country as a volunteer or a conscript, embued with infidel notions: or
to say the least, with the religious indifference which had become so
common in France. Not so the English sailor. He was not one of the
fools to say in his heart. 'There is no God!' It is not easy to define
the nature of that awe which fills the mind of a religions mariner;
but most certainly those 'who see the works of the Lord and his
wonders in the deep,' face danger more steadily, under the solemn
belief that there is a ruling power to control the waters, and to say
to the winds, 'Peace! be still.' They are predisposed to 'cry unto the
Lord in their trouble,' and to implore Him to 'make the storm a calm,
so that the waves thereof may be still:' and this fear of God, which
is before their eyes, has its influence in making them willing to
adopt every expedient proposed to them by their officers for their
common safety. Under this higher impulse, the spirit of obedience
works in them more confidingly; and humbled before the Supreme Power,
they are prepared to yield submission to every intellect superior to
their own. Now if there be a feeling of this kind already at work for
good in the minds of our seamen, it is of the utmost importance to
strengthen it,[2] to give it a sure direction, and to make it run in
a deeper and a broader channel, by all the appliances of instruction
and education.

To the credit of the official Boards, under whose administrative
authority provision is made for the religious and educational
improvement of men and boys in the Navy, very much has been done
lately to secure this great object. Within my own memory few seamen
could read, still fewer could write, but now the majority of them can
do both, and they respond largely to the instruction they receive, by
their intelligence and good conduct. There is no more imposing sight
than that of the crew of a man-of-war, when assembled for divine