companions the only relief from the dull uniformity and routine of their daily existence. Debarred from all opportunities of visiting the homes of their families or friends, and thus deprived of those refining and softening influences by which the character and habits of young men are so largely impressed and benefited, their conviviality often reached the point of excess, and the moral degradation thus commenced ended, in too many cases, in a point of debasement ruinous to the individual, and deeply pernicious to those around him. It can be conceived how terrible must have been the condition of young men who were compelled by their business engagements to live in the daily and hourly companionship of the guilty and depraved; and it will be obvious that the communication of evil habits and principles was fostered, and their unhappy results developed with increasing rapidity, from the fact that very often the good and the bad-the novice in life, and the veteran in sin (alas! too often young in years), the "old stager" in London, and the youth fresh from the country— occupied one and the same bedroom.

The length of time taken up by daily business rendered it impossible to attend any place of religious or moral instruction during the week; the absorbing character of business, as well as the necessary rule of commercial houses, forbade the visit and counsels of any minister or religious agent; and their excessive and protracted labours, with the moral and social evils which they engendered, caused Sunday to be regarded by young men only as the week's holiday-the necessary relaxation for a bow which had been bent to the point of breaking. The special duties of the Lord's-day were forgotten, its hours were passed in indolence or spent in dissipation and folly. Sad indeed is this picture, yet it is not overdrawn. It is a faithful representation of the general condition of young men, though not of all; and it is furnished only to contrast the present with the past, and to extol the riches of the divine mercy in

the contemplation of the results of twenty years of labour amongst young men.

Now, the hours of business are universally reduced; the domestic arrangements of the great commercial establishments are generally improved; and libraries, and opportunities for mental recreation and social intercourse, are provided in many of them. A corresponding improvement has taken place in the general habits of young men; and though many are still irregular in their conduct, and devoid of religious principle, it is not because the scenes and circle of their daily business intercourse tend wholly and without restraint to such a result, nor because they are without opportunities of Christian influence, and of elevated and refined enjoyment. Much evil, and many flagrant sources of mischief still exist, but the fault is no longer that of society, but of the individual offenders by whose folly they are sustained.

The causes of this change in the condition and circumstances of young men in London are involved in the history of the Young Men's Christian Association.

In 1842 there came to London a young man who had been for some years previously an apprentice in a large provincial town. There he had been brought under religious influences, had joined the Church of Christ, and had engaged actively in the evangelistic efforts sustained by godly persons in the neighbourhood. The circumstances of his own religious conversion, after the exhibition of much rebelliousness of spirit and opposition to the Truth of God and the people of God, had produced on his mind a deep impression of the willingness of God to save men, and he came to a resolution that, by the grace of God, he would tell to every one who might come to reside in the same house of business how he had obtained mercy, and urge them to seek salvation through "like precious faith, and the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ." So simply and earnestly was this course pursued, that during the

five remaining years of his stay in that town, twenty-seven persons were brought by his persuasions to religious decision, "of whom the greater part remain unto this present," active, useful members of the Church, while "some have fallen asleep," giving rejoicing testimony to the power of Divine grace. On his arrival in London, he found himself in a very altered position. The house of business in which he was engaged employed about eighty young men, amongst whom there were no signs of religious feeling, the majority being indifferent to all such considerations, and many very profligate.

For some time his one work was prayer. He asked that God would open a way of usefulness for him amongst these ungodly companions, and specially that a companion likeminded might be sent into the establishment. He had learned the truth of the lines

"Two are better far than one
For counsel or for fight;
How can one be warm alone,
Or serve his God aright?
Happier we each other keep;
We each other's burdens bear;
Never need our footsteps slip

Upheld by mutual prayer."

In due time his prayer was answered, and the companion came. They prayed together, and sought to win confidence by assiduous kindness in their intercourse with their fellow-assistants, and to disarm opposition to their principles by industrious attention to the duties of their calling. Soon they asked one and another to join them in their evening meeting for prayer. The Word of God was studied, and the wisdom, blessedness, and peace of the servants of God so set forth, that desires after God were kindled in some hearts, and soon the blessing of the Lord was vouchsafed in the conversion of several who had been induced to join this little company. Then their place of meet

ing was too strait for them. To obtain the permanent and undisturbed use of another, application to the principal became necessary, and this was a matter of some difficulty. Able and energetic as a man of business, he had shown no signs of religious feeling, he had done nothing to secure the comfort or welfare of his young men, nor did he check the evils which attended the conduct of business in his establishment, in common with many others at the time. He was only known as the employer, and in that capacity, though no worse, was not better than the rest of his class. But the young men had waited on God for his direction and help, and in the strength of faith they went forward with their application. To their surprise, it was received with sympathy, with tenderness, with the heartbroken feelings of a sinner made conscious of his guilt and needs, and earnestly seeking to know and do the will of God. The room was granted, the young men were thanked for their past efforts and prayers on behalf of the establishment, and the master became from that hour the father of his household, joining with his godly servants in solicitude for its spiritual welfare, reforming every arrangement inconsistent with the conscientious discharge of the duties or the personal comforts of those he employed, and in all things seeking to make that household an abode of peace, a pattern of godliness, a centre of Christian usefulness.

The lamented fact of the death of Mr. George Hitchcock, of St. Paul's Churchyard, makes it proper to mention him as the person referred to. This is not the place for his eulogy; but those who are interested in this narrative will not fail to discover, in the facts it records, how much his own young men, and the young men of the metropolis, came to owe, under God, to his zeal and liberality.

During the period of his religious anxiety, he had sought the advice of Mr. W. D. Owen, the principal of another large drapery house, whose religious character and benevolent efforts

on behalf of their trade had made him generally respected, and to him he described the work of God which had begun amongst his assistants. Mr. Owen mentioned the fact to his principal assistant, who immediately commenced similar meetings for prayer and the study of Holy Scripture amongst their young men. On the 31st May 1844, this young man wrote to the originator of the first meeting a letter in the following terms:

"I have been truly rejoiced to hear that the Lord is doing a great work in your house, and I hope that the leaven thus set will go on increasing abundantly. I am engaged here in the same work, but stand almost alone; and from what I have heard, am induced to say, 'Come over and help us.' We have a prayer-meeting this evening at half-past eight. Mr. Branch will be with us. Will you oblige us by your company? and if you can bring a praying brother with you, do. If you could by any possibility be here at eight, I should be glad ; as I want to advise with you on another subject in reference to our trade, viz., whether anything can be done in other houses."

It is amongst the evidences of Divine working in this movement, that a few of the Christian young men living in the house first mentioned had already agreed "to meet that very evening for the purpose of doing something to originate prayer-meetings in other houses."

This meeting took place, and was followed by another in the subsequent week, attended by Christian young men from both places; and at this meeting, held at 72 St. Paul's Churchyard, on the 6th June 1844, it was decided to form a "Society for Improving the Spiritual Condition of Young Men engaged in the Drapery and other Trades." The name of Young Men's Christian Association was adopted, and a committee of management was appointed.

The first efforts of the committee were addressed to the work of uniting with themselves the Christian men who might be