Address of the Committee, and appeal to the Public.

were in numerous instances destitute of the holy scriptures, he applied to the Association for leave to supply them with copies on the same terms as the inhabitants of his own district. Having obtained their cordial consent, he has, in the space of eighteen months, ending in April 1820, sold to the seamen in the port of Bristol no fewer than 2198 Bibles and Testaments, and paid the amount of his receipts, being 370l. 2s. 3d. to the Auxiliary Society of that city. It may reasonably be expected, that the zealous and disinterested services of this benevolent individual will now find a wider range, as a Marine Bible Association has been recently established at Bristol, under very encouraging circumstances.

SECTION II.

LONDON MERCHANT-SEAMEN'S SOCIETY, &c.

1. Towards the close of 1817, those measures which have been already detailed in the preceding section, in reference to the Thames Union Committee, were sufficiently matured to induce the gentlemen concerned to prepare and circulate an Address explanatory of the object. This admirable Address places the subject in so clear a light, that no apology can be requisite for introducing the following extracts:

"Upon an average, about five thousand vessels, of different descriptions, sail from the port of London every year. These measure upwards of one million of tons, and appear to be navigated by about sixty-five thousand men. But as some vessels make two or more voyages in the year, the seamen going annually from the port of London may be estimated at about forty-five thousand. It would be, perhaps, an unwarrantable calculation, to suppose that one-tenth part of this number are possessed of the Word of God, without which it can hardly be supposed that they should be acquainted with the doctrines and duties of our holy religion. But even on this estimate, not fewer than forty thousand of our seamen would still remain in a state of lamentable destitution of the means of religious knowledge, and consequently in a state of afflicting ignorance. The number of seamen, however, who sail from the port of London, do not constitute a third of the mercantile navy of Great Britain. The object of the proposed institution, therefore, is to provide Bibles for at least about 120,000 British seamen, now destitute of them. "And here let not the peculiarity of their situation, and of their manner of life, be forgotten. They are necessarily deprived of many advantages of instruction enjoyed by persons who live regularly on shore. Once at sea, a seaman has no choice of associates; he is fixed to his shipmates, and thus, for the most part, secluded from any society but that of the profane and dissolute. The privilege of resorting with their families to the house of GOD, to listen to his word, and of uniting with the congregation of Christian worshippers in the services of prayer and praise, is in a great measure unknown to them. The sun of the sabbath generally arises to their view from beneath the same waste of waters with the light of a common day; and

Address of the Committee, and appeal to the Public.

their thoughts and duties seem to merge in the single object of guiding their vessel through the deep. It has been calculated that one half, or two thirds, of a sailor's life is thus spent on the ocean: and that, of the remainder, one half is supposed to be passed in foreign harbours, where no Christian instruction can in general be obtained. Under these unfavourable circumstances, it is scarcely to be expected, that, during the fragment of his time which he passes in his own land, the means of instruction, even if offered to him, should be eagerly embraced. In point of fact, they are generally neglected; and for this neglect, those who are even slightly acquainted with the force of habit, and the common principles of our nature, will not find it difficult to account. The seaman remains, therefore, for the most part, as ignorant of the things which accompany salvation, as if the will of God had never been revealed to man: and even the hardships of a sea-faring life, and the thousand perils peculiarly incident to his profession, instead of awakening his mind to serious reflection, too often produce in him, from the want of Christian instruction, a contrary effect, and lead him to dedicate almost every moment of his time, while on shore, to the most sordid, and debasing, and ruinous indulgences.

