power; our hero seeing nothing in
the firmament of heaven, of a clear night, but the twinkling rights that
seemed to him to be placed there merely to garnish and illumine the
darkness of this globe. Now, how differently did he look upon natural
objects, and their origin! If it were only an insect, his mind presented
its wonderful mechanism, its beauty, its uses. No star seemed less than
what science has taught us that it is; and the power of the Dread Being
who had created all, who governed all, and who was judge of all, became an
inseparable subject of contemplation, as he looked upon the least of his
works. Feelings thus softened and tempered by humility, easily led their
subject to the reception of those leading articles of the Christian faith
which have been consecrated by the belief of the church catholic since the
ages of miraculous guidance, and which are now venerable by time. Bold and
presuming is he who fancies that his intellect can rectify errors of this
magnitude and antiquity, and that the church of God has been permitted to
wallow on in a most fatal idolatry for centuries, to be extricated by the
pretending syllogisms of his one-sided and narrow philosophy!

The people of the Sea Lion were less affected by what they saw than their
young commander. Their hearts were light with the prospect of a speedy
release from the hardships and dangers they had undergone; and, at each
explosion of the volcano, as soon as out of reach of the falling stones,
they laughed, and asserted that the mountain was firing a salute in honour
of their departure. Such is the difference between men whose hearts and
spirits have submitted to the law of faith, and those who live on in the
recklessness of the passing events of life!

The schooner was racing past a rocky islet, beginning to haul more on a
wind, as she made the circuit of the bay, just as Hazard came to the
conclusion that the field had drifted home on the outer island of the
group, and that it would be impossible to pass into clear water by going
on. Turning his head in quest of some bay, or other secure place in which
the craft might wait for a favourable change, he saw a narrow opening to
leeward of the islet he had passed but a minute before; and, so far as he
could perceive, one that led directly out to sea.

It was too late to keep away for the entrance of the passage, the ice
being too close at hand to leeward; but, most fortunately, there was room
to tack. A cal