The Man with the Book; or, The Bible Among the People

"You have been more than a father to me, sir; and will you please give me away?"

The office was cheerfully undertaken, and readily fulfilled. After the marriage, the Missionary friend and father handed her a Bible, with this writing in it: "Heirs together of the grace of life." The union is a happy one, and she is a living proof that sovereign grace can raise its subjects from the lowest depths, and place them among the princes of the children of light.

The Book in the Streets and Night-Houses:

ITS SILENT FORCE.

"Sow in the wild waste places,
Though none thy love may own;
God guides the down of the thistle
The wandering wind hath sown.
Will Jesus chide thy weakness,
Or call thy labour vain?
The word that for Him thou bearest
Shall return to Him again.
Sow with thine heart in heaven,
Thy strength thy Master's might,
Till the wild waste places blossom
In the warmth of a Saviour's light."

Anna Shipton.

CHAPTER XI

A GILDED SALOON—A PIGEON PLUCKER—DISCOURAGEMENT—THE COFFEE MAN—DESTITUTE—THE SOLITUDE OF THE CITY—MADNESS OF DISGRACE—THE BEGGAR AND HIS BOY—THE "TRAVELLER'S REST"—THE SLEEPLESS CHURCH—COFFEE STALLS AND BOOTHS—THE COVERT FROM THE STORM—BIBLE POWER.

The Book in the Streets and Night-Houses:

ITS SILENT FORCE

"The seed is the Word of God." Luke viii. 11.

TWO hundred and sixty nights occupied in evangelizing efforts in the streets, refreshment houses, and dens of the mighty city, gave evidence that the Word of God is powerful to arrest the attention of the most thoughtless—to stop the guilty in their downward career; and that it is the power of God unto the salvation of sinners who are sunk so low as to cause them, when restored, to stand out before men as miracles of mercy. Disappointments were frequent, and if continuance in the work had depended upon known success, would have been crushing. This however was not so: the great Master does not send out His servants at their own cost. When He, of His sovereign grace, takes a sinner and places him among His children, and then by distinguishing favour makes him a wheel or a lever in His great machinery of mercy, He only requires faithfulness—not success. Men can only fill the office of subordinate instruments and visible agents in the mighty process of salvation. "God was in Christ Jesus reconciling the world unto Himself," but "He has committed to us the ministry of reconciliation." This truth ought to remove indolence and avarice from those who are named by the name of Christ. The redeemed people who realize the debt they owe unto their Lord, should covet to be the deputies and agents of Divine love; such should labour and study, and pray for success, because the Holy Spirit works by instruments made fit for His use, and the armed omnipotence of God is engaged on behalf of repentant sinners. The great restoring work is of God, and of God only; and it is therefore the duty of His servants to labour as cheerfully when denied, as when favoured with evidence of blessing.

These thoughts were suggested when materials for this chapter were being collected. The mind reverted to so many instances of failure,—to a succession of men and women who had been the objects of much earnest effort, but who had passed from under the influence of the Missionary without giving the remotest hope of their salvation. If a proportion of them were referred to, this would be a dismal record. We will only therefore, by way of illustrating the nature of the work, refer to one instance.

A Cabinet Minister had conferred with the Missionary upon the matter of legislation for night-houses; and as other interviews were sure to follow, he thought it well to visit all such places of which the police could give him information.

One night he followed several fashionably dressed gentlemen into a house near the Haymarket, and found himself in a gilded saloon, with billiard rooms upstairs. The gentlemen remained together, and as the visitor felt strange, he went to the upper end and threw himself upon a couch; he was meditating as to what he could do there, when a middle-aged gentleman entered and gave a familiar nod to the group, and then glancing keenly toward the stranger, approached and took his seat at the other end of the couch. After a little thought, an envelope containing a tract was handed to him. He gave a sudden start, and the Missionary in a merry tone, exclaimed "It's not a writ;" and then both laughed heartily. The attention of the proprietor and his waiter in full dress, had from his entering in, been fixed upon the stranger; he therefore thought it well to make friends with the gentleman, and pressing near to him, he said, in a confidential half-whisper: "Oblige me by not opening the envelope now, as it only contains a religious tract." As he looked at it with astonishment, the giver continued: "You no doubt think it absurd, quixotic of me to venture in here with tracts, but you will respect my motive when I tell you that I have for years visited the lower class of night-houses, and conferred benefits upon many; and that I am the voice of one crying in the night season, 'Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.'"

"A motive so good, justifies the act," replied the gentleman. "I am going over to the Turkish saloon, and will pass out with you."

In the street they fell into a pleasant chat, and an appointment was made for another night; this was kept, and followed by several others, besides chance meetings. From his friends he ascertained that the gentleman was supposed to be of good family, that he had graduated at Oxford, and that he bore the assumed name of Clifford. He was a most fascinating person, though his countenance had a dissipated and at times malicious expression. He had a large acquaintance among young men of position, who at that time frequented the Haymarket, and was often seen with a gentleman, now deceased, who by bad company lost his fortune, and had to sustain a long law-suit to prove his sanity. By the lower order of the depraved he was regarded as one of quite a large number of gentlemanly men whom they called "pigeon pluckers."

