The Young Man Emigrating to a Foreign Land

“Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? Or whither shall I flee frojn thy presence?

“If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there; if I make my bed in hell, behold thou art there.

“If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand shall hold me.” — Psalm cxxxix. 7-10.

God made this world to be inhabited, and did not intend that it should ever remain an untenanted house, or be occupied only by beings who have no minds to understand his nature — no hearts to love him for his favors — and no tongues to speak his praise. To man as well as to the inferior creatures he said, “Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth.” And yet at this period of our planet’s history, nearly six thousand years after the fitting up of the globe for man’s residence, there are vast tracts of the earth, amounting to islands and continents, occupied only by birds, beasts, and reptiles. Yet even the fact of these desolations subserves a moral purpose, inasmuch as they corroborate the chronology of the Bible; for, upon the acknowledged principles of the increase of population, the date of the commencement of our race could not be much otherwise than that assigned to it in revelation. These now unpeopled regions must have been long since filled up, had the world been much older than is asserted in the Mosaic history of creation. Upon the same principles it is evident that this world cannot continue an indefinite period, at least without some depopulating process with which we are unacquainted in the world’s history.

Our earth is yet to “yield it’s increase,” — the Trans-atlantic world, capable of sustaining half the present population of the globe, but till lately tenanted only by savages in the north, and a half-civilised race in the south — yea, till within four centuries unknown to all the other people on the face of the globe: the island continent of New Holland, with only a scattered sprinkling of savages for its aboriginal inhabitants: the Polynesian groups of insular abodes of our race: with all other yet uninhabited spots of earth wljere means of support and occupation for man can be obtained, are to be covered with an intelligent, busy population; and where now the forest throws its dark shadow over its innumerable flying or creeping tribes — or where the wilderness is the range of herds of untamed beasts — or where the jungle afibrds a shelter to the tiger, the elephant, or the serpent — there shall the dwellings of men and the sanctuaries of God be seen; and the hum of commerce, and the anthems of religion be heard.

The replenishing of our earth is going forward: never more rapidly than in the day and from the country in which we live. Colonization and emigration are two of the grandest features of our age. Infant kingdoms are being born to Britain, and our country is becoming the mother of nations. Myriads and myriads, year after year, are wafted not only in

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ships, but we might almost say in fleets, to the shores of America, Australia, and New Zealand. The vast tide of population is flowing westward to relieve our somewhat overcrowded towns and cities, and to found new towns and cities in the wilds of those distant realms. Thus are the plans of Providence carried out, to have a peopled world instead of a wilderness: and thus are the predictions of holy writ accomplished, which assure us that the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth. Every thing falls into the current of God’s gracious purposes towards our dark disordered world — every thing indicates human improvement and the progress of social existence — every thing flows in the direction of the Bible and harmonises with its tendency, design, and announcements — every thing is making way for the universal spread and triumph of religion, for the reign of Christ, for the millennial glory and the jubilee of the world.

You, my friends, some of you at least, may by joining the multitude of emigrants be instrumental in this great work of replenishing the earth with people, and by true religion, of carrying the light of divine truth to the ends of the earth.

This then is my subject on the present occasion, —

The Young Man eviigrating to a Foreign Land.

In treating this subject, I shall consider

First, his decision. 1 will suppose the resolve is taken — the plan laid — the purpose unalterable. But what has led to it? There are various and very different motives and grounds for such a step. In some cases it is obedience to the stern dictate of necessity. Misconduct at home renders it matter of compulsion rather than of choice, to go abroad; it is a flight rather than a voluntary departure. Reputation may have been lost, and lost also the hope of retrieving it here. This is a painful case — but not a hopeless one. If this be your condition, you will have abundant and most favorablo opportunities for rectifying what is amiss, without being subject to the suspicion, neglect, rebukes, and frowns of those who knew you in your better days. On your voyage reflect upon your conduct, review the past. Dare to look back. When pacing the deck at night, or lying in your hammock, or listening to the awful roar of the tempest, not knowing but you may be soon .swallowed up in those billows which are raging around you, and which every now and then are breaking over your trembling vessel, repent before God — seek his pardoning mercy through Christ — and implore his Holy Spirit to help you first to resolve upon amendment, and then to carry out your resolution. Determine to begin a new life in a new world. Resolve to set out afresh. There is hope for you yet. Carry a Bible with you — read it — and make it your counsellor, comforter, and companion. You have neglected religion and your sins have found you out. You are in imminent danger of becoming worse instead of better for the change. Bad companions may have been your ruin. You will now be broken off from their circle — but then, unless you are firm, you will find worse where you are going. You have neglected religion and this has been your bane. Now take it up, and it will not only reclaim and reform you, but it will be your friend in reference to things seen and temporal as well as things eternal. If you are wise, you will turn this dire necessity of leaving your country into a means of obtaining the signal blessing of the salvation of your soul. I knew a youth, the son of an eminently holy minister, who ran a profligate course till his crimes cast him as a convict upon the shore of a foreign land, where he reflected upon his course — became a penitent — and died, we hope, a sincere Christian. Nor is this the only case oJ the same kind I have known. Even our penal colonies, notwithstanding the enormities of the transportation system, have thus furnished instances of reclaimed convicts, who have risen to respectability and wealth. The veriest outcast ot society may recover. Reformation is not impossible in the worst of cases.

