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%
MEMORIALS OF THE SEA.
i^abliatii^ in t^t 2lvctU 3S^tsioni.
vr
THE REV. WILLIAM SCORESBY, D.D.
FELLOW OF THE ROYAL SOCIETIKS OF LONDON AND EDINBURGH;
MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTE OP FRANCE; OF THE
AMERICAN INSTITUTE, PHILADELPHIA,
ETC. ETC.
"The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have
pleasure therein." — Psalm cxi. 2.
• ' 1 • ■ I , t
■• I • • ,1
' • • I . . ' , .
€>cconli (lEtiition.
' • ♦ • I . • • , , , ,
LONGMAN, BROWN, (UlEEN, AND LON(JMANS.
]8.')0.
. i
'M'
LONDON-.
PBINTKU BY M. MASON, IVY LANE, ST. PAULS.
1^
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• 9
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« •
♦ * • •
. » » • * » •
• - i • ' • '
• t « •
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* • • •
ADVERTISEMENT.
" The Memorials of the Sea," which for a number
of years have been out of print, are herein repro-
duced in a different and more extended form. The
subjects treated of being very diverse, it seemed
desirable so to arrange them, as to have the longer
narratives, or those on special topics, in separate
volumes. Whilst this mode of publication will afford
to all classes of readers the opportunity of making
their own selection ; it enables the Author to increase
the extent of some of the more important memorials,
and may facilitate his intention of adding to the series.
Under this new arrangement, the Author, if life
and health be graciously continued to him, might
be enabled, perhaps, not only to bring out other
Memorials, the substance and facts of which he has
long had in hand ; but to condense the subjects of his
larger publications, which have been long inaccessible
to the general reader, into convenient and inexpensive
volumes. Or, in pursuit of his plan, he might endea-
vour to produce the incidents of an early life, in
no ordinary degree adventurous, as a contribution to
the supply of recreative, and he would earnestly hope
not unprofitable, reading, which in these modern
days has become a staple demand in literature. In
the contemplation of such an object, he trusts he can
/
y ,*,
VI
ADVKHTISEMKNT.
conscientiously say, thiit liis anxious and prayerful
desire is, to consecrate the observations of nature in
regions rarely visited by ordinary travellers, together
with the incidents of personal or relative adventure,
to the great end of man's creation ; to render them
subservient, as far as he may be enabled, to the
edification of the reader, and to the glory of God !
The "Sabbaths in the Arctic Regions" will be
found to be considerably extended, and, it is pre-
sumed, in various respects improved. The Sabbath
question being now so much agitated, and the sacred
observance, as a commanded duty, so much ques-
tioned, the Author has more than ordinary encourage-
ment in presenting anew his personal experiences
thereon ; and he would humbly and prayerfully hope
that his present publication may be directed by the
Lord of the Sabbath to the furtherance of principles
and practices accordant with the Divine mind !
Two other volumes, it may be added, are in pro-
gress — one of them comprising a revised narrative of
the extraordinary Memorial of the Mary Russell ;
the other a series of Miscellaneous Memorials, aug-
mented by incidents of life and adventure in respect
to the Author's Father.
The Aihenceum, London, ^
Fch. mth, 1850.
^iLijaMir
Sat)ibatt)0 in t!ir ^tttit Ut^iom.
CONTKNTS.
ClIAI'TKR I. — (lENbllAL TKSTIMONIliS OK NaTUUK AND PkO-
VIDENCC TO THK DlVINB INSTITUTION AND PeRPETVITV
OP THK Sabbath .......
Sect. 1. Tntroductioii .......
2. The Testimonv borne to the Law of the Sabbath,
by its Influence on the Physical Condition of
Nature ........
3. The Testimony to the Law of tlie Sabhnth, from
its Influence on the Moral Condition of Man .
4. The Testimony of Providence as to a Curse on
Sabbath Desecration .....
5. The Testimony of Providence as to a Blessing on
the Conscientious Observance of the Sabbath .
Vaffr
n
3
10
17
20
/
Chapter II. — Special Testimonies of Providence on
Temporal Prosperity to Sabbath Observances in
the Arctic Regions 26
Sect. 1. Preliminary Observations . . . . .26
2. Indications of a Providential Blessing, in connection
with Sabbath Forbearance, in the Fishery of
1820 32
3, Capture of a Whale of uncommon size, after a
peculiar Exercise of Self-denial, in honour of
the Sabbath, on the preceding day . . .42
Vlll
f'MNTKNTS.
Skct. i. Roninrk.'ililo Iit(UcationR of a Providential rJlosslu^'
in till- FislHTv of 182;{ -18
."i. Trying Ciwc of rorhearance in t!ic Fishory of I8'2.'{,
followed by the iiHunl Te«tiniony . . .Ol
C. Indications of u Providential Rebuke for Snbbatb
Violation ....... 57
7. (icnernl llesults of the foregoing 'IVstiinonics . dd
ClIAPTKIl III. — ArPARKNT TESTIMONIES OF PrOVIDF.NCB TO
TMK Sabbath, as indicated by striking Deliver-
ANCES FROM PERILOUS SITUATIONS . . . .71
Sect. 1. Preliminary Observations 71
2. Record of a happy Deliverance from a perilous
Situation in, the Arctic Seas, at the Conclusion
of the Sabbath 72
;}. Providential Manifestations, in connection with
Sabbath<day Duties, experienced in a striking
Deliverance from a most dangerous Entangle-
ment among the Arctic Ices . . . .85
Chapter IV. — Supplementary and Cognate Testimonies 111
Sect. 1. Cognate Testimony of Mr. W , an American,
to a blessing on Sabbath Observance . .111
2. Record of the D family, as Illustrative of the
special benefits of a Religious Life . . . 1 22
Chapter V. — General Results of the Testimonies of
Nature and Providence to the Sabbath, with a
Plea for its Observance 145
M
'i:
MEMORIALS OF THE SEA.
TESTIMONIES OP NATURE AND PROVIDENCE TO THE
DIVINE INSTITUTION AND PERPETUITY
OF THE SABBATH.
B
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
"The Sabbath was madb fob Man." — Mask ii. 27.
Chapter I.
GENERAL TESTIMONIES OF NATURE AND PROVIDENCE
TO THE DIVINE INSTITUTION AND PERPETUITY
OP THE SABBATH.
Section I. — Introduction,
Though the institution of the Sabhath is found
recorded in the fore-front of the appointments of
God, embodied among the ten precepts of the moral
law, and repeatedly enforced by Moses and the Pro-
phets ; yet its perpetuity of obligation, is, with many
persons amongst us, unhappily questioned. Whilst
the nine other commandments of the Almighty are
acknowledged to be of universal authority — as con-
stituting the plain and undisputed rule of man's
obedience — this one, though given before any of the
associated words, is now strangely held by some
professing Christians, as an appointment binding only
upon the Jews, but not upon themselves ! And
although our Lord, as .He himself declared, " came
not to destroy the law or the prophets, but to fulfil ; "
4 SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
whilst he denounced those " who should break one of
the least commandments, and teach men so," — yet
this command, thus generally confirmed and guarded,
is venturously asserted, by many, to be now annulled !
But it comports not with the object of this publi-
cation to controvert the question after the laborious
and learned methods in which, in modern times,
it has been taken up, and, in different instances,
we regret to add, most perniciously pursued. For
the obvious tendency, and observable efifects, of the
specious arguments and special pleading employed in
support of the views which we deprecate, may be
perceived to be, not only to undermine and break
down the authority of the fourth commandment, but
to justify and encourage that lamentable desecration
of the Lord's day so greatly and injuriously prevalent
throughout the land. Considering the subtle and
far-fetched reasonings of some of the impugners of
the perpetuity of the Sabbath, — the masculine efforts
of mind of others in explaining away the common
sense of the Word of God, or in confounding the
natural understanding of man, — one cannot but
lament such applications of learning as have too often
produced an undue prejudice on the minds of sincere
Christians, against those high attainments and supe-
rior powers of intellect which, when faithfully and
correctly directed to God's glory, stand forth as the
most noble endowments of our species. Were such
the necessary tendencies of superior attainments, — as
some timid and tender-minded persons, among our
DIVINE INSTITUTION OF THE SABBATH.
more pious population, misguided by incidental ex-
amples of the perversion of learning, have mistakenly
imagined, —then, indeed, one might envy rather the
faculties of a little child, or be willing to " become a
fool," so as to "be wise" in the comprehension of
the Word of God in its simplicity and truth.
According to the simple tenor of the sacred Scrip-
tures, if left unperplexed by critical reasonings, and
unprejudiced by human dogmas, the command plainly
remains with us of unabated obligation to "Kemember
the Sabbath day to keep it holy." But it is not
merely an obligation; it is an appointment full of
wisdom and mercy. Yet to natural feeling, the law
of the Sabbath must necessarily be burdensome, and,
if strictly enforced, will seem an objectionable ordi-
nance. This, indeed, is an intelligible consequence
of the deterioration of the faculties and affections of
humanity by the fall, — that men should be inclined
to suppose, that any of the commands of God, which
present a bar to their natural desires or unhallowed
pleasures, are at once grievous and unnecessary; and,
therefore, that they should be disposed to deal with
them, even by the most vain reasonings or subtleties,
so that their consciences may find quiet in the
imagined abrogation, or mitigation of strictness, of
the ungenial precept. But in our consideration of
the Divine government, it is most important to be
borne in mind, that God neither appoints any observ-
ance, nor gives any command, without a special
object. He lays no arbitrary demands upon his
6
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC BEOIONS.
people ; he denies them no real blessing which they
are in a condition to receive ; he vexes them by no
useless burden, nor unnecessary restriction; but he
requires them to keep his commandments and statutes
for their good. And this is one of his gracious statutes,
involving most essentially the good of mankind —
" Keep my Sabbaths : I am the Lord your God."
On this ground even, the seeking of good, — greatly
inferior though it be as a motive of obedience, to
that of a sense of obligation due to the comn?and of
the great God, our Father, — we may obtain a very
powerful, and, we trust, a persuasive plea, for the
consecration of a seventh part of our time as a sabbath,
that it may he well mth us, and that a blessing may
rest upon the land in which we dwell. In evidence of
these effects being really derivable from a reverent
observance of the sacred day of the Lord, it is only
necessary, with a candid and spiritually enlightened
mind, to mark the frequent, and ofttimes manifest
providential attestations which are occurring around
us. For God doth bear continual witness to His own
appointment, that the Sabbath is no peculiar law for
the government of a peculiar people; but that it is part
and parcel of the constitution of nature, and of the
order of Providence. And nature itself bears testi-
mony that the Sabbath is an actual law of Creation;
and if so, then must it be as perpetual in its obligation
as the existence of nature in its general constitution.
Among the various arguments derivable from
observation of nature and Providence, in relation to
TESTIMONY OP NATURE TO THE SABBATH. 7
the law of the Sabhath, we may notice^ briefly, the
following: — the testimony borne to the law of the
Sabbath by its influence on the physical condition of
nature, and on the moral condition of man, with the
testimony of Providence, not unfrequently yielded, as
to a curse on Sabbath desecration, and as to a blessing
on its conscientious observance.
Section II. — The Testimony home to the Law of the
Sabbath J by its Influence on the Physical Condition
of Nature.
' ■ ',' '
In the fruitfulness of the soil of the ground, and in
the physical vigour of both the lower animals and
man, we find the most manifest and beneficial influ-
ence from particular periods of rest, alternating with
longer periods of labour.
For the refreshment and invigoration of the earthy
periodical fallows are not only useful, but, if we would
expect to elicit the best condition of fertility, essential.
Of this experimental fact, the most eminent and intel-
ligent agriculturists give the appropriate testimony,
that where the practice of fallows prevails, ''the
farmer's produce and profits are found to be far
superior to where fallows are omitted." And why?
Because the constitution of the earth was made sub-
ject to the law thus experimentally elicited, being
designed for a periodical portion of rest; and this
portion was strictly defined when Jehovah issued the
decree to Israel, — "Six years thou shalt sow thy land,
8
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC BEOIONS.
and shall gather in the fruits thereof; hut the seventh
year thou shalt let it rest and lie still."
In regard to the physical condition of the animals
employed in domestic labour^ experience bears witness
to a similar law^ requiring for their health and strength
the rest of a Sabbath. " Take," for example, " that
fine animal, the horse, and work him to the full extent
of his powers every day in the week, or give him rest
one day in seven, and it will soon be perceived by the
superior vigour with which he performs his functions
on the other six days, that this rest is necessary to his
well being." Of this corroborative fact, the experi-
ence and observation of one of the most successful
coach proprietors in the kingdom, afford very striking
evidence. Speaking with him on the management of
his well regulated business, he made this remark in
respect to the number and period of employment of
his horses, — ^*that he found it requisite to have a spare
horse in every six, not only for supplying the place
of any that might be sick, but, chiefly, for giving
each horse a day's rest once every week ! For he
found,' he added, 'that when the horses were worked
continually, though employed only for an hour's stage
to and fro daily, they were rapidly worn out ; it was
but economy, therefore, in horses, to give them a
weekly rest!'
In the effect of continuous labour on the physical
condition of man, the existence of the same law is
clearly observable. The frame of the labourer who
is without his sabbath of rest, either breaks down
,il\
TESTIMONY OF NATURE TO THE SABBATH. 9
through the pressure of his unceasing toil, or sinks
into premature decay ; whilst the man of study, who
applies closely every day of the week in continuance,
discovers, sooner or later, by painful experience, that
his laborious diligence has been but improvident
draughts upon the resources of nature. Of this latter
effect of continuous efforts of mind, we have nume-
rous and obviout examples among the learned profes-
sions. *The premature death of medical men from
continued exertion, especially in warm climates and
in active service, has been frequently observed ; and
among the more active of the Clergy, who have
neglected the substitution of another day of rest in
compensation for the Sabbath, many have been seen
to be destroyed by their duties on that day.* And it
has been shown by some of the most eminent among
Christian physicians, that, in a medical sense, as well
as in a religious, the Sabbath, as a day of rest, is a
most beneficial institution. It is held " as a day of
compensation for the inadequate restorative power of
the body under continued labour and excitement."
And its rest, physiologically considered, has a
"sustaining, repairing, and healing power."* The
experimental result of a conscientious observance of
this sacred institution on our bodily frame, therefore,
witnesses, to the present day, to the obvious fitness of
the declaration of our Lord, that " the Sabbath was
* This observation, with some other quotations in this section, is
derived from the very intelligent evidence of Dr. Farre, hefore the
Select Committee of the House of Commons on the observance of the
Lord's Day.
b2
10
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
made for man/' It further attests, that the Sabbath
is not an arbitrary institution, nor a mere judicial
regulation, nor a ceremonial observance designed for
the Jews only, but an "appointment necessary to
man."
Thus, it appears, that Nature, in its physical con-
stitution, bears a special and multifarious testimony
to the perpetuity of obligation, and beneficence of
character, of the divine injunction, — " Six days thou
shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt
rest ; that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the
son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be re-
freshed."
Section III. — T%e Testimony/ to the Law of the
Sabbath, from its Influence on the Moral Condition
of Man.
In this have we another description of perpetually
recurring testimony to the law of the Sabbath. For
both observation and experience yield the most
marked indications of the existence of an inseparable
relation betwixt the due regard of the Sabbath, and
the moral condition of mankind. Hence are there
but few particulars in the practice of a Christian,
which more strikingly indicate the personal acquire-
ment of real religion than the habitual conscientious
observance of the Sabbath. And as with individuals,
so with nations, the manner in which this divinely
appointed day is kept, is found to afford a fair com-
MORAL INPLT7BNCE OE* THE SABBATH.
11
parative estimate of national piety. That such,
indeed, must have been the case, from the earliest
ages of the world, we may infer from this declaration
of Jehovah himself — " Hallow my Sabbaths, and they
shall be a sign between me and you, that you may
know that I am the Lord your God.'* If this, then,
was an appointed sign in ancient times, betwixt Israel
and Jehovah, the analogy of our mutual faith would
itself indicate, that the Lord's day with us, must con-
tinue to be also a sign between the Gentile believer
and his God — ^between the Christian and his Saviour.*
And the closest observation and experience elicit the
general proposition, — that the sanctifying of the Sab-
bath (not the mere formal or ceremonial observance)
may, in any country, or age of the world, be regarded
as a spiritual barometer, exhibiting, by its fluctua-
tions, and comparative height, the state of the moral
atmosphere wherever it is observed.
Such, indeed, is the natural consequence of the
Divine appointment of the Sabbath ; for all the ap-
pointments of a God infinitely wi?ie and good, must
have a relation and tendency to good. Being originally
designed, not only to commemorate a rest, but to be
a sanctified rest from labour in order to personal and
spiritual edification; the conscientious observance of
it necessarily becomes a sign — a sign distinguishing
♦ As the discussion of the question of the Sahbath on the usual
grounds, falls not within the intention of tliis publication, it is not
requisite to go into the reason for the change of the day from the
seventh to the first. It is sufficient for our object, and, I apprehend for
all the purposes for which the Sabbath was designed, that one-seventh
portion of our time be set apart for rest and spiritual improvement.
12
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
"between him that serveth God, and him that serveth
him not."
In truth, the present welfare and eternal happiness
of man are most intimately and inseparably involevd
in the right improvement of God*s holy day. Physic-
ally speaking, its observance, as we have shown, is
necessary to the weal of the body ; but religiously
considered, it is still more essential to the welfare of
the soul. Were men, then, as much in earnest about
their immortal spirits, as they are about the gratifi-
cation or prosperity of their perishing bodies, how
differently would that sacred day, expressly designed
and wisely calculated for spiritual edification, be
spent ! We should not then see the great mass of the
world working with unwearied diligence jfrom day-
light till dusk for the perishing things of time, and
stinting the labour for the soul, if they labour at all,
to two or three meagre, listless hours of the Lord's
day. We should not then find them strenuously
contending for the abolition of the Sabbath, or
denying its continued obligations, or questioning and
rejecting its holy sanctions! We should not then
hear so many complainings respecting the restraints
of the Sabbath, nor find the continued adoption, in
spirit and action at least, of the language of the
prophet — " When will the new moon be gone, that
we may sell corn ? and the Sabbath, that we may set
forth wheat?" We should not then see the sacred
repose of the Sabbath converted into a rest of sloth
and indolence ; nor the observance, which is a sign
MORAL INFLtENCS OP THS SABBATH.
13
between God and his people, bearing the sign of the
Prince of this world; nor the momentous occupations
of the Sabbath pursued with careless indifference ;
nor the time due unto the Lord, and claimed by him
as his own, stolen from Him to be given to business
and self; nor the sacred hours of His holy day
prostituted to worldly indulgences or carnal enjoy-
ments. No ! were mankind in earnest about their
moral weal, and religious advancement, as essential
requisites for future glory, they would account the
Sabbath a peculiar blessing ; they would consider it
as the day of their special happiness; they would
improve it with lively diligence in seeking for spiritual
gifts and graces; they would be most care:^l to
" remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy."
Not only, however, doth the moral elevation of
man hold an essential relation to a right improvement
of the Sabbath ; but his temporal happiness and wel-
fare are found, in no small measure, to be involved
in a due regard to this divine appointment, so as to
call for its strictest and most godly observance.
It is a popular objection to a strict keeping of the
Sabbath, that it deprives the poor labourer, borne
down by six days' severe toil, of his only opportunity
for necessary recreation for the good of his health.
But we have a twofold answer, derived from general
experience, to this popular reasoning. The first is,
the simple fact, that the pious poor, who conscien-
tiously and strictly regard the Sabbath, are not less
healthy or less happy, but as a body much more so,
/
(
/
14
SABBATHS IN THE AROTIO RB0I0M8.
than those who take the free and unrestricted use of
Sabbath day recreation. And the next answer is the
notorious truth, that the Sabbath recreations of the
labouring classes are, in the great majority of instances,
at once subversive of happiness, and prejudicial to
health. For their prevalent infringement of the
sanctity of the Sabbath is found by experience to
generate more intemperance, sensuality, and lewdness,
than mere recreative indulgence on any other equal
portion of the week.* And in Roman Catholic
countries where the Sabbath, as to its greater portion,
is professedly given up to purposes of recreation, it is
found to be the day which largely exceeds all the
rest in the practice of immorality and vice, instead of
being improved, as it is designed, for *'the promotion
of true religion and virtue." And if we might take
Paris, when Catholicism was most predominant, as
an example, the result of actual investigation was
this — that there was decidedly more gambling on the
Lord's day than on any other day of the seven, with
good grounds for believing, that there was more
dissipation, and sensuality, and sinful indulgence,
on that fearfully profaned day, than in all the remain-
der of the week together !
. The testimony to the law of the Sabbath, &om its
influence on the moral condition of men, as elicited
in the evidence given before the " Select Committee
of the House of Commons on the observance of the
• The evidence before the Select Committee of the House of Com-
mons, on the due observance of the Lord's day — especially that in
reference to steam-boats and tea-gardens— affords many corroborations
of these statements.
MORAL INFLUENCE OF THE SABBATH.
15
Lord's day/* is so decisive in its character, that I
conceive it advantageous to give here u few extracts
in support of the foregoing observations.
Mr. Wontner, the keeper of Newgate, stated, that
" he had heard many prisoners express their regret
that their crimes had originated with a breach of the
Sabbath;" that "he had known them caution their
relatives and friends to observe the Sabbath, tracing
their own crimes to their non-observance or breach
of the Sabbath;" and that "nine-tenths of the
prisoners coming under his care did not value the
Sabbath, or were not in the habit of attending a
place of worship."
Mr. Benjamin Baker, who had been in the habit
of visiting the prisoners in Newgate for the previous
twenty years, stated that " he had almost universally
found the prisoners who became impressed with a
sense of their unhappy condition, lamenting their
neglect of the duties of the Sabbath;" that they
almost universally considered Sabbath-breaking as
the leading cause of their transgressions ; and " that
the deviation from the Sabbath led them on, step by
step, into that degree of crime which had brought
them" to their lamentable condition. Mr. Baker
had attended the execution of not less that 350
criminals, "and nine out of ten," said he, "have
dated the principal part of their departure from God
to the neglect of the Sabbath; that," he added, "has
certainly been the case!"
The Eev. David Ruell, Chaplain of the New
16
SABBATHS IN THE ARCtIC REGIONS.
! Ii
Prison, Clerkenwell, stated, that 100,000 prisoners,
at the lowest calculation, had passed under his care ;
*'that he had had many opportunities of learning
from the prisoners themselves the courses which had
led them into crime, and generally found that the
neglect or gross violation of the Sabbath was one ; "
that " he had in many cases heard prisoners regret
that they had been so regardless of the Lord's day;"
and, in reference to the method of Sabbath violation
he stated his impression that "by far the greater
number desecrate the sacred day from taking their
own fleasure." As to the inseparableness of crime
and Sabbath-breaking, he said, " I do not recollect a
single case of capital offence where the party has not
been a Sabbath-breaker, and in many cases they have
assured me that Sabbath-breaking was the first step
in the course of crime!" To the question, "Have
confessions to that effect been frequent?" he an-
swered, — " Frequently have they acknowledged it,
and in some cases they have requested me to warn
others against it from their example. Indeed I may
say in reference to prisoners of all classes, that in
nineteen cases out of twenty, they are persons who
have not only neglected the Sabbath, but all other
ordinances of religion. So powerfully is my mind im-
pressed with the subject, that I cannot forbear adding
my conviction that Sabbath-breaking is not only a
great national evil, but a fruitful source of immorality
among all classes, and pre-eminently of profligacy
and crime among the lower orders."
CURSE ON SABBATH DESECRATION.
17
)risoners,
his care ;
learning
hich had
that the
IS one;"
rs regret
I'sday;"
violation
5 greater
ing their
of crime
^collect a
J has not
hey have
irst step
" Have
he an*
dged it,
to warn
d I may
that in
)ns who
,11 other
lind im-
adding
only a
norality
ofligacy
Section IV. — The Testimony of Providence as to a
Curse on Sabbath Desecration.
In manifold respects the course of an unerring
Providence bears continual witness to the truths,
that there is a blessing on conscientious Sabbath
observance, a curse on its violation. Of this latter
truth the voluntary account of thousands of suffering
transgressors, v:nd the dying words of many criminals,
afford, as we have seen, striking and convincing evi-
dence. Numbers of miserable creatures who have
paid the forfeiture of their lives for their manifold
crimes, have been constrained to confess, that the
vicious practices, which brought them to ruin and to
the gallows, commenced, and were fostered, by their
neglect or abuse of the Sabbath. Nor are we with-
out manifold warnings of other kinds, crying to us as
a voice from Heaven, — " What evil thing is this that
ye do, and profane the Sabbath day?" — "Remember
the Sabbath day to keep it holy ; " whilst the warn-
ings, we may perceive, seem to realize the fulfilment
of the solemn language of the Psalmist, where he
says — " It is time for Thee, Lord, to work : for they
have made void thy law." The curse, indeed, on
the violation of the Sabbath, may be discovered in all
its modes. If we calculate the number of lives which
have been lost among persons seeking their pleasure
on the Lord's day — among those who have been lost
in sailing-boats, or have been maimed or killed in
coaches and other conveyances — among those who have
•■■{1
K
18
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
,('\
'Mm
111
been drowned whilst skating, or otherwise amusing
themselves on the ice, — a proportion, I believe,
much greater than arithmetically due to a single day,
will be found to have met their death whilst pursuing
their unhallowed pleasures on the Sabbath.
