RELIGION AND SABBATH WHALING. 241 



'look-out' for the oil of joy to the whalemen, 

 while the rest look up for ' an unction from the 

 Holy One ;' or, in other words, one man looks 

 out for worldly, while the rest look up for 

 heavenly good. Now, should it so happen that 

 the prayer of this MAST-HEAD MINISTER should 

 be first granted, by raising a whale during 

 divine service, and should he, from his lofty 

 pulpit, cry out, ' There she blows !' then what 

 a thrill of joy electrifies all his hearers ! How 

 soon the lesser desire yields to the greater ! 

 How quick and how thrilling the response from 

 the quarter deck, ' Where away ? Lower the 

 boats ! Bear a hand, boys !' 



" Now the scene changes. Devotion does 

 not cease, but it is turned into another channel. 

 Prayer, reading, sacred melody, exhortation, all 

 give place to the weightier matter of pursuing 

 this MOVING SEA-GOD ! The object of devotion 

 thus changed, interest, zeal, fervour, energy, 

 are all quickened and strongly developed. 



" True, most irreligious men ridicule this 

 kind of piety, and heartily despise its selfishness 

 and inconsistency ; and Lord's-day whalemen 



Q 



