John Ball

“ The starting of a covey of flying-fish, the fringe of cocos palms rising against the horizon, the Southern Cross and the Magellanic clouds, the reversed apparent motion of the sun from right to left—none of them very marvellous as mere observed facts—are so many keys that unlock the closed-up recesses, the blue chambers of the memory, which the youthful imagination had peopled with shapes of beauty and wonder and mystery. ”

“ The Covenant of Grace calleth for perfection, accepteth sincerity, God in mercy pardoning the imperfections of our best performances. If perfection was rigidly exacted, no flesh could be saved: if not at all commanded, imperfection should not be sin, nor perfection to be laboured after. The faith that is lively to imbrace mercy is ever conjoyned with an unfained purpose to walke in all well pleasing, and the sincere performance of all holy obedience, as opportunity is offered, doth ever attend that faith, whereby we continually lay hold upon the promises once embraced. ”

“ A less attractive spot than Casa Blanca it is difficult to imagine. A featureless coast of low shelves of red sandstone rock overlaid by stiff clay, stretches on either side in slight undulations, nowhere rising more than a couple of hundred feet above the sea. Not a tree gives variety to the outline or shelter from the blazing sun. The attempts made by the few residents to cultivate the orange and other useful trees have met with little success; and the eye seeks in vain the gay shrubs that adorn the southern shores of the Mediterranean. ”

“ The vegetation of the Mediterranean coasts seems but poor and homely after the eye has dwelt on the luxuriance of tropical life, as though one were to compare a garb of homespun with trappings of velvet and embroidery. The islands of the bay present a ceaseless variety. Some are mere rocks, on which sea-birds of unknown aspect stood perched. Many of the larger are inhabited, and one, as I heard, has a population of thirteen hundred souls, and several charming villas showed it to be a favourite resort. ”

“ For the Commandement is a lamp, and the Law is light, and reproofes of instruction are the way of life. The Commandements leade directly to that life, which deserves the name of life, eternall life. The Traveller takes the next way to his Journeyes end: No wise man will willingly step one foot out of the way to Heaven. If our limmes be crooked, we omit nothing that Art or Exercise can doe to set them strait: and shall not I take care to rectifie my soul, and bring it into right order? ”

“ By quitting the steamer at Santos, and travelling to Rio by land, I had gained some slight acquaintance with a new region, but I was well aware that I had suffered a considerable loss. The view on first entering the Bay of Rio Janeiro is one of those spectacles that leave an ineffaceable impression even on persons not very sensitive to natural beauty, and one on which my fancy from early youth onwards had most often dwelt. The pursuits of a naturalist, besides their own fascination, offer additional rewards to all who worship in the temple of Nature, but they also sometimes exact a sacrifice. ”

“ The steep ridges enclosing the valley were now thickly powdered with snow, but almost concealed from view by the clouds that hung low over our heads. Towards sunset these gradually rose up and melted into mist, and the whole scene was transfused with a delicate sea-green hue that seemed bright by contrast with the sombre tints in which we had been enveloped during the day. It often happens in bad weather that as the distant horizon is lit up towards sunset the rays, travelling under the dense strata of cloud that cover a mountain district, produce at that hour the effect of sudden illumination ”

“ To walke with or before God then is to commit our selves wholly to his care and divine protection both in life and all our actions, and assuredly to perswade our selves that he is the present and just beholder of all thoughts, words and actions; to reverence him as ever present and beholding all things; to be ready at his beck and command, studiously, readily, chearefully to receive his Commandements, and at all times reverently to demeane and carry our selves before him: to turne our eyes and fix all our senses upon the Lord, and to attribute what good soever we enjoy, to the Lord alone. ”

“ Thinking of these365 things as the journey drew to a close, I could not help feeling how great are the rewards that a traveller reaps, even irrespective of anything he may learn, or of the suggestions to thought that a voyage of this kind cannot fail to bear with it. How much is life made fuller and richer by the stock of images laid up in the marvellous storehouse of the brain, to be summoned, one knows not when or how, by some hidden train of association—shifting scenes that serve to beautify many a common and prosaic moment of life! ”

“ To be able to converse in a tone approaching to equality with powerful officials; to emancipate oneself from restrictions trifling, yet galling, in matters of dress and demeanour; to share in some measure in the vague sense of power vested in the representatives of the great European States—must be the climax of ambition to a member of a despised nationality in a land where neither intelligence nor wealth nor good reputation give a man security or social recognition. ”

“ Easier it is a great deale to know the number of my haires, then the running motions of my heart and affections. Oh, the blind corners, the secret turnings and windings, the close lurking holes that are therein: upon examination I have found a world of falshood in my soul, more then ever I suspected or imagined. My cogitations are vaine, if not wicked and ungodly, mine affections unsound, mine aimes indirect, my course of life palpably grosse in dissimulation before God, and towards men. ”

“ At times one might have fancied one’s self on a great river in the interior of a continent, while a few minutes later, in the openings between the islands, the eye could range over miles of water to the mysterious recesses of the yet unexplored Cordillera of Patagonia, with occasional glimpses of snowy peaks at least twice the height of the summits near at hand. About two o’clock we reached the so-named English Narrows, where the only known navigable channel is scarcely a hundred yards in width between two islets bristling with rocks. ”

“ Turning to the right, the eye reaches the entrance to the Mediterranean, between the rock of Gibraltar and the loftier summit of Ape’s Hill; and in clear weather the range of the Serrania de Ronda, stretching towards Malaga, is seen on one side, while on the other the snowy peak of the Beni Hassan, south of Tetuan, closes the view. To give variety, if that were wanting, there is the ceaseless passage of shipping through this greatest of maritime highways, in a double stream of vessels, of every size and every nation, from the great Peninsular and Oriental steamer to the Moorish felucca. ”

“ Few readers may care to sympathise with the distress of a naturalist who looks on his specimens, not only as scientific documents bringing some additions to our knowledge of the structure and relations of the organised world, but as things of beauty giving delight to the senses of form and colour, when, after much pains and care, he finds the flowers change their hues and drop off, the leaves turn black, and when mould, the sure sign of decomposition, begins to encrust the stems and fruits. ”

“ For since the fall of Adam, the Covenant which the Lord hath entered into with his people, was ever free and gracious. For when all men are sinners by nature, dead in trespasses, and enemies to God, how can a Covenant betwixt God and man be stricken without forgivenesse of former transgressions? If in the state of innocency perfect obedience should have been rewarded with life from justice: now that man is fallen by transgression, perfect obedience cannot merit forgivenesse of sins past, purchase Gods favour being justly displeased for sin, and deserve everlasting life. ”

“ About thirty miles long and twenty in breadth, it is large enough to allow of spacious views, yet not so large as to lose in distance the marvellous background that is presented in every direction by the fantastic peaks that surround it. Numerous islands stud the surface, the larger telling their history in piles of huge blocks, either simulating rude Cyclopean architecture, or lying in wild confusion—granite pinnacles, half-decayed or fallen into utter ruin. ”