A very remarkable testimony was given under the
Levitical dispensation, of Providential judgment, in
the seventy years captivity of the Jews, for the viola-
tion of the Sabbath. What portion of guilt in this
matter related to the desecration of the hebdomadal
Sabbath we are not informed; but the chastisement
referred to is connected, in the Scriptures, with the
neglect of the septennial repose of the ground. It had
been commanded the Israelites as a nation, to give
" the seventh year of their land a Sabbath of rest unto
the Lord;" but, in case they should transgress, and
walk contrary to their God, it was judicially declared
that they should be scattered among the heathen for
their chastisement; and " then," it was added, "shall
the land enjoy her Sabbaths as long as it lieth desolate
and ye be in your enemies' land ; even then shall the
land rest, and enjoy her Sabbaths. As long as it lieth
desolate it shall rest, because it did not rest in your
Sabbaths, when ye dwelt upon it."
Notwithstanding this special warning, which had
been put upon record by Moses in «he book of Levi-
ticus [chap. xxvi. 34-35], Israel did defraud the
land of its Sabbaths, and the poor of its spontaneous
produce. Then was the sore judgment fulfilled to
very letter ; for the Jews were carried away captive
CURSE ON SABBATH DESECRATION.
m
into Babylon, because of their transgressions, "until
the land," as it is strikingly written, " had enjoyed
her Sabbaths; for as long as she lay desolate she
kept Sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years."
[II Chronicles xxxvi. 21]. And this, probably, was
the very amount of time of which her fields had
been defrauded of their portion of rest.
If such, then, was the visitation of the Jews for
their violation of a judicial precept of the Sabbatical
Institution ; it would be prudent in those who are in
the habit of offending * after the similitude of their
transgression,' through the neglect of the permanently
authoritative weekly Sabbath, to consider, whether
they likewise, in their temporal weal, will not be
made to pay the penalty? Would to God that the
great multitude of persons of all grades and profes-
sions, who violate, for purposes of emolument or
pleasure, the sanctity of the Lord's day, — the Chris-
tian's Sabbath — would carefully weigh the conse-
quences, and they would probably find that their
expected gains were in reality loss, and their sup-
posed enjoyments unreal ; whilst for these they brave
the wrath of God and bring down a curse on their
pleasures and on the work of their hands! For
however little the great mass of the world may think
of the sin of violating the Sabbath, and however
venial Sunday trading or pleasuring may be con-
sidered among men, there is good reason for believing
that our eternal happiness is as much perilled by the
wilful, habitual desecration of the Sabbath, as by the
20
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
transgression of some of the commands of highest
acknowledged importance in the decalogue. And if,
as some imagine, the Sabbath may be neglected or
broken without the charge, before God, of sin, then
could we bring forward the strongest reasons for the
repugnant and dangerous conclusion, that idolatry
and blasphemy, theft, and adultery — the laws against
which have no higher authority — may be committed
without sin !
i {
Section V. — The Testimony of Providence as to
a Blessing on the conscientious Observance of the
Sabbath.
Having touched upon the experimental manifes-
tations of evil to man, both physically and morally,
as well as in regard to his temporal happiness and
prosperity, from Sabbath desecration; we now pro-
ceed more particularly to remark upon the special
acknowledgments of Providence, in accordance with
the promises of Scripture, of a blessing on the reve-
rential and scriptural observance of the sacred day of
the Lord. For thus the word of Jehovah declares, —
"Blessed is the man that keepeth the Sabbath from
polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any
evil." And thus also is it graciously promised, in
the Lviiith of Isaiah, — " If thou turn away thy foot
from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my
holy day ; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy
of the Lord, honourable ; and shalt honour him, not
BLESSING ON SABBATH OBSERVANCE.
21
doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure,
nor speaking thine own words; then shalt thou delight
thyself in the Lord ; and I will cause thee to ride
upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with
the heritage of Jacob thy father; for the mouth of
the Lord hath spoken it." i
Such then are the assured blessings attached to a
conscientious and sanctified observance of the Sab-
bath^ — delight in the Lord, — temporal dignity or
respect, — and temporal prosperity or sufficiency of
sustenance; and, behold, how strong the assurance
on which these blessings rest, — " the mouth of the
Lord hath spoken it ! "
And that such blessings, either wholly or in part,
in a greater or less degree, are actually bestowed
upon those who keep the Sabbath from polluting it,
and remember it to keep it holy, — the experience of
all good men, who have been enabled to make the
experiment, abundantly proves. Such, for example,
was the oft-recited experience of the celebrated Lord
Chief Justice Hale, who has publicly testified the
singular comfort and advantage which he derived
from the due observance of the Sabbath. " I have
found," says he, " by a strict and diligent observation,
that a due attention to the duty of this day, hath ever
had joined to it a blessing upon the rest of my time ;
and the week that hath been so begun, hath been
blessed and prospered to me ; and, on the other side,
when I have been negligent of the duties of this day,
the rest of the week hath been unsuccessfid and un-
rv,
H
n
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
I I;
happy to my secular employments ; so that T could
easily make an estimate of my successes in my own
secular employments of the week following, by the
manner of my passing of this day : and this I do not
write lightly or inconsiderately y but upon a long and
sound observation and experience."*
Now if such an effect was found to be produced,
on worldly comfort and prosperity, by the mere
variations of manner and strictness in the Sabbath
day observances of a Christian, how much greater
must be the influence where the Sabbath is entirely
disregarded or openly desecrated? If there was a
constant observable difference in the worldly pros-
perity of a religious man, according as the duties of
the Sabbath were piously or carelessly performed,
how much greater a difference, in all reasonable
analogy, must there be, between the habitual breaking
of the Sabbath or keeping it holy. But the proof of
this will always be more convincing to the person
making trial of the measure, than it can possibly be
made unto others. For, as to the eyperimental proof,
my firm persuasion is, that any one who from proper
motives gives up his usual Sabbath-day pleasuring
or trading, and sacrifices his supposed Sabbath-day
enjoyments and gains, will find by his own experience
the sign which God hath appointed and promised —
a blessing so manifest, either in body or soul, that his
own convictions will constrain him to confess, J^hat
the Lord God omnipotent reigneth! He will ex-
* Hale's " Contemplations, Moral and Divine," p. 260.
'11
BLESSING ON SABBATH OBSERVANCE.
23
perience an internal evidence of the obligation of
the commands of God, and of the acknowledgment
given to him that conscientiously follows them as his
rule of life, which shall speak more powerfully to his
heart on the benefit and authority of the religion of
the Bible, than the most unanswerable verbal argu-
ments. And this, perhaps, may be one description
of the manifestation attendant on obedience and love,
spoken of by our Saviour when he said — " He that
hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is
that loveth me : and he that loveth me shall be loved
of my Father, and I will love him, and mil manifest
myself to him.*^
The blessing from God on those who sanctify the
Sabbath, and his curse against others who openly de-
secrate it, are often made so obvious, even to worldly
or irreligious men, that they are constrained to observe
and avow that the resul ;s are Providential.
Speaking with an intelligent and observant Captain
of a merchant vessel, on the subject of Sabbath abuses
among seamen, he made the following judicious
remarks as the result of his own experience : — ' His
firm conviction,' he said, *was this, that the work
done on the Lord's day never prospered. He had
seen vessels in the West Indies engaged in taking in
their cargoes on Sundays, the same as on other days,
the owners paying the present penalty of double
wages to the labourers ; he had noticed many ship's
companies habitually employed in various duties
f
i-i
M
m
I
I
24
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
expressly arranged for their occupation on that sacred
day; he had witnessed ships in the timber trade
taking in their cargoes, and making the Sunday a
time of common labour, with a view of hastening the
voyage; but he never observed, and he had paid
great attention to the result, that any of them were
the gainers by the efforts they made. On the other
hand, he had observed different cases, (though he
could not, in Christian charity, ascribe them to the
Divine judgment,) in which accidents and stranding
had befallen several of the vessels in which the un-
hallowed efforts had been made for hastening their
voyage, and thus entirely defeated the contemplated
object.* Let the sea-faring reader calmly consider,
whether these important deductions of an intelligent
observer may not be founded in truth? Let him
reflect, since they are in accordance with the Word
of God, whether they are not more than probabilities,
yea, important certainties ?
An extensive proprietor of steam-vessels, a man of
sound understanding and acute observation, expressed,
in my hearing, very similar sentiments as the result
of his experience. ' The Company,' he said, ' with
which he was associated, (being one of the most
extensive and best regulated Companies in the king-
dom,) did no voluntary business whatever on the
Sunday; they sailed none of their vessels on that
day, except when any happened to be out of course,
and then, being obliged to despatch a steamer for
preserving the periods of sailing, no profit was made
BLESSING ON SABBATH OBSERVANCE.
25
of the passage, for the vessel was sent away empty.'
The result of experience in this laudable practice
was most satisfactory ; * they found no particular in-
convenience, and they were not aware of any loss
being sustained by the observance of the Sabbath !'
These examples of this kind of evidence, out of a
great body of corresponding statements, may suffice ;
for the quantity of corroborative experience, among
those whose endeavour it is to *^ Remember the
Sabbath day to keep it holy," is, in reality, inex-
haustible.
/'/
I .
f
I
i
i
26
Chapter II.
SPECIAL TESTIMONIES OF PROVIDENCE, ON TEMPORAL
PROSPERITY, TO SABBATH OBSERVANCES IN
THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
Section I. — Preliminary Observations.
That " the works of the Lord," as well in Provi-
dence as in Creation, " are great," as " sought out of
all them that h.ive pleasure therein," is a general
scriptural truth. It is a truth, howr-er, which
obtains more peculiar manifestations with those who
"go down to the sea in ships, that do business in
great waters;" for these see, most strikingly, "the
works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep."
If, then, the observableness of the actings of a par-
ticular Providence — as exhibited in the foregoing
chapter, in the general testimonies in regard to the
Sabbath, — have yielded any measure of conviction
to the mind of the serious and candid enquirer; a
still more powerful impression might reasonably be
expected from particular manifestations of similar
providences observed by those engaged in the adven-
tures of a sea-faring life. The opportunity of seeing
f.
PROVIDENTIAL TESTIMONIES.
m
" the finger of God " under these very circumstances,
and of witnessing such striking testimonies of Provi-
dence to the Sabbath as carried conviction to the
minds of hundreds of impartial observers, having
been my personal and repeated privilege, — I am
induced to put some of the more remarkable cases
on record, with the prayerful hope, that, under the
Divine blessing, the edifying impression which was
produced on those around me, my associates in ad-
venture, may be extended likewise to others.
The cases to which I allude occurred in the Green-
land whale-fishery, — a service peculiarly calculated,
from its difficulty, uncertainty, and hazardous nature,
to yield perpetual evidences of Providential inter-
ferences. For the observation of such interferences,
I had ample opportunities, having, for twenty-one
years, been personally engaged in this adventurous
occupation, in twelve of which I held the chief com-
mand. It was, however, in the last four voyages,
wherein my personal interest in the fishing, from
holding a considerable share in the concern, was the
greatest, that the Providential testimonies to Sabbath
observance were the most striking; and in these latter
years the incidents here related chiefly occurred.
During this period, the pecuniary interest to myself
alone, in the capture of a large whale, was, not
unfrequently, near £ 300, whilst a single day's suc-
cessful fishing might afibrd a personal advantage, as
in one instance or more it did, of upwards of £ 800.
Consequently every motive of self-interest, with
2S
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
myself, was in favour of unceasing exertions, during
the whole seven days of the week, for promoting the
success of our undertaking. The practice, moreover,
among the northern whalers, at that time, was almost
universal, — with the exception of one revered indi-
vidual now no more, and occasionally, perhaps, of
another honourable example of forbearance, — to
pursue the fishery equally on the Lord's day, as at
any other time, whenever whales were astir. Works
connected with the fishery, indeed, but considered of
less importance, were, for the most part, suspended,
in honour of the Sabbath ; but the capture of whales,
if opportunity offered, was considered as such a
kind of necessity, as to justify a departure from the
ordinary rest of the day. For it was argued, and
that with reason, that the whales which were seen on
the Sabbath might not remain till another day ; and,
therefore, it was inferred, though by no means with
the same strictness of truth, that it was a necessary
duty to pursue the objects of the fishery whenever
whales were within reach.
Through the goodness of God, however, I felt the
line of duty, personally, to be otherwise. The strict
command concerning the Sabbath, rendered, in my
apprehension, the duty imperative, — to refrain from
labouring in a worldly calling , for worldly advantage,
on that holy day ; and this, for several of the latter
voyages in which I was engaged, became our un-
deviating rule of conduct. And here it is but justice
to those who were then united with me in the adven-
PROVIDENTIAL TESTIMONIES.
29
turc, — Messrs. Hurry and Gibson, of Liverpool, — to
mention, that they, with other partners in the concern,
most fully accorded, and on the same principle of
reverence to the Divine command as myself, in the
practice I had adopted, — having given, indeed, to
another of their Captains, engaged in the same pur-
suit, very strict directions to sanctify the Sabbath as
a day of holy rest. And not these gentlemen only,
but others with whom I was previously engaged —
Messrs. Fishburn and Brodrick, who were the sole
owners of the ship Esk, which I commanded out of
the port of Whitby, most cheerfully acceded to the
plan, leaving me fully at liberty to deviate from the
usual practice in order to sanctify the Lord's day.
Before proceeding to state the result of this prac-
tice, I would solicit the kind indulgence of the reader
for speaking so much of myself. The necessity,
indeed, of doing this, if I became the narrator of
circumstances arising out of my own conduct, made
me for some time hesitate as to the propriety of pub-
lishing these personal experiences of the testimonies
of Providence to Sabbath observances. But as these
testimonies, which could not else be known, might
serve as encouragements to others to refrain from
Sabbath desecration, when urged to it by the appa-
rent necessities of important worldly interests, the
hope of usefulness seemed to justify their being thus
recorded.
Another circumstance connected with these personal
records, calling perhaps for still more indulgence, is
30
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
•i
the apparent ostentation of putting forth the details
of cases of peculiar self-denial, or of marked reverence
for the Lord^s day, beyond the general practice of
those engaged in the same occupation. But here
would I most solemnly disclaim any title to, or
assumption of, personal praise. On the contrary,
rather, from a heartfelt consciousness of prevailing
imperfection, would I adopt the words of our Lord
and say, — "we are unprofitable servants: we have
done that which was our duty to do." And deeply
humbled with a sense of personal short-comings in
other things, and even in the practice of keeping the
heart with all diligence, on the holy Sabbath, — I feel
bound thus publicly to give the entire praise to God,
in whatever, by His grace, I may have been enabled
to do or to suffer, to bear or to forbear, in respect to
the authority of His holy law.
One other precautionary observation may here be
called for, as a guard against the imputation of super-
stition or enthusiasm, with which some of these in-
cidents may possibly be charged, by those who are
not in the habit of observing the passing indications
of " the finger of God." Our defence, as to this,
is simple. If it be superstition to refer any special
success vouchsafed to the work of our hands to the
blessing of God, or if it be enthusiasm to expect such
a blessing when in that very work we have humbly
endeavoured, in dependence on Christ strengthening
us, to fulfil the conditions to which a blessing is
promised, — then must our every-day prayers, in
PROVIDENTIAL TESTIMONIES.
31
which we ask for the divine help and furtherance,
be only the ceremonials of superstition, and belief
in the faithfulness of God to His promises, a mere
enthusiasm. If, moreover, to hope for deliverance
from peril, in answer to prayer, or for guidance in
danger and difficulty, on asking it of God, were
really enthusiasm, — then must the reception of the
Scriptures, which both invite and admonish us to do
so, with the behef in a particular providence so per-
petually taught therein, become a similar weakness,
and the wonder-working power of faith a vain shadow !
But, as the word of truth is true, there is a special
providence disposing, guiding, and controlling the
affairs of this lower world; for "the Lord reigneth;"
"He is a great King over all the earth.'* And that
this government is not merely general, but particular,
and special, we find, among a variety of evidence,
these statements, — that ''man's goings are of the
Lord;" that "the steps of a good man are ordered
by the Lord ;" yea, that whilst " a man's heart de-
viseth his way, the Lord directeth his steps." And
such is the guidance and blessing on " every one
that feareth the Lord, and walketh in his ways," that
he has this assurance in Scripture, — " thou shalt eat
the labour of thine hands ; happy shalt thou be, and
it shall be well with thee."
Doubtless, the grand endowments, with which it
pleases God to reward the poor and unworthy endea-
vours of his servants to honour Him and keep his
laws, are spiritual blessings ; and these, did we fully
32
SABBA.THS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
realise their unspeakable superiority over the mere
transient enjoyments of time and sense, would be the
objects of our special anxiety and desire ; — neverthe-
less, it doth please the Almighty Giver of all good
things to yield over and above, and in no mean
degree, real and manifold temporal blessings to those
who, on Gospel principles, and in reliance only on
the merits and righteousness of Christ for the accept-
ance, both of themselves and their poor performances,
earnestly strive to walk " in all His ordinances and
commands blameless." Hence, though the expecta-
tion of temporal benefits in recompense of obedience,
were, as the motive to obedience, unworthy of the
generous spirit of Christianity; yet is the doctrine
unequivocally stated in the Scriptures, that, in keep-
ing of the commandments of the Lord, there is, in
every respect, "great reward ;" and that " Godliness
is profitable unto all things, having promise of the
life that now is, and of that which is to come.'*
That such a result was actually realized in my
own humble endeavours to honour the Sabbath, and
keep it holy, let facts testify.
Section II. — Indications of a Providential Blessing ,
in connection with Sabbath forbearance, in the
Fishery of 1820.
Though, for several of the latter voyages which I
undertook to the Arctic Seas, it had been our general
rule and endeavour f;o refrain from fishing on the
PROVIDENTIAL TESTIMONIES.
S'3
Sabbath ; it was not until the year 1820, that I was
enabled, undeviatingly , to carry the principle into
efFect. But in the voyage of that year, the principle
of the sanctity of the Sabbath was not violated, as far
as I am aware, by any endeavour whatever to pursue
the fishery on that sacred day. Several of the har-
pooners — whose interest in the success of the voyage
was such, that even a single large whale, being cap-
tured, yielded to them an advantage of from £6 to
£8 each — were, in the early part of the voyage,
very much dissatisfied with the rule. They con-
sidered it a great hardship that, whilst other ships
took advantage of the seven days of the week, for the
furtherance of their fishing, they should be restricted
to six. And as the obtaining of a full cargo was
then the lot only of a very few, they reasoned, " that
our chance of a prosperous voyage was but as six to
seven, when compared with that of our competitors
in the fishery." The chief officer, however, who,
in the outset, felt the restriction very strongly, was
frequently known to remark, * that if we, under such
disadvantages, should make a successful voyage, he
should then believe there indeed was something like
a blessing on the observance of the Sabbath.'
The early and middle part of the fishery, in the
voyage referred to, having proved very unproductive ,
our principles, towards the conclusion of the season,
were put to a severe test, when, for three successive
Sundays, a considerable number of fine whales most
invitingly appeared around us. But, notwithstanding^
c 52
34
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
I I
i|i
Ml'
■I;
the great temptation to " hungry fishermen," we were
enabled to persevere in our system of forbearance,
and with such a result, that all on board, I believe,
considered it as providential.
On the first occasion, indeed, which happened
during the night, a boat, — in neglect or forgetfulness
of the general order, — had been sent oflf in i arsuit ;
but it was immediately recalled when I . arose, in
regard to the Lord's day, and no other boat was after-
wards permitted to be lowered, though an unusual
number of fish, from time to time, were in view.
The three or four following days were very unfavour-
able for our object, being foggy, and, for the most
part, calm; but on the Wednesday, whilst the fog
was yet exceedingly dense, a fine fish was struck in
a crowded " patch of ice," and though its pursuers
could have no other guidance in the chase, but their
mutual shouts, and the sound of the "blowing" of
the distressed animal, yet the result, notwithstanding
the difficulties in the way, was unexpectedly success-
ful, and the prize secured.
The next Lord's day, though fish were astir, was
a day of sanctified and happy repose. Early in the
week, on the appearance of several whales, our efibrts
— put forth with augmented power, no doubt, in
consequence of the restraints of the Sabbath, and
furthered, I firmly believe, by Him who hath pro-
mised his blessing to them who ** call the Sabbath a
delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable," — were,
under various anxious hazards, highly successful.
Providential testimonies.
35
Two large whales were taken on the Tuesday, and
another on the Friday, yielding, altogether, a produce
of the value of about £ 1600.
Of the fishing of Tuesday — accomplished during a
gale of wind, in thick weather, and among numerous
large masses of very dangerous ice — the following
particulars, supplied in some minor respects from a
recollection of the circumstances, are derived chiefly
from my Journal of the day. After a brief narrative
of the proceedings in killing the two whales, and the
difficulties and anxieties attendant on getting them
secured to the ship, the Journal, in substance, thus
proceeds : — Both the fish being secured, or at least
taken in tow by stout hawsers from the ship, three of
our boats were despatched to a large " floe," where
one of the whales had been harpooned, in order to
recover the lines which, to an unusual and extraordi-
nary extent had been run out, — altogether, about
5760 yards in length, — and where these valuable
lines, hanging only by a hummock of ice, had been,
for the time, abandoned. Meanwhile, as the most
feasible proceeding, the ship was allowed to drift to
leeward, with the intention, if practicable, to moor to
the lee side of the floe to which the lines were
attached, that the boats might have some guidance,
should the dense fog continue, for their return. But
the ice was so crowded, and the gale so strong, that,
with the encumbrance of two " heavy fish," the ship
became almost unmanageable. "While thus ham-
pered we fell in with a small floe under our lee — a
.)
36
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
Ill
1:,;'
sheet of heavy flat ice perhaps a quarter of a mile in
diameter — from the danger presented by which, we
had a narrow escape, having, with every exertion in
the management of the sails, and the slacking away
of the hawsers attached to the whales, only cleared
the extreme point by about half the breadth of the
ship. Collision, here, must have been attended with
great risk of formidable damage to the ship.
My anxiety at this period was extrerie. If, on
the one hand, we made fast to any loose or detached
piece of ice, we should probably be driven away to a
great distance from the boats, so as to endanger the
safety of their crews ; yet if, on the other hand, whilst
contending to reach the large floe, we should unfor-
tunately fall in with any compact body of ice to lee-
ward, we might be so circumstanced, (not being able
to see a hundred fathoms before us,) as to be under
the necessity of casting the fish adrift for the preser-
vation of the ship. And in such an event we should
be at once in danger of losing our valuable prizes,
and of perilling the lives of our absent people. It
was a situation in which a reliance on a gracious
and special Providence, was peculiarly consoling and
advantageous. For whilst looking most anxiously
and prayerfully to Almighty God for guidance in our
manoeuvres, and for wisdom to act in so critical a
situation, we were most providentially directed within
view of a clear edge of the very floe we were desirous
of reaching, so as to have the opportunity of selecting
a suitable spot for placing our ice anchors. To effect
PROVIDENTIAL TESTIMONIES.
37
this, however, with a diminished crew, and during
our rapid drift along the edge of the ice, was a matter
of immense difficulty. And to discover a position
sufficiently to leeward for fixing an anchor, where
the extent of visioa was so exceedingly contracted —
and to bring the sluggish and encumbered ship to
the spot within the few moments which were allowed
us for the various important preparations, — required,
not only the utmost efforts of which man was capa-
ble, but the special blessing of Almighty God to
give his efforts success. Whilst the topsails were
kept shivering, in order to diminish as much as pos-
sible the leeward pressure of the wind, and to give
time for what was essential to be done, — a convenient
place for mooring was happily sought out, and an
ice- anchor dexterously fixed ; but, with every effort
and possible despatch, the ship had fallen too far to
leeward to enable us, whilst so encumbered, to fetch
the place of the anchor. Hence arose an urgent
necessity for the ship's being instantly relieved from
all encumbrances to her management. The order for
this was given, and, in a moment, the encumbering
whales were cast adrift (the ends of the hawsers being
dropped into a boat with a single hand to secure
them), and, then, by the prompt adjustment of the
sails we fetched just within range of the desired spot,
so that an active boat's crew, stimulated by the ur-
gency of the case and the danger of failure, succeeded
in carrying out the hawser, and in obtaining its
attachment to the well fixed anchor in the ice. It
38
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
was an interval, however, of most anxious suspense
whilst we watched the ship swinging by the intensely
stretched hawser, lest, whilst in the process of bring-
ing her up, anything should give way: and it was
an occasion for the exercise of every imaginable
application of science in order to relieve the first
eflfects of tension on the rope, by a smooth and judi-
cious slacking at the bit-head, and then to check the
violence of the swing of the ship's head, after passing
beyond the line -^f "head to wind," by the smart
and appropriate bracing round of the yards. We
happily succeeded in all we aimed at. And thus was
the requisite blessing yielded to our efforts for a safe
mooring to the floe.
