suits and practices, or support our favorite prejudices, we do, in effect, come to inquire of the Lord with idols in our hearts, and can expect nothing but a corresponding answer. The same remark is applicable to every one, who consults the Scriptures, while he neglects known duties, or disobeys known commands. Such a man has idols in his heart; idols which he prefers to Jehovah; and why should he be favored with any further answers, while he disregards those which he has already received? We may see these remarks exemplified in the history of Saul. He had been guilty, he was still guilty, of known disobedience; and therefore, when he inquired of the Lord, the Lord answered him not. To a similar cause, the ill success of many, who now consult the Scriptures, without deriving from them any advantage, is, doubtless, to be ascribed.

There are others whose want of success in consulting the oracles of God is owing to their unbelief. As no food can nourish those, who do not partake of it; as no medicines can prove salutary to those, who refuse to make use of them; so no oracles can be serviceable to those, by whom they are not believed with a cordial, practical, operative faith. It must ever be remembered that though the Scriptures are able to make us wise unto salvation, it is only through faith in Christ Jesus. To those, in whom this faith does not exist, wisdom is not imparted.

Finally, many persons derive no benefit from the oracles of God, because they attempt to consult them without prayer. But without prayer, though they may be read, they cannot, properly speaking, be consulted. Consulting an oracle is an act, which, in its very nature, implies an acknowledgment of ignorance, and a petition for guidance, for instruction. It is the act of a blind man, extending his hand to an unseen guide, and requesting his assistance. He, then, who reads the Scriptures without prayer, does not really consult them; does not treat them as an oracle; and, therefore, shall not find them such. It is to him, who first humbly speaks to God, that God will condescend to speak. It is to him, who, with the temper of a little child, and with a heart which receives the truth in the love of it, consults. the oracle upon his knees, and prays over every response, that God will unlock all his hidden treasures of wisdom and knowledge. He who, in this manner, daily consults it, shall be

guided as safely, as an all-wise God can guide him; and conducted to heaven as certainly, as there is a heaven; for if he who walketh with wise men shall be wise, how much more shall he who walketh with God? Whatever else we neglect, then, let us not neglect the Scriptures. Whatever else we consult, let us not fail to consult the oracles of God. Should we be guilty of this negligence, the queen of the South will rise up in the judgment, and condemn us; for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; but wisdom, infinitely greater than that of Solomon, is here. Nay, the heathen will rise up, and condemn us; for they spared no labor or expense in consulting their worthless oracles; but we have the living oracles of the living God in our hands, and may at all times consult them, without expense, and without fatigue. Who, then, will be so much his own enemy as to neglect them? When the Infinite, the Allwise, the Almighty God, stooping from his eternal throne in the heavens, condescends to address us as a father; to place before us a transcript of his mind and his heart; to converse with us familiarly, as a man talketh with his friend; to narrate the history of his past works, and of past ages; and to reveal to us future scenes, and events;, and when the information thus communicated, involves the fate of the world which we inhabit, our own eternal destiny, and that of our fellow creatures; who can be so insensible, so sottish, so impious, as to refuse attention! Whosoever hath ears to hear, let him hear. O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of Jehovah ! Listen, O listen, when thy Maker speaks.

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But to consult the oracles of God is not the only duty imposed by their possession. Another duty, which we are no less sacredly bound to perform, is to place them, so far as we have ability and opportunity, in the hands of our destitute fellow creatures. An opportunity of performing this duty is now presented you. The object of the Society, at whose instance we are assembled, is, to furnish a numerous, valuable, and too long neglected class of our fellow citizens, with the sacred oracles; and to persuade them, if possible, to consult these oracles in such a manner, as shall insure their present moral and religious improvement, and their final salvation. In the prosecution of this object, the Society need, and request, your countenance, your aid; and they will not, we trust, request it in vain. By granting it, you may

place in the hands of a fellow immortal, at once, all the truth, which the Father of Lights was employed, for many ages, in communicating to mankind. You may confer on him, at a very trifling expense, those sacred oracles, which, at the expense of numberless miracles, God conferred on his chosen, favored people, as the most valuable gift which his providential hand could bestow. You may confer a blessing more valuable than wealth, than liberty, than life itself. All your other possessions, without the Bible, would be a gift, incomparably less precious than the Bible alone. By conferring this gift on mariners, we shall assist in discharging a debt of no trifling magnitude, which has already remained too long unpaid. To mariners we are indebted, under God, for a considerable portion of those very oracles, with which we are now requested to furnish mariners. That several of the writers of the New Testament, and a still greater number of the apostles, belonged to this class of society, you need not be informed. We are, also, deeply indebted to them in a temporal view. They have long acted a humble, indeed, but a most important part, in extending the boundaries of human knowledge, in aiding the progress and diffusing the blessings, of civilization, and thus promoting the general interests of mankind. To them our country is indebted for its discovery, and its settlement. To them this city, in common with all other commercial cities, is indebted for its prosperity. Their direct, or indirect agency has erected, decorated, and furnished your houses, replenished your stores, and increased your wealth and population to their present extent. Take away seamen, and where is commerce? Take away commerce, and where is the prosperity of this city? They are the hands which she extends to the east, and to the west, to grasp, and bring home to her bosom, the rich fruits of widely distant climes. To them we are all indebted for the various foreign productions, which compose so large a part of the conveniences, and even necessaries, of civilized life. You can visit no town, you can scarcely find a cottage, in our country, to the support and comfort of whose inhabitants, mariners have not contributed.

