We once more come to

that are afar off upon the sea. thy mercy seat to bless thee for the privileges we have enjoyed on this holy day; to implore thy blessing; and to beg thee to give testimony to the word of thy grace. O God, who art so high above all thy creatures, that they are but as worms before thee, thou hast done great things for us, for which we render praise to thy great name. Not only dost thou care for us, and keep us in safety here upon the mighty deep, and open thy hand every day to supply our wants; but thou dost not cease to watch over our souls. Thou hast given thy Son to die for us; thou hast once more knocked at the door of our hearts; and thou hast condescended to impart solemn thoughts to our minds, so that we are left without excuse. O that thou wouldst make us faithful to follow the instructions of thy holy word, and wise unto salvation! We have lived more for earth, than for heaven; for the world, than for eternity; for ourselves, than for thee. Do not suffer us, we beseech thee, to be so occupied by the cares, and labors of this present life, as to lose sight of that eternal life which is beyond the grave. But rather may we live every day, so that if the Son of Man should say to us, This night thy soul shall be required of thee; we may be prepared to stand before him.

We confess and mourn the sins that separate us from thee. Henceforth may we be kept from sinning against thee. Grant us thy grace. Teach us to choose thee as our portion and refuge; to hope in none but thee; to live for none but thee. Thou art the Good Shepherd, from whom we have erred and strayed like lost sheep, but who dost gather the wanderers with thine arm and lead them into the fold. Have us still in thy

holy keeping; this day, this night, this week preserve us. Keep us from all danger, and guard us by thy watchful providence. Teach us to be content with the allotment which thou hast assigned to us. Give us

strength and courage for all our duty and our dangers, and bless the work of our hands. May we never forget that we are always under thine eye, and may the thought of thy presence lead us to every good word and work. May we study to be useful to one another, and so promote one another's best good. May good order, peace and harmony pervade our crew. O God, pardon us, and sanctify us, and save us through Jesus Christ, in whom alone we would place our confidence.

"Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name! Thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven! Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: for thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever!"

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father, and the communion and fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all evermore. Amen!

SERMON I.

THE SABBATH AT SEA.

PSALM XXVI. 8. Lord, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honor dwelleth.

THERE is a moral sublimity in a Sabbath at sea. The landsman conjectures it, paints it; while the devout seaman feels it; there are aspirations here felt, felt nowhere else.

Yet what is it that gives such sublimity to a Sabbath at sea? It is not the mart of business which we here enter. Nor are they the portals of science and literature. Nor is it the splendid and lofty cathedral; -no, nor yet the more simple and humble sanctuary, where far-distant friends "worship, and bow down, and kneel before the Lord, their Maker."

"Great objects consecrate all that is around them." This vast ocean, this emblem of infinity, itself gives sublimity to the scene. Infinite greatness and infinite littleness here meet. God, the Eternal, here condescends and bows to meet man, his creature, just as the vast heavens bow and meet the waters in the distant horizon. Great and solemn associations are sublime, and ought to inspire great and solemn thoughts.

We worship him who is the God of all the earth, and of them that are afar off upon the sea. How shall we worship him? "God is a Spirit, and they that worship

him, must worship him in spirit and in truth." May creatures of yesterday, and sinners as we are, hope to worship him acceptably?

It is no splendid and no costly sacrifice that he requires of us. "He giveth grace to the humble." "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise." No matter where, nor by whom, such worship is offered; no matter with what grateful, cheered, and gladsome thoughts it may be inmingled; through that great atoning, interceding Saviour, it goes up perfumed with incense, before the throne of God. The High and Lofty One who inhabiteth eternity, deigns to look upon us. He who loveth the gates of Zion, does not turn away from the tents of Jacob; and though it be on the placid, or billowy ocean, "where two, or three, are met together in his name, there is he in the midst of them."

"Far from home, and far from land," as we are, which of our bosoms does not respond to the sentiment of the devout Psalmist, when he says, "I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honor dwelleth!"

Save the "works of necessity and mercy," the Sabbath at sea, like the Sabbath on shore, is, by divine appointment, a day of rest. The Great Lord of heaven and earth, of land and ocean, has given to the inhabitants of the globe on which we dwell, one day's respite out of seven from the ordinary occupations of human life. The Sabbath was benevolently designed to bring this stated relief from anxiety and toil. To a seaman, whose body and mind are in such a state of perpetual excitement to this little laborious, working community -such a rest is like the soft slumbers of midnight when,

in defiance of the noisy tempest, it covers with its gentle folds an agitated and trembling mind, and a body overpowered with toil. The Sabbath is the seaman's friend. Who can doubt, that one motive which influenced its Author to institute it, was compassion to the weary and weather-beaten mariner? Never does the bright sun dawn more beautifully, than when he sheds his rays upon a Sabbath at sea.

No, it is not in the sanctuary of our fathers that we meet to-day; but it is to worship our fathers' God. When the Patriarch Jacob was fleeing from the face of Esau, and was on his way to Padan-aram, he tarried all night at a place where the God of his fathers, Abraham and Isaac, condescended to commune with him as his creature and child. And he said, "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not. How dreadful is this place! This is none other but the house of God, and the gate of heaven." He that was with Jacob in the desert is with us on the sea. Verily, "it is good to be here." It is good to see his power and glory as they overlay this world of waters, to hear his voice as it whispers in the gentle wind, or speaks from the dashing billows. It is good to mark his presence, as "the overflowing of the water passes by, and the deep utters his voice, and lifts up his hands on high."

Heathen deities are honored in their places of worship. Near their temples are the groves sacred to their foul idolatries, and consecrated to their images of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood. This idol worship extended itself to the great sanctuary of the sea, and seamen worshipped gods which their own hands had made. We are not Pagans, but Christians, and worship