But there may be another kind of necessity that is driving you away from your native shores — you have failed at the outset of life. Your prospects have faded — your fortunes have been broken, and now with the hope of repairing them, you are going to a foreign land. If this has happened through your own misconduct — you too must be humbled before God, and invoke his forgiveness; and when you have done this, but not till then, you may seek his blessing upon the step you are taking. Employ much of your time also in a severe inquiry into your habits. Detect, as you easily may, the cause of failure, and determine to remove it. The same cause, if carried to a distant land, will produce the same effects there. Change of country will not be of the slightest benefit to you without a change of conduct Indolence and extravagance will as certainly bring ruin in Australia as in England. You must alter, and may. A new sphere of action will present a new opportunity for alteration, and a new motive. But should your failure be the result of no fault of yours, trust in God. Earnestly pray for his help and blessing. Leave your country with hope. It may be that you too neglected religion in your happier days. If so, now take it up. I say to you also, carry with you a Bible, and a few religious books. Have the moral courage not to be ashamed of being seen with these silent companions. You will find many on board who will ridicule you, but then shall they laugh you out of your convictions y Will you be afraid of a sneer, when your soul and salvation are at stake? Do not put oflf the subject of religion till you land. This will be to ensure the neglect of it. Your mind will then be so hurried in seeking employment, and be so taken up with the novelties of a foreign country, as to have little leisure or inclination for attending to spiritual things. With religion in your heart, you may step ashore in New Zealand or in America, with the hope that Grod will befriend you in the land of your adoption; and that the tide of your affairs will there turn in your favor.

But by far the greatest class of emigrants is composed of those who go out with a spirit of adventure — with the hope of doing better for themselves abroad than at home. Every department of action is here so crowded — competition is so fierce — and situations of advantage are so rare, that they have little hope of success at home, and turn their attention to one or other of our rising colonies. I know not that such persons arc to be blamed; and yet it is a step to be taken with much deliberation, caution, and prayer. Where a young man has an opportunity of doing well for himself in his own country, there seems no reason, except it be an inordinate ambition or a love of adventure, that leads him to another land. Neither of these impulses is a very sufficient one for expatriation. There will always be found an adequate number of those who really are not doing very well here, and could do a great deal better abroad, to keep up the stream of emigration, without their going who are doing well at home. There is great wisdom in the advice, to “let well alone.” A love of change is a dark portent in the character of any young man. He that goes abroad for this, will soon come back again from the same impulse. There is nothing which a young man should more earnestly dread, nothing he should more assiduously watch against, nothing ha should more resolutely resist, than this versatility: it will be fatal to all his hopes and prospects. Still there are very many cases in which it is not only justifiable, but even com” mendable, to emigrate: and when the character and conduct are good; where there are those qualities of mind which are likely to make the individual a blessing to the land to which he is going as well as a benefit to his own family and fortune, we cannot but approve the decision.

Secondly. Having thus distinguished between the difierent classes of emigrants, I now shall speak of their trials.

In most cases there is the separation from friends. Not unfrequently the emigrant has to tear himself from the arms and fond embrace of a loving and beloved mother, and from the warm grasp of an affectionate father; and he who has outgrown or outlived all sensibilities of this nature, gives poor evidence of right feeling of any kind, and holds out faint hope of being likely to obtain God’s blessing upon his future course. Adieu, is always a sad sound, when parents and children — brothers and sisters, are parting; but especially when in all probability, thoy are parting for ever. And besides this, is it nothing to expatriate ourselves from our native land .? Why the irrational creatures love the spot of their birth, and their early dwelling; and this is an instinct which man shares with them. It is long before the charms of those expressions cease to be felt, “My country and my father’s house.” I can fancy the thoughtful emigrant watching from the deck of his vessel, with tearful eyes and intense feeling, the receding shores of his native land — seeing her green fields and white cliffs; her steeples and her houses; becoming more and more dim — straining his eyes still to see the last speck of land that is distinctly visible — and then looking upon the mighty waste of waters, till in an agony he exclaims, “Land of my fathers, and art thou gone r” Then the voyage — its length — its inconvenience — its hard fare and want of accommodations — its sea-sickness, and other indescribable annoyances — its often disagreeable companions and uncongenial society. These things end, but only to be exchanged in many cases for trials of another kind. Oh, to light upon a new world, alike unknowing and unknown — to be a stranger in a strange land with no one to recognize or smile upon him — to be informed that some whom he expected to welcome him on these distant shores, arc either dead or removed to. another place; and to meet no one to stretch out the hand of friendship, or to impress the seal of love — to have to seek employment where perhaps the labor market is overstocked, and to be long without finding occupation — to see the little stock of money well nigh spent, without any means of replenishing it — to find all the dreams of colonial prosperity nothing but dreams, and see all the hopes of immediate success, so long and so confidently cherished, vanish like the baseless fabric of a vision — to discover too late, or at any rate to begin to think, he has made a mistake in leaving his native country — these, all these, are among the trials which many of our emigrants have to endure. And even where they are not altogether of so dreary an aspect as this, yet are they, except in rare cases, many more and far greater than the most sober calculation had expected. A very large proportion of the settlers have their location in such thinly peopled spots as to be miles apart from their nearest neighbor — and have to endure so many privations as to be almost reduced to the barest necessaries of existence.

