-

at Lloyd's, and told them how much they save by having religious and moral men? Have you told them that they have saved many a ship as well as many a life; that they have preserved many a valuable cargo, and brought it safe into harbour- - that they have rendered the underwriters' business comparatively safe, and have given them the profits without the losses?" And, I ask, has he gone with his tale, and stated that one policy would pay the whole income of the Society for a year? If such an appeal has been made, has it remained unanswered and unregarded? I think I know enough of that body, and of their liberality in other matters, to say that if the case is put properly before them, they will not only wipe off the debt of the Society, but become willing contributors to its funds. (Applause.) Then there is another class of men who are benefited by having moral and religious sailorsthat is, the shipowners themselves. The records of this Society could tell you how often a ship in peril has been saved by having sailors who feared God, and were desirous to do their duty; who have not abandoned the vessel in distress, but have braved all danger, and stood by it to the last, so that the merchant has realised his gains, and the adventurer his reward. To them an appeal ought to be made, not only upon the ground that I have stated, but upon the higher grounds of a love for our common Christianity. And then, having addressed the underwriters, the shipowners, and the merchants of this country, I ask my friends to address the ministers of religion. Amongst the churches and chapels of this metropolis, where has the sound of the minister's voice been heard pleading for this Society? I know they will tell me that almost every Sunday their pulpits are occupied, and that the pockets of their people are fathomed by the hand of charity for the spread of numerous Societies; but I say again, amidst all the claims that are upon them, there are none fairer and greater than those of this Society; for if it be true, as my reverend friend said, that if the sailors perish we lose our liberties in a week, we ought to teach the sailor his duty, to make him a patriot and a Christian. I agree with my reverend friend that we could not do without sailors. You have heard that they have been the creators of our wealth, and the protectors of our liberty. As the poet has said,

"Britannia needs no bulwarks,

No towers along the steep,

Her march is on the mountain wave,
Her home upon the deep."

The seconder of this resolution spoke of the proud boast of England, that upon her dominion the sun never sets. Go to the east, and see it extend wider than the conquests of Alexander; go to the north, and you hear the sound of our language; go to the warm and sunny south, and there the name of England is known and respected; go again to the west, and you will hear it there likewise. And why? Because our sailors have carried their enterprise, and the name of their country, its renown and its glory, to the remotest ends of the earth. Upwards of fifty magnificent colonies attest the enterprise and power of this country; each of them larger in extent than England, Ireland, and Scotland put together. This has been owing to the enterprise, energy, and courage of our sailors. I speak of them, of course, as human instruments. It is God who has encouraged and directed it all. Is there not, then, as deep responsibility upon us as there was upon the ancient nations of the world; that, having received an imperishable treasure, we should communicate it to others, lest, like them, we should lose the treasure, and fall into idolatry and superstition, and degradation and slavery? Christianity began in the east, where it has run its adventurous career, and now blesses the west; and if it has made our land of all other lands the pride; if it has encouraged literature, and extended the dominion of science; if it has increased the luxury and the comforts of the rich and the poor; if it has enabled us to sit, every man under his own vine, and under his own fig-tree, none daring, or scarcely wishing, to make us afraid, what do we owe to Him from whom that divine, inestimable gift came? And how can we show our gratitude to Him, but by encouraging this and kindred Societies; by blessing the sailor, that he may become a blessing to others; so that instead of our ships being, as they were once aptly described, "floating hells," they may become Bethels, in which

men fearing God sail from this country to carry the light, and the love, and the power of Christianity into the remotest regions of the earth? (Applause.) The resolution having been unanimously adopted,

The Rev. EDWARD CRAIG, M.A., then moved the following resolution:"While this meeting gratefully regards the success of the Society's operations during the past year, and the increased liberality by which its efforts have been sustained by Christians of all denominations, yet, impressed with the fact that what has hitherto been effected under the Divine blessing bears no proportion to what remains to be accomplished, and still recognising the inseparable connection of our sailor population with the success of all the benevolent enterprises of the age, and especially with Christian missions, it would regard past success as a solemn appeal from God to renewed and more hearty exertion in this sacred cause.'

