322 



MISSIONS. 



fence of his country. For a trifling stipend, 

 the mariner encounters all the dangers of the 

 deep, and braves a war of elements. Amid 

 thick darkness, loud thunder, vivid lightning 

 and deluging rains, he mans the rocking yards, 

 climbs the reeling mast, or toils at the labo- 

 rious pump. Faithful to his shipmates, and 

 obedient to his master, he declines no service, 

 but courageously keeps death at bay until he 

 sinks beneath a mountain of waters. All this 

 do these poor men risk and suffer, strange to 

 tell, without one Christian principle to support 

 the soul : while we, under all the sanctions of 

 religion, boasting patrician minds, enlarged 

 with science, and superior to vulgar flights, 

 dare not imitate their hardihood. A morsel of 

 bread, which is all they seek, and all they gain, 

 weighs heavier on the balance than the love of 

 Christ, the glory of God, the salvation of men, 

 the authority of Scripture, the sense of right, 

 the principle of honour, and all the praise and 

 glory of an immortal crown ! Well might our 

 Lord exhort us to labour for the bread that 

 perisheth not, and to agonize to enter in at the 

 strait gate ! 



" Consider next the officers of the army and 

 navy. They are born as^ well, educated as 

 delicately, and have as large share of the 