If the man be a Christian who loves the house of God — . the means of grace — the ministry of the Word — the over* sight and conversation of a faithful pastor — and the fellowship of saints, he feels in addition a deprivation of all these He dwells perhaps, in a spot of which he may say,

“The sound of the church-going bell,
These valleys and rocks never heard;
Never sighed at the sound of the knell,
Nor snniled when the Sabbath appeared.’*

To hear a sermon, he must travel perhaps miles, and to break the bread of communion with the saints, he must travel still farther. Such are but a few of the trials of an emigrant’s life. I could tell a tale of woe connected with some who have gone out from my own church, which would harrow up your feelings to a degree of intense suffering. Not however that affliction often falls with such weight as it has done in the case to which I now allude.

Such things should make you cautious how you determine to encounter them, and should prepare your mind for the struggle, by laying up a good store of consolation for the evil day. And what can this be but religion? The trials of very many emigrants are fewer and lighter than I have described; and I have drawn the picture thus darkly, not to prevent expatriation nor to fill the emigrant’s mind with dark misgivings, but to check that proneness to think a foreign shore a fairy land, in which so many indulge. The danger lies on the side of thinking too lightly of the trials of such a life, and not preparing for them, rather than on the side of having too gloomy an apprehension of them.

Thirdly. It is a part of fidelity to remind you of your DANGERS. It would not bc kind to attempt to fill your mind with the perils of the ocean, and the dangers of shipwreck, or the other casualties of a voyage. Nor is it probabla

252 THE YOUNG NTAn’s FRIEND.

that you will be called to a calamity so fearful. I know not the proportion of fatal voyages to successful ones, but 1 should suppose they are not as one to a hundred. So that apprehension of this kind need not greatly alarm you. Still, your vessel may founder at sea, or be wrecked on some foreign shore, and it is well by sincere and humble piety to be prepared for the worst. Religion will enable you to meet death at sea in the storm, as well as in the calm on dryland. An eminent Christian minister, in the prospect of a voyage, when contemplating the possibility of shipwreck, recorded thus his feelings under the possibility of such a catastrophe, “How willingly should 1 embrace that wave, which instead of landing me at Liverpool, should land me in heaven.” The Rev. Mr. M’Kenzie, who was lost in the Pegasus on his way from Leith to London, was seen when the vessel was sinking divested of all fear for himself, calmly directing the minds of his perishing fellow-passengers to look by faith to Jesus, and thus prepare for that eternity on which in a few moments they were about to enter. See what religion can do for its possessors amidst the roar of the tempest, or when the ocean is opening its mouth to swallow him up. Could yoji thus hopefully and peacefully descend into a watery grave.’’

But death sometimes comes on board an emigrant ship which escapes the tempest. To die at sea is no uncommon thing. Death, like its Omnipotent Lord and Conqueror, often walks the waves, and approaches the affrighted mariners, and steps aboard the vessel, not however as in the case of Jesus on the lake of Gennesaret, to relieve, but to confirm the fears of those who watch his approach. To a good man there is nothing very terrible in this. True it is that the ocean is not the house, nor a ship the chamber, in which any one would choom to endure his last sickness and meet the last enemy. But a believing sense of God’s presence and love — a peaceful repose on the bosom of Christ’s mercy — and the prospect of a glorious immortality — can make a death-bed easy even there. And the real Christian can endure without dismay the thought of sleeping in the bottom of the ocean, amidst the monsters of the deep, instead of a sepulchre on dry land — assured that at the resurrection morning, “the sea will give up the dead which are in it.”

These, however, are not the greatest or most imminent dangers to which you will be exposed; or those of which you should be most afraid; or against which you need to bo most impressively and anxiously warned by your friends. Perils of a moral kind, and fearful ones too, will beset your path.

