A SAILOR'S CREED IN STORM AND IN CALM. 205 of our lives." Of course no one on board believed one gloomy word he said. "Ah," said they, "He is only a poor prisoner bound for Rome, and a landsman too. What does he know about ships-seas, tides, or winds?" So when the South wind blew softly loosing themselves they sailed close by Crete. I fancy I hear a loud laugh, from fore and aft, as the good ship luffs up to the breeze with foam and spray on her bow. They all laughed again, and said, "where's that gloomy Prophet now? It does not look much like being swamped, wrecked or much damaged." And they held her closer to the wind with a joy that only sailors know. But He who holds the winds in His fist was at work, and the good man's turn will come, for this next little item must come into the reckoning. And not long after there arose (beat) against it a tempestuous wind, called Euroclydon. And when the ship was caught, and could not bear up into the wind, we let her drive." All this time Paul seems to have been in fasting, and praying; and God was keeping him company, and telling him what to do, and what to say. The crew had, enjoyed their last laugh, and all on board were struck dumb with terror-then, and not till then the man of God was wanted, and he was ready. 'Sirs," said he, "be of good cheer, for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me.” Why the words almost stilled the tempest. Most certainly they calmed and reassured all on board. Here then is the truly brave man, for he is the man of God, and now becomes perfect master of the ship. Captain and crew alike obey his orders, and he rules supreme. All because of his splendid and manly confession of faith. Now I venture to think that this very scene is being repeated daily on sea and land. Storms beat on us yet, and all hope goes from the heart; and just then some brave soul will cross our path, and say, "Be of good cheer, friend, for I believe God." If I were a captain of a ship, I should like to have at least one Christian amongst the crew. If I were a sailor, and a Christian indeed, standing alone on board a ship where all the rest of the crew were wicked, I should know that some day I should be wanted above all the rest. There.is such a spell in a good man's life. Fancy this man standing up in that fearful storm; reverently calm, quietly cool, and intensely confident, to declare his faith in God! Every word that falls from his holy lips is judicious, philosophical, religious. He begs all on board to eat and drink, because they will need all the strength they can get when the ship strikes, and the wreck. He then coolly says grace, thanking God for the food, and eats himself before them all. It was his hour of triumph, and the victory of his faith. He says, "Be of good cheer, and do as I tell you, and not a hair of your head shall be lost." comes. Such men are the need of our times. They are wanted everywhere; at home and abroad, at sea, and in the city. Storms beat on our homes and our firms. Many a man has gone home from the City more than half a wreck, and almost mad, to be greeted by the gentle voice of wife or child, "Be of good cheer, for we believe God." Many a master has been inspired to hope on by the good word of his servant, who believed in God. Well, we must close, but what is the great principle of all this? Just this. We of to-day are to confess our faith, and proclaim our belief in God's sure word. He has spoken to us as much as to Paul. Let us say we believe Him. At least we can do this, and our poor world needs nothing so much as this. It is full of clever men, scientific men, learned men, even good men. It needs now believing men. Men who dare to trust God in all things everywhere. Faith makes us pray. It fills us with sympathy, and love, and benevolence. It makes brave and true in all times of danger, and radiant and hopeful even in death. Oh, that God would first work faith in our hearts, and then give us power to confess it to all men everywhere! "I believe, O Lord, help Thou mine unbelief." "My faith looks up to this, Saviour Divine ! Now hear me while I pray, SAILORS AFLOAT AND ASHORE.* BY G. HOLDEN PYKE. WISHING to learn by personal investigation something about the character of the work carried on by Christian agents for the amelioration of the lot of English and foreign sailors, we found ourselves in the celebrated locality of Ratcliff-highway on one of the most inclement mornings of the late winter. Passing along over the house-tops on the Blackwall Railway from Fenchurch-street terminus, the view to be obtained is really one of the most suggestive, if not one of the most sadly singular in the whole world. As far as the eye can reach, overhung by a haze of smoke and fog, which is relieved by a few church spires, and factory chimneys, as well as by the masts of vessels in the river, there appears a vast wilderness of dwellings and warehouses, among which a stranger, alone in London, might well feel as solitary as though he were out in the bush at the Antipodes. In general terms this is what is called "the port of London"; a wonderful region, and one which has been greatly altered in its character during the last generation by the substitution of steam for sailing vessels. By overlooking this fact readers who place too great a faith in descriptions written twenty or thirty years ago, may become misinformed; and hence, we should be chary of * From the Sword and Trowel, edited by the Rev. C. H. Spurgeon. He would be encouraged to see an increased circulation. SAILORS AFLOAT AND ASHORE. 