For the Seaman's Magazine. MARINER'S HYMN. AWAKE! brother sailor, to Jesus attend, Oh, hearken, oh, hearken, his sound is still nigh, Yes, hark! 'tis his voice in the heavens you hear, Then will you, dear shipmates, to eternity's ocean, Oh look to the heaven! 'tis darkened, 'tis dark, Then let Bethlehem's radiance empower your soul, A. Z. TO READERS AND CORRESPONDENTS. "AMICUS;"" CLEMENTIA ;" and "A SPY," are received: "A SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER," and the Report of the "Female Missionary Society," shall have a place in our next. After due consideration, we think it not best to publish the request of "ERASMUS." The answer he would receive might not be considered satisfactory to him, though it is fully so to us. He who can adduce sufficient evidence to prove a fact may not always have the minutia of those facts at hand; and if he had, it might not always be useful to make them public. If "Erasmus" will call on us, we think we can satisfy him by a personal interview. NOTICE. The seventh United General Prayer Meeting will be held on Tuesday afternoon, the 7th of August, in the Mariners' Church, in Roosevelt-street, at 4 o'clock. ERRATA.-In some of the copies of this number the following errata occur-p. 136, 6th line from the bottom, for "above" read below; p. 132, 2d line from the top, fora" read and. THE BLACKS OF OUR COUNTRY-A MISSIONARY FIELD. MR. EDITOR, I am fully aware, that the subject upon which I am about to touch is one that is delicate to excess; and it would have been desirable to have seen it taken up by a more able hand. We should consider the ground we are to tread as peculiarly sacred, having seen the many ill effects produced by those who have trodden it with unhallowed steps. It may not be amiss here to observe, that many who have written upon slavery, though their intentions were good, have been biased by education, by prejudice, and by ignorance. The ideas of slavery, which those form who have viewed it only at a distance, are usually incorrect. Like viewing a picture, we find that distance produces indistinctness and confusion, and it is only in a nearer view of the portrait before us, that we can clearly discern each feature, each beauty, or each blemish. Many, indeed, have written on this subject, after having seen much of it; but still they have not been impartial. A man may carry his prejudices with him to the south, and have them all strengthened. One may present us one side of the picture, and by his account we might suppose our southern brethren as monsters of cruelty; while another, with the same opportunities, may tell us that in "travelling through all the southern states, he never once heard the cry of distress south of the Potomac." I shall endeavour, in the remarks which follow, to fall into neither extreme, and if they are not useful, I trust they will be candid. Suffer me here to observe, that it is a matter of regret that we seldom hear our African population made a subject of public or private prayer. Among the different denominations of Christians with whom I have been conversant, I seldom hear our blacks mentioned in prayer. With the greatest propriety we pray for the heathen on our western borders, and for the heathen abroad; but we seem to forget the two millions of slaves in our country. We seem to forget that there are probably more than four times as many Africans in our country as there are Indians, and that as to moral instruction, they are equally deplorable. The fact is, we have been accustomed to view the situation of our negroes as almost hopeless; and because our fathers placed their bodies in bondage, we, their children, are willing to leave their souls in a bondage still more dreadful. If we can repay any of the debt we owe to Africa by our prayers, and if we have not compassion enough to elicit these might be supposed that selfishness would be a sufficient inducement. VOL. VIII. 21 prayers, it Our southern brethren, as individuals, have many of them done much to meliorate the condition of their slaves; and we are not any too forward in this region to allow them that praise which they certainly deserve. We have too often substituted invective for argument, and feeling for reason. We should consider, that for the present there exists a moral and a physical necessity of slavery. We feel shocked at the very name of slavery, and hence we can easily abuse those who hold this kind of property, without ever inquiring, whether those are to blame for inheriting a curse, which their fathers accumulated, and which they cannot, if they wished, immediately get rid of. While, therefore, I acknowledge what our friends at the south have, and are doing, and while I lament the want of prudence in some of our writers in non-slave-holding states, I would urge our brethren, who are so much blamed, to do more. They can easily do much; and it is believed they need not be told it is their duty to do much. It is policy for them to use every exertion to Christianize their slaves. Religion will make them better servants. It is one of the greatest excellencies of Christianity, that it is adapted to the poor of every class. It teaches all to be content in the situation in which God has placed them; and it gives very special and particular instructions to servants. Now it is a fact often confessed by the owners of negroes, that their christian slaves, if they are so happy as to own any, are ever the most faithful. Being disciples of Jesus, they imbibe his spirit, and are governed by principle. Hence they seldom, if ever, are known to attempt to run away for religion makes them contented. Hence too, they will not steal and pilfer, for their consciences forbid this. It must be allowed, that this last is a great evil, and one which causes much trouble to those who keep slaves; and it is the Gospel only that can ever overcome this propensity. As another inducement to urge our southern brethren to give the Gospel to their slaves, I would mention the security it will afford them. I would mention this point with delicacy; but it is a fact that might be an injury to conceal, that within a few years there have been several attempts made by the slaves in the southern states to rebel. There has been, and there still is, reason to fear this evil, however great it is, or however unwilling we may be to admit it. In the northwestern part of North Carolina, the slaves have lately not unfrequently been guilty of poisoning their masters, and one another. At present they have no moral principles to govern them. They every year acquire knowledge, and are becoming more and more enlightened, and we might as well attempt to stop the sea in its course as to try to keep them in ignorance. I have mentioned these things with regret, for I would not willingly wound the feelings of any; but deemed it necessary to mention them previously to stating the fact, that " among all the attempted rebellions that have ever been discovered, they have all been made known by a christian slave!" This fact I had from a very highly respectable gentleman at the south, who is himself an owner of slaves; and it speaks loudly as to the duty and policy of christianizing our slaves. The blacks are not only acquiring knowledge, but according to this knowledge, they as sensibly feel their condition as we should in their situations. When vexed