tations of the world and the flesh. I am firmly persuaded that none of you will ever be so impious as to make light or turn into ridicule the ordinances of religion and the attributes of your Creator; you may however meet with hardened wretches who will endeavour to destroy the last refuge of the miserable, their hope of salvation, by scoffs and jeers; let me counsel you against hearkening to such enemies. What can they offer that will compensate for the eternal destruction of your souls? Show the profligate scoffers that you defy their sneers,-that you are not such fools as to be cheated out of happiness by coarse jokes, or profane ribaldry. Prove to the world, that although you were deceived into error, in an unguarded hour, still the seeds of virtue are alive in your hearts, and that your greatest, your first, your last desire is to be reconciled to your heavenly Father.

All these salutary ends would be greatly promoted by acts of private devotion at regular and stated periods. I would therefore advise you never to retire to sleep without humbling yourselves before your Maker in prayer and thanksgiving for having preserved you through the day, and the first thing every morning to implore his blessing and protection. I am indeed more anxious to promote your welfare than I can possibly express, and the only return I expect for the care I have taken of you during the voyage is, that you all continue attentive to religious duty; in which case you must all be happy.

will

I regret that time will only allow me to make a few superficial admonitory remarks on the propensity for drinking intoxicating liquors. The effects of this evil

are so pernicious to society, so destructive of human happiness, and so entirely subversive of moral order and social virtue, that I deem it of the first importance to warn you explicitly against its poisonous and seducing influence. Were human beings desirous of degrading themselves below the level of the most grovelling animal that crawls on the earth, it would be impossible for them to adopt a plan so ready as that of drowning their faculties in stupifying spirits. Drunkenness may very justly be termed the prolific parent of every vice and crime that can corrupt the soul, or disgrace the dignity of man; for in fits of inebriety what horrid deeds and hellish debaucheries have not been committed ?-robbery, murder, incest, treason, and others still more shocking, by persons who in cooler moments, in a sober state, would have shuddered at the bare mention of such wicked and abandoned turpitude! It is not necessary that the bacchanalian votary should carry his extravagance the length of brutal, deadly drunkenness, to produce all the mischiefs I wish you to avoid. Long ere it gains. this disgusting pitch, the worst passions of our nature will become inflamed to madness,-a state more dangerous to virtue than even confirmed sottishness. In proof of this, it need only be observed that the one is an incentive to every species of criminality by which the peace of society is disturbed, while the evils of the other are confined principally to the debased indivi dual who gives himself up to such disgraceful practices. Who is there among you that has not experienced, either in her own person or some of her acquaintances, the ruinous effects of indulgence in this

odious vice? Can one half of you lay your hands upon your hearts, and say, that indulging in this very propensity was not the cause of all the errors and misfortunes for which you have been dragged from the bosoms of your parents, husbands, and families, and for which you are now forced to seek refuge among strangers, far from the land that gave you birth?

Drunkenness in a man is so disgraceful that it can neither be defended nor excused; but in a woman it is always associated with abandonment and detestation. If I may be allowed to express my own feelings, I declare to you truly and candidly, that I would as soon see an infernal imp as a woman deprived of her reason by means of this deluding poison. It is hardly necessary to adduce proofs that this vice is forbidden by the command of God. In Ephesians, 5th chapter, 18th verse, St. Paul says, "Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess ;" and in 1st Corinthians, 6th chapter, 9th and 10th verses, "Be not deceived: neither fornicators nor drunkards shall inherit the kingdom of God."

Those persons who abandon themselves to strong drink suffer, from spasms of the stomach, a degree of torture that cannot be borne, and to relieve which they must have recourse to a larger quantity, and this must be repeated and increased at stated periods, until the frail machine sinks under the constant stimulus, the infatuated victim having in fact committed self-murder. Of the innumerable mischievous effects and deadly consequences which every moment arise from drunkenness, I shall only mention two, namely, swearing and prostitution. On each of these sins I

intend to offer a few brief observations, without any further reference to the iniquitous source in which they originate.

Persons who indulge in the vulgar habit of cursing and swearing, cannot, it is true, be accused of interested or selfish motives; they volunteer to drudge hard in the service of the devil, without fee or reward; without the least prospect of a moment's satisfaction in this life or pleasure in the next. Could the common-place excuses of pleasure, profit, or any other temptation, be urged, there might be some shadow to obscure the reason for an instant: but here a sin is wantonly committed, which will powerfully assist to seal the condemnation of the wretch before his Maker, and can only render him despicable in the eyes of all who witness his impiety.

In the discourses which I have hitherto prepared for your use and instruction, I have been anxious that none of the opinions I advanced should rest on my own authority alone, which will account for the Scripture quotations with which they are every where interspersed. In obedience to this rule, I need only refer you to the 3rd article of the Decalogue, to prove the enormity of profaning God's holy name: "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain." This sacred prohibition of the third commandment was recognised by our Saviour in the sermon he delivered on the mount, wherein he says, 'I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God's throne: nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the

city of the great king. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black *." Is it not shocking to see creatures formed after the image of God, and endowed with reasoning faculties, venting their insignificant rage in curses upon those around them, as well as on themselves;-often consigning their organs to the devil, and hideously imploring damnation upon their own souls ?

Suppose God were pleased always to punish execration by granting the prayer of the wicked, how many wretches should we see with limbs and other members rotting off; with eyes melting out of their heads, and every other part essential to life, withering and consuming at their own unhallowed request! Could be astonished if the earth were to open, any and swallow up those depraved beings, who dare thus to provoke the vengeance of Heaven, and wantonly defy the majesty of God, as it did formerly upon Kora, Dathan, and Abiram, with all their followers? I recommend every one of you to read this interesting account; you will find it, I think, in the 16th chapter of the book of Numbers.

The next and last subject for our consideration is prostitution, which is more intimately connected with the text than any of those which I have attempted to discuss in the foregoing observations. Your behaviour on board has been so excellent, and in this particular so very exemplary, with scarcely even the shadow of suspicion, that it may seem cruel and unjust to touch

* Matthew, chap. v. 34th verse, &c.