The Cab-manager; or, Thirty Years absent from Church The Carman and his Wife; or, Visits to the Dying blessed to the Living The Consumptive Patient; or, Safe "in Christ" THE COSTERMONGERS; OR, THE STREET-HAWKERS OF LONDON- Chapter I.-Their Character, Habits, and Homes II. Their Trades, and Modes of Trade . III.—The Sabbath, the Church, and the Bible. IV. Their Vices and Amusements V.-Providence and Improvidence 113 169 185 The Drunkard's Household; or, the Fatal Effects of Intemperance The Drunkard's Daughter; or, Pride and Self-conceit The Dying Sailor; or, the Prospect Beyond The Father and Son; or, the Unhappy Contrast The Father and the Two Sons; or, the Shop and the Sunday-school The Grand-daughter of Seventeen; or, a Visit to Cremorne Gardens The Hair-dresser and his Son; or, the Power of the Word. The Home of the Fallen; or, Death in a Lodging-house The Poor in the East of London; or, the Eloquence of Silent Facts. 52 SCRIPTURE READERS' JOURNAL, &c. JULY, 1864. SHALL SUCH A STATE OF THINGS CONTINUE? OR, A SECOND APPEAL FOR ST. GEORGE-IN-THE-EAST. "Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins."-Isaiah lviii. 1. IGHTEEN months ago, we made a special appeal to enable us to send Scripture Readers into the parish of St. George-in-the-East. It was based, as our readers will remember, upon a pic ture of "the hideous heathenism of that part of London, as painted by eye-witnesses, accompanied at dead of night by three detectives, and as given in the pages of the Church and State Review. We do not wish again to take our friends into "the horrible dens of those tainted streets," to hear the police point out the thieves "of mark" on the one hand, and those who were mere beginners," though of "considerable promise," on the other; or to pollute their ears with the swearing, and cursing, and scoffing, and blaspheming, of which there is no lull by night or by day. Our object is to repeat the question, "SHALL SUCH A STATE OF THINGS CONTINUE?" which, by God's blessing, was so successful last year. Our friends were not prepared for such a condition of : horrors in London, in the middle of the nineteenth century, as was there depicted; they felt the call of duty, and at once responded to the appeal for help. By their kind contributions we were enabled, almost immediately, to set to work in the parish one of our oldest Readers. But these special contributions have been expended, and if the Reader is to be retained at his post-and we are most anxious not only that he should be, but to make the grant to the parish permanent-a fresh appeal must now be made. We stated in our original appeal, and we now repeat it :-"We are prepared and anxious to send into the very heart of this terrible locality, any number of Scripture Readers that the Clergy may think necessary to grapple with such horrors, if we had the funds. Our Readers are ready to go in and out amongst the most abandoned of our people. They go in a tender, patient, loving, sympathizing spirit. They go under a full sense of their trials. and difficulties, their wants and their weaknesses. They go, moreover, with the Word of God in their hands, and the love of God in their hearts, and seek by words of loving-kindness to draw those to God who have hitherto been led captive by the devil at his will." The population of the parish, or rather the vicious portion of it, is, to use the words of a neighbouring Clergyman, "pre-eminently a shifting one, and very difficult to deal with." But though such parishes are doubtless full of difficulties, they are difficulties with which our Readers are quite prepared, with God's help, to grapple. With such a population, it is self-evident that, if they are to hear the Gospel at all, the Gospel must be carried to them. "We may thank God for our Churches and Preachers," as was remarked by the Chairman of one of the late Anniversary meetings; "but with them we want the humbler messengers to go into the courts and alleys, and bring in the poor and the outcast.” And this is what our Readers do. Like the miners, they go down into the very depths of society. True, the work in the more benighted districts is specially difficult where the ground is new to the visitor. Our Reader tells us that in some courts it is at certain times hazardous to visit. A few months since, for instance, he was compelled to beat a hasty retreat, from being fiercely assailed by a young man for coming near his residence. At another time, just for saying a few words, a man rushed up to him in a fighting attitude, swearing vehemently that he would "do for him;" and he was saved from very rough treatment only by the intervention of some women. Yet in this same court were several with whom he read and conversed freely from time to time; and one person, the Reader says, heard the Word with joy, but feared to speak openly of it among her neighbours. In another court, through which he can now pass quietly enough, he at first met with much harsh treatment. It was here that he encountered a violent assault from a monster of a woman, who, with oaths and curses, seized hold of him, and struck him right and left on the face and head, attracting a crowd of "roughs" to the spot. Nevertheless, in this very court, he has found some of the inmates most obliging and friendly. In another court he was denounced as "a hypo crite and humbug," by a man who "dared him to come near his abode