the circumstances in which the Society is placed, and the spirit which animates its friends, we have ample ground to hope that a glorious career of usefulness and prosperity is before it. May His blessing rest upon it whose favour alone can give strength!

REPORT OF THE ISLINGTON AUXILIARY TO THE BRITISH AND FOREIGN SAILORS' SOCIETY.

THE Tenth Anniversary Meeting of the above Auxiliary was held in Islington Chapel, on Friday Evening, the 12th of April, 1844, David Wire, Esq. in the Chair. The following Report was read :—

What an interesting object is the sea! Its vastness and ever restless motion suggest ideas of grandeur and of power the most sublime. Its treasures, whether those which it carries or those which it conceals-whether those which lie deposited in its sands or in its ships-in ships that sail or in ships that have sunk-defy all the calculations of arithmetic to announce. When tempestuous, what an image of raging madness! when calm and resplendent as a molten looking-glass, what an image of dignified peace!

But there is an object of more absorbing interest than the sea; one associated with more worlds than our own; one whose influences are more extended; one whose activities will be unimpaired when there is "no more sea;" one the value of which defies all comparison; one which, through the ages of eternity, will present the sublime characteristics of unruffled peace or undying rage. There sails upon the ocean a being partaking of a spiritual nature, that bears the impress of an immortality as enduring as the Divine throne, and concerning which the unanswerable inquiry has been propounded by Infinite Wisdom, "What is a man profited if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul: or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" And that soul is destined for a world of horrific terror or of peaceful glory. The redemption of the soul is precious!

Sailors have souls. The announcement is common-place, but it is true, and it is weighty. Thousands have gazed upon the "deep dark blue ocean" who have never observed the sailor; and thousands have gazed upon the sailor who have forgotten his soul. Yes, and Christians too! Fifty years back, and the men who protected our shores, extended our commerce, and laid the world's luxury of wealth at our feet, might have rebuked the churches by their bitter lamentation, "No man careth for My soul!" There were mariners then who for us rode over the mountain-wave, and braved the storm. Mariners have been the defenders of our faith, for by whom was the invincible Armada driven back? Often have they preserved our peaceful homes from bloodshed and strife; but whilst our admirals have cried in their hearing, "England expects every man to do his duty," and with that expectation sailors have nobly complied, England has not done her duty to the men who have so fearlessly befriended her welfare and obeyed her call.

It is chiefly within the memory of the present generation that definite exertions have been planned for the conversion of seamen to Christ. The church, ever too tardy in the benevolent enterprises of her holy faith, has at length thought it but fitting, that since mariners are men, they should share in the "spoils of her dedicated things;" and, by the good hand of God upon their labours, "the sons of Zebulon” in vast numbers now welcome the Saviour to their souls and to their ships. Six hundred vessels hoist the Bethel-banner, that "token for good," which proclaims to every beholder that that ship is no longer "the floating hell," but "the house of God." Captains may be enumerated by hundreds, who from heedless and awful swearers have become men who fear an oath, and worship God in spirit and in truth; the chaplains of their own vessels, and patterns of piety to reformed and regenerated crews. Pilots are learning the chart of life's ocean, that they may avoid its quicksands, and sail safely out of its Downs. Steersmen are taking the Word of God as their compass, and seeking the influences of the Holy Spirit as their most prosperous

gale. Mates are helps-meet for their commanders, obeying more from love than from terror; setting the time of religious worship, and joining with the captain in praise and prayer. Cabin-boys are becoming missionaries, and exult in no part of their duty so much as to unfurl the Bethel-flag, "the cloud by day," or to hang the lantern at the mast-head, "the cloud by night," for they both proclaim the presence of the worship of Israel's God. There are religious libraries in ships at sea, as well as in schools on land; and tracts are now passed from vessel to vessel, and from berth to berth, as well as from house to house and from room to room. The Thames has missionaries as well as the City; and there is a metropolitan chapel, humble though it be, that the sailor may feel his own; and there are schools in which his children may be taught the knowledge that pertains to this world and the world to come. Upon our own coasts, and upon the continental shores, there are some few spots where sailors meet "under their own vine." Rooms and chapels for the sailor, from whatever clime, have been provided; and ministers, who may be said to preach to them in their own nautical dialect the wonderful works of God.