What Ob mixture of society is to be found in every emigrant ship that floats its living cargo to a distant shore. There you will probably find the vicious of both sexes — the infidel, the debauchee, the gambler, the drunkard — the men of al’ principles and of no principle — the men of bankrupt fortune, and what is worse, of bankrupt character. And not unlikely will “the strange woman” be there, “whose lips drop as a honey-comb, and whose mouth is smoother than oil, but whose end (to you as well as to herself, if you are ensnared by her) is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword; whose feet go down to death, and her steps take hold on hell,” with those also whom she inveigles. In the best appointed ships will be found society, with which if you associate, it may imperil your morals and ruin your character and your hopes for both worlds. An association of this kind being once formed, you cannot avoid its contaminating influence for a single day. You cannot get away from it, if you woud. The tempter is ever in sight — evoi at your elbow and your ear. There is no wider range for you to move in than the vessel which contains you both. The danger is thus greater than can be described or imagined. It will follow you ashore — it will aflfect your character and conduct when you land, and influence all your future destiny. If then you have the least regard to your welfare, be vigilant, be cautious. Go to the scene of danger aware of it, and look up to God to preserve you. Pray to him to spread over you the shield of his omnipotence.

Should you however escape this danger on board ship, it will meet you on your landing. Our colonies are not only a field of enterprise for adventurers whether they be the sober and industrious, seeking a legitimate and ample scope for their energies and their hopes, or for the reckless and desperate, throwing the dice for their last chance; but also the retreat of the prodigal and the. profligate, where they may hide their shame and pursue their vicious career, unknown and unobstructed. In addition to this, there is in our penal colonies the infection difiused by the ship-loads of moral feculence which are landed from the ships that convey thither our convicts. In these situations a young man viciously disposed will have every opportunity for gratifying his animal appetites, unrecognised by friends,- and unrestrained by strangers.

But there are also dangers of another type than these. In a country, the population of which even as regards its better portions, are to a certain extent a vast company of adventurers, who are all beginning life afresh and struggling hard amidst many difficulties to root themselves in the land of their adoption, there is likely to be acquired a peculiar hardness and selfishness of character very unfriendly to the tender afi”cctions of the heart, the amenities of life, and the

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spiritual exercises of true religion. The thorns of worldly cares, and the stony ground of earthly-mindedness, are but too common everywhere, but especially there, and prevent the growth of the good seed of piety and virtue. Failures are common, and sound principle is soon undermined; and ia the hard struggle and anxious effort for success, every object but those which pertain to the present world, is lost sight of. The flattering pictures of colonial life and prosperity, which the imagination of many had drawn, in which they dreamed of immediate and certain success without fear and almost without labor, are all found to be illusions of the fancy, and they are ready to lie down in despair, or to adopt any course, however dishonorable or even dishonest, not indeed, to gain a fortune which was once their expectation, but a bare living, which is now their highest, yea only hope. How unfavorable is such a situation to the cultivation of piety or even of virtue.

What carries the danger of all this to the highest pitch is the absence in many parts of our colonies of the means of grace, the ordinances of public worship, the fellowship of saints, and the oversight of ministers. How difficult is it here even, in this highly favored land, by the aid of all these, to keep down sin and to maintain a due regard to the claims of religion and mortality. But how much worse would things be without this. There can be no question that the observance of the Sabbath, the power of the pulpit, and the restraint of Christian example, tend greatly to moralize and purify the life even where they do not renew the heart — to restrain the sinner where they do not convert him, and to keep down the overflowings of ungodliness where they do not spread out the beauties of holiness. It is true that through the voluntary energies of almost all denominations of professing Christians, the deficiency of the means of grace in our principal colonial establishments, is being in some considerable measure supplied. But still how many emigrants are there who go out into the wild, who are not witfe in a days’ journey of a place of Christian worship, and scarcely bear a sermon in a year.

“Oh, think of those who pine to hear,
Far from their native shores exiled,
A pastor’s voice amid the wild.”

What is there in such circumstances to aid the struggles of the soul after good principles and habits here, or salvation hereafter? And even where the means of grace are, within reach, they are it must be confessed too often of that feeble and ineffici3nt character, so unhappily a contrast with those once enjoyed in the mother country, which renders them neither attractive nor influential.

Such then are some of the dangers to which the emigrant is exposed: and I now proceed,

Fourthly. To offer him some counsels and directions. There are, as regards religion, two distinct classes of emigrants.

There are some who are not living under the influence of true religion. Some of you who shall read these pages answer too justly to this description. You know you are not yet brought to repentance towards God, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ: that you are not yet led to acknowledge God in all your ways, to live habitually in his fear and favor, and to enjoy the comforts of the Holy Spirit. Going out from your own country to a foreign land — without the guidance of religion! Going to encounter the perils of the ocean and the dangers of shipwreck — without the presence of religion! Going to quit the home of your fathers and sojourn in a strange land — without the companionship of religion! Going to encounter all the trials, the perplexities, the difficulties of an emigrant’s life — without the consolations of religion! How forlorn a condition! How desolate a lot! No acknowledgment of Grod — no trust in him — no prayer to him — no communion with him — no expectation from him! No preparation of mind to see his immensity shadowed forth in the boundless expanse of the ocean — to hear his awful power, grandeur, and majesty proclaimed in the tempest, the thunder-storm, and the water-spout — to trace his wisdom and goodness in the varied products of new countries — to contemplate his glory and realise his presence every where! Unhappy man! You are indeed to be pitied. The world is all before you, but no Providence to be your guide, and direct you where to choose. Oh, pause and ponder upon your condition, and the ways of your feet. Will you, dare you, can you go out without God? Without God to guide and protect and bless you? And if without God as a friend, with him as any enemy!

