John Matthias Weylland

“ They nailed Jesus to the cross, they did; He got out of the grave, He did; He's alive a savin' us, He is; it's in the gent's Book, it is: he knows it;" and then the little "fagger," for it was he, trotted away, as if astonished at himself. "That poor man is right," said the Missionary, "The Lord Jesus is alive to save sinners." ”

“ TWO hundred and sixty nights occupied in evangelizing efforts in the streets, refreshment houses, and dens of the mighty city, gave evidence that the Word of God is powerful to arrest the attention of the most thoughtless—to stop the guilty in their downward career; and that it is the power of God unto the salvation of sinners who are sunk so low as to cause them, when restored, to stand out before men as miracles of mercy. ”

“ Shall public servants slave on for our convenience, with no man to care for their souls? Let Christian men who are brought into friendly contact with them answer "No," by telling them of a Saviour's mercy. Let workers in the Lord's vineyard seek opportunity to instruct them, while making effort to lessen their hours of toil. Numerous as they are, they are only part of a class, including cabmen, railway servants, and others who suffer the moral degradation of Sabbath slavery. Their helpers, for instance the men who take charge of the horses, are the hardest-worked men in England. ”

“ Life and its treasures are passing away, but the things which cannot be shaken remain. God's work still claims us. We can still be about our Father's business. And what is so elevating and so soothing amidst cares and distractions and losses, as the thought that there is a calm, holy, steady course marked out for us by Him, and that He condescends to be glorified by us, whether by our life, or by our death? ”

“ The Bible in the hand of the Christian is as the wisdom of God in the hand of Ezra, leading them "to judge;" to give wisdom and prudence "to all such as know the laws of their God, and to teach them that know them not." Hence it is the duty and high privilege of each Christian, be he minister or layman, ordained or unordained, to communicate precious truths, to teach from the Holy Scriptures which are able to make wise unto salvation, through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. ”

“ The houses are so ill-shaped and dilapidated as to prejudice the mind against London of the past generation; while the murky atmosphere—the cloud of ragged yellowish garments suspended from the upper windows by pole and line—the narrowness of the passage-way, which increases the thick darkness of night—the constant noise made by the drunken and quarrelsome, render it a place to be avoided by the respectable, however poor. ”

“ All pressed forward to look at the monster; and the Missionary, leaning upon the bar, gazed at it for some moments.
"How he is staring at it!" observed one of the men.
"Yes, I am," was the reply, "as I was making up a conundrum for the landlord; and I hope he will answer it to our general satisfaction. 'When is a man uglier than that gorilla?'"
After a little thought, he replied, "A man never can be uglier than that, so I will give it up."
"Yes, he can," replied the visitor, with energy: "When he is drunk. Yes: a drunkard is the picture of a beast, and the monster of a man. ”

“ Several men of his own class were standing by him, and though early in the day, groups of gin-drinking men and women had assembled in the four compartments into which the bar was divided. The floor had been swept and covered with sawdust, which gave it a [131] comfortable appearance, while its spaciousness and highly-varnished hundred-gallon hogsheads, the gilded frame-work of the plate-glass panelling, the bright rows of wine and spirit bottles, and the active movements of the landlord and two barmen, rendered the place attractive and pleasant to the miserably clad customers. ”

“ They teach him that matter is indestructible, and that there is a constant restoring of the face of nature; and in this way they raise in his mind the important questions, 'Are my intellectual powers to be destroyed while matter only undergoes a change?' and 'If a man die shall he live again?' You who reject this Book look down into the grave and discover a darkness which can be felt but not penetrated. ”

“ We could afford to have twice as many Societies; and if all the City missionaries, and Scripture readers, and Bible-women, and district visitors, were quadrupled in number, there would be room enough for all, and we should want more. But the benefit of such Societies is not only to be found in their evangelistic work—that they carry the Gospel of the grace of God to the masses—but I take it that it is to be found above all in the fact that they unite Christian people together for the Lord's work. ”