As illustrating these general remarks, you will be interested in the following statements. About the close of last year, a pious sailor accosted one of the Thames missionaries, saying, "There is a great change in our captain. Five of us in the forecastle made it a matter of solemn prayer that he might be saved; our prayers have been heard. He now attends our Bethel meetings, and has family prayer in the cabin ; he takes part in our devotional services, and we have peace and order, and all goes on well. Frequently," he added, "we have forty or fifty at our prayermeetings in Long Reach, and scarcely a meeting without three or four pious captains."

The Rev. E. E. Adams, who was formerly chaplain to the seamen at St. Petersburg, and who is now usefully settled at Havre, relates an account of an officer of one of Her Majesty's ships at Portsmouth, which he received from his own lips. The officer was about going to a ball, when his cabin-boy placed a hymn-book in his pocket. When the officer arose to dance, he put his hand in his pocket and found this book. He opened it and read a line, which deeply impressed him. Returning to the ship, he could not sleep. The next morning he called the boy, and inquired about the book; after some hesitation, the cabin-boy confessed what he had done. "Well," said the officer, " read some hymns to me." He did so. "Now," said the officer, "read a chapter in the Bible to me." It was done. "Now pray with me." He did so. The officer became a Christian, and continues until now a devoted and consistent follower of Christ.

The Bethel services are often of the most interesting character. Sailors have much generosity of disposition; they are men of strong feeling, and when awakened to a sense of the evil of their past mad career, they discover much deep contrition and simple-hearted candour. They "pray in prayer," and praise with "melody in their hearts unto the Lord." One of the Thames missionaries, speaking of a Bethel service on board a vessel in Regent's Canal Basin, states, "An old Bethel captain made some remarks after the sermon, to encourage the sailors to serve God, after which I called upon a sailor to pray. This man had for some time been a consistent Christian; he kneeled and poured out his heart in these words: 'Lord, in this vessel I served my apprenticeship, and sailed many voyages; Thou knowest I was then a drunken sailor, a blaspheming sailor, and disobedient to thy commands. I bless thee that I went to the sailors' chapel at Bell Wharf; that Thou didst give power to the Gospel preached there, and that I am now a new creature in Christ Jesus."" The missionary relates, that before this man attended the sailors' chapel, he had not been in a place of worship for fifteen years; and that whereas then he was thin in person and destitute of clothes, he now looks like the son of a king, fine, healthy, and noble ; and his family are being trained in the ways of God.

Such cases as these are not unfrequent, but the limits of this report prevent enlargement.

Whilst it is cause of congratulation that such efforts are made, and are attended with such tokens of the Divine blessing, it is still matter for sincere lamentation that the exertions are so limited, and this because the Society is so feebly sustained. There are in the port of London alone upwards of 50,000 seamen from all the nations of the globe (a population very nearly equal to that of this favoured but populous parish) a population accessible and ever changing, and by access to which we may

be said to have access to the world. Were all the resources of the Sailors' Society drained to sustain suitable operations in this port alone, such resources would prove far too scanty; nay, the income of the Society had need be increased fourfold. Though there is, perhaps, no port in the kingdom where the means of religious instruction are more abundant, thousands of the ocean's hardy sons never hear the sound of the missionary's voice. To supply the wants of the port of London alone, much greater assistance is indispensable. And then, when it is remembered that, adorned as our country and our coasts are with monuments of philanthropy and pity, we have no suitable chapel at our port for sailors-no sanctuary worthy of the Society, or likely to attract the attention of many of our mariners; when it is remembered that the attempts made to supply a refuge and means of religious instruction to the thousands of Asiatic sailors who visit our shores, and frequently live and die unbefriended and unblessed, have been obliged to be abandoned for want of pecuniary means; when it is remembered that there are a vast number of ports (not only around our own island, but in distant parts, as Canton, for example, where there is so large a floating population) at which agents might be most usefully located, but which are now neglected, and that nothing but pecuniary support is required, can it be said that the British churches have placed this Society in its right position upon the scale of benevolent aid, or that the cause of sailors has been espoused with an ardour becoming its claims?

