286 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES. 



the first storm-burst of trouble, it is seldom or 

 never that the Christian can at once repress the 

 flutter and agitation of nature, controul, or un- 

 derstand its deviations, collect his energies, and 

 repose calmly on God. 



It is rare that Faith, taken by surprise, does 

 at once steady the soul, and lift a man in a mo- 

 ment clear above hostile infirmities and fears. 

 Be it true that, when once magnetized by the 

 love of Christ, the soul does always point up- 

 ward by kindred strong attraction, as the com- 

 pass needle to the north, yet, like that same 

 needle, suddenly acted upon by a disturbing 

 force, you must give it time to recover its ba- 

 lance, and, its oscillations done, to fasten upon 

 the central point of rest. 



I have sometimes known God's own dear 

 children, when calamities came suddenly in pro- 

 spect, when huge billows seemed ready to go 

 over them, and a black cloud of sorrows was 

 about to burst upon their heads, at first trem- 

 bling and anxious, swinging a little with trepi- 

 dation to this side and that of the central point 

 of rest ; but as the trial became more distinctlv 