“ So, when I think of the work of the City Mission, when I remember that I have before me some four hundred or four hundred and fifty agents of this Society, who are descending into the very depths of misery and vice, carrying with them the tidings of the great salvation, I cannot but think, in the words of James Hinton, if the Lord were here upon earth, He would be at the very work to which you, my friends, have been called, and in which this great Society is commissioning and sustaining you. ”

“ It is a tremendous place, but after all I do not think upon London as worse than other places. It is, so to speak, the heart of the world. The blood flows from London throughout the world, and therefore, if we are to deal with the world outside, we must deal with the heart. We must bring the Gospel to bear upon the masses of London, and then we shall do a mighty work for the world. There are three grand essentials that we need in carrying out the work, and I would substantiate this by a short reference to three of the greatest City Missions that we read of in the Word of God. ”

“ But let me remind you of another city of quite a different character, blessed with every privilege of a religious kind—the city of Jerusalem. Though that city had every blessing which God could shower on it, the people rejected God in all His love, and grace, and kindness. Their wickedness may have been of a different kind, but it was as great in the sight of God as that of Nineveh. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself came as the great Missionary to that city—the city of His love. ”

“ The domestic jangle was stopped by the visitor observing, "It is quite right in religion to use our reason; as the Bible tells us to 'prove all things, and to hold fast that which is good.'" And he then, in a soothing tone of voice, and with simple illustrations, proved to the poor man that God is, and that He is the Rewarder of them who diligently seek Him; and then assured him of his interest in the loving heart of the Saviour. ”

“ We are born of earth's best blood, and have titles manifold. Admitting all the crimes of which our nation has been guilty, I yet thank God—and in that sentiment I but utter the feelings of every British heart—that I am born a Briton. Therefore it behoves us, as Britons, to spread far and wide throughout our beloved and honoured land that which can carry on its liberties and its prosperity to a yet higher height. ”

“ It is wonderful if you compare duly what religion does. The hundreds of gentlemen's carriages it keeps indoors; the lots of working-men and city gents who can be happy at home, and the wonderful number that goes to their own places of worship, as is right. Well, these religious riders are a strange set, they are indeed. Sometimes they are ashamed of their prayer or hymn books, and sometimes they show them off boldly. My conductor was a Sunday-school boy not long ago, and he hates the sight of them. ”

“ I am now persuaded that the Bible is true, [277] and I am trying to be a Christian.' I think he has the root of the matter in him."
The readiness with which this man received the Gospel is exceptional. With sceptics of his class prejudice is usually so strong that to remove it is like working through a granite wall; and, after years of effort, the good frequently appears to be lost upon them. Such an incident is therefore a great encouragement to trust in the power of revealed truth.
The reproving of sin is also a plain Christian duty, and yet how few nerve themselves to do it. ”

“ What [299] can lift you up from this abyss of ruin into which you have fallen? What is it that can make you partakers with us of those national privileges which we enjoy? It is the Gospel, and nothing but the Gospel. Let London and Paris be found side by side falling at the feet of Jesus, and these two great master cities of the world will yet win the world for Christ!" Then there is just one further consideration to which reference has already been made why the Gospel was to begin at Jerusalem: it was the city of profoundest guilt and deepest need. ”

“ As children of the day, they renounce the hidden things of darkness; and as vessels of mercy illuminated by Divine grace, they show forth "the light of the Lord." They of necessity do this by letting men see their good works, by reproving sin, by giving instruction in righteousness, by holy zeal in efforts to increase the kingdom of truth and purity. Possessed themselves of the Word of God, through which and by the Holy Spirit they are being sanctified, they use that same word for purposes of the grace of God which bringeth salvation. ”

“ Well, sir, this is one: the Bible says that every man in order to be a Christian must have a change wrought in him called conversion, which to my mind is simply a change of opinion, with results which could be effected by other means. Socrates was made good by philosophy; and men of all opinions, even Mohammedan and Hindoo, have been made moral by the good in their systems. ”