207 accepting all the things which Mr. Gough has brought together from scources old and new in his recently-issued "Light and Shadow." The East-end has wonderfully altered since the middle of the century, and especially is this the case with the sailors' quarters by the river-side. Alighting at Shadwell, we come presently to Mercer-street, called after the London company of that name, to which it belongs; and there is situated the well-known, but not too well-supported, Sailor's Institute of the British and Foreign Sailors' Society. This building, with its conspicuous tower, may be seen from a distance, while from the tower itself on a favourable day, a great part of the broad area of London may be viewed. It was opened about twenty-five years ago by the Society which dates from the year 1818, when the "Highway" was really a ruffianly and dangerous place. This compact, well-planned building has a liberally-supplied reading-room, a coffee-room, a savings' bank in connection with the Board of Trade, two lecture-halls for religious and temperance meetings, and a depôt for the sale of Bibles, hymn-books, Bethel flags, etc. There are five Thames missionaries, and also a colporteur, while about forty other stations besides the port of London are similarly supplied. The secretary and chief manager of this institution is now the Rev. E. W. Matthews, of whom we will speak more at large in another article. The society is one for which sailors have again and again, in a long course of years, found reason to be thankful. By it a great deal of good is accomplished with limited means. Our object in visiting Shadwell was to look over the Institute, but more particularly to study the neighbourhood, to see the nature of the work upon the river, and to look into the sailors' haunts, which, under the name of lodginghouses, thickly abound along Ratcliff-highway and its vicinity. Our pilot for this purpose was Mr. Samuel Lonsdale, the senior Thames visitor, who has been in the Society's employ since 1848, having previously commenced evangelistic work among men of his own class while he was himself serving before the mast fortytwo years ago. We at once became very good friends; and we are not sure that Mr. Lonsdale did not reach our ideal of a seamen's evangelist and adviser; he is stoutly built, with a broad chest and an open face, and he has been a teetotaller since the date of his conversion. He seems to possess the art of making his way among all classes of his many-tongued constituency; for if a man is encountered to whom English is unknown, Mr. Lonsdale has only to draw from his capacious pocket a printed paper which will speak to him in his own language about the wonderful works of God. He is a man of adventure also, both on sea and shore, as may presently appear. The last thirty-two years of his life have been spent by Mr. Lonsdale hereabouts among the sailors; and as we leave the Institute to face the keen air and the falling snow he tells us of many changes which have come over the face of his wonderful district. When his services were first engaged by the Committe, Ratcliff was as notorious as it had been for generations. Certain dealers kept, as some do still, large stocks of wild beasts from foreign parts, such as lions, tigers, hyenas, etc., for sale; but even these poor animals were hardly so formidable as the wilder examples of human nature that abounded, men and women who, in seeking to gratify their vicious desires, did not stop at murder itself. The moral condition of the thoroughfare became at last so bad, so many daring murders of the tradespeople took place, that in 1811 a panic consequent on these tragic occurrences seized all London; a panic so acute that a shopkeeper known to Lord Macaulay, "sold 300 rattles in about ten hours." In those days neither Sailors' Society nor City Mission looked after the seamen who crowded the boarding-houses of the neighbourhood; no one seemed to care either for their bodies or their souls. Dens of infamy, too bad for description, were found on all sides; crimps, sharpers, and cheats of all sorts pursued their practices without check from the law; and when victims escaped with only the loss of the hard-earned wages of months, or even years, they were better off than others who came into port never to go out again alive. Walking down to the river-side, where a man in a small boat is waiting, the veteran ship-visitor introduces his "third waterman," remarking by the way, "I've worn two of them out, and now he'll wear me out." As the two are much of the same age, however, Mr. Lonsdale may still possibly need to engage "a fourth" before casting anchor for the last time in the voyage of life. Beyond this, the missionary and his boatman appear to live in full sympathy with regard to the work in progress. They talked concerning the many changes which have come over the port of London since they were young. With a February north-easter blowing fresh, and the snow coming down fast, the weather can hardly be said to be favourable for taking observations; but little heeding such trifles, the good men in the boat not only talk away, but supply the very information we desire to obtain. They show us that wherever possible, dwelling houses have been cleared away to make room for warehouses, huge places such as were not thought of by our more reasonable predecessors of forty years ago. On this point they are very emphatic. "See that rope and sail-dealer's?" remarks our friend, pointing to a moderately-sized emporium by the water-side. "When that was built twenty years ago, it was thought to be a grand place, and now you can hardly see it." While the demand for warehouse room has grown so enormously, it is almost anomalous to find the river itself more free from ships than was the case in the times in question. Speaking of thirty years ago, Mr. Lonsdale says that the oldfashioned collier brigs were then in full work, so that what are called the upper and lower pools were often crowded, and the ships were quite accesssible for meetings after working-hours. These were small vessels of two or three hundred tons apiece, which stopped a week to unload and take