The receipts of the Parent Society for the year ending at their last annual meeting, (1843) amounted to no more than £2,200; whilst their liabilities at the time of the audit of the accounts amounted to nearly half that sum. Whatever, therefore, the appeals which kindred institutions may make, there are none that call more loudly, or should be responded to more promptly or more cordially than this! The Islington Auxiliary has been, it is believed, one of the most steady and generous supporters of the Parent Society; but who that knows the means of this favoured vicinity, or that considers what it has done for other objects, can say, respecting the Sailors' cause, Islington has done what it could? The receipts of this Auxiliary for the past year have amounted to £114 58. 5d.; from which have been paid, for sundry expenses, £2 138. Od.; leaving a balance of £111 12s. 5d., which has been handed over to the Treasurer of the Parent Institution; making the total contributed by this Auxiliary since its formation, in 1834, £1,091 0s. 9d.

It is truly gratifying to find that so noble an effort has been recently made on the part of the young, for the purchase of a ship to be employed in the service of missions in the South Seas, and in which effort the juvenile part of the dissenting churches of Islington has not been behind; for what they alone have raised, in the course of a few weeks, for this object, will most likely exceed the entire amount raised by this Auxiliary for the Sailors' Society during the whole year. But can it be that Christian sympathy will do more for the vessel than for the mariners who must undertake its management-more for the natives of islands in the distant Pacific than for our own sons; nay, and the people, too, of every clime, and of every tribe, that are brought to our very shores, and who, enlightened by the Gospel, would be missionaries, gratuitous and efficient, to every coast and every people? The dangers of the sailor,the privations of the sailor,-the character and usefulness of the sailor, when converted by the grace of God,-the number of sailors (there are 300,000 British sailors only); all these are considerations which may well awaken our sympathies, as they urge a claim upon our compassion and support. Let us devise liberal things, for the work is great and glorious. We engage in no uncertain warfare, for not only shall the "isles wait for God's law," but "the abundance of the seas shall be converted unto Him." It is written, "Truly the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first."

The several resolutions were moved, and supported by the Rev. Messrs. Littler, A. J. Morris, Allon, S. Davis, C. J. Hyatt, Captains Green, Butchardt, Morgan, Rippon, and by Mr. Fieldwick, junior Thames missionary.

REPORT OF THE EAST LONDON AUXILIARY TO THE BRITISH AND FOREIGN SAILORS' SOCIETY.

THE Anniversary Meeting of this efficient auxiliary was held in the spacious School Rooms belonging to Stepney Meeting, on Wednesday, Joseph Maitland, Esq., in the chair; when the following Report was presented :

It is now seven years since this auxiliary was formed for the purpose of promoting local objects, as well as to aid the Parent Society in its operations both at home and abroad. During this period it has been endeavouring, though but feebly, to carry out this design.

The class of men among whom it labours are generally admitted to be of vast importance to us as a commercial nation. Their noble conduct in defence of their country-their patient endurance of hardships and privations-their exposure to accident and death, not for their own benefit but for the general good-have called forth our admiration, and have urged the strongest claims upon our gratitude: yet they have been generally considered a necessarily reckless class of men, whose occupation demanded a bold and fearless disposition, whom it would be useless, if not unwise, to attempt to reform, and upon whom all efforts for their spiritual benefit would be but as casting pearls before swine. Happily there has been and there still exists abundant evidence to prove that the same amount of means adapted to the end have in their case been as successful as in any department of Christian enterprise. Often have instances of magnanimity and holy fortitude been displayed by seamen, who, having a good hope through grace, have been calm in the midst of danger, and have encouraged each other to trust in God and expect his deliverance; or, while sinking in the wave to rise no more till the day when the sea shall be called to give up its dead, have committed the keeping of their souls to Him whom while they lived they honoured, and in dying could praise and adore.

