On Gagles' Clings.

ELIGHTFUL is that experience which is described in the words

of the prophet, "They shall mount up with wings as eagles." Like an arrow shot from a bow, the kingly bird ascends into the highest regions, and there floats aloft in an untainted atmosphere. Thus, by the power of the Holy Spirit, do believers rise with sudden energy into nearness to God, and breathe an air which sin and care have not polluted. Then all things lie far below. To the eagle the lake is a mirror beneath him: the masses of the shaggy wood, the rugged steeps, the stupendous mountains are all seen by him from above, and regarded as far down, inferior, and earth-bound. So do we in joyous faith view all visible things as of a lower region than the abode of our heavenly life, things which are to be judged no longer from an earthly stand-point, but to be gazed upon from the heavenlies. Oh, the elevation of soul which is experienced at such a time!. How little do all human cares become!

The waters of the lake may be driven to and fro of winds, but what is that to the eagle poised above? Thunders may reverberate from yon hoar cliffs; what terror is there in them to the winged creature which overtops the storm? Even so, in strength of holy confidence, we defy the transient troubles of this lower sphere when we dwell in God, and rise into his life. We are most affected by that which is nearest the way to escape lower influences is to rise out of them, and abide in him whose calm is never broken. We do not sufficiently use our wings. Our thoughts are not enough with the things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. An eagle would soon be a sorry bird if it moved about below, like a barn-door fowl; it is most royal when it realizes its birthright, and takes seizin of its heritage above the clouds. "Ye are not of the world," said Jesus. Oh, that we remembered his words, and at once quitted, with uprising soul, those trifles of time and sight which will perplex us as surely as we live among them!

"He shall dwell on high" is a grand promise, but it is too often forgotten. Professing Christians frequently act as if their lives were to be lived in the same manner as those of the unregenerate; for they are equally taken up with shadows, depressed by trifles, or elated with toys. Up with thee, believer! Up into higher realms! If thou canst not battle with daily cares, rise out of them. If the fowler watches thee, rise above his range. If earth woos thee, and thy heart is yielding to its witcheries, mount till thou canst see through its deceits, and look down upon its bribes. Not here is thy portion! Not here is thy dwelling-place! Be not content to remain below; for thou art out of place, and thou hast not found thy true position till thou art borne aloft among the sublimities of God. Away, then, from the entanglements of the flesh. The bird of freedom must quit the haunts of men, and dwell with the Eternal!-C. H. S.

ON

The Gospel in South London.

N the evening of the 28th of May Mr. and Mrs. William Olney invited a party of ladies and gentlemen, and city missionaries to tea at Haddon Hall, Bermondsey, in order that those who are interested in the religious, social, and sanitary condition of the district might be enabled to learn, in the conference which followed, whether any actual progress had been made during the last ten years. All of our readers are probably familiar with the name of Haddon Hall, and the valuable work in connection with the Green Walk Mission which is there carried on by Mr. W. Olney, jun. This evangelistic enterprise was commenced many years ago in a small way; but through the divine blessing the work has grown until the institution, with its Sabbath and week-day services, Sunday-school, Reading-room, and other branches, is a landmark which Bermondsey could ill afford to lose.

At the conference, which lasted about an hour and a half, the chair was occupied by Mr. Alfred Lafone; and in their speeches-rigidly restricted to ten minutes-the speakers contrasted the condition of Bermondsey and its neighbourhood with the condition of things they had formerly known. Hence, such points were touched upon as overcrowding, thrift, migratory habits, sanitation, distress from want of employment, immorality, drink, profanity, and the general effect of Boardschool education. Facts and figures were also given relative to the attendance at public worship, Sunday trading, infidelity, and other matters. It should be remembered that all who attended were representative men of the parish and neighbourhood.

Before we come to the testimonies which were given, however, it will be well to show, in brief, what is the condition of the metropolis south of London Bridge at the present time.

The City Mission alone employs 147 men in this great area, and it is properly urged that the number should be increased to 200, because "the claims of South London are rapidly becoming more and more urgent. During the last ten years the increase of population within the inner ring, or London proper, in the districts north of the Thames, has been 262,425, or about 12 per cent.; the increase south of the Thames, 297,886, or nearly 31 per cent. The percentage of increase south of the Thames has, therefore, been nearly three times as great as for North London." To this it may be added, that the ever-increasing population shows little disposition to attend on the means of grace. If they are to be won at all, the people must have the gospel carried to their homes by those who understand them.

