excluded, whether met for social enjoyment, or in furtherance of some benevolent design, received his countenance; nor was he satisfied with what too justly seemed the strange anomaly of excluding Christ from the hours of social intercourse, and then, as it were, atoning for the sin by closing the interview with prayer.

The only remaining particular, which it seems important now to mention, is his fruitfulness in devising means for doing good. Of this point the history of his life is but an exemplification.

As the father of a family, he laboured for the spiritual welfare of all his household, especially for the early conversion of his children. Of thirteen individuals, who resided in his family at different times in the city of New York, twelve became deeply anxious for their salvation. One of these was a Roman Catholic, whose attention to family worship was forbidden by her priest; one who was hopefully reclaimed from her backsliding, has since died; and six others gave, and, so far as known, still give evidence of saving conversion to God. Of his fidelity to his children, the testimony contained in the following expression of filial gratitude from his son in transmitting, by request, the letters he had received from his father, will be excused :

"In reviewing the letters I received from my father," he says, "I see everywhere an expression of the tenderest solicitude, both for my temporal and eternal welfare; and oh! for some of that ardent desire for the salvation of souls to bear me forward in duty which impelled him onward, till he ceased his toils on earth, and entered on his rest in heaven.

"I cannot refrain from bearing testimony to my father's fidelity to my own soul. Well do I remember his endeavours, in my early childhood, to lead me to the Saviour-his prayers-his entreaties-and the anxiety with which he followed me, year after year, while under the paternal roof, and when away, till he could speak to me no more. His kind voice I shall no longer hear. His affectionate smile of approval, or tears shed over my waywardness, I shall no more see. His kind intercourse with the members of his family, we shall no more share. He will no more call us around the hallowed family altar, lead us in the hymn of praise, and in pouring out the soul to God. He is in a more endeared, a happier, and holier sphere, enjoying the smiles and presence of his God and Redeemer. Pray for me, that I may have grace to follow his example, as he followed Christ, and at last to unite in his songs."

Many pious young men were by him sought out and directed towards the ministry.

To the cause of missions, both in our own and pagan lands, he was stedfastly devoted. He not only turned his eye away from the accumulation of property, as the object of his life, but felt the duty, and claimed the blessedness to his own soul, of imparting for the cause of Christ a portion of what he had. On his dying-bed he mentioned to Mrs. Page that five dollars, which before his sickness he had subscribed to a benevolent object, remained unpaid. "We have consecrated it to God," said he, "and I had rather it should be paid. You had better pay it, and trust him."

His familiarity with the character and religious bearing of all the

Society's publications, and with the general state and wants of the community, rendered him skilful in selecting publications appropriate to the different fields and circumstances for which they are designed, and also in giving an impulse and a wise direction to the feelings and efforts of Christians who were continually calling for the transaction of business; and in all, it abundantly appears that he felt that the efficiency was alone with God, and that he mingled continual prayer for the gift of gifts, the accompanying influences of the Holy Spirit.

Is it wonderful that God should bless his efforts ?-that in each church with which he stood connected, individuals when relating their religious experience, should be heard referring to his faithful endeavours as the means of bringing them to Christ ?-that a revenue of souls should have been gathered from the place of his nativity; thirtytwo teachers he brought publicly to profess Christ from one of his Sabbath-schools, and nine of them have set their faces towards the ministry?-that thirty-four souls should hopefully have been gathered by him and his fellow-labourers from one ward of the city; and fiftyeight, in connection with his efforts and those of a few endeared associates, have been brought to join themselves to the people of God from the tract and Bible houses ?-that individuals should come to his dying-bed, and thank him, with tears, for his fidelity to their own souls ? Is it wonderful that, in speaking to her who is now his widow, of his early departure, and looking back on his work on earth as ended, he should, with the solemnity of eternity on his countenance, say-"I know it is all of God's grace, and nothing that I have done; but I think I have had evidence that more than one hundred souls have been converted to God through my own direct and personal instrumentality"?

