up over against them; for the Spirit of the living creature was in the wheels." Wherever prayer, with other means of grace, goes, there the Spirit of God goes with converting and reviving power; for the Spirit of God is always in prayer.

"For several years the United States Ship North Carolina, a very large vessel, has been lying at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, used as a Receiving-ship for seamen. During the greater part of the time, many hundred men have been on board, waiting to be sent to other vessels. A ship thus stationed at the entrance to the sea, in which thousands of sailors sojourn for a time, would naturally be an object of interest and a subject of prayer with those who have the spiritual interests of seamen at heart: and God has heard and answered prayer on behalf of this vessel. More than once the spirit of revival has been kindled, and many souls have been converted on board. We give below some of the reports which have been made from time to time of the state of things on board this ship.

"Rev. Dr. Stewart said one day in the Fulton Street meeting, he had often requested prayers for the men of the sea on the North Carolina. When last he mentioned the case of that ship in this meeting there were but few men on board: now there are about five hundred. The work of grace goes steadily forward, and from night to night there are some who are coming out on the Lord's side. Never did the men of this old ship stand in more need of prayer than now, that God would not stay his hand, but bring many to repentance.

"Another gentleman said he had been to one of the prayer-meetings on the North Carolina. There was a good number present, and the presence and power of the Holy Spirit was most manifest. He heard a most touching letter read from one of the seamen, who had been sent from the

North Carolina to the Ohio at Boston, giving a cheering account of the progress of the work of grace on the Ohio. The writer says that they have not the presence or aid of clergymen or Christians from the shore, as in the Brooklyn Navy Yard; yet they have the wonderful workings of the Holy Spirit among the men of the ship, and daily there are added to the numbers of believers those who they trust shall be saved."

In speaking of the prayer-meetings held on the vessel, it is added:

"One thing was remarkable in the prayers of all these men: they prayed for the conversion of all the men at sea, and for the blessing of God upon all on shore whoever prayed for them. There was something," continued the speaker, 'that made me feel that it was a great privilege to be remembered in the prayers of those men, for one could not resist the impression that these prayers would be heard.'

The

"At another time a chaplain of the Navy said the revival on the North Carolina, with which he was almost daily conversant, was wonderful, and without a parallel, so far as he knew, in the naval service of any nation. At the last three or four of the daily prayer-meetings which he had attended on board, not less than fifteen had come out and confessed themselves to be on the Lord's side. hopeful conversions of the last few weeks are about eighty, and it now seems to pervade more or less the whole ship's company, numbering from nine hundred to one thousand men. No man, who can be a witness for himself, can have a doubt of the genuineness of the work. No power but Almighty power, could produce such results as are now seen on board of this man-of-war. You would not know what is going on in the minds of these really fine and noble men, till you speak to them on the subject of religion, or

go into their prayer-meetings, and hear them pray; then you will feel that the Holy Spirit is at work in his silent, but mysterious and amazing power, upon the hearts of these men. The work of God's grace and mercy on board our ships of the Naval service is a blessing to the nation. and to the world, for those men will be missionaries wherever they go, on sea or on land."

"The following letter to Rev. Mr. Jones, of the Mariner's Church, New York, speaking of a revival on board the United States Ship St. Louis, was written by the pious sailor who was the means of the establishment of the daily evening prayer-meetings on board the North Carolina, and which resulted in the ingathering into the fold of Christ of such a company of earnest, faithful men, who are scattered now through several ships of war. In reading it, Mr. Jones remarked that there were members of his church on board eighteen of the armed vessels of the United States:'

From this letter, above noticed, we extract the following:

"San Juan de NICARAGUA, Dec. 26, 1859.

'Looking from this advanced point, I can trace the commencement of this work to the first days of October— at that time the Lord having evidently heard our prayers. Most of the converted take, at once, an active part in our meetings, and some have already begun missionary labor among us."-"Another, two days after his conversion, and his confessing Christ before men, conducted a noon prayermeeting in the main-top. Once he had the disposition of the enraged tiger, now of the gentle lamb; once his mouth. was full of bitterness and cursing, now of prayer and praise. Oh, that I could impart to you a faint, yet correct, idea of the spirituality and blessedness of our meetings of late! Oh, what solemn meetings! several officers present

and a large portion of the crew. Great joy flowing from a sense of the Saviour's pardoning love.'

"Of the result of this revival, so far, there have been nineteen hopeful conversions. Our officers are all kind to us. We have privileges extended to us that praying men on board other ships do not enjoy. On Christmas day Captain Poor called all hands to prayer on the quarterdeck, and in the afternoon and evening we had our own prayer-meetings. All hands to prayer on the quarter-deck is an uncommon order from an officer commanding a ship of war."

One extract more in this connection, and we shall close this interesting part of our history of the prayer-meeting among seamen :

"The following letter was addressed to Rev. Dr. Stewart, of the Navy, by a young sailor, bred regularly to the sea, without any advantages of education or position other than those of a common seaman:

"U. S. FRIGATE-Jan. 4, 1860. "When I first came to this ship, I went to the captain and asked him to grant me the privilege of having prayermeetings on board. His answer to me was 'No!' My hopes for good failed me, but God held me up. There were only two of us, W- and myself. I did not know how I should keep on without the meetings I had enjoyed on board the North Carolina. Little did I know of the love of Jesus. He heard my feeble cry and blessed me. Jesus is, indeed, the sailor's friend. When we had been out about six weeks, I fell into conversation one day with the ship's painter. I thank God for it. Through the blessing of the Holy Spirit, I was thus made leading him to Jesus. Then W- E

the means of and I went up

into the main-top every evening, and knelt together in

prayer to God, that He would open a way for us to do good, and would add to our number. Soon our little flock increased to seven, and I thought then we might have a private meeting on deck, where we could get together, sing our hymns, and offer our prayers to God. We met between two guns, and kept on in this way for some time, till two more were added to us; and at last, as our number had thus increased, we went down on the gun-deck. Here we took a bold stand. The place we chose was by the main hatch, in the midst of the deck; on both sides of us were the ship's company, going on in sin, and we in the midst of them praising God. We still hold our meetings regularly there. We were not granted the privilege; we took this on our own responsibility. We have no aid from officers or men. The captain, and officers, and most of the men, seem against us; still the power of God is wonderfully manifest. Our stand is so strong that none now trouble or disturb us, and the captain does not stop It looks as if God had placed us there for a light to others, and the men seem to regard it as a hallowed place. None come to it to trouble us. Here we have had two more added to the little band who meet together for prayer and praise. Dear brother, we send a special request to all the followers of the Lord Jesus, for prayer that the Holy Spirit may be felt in power in this ship."

us.

In this last extract we have a much needed moral lesson of duty, and of Christian consistency with Christian profession. We have also a spiritual lesson in regard to the divine faithfulness to divine promise, and the power of divine grace in making prayer, faith, and the faithful use of divinely appointed means, successful in the conversion of sinners, and gathering of saints