"THE helper:^ 



123 



they spend their money foolishly in eating and drinking, and 

 get drunk." When the accounts were made up, instead of 

 about ^12, u the rest to the Dispensary amounted to no less a 

 sum than eight shillings and sixpence ! " 



Many of his articles were subsequently reprinted as leaflets 

 — "Drink, but Remember," " Respectable Man-Killers," 

 " Drinking as Medicine," "Have Christians a right to Smoke?" 

 etc. (On the subject of smoking he felt and expressed himself 

 very strongly, e.g. in his tracts "Don't poison my Air" and 

 "Smokers beware." The latter was translated into Welsh, 

 and made converts of most of the men at one of the quarries.) 

 A friend, to whom some of these publications were sent, though 

 he approved them on the whole, declined to circulate them : 

 " By such brusque assaults on the indulgences of working men, 

 do we not utterly offend and alienate the best and most valu- 

 able of them?" This, however, was not the usual effect on 

 those who knew how ardently the writer strove, not only for 

 the highest welfare, but for the comfort and recreation of the 

 working classes, and how fearlessly impartial he was in his 

 criticisms on those in higher stations. He wrote and spoke, 

 not only fearlessly, but as one to whom it did not occur that 

 there was anything to fear ; and, with his intense faith in great 

 principles, it was almost impossible to avoid what reads as 

 sarcasm when he contrasted common practices with the teach- 

 ings of the Gospel. There are many useful and lively papers 

 on the minor morals — " Scolding," " Rude Manners," " Fops," 

 f Time enough," " The Streets," etc. ; and he prints the sub- 

 stance of his "Proxy" sermon (p. 61). He commences "The 

 Divine Service of Hanging, in St. Paul's Cathedral " by saying, 

 " If people would carry out principles to their consequences, 

 the bad ones would be seen to be bad, and would be avoided." 

 If the Old Testament was quoted to defend capital punish- 

 ments, they should, if they are performed by divine command, 

 be carried out with the utmost solemnity. (The auto-da-fe in 

 Spain was attended by the highest persons in Church and 

 State.) He concludes a very striking article, in which he 

 refers to the burial service read over the condemned, etc., by 



