encountered the king of terrors in some solitary hut, or in the midst of some crowded city;-all shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and shall live again! Oh how vast the multitude! Human calculation fails to grasp the conception of its numbers. And the SEA shall give up its dead, and what multitudes are there! What terror in all ages has the treacherous wave excited! The trembling mariner, in olden times, guided his frail bark, timidly, along the coast, and often cast an anxious look upon the face of the heavens, to catch the first signs of the approaching storm. And still, though science, and skill, and courage, brace the nerves of our hardy seamen, and embolden them to go forth upon the trackless deep, whose heart does not sink within him when raging tempests, and foaming waves, tell him that death is nigh? It is calculated, that of British seamen alone, two thousand perish annually, at sea. And if their whole number amounts but to three hundred thousands, out of nearly three millions belonging to all nations, and if the same proportion of these perish, the sea is receiving nearly twenty thousand yearly, added to the numbers that have for generations and for ages sunk beneath the wave. And that work of death still goes on,-year after year,—and will, till the end of time. Could imagination realise the scene, could fancy grasp the conception, and behold, at one glance, the rising dead, in every ocean, every shore, on every wave; what buried treasures would the Baltic give back,-and the Atlantic, and Pacific, and the Indian ocean, and the smaller seas, and still more dangerous coasts! What thronging numbers would rise from the cavern that surround our sea-girt isle! The mind is overwhelmed with the vastness of the scene; the countless multitude of the dead which the sea shall give up.

Imagine the circumstances under which the dead have found a watery grave. It is soothing to the mind to anticipate a peaceful departure in the bosom of a loved and sympathizing family; and, at the close of a long life of usefulness and honor, to breathe out our spirit amidst the tears, and soft attentions, and gentle whispers, of friendship and of love. But to die at sea, amidst the fury of a tempest; to be washed overboard, in the appalling darkness of the night, when no one is present to stretch forth a helping hand, or to witness the unexpected disaster; to founder, with a horror-struck crew, in the midst of ocean; to die on a foreign shore,-or, at best, with the rough hand of a sailor to minister the last sad offices of friendship, and with the prospect of finding a grave, not with the ashes of our fathers, but in the depths of ocean,-how sickening is the thought! And yet these are but some of the forms under which death meets the sailor. How many seamen's widows there are who know not where their husbands perished. How many, whose partners sunk beneath the ravages of fever, in some burning clime,-when no wife was present to apply to his parched lips the cooling draught, or wipe the death-sweats from his aching brow. How many, the bones of whose dearest, earthly friend, lie bleaching in some foreign land, after his stately barque had suffered shipwreck on that rocky shore. Oh what bitter anguish has

torn the heart of the sailor's widow. What heart-rending recollections recur to the memory! How many vain wishes uttered." Could I but have attended him in his last sickness. Could I have spoken but one word of comfort to his agitated mind. Could I but know what his feelings were when the storm howled, and danger threatened, and death was inevitable; when no one could calm and comfort him, and when perhaps, all like himself, were at their wits end." But the wish is vain. The ocean's roar, and the tempests' moan, were his funeral knell; and whilst his wife and peaceful family were talking of their loved absent one by the fire side at home, death was grappling with his victim on the surface of the wave, and amidst the fury of the storm. How appalling the circumstances under which the sea receives its dead! (To be continued.)

Correspondence.

THE "SHIP MANEUVERER."

The following letter refers to an important invention, recently discovered, and now in course of application. The pamphlet kindly forwarded to us contains some interesting extracts from letters of naval officers, and others, giving a favourable opinion of the contrivance, and of the probability of its complete success.

DEAR SIR,—It will, I am sure, give you, and every friend of sailors, yea of humanity, satisfaction to learn, that a late invention under the above name, now applying to a vessel (of her Majesty's) building at Woolwich, with a view to make her, in a calm, ever capable of turning her awfully destructive broadside to her opponent, is intended to be tested as to its applicability of saving men's lives as well as destroying

them.

Your nautical readers, and very many besides, are fully aware that most of the vessels that are wrecked are lost on our own and other coasts, from the fact, that despite the utmost exertion and best nautical skill, a ship in a gale of wind, when near the land, cannot be kept off a lee shore. The danger is apparent, the helm is put hard down at the most favourable juncture, the experienced and dauntless crew turn every sail, but the vessel notwithstanding all misses stays, breakers are close a-head; an endeavour is made to wear-ship, for which there is not sufficient space; she strikes!! and then oh! the distressing tale that has been told a thousand times, of shrieks, despair, and death! whereas if the noble barque could have been brought round head to wind she would, in all probability, have been safe; and instead of the tears of the widow and the sorrow of the fatherless, there would have been joyous greetings and congratulations.

