soul to Christ. I have not sold so many Bibles and Testaments this month as previously, but I have supplied some who had none. The sailors' lodginghouses have been visited, and many of the seamen have been induced to attend the Sailor's Church. On the 13th, in company with Captain Prynn, we met with a goodly number of sailors, and we had the opportunity of speaking with several of the things concerning their souls. One had no Bible, but he was induced to take one. I have not numbered so many services afloat this month, in consequence of other engagements, and I met with one disappointment. It was a vessel I had tried to gain access to before, but could not; one of the men had died of the cholera, so I took the opportunity of asking again for a meeting on board, which was granted. But on going in the evening the ship was delivered, and taking her ballast, and three others in the tier were doing the same, so I had to return without a meeting. I am happy to be able to say that our services have generally been attended with a gracious influence; whilst our pious seamen have offered up their fervent supplications, God in mercy has visited us with the joys of his salvation. At one meeting, where our respected secretary accompanied me, and gave a very solemn address from the words, "A time to die," there was much feeling manifested in the meeting, and on visiting the ship next morning, and speaking with the men of the necessity of beginning at once to serve God, reminding them of the privileges they had of hearing the Gospel from time to time on board their own ships, one of them said that during the address the night before, his feelings were such that he could remain no longer below, but was obliged to come on deck. Other meetings which have been held have been "seasons of refreshing." I had one on the 17th, on board of the William and Hannah, of Whitby; after the address seven engaged in prayer. A captain who was present hoisted the flag the following evening on board of his ship, and again we had good attendance, and, I trust, a profitable meeting. The captain said he had never attended two such profitable services. I pray they may be made a blessing to him and others who were present. I have held 11 services afloat, attendance 188, and 11 on shore; I have paid 534 visits to vessels, 214 to sailors' lodging-houses, and 20 to fishermen's families; in my visits to Barking I have sold 40 Bibles and 15 Testaments, distributed 80 old magazines, and 2,100 tracts. REV. C. VON BULOW'S REPORT. Since my last report I have, except during a short excursion to the country, continued my usual labour among the foreign seamen. The troubles among the nations have, in a great measure, hindered the shipping, and few foreign ships, except Norwegian, Danes, and Swedes (but no German vessels) have arrived. I have not been able to prevail with the Germans, who have been detained here, to attend any appointments for services in their languages. After having delivered a circular to a German captain, who seemed to have the care committed to him of five or six vessels with their crews, he said that he would bring the people to my meeting. But finding him disappoint me, I again went to seek him, but he was not on board. I left my card with one of the men, desiring him to tell the captain that I was willing to preach on board if he would let me know the most convenient time. The crews in the Norwegian ships complain that they have to work the whole Sunday forenoon, and are, therefore, not allowed to go to church. There are, however, exceptions; thus, on one occasion, three Norwegian captains and eleven of their crew attended service at Black wall; and the captain, mate, and nine men from one ship, and two other captains, on another occasion, at the Sailor's Church. Of the Danes, only on two occasions have a few attended the appointed services, although there has been a good number of their ships here; but they who come are always very attentive, and seeiningly much impressed, and generally come forward after service to express their thankfulness. I have seldom any opportunity of saying much to them on their ships, as they are always at work; but I say a few words now and then to the men, and when I meet with any captains who invite me into their cabin. The Swedes are the only sailors who have a habit of regularly attending their own church here, and when I have afternoon service at Blackwall there are oftentimes some present. All of these different seamen are very desirous to have tracts; a few copies of the Holy Scriptures have been disposed of, but the Swedes are furnished with them at their own church. Although there was a good many Italians at the early part of the season, there has, of late, been none of their ships here; but I have found a good many Italian and Greek sailors at the lodging-houses, to whom I have given tracts, and for the first time sold a New Testament in the Italian language. On one occasion a good many went with me to the Sailor's Church to get tracts, and one from Trieste, who could speak the German language, said he would attend the German service there the next day, and get a New Testament, but I did not see him. The Spaniards continue to receive tracts and buy parts of Scriptures, and have also disposed of one Spanish New Testament. On going on board one of their ships the mate brought me a Bible, and said, "There, give me a shilling for it; I don't want it." I opened it, and found the title-page was torn out. He went off and brought the leaf, which was folded together, and said, "This is not the Spanish religion; there, take it, and give me 1s. 6d., and you will have 6d. profit on it.' I told him it contained the revealed Word of God, and the doctrines of faith and principles of Christian duty, and he had better keep it. "It is not the Spanish religion," again he said, but I came away, and left it in his hands. A great change has taken place with regard to the Hospital ship. The Dreadnought has been sent to the Woolwich Dock, and the Devonshire has taken her place for a time; this vessel is much smaller, and, therefore, only in the most urgent cases can the seamen be taken on board. Thus. there has of late not been many foreign seamen, but I have, nevertheless, had some very interesting cases, of which the following must suffice:-A Norwegian, who had been in the cholera vessel, and, on his restoration, removed to the hospital ship, expressed much thankfulness for being spared. I told him if his gratitude was genuine he would dedicate himself to serve the Lord all the days that were given him. I besought him to take it to heart, and to redeem the precious time, and use the blessed means given him, and, therefore, to commence to-day by coming to the Lord, like the publican, and submitting himself to the grace and mercy of God in Christ Jesus. This, and much more that I said, made the man very serious and thoughtful, and I hope he became conscious that he had something more to be thankful for than the mere temporal life. Another Norwegian, to whom I also endeavoured to set forth Christ the Saviour of sinners, was very much