henceforth experience no more death, neither sorrow nor crying; neither wilt thou feel any more pain; for these were earthly evils, and in heaven are all passed away. O heaven,

"Thou sweet abode of peace and love,

Where pilgrims, freed from toil, are bless'd;
Had I the pinions of a dove,

I'd fly to thee, and be at rest.

But hush, my soul, nor dare repine;
The time thy God appoints is best;
While here to do his will be mine,

And his to fix my time of rest.”

CHAPTER XII.

THE HEART KNOWETH HIS OWN BITTERNESS, AND A STRANGER DOTH NOT INTERMEDDLE WITH HIS

JOY."-PROV. xiv. 10.

ON lately reading an account of the horrors of mind which the blustering, and professed infidel Volney exhibited when overtaken by a storm at sea; and of his unreserved and unsolicited acknowledgment of a God, when he apprehended his death was at hand, I was brought to the recollection of some occurrences which passed when I was once a passenger on board the Vfrigate.

It was but a few months before I quitted the last ship I served in, that we and the E, another line of battle ship, captured two brigs off the Coast of Sardinia.— On this occasion a commissioned officer, with a party of seamen from each ship, were ordered on board the captured vessels. Whether my commander really considered my services as necessary and desirable to take command of these prizes, or whether he were glad of a fair opportunity of getting rid of me for a season, and, perhaps, altogether, I cannot tell; but off I was hurried as senior officer, having the other vessel and its commander under my orders, with instructions to take the prizes to Gibraltar, and then return up the Mediterra

nean with those under my command, and join our respective ships whenever and wherever they could be fallen in with. Whatever might be my captain's motives for selecting me on this occasion, I certainly did not feel obliged to him, for, in the then state of the war, the Spanish coast swarmed with their privateers, while my two poor vessels had no means of defence, and very little capabilities for a successful flight, should we be pursued. In short, I considered it much more likely that I should visit a Spanish prison than the Bay of Gibraltar. To that God, who had hitherto always preserved me, I committed myself and my proceedings, and through his good providence we accomplished the voyage with safety and speed; when, having delivered the vessels into the charge of the prize agent, I and my brother officer of the E- with our parties of seaand in a few days

men, embarked on board the Vsailed for our squadron to the eastward. On my arrival in this happy, dashing ship, as such frigates are generally esteemed, I was ushered into the ward-room with all the respect and politeness customary on such occasions. In the society of this ship's ward-room I found much that was pleasing, and much that was distressing; all the officers were young men of intelligent and gentlemanly manners, men of reading and cultivated minds; hence there was much more correctness of behaviour and interesting conversation among them than could be found on board of many ships in our fleet. This was a pleasure I had not anticipated; it was the fair side of a picture I had not expected to see. But this same picture had a dark and distressing side, which I was obliged

often to look upon. These young men had, by some means or other, got into a train of deistical reading, and of dangerous, half-infidel opinions. The works of Hume, Gibbon, and Voltaire formed a part of their library, and but too frequently engaged their leisure hours. At that time my thoughts and feelings on religious matters were much what they now are; consequently, it was not long before I and my new associates discovered that we viewed many things in a very opposite light to each other. This discovery was first made by the following circumstance. The junior lieutenant of the frigate had, some days before I joined them, purchased, at a very high price, what the bookseller told him was one of the most popular and sensible novels ever published in England, and that a full chest of them had happily arrived at Gibraltar. I think it was the very day I went on board, that one of the officers enquired of the purchaser, "How he liked his famous new novel?" To which the other replied, "I don't know what to think of it: there is too much of religion in it. I have read but a few pages." Hearing this odd description of a novel, and perceiving that neither the enquirer nor the owner of the work cared about reading it, I requested the favour of seeing it; and found its title, "Cœlebs in search of a Wife," and truly, it did contain much good advice and sound doctrine. To me it proved quite a treat, while it remained unread, and unvalued by the purchaser and his shipmates. This event discovered to them that they had what they termed a religionist among them. I believe their surprise was accompanied with a strong curiosity to hear what I had to say on so unnautical and

unfashionable a subject as the religion interwoven with the tale of Calebs.

I have remarked that the manners and language of my new associates were, for the most part, correct and gentlemanly; but in the case of the surgeon of the ship, I soon found a melancholy exception, as well as in the lieutenant, who had accompanied me from our squad

ron.

The latter, indeed, was a man of no intelligence or information on any subject whatever, but such as were to his disgrace: he was what many hundreds of the lieutenants of the navy then were-a noisy, profane blockhead. On the other hand, the surgeon was a clever, well informed man, who could appear to much advantage in company whenever he chose; or rather he would have done so at all times, had he been under the influence of real christian principles. As it was, he combined the disgusting and interesting qualities together. The first part of the day generally found him in a sullen and half-melancholy state of mind; but in the afternoons, when a moderate portion of wine had restrung his nerves, and company and conversation had in a manner silenced the small, still voice within, he became another man, and often launched forth in all the warmth of debate in favour of daring, black infidelity, and in blasphemous denial and contempt of the Holy Scriptures, and of every truth and doctrine they contain. The book Calebs having, to a certain extent, made them acquainted with my sentiments, the poor surgeon and my fellow passenger most days purposely introduced, or rather forced, religious subjects into conversation the instant the cloth was removed from the dinner table.