Some of my sailor friends, who know what a storm at sea is, very much question the possibility of bringing a power to bear upon a vessel

in a heavy gale sufficient to effect the above object; but let us hope that science, which has done much, will be made yet further available to the salvation of the property, but more especially the lives of our intrepid tars.

As first ideas are often improved upon, and that which is in the offset partially deficient, in the end becomes effective, it cannot be wrong to call general attention to the "Manoeuverer." I enclose particulars and drawings for your information, and that of any friends interested in such a subject;—and who is not?

May the "Manoeuverer" be useless in our Queen's ships, for the best of reasons, that in future war should be only known from the record of the past; and may it become available to the lessening of shipwrecks upon our own and other coasts.

I am,

Your's most truly,

A DIRECTOR.

THE REV. T. ROBINSON'S MISSIONARY TOUR

(Continued.)

The following morning I left London, with a view to embark at Shoreham for Havre, a missionary station supported by the American Seamen's Friend Society. We landed at Havre, after a somewhat boisterous passage, just as the town clock struck the hour of midnight. The military costumes and mustachios, which even at that hour were so numerous between the vessel and the custom-house, to which our steps were first to be directed, sufficiently reminded me that we were now in a foreign country where greater vigilance and force were thought necessary than in our own; and the demand for our passport seemed to intimate a smaller share of liberty to us here than in the land that we had left. The gensdarmes, however, suffered me to disembark without a passport, as I had been unable to procure one at Shoreham ; while the donanniers were, also, lenient enough in the search of our luggage. The next step was of course directed to a hotel. How sweet to feel, that, though alone in a foreign land, you are not alone, but the father is with you: the same father, whose presence you enjoyed in your own land, and at your own home; and that you can hold the same converse with him here that you did in your own closet, or at your own domestic altar, when surrounded by your family and friends! Enjoying, in some degree, this sweetness, I thankfully lay down to sleep my first sleep in France.

Next morning I sought out our friend and brother Mr. Adams, the seamen's chaplain at Havre, and already well known to the readers of this magazine. On my introducing myself as the sailors' missionary from Newcastle, though unknown to him by face, he received me with the cordiality of a brother. I was at home. The conversation we held, and the fellowship we enjoyed, at the throne of grace, were refreshing; while the information I obtained regarding the sphere of our brother's labour was truly gratifying. The population of Havre, with its environs, is about 50,000. Of these about 8000 are professedly Protestants, including about 400 English residents. Of the French Protestants only about 500 regularly attend the French National Church; while the French Dissenters, under M. Marauld, as their pastor, amount only to about forty members. The ministrations in the Episcopal Chapel not being held in the highest estimation by the English residents, many of them attend the ministry of Mr. Adams. The church in which Mr. A. preaches is a neat little edifice, erected by the American Seamen's Friend Society, and capable of containing about 300 persons, which, including American and English sailors, is about the number of stated hearers. There are about thirty regular communicants; and, connected with the church, is a Sabbath School of about seventy children, and

a library of 1000 volumes. Besides the American Church, and the services held there on the Sabbath day, Mr. A. occupies a Bethel room in the more immediate vicinity of the shipping, capable of containing about seventy-five persons, where a lecture is delivered every Thursday evening, and a prayer meeting occasionally held on another evening of the week. In the Bethel is a library of 1000 volumes, to which sailors have constant access. Here they may meet together in an evening, sit and read, write letters to their friends, or hold prayer meetings among themselves, which I understand they sometimes do.

A part of my first day in Havre was spent, in conjunction with Mr. A., in visiting the shipping, and in inviting sailors to the services of the ensuing Sabbath. I distributed a good many tracts among French, English, and Americans, by all of whom they seemed to be well received. On the morning of Sabbath day, an hour or two before service, I repeated the visit with the same object. Several captains of vessels attended the morning service, though but few common sailors. The morning service was conducted by Mr. A., that in the evening being allotted to myself. We both visited the quay, and the shipping again in the afternoon, and received a good many promises of attendance. Not a few seemed to have kept their word, as a goodly number of sailors were present in the evening. The congregation was an interesting one, composed of captains and sailors, from Britain and America, English residents, French citizens with their mustachios, and French women without bonnets. A meeting was announced to be held on the following evening in the Bethel, as well as another on the Thursday evening. Previous to that on the Monday evening, we again paid a visit to the shipping, and found several captains preparing for the Bethel. It was delightful thus to meet, in a foreign land, with one's own countrymen, and some even from one's own neighbourhood-to enjoy fellowship with them at a throne of grace, to join in the praise of God, and to meditate upon his word. May the privileges thus enjoyed not be in vain; and may the Christian church see from hence the immense importance of the establishment of Bethel stations in every seaport town where our seamen may be hailed by a brother who cares for their souls, where they may be gathered around the throne of grace, and have the invitations of the cross affectionately urged upon their acceptance.

