The Seaman's Magazine. They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; these see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep. - They cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.-Psalms. THE CONVERSion of Seamen WILL ENLARGe the praises of Zion. ADDRESS TO SEAMEN*. You have doubtless perceived, that the profession which you have chosen is essentially connected with the interests of commerce, and the kingdom of heaven. You have special reasons for gratitude, that your vocation is sanctioned by heaven, and is destined, in the providence of God, to become a distinguished medium of conveying the rich blessings of the gospel to the numerous nations of the earth. But while you count your high privileges, you must not forget the numerous dangers that may attend your course. While engaged in foreign trade, you may pass through all the varieties of climate, and be exposed to all the changes of weather. Exposures, fatigues, watchings, and fastings, may engender fatal diseases, and carry you to an early grave; or they may bring on the premature decrepitude of old age. When in port you may be surrounded with the pestilence that walketh in darkness, or by the destruction that wasteth at noon day. Not only is your health in danger, but your faith may be shaken and your morals corrupted. By witnessing the divisions and corruptions of Christianity, and the varieties of her dress in different countries; by beholding a still greater diversity in the idols, and in the senseless and polluting worship of Pagans, you may become as indifferent as Gallio, or even be tempted to explode revelation and every form of religion, as the offspring of delusion. How vastly important, that your hearts should be established with grace, and that your opinions be settled in the truth, and sustained by familiar and irrefragable arguments. The luxuries, the popular vices, and the ease of secret indulgence, in great commercial cities, all combined, form a temptation by which many have been cast down, yea, by which many strong men have been slain. "Set your feet on shore therefore with the most deliberate and devout resolution to shun the spot of sin and of temptation; to flee from the very appearance of evil, to deny yourselves and take up your cross; in a word, to curb those Justs, which drown men in destruction and perdition, and to keep yourselves unspotted from the world.”+ Few men fill places of so much trust as yourselves. Are you the owner of both ship and cargo, then through the want of skill or judgment, or in consequence of a little inattention, all may be lost, and your family reduced to poverty and sorrow! Are you employed in the service of In order to give the concluding part of Mr. Chapin's Sermon to Seamen entire, we present it in the form of an address, as our limits in this number will preclude any remarks of our own. See p. 281–285 of No. IX. + Abbot's Sermons, others, their property to a vast amount is intrusted to your fidelity. How responsible this commitment! The ship owner, the merchant, the consignee, the reputation of yourself and connexions, and the morals and lives of your men, are all involved in your integrity! The ease with which property may be embezzled, or clearances destroyed, and forged, makes it of the highest moment that ship commanders possess that unbending honesty, which the richest temptations can never bribe. This truth, I trust, has been strongly felt. As a body of professional men you have never been reproached with a proneness to betray the confidence of your employers. You, my respected hearers, have long been viewed as a valuable portion of the civil community. Your calling holds a distinguished rank in the pursuits of time. Respect then yourselves as citizens and as seamen, and stand aloof from every thing that may stain your character. But, sirs, do you realize, that men of your profession are yet to be elevated to far higher and nobler stations, and are to perform services, which will enrich the kingdom of heaven to the latest moment of time, and in every point of eternity? They are to become the carriers of God's word and people, and to be helpers in diffusing the light of revelation through all the kingdoms of men. Permit me then to press the question upon your own consciences; are you now prepared by the mercy of Christ to enter on this glorious work? For your highest welfare and usefulness, the church of God take a lively interest, and for your salvation they continue their daily prayers. You have seen the weighty reasons to desire your conversion, independent of your own personal happiness. But wave, for the present, all these considerations, and confine your thoughts to your own independent good. You, like all other men, are involved in the guilt and misery of the fall. Have you ever been convinced by the Spirit of God, that you are poor sinners ? Have you learned the motives by which you have been governed, and have you been slain by the sword of the law, as was the great apostle of the Gentiles? Can you look back to some season of distressing conviction of sin, and to the period of your joyful deliverance and espousals to Christ? You, more than most men, need the supports and consolations of religion. Your vocation requires you to spend much of your time on the bosom of the deep, far removed from domestic endearments, and from the privileges and assemblies of the house of God. Here, without grace, you are in constant peril of being lost for ever. Waters in the bilge, admitted through a worm hole gnawed in the forest centuries ago, may breed a pestilence, that may sweep you and all your comrades to a watery grave. A starting plank, or a hidden rock, or shoal, or some sudden flaw, or tempest, may sink you to the bottom. If you are in a state of impenitency your immortal interest is in continual jeopardy. Your souls are embarked, which, if lost, no price can redeem. Of what infinite moment, that they should be prepared by the grace of God, to meet