again;” while on another occasion he was violently seized by the collar, and literally flung against the palings, by another man, who followed him, as he moved away, calling him the vilest names, and threatening him with signal vengeance, "if ever he dared to knock at his door." It is thus that man's hatred to the Word of the living God is manifested. The insult, abuse, and open violence, thus displayed towards the Reader, on his first entering upon his duties, all tend to show the bitter enmity of the human heart against God. But our God stood by His own messenger, and strengthened him. He was betrayed into no hasty ebullition of temper, much less into any act of retaliation. "A soft answer turneth away wrath," and he has found it so. Many have expressed their regret at the opposi tion to which he has been exposed. By others he is now most kindly received. Others, again, who do not yet admit him into their houses, are perfectly willing to listen to him at their doors. Some of these were the foremost to oppose him at first. Thus we see that hostility retreats before a better acquaintance; and the most furious of men and women, if only given a few opportunities of personal intercourse and conversation, yield to better thoughts and better feelings. "There is no doubt whatever," writes the vicar of one of the parishes aided by our Association, "that the visits of the Readers tend to produce generally a kindly feeling amongst the people, who see that an interest is taken in them." But valuable as even such a result is, we look for and expect better and higher things, even where the prospect is darkest, and the labourer most discouraged. Such is often the spot chosen by Him, who "giveth not account of any of His matters," to magnify His power, and to show forth His mercy and truth. Indeed, amidst much acknowledged difficulty and discouragement, our Reader has already met with much to animate and encourage him. We have seen something of the dark side of the picture. Let us now accompany him a little way round his district. Amidst so much darkness, we shall gather some encouragement as we go along. In the first street, he tells us of a poor old sailor, who in the course of a very few visits gave expression to the utmost sorrow for former years of vice and wickedness, in which he had, in youth more particularly, indulged. Later in life he had followed evil courses to an extent which no sorrow or tears could ever efface; the very recollection of which now filled his mind with poignant grief. He saw this poor man but seldom, but he always found him consistent in his remorse for misspent years, and opportunities misused, and lamenting over them with tears. For some little time he had not had the opportunity of seeing him, but from what he had witnessed he entertains a humble hope of the most satisfactory results. Turning into another street we hear of a poor woman who long resisted the Reader's visits. About six months ago, however, cancer made its appearance, and the once-rejected visits were cordially welcomed. Before very many weeks, she removed to a considerable distance from the Reader's district, but not till she had repeatedly given expression to the full assurance of faith in the finished salvation effected by Christ's atonement. Her whole trust, she said, was in Christ; and she always seemed gratified by the reading of the Word, and prayer. A few minutes' further walk brings us to another street, where lately resided a poor widow, who, at first, merely tolerated the Reader's visits. But as visit after visit was repeated, she became more interested in him and in his message, until at length she took special pleasure in hearing the Word of God, and in joining the Reader in prayer at the Throne of Grace. Oftentimes tears of joy would flow down the widow's face, while listening to passages of Scripture peculiarly applicable to her own case. From "doubting" and "fearing" at the commencement of the visits, she was led, ere long, to give expression to the liveliest hope, and joy, and confidence in the love of God in Christ to perishing sinners; and this at periods of great distress, and in the face of many opposing elements in her own family. She has since died in peace, rejoicing in hope of the glory of God. Entering another room, we find ourselves in the late abode of a poor woman, who, when the Reader first visited her, was thoroughly ignorant of Scripture truth. History and Doctrine, the Law and the Gospel, God and Christ, were all alike novelties to her. She knew absolutely nothing of these things. He had therefore to begin with first principles. He had at various visits to tell her of the fall of man, and its effects; of his recovery in the second Adam ; of Noah and the flood; of the giving of the Law to Moses; of righteousness imputed to Abraham through faith; and of Christ as the great atoning Sacrifice for sin, and the end of the Law for righteousness to every one that believeth. She at length embraced the precious truth, and expressed her confident belief in her acceptance in the Beloved, in the presence of the Rector and his wife who visited her on one occasion, when he happened to be reading the Word of God to her. This confidence towards God she maintained, and held fast to the end; and she died in peace, resting on the finished work of Christ. In another street, our Reader tells us, a poor old sailor lived, who |