Blessed be God the period is hastening, evidently, by the signs of the times, when the joyful prediction shall be fulfilled, which He has addressed to his people in Church communion. "The abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee." Isai. lx, 5. We would solemnly appeal to every serious sailor, who may read these remarks, that he may consider his happy duty, and reflect upon his inestimable privilege, to enjoy and illustrate that honourable condition which is here contemplated, remembering that it is viewed with delight by the angels of God and designed to promote his own salvation.

THE SAILOR AT THE LORD'S TABLE.

A Sermon, preached at the Mariners' Church in Boston, Oct. 1833, at the administration of the Lord's Supper. JOHN xiii, 23.

"Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples whom Jesus loved."

BUT did not Jesus love all his true disciples? Truly he did, and so he does to this day; but there were some who were admitted to greater intimacy with him than others, who were almost constantly near his person, and were selected by him for witnesses on every memorable occasión. When he raised the ruler's daughter from the dead, he suffered no person to go into the room with him, save Peter, and James, and John, and the father and mother of the damsel. When he was transfigured on Mount Tabor, he took with him only Peter, and James, and John; and when he prayed in such agony in the garden of Gethsemane, that he sweat as it were great drops of blood, the same three disciples were the sole witnesses from among all his earthly followers. And who were Peter, and James, and John? Why they were three sailors that he had called from their occupation to follow him. We have the account in Matth. iv, 18-22. "And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea for they were fishers. And he said unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.

And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them. And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him."

How greatly honoured were these men, and with what lively gratitude should sailors regard the honour thus put on their profession by our glorious Lord. It was John, one of these three sailors, who is spoken of in the text as the disciple whom Jesus loved. The examination of another passage will convince us of this. See John xxi, 20—24. "Then Peter turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following; which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee? Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me. Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die: yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things: and we know that his testimony is true."

John is said to have been the youngest of the disciples. He was quite a youth when he entered the service of Christ, and being filled with a spirit of love and zeal, his Lord admitted him to the greatest familiarity; and when he sat, or rather reclined at table, after the custom of that day, John sat next him, and leaned upon his breast. Perhaps this was the practice at ordinary meals; but, at the time referred to in the text, they were probably eating the paschal lamb, on that memorable occasion when our Lord instituted the sacred Supper, and gave to his followers the bread and wine as the memorial of his body and his blood. Here then was an example of a sailor at the Lord's table, and not only partaking of the consecrated elements, but enjoying the most intimate communion with his heavenly Master. No one has ever doubted the propriety of any pious seaman uniting himself with some visible Church, and with that Church partaking of the Lord's Supper; but many have objected to the formation of a Church in a seaman's meeting, supposing that such a measure would divide seamen into parties, and weaken rather than strengthen the bonds of Christian intercourse. But let us look carefully at the whole ground, and see

if

the regular organization of a Church for seamen is not productive of some advantages which more than counterbalance all the evils which may be feared.

1. To gather and embody converts into a Church, and thus to give them, in an orderly manner, the administration of divine ordinances, is the regular mode which God has blessed for the edification of Christians in every age of the world, and is one of the great means of converting men. A few instances can be found of conversions where, as yet, no churches or ordinances exist; but, in general, the Lord makes bare his arm for the conversion of souls in close connection with the ordinances of religion. We might, by a kind of missionary labour, speak with sailors on the concerns of religion on board their vessels, or in their boarding-houses; we might address them on the wharfs or in the streets, and perhaps do some good; but is not much more effected by gathering them into congregations, establishing churches among them, and bringing the ordinances of the Gospel to bear upon them, precisely as they bear upon others? Suppose we should make the experiment of attempting the conversion of men without the help of ordinances in the world at large. Take any given district for example - a city perhaps, or a county; demolish every house of worship, scatter every church, abolish Baptism and the Lord's Supper, and then let double the number of ministers labour as missionaries among the people, speaking to them in the streets, seeking them at their various places of business, or entering their dwellings. Would more be effected in this way, than in the common process? Probably not half as much; and all who desire the salvation of men would say, Give us back these houses of worship, restore to us the regular preaching of the Gospel, and the stated administration of divine ordinances, and more good will be accomplished by the stated labours of the present ministers, than could be effected by the occasional labours of twice the number.