The sailor, who, out of the dangers of a lee shore
and overpowering gale, has ever found unexpected
refuge in the commodious harbour, will enter into
our feelings, when, having thus escaped the imme-
diate hazards of the ice and the gale, we rejoiced and
'were glad because we were quiet; the Lord having
brought us,' as it were, *to our desired haven.' And
he who has been accustomed to regard the hand of
God in his own deliverances, will not hesitate to
unite with the writer in the concluding expression,
standing in the narrative of this day's proceedings, —
" Thanks be to God for all His mercies ! "
The ship being well secured to this fine sheltering
sheet of ice, by additional anchors, all the remaining
boats were sent out to tow up the whales; which, in
due time, were restored to their former attachments,
PROVIDENTIAL TESTIMONIES.
39
and one of them placed in proper order for the process
of flensing. One source of anxiety, however, though
that was greatly diminished, still remained, whilst
the thick stormy weather continued — in the absence
of 80 many of our hands. And many hours elapsed
before our earnest gaze into the bewildering murkiness
on our larboard or port hand, was cheered by the
sight of one of the boat's approaching us; but, in the
course of the succeeding morning, the other boats,
after which we had so anxiously looked, guided by
the margin of the floe, to our exceeding joy, returned,
and we not only had the pleasure of greeting our
half-starved comrades all safe ; but of finding that all
our lines and fishing-tackle had been recovered and
secured.
A day of sweet and welcome repose was the suc-
ceeding Sabbath. The gale had for some time sub-
sided; and now a genial and cloudless atmosphere
cheered the spirits, whilst all nature sparkling under
the sun's bright beams, seemed to participate in the
gladness. Several whales sported around us; but,
as far as we were concerned, they were allowed a
Sabbath-day's privilege to sport unmolested.
The men were now accustomed to look for a
blessing on Sabbath observances. And within the
succeeding week, even before we were in a comfort-
able situation for receiving further accessions to our
now considerable cargo, the blessing was realized.
We were employed in "making-off"" — that is, pack-
ing the recently acquired blubber in casks for its
40
SABBATHS IN THE AKCTIC REGIONS.
,'1
II
preservation, — when a fine stout wh{ile rose close
by the ship. As quickly as the lumbered state
of the decks, and scattered disposition of the crew,
would permit, a boat was dropped to pursue it.
Being a thick fog at the time, the boat was in a few
moments out of sight. But before we had arranged
for the despatch of a companion for their assistance
and security, the usual alarm of a successful pursuit,
— "a fall! a falll" — resoruded through the calm
atmosphere from the lips of our absent people. The
noise of the lines in "the fast boat," as they were
dragged out under the resistance of several turns
round the stem, served as a guide to the assistance
now yielded; and one of the boats fortunately got up
with fresh resources, just in time to save the lines,
and to preserve the connection with the entangled
whale. The distinctness with which sounds are
transmitted through a calm atmosphere, across the
unruffled surface of an interglacial sea, enabled the
boats to pursue the chase by the resounding only of
its own excited respirations, so that, in brief space,
four additional harpoons were struck, and the huge
animal soon yielded its life to the skilfully-plied lances
of its pursuers. This was a most important acqui-
sition to our cargo, inasmuch as it was calculated to
fill up our remaining stowage, and to authorise us to
quit the present scene of labour, which, however
animating and interesting during a successful fishing,
is generally found to be oppressively anxious in its
progress, and, not unfrequently, perillous in its adven-
PROVIDENTIAL TESTIMONIES.
41
tures. In token of the happy circumstance of the
attainment of a complete cargo, or * a full ship ' — an
incident, at this period of the fishery of but rare
experience, — the important prize was towed by the
whole of the boats in a line, with flags flying, and
constant animating cheers, till they arrived alongside.
This proved a third and impressive instance of,
what I may safely characterize as, unusual success,
closely following upon special self-denial in remem-
brance of the Sabbath day, and in humble endeavours
to keep it holy. Nor was the result less remarkable
when put in comparison with the fishing of the ships
in sight around us,— amounting occasionally to be-
tween twenty and thirty sail, — for scarcely was there
an instance throughout this large fleet, though most
of them, if not the whole, employed every day alike
in the capture of whales, in which one-half of the
like success resulted from the labour of the same
interval of time. This remark, I trust, will not be
ascribed to any feeling of personal vanity, but as the
mere statement of a fact, — a fact necessary to the
verification of the position proposed to be established
by these memorials of providential experiences. For
in justice to others engaged in the same field of
enterprise, freely do I admit, and with pleasure yield
the testimony, that many of the Captains with whom
I happened to come into competition evinced a
measure of laborious, skilful, and persevering zeal in
their adventurous pursuits, not merely praiseworthy
in itself, but scarcely to be exceeded. And in further
4i
■ii
111! V .1
'If,
I'
'Til
■'1
.I'il;
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
justification of my own motives, I feel it right to add,
that, however it pleased Almighty God to bless me,
personally, in the work of my hands, there were
others whose active and able exertions were, in the
general issue, crowned with corresponding success.
All, therefore, which I am desirous of claiming, by
the putting forth of these various incidents of per-
sonal experience, io, that they might serve as specific
testimonies of a providential blessing on the work of
our hands, yielded to sincere endeavours, on Christian
principles, to remember the Sabbath day, and keep
it holy. And that our self-denial in the now cited
cases yielded, at the time, such testimonies to the
minds of most of those around me I have no hesita-
tion of distinctly affirming. The chief mate, indeed,
who, in the outset, as I have said, had been most free
to express to his brother officers his dissent from the
rule on which we acted, was, at the conclusion of this
voyage, so fully convinced of the fallacy of his former
reasonings, that he candidly acknowledged his error,
and, never, on any future occasion that I had an
opportunity of witnessing, either forgot the impres-
sion, or retracted the opinion which he now avowed.
Section III. — Capture of a Whale of uncommon
size, after a peculiar exercise of Self-denial, in
honour of the Sabbath, on the preceding day.
The next voyage, which was not very successful
either with ourselves or with the whalers in general.
PROVIDENTIAL TESTIMONIES.
43
was yet pursued, throughout, without any open dese-
cration of the Sabbath by either attempting to fish, or
even pursuing the search after better fishing stations
on that holy day. Very soon after our entrance into
the fishing stations our principles were put to the
trial. On Sunday, the 27th of May, (about 3 a.m.)
a large fish made its appearance close by the ship,
and remained sporting about for nearly three hours ;
a circumstance, in the habits of the whale, of very
rare occurrence. Captain Manby, who was my com-
panion on this occasion, has given a record of the
circumstance alluded to, in his " Journal of a Voyage
to Greenland," an extract from which may appro-
priately serve as an introduction to the present
narrative. " Early this morning (Sunday)," says the
writer, "the officer of the watch reported to the
Captain that a very large whale was lying on the
surface of the water near the ship, and asked per-
mission to lower a boat and attack it, but was refused.
Two or three hours afterwards, on its rising again,
the officer returned, making the savne application,
urged by the crew, who, [having risen from their
beds, almost to a man, to look at the tempting object
before them,] had actually carried one of the har-
pooners by force into the boat, and were preparing
to lower it down; but the same denial was not
only peremptorily made, but an order issued that
the fullest reverence to the day must be observed.
Thus/' adds the intelligent author, "did the Sabbath
bring with it the charms of peace." The trial of our
w
f
'ill ■ !'
iii'fl
I :!
44
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
forbearance, however, was again exercised by observ-
ing a ship at a little distance engaged in flensing a
whale which had just been captured; and likewise by
the appearance of another whale temptingly near us
in the afternoon. But, by the help of God, we were
enabled still to resist the accumulated incitements to
violate the sanctity of the Sabbath, and to continue
our usual devotional exercises throughout the greater
part of the day.
The weather, which during the Sunday had been
clear and serene, and particularly favourable for the
prosecution of the fishery, changed during the night,
and in the morning was dark, windy, and cheerless.
Though I myself had no apprehension whatever that
our self-denial during the Sunday would be any even-
tual disadvantage, even in a worldly point of view, I
was particularly anxious that my crew, whose ardour
had been so tryingly repressed, should have the
comfort and benefit of the same conviction. As far,
therefore, as any efforts of my own could contribute
to this end, I felt desirous of exerting every diligence,
and with this view, immediately after breakfast, I
went to the mast-head prepared for " a long spell."
But the aspect of the sea around was discouraging.
No whale had been seen during the night, and for
some hours my own observation was exerted in vain.
The ship at this time was surrounded by broad sheets
of ice, with a large and rather compact body of smaller
pieces, called " a pack," lying to the westward of us.
Observing a part of this pack that was looser than the
PROVIDENTIAL TESTIMONIES.
45
rest, I ran the ship into it, and pursued, among its
devious windings, a very critical navigation, as far as
I thought it useful or safe to penetrate. After trav-
ersing, for a considerable time, the different channels
presented by the surrounding ice, lingering still for
the chance of finding some game in this thick and
congenial cover, the search was at length given up
as hopeless, and the helmsman was directed to steer
out of the pack into the open water adjoining. Just,
however, as I was turning myself slowly round in
the "crow's nest," to take, what I designed to be, a
last deliberate look abroad in every direction, previous
to retiring from my long and tedious confinement at
the mast head, — I caught a glimpse, as I cast my eye
to the westward, of the tail of a whale in the act of
descending; — for the whale, when playing about at
its ease, and having sufficiently refreshed itself by
respiration, generally terminates its stay at the surface
by two or three "high backs," with the exhibition of
its huge tail, out of the water, as it finally disappears.
The distance of the whale now discovered, I con-
sidered to be nearly two miles ; but as the glimpse I
had obtained of it was only momentary, no accurate
observation could be made as to its situation. A boat,
however, was despatched at a venture— the officer in
charge of it being one of our most hardy and adven-
turous harpooners. With him, indeed, it seemed to
be a matter of reckless indifference, in the pursuit of
his object, whether the whale were quietly lying at
the surface, as if courting the attack, or floundering
i
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS. i
with excited vehemence in its dying agonies, or leap-
ing, ever and anon, in its mighty gambols, clear out
of its native element, and threatening with certain
destruction whatever it might encounter in its action.
The direction, and the estimated distance of the chase,
were hastily pointed out to this zealous harpooner,
who, followed more leisurely by an assistant boat, set
forward, as if rowing a race, so that the leading boat,
thus manfully urged, seemed almost to fly on its way.
According to usual probabilities, one would not have
expected a favourable result; for ordinarily, whilst
traversing a space so considerable, the boats having
little to guide the steersman, are liable to swerve from
their proper direction, until, not unfrequently, they
go greatly astray, but in this case there was no error —
the steering neither deviated to the right nor the left;
and fortunately, as the boat approached within about
the third of a mile of the place where the whale had
been seen, it re-appeared, when its pursuers were
further animated to exertion by an increasing hope
of success. And it so happened, contrary to the or-
dinary habits of the animal, that it remained at the
surface of the water for several minutes together, till
the boat, without ever relaxing its speed from the
moment it left the ship, was rowed "high and dry"
upon the back of the chase ! With palpitating anxiety
I had been watching through my glass the amazing
efforts of the men, and their encouraging progress,
till the blow was struck. Perceiving that it was
effectual, I gave announcement of the joyful tidings
m !'■
PROVIDENTIAL TESTIMONIES.
47
by the usual exclamation of " a fall — a fall!" Forth-
with the delighted crew spring upon deck — some in
their sleeping dress, with eyes half closed, and their
bundle of clothes in their hand — and literally, as on
such occasions they are wont, tumble in animated
confusion into the boats, — the half-naked arraying
themselves during the few moments of "lowering-
away," or subsequently as opportunity may permit.
Four other boats were thus added to the force
already engaged in the adventure, and their exertions
were singularly effectual. By the time we were
enabled to reach the scene of action with the ship,
sever?! or 'itional harpoons had been fastened in the
body of \c a;iimal, and the lances so actively plied,
that alreaay it exhibited signs of exhaustion. It
roused itself briefly for a final struggle — warning the
boats to keep clear of the ponderous blows of the fins
and tail of the dying monster — and then, rolling over
on its side, ceased to live. Three cheers from the
victors announced this interesting, and unexpectedly
speedy result, — the capture having been completed
within the short space of an hour from the striking
of the first harpoon. And it proved a magnificent
prize, being the largest animal of the species, as
estimated by the length of the whalebone— the usual
measure of comparison employed in the fishery —
which, in an aggregate of several hundreds, I had
ever seen captured. The extreme length of the
animal, indeed, was not unusual, not being more
than 62 feet j but the fatness and bulk were remark-
V,
48
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
i!
able. The longest lamina of whalebone measured
within a quarter of an inch of 13 feet. The width
of the tail was 21 feet. The produce in blubber was
above 30 tuns, together with about a ton and a
quarter, in weight, of whalebone !
Every one in the ship was struck with the size and
appearance of this seasonable capture; and most of
the crew, I believe, reflecting on the previous day's
temptation and forbearance, drew the unprompted
inference, that there was in reality a blessing attached
to the observance of the Sabbath.
Section IV. — Remarkable Indications of a Provi-
dential Blessing in the Fishery of 1823.
The voyage of 1822, the journal of which is before
the public, did not fail in yielding its portion of
evidence in favour of the proposition, — that a blessing,
providentially, is connected with the humble endea-
vour to sanctify the Sabbath. One very satisfactory
instance on that occasion occurred, which, together
with another, or two, of a similar kind, in a previous
voyage, might, with propriety, have been brought
forward among these records of providential testi-
monies; but,' as there was nothing peculiar in the
details and incidents of these cases, this mere notice
of them may suffice.
In the fishery of 1823, however, being my last
adventure to the Arctic Seas, one of the most striking
incidents of the class, under consideration, yet re-
corded, occurred.
PROVIDENTIAL TESTIMONIES.
About the middle of the month of May, we arrived
on one of the usual fishing stations, in the 78th
parallel of latitude, off the western coast of Spitz-
bergen. On Saturday, the 17th, several whales were
* astir,' and all our boats, manned with eager fisher-
men, were sent out in pursuit. One of the boats at
length came within reach of its chase, and a harpoon
was struck; but, after great and fruitless efforts,
during seven or eight hours, to come at the wounded
animal, it escaped us by the breaking of the instru-
ment with which it had been entangled. Shortly
afterwards, ere the sun had crossed the meridian
below the Pole to usher in the sacred day of the
Lord, we hoisted up our boats, and rested from our
labour.
In the morning, our principles of Sabbath forbear-
ance were put to a severe test, by different incite-
ments to pursue the great object of our voyage.
While a competitor in the adventure, close by us,
and another at a distance, were employing their
entire crews in the business of the fishery, several
fine large whales were seen sporting, unmolested,
around us, and some of them came temptingly near.
One of these excited the ardour of our hitherto
unsuccessful crew in the highest degree, playing
immediately around the ship, first on one hand and
then on the other, and sometimes only a few fathoms
distant, for almost an hour together. Being anxious
myself to " Remember the Sabbath day to keep it
holy," the ship was laid to, and the too ardent crew
■/ '
50
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
1
sent below, with a view of avoiding all unnecessary
complaint or excitement. But, without sentries at
the hatchways, it was found impossible to keep them
down. Every now and then they were caught steal-
ing into the forecastle; and faint suppressed excla-
mations might be heard — " there she blows ! there
she blows ! — oh, what a loager " [or huge monster] —
as the unconscious animal sent forth, in roaring
expirations, the dense compound of air and vapour
from its mighty lungs. By means, however, of our
different religious services, which were attended to
as usual, the men, for a time at least, were effectually
kept away from the interesting scene abroad, and
some of the disturbing excitement was happily sub-
dued. The impression that was on my own mind,
indeed, had been extended, through the like personal
experience, to many of my officers and crew, as to the
advantage of pursuing the path of duty, rather than
to expect any temporal benefit from the desecration
of the holy day of the Lord ; this, therefore, had its
influence on several of our people, in inducing a
more willing accordance with the established order
of the ship, for a temporary respite from our every-
day labour. At the same time we were not without
some examples amongst us, I trust, of a higher order
of faith and obedience, in those who felt the pro-
priety, and acknowledged the duty, of refraining
from ordinary occupations on the Sabbath, whatever
might be the temporal loss or disadvantage in so
doing.
PROVIDENTIAL TESTIMONIES.
51
Towards evening, the whales, which had hitherto
been so numerous and tantalizing in their approaches
to the ship, gradually disappeared, and at night,
when I retired to rest, not one was anywhere to be
seen. Nevertheless, when I left the deck for the
night, I playfully directed the officer of the wat a,
whilst giving him the usual and requisite orders, 'to
catch a whale as soon as the Sabbath was ended,' —
a duty which, however hard or indeed impracticable
it might seem to have become, was punctually and
literally fulfilled. Immediately after twelve at night,
the sun being still above the horizon, — for it may be
proper to remind the reader that we were in a lati-
tude in which, during three months of the year,
there is continuous daylight, — the prompt and zealous
officer lowered a boat, in readiness for service, to be
manned by the forthcoming hands out of the middle
watch. But before the watch was yet fully relieved,
whilst the harpooner was adjusting and cleaning his
weapon, and the boat's crew were rubbing their
scarce half-opened eyes, a solitary fish, the only one
that had been seen for several hours, arose within
a commodious distance of the ship. The boat was
instantly in pursuit, and, in brief space, the harpoon
was struck into the back of the chase, and all hands
were aroused from their beds by the usual alarm to
assist in the capture. Our excited hopes of a prize,
however, were greatly damped in the very onset, by
observing the wounded whale urge its way towards
a large contiguous sheet of " bay -ice," — a perplexing
53
A
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
shelter which it succeeded in reaching before any of
our boats could overtake it. Here it had us at great
disadvantage. For whilst the ice was too weal to
bear the weight of a man, to attack .^ by travelling
across the surface, it was at the same time so cohesive
in its substance as to render the penetration of the
boats exceedingly tardy ; besides the noise of their
advance through the tenacious medium gave such
timely warning to the fish as to enable it, without
difficulty, to avoid our lances. Hence, for several
hours, during which it adhered to this shelter, it
ciFectually kept us at a distance, till our first excited
hopes of accomplishing the capture had almost sunk
into despair. But, at length, contrary to the usual
habits of the animal, it arose, most unexpectedly to
myself, in a small lake of clear water, in the interior
of the ice, where one of our boats, more advanced than
than the rest, was fortunately lying ready to receive
it ; and there it immediately received the additional
security of a second harpoon. In the course of an
hour more, four other harpoons were struck, and
eventually, though the capture was tedious, the prize
was secured.
Thus, again, was our refraining from Sabbath
desecration satisfactorily rewarded by the capture of
a fine whale under circumstances most unfavourable
for success ; and thus, too, was the oft-repeated con-
viction once more afforded to the crew, that a strict
obedience to the Divine commands is not only the
way of duty, but likewise the source of manifest
blessings.
PROVIDENTIAL TESTIMONIES.
53
to
An incident occurred in this day's fishing which,
though not immediately connected with the object in
view, may here be recorded, as illustrative both of
the common hazards of the fis .ry, and of the merci-
ful preservation of some of our people. Just as we
had started with the operation of "flensing" the
captured whale, another appeared very near to the
ship, which was forthwith attacked, and struck with
a harpoon. It set off with prodigious velocity to the
westward, dragging the **fast boat" through the
channels of the surrounding ice, at a rate defying
any attempt to yield either assistance or protection.
"Whilst thus "flying through the water," the boat
unfortunately passed the shelving margin of a large
lump of ice, which it grazed on the side, when the
impulse, under the extraordinary speed, turned it
completely bottom upward, and, in a single instant
of time, projected the astonished crew into the sea !
Being at a great distance from all their comrades —
hard as these were labouring at the pursuing oar —
and some of the poor fellows, I believe, being un-
practised in swimming, they were for a time in
imminent peril of their lives. But a gracious Pro-
vidence watched over them; and, like the persons
with Saint Paul in his shipwreck on Melita, those
that could swim got first a footing on the piece of ice
by which they had been overwhelmed, and of the
rest, some followed supported by oars, or by the help
they were enabled to give each other; and so it came
to pass that they escaped all safe to the same tem-
1.
FID
(I
n
I
\
54
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REaiONS.
porary refuge. No sooner was the whole party safely
landed, than they got sight of the line to which the
whale was yet attached, as it was sweeping across a
submerged projection of the ice ; this they dexterously
contrived to hook up so as to recover their hold of
the fish ; but an unfortunate obstruction occurring in
the running of the line, the harpoon pnapped, and
the prize they had anticipated was lost.
Section V. — Trying Case of Forbearance in the
Fishery of\%2'6,foUoioed by the usual Testimony.
An instance of forbearance in worldly enterprise—
the most tantalizing in its circumstances of any which
I remember to have experienced throughout the
period of my occupation in the business of the fishery
— occurred on the same voyage as that of the case
last recorded.
On the 13th of July, blowing hard with rain or
sleet, we moored to a large and heavy floe (a sheet of
ice about three or four miles in diameter) in order,
the more commodiously, to enjoy a Sabbath day's
repose. A ship from Peterhead, which had for some
days been accompanying us in our progress through
the western ices, followed our example, and a con-
siderable number of her ofiicers and crew joined us
in our usual Sabbath devotions. An evening service,
designed chiefly for the instruction and benefit of the
apprentices, had been concluded, the sacred day of
the Lord was drawing to a close, and our visitors
were preparing to return to their ship, when a large
PROVIDENTIAL TESTIMONIES.
55
whale was descried by one of our own seamen in a
situation very inviting for attempting its capture. No
doubt it was contemplated by many with an ardent
and longing gaze ; but the orders for sanctifying the
Sabbath being quite peremptory, no attempt, on the
part of any of our people, was made, to pursue the
tempting ooject. Our fellow-worshippers, however,
being less scrupidous, instantly manned the boat
which had brought them on board of the Baffin, and
set forth, along with some others from their own ship,
in eager pursuit. Nor were their ardent hopes dis-
appointed ; for in a short time the usual quietness of
the day, with us, was broken in upon by the shout of
success from the pursuing boats, followed by vehement
respondings from the contiguous ship. The attack
being followed up vdth the wonted vigour, proved
successful, and the prize, which proved a valuable
one, was fully secured by the middle of the night.
That such a result should not be exceedingly trying
to the feelings of our people — who saw that their
competitors had won the prize which we had first
declined — was more than could be expected. Never-
theless, both the trial of their obedience, and the
exercise of their patience, were so sustained, as to be
at once satisfactory to me, and highly creditable to
themselves. Their minds, in general, seemed disposed
to admit the principle on which we acted; for, in
addition to the religious sanctions, their repeated
experiences had testified that the principle was ac-
knowledged of Heaven.
56
SABB/ITHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
It was my intention to have "cast off," in the
morning of Monday, to explore the navigable spaces
of the ice to the westward, with a view to the further-
ance of our voyage j but the day being still stormy,
M'ith constant thick weather from snow, sleet, or rain,
we found it expedient to remain in somewhat anxious
idleness, whilst our successful comrades were joyously
and usefully occupied in flensing the valuable fish
obtained almost under our stern. This was doubtless
an additional trial of the good feelings of our crew ;
but whatever might be the regrets of any in yielding
up, for conscience sake, our chance of so fine a prize,
I heard of no other dissatisfaction than the mere
expression of a natural anxiety 'to be under- way that
we might find a fish for ourselves.' The state of the
weather, however, induced us to continue at our
moorings, till forced off by the movements of the
contiguous ices, which threatened the safety of the
ship. Soon afterwards we set forth on our object;
and having made a stretch to the westward, all hands
were speedily called into exhilarating action, by the
discovery of several whales. The eagerness of the
men, indeed, was, in the first instance, against us ;
more than one of the objects of their anxiety being
unnecessarily scared, for want of that wise and consi-
derate prudence which, under the circumstances, was
peculiarly needed to temper and direct their excited
zeal. At length, however, after a variety of mortifying
failures, a harpoon was ably struck ; and though the
boat received a desperate heave, and some of its oars
PROVIDENTIAL TESTIMONIES.
57
were projected high into the air, happily, no accident
ensued. The excess of ardour among the men was
now in full demand, being appropriately drawn off
by the vigour with which the wounded monster vainly
struggled for its liberty and life. Outstripping the
utmost speed of its pursuers, in the beginning of the
chase, it obtained shelter amid a compact accumulation
of numerous masses of ice, where it was most difficult
to be reached, and from whence it seemed next to
impracticable to be dislodged. After encountering,
however, a variety of little adventures, as well as
some very threatening obstacles, all of which were
safely overcome, or spontaneously gave way, as the
pursuit and lancing advanced — we succeeded in sub-
duing the powerful animal; and no sooner was it
cleared of the lines, and in a condition to be removed,
than the compact aggregation of ices by which it was
enveloped, began to relax, so that with little further
embarrassment a channel was cleared out, and the
prize effectually secured. Thus before the very first
day available for the fishery, after the Sabbath, had
come to a close, all our anxieties were relieved, our
forbearance compensated, and our efforts crov a-d
with the desired success.
Section VI. — Indications of a Providuilial Rebuke
for Sabbath Violation.
If the cases, heretofore cited oui of my own ex-
perience, be sufficient to indicate that a special
V
M
SABBA.THS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
t
Providence doth now, even as in former ages of the
world, yield continual acknowledgments to the con-
scientious observance of the Sabbath j other cases
might be brought forward to verify a similar indi-
cation of Providential rebukes for the neglect or
violation of that holy day. For as, on the one hand,
a positive blessing has been distinctly realized in the
humble endeavour to " keep the Sabbath to sanctify
it, as the Lord our God hath commanded us ;'* so, on
the other hand, a consistent experience of the con-
verse truth has also been realized — that in the violation
of the Sabbath, by secular employments, a positive loss
and disadvantage are often found to result. And this
observation, it is but candid to say, was suggested by
what I felt, personally, to be Providential rebukes,
long before the admirable remarks of Chief Justice
Hale on the subject, fell into my hands ; and I can
heartily join him in every word of the declaration in
respect to the Sabbath, already quoted, that "when I
have been negligent of the duties of this day, the rest
of the week hath been unsuccessful and unhappy to
my secular employments."
