These have been a great, I may truly say, constant source of delight:
“Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; for the
Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.” Jos. I, 9. This
was so impressed on my mind before leaving home, that I ventured to
take it for my sailing orders. I feel that I have not come to sea of
my own motion. I tried every other method of recovery, had many other
plans of travel; but one after another was frustrated, and I was shut
up to this, which, like a certain iron gate before a prisoner and his
angel, is beautifully said to have “opened to them of his own accord.”
I have no expectation other than that all will be well. Everything has
proceeded so much better than I could have expected that there seems
to be nothing to do but to receive trustfully every day’s experience.
Words of Scripture have had a wonderfully sedative effect. When the
sea rises I remember, “The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of
many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea.” Ps. 93. One day in
the Gulf Stream, when all around was in confusion, I thought of these
words: “The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee; they were
afraid; the depths also were troubled.” Ps. 77:10. It was a comfort
to know that there is One of whom the sea is afraid. If my heart can
say, “O God, thou art my God,” why should I fear the sea? I may even
say, “Lord, if it be thou, bid me come to thee on the water;” I may
even come down out of the ship to go to Jesus. I was glad that the sea
was afraid; it gave me a feeling of superiority to the sea. Paul says,
“And in nothing terrified by your adversaries, which,” that is, your
not being terrified, “is to them an evident token of perdition, but
to you of salvation, and that of God.” One morning, lately, at home,
as I was rising, my eye was caught by these words in the “Scripture
Promises” which hung in my room: “When thou passest through the waters
I will be with thee.” Is. 43:2. This, and the passage above quoted from
Joshua, are most frequently in my thoughts. If those at home could look
in upon us, they would give thanks. The day before we left New York, a
clergyman who came on board said, “Probably the history of navigation
contains no instance more remarkable than this: A father and daughters
going to sea with a son and brother for captain, with everything
combining to make them happy.” We said with thankful hearts, “The Lord
hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad.”