nice-looking church was erected, it soon became full. But that was not all-if the Society meant to do its work, it was best to do it well. There ought to be a mariner's church in every port of the United Kingdom. England and America had conceived the thought of engrossing the commerce of the world. Let the two countries grasp each other's hand, and pledge themselves before the altar of heaven, that, by God's blessing, they would erect a mariner's church in every port on the globe. Let England take care that America did not run-a-head of her in that work of benevolence. The subject had taken a deep hold upon the inhabitants of New York, and the consequence would be that an immense amount of money would roll into that department. He hoped that the meeting would do something more than hold up their hands. Every time that a vote was passed, let them feel that a solemn responsibility rested upon them in connexion with it. He cordially responded to the feeling expressed in the Report, and applauded by the auditory, when it referred to all apprehensions of war between England and America being settled and disposed of. He could furnish a recipe to prevent war between the two countries. Let there be a Bethel meeting for American sailors on visiting this country, and one in America for British sailors; let them bend their knees together before the throne of mercy, and pray for the spread of the gospel, and it would be in vain to attempt to induce them to employ weapons of death against the men with whom they had taken sweet counsel, and walked to the house of God in company. That feeling would become so prevalent that there would not be found depravity enough in the human heart to get the two nations again embroiled in war. He felt as though he had a fresh assurance from the throne of heaven that this world would be converted to God. He never felt quite so sure of it, when standing on the platform of Bible, Missionary, and Tract Societies, as he did at a sailors' meeting. Those institutions were so many links of a great golden chain, one end was fastened to the throne of God in heaven, the other was coiled up on the surface of the earth; it had been lying there for a great while; but now comes the Sailor's Society, and taking hold of one end of that chain, and passing it clean round the globe, it made a good tight sailor's hitch of it, and thus the whole world would be lifted up to heaven.

The Hon. Capt. WALDEGRAVE, R.N., said :—It was many years since he had the honour of addressing a meeting assembled for the promotion of the spiritual instruction of sailors. The last time he had the pleasure of attending a similar meeting, he had to make the same apology for not reading the resolution, and the late Rev. Rowland Hill rose, and remarked, that if he, who was so much his junior could not read the resolution, what could be said of him, before whose eyes eighty summers had passed. That meeting was held in Bristol-and it was now most gratifying for him to find in London, the greatest sea-port in the world, such a large and respectable meeting assembled to promote the best interests of seamen. The rev. gentleman who had preceded him, though a foreigner, if he might use the expression for as the sea was the common pathway of the sailors of all nations, so a christian assembly was common ground for christians of every land—but that rev. gentleman was one in heart and soul with them. That gentleman, however, he thought, had made a slight mistake, when he remarked that he had attended many meetings, but never heard one prayer for sailors. When he looked around on that meeting, he could scarcely think that the statement of the rev. gentleman could be true with respect to it, and he rejoiced that there was a sailor's home' where prayers were offered up every morning, and many chapels also in this metropolis where God was supplicated on their behalf. And the proofs of the

efficacy of these prayers could be seen in that crowded assembly, and in the great moral improvement which was manifested amongst sailors. He had attended the Anniversary Meeting last year, but had felt some diffidence in taking any part in its proceedings, because he had not been sufficiently informed, respecting the working of the Society; but since that time, he had taken some pains to make himself acquainted with that subject, and felt fully convinced that he, in common with all sailors, was under the greatest obligations to that Society. He was at Bath last autumn, and visited a Bethel chapel there. In the forenoon there were present, no less than seven sailors,—a very small number indeed; but aware of the difficulty of getting sailors to enter a place of worship, he felt convinced when he saw that number present, that the good work was progressing. In the evening he again attended, and, to his great delight, he saw between thirty and forty sailors. He was delighted with the services, and was sure that considerable effect was produced. The Society had put a partial check, on the progress of demoralization amongst seamen; and it had done much in making sailors no longer ashamed to be seen entering a place of worship. When he was in the South Seas, he met with that excellent man, Mr. Nott. Mr. N. stated to him the discouragements he had met with, and they were great indeed; but not to be compared with those, with which those who laboured amongst the sailors had to contend ;— a more difficult class of men to be approached, could not be found, they were to be approached only in their own time and way. This Society had penetrated their hearts, however; he had been conversing with several captains of men-ofwar, and they had said, 'that a great moral improvement in the men could be observed, which was entirely to be attributed to the benevolent exertions of this Society. There was a very foolish supposition entertained by some, that if they made a sailor a christian, they deprived him of all his bravery. There could not be a greater mistake than that. In making a sailor a christian, they only rooted out his bad qualities. One of the greatest circumnavigators, Sir Francis Drake, was, on one occasion, crossing the Pacific Ocean, and his ship struck upon a rock, -the cargo was thrown overboard, and every exertion made to get the vessel off, but notwithstanding all their efforts she remained immoveable. Sir Francis then assembled all the men to prayers,—they all knelt down before God, and Sir Francis prayed, that God might deliver them from the imminent peril,-and shortly after they arose from their knees, the wind came a-head-the sails were filled-and the vessel swayed off the rock. He mentioned that to show, that one of the greatest sailors, did not think it beneath him to worship God. The predecessor of the noble chairman, was Lord Gambier,—his ship was as well conducted as any in the service, and yet Lord Gambier was a christian. Thus a sailor, they could see, could be a christian and a good seaman. He could state, that wherever ministers had preached on board ship, the sailors had felt deeply grateful to them. He very much wished to see a church for sailors in the City. Sailors went together-they did not like to be separate; and besides, if the church was built, the sailor's wife and children could accompany him to hear the gospel preached. The gallant captain then concluded by moving

