O abandon for ever one's native land, with all its endearing associations, naturally gives rise to emotions of sadness. Such were the feelings of Thomas Campbell's family when the vessel, setting sail again on the following morning, gradually left the shores of green Erin in the dim and misty distance. But the remembrance of a beloved husband and father waiting to receive them in the Western World, the hopeful buoyancy of youth, and the strange groups and ever-shifting scenes on board the vessel, soon gave rise to other and more cheerful thoughts.

      The wind in the early part of the day was fair, but toward evening, off Malin Head, it became adverse, and increased so much in force that the ship was unable to make head against it, even when close-hauled. It became necessary, therefore, to take in sail and run before the wind all night. Next morning they found themselves near the coast of Scotland, which, from their position on the previous day, lay only about thirty miles to the north-east. As they approached the shore, it appeared very rocky and dangerous, but the captain succeeded in running the vessel into a very crooked bay which happened to be near. Neither he nor the sailors appeared to know precisely on what part of the [98] coast they were; but some time after daybreak pilots came on board and informed them that they were in Lochin-Daal Bay, on the coast of the island of Islay; adding that this part of the bay was very unsafe, many vessels having been wrecked there. They therefore advised the captain to proceed on further, to a better harbor near a small village called Bowmore, which was the chief town of the island. The captain, however, being resolved to go out to sea again as soon as ever the wind would permit, concluded to remain for the present where he was, and accordingly cast anchor.

      Here they remained for three entire days, the wind continuing still unfavorable. During this period, Alexander occupied himself in observing the motley crowd of passengers, in conversing occasionally with the more intelligent, and in reading some of the books he had selected for the voyage. Some of the Catholics on board, having heard him engage in prayer with the family at morning and evening worship, seemed inclined to show their contempt for Protestants by occasionally requesting him, in a bantering tone, to pray for them. To such jeers, however, he paid no attention, knowing well the ignorance and the bigotry by which they were dictated.

      On the evening of the 7th October, the ship still riding at anchor in the bay, and no appearance of any threatening danger, a singular circumstance occurred to him. After having attended to family worship and Scripture recitation as usual, he had reclined upon one of the sofas, and was reading aloud to his sister Dorothea in "Boston's Fourfold State." Finding, after some time, that she was becoming drowsy, he ceased reading, and soon afterward himself fell into a somewhat uneasy slumber. At length he started up with evident [99] marks of alarm, and told his mother and sisters that he was confident a great danger was impending, and that he feared they were about to be shipwrecked. He said he had just had a most vivid dream, in which he thought the ship had struck upon a rock, and that the water came rushing in and nearly filled the vessel. He thought he had been making the most strenuous exertions to save the family and secure their luggage; and so strong was the impression made upon his mind that he said, "I will not undress to-night. I will lay my shoes within my reach, and be ready to rise at a moment's warning; and I would advise you all to be prepared for an emergency."

      All having at length retired to their berths, the decks and cabins became quiet, and no noise was heard but the dull sound of the waves as they dashed against the sides of the vessel, the whistling of the wind through the rigging, or the creaking of the cables as the ship began to strain upon them more and more. Finally, about ten o'clock, the wind, veering toward the south, increased rapidly to a severe gale, blowing directly into the bay. In a few moments the passengers were suddenly aroused by a violent shock, accompanied with the crashing sound of breaking timbers and the rushing of water into the main hold of the vessel. Instantly all was commotion and terror. The ship, it appeared, had dragged her anchors, and had been dashed upon a sunken rock, which had penetrated her bottom, while the force of the wind and waves had thrown her almost upon her beam-ends. As the passengers scrambled to the upper deck, they found the captain calling up all hands to cut away the masts. In the confusion, however, but a single axe could be found. With this the sailors commenced to hew at the masts, while some of [100] the passengers who had broadswords assisted with these in cutting away the stays. The masts being at length cut and falling overboard, the ship righted to some extent, fortunately still remaining upon the rock, upon which she seemed to settle more firmly as she gradually filled with water. All the passengers, with whatever baggage they could rescue, were now crowded upon the upper deck, exposed to the fury of the elements, as wave after wave of immense size approached and broke upon the vessel, sweeping the deck and threatening instant destruction. The captain now ordered minute-guns to be fired in token of distress, but such was the noise of winds and waves that it seemed impossible that they could be heard on shore. The situation, indeed, appeared to aIl to be desperate--the violence of the storm continuing, the long and dreary night before them, and no prospect of any human help.