The district of one missionary-"Not so bad as it was a few years ago"-consisting of 500 families who, for the most part, in each instance, live in a single room, is thus described: "They consist chiefly of the lower labouring class, including costermongers, casual, waterside, and dock-labourers. Parts of the district have long been notorious for Sabbath-trading, and as haunts of the criminal and vicious, of beggars, low, lazy tramps, street-singers, street-patterers, the lowest prostitutes, and the rendezvous of betting-men, book-makers, and pugilists."

It appears that while visiting the lowest parts of Southwark, Sir C. Dilke thought those quarters the worst he had seen. There is a striking

improvement in the condition of the lodging-houses, however; the description of those dens as they existed forty years ago being almost too horrible for quotation. At the same time, an old man who was recently found sitting in the street, and who remarked, "I have left the kitchen, the language is so filthy," was an example of those whose sufferings from forced association with the wicked cannot be measured. Another representative man, a "fallen star" who had once possessed a large fortune, said, "Here I am, and here I must stay, unless I can get the means to lift myself out of my present poverty." A visitor thus describes a Sunday scene in one of the over-heated and frowzy kitchens :-" We meet, in the common room in the lodging-house, the poorest and the worst of the people. There can be no doubt that many of them have not been long out of prison-men and women alike. The most sorrowful cases to our mind are the poor country people who foolishly tramp to London believing work will meet them, and we find them dispirited, worn out, and in broken health-young couples, at times, with hearty children, for whom we see they bitterly grieve-these with middle-aged or elderly couples, or decent poor single persons, are mixed up with the drunken, debased, profligate, dishonest, impure beggars, low lazy tramps, street-singers, street-patterers, the lowest prostitutes and their bullies. The other sorrowful cases are the very young women, even girls we have met with here, with the remnants of respectability in their apparel."

The population of Bermondsey and Horselydown is now, probably, not less than 100,000, and only about 12,000 of these attend public worship. What shall be done for these people, and for the myriads of that great province we call London, and Greater London, with its more than five million souls? On two memorable occasions lately the Earl of Shaftesbury has been heard pleading the cause of the Ragged School Union as the most incomparable of all agencies for the reclamation of the poor and the degraded of all ages. When Haddon Hall itself is really a fair example of what we mean by a comprehensive raggedschool in full working order, it will be admitted that such work in all parts of the metropolis should be liberally supported. We are encouraged to do so the more because the emphatic testimony of the venerable Earl is to the effect that London has really wonderfully improved during forty years; and that Christian effort, more especially that connected with ragged-schools, has been magnificently remunerative.

We now come to the Haddon Hall Conference. Mr. Lafone presided, and called upon Mr. T. W. New to fill up the first ten minutes. A City missionary of twelve years' standing, this friend confessed, that when first appointed to the Snow's Fields' district he indulged in a brief soliloquy, the burden of which was, "If I can manage this, I can manage anything." Among the first natives of the district whom it was his lot to encounter was "a drunken woman who had stolen an orange from a shop, and was eating it rind and all." Mr. New thought he would befriend this unhappy creature by advising her to go home; but in return for such civilities, the amazon dealt him a blow which almost broke his jaw, and then, repenting of that violence, flung her arms around the victim's neck to kiss him with an ardour which was

quite incomprehensible. The place was so famous for fights, that police officers were always on the ground in the interests of peace.

In regard to overcrowding, six, seven, or eight persons were frequently found in one room. The evil arose from several causes; as, for example, when the man expended the money in drink which ought to go to the family; or when widows left with large families were unable to provide better accommodation; or when people were incompetent at their work, which is the most distressing of all, because it is like a chronic disease, and efforts to raise such people fail. Sickness was common, smallpox having lately appeared; otherwise, in spite of its odours, there were few more healthy districts in the metropolis than Bermondsey. Among what Mr. New called his "chronic cases" under visitation, he mentioned instances of old age, rheumatism, bronchitis, asthma, consumption. One man, forty years old, was a paralytic; and then there was 66 an aged man stone deaf, with his daughter having a diseased face and nearly blind, who tells me she is thankful to get her neighbours' tea-leaves after they have done with them."

