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

"The landlord has broken a blood vessel," was the reply: "three doctors are with him, and we are waiting to know the result."

Upon its being stated that the doctors gave hope of his recovery, the people separated. For days it was rumoured that his life was in danger, and at the little mission service held in the Court, prayer was made on his behalf. Several mornings after, the Missionary inquired of the servant, who was standing at the private door, as to the state of her master's health.

"A little better," she replied; "but he is still in the club-room, as the doctors say it will be dangerous to remove him for some days."

Acting upon the impulse of the moment, the Missionary passed the servant, and with an ejaculatory prayer for success, ascended the stairs, and tapped at the club-room door.

"Come in," said a faint voice; and the visitor entered and saw the landlord lying upon a couch, near the fire.

Stepping gently forward, he said in a subdued tone, "I must ask you, sir, to forgive this act of apparent rudeness. The truth is, that since hearing of your illness I have been praying for you."

There was a momentary embarrassment, until the patient, with a troubled expression of face, whispered,—

"Who asked you to pray for me? I don't believe in theology."

"No one asked me," was the reply; "but if you will keep from speaking, which may retard your recovery, I will, in a few words, tell you why prayer was made to God in your behalf. After years of Bible-study I know its statements to be true; and then I have tested its promises, and know the blessings to be real. You, perhaps, from want of opportunity, have not done the one, and are therefore without the blessings now that you most need them. I have felt as anxious about you as though you had been an old friend; and we have prayed that your life may be spared, and your soul saved."

"It's no use: I can never believe," was the reply; but it was delivered so feebly, and with such an expression of mental and physical pain upon the countenance, as to draw forth emotions of sympathy.

"Permit me," said the visitor, "to repeat two passages of Scripture, and then I will leave you: 'Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in the earth, and things under earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.' 'This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.'" Placing his pocket Bible upon the table, with the passage turned down, the visitor took the hand that was offered to him, and said, "I will leave my card: send to me as a friend whenever you please; and may you find peace in the love of Jesus."

During the conversation, the wife had entered, and following the visitor out of the room, thanked him for calling. "I was religious once," she observed; "but years before the bar has ruined me altogether; you cannot do a first-class gin trade and keep religious."

The old question about the profit of gaining the world and losing the soul was put to her, and so they parted.

Three mornings after, the potman called at the Missionary's house with the message that his master wished to see him as soon as he could call in.

"Thank you for coming," was the greeting with which the landlord received the visitor, who had hastened to obey his request: "I want to ask you to forgive me for treating you so badly when you came into the bar to see the poor fellow who was ill. I was in liquor—that's how I came to do it."

"Don't think of that," was the reply; "besides, I made excuse for you, as it was a strange thing for me to enter your bar and talk about religion."

"It was," he replied; "but after the man was dead, the widow used to tell us that he died so happy; and I have often thought that you then acted as though you believed the Gospel to be true, because following him into my bar was seeking the lost sheep, and no mistake."

This introduced the subject of the internal evidence of the Bible; and the visitor, after reading portions of the fifth chapter of 2 Corinthians, commented on the words, "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature;" showing that among the pillars of evidence which support the Bible is the experience of the fact that all who exercise saving faith in the Lord Jesus become the possessors of a sealed peace, and prove by holy living the change of the inner nature.

This visit was the commencement of a friendship between the Christian teacher and the publican, who remained ill for several months. His sceptical objections to the truth were examined and gradually removed; while the constant reading of that Word, the entrance of which into the soul gives light, gradually wrought a change in his views and feelings. He made no profession of religion, but the change was apparent to all who knew him. He overcame the habit of profane swearing, and showed an interest in good things. His presence in the bar effected a change in the character of the house. He not only checked blasphemous and bad language, but he refused to serve persons who were in liquor, and would not allow mothers with infants in their arms to stand in the bar. The visits of the Missionary were encouraged. After conversation with the family, he used to go into the serving-bar for conversation with the men; and after that visited the four compartments used by customers, reasoning with them about righteousness, temperance, and a judgment to come. This teaching was blessed to souls, as a desire to know the truth was manifested by several of the worst characters in the neighbourhood. They used to accept the invitation to come and hear the Scriptures read in a room down the court, and as the gracious result, several became converted. Amongst these were two drunken women, who used to boast of the number of times they had been locked up; a youth of eighteen who had lived by thieving; and a journeyman shoemaker.