with each other, they universally use the language of reproach; and this reproach is to call each other "slaves," as they know this is the keenest weapon they can use. I was once conversing with a boy about twelve years old, and trying to explain to him the first principles of religion. He had been brought up on a plantation, and religion was a subject of which he was entirely ignorant. He made many inquiries about Heaven; and among other things asked, if" black and white people went to the same Heaven :" he was informed that they did. "Well," said he, with a look that surprised me, " do the black people work for themselves there!" Now, if our benevolent brethren at the south are acquainted with the spirit of the Gospel, they cannot be ignorant that it is the only thing that can teach men," in whatever situation they are placed, therewith to be content." As to the duty of giving to the blacks of this country greater advantages, little need be said. They, with ourselves, have immortal souls to be saved or lost. Our fathers tore them from their native country, and God has placed an awful responsibility upon us to give them the bread of life. Each master is a guardian of souls, and he is bound to clear his skirts from their blood. While striving to give the light of Heaven to the millions on the plains of India, what excuse have we for not giving it also to those who are placed under our immediate care? Will their knowledge be too much increased by hearing the gospel statedly preached? Will it be dangerous for our servants to know that each has an ever-living soul-that this life is but a life of probation-that man was born for eternity? Is there danger in this? If such arguments, or rather excuses, can satisfy our consciences now, they will all be swept away, as the darkness of night is scattered by the rising sun, in that day when all must stand before the heart-searching God. Withhold from them the gospel?—and for what? because Jesus died only for white people because they are black-because they are servants? Let two millions of souls sink to the grave like brutes-let them live and die servants of sin and Satan-let them perish for ever, because we fear they would be less faithful as disciples of Jesus, than when servants of the Devil-let them perish, because their unhappy nation lies under the temporal frown of Heaven! I am astonished on seeing so much benevolence, and so many other excellencies in the characters of our southern brethren, that they can feel so little on this subject. Many generations of Africans have already perished through our inexcusable neglect. Certainly they have been degraded long enough, have suffered enough, and have been in darkness long enough; and we tempt Omnipotence himself, if we dare sleep any longer while they remain as ignorant of religion as they now are. I am persuaded that every planter in the south would use his utmost endeavours to instruct his slaves in the principles of religion, could they once see it was safe and proper; and if they will give the subject a candid investigation, I am confident they would be convinced of both. It is perfectly ridiculous to talk of emancipating our slaves in their present condition. To set them free, as they now are, would be the greatest inhumanity. They would neither possess sufficient knowledge or ambition to keep themselves from the most abject poverty and misery. Accordingly, we find that in slave-holding states, the free blacks, whose minds are no more cultivated, are a hundred-fold worse off than slaves. They are, with some exceptions, complete nuisances of society. If then, owners of slaves should wish to emancipate their negroes, as many of them do, they cannot do it without destroying the happiness and peace of society. It would only be putting daggers in the hands of cruelty, and furnishing employment for hangmen. But give them the Gospel, and this evil will be done away, at least in a great measure. Let their minds be enlightened, let moral and religious principles be set before them, and pressed upon their consciences, and there need be no fear, but that they may soon be fit to provide for themselves. The same objection holds true, in respect to colonizing them, provided they were carried to Africa the moment emancipated. Place a colony of them, with their present knowledge, on the shores of Africa, and we have a helpless band, unable to regulate themselves, unable to take care of themselves, and who could be kept in any order, only by the point of the bayonet, till instructed and enlightened. If then, we look forward to a day when we are ever to become free from so great an evil as is slavery, if we are ever to become rid of so great a curse, a curse that kindles the wrath of the Almighty, and calls down the severest strokes of the vengeance of Heaven upon us, and the generations that are to succeed us, we must begin by giving them moral and religious instruction. I know it is easy to declaim on this duty, but difficult to enforce it. I know it may be a subject of sneers, but I do not know what will be the feelings of that master, who, when he stands naked before God, with the eyes of the universe turned upon him, and he sees one, and another of his own servants, giving him their last looks of reproach and anguish, as they go to the regions of despair, because that master would not instruct them, or permit them to be instructed. Those who make conscience a bug-bear, may continue to increase their guilt by neglect. But it cannot always be so. The God of justice cannot always sleep; the God of Africa cannot always be bound in chains. I am now prepared to say a few words on the practical methods by which we may attempt to christianize the slaves of our country. It will be readily perceived that in order to carry into effect any plans for benefiting this unhappy class of men, we need the united efforts of those under whose immediate care they are placed. A master can hold out motives to his servants to go to hear the preaching of the Gospel, that no other person can offer. He may see that they keep their clothes in such a manner as not to be ashamed to attend a meeting. He may also, by his example, by advice, and encouragement, prevail upon those of his negroes to attend public worship on the Sabbath, who would otherwise be engaged in idleness, or be worse employed. But in many places, there are no meetings where they can attend; this is certainly to be lamented. In such cases, the owner of a plantation might collect his servants together, as easily as he could collect them to work, and if he felt any thing of the value of religious privileges himself, might give them such moral instruction as they need. Several respectable planters in the south have done this, and done it with very happy consequences. And I need not here tell those who are acquainted with the subject, that the negroes are extremely anxious to receive religious instruction. They are the most grateful creatures, for the preaching of the gospel, I ever saw. After speaking to a company on the subject of their immortal souls, you find it difficult to leave them; they come around you, as you go, and with streaming eyes, call down the blessings of Heaven upon you, for having pointed them to the door of mercy. One negro in the south, on a holiday, went sixty miles on foot to obtain a written per |