RELIGION OFF SOUNDINGS. 245 the forward cabin, and the steward kept charge of it, distributing books to the crew when called for. I commend this example most heartily as an admirable means of conferring benefit and pleasure upon seamen. Having two libraries that voyage, in addition, our ship was pervaded with a literary atmosphere. Men that seldom looked at a book became readers, and their time and thoughts were so occupied that they had but little leisure for growls and plotting mischief, greatly to the ship's peace. TRACTS can be used to great advantage. Many men who will not undertake so formidable a task as the reading of a book, will glance over a tract, or spell out the words of a leaflet. I usually selected a parcel of tracts each Sunday morning, with much care and prayerful thought, and sent them forward after services had been held. Many cases of conversion upon the sea have come to my knowledge, where such instruments were the only visible means. I recall two cases in connection with the tracts "My Mother's Last Words," and "Only Believe," where a decision was reached through their influence. The profits made by selling tobacco to the crew were invested in Bibles, books and tracts for the next voyage. THE LORDS' SUPPER.-On a long voyage, when we had several professed Christians on board, the question of the Lord's Supper pressed upon my mind. I began to feel that we ought to manifest our unity by having fellowship in the breaking of bread, remembering our Lord's death, according to His command. Diligent study of God's Word convinced me that under the circumstances of our long exile from organized gatherings of Christians, it was our duty and privilege to observe this ordinance. After much prayerful consideration, and with some timidity at the thought of so great an innovation in sea life. I invited all who had confessed Christ to meet with me to partake of the Lord's Supper. A tumbler of wine and a plate of bread were placed upon the cabin table, around which we all took our seats and bowed our heads while God's blessing upon our worship was implored. In a familiar way I then made some extended remarks about the ordinance, referring to all the passages in the Bible relating directly to the subject, all of which were read aloud. The bread and wine were passed, each handing them to the other, after which the second mate made a brief prayer. Several such seasons have been observed since, on other voyages, and always with the consciousness of the Lord's presence and blessing. A RELIGIOUS SAILOR can accomplish a great amount of good on ship-board. Whole crews are sometimes awakened and converted by the fervent words of a pious shipmate, whose consistent example gives them power. A sailor who knelt in the forecastle amid showers of boots, and whose words of prayer were drowned in curses, saw nearly all his opposers joining with him in prayers and praises before the voyage ended. Such a man is a great help to a religious captain, and assists to a wonderful extent in promoting his efforts in behalf of the spiritual welfare of the men. TEMPERANCE is one of the most marked fruits of Religion, and a temperance lecture, just before reaching port, was always considered an important part of the plan for doing good to sailors at sea. The time usually selected was the last Saturday afternoon of the voyage, at four o'clock. If the weather permitted it was given on deck. The remarks were familiar and practical, and well interspersed with anecdotes. Several signatures were usually obtained to the Pledge. I never have given grog to my crews, but in cold weather have always allowed them coffee at five o'clock in the morning; and when all hands were called in the night to shorten sail off Cape Horn, or other cold regions, the cook was summoned to have coffee ready when they went below. Hard drinkers have told me the coffee did them more good than rum. A captain who has the religious interests of his crew at heart will be stimulated to attend also to their EDUCATION. All captains and officers can engage in this work, and it should receive attention in every ship that sails on fair weather voyages. A navigation class can be held occasionally in the afternoon for the watch below. If there is a spare room in the forward house it could be fitted up as a school-room; books and slates might be kept there, with which the men could practice, and any one qualified to instruct could drop in and assist the learner. Passengers can be very useful in this way, and also beguile the tediousness of a long voyage. I have known ladies to accomplish great results by such instructions, and the future lives of men have, to my own knowledge, been influenced to a wonderful degree by the stimulus and insight into the field of knowledge which these efforts supplied. No reasonable captain should object to a passenger holding such classes in the forward cabin, if they were properly conducted. Some men are now walking the quarter decks of fine ships, whose minds and ambitions were first awakened by the lessons they were given on shipboard. Another good effort, in which all captains might engage in. LECTURING upon the physical geography of the sea, astronomy and other sciences, naval architecture, and a multitude of subjects. The ordinary school books will give him facts, which with very little trouble he can weave into a half hour's talk on a Saturday evening. I remember few efforts with more interest than these. They are stimulating to the captain's mind, and interesting to the On a long voyage such events as the weekly lecture have an admirable effect in promoting the harmony and good spirits of all on board, besides increasing their knowledge. crew. DISCIPLINE.