tation about doing it. They had let me know, that, if I would preach a sermon like one of Blair's, they should be glad to hear it; but they would not attend, if so much of hell was preached. This morning again Capt. *** said, 'Mr. Martyn must not damn us today, or none will come again.' I was a little disturbed; but Luke x. and, above all, our Lord's last address to his disciples, John xiv. 16. strengthened me. I took for my text Psal. ix. 17. The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.' The officers were all behind my back, in order to have an opportunity of retiring in case of dislike. B*** attended the whole time. H***, as soon as he heard the text, went back, and said he would hear no more about hell; so he employed himself in feeding the geese. *** said I had shut him up in hell; and the universal cry was, ' We are all to be damned.' However, God, I trust, blessed the sermon to the good of many. Some of the cadets, and many of the soldiers, were in tears. I felt an ardour and vehemence in some parts which are unusual with After service, walked the deck with Mrs. *** ; she spoke with so much simplicity and amiable humility, that I was full of joy and adoration to God for a sheep brought home to his fold. In the afternoon went below, intending to read to them at the hatchway, but there was not one of them; so I could get nothing to do among the poor soldiers." me. Sept. 23.-"We are just to the South of all Europe, and I bid adieu to it for ever, without a wish of ever revisiting it, and still less with any desire of taking up my rest in the strange land to which I am going. Ah! no,-farewell, perishing world! To me to live' shall be 'Christ.' I have nothing to do here, but to labour as a stranger, and by secret prayer and outward exertion, do as much as possible for the church of Christ and my own soul, till my eyes close in death, and my soul wings its way to a brighter world. Strengthen me, O God my Saviour; that, whether living or dying, may be thine." Sept. 24.-"The determination with which I went to bed last night of devoting this day to prayer and fasting, I was enabled to put into execution." Sept. 25. Most of the morning employed in Hindoostanee-read Pilgrim's Progress and Baxter below. Had a long conversation with one of the Lascars." Sept. 27." The oaths I heard on deck moved my indignation; but I recollected the words of the Macedonian in the dream, 'come over and help us.' Probably there was no one that felt his need of help, but the Holy Spirit put it in this engaging way, because they did request as much by their silent misery. So I thought that every oath they swore, was a call on me to help them. In the afternoon, I was told I could not go below, as there had been tires lighted to air the deck. Went, by way of changing the scene, in a boat to the Sarah Christiana, about three miles off. It was a novel thing to be in a little boat in the midst of a great ocean. The nearest main land, Africa, was three hundred and fifty miles distant. 1 reflected without pain that England was eleven hundred miles off." cause. Sept. 28.-"My thoughts were much engaged, as well as those about me, with the prospect of going on shore. They were doing nothing else for hours but looking out with their glasses for land. After dinner, on coming out, I saw the majestic heights of Porto Santo, distant about five or six leagues. Again I was disappointed in going below, from the same Was diverted from my proper work by looking at a Portuguese grammar. So astonishing is the weakness of my heart, every trifle has power to draw me from that communion with God which my better will chooses, as my best and beloved portion. O for the steady abiding under the shadow of the Almighty; and as the days pass on, and bring me nearer to the end of the things which are seen, so let me be more and more quickened, to be ready for the unseen world." "By faith, I see the land, With peace and plenty blest ; Mr. Martyn's diligence in his humble and despised ministrations among the soldiers in the ship with him, will not have escaped the attention of those who have read the above extracts. It will have been remarked, that there were not many days in which he remitted this work. Nor was his labour confined to the soldiers their officers were addressed by him with equal earnestness, on every fair and favourable opportunity. With some he had frequent religious conversations. The cadets, also, he endeavoured to "allure to brighter worlds;" and to show that he had also their welfare in this world at heart, he offered gratuitously to instruct in mathematics as many as chose to come to him; an offer which several accepted: and, as if this were not enough to occupy his time, he undertook also to read French with another passenger, who was desirous of improvement in that language. He was willing to become all things to all men, that