By my Father, whose attention to the religious
weliare of his sailors was generally both strict and
exemplary, the important duty of honouring the
Sabbath was first impressed upon me ; and for several
voyages before it pleased Almighty God, by his grace,
to make me desirous, I humbly trust, of living, how-
ever self-denyingly, by the rule of His holy word,
and for the promotion of His glory, I was induced.
PROVIDENTIAL TESTIMONIES.
59
by strong convictions of the religious obligation of
the fourth Commandment, to endeavour to observe
it. In the outset of his adventures, indeed, my
Father did not altogether refrain from fishing on the
Lord's day, if any whales happened to come imme-
diately across his course ; yet he seldom looked out
for them at a distance, or went out of his way to seek
for them, — whilst in the regularity of his performance
of divine worship, and in his carefulness to abstain
from ordinary labour and from worldly intercourse
with his fellow Commanders, he set an example so
far above -vhat was usual in his occupation, as to
impress those around him with the conviction, that
his aim was to " Remember the Sabbath day to keep
it holy." As to myself the impression was such, that,
on being appointed to the command of a ship, it
naturally became my endeavour to follow closely that
part of his commendable practice, in respect to the
Sabbath, which had so strongly approved itself to my
mind. Divine service was, therefore, regularly per-
formed on the Sundays, from the very outset, and all
unnecessary work, as far as I then saw it right to
draw the line, was steadily, and, for a considerable
period, perseveringly abstained from. One very
conscious deviation, however, at length occurred,
which, from the circumstances felt at the time to
result from it in the way of rebuke, is too remarkable
to be passed over in silence. For as, from motives
already stated, I have ventured to set forth a con-
siderable series of personal efforts to sanctify the
60
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
\
f!
Sabbath; both manly duty and Christian candour
call for the avowal that, as to manifold and great
defects in these efforts, " I do remember my faults
this day ;" and, in regard to a very particular and
well-marked example, I am free to record them.
My first trial in command, in the adventurous
occupation to which I had been brought up, was
attended with most satisfactory success ; and so rapid
was our progress in the fishery, that, by the middle
of the season usually available for the object, we had
obtained a cargo nearly adequate to the capacity of
the ship, and were in sanguine hope, if not in firm
expectation, of a speedy and joyful return, — with " a
full ship," — to the land of our birth. On a Sunday
morning, however, whilst cheered by the indulgence
of these encouraging prospects, we fell in with two
ships from the same port as my own, and commanded
by personal acquaintances. After some hesitation
and scruples of conscience about breaking in upon
the sanctity of the Sabbath and Sabbath-day duties,
I was led to invite the Captains on board to break-
fast. Being all, on this occasion, successful fishers,
the excitement of social intercourse provoked further
departures from duty ; the Sabbath seemed forgotten,
and the conversation, which I had not resolution to
attempt to divert, proved worldly and vain, and, on
the part of one of my visitors still worse, besides
being altogether unsuited for the sacredness of the day.
And although I felt conscience-stricken and unhappy,
€ven in the height of our self-indulgence, yet, from a
PROVIDENT VL TESTIMONIES.
61
foolish and mistaken politeness, I asked them, as they
were preparing to retire, to prolong their stay till
after our usual early dinner. As they unhappily
acquiesced, the religious duties of the day were, for
the most part, prevented, and the best of the Sabbath
passed away, not only unsanctified, but desecrated, so
that when they left me in the afternoon, I could
realize no other feeling but that of vexation with the
deepest self-reproach.
Before leaving the deck for the night, as my cus-
tom was, I went to the mast-head, when I forthwith
discovered a tempting opening among the ice in
which we lay, leading, by no very difficult navigation,
to a situation in the visible distance most encouraging
for prosecuting the fishery. The helm was imme-
diately put up in order to traverse the opening,
when, having occasion to pass under the stern of the
ship of one of my morning's associates, he recom-
mended me, on being informed of the intention of
the manoeuvre, to desist till the following day, as it
was unnecessary now to break into our night's rest, —
a recommendation which, with an indecision most
unusual with me, and such as I should have been
generally much ashamed of, I listened to and fol-
lowed. But when I arose in the morning, what was
my mortification to find that the passage, which the
night before was so easily practicable, was now en-
tirely closed up. Nor was this all the occasion for
vexation. I could perceive beyond the barrier a
ship that had penetrated when the channel was open.
$
62
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
now actively engaged in fishing, and, as by her
signals we could discern, with great and repeated
success ! No effort to join her, however, could be
in any way availing ; so that we were constrained to
lie idle spectators of the interesting but inaccessible
scene.
The next day numbers of whales came around us
where we werej but, although every nerve was
strained in anxious pursuit, and although the situation
and circumstances seemed most favourable for suc-
cess, all our endeavours utterly failed. On the
Wednesday, having taken a circuit of the intervening
ice, separating us from the place at which we had
previously aimed, we again came in sight of the
interior opening, and now we could perceive that
several ships had obtained an entrance, and that the
crews of every one of them were busily engaged in a
successful fishing. We penetrated towards them, in
a new position, as far as we could; but, here also,
we found a barrier of ice, in the act, indeed, of
opening, though as yet impenetrable, and shutting
us out from the interior lake. In this tantalizing
situation, — in full view of a fishing site, almost
swarming with whales, to which additional ships
were every now and then finding access from a dif-
ferent quarter, and, as soon as they entered, were
observed to hoist signals indicative of success, — we
were constrained, a second time, to remain in anxious
inaction, whereas could we have accomplished a
passage through the barrier, we might have obtained,
PROVIDENTIAL TESTIMONIES.
63
probably in a few hours, the residue of a cargo
whereby we should have been in a condition to re-
treat from the hazards and anxieties of an adventurous
occupation, consummated by complete success, and
in full assurance of universal welcome at home.
Painful as the continued disappointment was to
those associated ith me in the toils and rewards of
the adventure, — u me it was feelingly instructive.
The impression was irresistible, that I was chastised
for the desecration of the Sabbath. But the course
of disappointment was not yet completed. The bar-
rier of ice, which was not more than a mile and a
half in width, was found, towards midnight, to be
pervious for boats ; though, from the direction of the
" slack," being head to wind, it was not possible, at
that time, to accomplish the passage with the ship.
As such, to anticipate our more tardy advance, ^tje
boats, fully equipped for service, were despatched,
with instructions to the leading harpooner, — " to
penetrate the barrier into the interglacial sea beyond,
and, crossing it to windward, to make for the nearest
edge of a ' field ' — a sheet of ice of apparently
interminable extent — which formed the limit of the
navigable sjpace on the north : having gained this
position he was directed to trace the margin of the
ice westward^ in search of whales, as, in that direction
the current of success was now observed to set."
Impelled by ardent fishermen, the boats were soon
beyond the barrier, and were traced to the margin of
the field, where I lost sight of them among those of
64
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
the adjoining fleet. About four hours after they left,
the wind still blowing fresh "directly in our teeth,"
the ice was found to be so much separated as to
encourage the hope of our being able to beat to
windward through it. An anxious, difficult, and
hazardous navigation of two or three hours, brought
us through the interposing ice into the opening
beyond, where I had the most confident expectation of
joining my boats in possession of one or more whales.
But what was my disappointment, when, after a night
spent in very harassing labour, I discovered the boats
returning to the ship — not from the westward, the
direction in which they had been sent, but from the
very opposite quarter — and the people thoughtlessly
exulting over the idle capture of a polrr bear, — a
thing of mean and contemptible -mportance, when
the grand objects of the fishery were so abundant, as,
if judiciously sought out, and vigorously pursued, to
afford every reasonable prospect of success ! Unfor-
tunately, they had mistaken the orders ; and urging
their way with a headlong zeal, took up their stations
in the only position where there was a probability of
their failing ! By the time we reached the field with
the ship, the "run of fish" vra.s nearly over; whilst
the prosperous fleet assembled before us were found
exulting over the prizes they had captured. Almost
every ship had been successful. Several of them
had taken two large and valuable whales, and some
had obtained sufficient to complete their cargoes; so
that a portion of the fleet immediately bore away for
/"i
PROVIDENTIAL TESTIMONIES.
65
the land of their hopes, "full ships," of which their
flying colours was the usual token.
The rest of the week was spent in harassing, and
laborious exertions to attain to the like condition of
our rejoicing competitors, and, eventually, with a
small measure of success ; but even this, the capture
of a single whale, was in reality a mortification, for
instead of yielding the considerable produce which its
ample size seemed to promise, it proved lean, meagre,
and singularly unproductive !
As, therefore, the week commenced, so it ended ;
anxiety, mortification, and disappointment, were con-
tinued in painful succession, throughout, and the
lesson whicli was read to me, by this manifestation
of a chastising Providence, has remained in vivid
recollection to this very day! May God grant that
the present record of it may be the means of inducing
some of those who violate the Sabbath for vain amuse-
ments, worldly compliances, or worldly gains, to
consider their ways, and be wise ! May they be
induced to examine into the events of their own lives,
whether the hand of God, bringing rebukes upon
their unsanctified indulgences or labours, may not
sometimes be as clearly discerned! Other circum-
stances might here be adduced in illustration of the
same doctrine j but this, which had so powerful an
impression on my own mind, may suffice.
66
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
Section VII.-
■ General Results of the foregoing
Testimonies.
The traces of the special workings of God in
Providence, and the declarations of His mind in the
written word, are equally, with the great mass of
the world, as sealed books, because of unbelief.
Many, indeed, are greatly self-deceived in regard
to the reality rnd extent of their own faith in revela-
tion; for whilst believing in a certain sense, and to a
limited extent, the testimonies of Inspiration, they do
not receive and realize the doctrine of Divine Pro-
vidence as a practical or experimental fact. And
amongst the portion of mankind who do really believe,
the whole book of Providence is by no means equally
intelligible. There are pages written for individuals,
and distinctly perceptible to them, into which another
entereth not. Others there are of so palpable a
nature, that all who acknowledge the doctrine may
read. Sometimes, indeed, the voice of Providence is
thundered forth in such terrific manifestations, that
the multitudes recognise that voice, and exceedingly
tremble and quake ; yet, whilst the believing portion
see distinctly the finger of God, there are many,
whose hearts are so insensible to Divine interpositions,
and whose minds are so dark, spiritually, that they
see nothing but the events of time and chance, or the
mere contingencies of nature. That these memorials,
therefore, should be received by all, into whose hands
they may fall, with the same accordance of feeling
RT'SULTS OF PROVIDENTIAL TESTIMONIES.
67
and interpretation, is more than could reasonably be
expected. For those who reject the doctrine of a
particular Providence — written though it be as by a
sunbeam in the Word of God — will not be likely to
receive, as evidence of the doctrine, the experience
and testimonies yielded to others ; yet, there may be
some among those whose minds are in the condition
of enquiry, — as to whether these things are so ? — to
whom the present testimonies, under the Divine
blessing, may subserve the intention of the writer, by
being received as manifestations of a particular Pro-
vidence, and as yielding the evidence of fact and
observation, both to the Divine institution, and to the
perpetuity of obligation, of the Sabbath.
Striking, however, as the circumstances herein re-
corded are, and satisfactory as they proved in regard to
the impression which they produced, in favour of the
Sabbath, on those who witnessed them, — they are not
calculated, without some further explanation, to yield
any thing like the same measure of conviction to
others. One particular of information, at least, is
essential for deriving from them the fair measure of
evidence which they are capable of yielding. For
whilst various cases have been brought forward in
which particular success immediately followed exam-
ples of peculiar self-denial, as to Sabbath-day labour ;
it has not yet been intimated in how many corre-
sponding instances, the like testimony of success,
during the ensuing week, failed to be given. Now
it is not a little remarkable that, after a care%l ex-
68
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
amination of the journals of my four last voyages to
the whale-fishery — being the same to which the fore-
going records chiefly refer — I can only discover three
instances, — June the 10th and 24th, 1821, and July
the 20th, 1823, — wherein, (after resisting the pursuit
of whales seen on the Sabbath,) we were not successful
in the fishery of the ensuing week; and in respect
to these, it must be obvious, to persons at all
acquainted with the nature of the adventure, that the
loss was highly problematical, since, though we had
in every case pursued these whales, we might not
have made a single capture !
With this word of explanation, the confiding
readers will be able to draw their own conclusions
as to the weight of evidence, hereby yielded to the
proposition with which we started. Could, however,
the convictions of those who accompanied me in ths
voyages referred to — consisting, probably, of 150
different men — be conveyed to their minds, an im-
pression, of a much more decisive and satisfactory
character, methinks, would naturally and generally
follow. For on occasions when we refrained from
fishing on the Sunday, whilst others were successfully
engaged in that object, our subsequent labours, as
has been seen, often succeeded under circumstances
so peculiarly striking, that there was scarcely a man
in the amount of our crew who did not seem to con-
sider it as the eflfect of the Divine blessing !
But, as to those who may yet question the result
of our argument — that the statements here presented
RESULTS OF PROVIDENTIAL TESTIMONIES.
69
result
sented
afford decisire evidence of a Providential blessing on
the endeacour to keep the hordes day holy — we would
claim, at least, this fair and candid admission, that
our refraining from Sabbath violation, when urged to
it by the prospect of great worldly gain, was not the
occasion of either loss or disadvantage, in the ultimate
result of our labours. Such result, it is true, might
be ascribed by objectors, to a different cause. They
might attribute the peculiar success in the fishery,
indicated in the foregoing records, as well as the
interesting and striking incidents hereafter described,
not to any particular blessing from an unseen source,
but to the stimulus given to the seamen by previous
restraints on their enterprise, or to the general quick-
ening of our intelligence and faculties by the very
reliance we experienced and the self-denial we had
practised. If we should admit such an argument —
as to a certain measure and extent we frankly admit
the possible tendency of the influence referred to —
we should by no means be deprived of our plea for
the Sabbath. On the contrary, our subject would
still present a powerful plea in favour of the Scripture
doctrine. It would still show that the restraint of
the Sabbath is beneficial to mankind — both physi-
cally, as elsewhere shown, and mentally; and that
the Scriptural appointments, even under apparent
disadvantages as to this world, have " the promise of
the life that noto is, as well as that to come." It
would yield, moreover, the important inference that
principles thus verified — so contrary to the ordinary
70
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
guidance of human reasonings, and to the interests,
apparently, of human prosperity — must be the truth
of God. It would yield, finally, the fair conclusion,
that the restraints on labour, as to the Sabbath, tend,
by virtue of the laws of the Creator, to results bene-
ficial to man, even as his industry, on other occasions,
and in the time appointed for worldly labour, is
essential to his ordinary prosperity.
In conclusion of this chapter, I may further men-
tion, as the results of experiment and experience, —
that independently of the positive duty of sanctifying
the Sabbath, and of the blessing of Providence con-
nected therewith, — we, ourselves, ofttimes realized
the wisdom of the institution, in the mere physical
benefits resulting from its observance. For when
the preceding week happened to have been labori-
ously employed, the day of rest became sweetly
welcome, and obviously beneficial in its restoring
influence on the energies of the people for fitting
them for a renewal of their arduous duties; whilst
the temporary restraint thus put upon the ardour of
the seamen, operated, no doubt, as we have before
admitted, with no small measure of advantage, by
stimulating to additional energy in their subsequent
labours. So that in every point of view, and in
every relation to the well-being of man, spiritual
and temporal, this sacred appointment stands, we
conceive, eminently commended both for its wisdom
and goodness.
71
Chapter III. ..
APPARENT TESTIMONIES OF PROVIDENCE TO THE
SABBATH, AS INDICATED BY STRIKING DELIVER-
ANCES FROM PERILOUS SITUATIONS,
Section I. — Preliminary Observations.
The facts and incidents recorded in the foregoing
Chapter have been adduced, as testimonies of Provi-
dence to the Sabbath, in the blessing on temporal
occupations observed to follow a conscientious and
humble endeavour to hallow that sacred day.
But if, in the appointments of Divine Providence,
there be a gracious connection between the conscien-
tious observance of the Sabbath, and worldly pro-
sperity; there must surely be, at least, an equal
connection between such sanctified observance, and
our personal preservation and well-being. Were we
to argue from what we observe in the world, as to
the frequency and preponderance of accidents among
desecrators of the Sabbath already referred to, — we
might arrive at the conclusion, justified by the testi-
mony of Scripture,* that the circumstantial evidence
* Exod. xxxi. 14, 15, xxxv. 2; Numb. xv. 32—36; Jer. xvii. 27;
Ezek. XX. 21 ; Amos viii. 4 — 10.
V
72
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
is highly indicative of the Divine displeasure against
the sin of Sabbath-breaking. Specific cases, indeed,
have not unf equently come before the public, so
striking in their character, that, were it not wrong in
man to judge his fellow men who have sufifered by
the visitations of God, one would be led to consider
them as awful manifestations of Providential judg-
ments upon the profane violators of the Sabbath. But
instead of bringing forward any cases of this kind, I
prefer, as the less objectionable mode of illustration,
and as more consistent with the objects of this pub-
lication, to pursue the course hitherto followed, and
to show, from personal experiences, some examples of
remarkable deliverances — to my own mind plainly
providential — strikingly connected with an humble
attention to religious observances, and an earnest
endeavour to sanctify the Sabbath. And these, like
the former, are derived from the journals of my
voyages to the Arctic Regions.
Section II. — Record of a happy Deliverance from a
perilous Situation in the Arctic Seas, at the Con-
clusion of the Sabbath.
This instance of deliverance from a situation of
much danger and anxiety, — which I cannot but deem
distinctly providential, — occurred at the close of the
fishery of the year 1820, some particulars concerning
which have already been recorded. It is not a case,
indeed, which comes so directly, as evidence of pro-
PROVIDENTIAL TESTIMONIES.
73
vidential interferences or testimonies in respect to the
Sabbath, as some others, and could not therefore be
put forward as such without risking an injury to those
which are felt to be more satisfactory, if not quite
decisive; yet — from the consoling influence, under
circumstances of deep anxiety, of a reverent attention
to the religious duties of the day referred to — from
the unlooked-for way of escape subsequently opened
out for us — and from the remarkable effect and suc-
cess given to our efforts for extricating ourselves from
our intricate situation of peril — this case, I'trust, may
not inappropriately be included among other Arctic
experiences of the advantage derivable from the
observance of the day appointed to be kept holy.
When our cargo, obtained under circumstances of
peculiar blessing, was completed, and we began our
retreat from the scene of our successful labours, we
found ourselves very deeply involved among the
heavy and dangerous ices ranging along the eastern
coast of the peninsula of Greenland. Four or five
days, however, of diligent and cautious sailing, brought
us, late on a Saturday evening, safe within the cheering
sight of the open ocean. But as we neared the mar-
gin of the unencumbered expanse of waters, we found
it separated from us by an extended aggregation of
ice, called a sea-stream — not uncommon, indeed, in
such situations — upon the outer edge of which the
waves were breaking with alarming violence. Such
an interruption, at all times dangerous with an agi-
tated sea, WHH now, in the latter part of the season,
t!
/,
Thm
All
74
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
the more so, when almost every mass of ice — from
the snow and other softer parts being washed away —
presented a solid unyielding front in all parts of its
circumference. The deeply submerged "tongues,"
or projections of the ice, moreover, were calculated,
in the event of a ship running foul of them, to strike
her in a position peculiarly dangerous ; being so deep
beneath the surface of the water as, in the event of
damage, to render repairs impracticable, and so low.
in regard to the extent of the extra strengthenings of
the whalers, as to present the weakest surface for the
resistance of the blow. Dangerous, however, as was
the encountering of such an obstacle even to the
strongest and soundest ship, — in our case, in conse-
quence of damage previously received, it was in the
greatest degree formidable. For the lower part of
the ship's stem, or ** foreground," had, in the early
part of the voyage, been actually cut off by a severe
blow against the shelving edge of a heavy mass of
ice, so that the keel, in calm weather, might be seen
projecting in front, and alarmingly exposing the ship
to fatal accident, even on a very moderate concussion
Avithin the limits of the previous damage^ Under
such circumstances, in regard to the crippled state of
the ship, — and where a survey of the ice composing
the "sta-stream" resulted in the discovery that it
mainly consisted of ponderous masses, with multitudes
of the much dreaded submarine projections, or tongues,
at every variety of depth from ten up to even thirty
feet, — we could not but shrink from attempting to
force a passage when the risk seemed so great.
PROVIDEirriAL TESTIMONIES.
* Whilst, in natural anxiety to escape from our
entanglement, I continued, from the mast-head, the
survey of every visible portion of the barrier, hesi-
tating, whether to make trial of the inner part, which
was the least compact and the least dangerous, or
whether to wait till the wind, now blowing a brisk
gale, with a heavy sea rolling in, should have sub-
sided, or else a safer passage in the ice should be
opened, — the coming up and consequent procedure
of an accompanying ship, decided me on the former.
This ship, being without the peculiar risks to which
we were exposed, and being, moreover, lighter as to
cargo, and shorter and more nimble in her construc-
tion than ours, took the lead, and began venturously
to attempt to force a passage. Having such a pioneer
for breaking the various lines of continuous ices in
the way toward the sea, I was tempted, in the hope
of being able to avoid the otherwise inevitable rol-
lisions, to take advantage of the temporary cba^iuel
that must be made.
Commending myself first to the merciful p- oiecuon
of that God who is a present help in time of i.oed ;\rA
danger, and looking to Him for His gracious influences
to aid and direct us in our progress, — all hands were
ordered up to attend the sails, and we began to follow
the track that was gradually opened before us. In
this way, under increasing hopes and encouragements,
we proceeded safely, until we approached very near
to the exterior edge — the position of greatest danger
— where, from the violent action of the swell upon
I
IM
76
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
the ice in that situation, with the collecting together
of the largest and most ponderous of the masses com-
posing the sea-stream, it would have been madness
to attempt to force a passage. The pioneering ship,
however, skilfully and smartly managed, continued her
advance, when, by happy coincidence, it happened,
that just as she reached the critical point alluded
to, the very outward masses, which were constantly
changing as to their relative positions, presented, at
the instant, a narrow ^nd transient channel, and of
this the adventurous navigator proceeded promptly
to avail himself. Trembling with anxiety and sym-
pathy at the manifest hazard to be encountered, we
backed our sails to await the issue. The suspense
was keen, but brief in duration. Under a smart
management of the sails, and a surprisingly quick
action of the helm, the ship bounded through the
tortuous and frightful gap ; whilst the sea was break-
ing with tremendous violence on one of the heaviest
of the masses of ice within a fathom of her lee, the
slightest touch against which must have done damage,
if not destructive injury, to the vessel. Happily,
however, our adventurous companion avoided the
imminent danger, and forthwith hauled upon a wind
rejoicing in his escape and safety; but, before we
could fill our sails so as to get way on the ship — even
before we could have passed the narrows, had we
been at the very stern of our pioneer — the chain of
ice in the front had so overlapped, that the channel
was utterly impracticable. To attempt, under such
PROVIDENTIAL TESTIMONIES.
circumstances, to throw ourselves upon a chain of ice
composed of masses of from ten to twenty thousand
tons in weight, and these in a state of violent agi-
tation, could not have been justified — it would have
evinced a feeling of presumption, rather than of faith
— a tempting of Providence rather than a Christian
dependance on providential assistance. As the only
means, therefore, of avoiding the danger, into which,
with all sails aback, we were rapidly drifting, we
hastily grappled the nearest piece of ice, by a hawser
out of the stern, so as to enable us, by its resistance
of the ship's velocity, to wear round, without any
violent concussions, in a navigation so encumbered
as to render impracticable the ordinary method of
effecting the evolution. The ship's head being thus
directed away from the sea, we penetrated inwards,
with our safety-drag astern, through a chain of heavy
lumps of ice, so compacted togetuer as to afford us
a temporary shelter from the violence of the swell ;
we then seized upon the largest of the masset; within
reach for affix 'iig our ice-anchor.
The immediate danger being thus overcome, all
eyes were naturally directed to our now happy fellow-
adventurers, — and with feelings something like those
of the perilled seamen in a tempest-tossed wreck, who
perceive the safe escape to the shore of some of their
more daring, or more favoured shipmates, — when we
beheld them crowding all ava'lable sail, and fleeing,
as if followed by an enemy, the scene of their
anxieties and hazards. Entering, so fully as we were
78
V
SADBATIia IN THE ARCTIC IIEGIONS.
ublc to do, into their joy, the consciousness was the
more depressing, that for us there was now no release,
nor present prospect of escape.