—If any question the effect upon discipline of the means here inculcated, I would refer them to what I have written upon that subject in my book "On Board the Rocket." The chief difficulty in maintaining discipline on shipboard lies in the fact that no allowance is made for the imperfections of human A LETTER FROM THE SOUTHERN OCEAN. 247 nature. The captain expects every man on board to be perfect, except the captain, and the officers make the same demand upon those below them, but except themselves. Religion promotes faithfulness to duty, and control over one's self, but inculcates forbearance towards others. These suggestions are offered with the hope and prayer that they may prove helpful in assisting some to honour the Lord, and do good to seamen by promoting RELIGION OFF SOUNDINGS. A LETTER FROM THE SOUTHERN OCEAN. THE writer is the Rev. W. H. Burton, pastor of the Dalston Junction Baptist Church. He is on a voyage to Australia, seeking precious health, hoping to be restored to his beloved people. He is full of the poetry of the sea, and a worthy descendant of sailor ancestors. Both his father and grandfather were drowned at sea. To him, therefore, the sea has deeper meanings than to the ordinary pleasure voyager. His books, Symbols from the Sea; or, the Port, the Pilot, and the Passage," is, perhaps, the best worked out book on this subject in the English language. His Church, during his absence, has been well cared for by deacons, who are imbued with the pastor's noble spirit, and are full of faith and good works. The Rev. William Cuff, with his generous nature, has rendered most valuable assistance. It was our privilege to minister to this church, which is worthy of such a pastor, on the Sunday this letter was read, and to give them the sermon on Tyndale and the Bible. With our affinities and sympathies for such an expounder of the sea as Brother Burton is, we say Bon voyage.-ED. My Dearly Beloved Friends,-At last they tell us we are in Australian waters, and within measurable distance of Melbourne. As your eyes catch the date of this letter, I have no doubt, your thoughts in many instances will go back to this day three years ago. But that is a subject upon which I dare not venture even a word. Oh! how my soul was with you last Lord's day-the third Sunday in May-which was my first at Dalston, and, in 1878, came on the 19th. What great things during that period God has wrought; but oh! how mysteriously He has led us about. To describe to you all the experiences of this voyage would be simply impossible. Should God in His mercy hear our prayers and see fit to restore me to you, we shall have opportunities for speaking of these as we could not possibly do in a hurried letter. Suffice to say here, that He has brought me through deep, deep waters; that, at times more than all His waves and His billows have seemed to pass over me; and, in my great weakness and awful isolation, I have more than once thought I should not reach the end of the passage. But, to His dear praise be it rehearsed, He has brought me thus far safely, and, in answer to your continued cries, He can keep me, and, in His time, restore me to Dalston again. How I long to get tidings of you! Oh! the long, long, long weary days and weeks and months of silence! How anxious I am to get your letters, and how I tremble at what might, during all this time, have happened. What changes often take place in three months! But I am hoping, concerning the Church, for the best of news, and I feel assured I shall not be disappointed. How are you doing? How is the prayer meeting going on? How long is it since you were absent from it? You, I mean. You, each for himself. My own dear friends, let not failure be found there. Should tidings reach me of a failing prayer-meeting, I shall have little hope left concerning anything else. It is at the prayer-meeting that the Church, as such, avowedly seeks the help of her Lord, and it is there that she obtains the joy and comforts of His presence. And how real the joys and comforts of that presence are? We have often sung together: "With Christ in the vessel we smile at the storm." That is, with the Great Captain near, we fear no harm. His presence is peace. I have seen this illustrated many times during our passage, and specially during the five days' heavy gales we had soon after starting. Night and day for a hundred and twenty hours we encountered tempest which sometimes increased to a hurricane. Passengers, many of them, dared not venture on deck, and during the long dark hours of night, which were rendered sleepless by the tossing of the ship and the noise of the waters, the one source of confidence and comfort was the presence or the voice of the Captain. In my diary of that time I find written: "How everybody eyes the captain! The passengers watch his every expression, mark his movements, listen to his words, and constantly wish for his presence. He is a good, brave, skilful fellow, but he cannot rule the raging of this tempest." And if the captain of our ship, a man like unto ourselves, by his presence, could inspire confidence, how much more will the presence and voice of Jesus calm the tumult and strengthen the faith of His sinking people? Oh! beloved, crave most earnestly and you will enjoy most richly the help as well as the presence of Him, who, standing on the billow's crest can say, "It is I, be not afraid," or, on the storm tossed vessel, can say to the tempest, "Peace be still." As a Church, the prayer-meeting is the place and the time where and when this presence you may secure. Are you seeing conversions? Are you praying