that we have made a different course from that which
we projected, we do not attribute the errors to Bowditch, but to our
own miscalculation. It is just so with the humble inquirer after
truth; the Bible is his Navigator; he believes it the fountain of
living truth, endeavors to shape the course of his life by it; and
when he errs, he looks for the error in himself, not in the Bible."

"Still, Briggs," said the captain, "I don't believe the Bible. The
fact is, I have never looked into it since I was a boy."

"The greater your loss, captain; but I have no doubt your mother
believed it, and has often spoken to you about God, and Christ, and
taught you to pray when you were a child. If you will take the trouble
to visit Jim Wood's gin-palace, in Playhouse Square, when we reach
Liverpool, and enter into conversation with the people there about the
Bible, they will laugh at you, and sneeringly tell you it is a humbug;
in short, repeat your own arguments; but if you will leave there and
obtain admission into the best society, you will find that every
person present will speak with reverence of the Bible. Now I know you
love good company here, and that you dislike the low, vulgar
conversation of the profane; therefore, I should like to see you make
some effort to prepare yourself for the society of the redeemed in
heaven."

"What you have said about my mother, Briggs, is true as the needle to
the pole, God bless her; I can't help saying so, for she was good to
me; and if there is a heaven she is sure of it."

"And, of course, captain, you would like to join her there, when you
have run down your reckoning here. You have either to join her, or
such fellows as those who frequent places like Jim Wood's. Which like
you the best--gamblers, drunkards, and thieves, or your mother? This
is the simple question which you must decide for yourself."

Here the ship's duty interrupted the conversation, but that night
Captain Williams thought much of the teachings of his mother, her
earnest prayers to God in his behalf, and the flimsy arguments with
which he had so long deluded himself about the Bible; and the more he
thought the more uneasy he became. He felt that he was a sinner in the
sight of God, unworthy of the many favors he enjoyed, and during the
whole of that passage, whenever an opportunity offered he engaged in
earnest conversation with his mate. He was alarmed at the prospect of
being forever separated from his mother, for