The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser. — 1825-10-17 (London, England)

FAVOURITI. the LONDON ENCINLIR, and I think the SWIFTSCRE ; 1 suppose nearly 2,000 persons are gone in them altogether, and I have counted 38 wherries from the Tower-stairs to Greenwich this morning, each boat carrying eight persons. I have no doubt but we shall have 100 boats at least leave these stairs alone to-day for GREENWICH with parties of Sabbath-breakers." There then are about lOU more on the river in pre-sumptuous violation of the law of God, notwithstanding the almost constant accidents and deaths that take place on the Lard's day by boats and bridges. In addition, I find that thete are not less than g,OOO Sabbath-breakers going up the river above London-bridge every fine Sabbath, so that we may estimate .5,000 souls from liecirmoso to the Nome on such a day as this, are exhibiting their bold and fearless rebellion against God as an example to all the towns and villages on the shores of this noble river.—" The waters law thee, 0, God," said the Psalmist, " anti were afraid," hut man, infinitely more stupid than inanimate nature, &firs the Almighty, and tries his forte, trance unto the very utmost. The very tides that bear the guilty culprits on their bosom in the ebb and flood, are God's servants, and obey his commands, ready it' He speaks to inundate the I country, and deluge tire world ; but lie graciously Nile the' flux and reflux perform their accustomed course, and only here and there drowns a Salim:A-breaker as a monument of his vengeance; but will not the eery THAMES appear in judgment at last against those wretched men and women who borrowed its surjbee and its tides to assist them in their crimes against Me God of heaven and earth, whom the river Jordan obeyed, .and at whose word the Red Sea was divided ? Independent of the immense number cf persons brought down to witness the embarkation and debarkation of Sabbath-breakers, and the multitude of watennen and others employed on this day, I must consider that the Influence of floe thousand Sabbath-breakers, on sailors; and rivennen, will be peculiarly filial. The British and Foreign Seamen's Friend Society has its sermons and prayer-meetings on the decks of ships all down the river where they lie in tiers. The Greenwich, Woolwich, a nd Gravesend branches aim • also to restrain this horrid wickedness, while the Thames Rivermen Society brings forward its mild and beneficial influence to soften the roughness of its objects afloat, and raise the character of the riverman, by evangelizing his privileges. The Port of London Society employs also its local advantages in the middle pool of the'fhames, to instruct, reform, and convert, the guilty mariner; but alas, they find that Sabbath-breaking is now rolling down upon them like a mighty torrent, and it is with great difficulty they can stein the current, and struggle onward to grasp some sinking victims and save them _prom perishing eternally. Who then are the vile multitude who are thus aiming in paralyze the eflorts of those noble institutions, and wrest from their friendly hand the drowning seamen and rivermen ? Are they out the population of London, who have churches, chapels, and societies in abundance? Alas, who bath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord tevealcd? It vas well obaer:'ed by a late Reverend Speaker, " When I attend the public meetings of many evangelical institutions, I ray, surely the millennium is come, when all shall know the Lord ; but when I walk out in the streets, I c7ye out, if the Son of Man were to come, would He find faith ou the earth ?—surely LONDON is the. glee: were Satan's seat is!" Admitting most fully this fearful exclamation concerning the me., apolis in general, still/ lament most aver Me TH AM ER and its banks, h;cause there of late years some of us have worked hard to save souls and raise the gospel standard, and there our hopes have been very sanguine, and our success very great; but the will boar of Me forest rushes forward to despoil oar vines that hare tender gropes, and SATAN the destroyer is poorbig ifUtOa like an overrunning flood, to overwhelm and annihilate that garden we had happily raised for the Lord from the vast howling wilderness of moral degradation and misery. " For these things I weep ; mine eye, mine eye runneth down with water," and from my very soul would I exhort every friend of Seamen and Itivermen. " Arise, cry out in the night, in ti.e begitning of the watches pour out thine heart before the face of the Lord," that he may mercifully arrest the course of the mass of LondunSabhathbreakers, and save the beloved objects of our commiseration and zeal from being carried away with the stream, and borne forward to the gulf of endless perdition. Lord, I adore thy matchless gmee, That warn'd me of that dark abyss ; That drew me from those treacherous seas, And bid me seek superior bliss. Deeply affected with such consideration, I hailed the approach of evening, when I joined a large congregation on board the Joim and Amelia, of Gainaborough, at Hay's wharf, and after the sermon had the pleasure of !haring a Captain and several sailors fervently praying .for Sabbathbreakers. The scene was most delightful, and the relief afforded from the nflectious of the morning unpseakably great. Drectly opposite was the Cos-roar-House promenade, and a large assembly walking there and watching the return of the steam packets : during the singing of several short,hymns from the Sailors' Ilyinti-Book, the crowd on shore listened with evident surprise and astonishment ; I was delighted to think SATAN had not all the Thames under his control, but that JEHOVAH had his servants mho hod hoisted the Bethel Fla; in sight rf London-bridge, w.tere many sailors were ardently pouring out their souls to God in prayer, or raising their voices cheerfully to his praise. Ah, what a contrast! Such was the south side qf the Thames at half-past eight, p. res. while on the north side some of the packets and Greenwich boats were vomiting forth their guilty drunken hosts of Sabbath-breakers, toddy prepared for rubbing their masters' tills on MONDAY, plan. tiering their mistress's uwrdrobe, cheating, defrauding,l and imposing upon their customers to get money foranother Sunday revel, and snaking assignations fur some tea-gardens, where the seeds of iniquity sown on board to-day will spring up in for nication and adultery, the sure precursors of domestic misery. Deserted families, illegitimate offsprings, rapid suicides by arsenic, drowning perhaps in this river, or the lingering heart-breaking inelincholv ; while, in sonic instances, confirmed' libertinism in the male, prostitution in the female, and final transportation or execution in one or both, will seal up in this world the doom of the carat se Sabbath-breaker.  hoe -.Nit isidis.