death, however suddenly, and in whatever terrific forms it may come. While far off on the sea, you may learn much of Jehovah. There you behold the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep. There you behold the wonders of his goodness in making the ocean a mean both of separation and union among all the nations of the earth, and in turning it into a great store-house of provision for the support of man. There you behold the wonders of his power in keeping it within its an cient boundaries. Sometimes the proud waves will come in with their high and foaming tops, as if resolved to break away the mounds, which have so long confined them; but they dash against the shore, spend all their fury, and then hasten back, as if ashamed of their defeat. There you behold the wonders of his wisdom. This mighty collection of water is deeply impregnated with salt, and for nearly six thousand years, without one moment's pause, it has been ebbing and flowing, rocking about, and laving its immoveable banks, and all this to keep it sweet and pure. There you behold the wonders of his greatness, and the tokens of his wrath. Sometimes the blue surface around seamen is smooth, presenting one vast sheet of unruffled waters, spread out like a molten looking-glass, to reflect the face of heaven. All is stillness and awful majesty. But soon the scene is changed. The clouds begin to gather -look black and furious, full of tumult, as if preparing to discharge their angry contents-winds begin to howl-blow a gale, and soon a tempest, piling the ocean into rolling mountains-the heavens blaze,thunders roar, as if the whole artillery of the storm were opened, to play upon their trembling bark-now "they mount up to the heavens, and go down again to the depths; their souls are melted because of trouble. They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wit's end. Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses. He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. Then are they glad, because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven." O, how hard must be the heart, how stiff the iron sinew of the neck, to refuse to bow down before such displays of the power and the mercy of God! He holds the winds in his fist, and smites through the proud waves of the Heaven is his throne, earth is his footstool; clouds are his chariots, lightnings are but the "shining of his glittering spear," and the voice of thunder" is the voice of his tabernacle." sea. Masters and seamen, as you are about to leave us for the season, I trust we shall follow you in our thoughts and prayers. May winds and waves, and every circumstance, conspire to render your respective voyages pleasant and prosperous. Like Zebulun, may you rejoice in your going out, and suck of the abundance of the seas, and of treasures hid in the sand. You will leave behind you anxious companions, parents and connexions, who, when tempests blow, will heave many a sigh to heaven for fear that you are sunk. Who of you will be permitted to return, is known only to that Being, who holds in his hands the destinies of all flesh. "Many go out and ne'er return, Hasty, and vast, and awful too." No year rolls round without consigning many of your companions in danger to the world unknown. Some fall victims to disease-some are washed overboard-some fall from aloft, and are dashed in piecessome are wrecked on desolate shores, and are lost at once, or perish under an assemblage of inexpressible miseries. Ah! how many parents, widows, and fatherless children in this vicinity, and elsewhere, are now filled with sorrow of heart at the remembrance, that in such ways and sufferings they have lost a son, a husband, a father? How solemnly have you felt while attending sea funerals, when you have sewed up a winding sheet around some cold corpse of clay, and with silence and tears slid him down the side of the ship, to sink out of your sight, to rise no more, till the last trump of God shall summons the sea to give up its dead! O, my fellow mortals, are you prepared to die? Do you realize the miseries of an unconverted state, and the amazement of the graceless sinner, who dies in the anguish of despair? If he look back while on his dying bed, he sees that he has wasted his day of grace-slighted the calls of mercy-profaned the holy Sabbath-neglected the word and house of God-disregarded the counsels of wisdom, and outbraved the judgments and threatenings of heaven. Within he is tortured with the stings and remorse of an upbraiding conscience. He looks forward to the judgment seat, and expects soon to be called into the presence of that holy God, whom he has disobeyed, and from whose presence he must be driven away to lie down in endless sorrow. How often do such thoughts overwhelm and distract the sinner, when summoned away by the king of terrors? That such may not be the melancholy close of your life, be entreated to think on your ways, and flee to Christ, the only refuge. What is your present character and condition? Have you been launched from the stocks of nature into the ocean of grace? Have you on board all things requisite for your passage to eternity? Where is your pilot? Has the image of Christ been formed in your heart, the hope of glory? Does he rule in your life? When your ship is tossed with the waves, does Jesus come to you in the watches of the night, walking upon the sea, and saying to you, "be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid ?" Are you furnished with chart and compass? Is the Bible your support and guide? Is it by this book "you ascertain your position, your course and your bearings ?" Are you supplied with ship stores to last the voyage? Are the rich promises of God hid in your hearts, and by an act of faith are they changed into the food and strength of your souls? Do you often try the pump? or prayerfully perform the duty of self-examination, to learn the soundness of your hope. When you make a harbour, and enjoy temporary rest and peace