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Maps, plates, charts, etc.. may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre filmis d des taux de reduction diffdrents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul clichd, il est filmi d partir de Tangle supirieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images ndcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mithode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 w ■» SaWatlu (n tje mttit Stestons. m ■ *#* y/^ y/-. /e f % 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^ ; ! • 9 ■ f • « • ♦ * • • . » » • * » • • - i • ' • ' • t « • * - • < * • • • 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%. ^^X-v^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I ^ 1^ 12.0 IIM 12.2 1.8 IL25 IIIIIU lllll 1.6 V] 84 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. 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 t ^■^t j » m im»' PUBLICmONS BY THE SAME AUTHOR. BY LONQMAN & CO. 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