      It was now that Alexander, having done all that was possible for the present safety of his charge, abandoned himself to reflection as he sat on the stump of the broken mast, and, in the near prospect of death, felt, as never before, the vanity of the aims and ambitions of human life. The world now seemed to him a worthless void, and all its attractions a vain, delusive show. Kingdoms, thrones and sceptres could not, he thought, if offered, excite one wish for their possession. The true objects of human desire and the true purposes of man's creation now appeared to him in all their excellence and glory. He thought of his father's noble life, devoted to God and to the salvation of his fellow-beings, and felt that such a calling, consecrated to the elevation and everlasting happiness of mankind, was, indeed, the highest and most worthy sphere of action [101] in which any human being could engage. It was then, in that solemn hour, that he gave himself up wholly to God, and resolved that, if saved from the present peril, he would certainly spend his entire life in the ministry of the gospel. It was at this moment that he, for the first time, fully decided upon adopting the ministry as his profession.

      Calmly submitting himself to the dispensations of Heaven, he now began to observe the conduct of the other passengers. Most of them presented the aspect of extreme terror, as they hopelessly gazed at the careering clouds above or into the surrounding gloom, or shrank away from the fury of the dashing waves. The Catholics, especially, manifested the most abject fear, and now, no longer in a jeering tone, but in all sincerity and humility, besought him to pray for them. Some of them were telling their beads and muttering prayers to the saints; others were calling aloud on the Virgin Mary and the angels to "fall the winds and save our bodies;" strangely enough, never offering a petition for the salvation of their souls. Others were busy confessing their sins to the priest, who was granting them absolution and endeavoring to prepare them for what seemed their inevitable fate.

      Among the passengers, however, there was one unknown female, who, amidst all the dreadful noise and turmoil of the elements and the contagious sympathy of fear, sat quietly by herself, nursing her babe. This, under the circumstances, appeared to the Campbells very singular, and it indicates their comparative calmness that they noticed her particularly, as she sat apparently unconscious of the raging winds and waves and the imminence of the danger, sheltering, as best she could, her helpless infant. [102]

      Meanwhile, upon the ill-fated Hibernia, the rushing waves and the pitiless tempest continued to beat with unabated fury, and the dismal hours of the long and dreary night passed slowly away. About five o'clock, the captain, with the Catholic priest and some of the crew, resolved to make an effort to get ashore in the long-boat. They succeeded in launching the boat and getting clear of the ship, but upon nearing the shore the boat upset in the surf, and it was with great difficulty that, by swimming and wading, they at length succeeded in reaching the land. But the captain and most of the sailors had become so much intoxicated by the time they reached the nearest houses that they acted in a rude and boisterous manner, and were unable to represent properly the exigency of the case, so that it was not until daylight revealed the situation of the vessel that a few inhabitants began to collect upon the beach.

      At first, the passengers doubted whether the people who appeared on the barren and rocky coast were disposed to befriend them, or, as is often the case, to act the part of common wreckers, who plunder the unfortunate. It soon became evident, however, from the signals they made, and their strenuous efforts to launch the boats they gathered from various quarters, that their intentions were to rescue the passengers and crew. All their efforts to board the vessel by means of their boats proving abortive, in consequence of the force of the wind and waves driving shoreward, the passengers were instructed by signals to tie a rope to an empty cask and allow it to drift on shore, while they retained the other end. The cask being caught on shore, its rope was immediately transferred to the prow of one of the boats, which, by the assistance of those on board [103] the ship, was then successfully dragged through the surf, and finally, to their great joy, brought alongside. It was now decided that the women and children should be taken first ashore, but some men seeming resolved to accompany their families, the more resolute passengers, drawing their swords, stood at the gangway, and threatened to cut down any man that dared to go until all the weaker portion of the passengers were landed. The arrangement was then carried out, and as each boat-load reached the shore, the boat was drawn back as before for others.

