him; he silently withdrew from the company, and instead of sleeping on shore as others did, and as he intended to have done, he called a boat, and went to his ship designing to sleep on board; but soon after he was there, about midnight, the wind shifted nearly to the opposite point of the compass. He immediately weighed anchor and sailed out of the harbor, and had the advantage of a fair wind and sufficient time to get down the river and get a good offing. Before the other ships could get out of the river, the wind resumed its position and forced them back to their former anchorage, and though directly foul to those in port, was tolerably fair for Wilson. When he reached the port to which he was destined, the markets were much in want of the articles with which his ship was freighted, and there being no merchant to share the market with him, he obtained his own price for the greater part of his goods. For the same reason, the articles with which he freighted his vessel back, were cheap. With them he returned to the port from whence he first sailed after a month's absence, and found the vessels wind-bound as before. Here also he obtained a ready and advantageous sale for his goods; some congratulated, whilst others envied him, but all united in saying that Wilson was a fortunate man. By the double advantages of this favorable voyage, with what he had gained before, he obtained a sufficient sum to induce him to retire from business, and from the toils and dangers of the sea; he resolved therefore to return to England, sit down content with what he had, and endeavor to recover his health, and enjoy himself.

With this view, he embarked as passenger, in the same ship in which that good man, Mr. Thomas, one of the Baptist missionaries, was returning from Bengal to England. With him he had frequent disputes about religion; and being as infidel in

principle, as careless in conduct, he could not but grieve this minister, who observed one day to the chief mate, that he should have much more hope of converting the Lascars to Christianity, than Captain Wilson; so deeply mysterious are the ways of Providence. The things impossible to man, are possible with God; but the time was not yet.

Being safe arrived at Portsmouth, he looked around him for an agreeable abode, and having soon discovered such a one at Horndean, in Hampshire, he purchased it, and determined to sit down contented with the very moderate fortune which he had brought from India, and amuse himself with gardening and the sports of the country. Being unmarried, he considered of a proper person to have the conduct of his house and family. He had a sensible and agreeable niece, whom he particularly desired to take this care upon her; she was a truly religious woman, and when pressed by him to come and live with him, she informed him of her sentiments, and her wish to attend the worship of God at the congregation of Portsea, to which she belonged. He very carelessly observed that to him this would be no objection; he should not disturb her about her religion; and provided she did not trouble him with it, he should leave her to herself.

About two years he continued to live at Horndean, in the same careless unconcern about eternal things; decent in his conduct, and perfectly sober; amused with his garden, the sports, and company around him; but an utter stranger to the principles of the Gospel, and unacquainted with the power of

them.

PART II.

From his conversion to Christianity, to his becoming the Captain of the Missionary ship Duff.

THE methods of Providence are inscrutable, but while they are directed by wisdom, they are characterized by benevolence. It was a merciful event for Captain Wilson, that the mind of his niece had been enlightened and imbued with the spirit of truth, previous to his return from India. This was to her a situation of many comforts, but as Horndean was ten miles from the place of worship she used to attend, and where she had received her first serious impressions, she felt it a great disadvantage to be deprived of the public ordinances of God's house, and this made her appear to him as though not happy. He was also associated with the fashionable persons in the neighborhood, whose conversation and habits were not congenial to her state of mind: he perceived this, and though he never made it the source of uneasiness to her, yet it rather marred his pleasures, and excited his surprise, that what he then considered as innocent amusements and gaieties, could afford her no pleasure. Her predilections, love of religious books, anxiety for divine worship, and evident solicitude for his spiritual welfare, had a preparatory influence on his mind; he pitied her weakness, as he considered it, but admired her integrity; he perceived that she had her felicities, though they were not from his paradise.

The operations of Providence, like those of nature, are often most interesting in their minutest parts, though not most observable. We see the hand of Deity in a thunder storm-but are unmindful of his influence in the dew of the morning. But what is true of the naturalist, is equally true of the judicious moralist and divine; the parts least noticed by the common eye, are those which most excite his investigation and astonishment. The most momentous events of our lives often originate from those we consider the most trivial and accidental. This sentiment is represented to us, by Providence counting the hairs of our head, and directing the falling of the sparrow to the earth.

Captain Sims, a gentleman who had for some years retired from the active duties of his profession, upon a respectable competency, resided near to Capt. Wilson. The habits of good neighborhood soon brought them into a friendly acquaintance. Captain Sims had for many years, for he was then in an advanced period of life, professed a zealous attachment to the principles of vital religion, and regularly attended divine worship on the Sabbath, at Orange Street Chapel, Portsea. He had frequently introduced the subject of religion to his friend Captain Wilson; but he was better acquainted with the interior of religion, than qualified to defend its outworks. The Indian Captain proudly defied the artillery of his heavy denunciations against unbelievers, and smiled at his intreating him to abandon the standard under which he had so long fought, and to join affinity and allegiance with him. Captain Sims had realized the truth of that scripture, "he that believeth, hath the witness in himself;" and having this in a good degree, he had employed his mind. about the general evidences of a divine revelation, too little to meet the sceptical reasonings of his infidel neighbor. He cited scripture to prove that the

Captain's principles were wrong, and the other required evidence that the scriptures were right; and when he replied because they are the word of God, he smiled at his medium of proof, and felt himself at rest in the centre, while his friend was moving in a circle of argument. This may serve to shew, that though it may not be equally necessary for all Christians to be deeply skilled in the defence of Christianity against the Deists, it is very necessary for all connected with the learned, polite, and military professions, among which classes the reading and thinking Deists are to be found, to be well acquainted with the evidences in favor of a divine revelation, and to be tolerably skilled in the methods of argument. Our language abounds with excellent treatises on this subject, which may be recommended with great propriety, yet as in military science, though the books of principles and technical arrangements are absolutely necessary, it will greatly depend upon the skill of the engineer, to combine and to apply his principles to the immediate circumstances of the case, in order to insure the success of an enterprise; so the Christian disputant will often find greater advantage in knowing well how to place his arguments in proof of Christianity, in the light most obvious to the person with whom he is conversing, than by leaving the subject to the force of written arguments. Books cannot answer questions as they arise, nor shape the replies according to the innumerable variations of the subject in dispute. Captain Sims, conscious of his incapacity to defend the outworks of Christianity against the spirited attacks of the Indian Captain, retired to the citadel, and referred the contest to more skilful combatants. "The Christian Officer's Panoply," now intitled "The Christian Officer's complete Armor," written by that excellent man, the late General Burn, was recommended to Captain Wilson by his friend.