The people were a migratory race, and necessarily so; for they had to go where work could be obtained. The labour-market was overstocked, and many able-bodied fellows willing to work were not employed more than half their time, or they were idle for weeks together. Still, the poor helped the poor, and shared what they had with extreme generosity. The habitations of the people had greatly improved during the last ten years, and the tenants were cleaner; yet many houses required to be taken down, and if the era of demolition ever came, it was to be hoped that blind courts would no longer be tolerated. The Ragged-school, supported by friends at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, had done much good. The young people were better clothed than formerly; thrift was making way. In referring to the vigilance of medical inspectors, and to the solicitude for the welfare of their de pendants shown by many employers, Mr. New said, "It appears to me there is an advance all along the line." He also added, "Mr. Bradlaugh must own that the missionary blocks his way at every point." Instances were given of some who, after conversion, had passed away in triumph to the perfect world.

Mr. Hitchcock, another City missionary, spoke of having had nine years' experience in St. Mary Magdalene district. When he first saw the parish, his heart failed him, for he thought that he could not give up his country home. He thanked God that he came, however, and that he had been able to remain. Both in his own and in other districts he thought that Bermondsey was in a much higher condition than was the case ten years ago. He was better known, and thus was better received. At first missionaries encountered much opposition, and infidels would knock the books out of their hands; but it was very different now. He thought Bermondsey could show a better state of things in regard to the marriage laws than some other places; while the factories and the young people were much improved. The large employers were, in many instances, Christian men ; and hence they had a large amount of good going on. They tried to prevail upon the young to employ themselves profitably after business hours; but they found it difficult to get them into places of worship. On one occasion 150

girls were invited to a tea, but only thirty-two appeared, and not without great difficulty were others induced to come in. He gave an instance of forty persons being employed in one room, wherein one secularist endeavoured to corrupt all the rest. In temperance and morality great progress had been made; for ten years ago they had but one Church of England Temperance Society, but they had now thirty-two, with at least 6,000 members.

Mr. J. W. Morden occupied ten minutes by giving some facts relative to Sunday trading, attendance at places of worship, infidelity, &c. "I have my eye upon one street in Bermondsey," he remarked, "a fair specimen, inhabited, for the most part, by the highest class of manual labourers. In it are seventy-one houses, containing about 160 families. Leaving out the Sunday scholars, not more than six persons will leave that street on any given Sunday morning, and not more than twelve in the evening." As though that were not enough, the street has the additional disadvantage of harbouring among its residents two atheistic lecturers. Those who did attend worship were very particular in regard to the place selected; they rather preferred a crowded house in the distance, where they were little known; and some absented themselves from mission rooms on account of being greeted with, "Are you saved?" directly they enter the buildings. The poison of atheism, which was the parent of many other evils, circulated almost everywhere. Almost in every public-house there was one of these teachers, who, while boasting of scientific knowledge, talked of liberty, equality, and fraternity. They belonged to the National Secular Society; they had halls for Sunday and week-night meetings; and their deity was Utilitarianism. He attended their meetings frequently, for the express purpose of replying to the speakers. "I am sorry to say there is near one of these halls in Walworth a large and important place of worship, with a splendid history, but” added Mr. Morden; "you will meet there on a Sunday evening not more than half the number of men that at the same hour may be found at the Freethought Hall." These places, at which the most crude objections to the gospel are taught, were shown to be on the increase; and while the leaders of science were assumed to be on their side, they were regarded as the prophets of the future.

Sunday trading was then shown to be on the increase, which was partly due to the wages having to run the gauntlet of the beer-house on Saturday night, and to the people's conscience having lost the touch of God. They sent missionaries to the poorest, and thought that the church could see after the others; but in point of fact, there was as much caste among the aristocracy of labour as among peers; and the upper classes of workpeople were the most difficult of all to reach. In Bermondsey there were large numbers of men who would not follow those above them to church or chapel, nor those below them to the mission-room. Forty years ago those who made their money in the district lived there; now they were settled elsewhere, to support luxurious sanctuaries in their own localities. What they wanted was more bright-looking buildings, with men of sympathy and intelligence in them to teach the people.

After a few words from the Chairman, who spoke of thirty-three years' experience in Bermondsey, the Rev. B. Cassin, of St. George the Martyr,