excitement, and become victims of plunder and temptation; and the man
who last week was impressed, by the perils of the tempest, with the
terrors of the Lord, and was inclined to fear God and to serve him, is
waylaid by unfeeling wretches, who first entice him into scenes of
profligacy and blasphemy, and then cast him off, robbed of his money,
seared in his conscience, and in a miserable condition of soul and
body. Many benevolent efforts have been made to protect and fortify
some of those who are thus beset, and to reclaim such as are not
utterly lost; and associations have been formed for the purpose of
affording temporary relief and instruction to seamen, who might
otherwise become outcasts, and perish in want and ignorance. I allude
to such institutions as the 'Sailor's Home,' or 'Destitute Sailor's
Asylum,' in London, for the reception of seamen who have squandered or
have been despoiled of their earnings after their return from a
foreign voyage, or who are disabled for employment by illness, age, or
accident. There is also. 'The Floating Chapel,' opened to invite and
enable mariners to avail themselves of the opportunity of attending
Divine service, (under the Thames Church Missionary Society,) which
moves from one thickly populated sailors' locality to another. The
establishment of a district church and minister in a large sea-port
parish, like that of St. Mary's, Devonport, to relieve the necessities
of a district crowded with mariners, and rife with all the snares and
temptations which entrap a sailor, and endanger his bodily and
spiritual safety, is another undertaking worthy of notice.

Institutions like these must depend principally on public and
voluntary support. There is much need for them in all our principal
sea-ports; for who require them more than the men who are perpetually
exposed to the double shipwreck of body and soul? The members of these
and similar institutions are instrumental in preserving some from
ruin--in restoring others to character and employment, to usefulness,
to self-estimation, and to religious feeling; and in making both our
merchant and naval service an example to the world of subordination
and patient endurance.

The promoters of these institutions are not satisfied with providing a
remedy for the evil which exists, but they do much to prevent the ills
of irreligion and immorality, by supplying seamen with instructive and
devotional books, and by employing agents to go among t