by the Religious Tract Society

“ As you gaze upon the mighty world of waters over which you are about to sail, think of the great power of God who created the sea, and fixed its bounds; remember that you are sailing across the ocean of life, and that you will soon land on the shores of eternity ”

“ It is a matter of great thankfulness that you are not urged to flee from your country, as many have fled, to elude the vigilance of justice; and that you are not in the position of many unhappy persons, who, having violated the laws under which we live, have forfeited their personal liberty, and are reluctantly conveyed to a penal colony, there to reap the wretched reward of their deeds. Humiliating as the fact is, our exemption from these and from similar degradations is to be traced to the restraining or renewing grace of God. ”

“ You are not an exile for conscience' sake, or for liberty; you are not compelled to leave your homes, as many good men have been compelled to do, in quest of a spot where you can worship the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to the dictates of your conscience. The lines, in this respect, have fallen to you in pleasant places, and you have had a goodly heritage. Your blessings have been greater than the blessings of your forefathers. ”

“ Wherever you pitch your tent, there erect an altar to the honour and worship of the one living and true Jehovah. It is a mournful fact, that many persons who, in Great Britain, made a profession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ have, after their emigration, gradually relapsed into a state of indifference and irreligion, and have sunk into a condition of guilt and immorality which it is fearful to consider. This has been in part attributable to the circumstance, that they have settled in a remote part of the colony, where Christian friends or Christian instruction could seldom be met with. ”

“ In addition to the want of public worship, they have neglected to read the Scriptures at home, and omitted to pray with their families, and have thus rapidly cast off even the forms of godliness, while their children have grown up in a state little better than that of the heathen aborigines by whom they were surrounded. As you value the favour of God, as you love your own souls, and as you are anxious for the welfare of the rising generation, I beseech you to avoid that course of apostasy to which I have referred. ”

“ The voyage on which you are entering is a long one, and many of its hours may become tedious to you on the great waters. Let me urge you by all means to secure a Bible, if you have not one, and to make that the companion of your days and nights. Search the Scriptures, for they testify of Christ, and are able to make you wise unto salvation. Do not be ashamed to acknowledge God, or to commend your spirit to him in morning and evening prayer, though you may be surrounded by persons prepared to treat devotional exercises with indifference or contempt. ”

“ The circumstances in which you are found can scarcely fail to awaken serious reflections, or to compel you to think of the past with deep emotion. The home in which you were born, the scenes familiar to your childhood, and the friends of your early life all rise to view ”

“ The love of adventure, a thirst for the acquisition of territory, and a desire after wealth have acted as motives, and stimulated many persons to such undertakings; while others have left their homes from a love of freedom, an attachment to religious truth, or in obedience to the command of God. ”

“ In choosing for yourself a habitation, have, as much as possible, regard to its nearness to a place of worship, to which you may repair on the sabbath, and at other times, to hear the word of eternal life, and to worship God. ”

“ Your heart may sink within you, as you come in contact with the difficulties of a colony, where you will miss, at least for a time, many of the comforts of an English home; then endeavour to put your trust in God. ”

“ But the events of your future life are presented in the distance, surrounded with all that is bright and cheering; or they rise in imperfect and shadowy outline to your view, invested with uncertainty and gloom ”

“ But perhaps when you reach the colony, you will be full of hope. Visions of future greatness, of accumulating wealth, and of growing respectability may present themselves to your imagination. Endeavour, then, to recollect, that without the blessing of God your toil will be in vain; that if you realize in any degree your expectations, you cannot enjoy them long; and pray for grace to imitate the merchantman, who, seeking goodly pearls, found one of great price, and went and sold all that he had, and bought it, Matt. ”

“ This is the case with every person in every land; but it is pre-eminently the case with the early settlers of a colony. They labour, and others will enter into their labours; they sow, and others will come and reap. The first settlers in any land lay the foundation of the social edifice, and the building of after ages much accords with the foundation. Your principles and conduct will produce a more powerful impression in a thinly peopled territory than in the dense population of home. ”

“ During your detention in the vessel, you may have much to try your temper, and to call for mutual forbearance on the part of the passengers; under these circumstances, endeavour to exemplify that meekness of wisdom, that courtesy and readiness to do good to others, which the Scriptures command, and which is so strikingly and beautifully enforced upon us, by the example of our Divine Lord and Saviour, who pleased not himself, but who lived and died for the good of others. ”

“ After frequently revolving the subject in your mind, weighing the advantages and disadvantages of a removal from the country of your fathers, you have, at length, determined to go forth, to aid in colonizing a remote part of the world. ”

“ Thus some seeds are wafted by boisterous winds, and others are borne by the kindly hand of man to the uncultivated soil of an uninhabited island, but both alike have been deposited in the earth, and have brought forth fruit abundantly. ”

“ From the patriarchal times, down to the present day, as population has become dense, in particular localities, individuals and families have migrated to more extensive regions, and peopled other lands. ”