and I trust the gratitude excited by the consideration that God had inspired, and was yet inspiring, in the breasts of others, a feeling so congenial to my own, will never lose its power upon my heart. On my returning to my native country, little did I think to see so much good already done for seamen, and so much more yet in prospect."

Here Mr. Angas concluded by saying, that he believed he had now replied to the question put to him to the best of his knowledge and recollection. In answer to a second question, Mr. A. gave an outline of the leading doctrines he professed to believe and desired to proclaim. These were briefly the same as distinguish the body of the Protestant evangelical Christians.

JOURNAL OF THE BETHEL FLAG.

(Continued from p 192.)

August 13.-The Bethel meeting, this evening, was on board the ship Comet, Captain Moore, east side Coffee-House slip. We were under some apprehension that but few of the Committee would be present; for some are timid, and unwilling to go on board of vessels in the evening, under the apprehension of exposing themselves to the prevailing fever, and some had other engagements. But at 8 o'clock we assembled on board, and were delighted in seeing so many mariners and citizens present, many of whom were able and willing to aid us in our devotional exercises Divie Bethune, Esq., the President, led the meeting. He read a hymn, after which he made a short address, congratulating all present on the pleasing sight of so many citizens and mariners assembled together to unite in such a blessed cause. We then were engaged in praising God, (repeating the hymn that had been read,) for his goodness to the children of men. After which, prayers were offered up to Almighty God, intermixed with praise and exhortations. While thus engaged, a seaman stepped forward, and said he wished to say a few words to his brother seamen. "My life has always been spent in this employment, and I have always been an awful wicked sinner. I have often called on God to damn my soul. O! if he had answered my prayers, I should now be in hell. This thoughtless and wicked life never gave me any uneasiness, until on a voyage at sea the ship was struck down and capsized, and three of my shipmates swept off deck into eternity. I saw and felt my awful situation. The first sincere prayer I ever made was then- Lord have mercy on me.' After I was delivered from this perilous situation, I did not forget what the Lord had done for me-I tried to pray again, and for fear I should be seen, I went in the night and kneeled down at the foot of the bowsprit, and prayed to God that he would have mercy on my soul. As I did not receive any comfort from my prayers, I said to myself how can I expect it? I have often prayed he would damn my soul, and send me to hell, and he did not do it: but for all this I could not give up praying, I begged God that he would give me an understanding heart, and take away the blindness from my mind and eyes; he then heard and answered my prayers, and gave me my heart's desire; and I trust he has made me a new creature in Christ Jesus." He then addressed all the seamen present very feelingly, and said: "If you have any conviction of sin, do not do as I have done; I was afraid my shipmates would laugh at me, and treat me with contempt; I dared not let any of them see me pray, or let any one know how I felt. I lost many months labouring under these foolish impressions. But not so now; I am not ashamed of Christ, and hope I never shall be." He said many other things, which were very interesting. After he had done, another seaman came forward, and related many things which took place when he was a child. He became a captain when very young, and was brought up under a pious grandmother-he commenced a seafaring life when young, with all these pious feelings in his heart. His grandmother gave him a Bible, and charged him to read it continually. But he did not see any of his shipmates read the Bible, and be thought he must do the same, and soon became a profane man, and none was more wicked than he; and notwithstanding he always felt guilty and unhappy. But for about one year past, he believes he has been made a new creature in Christ Jesus, and could now recommend that Saviour to every one, and begged all present would receive Him as the

Captain of their salvation. We then concluded our devotions by singing a few verses and the dexology. More attention, silence, and solemnity, could not be expected in any Church in this city. Reports of the Bethel Union, New York Marine Bible Society, the Christian Herald and Seaman's Magazine, and Tracts, were distributed to the captain, crew, and all the seamen present.

