Then he goes on to men who are exposed to danger, and terror, and
death in their lawful calling; and his instance is the seamen--those
who go on to the sea in ships, and occupy their business in great
waters.
The storms come up, they know not when or how: but they are not the
sport of a blind chance; they are not the victims of the wrath of
God. The wild sea, too, is his school-house, where they are to see
the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep; and so, by
strange dangers and strange deliverances, learn, as I have seen many
a seaman learn, a courage and endurance, a faith, a resignation,
which puts us comfortable landsmen to shame.
Then he goes on to even a deeper matter--to those terrible changes
in nature, so common in the East, in which whole districts, by
earthquake or drought, are rendered worthless and barren. They too,
he says, are God's lessons, though sharp ones enough. 'He turneth
the rivers into a wilderness, and the water-springs into dry ground;
a fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that
dwell therein. Again, he turneth the wilderness into a standing
water, and dry ground into water-springs. And there he maketh the
hungry to dwell, that they may prepare a city for habitation; and
sow the fields, and plant vineyards, which may yield fruits of
increase.
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