"You are not all right," was the reply: "but I can tell what's the matter with you. When a man is ill the doctor examines his tongue, and if it is furred he knows that it indicates foulness within, and that the patient requires treatment; and it's just so when men with their tongues defile themselves and others. It shows a diseased moral state when the poison of asps is under a man's tongue."
The severe rebuke so astonished the man that he could not give a ready reply; but one of his companions said, "We meant no harm, sir."
As the barmaids had fled to the other end of the counter, the visitor altered his tone to one of kindly instruction, and said, "You don't know your disease, and I shall, therefore, do you a kindness by pointing it out to you." 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.
Upon his next visit the barmaids thanked him; and the youngest said, "I have been religiously brought up; and my grandfather, who was an Independent Minister, pressed me to give my heart to God when I was a little girl. You have brought all to my remembrance, and I shall leave this trade for domestic service, as I have resolved to live in newness of life."
The Merlin's Cave.—There was a special inducement to visit this house out of its regular order, as placards announced that "The gorilla, or man-monkey, had not made its escape, but could be seen by customers using the bar." Upon entering, one Sunday evening, the Missionary was surprised to find the place crowded with the lowest order of drunkards, chiefly from Seven Dials. Their object was to see the stuffed skin of the monster, and they, for so respectable a house, formed a ragged, dirty, and debased company. The landlord, who was unfavourable to Christian visitation, stopped a conversation of deep interest by inviting the visitor to look at the gorilla. "We don't usually show it on Sundays," he observed, "but as you have come in we will oblige you and gratify the people." And he then drew the curtain aside. 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. Dressed in rags, with livid face and blood-shot eyes, and filthy breath, he sinks below a brute like that, which answered the end of its being. A drunkard debases his intellect and becomes a mere animal—a wife-beater and child-starver—a pest to his neighbours, and a disgrace to his family and country. A drunkard has the curse of the Almighty over him which no brute has; for being filthy and abominable—a child of the devil—He, the great God, has said that such shall not inherit His kingdom." The landlord stood aghast at the warmth of this declamatory speech; and the drunkards seemed rooted to the spot. Tracts were then handed round, a passage of Scripture being repeated with each.