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
Well, much. Employers are granting their Sunday slaves concessions,
slight indeed, but hopeful as to the future. Many persons who used these
vehicles on the Lord's day have discontinued the practice. Some drivers
and conductors have left on Sabbath principles; and, best of all, many
of the men have already received spiritual good.
This was certainly the case with old Ben, who had driven to the Bank
many thousand times, and who for thirty-two years had never attended
Divine worship. He, indeed, held religion and religious people in
derision. The Missionary secured his attention, and one day soon after
the meeting, old Ben observed to him, "I read the tracts now, sir, and a
bit of the Bible, and mean soon to get another Sunday off." He
succeeded, and in the morning, the first time for so many years,
attended Divine worship. In the evening his wife went, and he remained
at home reading the Scriptures. He retired to rest unusually happy, but
to sleep the long sleep, as in the silence of the night watches his
immortal spirit was summoned to the presence of God.
It is indeed well that at length these men should have spiritual care,
and that the "feet of those who carry glad tidings" should make their
way to those who are in like condemnation. Now it so occurred that about
the same time that Christian attention was directed to the neglect and
wants of the men who labour upon our _noisy highways_, the roads,--that
a like attention was called to those who pass life quietly on our
_silent highways_, the canals. These water ways of the metropolis extend
for several hundred miles through and about the City and its suburbs,
and connect and bring into communication other great cities of the
country. They are traversed continually by barges, which besides much
merchandise contain a large floating population. Whole families inhabit
the small cabins, and they have been described in the British Parliament
as the most ignorant and debased of the people. It was therefore decided
by the rulers of the mission to select a suitable man from the ranks,
and bid him to make known the Gospel in the cabins, and on the towing
paths.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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