"That, convinced of the justness of the representations which have been made on the subject, and that it is the duty of this great metropolis especially, and of the country in general, to provide for the education and spiritual instruction of our seamen and their families, this meeting cordially recommends the projected scheme of erecting a Metropolitan Seamen's Church in the port of London, with suitable accommodation for Day and Sunday Schools, and whatever

may contribute either to the physical, intellectual, or moral improvement of the sailor."

GEORGE FIFE ANGAS, Esq., said :-That the patience of the meeting was flagging, but he hoped he should have its attention. As one of their officers, he had, they were aware, an important duty to discharge; and he could assure them that, while he had rejoiced with those who did rejoice, he felt a sadness about his heart-a depression of spirits he could not describe-arising from reflections naturally incident to a man, placed as he was, in the situation of one of the Treasurers of their Society. They could make exciting speeches, and pass their resolutions most cheerfully, and seem all alive with spirit and animation, and yet, suffer all to pass away, without doing any thing to promote the interests of the Society. He would ask, what would be thought of him upon 'Change if he were to send a person to a distant part of the earth, to do business which required pecuniary resources to a considerable amount,—and if, after giving him the necessary instructions, and seeing him comfortably and safely deposited in the ship, which was to convey him to his destination, he was to take his leave of him without saying a word about his expenses, or advancing the sums of money necessary to the accomplishment of the objects of his journey? If he were to act in such a manner, would he not be declared unfit to be a British merchant? Now he put it to that meeting, whether they should act in a similar manner in promoting the objects of that Society? He said it advisedly, that they should all be ashamed of themselves for having done so little in this department of the cause of Christ. He could not sympathise with those who talked of the prosperity of this Society, when only the first step had been taken towards the attainment of its objects. What was the amount of all the contributions they had received? The paltry sum of £2,600 was all that had been placed in their hands, for the evangelization of the seamen of the world! Why, it did not exceed the amount of a single ship's freight, for bringing home a cargo from the East Indies. Unless the British public would do more for the pecuniary interests of the Society, he would feel it to be his duty to resign his post. What were they to do in the course of the next year? First, to supply every British merchant-ship with a library,-£100,000 would be required for that one object,—and then they had a new chapel to build; and was it not humiliating that, although this Society had been in existence for six years, yet they had not got a chapel for their seamen ? It was true they had a chapel, where the accommodation was of the worst description, and which could contain only 400 persons-but was that the fault of the committee? Some indeed, had used it as an argument against them,—but that was evidently most unreasonable,-give them the means, and before that time next year, if God preserved them, they would present them with a building, every way suited for the important purpose. What had they done? Where was the man who had given £500? How could they apply large sums of money for the decoration of their houses and equipages, while the souls of seamen were perishing in hundreds and thousands? Because they were only christians in name. If they were christians in deed, they could not spend £4000 or £5000 a year on their poor perishing bodies, and refuse to spend £500 on the perishing souls of their fellow-men. Till they felt sufficiently impressed with the infinite value of immortal souls, and the relative importance of time to eternity, they would never come forward as they were bound to do, in behalf of this Society. The British and Foreign Sailors' Society, with an income of £2000 or £3000 a year was a mockery. Nothing short of £20,000, or £30,000 ought to be placed at its disposal. There