Would it then be desirable to pursue a course with seamen which would be inexpedient with other men? Are they not men of the same general character with others, swayed by the same motives, and affected in every way by similar considerations? Then, surely, the same means which would be judged most efficacious in promoting the salvation of men on the land, should be applied to those whose home is on the deep.

2. A seamen's church would have a very powerful ten

dency to bind all pious seamen together in the strongest bonds of brotherly love. Perhaps there are few churches in the world where this most excellent grace would shine more conspicuously, than in a church of pious seamen. They would be mostly men of the same general habits and modes of thinking. They would be of the same occupation, without rivalship, and without a second interest to subserve. It is a very striking fact, that pious seamen of different communions discover very little of that sectarian bigotry which is sometimes found in other Christians; how much more, then, would their hearts run together in a communion of their own. The minds of all would run over the same dangers escaped, and the same mercies bestowed on the same class of rebels, and in mingled emotions of thanksgiving, love, and praise, each heart would rise to the Lord who died to save them from death and hell. This would indeed be the sweet communion of kindred souls.

3. The formation of a church of seamen would serve greatly to unite their efforts in doing good. They would make no effort to inculcate sectarian views among their shipmates; but their most strenuous efforts would be directed to bring their unconverted fellows to the knowledge of the salvation of the Gospel. The church would be a rallying point to them, and they would labour together for the salvation of others without a divided heart. The more they thus laboured in union, the more would their hearts be enlarged, and emboldened in the work of the Lord, and thus they would greatly assist and strengthen the hands of those who were labouring among them; and the work which, attempted single-handed, seems very arduous and advances very slowly, under this united effort, would become comparatively easy. Let every pious seaman in the country be a member of a Mariner's Church, instead of being connected with a great variety of other churches, and the effects of their concentrated efforts would be very manifest.

4. In a regular church, and with the stated ordinances of the Gospel before them, converted seamen can be better trained up in the ways of holiness than in any congregation where these means are wanting. Some of the most tender sympathies of the heart are called forth by the administration of the Lord's Supper, and many a converted soul can bear witness to the breakings of heart which have been produced, when, in the sacred Supper, the Lord Jesus has

been evidently set forth crucified before the people. But where there is no organized church, this must be wanting of course, and an obstacle thus presented to the spiritual advancement of seamen in holiness.

5. The organization of a church, and the consequent administration of Gospel ordinances, would greatly assist in bringing the truth more plainly before the minds of careless seamen. Sailors are rarely in a situation to see the administration of Baptism or the Lord's Supper; but there is good reason to believe that, could the sacred emblems of the broken body of the Lord Jesus be set before them, could those who preach to them have the opportunity of thus exhibiting a crucified Saviour to them by sensible signs, their hearts would be far more deeply impressed with the great truth, that Christ died for sinners. It is a well known fact, in most of our churches, that many, who have given good evidence of piety, have received some of their first impressions of a religious nature by witnessing the sacred solemnities of the communion; and others have been awakened by seeing their companions separating from them, and taking upon themselves the vows of the covenant. Now, since sailors possess like passions with other men, it is but reasonable to expect, that, could they be favoured with the same means, they would, in some instances at least, be followed with the same results.

There is the best reason to believe, that the administration of the Lord's Supper was designed by Him who instituted it, to be the most powerful appeal to man concerning the lost state of the world, and the love of the Saviour towards it; and it is difficult to reconcile the idea of his ordering the Gospel to be proclaimed to any congregation, and granting the influences of his Spirit to convert souls, and not allowing them also, as he does to others, the visible tokens of his sufferings and death.

Added to all the rest, it must be an unceasing trial to the person who preaches to seamen, to labour with untiring zeal to convert them, and then have them leave him, and scatter about among all the varieties in the Christian world. He can have no flock to whom he can break the bread of life no spiritual children, that he can gather around him and tell the story of redeeming love; but he must labour to great disadvantage, and under the most disheartening circumstances, depriving himself of the bene