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pained within me; for I had learnt, not only the circumstances already related, but the more distressing one, that he was actually giving vent to oaths and curses when the ball struck him, and closed his lips in silence for ever in this world! Whether I contemplated the dead or the living, it was a solemn theme: when I turned my eyes from following the former into the bowels of the deep, and cast them on the latter, I beheld his nineteen surviving comrades standing around me in thoughtful silence. They, with myself, were so many living instances of a great, a watchful, and a gracious Providence; and had the circumstances of time and place permitted, I should gladly have improved it, and said, “O that ye were wise-that ye understood these things-that ye would consider your latter end!" "O that ye would praise the Lord for his goodness!" and so reflect on that goodness as to be led to repentance!

Whenever I have recollected this preservation of nineteen of the crew, and of myself in particular, it has seemed little less than a miracle, considering how near and how long we were exposed to what may be termed a shower of shot falling like hail among us. It was a time which called for a deliberate exposure of myself, and while I felt it a necessary duty to stand up on the seat of the boat to give my orders and make observations, until we were out all danger, I seldom have had a more composed reliance on the presence and protection of God, than while I was thus acting and seemed as a mark set up for the enemy to shoot at, and which one would think it were impossible for them to have missed.

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CHAPTER X.

CAST THY BREAD UPON THE WATERS; FOR THOU SHALT FIND IT AFTER MANY DAYS.-ECCLES xi. 1.

BLESSED be God for such a command, and blessed be his holy name for such a promise; and blessed be the man who seeks and obtains grace to "work while it is called to-day who continues steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the works of the Lord;" occupying, with his ten, or his two intrusted talents, until his Lord shall come! Yes! I pray that such may, and I know they will, be blessed. Not that the imperfect services, the deficient obedience of the creature, can look for a reward of merit at the hands of the eternal Jehovah, whose every command all the sons and daughters of Adam have more or less broken; but that it is a present blessing, as well as the earnest of a future one, to be disposed and permitted to unite our instrumentality in the work of Him, who, with infinite ease, could accomplish every purpose of his divine will without our agency.

The fact is, what we call our duty, should be called and esteemed our privilege. Most men would consider it a great honour, an enviable distinction, to be made the frequent and familiar companions of their monarch's leisure hours to assist him in arranging the papers of his portfolio, or in adjusting the trifling disorders of his

library. These little offices would be esteemed, not as a task, a labour, or a burden, but as a pleasure, a privilege, and a mark of kind condescension; especially if the parties knew their monarch could himself do the thing much better, but that he chose this method of showing his attention and love to them. Well, then, my christian readers, let us endeavor to esteem it our privilege to do the will of Him who sent us hither. And when he invites and directs us to cast our bread upon the waters, to sow our seed in the morning, and in the evening not to withhold our hand, let us learn to go about the work, not as a task, a labour, or a burden, but as a pleasure, a privileged employment in the service of One, who, though King of kings, and Lord of lords, hath nevertheless shown us this mark of distinction; "that we should be workers together with God."

But here, perhaps, two classes of people will step forward and throw in their complaints; the first lamenting that their situation in life is and has been such as to exclude them from doing any thing for the glory of God and the spiritual good of others: the second, that they have "all day long stretched forth their hands to a stiff-necked and gainsaying people;" that they have long continued casting their bread upon the waters, but that the stream of sin and rebellion has uniformly swept all their labours into the ocean of forgetfulness, and none have believed or remembered their report.

To the former class of my complaining brethren I would beg leave to observe, that nothing is more common than for Satan and our own hearts to lead us into wild speculations, and fanciful plans and persuasions,

how we would act were we in this man's situation, or in the other's-what we could and would do, were we possessed of this man's wealth, or of that man's talents and influence. Many a time, my dear reader, have I caught myself thus building up goodly castles in the air, wasting, and worse than wasting, my time in idle Don Quixote-like reveries, to the overlooking and forgetting that I had my work to do, and my station to act in; and that, hereafter, I should have to give up my account, and be reckoned with, not according to what I had not, but according to the talents I possessed.

Be assured my reader, there is not a situation under heaven wherein the real Christian is utterly debarred all opportunities of acting for the honour of God and the good of his fellow-creatures. The poor man on his crutches, and the destitute widow on her sick couch may honour, and often have honoured, God and edified others. When bereft of every thing this world calls great and good, they have possessed a contented mind as their continual feast. If their neighbors have witnessed the rod of affliction enter their dwelling, they have also witnessed their cheerful resignation to the will of Him who breaks and makes whole. Many a precious and scriptural word of exhortation hath proceeded from the lips of poor and rustic christian sufferers to the edification not only of the poor and simple, but of the more prosperous and learned also. As an individual I hesitate not to confess, in the face of the world, that on many occasions when I have visited the poor and afflicted of Christ's flock, in the character of a teacher, I have my. self been taught, both by their words and example.

As to the poor man who is in health, if he have any portion of the love of God shed abroad in his heart, by the Holy Ghost, sure I am, he need not, he will not look far for opportunities of glorifying God and benefiting others. His own family or fellow servants, or near neighbours, will present a field for all his talents and exertions; a field wherein he may labour according to his abilities, and be approved of Him who hath already said to many, "Well done, thou good servant; because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority," &c.

It certainly is not necessary that a man should possess great power or extensive talents to be "useful in his day and generation." Of this truth Jerry T., one of the crew of the C, was a striking instance. His situation in the ship was that of officers' barber and hairdresser. Being a cleanly smart young man in his person, and rather clever at his business, as well as handy in doing little jobs in the officers' apartments, he was a sort of privileged man, and had access to most of their cabins and private liquor cases whenever he pleased.

Like barbers in general, Jerry had often some news to relate, or some subject to talk about while performing the duties of his office; but on the topic of religion he was silent. Not but that he could read very well; but having been born in Ireland, and brought up a Roman Catholic, he literally knew nothing beyond what had been imparted through the medium and mummery of paintings, images, processions, legends, and deluded friars.

It however pleased God, in the early stage of our

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