The rev. gentleman said:- Sir, my Christian friends; some three thousand years ago, a young man left his home, unhappy, dissatisfied with himself; he laid his head upon a stone pillow in the wilderness, and there God in mercy manifested himself to him, and promised his presence with him through life: and he called the name of that place Bethel, because the Lord had appeared to him; and he said, "This is none other than the house of God." We have the word around us [alluding to the Bethel colours which decorated the room]. In the primitive language of the world, it expressed the reality of personal religion. We see it here in a room that certainly was not erected for any such purpose as that for which it is now used. Some of us are old enough to remember the time when meetings of this kind were very scarce, and when rooms of this kind were more generally appropriated to the frivolous objects of the world. Now, the best room in one of the best taverns of the first city of the world has become a Bethel. In this short word you wear upon your front the object you have in view. It is not to bring sailors to the altar of any particular church, but to teach them to seek God wherever they are, as Jacob sought him in the wilderness-that whether they be upon deck, in the cabin, in the shrouds, or at the topmast, still they should feel that that spot is a Bethel, because they have arrived at the reality of personal religion, because they have found the channel in which the infinite and eternal God has been pleased to manifest himself. I was very much struck with the closing words of the Report, which told us that the sailor earned his bread at the peril of his life. It is for us, who stand in comparative safety upon terra firma, to look abroad upon those scenes of risk and difficulty in which those bold, brave men are placed. We need not dwell upon the common instances of trial to which they are incessantly exposed; but just let us follow those successive expedi. tions that have gone forth during the last three years to the Arctic seas. Where are they now? Is it that, amidst the lofty icebergs, the snows and the frosts of those dreary regions, they have been lingering out, from hour to hour, the remaining sands of life, in cold and in starvation? Is it that they have been called, one after another, to drop into eternity-the last lingering survivors mourning over the agonies they have seen, and counting upon the hour coming upon themselves when they must perish? If this has been their lot, how happy must it be if they knew that there was a Bethel-if they knew the reality of the Divine presence, through the testimony of the Divine Spirit in the soul. We know that sailors do earn their bread at the peril of their lives; and it is manifest, then, that if we have the talisman of peace, the mighty power by which man shall stand unshaken against all the temptations that can come up against him if we can show him how it is that he shall stand thus steadfast and strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might-how important is it that we should not withhold the means that God, in his providence, has given to us, that such a blessing may be extended throughout the whole range of our maritime places. There is no reason whatever to think that the influence of religion will weaken the sailor's arm at any time. I can bear testimony to the fact that the pious sailor and the pious soldier have been found, again and again, the most faithful and devoted servants. When that unfortunate attack was made upon New Orleans, when it was the conviction of most of the officers that their cause was hopeless, and when the American musketry and rifles were bringing down our men by tens and fifties, it was the will of the commander that the 93rd regiment should make another and last attempt to storm the barricade that was before them. This

We

was a Christian regiment, consisting of respectable Highlanders, who loved their Bible. They said, "We are perfectly aware of the nature of the service to which we are called, and we are prepared to go forward, but give us three minutes." Three minutes were given to them; the whole regiment fell flat upon their faces in devotion; they then rose, and went forward, and in twenty minutes they were a skeleton regiment. Such was their lot, and such was the principle by which they were prepared to go boldly forward to the fulfilment of their duty, though they knew that the result would be death. True religion enables a man to hold to the post of duty, whatever it may be. How gratifying was it to hear this night of him of whom it was said, "In the calm or in the storm George is always at his post." How desirable it is that we should be enabled to have this said of ourselves. have each a duty to perform; there are solemn requirements upon us all, with refe. rence to the various charities we are called upon to sustain at the present time. God grant, Sir, that each of us, in our several positions in life, may fulfil the duties to which we are called, steadfastly, consistently, humbly, perseveringly, so that it may be said of each of us, "He is at his post. (Applause.) The Christian man is one whom, if you look at him now, or seven years hence, you will find in his place, at his post, resolutely doing his duty, under the influence of high principles, and waiting for that time when he shall be summoned to a brighter and a better dwelling-place. I confess that my view of the Report which has been read is not so discouraging as I think it appeared to my reverend brother. I thought, from the abstract that was given us, that there was great reason for encouragement, though this perhaps may have arisen from the fact of my having read the Report in detail. When you come to read that document for yourselves, you will see that God has blessed you with success. Take only that one fact, that one individual captain distributed, on one occasion, £40 worth of Scriptures; and then, that 5,000 Bibles and 3,000 Testaments have been sold by the agents of the Society- -not carelessly given away-to seamen. Now this alone is the most interesting proof of the influence of your Society. There are many instances still more striking of persons having been benefited by the imparting of true religion to their souls. I love the tone of that Report; I love the spirit in which it is written. There is no shrinking from the grand truths of our religion, nor have these been wrapped up in new, modern expressions, to make them more adapted to an unevangelical state of society. The truth has been brought out openly and fully, in the language of the Bible. I know that men of the world turn away from such language. They say it savours of cant and Methodism; but when you look into the Word of God, and see what is there written, you feel the propriety of speaking plainly, and in scriptural language, of those great changes that are wrought on men's souls. It behoves men who know that blessed reality, whether they be dissenters or churchmen, to speak out plainly, so that the men of the world may see that we are in earnest, when we speak of conversion or of regeneration (not baptismal regeneration), of the descent of the Holy Ghost, through the instrumentality of the Divine Word, into man's heart, so as to make him a new creature. Sir, this is the reality which we want in all classes of society; this is the object we have in view for the sailor; not merely to moralise him, not merely to make him a temperance man or a teetotaller, but to make him a new creature in Christ Jesus, an heir of the eternal world, and an inheritor of that glorious prospect which has been put before us by the Saviour himself, that we shall be with him, and behold his glory. Nothing short of this should be our object; nothing short of this is worthy of our efforts; and nothing will accomplish this but the inspired Word of Truth. Human genius is nothing. "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord." All the real success that your Society has had, has come from that blessed influence; and if you would realise your expectations in this resolution, it must be by a prayerful address to that source of blessing, that the Spirit of God may descend as dew upon the sailors, and make them new creatures in Christ Jesus. (Applause.)