The good influence was increasing in the publican's family, when he was suddenly taken ill, and it became evident that his sickness was unto death. He lingered for some time in great weakness, but was happy in the love of God. Shortly before his death, he said to the Missionary, "I have settled my affairs, as I have no hope of recovery; and now I have to ask a great kindness of you: it is that you will promise me to take a friendly interest in my wife and children when I am gone." Upon the promise being given, he added, "I should like, for my comfort, to receive the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, because I have renounced my infidelity, and am trusting for salvation to the blood-shedding and merit of the risen Jesus."

A few hours after, the Rector and the Missionary entered the gin-palace, and passing into the sick-chamber, commemorated with the dying publican that offering of Himself by which the Redeemer procured for His disciples a present salvation and victory over death and the grave.

After the solemn service, the Minister entered the bar-parlour, and remained for some time, observing with deep interest the attention paid by various groups of customers to the instruction of the Missionary. As they left together, he remarked, thoughtfully, "While you were in the bar, the landlady told me that, besides being the means of her husband's salvation, you have reformed some of the worst men and women who used to support the house. This is grappling with the greatest evil in my parish, and God is blessing the effort. I wish that all such houses in the parish were thus visited."

"Your desire, sir, shall be carried out as far as the district under my visitation is concerned," was the reply.

The aged clergyman, taking the hand of the lay visitor, said with emotion, "May the divine blessing make the effort powerful, that the Redeemer's work may be extended amongst these multitudes of the spiritually dead."

The landlord lived about a fortnight after commemorating the Lord's death, and his end was peace. Only a few hours before his entrance into rest, he requested that this Scripture might be engraved upon his tombstone: "When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory."

A year had scarcely passed when the widow was compelled to leave the business, and she went to live in another part of London. She rapidly sank from affluence to extreme poverty. Hearing of her condition the Missionary sought her out, and was saddened to find her in a back kitchen at the East-end of London. He took her two little girls, aged eight and ten years, home with him, and through the kindness of leading men in the trade, obtained their admission into the Licensed Victuallers' School. Employment was obtained for the widow as sick-nurse, and she has since lived a useful and Christian life.

While visiting this family the following circumstances occurred, which gave the Missionary influence with several licensed victuallers and their customers.

The potman at a very low public-house just by was taken seriously ill, and the landlord, upon hearing that a Christian man had visited another house, sent to inquire for him, and then wrote a note, asking him to call and see his man. The visit was paid, and was succeeded by others, until the young man recovered. The landlord and his wife were thankful for the attention paid, and upon each call asked him into their private room. This led to an intimacy so close that he was consulted both as to their religious and business difficulties: these can be best explained in their own words, as the visitor was seated with them one afternoon. "You see, sir," said the landlord, "that I can tell you anything, as you are not like the religious and teetotal sort of people who talk and write against us, but never call upon us, that they may understand our position. Now I don't want, and thousands in the trade don't want, to make or to serve drunkards. In our last house we lost nearly all the money my wife and I saved in a long service; but if I had pandered to vice, we might have been there now. While trying to make the house respectable, we lost 'takings' from the depraved and drunken, and, as the result, were not able to meet demands, and were obliged to leave and take this still lower class of business. The truth is, that publicans, as a respectable body of tradesmen, need sympathy and Christian influence, instead of abuse, which only worries and makes us, in self-defence, resist rather than assist in the necessary reforms; and then, as our trade is a temptation, we need religious influences in our families: but no clergyman has ever entered my house. I have gone wrongly, as I have taken to 'sipping,' but it's hard to bear up against the trials I have had to pass through." "When we married," added the wife, "we had £200, and felt that we should do well in this business; the Sunday trade has however made me wretched. During the fourteen years I was lady's maid I went to Church twice every Sunday; and from that happy life to serving behind a bar is a dreadful change. This is not needful except for two hours at meals, when the necessary article of consumption could be supplied; and then the rows in the tap are a constant misery to me, and I wish we were out of the business altogether."