The power of a compact stream of ice,* however
narrow the chain of pieces, in resisting the force of
the waves, is most remarkable, and, in the present
instance, proved strikingly efficacious. Still, how-
ever, from the rapid and sometimes unaccountable
changes of the ice, under the action of a hep.vy swell,
our situation was one of no ordinary pcvil. Hence,
for many succeeding hours, we were kept in a state
of varying but increasing danger; and had it not
luecn for the consoling assurance, that all our ways
were under the direction of that gracious Being whose
assistance and guidance, at the outset of this perilous
adventure, had been earnestly invoked, we must have
suffered most intensely from the various and formi-
dable risks with which we were surrounded. The
hazard we at first voluntarily encountered had in-
creased tenftld by our proximity to the open sea;
and this again was constantly augmenting by an
unfortuTiate and unexpected change in the state of
the weather. For the wind increased to a gale ; rain
be|::;an to descend vi\ torrents ; the sea rolled with
frightful violence upon the margin of the contiguous
stream, and was co:xSlantly warning us of its destruc-
tive power by its sublime action upon the sea- ward
ices, and its constant terrific roaring.
* A stream of ice is an oblone; collection of pieces of drift-ice, or bay-
ice, the pieces of which are continuous, — souietimes for miles together.
It is called a sea-stream when it is exposed on one side to the ocean, and
i? calculated to aft'ord shelter from the sea or waves to vessels within it.
V
puovidi:ntial testimonies.
lowever
It would be tedious to detain the reader with a
description of the different resources to which, under
Providence, we looked for preservation, in the event
of the swell breaking in upon us, — with which in
one instance we were more than threatened — as these,
to our much thankfulness, were not otherwise requi-
site except as to the repetition of the manoeuvre in
the first instance adopted, for retreating, a second
time, from the immediate margin of the open sea.
For a channel having broken out to windward, un-
navigable indeed because of its direction, the waves
began to roll in upon us with alarming force;— in
this case, having again grappled a small lump of ice,
with which the ship could make a little head- way, we
forced a passage further into the interior ; and when
a position of temporary security in a smoother sea
had thus been gained, — for we were not disposed to
retreat farther from the proximate sea than was abso-
lutely necessary for safety, — ^we moored to the largest
piece of ice, within reach, as before.
The sacred day of the Lord had commenced about
the time when we were hesitating as to the propriety
of attempting a passage to sea- ward ; and by the time
that our last removal was completed, the usual hour
of morning prayers had more than arri/ed. Our
present situation being one of appropriate quiet, the
anxiety of feeling, hitherto so painfully excited, was
sweetly soothed by the uniting together of the whole
of the crew, whilst, in our humble manner, the truly
devotional and comprehensive Liturgy of the Church,
''^^^rfj^il
\
80
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
was read. Deeply, I believe, was felt the force of
the supplications wherein we say — " Mercifully," O
God, " assist our prayers that we make before thee
in all our troubles and adversities, whensoever they
oppress us ;" — " and for the glory of thy name turn
from us all those evils that we most righteously have
deserved; and grant, that, in all our troubles, we may
put our whole trust and confidence in thy mercy,
and evermore serve thee in holiness and pureness of
living, to thy honour and glory; through our only
Mediator and Advocate, Jesus Christ our Lord !"
This devotional and profitable service being over,
— with a plain address, as our custom was, to the
attentive sailors, adapted to the occasion and circum-
stances so strongly pressing upon us, — we all returned
to the look-out greatly composed in feeling, and
cheered in hopes, not only of a merciful preservation,
but of a speedy deliverance from our situation of
peril. For already had the dark and threatening
aspect of the heavens changed ; the endangering gale
had greatly subsided; and the wind, hitherto con-
siderably out of the sea, had begun to shift to a
somewhat more favourable quarter.
Towards evening, the improvement in our pros-
pects was such, as to encourage us to change our
position by "warping" into a more clear and com-
manding situation to windward. About 10 p.m. whilst
in progress of the tedious operation in which we were
engaged — heaving the ship to windward by means of
hawsers attached in succession to the heavier masses
10
PROVIDENTIAL TESTIMONIES.
81
of ice in the line of our advance — a devious passage
was spontaneously cleared away through the nearest
margin of the sea-stream, and the same became sin-
gularly sheltered, from the force of the swell, by
the bending down of a distant promontory of ice to
the eastward. Under this combination of improving
circumstances, a way of escape was gradually opened
out. for us. It was yet, however, encumbered with
difficulties, — difficulties arising from the direction of
the wind which, though more favourable than it had
been, was not sufficiently fair for ordinary sailing,
and from the nature of the channel to be pursued,
which was narrow, obstructed, and intricate. But
the grand difficulty, with a scant wind, and under the
peculiar circumstances of the ice, was this — to avoid
the constant tendency, in a ship so close-hauled, of
falling to leeward of the channel, and thus becoming
inextricably involved in the vast body of ice, thickly
compacted there by the influence of the recent gale.
In a case, then, of a navigation so peculiar and in-
tricate that a single failure of purpose in the manage-
ment of the ship, or a single mistake, or deficiency
of effort, on the part of any of the people in the boats
employed in clearing the passage, would have been
fatal to our hopes, — we realized, in this wise, the
Providence of God, in 'preventing us in all our
doings with His most gracious ilivour, and in further-
ing us with His continual help,' so that the exertions
now made, at the utmost stretch of possibility, were
carried forward throughout, without a single mistake,
e2
•':«■•:. t
82
\'.
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
failure, deficiency of effort, or miscalculation of results,
and were crowned with complete success !
In thus confidently expressing my conviction of a
gracious interposition of Providence being, in this
instance, realized, I would desire to guard the doubt-
ing reader against scorning the conclusion, by mistake
of the method in which the interposition was sup-
posed to be accomplished. Powerful as I believe
to be the efficacy of prayer, when fervently and
scrip turally oflfered; and n inute and prevalent as I
consider to be the operations of a gracious Providence ;
— yet far am I from imagining that, on our account,
the raging storm was made prematurely to abate its
violence — or the inanimate ices to move asunder
against natural causes — or the unfavourable wind to
change its direction contrary to its laws, — for any of
these effects «ould require an influence, not merely
providential, but miraculous. Nevertheless do I
consider it as neither fanaticism nor presumption to
believe, that our poor prayers — humble and imperfect
as they were felt to be — might be and certainly were,
in various essential respects, available, as evinced in
the peculiar blessing on our subsequent eflforts. And
herein, I conceive the providence to have been
specially manifested ; — in the suggestions made upon
our minds, as to the position we were induced to
take — as to the means of preservation we were
enabled to adopt — and as to the powerful and efficient
exertions which all our people were enabled to make
throughout the progress of the critical adventure.
"i
PROVIDENTIAL TESTIMONIES.
83
f results,
don of a
, in this
le doubt-
er mistake
was sup-
[ believe
;ntly and
ilent as I
ovidence ;
r account,
I abate its
! asunder
le wind to
for any of
ot merely
less do I
mption to
imperfect
inly were,
vinced in
ts. And
lave been
lade upon
duced to
we were
id efficient
d to make
idventure.
And, in this way, within the range of the usual
methods and operations of the Divine governance,
the watchful Christian may be able, not merely to
discover the finger of God, but to find evidences of a
providential interference as satisfactory to his own
mind, as if the elements were diverted from their
course, or the raging waves, contrary to their natural
tendencies, were instantly stilled ! An(' s the
evidences, on the occasion referred to, re, to
myself, of this nature — though I may have failed to
communicate the like impression to the reader — I
have ventured to record the circumstances of the
case, as an additional example of the gracious and
consoling workings of a particular Providence, and,
if but in the most inferior degree, as a providential
testimony of a blessing on a reverential regard to the
Sabbath.
After these reflections, in anticipation of the result
of the adventure, I shall only add a brief description
of our final manoeuvre, extracted, in. substance, from
the original Journal of the Voyage in which it
occurred.
Having made considerable progress in warping to
windward, we found, about 10 p.m., our situation to
be such, — the ice being now more quiescent, the
wind moderate, and the weather fine — as to present
a hopeful prospect of escaping through the now
slackened barrier to seaward. All available sail was,
therefore, forthwith set, and, having placed three
boats at the " tow-rope" to assist the ship in difficult
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SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC BEQIONS.
passages — such as when sailing too close to the wind,
or when required to make turns so sudden as to be
too much for the unaided action of the helm — we
cast off from the ice, and, in the feeling of confiding
reliance on the blessing of God, proceeded on our
way through the channel presented to us. And such
was our success in the undertaking, that, throughout
the tortuous windings and variety of difficulties we
had to encounter, we never failed in any one object,
nor struck a single piece of ice of any consequence.
Having passed the original barrier, we found that
the distant sheltering promontory, to which we owed
our opportunity of escape, was so far bent down at
its eastern extremity, as to be almost in contact with
the fast consolidated body of ice from which we had
escaped ; happily, however, we discovered a tolerably
safe channel in its sea-tossed margin, through which,
without much difficulty, and without any damage,
we safely passed ; — " Thanks be to God !"
The time of this merciful deliverance was near the
hour of midnight; nevertheless the occasion was
celebrated with gladsome hearts, by calling all hands
together for evening prayers — concluded by a dis-
course selected for the occasion out of a valuable
collection of " Village Sermons."
With cheered and animated feelings, we soon after
began to wend our way, in the open unencumbered
sea, towards the land of our ardent desires and hopes.
Happy the Christian whose heart and affections are,
in similar manner, so habitually set upon the things
of his eternal hopes, and on the region of eternal
n
PROVIDENTIAL TESTIMONIES.
85
after
ibered
lopes.
Us are,
things
ternal
blessedness, that he is ever ready to flee from the
present world, with its dangers and anxieties, like the
imperilled navigator from the Arctic ices ! Happy
the man, who, in the constant contemplation of the
glorious superiority of heavenly things, is privileged
to attain, whilst in the midst of life, and in time of its
best happiness, to the exalted feeling of the spiritually-
minded Apostle to the Gentiles, — " having a desire
to depart, and to be with Christ, which is far better/'
i-y
Section III. — Providential Manifestations ^ in con-
nection with Sahhath-day Duties, experienced in
a striking Deliverance from a most dangerous
Entanglement among the Arctic Ices.
Towards the close of my twenty-first and last
adventure to the Arctic Seas, it was our privilege to
experience that peculiar manifestation of providential
mercy, the particulars of which are here recorded.
Those, among the readers of these Memorials, who
are in the habit of regarding the dispensations of
Providence, under the enlightening influences of the
Spirit of Christ, will have no hesitation, methinks, of
joining testimony with the author, that " this is the
finger of God ; " and those whose experiences of the
methods of providence are yet doubtful and obscure,
will, I hope, in laudable exercise of Christian can-
dour, consider, — whether the circumstances here
fairly and honestly stated are not beyond the ordinary
operations of time and chance ? '^
With the view of giving a better idea of the nature
V.
86
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
of the circumstances referred to, it may be useful to
preface my narrative with a description of the pecu-
liar character of the situation where the adventure
occurred. The scene of the adventure was on the
eastern coast of Greenland, within a large body of
the heaviest and most dangerous ices of this singular
region, — a situation usually considered as that of the
greatest hazards of any available for the prosecution
of the fishery. Such, indeed, was the apprehension,
entertained by the whalers of the last century, of the
danger of the ice on the east side of the peninsula,
usually denominated by them the West Land, — that
they dreaded, under any circumstances, to approach
within sight of the coast. Nor were their fears
groundless; as this vicinity was well known to
have been the site of some of the most terrible
disasters, among the Dutch, which the adventurous
service had ever sustained. But the growing scarcity
of whales, in the exterior and more northern stations,
since the year 1816 or 1817, had impelled adventure
towards the west, in the direction of their retreat,
until the fishery was brought to the very shores of
the long lost Greenland. And here, under the not
imfrequent encouragement of very ample success, a
hazardous fishery was subsequently, for a few years,
carried on, and protracted so late in the summer of
each year, till the fishermen, in many cases, were
fairly driven off by the accumulated dangers of stormy
weather, lengthening nights, and the setting-in of
the tremendous ices of this region upon the land.
PROVIDENTIAL TESTIMONIES.
87
Though, however, the apprehension of extraordinary
hazard, as connected with this station, had, after two
or three seasons of trial and experience, begun to
give way ; yet the occurrence of a melancholy catas-
trophe to one of the adventurers, in the year 1822,
gave a cautionary check, for a time, to the rapidly
growing confidence of the whalers. '
The case of this unfortunate ship, the King George
of .London, was singularly pitiable. A peculiar
fatality seemed to attend her from the commencement
of the adventurous voyage. During one of the heavy
gales which, in the early part of that season, were
more than usually severe, as to the low temperature
with which they were attended, the crew of the King
George became unhappily engaged in the too-suc-
cessful pursuit of a whale. The thermometer fell
below zero. Thick weather setting in, the men in
the boats lost sight of their ship, and, for about fifty
hours, were exposed, without shelter or adequate
sustenance, to all the severities of the intense cold,
incalculably aggravated in its influence by the violence
of the storm. One poor fellow fell a victim to the
severity of the exposure whilst yet abroad, and
another — even after he had reached the ship, and
began to feel the influence of the genial warmth —
sunk under the mortal penetration of the frigorific
blast. The remainder of those who had been engaged
in the boats recovered, but none of them escaped
without the most agonizing suffering, and few without
permanent injury. Some lost their fingers — others
88
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
I 1
I I
I i
their toes; some their hands — others their feet. The
surgeon of the ill-fated ship declared to a medical
friend, who supplied him with some dressings, that
he had amputated thirty-five fingers and toes in one
day! An example of the severity of the cold was
adduced by one of the King George's sailors, who
stated, that a quantity of beef that was sent out to
the men upon the ice, when they were first dis-
covered at the conclusion of the gale, was taken
straight from the boiling coppers; but before the
boats conveying it could reach their starving com-
rades, though at no great distance, it was frozen so
hard that they had to cut it in pieces with axes!
This striking warning of Providence, distressful as
it was, proved but the beginning of sorrows. For the
enterprising Captain, notwithstanding the enfeebled
condition of his crew, subsequently penetrated, in
pursuance of the fishery, to the ice-encumbered
shores of the West Land, where he perseveringly
remained so late in the season, till all other adven-
turers, admonished by the risks manifestly accumu-
lating there, had, with but one exception, made good
their retreat. On the 4th of September, the King
George was for the last time seen, — then attempting
to get clear of the fast closing ices, but the efibrt, it
appears, must have proved unavailing, as neither the
ship, nor any individual of the unfortunate crew, was
ever heard of afterwards!
In a situation of this kind, it was, and not very
far removed from the same parallel, that the personal
PROVIDENTIAL TESTIMONIES.
80
adventure of the present memorial occurred. "Whilst
yet we lingered immediately upon the eastern coast
of Greenland, in the 71st degree of latitude, anxiously
hoping for an opportunity to increase an indifferent
cargo, the summer of the year 1823 closed unex-
pectedly upon us. Enveloped within an icy boundary
of fields and floes of the most ponderous description,
extending in crowded aggregation to fifteen or twenty
leagues from the land, — oui- situation, in the event of
the ice being set in upon the shore, according to the
prevalent influence of the season in this particular
region, was felt to be one of no ordinary risk; for a
premature winter had overtaken us, before we were
aware of the danger which we should have to en-
counter. — But I proceed with the narrative of events
from the time of our first movement from the coast.
On the 4th of August, no object of duty being
present to occupy me, I landed on Rathbone Island,
which, for the first time, I had found accessible.
I then had the opportunity of verifying the position
in which it was laid down in my survey of the pre-
ceding year; and, though I had but one chronometer
with me on each voyage, it was gratifying to find,
that the longitude now obtained, as corrected by two
sets of recent lunars, was only 8' 15" different from
that previously assigned to it ; whilst the latitude was
found to be accurate within two-thirds of a mile.
The plan of my narrative prevents me going into the
particulars of the researches made on this occasion ;
but I may take occasion, by the way, to mention.
90
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
that as we descended from the Island we met with
several patches of snow, of a reddish colour on the
surface, probably tinged with the same singular
vegetation as that which gave the extraordinary
appearance to the "Crimson Cliffs," discovered by
Captain Boss, in Baffin's Bay. The colouring matter,
in a small specimen, being left on a piece of stone,
was found, after the dissolving of the snow, to be of a
deep red, powdery or granular appearance.
From the day of this little exploration, the shore
was not, I believe, again accessible. For within a
week of that time, tho autuirnal gales, with their
usual attendants of heavy incessant rain, and a general
inset of the ice upon the land, commenced, so that
by the 10th, the island on which we had so recently
landed was found to be entirely enveloped within a
broad and impervious body of heavy ice.
In the first of these gales, a circumstance occurred
of so curious a nature, as, unconnected with the
object of this narrative it otherwise may be, may
excuse me in recording it. Large and numerous
flocks of birds, consisting almost entirely of little
auks, (Alca AlleJ were flying past the ship, for
many hours together, in perpetual succession, in the
direction of the land. As, on account of the strength
of the wind, they kept very near the surface of the
sea and ice in their flight, many of them came un-
expectedly in contact with the rope by which the
ship was attached to the floe, (a hawser of only 2|
inches in diameter) and struck it with such prodigious
PROVIDENTIAL TESTIMONIES.
91
force, that the unfortunate little birds fell down, not
merely stunned, but actually dead on the spot !
Scarcely a flock passed, within the range of the
hawser, out of which some did not fall, though a
portion of those which were winging their way on
the level of the rope, were to be seen making a violent,
and often fruitless eflfort, to avoid the unlooked-for
object. Some hundreds, it was believed, were thus
instantaneously brought down. Out of one flock, no
less than six were observed to fall, and out of another
five — all of which dropped, lifeless, alongside of the
ship. Being the Lord's day, I did not allow a boat
to be lowered to pick up the game so singularly
killed; but the ingenuity of the sailors devised a
mode of fishing them out of the water, at least such
of them as drifted alongside of the ship, by means of
a little bucket attached to the end of a pole. And,
in this way, such a considerable number was ob-
tained, as to aflbrd an agreeable treat — for though
very dark coloured in flesh, these birds yield a palat-
able and wholesome variety after long use of salted
pi {> visions — to all hands on board. But large as this
quantity was, by far the greater proportion of those
which were thus killed, were believed to be lost, as
great numbers of the lifeless birds were seen drifting
past the ship out of reach of the little apparatus by
which the others were fished up.
The effect of the momentum of these small creatures
was most surprising, not only in producing death as
suddenly as the most fatal shot, but in the singular
02
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
demolition of their thick short bills. Among those
which, in this way, were struck down by collision
with the rope, some were observed to have their bills
crushed or broken — others to have both manibles
completely torn oflf — and, in a few, the whole beak
was found to have been actually driven backward
into the head ! Altogether it was a curious, and, to
a sensitive observer, a painful scene, to watch the
approach of the poor unconscious birds; to see a
portion of the flock strike the extended rope ; and,
without either the fire or report of the usual instru-
ment of destruction, to observe them fall so instan-
taneously inanimate, beneath the undesigned snare !
The regular progress of destruction, by this singular
fortuitousness of circumstances, may read us a lesson
of instruction on the little anticipated contingencies
of human mortality. After witnessing the catastrophe
with a few of the leading flocks of the passing birds,
the consequences to succeeding flocks, notwithstand-
ing the almost innumerable chances of escape, were,
with us, fully anticipated ; but as to the progress of
mankind in their flight through life, on the swift
wings of time, one is led to reflect, in contrast of
this ordinary prescience, how few among those who
see the catastrophe which, in a moment unexpected,
brings others down, learn to anticipate the risks of a
like catastrophe to themselves! It is enough, in
other events, to witness a few examples in order to
calculate the probable results; but in the personal
application of the perils of life, notwithstanding the
}\
PROVIDENTIAL TESTIMONIES.
98
momentous consequences of a dependent eternity,
"all men," as it has been observantly said, "think
all men mortal but themselves ! ** There may be
some, among the readers of these Memorials, of this
description, whose minds are dead to a sense of their
own mortality; — some, perhaps, whose compassionate
feelings may be excited for the singular destruction
of the unconscious little birds — beings only of a brief
span of time — who have little anxiety of feeling as to
the risks of their own swift progress through the
limited space of life — beings, though they be, destined
for an immortality of endurance ! The invisible line,
they must be aware, is stretched across the plane of
their progress; in every moment of time they do
know that some one or other of their fellow-creatures
is unexpectedly struck down by it ; would to God,
that the fate of the little birds might be commissioned
to read them this admonitory lesson — to lay to heart
the tremendous and awful perils of a premature fall,
and, as wise men, to " Prepare to meet their God!"
But to return to my subject. Having fully ascer-
tained, at the conclusion of the gale, the actual com-
mencement of the inset of the ice, and other tokens
of a premature winter, we began our retreat from the
now dangerous coast. Under a brisk and favourable
breeze, and among incompact fields and floes, our
progress to seaward was, at first, rapid and encou-
raging; but, after about six hours of prosperous sailing,
our hopes were changed into anxious apprehensions
by the discovery of a chain of the most ponderous
94
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
!>'
il
ices, on every point of the compass, except the direc-
tion from whence we had advanced, forming, through
the entire range of vision from the mast head, one
continuous and impervious barrier! As no human
effort or skill could possibly make any impression on
these prodigious ices, all that was left us was to wait,
in reliance on a gracious Providence, for some favour-
able change. But day after day passed heavily away,
and yet we were detained as helpless captives ; and
though with each succeeding gale (for the gales had
now become both frequent and fierce) the ice was
found constantly to be altering its position, yet the
changes which diminished the area, and varied the
spaces of the interior, had no favourable effect what-
ever on the closeness of the exterior barrier. Whilst
we were thus encountering such dismal weather and
such painful confinement, circumstances occurred
which led us to reflect, with anxious and desponding
feelings, on the beauty and enjoyments of an English
summer. What a contrast, was our situation, bound
up, as we were, among impervious fields of ice,
harassed by storms and perplexed by fogs, to the
luxuriant meadows, the verdant groves, and the
grateful climate of our happy land !
But it is not necessary, as regards my present pur-
pose, to follow the detail of our anxious progress out
of this hazardous situation. Every ingenuity was
exercised, every opportunity improved, and every
nerve strained to the utmost, in furtherance of the
desired object.
(\
PROVIDENTIAL TK8T1M0NIES.
On the 20th of August, — afler firequent changes of
position, and several explorations in other lines of
advance by retreating, occasionally, again into the
interior of the ices — we had approached, apparently,
within two or three leagues of the sea, which the
** blink," or reflection in the sky, during a brief
interval of clear weather, now distinctly pourtrayed.
But the general obscurity of the atmosphere pre-
vented us finding any outlet. Whilst lying-to under
the lee of a floe, waiting for the clearing of the fog,
the sea, which had previously been as smooth as a
lake, became unexpectedly undulated, and the ice,
through the influence of a penetrating swell, was
forthwith put into great agitation. The floe adjoining
us exhibited the usual, but wonderful, influence of
the swell, by cracking and breaking in every direc-
tion ; so that a sheet of ice, perhaps half a mile in
breadth, fifteen to twenty feet in thickness, and solid
as some of the species of marble, was, in a few minutes,
broken up into hundreds of pieces, of from twenty to
fifty yards in diameter; whilst all the larger con-
tiguous pieces partook of the same destructive influ-
ence.
The weather had now become stormy, and a per-
plexing night, from fog and darkness, came on, during
which, being unable to '* make fast," on account of
the swell, we had to tack about, in the utmost peril
and anxiety, till morning, in small and difficult
openings, thickly encumbered with ice. At day-
break, (about 3 A.M.) the weather having partially
96
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
cleared, a dubious and embarrassed channel, among
the ice, was discovered, leading a considerable dis-
tance towards the S.S.W., in which quarter both the
reflection of the atmosphere, and the direction of the
swell, indicated the proximity of the open sea. A
deep impression, providentially, rested on my own
mind, as to the vital importance of instant exertion
to embrace the present opportunity of advancing on
our way. Sail was instantly set, the helm was put
up, and the ship boimded, along a tortuous line,
through the intricate and hazardous channel which
the thickly accumulated ice very imperfectly aflEbrded.
I saw we must be beset; but this result, with all its
attendant risks, was unhesitatingly yielded to, as it
was of the utmost moment to gain the nearest acces-
sible position to the sea, that a chance of escape might
be left. The ice was closing, however, with alarming
celerity; our course, every moment, became more
embarrassed and intricate, till, at length, the approxi-
mating sides of the channel came into contact, and
the ship, in a few minrtes, was closely enveloped.
For a time, indeed, small occasional spaces remained
among the different masses of ice, through which, by
the force of the wind, with the help of our hawsers,
we were enabled to advance about a mile farther, and
then, whilst the sea, though now clearly within view,
was yet at the distance of four or five miles, the ship
became firmly and immoveably fixed. But most
thankful was I for the progress we had made ; for,
on the clearing of the sky, in the course of the day,
PROVIDENTIAL TESTIMONIES.
97
among
le dis-
)th the
of the
ea. A
ly own
xertion
sing on
ras put
IS line,
I which
fforded.
I all its
:o, as it
st acces-
)e might
ilarming
le more
approxi-
;act, and
veloped.
emained
hich, by
lawsers,
er, and
[in view,
Ithe ship
lut most
Ide; for,
Ithe day,
the ice was found compacted around us into a solid
and continuous body, in which, to the utmost exten-
sion of vision, from the mast-head, not a drop of
water, except the sea towards which we were press-
ing, could, in any direction, be discerned. So that we
now found that another hour's delay, at the place
where we passed the night, would have involved us,
perhaps, in an inextricable dilemma, at once out of
sight and out of reach of the sea.
