"  Ay,"  he  remarked  one  evening  in  an  "  exposeetion,"
suggested  by  a  chapter  he  had  just  read  from  one  of  the
Epistles,  "  ay,  St.  Paul,  now,  had  a  gran'  eloquence,
doubtless,  and  a  choice  of  words  quite  extraordinary,  but
he  was  aye  over-weak  in  doctrine — whiles  beseeching
instead  of  threatening,  and  aye  leaving  the  sinner  a
loophole  for  escape.  Ye  cannot  coax  the  sinner  to
righteousness  wi'  a  kiss,  but  wi'  threats  maun  drive  him
afore  ye  as  an  auld  wife  brings  hame  her  kye  of  an
evening.  'Twas  a  greet  peety,  too,  he  should  write  of
himself  as  bein'  weak  in  bodily  presence,  and  in  speech
contemptible.'  Ay,  'twas  a  peety,  indeed,  he  should  ha"
been  so  meek — ay,  and  a  sair  peety  that  others  who  ha'
the  gifts  should  lack  the  opportuneeties."

Then  there  ensued  an  impressive  pause  which  was
broken  unexpectedly  by  the  sailor,  who,  but  dimly  under-
standing what  had  been  said,  and  believing  something  to
be  expected  from  him,  audibly  ejaculated  "  Amen  !  "  and
thereby  so  startled  the  elder  tliat  some  of  the  hard  sayings
destined  for  another  fell  upon  himself.
After  this  the  sailor  no  longer  attended  prayers,  not-
withstanding the  expostulations  of  the  landlord,  who
enlarged  upon  the  "building  up"  the  "exposeetion"
never  failed  to  effect.
To  this  he  bluntly  replied  that  "  there  wasn't  no  chance
for  one  of  the  crew  if  the  skipper  were  trounced  like  that,"
alluding  to  tiie  above-mentioned  attacks  on  the  divines
of  old.
Indeed,  he  more  than  suspected  that  Ebenezer's
scheme  of  righteousness  worked  out  in  the  form  of  an
equation,  whereby  the  election  of  one  just  man,  viz.,
Ebenezer,  was  equivalent  to  the  rejection  of  ninety-and-
nine  unjust  persons,  amongst  whom  the  sailor  felt  he  was
himself  included.
