Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and lo! I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen." Matt. xxviii. 1820. A sermon from Mr. Martyn on those words of Scripture was well calculated to produce a powerful effect on the minds of his audience; for the very cir cumstance of his coming among them proved that "the kingdom of God was not in word, but in power."

On the 10th of September, the signal was made for the ships to sail, at which time having been deceived in the information communicated to him concerning the continuance of the fleet in port, Mr. Martyn was absent, at the distance of twenty miles in the country. The express, announcing this mistake, was like a thunder-stroke to him; but by making all possible despatch, he contrived to reach the Union just in time. That ship, as if by the appointment of Providence, had met with an accident in clearing out of the harbour, which impeded her progress, while almost all the others were under weigh. The commander, as he passed, expressed his displeasure at her delay: but Mr. Martyn discovered the high and gracious hand of God in this event, and "blessed Him for having thus saved his poor creature from shame and trouble." "So delusive," to adopt his own reflections," are schemes of pleasure! At nine in the morning, I was sitting at ease with the person dearest to me upon earth, intending to go out with her afterward to see different views, to visit some persons with her, and preach on the morrow; four hours only elapsed, and I was under sail from England."

The anxiety Mr. Martyn had felt to reach his ship, and the joy he experienced at having effected his object, for a time absorbed other sorrowful considerations but when left a little at leisure, his spirits, as he acknowledges, began to sink. "He seemed backward, also, to draw near to God; and though, when he did so, he found relief, he was still slow to flee to the refuge of his weary soul."

Unhappily for him, during the whole of the 10th, and for the greater part of the succeeding day, Cornwall was in sight; and who is there endued with the sensibilities of our common nature, but must have been subjected to the most painful emotions, whilst slowly passing for the last time along a coast, where every object which caught the eye-every headland -every building-every wood-served to remind him of endearments that were past, and of pleasures never to be renewed?

That Apostle, who professed that he was "ready not to be bound only, but to die at Jerusalem, for the name of the Lord Jesus," exclaimed also-" what mean ye to weep and break my heart?" And he, too, when sailing to Rome, along the "sea of Cilicia," may well be supposed to have looked mournfully towards the region of his nativity, and to have thought with pain on Tarsus.

But Mr. Martyn's own hand shall portray his feelings. Sunday, August 11. "I rose dejected, and extremely weak in body. After simply crying to God for mercy and assistance, I preached on Heb. xi. 16:

But, now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them a city.' On repeating the text a second time, I could scarcely refrain from bursting into tears. For the Mount and St. Hilary spire, and trees were just discernible by the naked eye at the time I began my sermon, by saying that now the shores of England were receding fast from our view, and that we had taken a long, many of us, an everlasting farewell,' &c. We had made little way during the night, and so in the morning I was pleased to find we were in Mount's Bay, midway between the Lands-End and the Lizard, and I was often with my glass recalling those beloved scenes -till after tea, when ascending the poop, I found they had disappeared: but this did not prevent my praying for all on shore. Amidst the extreme gloom of my mind this day I found great pleasure, at seasons of prayer,

in interceding earnestly for my beloved friends all over England."

The dejection of mind of which Mr. Martyn here speaks, and which returned the next day with an overpowering influence, was evidently combined with and augmented by much bodily infirmity, and no doubt would have been alleviated by the sympathizing intercourse of a companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ. The original injunction given to the seventy, was given by him who knew what was in man, and who therefore sent them 66 two and two before his face into every city"--for "two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labour; for if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow but wo to him that is alone when he falleth, for he hath not another to help him up.". Eccles. iv. 9, 10.

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"England had disappeared, and with it all my peace." The pains of memory were all I felt."- "Would I go back? O no-but how can I be supported? my faith fails. I find, by experience, I am weak as water. O my dear friends in England, when we spoke with exultation of the missions to the Heathen, whilst in the midst of health, and joy, and hope; what an imperfect idea did we form of the sufferings by which it must be accomplished." Such were the complainings of his spirit, overwhelmed within him. Yet there were moments when he could realize the realms of glory," and when "all earthly things died away in insignificance."