Do you forget it is God’s world you live in, and God’s country to which you are going? And how can you think of going to it without asking his leave, imploring his guidance, and seeking his blessing? Recollect you are dependent every moment upon him, and all your future destiny is to be decided by him. He can raise you to prosperity or depress you to the lowest adversity. He can frustrate or promote all your schemes; disappoint or realise all your hopes.

Before you quit your native shore then, yield yourselves unto God, “Remember your Creator now in the days of you? youth J before thi evil days co?/ie.” You are busy in preparing for the voyage, and are engaged in the solicitudes of the outfit. Religion, true, vital, experimental, decided religion is the best preparation, the most important outfit. Determine by God’s grace not to leave your country an enemy to him, lest He send the whirlwind as his messenger to arrest you on the sea, or ruin to overtake you on the dry land. Go forth rather as his servant, his friend, and his son, that to you may be applied the beautiful language of the poet,

“His are the mountains; and the valleys his;
His the resplendent rivers; his to call
With a propriety that none can claim,
But he who lifts an unpresumptuous eye,
And smiling says, “My Father made them all.’”

Let the voice of friendship prevail, and the anxiety of ministerial fidelity be successful, in persuading you immediately to be reconciled to God through faith which is in Christ Jesus. Present in sincerity and earnestness the prayer of Moses, “If thy presence go not with me carry me not up hence.” You shall not ask in vain, for the answer shall come, “My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.” Exodus xxxiii. 14-15. You will leave all other fiiends behind you, but your best friend will go with you, and he will be more to you than father, mother, brothers and sisters. Should you determine to act upon this advice, then all which will now be addressed to the next class of emigrants will also appertain to you.

Many emigrants are already true Christians, and will go out as such. To this class I now address myself with affectionate solicitude for your welfare in both worlds.

First of all I would make a few remarks in the way of CONSOLATION. In your present circumstances you need it, and you may have it. I trust you have the peace which arises from the testimony of your conscience, that in leaving your country, you are following the leadings of Providence, and that you see the cloudy pillar moving before you: that it is a lawful object you are pursuing, and one on which you may confidently ask Grod’s blessing. This settled, you have in that one thought, “I am where God led me,” a world of consolation. In the wreck of either your vessel or your fortunes, you may then be calm and satisfied, for no remorse will increase your terrors or aggravate your sorrows.

Next you may, and should, reflect with comfort upon the omnipresence of God. This is one of the main props of all religion, whether in the way of holy fear or sacred pleasure — whether with angels in heaven, or with man upon earth. It was the saying of a Jewish Kabbi, “If every man would consider God to be the great eye of the world, watching perpetually over all our actions, and that his hand is indefatigable, and his ear ever open, possibly sin might be extirpated from the face of the earth.” This is going too far, but it is impressive. Yes, God is everywhere present, though invisible to us. Were the emigrant to leave his God, when he left his country, what crowds of sinners would flee from the presence of the Lord, and escape from the vigilance of his watchful eye — but what Christian would go 1 Pious youth, God goes with you — wherever you go, he is there before you in all the glory of his attributes, in all the tenderness of his love, in all the faithfulness of his promises, and in all the watchfulness of his providence. Be this your comfort, you cannot flee from his presence. And as God goes with you, so does your gracious Kedeemer, in all his offices, characters, and endearments. So does the Holy Spirit, with all his influences — so does your Bible — so does the throne of grace — so does the fellowship of saints, at least to most places. You thus carry your best friends, your richest treasures, your dearest comforts, your safest protection with you. Without these no sun would be lyi’ight; no scenery beautiful; no air balmy; no society agreeable; and no success joyful: but with these, consolation might bo found on the most desolate shores, and in the most dreary scenes of nature or of Providence, All places are equally near to heaven, and all equally accessible to the falling rays of its glory now. On board the ship; amidst a wicked crew and noisy passengers, he can be with you; and equally so in the rising population of some colonial town, or in the dreary wild of some colonial desert. In the deepest solitude you may use the language which the poet has put into the lips of Alexander Selkirk, when dwelling alone on the island of Juan Fernandez.

“There’s mercy in every place,

And mercy, encouraging thought,
Gives even affliction a grace,

And reconciles man to his lot.
The sea-fowl is gone to her nest,

The beast is laid down in his lair,
Ev’n here is a season of rest,

And I to my cabin repair.”

