Moby Dick

[Old Thunder]

"Fear him, O Jonah?

 

[Old Thunder]

"Aye, well mightest thou fear the Lord God then!

 

[Old Thunder]

"Straightway, he now goes on to make a full confession; whereupon the mariners become more and more appalled, but still are pitiful.

 

[Old Thunder]

"For when Jonah, not yet supplicating God for mercy, since he but too well knew the darkness of his deserts, -- when wretched Jonah cries out to them to take him and cast him forth into the sea, for he knew that for his sake this great tempest was upon them; they mercifully turn from him, and seek by other means to save the ship.

 

[Old Thunder]

"But all in vain; the indignant gale howls louder; then, with one hand raised invokingly to God, with the other they not unreluctantly lay hold of Jonah.

 

[Old Thunder]

"And now behold Jonah taken up as an anchor and dropped into the sea; when instantly an oily calmness floats out from the east, and the sea is still, as Jonah carries down the gale with him, leaving smooth water behind.

 

[Old Thunder]

"He goes down in the whirling heart of such a masterless commotion that he scarce heeds the moment when he drops seething into the yawning jaws awaiting him; and the whale shoots-to all his ivory teeth, like so many white bolts, upon his prison.

 

[Old Thunder]

"Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord out of the fish's belly.

 

[Old Thunder]

"But observe his prayer, and learn a weighty lesson.

 

[Old Thunder]

"For sinful as he is, Jonah does not weep and wail for direct deliverance.