"You have my deepest sympathy," said the Missionary, "and I will advise you as a true friend. Your constant drinking, landlord, must be stopped, or you will be brought to an early grave, with the curse pronounced against the drunkard resting heavily and for eternity upon you. As regards your wife, it is wrong to expose her to the misery which a woman of Christian feeling must endure in this class of house. My advice is, get out of it. You might save sufficient from the wreck to take a small general shop, and you could then get a connection as a waiter among your old acquaintances. The great matter in this difficulty, as in all our trials, is prayer: this you have both neglected. Inquire of the Lord, and He will direct you."

A fortnight after this conversation the landlord and Missionary met the agent of the firm to which the business belonged, and an equitable arrangement was made for giving up the house. Upon leaving the trade they took a small grocer's business, and became Church members, and prospered in their new calling.

Another publican, who was met with in this house, spoke strongly against the Sunday business.

"Grumbling is of little use in such matters," observed the visitor. "Act: get up a petition asking Parliament to close you entirely upon the Lord's-day, and request one of your Members to present it. A movement of this kind in the trade would be much to your own and to the public good."

"If sir," he replied, "you will write out the petition, I will sign it, and go round with you to other members of the trade, to obtain signatures."

The request was complied with, and forty licensed victuallers signed the petition for entire Sunday closing, and it was duly presented.

The arresting power of the Word of God was frequently witnessed in these gin bars. For instance: a woman one evening who entered the "Globe," and called for her first dram, was arrested by the reasoning of the missionary with some labourers. Approaching him, pewter measure in hand, she exclaimed, "You have no business here; go out, or I will throw this over you." The men pushed her away, but he said kindly, "Before you do so, let me say something to you out of this Book," and then, after a pause to find a suitable passage, he read distinctly, "Thus saith the Lord that made thee … I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground. I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring." Only a few words of comment were uttered, when the woman placed the measure upon the bar, and raising her apron to her eyes, burst into tears, and left, exclaiming, "Oh that I was a little girl again!" She did not taste the gin, and was never after met in a bar. It was evident that an arrow of conviction had sped forth from the Word of God, but with her as with thousands of others, its ultimate effect was not known. Encouragement, this, for earnest labour and simple trust in the power and promised blessing upon the proclamation of God's mercy in Christ; yes, upon the utterance of every truth contained in His own inspired Word.

Opportunities frequently occurred for seeking the good of customers as well as landlords, and these led the Missionary to the conviction that the public-house is a very proper sphere for Missionary operations. The following is one instance. Upon passing a public-house in his district rather late one evening, the visitor noticed a woman near the door who had evidently been crying, and she had an infant in her arms. When he spoke to her she told him that her husband had just gone into the tap-room with all the money they had, and she was afraid to follow him, as he would knock her about if she did.

"Wait here," said the visitor; and then he entered the house, and passed into the tap. It was filled with low men, several of whom appeared confused at his seeing them there. He however addressed one of them in a friendly manner, and said, "You men had better be careful; there is some one outside."

"Who can it be!" exclaimed several of the men, looking uncomfortable.

"A White Sergeant," was the reply, and the announcement produced a roar of laughter. To explain the reason of the merriment a digression is necessary. Well, then, a "White Sergeant" in the tap-room parlance is a wife who fetches her husband out of the public-house. This is considered a great offence, and men who submit to such an exercise of "women's rights" are much joked at by their companions. Many of the quarrels between husband and wife result from this cause. One Monday morning, in a court he visited, the Missionary saw five women with black eyes, all received through efforts to get their husbands home with their full week's wages. The announcement that a "White Sergeant" was waiting for one of them outside was therefore considered a capital joke.

As soon as their merriment had subsided, the visitor said gravely, "And this 'White Sergeant' is a woman of whom any man might be proud—pleasant-looking and neat in her dress, with a dear little baby in her arms; and in my opinion the man who would bring such a woman to cry outside a public ought to hang his head for shame."

The selfishness of men who for their own pleasures would act in this way, was enlarged upon, until a man rose and quietly left the room. A few tracts were distributed, and then the visitor also went out, and saw the man walking away with the "White Sergeant." He approached them and spoke kindly to the man, saying that he would like to call and give picture-books to his children. In a surly way he was told that he might "do as he liked," and he therefore went with them to their door.

