Subways
Story★★★Marc Isamb ard Brunel (17 69-1849) was a brilliant young man who, while
fleeing the French Revolution, lost his passport, forged a replica from memory, and
escaped to New York. He later moved to London, and at one point was confined to
debtor’s prison. He didn’t stay there long. His engineering skills became legendary,
and he planned the first tunnel under the Thames, a tunnel still in service; his
underground digging machine made London’s first “Tube” (subway) possible. But
during its construction, he was hounded by clergymen who called it “flirtation with
the Underworld.”
The point
The engineer who built London's first underground tunnel and subway was mocked by clergy who feared it as 'flirtation with the Underworld,' illustrating how the church sometimes resists God-given progress out of fear.