St. John's, and Bermudas, and at Greenland, in Davis' Straits, and Baffin's Bay, and at Archangel, Chroninsburg, Copenhagen, Cronstadt and Memel, and at Hamburg, Havre de Grace, Cherbourg, Bourdeaux, Cadiz and Le Bois." Such are the blessed effects of Christian effort. Marine Bible Societies also are established for the purpose of furnishing every destitute sailor with the word of life.

Religious libraries are set up to provide seamen, while on shore, with books adapted to improve their understanding and heart.

Temperance Societies have been formed among them, and have already done much good.

Boarding houses of good accommodations and character, may now be found in almost every port.

Register-offices are opened, and books of records are kept for the benefit of those who "do business in the great waters." In this way, impostures will be discovered, and the iniquitous will be detected. Every worthy seaman will have his name recorded, his boarding-place or place of residence designated, and when he leaves a port, a letter of introduction will be given him to some respectable individual or individuals in the port to which he is bound.

And it is hoped, that ere long, institutions for savings, or Savings' Banks, will be established, in which treasures may be laid up, consecrated to Christ and the church, by those who see the wonders of God in the deep, and experience deliverance from their distresses. In every seaport, sailors should have a place of deposit for their surplus funds. The very fact of there being such a place, would turn their attention to the subject, and perhaps induce them to lay by some of their earnings to a future day of want, and to exercise greater economy in their pecuniary expenses.

Let all these methods be adopted for the temporal and spiritual benefit of mariners, and their condition would

soon be vastly improved. Till recently, the Christian community have been totally regardless of mariners. But they will no longer be neglected. The sympathies of Christians are awake towards those who "tempt the dangers of the sea," and it shall no longer be said, that no man careth for their souls." Every difficulty in the way of their reformation must be surmounted; drafts for their benefit must be drawn upon the charities of Christians. Prayers must be offered for them, that the Most High would "set his hand in the sea, and his right hand in the waters," that poor, wretched sailors might "sing for the majesty of the Lord, and cry aloud from the sea." When these methods shall be adopted and prosecuted with zeal, the tribe of Zebulon, which dwells at the haven of the sea, and is for a haven of ships, shall be converted to the cross of Christ.

Those, whose business lay upon the waters, were among the earliest converts to the gospel; were the first followers and missionaries of Christ. They became fishers of men, having learned to cast the gospel net. One who had followed the seas, preached on the day of Pentecost in Jerusalem, and three thousand were converted. Who then will not labor for this portion of their fellow men! In reference to their salvation, the injunctions of Scripture forcibly apply, "Whatsoever thine hand findeth to do, do it with thy might." "That thou doest, do quickly." "I must work the works of Him that sent me, while it is day, for the night cometh when no man can work." "The dead praise thee not, they that are in the grave, cannot celebrate thee." Let us then be up and doing; for time does not stop, death does not tarry. While we delay, souls perish-heaven mourns-hell triumphs,

Appendix J.

DISSERTATION XI.

REFORMATION OF PRISONERS.

COMPASSION for the poor, the wretched and the lost, was a prominent trait in the character of Christ. It was this which induced him to leave the realms of light and glory, and submit to a life of toil and suffering, and even to death itself. And so essential to the Christian character did he regard this virtue, that he enjoined it upon his followers as a distinguishing proof of the reality and sincerity of their profession. Not that impenitent sinners never perform acts of compassion, but that true believers will not fail, prevailingly, to do it as opportunity presents. In seeking out objects of commiseration, and in relieving their necessities, Christians imitate the merciful example of their divine Master, "who went about doing good," and thus enjoy the delightful satisfaction of imparting happiness, and secure for themselves an eternal crown of glory. Of the different objects of this description presented to the Christian community, prisoners are among the most prominent, and deserve the sympathetic con. sideration of the philanthropic.

I. Let us take a view of the number of prisoners.
In this, our estimate must necessarily be imperfect,

though it is sufficiently accurate to form a general view. The number comparatively is great. In the United States, the average number of persons constantly in prison is supposed to be about ten thousand, and the whole number annually incarcerated about one hundred thousand. "The whole number of prisoners in the Penitentiaries in the United States," in the year 1826, 66 was about three thousand five hundred, of whom one-third part at least were in the State of New York, one-sixth part in Pennsylvania; and one-tenth part in Massachusetts." In some of the States, there are no Penitentiaries. Consequently, the above calculation relates only to those States, where they exist. "It appears," says the First Report of the Prison Discipline Society, "from a careful examination of authentic documents, that the whole number of convicts, who have been condemned in the Penitentiaries in the last twenty years, is about twenty thousand; and from the best estimate which we are able to make, about six thousand of them are now abroad in society." If such is the number of prisoners in the United States, where the condition of the lower classes in society is better, perhaps, than in any other country, what must be the number of convicts throughout the world! The mind revolts at the affecting thought that such multitudes are arrested by the arm of justice, and thown into prisons, those seminaries of vice, degradation, and ruin.

II. The wretched condition of prisoners demands our attention.

Their wretchedness is of two kinds, mental and corporal. In prisons are found the most unutterable abominations. The mind is debased, the heart is hardened, the affections are brutalized, the conscience is seared. This is characteristically true of those who are imprisoned for

crime. Till recently all the arts of vice were practised in Prisons, these nurseries of sin and infamy. All that was heard, seen, or done, had a demoralizing effect. Idleness, gambling, fraud, counterfeiting, stealth, profaneness, lasciviousness, blasphemy, wrath, consciousness of degradation, and hopelessness of retrieving character prevailed. There the arts of villainy were learned in perfection; evil communications corrupted and destroyed. There was the gate of hell. The county jails were schools of vice, training up subjects for the State Prisons; and the State Prisons were peopling the regions of despair with the most practised fiends. It is said in a Report concerning the State Prison in New Jersey, there is "a combination of men in Prison, called the staunch gang. They will lie, and swear to it; they will steal provision, and carry it off; they will lurk in the kitchen, and steal other men's provisions; they will threaten each other's lives; they will make dirks; they will lie, steal and gamble; they will make their own cards. They have rules by which they are bound to each other. not tell of each other, if they do they will beat the informer. One had been known to stab another. They consider him a traitor who informs of their evil deeds." How awfully depraved! Such generally speaking was the spiritual wretchedness of the convicts of our State Prisons, before the reformation commenced in 1824.

They will

But these are not the only evils to which those immured within the strong holds of justice are exposed. There is also bodily suffering, arising from mal-treatment. The Prisons have been badly constructed. It would seem that it was formerly supposed, that prisoners were not subject to the laws of nature as other men are; that it was not necessary for them in order to support life, to be constantly receiving fresh supplies of air. Accordingly, Prisons have been erected not having this accommodation