who hath made all things. Well then, if God hath made all things,
it must be He who guides them; and if so, no one thing in the
whole range of His works can take place, and He not know it. Then
God must know how sick and sad I am, and He wills me to be here.
O, why hath God done this to me!"

Then some voice would seem to say, "Dost thou ask why God hath
done this to thee? Ask why thou wert not shot by the Moors, who
came on board the ship, and took the lives of thy mates. Ask why
thou wert not torn by the beasts of prey on the coasts. Ask why
thou didst not go down in the deep sea with the rest of the crew,
but didst come to this isle, and art safe."

A sound sleep then fell on me, and when I woke it must have been
three o'clock the next day, by the rays of the sun: nay, it may
have been more than that; for I think that this must have been
the day that I did not mark on my post, as I have since found
that there was one notch too few.

I now took from my store the Book of God's Word, which I had
brought from the wreck, not one page, of which I had yet read. My
eyes fell on five words, that would seem to have been put there
for my good at this time; so well did they cheer my faint hopes,
and touch the true source of my fears. They were these: "I will
not leave thee." And they have dwelt in my heart to this day. I
laid down the book, to pray. My cry was "O, Lord, help me to love
and learn thy ways."

This was the first time in all my life that I had felt a sense
that God was near, and heard me. As for my dull life here, it was