When the angry billows rise, When the treach'rous leak has sprung; O when nearing that vast shore, So, abundant entrance given, A. B. B. B. Correspondence and Proceedings of the British and Foreign Sailors' Society. NEW SAILORS' CHAPEL IN LONDON. CONSIDERABLE anxiety has been experienced by the Committee of the British and Foreign Sailors' Society, to provide a New Sailors' Chapel worthy of their noble object. Preliminary steps have been taken for its accomplishment; and they have confidence in the liberality of their friends -as the swift ships."-Job ix, 25, 26. *"My days are : but the contemplated alterations in the port of London, by the operation of the Thames Haven Bill, and several other acts of parliament, by which a vast portion of the shipping will be removed from that part of the river where vessels at present lie, renders it necessary to pause, to ascertain how far the projected improvement in the trade upon the Thames may interfere with the present resort of sailors. Donations to the Sailors' Chapel Building Fund are solicited to be paid to the Treasurer of the Society. PRIZE ESSAY ON THE CONDITION OF SAILORS, AND THE BEST MEANS OF THEIR EVANGELIZATION. INQUIRIES having been made respecting the Prize Essay, for which several gentlemen of the Committee have offered a premium of fifty pounds, we are enabled to state from some general expressions of one of the Examiners of the manuscripts, that several of them are admirably written, well worthy the liberal reward promised for the best. It is confidently believed that its publication will contribute materially to promote the benefit of seamen. Donations towards the Fifty Pounds will be received at the Society's Office, as the amount is not quite all subscribed. APPLEDORE BETHEL UNION ANNIVERSARY. THE following extract of a recent communication from a friend at Appledore will afford sincere pleasure to the friends of seamen, as it strikingly illustrates the increasing spirit of piety among our mariners. It was addressed to the secretary. "Dear Sir,-The foundation stone of a Bethel Union Chapel was laid here on the 24th of last March. The Rev. J. Edwards, of Bideford, delivered an address on the occasion to a large assembly. The erection is nearly finished, and will offer a very commodious place of worship to the sailors of this port, situated as it is on the beach. For some years past we have had our Bethel meetings statedly in an upstairs room, which is now in that dilapidated state that it is not safe with a full congregation, which we generally have on these occasions. Though our sailors have contributed even above their means, I regret to state there is a considerable deficiency; which I trust the friends of seamen will supply when this is stated in the pages of your Pilot. On the 2d of June we held the eighth anniversary of our Bethel Society. The procedings of the day were of an highly interesting character. The services were as follows: A Bethel Prayer Meeting at seven o'clock in the morning to implore the influences of the Holy Spirit on our measures. A sermon was preached in the morning by Rev. J. Gross, Wesleyan Minister of Torrington; other ministers taking the devotional parts of the service. A public meeting for business was held in the evening at half-past six, commencing with singing and prayer. Charles Small, Esq. solicitor, of Bideford, in the chair. A Report was read by Rev. E. Corbishley, secretary, of some length, which spoke in high terms of the "BRITISH AND FOREIGN SAILORS' SOCIETY," and the sphere of labour which that institution occupied. It also gratefully acknowledged the assistance which had been derived from the Naval and Military Bible Society, in a gratuitous supply of Bibles and Testaments, which, according to the rules of that excellent institution, had been put on board vessels, and in Bethel boxes. The Report also alluded to the general local efforts which are now made in the seaports of Bristol and Barnstaple. It then gave a particular account of what had been done during the past year in Appledore, urging still the necessity of increased exertion, with a spirit of earnest prayer on behalf of the moral and spiritual interests of sailors. The collection was 67. 13s. SYMPATHY IN LONDON WITH THE BETHEL CAUSE AT APPLEDORE. DEAR SIR,-I have 20s. at the service of the cause of the Bethel Union at Appledore. It gratifies me to see the sailors themselves so forward to provide a place of worship for their own spiritual instruction and for the advantage of sailors yet unborn. I see by the circular that the chapel is nearly completed. Its completion will be a day of rejoicing to all who shall attend the opening for divine worship. May I mention what has occurred to me on reading the circular. I thought of several parts of the Old Testament where, on occasions of joyful events, the people of God welcomed them, and testified their grateful praise by loud shouts would there then be any impropriety for sailors, when the topstone of their sanctuary should be laid, showing their gladness as sailors are accustomed to do by hearty cheers-those animating tokens of brotherly feeling and firm resolve in the cause they have deliberately and decidedly adopted? I cannot think that there would be any more impropriety than in the Bethel Flag, in which there is not even the shadow of an impropriety. I have also thought, that if on any future erection of a Bethel chapel, information should be given by the PILOT that it was one half finished, that a day should be fixed for every sister Bethel chapel to collect for it after one service on the Sabbath. In this my object would not be so much the amount to be gained (though every little, if but pence, would help), as to promote the good feeling excited by a 'community of help in that one grand cause-the sailor's cause his guide and compass on the voyage from time to eternity. THE SAILORS' FRIEND. To the Secretary, &c. BETHEL FLAG FOR THE BOATMEN IN BIRMINGHAM. BIRMINGHAM, being the centre of an immense manufacturing population, must necessarily have connected with it a large number of carriers for its vast quantities of goods for exportation. Hundreds of thousands of tons of manufactured articles are annually transmitted by water carriage to Bristol, Liverpool, Manchester, London, &c. for home and foreign consumption, besides the almost incredible quantities of coals, lime, iron, and raw materials of every kind, conveyed to that great centre of operation. The number of boatmen, therefore, employed in this increasing branch of conveyance, is very considerable in Birmingham; but their spiritual interests have been deplorably neglected, and their destitution of the ordinances of Christ is almost as deplorable as that of the heathen. Various efforts, however, have been made by Christians in Birmingham, to promote the religious improvement of boatmen ; but difficulties of a formidable kind exist in the way of accomplishing this desirable work; one of the chief of which arises from their travelling on the Lord's day. Arrangements were commenced during the visit of Rev. T. Timpson, as deputation from the British and Foreign Sailors' Society to Birmingham, in June last, to revive and strengthen these efforts, and to overcome some of the difficulties; and a deputation from the Birmingham Auxiliary Bible Society, consisting of Rev. W. Marsh, Rev. J. A. James, and J. Cadbury, Esq. was appointed to confer with the committee of the Canal Company, on the propriety of closing the lock on the Lord's day, to prevent Sunday travelling by the boatmen. Joseph Sturge, Esq. a member of the Society of Friends, had kindly granted the use of a large apartment of a wharf, for the convenience of preaching the gospel to boatmen on the Lord's day; and some good appears to have resulted from these generous labours of Christian friends. Their labours, it is hoped, received an impulse from the visit of Rev. T. Timpson; and the British and Foreign Sailors' Society, during the past month, have forwarded a "Bethel Flag" to be hoisted as the signal to invite boatmen in Birmingham to hear the gospel of Christ. MONTHLY MEETING OF THE AGENTS, AT THE SOCIETY'S OFFICE, 2, Jeffreys' Square, St. Mary Axe, London. "Since Poplar and Blackwall.-Rev. J. Upton states, my last report, the applications for Bibles have been so numerous as quite to exhaust my supply from the East London Auxiliary. I am thankful for the six the Society have sent me, but I shall soon want more, as I have four applications waiting. "As a proof that they are gratefully received, I enclose you a note from a sailor, supplied some time ago. The VOL. III. T |