Still, however, our position was one of great
jeopardy, both as to the uncertainty of our being able
to force a passage through the compact and formid-
able barrier, which yet lay without us, and as to the
risk of almost certain destruction, in the event of a
gale coming on from the direction of the sea, as we
receded from the shelter of the ice. But that gracious
Protector to whom our ways and proceedings had
been constantly committed, in humble reliance upon
His encouraging promises, not merely permitted us
eventually to realize his faithfulness to the very letter
of Scripture;* but meanwhile, not unfrequently, to
experience the sweet consolation of that " peace of
God which passeth all understanding !"
The night that now again commenced, however,
was so abounding in anxieties, as sometimes to over-
press those confiding reliances, by which, if in their
perfect exercise, the mind ought to have been per-
manently stayed. The swell penetrating where we
were, put the ice in increasing motion, so that the
* Psalm xxxvii. 5; Iv. 22; Prov. xvi. 3; I Peter v. 7; Phillip, iv. 6-7.
F
98
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
noise and vibrations of the ship whilst grinding or
thumping against the contiguous pieces, defied either
forgetfulness of mind, or the happy unconsciousness
of sleep, under such perpetual admonitions of our
dangerous situation.
' For the most part, during this anxious progress,
we found the ice closely wedged together under a
considerable pressure; but at periodic intervals of
about twelve hours — indicative of the influence of a
tide — the pressure was so far relaxed that, under the
force of a brisk and favourable gale, together with
the help of our hawsers at the capstan and windlass,
we were generally enabled to make a little progress
to seaward, both morning and evening. The hard-
ness of the surface, sharpness of the angles, and
magnitude of the masses of ice around us, however,
rendered our advance both tedious and hazardous ;
for the most guarded blows, when the ship fetched
way in a crack, caused her to shake and rebound in
an astonishing and alarming manner.
The morning of the 22d presented a clearer sky
than we had observed for some weeks, when, not-
withstanding a repeated experience of the tendency
of the ice at this season, to set to the westward, I
was greatly surprised to discover how very far we
had been irresistibly and unconsciously carried in
that direction, — for the land, when now seen, was
found to be within about fifteen leagues of us, though
we had apparently receded, according to the distance
given by the log, not less than a hundred miles ! On
PROVIDENTIAL TESTIMONIES.
99
ling or
I either
ousness
of our
rogress,
inder a
rvals of
ice of a
ider the
ler with
irindlass,
progress
le hard-
ies, and
lowever,
lardous ;
fetched
lound in
irer sky
len, not-
lendency
[tward, I
far we
Irried in
;en, was
L though
I distance
les ! On
calculating, more particularly, the quantity of the
inset, — for as the wind for the most part had heen
blowing directly along-shore, the westing we had
made was to be ascribed entirely to this tendency of
the ice to approach the land, — I found that the
difference of meridian, produced in the course of
seven days by the operation, apparently, of this cause
alone, was 1" 50' of longitude, or about forty geo-
graphical miles ; whilst the entire combined effect of
the current and of the wind, was a drift of 71 miles
in the direction of S. 32° "W., or ten miles a day.
In the afternoon of this day, two ships stood in
from the sea to the edge of the ice : they approached
us within three or four miles, hove to, and appeared
to be observing us for some hours. We were in
hopes that they would have regarded our perilous
position, and have waited the issue ; but, to our great
grief, they made sail and stood away out of sight.
Gladly, I doubt not, would many of our anxious
crew have abandAued their little property, their
wages, and even th'eilris^iip, .iii p^d^i^.to attain j;^ the
safety of the enyied, V9yagers, and aotempany them
to their home. ■ .'. •'. '. ," ; '. * • . c. . : ' :•,*'•."
During the following night, the ice ^vas qiiiet; imd
we happily reposed in peace. At the usual hour in
the morning, the pressure relaxed, and we again
began to move, and made such encouraging progress
that, when the pressure returned, the sea Iiecame
visible from the deck, — the verge of the liorizon,
illuminated by the sun, being seen over the extreme
100
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
edge of the ice towards the S.S.E. Hence, we found,
that its distance must be less than two miles.
In the evening, however, the wind freshened, the
sky thickened, and a great deal of rain fell. The
prospect became gloomy and disheartening. The ice
around us was prodigiously heavy. We had, indeed,
been recently passing through the very centre of a
heavy floe, which, before the breaking up of the ice,
already recorded, was in a state of firm and tenacious
continuity — a continuity which no immediate power,
but the action of a swell, could possibly have divided.
The mass alongside of which the ship lay, and to
which we had moored, — a mere fragment of the
original, — ^was about one hundred yards in diameter,
and twenty to thirty feet in thickness. The sides
appeared like a wall of quartz : hard, crystalline, and
vertical. Whilst in this state the ice for a short time
slacked ; a swell set in and put us in motion ; but the
night coming on, with an easterly wind, prevented
us making progress. Happily wje yrere yet sufficiently
immured,' to be: defend^li^, so'lbng las the ice should
continue compact, against the destructive power of
the.KWelh : ; :,'•''- :..«•> ♦.
• • The next day, August 24th, was a time of peculiar
mercy. It was the Lord^s day, and, in any case but
that of a great and urgent necessity, would have been
made, I trust, a day of sanctified rest. It was a day
to the events of which the foregoing relation is mainly
introductory ; but I have thought it proper to make
this previous record, that, under a clear perception of
PROVIDENTIAL TESTIMONIES.
101
founds
id, the
The
'he ice
ttdeed,
e of a
he ice,
lacious
power,
ivided.
and to \
of the
imeter,
e sides
e, and
[rt time
lut the
ivented
ciently
should
Iwer of
ieculiar
ise but
le been
a day
[mainly
make
)tion of
the perils of our situation, the reader might be able
to appreciate the mercy of our deliverance, to sym-
pathise in the feelings to which it gave rise, and,
peradventure, to yield accordance to our decided
convictions of a special blessing having been vouch-
safed to our poor efforts, in the crisis of our hopes
and necessity, to sanctify the Sabbath, and, by an
humble dependance on Divine direction and further-
ance, to honour the God of Providence. And if
such, happily, should be the conviction on the mind
of the reader, these introductory particulars will not
have been recorded in vain.
At four A.M., of this eventful day, I was informed
that the wind, previously south-easterly, had veered
considerably towards the west, and that the ice had
already begun to slack. On going to the mast-head,
I found a prospect of some advancement. Imme-
diately "the hands were turned up "to take advantage
of the opportunity. The direction, however, on which
our course lay, was surprisingly altered. On the
preceding evening, the nearest direction to the sea
was towards the S.S.E. or S.E.; but, during the
night, it had unaccountably changed to the S.W.
This direction being still nearly " head to wind," wo«
warped under great disadvantages j as every piece of
ice to which we fastened was necessarily more or less
drawn down upon us. The work, therefore, was one
of immense difficulty, eliciting a very anxious, though
exciting, condition of mind. It was necessary to keep
a perpetual watch on the different pieces of ice by
102
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
I
/
yi"
which we warped forward — to calculate beforehand
the relative impression of the ship's re-action, so as
to avoid the blocking-up of our way — to fasten to
such pieces, and to such angles or sides of the pieces,
as should the least incommode us, and the most
effectually advance us — to compensate the occasional
oblique direction of the wind by ropes, counter-
actingly placed, so as to preserve the parallelism of
the ship's position, with the line of her required
movements — and to anticipate every motion, whether
on our part or that of the ice, by having ropes in
advance, and on the bows, to check the ship's return,
or to control the direction of her head. Such were
the primary considerations required to be constantly
kept in view, — producing, in the whole, such a mul-
titude of varying forces, and correlativeness of action,
as required the utmost intensity of thought practically
to anticipate. And almost every piece of ice that we
encountered required this effort of mind, with a cor-
responding promptness and variety of exertion, though
the quantity of pieces, which we thus passed in the
morning, amounted, probably, to not less than a
hundred. Our astonishing success, however, in this
difficult progress, was strikingly impressive on my
own mind, of the special blessing of God. For amid
such a multitude of difficulties, and such an incal-
culable variety of influences and results, the constant
assistance of a gracious Providence, * preventing us
in all our doings and furthering us with continual
help,' could alone have enabled us to accomplish
4r
PROVIDENTIAL TESTIMONIES.
103
in this
every movement we attempted, and to advance, in
the very face of the wind, with a celerity and success
beyond our most sanguine hopes.
For the first seven hours after starting, our efforts
were unremitting. It was then eleven o'clock, the
usual time of our Sabbath morning prayers. The
intense anxiety attendant on our present situation,
advanced as we now were to within a mile of the
sea, almost tempted us to press forward to the utmost
attainable point; though, from the seaward direction
of the wind, escape, under existing circumstances,
was very doubtful, if at all practicable. Happily we
were enabled to resolve on suspending our labours,
in order to seek that devotional communion with Him
*by whom we live, and move, and have our being,'
to which, on all previous Sabbaths from the beginning
of our voyage, we had been in the habit of attending.
And most seasonably it happened, just as the deter-
mination was taken, that a mass of ice of extraordinary
heaviness compared with the general description of
that now around us — for we had for some time been
beyond the massive fragments of the shattered floe —
was discovered within reach of a whale-line to wind-
ward. To this we speedily got a rope attached,
warped the ship into contact with it, and then, in the
hope of not being materially driven back, we rested
for our contemplated devotional service.
Our arrangements being thus completed, the chief
officer was left alone upon deck " to look out," whilst
myself, and all the rest of the crew — fifty in number
104
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
<i
— retired into the 'tween decks. A solemn and
chastened feeling was prevalent throughout the little
congregation, — the excitement, which had hitherto
prevailed, being interestingly modified by the cus-
tomary sympathies, and soothing influence, of the
pious formularies of our Church. In my own mind,
there was a feeling of animated confidence, that we
should not, eventually, suffer loss by the present
cessation from labour; but little did I contemplate
the result; a result which — whatever might be the
variety of views adopted by different individuals as
an explanation of the phenomenon — called forth
unanimous exclamations of astonishment from the
whole of the ship's company. The wind, it should
be remembered, when we retired to prayers, was
still directly against us, and the ice betwixt us and
the sea closely compacted together. But now, after
the brief interval in which we had been engaged in
our humble endeavours to " worship the Lord our
Maker," the condition of the ice, and the somewhat
discouraging prospect as to an immediate escape, had
entirely changed. The sea was actually nearer to us,
by some hundreds of yards, than it was when we
proceeded to prayers; *for the intervening ice,'
according to the statement of the ofiicer of the watch,
* had been moving past us, during the whole of the
interval we spent below, as fast as, by the utmost
exertions of all hands in warping, we could have
expected to advance ! ' This astonishing and un-
looked-for advantage, no doubt, was gained, by the
in and
le little
litherto
le cus-
of the
I mind,
that we
present
jmplate
be the
iuals as
I forth
3m the
should
rs, was
us and
w, after
aged in
)rd our
aiewhat
pe, had
r to us,
len we
g ice,'
watch,
of the
utmost
d have
id un-
by the
PROVIDENTIAL TESTIMONIES.
105
simple operation of natural causes, through the
greater action of the wind upon the generally thin
ice around us, than upon the deeply immersed mass
to which the ship was moored. But this was not all
the advantage. The wind which, previously, had
been our greatest hinderance, now shifted to the
west, a somewhat more favourable quarter ; the ice,
which between us and the sea had been closely
pressed together without a single opening in any
direction, was now found to have slacked ; and, what
was still more remarkable, a vein or channel of water,
the only one in sight j (affording an oblique navigation,
the most favourable for the present direction of the
wind,) commenced at the very stem of the ship, and
extended, with but trifling obstructions, through all
the intervening ice, to the very verge of the open sea !
The concurrence of all these circumstances, so favour-
able to an escape from our perilous entanglement,
within the hour of our devotional rest, was so striking,
that I believe every one on board made the inference,
that a special blessing from heaven had attended the
duty in which we had been engaged.
A powerful and animated effort required yet to be
made. All hands flew to their different posts, and
five of our boats were manned, and in the water, in a
moment. Four of these were employed to assist the
action of the now gentle breeze, by the operation of
towing, whilst the fifth was sent in advance, on a
pioneering duty, to remove any occasional obstruc-
tions, as well as to improve the passage, in the more
f2
106
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
embarrassing parts of the channel, lest the ship,
falling to leeward by the loss of her head-way,
should again become inextricably involved. The
sails were now set, and the ship was got under way,
when every man, having a heartfelt interest in the
duty assigned him, performed his part to admiration.
The pioneering-boat darted, with surprising celerity,
through the water, fixed itself upon the opposing
ices with such a mighty energy, that the pieces, as if
endued with animation, and influenced by terror, flew
right and left from the line of our advance; whilst
the other boats at the " tow-rope," performed, at
once, the most Herculean and dexterous eflforts,
drawing with amazing power, and obeying every
command, and adjusting themselves to every required
position, as if they were actuated by one living-
principle, and that under a magical influence. All
this, indeed, was so striking, that the scene, which
I now describe at the distance, in time, of six and
twenty years, seems pictured in living reality before
me.
Our efforts, as will readily be anticipated, were
crowned with complete success. We reached the
open sea about three p.m. when a cri de joie burst
from the delighted crew, and rung upon the air with
aflfecting earnestness, indicative, not of a heathenish
joy, but of a grateful, heartfelt, solemn, and even
sanctified exultation. The nature and propriety of
the inward feeling of some amongst them, at least,
were distinctly evinced, when, out of the fulness of
PROVIDENTIAL TESTIMONIES.
107
ship,
1-way,
The
r way,
in the
ration,
jlerity,
iposing
!S, as if
)r, flew
whilst
ned, at
efforts,
every
jquired
living
B. All
which
iix and
before
f, were
ed the
burst
ir with
thenish
d even
iety of
t least,
ness of
the heart, these exclamations burst from several lips
—" Thank God ! '» « God be praised ! "
In this lengthened narrative, I may, perhaps, liave
outrun my purpose ; and, I fear, may have submerged
the impression originally designed to be conveyed,
by the too extended view of an adventure, which,
on myself and crew was so striking and impressive.
For the recollections of this adventure have, almost
unconsciously, carried me away so far from my im-
mediate object, that I may be reasonably appre-
hensive, whether the interest of the details to myself
may compensate for the violation of unity, and want
of limitation of circumstances with others. At all
events, though the point at which, in the outset, I
aimed, should not be established to the satisfaction
of every reader, the generality, I trust, will so far
sympathise with the feelings, and follow the con-
victions of the writer, as to discern in this narrative,
various and striking manifestations of a particular
Providence. With the hope of facilitating the attain-
ment of this desirable and profitable result, I shall
conclude this narrative with some reflections, ex-
tracted from my log-book, which aflford a general
outline of my personal convictions, at the time of the
adventure, of the peculiar manifestations of "the
flnger of God."
To this eflfect are the reflections which I find
recorded. — * I consider this deliverance from a state
of anxious peril, as eliciting one of the most striking
108
SABB\THS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
examples of the blessing of God, in a chain of pro-
vidential circumstances, that, in the whole course
of an adventurous life, 1 ever remember l^ have
witnessed. When, on Wednesday morning last,
(20th of August,) by pressing our course to the
S.S.W., we got entangled among the drift ice on
the breaking-up of the floes, we seemed, at the time,
to have committed a serious error, and to have gone
entirely wrong, — though in this instance, in a most
particular manner, I had * committed my way unto
the Lord ' with the belief that * he would direct my
steps.' When I arose on Thursday morning, at break
of day, I was induced by an instantaneous decision,
(after indeed having anxiously supplicated the Divine
assistance) to run to the S.S.W., to the extremity of
a bight, in which the ice was very heavy^ and in the
act of closing, where we were at once firmly beset in
a perilous situation. Now, had we remained, in this
case, till my ordinary hour of rising, we should not
have reached the point to which we attained within
six or eight miles, and, therefore, must inevitably
have been beset at the distance of ten or twelve
miles from the sea, instead of four or five' ! In these,
and in the succeeding events, there was a striking
chain of providences, manifested, to my apprehension
at least, in the following as well as other particulars: —
In directing our course out of the ice at the precise
time, and in the particular way, by which we came; —
in urging us to push into the then closing sea-stream,
which was immediately consolidated with the ice in
PROVIDENTIAL TESTIMONIES.
109
pro-
ourse
have
lust,
) the
ce on
time,
gone
most
unto
ct my
break \
cision,
3ivine
aity of
in the
3set in
in this
Id not
within
dtably
welve
these,
liking
ension
ars: —
trecise
tne; —
ream,
ice in
the rear, into an impermeable joar^;* — in blessing
and timing our exertions when warping and forcing
through the ice, as also in directing the manner and
course of our various efforts ; — and, finally, in such a
gracious superintendence of the whole adventure as
to bring us to the sea edge (the place of greatest
peril) at a time when the weather, instead of being
dangerously tempestuous, as at this season it most
usually is, was fine, the sea smooth, the ice slack,
and the wind veering to a favourable quarter. ,
The greatest danger, as I have intimated, to which
a ship is exposed on its escape from besetment by
the ice, is, just as it approaches the sea. For if,
when advanced to the margin, so as to be deprived
of the usual shelter afforded by the ice against the
penetration of the waves, a gale, from an unprotected
quarter, should then come on, it must bring such a
tremendous sea upon the ice, that the ship would
be exposed to utter destruction from its frightful and
violent action. And, had this been the case in the
present instance, to which, from the prevalence of
such gales in the autumn, we were particularly ex-
posed, our ship must have been placed in the utmost
jeopardy, and its loss must, in all human probability,
have been fatal to our lives, both from the now in-
creasing severity and tempestuousness of the weather.
• Pack. — The name given to a body of drift-ice, — that is of ice in
smaller-sized masses, — of such magnitud ;, that its extent is not dis-
cernible. A pack is said to be open, when the pieces of ice, though
very near each other, do not generally touch ; or close (as in the present
case) when the pieces are in complete contact.
HO
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
and from the daily diminishing chance of a rescue by
any fellow-adventurer.
In conclusion of this record of Arctic adventure,
and of experience of the Divine goodness, I may just
add, that the whole of the circumstances, when con-
sidered in combination, produce, as to my own mind
it convincingly seems, such a body of coincidences
so manifestly providential, that it would be at once
heathenish and unphilosopl'cal to call them for-
tuitous; a chain of coincidences, indeed, which, if
required to be produced on mere principles of chance,
would have left us without hope of escape. But, it
is written of Inspiration, that "that they that go
down to the sea in ships, that do business in great
waters; these see the works of the Lord, and his
wonders in the deep : . . . they cry unto the Lord
in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their
distresses .... Oh that nen would praise the Lord
for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the
children of men ! "
Ill
Chapter IV.
SUPPLEMENTARY AND COGNATE TESTIMONIES.
[■
In strict conformity with our general title — Sabbaths
in the Arctic Regions — the preceding records com-
plete the testimonies of this class which we have
herein to adduce. But having illustrated so exten-
sively the effects of a conscientious regard to the
Sabbatical appointment entirely under circumstances
oi personal knowledge and experience; it has appeared
to me that the leading object in view might possibly
be aided by deviating somewhat, in a supplementary
Chapter, from the generally prescribed course, so as
to afford our argument the advantage of independent
evidence from some extraneous illustrative facts. And
such contemplated advantage, I am led to hope and
believe, may be yielded by the interesting cognate
testimonies which I now take occasion to adduce.
Section I. — Cognate Testimony of Mr. W , an
American^ to a blessing on Sabbath Observance.
The first of the testimonies to which I refer, was
derived from a communication, incidentally received,
whilst on a tour in the United States of America and
Canada, in the summer of 1844.
112
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
Having descended the Ohio to its confluence with
the Mississippi, I proceeded northward by this vast
river and its tributary the Illinois, by steamers, and
from Ottawa, where we landed, by coach across the
prairies of the State of Illinois to Chicago, — a place
which had sprung up, as by fairy influence, from a
barren wilderness to a large and prosperous city,
in about a dozen years!
Accompanied by many travellers, migrating out
of the prevalent summer malaria of New Orleans,
and other similarly circumstanced regions, into the
healthier climates of more Northern States, — I em-
barked, by steamer, at Chicago, on Saturday, July
13th, for the circuit of the lakes Michigan, Huron,
St. Clair and Erie to Buffalo — a distance estimated at
1,028 miles. Our steamer, the Great Western, being
adapted for a navigation exposed to storms and heavy
seas, was by no means so lofty and palace-like as the
passage-vessels employed on the principal rivers ; but,
nevertheless, was one of those fine and accommodating
vessels for which the United States, as a country, is
so famous. The accommodation was such that about
170 passengers, including many ladies, were, some-
how or other, disposed of on board, besides others
remaining exposed on deck. The gentlemen's saloon
was of imposing spaciousness; the ladies' saloon,
though not large, being without the attachment of
any sleeping berths, was ornately fitted up, and fur-
nished with a viewly and not indifferent piano-forte,
which proved a pleasant acquisition during a four
f>
SUPPLEMENTARY TESTIMONIES.
113
days' voyage to those gentlemen who were privileged
to enter within the somewhat exclusive precincts. —
But I must proceed to my story : —
On the morning after our embarkation, Sunday,
perceiving no signs of any general attention being
about to be given to the sacred day, — I applied to
the Captain for his permission to have Divine Service
performed for such of the passengers as might be
disposed to unite therein. He readily acquiesced
and directed me to the steward to clear a part of the
great saloon, and, as the sailors would say, " rig out
the church." This being accomplished, some consi-
derable portion of the passengers came forward, and
though but few, I could perceive, were familiar with
the liturgy, united with their accustomed propriety
and fixedness of attention, both during the prayers and
whilst, subsequently, I addressed them in a sermon.
These apparently extraneous particulars I have
thought it well to mention, because they may serve
to elucidate the exact character and position of the
incident which they are designed to introduce.
At the conclusion of the service, I retired, for
greater quietness, to a sort of gangway, or side pro-
jection of the deck beyond the sleeping berths, which,
at the time, happened to be quite deserted. A fellow-
passenger, of gentlemanly appearance, — one who
could be easily recognised as among those who had
most devotionally engaged in the public service of
the day, — in a short time came out on the " guards,"
and, with a manner at once respectful and courteous,
114
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
w
m
'Hi
addressed me in respect to our recent engagement in
Divine worship ; — he then proceeded to speak on the
peculiar degree in which he had been personally
interested, and on the importance which, he conceived,
belonged to the sacred observance of the Lord's day.
The recognition, mutually, of similar views and
feelings on the most solemn and important subjects
which can engage the consideration of the rational
mind; and the perception, also, of corresponding
experiences as to the reality of the grand principles
of our holy faith, — led, naturally, into that sort of
intercommunication which should be a prevalent
characteristic of the social and confiding influences of
the Gospel.
Our position and circumstances, at the time, had,
perhaps, their influence on 'the disposition to confer
on elevating topics, and speak with mutual confidence.
The sky was brilliant in its sunlit splendour : neither
cloud nor wind disturbed the calm serenity of the
atmosphere : the lake, on which we were swiftly
steaming, was pure in its depth of waters and smooth
and resplendent as the polished mirror : we appeared
to be in an interminable world of waters : the horizon
all round was bounded by the complete circle of the
lake, and exhibited no other visible object: neither
land nor tree-tops (the first indication of land to be
seen on the margins generally of these inland seas),
nor ship nor other craft, was visible : our single
steamer, as far as sight could inform us, comprised
within itself the whole of human life : we were solitary
w
SUPPLEMENTARY TESTIMONIES.
115
amid the expanse of waters. There was something
solemnizing, soothing yet animating, in the peculiar
scene. Those who had acute perceptions, received
a refining stimulus in aid of natural feeling.
Mr. W , who in the outset of our acquaintance
had referred to his strong and impressive conviction
of the importance of Sabbath observance — gave mc,
whilst we walked up and down the narrow platform
overhanging the water, the following interesting testi-
mony, as a fact derived from his personal experience.
His first independent adventure in business — as I
understood Mr. W to say — was at New Orleans,
as " a merchant-taylor : " — for most of the clothing
business, belonging to the gentleman's wardrobe, he
mentioned, was carried on in that part of the country,
by ready-made articles of dress. This mode, indeed,
required a large stock and capital, for the supplying
of the wealthier as well as other classes of the popu-
lation — his own stock being ordinarily of the value
of about 30,000 dollars — but then the original invest-
ment was well compensated by the considerable sales,
and the large profits which it was the custom there
to include ir. ^he retail charges.
When he commenced business, as a young man, —
only a few years indeed before this time, — it was the
prevalent practice with those engaged in similar
undertakings, to attend to the requirements of their
customers on the Sunday, as well as on other days.
He, Mr. W , though dififerently instructed as a
youth — being a member of a God-fearing family,
Ik
116
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
h
i !
resident in New England, where the general practice
involves a high and commendable regard to the Sab-
bath — was carried away by the fears of competition
and the enticement of additional profits, into the un-
sanctified habits of those around him. His " store"
was free to issue goods on the Sunday to whatever
customers came and would then be supplied.
But the existence within him of the seeds, at least,
of true and influential religion, received, happily,
direct attestation by the very yielding, in this first
instance, to a baneful and ungodly practice. His
conscience, which had not been lulled to a quiet
repose even by the specious arguments which had
ll served to keep under his convictions, disturbed him
so much, and, through the grace of the Spirit, which
can alone overrule man's selfish tendencies and lust
of aggrandisement, so afifected his peace and satisfac-
tion of mind, till, at length, he came to the deter-
mination that, cost what it might, he must cease to
trade on the Lord's-day. His assistants in the busi-
ness were accordingly freed, and that without being
mulct in wages, from their wonted Sunday attendance ;
and the store remained closed during the whole of
the sacred day.