impressed, and when I returned to bring him a Bible, he was bathed in tears, and uttered many thankful words; also some others seem to have appreciated the care bestowed on them, among which, particularly, a Frenchman, a German, and a Greek, expressed themselves very thankfully. I must acknowledge that I feel much pleased in cften meeting English sailors on the street, or on the steam-boats, who salute me friendly, and tell me they know me from seeing me on board the Dreadnought. Since my last report I have visited 249 ships, and paid 28 visits to lodginghouses; I have held 4 services, and had 56 hearers; sold 3 Bibles, 20 Testaments, 10 portions of Scripture, and distributed 2,550 tracts. PROVINCIAL OPERATIONS. CORNWALL. MR. J. TROTTER'S REPORT. MY DEAR SIR,-A line or two from the far west, I am sure, will not be uninteresting to you. I am glad to have to report that we are getting on well; an open door of usefulness is before us, in this obscure corner of God's world, amongst seamen; and I am persuaded that, by persevering, cheerful, and, above all, prayerful visitation, from vessel to vessel, and from house to house, a careful distribution of tracts, and the presentation of a healthy and vigorous Christianity, a great amount of real good will not only be realised by themselves, but by the world at large. I must say, that I never preached with more pleasure to any class of men than to the Cornish seamen, watermen, and fishermen, around us here. I find them kind and open-hearted; they rally round me most delightfully, and their great sorrow appears to be that I cannot stay with them constantly. If we could get a suitable place in Falmouth in which to hold our meetings, and I could be with them regularly, we should soon have such a sailors' church as the gates of hell would not prevail against. Last Tuesday we hoisted the Bethel flag on board of Captain Hosking's vessel, which was lying in the harbour, after which I went afloat, visited 34 vessels, distributed about 130 tracts among the crews, and invited them to our meeting in the evening. At the time of service, however, the vessel was far too small, so the meeting was held upon the Quay. About 120 seamen were present, besides many of their wives and children. It was a glorious time; some hard hearts were melted into tenderness. It was rather wet, but they never moved, and one of the most profligate seamen among them began to yield before the force of truth. He held an umbrella over my head all the while I was preaching, to the no small joy and astonishment of those around; and every groan and sigh of penitence that came from his broken heart, and escaped from his mouth, was like flashes of holy fire among my hearers. I could not give up preaching, and these sons of the ocean stood like lambs, amidst several showers of rain, for about an hour and a half, listening with the most profound attention to words whereby they might be saved. This is a sort of specimen of our way of doing. I have visited nearly all the places in this circuit, and have been introduced to the various friends of our cause by our respected secretary, Mr. John Downing, jun., who appears to love to do good by stealth, and who is, without any ceremony, an uncompromising friend of seamen. When I have been through the whole of my two circuits I will send you more particulars. Yours, &c., Falmouth, Aug. 16, 1849. JOHN TROTTER. YARMOUTH. REPORT OF MR. J. VALLINS. Perhaps the wise Disposer of all events will yet make our comparatively small and unworthy efforts an important means of cementing hearts that have been long estranged by national prejudices, and thus make Sailors' Societies and sailors themselves connecting links between our own country and every nation under heaven. Such thoughts passed vividly through my mind a few evenings since, as I held the most novel and interesting service I have ever been privileged to witness, and which I will briefly describe. The meeting was held on board a Dutch vessel, with clean swept hold, well fitted up with seats for the purpose, although every arrangement and preparation had to be made in three hours, including the emptying of the vessel of her cargo, and clearing her out at the Custom House. The congregation was composed of men of five nations-English, Scotch, Prussian, Dutch, and German. Some Danes had promised to come, but I could not identify any of them among my audience. We arranged that the Dutch captain, who was evidently a very pious man, should take part of the service in his own language, for the benefit of the Dutchmen and Germans, who could, with the Prussians, understand it better than English. A Prussian would have acted as interpreter, but he not being a religious man I did not press him to do so, though he could speak several languages very fluently. The Bethel flag was flying at the Dutchman's mast-head for the first time in this port. When the hour for service arrived we had a goodly company (although the notice was brief) of those who had weathered many a storm-out of various peoples, and nations, and kindred, and tongues." We commenced the service by singing that beautiful hymn, "From all that dwell below the skies, Let the Creator's praise arise; Let the Redeemer's name be sung, Through every land, by every tongue." 66 I then prayed, after which the Dutch captain gave out a psalm, and they sang delightfully, in three parts; we were charmed and carried along with them, although neither English nor Scotch understood one word of their song of praise. The captain then prayed very fervently, and several responded; we next sang an English hymn, and I gave an address from the 2nd chapter of the Acts and the 12th verse. They then sang another Dutch psalm, as sweetly as the former, after which the mate, who was the captain's son, addressed his countrymen with great warmth and apparent effect, from the 3rd chapter of John's Gospel and 3rd verse-" Jesus answered, and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." We then sang the Doxology; an old sailor prayed in English, and I concluded the service. Thus ended the first meeting I have ever seen of what I shall call a "union of nations." Never was I more gratified with any scene than when these hardy sons of the ocean, from different lands, and speaking different tongues, were bowing together at the same mercy-seat. I held also an excellent meeting, under an awning, on board the bark Jemaen, of Scarborough, Captain Plemis, from Odessa, with wheat. Nearly fifty persons were present. I have also had two services on the pier at Garleston. Poetry. MARINER'S HYMN AT SUNRISE. BY JOHN ANTROBUS, JUN., ESQ., BIRMINGHAM, Hail! everlasting Father, thou Thy wondrous works thy wisdom show, To thee, deserving of all praise, Our lowly orisons we raise. Yon sun, uprising o'er the wave, Yon phalanx of gigantic clouds, Swell forth in strength, uprear each crest, Tremble and crouch to thy behest. Yon firmament beyond the cloud, Yon heaven, where morning stars have bowed, And rapt together sung to thee Are but the pavement 'neath thy throne, The cycle of thy burning zone! The winds, careering through the air, |