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Isles afar in distant oceans

Wait for God to learn his word:
Ships of Tarshish *—see their motions—
Bringing sons to serve the Lord!
Welcome converts!

Him we'll praise with sweet accord!
See! thy Church, O God, is waiting,
Now inspir'd by truth and love;
Let thy power, by new-creating
Nations, sovereign mercy prove.
Sea and landsmen

Serve thee here and reign above.
Saviour now shed forth thy Spirit,
Send through earth and seas thy fame;
Millions call thy love t'inherit,
While below they praise thy name,
And in glory
Evermore thy grace proclaim.

American Chronicle.

SHIPPING AND NAVIGATION OF CRONSTADT.

IN our PILOT for January, we had the satisfaction of reporting the appointment of a seaman's chaplain for the port of Cronstadt, by the American Seamen's Friend Society. How far we are under obligations to our American brethren for this measure will in part be manifest from the following particulars relating to that chief port of Russia.

The Russian Commercial Gazette has published the following account of the trade and navigation of this port (Cronstadt) during the year 1836. Ships arrived, 1,104; sailed, 1,181; being 185 arrivals and 80 departures less than 1834. More than the half were English, as appears from the table.

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"Tarshish" denotes the wide sea; and "ships of Tarshish"

the largest merchant-vessels.

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At the close of the navigation, in 1835, 95 ships remained to winter. This year there remain only two at St. Petersburg, and eight at Cronstadt. The navigation was open from the 7th (19th) of April to the 15th (27th) of November. The first ship arrived on the 25th of April, the last on the 14th of November. The first departure was on the 23d of April, the last on the 22d of November. Of tallow, 3,330,613 lbs. have been exported; 1,022,958 lbs. remain in the warehouses, of which 525,938 lbs. are already sold. The manufacturers in the city consumed 72,750 lbs. Almost the whole of the tallow exported goes to England.

REPORT FROM THE SEAMEN'S CHAPLAIN AT THE SANDWICH ISLANDS.

GREAT BRITAIN is being laid under obligations of no common order to the Christians of America, by the labours of their seamen's chaplains" in foreign ports. From those devoted men, British sailors in China, the Sandwich Islands, and other places, as referred to in our PILOT for January, hear the glad tidings of salvation through Jesus Christ.

Although we can allot but a small portion of our columns to the American Chronicle, it seems impossible, without neglecting our duty, and opposing our interest, to omit the remarkable details which we obtain from our coadjutors on the other side the Atlantic. The following are extracts from the Report of Rev. J. Diell, seamen's chaplain at the Sandwich Islands, for the year ending Dec. 31, 1835.

Mr. Diell gives a full statement of all the arrivals of vessels at Honolulu, Oahu; with an account of their cargoes, &c. The English and American whale ships are given thus in recapitulation:

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"On looking back through the year, a few things present themselves, which encourage the hope that our labour has not altogether been in vain; that the word of the Lord has not in all cases returned void. A few names have been written, as we trust, in heaven. From Mr. Spaulding you will receive a full account of the interesting and cheering state of things which he has been permitted to see at Maui during the late shipping season. One ship-master, whose serious impressions commenced with his reflections on the goodness of God in raising him from a bed of sickness, and who, while at Maui, entertained a hope of pardoned sin, came down here; and in one of our meetings I had the pleasure to hear him bear cheerful and decided testimony to what the Lord had done for his soul. Before he left us, the question of duty in reference to whaling on the Sabbath, which had pressed hard upon his mind, appeared to be fully settled; and he left with the determination to honour the observance of the Sabbath.

"Another ship-master, in whose history the protecting mercies of the Lord have been most signally displayed, and who was here several weeks, gave us reason to hope, that, as for him, he will serve the Lord. Three or four officers of vessels, and two or three seamen, have set their faces Zionward; and if I cannot indulge the confident hope that all of them have passed from death unto life, I must believe that over the conversion of some of them there has been joy in heaven. One of them traced his serious convictions to the prayers of a pious mother. Another traced them to the judgment of God in overtaking a profligate sailor, who, in attempting while intoxicated to swim off to his vessel, was drowned in our harbour. Another, who, while he was in port last spring, led a life of thoughtless dissipation, but who attended one of our meetings just before going to sea, hopes that he there received impressions which resulted in leading him to the Saviour.

