In doing this, spare time
is occupied to the best account, and the enemy is foiled in some of
his thousand-and-one ways of ensnaring the toil-worn navvy at the
close of day.
"The more our little band goes forward, the more we feel that drink,
in all its forms and foolish customs, must be resisted,--first, by
the powerful influence of a felt example; and secondly, by gently and
kindly instructing the minds of those amongst whom we labour as to
its hurtful snares. We are accused by some of putting this subject
before the blessed gospel. God forbid! But when we look on every
reclaimed one and know that this was his besetting sin, we regard the
giving it up as the rolling away of the stone before the Saviour's
voice, 'Come forth,' can be obeyed.
"These first endeavours to spread the gospel story in a more
enlarged way were made in villages where the Rev. C. H. Spurgeon had
laboured when not yet twenty years of age, and where souls had been
blessed through the youthful preacher. Some of these converts became
my helpers, and are co-workers to this day.
"It was in 1863 that I first became an almoner for others, whilst
filled with a desire to build a missionhall among the coprolite
diggers in Cambridgeshire.
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