and yet they traded Christian countries!

for the Master!

between the sea-ports of professedly

What a comment is this on our zeal

But the point which has given Captain Antle most concern is that nearly all of these men associate religion with "church-attendance." They deplore the fact that they have not been "inside a church" for years; but resolve that in future, wherever they may be, they should try and find some "place of worship" to attend.

While the captain could not but approve most heartily this resolution on the part of the men, he was troubled to decide whether it was not his duty to urge them to find some "place of worship" now, while in the port. Evidently, they did not consider the Mission-room a "place of worship," in the strict sense of the word; and if not, then whither should he direct them?

A few cases of this kind coming up has had the effect of exercising the captain's mind to such an extent that he is considering whether it would not be a good idea to try and make some arrangement with the nearest churches to have them set apart pews for sailors, so that "the boys" would be sure of finding accommodation. He thinks of submitting the question to a committee of clergymen of various denominations, if such a synod can be convened.

The recent death and burial of a young sailor (see p. 91) has had a singular effect on the captain's mind. The deceased having been a son of a Church-of-England clergy

man, the funeral services were held in the Episcopal Church. So profoundly was the captain impressed with the ritual that he at once procured a prayer-book and has been studying it ever since. He keeps the little volume in his pocket, so as to have it by him at all times. I naturally supposed that it was the matchless power, beauty, pathos, and phraseology of the services which especially pleased him; but it seems that what has given him most food for thought with regard to the book is that so large a body of professing Christians should consider such rites, ceremonies, and ordinances essential to the worship of God and the salvation of the soul.

"Mr. Watson," he said to me the other day, holding up the prayer-book, "if this is the right way to worship God, then you and I are wrong; but if our way is right, then they are wrong. Now which is it? That's what's puzzling me just now. Have you ever thought of it?"

"Do you mean as to the question of a ritual for public worship?" I asked him.

"I mean as to the use of a prayer-book," he replied.

"Well, as for myself," I said, "I see less objection to the prayer-book than to most of the extemporaneous prayers that are offered. Certainly, no prayers could be better expressed than those in the book or more amply cover all the needs and conditions of life."

"That may be very true, Mr. Watson," the captain returned; "but if a beggar came to your door for a meal of victuals to keep him from starving and read what he had to say to you out of a book, what would you think of him?"

"As an individual case, captain, I should think the man was a humbug; but if I were a governor or mayor, and a man came and read a petition to me signed by four or five hundred other men, I should feel bound to give it serious consideration; all the more serious, because it expressed the desire of so many others. So these prayers express the

needs of hundreds and thousands, and if the one who utters them is not earnest and sincere, then it is the fault of the man and not the book. God hears it all the same, and knows every soul of which it is the expression."

As this seemed to place the question in a new light to his mind, he reflected a moment, and then, with a beaming countenance, exclaimed,

"Brother Watson, let us thank the Lord that He may be worshiped with a prayer-book!”

But undoubtedly what most exercises the captain's mind is not the church-service of the prayer-book so much at its bewildering variety of rites, ceremonies, sacraments, rituals, rubrics, canons, creeds, catechisms, articles — in a word, that complex ecclesiasticism which appears so absolutely essential to the Christian faith—to simple faith in Christ.

That all this seems to point one way, namely, to the Church, appeals to such an idiosyncrasy as Captain Antle's with powerful effect. He must be sure of the truth before he can take another step; hence his unsettled and, I fear, unhappy state of mind just at present.

I never saw the captain when he was in a more depressed

condition than last Sunday morning when he came into the Mission-room.

I am sure I don't know what to tell our boys to-day," he said with a sigh. "I feel like telling them to go to the churches to the holy and consecrated houses of God. That our poor room here is not the proper place in which to worship God. That it is not a church and can never stand for a church; but only a place to meet each other and do the best we can for one another. . . . And yet," he continued, after reflecting a moment, "where can they go? Yes, where can they go? No! It would break my heart, after all, to see my poor boys get up and turn their backs on me. Oh, it would, it would! Wandering off, like sheep without a shepherd! Turned away from home! I know what it is to be turned away from home! No! No! God help me! I can't- I won't do it!" Then jumping up and shaking his "mane "like a lion, his eyes aflame and his fists clenched, he exclaimed, “With God's help, I'll gather them around me, and we'll fight for Jesus to the last! Yes, here in this blessed room? And we'll stand by the ship till she sinks beneath us!"

So the clouds passed, and I never heard the captain when he was more powerful in prayer and exhortation than he was that day. It seemed as if a double measure of the divine spirit had been given him; and so large and grand were his utterances, so firm was his grasp of divine truth, that all questions of mere rites and rituals sank into insignificance. For the time-being, our poor Mission-room seemed indeed the house of God and the gate of heaven!

XII.

On Friday evening last, a remarkable event occurred in the shape of a visit from Mr. Grey, rector of the church in which the funeral services of the young sailor were held. Mr. Grey came in during the singing of a hymn, and took a back seat; but no sooner did the captain spy him out than he hurried down, took him by the arm, and insisted on his coming up on the platform.

"You know, friends," the captain said, "the Bible tells us that in receiving strangers, we may entertain angels unawares. This evening the good Lord has sent us, if not one of his angels, certainly one of his chosen ministers - a minister of the grand old mother-church, God bless her! I have no doubt, lads, but he brings a message from aloft to us down here below, to which we shall now give heed with all our hearts and souls."

The clergyman, thus introduced, began by saying that he had not anticipated making any remarks when he entered the room, and though it was the first time he had ever been inside their door, yet he was by no means a stranger to the good work of the Mission; for its light was such that it could not be hidden under a bushel it was a beacon that all might behold.

Captain Antle, he said, referred to him as a minister of the Church, charged with a divine message.

That expresses