It must not be forgotten that, in procuring for us these advantages, our seamen have placed at hazard, not only their lives, but their eternal interests. Of this fact, as well as of our obligations to this neglected part of the community, most of us

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have, probably, thought too little, and too lightly. While enjoying, at our ease, the fruits of their perils and labors, we have too often failed to recollect, that the men who procured for us these enjoyments, did it at the expense, of cutting themselves off from most of the comforts of civilized, social, and domestic life; depriving themselves, in a great measure, of the religious institutions and privileges with which their countrymen are favored; throwing themselves into the midst of snares and temptations, and jeoparding all that is valuable, all that ought to be dear, to an immortal, accountable being, advancing to meet the retributions of eternity. We have not sufficiently adverted to the obvious fact, that the mariner, while pursuing the voyage of life, is almost inevitably exposed to rocks, whirlpools, and quicksands, incomparably more dangerous, and more difficult to shun, than any which he is called to encounter in navigating the deep. A very little reflection will convince us, that, while he continues to be exposed to these dangers without any safeguard, foreign productions must be obtained at an expense, infinitely transcending their value; an expense which no finite mind can estimate, and which no benevolent mind can contemplate but with horror. Did we view this subject in the light of revelation, and feel in view of it as we ought; it may well be doubted, whether we could enjoy the productions thus obtained, or even consent to make use of them. When David thirsted for water from the well of Bethlehem, whence he had often drawn refreshment in his youthful days, and some of his soldiers, at the hazard of their lives, broke through an opposing army to procure for him a cup of this much desired water, he refused to drink of it, but poured it out before the Lord, exclaiming, Be it far from me that I should do this; is it not the blood of the men, who went in jeopardy of their lives! He felt that water, thus obtained, was too precious for a mortal's lips: too precious for any other use, than that of being offered to the Lord of life. And who will deny, that this was the language, that these were the genuine feelings, of a noble, benevolent, pious mind? Yet how often do we forget to exercise similar feelings, in similar circumstances? How often do we, without reflection, eat, and drink, and wear, the price of blood, the blood of the soul! How deeply dyed with this blood are foreign productions, before they reach our hands! How many of our fel

low immortals have sunk, not in the ocean merely, but in the gulf of perdition, that we might be gratified with the fruits of other climes! My hearers, were there no other remedy for these tremendous evils, were they necessarily and inseparably connected with commerce, every one who possesses a particle of that spirit by which David was then animated, or of that concern for immortal beings which glowed in the bosom of the Son of David, would say, that commerce ought to be at once, and forever, abandoned. Every one who has the feelings, I will not say of a Christian, but of a man, would exclaim, "Better, infinitely better, that we should be confined to the productions of our own soil, than that so many of our fellow creatures, our countrymen, should be exposed to such imminent danger of moral and eternal ruin!" But we are not reduced to this alternative. A remedy for the moral evils to which our mariners are exposed is already provided, and may easily be applied. Let them all be furnished with the oracles of God. Let those by whom they are employed, whose advice they will, probably, respect, say something to them of the value of these oracles, and of the infinite importance of consulting them aright. Let measures be taken for enabling them to enjoy the full benefit of our religious institutions, during the short periods of their residence on shore. In a word, let them be convinced, that we regard them as immortal, accountable creatures; that we feel a deep solicitude for their present and future happiness; that we are willing to do all in our power to secure it; and that we believe it can be secured by no other means, than those which the Scriptures reveal. Is this requiring too much? I will not offer such an insult to the understandings and the hearts of this assembly, as to indulge a suspicion that they are disposed to reply, "It is." Some of the largest commercial cities in our own, and in other countries, have already practically said, "It is not requiring too much." The members of this Marine Bible Society, and many others among your fellow citizens, have, in the same manner, made a similar reply. They have made the most laudable exertions to meliorate the moral condition of your seamen, and to furnish them with an antidote to those evils to which they are peculiarly exposed; and nothing, but a more extensive and efficient co-operation on the part of those who employ them, is wanting to render these exertions successful.