For one child who lived and grew up in old times, two live and grow
up now. In London alone there are not half as many deaths in
proportion to the number of people as there were a hundred years ago.
And is not that a mightier work of Christ's power and love than if He
had raised a few dead persons to life?

And now for the last part of our Lord's witness about Himself. To
the poor the gospel is preached. Oh! my friends, is not THAT coming
true in our days as it never came true before? Look back only fifty
years, and consider the difference between the doctrines which were
preached to the poor and the doctrines which are preached to them
now. Look round you and see how everywhere earnest and godly
ministers have sprung up, of all sects and opinions, as well as of
the Church of England, not only to preach the gospel in the pulpit,
but to carry it to the sick bedside of the lonely cottage, to the
prison, and to those fearful sties, worse than prisons, where in our
great cities the heathen poor live crowded together. Look at the
teaching which the poor man can get now, compared to what he used to--
the sermons, the Bibles, the tracts, the lending libraries, the
schools--just consider the hundreds of thousands of pounds which are
subscribed every year to educate the children of the poor, and then
say whether Christ is not working a mighty work among us in these
days. I know that not half as much is done as ought to be done in
that way; not half as much as will be done; and what is done will
have to be done better than it has been done yet; but still, can
anyone in this church who is fifty years old deny that there is a
most enormous and blessed improvement which is growing and spreading
every year? Can anyone deny that the gospel is preached to the poor
now in a way that it never was before within the memory of man?