      Alexander concluded to remain for the last boat, and while the others were going ashore, perceiving that there was now but little danger of loss of life, he began to think about the property they had on board. Their trunks and boxes, he found, were floating about between-decks, and among them a large cask in which he had packed the books. He at once determined to save these if possible, but as there was now no tackle or means of hoisting the cask to the upper deck, he managed, with great difficulty and at the imminent risk of his life, to break it open with the axe and throw the books upon the deck. After all, however, he found it was impossible to convey them ashore at that time, and as he left the ship with the last of the passengers, he was reluctantly compelled to leave them to the mercy of the elements. It was now about two o'clock, and the tide was at the ebb; so that the boat ran upon a rock a good distance from land, and Alexander, with the rest, had to wade ashore with no little difficulty and danger through the surf. He immediately sought out his mother and the family, and found them assembled safely upon a large rock, where they all rejoiced together at their merciful deliverance, while the rest of [104] the passengers, gathered around in groups, were congratulating each other with the liveliest demonstrations of joy. The people of the island were extremely kind, supplying food and drink to warm and refresh the benumbed and exhausted, and bringing carts to convey to the village the luggage which was from time to time brought ashore, and which they safely deposited in the store-room of a Mr. Hector Simpson, a merchant of the town.

      Every arrangement having been made to secure as much as possible of the property from the wreck, the passengers began to disperse to look for lodgings. Alexander repaired with the family to the nearest and most respectable house he saw, and all were very warmly received by the owner, a widow lady possessed of a respectable fortune, and having a family of grown-up daughters. Her husband had been a clergyman, and was said to have translated from the Gaelic many of the fragments regarded as the poems of Ossian. This lady's maiden name was Campbell; and when it was discovered that her guests were of that name, she, as well as all the rest of the people, seemed to redouble their attentions, for as it now appeared, instead of going to America, they had been thrown directly among the Campbells of Argyleshire, from whom they deduced their lineage. Having, in this hospitable mansion, got themselves warmed, dried and refreshed, along with many others of the passengers they proceeded to the town, which was about two miles off, where they obtained lodgings in the house of a Mr. McAllister. Here they meditated with grateful hearts upon the eventful scenes through which they had just passed, and recalling the premonition given by Alexander, were assured by him that the reality, as it [105] occurred, was precisely what appeared to him in the forewarning. The appearances of things in his fancy had been verified in the facts, and he had done the very things he supposed himself to have done in his singular dream. He was a very firm believer in special providence, and was the more impressed on this occasion as, in his previous history, he had found his presentiments several times strangely verified. With him, these were simply facts which he did not pretend to explain upon natural principles, but regarded as indications of God's watchful care and interest in the affairs of his people.

      He was busily occupied for some days afterward in obtaining from the wreck, as the weather would permit, such books, clothing and other property as had not been washed overboard or otherwise destroyed, and in drying his books and preparing them to be repacked. Laird Campbell, of Shawfield, chief owner of the island and member of Parliament, observing his books, invited him very cordially to his house, and treated him more like a relative than a stranger. Here he spent many pleasant hours, as well as at the house of Mr. Simpson, whose wife was possessed of much intelligence and piety, and for whom he conceived a very high respect. She was very fond of reading religious books, and seemed to feel a deep interest in the prosperity of Christ's kingdom. Laird Campbell had appointed Mr. Simpson to take charge of the wreck and secure the property of the passengers, to whom he endeavored to render every service in his power. Alexander got acquainted also with a Mr. Fulton, a very godly man, who taught the principal school, and also kept a Sunday-school for the benefit of the people.

