Chapter 7

"Be thou at peace!--Th' all-seeing eye,
Pervading earth, and air, and sky,
The searching glance which none may flee,
Is still, in mercy, turn'd on thee."

Mrs. Hemans.

The Sabbath ever dawns on the piously-inclined, with hope and a devout
gratitude to the Creator for all his mercies. This is more apt to be the
case in genial seasons, and rural abodes, perhaps, than amidst the
haunts of men, and when the thoughts are diverted from the proper
channels by the presence of persons around us. Still greater is the
influence of absolute solitude, and that increased by the knowledge of a
direct and visible dependence on the Providence of God, for the means of
even prolonging existence. In the world, men lose sight of this
dependence, fancying themselves and their powers of more account than
the truth would warrant, and even forgetting whence these very boasted
powers are derived; but man, when alone, and in critical circumstances,
is made to feel that he is not sufficient for his own wants, and turns
with humility and hope to the divine hand that upholds him.

With feelings of this character, did Mark and Betts keep their first
Sabbath on the reef. The former read the morning service, from beginning
to end, while the latter sat by, an attentive listener. The only proof
given of any difference in religious faith between our mariners, was of
so singular a nature as to merit notice. Notwithstanding Bob's early
familiarity with Mark, his greater age, and the sort of community of
feeling and interest created by their common misfortune, the former had
not ceased to treat the last with the respect due to his office. This
deference never deserted him, and he had riot once since the ship was
embayed, entered the cabin without pulling off his hat As soon as church
commenced, however, Bob resumed his tarpaulin, as a sort of sign of his
own orthodoxy in the faith of his fathers; making it a point to do as
they had done in meeting, and slightly concerned lest his companion
might fall into the error of supposing he was a man likely to be
converted. Mark also observed that, in the course of that Sabbath, Bob
used the pronouns 'thee' and 'thou,' on two or three occasions, sounding
oddly enough in the mouth of the old salt.

Well did both our mariners prove the efficacy of the divine provision of
a day of rest, in a spiritual sense, on the occasion of this their first
Sabbath on the reef. Mark felt far more resigned to his fate than he
could have believed possible, while Betts declared that he should be
absolutely happy, had he only a better boat than the dingui; not that
the dingui was at all a bad craft of its kind, but it wanted size. After
the religious services, for which both our mariners had