he might win some. How far it were wise in him to preach immediately upon the awful subject of eternal misery, after an injunction to abstain from such a topic, is a question which may admit of a diversity of sentiment. Čertain, however, it is, that men may be told, "even weeping, that their end is destruction," and the temper by which Mr. Martyn was invariably characterized, leaves no room to doubt, but that his conduct in this instance was influenced by an imperious sense of duty, and by the tender overflowings of love. The sight of a foreign land, where superstition held her dark and undisputed sway, naturally excited a new train of sensations in Mr. Martyn's mind, which he thus communicated from Funchal, to a near relation at Falmouth. "Yesterday morning we came to an anchor at this place. The craggy mountains, at the foot of which Funchal is situate, make a most grand and picturesque appearance. On entering the town, I was struck with the conviction of being in a foreign country. Every thing was different,--the houses, even the poorest, ali regular and stately— every where groves of orange and lemon trees-the countenances, and dress, and manners of the people, different to those I had been used to-black skirted Catholic priests, and nun-like women, with beads and a crucifix, passing in all directions. How would St. Paul have sighed in passing through this town, wholly given up to idolatry. I went to the great church, where they were performing high mass, and was perfectly dazzled with the golden splendour of the place. But all the external aids of devotion lost their usual effect upon me, while I contemplated the endless multitude of mountebank tricks the priests were exhibiting. Is it possible, thought I, this should be a Christian Church! There was no appearance of attention, except in one poor African woman, who was crossing herself repeatedly, with the utmost expression of contrition in her countenance. Perhaps, said I to her in my mind, we shall meet in heaven." After remaining four days at Funchal, the fleet put to sea, information having been previously imparted to the army, that their object was the capture of the Cape of Good Hope, and that accordingly they might ere long, expect to meet an enemy on the field of battle. Intelligence of this nature served to quicken that activity and zeal, which in Mr. Martyn had not hitherto been either sluggish or supine. He was, therefore, perpetually visiting, or attempting to visit, that part of his flock which was so soon to be exposed to the perils of warfare. "I entreated them, even with tears," said he, "out of fervent love for their souls, and I could have poured away my life to have persuaded them to return to God."-By a sentence in Milner's Church History, "to believe, to suffer, and to love, was the primitive taste," he states that his mind at this time, was very deeply impressed; observing 66 that " no uninspired sentence ever affected him so much." It was, in fact, an epitome of his own life, conversation, and spirit: a lively exemplification of which is to be found in the manner in which, during this part of the voyage, he strove against an extreme and oppressive languor of body, which tended to impede his present labours, and threatened to impair his future efficiency." The extreme weakness and langour of my body made me fear I should never be used as a preacher in India: But what," said he, means this anxiety? Is it not of God that I am led into outward difficulties, that my faith may be tried? Suppose you are obliged to return, or that you never see India, but wither and die here, what is that to you? Do the will of God where you are, and leave the rest to him.""I found great satisfaction in reflecting, that my hourly wisdom was not to repine, and to look for a change, but to consider, what is my duty in existing circumstances, and then to do it, in dependence upon grace." So deeply So deeply was his soul imbued with the "primitive taste," and so entirely did it accord with that wise maxim, of such universal but difficult application "Tu tua fac cures cætera mitte Deo, From Porto Santo to St. Salvador, the voyage was accomplished in little more than five weeks, during which the special Providence of God manifestly watched over Mr. Martyn. Soon after crossing the line, on the 30th of October, the Union, in which he sailed, passed in the night within a very dangerous reef of rocks, which proved destructive to two other vessels. The reef lay exactly across the track of the Union, and had not the second mate, who was on watch, called up the captain and the first mate as soon as danger was discovered, they would inevitably have been wrecked their escape was considered as almost miraculous. Pieces of the ships that were dashed against the breakers floated by them, and many of those who had been cast on the rocks were seen making signals : |