Bristol or Liverpool or London, and never seen
anything but streets and houses, and man's clumsy work. But God has been
very good to you. He has brought you up here, in this happy West
country, where you may see His wonderful works day and night; where you
ought never to forget that you have a Father in heaven who made the sea,
and who keeps you safe at sea by night and day. God has given you a
great deal. He has given you two books to read--the book of God's Word,
the Bible, and the book of God's earth, the sky and sea and land, which
is above you and below you and around you day and night. If you can read
and understand them properly, you will find in them everything which you
want; you may learn from them to be holy in this world and happy in the
next. God has given you, too, fathers, mothers, wives, children, a
comfortable home, a holy trade--the same which the apostles followed. God
has given you England for your country, and the West country--the best
place in England for your home. God has given you a good Queen, and good
magistrates and landlords. God has given you health and strength, and
seamanship, and clear heads and stout hearts. And God has made you
seamen and fishermen, and given you a business in which you can see God's
mighty power and wisdom day and night, and feel Him taking care of you
when you cannot take care of yourselves.

Therefore you ought to thank God that yours is a dangerous business,
because it teaches you to trust in God alone for safety. And what are
you to give Him in return? What does God require of you? You cannot pay
Him back again for all His mercies, for they are past counting, but you
must pay Him back all you can. And what must you pay Him back? First,
you must trust in God; for he who comes to God and wishes to walk with
God through life, as a good man should, must believe that there is a God,
and that He will reward those who look to Him.

I never heard of a sailor who did not _believe_ in God; for how can a man
look at the sea, and not say to himself, _God_ made the sea! But I have
seen a great many sailors who did not _trust_ in God. As long as it is
fine weather, and everything goes right, they will forget God, and fancy
that it is their own seamanship, and not God alone, which keeps their
boats afloat, and their own skill in fishing, and not God alone, which
sends the shoals of fish into their nets; and so they are truly
fine-weather sailors--men who are on