It was not long, however, before his faith and
practice were put to a severe, and, happily, as he
triumphed over the temptation, conclusive test. A
j=.3ntleman, one of his best customers, of some position
and wealth, following a learned profession in that large
and opulent city, came to Mr. W 's house, one
jii
ractice
eSab-
Btition
lie un-
store "
latever
t least,
appily,
is first
. His
, quiet '
:h had
ed him
, which
tid lust
atisfac-
deter-
ease to
3 busi-
being
dance ;
lole of
n and
as he
St. A
osition
t large
e, one
SUPPLEMENTARY TESTIMONIES.
117
Sunday morning, soon after his resolution had been
taken, and told him he wanted • considerable supply
of clothing, and being to set out on a journey early in
the week, " he must have the things immediately.'*''
"I am sorry," said Mr. W , "that I can't send
you the things you wish for to-day, my store being
closed, but you shall have them as early as you please
to-morrow."
"Not to-day?" was the quick response of the
customer — "Why not to-day?"
"Because it is Sunday, and I have been led to
consider that it is wrong to do one's worldly business
on the Sunday ; I have therefore given up doing
business on this day."
"Wrong?" — said the visitor in evident astonish-
ment at the reason — " Why, sir, everybody else does
business on the Sunday." Then, as if concluding in
his mind that such a reason could not stand in the
way of personal interest, he laughingly said, — " Come,
come : never mind for this time : I want the things
now, and you will send them."
But Mr. W being most unexpectedly decided,
and respectfully but firmly declining to send the
goods on that day, — the visitor got angry and said, —
" Well, sir, if you wont let me have the things I shall
go to some one that will. You will be so good as
send in my bill."
Mr. W , anxious and grieved as he must neces-
sarily be, acquiesced in the stern decision, retaining
his calm self-possessed manner, whilst the other —
a.
w.
i.
118
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
h
to use the forcible Scripture expression respecting
Naaman, — "went away in a rage !"
To a young man, whose business-adventure in life
had but recently begun to be remunerative, and to
promise a progress which might ultimately yield
something like what his ardent expectations, too
fondly, perhaps, indulged, had hitherto failed in
realizing, — this discouragement and rebuke to the
carrying out of his religious convictions, could not
but prove a severe trial. The more so as this gentle-
man was one of the best and most profitable customers,
who, for his personal requirements, came to Mr.
W 's store. So liberal, indeed, was he in the
variety and renewal of his wardrobe, that his annual
bill from Mr. W was near five hundred dollars,
or fully a hundred pounds in British currency. And
as the ordinary profits, to which allusion has been
made, were large — being somewhere about cent per
cent — the clear gain he was, apparently, about to
sacrifice, with one customer only, was not less than
fifty pounds a year !
Eeflecting, no doubt very anxiously, on this
threatening incident, with its not improbable bearing
in the case of other customers, he felt considerably
depressed in his feelings ; but, as I understood him
to say, he found no disposition to withdraw irom the
ground he had conscientiously and deliberately taken.
But, by a providentially directed impression on his
mind, as he afterwards well understood it to be, he
determined to fulfil the injunction of his late customer
without delay, and carry in the bill himself.
SUPPLEMENTARY TESTIMONIES.
119
pecting
in life
and to
jr yield
IS, too
iled in
to the
uld not
gentle-
jtomers,
to Mr.
I in the
annual
dollars,
And
as been
ent per
,bout to
?ss than
on this
bearing
derably
od him
rom the
f taken,
on his
be, he
iistomer
This lie accordingly did, making out the account
on Monday morning, and forthwith proceeding to
deliver it. He found the gentleman at home ; and
was shewn into the office, where he was in the habit
of attending to his professional business.
The scene which followed was curious: I will
endeavour to describe it according to the terms
employed, and the impressions conveyed, in the
relating of the interesting incident, to my own mind.
As Mr. W entered within the door, with the
document in his hand, he said : —
" You desired me to make out your bill ; — I have
done so."
C , (as I shall designate the customer,) hardly
looking at the visitor, first responded by an indis-
tinct kind of gruff; but, as Mr. W advanced
with the bill, held out his hand for it, and said —
" How much is it ? "
W . " A hundred and — (I forget the exact
amount) dollars, and — cents."
C , without looking into the account writes a
check, no word, meanwhile, being spoken, and hands
it, still in silence, towards his creditor.
W , a little surprised at the careless and in-
different manner, remarks, — "You have not looked
at the bill ; you don't know whether the amount is
right."
C , carelessly, — "Oh, I've no doubt it's right
enough," — adding, in words to the effect, — " A man
that will do as you have done wouldn't make out a
120
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
^\
,1 '
.1
I <
! (
wrong account." Then, after a pause, and looking
for about the first time with a steady and scrutinizing
gaze at his visitor, he proceeded, — " I say, Mr.
W , you may send me the things ! "
W , relieved and surprised by this unexpected
turn of the anxious business, was about expressing
his thanks — that is, in the somewhat reserved way in
which alone an American tradesman would think it
right to acknowledge an obligation to a customer,
whom he thinks, and, no doubt, justly thinks, as
much obliged by the convenience and utility of the
articles he procures, as the tradesman with the price,
— but he was interrupted.
C . " You may send me the things, — because I
know you will deal rightly with me ; — a man that will
lose one of his best customers for his conscientious
scruples, can't cheat me. I may go farther and fare
worse.
If there was a gratifying exhibition of a candid
character in the retractation, on the part of this gentle-
man, of his previous hasty and angry resolve ; there
was a still finer exposition of right and manly feeling
in his subsequent conduct. I will resume, to the
best of my recollection, Mr. W 's own words : —
" Not only," —he somewhat exultingly added to the
foregoing descriptions, — " did he continue his custom
at my store, and that with increasing liberality, and
friendliness of intercourse; but he brought to me,
personally, many new customers, recommended me
looking
tinizing
y, Mr.
spected
)ressing
way in
think it
Lstomer,
inks, as
T of the
le price,
ecause I
that will
;ientious
md fare
candid
gentle-
', there
feeling
to the
ords : —
to the
custom
ity, and
to me,
ded me
SUPPIJMF. TABT Tl TIMONIES.
121
wherever he could, and lias proved to me the best
friend, as to my worldly business, I ever had in my
life!" "And that gentleman," he concluded by
stating, " at the present time, occupies one of the
most distinguished positions, professionally, in New
Orleans!"
The experience of Mr. W , in the important
and happy results of this incident, it will be observed,
was precisely correspondent with my own as set forth
in the previously recorded narratives. We both
received the results of our personal self-denial for
the due observance and honour of the Lord's-day,
as accordant with the scripturally-assured blessings.
If some who read the records should conclude other-
wise, and ascribe the results we deem providential, to
the common course of things as to cause and effect, —
we would not deem the impression produced to be
altogether lost. For cause and effect have their
absolute relation, as such, to the laws established by
the Creator on the earth and among the creatures of
the earth ; if, therefore, the fulfilment of prescribed
duties, or a strict regard to self denying or mortify-
ing restrictions, as a cause, do result in consequences,
declared by Revelation to be the Divinely-appointed
effect, — we have an argument of much importance in
favour of the plea we now are urging. The results,
at least, in both views, serve to establish the common
proposition — that " Godliness is projltahle unto all
things ; having promise of the life that now is, and
of that which is to come ! "
o
122
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
\^
Section II. — Record of the D family, as Illus-
trative of the special benefts of a Reliyious Life.
The Testimony yielded by this record, concerning
the D family, has only partial, though not un-
important, relation to a blessing Providentially expe-
rienced in the conscientious regard to the sanctity of
the Sabbath. Mainly, the blessings realized by this
interesting household, are to be considered as the
results of a ^rand change in the feelings of the heart,
and, by consequence, in the habits of the life ; from
a condition of thoughtless impenitency, unto the state
of heartfelt godliness. But still they were blessings
derived from a source kindred to, and partly identical
with, that to which the preceding records refer, and,
consistently with the doctrine therein developed,
yielded, at least, an encouraging illustration of the
proposition with which our last section concluded,
in regard to the general profitableness of godliness,
both as to the present and a future life.
The records of the foregoing chapters were derived
from facts within the personal experience of the author,
as a sailor and a whale-fisher ; that of the present
section sprung out of his experience whilst engaged
in the more- momentous service of "a fisher of men."
In so far, indeed, it had relation to matters of the
sea, that it pertained to his ministry among seamen,
and to the Divine blessing on the preaching of the
SUPPLEMENTARY TESTIMONIES.
123
s Illus-
Life.
cerning
lot un-
y expe-
ictity of
by this
as the
.e heart,
e ; from
the state
Dlessings
identical
fer, and,
veloped,
of the
eluded,
dliness,
derived
author,
present
[engaged
)f men."
\% of *he
seamen,
[g of the
Gospel in a ship — appropriated and fitted up as a
Mariners* Church.
The influence of the ministry of the author in this
and other instances, in which, by Divine grace, he
was privileged, as an instrument, to be useful to his
fellow-creatures, was a result out of the mass of occa-
sional worshippers, whose cases he had naturally
regarded less distinctively than those of the class for
whom his ministrations were specially appointed.
Such a result, however, in a side-direction, as it were,
from his appointed cure, was not, as a matter of
experience, extraordinary. For whilst the faithful
minister of Christ has the scriptural assurance that the
Word he declares shall not be void, he neither knows
the direction in which it will prosper, nor has he
power to guide it for any certain individual influence.
" Paul may plant, and Apollos may water ;" but
God, who gives the increase, determines both the
measure of fruitf ulness, and the direction of germina-
tion. The faithful labourer in the harvest-field of
the Gospel, is, indeed, apt to contemplate some por-
tion of the field entrusted to his care with peculiar,
if not extreme, interest ; to make it, as it were, his
garden of flowers, watching it with more than ordi-
nary solicitude, and dressing it with most diligent
and anxious care. But this, perhaps, after all, may
not be the portion of the field which proves most
abundantly productive. None of the labour, indeed,
is lost ; but the fruit looked for in one quarter is often
found in another. For the Lord of the harvest
J
■I
124
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
v\
sometimes disappoints his ardent desires and anxious
expectations in the quarter in which his chief strength
has been exerted; whilst He causes fruit to appear
in obscure corners which have received rather the
incidental labour than the abundance of careful soli-
citude. The seed properly, wisely sown, shall indeed
bring forth fruit; but the labourer knoweth not,
either as to the time of his sowing, or as to the direc-
tion in which the seed is cast, " whether shall prosper,
— this or that." " Even so, Father, Lord of heaven
and earth, for so it hath seemed good in thy sight !"
Whilst on the one hand, therefore, humiliating dis-
appointments occur in quarters where the minister has
most anxiously and ardently laboured; so, on the
other hand, cheering encouragements are not unfre-
quently derived from the results in other places,
though neither anxiety, nor peculiar attention, has
been bestowed upon them. Here, perhaps, in a
portion unexpected, the seed takes firm root, grows
up, receives strength, and flourishes, — so that before
he dares presume on any effective result from his
labour, the little looked-to section of the field is found
to be white for the harvest !
Such was thp experience, in an encouraging variety
of instances, of the writer of these Memorials, whilst
engaged in an interesting chaplaincy in his early
ministry. The majority of his congregation, at that
time, was composed of those who go down to the sea
in ships, and do business in great waters ; but the
residue, with the exception of occasional hearers, was
w
SUPPLEMENTARY TESTIMONIES.
125
mxious
trength
appear
tier the
ful soli-
indeed
th not,
e direc-
prosper,
heaven
light!'' ,^
ing dis-
ister has
on the
»t unfre-
places,
Lon, has
IS, in a
grows
before
rom his
IS found
variety
, -whilst
early
at that
the sea
but the
ers, was
IS
made up of a mixed multitude, gathered, as it were,
from " the streets and lanes of the city" — " the high-
ways and hedges." Now, whilst his chief attention,
and more particular solicitude, were naturally directed
to the seamen of the congregation, the efficacy of the
ministrations upon them could but seldom be deter-
mined, because of their transient stay in port, and
their subsequent dispersion throughout the navigable
globe. In due time, indeed, incidents of deep and
gratifying interest were met with ; and cases of warm-
hearted experience of the grace of God, which bringeth
salvation, having appeared among the seafaring wor-
shippers, became, at length, encouragingly known.
But, meanwhile, when the success of the word among
those for whom the minister might specially labour,
had become but in small degree apparent, — the Lord
of the harvest was graciously pleased to vouchsafe an
animating measure of encouragement in the springing
up of fruit, under the Gospel, in places unexpected,
and in a soil previously dry and barren. The disco-
verj'^ of such cheering effect in one family, among
others, of the labouring poor, constitutes the subject
matter of the present record. This interesting case
was first introduced to the writer's knowledge in the
following manner.
About the middle of my fourth year's labours in the
chaplaincy referred to, a person of the appearance
and address of a respectable tradesman, called upon
me, requesting a few minutes' conversation in respect
I I;
i I;
126
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
\l
to his brother, T D ; who, though unknown
to me personally, had for some time, he informed me,
been a member of my congregation. There is a sort
of "freemasonry" in the recognition of those who
have received the Gospel of Christ Jesus in the love
of it, which was strikingly evinced almost immediately
on the entrance of this stranger. For scarcely was
he seated before the signs of the member of Christ's
mystical body ; of one practically experienced in the
ways of religion, and deeply embued with a solemn
perception of the value of the soul, were unequivocally
manifested. With eyes glistening through the ope-
ration of the grateful feelings of his heart, he magni-
fied the grace and mercy of the Saviour of sinners,
for the unspeakable benefit derived by his once erring,
but now happy brother, from his attendance on the
ministrations in the Mariners' Church. Though the
stranger, himself, held a respectable and remunerating
situation as a tradesman in London, — his brother was
in the humble station of a labourer, — a poor labourer.
Poverty, indeed, had been his necessary portion^
because of the irregular and ungodly life which he
had lived, until, in the Providence of God, he was
induced, through the recommendation of a fellow-
labourer, who himself had been benefited by his
attendance at the Mariners' Church, to direct his foot-
steps thither.
About twelve months previous to the visit now
described, the heart of this affectionate and pious
brother had been excited with astonishment and gra-
w
«>
SUPPLEMENTARY TESTIMONIES.
127
iknown
ted me,
s a sort
se who
;he love
ediately
ely was
Christ's
d in the
solemn
ivocally
the ope-
! magni-
sinners,
B erring,
3 on the
ugh the
aerating
;her was
ibourer.
portion,
hich he
he was
fellow-
by his
lis foot-
iit now
pious
nd gra-
titude to Almighty God, by the receipt of a letter,
affording the cheering hope that the recently ungodly
T D , had become ' a new man in Christ
(( .
Jesus !' " From this time," said the stranger, " my
brother became a changed character." ' The effects
were immediately manifested. Prayer was established
in his family, and habits of irregularity and impiety
gave place to the lovely transformation of order and
sanctity. New sympathies, the manifest indications
of the grace of God, were developed within him.
Like Andrew, who sought out his brother Simon
Peter, to tell him that they had found the Messias,
the Christ, — he became solicitous to convey else-
where the glad experiences of his own soul. For the
opening of his eyes to his own real state had dis-
covered to him the lost and fearful condition of his
kindred around him. He saw that his aged mother
was "going down to the grave under the delusion of
a self-righteous dependence, instead of taking hold
of the righteousness and strength of Him who is the
only refuge for perishing sinners. Making, there-
fore, her spiritual welfare his anxious care, he exerted
himself to get her into the assemblage of the prblic
worshippers of God, that, peradventure, the means
which had been effectual to the raising of him from
the dead, might be blessed unto her. For the trial
and strengthening of his faith the Lord permitted
him to pass through the fire of persecution. He was
scoffed at and ridiculed by his fellow-workmen and
former companions in dissipation ; but the trial was
M
128
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
satisfactory, as he bore their severest taunts with
christian patience and forbearance, evincing, by a
variety of circumstances, that the change in his heart
was the effectual saving work of the Spirit of God!'
On the Wednesday succeeding this interesting
incident, at a weekly service designed more especially
for the spiritual edification of those of my congre-
gation who might be " asking the way to Zion with
their faces thitherward," — I recognised the pious
stranger who had visited me. He then made me
acquainted with his now happy brother. His face
was recognised as one commonly present among
the congregation; as one who, with a countenance
in its general expression not prepossessing, had been
hitherto but slightly noticed. Under the plain and
homely garb, however, in which nature had clothed
him, was found to be hidden the characteristics of
piety and intelligence. The face, in this instance, if
an index of the mind, was not an index, the pointing
of which would be generally understood ; but, how-
ever unpromising the outward man, the utterance of
the lips plainly indicated * a wise and understanding
heart.' His wife, a pleasing and prepossessing person,
was also present; to whom, as also other members
of their family, the present record will forthwith
extend.
About two months after the circumstances just
related, it was intimated to me that a son of D
was fast declining in health, and desirous of seeing
SUPPLEMENTARY TESTIMONIES.
129
seeing
me. Whilst, in fulfilment of the request, I was look-
ing for their residence, in a long uniform street —
where the eye of a stranger had little to guide him
but the imperfectly distinguishable numbers on the
houses, — Mrs. D observed me, and with a coun-
tenance beaming with pleasurable satisfaction came
out to welcome me. It was a very humble, and
indeed wretched-looking dwelling, — one of those con-
fined and typhoidal nurseries of disease, a cellar, —
which happily the sanatory movement of recent date
has, I believe, done much towards eradicating.
Accustomed generally to find, in situations of this
description, a habitation gloomy, damp, and totally
inaccordant with neatness, — I was greatly surprised
with the successful efforts which had been made for
rendering a place, so unpromising, comfortable. The
floor was newly washed — the chairs and tables clean
and orderly — the bed unusually neat in its arrange-
ments. The little chimney-piece was covered with
articles suited for the tea-table, disposed of in the
nicest order ; whilst a shelf, in a recess, on the side
of the chimney, exhibited some little specimens of
china, with the better apparatus of the little establish-
ment.
By the side of the fireplace — which, with its clean
hearthstone and bright burning fire, was in keeping
with the rest of the well-ordered dwelling, — sat a
wan and sickly-looking boy, whom I recognised as a
frequent attendant on my public ministrations, —
whose state of health, it was, which was the im-
130
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
mediate occasion of my present visit. He was a
youth of, apparently, about sixteen years of age
(though afterwards I found he was a year or two
older); who, with pale and emaciated features, ex-
hibited an expression of countenance so placid and
intelligent as to excite at once an interested attention
and unusual sympathy.
Having seated myself beside the youthful sufferer,
I asked him what his thoughts were of his present
disease, and future prospects? His answer — ^which
was remarkable, as well for the distinctness of his
enunciation as for the correctness and superiorty of
his style and language — ^was to this effect : — " I see,
'* said he, " that an eternal world is before me ;
sir
but I trust that I have a witness within, testifying
that my hope is good ; for my trust and reliance are
entirely founded on the merits and righteousness of
Jesus Christ my Lord, through whom I look for
acceptance with my heavenly Father."
Surprised and delighted by the language and
manner of his answer, I could not help replying,
under a strong impulse of feeling, — "it is a good
hope and sure ; and with such a hope it will be of
little importance whether your poor, feeble body be
now removed from this world of pain and sorrow, or
suffered to remain, for a while, a pilgrim on the
earth."
"But what," I asked, "gave you your present
serious thought about the concerns of your soul and
an eternal world?"
St 1
SUPPLEMENTARY TESTIMONIES.
131
" The Holy Spirit," he replied, " gave it me."
" But how ? for he generally works by means ? "
He procee ' ad, in reply to my enquiry, to relate to
me, in very descriptive detail, how the preaching of
the Gospel in the Mariners' Church, had become
"the power of God unto his salvation." In his
attendance at an excellent Sunday School attached to
an Independent Chapel, much of his knowledge of
sacred things, he said, had been acquired; but it
was the sermons he had recently heard which had
convinced him of sin.
" I heard many things there," he said, speaking of
the Mariners' Church, " which condemned me. One
sermon, in particular, made me very anxious and
unhappy. I said to myself, if what that minister says
about religion be true, then I must be wrong ! "
The residue of this interview was, in like manner,
satisfactory. The interesting invalid spoke, discern-
ingly and experimentally, on his fears and conflicts —
his doubts and temptations. When I proposed to
pray with him, he said with animated earnestness
and emphasis, — "0 yes! sir, and pray that I may
have true peace."
Passing over the circumstances of a subsequent
visit — which was likewise full of interest — I proceed
to give a few particulars of my last interview with
this interesting youth.
A journey, which I had had occasion to take into
Yorkshire, had interrupted my intercourse with
Edward. In the meantime his disease, which was
g2
132
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
confirmed consumption^ had made rapid advances on
the powers of life. A note which was put into my
hands, as I was about proceeding to the reading-desk
of the Mariners* Church, immediately after my return
home, intimated the circumstance — in a request for
' the prayers of the congregation for the dying youth.'
The arduous duties of my position, on the Sunday,
rarely enabled me to undertake more on that day
than the public services in the church. But anxious
to see this interesting invalid, I made an effort to
visit him betwixt the services. 1 bless God, to this
day, that I did so ! I found him sitting up in his usual \
place ; but though greatly emaciated and enfeebled,
his mind was clear, and voice distinct, even in its
weakness, and his utterance emphatic as formerly.
His reply to my introductory question, as I entered
the little apartment, was striking and impressive
beyond anything similar that ever I remember to
have witnessed.
" Well, Edward," said I, " how do you feel your-
self? "
"I feel," he promptly replied, with a deeply
solemn and affecting enunciation, — " I feel that the
earthly house of this tabernacle is fast dissolving;
but" — continuing with a species of emphasis and
elevation of soul of the nature of the sublime — " I
thank God that I have a house not made with hands
eternal in the heavens ! "
After I was seated, and the agitation from my
unexpected visit had a little subsided, I asked him
SUPPLEMENTARY TESTIMONIES.
133
concerning certain feelings by which he had been
distressingly exercised when I before visited him.
" I am more comfortable," he replied, " than I
have been. But I have been much tried since I
saw you last. Clouds and darkness hanging over
me, greatly distressed me."
** It is a happy circumstance," I remarked, " that
our safety does not depend upon the mere comfort
we experience, but on our faith and union with
Christ," — repeating the text on which 1 had just
been preaching, — " He that believeth and is baptized,"
as our Lord has said, *' shall be saved."
" You know," I continued, '* what is included in
this effective and profitable haptiamf^
He answered discerningly, — " It is the baptism of
the heart by the Holy Ghost."
Questioning him respecting his present declining
condition, and about what might be the chief or lead-
ing desire of his heart, he consistently said, —
" That Christ may be formed in my heart the hope
of glory!"
" I know," he added, — according to the manner
in which, under the evident feeling of deep humility,
he was in the habit of expressing himself, — " I know
there is nothing good in me : there is no merit in me :
my hope is in the merits of Christ alone."
" This," I replied, " is a safe anchor — an anchor of
the soul both sure and stedfast — and happy is the
dying soul that lays fast hold of it."
The father of the youth, who was present at this
134
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
w
sweet and profitable interview, now told me, that
Edward was anxious, if I would allow it, to receive
the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. As he had
never yet been a recipient of this sacred and comfort-
ing ordinance, he was fearful that I might not think
it right for one so young to receive it. But, where
there was so clear a perception of the nature and
intentions of this sacramental rite, and so evident a
fitness for a profitable reception of it, — I could not
but accede, with heartfelt satisfaction, to a request,
which, under the circumstances, indeed, I ought
myself to have anticipated. In the prayer which
concluded my visit, my attention was irresistibly
drawn towards the principal object of it, by the sort
of response which he gave to the several petitions
more particularly directed to his condition, in a soft,
yet expressive utterance of " Amen, — amen !"
I had anticipated a sweet occasion of christian com-
munion with Edward and his family, and a pious
friend or two from among their fellow-worshippers at
the Mariners' Church; but the day which next dawned
with cheerful beams upon the writer of this memorial,
fell on the unimpressible eyelids of the object of his
sympathy and spiritual concern, fast sealed in that
long sleep which must await the sounding of the
heavenly trumpet for the awakening of the pious
dead ! \
He had sat up most of the day ; but becoming lan-
guid and poorly towards evening, requested to be laid
on his bed. He grew rapidly worse. Signs of
\\
SUPPLEMENTARY TESTIMONIES.
136
approaching dissolution became apparent. He felt
he was dying. " I am very weak/* he said, " the
Lord give me patience." His father remembering
his previous despondency, asked whether the cloud
had passed away? His countenance beamed with
a sweet and elevated expression, as he replied —
" happy, quite happy /" Soon afterwards, whilst the
world at large unconsciously slept, the last feeble
spark of life flickered, as the final gleam of the
dying taper, and the heaven-tending soul of the
enviable L^dward, filled with hope and consolation,
departed, to be with Jesus ! .
The interment of the unconscious body of the pious
youth, proved an occasion of deep and solemn inte-
rest, and I think of profit, to many. Some little time
before this event, I had been animadverting, in one
of my week-evening addresses, on the unseemly prac-
tice of feasting at funerals, and of the empty and
wasteful pomp so prevalently attached to these solem-
nities; — the former habit desecrating the house of
mourning by incongruous festivity, and the latter
inducing a foolish expense, which too often left the
family of the bereaved poor under circumstances of
deeper poverty, and, sometimes, of overwhelming
embarrassment.