      A portion of his time he spent in viewing the island, [106] which is, in some parts, hilly, but contains a considerable amount of arable land, which had been improved by the energetic and skillful management of Laird Campbell. Islay has, indeed, been always noted as the most fertile of all the Hebrides, or Isles of the Gael. These extend along nearly the whole western coast of Scotland, and are about two hundred in number, of which at least thirty of the more southern appertain to Argyleshire. Of these latter, Islay is by far the most important. In former times it was the chief abode of the "Lords of the Isles," who often maintained an authority independent of the Scottish Crown, and the ruins of whose castles and strongholds, situated generally on cliffs overhanging the ocean, are seen at various points, as along the coast of Mull and Ardnamurchan. In the centre of Islay there is a lake about three miles in circumference, called Loch Finlagan, from an island situated in it, in which the great McDonald, King of the Isles, formerly had his residence. Here also was held, we are told, the high court of judicature, consisting of fourteen members, to which there was an appeal from all the courts of the isles, the chief judge receiving, as his fee, the eleventh part of the sum in dispute. The ruins of the ancient edifices, and the traditions of celebrated chieftains who had lived in Islay, as lords of Innisgael,¹ such as "good John of Islay" and "Ronald of the Isles," who, in his castle of Dunnaverty, protected Bruce in his distress, could not but excite a deep interest in the mind of a youthful traveler, himself not unrelated to the people among whom these relics and histories were fondly cherished. [107]

      On the second Lord's day after the shipwreck, the first having been necessarily occupied in attending to the property at the wreck, he visited early in the morning the Sunday-school taught by Mr. Fulton. The children read the Scriptures, repeated psalms and the catechism, after which Mr. Fulton gave an exposition of some Scripture, sung, prayed and dismissed with a benediction. Afterward, he went to hear the Rev. Mr. McIntosh, the Scots' Church minister of the parish. He seems at this time to have been growing more and more doubtful in regard to the claims of the clergy, and more careful and critical in observing their proceedings. "He was entertained," he remarks, "with a specimen of good old Scotch divinity," and was pleased with the "aspect, pronunciation and gravity of the venerable parson." He preached from the text "Let us come boldly to the throne of grace" in the forenoon, and in the afternoon addressed his audience in Gaelic. At the morning service the laird and his family were present in their pew, situated in the most conspicuous place in the church, and Alexander noticed that the minister made a particular mention of them all in his prayer, with earnest petitions on their behalf. On the following Lord's day they were absent, as the laird was about to take his seat in Parliament, and Alexander noticed that they were equally absent from the prayers of the parson. This made quite a forcible impression on his mind, and, as he remarked afterward in his Christian Baptist, "became a subject of curious reflection."

      "I had not, however," he adds, "traveled very far till I found it was a general practice in all parish churches, when the patron was present, to give him a large portion of the opening prayer, but always when absent he was forgotten. Being [108] but just arrived at the period of reflection, and determined to study men as well as things, I became very attentive to the prayers of not only the parish clergy, but of all others. I observed it to be a general rule that when two or three ministers of the same party happened to be present in the same pulpit, whichever one prayed he made particular supplications for his ministering brethren. Thus the parson A prayed very ardently for his brothers, parsons B and C, when they were present; but when B and C were absent, A asked for no blessings for them. I do not know that I ever saw it otherwise in any sect or in any country. I noted this fact in my pocket-book of memorandums, and placed it under the same head with those of the parish ministers for their patrons. I think I headed this chapter, in my juvenile fancy, with the words 'COMPLIMENTARY PRAYERS, or prayers addressed to human beings not yet deified.'"

      In the same article he goes on to detail a subsequent similar experience. "In process of time," he remarks, "I happened to make a tour with a very devout divine, and as he always spent the night in the house of some of his 'lay brethren,' in offering up his evening sacrifice, or what is more commonly called 'leading in family worship,' he never forgot to pray in an especial manner for his host, earnestly desiring that the family among whom he spent the night might be peculiarly blessed. During fourteen days and nights which I spent in his company, he never once forgot to pray for the proprietor of the house that gave him his supper and bed. In justice to his devotion, I should remark that one evening was spent at an inn, where he asked the liberty of attending upon family worship, and there he also prayed as fervently for his landlord and landlady as if in a private family. In justice to the landlord, too, I should observe that he remitted to him his bill in the morning, with an invitation to give him a call when convenient.   *     *     *     *   This I also noted down under the head of 'complimentary prayers.'" In order, however, to prevent misunderstanding, he adds: "I would not be understood as censuring the practice of one Christian praying for [109] another when it is by request, or when, from any consideration, it becomes necessary, or of a whole church praying for another church, or for one member or for those that are not members, either in their presence or absence. But this is quite a different thing from those prayers which we call complimentary, which, if not intended as a mere compliment, most certainly appear so in the above instances at least, and in many others which might be adduced.   *     *     *     *  

