seems as if it would be the last, there will be heard a voice,

"That awful God is ours,

Our Father and our love;

He will send down his heavenly power,
To carry us above."

When the seamen have reached the shore, instead of spreading licentiousness, they will enter this beautiful building; and when that Psalm is read, "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 will respond, "Oh, that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men." Go on, then, in your work, every sailor is a missionary; he will carry the gospel to other shores, and thus you will hasten the day, when "The kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever."

The Rev. Mr. MOORE, of Truro, in seconding the resolution, said: "Standing in connexion with a sister society, and an auxilliary of your own, I cannot but feel pleasure in meeting you, because I am persuaded that union in every case is important, and in this it is delightful. Union is the pleasantness of the rainbow; it is the strength of the cable; and, if we have varying colours in the different sentiments we maintain religion, yet, if those colours are rereflected from the Sun of Righteousness, they will be manifest to others in those charitable and important engagements in which we may be found.

on

If we

possess the cable of hope, in connexion with the rainbow of union, we know that it will bear us through every storm and difficulty. This has been your case; God has given you release from difficulties in a great measure, and he will grant you entire freedom in your pecuniary affairs. A sailor, in my own town, to whom a tract was given, had it blessed to his mind, and, before he left the port, he sent half-a-crown, to be given to the Tract Society, as a thanksgiving for the benefit he had received. I have five captains in my own congregation, one of whom was near to death. He had received impressions on his mind, and in what I thought were his

dying hours, I asked him respecting his state. He replied, "I have my cable and my anchor firm." God was pleased to restore him, and when he was just going on his voyage, I asked him what was the state of his mind then; to which he replied, I have as much need of my anchor in the stormy sea, as I had when I supposed that I was crossing the Jordan,' and with these feelings he left the port.

The resolution was then put and agreed to.

The Rev. J. BURNETT rose to move"That the Directors of this Society, having been for many years in vain seeking an eligible site on which to build a chapel for sailors in the port of London, this meeting rejoices in the providence of God leading the trustees of the Danish Church to offer that commodious edifice to this Society; and that the contributions already received towards the erection of a new chapel, be appropriated to the expenses of repairing and sustaining this building, and in supporting public worship in the same."

This resolution calls upon the meeting to do two things: first, it rejoices with the Committee that they have had this place offered to them; and, secondly, it sanctions the appropriation of the contributions for the erection of a new place, to the repairs and maintenance of this; and I am quite sure that this meeting will fully concur with the Committee in both of those objects. Some difficulty may, perhaps, exist in the minds of individuals, with regard to the propriety of the steps that may have been taken to obtain this place. Without, however, going into this, I would just say to the meeting, that it was not until the former occupant had nothing to do with it that this Committee entered upon any arrangement with the elders who had the power of conveying it. That is quite, I take it, enough, without going any further. It is not necessary to show why the occupancy was changed. It is enough to say, it was not changed by any steps taken by the Sailors' Society. The place was unoccupied, was ready to be offered to some person or other, or some society or other, and this Society coming into contact with the gentlemen who had the power of conveying the edifice, considered it to be,

I

as I am sure you will all consider it to be, a most eligible place for a sailors' church, and under these circumstances they have come into possession. should not have referred to this subject at all, were it not that the resolution points directly at it, and demands some reference to it. Whatever may be said by a former occupant in connexion with this place by the Sailors' Society, I have the authority of the solicitors of the parties to whom the chapel belonged, for what I have now stated, given under their own hands, which I have myself read. You will perceive, therefore, that without troubling you with all the circumstances of a former occupancy of the church, the Committee are perfectly justified in the course they took. They found the building in the market possessed by no one; they entered upon a treaty with the parties who were ready to offer the building; and they became possessed of it. But there is something much more important than the mere occupation of this building to demand our attention at such a meeting as this, although it is necessary that the Committee, having the public confidence, should, in justice to their work, remove any impression which for a moment might exist in any one's mind not fully informed as to the circumstances connected with the proceedings. Leaving that matter, let us look to the object which this Society has, and always has had, in view, in connexion with its movements for the sailor. I have always considered the Sailors' Society as having claims on British liberality, which no society in existence has or could have. I do not reckon it merely as standing among the great institutions of the day, in point of claim on British generosity; but I reckon it as having above all the institutions, however useful and respectable they may be, a claim on British justice, to say nothing of British generosity.

