voted to the Bethel cause, with many thanks. Thus, there is reason to rejoice, that the work of the Lord is prospering among the sons of the ocean. May it continue to extend from heart to heart, from port to port, and from nation to nation, until the whole of the sons of Zebulon are brought to a knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus!

It now remains for me to turn to the painful part of my report, as alluded to above; and I might here unite with the poet, and say,

"God moves in a mysterious way,
His wonders to perform;"

as He has, in the all-wise arrange

ments of his providence, seen fit to take from me the desire of my eyes, with a stroke.* Under this painful dispensation, and irreparable loss, may the Lord give that measure of grace which will enable me to say, with one of old, "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?"-and with holy Job, "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord!" I hope I am enabled, in some humble measure, to say this, under the consideration that my loss is her eternal gain.

*Mr. Edwards here refers to the decease of his excellent wife. See the notice of this event at page 313.

Of the good done, I have nothing to write. It is not to be supposed, that the word of God read and proclaimed, will be useless; and we are not to faint in well doing, because we do not see the results. They are in the future. They will be seen. We ought not to desire that God should reserve no revelation, either of truth, or the results of our labours, for the world to come. We would not know all here, and spend eternity becalmed.

It was one of the first duties which devolved upon all who professed to follow the dictates of the christian religion, to ask whether these individuals were prepared for being so quickly hurled from this into another state. As society was at present constituted, it was impossible for this or any other society to send a missionary in every vessel; but he sincerely hoped, that the time would yet come, when this would either be done, or something like it would be accomplished; but until that was practicable, it was the solemn duty of one and all, to do what they could to provide the seaman with such religious instruction, as it was in their power to render him, and he to avail himself of.

The seaman was not unfrequently represented as having most forbidding characteristics attached to him, but he had to remind the audience that it was only in certain points of view that this could be affirmed of him, and these in many instances were to be traced to the absence of such instruction as the present society aimed at providing him with; and in order to show that there was a strong feeling of pity for persons in distress frequently exhibited by nautical men, he read an anecdote from a newspaper respecting an actress, who in personating a character at some theatre, had to lament that no one would go bail for her, when a tar descended from the gallery and made his way to the stage, for the avowed purpose not only of becoming bail for her, but also of freeing her from the person who pretended to have her in custody. The reverend gentleman remarked, that he had referred to the preceding anecdote, not as in any way approving of the theatre as a school, where either the

moral or religious principles of seamen were likely to be improved, but for the purpose of showing that compassion and feeling for those in distress, were among the characteristics of the sailor. He subsequently adverted to another case, which was corroborative of this, being the natural character of sailors; it was styled, "Generous Conduct of Two Seamen," and was stated to have occurred in the year 1838, in Commercial Street, in the city of Boston. When the landlord of a poor washerwoman was about to sell off her furniture for rent, and for that purpose had turned her and her children out of doors; the lamentations of the group attracted the attention of two tars, who not only paid the demand, but while one of them went to purchase provisions for the woman and her starving family, the other bestowed on her a handful of silver; and after having, in their own phraseology, "set the vessel in distress on her right course," walked off along the street as if nothing had occurred. He need hardly inform the audience that the sailor was in general a kind feeling-hearted being; he was known almost invariably to be generous, even to a fault. He conceded that the mariner was often an abandoned character, but then, were the circumstances in which he was placed even cursorily examined, it would not fail to strike those who looked into the matter that he was not altogether to blame for being So. He was frequently driven from his home on the shore, to pursue his vocation on the deep at such a tender age, as rendered it impossible for him to have acquired such instruction as he ought to have received before he entered on board a ship; and hence it was,

that he was so frequently met with, divested of anything like a sense of moral rectitude, or of religious principle to regulate his conduct. In order to bring this more forcibly before the audience, the Rev. gentleman adverted to the history of little Jack, who, at the tender age of three years, had been thrown into the water by his father in a fit of despair; he had, however, got hold of a plank, and was carried alongside a ship of war, where he was taken on board, and served for many years, and rose so far in the profession that he was employed as an assistant to the surgeon. One day after an engagement, his attention was particularly arrested by a broken down sailor, who had been removed to the cockpit to have his wounds dressed, and who presented him with his Bible, telling him, at the same time, that he had a burden at his heart. On enquiring into the cause, it turned out that the dying man was the parent of the surgeon's mate, who when a child had been thrown into the water by his father-the dying man. The son forgave his father, who died in peace; while little Jack, according to the last accounts, was employed in his native country as a minister of the Church of England, and had told the circumstances of his eventful history at a meeting of a Bible society in England. In concluding his address, Mr. Adam acknowledged his sense of the responsibility of the duties he had undertaken, and also was convinced that they were very arduous; but still he hoped that with the assistance of those who had come forward to give the institution their countenance, coupled with the efforts of the merchants of Sydney, and those more immediately connected with maritime affairs, that he would be enabled to do some good, especially as there was such an ample field for exertion, there being at present not less than two thousand seamen

in the port, for whose spiritual instruction there had as yet been no adequate provision made. At the conclusion of his address, the reverend gentleman received great applause.

The Rev. Dr. Ross moved the third resolution as follows;

Resolved-"That the meeting having heard a detail of the proceedings which have led to the visit of the Rev. M. T. Adam, and the arrangements which have been made for his remaining as a Seamen's Chaplain here, cordially welcome him as such; and will co-operate with the British and Foreign Sailor's Society, and the American Seamen's Friend Society in these arrangements; and that as the sum apportioned for his stipend is, in the opinion of the meeting, inadequate to his comfortable support, it pledges itself to add the amount of house-rent to that stipend."

Mr. J. H. Williams, American Consul, seconded the resolution.

The Rev. Dr. Lang next moved the fourth resolution, which was as follows:

Resolved-"That the thanks of this meeting be given to the British and Foreign Sailor's Society, in London, for their co-operation, to the American Seamen's Friend Society, for their prompt and generous exertions, and to D. W. C. Olyphant, Esq., for his liberality in providing a free passage for the Rev. M. T. Adam."

The Rev. J. Saunders seconded the resolution by a powerful appeal to the audience on behalf of the seamen.

Mr. W. Hustler, Barrister, in a neat speech moved the fifth resolution, including the appointment of the Committee.

The resolution being seconded by Mr. T. Cadell was adopted without dissent, after which a subscription list was opened for the purpose of receiving such donations and subscriptions in behalf of the society, amounting to £99 12s.