Hannan, one of the proprietors of the works, a
magistrate of Glasgow, and an old acquaintance of Livingstone's, being
in the chair. The Doctor was laboring under a cold, the first he had had
for sixteen years. He talked to them of his travels, and by particular
request gave an account of his encounter with the Mabotsa lion. He
ridiculed Mrs. Beecher Stowe's notion that factory-workers were slaves.
He counseled them strongly to put more confidence than workmen generally
did in the honest good intentions of their employers, reminding them
that some time ago, when the Blantyre proprietors had wished to let
every workman have a garden, it was said by some that they only wished
to bring the ground into good order, and then they would take the garden
away. That was nasty and suspicious. If masters were more trusted, they
would do more good. Finally, he exhorted them cordially to accept God's
offers of mercy to them in Christ, and give themselves wholly to Him. To
bow down before God was not mean; it was manly. His one wish for them
all was that they might have peace with God, and rejoice in the hope of
the eternal inheritance.
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