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 it 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