"A young gentleman arrived in November, in whose case I have been most deeply interested. He holds the

office of surgeon in the Hudson's Bay Company's establishment on the Columbia river, and has come here for the benefit of his health. I took an early opportunity to call upon him, and was most happy to learn that his afflictions had been sanctified to him; that he had been led by them to seek a support and a refuge, which the world could but ill afford him in his time of need. I have seen him frequently since at the retired and beautiful spot which he occupies in the valley of Manoa, belonging to the English consul. He is a young man of most liberal education, and of extreme scientific acquirements; but he cheerfully lays them all at the feet of the Redeemer, and more than all things else desires to be found in him clothed in his righteousness washed in his blood pared for the blessedness of his presence. fails, but his soul seems to be stayed on God. At the celebration of the Lord's Supper in the native church, on the first Sabbath in December, he publicly made a profession of his faith in Christ, and united with those who love the Saviour in commemorating his dying love.

- preHis health

"Besides the cases already mentioned, there have been a greater number of seamen during the last season to call and converse on the things which belong to their peace than has been the case in any season before. There is an increasing respect also to the observance of the Sabbath. Six whale ships have left off whaling upon the Sabbath; and in a few cases besides, the masters would be glad to abandon the practice, were it not for the mutual understanding which exists between the owners and masters and crew, on leaving home, that no such respect was to be paid to the command of Him who has said, 'Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy,' as would at all interfere with the object of the voyage, or allow of any opportunity of taking whales to pass by. I think that many others are beginning to call into serious question their practice on the subject, and find it more difficult to defend the lawfulness of it than they had supposed. In reference to this whole matter, a great responsibility rests upon ship-owners; and if that part of them who have professedly made an entire consecration of themselves and of their property to the Lord, should take a decided and consistent stand upon the practice in question, and not shrink from their duty, we might hope to witness a happy and most desirable change in respect to it. The connection between a proper observance of the Sabbath at sea, and

the work of reforming and of converting seamen is very, intimate. If this sacred day be disregarded—if it be desecrated to the purposes of mere gain- you not only banish from the sea one of the richest blessings ever conferred upon man, but you destroy one of the most effectual barriers to the progress of irreligion and vice. If the sailor be left to treat the Sabbath at sea with contempt, there will be no reason to wonder, if, on coming ashore, his first, perhaps his last and his only sacrifices should be offered on the altars of intemperance and of pollution.

"In conclusion, let me add, that the past year, though one rich in mercies, presents a long catalogue of deaths and disasters, many of which are of the most distressing kind. As I have given you an account of the most of them in former communications, I need not refer to them in detail in this place. I would merely state, that, during the year, there have occurred, so far as I am able to ascertain, five deaths among ship-masters in these seas; eight officers have died in the same time; thirty-four seamen, seven of these at this place (of whom two were drowned in the harbour), and six residents; among these were four of the oldest foreign residents upon the island. One of them was by far the oldest; one Young, a native of England, who was about ninety-three years of age at the time of his death, forty-seven of which he had passed upon these islands. He was a living actor in the scenes of deepest interest which this nation ever witnessed. He was a companion and counsellor of Tamehameha, and was with him in all his wars, as he went on from conquest to conquest, till he had humbled at his feet this once powerful nation of 300,000 or 400,000 souls. He was an eyewitness to the cruel rites under which this nation once groaned, and was here when the chiefs and people voluntarily renounced their false gods; and he lived to see the light of the glorious Gospel of the grace of God shine upon these islands, and many of the blessings of civilization and of Christianity fully introduced. At his death he was surrounded by his wife and a numerous family, and left the world sharing deeply in the affections and reverence of the whole nation,

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During the year, we have received many expressions of kindness from the people among whom we dwell, and from many of the ship-masters who have been here. would have it in our hearts to render to the Lord according to all his benefits, and to devote the strength which

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