The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-10-06 00:00:00

DR. COX'S DESCRIPTION OE THE STRANDING

OF THE GREAT BRITAIN.

On Sunday morning, an unusually large congregation
assembled at the Presbyterian Giurch. in Rodney-street,
it having been announced that Dr. Cox, of New York,
would preach. As soma of our readers are probably
aware, the reverend gentleman was one of the foreigners
engaged in the formation of " The Evangelical Alliance;':
and it will be remembered that a valedictory breakfast
was given t.t the doctor and other American ministers
by the Liverpool admirers of "The Alliance," on the
21st ultimo, at the Music-hail, 8011-street, prior to the
sailing of the Great Britain, in which it was the intention
of the strangers to return home. Tnev accordingly ese-
barked, but the accident to their noble vessel brought
them again to Liverpool • and it was the expectation that
the learned doctor would make some allusion to the
scene in Duoctrum Bay, together with his high reputation
as an eloquent preacher, that tilled the above-mentioned
place of worship with a crowd of strange listeners, as
well as a tull attendance of the ordinary worshippers.
The reverend doctor preached from the Btu chapter
of Romans, verses 18 to 25, and his di-course was
divided into several heads, one of which was as to what
era- meant by the " vanity" to which the creature is said
in the text to be subjected—" For the creature was made
subject to VANITY, not willingly, but by reason of tem
who hath subjected the saw- in hope In treating of
this he said —" A part of this vanity is made up of disap-
pointments. How grind a chapter of human history does
the word indicate ! What hopes destroyed in a moment ;
what plans thwarted ; what expectations frustrated ; yea,
even, what prayers unheard! Yet we ought to be very
cautious in speaking thus of prayer. Prayer is not
dictation ; it is request with submission. The best
answer to prayer is often not that which the suppliant
may expect. or would choose. When we pray we commit
our interests to the care of our Heavenly Father; and
most say and feel, " Not as I will, but as Thou wilt."
1 am reminded forcibly of this when 1 remember that I
little thought two weeks ago of preaching this day in
Liverpool. I expected that I should instead he preaching
to my own beloved people in America. With what. high
hopes did the Great Britain. with 300 souls on board,
leave the docks of Liverpool ! Suppose of the thou-ands
who thronged the shores to witness her departure, it hat
been asked, " Where is she going ?" who among them
would have replied ought but that she was going to Ame-
rica; and yet in nine and a half hours afterwards she was
stranded in the storm, in the dark night, amid millings,
and lightnings and thunders, and the heaving of the sea,
and the panic•stricken terrors iif the hundreds on board.
For the suddenness of the shock, the necessary ignorance
of all as to our real position, made every one fear the
worst, from the repeated concussions to which we were
subjected by the fury of the elements. Wilde going with
the wind and the storm we knew not its fury, but when
we were aground we felt the power of its might. It is not
my province to inquire into the providence of man, or to
investigate the abs-ace of it ; let us look at the providence
of God. The expectations of thousands in America and
in Europe were thwarted in a moment, although every
event, every accessory, seemed to assure us of it happy and
rapid transit across the broad Atlantic. I will sketch one
or two of the many providences for which our warmest
gratitude is due to him who disposeth all things;
and I do it with the d- sire that you will pray for us; that
you will pray to the God of all mercies to assuage the
agonies felt by the friends of the voyagers, to-day and to-
morrow, when the continued absence of the Great Britain
will remind them of the fate of the unhappy President,
and no telegraphic communication through air or ocean
can tell them that the giant of the waters is not gorged in
the deep. My consolation in these events is a humble
confidence in the wisdom of the sublime counsels of Hirn
who overrules all things, and who comforted the heart of
the child-brreaved Jacob, when he exclaimed, " All these
things are against me." The first thing I will mention is,
that no life was lost. What is property to lite ? Oh, how
va'uable is the li'e of min ! not as an animal, hut as the
whole creature—body and soul. While in this world you
are within the province of hope, if you are not prepared
to die, by the grace of God you may be soon. Here were
300 human lives in imminent peril. Ot these half a him-
dred were little children from Vienna and some from Eng-
land, whose education had been ' on the light fantastic
toe,' and whose occupation tendeth to vanity. I pitied
them much, but I am now very glad to think that thay
are not coming to my country, where there is vanity
enough without them. 1 say this out of no unkindness to
wards these poor children, who perhaps have no fathers
or mothers to teach them, having not been long in this
world to acquire those principles by which they might safely
go through and triumphantly go out of it. No life was lost !
There were even more saved than were with Paul when he
was shipwrecked on the island of Mesita. The next provi-
dence was the position which we were in, a dangerous
bay, in which no vessel had hitherto escaped destruction. 1
am not pretending to give a graphic description ; nor can 1
lay claim to the accuracy of a surveyor, 1 shall merely
state what I believe. When I looked out of the gigantic
vessel the following morning, there was on either side a
ledge of sunken rocks, which must have been fatal to the
ship had she gone in at a different angle of only five de-
grees either way. The sand too of that little chasm was
of a hard tenacious nature, and the force with which the
vessel went ashore sent it so deeply into it, as to form a
safe support when the waters of the tide receded. Had
the sands : een of a looser kind, or had the shore been
mud, the receding of the tide would have let her fall over
on her beam ends, and who can then tell what would have
been the result. Who navieated the ship into that cove
of safety ? in the wares of the storm—with the darkness
of night stretched over us—when the waters were high.
The hand of God, our Heavenly Father ! Who else could
have gu ded the ship through those rocks, which would
have riddled her iron model; let in the inundation; and '
tote wool,' —nave been a great sepulchre, and we the
corpses ! In the morning, when the approaching chariot
of the sun brightened the east, and I looked over the
sides of the vessel, the water around us was not three
feet iu depth. The poor people of the coast were assem-
bling, and when I and the rest of the passengers were let
down many feet to be borne ashore on the shoulders of
men, I looked back at the ill-fated ship, and thought that
I had never before seen so fitting a thing wherewith to
compare the sir-ending of the ark upon Mount Ararat.
I suppose there were a hundred and fifty of the passen-
gers in the cabin at half past nine o'clock, when
the ship grounded; and they behaved extremely
well. I heard no such thing as one profane or rash
j expression in that moment of terror. We had no
counsellor, no plan, no leader. The anxiety and anguish
of females. too much frightened to shriek,-made the whole
scene one of indescribable confusion, such as I can never
forget. I proposed to some who stood near are to go to
prayer ; but they requested me not, as it wool I tend to
, increase the consternation by making the danger appear