The Rev. JOHN BURNET seconded the resolution. He said-Sir, I have such frequent opportunities of addressing the public of London, in connection with the Sailors' Society, that I scarcely feel warranted in occupying even a portion of the public time at present upon this question. In the town and country, I have frequently

had opportunities of placing before the public the claims of this Society, and on all these occasions I have felt that I stood upon stronger grounds than any that I ever occupied in connection with other institutions. Sir, I often think, when this Society occurs to my recollection, what our case would have been, if we had had no sailorsif by some chance some persons had been wafted from the continent of Europe to our island- if some basket ship, covered with skin, had brought two or three families over, who had settled in and peopled this country. Why, we should be like the ancient Britons-barbarous, houseless, and living in the caves of the earth; painting instead of clothing ourselves. England would have been thus, instead of being, as it now is, the greatest, mightiest, and most splendid country on the face of the earth. But, Sir, if we are to have sailors, if we are so dependant upon sailors that we can be nothing without them, except barbarians-if to them, as instruments, we owe our civilisation if to them, as instruments, we owe our Christianity itself—if we are to look back when Cæsar first caught, by his eagle eye, the white cliffs of Dover, as he stood in contemplation on the coast of Gaul, and see in that circumstance, aided by the instrumentality of the sailor, the cause of that civilisation being transported to us, which we have worked up to the fruitfulness that now characterises our land, shall we accept the boon, and forget the instrument? (Applause.) Shall we look to the history of the sailor, and rejoice in the effect of his labours, and shall we at the same time forget the man himself? Much is said about the simplicity, the ignorance-nay, the profligacy of the sailor. Well, then, all this tends to show us that we ought, with the greater earnestness, to endeavour to raise him, and promote his best interests. How is it, that in our houses we would not take a man with a bad character? How is it, that we would not have a profligate footman, while at the same time we care nothing about the character of the sailors who serve us? There appears to me a most striking inconsistency in this. Let us do with our sailors as we do with our own domestic servants, and make them what they ought to be; let us encourage them, and raise them above what they have ever been. But how are we to do this? Is it by getting £800 into debt? (Laughter.) Is that the way to raise the sailor? Is it by coming forward in this great capital, and saying that we are £800 below the honest payment of the claims upon us? I cannot understand this, and I should think the sailors themselves could not. They may say, "We won't take your books, your tracts, your missionaries and your teachers. You give them their salaries, but where do you get the money from? You owe it; you are a set of bankrupts; you are all in debt, and we will have nothing to do with you.' An honest sailor might talk in that way, and if he did, what could you say to him? What, then, are we to do? The reverend gentleman at the outset spoke of giving or getting £10, and of so getting you out of debt. Now, I like his proposal exceedingly, and I have no doubt it will be very useful; but I think the best way would be not to promise anything, but to do everything. There are plenty of ladies and gentlemen here, who could pay you the £800, and never feel that they had lost anything by it. Will they do it? That is the question. Have they charity enough to come forward and pay the debt? To encourage them, I would say, that a friend of mine sitting just by me has given me this paper, which I dare say your sub-treasurer will know what to do with. It is by way of a beginning. [The reverend gentleman then handed the paper to the sub-treasurer; it was a memorandum of a subscription of twenty guineas, from J. Rogers, Esq. The announcement of it to the meeting was received with great applause.] Now you are clapping that, and I don't blame you for it. But will you go on? Will you give us something more than clapping? Noise, you know, won't pay the printer, nor the bookseller; it won't get up the Bethel flag; but if you will just come forward with similar subscriptions, you will soon run down the debt, and run up the Society. (Laughter and applause.) If this course, Sir, is taken, the Society will be encouraged to renew its labours during the ensuing year with fresh vigour and zeal, and with a more constraining love for the great object which it has in view. What are we to do in the world without taking into our calculation respecting it the sea? Look at the vast extent of water on the surface of the globe. It was intended by the Creator to supply, by evaporation, the nutriment by which our soil is fed; it was intended, moreover, to be a highway for nations.

