Father Mapple enjoyed such a wide reputation for sincerity and sanctity,
that I could not suspect him of courting notoriety by any mere
tricks of the stage. No, thought I, there must be some sober reason
for this thing; furthermore, it must symbolize something unseen.
Can it be, then, that by that act of physical isolation,
he signifies his spiritual withdrawal for the time, from all outward
worldly ties and connexions? Yes, for replenished with the meat
and wine of the word, to the faithful man of God, this pulpit,
I see, is a self-containing stronghold--a lofty Ehrenbreitstein,
with a perennial well of water within the walls.
But the side ladder was not the only strange feature of the place,
borrowed from the chaplain's former sea-farings. Between the marble
cenotaphs on either hand of the pulpit, the wall which formed its back was
adorned with a large painting representing a gallant ship beating against
a terrible storm off a lee coast of black rocks and snowy breakers.
But high above the flying scud and dark-rolling clouds, there floated
a little isle of sunlight, from which beamed forth an angel's face;
and this bright face shed a distant spot of radiance upon the ship's
tossed deck, something like that silver plate now inserted into
the Victory's plank where Nelson fell.
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