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He is an uneducated young man, but of good sense and stable character; and seems already to possess clear conceptions of the faith of mind, and affections of heart, essential to genuine piety: so truly has the christian poet said of the word of life:

"When once it enters to the mind,

It sheds such light abroad,
The meanest souls instruction find,

And raise their thoughts to God."

It

In this case I have taken great satisfaction. has been unmingled with extravagance either of sentiment or feeling. His convictions of sin have not been particularly deep, though sufficiently so to make him perfectly sensible of the necessity in which he stands, from guilt, of a Redeemer for the soul; and to have filled him with penitence and humility in view of the follies and vices of his life. And now that "he knows in whom he has believed," and rejoices in the hopes of the gospel, there is the same temperance and soberness of affection; though his bosom is evidently filled with light and gladness.

Two others, at least, are in like manner turning from the error of their ways; and while my own heart humbles itself in grateful thanksgiving before God, I trust there has been joy in heaven over the repentance of sinners here.

There is said to be much less profaneness on board than formerly; the number who no longer drink their allowance of grog, is increasing; and many things indicate an improvement in the general state of morals among us. Commodore Thompson and Captain Smith both extend every aid to the full discharge of the duties of my station; and while it is manifest that I have won the confidence and attachment of the crew, all my fellow-officers, I am happy to say, appear to regard with favour the attempts, by the distribution of tracts and conversation, in addition to the services of the sabbath and even

ENCOURAGEMENT.

69

ing prayers, to enlist the feelings of the seamen in favour of virtue and piety.

The Commodore has very kindly expressed his wish, that any of the crew, who are desirous of visiting me in the state-room, may feel themselves at perfect liberty to do so, whenever the duties of their station, and the circumstances of the ship, will permit.

How thankful, dear H-, ought I to be for this various encouragement-encouragement beyond the most sanguine anticipations I had dared to indulge! In myself I am unworthy of the blessing; still was never more alive to the goodness and condescension of the Most High, in imparting not only a desire to be useful and "to do good unto all as I have opportunity," but in affording also the means and a facility for putting that desire in exercise.

If, at any time, thoughts and affections, connected with a separation from those I love best, come upon me with a power that leads me to exclaim, "Can it be possible that it was my duty thus to tear myself from them?" I have only to look around me on these wanderers of the flock of Christ, the few who “hear his voice, and follow him," and on the guilty hundreds still straying far from this good Shepherd, and remember, that I have "to care for their souls;" when, with humble and grateful acknowledgment, I am made to feel, that I am led by my Master, and that his Spirit, for good to the souls of others at least, is upon me.

Whatever my own true character in the sight of God may be, scenes, in which are found

"The hopes and fears, and joys and sympathies,"

of an heir of immortal glory, just bounding into being, have more attractions for my heart than all the splendours of a court, and the fascination of mind and manners thrown round its brightest circles; and, if I know myself, I had rather be a successful mes

senger of "the tidings of great joy" to the most obscure sailor on board this ship, than,

"Bereft of these most high capacities,"

to appear an ambassador with full powers in the proudest empire of christendom.

I do not recollect ever to have felt more strongly the desire of securing to myself the blessing of him "who converteth a sinner from the error of his ways," than since I have been with this crew; and my daily prayer, as well as heart's desire, unto God is, that they may be saved.

May the grace of God be sufficient for me! and, in mercy to myself and to his creatures, may I be made the happy instrument of feeding, with the provision of the gospel, the few here, who are of that "flock which shall yet inherit the kingdom," of reclaiming the lost and wandering, and of binding up the broken-hearted!

LETTER XIV.

PASSAGE ROUND CAPE HORN.

U. S. ship Guerriere, at Sea,
May 25th, 1829.

THE wintry weather of the southern hemisphere commenced early with us after leaving port. A few bright and balmy days, with fair weather and fullspread canvass, and a moon at night riding in brightness through a soft and tranquil sky, were followed, on the first sabbath morning, by a red and lurid horizon-a head wind, with scud and squalls from the south—and a heavy, rolling sea, upon our bows.

For three weeks afterwards we were in a succession of strong gales directly against us, and reduced

ENCOUNTER A GALE.

71

almost every night to close-reefed main, and foresails, with housed guns, and the deadlights all in, by way of preparation for "the whirlwind and the

storm.

It was not till the 13th inst., nearly four weeks after leaving Rio, that we reached the latitude of the Falkland Islands, and, after two days' calm, ran past the group, but not in sight of land, with a strong wind, at the rate of ten and twelve miles the hour. Great numbers of albatros, with flocks of haglets, and a beautiful ice-pigeon, probably from New Shetland, which lighted on our capstan, hungry and exhausted, proclaimed an approach to the Cape; and on the morning of the 15th we made Staten Land, forty miles distant.

The time of day, and manner in which the island came in sight, the weather and temperature, the doubling of Cape St. John, and coasting of the southern shore, and the bearings and outline of the principal points, afterwards, were all so much the same as when on board the Thames, in 1823, that every thought was closely associated with the first sight of this distant and inhospitable region; and it seemed but a day since, hanging on my arm, you walked the deck with me, gazing with animation and pleasure on the novel and desolate scene.

The next evening we were in the longitude of Cape Horn, with the prospect of a speedy passage round, till a heavy western gale met us, and drove us entirely from our course. For a week afterwards the wind continued to blow fiercely, and at times with a violence equal to any thing I ever before witnessed. The Guerriere, however, "behaved well," as the sailors say; though the little canvass she could bear was reduced to a sieve, and she often seemed on her beam-ends. One night the wind blew a hurricane; and the labour of the ship in a tremendous sea was such, that the commodore, as

well as the captain and first lieutenant, was up till morning.

During the whole period, the ocean presented a succession of varied and sublime scenes, heightened by the appearance of the frigate struggling in majesty amid the tumultuous conflict of billow raging against billow, on every side. Even when her upper spars are sent down, which is generally the case in heavy weather, such a mass of rigging is still presented to the wind, that the rushing of the "impetuous storm," as it sweeps over us, sounds like the roaring of a tempest in the mountain forests, and would fill the mind unaccustomed to it, with apprehension and horror; when familiar, however, it only induces a musing mood.

A more sublime spectacle is seldom witnessed than that presented by a stately ship in a heavy gale at sea, or one more increasingly impressive, the oftener it is seen and the longer gazed on. A finely modeled and perfectly rigged vessel is, under any circumstances, a chef d'œuvre of the art of man; but when seen thus to brave the tempest and the whirlwind, and to ride gracefully and triumphantly through all the contortions of the storm, there is presented in it an evidence of the power of mind in devising the means, and perfecting the arrangements, for a dominion over the winds and waves themselves, scarcely to be found in any other work of his hands.

For the last three days we have had a fair wind, with fine weather, and moderate temperature; and in the longitude 81°, we consider ourselves entirely past the Cape, and within a fortnight's sail of Valparaiso. It is but ten days since we made Staten Land, and we feel ourselves fortunate in having gained an entrance into the Pacific in that period.

Weddell, after the observation of several years in this region, considers the month intervening be

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