Long, John; Long, John; the angel I did wrong, John, Then, for her, the pledge I sign'd, And learned to keep it too, John: And so it will to you, John: Kind friends to me would speak, John; Each former weary week, John. CHORUS-Sign, John; Sign, John, &c. Now, John; Now, John; unclouded is my brow, John; And lead them to the light, John. Nor will I falter on my way, Nor flinch from foes in fight, John. For I know that God and truth Are ever on our side, John: That each future age will bless, And think on us with pride, John. CHORUS-Sign, John; Sign, John, &c. THE OPEN AIR MISSION. A more interesting Report, than that just issued by the committee of the Open Air mission, we never read. It is full of interest. It is crowded with startling facts. It is enough to make every christian man shudder and weep. That our readers may judge for themselves, we will furnish them with some extracts from its pages. The secretary, writing of the efforts made opposite the scaffold on which Joseph Brooks was executed, says: "Our operations consisted of tract distribution, preaching, reading aloud the Scriptures, and individual conversation. About fifty Christian men, and one or two women, were engaged in the work. Some were preaching on Sunday morning, the 26th; others on Sunday evening. A few gave the whole of the night to these self-denying labours, while the majority worked from six till eight o'clock on Monday morning. These devoted helpers consisted of one minister, the Rev. G. W. M Cree, a few gentlemen and tradesmen, several city missionaries and evangelists, and a good number of working men. They came from Deptford, Bermondsey, Walworth, Southwark, Lambeth, Clapham, Wandsworth, Chelsea, Paddington, Marylebone, Islington, Kingsland, Hoxton, the various districts in the East End, and other outlying districts, as well as the nearer ones. They came together actuated by love to their Saviour and to the souls and bodies of men, knowing that no other reward awaited 222 them than the testimony of a good conscience, and the approval of the Master they delight to serve. Some of them would lose half a day's wages; but this they sacrificed cheerfully, remembering, as one of them observed, 'I didn't mind losing a great deal more when I was in the devil's service.' We had more preaching than 1 ever remember on a similar occasion, either in London or the country. There could not have been fewer than thirty addresses on Sunday evening and Monday morning. On Monday there was continuous preaching at four stations for nearly two hours. The principal one was in front of the drop, and consequently in the centre of the vast crowd. It was interesting to notice the style and manner of the different speakers. Some spoke chiefly in the words of Scripture, selecting simple and solemn passages; others began by relating some startling incident; while others read the confessions of criminals, on which they founded strong and telling appeals. Those who were most earnest and natural, using illustrations freely, gained the ears of the people most readily, while those who spoke in an assumed or affected tone did not succeed in this respect. The crowd probably numbered 15,000 persons at least. Although composed of the usual rough elements, it was a remarkably orderly one on the whole. Many were under the influence of drink, and some laughed and joked while the most solemn things were being spoken, uttering mock Amens' while prayer was being offered for the poor culprit, but the majority lent at least the outward ear, and some were moved to tears. I heard of only one preacher who was roughly handled by the crowd, and he appears to have been young and indiscreet.” What do our readers think of this picture of modern London? We quote from a statement made by the London City Missionary labouring in Cow Cross, Clerkenwell : "Broad Yard is called Hell' by many of the inhabitants of the place. In June, last year, there was a prize fight on that very spot, between two men living in the district, which lasted about two hours. Both men where stripped, and one was actually seconded by his father and his own sister. I saw this myself. The young woman is now converted and working for Christ, and the two men have become reformed. I have seen women lying in a row of five or six, with their heads to their houses, in a beastly state of intoxication, and the children dancing at their feet. But they still more defile themselves by what proceeds from their mouths. My Superintendent also one day witnessed a scene of this kind, with which, of course, he was filled with digust. It was in this court or yard that Mrs. T, on Sunday, March 8th last, knelt down and openly called on God to paralyze her. She was very drunk at the time, and her prayer was answered in judgment. I visit her now in the workhouse, where she lies in a frightful state, with one arm withering and her power of speech gone. But, thank God, she is very penitent." An agent of the Mission, writing from the Isle of Wight, says: "I don't remember visiting any fair or race before where so much drunkenness prevailed at that early hour among those returning. On the course things were worse. Several fights were going on among drunken men while I was preaching. There were only six or eight places where drink was sold. The number of persons in attendance might be from 3,000 to 4,000. I don't know whether you or any of your townsmen can do anything towards the suppression of these races, but if you can I beseech you to set about it. Leaving religion out of the question, they ought to be suppressed on the ground of morality and order. It would be an act of real kindness to the people of the island to have them done away with, especially to the working classes. While races are held they will go, and as long as they go they will get drunk. Not only is drunkenness but immorality promoted by the races: immoral persons come and corrupt others, young women and young men lose their characters, working men take to drinking, and are often at it several days afterwards, and the fearful responsibility of much of this rests upon the heads of those who are instrumental in getting up the races, either by arranging for or subscribing money towards them. And let not the respectable persons who go and come, as they say, without getting any harm, think they are guiltless; by their presence they are sactioning what takes place." Here is a scene from Peterborough fair:— "The fair-field was visited on