before the spirits of the men were sufficiently raised, by the hope of escaping, to attempt so laborious a work; but, at length being convinced that the ship would never return again, they set about their task in earnest, and were as industrious and eager as their commander could require: they regularly assembling by break of day at an appointed place, from whence they were distributed to their different employments, which they followed with extraordi nary vigour, till night came on. The lengthening of the bark was itself a work of great difficulty; and, in their case, it was more than commonly so, for they had no proper supply of tools, and were in want of materials to make them; and it required no small degree of invention to supply all these wants. And when the hull of the vessel should be completed, this was but one article; there were others of equal consequence which were to be well considered: these were, the rigging her, the victualling her, and lastly, the navigating her for the space of six or seven hundred leagues, througli unknown seas, where no one of the company had ever been before. Happily the ship's carpenter and smith were on shore; the carpenter had a few of his tools with him, but the smith could do nothing for want of his bellows: Their first work then was to make him a pair of bellows; but they had no leather; they however had some hides, and they found some lime, and thus they tanned these hides, and they made a pipe out of an old gun-barrel; and though, as we may suppose, this was but an indifferent piece of work! manship, yet it answered the purpose tolerably well. Whilst the smith was preparing the necessary iron work, others were employed in cutting down trees, and sawing them into planks. In all this, the Commodore worked as hard as the men. Then there was great difficulty in getting the bark on shore for want of blocks, and cordage, and tackling: this want, however, with great difficulty they con trived to supply. Some of the men, all this time, were employed in seeking for provisions, and preparing them for the rest. Now, during these great labours and difficulties, the writer of Anson's Voyages remarks, though it might have been expected that there would have been great confusion and delay; yet, good order being once established, and all hands engaged, their preparations advanced apace. And he thus accounts for their good order and industry," There was no wine nor strong drink on shore, but the juice of the cocoa-nut was their constant drink; and this, though extremely pleasant, was not at all intoxicating. " It would be well if some of our workmen at home would get rid of that great and expensive mistake, that a quantity of intoxicating liquor is the way to give them strength. There is a number of very hard-working men, who drink a quantity of beer, which is abolutely ruinous. They say their hard labour requires it. A laborious man, it is true, will find a moderate quantity refreshing; and it will not hurt him: but, if he drinks more than a moderate quantity, instead of refreshing him, it heats him. No man should be set about work which is beyond his strength. Porters and coalheavers often carry weights quite too great for their proper powers. Then perhaps they drink large quantities, and say that this is needful. Drinking may give a man courage, for the time, to go through his labours, but if he is weighted beyond his strength, drinking cannot restore him; on the contrary, it adds to his burden, The worst place for a man to carry a weight is in his stomach; and every quart which a man drinks weighs two pounds. It is bad for a man, however weak the liquor may be. A load even of water, in the stomach, is a bad thing. These hard working men say, that their heavy work compels them to drink large quantities. They say that such men are generally short-lived, from the severity of their labour; and this is true. But their lives are shortened quite as much by the beer with which they load their stomachs, as by the weight with which they load their backs. V. AN EXTRACT FROM THE DEAN OF ROCHESTER'S SERMON ON THE CREED. To the Editor of the Cottager's Monthly Visitor. SIR, IN the number for April in the present year, you favoured your readers with an extract from one of the Dean of Rochester's Discourses on the Creed, you will much oblige a new Correspondent, but an old admirer of your Visitor, by the insertion of the enclosed extraet from the same Discourse as your former Correspondent's, if it meets with your approbation. I have the honour to be, SIR, Vauxhall Road, Westminster, "This one only eternal God, is God the Father. He, from whom any creature has its being, is properly termed a father. Now all creatures, both rational and irrational, derive their existence from God; he is, therefore, their Father, as being their Creator. He extends his care and providence to all that he has made, and watches over the life and welfare of his creatures in every stage of their being; he is, therefore, their Father, as being their preserver. Mankind, the work of his hands, and children of his love, fell by disobedience into a state of misery. From this unhappy condition he rescued them by a gracious and extraordinary interposition, and thus became their Father in a special manner, as being their Redeemer. Having saved them from wrath, he extended his grace towards them, and adopted them as his children by Jesus Christ; and thus made himself their Father, as being the giver of an eternal inheritance. But the principal light in which the Creed leads us to view God as a Father, is that which manifests him to us as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, his Son by an everlasting generation ;a generation mysterious in itself, and consequently incomprehensible to us; a generation also so peculiar, that it cannot belong to any created being, and is applicable only to Christ. The sons of righteousness are called the sons of God, being made his children and heirs through faith; but Christ is the Son of God after a more peculiar and exalted manner. He is the onlybegotten Son of his Father, and he alone received this distinguishing testimony from heaven: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased,' Matt. iii. 17. God is, likewise, Almighty.Power belongeth unto God.' Psalm 1xii. 11. He hath prepared his seat in heaven, and his kingdom ruleth over all,' Psalm ciii. 19. Every thing that has being, animate and inanimate, visible and invisible, is under his dominion and controul. With him all things are possible,' Matt. xix. 26. He is mighty to save, mighty to destroy; able to exalt both body and soul unto heaven; able to cast both body and soul into hell. This attribute excites at once awe and delight. By Omnipotence the world was made out of nothing; by Omnipotence the world was destroyed with a flood; by Omnipotence the world is preserved in its course and economy; by Omnipotence the world will be consumed with fire. At the word of Omnipotence the grave will give up its dead; by the dreadful sentence of Om nipotence the wicked will be consigned over to everlasting misery; by the merciful decision of Omnipotence the righteous will be exalted to everlasting happiness. O God of compassion, God of grace and love, save us from the wrath of thy last great and terrible day; and in that hour of doom, let thy Almighty voice proclaim peace and pardon to our soul. TINDAL'S BIBLE. THE merciful care of the Almighty in the preservation of his own book, is seen and admired by every one who knows the wonderful manner in which, through extraordinary circumstances, and through distant ages, shewn. The following account is one, in addition to the many proofs of this, and for which our grateful thanks, as Christians and Protestants, are due. Wickliffe was the first Englishman who attempted to translate the Holy Scriptures into our own language. But, after a time, his style became so old, that it was difficult to be understood. no this protection has been * In the year 1526, William Tindal printed a new version, without his name. As circumstances prevented him bestowing so much time and care on this translation as he could have wished, he was desirous of making a new and more correct edition; but he was too poor to do it. He was, however, enabled to gain his point by the very means which were intended to put an end to the translation altogether. Bishop Tunstal, a zealous papist, to remove this Bible out of the way, privately bought up the copies, and had them burnt at St. Paul's Cross. The purchase money enabled Tindal to publish a new edition with more care and correctness than * He died 1384. |