"With respect to some of the disadvantages which have been enumerated, it is obvious that we cannot remove them: they belong of necessity to a seafaring life. But then these evils are not without the means of alleviation. Sailors often have at sea much time for reading. By the general diffusion of education, many of them are qualified thus to employ their time; and the disposition either to read for themselves, or to listen to others, is very prevalent among them. Unhappily, the few books to which they have access are often of the worst description. But may not their leisure hours, and their inclination for reading, be converted to a better account? Is it impossible to give a more profitable direction to their minds? Will they have no curiosity, if the means be afforded, to learn something of that God whose path is in the great waters, and whose wonders they behold in the deep? Is there nothing to interest them in the representation of their own state, and of the awful eternity to which they are hastening? Will they turn a deaf ear to the history of their Redeemer, to the hopes and promises, the invitations and threatenings, which involve their present peace and everlasting welfare? Is not the seaman, then, formed by the same Hand with ourselves? Is he not capable of being moved by the same feelings and affections? Does the volume of divine truth appeal so forcibly to all other men; and is he alone, by some law of creation, or by some hard condition of his lot, to be regarded as excluded from the common range of his Maker's bounty, and as inaccessible to the influence of his Word and Spirit? With the evidence before us of Pitcairn's Island-an island far removed from European civilization-where the descendants of a British seaman, who was happily possessed of a Bible, trained, by means of that blessed book, in the fear and love of God, are now exhibiting an example of piety which might well put even Britain to the blush ;-with such an example before us, can we doubt for one moment that the Word of GOD is still capable, under every variety of circumstance and situation, of answering the high and ennobling purposes for which it was given to mankind?

"That sacred volume, it is the object of this Address to provide for the seamen who are employed in navigating our commercial marine. And should it succeed in that object, it may be reasonably hoped, of numbers among them, that, through the blessing of its Divine Author, the Bible may become their companion and guide through life; their consolation and support in every danger; the standard, as it were, under which they sail; the

Rules and Regulations of the Society.

anchor by which they hold amid the storms of this world; and the compass to direct them to that haven, where perils will no longer beset their course, nor disturb their enjoyment of rest and tranquillity for ever.

"Nor is it unimportant, on the present occasion, just to glance at the various classes of the community who have a direct and personal interest, exclusive of the paramount obligations attaching to them as Christians, in thus providing for the moral wants of this body of men. The owners of the vast mercantile marine of Great Britain, and the merchants, manufacturers, and traders of every description whose property is confided to the hazards of the deep, or whose prosperity is connected with foreign commerce, together with their numerous dependants; and the insurers of the almost incredible amount of merchandize and shipping entrusted to the care of British seamen; are all deeply interested in using their utmost exertions that those seamen should be raised from the degradation of their present acknowledged state of ignorance and profligacy, improvidence and insubordination; and that they should be taught principles calculated to render them pious, sober, and intelligent; faithful to their trust, and obedient to their superiors."

2. This address having been extensively circulated, a general meeting was convened on the 29th of January 1818, at the Mansion House, the Lord Mayor of London in the chair, when the "London Merchant-Seamen's Auxiliary Society" was established, "for the purpose of supplying British merchant ships with the holy scriptures," and subject to the following

RULES and REGULATIONS.

I. That the Bibles and Testaments to be circulated by this society shall be without note or comment; and that those in the languages of the United Kingdom be of the authorised version.

II. That each subscriber of one guinea annually shall be a member of the society; and each subscriber of ten guineas at one time, a member for life.

III. That each subscriber of three guineas annually shall be a governor of the society; and each subscriber of twenty guineas at one time shall be a governor for life; and that governors be entitled to attend and vote at all meetings of the Committee.

IV. That the business of this society shall be conducted by a president, vice-presidents, treasurer, secretaries, and a committee, consisting of twentyfour other members, half of whom shall be members of the Established Church, and that five members constitute a quorum.

V. That all clergymen and other ministers making collections in behalf of the institution shall be members of this Society, with the privilege of attending and voting at the meetings of the committee.

VI. That the committee shall meet once every month, or oftener, on some day to be fixed by themselves.

VII. That a general meeting of the subscribers be held once, at least, in each year, when the accounts shall be presented, the proceedings of the past year stated, a new committee appointed, and a report agreed upon, to be printed under the direction of the committee.

VIII. That, in the formation of the new committee, such three-fourths of the other members who shall have most frequently attended the committee shall be re-eligible for the ensuing year.

Indifference of Ship-owners to the spiritual welfare of Seamen.