One night the gentleman and his Christian friend, who had met in the Haymarket, were conversing together, when he was accosted by a young man who appeared to be of age, with "Ah, Clifford! how'do? glad to see you. Just a word at your leisure."

"Certainly, my lord," was his reply. "I will be with you in a few minutes: should have been waiting for you, had I not met with this very pleasant friend."

"As Clifford's friend, may I crave the honour of offering my hand to your lordship?" inquired the Missionary.

"Certainly," replied the young nobleman (if such he was), and then the Christian visitor grasped his hand, and holding it with mild restraint, looked him full in the face, and said, "You are in danger, my lord. This dissipation will injure your person, your good name, your fortune, and perhaps your country. Be wise. Like a certain young ruler mentioned in the Gospel, approach the Lord Jesus, and ask, 'What shall I do to inherit eternal life?'"

A deep colour rose to the face of the young man, and he stepped hastily away; but turning back, as by sudden impulse, he again offered his hand to his reprover, and said, "I thank you, sir;" and was then lost in the crowd of the gay and dissipated.

Some weeks after this event, the night visitor met the gentleman, and had tea with him in a café. As they sat together at the small round marble table, the Missionary observed, "To me it is astonishing that you can live such a life as you are doing; heaping up wrath against the day of wrath. From a child you have known the Holy Scriptures, and I am surprised that texts do not at times rise to your memory, and produce a fearful looking forward to judgment!"

"Such is not the case," he replied, "strange as you may regard it. There is only one matter of memory which ever troubles me, and that is the verses of a child's hymn which our mother used to teach us as we knelt at her side in the nursery,—

'Almighty God, Thy piercing eye
Strikes through the shades of night;
And our most secret actions lie
All open to Thy sight.'

"At times these verses flash across my mind at most inconvenient seasons, and destroy my enjoyment; they occurred when you first spoke to me in the saloon, and the other night I caught myself repeating them when playing an important game of billiards." The pocket Bible was produced, and the words solemnly read,—"He hath appointed a day in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men in that He hath raised Him (Jesus) from the dead."

The visitor then repeated to him the verses of a Judgment Hymn of his own writing, which evidently made a deep impression:—

Roll, roll, ye thunders with terrific dread!
Shout, shout, ye angels and awake the dead!
Proclaim the mandate of the Almighty King;
Man, dead and living, to the Judgment bring.

Rise, rise, ye millions of reposing clay!
See, see, the light of the eternal day!
The brightness of His coming gilds the sky,
The glorious mantle of the Judge most high.

Rejoice, rejoice, ye ransomed sons of God!
Sing, sing, the virtue of the Saviour's blood!
Your loud triumphant Hallelujahs sing,
With great rejoicing hail your Saviour-King.

Mourn, mourn, neglecters of a Saviour's love;
Weep, weep, rejecters of the Heavenly Dove;
Insulted mercy leaves thee to the law
Which dooms to death, and bids thee hope no more.

Awake, awake, ye slumbering sinners, pray;
Cry, cry for mercy, now in mercy's day;
Flee to the Covert from the storm, and rest
Your blood-bought souls upon the Saviour's breast.

After this visit there were several other meetings, and then a long interval occurred. Upon inquiring for his friend at the divans and saloons, the visitor was told that "he had not been seen for some time: that he had no doubt gone upon the Continent, and would turn up next season." He was not there the following year, and was never seen in his old haunts again. It was with him as with others,—much effort without apparent result; and yet it is possible that, in the day of the Lord, good concerning some of them will be made manifest.

In one class of cases there is freedom from discouragement, and that is when the Christian worker is enabled to strengthen, to encourage, and to assist disciples in their efforts to give a testimony for the Lord, and to do good under depressing circumstances.

It was certainly thus with an old man who kept a coffee-stall in a poor neighbourhood. His shop consisted of a large barrow with canvas covering, supported at the corners by upright pieces of wood. At one end he had a small iron stove, with a large kettle upon it, and a coffee-pot on one side and tea-pot upon the other; at the farther end was a cupboard well filled with bread-and-butter and plum cake. Upon the centre of the barrow was a white cloth, covered with cups and saucers, and underneath were several pails of water. He used to wheel the whole concern to his corner as soon as the clock struck twelve at night, and wheel it away when the public and coffee-houses opened at six in the morning. The acquaintance of the proprietor was made in the following manner: One bitterly cold morning, about three o'clock, the Missionary, who was trembling from the chill felt upon leaving a warm night-house, approached the stall, and held his hands to the fire. The policeman on duty paused for the same purpose, and the following conversation passed between them:—

Stall-keeper: "I have read the book you lent me, and don't think the doctrine sound. Sovereign grace fore-ordained unto salvation, and the saints elected according to the Divine purpose must be saved. No man can pluck them out of the Saviour's hands."