Why is it that we have such a class of individuals as the sailors? For what reason is it that we take a portion of the community and set them apart for some particular occupation, and say this portion of the community shall be severed from all their families, shall be separated from the whole brotherhood of the nation to which they belong, shall take upon them

selves a species of life that not only separates them from the brotherhood of nations, but from their own families, and which denies to them the fire-side household? It is just for the purpose of exalting our own nation, enlarging our commerce, increasing our national wealth and our national fame. It is for the purpose of telling on our national literature, of acting on our national government; ships, colonies, and commerce have lifted up the British empire to the proud elevation to which it has been raised above the nations of the earth. This is the fruit of setting apart this particular class of men to which I have referred. The sailors have done all this. I do not mean to say that no one has aided in the deed; I do not mean to say that I make nothing of the commercial spirit at home, of the genius that has devised or formed plans on which commerce has been carried out to its present perfection. I do not mean to say that I make nothing of the men that have built the vessels that have been sent out; I do not mean to say that I make nothing of the minds that have struck out the improvements of navigation, by which we have traversed the seas of every nation of the earth; I do not mean to say that I make nothing of the statesmen at home that watch over the commerce of the country in all its varied details, but I do mean to say that in all these instances effort would have produced nothing but for sailors themselves, who are the living agents of this work in the intercourse they carry on, upon the high seas, among the nations of the earth. Then if we are so dependent that we must have them or go down-that our nation must change its character, draw its curtain up, and go to rest within a very narrow compass but for sailors-if we find this must be the case, have not these men some claim upon us? Am I to be told by the narrow-hearted owner that they have their wages? Shame upon the man with such a narrow-minded calculation as this. A claim for their wages! Could you pay them with the commerce of the country, vast as it is? I say, No. If you were to pay the sailors for all the peril and and assaults to which they are exposed, for all the loss which they sustain-if you were to pay them a compensation

sufficiently ample for everything they go through, you could not afford it. You would be compelled to relinquish trade altogether, and to dismiss your servants, they would be so costly. But they are taken and paid just as any other servant, in perfect safety and great comfort, and with all their privileges and enjoyments, are paid. They are paid a certain ideal standard, associated with men not in the highest class of life; but they are not paid according to their risks, according to their dangers, according to their labour. I am not complaining of the lowness of their wages, nor do they complain; I am only complaining of those who would tell me that they have enough when they have got their wages, because they forget that no wages can be a compensation for the condition in which these men are placed. Then, if we cannot give them wages that would be a sufficient compensation, what else can we give them? Just that which their condition prevents them from obtaining without us. We separate them from the Church of Christ-we separate them from the ordinances of the Sabbath-day -we separate them from the opportunities of reading which we enjoy on the land.

We separate them from the varied intercourse which we have one with another, and all classes around us— we separate them, in short, from all the privileges of the land, therefore we ought to adopt means by which these privileges may, at least to a considerable extent, be enjoyed at sea. We ought to send with them the reading they cannot have with us-we ought to send with them the truth which they cannot receive in common with us upon the land-we ought to send with them the knowledge of that which delights our own minds with the returning Sabbath and its returning ordinances ; we ought to send with them that which will enable them to meet their dangers when the storm assails them. If it should be said, Can sailors be dealt with so as to improve their character? You need only refer to the sailor who has spoken to night. Many, many years ago it would have been thought chimerical to suppose that sailors could come on a platform and address a civilized audience in great London. To come to our capital, and, notwithstanding the multitude of speakers abounding in all quarters,

and speakers of all shades and grades of oratory, notwithstanding the vicinity of the imperial parliament and all its eloquence, for a sailor to stand up and

