welfare of seamen. In order to awaken in the minds of these men a concern about their souls, they agreed on sabbath evenings occasionally, and by turn, to preach on the quay and thus to endeavour “ means to save some." May the divine Spirit crown their efforts with

success.

by all

Ipswich presents a somewhat important sphere of exertion. Nearly 200 registered vessels belong to the port, some of them of considerable tonnage. As in the other places along the coast the men reside with their families when in port, and are embraced within the operations of the town Missionaries who are labouring successfully here, as well as in other parts which I have recently visited. Several friends whom I had the pleasure of conversing with, expressed a kind and hearty interest in the success of our labors.

At Needham Market the friends preferred making a collection on the sabbath, hoping that more would be raised for the object on that occasion, than after a week evening service. They have fulfilled their promise, and have the cordial thanks of the Committee. On the whole it is encouraging to know that in the prosecution of our great work we have the approbation, the prayers, and the aid of many who wish well and feel warmly for the cause, and in the strength thus afforded, and in reliance upon the influence of the Great Spirit we go forward,

Our operations on the river and at Bell Wharf furnish no topics possessing novelty, or calling for special observation :-48 services have been held on ship-board, attended by 734 seamen,-1811 tracts, and 14 bibles and testaments have been distributed, and 20 religious meetings have been conducted at the Sailors' chapel. The schools have had an average attendance of 202 children, out of 314, whose names are recorded on the books.

AGENTS' MEETING-HELD ON FRIDAY EVENING, AUGUST 11TH, 1843.

At this meeting the zeal of our brethren seemed enkindled afresh by the cordial welcome they had received during the month, and the tokens of acceptance and success with which they had been favored. Could we obtain the attendance of the friends of the cause either at our Agents' meetings, or our Bethel services, a livelier feeling of interest would be awakened in the heart, and a more general support afforded to so delightful, as well as important a work. In our last report we had to acknowledge the kindness of the Naval and Military Bible Society in placing at our disposal a large number of copies of the

Holy Scriptures. This month we have to record the generosity of the Tract Society in furnishing us, at greatly reduced prices, with a large supply of their publications, in addition to the grant of many thousand tracts recently received. From these volumes four libraries have been supplied to vessels going to Port Philip, Adelaide, Montreal, and Bombay; whilst two others have been returned from ships which have visited Valparaiso, and the South Seas.

When the ship Camden left the port of London on her missionary voyage a Bethel flag and a box of books were granted for the use of the crew. That flag has often floated in the breeze inviting the sailor to worship, and we have ample proof in the state of the volumes which compose it, that the library has been well employed. The Committee have had the gratification of receiving from the hands of Capt. Morgan, the honoured commander of that vessel, the sum of £14 6s. as a contribution from the ships' company of the New York (which vessel he now commands) in aid of the funds of our society. The interests of the Sailors Society and of Foreign missions are one, for whilst ungodly seamen are a hindrance, the pious and holy sailor will prove a coadjutor with, and a help to the honoured and devoted men who in foreign climes are serving the cause of the heathen; and thus advancing the kingdom of Christ. On all our institutions both foreign and domestic may the glory rest, and He in whose strength we labour shall have the praise.

AGENTS' REPORTS.

MR.T. A. FIELDWICK, Thames Missionary. It affords me pleasure in forwarding the report of my labours during the past month, to be able to say that I have not had the least cause to alter the sentiments, or be shaken in the opinions I have already expressed. On the contrary, every thing has tended to establish them. And I consider myself most happy to be engaged in a work at once so agreeable to my own feelings, and so eminently calculated to benefit that class of men amongst whom I am daily engaged.

That, for so many years while the philanthropy of the christian public was prompting them to discover fresh fields of usefulness and spheres of zealous effort,

and almost every section of the church was pressing forward into the general conflict, to the help of the Lord against the mighty, the immense and most important mass of our seafaring population should be totally overlooked and neglected, is a fact-most candidly to be confessed, and at the same time, most deeply to be deplored. For while our sailors are deprived of many privileges, and exposed to mary dangers, of which the other classes of the community are entirely ignorant, their claims on our affectionate regard and careful attention, are not the less on these accounts, but only so much the more enlarged and enforced.

The soul of the sailor surely is as

numbers utterly unprepared! It is computed, that there are (including all nations, and of all grades,) at least three millions of souls occupied on the great deep; and that of three hundred thousand British seamen, not twenty thousand have any practical or experimental knowledge of the great truths of christianity. When it is considered, out of this fearful mass of depravity, that from two to three thousand perish annually; that of every one thousand ships, six hundred are lost through intemperance; and that the influence of their example hovers, like a pestilential atmosphere, on the distant shores which our profligate sailors have visited,-a louder and more imperative call we have upon our benevolence and zeal. Such a state of things would seem to demand on the part of the Guernsey Bethel Union, not only the supply of their own immediate necessities but a more general effort to aid the Parent Society, which is, at this very moment, crippled in its energies, when new action and enlarged benevolence is called for.

cannot

We are happy to report somewhat favorably as to our own finances; and doubt not that yet more efficient help might be afforded, and that an annual remittance might be made to the Parent Society.