It is computed that from 15,000 to 20,000 seamen are constantly in the port of London, besides from 8,000 to 10,000 watermen, lightermen, bargemen, &c., among whom the British and Foreign Sailors' Society, by means of their Thames Missionaries and agents, exert a powerful and beneficial influence, yet, from the limited state of its finances, only a small part of what could be desired has been accomplished-leaving abundant scope for the energies of their East London Auxiliary, whose labours are confined to the Lord's day, and whose agency is wholly gratuitous. By means of the friends of the cause who are thus voluntarily engaged, many of the boarding-houses have been visited, tracts have been distributed to seamen in the streets, accompanied with an invitation to attend the House of God. The basin of the Regent's Canal has been visited nearly every Sabbath afternoon, tracts or Sailors' Magazines left on board each of the vessels, and also in many of the barges. Libraries or volumes of suitable books have been lent on board vessels going to sea, and by the aid of the agents of the Parent Society, ships have been obtained for holding Bethel meetings, which have been conducted by ministers in the districtby members of the committee and others.

The Religious Tract Society has kindly assisted the Auxiliary with two grants of tracts to the amount of £5 each, upon payment of one half.

The number of tracts granted to associations during the past year

To Cotton-street Chapel, Poplar (Baptist)

1500

......

Two libraries, containing about 50 volumes each, have been sent to sea; one to Sydney, and the other to Antigua.

The number of Bethel services during the same period has been—

Thus between six and seven hundred sailors have had the simple truths of the Gospel brought before them, many of whom had not been in the habit of attending any place of worship; and some of these, we fear, have in the late disastrous gales passed into eternity, and who but for these means might have perished unwarned.

It is gratifying to the Committee to know that in addition to the number of sailors who attended at Bell Wharf Chapel, several may be seen in most of the places of worship in this neighbourhood every Lord's day.

The Bethel services have not only been beneficial to the seamen who have attended them, but often have the friends conducting them found it cheering and profitable to themselves. The kind and hearty reception-the anxiety manifested to accommodate all who came (and the cabins are often quite full)-the earnest supplications of the seamen who engage in prayer, as one or two usually do at each meeting-and their wrestling for the conversion of their fellow-seamen-all tend to prove that the labour bestowed on this important class of men has not been unproductive: the bread cast upon the waters is found again after many days.

The Ladies' Association, through whose devoted exertions several hundred pounds have been added to the funds of the Parent Society, have, during the past year, collected above £100 for this good cause. They are still prepared to do as heretofore, and even much more, and would be glad of the assistance and co-operation of other Christian females who have the opportunity.*

Extracts from the reports of the several associations will appear in our next.

1

Correspondence.

THE LASCARS.

THE following letter has been received from our friend Mr. Thompson, who was for a short time engaged by the Committee of the Lascar Institution to visit and instruct these neglected strangers, and who is now employed in the same work, under the direction of the City Mission.

"MY DEAR SIR,-According to my promise, I beg to forward to you some account of my labours amongst the Lascars, and shall be happy occasionally to supply your readers with some further information respecting them.

"There are many sailors here at this time of the year, both Foreign and British. It is a time of great excitement, and many hard-earned pounds are squandered away by these carelesssons of the ocean.' If there were three, or even four missionaries expressly for the British and Foreign sailors in this locality,† they could find plenty to do.

"Every inducement that the avaricious minds of the publicans can invent, is held out to fleece the poor simple sailors. I shall give you a short account of some visits to the poor Lascars; and it is very gratifying to find their case is not forgotten by

* Read Extracts from Ladies' and other Reports.
Poplar and Blackwall,