nd thieves; but somehow our social
evils do not disappear. Even the drink bill runs up, despite all
the Gospel pledges. _Nix_ is the practical result of the efforts of
gentlemen like Mr. Nix. They are on the wrong tack. They are sweeping
back the tide with mops. The real reformatory agency is the spread of
education and refinement.

Yet the mission will go on. It is a good advertisement. Mr. Hughes gives
it a special leading article. He cries up the Epsom mob as the "most
representative gathering of Englishmen," and "therefore a fair specimen
of the mental and moral condition of the English people." This is stuff
and nonsense, but it serves its purpose. Mr. Hughes wants to show that
Missions are needed. He finds that "the great majority of the people are
outside the Christian Church," that "this is still a heathen country."
Perhaps so. But what a confession after all these centuries of
gospel-grinding and Church predominance! There are fifty or sixty
thousand churches and chapels, and as many sky-pilots. Six million
children go to Sunday-school. The Bible is forced into the public
day-schools. Copies are circulated by the million. Twenty millions a
year, at the least, is spent in inculcating Christianity. Yet England is
still "a heathen country." Well, if this be the case, what is the use of
Mr. Nix? What is the use of Mr. Hughes? Greater preachers have gone
before them and have failed. Is it not high time for Jesus to run the
job himself? "Come, Lord Jesus," as John says. Let him descend from the
Father's right hand and take Mr. Nix's place at the next Derby. He might
even convert the "clergymen and their wives" and the "distinguished
members of the aristocracy." Anyhow he should try. He will not be
crucified again. The worst that could happen is a charge of obstruction,
and perhaps a fine of forty shillings. But surely he will not lay
himself open to such indignities. He should triumphantly assert his
deity. A few big miracles would strike Englishmen more than the Jews,
who were sated with the supernatural. He might stop the horses in mid
career, fix the jockeys in their saddles, root the Epsom mob where they
stood, and address them from the top of the grand stand. That would
settle them. They would all go to church next Sunday. Yes, Jesus must
come himself, or the case is hopeless. Missions to the people of this
"heathen country" are like fleas on an elephant. What the ministers
should pray for is the second coming o