were other Societies, with fewer claims on the public support than that one possessed, which were shaming them, by the extent to which they carried their operations. He was travelling some time ago in the western counties, and saw in one place, a beautiful building which had been erected on the voluntary system, -a system this Society was compelled to adopt, for they could not levy tithes from the ships or from the seas, nor enact church-rates for the ships; but the expense of the erection of that beautiful building he had seen, was defrayed by the voluntary contributions of the Sunday-scholars of that neighbourhood; the whole front had been built by means of the shillings, and pence, and, it might be, farthings of those children. That surely put them to the blush. The front of that building had cost £450, every shilling of which had been contributed by the Sabbath scholars. It was not because they did not possess the money, but because they did not possess the hearts to give, that the funds of this Society were not in a more prosperous condition. He was reminded of the manner in which the prophet had spoken to the people of Israel, respecting their contributions towards the second building of the temple:-'Ye have been wrong, ye have been very covetous; poor you are, I admit, but ye are so because ye do not consider your ways. If ye were faithful stewards of what ye do possess, ye would find that there is that giveth liberally, and iucreaseth withal, and there is that withholdeth, and yet it tendeth to poverty." Now they were to have a new chapel, and they were to have libraries on board every ship in the merchant service; and as he had heard of people subscribing so much for a school, in some distant corner of the globe, which was to be named after them, he suggested that they might act in a similar manner, in the present matter. Let them send in their £5, and say, 'you must get an elegant library with that,' or the Committee would let the donor choose the books himself if he chose, and you must put my name upon it,' and the Committee would gladly comply with their request, and would put their name upon it, which would be quite proper,-for their was a sort of connexion, between the name of him who gave, and the heart of him who received. But now they came to the chapel, and he wished to know how it was to be erected. He would make one suggestion; let every one now present, pledge himself to make this matter the subject of earnest prayer to God. Let them pray that God would bless the efforts of this Society, and dispose them to give it every assistance in their power. All could do that. If any one could not give money, he could pray; and he despaired of ever seeing a noble and magnificent effort made on behalf of this Society, unless they thus supplicated the Divine blessing. Let all present then, act on his suggestion that very night, when they retired to pray, and think over the actions of the day,-for, he presumed, there were none present worse than that heathen, who, at the close of the day, reviewed all he had done in the course of it, and brought his judgment to bear upon his conduct. This country would never flourish, until its inhabitants lived up to the principles of christianity, and thus acted rather like citizens of heaven, than denizens of earth; and then would they be enabled to say of the contributions poured into the treasury of this Society, as was said of the offerings at the building of the temple, 'It is enough.' They had at present received promises of £380, to assist in the erection of the chapel; and, at the next anniversary he trusted he would be enabled to say, 'The chapel is finished, and we invite you to the opening of it.'

The Rev. Mr. CROFTS, Wesleyan Missionary from the Bermudas, on rising to move the last resolution, said :-That he felt unfeigned pleasure in rising to lift up his voice, feeble and partially broken down as it was, in behalf of sailors. He

knew something of the character of sailors. Fifteen of the best years of his life had been spent on foreign stations. During nine years of that time, he had traversed very considerable portions of the seas, and had been thrown among all descriptions of sailors, from those who navigated the men-of-war, to the poor wreckers of the Bahamas. He was quite aware that it would be highly indecorous in him to attempt to make a formal speech at that advanced period of the evening, but there were one or two points on which he would beg to offer a few observations. He had heard of the wreckers of the Bahamas, and of their very destitute situation, and he deemed it his duty to make an appeal in their behalf to the American public, on the occasion of visiting the United States. He accordingly inserted in the newspapers an advertisement to that effect; and he acknowledged with gratitude, the kind reception he met with, in several of the cities of the United States. He was convinced that he had made out his case; for, in several instances, articles had been placed upon the collection-plates, which could only have been so deposited, by persons whose feelings had been powerfully affected. In one case a watch had been given. He traced the history of that watch, and it was found to have belonged to a poor boy, who had received it from his father. It bore his father's name, and was, doubtless, the most valuable article in his possession; but his sympathies had been awakened, and he placed it on the plate because he had no money. And on the morning of his departure, although it was a very early hour, yet many persons were waiting to give him their five dollars, books, or articles, which he had said would be useful for the poor wreckers; and he had the satisfaction of bringing away, altogether about £100. In advocating the cause of missions to the heathen, he had been sometimes told, 'charity begins at home,'-well, let them see what could be done at home. Here was a cause, that might unite and interest, and warm the hearts of all. And he could assure them, that they might confidently anticipate success. He knew, as he had already remarked, something about the sailor's heart. He had attended to the grave the remains of poor sailors, covered with the union-jack, or the star-bespangled banner, and he had seen the tears of their surviving shipmates—he had seen the sailor in various circumstances, and could say, that there was no class of men more willing to receive instruction, or more ready to unite in acts of religious worship. He had always been so fortunate as to get the weather-guage of Jack. On one occasion, when leaving a vessel, he offered some of the sailors a trifle, for their attention in getting his luggage, &c. ashore, but they refused it, saying, 'O, we could not take any money from you.' He then asked them if they would accept a Bible? Yes,' they replied, 'and we will keep it for your sake; but we could not take your money.' He then moved.

"That the best thanks of this assembly be presented to the office-bearers and committee, for their efficient services during the past year, and especially to their revered and venerable President, the Right Hon. Lord Mountsandford, for his steady and liberal support of the institution, and for his kindness in presiding on the present occasion."

Lieut. BROWN, R.N., briefly seconded the resolution, which was unanimously agreed to; and the noble chairman having acknowledged the vote of thanks, the meeting separated.