"MY DEAR M―s,

"I did hope to have had an opportunity of seeing you last week; and had not our ships been always so far apart, I should certainly have endeavoured to call on you. I find your advice so congenial to my own ideas of duty, that I much wish it were in my power to have more frequently the benefit of it. An account of the progress the Lord enables you to make in awakening the minds of your fellow-creatures to a sense of the im portance of religion, always animates me to exertion, and recalls to my mind the dreadful sentence passed on the slothful servant, who hid his talent in the earth. I am convinced we all have it in our power to do much good, and I blush at my own inactivity in promoting a cause which, thanks be to God, I every day feel more impressed with the love of. To my acquaintance with you, my dear M-S, I am indebted for what I consider the greatest blessing man can bestow on me. I have been induced to read books which have given me a clearer view of the natural and lost estate of man, and of his happy redemption, through the merits of a Saviour, than perhaps would otherwise have come within my reach. Indeed I see the scheme of salvation in so different a point of view from what I formerly considered it, that I tremble in reflecting on the dangerous precipice on which I stood. How little, alas! is Christ looked up to, as the sole hope, by the generality of professed Christians! Self-righteousness is too often more depended on, or, at least, has an equal share in their hopes; and the discourses of too many of our divines, I am sorry to find, countenance this deception; for, in dwelling too

much on morality, they forget the very foundation of Christianity. "Captain continues to countenance religion by reading divine service on the Sabbath. In the hope of rendering myself in some degree useful in the same cause, I have, for the last two Sundays, with his permission, performed the same office in the sick bay,* where, independently of the number who are there confined by illness (which generally amounts to more than thirty), I have the pleasure of seeing two of the warrant I-hay officers, and several of the other gentlemen. I have each time read one of Taylor's Sermons, but I don't admire them so much as I could wish, for the reason which I before mentioned, They contain very plausible arguments in favour of what is commonly styled religion; but, in my own opinion, they do not explain the true scope of Christianity, nor do they inform the sinner how he is to commence the work of reformation. short, I think they are not calculated to bring people to a sense of their sole dependence on Christ, or to induce them to have recourse to a throne of grace for every good and perfect gift. If you can supply me with any which are better calculated to combine Christianity with morality, you will oblige me by so doing. I think I have heard you speak highly of Burder's Village Sermons. My evening cabin party still assembles, and I retired with a degree of last night amounted to four. inward satisfaction, which, I am sure, no gaiety or dissipation could ever have afforded."

In

* A large room fitted up for the sick, separate from the rest of the crew.

As I had more than one copy of the Village Sermons, I lost no time in forwarding a set, which Macarius assured me were not idle in his ship. They were in many hands, and formed the principal readings in the sick bay. But the time was come for a wider separation. The order for my return to England arrived, and I quitted the fleet without being able to take a personal farewell. Macarius, however, continued to go steadily on, until the Board of Admiralty promoted him to the rank of commander; and of course obliged him to quit his present situation. This took place not long after my own removal; and, as he was not appointed to a vessel, he returned to England, and repaired to his long absent and affectionate mother, to enjoy the comforts and blessings of domestic and christian society.

He now embraced every opportunity of enlarging his circle of religious friends, and the providences of God threw him into much of what may be truly called the best society. It was a season greatly to be remembered, and would have been so to old age, had he been permitted to reach that period. It was indeed a spiritual harvest, a summer of mental blessings; and, as such, he esteemed and endeavoured to improve it. But in the midst of this company of first-rate Christians, and under all his own advancements in knowledge and grace, he never forgot the humble instrumentality of his friend; nor scarcely ever wrote a letter without alluding to our past days of small things, when sailing on the bosom of a foreign ocean.

Like all others, he had to contend with a world that lieth in wickedness. In the first letter I received after his

arrival in England, he said, "I meet with some opposition, and no doubt appear to many as very singular in my opinions; but, while I know that 'the carnal heart is enmity against God,' and that all who will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution; I not only expect this, but consider it as a confirmation of my inward hopes of being in the road of truth. A wish to improve in the knowlege of this one thing needful,' to qualify myself for being useful to others, particularly to those of our profession, who sit in much gross darkness, and the hope of being instrumental in bringing some of my relations to a true knowledge of Christ, is my only wish for remaining unemployed. For these reasons I have not yet made application for a ship, nor do I think I shall before the summer."

In perfect consistency with these declarations, he applied his active mind in the unremitting pursuit of that knowledge "which maketh wise unto salvation :" and he certainly grew in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Hence deep self-abasement, continual upbraidings of his heart for want of more activity in, and devotedness to the cause of his Redeemer, and a child-like submission to all the will of God concerning himself, were features more and more conspicuous in his letters. His last was written but a few days before his appointment to the B, and his consequent putting again to sea.

At that time my mind was very anxiously directed towards the work of the ministry, and much exercised in contending with various difficulties which lay in the way of entering on that great work. His friendship

sent moment.

would not permit him to look on any subject with indifference, that much engaged and agitated my mind, much less the present one. His letters were, therefore, filled with declarations to that purpose, intermingled with repeated observations, that constant submission to the will of God was our privilege and duty in this and all other things. Nor did he inculcate a doctrine in others, and neglect to apply it to himself. Perhaps there never was any period of his life which required the application of these truths more than the then preHe was on the eve of being appointed to a ship, and to be ordered he knew not where, or on what service. He had many dear and affectionate friends, in whose happiness he took no small interest. He was going to leave them, and again to contend with all the dangers, privations, and difficulties of his professional situation. In this state of things he sought and found a degree of tranquillity of mind, which none but God could bestow. "I wish for nothing," was the language of his letter, "I wish for nothing for myself, but what seems good in his sight; and my earnest prayer is, for grace to feel contended with whatever lot in this life his providence may order for me. Should your prospects vanish, he will enable you to bear the disappointment: should they succeed, I trust you will indulge the thought that the success is from him."

Such was his state of mind when his appointment reached him. He embarked in the new and important situation of a commander. Nor did his subsequent conduct disappoint the high expectations of his friends. His unwearied and paternal care to bring up his young mid