I must here state in passing, how I found the Sabbath to be regarded in France. The fact is, there is no Sabbath in France. It is blotted out from the days of the week. The name, as well as the thing, is almost, if not entirely, unknown to the vast majority of Frenchmen. They have their Dimanche, or Sunday; but between that and Lundi, or Monday, there is only this difference, that, on the former, a few minutes may be spent by a few individuals, at the early part of the day, at mass, and a more than ordinary degree of jaunting, visiting, and pleasure taking, in the afternoon and evening; while, on the latter, labourers and mechanics, who had plied their work over the Sunday, will then indulge themselves with rest. The Dimanche is generally joined with the fêtes or feast days; but while a cessation of work is observed, and places of business closed on the latter, there is no such thing on the former, except it may be a few instances towards the close of the day. The first sight that arrested my attention, on leaving my lodging on the Sabbath morning at Havre, was that of some labourers engaged in building a house, who had resumed their work, just as would be done among ourselves on any other morning of the week. A little further on I passed by a joiner's shop, in which the workmen were planing their deals, unconscious of any distinction between that and the preceding day. Entering the streets you find the shops open, and all the usual preparation made for a day's business. The markets and squares you find as usual set with stalls, and perhaps more than ordinarily thronged with visitors. What a cloud of darkness to a Christian's eye does a scene like this draw over even the fairest land! Its language in his ear is, "Who is the Lord that we should serve him ?" 'Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways." It was, however, cheering to meet here and there with a child, or a neatly dressed female, carrying what we might hope to be a bible, on their way to, or from, some house of prayer. Doubtless the church has a few names, even in Sardis, that have not defiled their garments, and who shall walk with Christ in white.

(To be continued.)

66

SIR,

SHIP LIBRARY.

London, Nov. 27th, 1844.

I beg leave to return the Loan Library lent the officers and crew of the barque, Cyrus, of London, under my command, and with sincere and grateful thanks for the same; which, I trust, has proved to more than one of much use under God's grace and blessing. The Cyrus will not leave England again until the summer of '45, when I hope once more to be favoured with another Library for the use of my Enclosed I send a small subscription, thirty shillings, and

crew.

Remain, &c.,

R. SPRATLY.

EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM A WARRANT

OFFICER.

Coast of Africa,

DEAR AND HONOURED PARENTS,

Just

August 4, 1844. I am happy to inform you, that I have left off drinking my allowance of spirits on the 22nd of last month, and I can truly say that I am the better man for it. before I left off drinking my allowance, I had mixed a glass of grog, and was about drinking it off, when the awful and terrific words came into my mouth, saying, "Drink thy soul's damnation!" It struck a chill into my frame, so that I hope I shall remember it all my life.

My dear father, I have something else to tell you, that is, I love to read my Bible, as I can find more virtue in it than a glass of grog, for one teaches me the road to heaven, and the other directs me to the road to hell. We have got a small library of books on board, which is allowed by the service for any one to read, on all topics, such as Penny Magazines, Geography, and a few religious books. I read a good many of the larger sort, such as the Magazines, and could find no pleasure in them, so I got some of the smaller ones, such as the sailors would not take; the first was "Anecdotes on Providence," and I saw in them something about Mr. R. Baxter being preserved, which led me again to look over the books, and I found such a prize among them-his "Call to the Unconverted;" and in the last part of it, he says, when I had read the book through, he had done with me, if I was not converted; but he told me that God had not done with me yet, as there was an awful day of judgment that would make the unconverted smart, &c. Oh! how happy should I be if I were this very evening, which is the Lord's day, going to the house of God with you, and to sit under Mr. Benson, for I believe him to be a most excellent man. Give my kindest wishes towards him, and ask the Rev. Mr. B. to pray for me. I thought it was hard to pray, because I did not know how: but I cried unto God, "Be merciful to me a sinner," and teach me how to pray, and what to pray for. You cannot conceive the joy I feel this moment that I am now a little more able to offer a prayer to that God who gave me a being in this world, and to whom I am bound in duty and love to glorify and honour. I am sorry I have no more room in this paper, as I think I could sit and write to you two hours longer upon the same subject. I will tell you a little of worldly matters. We have taken one prize of 326 poor slaves. They say my share, according to my rate, will amount to about six or seven pounds.

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