TO THE COMMISSIONERS OF THE METROPOLITAN POLICE. GENTLEMEN,-Within the last two or three years a fair has been held near to Primrose-hill, Regent's Park, called Chalk Farm Fair, without any legal authority, and has already become a school of vice and a scene of profligacy, especially for youths of both sexes. On the evening of Monday, the 12th ult., some thousands of persons visited the fair, and, what is common on all such occasions, filled the public-houses in the neighbourhood till a very late hour. One house in Munster-street, at two o'clock on Tuesday morning (although the shutters were up, the doors were open) was crowded; and drunkenness and disorder are now introduced at Easter and Whitsuntide into a neighbourhood which is quiet and orderly at other times. Swings, stalls, booths, and public exhibitions, and whatever constitutes a fair, might be seen at Chalk Farm from Monday to Wednesday night of the Easter week. We visited the place on the Wednesday night, and was politely accompanied by an Inspector of your force to different parts of the fair. In the "Royal Circus Booth," we counted upwards of 150 persons who had been admitted for one representation of what took X place, and they were chiefly apprentice boys, young females, and others of the lowest classes, who had congregated for evil purposes. In the gardens close to the fair were boxes for drinking: one garden was lighted up; the other was in darkness, and the boxes in it were used by any persons who chose to enter, for the purposes of obscenity and prostitution. As there is no authority for holding such a fair: as it is now becoming a nuisance in the highly respectable neighbourhood of the park as it cannot benefit the poor, but only corrupt and demoralize them, we most respectfully call your attention to it, and earnestly entreat that the requisite steps may be taken for its immediate suppression. We have also written a letter to the clergy, ministers, and inhabitants of Greenwich and its vicinity, to see what measures can be adopted under the "Act for further improving the Police in and near the Metropolis," for the suppression, or further limitation of that great source of local and general iniquity; and would most respectfully suggest to you that the Act is not complied with, as to the hour of closing the fair. The hour is eleven. Notice of closing was not given on Monday evening, the 12th ult., till about twelve o'clock. We are, Gentlemen, Your obedient humble servants, (Signed by order and in behalf of the Committee) JOHN GARWOOD, London City Mission Office, Red Lion-square, May 1, 1841. MISSIONARY OPERATIONS IN WOOLWICH AND PLUMSTEAD. THOMAS BICKERDIKE, Esq., of Burrage-house, Woolwich, generously offered to the Committee of the London City Mission in June last, to support a Missionary in the vicinity of his house at his own expense. A Missionary was accordingly appointed, and has since been visiting regularly, between eight and nine hundred families. His visits have been most acceptable, and Mr. Bickerdike has been gratified and thankful by the results of the labours of the Missionary during the period he has been engaged. The following are some extracts from the Report of the Missionary : IGNORANCE. He Prejudice and indifference are too often found amongst the ignorant and the poor. When I visited Mr. he bluntly said, "We don't want any of your tracts here." But I would not neglect my duty; he evidently wanted them as to his real state, though his will was to refuse them. I spoke to him of our responsibility to the great Author of all our mercies. then told me, "We don't want any person to come preaching here, we go to church." He then pointed me to the inconsistency of the many who made a profession of religion. "Yes," I said, "this is deeply to be deplored, but we are to take our example as set before us in Scripture; and that we should have to give an account at the day of judgment; that as the tree falleth, there it must lie; and as death leaves us, so judgment will find us; that he had a soul to be lost or saved." But he wickedly replied, "He did not know whether he had or not, but he would think about it.', A SCENE IN A BROTHEL. Jesus Christ came to call sinners to repentance. Anxious to follow his bright and glorious example, I called at a house which was occupied by ten prostitutes. The first salutation I had was— "You need not come here." I however gained admittance, and succeeded in collecting a notorious wicked company together, and with them two young men who were visitors there. I addressed them, but there was no reply. I then directed them to the awful consequences of living in sin; that they were bringing upon themselves the wrath of Almighty God. After some appeals to their conscience, I read a portion of Scripture, and engaged in prayer, and to my great astonishment, they all kneeled at prayer. On rising from our knees I observed three of them in tears, who promised to go to a Penitentiary. One of them I got to return again to her father's house. O God, exert thy mighty power and give thine own Word complete success! On visiting Mr. AN AGED SINNER. I found him in great mental suffering as well as bodily indisposition. I said to him, "Do you know, my friend, what it is to come to Christ?" He replied, "I have been in the devil's service for seventy-nine years, and God will not accept of me now. I have been a Sabbath-breaker, a lover of pleasure more than a lover of God. Oh! I feel, sir, the torments of hell already kindled in my bosom." I then said to him, "But Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners." "Oh!" said he, "it is too late-it is too late; he will not hear me after spending all these years in sin." Again I said, "Christ is able and willing to save, and his blood cleanseth from all sin; that God gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 'Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out."" I then read and prayed with him, and departed, breathing an earnest desire for his salvation. I have visited him often since, and have reason to believe that the day star is beginning to arise in his heart. A RECLAIMED BACKSLIDER. his The family of Mr. This is a case which will prove the utility of Missionary labour, under circumstances the most distressing and discouraging. On visiting this family I found them in a doleful situation. The father had formerly