Page:Voyages and travels of a Bible.pdf/8

 out.’ God had been long angry with him every day. He confessed he had been a great sinner. He said that bad company had been his ruin; that, by following their example, he had destroyed a fine constitution; that, in his distress, his bottle companions had all forsaken him; they could not bear the thoughts of death. ‘Had I my days to begin again,’ said he, ‘I would flee from a swearer, or drunkard, so I would from the plague.’ He prayed frequently that God would forgive his iniquity for the sake of his Son Jesus Christ. His fever increased, and he died. I was now put into his trunk, and sent home with his effects to his friends in England. Upon my arrival, I was soon released from my confinement, and put in a dark closet, where I remained unknown and unnoticed for several years.

Being released from my solitary confinement, in consequence of the death of my owner, I was seized by a captain of a West Indianian, carried on board his ship, and placed at the head of his hammock, there to rest in silence during his pleasure. Indeed, when hche [sic] brought mome [sic] on board, he had no design of ever permitting me to speak a word; only supposing it was lucky to have suehsuch [sic] a companion in a ship, and that I should be useful for this purpose, though I lay as still as the ballast at the bottom of the vessel. How little did he know that his great Creator spoke through me to him, and to all on board.

In this uncomfortable state I remained for some weeks, like Joseph in Pharaoh’s prison, neglected and forgotten by all. At length we set sail with a favourable wind. I frequently overheard them thanking my Master for the fine weather they enjoyed, which, if continued, would in a few weeks bring them to their destined port. But suddenly a gloomy cloud appeared in the west, which indicated a dreadful storm. All hands mounted aloft and reefed the sails, and got everything ready for weathering the gale. The wind rose and eontinuedcontinued [sic] rising, till it blew a perfect hurricane. Now they began to think of me. 1 was taken from my confinement, and placed on the captain’s table, but the rolling of the vessol was such that I could not remain steady, but was frequently thrown with violence upon the floor.

About midnight the captain allowed me to speak; when I gave him a faithful relation of the conduct of Jonah and the mariners in similar circumstances, and how they called upon the gods whom they knew. The captain and others in the cabin perceived, from what I said, that storms were raised by the power of thothe [sic] God of heaven and earth; that he had some end in view by every such storm; and none but he who raised a storm could create a calm, On this the