Next Sunday the visitor called, and after a pleasant chat, opened the Bible to read to them, when one of the children began to cry. The father, without saying a word, took off his rough cap and threw it at the child with such force as to knock it heavily upon the floor. The poor child crawled into a corner, and, from fear, remained quiet. The parable of the Prodigal Son was read, and the man was deeply interested in it, and with the exposition showing the love of the Father. As the reader proceeded, the man looked kindly towards the child, and then went and took it into his arms. The visitor was pleased with this act, as it showed him that the man could be influenced for good. As he was leaving, the man addressed him thus,—

"You didn't know me, guv'nor, when you saw me in the tap; but I knowed you as the chap as made my pal religious, as I used to play pitch-and-toss with when a boy, and used to go out on the drunk with after we got to be men; and when I seed him a-dyin', said he to me said he, 'Bob, get religion, as it ain't no good a-goin' on bad, as Jesus Christ is our Saviour. And my old woman will tell the tract man to have a say with you out of his Book.' Well, when you comed into the tap in that 'ere way, and talked sensible, thinks I, that's 'im, and it's my Beck outside; so I misselled (slipped out), and shouldn't mind if you made Beck and me religious, that I shouldn't."

The meaning of the word "conversion" was explained to him in simple language, and an appointment made for further instruction. These visits were continued for some months, and a marked change for the better had taken place, until he one night yielded to temptation, got drunk, and became worse than he had ever been before. He stripped the house of every comfort, and all the labour appeared to have been lost upon him. He was, however, met with one afternoon when hawking crockery, and induced to sign the pledge. This he kept for three months, and again relapsed. His friend had come to the conclusion that his case was hopeless, when he received an unexpected visit from the man.

"Please, mister," he said with some confusion, "I am a-comin' to live right agin you. I seed a room with a loft over a stable and I took it, and I shall feel strong like bein' agin you, and shan't be near my pals as gets me to drink. It 'tain't 'pertinent like, is it, my comin' here?"

The poor man was commended for his strange but wise resolution, and his friend called to see them very frequently. As a result, the children were sent to a Sunday school, and the man was seen in the free seats at church, clean, but in his hawker's clothes. The reformation went on with him, and he became sober and well conducted. One morning he called upon his friend, and said, "I never cared, sir, for my children, for I was a drunkard, and I didn't know nuffin' of our souls and religion, and Beck and I wants the young uns to be christened, that we does, and we are goin to stick to church like as if we was made new inside, as is religion."

A few days after this conversation the curate called and instructed the parents and the elder children in the Christian faith, and then he arranged for the baptism. As the Missionary stood at the font with the six children before him, he rejoiced and gave thanks because of the change which had passed over the family. The "White Sergeant" and the drunken hawker had changed in every way since he saw the one crying outside the public-house, and the other seated in the tap-room. They remained in the neighbourhood for several years, and were among the most respectable of the poor.

In this marked way it pleased the great Head of the Church—who is always gracious to His servants who strive to win souls—to honour the effort made to secure the salvation of the poor costermonger; and the leadings of His providence also made it an open door by which the Gospel has been made known to hundreds of thousands of the London poor. The Missionary, in accordance with his promise to the minister, commenced the regular visitation of the fourteen public and beerhouses upon the district. This was trying and difficult, but good results were granted; and the Committee of the London City Mission, after examining into the work, requested him to visit all the public-houses in a large parish, as his sphere of duty. Results were so satisfactory that they appointed Missionaries to the same class of houses in nine other parishes, and are now making efforts to extend the work. It is pleasing to know that in the bars, tap-rooms, and parlours of 3,450 out of the 10,340 licensed houses in London, earnest effort is made for the spiritual enlightenment of the men and women who frequent them. As the gracious and known result, hundreds of these have been reclaimed from drunkenness and other vices, and many of them are members of Christian Churches. The influence upon publicans, and through them upon the trade, has been in many instances remarkable for good. Some houses have been entirely closed; others upon the whole of the Lord's-day; while the character of many has been changed for the better. Bar and other servants, who form a large and important class, have received great benefits; not a few have been induced to leave the business, and others have been fortified against its temptations and snares. In addition to all this, there is a large daily distribution of Gospel and Temperance tracts, while publications of a high Christian and moral tone are pressed into circulation. It may, indeed, be said that a new field for Christian enterprise was opened by the discovery that it is possible to grapple with the withering curse of drunkenness at its very fountain-head, and so bring many hitherto unreached multitudes in our great cities under the influence of Christian teaching.

The Book in the Bars:

ITS SPIRITUAL POWER.