There were no Young Men's or Young Women's Christian Associations, no P.S.A.'s, no Brotherhoods, no Central Missions, no extra effort to attract the attention of the godless crowds; for miles there was not an announcement of anything special in the religious line to be seen.
"To any one who cared to enter the places of worship, their deathly contrast with the streets was even worse.

The absence of week-night services must have made any stranger despair of finding even society or diversion.

A Methodist sufficiently in earnest to get inside to the 'class' would find a handful of people reluctant to bear any witness to the power of God.
"Despite the many novelties introduced since those days, the activities of the world being so much greater, the contrast must look even more striking in our own time." Imagine a young man accustomed to daily labour for the poor, coming into such a world as that! Thought about what they sang and said in the private gatherings of the Methodist Societies could only deepen and intensify the feeling of monstrosity.

They sang frequently:-- He taught me how to watch and pray, And live rejoicing every day.
But where were the rejoicing people?
Where was there indeed anybody who, either in or out of a religious service, dared to express his joy in the Lord--or wished to express anything.

It was as if religious societies had become wet blankets to suppress any approach to a hearty expression of religious faith.