We are called upon to follow out what nature has indicated, and to make this highway a sanctified highway. It is with the greatest pleasure that I second the resolution that has been moved; and I would press upon the meeting the importance of following out the example that has been set them by my friend. (Applause.)

The SUB-TREASURER announced a subscription of £5 from the Lord Mayor, another for the like sum from the Chairman, and the same from G. Jackson, Esq. The Rev. JOHN BIGWOOD, in supporting the resolution, said that it was with much pleasure he was present at the meeting. Whilst there were many benevolent institutions whose annual assemblies were now being held, there was none with which he more fully sympathised than the one whose claims they were then advocating. It gave him pleasure that a meeting of the Society was held at the chapel at which he preached in the country, and he trusted that in London all the chapels, and that in which he was now engaged amongst the number, would become labourers in the promotion of such a glorious cause. If the sailor was a man of God, and influenced by right principle, he would show to the inhabitants of the countries to which he travelled, the advantages of the maintenance of peace and good will. Thus, by his intercourse with other nations, a fellow-feeling would be nurtured, and we should learn to love all men as brethren, to seek the welfare of all, and thus secure our own. It had been said, with respect to the sailor, that he was addicted to vice, and that he belonged to a class especially demanding our help. But whose fault was it that the sailors were generally depraved? It was not, he thought, altogether their own fault. The sailor was more sinned against than sinning in this respect. When he went on shore, there was a host of harpies ready to lay hold on him and plunder him of his hard-earned gold; there was a host of abandoned, depraved women ready to make him their prey. While at sea, he was kept under restraint, and accustomed to obey strict and rigid rules; but when on shore he suddenly found himself at liberty, and he was led hither and thither by those who took him first in hand. Should not Christians be the first to take him in hand? If they came first they would have the first hearing, and if they had the first hearing they would secure his attention, save him from robbery and plunder, and promote his eternal interests. What the Society contemplated was to have agents ready when the ships arrived to speak to the sailor respecting his soul, to manifest an interest in his welfare, and to lead him away from the haunts of vice, and from those who would plunder him of his honour and of his reputation. On this account he considered the Society to have special claims to our regard, for it sought to remedy evils which arose not out of the viciousness, but out of the calamity, of the sailor population. It had been said that, wherever the sun shone, there the British flag waved. What a delightful thought it would be if the Bethel flag thus waved in every part of the world; if not only the natural sun but the beams of the Sun of Righteousness were, through the means of our sailor population, shining upon every part of the earth. And this might be the case, if the agents of this Society were successful in their efforts, and if the sailor population became good and holy men. The resolution he held in his hand spoke of the influence which this Society exerted upon missionary operations. Why, if the Society's agents were multiplied, and their agency rendered as successful in future years as it had been during the past year, soon every sailor would be a missionary, bearing with him the Gospel, taking with him the Bible, planting the tree of life upon every shore. How grateful then should they be to God, who had thus rendered a feeble agency productive of so large an amount of good, and caused such little means to be so extensive in the promotion of his glory. He had heard with much pleasure the reference in the Report to the visits made to the Dreadnought hospital-ship. How large an amount of good might be accomplished by means of these visits. A man might be laid up on board this ship by affliction, and be visited by a foreign missionary, become acquainted with Jesus Christ, and by the blessing of the Holy Spirit be converted to Him. His health might be restored, and he might go back to his home a changed character, arrived at fresh perceptions, possessed of fresh knowledge, and exemplifying the power of the Gospel he had received, he might thus become, in the midst of his own people, a living witness to Jesus, and a preacher of the cross. There was nothing like native agency. An Englishman could better preach to