from the storms of life, do you preserve an anchor watch, lest you be assaulted and robbed by enemies, or drift from your ground, and be carried away by the current of sin to be wrecked on rocks or quicksands? Do you often try the lead, and heave the log to know your bottom, and the rate you run? If so, happy men, happy mariners, heave up, spread all your sails, and the winds of mercy will soon waft you into the port of eternal rest. PORT OF LONDON SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING THE RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION OF SEAMEN. Summary of the third Annual Report, May, 1821. THE cheering month which calls together the friends of "the Port of London Society," has, of late years, become, to the church of God, a deeply interesting and important one, and pregnant with events, compared with which, the revolution of empires, the councils of kings, and the debates of senates, are trifling and unim. portant. This, as if by common consent, is the favoured period which has been fixed upon for celebrating the triumphs of those institutions which adorn our native land; and hence, to this far-famed metropolis, the angels of the churches, and the friends of the Redeemer, from different and 'distant places, are attracted; and here is concen trated, as in a focus, no small portion of the talent, the zeal, the charity, the wisdom, and the mighty influence of the christian world. Not only, therefore, in reference to this vernal season of the year, but also to the moral scenery, all lovely and enchanting as it is, which opens to our view, may we exclaim: "The winter is over, the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land." Those chords are now about to be struck which shall vibrate to the extremity of the habitable world! Those holy men are now assembled, who have solemnly pledged themselves not to stay their hand, until they have carried the Banners of the Cross "victorious round the globe!!!" While we survey this noble army of the living God, pressing with holy and impassioned ardour and enjoyment from one assembly to another in quick succession, can we forbear inquiring: "Who is this that looketh forth, fair as the sun, clear as the moon, and terrible as an army with banners?" The world has surely not witnessed a scene so commanding and delightful, since the days "when the tribes went up, the tribes of the Lord to worship before him in the holy mount at Jerusalem!!!" Among these noble and godlike institutions, the Society, whose anniversary we now commemorate, ranks not the lowest in the scale of importance; and the Committee cannot forbear offering you their warmest congratulations on the return of this annual solemnity, and calling upon you to unite with them in thankfulness to God, for the benediction which has hitherto rested on the Society, and for the encouraging prospects with which it is surrounded. It is true, indeed, that benevolent exertions arising merely from human passions, are ofttimes transient and unavailing; but those efforts which originate in the design of Providence-which are suggested by the Spirit of God, must assuredly prove permanent and successful; and such the Committee firmly believe will be the result of exertions made by the Port of London Society, in behalf of the religious welfare of seamen. On former occasions the Committee have had the happiness to announce the liberality of many corporate bodies, as well as of individuals, and the spirit of generosity has not decreased within that year, the labours and success of which this Report is designed to concentrate. To particularize every source of this encouragement, would be incompatible with that brevity which the present circumstances demand. In the month of October last an intimation was given, that his Excellency Baron de Just, Ambassador from His Majesty, the King of Saxony, had a communication to present to the Committee of the Port of London Society. It was considered due to the representative of that excellent monarch, to receive him in a respectful manner, at the Floating Chapel. On the 6th of November, His Excellency the Baron, accompanied by Rudolf Ackermann, Esq. met the Committee at the Chapel, and having seen the accommodations for the worship of God, (which afforded him the highest satisfaction,) he presented a letter, expressive of his King's interest in the welfare of seamen, and containing a grateful recognition of services rendered by this country to Germany, when desolated by war. Addressing the Treasurer of this Society, his Excellency thus expressed himself :— "Sir, I have it in command, from his Majesty the King of Saxony, to subscribe, in my name, the sum of £25, to your Floating Chapel for Seamen. "Although my court feel particularly interested in all that promotes the national institutions of this country, I am authorized to inform you, that the zeal you manifested formerly, in alleviating the distresses of Saxony, is still fresh in their recollection." Mr. Ackermann, at the same time, presented a donation of one hundred Saxon thallers,* from the Burgo Master and Magistrates of Leipzig; and fifty Saxon thallers from Messrs. Frege and Co. of Leipzig; and has since informed the Committee, that the sermon preached at the last anniversary, by the Rev. J. A. James, and subsequently published, has been translated into German, at Leipzig, exclusively in aid of this Society. Beyond the advantage immediately resulting from these foreign contributions, this meeting cannot but participate with the Committee, in rejoicing, that an interest in behalf of seaman has been created in one portion of the Continent, and will unite in humble prayer to God, that it might be diffused not only over the whole of Continental Europe, but throughout the civilized world. A lively interest has been manifested by the excellent clergyman of the Swedish Church, the Rev. J. P. Wählin, and after having repeatedly united in worship with The Saxon Thaller is about three shillings. |