The Man with the Book; or, The Bible Among the People.Weylland, John Matthias
History
The Man with the Book; or, The Bible Among the People.
Weylland, John Matthias
City missions; London City Mission
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."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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