MARINER'S CHURCH.

ON Sabbath, the 10th ult. the Mariner's Church in Charleston, S. C. was first opened for the service of our heavenly Father. An eloquent and appropriate sermon was preached by the Rev. Dr. Palmer, from Psalm cxlii. 4th verse-" No man cared for my soul." The first part of the discourse went to show how this useful class of our fellow citizens had been neglected in their moral and religious improvement; that neither the public servants of God, nor private Christians, appeared to care for the souls of sailors. The second part pointed out the evidences, that there was a change of sentiment going on both in this city and other parts of the world—that people begin to care for the souls of sailors-Marine Bible Societies, Port Societies, and the Church we then occupied, were evidences that the wandering sailor had a friend. But the Doctor pointed out one thing still wanting in Charleston, to protect the poor sailor from the imposition of the artful and the contagion of the vicious-a Boarding-house, kept by a pious person.-(Southern Intelligencer.)

To the TREASURER of the NEW-YORK MARINE BIBLE SOCIETY. SIR,-Some time last summer, I was addressed by a sailor earnestly desiring a Bible, as the ship was then expected to sail in an hour. It being on a Sunday, I could not direct him to your society, but gave him one you had furnished to the Port Society for distribution. I thought no more of it, until a few days ago a sailor called me by name, and showed me the Bible I had given him. This morning Captain Gifford, of the ship Otho, stopped me in the street to give me a dollar, which Henry Green, one of his crew, paid him out of his voyage, to be given to me for the Bible. This was voluntary on his part, and as the money belongs to the Marine Bible Society, I enclose it.

January 22d, 1822.

Yours, &c.

G. P. S.

THE following paraphrase of a well known hymn, was written by the Rev. T. H. Gallaudet, on his passage to Liverpool some years since, on board the ship Mexico.

Guide us, O! thou great Jehovah,

Wanderer's on the mighty deep;
From the storm, and raging tempest,
Deign our floating bark to keep;
Lord of Heaven!

Bid the breeze propitious blow.
Be our safeguard thro' the night-watch,
And our guardian all the day,

To our destin'd port in safety,
Give us fleet and gladsome way;

Strong Deliv❜rer!

Be thou still our strength and shield.
And when life's short voyage is over,
In the haven of the blest,

May we, guided by thy Spirit,
Find an everlasting rest;

Father, hear us!

For the great Redeemer's sake.

P.

The late venerable Greenland Missionary, who served in that Mission forty-three years.

(Translated from the German for the Christian Herald.)

(Concluded from page 613.)

HAVING been at Breslau on several occasions, and knowing that some of the Lutheran persuasion lived there, we shaped our course thither. But after having travelled several days without any thing to eat, hunger at last compelled us to beg a piece of bread of some good people. It so happened that we entered Schweinbraten, a Prussian village, not far from the city of Streelen, where a farmer, whose wife was a native of Rosnitz, received us in a very humane manner. After several days continuance there, we were informed, that people of religious sentiments, such as we manifested, lived at a place called Herrnhuth, in Upper Lusatia. From that moment, we had no rest in our minds, but longed to see Herrnhuth, because we beheld ourselves surrounded by corruptions, and expected there to find what we were in quest of, viz.: a body of people who loved the Saviour supremely, and each other cordially.

But as my youngest sister, Elizabeth, had before my imprisonment entreated me not to be unmindful of her, if ever the Lord should bring me to some of his children, and because the Lord had also made me instrumental in her conversion, I once more retraced my steps, a fortnight after our elopement from prison, in order to fetch her away. Being arrived at the village of Pummerswiz, distant about five miles from my parental home, where our late brother Frederick Martin then was, I met with Matthew Freundlich, a brother from Herrnhuth, who gave me a circumstantial account of the Brethren at that place, and directed me which course to take, in order to arrive there. Here I likewise learned, that after I had left the prison, my father had been put into confinement for several days, but that he had since been set at liberty. From this place I departed at night, and brought out my sister without the knowledge of my parents, although the whole family slept in the same apartment. Calling her softly by name through the window, she merely replied: "Do you not observe any watchmen around the house? Only go into the garden, and I shall be there immediately." She accordingVOL. VIII.

