His CAPTORS. 283 



Trembling of the Compass Needle in the beginning of a Storm. 



He is ashamed of the wrong thoughts of God 

 that had begun to gather and darken in his 

 mind like gloomy clouds. He sees that God 

 was infinitely wise and good in appointing the 

 discipline to which he has been subjected ; and 

 those unuttered, perhaps, but felt murmurs 

 against the dispensations of Providence, now 

 fill him with sorrow and shame. Peculiar and 

 trying 1 as his case may have been, he now dis- 

 covers many blessings and beneficial conse- 

 quences to flow from it, which he could not see 

 before. How happy the man whose sight is 

 thus cleared, and his heart enlarged to trace 

 the manifold wisdom and mercy of God in dis- 

 pensations that once seemed dark and unac- 

 countable ! 



We noticed in the late gale, and it is often 

 observed by mariners in the beginning of bad 

 weather, before the storm is fairly set in and 

 fixed in its course, that the needle in the com- 

 pass-box was considerably affected, and there 

 was unusual oscillation, probably through the 

 changing or disturbance of the atmosphere's 

 electric forces ; but after the gale was fairly 

 formed or at its height, the needle became true 

 again to its polarity. 



