than fourteen years, was generally believed by those who were acquainted with her professions and manner of living. But the circumstances of her death were rather remarkable. About two months previous to her death, and with entire composure, she repeatedly said, "I shall not live but a few weeks ;" and but two weeks before her departure, (and while in health,) in the presence of her husband and family, she deliberately said, "I shall live but about a fortnight longer." The Tuesday previous to her death, feeling slightly indisposed, she said to the physician, "Doctor, speak your mind freely; I know I cannot live; but I am prepared; my peace is made with God." The night before her death, at about 9 o'clock, she requested the family to be called together, it being near the usual time for family worship, selected a Hymn, read it, parcelled out the lines, and united in singing it. During the night she had three fits; after the last, her reason was restored, and she took an affectionate leave of her husband and children, turned over in the bed, closed her eyes, and in a few minutes (about 7 o'clock in the morning) expired, without a struggle or groan.

For the Christian Herald.

NEW EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

THE corner stone of a new Episcopal church, to be called St. Luke's Church, was laid at Greenwich on the 4th inst. at one o'clock, P. M. The ceremony was performed by the Right Reverend Bishop Hobart, who was assisted by the Rev. George Upfold, M. D. Rector, and most of the clergy of the city. The church is to be a plain but neat edifice, with a tower projecting from the front: it will contain upwards of one hundred pews on the ground floor. Although the strictest economy has been studied in the plan, yet it is expected that the building will be a model for neatness and for its just proportions. But a few months since there was no administration of the holy ordinances according to the forms of the Protestant Episcopal Church in this part of the city, and probably there would not now be any, were it not for the laudable exertions of a few gentlemen who have gathered together a very respectable congregation and organized a church. The erection of St. Luke's Church is a continuance of these exertions-the ground being a gift of Trinity Church (which has acted on this occasion with its accustomed liberality.)-The same individuals have added to the appropriation of their time and attentions, their individual responsibilities for the cost of the edifice. To defray these expenses, they look, and look with confidence, to the liberality of their fellow Christians. The members of the congregation are ready too with their mites, which must, however, be small, as they now, out of very limited incomes, support the church. We trust, therefore, that the benevolence of Christians, and particularly of those of the Protestant Episcopal Church, will be active towards this object. The ceremony was witnessed by several of the vestries of the other churches, and a number of very respectable persons. It is perhaps unnecessary to add, that the service was remarkably solemn and appropriate.

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.

BETHEL UNION.-(Concluded from page 59.)

SUCCESS in schemes of Christian benevolence will always become a spur to enlarged efforts, until mankind "shall know the Lord from the least to the greatest." The Spirit of God expands our views as we advance in the Christian field of labour, and so far from indulging our ease, and permitting us to say with Lamech, "I will call this Noah, (my rest,), for this same shall comfort us concerning the work and toil of our hands," he urges us to go forward; to EXPECT GREAT THINGS; to ATTEMPT GREAT THINGS; and he produces a sleepless activity that presses the soul onward to more mighty exertions, until the knowledge of Jehovah "shall cover the earth, as the waters do the sea."

Impelled (it is humbly presumed) by such a Divine stimulus, the Minister and his friend, already mentioned, ceased not to promote alike the interests of the Floating Chapel and the Prayer Meetings. But in the year 1819, the former appeared so prosperous and so firmly established, that their chief attention, for some months, was devoted to the latter, well aware that "Praying breath was never spent in vain." They calculated thus:-If the Ark has regularly 800 seamen worshipping on board every Sabbath day, and the river Thames is supposed, generally, to bear on its surface 7000, there must, therefore, be abundant opportunities of itinerating, during the week, from ship to ship, and either preaching or holding Prayer-meetings in the numerous tiers both above and below the Ark." This conclusion induced them to suppose that something more must be done to promote Religion among Seamen on the Thames, and that, as the Port of London Society superintended all the concerns of the Floating Chapel, it would be advisable to form another Institution to manage all the affairs of the Prayer-meetings, and the occasional Itinerant Preaching from tier to tier. This, it was presumed, would be of essential service to the general good of seamen in the port of London.

The project was mentioned for some weeks to many active friends of seamen, and approved. Two public meetings were held in différent ships, in the Upper and Lower Pools, where it was fully discussed and agreed upon. The Bethel Society was therefore organized.

