Excerpt from Preaching in London: A Diary of Anglo-American Friendship New York, seen from the Harbor, 15 a great picture indeed, and when the fog lifts and the sunlight falls upon it in Splendour it looks like a fairy city built in a dream. Its architecture is as ambitious as the Tower Of Babel, which is a symbol of its polyglot population. For an inlander like myself the sea was a thing of wonder and mystery, at once a fact and a symbol; and though I have crossed it many times since - seven times during the war, when lightning slumbered in its waves - it has lost none of the spell which it cast over me the first time I set sail upon its bosom. No words may ever hope to tell the feelings Of a man when for the first time he leaves his native land and turns to the open sea, sailing out over the blue rim Of the world! From my Diary Of those days, which fills the following pages, I venture to transcribe, first, these lines written on the sea: June 20th, 1916: The sea is His, and He made it. All day long the great words of the Bible about the sea have been coming to mind, with meanings I had never guessed before. There is sorrow upon the sea: it can not be still - what words they are as one looks out upon these restless, reinless waters! And there are those other words, so freighted with meaning just now: And the sea gave up the dead that were in it; but best Of all the line Of the Psalmist, Thy way, O Lord, is in the sea. Truly, if I were a rich Pagan instead Of a poor Chris tian, I would build a temple to the sea. It is so patient and strong to ship or soul that bravely casts loose upon its mighty promises; so variable and stem to the unpiloted and unseaworthy. It is a great burden bearer. It can not be overloaded. It never breaks down. It never grows weary. It never needs repairs. It is not only a helper, but a teacher and friend. It rests the eye with its vast ness and its infinite variety. It calms the heart with its never-ending music. It speaks to the mind Of that Divine depth over which the mystics brood, but never fathom. It is responsive to every mood - now sad, now troubled, now quietly meditative, now bright with what the Greeks called its inextinguishable laughter. It preaches more sermons than all preachers; and as we listen, the sighs of human care are lost in the murmur Of its many waters. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.