A Hurricane Passes Around A Ship.


A Sea Captain relates to the editor of the _Christian_, a remarkable

incident, whereby in one of his voyages his ship was unaccountably held

still, and thereby saved from sailing directly into the midst of a

terrible hurricane:--"We sailed from the Kennebec on the first of

October, 1876. There had been several severe gales, and some of my

friends thought it hardly safe to go, but after considerable prayer I

concluded i
was right to undertake the voyage. On the 19th of October

we were about one hundred and fifty miles west of the Bahamas, and we

encountered very disagreeable weather. _For five or six days we seemed

held by shifting currents, or some unknown power, in about the same

place. We would think we had sailed thirty or forty miles_, when on

taking our observations we would find we _were within three or four

miles of our position the day before_. This circumstance occurring

repeatedly proved a trial to my faith, and I said within my heart,

'_Lord, why are we so hindered, and kept in this position_?' Day after

day we were held as if by an unseen force, until at length a change took

place, and we went on our way. Reaching our port they inquired, 'Where

have you been through the gale?' '_What gale_?' we asked. '_We have seen

no gale_.' We then learned that a terrible hurricane had swept through

that region, and that all was desolation. We afterwards learned that

_this hurricane had swept around us, and had almost formed a circle

around the place occupied by us during the storm. A hundred miles in one

direction all was wreck and ruin, fifty miles in the opposite direction

all was desolation; and while that storm was raging in all its fury, we

were held in perfect safety, in quiet waters_, and in continual anxiety

to change our position and pursue our voyage _One day of ordinary

sailing would have brought us into the track of the storm, and sent us

to the bottom of the sea._ We were anxious to sail on, but some unseen

power held us where we were, and we escaped."



The Captain was a prayerful man, trusting in his Lord, though his faith

was tried, and he thought the Lord was not helping him. Yet the Lord was

keeping his promise to him, "_The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in

safety by him, and the Lord shall cover him all the day long_."



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