You remember perhaps the anecdote of Mungo Park, the African Traveller, which I have given in my work entitled, “The Young Man from Home.” He was in the heart of Africa, alone and unprotected. He had just been robbed and stripped by a ferocious banditti, and the following is the account he gives of his feelings, and his relief: “After they were gone, I sat for some time, looking around me with amazement and terror. Whichever way I turned, nothing appeared but danger and difficulty. I saw myself in the midst of a vast wilderness, in the depth of the rainy season, naked and alone, surrounded by savage animals, and men still more savage. I was five hundred miles from the nearest European settlement. All these circumstances crowded at once on my recollection, and I confess that my spirit began to fail me. I considered my fate as certain, and that I had no alternative but to lie down and perish. The INFLUENCE OF RELIGION, howtvtr aided and supported me. I reflected that no human prudence or foresight could possibly have averted my present sufferings. I was indeed a stranger in a strange land, yet I was still under the protecting eye of that providence who has condescended to call himself the stranger’s friend. At this moment, painful as my reflections were, the extraordinary beauty of a small moss, in fructification, irresistibly caught my eye. I mention this to show from what trifling circumstances the mind will sometimes derive consolation; for though the whole plant was not longer than the top of one of my fingers, I could not contemplate the delicate conformation of its roots, leaves, and capsule, without admiration. Can that Being, thought I, who planted, watered, and brought to perfection, in this obscure part of the world, a thing which appears of so small importance, look with unconcern upon the situation and suffering of creatures formed after his own image? — surely not! Reflections like these would not allow me to despair. I started up, and disregarding both hunger and fatigue, travelled forwards, assured that relief was at hand: and I was not disappointed. In a short time, I came to a small village, at the entrance of which I overtook the two shepherds who had come with me from Koama. They were much surprised to see me j for they said, they never doubted that the Foulahs, when they had robbed, had murdered me.”

But let me now offer you some counsels. Taken away from the means of grace, to which you have been accustomed, you will be in danger of resembling a child weaned at too early an age, and which droops and sickens for want of its mother’s milk. On your voyage you will find nothing around you to sustain your faith and godliness, but every thing adverse. For months your Sabbath exercises will perhaps be nothing more than listening to a few prayers, or a sermon formally, coldly, and carelessly read. You will perhaps meet with no one who can talk with you the language of Canaan, and fan by his conversation and prayers the languid flame of your devotion. You will therefore be in imminent peril of losing much of your religion on the voyage. To guard against this, it is well you should take a calm and intelligent view of your situation. In this case, as well as in others, to be fore-warned is to be fore-armed. Be much in prayer, in earnest, wrestling, and believing prayer, before you step on board. Intensely long to be kept, and then you will be kept. God can and will make his grace sufficient for you H6 can preserve you, and will if you desire it, though there is not another Christian in the ship. He will be the lifter up of your head, will sustain you by his power through faith, and will put his glory upon you.

Do not he ashamed of your religion. Much of future annoyance and embarrassment will be prevented by a bold and honest, yet meek and humble avowal of your principles. The yrs check given to a new phase or aspect of life is that which is most to be dreaded. Decision, maintained with firmness but gentleness, will soon subdue opposition. Your persecutors, if such you should have, will not be slow to find out that it is a bootless expenditure of their ridicule on one who is not affected by it, and who always returns good for evil. But for this moral and spiritual courage, you must be much in prayer. “Of the ichneumon it is stated that when wounded by the serpent with which it is in conflict, or previously to renewing the conflict, it retires by instinct to a particular herb, for expelling whatever venom it has received, and to be invigorated with fresh strength for obtaining the victory. Sanctify the thought by your frequent retirement to God for aid in the war- strife in which you may be engaged with sin in its various forms around you, and its most subtle insinuations in your own breast.“*” Fear not then to be seen with your Bible and other good books. Let your piety be neither ostentatiously obtrudeH, nor timidly concealed. At first it would be well to say little about it to others, till you have gained their confidence and affection. Let there be no bustling and officious zeal — no attempt to take the ship’s company by storm — nothing like parading your religion and proclaiming your intention to convert all oa board. This will defeat your purpose by raising up resistance. Your light must shine before your fellow-passengers, by your good works, and your religion must be seen in all its loveliness and consistency before it is heard. Be known as the humble, meek, and gentle follower of the Lamb, the friend of every one, the enemy of none. If you can find men of like mind on board, cultivate their acquaintance, and live in sweet fellowship with them. If they have their peculiarities, as probably they will have, bear with them in love. Let there be the best understanding between you and

* “The Christian Emigrant,” by Dr. Leifchild. A little volume of which I earnestly advise every emigrant to possess himself. It is a beautiful combination of general knowledge and piety.

204 THE YOUiNG MANS FRIEND.

them; for the quarrels, or even the coolness, of professing Christians will do immense harm.

Take especial care that your conduct be uniformly consistent. When it is known, and known it ought to be, that your are a religious man, you will be watched by the malignant eyes of those who wait for your halting; and whose ingenuity will be taxed to lay snares for your feet. One step will destroy all your influence, by defacing the .beauty and impairing the strength of your example, and will subject not only yourself, but all religion, to the suspicion of hypocrisy.