Look at the influence of such a Christian life on a large scale. Suppose every Christian laboured, not to say with such talents, but with such a heart to the work. Suppose there were ten such Christians in every evangelical church throughout our land, and God should equally bless their labours! how would they rouse their fellow Christians to duty! how would they search the highways and hedges and by God's grace compel the ungodly to come in! how would they instruct the rising age! how would they hold up the hands of faithful ministers! how would the Holy Spirit be shed down in answer to their prayers! how would their influence penetrate through every vein of this great community! and how soon would living piety here pour its influence on every benighted land! Such a light as would then shine could not be hid. It would illumine the world, and Christ would come and possess the nations."

The Taberns of Paddington.

BY G. HOLDEN PIKE.

NOT until a comparatively recent date have the aggressive forces of

Christianity ventured on disputing the ground with the enemy by seeking trophies of victory in public-houses. Viewed from any standpoint the public-house mission is a daring innovation. When first proposed some years ago, the scheme appeared to be novel, and even Utopian; so that while ordinary people were disposed to smile derisively at the broaching of such an idea, many friends of missions and true helpers of the poor doubted the expediency of carrying Gospel pearls into places where they would probably be trampled under foot. These happily groundless fears may in part have arisen from popular misapprehension as to the true nature of public-houses, and also of the sentiments of those who conduct them; for as regards this department of knowledge, the majority of easy-going people are likely to be in a condition of complete ignorance. Public-houses widely differ in character, and only in a few exceptional instances are they worthy of being denounced as altogether bad, while not a few are as respectably conducted as the nature of taverns will allow, closing on Sundays and discouraging excess by every means. The characters of the landlords differ as widely as their houses. Unworthy characters are found among them, as they may be found among all other classes of tradesmen; but happily, numbers of men with sterling traits of character are found in the publican ranks. Then why should not the Gospel be carried into taverns as well as into squalid courts and alleys? As places of public resort, taverns would seem to be just the very places where those characters may be encountered whom the City Mission seeks to reclaim. If religion be out of place in a public-house, there must be something radically wrong somewhere, and to reiterate as some are in the habit of doing this popular opinion, is to condemn an influential trading community in a very sweeping manner, even though the opinion may come from persons who as nominal Christians see no harm in the calling of the licensed victualler. To raise objections on the ground of the two things being opposed to each other, is simply to associate public-houses with what is bad, and with what is bad alone.†

*

It is believed that no class of tradesmen more readily listen to Christian advice than publicans. They are also both sensitive and hospitable, and were not their profession too often stigmatised as altogether bad by certain people, one obstacle to a reformation would be removed. As some, however, still persist in associating the publichouse trade with depravity alone, Mr. Landlord may too often prefer

We do not hold ourselves responsible for the way in which Mr. Pike puts the matter. We would not join in condemnatory sentences; but, for all that, the evils of the trade are incalculable.-ED.

+ But a common public-house is not the place in which a person of such character would choose to live. The evils of the trade could not be endured by such; if they stayed in it they would be under daily trial.-ED.

leaving religion untouched, and so avoid being classed among hypocrites by the unthinkingly severe. Yet strange as the anomaly may perhaps appear, there are Christians even among publicans. Here is one, for instance, who professes religion, closes on Sundays, and subscribes to the funds of the London City Mission. There is another who speaks a good word for the tracts whenever they are distributed in his bar, while his daughter is a successful Sunday-school teacher. Yet another is met with who so strongly advocates "fair-play," that he desires to be allowed to pay for the literature given away in his house for philanthropic purposes. So far are publicans from being advocates of Sunday labour, that many, perhaps the majority who superintend their own trade, would welcome an agitation which would secure them their portion of weekly rest. On this head my friend the missionary, whose work I am about to describe, thus testifies:- "The publicans, as a body, are not unconscious of the evils of their trade. They groan under the present state of things. Their desire to have the Sunday as a day of rest is general; and to secure this great boon and right for themselves, their families, and their assistants, they would gladly submit to some pecuniary loss. Many public-houses, however, are in the hands of capitalists, who employ active barmen and showy barmaids to serve and do the laborious part of the work. The unseen but powerful capitalists are the persons most opposed to any movement to secure a relaxation in the hours of business, especially on the Lord's-day. The Legislature and the press are not willing to view the whole subject as affecting the publicans primarily, and, through them, their customers. Reform in this direction is further off, I fear, than it was a year since. All depends now on the efforts of private individuals and evangelical societies." My friend ranks high in the favour of certain landlords, as, indeed, he ought to do; and the fact of his being so seldom interfered with in a somewhat obstrusive work, speaks something for the genial nature of publicans in general.

