from them as I could wish, for I am a poor ignorantcreature, and the turn of a straw is enough, at times, to turn mythoughts from good things to bad. But I felt, as I said,happy like in the quietness that a God fearing man enjoys on thesabbath day, and in the peace of that religion in which my dearfather and mother before me had lived and died; and I wasdetermined, with God’s help, to stick to it, while I hadany breath in my body. Thinks I, there is many of us thathave sadly stood in our own light, in p. 2neglecting the sabbath and holythings. What fools we are to cheat ourselves as wedo! When we run after our follies, the jack o’lanterns that dance before us, and lead us astray, no wonder thatwe get into the mire; “but they that wait upon the Lordshall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings aseagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk,and not faint,” Isaiah xl. 31.
As I sat musing in this way over my Bible, the door-way wasdarkened a little, all on a sudden; so I lifted up my head, andthere I saw Tom Fletcher with a lot of books in his hand.
Tom was once a shopmate of mine; and, though I never took himto be a very wise man, nor over bright in his upper story, yet,for all that, he was better than many. He had brought hisbooks on purpose to talk to me about them. In a minute ortwo we were in the thick of them.
Says he, “I have not seen you for some time; and sinceyou and I met, I have joined the Socialists.” “Joined who?” says I. “Why,” sayshe, “the Socialists;” and with that he told me allabout it. By his account it seemed that the world had beengoing round the wrong way ever since it was