Page:Robert Carter- his life and work. 1807-1889 (IA robertcarterhis00coch).pdf/96

80 breaking the under half of the spring beam, and shaking to their foundation and lowering perceptibly the timbers which sustained the wheel, thus enfeebling the arm of our power in the climax of our danger. The wave, with portions of the wreck, rolled deep and dark over the quarter-deck, One of these struck the captain on the head, while the wave drove him insensible to the stern of the ship, where the network barely saved him from an ocean grave.

“About one o’clock, while many were seated in the lower cabin, a sea struck the ship, a tremendous crash was heard on deck, and instantly the cabin was darkened and torrents of water came pouring down through the skylights. All sprang to their feet, and a scream of terror rang through the ship, which pitched and rolled so fearfully that with no little difficulty we could maintain our position upon our seats, and not a few received bruises and contusions.

“In these circumstances, a proposition was made, and accepted by all who could attend, to meet in the lower cabin for prayer. It was prayer, not in forms and words merely, but the importunity of the heart, crushed by perils from which it could not escape, and pressed by the complex interests of time and eternity, looking up to the only power in the universe that could save. In the evening, Dr. Balch administered the communion in the cabin. In the mean time the storm raged on, but from the time of our public supplications the desolations ceased.

“We had hoped the preceding night that the morning would bring a change, and in the morning that noon would witness a favorable crisis, and at noon that evening would realize our hopes, But the storm travelled on from morning to noon, and from noon to evening, with augmented power, till it became evident that we must encounter the terrors of another night; and the general opinion was that the ship could not outride the storm. And now, while prayer unceasing went up to God, I have cause to know that on the part of numbers immediate preparations for eternity