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ly left the chamber in her night dress, and on coming up to me, she said, "This is a miracle wrought by God. He has sent his angel before you, who has protected you; for, ever since your elopement, government have placed centries every night around our house, who were commissioned to deliver you up, either dead or alive, in case you should make your appearance." We travelled under the gracious protection of our dear Saviour, without money or passport, barefooted and in mean clothing, and although we were obliged to sleep almost every night in the open air, and often lost our way in the woods, in dark and rainy nights, we yet arrived with a cheerful heart at Herrnhuth, May 31, 1732, which was the day before Whitsuntide.

The brethren and sisters received us with much cordiality and affection, and although at that time scarcely any business was doing, they furnished us notwithstanding with an abundant supply of temporal and spiritual food, for which we were truly grateful. Being present for the first time at a meeting which Count Zinzendorf held for the young men, he asked me, what had induced me to come hither. I replied, "that I desired to be wholly devoted to our Saviour, and to rejoice in His love." He then said: "If that be your sole desire, you may gratify it here." Now I felt like being at home; and although at this time no work could be got at Herrnhuth, but we had to go to Lobau and other places in quest of it, still I was very loath to miss one opportunity for hearing the word of God, and therefore used to go late in the evening to Herrnhuth, and return early in the morning to my daily labour. In this manner, I procured a comfortable living, and was enabled to purchase clothes, so as to be a burden to none, and to owe no man any thing, but to love one another.

When on January 19, 1733, the first three brethren went as missionaries to Greenland, Christian David, one of them, said to me at parting, "Suffer yourself to be prepared by our Saviour for his service, since in a twelvemonth you are to follow us, for at Herrnhuth you will not stay." These words made à deep impression upon me; and when, in autumn, letters arrived from Greenland, I received one from brother Matthew Stach, stating his wish that I might join them in the ensuing spring. The board of elders, seeing this letter, soon after determined upon my going to Greenland next season. In the fall of the year, I once more travelled to my native country, and brought out from thence brother John Hadwig, and my eldest sister, Anne, who each had testified a great desire to emigrate. Having taken an affectionate leave of my parents, I returned to Herrnhuth, once more experiencing the wonderful and gracious protection of our Saviour, so that we passed on unmolested.

Towards the close of this year, Count Zinzendorf said to me, in a meeting of the brethren: "So, you are going to Greenland? Indeed, you look much like a Greenlander!" I replied, "I am the Lord's, let Him do with me as seemeth good in His sight !" And when afterwards he announced my resolution to the congregation, he said among other things, "Who should have expected to see such a people assembled here in this wilderness ?* Who should have conceived the notion of sending the Gospel from this spot, among the negroes and other Heathen ?"&c.

Referring to Herrnhuth, which but 10 years before was a wild, uncultivated, marshy tract of land.

and concluded by saying, "Who should have thought, that our brother Beck, who has just warmed himself a little at the fire of the congregation, should so soon repair to Greenland ?”

Accordingly, on the 10th of March, 1734, I left Herrnhuth for Greenland, in company with our late Brother Frederick Bohnish; and although we encountered many difficulties at Copenhagen, yet the Lord helped us, so that we were enabled to set sail in a small vessel, destined for the colony at Christian's-haab. There being but three sailors on board, we had to take our turns in doing duty upon deck. Being safely arrived at Christian's-haab, we aided Christian David and other brethren in establishing this colony on a more permanent footing. Ha-. ving despatched our business there, we finally sailed in another ship for Gothaab, where we arrived on the 19th of August, to the great joy of our brethren at New Herrnhuth. From that period to the present time, I have been enabled, by the grace of my adorable Redeemer, to continue in his service among the poor souls, in this dreary region of the globe.

Lord Jesus receive
The thanks I can give :
O, that to Thy praise
Each blood drop within
Me, were hallow'd always.

Lichtenfels, Greenland, May 6, 1775.

JOHN BECK.