in ballast; and as they carried on an average from six to nine hands, there would often be as many as two thousand men ashore at one time. Think of this large number changing every week, and spending their money in Ratcliff and the neighbourhood, and it will be seen how valuable the retail trade must have been. A shop in the Highway then was equivalent to a fortune; and as for publicans, they coined money at such a rate, that if a member of their household died, a coffin was hardly considered respectable without silver plates. Now all is altered. The publicans may still retain a paying traffic, but shops are often to be let, those that remain occupied not being probably a sixth part as profitable as they were in the days of the collier brigs. This change has been effected by the modern magician called STEAM. Coals for London gasworks and for general consumption are now brought rapidly from the North in ships carrying over 1,000 tons; and, discharging in a few hours, they are off again as quickly as they came without allowing their men time to enjoy the luxury of squandering their money in Ratcliff and Shadwell gin-shops and long-rooms. In some respects the change is for the better; in any case it is permanent, though all may not be pleased with it. Captain-prophets sometimes say the old times and the wooden brigs will come round again. “Yes,” replies Mr. Lonsdale, with more seer-like sagacity, "when stage-waggons and mail-coaches supersede railways." But while things have changed, Mr. Lonsdale assures us that there is still plenty of his kind of work to be done on the river. Between London Bridge and the farthest away of the various docks, there are numbers of vessels, besides hundreds of sailing barges to be visited. As he fondly surveys the broad muddy stream SAILORS AFLOAT AND ASHORE. 209 on which we are floating, he calls it a fine field for work; he assures us that none of the men are as rough as they seem; that all are open to good influences; and that not a few of the sailors he meets with are genuine Christian men. How we rejoice to think that this is really so! From olden times this shore of the Thames has been notorious for wickedness. Here for generations pirates were executed; here the scum of London found a congenial haunt as long as sailors could be preyed upon with impunity; hither even the arch-criminal, George Jeffreys, fled when fleet-footed justice pursued him at the time of the Revolution, in 1688; but notwithstanding all, good old Rowland Hill rightly interpreted the gospel when he declared that, "not even Wapping sinners" were too great for divine grace to rescue; and Cowper was no less right when he said that a certain neighbourhood might contain some of the best of people, "such as one would go to Wapping and Ratcliff to make acquaintance with." Here it has often been proved that Christ's jewels can shine amid the darkness of abounding sin. Leaving the river, we find plenty of objects worthy of observation in the curious streets and lanes which communicate with the main thoroughfare. Not the least interesting of these is the Old Gravel-lane Meeting-house, which was erected on the site of an older chapel, and opened by Dr. Watts in 1736. There are hundreds of coffins in the vaults,-the remains of pastors and celebrated attendants, whose carriages at the time of service were wont to line the streets. Formerly trees ornamented the front court, until, as Mr. Benn tells us, they were cut down by order of a pastor whose studies were disturbed by the singing of the birds. Though one of the quaintest things of its kind to be met with in London, we may not linger at this sanctuary, as Mr. Lonsdale is bent on showing us the character of his work ashore. What are called sailor's boarding-houses thickly abound in all directions; and with the exception of one very large building, where beds could be had at about common lodging-house prices, they all closely resemble each other. The first we entered was an ordinary dwelling; and in a small apartment, which might be called the parlour or common room, about half a dozen men were whiling away the morning in what sailors would call real cosy style. They were not drinking; but the by-no-means scantily-furnished room testified both to the eyes and nose that the interior had been fumigated with tobacco-smoke for years. The inmates, representing various nationalities,,were quite at their ease: one bronzed and weather. beaten veteran lay at length upon a sofa, without heeding our intrusion. All seemed able to speak a little English; but while they respectfully listened to what their visitor had to say about the claims of the gospel, they were more anxious to receive tracts in the language which was most familiar to them. Our experience in this house was virtually repeated in others; in all we found the same kind of little rooms, decorated with pictures and ornaments likely to suit the sailor taste; in none did we encounter rebuff or bad language, the men were always willing to converse on religious subjects, and the publications were thankfully received. Nor did we discover that, as a rule, these houses bore a questionable character. Some landlords are better than others; but while all look after the main chance, they generally give a fair return for the sixteen shillings a week charged for board and lodging. In less than an hour, spent in visitation, we met with Germans, Swedes, Danes, Finns, Austrians, Italians, Dutch, English. Half the sailors on English vessels are now foreigners; the population of the houses is always changing; and hence the importance of the work undertaken by the river-side visitors who represent the British and Foreign Sailors' Society. We hinted above that (Mr. Lonsdale is a man of adventure, and hence he has materials for telling autobiographical sketches if he could be prevailed upon to L |