“ You know that that woman is vile and drunken, and has juvenile thieves and depraved people in her house, and yet you would expose this poor child to a life of crime. This shall not be, as I will take her, in the name of the Redeemer, and place her in a home."
"Glad to get rid on her," was the heartless reply. But as the Missionary left, a dissipated-looking man, who had partly completed the blacking process, sprung from his glass, and following him to the stairs, said with emotion, "Thank you sir. I am a wicked backslider; but do take care of poor little Polly." ”

“ This, and this alone, can enlighten man spiritually, invest him with power to comprehend the central and infinite in truth, and lead him to the attainment of those graces and perfections which can alone fit him for the reception of reflected glory, and raise him to a place before the throne of ineffable light and purity. ”

“ He then opened his Bible and read, "The tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the whole course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell." He then referred to the passage, "Children that are corrupters," and told them that this evil, with all others, proceeded out of the corrupt human heart; and of that blood which cleanseth from all sin, and makes a man every whit whole. The men, who showed a very proper spirit, promised to suppress the hateful habit, and shook hands with their reprover. ”

“ Missionary work is so like Christ's work, and so great a blessing rests upon it, that we should all seek to have a share in it in our own way,—that is, in the way God may have opened for us. Then we shall feel not only that we are fellow-labourers with all who are seeking to spread the Gospel, but, as it is so wonderfully said by [244] St. Paul, we shall be 'workers together with Him' whose word shall not return to Him void.... We have all had our trials, like those whom we are seeking to lead to the God of all comfort. ”

“ Remember, oh ye people who have been chosen and called to form the Church of the Redeemed on earth; remember that it is your dignity, as well as duty, to help all who are oppressed; everywhere to proclaim the freedom of the kingdom "set up in the earth;" ”

“ Sir Isaac Newton from his observatory scanned the starry canopy, and then confirmed the statement of the Hebrew poet, that 'the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth forth His handy work.' And let me here remind you that true philosophy—skill in the science of nature—is after all a spiritual product from the exercise of man's intellect upon the works of creation: as, for instance, the atomic theory is the fruit of reason in chemistry. ”

“ And may not this, in some respects, be applied to London, too? Men may speculate as they will as to the future condition of the heathen world, and of those who have never heard of Christ, those who have been born in the deep, dense, awful darkness of heathenism, a darkness which might be felt, which like the pall of death hangs over those degraded nations ”

“ Upon making the effort, he discovered that while the wicked never ceased from their wickedness, but during the hours of darkness gave unbounded license to their evil deeds, the people whom the Lord has set as His watchmen in the city slumbered and slept. A vast multitude existed who, of a truth, loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil; but no ray from the Sun of Righteousness was made to penetrate the darkness of the shadow of death in which they dwelt. ”

“ We, however, who accept this revelation, look into its darkness and discover flashes of celestial glory which make a passage-way to an immortality of blessedness. The song of victory over death belongs to the Christian [92] philosopher, who, looking into the grave, exclaims with joy, 'The Lord has risen indeed, and because He lives I shall live also.'"
"Philosophy is only groping in the dark for the Bible, and science is only hobbling after it."
As the speaker resumed his seat there was a great sensation among the infidels. ”

“ To these Sabbathless men of constant toil, the Gospel which speaks of deliverance through the mercy of God in Christ Jesus was indeed a joyful sound, and right glad were they while waiting for a few minutes at each end of their journeys to listen to the messengers sent to them with glad tidings, and the result has been blessing to many souls, and the commencement of a struggle for their Sabbath and social rights. ”

“ In many parishes extending to the distant suburbs there are numerous poor districts, inhabited by myriads of perishing souls, to each of which the appointment of "a Man with the Book," charged to read and bring its life-giving power to bear upon each man, woman, and child within his influence, would indeed be a blessing conferred. ”

“ As the man was angry, the visitor went toward the door, merely remarking, "We shall know each other some day, and shall no [170] doubt improve upon acquaintance, as I wish to do you a good turn,—the best thing one man can do for another;" and then he left the house. He had not, however, proceeded far down the street, when two men ran after him, and said that the landlord wished to speak to him. The visitor felt that mischief was intended, but as an opportunity might be presented to secure the good-will of the man, he boldly re-entered the bar. ”