address those accustomed to all these speakers, and do it to their high gratifi cation, is certainly a proof that sailors are capable of improvement. But it is more than that; it is a proof that we have not done them justice, or else many, many sailors could have done just what our friend has done. Then let us look to the circumstances under which sailors might be placed if this Society were to extend its labours if it had a larger measure of support; were we to see a cultivated commercial marine surrounding our coasts, and from these coasts visiting all the nations of the earth; and if we saw that commercial marine cultivating its genius as well as navigating the sea, the very scenes in which that marine is often found would contribute to the lofty elevation of the seaman's mind. The man that converses with the stars, the man that sees nature in its grandest forms, the man that looks the lightning in the face, and listens to the thunder without quailing, the man that is in the habit of seeing his vessel rocked and rocked again till its masts give way before the gale, the man that stands by the pumps and thinks of the immortality that lies before him, when threatened by the gulf below, would surely be capable, were he duly instructed by the justice of those whom he so nobly served, of displaying a power of mind that would contribute largely to the improvements of home, while, at the same time, he would present a fine specimen of British mental faculties to the nation that desired to learn what Great Britain really was. We want thus to train our sailors; to give them the means by which their minds may be thus cultivated and thus enlarged. It is to our disgrace that so many of them look at those grand and sublime scenes with ignorant and unmeaning gaze, whilst, with a beauty which nature displays to them alone, they have so many means of rich and pure mental enjoyment. We do not for a moment wish to tell you that we intend to make our sailors poets, to overcultivate their sentimentality; but, at the same time, we do wish that as scenes so noble are constantly spread around them, to give them an opportunity of

employing their minds in contemplating the works of God, that their minds may rise to fellowship with the Author of those scenes, and that their resemblance to him may become more complete. But when we speak of sailors, and look at the commerce of the country and the wealth which is the result of that commerce, we ask why our merchant princes have not done more for sailors? Look at the palaces of London, and look at the forests of masts out of the labour of which these palaces have arisen and received their decorations, and when you have so done, look at the small contributions given to such a Society as this, and I am sure you will be ready at once to say that there is here no fair reciprocity. Every thing seems to be enjoyed by the commercial interests at home, nothing seems to be enjoyed, or at least very little, as the fruits of it by the sailors themselves. Look to the sailor as an object of kindness, and look to him as one for whose interests you are to calculate on juster and sounder principles, and whilst this Church is opened to the sailors, do not be satisfied with this. Why should not more churches than this occupy the sides of this great commercial river? Is this enough for all the sailors on the Thames?-for all the sailors that constantly visit this metropolis? No one would say it no one would say that a place built for a few foreigners was fit to be a cathedral for the sailors of London. I look forward to the time (may it soon come!) when such churches will be found to decorate the banks of the river, and we shall justify the claims of sailors by the ready response of contributions by which these moral temples shall rise for the sailors' edification, and for the glory of God. I submit to the meeting this consideration that every one ought, as far as he can, to increase the interests of the Sailors' Society. Do not think that you have done all when you have divided your shilling with the sailor, and given him your sixpence. See whether there may be any way by which you may promote the great work of the Sailors' Institution, and let it be remembered by us all, that if we demand of the seamen so much of their time, and if we place them in circumstances so forbidding to improvement, we are bound by all the

truths that morality and justice dictate, to deliver the seamen whom we thus expose, as far as our means can deliver them from the danger in the midst of which we have placed them. Let us reflect that the sailors have brought to us that dearest and highest of all blessings, the gospel of Christ. It was through sailors that we received from the continent, that gospel with which our life has been blessed. They were the means of giving us our places of worship -nay, the means of leading us to our worship by giving us the word of God, the great sanction for our enlightened work; and let us give them back what they were the means of giving to us, especially when we know that religion is not like other possessions. If we give back all that we have got, yet we retain all that we have received. If we give the gospel to those who were the instruments of supplying it to us, yet we retain all that we give. Religion, when given away, only extends itself. Let us take this course with our sailors, and let this Society secure more and more the interests, the affections, and the pecuniary support of every one of us.

The Rev. H. S. SEABORNE, in seconding the resolution, said, I have the happiness to be one of the representatives to this Society for the East of London, and I am greatly pleased in being able to say, that in reference to the taking of this suitable edifice for the purpose of a Sailors' church, every thing compatible with Christian feeling, and most honourable proceeding has charac terised the Committee of the Society in reference to this matter. It is an important fact to be remembered, and I speak it advisedly, that this edifice was offered to the Society. We trust that it will be filled with pious worshippers.

Mr. HOOPER, one of the Directors, then read a list of subscriptions towards the repairs and maintenance of the church, after which the resolution was put and carried.

Capt. CRAWTHORNE moved, and Capt. Scort seconded, a vote of thanks to the Chairman.

The resolution having been carried by acclamation, the Chairman briefly returned thanks, after which the Doxology was sung, and the meeting separated.