On the 14th of September, the fleet came to an anchor in the Cove of Cork and there, in a spiritual sense, Mr. Martyn found that haven where he would be:-there he discovered that "heaviness may endure for a night, but that joy cometh in the morning ;" and he who before had felt "poor and needy, with his heart wounded within him," could then say "thanks be to God, which causeth us always to triumph in Christ; 2 Cor. ii. 14. After a long and blessed season in prayer, I felt, he says, the Spirit of adoption drawing me very near to God, and giving me the full

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assurance of his love. My fervent prayer was that I might be more deeply and babitually convinced of his unchanging everlasting love, and that my whole soul might be altogether in Christ, I scarcely knew how to express the desires of my heart. I wanted to be all in Christ, and to have Christ for my all in all--to be encircled in his everlasting arms, and to be swallowed up altogether in his fulness. I wish for no created good, or for men to know my experience: but to be one with thee, and live for thee, O God, my Saviour and Lord. O may it be my constant care to live free from the spirit of bondage, at all times, having access to the Father. This I felt should be the state of the Christian perfect reconciliation with God, and a perfect appropriation of him in all his endearing attri butes, according to all that he has promised: it is this that shall bear me safely through the storm."--What is this, but the happiness intended by the Psalmist, when he breaks forth into those words of sublimity and rapture; "Blessed are the people which know the joyful sound--they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance: in thy name shall they rejoice all the day, and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted.-Psal. lxxxix. 15, 16.

At Cork, Mr. Martyn endeavoured to procure an admission to a pulpit in the city, as well as to preach to the convicts going out with the fleet to Botany Bay, but was unsuccessful in both these attempts.--On board his own ship he regularly read prayers, and preached once every Sabbath, lamenting that the Captain would not permit the performance of more than one service. This being the case, his usefulness in the ship depended much, he conceived, upon his private ministration. Scarcely a day therefore passed, without his going between the decks; where, after assembling all who were willing to attend, he read to them some religious book, upon which he commented as he went on. "Some attended fixedlyothers are looking another way--some women are employed about their children, attending for a little while, and then heedless; some rising up and going

away--others taking their place; and numbers, especially of those who have been upon watch, strewed all along upon the deck fast asleep-one or two from the upper decks looking down and listening :" such is the picture he draws of his congregation below. The

situation of things above when he performed his weekly duty on the Sabbath, was not, according to his own statement, more encouraging. There the opposition of some and the inattention of others, put his meekness and patience very strongly to the test. "The passengers," as he describes it, "were inattentivethe officers, many of them, sat drinking; so that he could overhear their noise, and the Captain was with them. His own soul was serious, and undisturbed by the ireverence of the hearers, and he thought he could have poured it out in prayer, without restraint, in defiance of their scornful gaze." "How melancholy and humiliating," he could hot help adding, "is this mode of public ordinances on ship-board, compared with the respect and joy with which the multitudes come up to hear my brethren ashore: but this prepares me for preaching among the heedless Gentiles."

On the 31st of August, after having been detained above a fortnight in the Cove of Cork, the fleet, consisting of fifty transports, five men of war, and the Indiamen, put to sea; and now again Mr. Martyn suffered much both in body and mind; he became languid and feverish, and his nights were sleepless-and his mental conflict was extremely severe. "My anguish at times," he says, "was inexpressible, when I awoke from my disturbed dreams to find myself actually on my way, with a long sea rolling between me and all I held dear in this life." "To describe the variety of perplexing, heart-rending, agonizing thoughts which passed through my mind, and which united with the weakness and languor of my body, served to depress me into the depths of misery, would be impossible. The bodily sufferings would be nothing, did not Satan improve his advantage in representing the happiness and ease of the life I had left. However, God did not