“I would have you all notice,” the captain said, again closing the book and speaking with earnestness, “how plainly and repeatedly God forbids the worship of images, likenesses, or of any of the creatures or things he hath made; how repeatedly and expressly he commands us to worship him and him alone.”
“Ah, no wonder that the popish priests forbid their people to read the Bible for themselves,” said Rosie, “for from it they would soon learn the wickedness of bowing down to and worshipping images, crucifixes, and pictures.”
“Yes,” replied Captain Raymond, “and I would far sooner lay my children in the grave, dearly, dearly as I love them, than to see them bowing down to images and pictures; serving ‘gods the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.’ How precious is the promise that follows in that same chapter, ‘But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. When thou art in tribulation and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the Lord thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice (for the Lord thy God is a merciful God), he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.’
“Verily I believe that we of the Anglo-Saxon nations are the literal descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—God’s own chosen people—so that we have the strongest claim to these precious promises; but let us never forget that they are ours only as we fulfil the prescribed conditions; without true repentance and true faith we shall no more be saved than those of other nations who do not seek the Lord while he may be found and call upon him while he is near.”
Just then little feet came pit-pat across the deck, a sweet child voice calling out, “Good-morning, papa, dear papa, I’s an early bird too, isn’t I?”
“Quite an early bird for such a wee one,” the captain answered, holding out his arms, then as she sprang into them clasping her close and kissing her fondly again and again; the next moment doing the same by Grace, who had followed closely in Elsie’s wake.
The rest of their party soon joined them, then came breakfast and family worship; after those an hour or two on deck; then the vessel steamed into the harbor, her passengers landed and found the Woodburn carriage in waiting, with those from Fairview and Ion; Edward and Zoe with their twin babies in the one, Lester and Elsie Leland, with their two boys, in the other.