On occasion of the funeral, I found the humble
dwelling of the sorrowing bereaved filled with sympa-
thizing and ^ ious friends. It was truly the house of
sanctified mourning. Every thing was neatly ordered,
simple and consistent. There was no hypocrisy of
136
SAUDATH8 IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
u
IS
I'' i
11
5
\\ i
il
woe, nor incongruous indifFcrencc. There was no
ostentatious parade of disregard of expense, yet the
bereaved ones wore the respectable habiliments of
mourning. There was no unseemly levity ; no bane-
fully exciting drink.
To myself the manner of the funeral was addi-
tionally satisfactory, from the exclusion of this latter
element so usual at the burial preparations of the poor.
And this, as was announced to me, I found was done
on principle, and because of my previous appeal to
their consciences and judgment. Coming up to me,
with a somewhat anxious and subdued manner, one
of the friends of the family, whispering, said, " Please,
sir, will you tell them, that you said we should have
no drinking at funerals, and there is not any.** Satis-
fied, as I was, of the integrity of their motives, — I
thanked them from my very heart, before the much
interested assemblage, for the moral courage they
had evinced in thus venturing, on the appeal of their
minister, to resist the baneful custom so universally
prevalent.
Many of the visitors at this solemnity, I may safely
attest, enjoyed, as a special spiritual privilege, this
unwonted style of funeral; for the observation was
oft repeated in my hearing, that this was the most
satisfactory and interesting occasion of the kind they
had ever before attended. v
A large proportion of the notes I had made in
respect to this interesting youth, on the assemblage
u
SUPPLEMENTARY TESTIMONIES.
137
just spoken of, and on occasion of the funeral sermon,
I regret to have to omit, having already dwelt at
more extent upon his particular case, than may seem
consistent, perhaps, with the particular object of this
series of Memorials. One observation, however, in
explanation of the rapid maturhuj of the work of
grace in the heart of E. D , seems too important
to be excluded. How, under the not miraculous
work of the Spirit, one of very moderate education
and a mere boy in years, should have suddenly evinced
the most striking characteristics, both us to knowledge
and experience, of the man in Chris': Jesus, — might,
without regard to circumstances, appear most extra-
ordinary ? But we have a simple and sufficient
explanation in the fact of his previous acquisition, in
an excellent Sunday-school, of a sound knowledge,
by the understanding, of the great principles of our
holy faith. The seed formerly sown had, to appear-
ance, been sown in vain; but it had only laid dormant
for a season. When, by the Holy Spirit, his conscience
became stirringly impressed, the life-giving energy
extended to the dormant seed. When the Word of
Christ, under the preaching of the Gospel, became
"spirit and life," the previously hidden word of
sacred teaching, partook of a sympathetic influence,
and was developed in rapid exhibitions of wisdom and
experience ! I note this for the encouragement of
persons engaged in the excellent and hopeful work
of christian teaching. Let the readers of this, who
may be so engaged^ take the encouragement this
138
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
w
narrative fairly yields, — so as not to account the
labour of their solving as lost, because life does not
soon appear : it may be only dormant. When God's
time comes, their labour will fully appear. And it
may then prove that what they mourned over, sup-
posing it lost, was in faithful keeping, so as when
brought out, at the time correctly estimated by
infinite wisdom, to obtain the best, fullest, and most
glorious development !
!
But the more special relation in which the history
of the D faniily stands with the testimonies \
previously adduced, — indicative of providential bless-
ings being connected with a sanctified regard to the
Christian Sabbath, — remains yet to be set forth.
The case of Mrs. D , with that of her husband
involved therein, as gathered from personal conver-
sations, and from information incidentally acquired —
which are now condensed from a more elaborate
record made at the period when the recollections
were fresh and vivid — will be found, I think, to have
a fair and legitimate bearing upon the particular
doctrine herein asserted, as well as on the general
results which we have so variously illustrated.
It was during my attendance upon the sick Edward,
that I first ascertained the fact and manner of his
mother's spiritual awakening. Having, on my very
first visit to the house, been much struck with a
pious remark of hers, in reference to an inquiry I
incidentally made, — I proceeded to ask her, " how
'
w
SUPPLEMENTARY TESTIMONIES.
139
she was led to think so seriously about the concerns
of her soul?" "Hearing you, sir," was her brief
and unexpected reply. Naturally interested by
sueh an intimation, I desired her to give me some
particulars as to her religious history. With a
characteristic humility, and beautiful simplicity of
manner and expression, she then described to me the
process by which, through Divine Grace, she had
been brought out of nature's darkness into God's
marvellous light. Her communication was to this
effect : —
Isaac S , once a wild and thoughtless young
man, having been providentially led to the Mariners'
Church, where his mind became deeply impressed
with the solemn importance of Divine things, —
earnestly pressed her husband, who was his fellow-
workman, to accompany him to the place in which
he had found so much blessing. He complied with
the invitation, when, through the gracious application
of the Gospel by the power of the Holy Spirit,
Thomas D also, became seriously impressed.
During the two or three Sundays following he came
again, voluntarily; but his wife, as usual, kept the
house, prepared the dinner or other meals of the
family, and attended to the sale of a few of the com-
mon fruits of the season, or small confectionaries,
which she exhibited in a basket at the door, — " not
knowing," as she said, " that there was any harm in
it," nor considering what an " evil thing it is to pro-
fane the Sabbath-day." The increasing earnestness of
I I
140
SA.BBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
il
Thomas, however, in respect to the things belonging
to his everlasting peace, soon produced a change in
their usual arrangements for the Sunday; and he
requested his wife to accompany him to the place
* where prayer was wont to be made.' \ ;/>
2 The circumstances of her first attendance amongst
us were not a little remarkable. The subject of
discourse was, — " Remember the Sabbath-day to keep
it holy." And it so happened, by the good provi-
dence of God, that, on this occasion, also, " the net
was cast on the right side of the ship," and Mary
D was not permitted to escape without ex-
periencing something o" its gracious entanglements.
Speaking of the effect '^hat she had heard on
her own conscience, she ^uiuarked, that it greatly con-
demned her, especially when I was discoursing on the
prevalent Sabbath desecration among her particular
class. I had strongly deprecated, in connection with
a variety of other things, the very practice of which
she was guilty — that of the offering of fruits and
confectionaries for sale at the doors of the cellars of
the poor !
The impression of this one element of the discourse,
which, as "by an arrow shot at a venture," seemed
to have smitten the conscience of both husband and
wife, was singularly striking and influential. They
spoke of it together as they walked home. They
recalled the words of the preacher, — not as mere
matter of interest, or as adapted to the prevailing
habits of those around them, but for self-application.
SUPPLEMENTARY TESTIMONIES.
141
The result was as beautiful, practically, as it was
conclusive in its dealings with an evil habit.
Arrived at the descent into their humble habitation,
the fruit-basket, which had been left I believe, in
charge of a child, was observed standing at the door.
D , by a silent and expressive gesture, called the
attention of his wife to the now rebuking basket;
then pointing to it with his finger, he gravely said, —
" Mary ; that wont do; we cannot serve God and
the devil ! " The admonition was sufficient. Mary
took up the basket and withdrew it from the door ;
and from that day forward was there no setting forth
of fruits or wares, by this interesting family, for the
seeking, after the like manner, of unhallowed gains.
Being asked, in respect to this apparent abstraction
of their limited earnings, whether they found them-
selves worse off in the world because of the sacrifice
they had made, — Mary, with the greatest decision of
manner, replied, — " Oh, no, sir ! we were never so
well off in our lives as we are now." The profits
formerly derived from the Sunday sales, she remarked,
were indeed much more considerable than that of
any other day of the week ; but she had received
ample compensation from other sources; — she was
better ofiP as to her household requirements, and in
everything else ; her husband, formerly improvident
and wasteful, now brought home his earnings to
make his family comfortable !
The influence of these gracious principles of the
Gospel, soon became manifest, as is wont, in the lives
U2
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
of the happy recipients. Family prayers, as before
intimated, were early established, as part of the
system and order of the house. Though D *8
occupation called him out at an early hour in the
morning — ordinarily, when day-light served, at six
o'clock — yet he previously found time for family
devotion. Soon after five in the morning, he united
with his wife, and such of the elder children as might
be at home, in seeking at the family altar, the Divine
blessing upon himself and them ; — and afterwards, as
Mary informed me when making inquiries on this
particular topic, she herself presented the younger
ones before the Lord in prayers, simply explaining
this deviation by saying; — ''for you know, sir, we
cannot take the little children out of bed so soon in
the morning." In the evening, too, when the whole
family could conveniently unite, the Word of God
was read, «nd prayers offered up before the Throne of
Grace, — where, but in times recently past, all were
living either in absolute ungodliness, or in utter un-
concern about the state and salvation of their souls.
But the whole domestic system, and the arrangements
for public devotions, became assimilated, in christian
consistency, with the principles newly received. The
Sabbath was at once their day of rest from worldly
labour, their delight, and their special time for seeking
the advancement of their souls' best interests. And
for this latter end, the assemblage for week-day
services, with any other gathering which for the
edification of my congregation I might happen to
SUPPLEMENTARY TESTIMONIES.
143
before
)f the
in the
at six
family
united
might
Divine
rds, as
)n this
ounger ^
laining
sir, we
soon in
whole
)f God
rone of
were
er un-
souls.
ements
iristian
The
rorldly
eeking
And
ek-dav
or the
)en to
appoint, — was most unfailingly found to include T.
D , and his wife, Mary !
The result, in relation to a leading doctrine herein
sought to be elucidated, remains to be told. A year
or two after my first visit to the D family in their
humiliating and unhealthful abode, I was led to pay
my last visit to them, as a family, on my appointment
to a new sphere of clerical labour in the city of Exeter.
They had for some little time been occupying a
vastly improved description of residence, which, how-
ever, I had not happened previously to visit. I found
them in a quiet, airy, and respectable-looking courts
being proximate to one of the principal lines of
residences then existing in the town. The door of
the house was opened for my admission by Mary,
who welcomed me with a countenance beaming with
grateful happiness. I was greatly struck by the
place and what I saw around me. The house, neatly
and newly built, comprised altogether three floors,
and was all under their own tenantry. The parlour,
into which I was shewn, was carpetted, and very
neatly furnished. Everything needful to comfort
seemed to be there. My own feelings were touched
by the great contrast of the place from that in which
I had first seen them, and by the happy change, so
emphatically indicated, in their temporal condition
and sources of happiness. Laying my hand kindly on
the shoulder of the happy occupant before me — who
seemed to realize, in no inconsiderable measure, the
grateful enjoyment of the surrounding blessings which
\
1
i
144
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
had excited my pleasurable surprise — I remarked : —
"Well, Mary; you now feel something of God's
truth; it is true that * Godliness is profitable unto
all things y having promise of the life that now is, and
of that which is to come.' " She was much moved ;
and with a burst of tears, indicative of unutterable
feelings, she could only say, — " indeed it is, sir.**
145
ed: —
God's
; unto
is, and
LOved ;
erable
Chapteb V. , , »
GENERAL RESULTS OF THE TESTIMONIES OF NATURE
AND PROVIDENCE TO THE SABBATH, WITH A
PLEA FOR ITS OBSERVANCE.
The preceding records of observation and experi-
ence are such, I trust, as may serve for the convincing
of the candid and inquiring mind, that witness, both
in Nature and Providence, is incessantly being given
to the Divine institution and perpetuity of obligation
of the Sabbath. And if this proposition be established,
then doth it follow, as an unquestionable corollary,
that there is an intimate, and, indeed, inseparable
connection betwixt a conscientious and sanctified
dedication of a seventh-part of our time unto God,
and our temporal well-being and happiness. Hence,
although religious persons are by no means exempt,
either from the trials of life, or from those temporal
evils to which our species, by reason of sin, has
become subject, — this fact, I believe, will be fully
borne out, both by the foregoing Memorials, and by
general experience, that, whatever the evils may be
which necessarily belong to our temporal condition,
the measure of evil will be greatly lessened, and the
proportion of good greatly enhanced, by a strict
attention to our duty to " God our Saviour," and to
H
146
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
the religious observance of the Sabbath-day, which
He has commanded to be kept holy. The external
evidences of these facts, indeed, on a great scale, as
well as within the sphere of individual exnerience,
are probably as numerous as the instances ( /ise and
fall in the kingdoms of the earth — especially among
those nations to which the Scriptures have been given
— wherein we may generally discern the hand of God
so dealing with them in blessings or judgments, as
to verify the Scriptural statements — that "Righteous-
ness exalteth a nation ; but sin is a reproach " — yea,
and a curse too — "to any people !" And this obser-
vation it were easy to illustrate in a most ample
manner, did occasion require, both from the general
records of the world, and, in an especial manner,
from the eventful history of modern times.
Though the line of argument for the Sabbath
herein pursued, may be considered, by some Christian
persons, as inferior in its grounds to that derivable
from the direct testimony of the "Word of God ;
nevertheless, it stands commended to us, methinks,
in this — its striking and convincing results. For
every view of the subject, derivable from observation
and experience, testifies, that the Sabbath is an insti-
tution involving, most essentially and inseparably,
both the present well-being and future happiness of
mankind. Not, indeed, that the mere outward ob-
servance of the original Sabbath — or our equivalent
for it, the Lord's day — will necessarily secure our
religious advancement; not that a superstitious regard
GENERAL RESULTS.
147
to the day, without its diligent and wise improvement,
will essentially advance our spiritual good or eternal
happiness; but yet, — since the abuse and profanation
of this sacred day, as we have so largely shown, are
inseparable from manifold evils, and since the right
improvement of it is essentially connected with the
highest good, — we find, that every principle belong-
ing to our nature may herein be engaged to urge the
plea for its reverential observance.
Recapitulating the mere heads of the testimonies
already adduced in favour of the Sabbath, we find,
that whether considered religiously or morally —
physically or politically — temporally or eternally, the
blessing of the Sabbath is amply and Providentially
attested.
That the sanctifying of the Sabbath has an import-
ant influence on the religious condition of mankind,
there can be no question; for in whatever country,
or among whatever individuals, the Sabbath is wholly
disregarded, — true, spiritual religion is always wanting .
That the Sabbath is highly important in a moral
point of view, the direct attestations of good men,
with the dying confessions of very many criminals,
abundantly certify.
That its observance is advantageous physically ^ we
may discern in the sweet experience of the labouring
man, as to the restoration and invigoration of his
bodily faculties, as well as in the healthful and vigorous
condition of the animals employed in labour, through
the repose of this sacred day.
148
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
That the tendency of Sabbath observance is bene-
ficial politically^ we may judge presumptively ^ from
the circumstance of its desecration being made penal
by a variety of statutes in the law of the land ; and
experimentally i we may judge, that the tendency of
Sabbath desecration is evil, in the Commonwealth,
from the notorious fact, tb^t the class of individuals —
in all nations in possession of the Bible — who the
most disregard the Sabbath, is that which furnishes
the great body of criminals, and that from which the
violators of the law, and the illegal resistors of " the
powers that be," are mainly derived.
That its influence is most important and obvious
temporally, we have largely endeavoured to shew in
the foregoing testimonies, in the various facts of
realized prosperity and temporal preservation, on the
one hand, expressive of the blessing of Heaven on a
conscientious observance of this sacred day ; with the
manifestations, on the other hand, of a corresponding
evil and curse on its habitual desecration.
And that its influence is of momentous consequence
in regard to the eternal condition of mankind, may be
thus argued; — that since religion is the preparation for
eternal happiness, whereas true and saving religion
never flourishes if the Sabbath be disregarded, then,
it follows, that the remembrance of the Sabbath to
keep it holy, must be inseparably connected with our
future weal. •>
From principles, therefore, of common prudence,
of real patriotism, of approved philanthropy, yea of
GENERAL RESULTS.
149
on a
our
jnce,
?a of
personal seeking of good, as well as from the authority
of scriptural truth and wisdom, we are urged to
seek to improve the Sabbath diligently, and to observe
the day strictly unto the Lord! And by all these
different considerations we urge our plea, — and
that not because there is wanting one grand and
commanding principle of duty to God, as exhibited
in His authoritative precepts, but — because God
himself condescends to enforce his own commands by
a similar variety of motives. By all the terrors that
can fill the soul with dread ; by all the glories that
can awaken desire ; by all the mercies that can fill
the mind with gratitude ; by all the Saviour's suffer-
ings that can melt the soul with love ; by every
benefit that can interest the heart of man ; and by all
the noble feelings which can animate the generous
soul, — we are moved and exhorted in the different
pages of the sacred volume to serve the Lord our
God. Let us not abridge, then, the wide expanse of
the Spirit's influence by contracting it within that
narrow range of operations adapted only for ourselves.
Let us not, on the one hand, debase the high prin-
ciples of the Gospel, by resting content with the mere
expectation of temporal good as a prevailing motive,
or the fear of the Lord, bodily, as the ruling influence;
neither let us, on the other hand, unqualifyingly fix
the motive or influence so high above the ordinary
moral apprehension, that any should be induced to
abandon the pursuit, as of inaccessible attainment,
because of the want of a fitting medium or step
150
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
whereby to reach its benefits. Unspeakably liappy..
indeed^ is the condition of that man who can grasp
the love of Christy as a constraining influence to every
moral duty and act of obedience ; and yet, however
inferior in condition, "blessed is the man/' as Revela-
tion testifies, "who feareth always.*' He, therefore,
who attains only to the lower influence, that of fear,
is declared by the word of Inspiration to be "blessed;"
but he who attains to that loftiest of motives, the
" P^f^ct love which casteth out fear," is, doubtless,
preeminently blessed.
Wherefore, in presenting these records of Provi-
dential testimonies to the Sabbath, in regard to tem-
poral blessings, and in enforcing, in any measure,
the duty of Sabbath observance by such considera-
tions, the mode of argument, being in accordance
with scriptural principles and truths, cannot, I think,
be deemed unworthy of the object.
Nevertheless, in thus prominently setting forth
the connection betwixt our duty to God and our
personal well-being, — with a view to the promotion,
80 far as one individual may hope to influence others,
of a stricter and more religious observance of the
day appointed with us to be kept as a Sabbath ; — ill
should I discharge my conscience, as a Minister of
the Gospel of Jesus Christ, were I to close this essay
in such a manner as to appear to advocate obedience
to the Divine commands on the ground, mainly, of
temporal benefits. Such a motive, indeed, may and
ought to have influence with those persons who are
PLEA FOR THE SABBATH.
151
Provi- \
) tem-
asure,
lidera-
dance
think,
seeking their happiness entirely in the enjoyments of
this life, for it appeals to the very interests which
constitute the grand object of their existence. But
those who, having higher views and feelings, desire
to live for eternity, will find for the Divine commiinds,
and for religious observances, a far loftier motive
and nobler argument. For with those whom the
love of Christ constraineth, — the dominancy of desire
for the future and eternal good, over a present trans-
cient indulgence, will, at once, be indicative of their
iiew and heaven-born instincts, and become the sure
certain mark of "a wise and understanding
ana
heart." aiid. the frank decision of their enlarged
hearts will no df bt be this, — that such is our duty
t ■) the Father who hath created us, to the Son who
hath redeemed us, and u ihe Spirit who sanctifieth
us, — that did the discharge of our duty involve the
entire loss of temporal happiness, and the entire ruin
oi earthly prospects, the duty, as commanded by Him
who has a Sovereign right over us, would still be
imperative !
But imperative as the claims of the great Creator
upon the creatures of his hand, must unquestion-
ably be, whatever might be the sacrifices involved
therein, — these claims, blessed be God, are all en-
forced by methods and exhibitions of goodness and
mercy. As believers, then, in the sacred volume,
we are called upon by the highest principles of grati-
tude, the rather to be mindful of the goodness and
mercy of the Divine appointments, and of the mo-
152
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
mentous blessings they are designed to promote, than
to debase our better feelings by an absorbing con-
sideration of the penalties by which they are enforced,
or the mere temporal consequences involved therein.
Through the goodness of God we have the appoint-
ment of hebdomadal rest to both man and beast, as
an original law of creation and requirement of nature;
and, through His unspeakable mercy ^ we have the
Sabbath likewise given to us, for the promotion of
the superlative interests of our immortal spirits.
And this, doubtless, is the grand and leading design
of the institution of the Sabbath — that the day ap-
pointed to bodily rest, by the prohibition of worldly
labour, may be employed, with undivided attention,
for religious edification. Whosoever, therefore, has
at all correct views of the solemn importance of a
future and eternal existence, with the necessity of
present preparation for it, will not merely yield a
negative acquiescence in this sacred institution, but
most ayixiously strive to improve it for the welfare of
his soul. Then will he see sufficient reason why the
day should entirely^ and throughout, be given up to
God ; why all worldly labour and conversation, yea,
and worldly thoughts too, should, as far as possible,
be excluded; and why the remembrance of the day
to keep it holy is to be esteemed, not only as a com-
manded duty^ but as a Divinely appointed privilege.
Then, content with the employment of six daye in
worldly occupations, and for the pursuit of the things
needful for the body; he will strictly regard the
PLEA FOR THE SABBATH.
153
seventh day as a consecrated season, and conscien-
tiously employ it as the souVs day. And feeling by
experience, perhaps, the difficulty of a spiritual
progress, notwithstanding the Christian privileges we
enjoy, he may be disposed to unite with the writer
of these Memorials, in the deliberate conviction, —
that the due improvement of the Sabbath, under the
exhibition of the Gospel, and in subserviency " to
thie Redemption of the world, by our Lord Jesus
Christ," is an essential element in "the means of
grace, and for the hope of glory."
Could the world at large realize the momentous
importance of this Divine iijstitution, surely the so pre-
valent waste of the sacred hours of the Sabbath in sloth
and indolence, with their sad profanation by labour and
pleasure, would be changed for that pious zeal and
stirring diligence which might vie with the efforts
of the men of business in their worldly occupations ?
And could professing Christians, in general, but enter
into the elevated views of Saint Paul, they would
feel, doubtless, the things of eternity to be so infi-
nitely momentous, as to throw the perishing concerns
of time into the distant shade; for then, like him,
would they "count all things but loss that they might
win Christ and be found in Him." Then, by such,
would the day so adapted for our spiritual edification
be esteemed "a delight, the holy of the Lord, honour-
able ;" too precious to be spent * in doing our own
ways, or finding our own pleasure, or speaking our
own words,' and, therefore, meet to be devoted to
God, and to God only!
154
SABBATHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
Were all mankind truly religious , diJ. all consider
the interest of the soul to be the " one thing needful,"
— the object of the Sabbath, just declared, would itself
be abundantly sufficient to command its observance.
But because this is not the case — ^but, the rather, as
the great mass of the world are found to be mainly
engrossed in their worldly pleasures and occupations,
— I have suggested the foregoing considerations, with
the prayerful hope, that some of those who read may
be induced to put the doctrine of the Sabbath to the
test of personal experiment. And should any, with
a due dependance upon the grace of Almighty God,
be prevailed upon to make the trial, we have little
fear for the result. In so doing, perhaps, it may
please the Lord to cause them both to participate,
personally, in the writer's experience, and to receive
such convictions of a superintending and special
Providence, as may lead them to grasp at more
evangelical motives, and the enjoyment of higher
and better principles.
i
Connected with the subject of Sabbath observance,
its obligations and its privileges, — there is an im-
portant relative duty to which, in conclusion, refer-
ence, with much propriety, I think, may here be
made. It is the duty of consideration, one towards
another, so that each individual, in every rank of life,
may, if he so incline, be able to sanctify the Sabbath,
The spirit of the Fourth Commandment, in its
relative obligations, no doubt is, — not only that those
PLEA FOR THE SABBATH.
155
who have control over others should exercise it, so
far as fittingly may be done, for a due observance of
the Sabbath-day throughout their establishment or
household ; but that all who are in subordinate places
in life should have equally secured to theirij the
privilege of rest from ordinary labour. Though it
may not, then, be in us, as heads of families, to cause
our children and servants to keep the Sabbath in that
religious spirit which God requires ; yet it is in our
power, and it is our bounden duty, to give them
the opportunity, as far as is consistent with works of
necessity and charity, of improving the sacred day
for the rest of the body and the health of the soul.
For there is a grave responsibility resting upon those
masters, whoever they may be, who, from personal
selfishness, deprive their servants of the time due
unto God and their souls; yea a responsibility as
heavy, we solemnly believe, as if they deprived them
of the wadea "^i^^ to j!h^'l^(?rt:',df .fr'a^r^hands!
• ' ' • • I I ••.*''!••!.'•• i •
' ' I > . ' > I . . • , . ; • ; • • .' . .
May V^l^fei^hty * .God.; gjive ; His , Jbjeg&ing to this
humble* effort to'eommeft^ tht'.'iriicpontipcji] and design
of His holy day, and so apply His providential testi-
monies to the convincing of the understanding, and
the experience of His goodness and mercy therein to
the touching of the heart, that he who readeth may
apprehend the gracious influence of the Sabbath, and,
in his conscientious observance of it, be privileged
to experience the loving-kindness of the Lord !
London: PriutcU by M. MasuNi Ivy Lane, Fateruoiter Row.
r
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E AND
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