Feeling considerable interest in the work of tavern visitation for evangelistic purposes, I some time ago cultivated the acquaintance of a missionary in Marylebone, and gave to the public the fruits of a brief study of his operations. Having since become acquainted with another missionary in Paddington, I now purpose detailing something of what he has also effected in the good cause.

From what many of us know of City Mission work, we shall, perhaps, suppose that the public-house visitor must be a picked man -a man in some respects a head and shoulders above his compeers. Such as are partially illiterate may become excellent workmen in ordinary districts, and many such could be named whose labours are evidently much owned of God. He, however, whose beat includes a large number of taverns, must not only have tact and kindliness, but also a large amount of information, both Biblical and secular; indeed, it would be difficult to name any literary accomplishment which such a man is not able to utilise. It is indispensable that he be a ready textuary, that he be acquainted with the ordinary infidel arguments

* See the chapter entitled "Sunday Night in the Taverns," in "The Romance of the Streets." (Hodder and Stoughton.)

against the Gospel, and be possessed of ready wit. He must also be one who is not easily ruffled in temper, while he must have an eye to perceive, and a hand to seize, opportunities as they occur. An agreeable testimony is offered when it said that neither of the public-house visitors already named betrayed symptoms of falling short of the standard described.

Being no stranger to the efforts now put forth in public-houses, I felt curious to look yet further into the working of this remarkable agency. I therefore arranged to meet the missionary who has charge of the Paddington district, the time being a fine Saturday evening in August. Though you may never have met him before, you can readily detect the City Missionary, and he will tell you himself that it is impossible for persons of his profession to conceal their calling. It was not long ere my friend involuntarily convinced me of his peculiar fitness for his chosen work, for he seemed fully aware that to succeed in anything one must have a liking for the work undertaken. His circuit embraces four hundred houses of call; formerly, a thousand houses were included in the area, and out of that large number not more than half-a-dozen landlords have offered any opposition to his aggressive operations. Estimated at its best, this is necessarily an arduous and a difficult calling, and fortunate is the missionary when his labours are encouraged by the advice and kindly assistance of a sympathising superintendent; such exactly is my friend's felicity. Not only has each publican in Paddington been gratuitously supplied with "Prayers for a Week," each has also accepted a copy of the New Testament, all being the gift of Mr. Ellis, Barrister-at-law. Besides such extraordinary donations of a more expensive kind, the distribution of tracts and other publications regularly proceeds; two thousand tracts, and two hundred and fifty copies of religious periodicals being the allowance received monthly from the committee of the London City Mission. While it is not easy to estimate the influence which one devoted man may thus be able to exercise, the fact speaks for itself when houses here and there are found closed on the Sabbath, in deference to the evangelist's advice; or when donations to good objects are made in return for benefit received. An instance has occurred in which a publican willingly suffered a loss of eight hundred pounds a year in his receipts through closing on Sundays. There are comparatively few landlords who do not appreciate what is being done for themselves and their customers. Sometimes, when a member of the trade is laid aside, or when any person in whom they feel extra interest falls sick, landlords will do their best to supply them with Christian instruction and consolation by acquainting the missionary.

Walking with my companion from the Bishop's-road station, the streets are found to wear that busy aspect supposed so well to harmonise with the last night of the week, though the quietness of preparation for the Sabbath would to our mind be far more appropriate. One looks into one, and then another, of the taverns of the larger order thickly studding this "good drinking neighbourhood," and can only account for the lavish expenditure of substantial architecture and decoration by remembering how large a proportion of the wages of certain persons goes in drink. The field is indeed white unto the harvest, and