been a member in the Wesleyan connexion, and indeed highly esteemed amongst them for his zeal and ardour in the cause of Christ: so much so, as to be the envy of his brethren for earnest prayer and persevering energy. But, alas, the great adversary of souls, who knows how to attack the minds of men where they are most accessible, gradually prevailed on him to commit the sin of drunkenness. Soon, very soon, the deadly effects of such a sin became visible in his conduct; family experienced no longer the devoted father, nor the kind husband, or the faithful friend, but remorse, rage, and envy, took their place. All his former friends in the connexion to which he belonged, endeavoured in vain to reclaim him. Neither kindness nor any other method could have the desired effect. It pleased God to direct me to his house, and I have the pleasure of being enabled to state, that he has been prevailed on to join a Teetotal Society, has been restored to his former connexions, and is now a reclaimed backslider. He is conscious, too, of the pleasure to be derived from the change, inasmuch as his children now love their father, and the father truly loves his children; thus evidencing the fact that "godliness has the promise of the life that now is, as well as that which is to come;" because he can now look his friends in the face, and cheerfully enjoy their society, and find in that society his pleasure and satisfaction. The method which has been adopted has been kindness; and however hard the heart may be, it must indeed be adamant, if kindness will not move it. It affords me matter of great joy to know that the labours of your Missionary have been the instrument of saving a man from Infidelity of the worst kind, by restoring him to his Saviour. I visited Mrs. I have often visited this person. When I first conversed with her on our state as sinners, she burst into tears and said, that she was afraid that she was lost; I then directed her to the Saviour of sinners, and it may be said of her, though once lost, is now found sitting at the feet of Jesus learning his word. She told me this day, that whenever she saw me her heart filled with joy. She is now a regular attendant on the means of grace. RESTORATION OF BACKSLIDERS. When I first visited Mr. and his wife, I found them in a melancholy condition; they had formerly belonged to a Christian Church, but they had gone back, "having loved the present evil world;" a spirit of jealousy crept in between them, they forsook the house of God and took to drinking. It affords me matter of great joy that your agent has been made the instrument of restoring them again to the Church, and, I hope, to their Saviour. THE TRACT, THE THREE ENGLISH SAILORS." WW——. A most interesting fact is brought before me of this man; one of the vilest of the vile, dissolute, and ungodly. He lived without hope in the world: but God who is rich in mercy has, in the abundance of his grace, made the little tract, "The Three English Sailors," which I gave him, the means of his conversion. He being a sailor read it with deep interest, with earnest desire, and has manifested conduct which evidently proves that a real change has passed over his mind. This hardened rebel has been brought to sit at the feet of Jesus; the lost unruly spirit has been calmed and tranquillized; he is now clothed, and in his right mind. THE POWER OF TRUTH KINDLY PRESENTED. Some time since I visited Mr. but there was an indication of settled, determined, and utter hatred of the truth as it is in Jesus. However, I sought his welfare; asked him to allow me to read, but he absolutely refused. I urged it, spoke kindly to him, and sought still more his eternal interest. At length God opened his mind to listen to me, and he allowed me to read and pray with him. I left him. Again, this day, I visited him; he appeared prepared to receive my visitation; spoke humbly and respectfully to me. I left him with deep interest in his welfare. O! that his heart may really have been touched by Divine grace! Widow A WRETCHED FEMALE. a young woman about twenty-seven years of age. I have mentioned this person in my journal before, and have visited her many times since. The same anxiety is evinced by her for her salvation, and I have the pleasure of recording, that I have succeeded in getting this poor creature from the impious haunts of wickedness and crime into a room where I trust God will preserve her from those enormous crimes which she has before been addicted too. This interesting case demands the attention of Christians in the neighbourhood, especially Christian females. A poor unhappy woman rescued from crime of the deepest dye, and taught to value the means of grace and the salvation of her soul, is most gratifying and satisfactory. Since July 21, 1840, the Missionary has made 8,057 calls and visits; 293 of which have been to the sick and dying. He has held 108 meetings for prayer and expounding the Scriptures; he has induced sixty-six persons to attend public worship; he has sent 146 children to schools, and given away 4,475 tracts. CANNOT SOME TWENTY-FIVE PERSONS, BY SUBSCRIBING EACH ONE SHILLING PER WEEK, PAY FOR ANOTHER MISSIONARY FOR WOOLWICH? They will not regret it if they will but make the effort. MELANCHOLY IGNORANCE AND HARD-HEARTEDNESS. (Extract from the Journal of a Missionary.) I VISITED Mr. — he had lived in sin all his life; he did not consider sin so great an evil, or its consequences so dreadful as I represented; no one could tell what took place after death. I replied, "God had been pleased to give us much information in his Word on this important subject; it was our duty to receive gratefully this information, and let it regulate our faith and practice, and unless we do so the Lord assures us we cannot be saved. God in his great mercy, I trust, has sent me to invite you in the eleventh hour to come to Jesus Christ that you may not perish, and that in a few days he would be beyond the reach of mercy." He said, "The Lord help me! I know not what to do." This poor aged man never had religion brought before his mind until your Missionary visited him, and now his ignorance, unbelief, pride, and obstinacy, are truly distressing. He said, "God will do as he likes, and we can't help it, but if he does what you say, he is not what I thought him to be." He refused my visits, but since wished me to renew them. |