Acting in this blameless and harmless manner, you may hope to be the means of doing good to some of your fellowemigrants. You may discover some pensive and sorrow-stricken heart, prepared by deep sorrow to receive the consolations of the gospel. Or you may find some prodigal already beginning to ponder with remorse on his wanderings, in whose relenting heart you may fasten conviction, penitence, and faith. You may be honored of God thus to “convert a sinner from the error of his ways — to save a soul from death — and hide a multitude of sins.”

Should you escape the moral dangers of the voyage, and land upon the distant shore unharmed in soul, you must not consider that all, or even the greatest, perils are over. There still remain all the trials to which you will be exposed in the struggle to be carried on for establishing yourself in the colony. Many have escaped the shipwreck of the sea, only to incur the more fearful one not only of their fortune, but of their character. Professors who have stood well at home, have miserably failed abroad. In the eager strife which you will, perhaps, carry on for success in your new locality, where so many are striving with you and like you, there is a fear lest the ardor of religious affection should be quenched in a flood of earthly-mindedness; and lest the sternness of religious principle should be subdued by the love, and the prospect of Mammon’s pelf. It has been said, with what truth I will not take upon me to determine, that the principles of a very lax morality enter deeply into the trade of some of our colonies; and that many professing Christiana are carried away by the stream of commercial dishonor. Doubtless many have therefore damaged their characters, however they may have improved their circumstances. “The transplanted tree may exhibit as flourishing a foliage in the new soil where it is fixed; but if its fruit become dwarfed, insipid, and tasteless, the change is one that will ever have to be deplored. Let your piety, on the contrary, take a deeper root, and strike out wider its fruit-bearing branches in the locality where you may be destined to spend the remainder of your days.”

A Christian ought to be anxious to promote the moral and spiritual well-being of the colony to which he emigrates. The best way to preserve his own religion is to keep it in action. Still water, as we have already remarked in a for mer sermon, breeds filth and vermin, but the running stream is clear and pure. Neither our soul’s health, nor our body’s, can be preserved without exercise. But there is another reason, my young friends, which I press upon your attention, as an additional reason why you should be active in diffusing religion where you go, and that is the future destiny of the colonies. What is a colony? Now, indeed, the collection from various parts of the earth of a comparatively few adventurers settling down upon the coast with a view to retrieve their fortunes or their characters, or to start in life with advantages there which they could not command at home j but what will it be a century or two hence? It is now an infant kingdom — an empire in boyhood — of which the full-grown man may be a rival of the land that gave it existence. A little more than two centuries ago, a few outcasts and fugitives from this country, who had fled from the demon of persecution, landed from the “May-flower,” on a bare and barren rock on the northern coast of America. The country all around was bleak, desolate, and wild, and inhabited only by tribes of Indians. There was a colony. What is it now? The greatest, the strongest, the most flourishing republic ever founded upon earth — a republic which is already a rival in trade of the Father-land, and which has more than once been engaged with it in successful war. It is thought by some that this land has passed the zenith of its glory, and that a long decay is destined to precede the fall of the British Empire; that its population will then remain stationary or recede — its courage abate — its wealth diminish — and its ascendancy disappear; till at length the Queen of the waves will sink into an eternal, though not forgotten slumber. And the question has been asked, whether at some future period in our world’s history and amidst the changes which take place in its affairs, some traveller from New Zealand or Australia may not sit down upon a broken arch of London bridge to depict the ruins of Sf, Paul’s Cathedral; or place himself where he shall delineate “the towers oPYork Minster, rising in dark magnificence amid an aged forest; or go and trace the red deer sporting in savage independence round the Athenian pillars of the Scottish metropolis.” All this is not very probable, but if it should be in the decrees of heaven and the destinies of earth, let it be your care who go as Christian emigrants to these future kingdoms which are to be exalted in majesty over the ruins of their parent country, that they shall be so educated in their infancy as to rise up Christian empires in their manhood. Go out with the holy and noble ambition of carrying on the work of evangelization, civilization, and refinement. Be the patriots of your new country: and have your names enrolled among those to whom future generations shall look back with gratitude and respect. Carry out the principles of civil and religious liberty, and never forget that as you are joining with others in laying the foundations of empire, it should be done with care and skill, so as they shall bear a superstructure in which God shall dwell with man upon the earth. It is a high and holy object of ambition which is thus presented to you. Seize the conception in all its grandeur and extent, and let not even the modesty and humility which are the natural result, and should be the accompaniments of your comparatively humble circumstances in life, dispossess you of it — that you are assisting in constructing the basis of future

nations. Even the day-laborers who worked at the foundations of the Pyramids had a share in raising a fabric which has been the admiration of all ages, and will probably last till the end of time. So the humblest emigrant that lands on the shore of Australia, if he be a man of piety, virtue, and active benevolence, is doing something towards the wealth, the power, and the moral glory of the future kingdom that may rise on that now comparatively unpeopled wilderness.

