There was one boy on board the
Jersey, one at least, and we hope that there were many more, who
trusted in God that He could deliver him, even "from the nethermost
hell."
A large proportion of the prisoners were young men in their teens, who
had been attracted by the mysterious fascination of the sea; many of
them had run away from good homes, and had left sorrowing parents and
friends to mourn their loss. The feelings of these young men, full of
eager hopes, and as yet unsoured by too rough handling in their
wrestle with the world, suddenly transferred to the deck of the
Jersey, has been well described by Fox and other captives, whose
adventures we have transcribed in these pages.
We have now to tell the experience of a youth on the Jersey who lived
to be a minister, and for many years was in charge of a church at
Berkeley. This youth was sensitive, delicate, and far from strong. His
faith in human nature received a shock, and his disposition was warped
at the most receptive and formative period of his life, by the
terrible scenes of suffering on the one hand, and relentless cruelty
on the other, that he witnessed in that fatal place. He wrote, in his
memoir many years after: _"I have since found that the whole world
is but one great prison-house of guilty, sorrowful, and dying men, who
live in pride, envy, and malice, hateful, and hating one another.
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