In addition to these Regulations, the following RESOLUTION was adopted at the general meeting :

"That the Committee be instructed to take the earliest and most effectual measures for obtaining the patronage, contributions, and active co-ope ration of the various corporate bodies, and of all merchants, ship-owners, underwriters, tradesmen, ship-masters, and others connected with the trade or marine of the port of London: that the officers and crews of merchant ships be encouraged to form Bible Associations on a plan to be framed by the Committee: that it is expedient to encourage the formation of Branch Societies at the principal out-ports of the British empire; such Branch Societies, and their individual members, to be entitled to the same privileges from the Auxiliary Society as its members derive from the Parent Institu tion: and that immediate steps be taken, by opening a correspondence with the different out-ports, for giving effect to this Resolution."

3. A very limited degree of experience was sufficient to convince the Committee of the London Merchant-Seamen's Society, that the peculiar nature of the work in which they had engaged, demanded the application of extraordinary means. The plan of Depositories had been tried by the Thames Union Committee, on a scale that must have ensured success, had the inclination to possess the sacred records been prevalent among seamen. In addition to this, the Committee of the new society issued circular letters to the owners or ships' husbands of all vessels entering out at the Custom House, and to the captains of all such ships, soliciting their countenance and support, and proffering a supply of Bibles and Testaments on the most liberal terms. At their first annual meeting, they were compelled to report "the total and absolute failure of every effort made by them in this direction."

"The numerous letters which they circulated among the owners and masters of vessels did not produce a single application for Bibles at the Society's depository in London: and since the formation of the institution, to the 31st of December 1819, only twenty-one Bibles and thirty-nine Testaments have been sold there. So utterly inefficient, indeed, did this method of accomplishing the object of the society prove, that the Committee, after persevering in the experiment for upwards of three months, were at last induced to discontinue it."

Nor should this failure excite surprise, however it may occasion regret. The nature of that connexion which subsists between seamen and their employers, particularly in the port of London, is too transient and uncertain to create or cherish an interest, on the part of the latter, in the spiritual welfare of the former. The ship-owners of Great Britain are, as a body, remarkable for their attention to the personal comforts of the men; but it cannot be denied, that an indifference to those concerns which regard their eternal interests has been

Necessity of an Agent; and appointment of Lieutenant Cox.

long and lamentably prevalent. On the other hand, sailors, as has been already observed, too generally look upon re-` ligion as a matter with which they have no concern;-the BIBLE is a book of which they had seldom heard; and they required to have its inestimable value pointed out to them in a manner which they could understand. Here arose another difficulty for sailors must be addressed in their own way. The observation may seem strange, but it is no less true, that few landsmen are qualified to gain the attention and awaken the interest of this singular but valuable race of men. To these combined causes may be attributed the failure of every measure founded on the presumption that seamen would apply for Bibles. It was therefore evident that an interest must be created in the minds of sailors in favour of the Bible. To effect this, it became necessary to select an individual as AGENT, whose knowledge of the peculiar character, manners, and habits of seamen qualified him for this particular service. In reference to this important subject, the Committee thus express themselves:

"As vessels proceeding on foreign voyages generally bring up at Gravesend, for the purpose of obtaining their final clearance, it appeared to the Committee, that it would be highly important, indeed indispensable, with a view to the success of the institution, to station at that place an active and intelligent Agent, whose business it should be to visit all outward-bound ships, and to act, in supplying them with the Scriptures, under the general instructions of the Committee, according to the circumstances of each case. In Lieutenant Cox, of the Royal Navy, they had reason given them to expect the zeal, activity, intelligence, and discretion which the situation required; and they have not been disappointed. They were led to confide in his exertions, and he has fully justified their confidence."

As the Committee report, that "this plan has succeeded beyond their hopes," it appears necessary to enter more fully into its details; commencing with the

4. INSTRUCTIONS FURNISHED TO LIEUTENANT Cox.

"1. It will be proper that you should make some provisional arrangements for a depôt, where the books in your possession may be safely kept, and conveniently arranged; and which may unite the advantages of forming a good look-out towards the river, and of being tolerably easy of access. It will be further necessary to engage the means of boarding outward-bound vessels with promptness and facility.

II. It will be your main business, for the present, to visit every ship destined on a foreign voyage, which may bring up at Gravesend, or stop there a sufficient time to admit of your boarding her; and to ascertain whether there are on board any, and what number, of copies of the holy scriptures, for the use of the ship's company during the voyage.

II. If no supply, or only an inadequate one, should have been previously procured, we authorise you to present to the captain or chief officer, for the