August 17.-By the request of captain Bassett, and the owners of the ship Fanny, bound to the Pacific Ocean, the Bethel Flag was hoisted, and after sunset the Lantern was suspended at the main topgallant yardarm. At 8 o'clock, the Bethei Committee assembled on board, highly favoured with a pleasant evening. The deck was soon filled with mariners and citizens, amongst whom were many ship masters. The devotions were commenced by singing a hymn; after which one of the Committee engaged in prayer to Almighty God, for the owners, captain, officers and crew of the ship, and then for all the ship masters, officers, and seamen sailing out of New-York, and throughout the world. The exercises of this evening varied from our usual practice. Those who led in prayer, before they addressed the throne of Grace, drew the attention of all present to the sailor's condition by able and feeling exhortations. It seemed to solemnize every one, and prepare them to join in the important duty of prayer. After three prayers and exhort ations were made, a part of the 73d Psalm was read. An invitation was then given to any one present, landsman or seaman, to give an address, and offer up prayer. A stranger arose and said: "This is the first Bethel meeting I ever saw: it makes my heart rejoice to see and hear what you are doing for seamen." He then addressed all the seamen present: "I am a landsman, and know but little about a seafaring life, but I know you are useful; and long neglected men, as it respects your eternal interest: I do feel for you, for I know you are exposed to innumerable dangers and temptations, and you have as precious and immortal souls to save as landsmen, and I am overjoyed to see so many present who are engaged for your salvation." His address was calculated to touch the hearts of all present; he then engaged in prayer. There were five addresses and five prayers made, and a part of four hymns were sung. After which the Christian Herald and Seaman's Magazine, and many pamphlets, were left on board, and tracts given to all the seamen present. Such silence and attention on board of vessels, gives every reason to believe that the Lord owns and smiles on these feeble endeavours; there is every thing to encourage us to double our exertions. The Bethel Union are but seldom acquainted with the effects of their efforts in promoting the cause of God among mariners, and when they are informed of some wonderful interposition of divine Providence in opening the eyes and breaking the hearts of any sinners at their meetings, they do not wish to sound it on the house top, nor at the corner of every street; but it may be proper to state what took place in the meeting on board the Fanny. On Monday, the 19th, two seamen called on Capt. P, for Bibles. After asking them many questions, he told them it was out of his power to give all the seamen Bibles, and that every one who wished to have a Bible was able to pay seventy-five cents for one, if they had a mind to do it; but the practice is, to supply all vessels that cross the Atlantic with Bibles, that seamen may have them to read when absent from New-York. One of them said: "I wish I had a Bible how; I never wanted one before." "Why do you want one now?" said Capt. P. “I want to read it.”. “Why do you want to read it now?" He was so much affected he could not speak." When did you first have a desire to read the Bible?" "Now." "Do you feel that you are a sinner?" "I do." "How long have you felt so?" "Since last Saturday evening, at the meeting on board the Fanny. What was then said, and the prayers that were made for seamen, gave me great distress and reading the Tract you gave me, made me feel more distressed. I have not been able to go out of the house before." He was asked what Tract he had; he handed it: it was, "THE BIBLE IS THE BEST OF BOORS." "I have read that Tract," said the sailor, "ten or eleven times, and I want to read that book, the Bible." His request could not be denied. Captain P. gave him a Bible, and the other a Testament. He then stated what a wicked man he had been. "I am an old sinner-I am 36 years old, and I never had a moment's concern for my soul before-and there were three others, who, were on board the Fanny, that feel as I do; we have conversed together about that meeting; my distress is so great I cannot tell you how I feel: if I get any comfort in reading this Bible I will come and see you again. You said there will be a meeting at Burling slip to-morrow evening; I will be there." More tracts and pamphlets were then given them, which seemed to alter the countenance of the distressed seaman.

:

The Christian Herald.

VOL. IX.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1822.

No. IX.

Miscellany.

MEMOIR OF STEPHEN SUMMERS PRUST.

The following Memoir, interesting in itself, will be more so to the Christians of this country, when they recollect that the bereaved parent is a gentleman who has evinced great solicitude and made persevering exertions to promote the religious instruction of destitute children and adults in the United States.

The first adult school,* we believe, opened in this country, owed its origin to the communications transmitted by STEPHEN PRUST, Esq. of Bristol. A letter from the same gentleman, received by his friend in this city, on the subject of a Sunday School Union, published towards the close of the year 1815, in the Commercial Advertiser, and republished in various other papers in different States of the Union, was the first rousing public appeal made towards the establishment of such a Society in this country. He wrote it expressly with the design and with the hope of benefiting the rising generation in America.

Towards so warm a friend, our Christian sympathies will be awakened as we read the last exercises of his eldest son, copied from the Youth's Magazine, edited in London.

Stephen SummeRS PRUST, son of Mr. Stephen Prust, merchant, of Bristol, was born in Portland-square, on the 2d of June, 1805, and was the child of many prayers. From his infancy, the delicacy of his constitution subjected him to frequent indisposition, on which account, (as well as being then an only child,) he was more indulged than children generally are. At an early age, therefore, the irritability of his temper discovered itself, and it was thought necessary to put him under the care of some person qualified to combine parental tenderness with the elementary principles of education. Before he had attained his fifth year, he was placed at the preparatory school of Mrs. Thorn, wife of the Rev. Mr. Thorn, of Kingsdown, Bristol. It is impossible to ascertain exactly whether this circumstance was the

*We make the following extract from the "Life of Mrs. Graham." 3d edit. 1819. pp. 49.