The attendance and interest at the Bethel room continues without abatement; and several now worshipping in other places of worship, have traced their first impressions to the preaching of the gospel there. It is gratifying that so many pious captains sail from the port of Guernsey, who not only unite with their brethren, when on land, in promoting the interests of sailors, but who make their own ships as so many floating bethels, where the worship of God is maintained, and souls are brought to Christ. It is supposed that there are between twenty and thirty captains, sailing from hence, or resident in the island, besides many others, forming part of their crews, who are members of christian churches. One of those captains, well known to the friends of this Union, has just written a letter to his minister, from which the following extracts may be. acceptable :—“ When I was at home, you asked about the spiritual welfare of our last voyage. I remember telling you, that one of the crew, I had reason to believe had been awakened to a sense of his awful state by nature; and it is with pleasure, and thankfulness to God, that I can say that his convictions have not passed away like the morning dew; on the contrary, wherever he can meet with the people of God, he is anxious to be with them, and to experience that liberty of which he reads in the bible. **** I can say I have a decided bible christian for mate. The steward likewise is an experienced follower of Jesus. He is of the despised posterity of Ham. We are truly happy together. The crew attend regularly morning and evening; we read a portion for the day, out of that valuable book you presented to me, and sing a hymn, and then pray. O, my dear pastor, I know you will rejoice with me, when I tell you the goodness of the Lord. About a fortnight after we had left London, running through the Canary Isles, my mate and I were talking of the goodness of the

Lord in having favoured us with so quick a run out, which led our conversation to consider our responsibility to those that sailed with us, and encourage each other by the word of God; and saying that our feeble means would be in vain without the blessing of God. Not many days after, one of the crew came to us, truly sorrowful, and deeply laden with his sins and ingratitude against his God; and ever since, he has been very anxious after the salvation of his soul, and now believes that there is mercy for him." Pleasing intelligence has also been received from one of the crew of another ship, expressing the great readiness of the men to receive instruction, and the harmony and peace pervading them, saying, He was never so happy at sea in all his life." These, we believe, are but solitary instances of the improved state of many of the ships' crews leaving Guernsey for other countries.

From the depressed state of the shipping interest, but few books have been distributed during the past year-not more than four libraries have been issued, and two exchanged. Every effort, however, has been made to distribute the scriptures among the foreign vessels that have put into harbour. In little more than twelve months, through the kind grants of the Guernsey Auxiliary Bible Society, twenty-four bibles and five testaments,—in the French, Dutch, Swedish, and German languages,--have been put into circulation, and most cheerfully and thankfully received. The committee now give up their trust; and, at the same time, congratulate their friends on the present state and prospect of their Union,-imploring the blessing of God on their exertions during year that is closed, and, more especially, on those who have been labouring in word and doctrine. May a larger measure of the Holy Spirit rest on this and kindred institutions, until pious seamen shall cease to be " a people wondered at," and every where shall become as numerous as now they are rare.

the

FIFTEENTH ANNIVERSARY

OF THE

CALCUTTA SEAMEN'S FRIEND SOCIETY.

The fifteenth Anniversary of the Calcutta Seamen's Friend Society was held at the Union Chapel, Durrumtollah, on Wednesday the 29th of June. J. W. Alexander Esq. presided. The meeting having been opened by singing and prayer.

The chairman in opening the proceedings of the evening said, that the object of the society was one which must commend itself to all the disciples of Christ-it was to save the souls of the too much neglected On former occasions the reports of the society had been gratifying, because they had detailed instances of usefulness. He hoped it would be the case this year also.

seamen.

effect-it was a cold and apparently unprofitable meeting. On another evening when I ascended the side of a barque where our flag was hoisted, and floating in the breeze, I was welcomed by the master, who was waiting my arrival. We were soon joined by five commanders of other ships, and more men than could find room in the cabin, etc At this meeting no less than seven men in succession prayed; there was much to gladden the mind and improve the heart. It was truly good to be there. There is at times as much difference in our Bethel meetings, as there is between summer and winter, and yet as in nature, so in these, the one may be as useful as the other.

"Contrasts are striking." The present and the future condition of our seamen, will, we hope, exemplify this. We can now count our pious captains by hundreds, and our godly men by greater numbers. We can reckon up our 900 or 1,000 Bethel ships, and speak of tracts circulated by 10,000-we can now point to efforts made for sailors at home and abroad-we can rejoice with many who are enlisted under the banners of the cross of Christ, while we mourn over very many who are far from God. But is the

pleasing or the painful state of things among them to remain stationy, or retrogade-or advance? Placing ourselves by the sure word of prophecy, we feel encouraged to reply, this is a cause which shall advance, the evangelization of our seamen shall proceed. Their improvement as a body shall go on. They shall be brought in yet greater numbers to receive the Saviour, and augment his kingdom. The Son of God, who in the days of his humiliation, spent a portion of his holy time on the shores and the seas, and the lakes of Judea, who was often found on board the ships of Galilee, who saw the perils, and pitied the fears of those who set their sails, and took their helms, will not, now that he is seated on his radiant mediatorial throne of glory, forget the men who plough the ocean, nor withhold his blessing from the efforts made to bring them to the knowledge of his truth. Come happy day! rapidly come blessed time! when all who go down in ships, and do business in great waters, shall be brought under the heavenly influence of that faith, which will purify the heart and work by love. When every ship shall be a sailing temple, and every sailor's heart the residence of the God of grace. And then how striking will be the contrast-to God shall be all the praise.

PUBLIC MEETING OF CAMBERWELL AUXILIARY.

A Public Meeting of this Auxiliary was held on Thursday Evening, 30th ultimo, in Albany Chapel, Albany Road-David Wire, Esq. presided. Owing to the unsettled state of the weather, it was not well attended; but in the course of the evening some interesting facts were disclosed by the speakers, which tended to awaken attention, and lead to enquiry. The persevering efforts of this Auxiliary are encouraging, and reflect great credit upon its active managers.