His CAPTORS. 281 



All must cling to them. The Albatross and the Christian. 



off that might have clung to the " life-line" 

 had it been in its place at hand. 



So Christians sometimes attempt the course 

 of a Christian, and go to sailing over the troub- 

 led sea of life without being provided with the 

 promises, without having learned how, or hav- 

 ing them at hand, hidden in their hearts, to use 

 and cling to in a storm. In good weather and 

 ordinary times they get along without them, 

 and do not feel the want ; but let a storm arise, 

 the wind blow fiercely, the sails be flapping, 

 then it is they want the "life-lines," and are 

 distressed and lost without them. Yea, it is 

 not possible for the oldest and most experienced 

 Christian to live without a constant clinging to 

 the promises, still less is it for younger and 

 more recent pilgrims : like a young sailor-boy, 

 they must hold fast to the life-line of God's 

 word, or they are sure to fall. 



Sometimes there happens, even to praying, 

 faithful Christians, what is true of large sea- 

 birds. When in the Pacific, we used some- 

 times, by hook and line thrown astern, to catch 

 that most majestic and beautiful of all birds on 

 the wing, the superb white-winged albatross, 

 I observed that of itself it could never rise from 