"In the month of May, 1814, a report was received from Mr. S. P, of Bristol, in England, of the Society for establishing Adult Schools. Mrs. Graham was so delighted with a perusal of it, as immediately to undertake the formation of such a school in the village of Greenwich. She called on the young people who were at work in some neighbouring manufactories, and requested them to attend her for this purpose every Sabbath morning at 8 o'clock. This was kept up after her decease, as a Sunday School, and consisted of nearly eighty scholars."

origin of his attachment to preaching; but, about this time, the greatest pleasure he experienced was in collecting his juvenile companions together, and discoursing to them from some passage of Scripture. In 1811, (at the request of his parents,) the Rev. John Cooke, of Maidenhead, took the charge of his education, and in the spring of the following year he returned home to take a last farewell of his dying mother. On entering the room in which she was seated in an easy chair, she extended her emaciated arm, and thus addressed him:-My dear boy, you are come to see the last of your poor mamma. My heavenly father has sent for me, and I am going to be with him for ever; don't you recollect that I used to tell you when you was naughty, that the good father would take me away from you ? Stephen's eyes filled with tears; he first looked on his declining parent, then on the medical attendant without speaking a word: at last, with an expressive countenance, he turned to the latter and said, "pray, sir, will you inform me for whose sins my mamma is suffering -for mine, or for her own?" The physician, smiling at so strange an interrogation, replied, "for neither, I believe, but for the will of the Almighty." This satisfied his conscience, he felt a burden removed, and, walking back to his mamma, he said, "I hope you will recover, notwithstanding, mamma." After bidding her a final adieu in this world, he went back to pursue his studies, and was thus engaged when the celestial messenger was commissioned to summon his pious mother from earth to heaven. In January, 1816, he was removed, after a continuance at Maidenhead of nearly five years, to Mr. Bullar's classical seminary at Southampton. In this situation, Stephen enjoyed the privilege of much religious instruction, joined with literary and scientific pursuits, and with gratitude his bereaved parent acknowledges the judicious conduct of that gentleman towards him, both in temporal and spiritual concerns. In 1819, he returned home to receive, under the paternal roof, the preparation requisite for an acquaintance with the busy world, and such was the energy of his character, that the law, politics, and religion, by turns, occupied his attention. He passed many hours at a time in the different courts of justice, and on retiring from them, would give an accurate description of the various causes which had been made the subjects of investigation. To this circumstance may principally be attributed his selection of the profession of the law to which he afterwards became so much attached. About this time, an interposition of divine Providence appeared on his behalf. He was standing at a drawing-room window viewing the chairing of a member, when a large swan-shot (fired by an unseen hand) from the crowd, perforated the pane of glass he was looking through, and struck him near the jugular vein; the window was not open, or his life might have been the sacrifice. Hitherto, an anxious parent had been daily watching in vain for that interesting period to arrive, when this child of his earnest solicitude (whose mind had been imbued from the first dawnings of reason with the leading truths of Christianity) should manifest in his conduct and conversation those regenerating influences which bespeak the divine life begun in the soul; and often, on approaching a throne of grace,

has his language resembled that of the patriarch of old when he preferred the petition-" O that Ishmael might live before thee." At the Lent assizes for the city of Bristol, in 1820, a youth named John Horwood was convicted of the wilful murder of Eliza Balsam, for which he was afterwards executed. The subject of this memoir became deeply interested in every particular relative to this unfortunate young man; and understanding that at the request of Horwood three sermons were to be preached on Jefferies Hill, Hanham, near the spot where the horrid deed was perpetrated, he entreated permission to be present on the mournful occasion, and his anxious parent accompanied him both afternoon and evening, where it is calculated from seven to ten thousand persons were assembled. On his return home at night, he declared that he had never before been so much impressed with any services in his life. In relating the account of them to a relative at home, he said: "I was seated in an open carriage, from whence I could command a view of at least 5000 faces, and whilst the preacher was describing a sinner dying in his sins, such looks of horror were presented from every countenance as I think I shall never forget; but as he traced the flight of the disembodied spirit to the bar of God, my blood seemed to freeze in my veins, and if ever I reflected on the awful realities of a future state it was at that moment." He was answered, "I hope the solemnities of this day will prove a lasting benefit to you." He said, "I hope they will." About a week after this he composed the following hymn, on the Sabbath Morning :

"My soul with rapture hail the day
That drives thy worldly cares away,
That ushers in a sweet repose
From sensual joys and earthly woes.

The day of days supremely blest,
A Sabbath of delightful rest;
An antepast of joys to come,
In the believer's heavenly home.

Then onward speed my willing feet
To God's own house his saints to meet,
With them to offer prayer and praise,
To hear his will and learn his ways.

And when in course, (time running on,)
The day is past, the Sabbath gone,
O may the Saviour long remain
To guide, to govern, to restrain."

On coming home from the house of God in the evening, he retired to his room and wrote another hymn on the Close of the Sabbath. Soon after, the Rev. Mr. Meek preached from the words, "Lord remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom." It appears this subject occupied Stephen's thoughts for some days, after which he composed a hymn entitled "Lord Remember me." Towards the lat

ter end of April, the city of Bristol was visited by a tremendous thunder storm, which occasioned him much agitation. He again absented himself, and wrote some verses descriptive of his feelings. That