for them, looking for them, working for them, living for them? May "the God of all grace" richly bless you more and more with this joy. I trust the deacons have their hearts and hands more than full on Wednesday evenings with the inquirers. Oh, that our dear Lord may see rich trophies won to Him from the congregation. Much, however, will depend upon the personal consecration and nearness to Christ of each member. How is it with you personally, dear friend? I am not asking what your opinion of the church's condition may be. Your idea of what should be amongst others may be very different from what things really are, and possibly your opinion may be correct; but how about your own heart, your own soul, your own life? When saw you last the Master? What is your true position in relation to Him? Are you living a life of power by living in constant intercourse with the Lord? Our captain has lately been very anxious because we are approaching land, and have not been able for some days to "get the sun." The sailor can do nothing without this. By the sun he daily gets his true position, and is enabled to shape his course. His chart may be the most perfect possible, his knowledge of it may be complete, and his skill and experience may be unsurpassed, but this will not content him. He must know where he is by the sun. And in order to get the sun he must have a good horizon. I have been surprised when the sun has been clear over-head to be told by the captain that he could not get his position. Why was it? The horizon has been cloudy or hazy. A mist or fog there, and the sun's true altitude cannot be obtained. And so it is only as we get a clear sight of self-a true idea of our need of Him, that Christ the Sun of our souls will appear to us in the true altitude of His glorious position. And this we need constantly. Now that the sun is again A LETTER FROM THE SOUTHERN OCEAN. 249 favouring us, the officers of the ship are constantly engaged in observing him. By his rising and setting they check the deviations of their compass; twice a day, about nine and two o'clock, they get by him their longitude, and at noon they get their latitude and again their true course. And their confidence just now is strong. They know exactly where they are, and what course to follow. Oh, that we were as careful in soul-navigation as these gentlemen are in sailing their ships! Then will the Church be strong, then will the power of God be manifest, then will the Gospel win its conquering way amongst the people; when the Church, each man for himself, shall be in daily and constant intercourse with her glorious Head; when each soul will be in a state of painful unrest when it cannot constantly live in His smile. Daily "get the sun," and many times in the day. "Dead reckoning" is always doubtful, and almost always erroneous. The sun settles all doubts, allays all anxieties, gives us our true course, takes away all our fears, and makes the way a blessing. Constantly, daily, always, “get the sun." If you would be a man of power, then sail not by the uncertain dead reckoning of frames and feelings, but get into the personal realization and rest of direct fellowship with Jesus. God has said for our encouragement, "To them that fear my name the Sun of Righteousness shall arise." May the fulfilment of that promise constantly be realized. "Sun of my soul thou Saviour dear, I know you will be anxious to know more about me, about my health, etc., etc. I cannot say much, really, until I have reached the land. In my next I shall hope to say more. I have been very well on the passage, and I have been ill. If I could judge by my feelings just now, I should be able to cheer your hearts and my own by saying I am perfectly well; but then I have proved that in this, as in other matters, one's feelings are not always a safe guide. I thank God, beloved friends, that I am alive, and thus far safe. I am hopeful that I shall return to you restored. God alone can bring this about. Of this I have not the slightest doubt. Climate, change, medicine, etc., are very well as His handmaids and instruments, but they are useful only as in His mercy He works by and through them. In your prayers remember me still. His hand will be moved by prayer now as in the days that have passed. I count the days and weeks and months when I may hope again to stand in the dear—to me sacred-place. My heart aches and breaks to be with you, but "our times are in His hands.” (Sunday, May 22nd.)—You are all in your beds. England is wrapped in the shades of the early morning. With us it is Sunday afternoon. Two o'clock P.M. here; with you about 4.30 A.M. We are approaching near to the land. At about eight o'clock this evening the captain expects to make Cape Otway Light. About the time when you will be assembling for morning service, and praying for me, God will be answering your prayers in a way that you will not know by bringing us within sight of Australia, and I am hoping that your Monday-evening meeting will not be long passed ere you receive a telegram announcing our safe arrival in port. Meanwhile let me again remind you of the place of power. The Golden Texts for to-day in the Sunday-school Lessons should be our watchwords: "Nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God and set a watch against them day and night" (Nehemiah iv. 9); "Ask and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you" (Luke xi. 9). And now my beloved friends, my companions, my brothers and sisters in Christ-how can I close my letter? All my heart and all my thoughts are far away behind with you in England, and the one subject chiefly occupying me through these weary weeks |