THE SABBATH. 45 



cleanse and improve the organ. Break the sot's associa- 

 tions; change his environment; alter his nutrition; dis- 

 place his base imaginations by thoughts drawn from 

 the purer sources which we seek to render accessible to 

 him. Such is the treatment of which the denizen of our 

 slums stands in most immediate need such the disci- 

 pline requisite for the development of a force of will, 

 able to resist the fascinations of the gin-shop. If you 

 could establish Sunday tramways between these dens of 

 filth and iniquity and the nearest green fields, you 

 would, in so doing, be preaching a true Gospel. And 

 not only the denizens of our slums, but the proprietors 

 of our factories and counting-houses might, perhaps, 

 be none the worse for an occasional excursion in the 

 company of those whom they employ. A most blessed 

 influence would also be shed upon the clergy if they 

 were enabled from time to time to change their " sloth 

 urbane " for action on heath or mountain. Baxter was 

 well aware of the soothing influence of fields, and coun- 

 tries, and walks and gardens, on a fretted brain. 

 Jeremy Taylor showed a profound knowledge of human 

 nature when he wrote thus: "It is certain that all 

 which can innocently make a man cheerful, does also 

 make him charitable. For grief, and age, and sick- 

 ness, and weariness, these are peevish and troublesome ; 

 but mirth and cheerfulness are content, and civil, and 

 compliant, and communicative, and love to do good, 

 and swell up to felicity only upon the wings of charity. 

 Upon this account, here is pleasure enough for a 

 Christian at present; and if a facete discourse, and an 

 amicable friendly mirth, can refresh the spirit and take 

 it off from the vile temptation of peevish, despairing, 

 uncomplying melancholy, it must needs be innocent 

 and commendable." I do not know whether you ever 

 read Thomas Hood's " Ode to Kae Wilson," with an 



