Judicious measures adopted by the Committee.

At this Annual Meeting, the following important RESOLUTIONS were unanimously adopted :

1. That it be particularly recommended to the Committee for the ensuing year, to wait upon such Ship Owners as have not subscribed for their respective vessels, to solicit their subscriptions; and to endeavour to extend the benefits of the institution to the vessels employed in the General Merchant Service, as well as to all the ships engaged in the Whale Fisheries.

2. That the Masters of vessels be particularly requested to form, and undertake the management of Associations on board their respective ships, according to the simple plan pointed out to them by the Bible Society.

3. That Mr. Curtis Bailey, Mr. John Collender, Mr. William Priest, and Mr. Christopher Reed, having kindly offered their services, be requested, with the aid of such other gentlemen as they can associate with them, to visit all vessels about to leave the port, to see that, if possible, none may sail without at least one copy of the Scriptures on board; and to induce each sailor, where it may be practicable, to furnish himself with a copy.

It appears by the Annual Report of this Association for 1820, that the total number of copies of the holy scriptures distributed within three years was 2047; and that after paying the full cost-price of the whole number, they had been enabled to appropriate 45l. 18s. 5d. as a free contribution to the funds of the British and Foreign Bible Society. The Committee conclude their Report by observing,

66 'That they have ample reason to be assured that the institution had been productive of good. Through its means more than two thousand copies of the Scriptures have been put into the hands of our seamen. They have purchased them; and in very many instances, there is reason to believe, make a good use of them. Nor are the opportunities of usefulness exhausted: they may easily be increased and extended: as it is hoped will appear, when measures, already resolved upon, shall be more completely carried into execution."

4. A similar institution was established at Aberdeen in February 1818; of the success of which the following extracts exhibit a gratifying evidence. In their first Report, presented only eight months after the formation of the Society, it is stated, that

"the Committee have purchased at the depository of the Auxiliary Society 216 Bibles and 60 Testaments, which have been partly sold to mariners on board Greenland and trading vessels, at the standard reduced prices; and partly entrusted to ship-masters, to be sold in like manner to their respective crews. The amount of subscriptions and sales received by the Treasurer is upwards of 951.; which, after deducting the sum paid for Bibles, leaves a balance of 304-which sum has been remitted, in terms of the Regulations, to the Treasurer of the Aberdeen Auxiliary Society."

In a letter recently received from one of the secretaries of this Association, he observes :

"We have already circulated upwards of 900 copies of the holy scrip tures. We entrust to the respective captains such a number as we think

Aberdeen Marine Bible Association.-Bishop-Wearmouth Auxiliary.

they may dispose of during their voyage, varying from six to twenty-four to each captain. In general they are disposed of; and many captains report that they could have sold thrice the number :-this was the case with all the Greenland captains last year. Associations are frequently formed on board during the voyage, and from three to six pounds collected in aid of the institution. Bibles are offered to every vessel leaving this port; and in several cases which have come under our notice, the effects have been highly beneficial. Seamen are uniformly disposed to purchase Bibles, if their captains wish them to do so. In the ships connected with this port, both captains and seamen are gradually becoming more attached to the object, inasmuch as we have an increasing demand for the holy scriptures."

5. From the preceding details it will be evident, that no insuperable difficulties present themselves in the establishment of Marine Bible Societies. But there is one remarkable fact in reference to the three instances adduced, which merits distinct consideration. We have here a striking proof that these institutions are not only capable of attaining their immediate object, but of rendering no inconsiderable aid to the funds of the Parent Society. The aggregate number of copies distributed by the Whitby, Hull, and Aberdeen Associations is nearly four thousand:-for these they have paid the full amount at cost-prices, and, in addition, have remitted upwards of one hundred pounds for the general object.

It will also be observed, that these Societies adopt the principle of distribution by sale; to which they have strictly adhered, except in those very few cases where extreme poverty justified the deviation from their established practice. It is indeed difficult to find any class of our labouring population by which the requisite sacrifice is more lightly felt than by seamen: the greatest difficulty is, to excite an interest in favour of the object; and this can be accomplished only by the personal attention of the individual members of the Committee, or by agents properly qualified for the important service. For awakening this interest, no means hitherto devised are so efficient as Bible Associations on board the respective ships; and to this part of the plan the constant care of every Marine Committee should be directed.

6. There is reason to believe that a few other Societies for supplying seamen with Bibles existed previous to the London Merchant-Seamen's Society; but it has been found impossible to obtain particulars of their proceedings.

It would be unjust, however, in a work of this nature, to pass over in silence the exertions made by the Committee of the BISHOPWEARMOUTH &c. Auxiliary Society, in reference to the supply of seamen with the holy scriptures. The subject was brought under

Exemplary conduct of Mr. J. J. Beard, of Bristol.

their consideration at an early period; but, owing to local and distressing circumstances, it was not until the summer of 1817 that measures were adopted for giving effect to the benevolent design. A Sub-Committee having been appointed for the express purpose, the members commenced their labours on the 4th of June,-a day peculiarly appropriate, as being that of the birth of our late venerable and lamented sovereign; whose declaration, that " he hoped to live to see the day when every poor child in his dominions should be able to read his Bible," entails a legacy of practical duty on his surviving subjects.

The mode of distribution adopted by this Committee is that of gratuitous supply; and certainly, if this be deemed expedient in any case, the plan pursued with respect to the Sunderland vessels is best calculated to qualify the attendant disadvantages. Boxes, judiciously contrived, with the word "BIBLE" painted in large letters on the front, and secured near the steerage of each vessel, are presented with the Bibles; and a label is affixed, declaratory of the grant, and specifying that "in case of the sale of the ship, the Bible and box shall remain as a fixture." This inscription, it is observed by the Committee," has been the means of preserving the Bible in one instance at least which came under notice." The ships supplied are frequently revisited; and the "reports of the SubCommittee contain the most satisfactory accounts of the esteem in which the Bibles formerly distributed are holden, and of the grateful feelings with which every successive distribution of Bibles is received."

The total number of Bibles thus supplied to ships, from the 4th of June 1817 to the 21st of September 1819, is 220; at an expense to the Auxiliary Society of 84l. 1s. 8d.

. Whether this mode be calculated to awaken an interest in the minds of seamen, and to secure the co-operation of their employers, are questions which the Committee have now had sufficient experience to decide. And its failure with respect to the attainment of the latter object, as inferred from the language of their Annual Reports, may probably suggest to the benevolent individuals concerned, the wisdom of assimilating their plans to those of the Whitby and Hull Societies. This alteration appears the more desirable, when we consider the high and important object of exciting in the minds of seamen an interest in the welfare of the whole human race. Where no personal sacrifice is called for, the evidence of this interest is at best ambiguous.

7. Among the few individuals whose exertions have been conspicuous in this particular sphere of Christian duty, there is one who deserves more especial notice :-this individual is Mr. J. J. Beard, of Bristol. His duty, as a Collector of one of the Bible Associations of that city, having led him into the neighbourhood of the shipping, he was induced, by his ardent desire to effect all the good in his power, to make some inquiry relative to the state of the seamen: and finding they

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