more imminent than perhaps it really might be. What,
said I, is prayer to God no medicine for the mind dis-
tressed ? is not God a very present help in time of trouble ?
is not man's extremity God's opportunity ? I accordingly
arose, and. after a few words, all walking and talking
ceased, and we joined in prayer, with a feeling that we
might in a moment go down to the bottom, and on the
pinions of hope and faith go up to judgment. We also
felt that we were sinners, and that there could be no hope
save in Jesus Christ, our Saviour. There was no such
monster as an infidel then to show himself ! Many there
were, who now feel that their rescue was a solemn warning
to them ; as indeed it is to you, and to all. lam happy
to say that tall seemed delighted with the opportunity of
prayer ; and when a second supplication was offered by
the Rev. Mr. Gill, it seemed indeed like ointment poured
forth. It made us all feel one family ; there was no
formality, no state, no affectation; all gave way before a
sense of mutual danger and mutual trust in God. I hope
and believe God's providence and presence then, may be
blessed to the salvation of a thousand souls; for sup,
posing one hundred, or a lees number, of careless sinners,
to be arrested. in their course, and induced to seek after
the things of God, and of his Christ, their influence and
example will produce like resul!s, and my hopes may
more than be fulfiller.. I trust it made us all resolve, by
the grace of God, to be better Christians, and walk in His
paths more regularly, more circumsi ectly."
The ►earned doctor then proceeded with his discourse;
and in the prayer, near the conclusion of the service,
again alluded to his recent deliverance from shipwreck,
in a most eloquent and touching manner.

MORTALITY IN TOXTETH-PARB.—During the last
three months of July, August, and September, five
hundred and eighty-nine deaths have been registered in
this township.
SmuGGLINet EAU DE VIE.—A Maltese sailor, named
Gaetano Alastellone, was fined 40s at the police court,
yesterday, for smuggling three bottles of brandy from
a vessel in the King's Dock. The fine was immediately
paid.
EXCHANGE DISORDERLY.—One of the porters who fre
quent the purlieus of the Exchange flags, waiting for
employment, and whose name is Wm. Wilson, was
charged before the stipendiary magistrate. yesterday, with
having abused and menaced the officer placed there by the
proprietors, without any rpparent reason. The case was
clearly proved, and in ordering the prisoner to find bail,
Mr. Rushton stated that it was only by permission that
these men congregated within the area. The Exchange
was private property, and it was not to be tolerated
that persons who were allowed to stand there, waiting for
employment, should annoy the officer on duty. In London
the parties were not albwed to stand within the Exchange
at all. In default of bail the defendant was committed.
INQUESTS YESTERDAY.—Three inquests were held
yesterday before the borough coroner. The first was
upon an infant, three months old, the daughter of Patrick
and Catherine Dowd, who live in Paris-court, Crocked-
lane. Death was caused by the child being overlain on
Thursday night.—The second case was that of a married
woman, fifty years of age, named Mary Angle. She re-
sided in Redcross-street, and, on Friday last, she was
seen intoxicated, but when she went to bed in the even-
ing she appeared to her daughter to be sober. The next
morning she was found dead, having expired during the
night without giving an alarm. She was stated by the
surgeon to have died of apoplexy, the result of intemper-
ance.—The third inquest was upon a young woman, named
Margaret Jones, aged 24, a servant in the family of Mr.
E. D. Musgrove, 51, Elizabeth-street. It appeared that
on the morning of yesterday week (Monday), the de-
ceased went into the coal vault with a lighted candle for
the purpose of getting some coals. A few seconds after-
wards Mrs. Musgrove and her sister heard her scream
out that she was on fire. They immediately ran down to
her, and found her upon the stairs envoloped in flames,
her clothes by some means having taken fire. A hearth-
rug was instantly thrown round her, but before the fire
could be extinguished by it, the unhappy woman ran into
the street, where some passers-by effected this object.
She was conveyed to the infirmary, where she was found
to have been severely burnt over the entire body, from the
effect of which she expired on Thursday last. The de-
ceased did not state how the accident had occurred, and
the candle was afterwards found upset, but still burning.
In all the cases verdicts of " Accidental Death," were
returned.