Desiring to see more of the world, I embarked for Matagorda, Texas, on board of a brig, bound for that place. A steam tug towed us to the Balize, and we were soon winding our way towards the destined port. There were many emigrants on board, going to Texas, to make themselves homes. As soon as it became known that I was a clergyman, I was invited to hold services. I stood on the quarter-deck, my hearers, numbering about one hundred, gathered around me--some on deck and some in the rigging. My text was, “And he arose, and rebuked the winds, and the sea, and there was a great calm.” I commenced by speaking of the storms to which the sea is subject, and then spoke of that ONE, who has perfect control of its mountain waves, and of the hurricane that lashes the mighty deep into such fury. One word from Him turned the headlong tornado into a calm, and the angry surges into repose. Life is a sea, and we are all voyagers, sailing from port to port. Sometimes we have fair weather, and sometimes foul weather. To-day the sun may shine bright, and the air be as gentle as an infant’s breath, and our bark may glide smoothly along, like a vessel on the mirrored deep; to-morrow, clouds and darkness may gather around, the storms of human passion, or of adversity may threaten the destruction of us and ours, and in despair we may give up all as lost. But let us remember, through the whole journey of life, that there is One who controls the storms of life as well as the storms of the ocean, and to every troubled heart he does or will say, “Peace--be still.” A hymn was sung, in which nearly all, sailors and passengers, participated.