the morning of the third day, between halff-past six and eight o'clock. Then the real fruits of the fair were seen. The dregs seemed to have settled down into one particular tent—a drinking booth, where from thirty to forty persons were found in different stages of drunkenness. If the respectable attendants of such gatheringsthose who frequently bring their children and leave in good time, priding themselves upon their respectability and their good hours-could have spent a few minutes in this drinking booth, they would pause before they again patronized by their presence gatherings which are productive of such fearful evils. The occupants consisted chiefly of men, some drinking, others sleeping on the benches, some engaged in angry or senseless conversation, others walking backward and forward restlessly. One man was trying to stitch his coat together, which had been torn off his back in a drunken fray. Another was brought in almost senseless, having been set upon by a pugilist. He was laid on a bench, and some spirits poured into his mouth. He shook his head, and beckoned for something else. Water was then given to him. There was a vacant stare in his eyes, and his whole frame shook convulsively, and many expressed their fears that he would die. The pugilist was brought in by the collar and threatened with vengeance." "But the most painful and affecting sight was that of several girls who seemed to have lost all sense of modesty and propriety. Probably the day before they were happy in the smile of their parents or employers; now they were ruined and blighted.” What do our readers think of these revelations? Surely temperance men will arise and work still more diligently in their great cause. We must work now-now, for the night cometh when no man can work. DRINK NOT! BY J. P. HUTCHINSON, Darlington. AIR-"Love Not!" Drink not; Drink not; but throw the bowl away; Improve thy mind, now in its healthful day, Drink not! Drink not, oh father! for thy children's sake, Drink not, oh mother! let no thing impure Drink not! Pass o'er thy lips, from which nought vile should come; Touch not the unclean thing. Oh! be thou sure The serpent shall not enter in thy home. Drink not! Drink not! oh, drink not of the foaming glass, Drink not! "CAN NOTHING BE DONE?" A SAD STORY. In a room, whose furniture betrayed at once present poverty and past affluence, lay an emaciated young man, whose last sands seemed fast running out. His sister sat at the top of the bed, keeping his head in an easy posture. His mother was at his side, and two younger brothers were employed rubbing his legs to afford him ease. The face of the dying youth was like ivory. Great beads of sweat were upon his brow. His forehead was of the class from which phrenologists form high expectations. His eyes were illumined with a brillancy often observed to precede death, and at this time lustrous with tears. And altogether, there was a strange, restless, unsettled, and unearthly appearance about him. The minister, under whose care he had been when a boy, had just been engaged in commending his soul to God, and had risen from his knees, and was about to leave, when, shaking hands with him. he said,— "O George, George, I am so glad that you are enabled to indulge hope in death; yet to this moment, I cannot conceive how, with all your good principles in early life, you could have been led astray as you have been." All appeared grieved at the good man's reference; but he proceeded,— "Of all the young men I have ever known, you were the most promising, and the least likely to be led astray." An expression of agony seemed to pass over the face of the dying man. His eyes were closed for a few moments; when, looking up to his sister and mother, they understood him to express a wish that he should be raised up. "No, George!-no!" his mother said, "you are not able." “Gratify me; I am dying!" he said; "Mr. M'Naughton may do others good by a knowledge of how I was led astray; and an hour longer or shorter of life makes little difference to me now. "It were long to tell you, Mr. M‘Naughton,” he said, "how I was led astray. Perhaps I read scripture less, and prayed less, and realized less of the divine presence, after I left home than before. Many things may have contributed to my first departure from rectitude; but my ruin, you are aware, was effected through strong drink." "I know it, George,-I know it, and that principally surprises me; because before you left home you were so rigid an abstainer. You have refused wine in my house." "Yes; I was right at home," he said; "but from my earliest years, in this town and elsewhere, I have continually had temptations presented to me to induce me to use strong drink. Even in your own family, as you have mentioned; and of course in others. The licence that a clergy-' man takes in cases of this kind, his people will carry out to a far greater extent than his example warrants. Abstinence in a minister will scarcely influence all his people to be temperate; the use of strong drink at all will, in a vast number of cases, be taken by them as a justification of their own intemperance. At home, consequently I was constantly urged to drink as a favour; I was laughed at for not drinking, and sometimes frowned upon. My conduct was ascribed to my inability to use intoxi cating drink without becoming a drunkard,— ‚—to a desire to assume a posi→→ tion of superiority over my equals,—to a mean desire to save money,—and many other motives of a similar, unworthy, and dishonourable character."" "Still you resisted all these!" "Only, perhaps, as a stronghold resists for a time attacks made upon it, each of which nevertheless weakens it, and prepares it for its ultimate fall." "It should have had the opposite effect, George." "Yes, that is the general view I daresay. I think it was my own; but contact with evil, and exposure to evil counsels, does not leave the mind unaffected. The man that has had the fewest temptations to a wrong course presented to him, in my opinion, is the least likely to yield to such persuasives when addressed to him on any new occasion. Practically, I have found that, when my mind was not inclined to consent to such inducements, they still haunted the memory afterwards, and exer cised a prejudicial influence upon me; and when inclined, the temptation was generally the occasion of my consenting to evil. The many tempta tions to use strong drink at home, and the known practice of the best |