The Preliminary Meeting was held in the British and Foreign SchoolRoom, White's Grounds, Southwark, when the Rev. G. C. Smith, of Penzance, took the Chair, and, in a full and respectable assembly, it was determined to name the Institution, "The Bethel Seamen's Union." This meeting adjourned to the City of London Tavern, when Captain Sir George Mount Keith, Bart. R. N. presided, and the Society was most fully and publicly established, with the addition of "British and Fo

reign" to the name, at the desire of a respectable merchant and shipowner from the North of England.

The reasons which guided the judgment and produced the decision of those who were most active in forming this new Institution, regarded first the Prayer Meetings. They were now becoming very numerous, and held almost every night in the week on board of different ships, but, in a general sense, they were isolated, unconnected, and under no particular control. Itinerant preaching from tier to tier was in the same condition. By the Bethel Union they all now form one compact body, are suitably regulated, and hold their Monthly Meetings on each other's station, where brotherly love is thus happily promoted.

Secondly. Christian candour was of real importance. The captains and sailors who were religious belonged to different denominations on shore, and it was greatly to be feared in their religious meetings there would be too much eagerness to promote the dogmas of a sect, and too little regard to the general good of seamen, irrespective of names or sentiments.

The Bethel Union has accomplished this great point.-Afloat, its friends know no sect or party. On shore, each one joins where he pleases, and attends what place of worship is most agreeable to his views.

Thirdly. A SAILOR'S MAGAZINE had been long projected, and the plan tendered to others, but was declined by them. This appeared an object of primary importance to the Bethel Union, and it has succeeded in eleven months beyond the most sanguine expectations.

Fourthly. The Bethel Flag. This signal for Divine worship in ships was so well received, and could so easily be established, that it seemed truly important that captains should generally be encouraged to adopt it, and measures be used to establish it under the direction of Religious persons in every seaport of the United Kingdom.

Fifthly. Bibles and Tracts, it was thought, should be brought into more general circulation among sailors. This, it was presumed, the Bethel Union, by its general itinerating system and multiplied agents, could most essentially promote.

Sixthly. "Foreign Sailors, it was feared, had been much neglected, and the Bethel Union, by its extensive connexion and general efforts, it was imagined, might be instrumental in awakening the attention of foreign nations, and promoting every plan which might be adopted, in the same way as the British and Foreign Bible Society. Such were the chief points to which the attention of the Bethel Union was happily directed, in opening their campaign at the close of last year.

The Committee proceed next to give a review of their labours, and mention the formation of Auxiliary Societies at Wolwarth (Letter A) and Hoxton, (B.)

The next event in order of time which distinguished the progress of the Society was the introduction of its plans into Scotland. Lieut. E. S. of the Royal Navy, who had been particularly active in the formation of the Bethel Society, left London in December last, to take charge of-a ship at Greenock. Immediately on his arrival, he applied to some ministers to address the seamen of that port, and subsequently hoisted a Bethel Flag on board his ship, and commenced religious meetings on board the ships in that port.

From his labours, as the zealous agent of the Bethel Union, ORIGINATED the noble Institution of the "Greenock Seamen's Friend Society." In the same month of December, a respectable merchant of Newcastle, and a member of your Committee, engaged to introduce the Society to general notice, during a tour he should make through the northern parts of England and Scotland.

On his arrival at Edinburgh, he despatched a note on the subject to the Rev. Mr. Henry, of Leith, by whose noble exertions and indefatigable perseverance, that truly valuable Institution, the "Edinburgh and Leith Seamen's Friend Society," was launched forth, and is now actively engaged in promoting the Divine glory among seamen.

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The example of the English had awakened the zeal of the Welch, and several religious meetings have been held on board of the Welch ships, where the worship has been conducted in the English language; but many natives of the Principality being anxious to instruct the seamen who are but partially acquainted with English, have formed a Cambrian Society for the purpose, and they have established preaching in Welch every Sabbath on board a ship off " Pickle Herring Stairs." The signal they hoist is a red flag, with the word "Pregeth," or Preaching." They have also begun a course of prayer-meetings from the shore in the Welch language, and a signal flag, with the words "Cyfarfod Gweddi," or "Prayer Meetings," has been lately presented in behalf of this Society. The seamen of Ireland are also contemplated with peculiar regard by this Institution; and your Committee has heard with great satisfaction that the Bethel Flag has been hoisted at Cork. A communication has also reached them from an active friend of the Society in Dublin, with some interesting particulars relative to the establishment of shipmeetings in that port.