      "It is usually allowed that it is one of the greatest and best of blessings that we should be admitted to lift up our voices to the throne of the Universe. But if ever there be a moment in a Christian's life when humility and sincerity become him well, this is the moment, when he is speaking to that glorious and mighty One, before whose throne 'seraphs veil their faces and angels prostrate fall.' Our words, assuredly, should be few and well ordered--no pomp of language, no vain parade of words, no compliment to men when we claim the audience of our Almighty Maker."

      He always thought it incongruous for any one leading in prayer with others to offer special petitions for one or more of those who are supposed to unite in the prayer, while he uses at the same time the first person plural, "we ask," "we pray," etc., thus including the person prayed for in the terms employed, while in point of fact he is necessarily excluded from the address offered by others on his behalf. He therefore carefully avoided the practice which he condemned, and neither he nor his father were in the habit of offering up special petitions for any who, at the time, united in the prayer. By both of them, prayer was regarded as a sacred privilege, to be exercised with a very strict regard to the proprieties of the occasion. As to their style, it may be well to observe here, while the subject of prayer is under consideration, that Alexander generally used great plainness and directness of expression, while his [110] thanksgivings and petitions were comprehensive, scriptural and appropriate to the circumstances. His father went more into detail, was more diffuse, and his thoughts, as well as his sentences, were sometimes involved. He was disposed to make a rather redundant use of adjectives, both in his prayers and sermons, and when quoting Scripture, as he constantly did in both, he could not in some cases forbear adding epithets, in order, if possible, to enhance the force of the language. Thus, when at the close of his prayer he would sometimes embody in it what is commonly called the Lord's Prayer, instead of the simple words, "thy will be done," he would say, "thy blessed and holy will be done." Again, instead of asking for "mercy" and "grace," he would pray for "sin-pardoning mercy and sanctifying grace." With the exception, however, of those cases in which his feelings led him thus to endeavor to exalt and magnify the Divine perfections, he was careful to quote the exact language of Scripture. Alexander, on the other hand, seemed often to prefer a paraphrase, though he was fond of using a new version if it rendered the sense more clear. Thus, instead of saying, "Lead us not into temptation," he would say "Abandon us not to temptation," instead of "Deliver us from evil," "Deliver us from the Evil One." With regard to the Lord's Prayer, both regarded it as a model rather than a prescribed formula, and thought it, at least in regard to one of its petitions, as being specially designed for the time at which it was given. At that time Christ's kingdom had not yet been fully set upon earth, and there was a propriety then in the petition "thy kingdom come." But when the kingdom had come, and had been publicly set up and established, as recorded in the second chapter of Acts, this petition [111] ceased to be appropriate, at least in its original application. If, then, the expression "thy kingdom come" happened to be used by Thomas Campbell, he was careful to apply it to the second coming of Christ in his kingdom, and to say, "thy kingdom come, in its ultimate fullness and glory;" while Alexander perhaps would say, "May thy kingdom be established in the hearts of the children of men." Both were given to amplification. The father was disposed to enlarge the expression; the son to amplify the thought. The former would enforce by means of epithets and repetition; the latter by extending the idea in connecting it with its antecedents or its results. Both were characterized by fluency, solemnity, fervency and manifest sincerity. In neither was there any tendency to ornate or pompous diction, or to a loud and boisterous delivery. To some, indeed, Alexander's style of prayer might at first appear too composed and calm; but his manner was the natural expression of a high intellectual nature, necessarily undemonstrative, as holding the feelings in abeyance, but not on that account less deep, fervid and sincere. In a word, his manner was reverential without being abject; deliberate, but not frigid; earnest, but not impassioned; while his dignified and solemn bearing, the distinct intonations of his clear and silvery voice, his forcible emphasis, his truly scriptural petitions, his evident realization of his true position, and his self-posed consciousness of the nature of the duty in which he was engaged, all contributed to render his prayers most edifying and impressive. [112]

[MAC1 98-112]