It is greatly to be regretted, that our late brother could not be prevailed upon to continue the narrative of the remarkable incidents of his long, laborious, and useful life. When urged to do so, he would reply: "I have but very little to add; our dear Saviour has brought me, a poor sinner, thus far, supported me amidst all my weakness, and done greater things for me, than I could ever think or hope for. As for the rest, you find a correct statement in Crantz's history of this mission, how I fared from year to year; and if my fellow labourers wish to mention any further particulars, they are able to do so, from the long acquaintance they have had with me."

The translator here takes the liberty of inserting an extract from David Crantz's history of the Greenland Mission, to which the venerable Beck refers. In this extract, the reader will find an account of the first success which the preaching of the gospel to the Greenland Heathen was attended with, after five years apparently fruitless toil and labour. A brief account of the leading events of the remainder of brother Beck's life, and his happy death, from a manuscript now in the translator's possession, will conclude these memoirs.

Extract from the diary of the Greenland missionaries in 1738. (Vol. I. p. 490. German Original.)

On the 2d of June we had a visit from many Greenlanders, living towards the south, who passed by our habitation. John Beck was just then engaged in making a fair copy of the translation of the four gospels. The Heathen, who entered the house, were curious to know the contents of the book. He read a portion of it, and took occasion from this, to enter into a discourse with them. He asked them, whether they had each an immortal soul? They replied in the affirmative. He further inquired: Where their souls would go, when their bodies died?

Some said, upwards, and others, downwards. Having rectified their ideas on this head, he next asked them: Who had made heaven and earth, mankind and all visible things? They said, they did not know, neither had they ever heard; but they supposed, some rich and great Lord. He then related to them, how God had made all things well, and man in particular; but how by their disobedience mankind had fallen, and were plunged into extreme misery and perdition; how God had mercy on us, and assumed our nature, to the end that He might suffer and die, and thereby redeem mankind. That we were required to believe in Him, if we desired to be saved. On this occasion, the Holy Spirit moved brother Beck to give them a lively representation of the sufferings and death of Jesus. He exhorted them in the most affecting manner, to consider, how much it had cost our Saviour to ransom us -to surrender themselves to Him, as His dearbought property, seeing that wounds, and blood, and death, were the price of our redemption; yea, that such was the agony of His soul, that it had caused His sweat to be as great drops of blood. He then read to them, from the New Testament, the history of the Saviour's sufferings and bloody sweat on Mount Olivet. Then it was that the Lord opened the heart of one, whose name was Kajarnak. He stepped up to the table and said, in a loud and entreating tone of voice: "How was that? Repeat it once more, for I too should like to be saved!"* Having never heard such expressions dropped by a Greenlander, brother Beck writes, "these words thrilled through my whole frame, and excited such an emotion within breast, that I immediately, with tears in my eyes, laid before this Greenlander the whole history of Jesus' sufferings, and the will of God concerning our salvation." In the mean time, the other missionaries returned home from their excursions, and joyfully commenced a further delineation of the way to happiness for these Heathens. Some of them laid their hands on their mouths, as they are wont to do, when they are greatly surprised; others who did not relish the preaching, secretly left the room; others requested that we might also teach them to pray; and when we had taught them, they would repeat the words very often, that they might not escape their memories. In short, an emotion was evidently observed among them, the like of which we had never witnessed before. At parting, they promised to call again, because they wished to hear the word once more, and report it to their people.

my

These savages were as good as their word, and of Kajarnak in particular, it is further stated: "He repeated his visits frequently, and finally removed to our premises. When we speak with him, he is oft-times so much affected, that tears roll down his cheeks." On the 29th of March, the year following, the missionaries had the unspeakable pleasure of baptizing him, as the first fruits of the Greenland nation, together with his wife, his son, and his daughter, when Kajarnak received the name of Samuel.

August 19, 1736, brother Beck was united in holy matrimony to Rosina Stach, a sister of Matthew Stach, one of his first fellow labourers. Their union was blest with five sons and four daughters. Jacob, one of his sons,

*Should any of our readers marvel at the sudden impression, made by the simple history of our Saviour's sufferings on this blind and stupid Heathen, we would refer them to Acts ii. 36, 37, for proof, that the Gospel has more than once had the same instantaneous effect.