{"id":"01KG8AP593Z7PJ9XA0EQ2JZVEN","cid":"bafkreiddsl73yeebmpakfptzvacm7q5gitkhqnvyoqrekely3n4fildp4i","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":2263,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:49:30.764Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 24","source_file":"01KG89J198KE6FY8WPVJQQRCZ6","start_line":2197,"text":"helm; for lo! the sun is breaking through; the clouds are rolling\r\noff—serenest azure is at hand.”\r\n\r\nNor was the pulpit itself without a trace of the same sea-taste that\r\nhad achieved the ladder and the picture. Its panelled front was in the\r\nlikeness of a ship’s bluff bows, and the Holy Bible rested on a\r\nprojecting piece of scroll work, fashioned after a ship’s fiddle-headed\r\nbeak.\r\n\r\nWhat could be more full of meaning?—for the pulpit is ever this earth’s\r\nforemost part; all the rest comes in its rear; the pulpit leads the\r\nworld. From thence it is the storm of God’s quick wrath is first\r\ndescried, and the bow must bear the earliest brunt. From thence it is\r\nthe God of breezes fair or foul is first invoked for favourable winds.\r\nYes, the world’s a ship on its passage out, and not a voyage complete;\r\nand the pulpit is its prow.\r\n\r\n\r\nCHAPTER 9. The Sermon.\r\n\r\nFather Mapple rose, and in a mild voice of unassuming authority ordered\r\nthe scattered people to condense. “Starboard gangway, there! side away\r\nto larboard—larboard gangway to starboard! Midships! midships!”\r\n\r\nThere was a low rumbling of heavy sea-boots among the benches, and a\r\nstill slighter shuffling of women’s shoes, and all was quiet again, and\r\nevery eye on the preacher.\r\n\r\nHe paused a little; then kneeling in the pulpit’s bows, folded his\r\nlarge brown hands across his chest, uplifted his closed eyes, and\r\noffered a prayer so deeply devout that he seemed kneeling and praying\r\nat the bottom of the sea.\r\n\r\nThis ended, in prolonged solemn tones, like the continual tolling of a\r\nbell in a ship that is foundering at sea in a fog—in such tones he\r\ncommenced reading the following hymn; but changing his manner towards\r\nthe concluding stanzas, burst forth with a pealing exultation and joy—\r\n\r\n\r\n  “The ribs and terrors in the whale, Arched over me a dismal gloom,\r\n  While all God’s sun-lit waves rolled by, And lift me deepening down\r\n  to doom.\r\n\r\n  “I saw the opening maw of hell, With endless pains and sorrows there;\r\n  Which none but they that feel can tell— Oh, I was plunging to\r\n  despair.\r\n\r\n  “In black distress, I called my God, When I could scarce believe him\r\n  mine, He bowed his ear to my complaints— No more the whale did me\r\n  confine.\r\n\r\n  “With speed he flew to my relief, As on a radiant dolphin borne;\r\n  Awful, yet bright, as lightning shone The face of my Deliverer God.\r\n\r\n  “My song for ever shall record That terrible, that joyful hour; I\r\n  give the glory to my God, His all the mercy and the power.”\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nNearly all joined in singing this hymn, which swelled high above the\r\nhowling of the storm. A brief pause ensued; the preacher slowly turned\r\nover the leaves of the Bible, and at last, folding his hand down upon\r\nthe proper page, said: “Beloved shipmates, clinch the last verse of the\r\nfirst chapter of Jonah—‘And God had prepared a great fish to swallow up\r\nJonah.’”\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 24"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AK7FP6P1V67V3ATJHHZ83","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J198KE6FY8WPVJQQRCZ6","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AP4J5PW07DFGSZ1GDSB1Y","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AP593VY1A5KN714C7HDVD","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:49:33.475Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:49:40.501Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}