Thus in one year the "British and Foreign Seamen's Friend Society and Bethel Union" has had the happiness to see a multitude of pious agents and zealous friends raised up by Divine Providence, and brought into active operation, promoting this great cause in the most gratifying manner through the most distinguished ports of Great Britain.

It is with real satisfaction the Committee have also to announce, that they have established Bethel Flags and devotional meetings among ships and seamen in the following seaports of England since the public meeting in this place last year, viz. The Scilly Islands, Penzance, St. Ives, Penryn, Portreath, Plymouth, Teignmouth, Exeter, and Gainsborough. A noble institution, called the "Bristol Seamen's Friend Society," has also been formed; and five companies of pious men, twelve in each company, are now engaged every week, hoisting Bethel Flags from the floating harbour of Bristol to the basin at Clifton. Portsmouth has also imitated these excellent examples, and a plan of the society formed there, having been just received, will be read this evening.

During the last month two very respectable and interesting societies have also been formed at Chatham and Sheerness, under the direction of naval officers, ministers of the gospel, and other gentlemen, who are desirous of promoting the spiritual interests of soldiers as well as seamen. This new plan has been cheerfully incorporated into the measures of the Parent Society.

Bethel Flags have been despatched to Chatham and Sheerness, and

will, we trust, be hoisted, for the glory of God and the spiritual happiness of seamen, at every convenient season.

Your Committee record also with great pleasure, the zeal of a pious captain of a pilot vessel from Gravesend, who takes eve ry opportunity of hoisting the Bethel Flag in the "Downs," while he lies there waiting for East Indiamen, or other large ships bound up the river.

On the subject of decent boarding-houses, the Committee cannot at present enter into any particulars. It has occupied a large portion of their attention, and some efforts have been made.

The Committee have made arrangements for erecting a Sailor's Church on shore, in Tooley-street. The following are among the reasons offered for this measure. The Committee consider it of real importance in a national point of view. We have a chapel afloat wholly appropriated to seamen, but we have not one on shore. North America has set us the example, and New-York has raised by subscription a MARINERS' CHURCH. Your Committee cannot rest satisfied without being able to do the same.

The Bethel Union attributes much of its success (under Divine Providence) to those invaluable publications, [Tracts ;] and they refer with pleasure to the usefulness of Tracts among Seamen, published in the Tract Society's Reports and in the Sailor's Magazine.

A correspondence has been opened with New-York, in North America, and all the documents of the Society forwarded to the zealous minister who preaches to sailors in the New Mariners' Church there. The publications of the Society have also been applied for, and forwarded to an eminent merchant in Philadelphia, with a view to form a similar Society in that city. A Bethel Flag is preparing for the United States, as a present from the Society to those transatlantic brethren whose hearts the Lord has graciously touched in this holy and blessed

cause.

The Bethel Flag has been established at the following ports, or measures preparatory have been taken for that purpose, viz: St. John's, New-Brunswick, St. Petersburgh, and other ports in Russia, Charante, Hamburgh, Madeira, the Bay of Honduras, and some other ports.

Missionaries, preparatory to leaving their native country, now so generally visit the prayer-meetings on the Thames, and unite with the sailors, that there is every reason to hope that many months will not elapse before the object of the Bethel Flag, and the interesting cause it espouses, will be known and valued in every part of the globe.

The Society has by Divine aid struck out a new path of usefulness; it opposes none. The Almighty has raised the Institution, and the instruments he has called to the work have launched it forth. It has been under weigh more than twelve months, and this is the Report of its cruize. It will still steer a steady course, unawed and uninterrupted by any vessel in the seas, determined not to rest until it has circumnavigated the globe. Like the Discovery Ships, it will penetrate the highest latitude, and by Divine grace convey the flame of Jesus' dying love from the torrid zone of Christian zeal in London to the Frozen Ocean,

*See next page.