In connection with all this, and indeed for its realization, it is necessary you should attend to some other things. I refer you to the last sermon for what you will need as a man of business, and what is essential to your success. The knowledge, industry, economy, system, r.cd perseverance, there recommended, necessary for all, are pre-eminently for

2G8 THE YOUNG MAn’s FRIEND.

you. Without determining to act thus, there is not the remotest hope of your success. If you expect to do without these in a foreign land, you are mistaken. Give up at once all notion that less qualification for success is necessary in the colonies than at home. The earth does not bring forth her fruits spontaneously, there even in a virgin soil, any more than here. The ground is cursed for man’s sake all over the globe: and to earn your bread by the sweat of your brow is the condition of your existence in Australia and New Zealand, as well as in England.

You must make up your mind to hardships unknown at home. He that expects to carry to a new settlement, at least in some parts of the world, all the luxuries or even comforts he may command here, and who is not prepared to endure much self-denial, had better remain where he is. It is true in the towns already formed in some of the colonies, most of the usual comforts of life may be commanded, as well as in this country; but an emigrant cannot always choose his abode, and may be called to go beyond the circle of a living population to construct his own dwelling, to make his own furniture, to cook his own meal; and you are to consider well whether this will suit you, or you it. A spirit of adventure, where this exists, a buoyancy of spirits, a love of enterprise and a hope of success, will carry a man through all these difficulties — but have you these qualifications .?

Guard against a reckless spirit of speculation. Do not make haste to be rich. This is one of the dangers of colonial life — dangerous alike to moral principle and to commercial prosperity. There is great room for it abroad, and many temptations to it. It has made a few, but it has ruined many. Some have endeavored to leap the chasm or ford the river, without patiently going round by the bridge, and have succeeded; while others in making the Bame attempt have been dashed to pieces or drowned. Speculation is a game at hazard. Do not play it. One throw of the die may win a fortune, but the next may lose it. Bo contented to plod on slowly, but certainly. What is gained by patient industry usually wears better and lasts longer than that which “is won in a lottery.

Especially watch against a loant of commercial ‘principle. In the fierce conflict for success in a young settlement, this is one of the dangers to which all who enter into it are exposed. Go out determined to follow the whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good report. Make up your mind to the truth of God’s holy Word, that, “Better is the little that a righteous man hath, than the riches of many wicked.” Failure is to be infinitely preferred, when it comes with a good conscience, than success procured by iniquity. As a general principle it will be found true that honesty is

THE BEST POLICY. -”

Keep lop a correspondence with your native country especially if you have left friends in it who take an interest in your welfare. There is something immoral and unchristian in its tendency, is a disposition to forget the home and the friends of your childhood, besides something positively cruel in keeping parents, or brothers and sisters, ignorant of your circumstances. This is sometimes not sufficiently thought of by those who leave their country. The soil in which early and home affections all wither and die, cannot be favorable to the growth of piety; it is cold and stony.

Be very cautious about choosing your companions. Characters of all varieties, and many of them of the worst kind, are to be found in the colonies. How many are ohligea to emigrate and find a shelter in those distant retreats from the finger of scorn, the tongue of reproach, and in some cases, the visitations of justice — men who go out unreclaimed, and who carry all their bad principles and evil dispositions with them. Many of these are clever, specious, and plausible — but they carry the serpent’s cunning and venom undei the variegated colors of his skin. Never give your company, or your ear, or your hand, or your confidence, to any one, till you have proved he is worthy of them. A stranger in a strange land, you will feel your loneliness, and in your craving after social intercourse will be in danger of falling into the snares of those who lie in wait to deceive. One of the members of my church who carried out with him a considerable sum of money, gave his confidence, and with it a considerable portion of his property, to one who professed for him great friendship; and but for a most determined process would have lost it. Men prowling about society to pre;y upon the unwary are to be found everywhere, and they are not wanting in the colonies.

And now in conclusion, let me direct your attention U what the apostle has said of the holy patriarchs of Canaan, “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. 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.” Hebrews xi. 13-16. Be this the view you take of your earthly sojourn — as a pilgrimage to the skies; and this the spirit you cherish in reference to it.

Your circumstances forcibly remind you of it. By faith in God’s blessed Word look up to that better country which is above and beyond the boundaries of earth and time: the land of the holy, the good, and the blessed — where there is no more sin — and there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away — where the fears, the anxieties, and the labors of this world have no place, and the turmoil of life, and the strifes of business are unknown — where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest — where temptation will be over, and conflict will cease. Blessed country! Be it your chief solicitude to emigrate to that joyful and glorious laud. From this world you must depart. No choice is left you here. And the hour of departure draws on; but whether it will be in youth, in manhood, or old age, is known only to God. Shall there be no preparation for that voyage and settlement y How much are your thoughts now occupied about the new country to which you are going, and how anxiously busy are you in preparing for the voyage and your future residence — What? and less thoughtfulness — less preparation — less anxiety be given to the emigration to eternity? You have exercised much thought in choosing the colony where you mean to settle for life. There are but two places of settlement beyond the grave — heaven and hell — between these lies your choice — to one or other you must soon depart — which will you choose? Which?