[by:¿É¿ÉÓ¢Óï¡«m.moreplr.com]
[00:00.21] For I was not prepared to see Father Mapple after gaining the height,slowly turn round,and stooping over the pulpit,deliberately drag up the ladder step by step,
[00:11.09] till the whole was deposited within,leaving him impregnable in his little Quebec.
[00:17.17] I pondered some time without fully comprehending the reason for this.Father Mapple enjoyed such a wide reputation for sincerity and sanctity,
[00:26.52] 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;
[00:36.41] 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?
[00:51.28] 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,
[01:02.29] with a perennial well of water within the walls.
[01:07.21] But the side ladder was not the only strange feature of the place,borrowed from the chaplain's former sea farings.
[01:13.00] Between the marble cenotaphs on either hand of the pulpit,
[01:17.24] 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.
[01:29.36] 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;
[01:37.59] and this bright face shed a distinct spot of radiance upon the ship's tossed deck,something like that silver plate now inserted into the Victory's plank where Nelson fell.
[01:49.10] Ah,noble ship,the angel seemed to say,beat on,beat on,thou noble ship,and bear a hardy helm;for lo!the sun is breaking through;the clouds are rolling off serenest azure is at hand.
[02:03.40] Nor was the pulpit itself without a trace of the same sea taste that had achieved the ladder and the picture.
[02:09.56] Its panelled front was in the likeness of a ship's bluff bows,and the Holy Bible rested on a projecting piece of scroll work,fashioned after a ship's fiddle headed beak.
[02:21.03] What could be more full of meaning?for the pulpit is ever this earth's foremost part;all the rest comes in its rear;the pulpit leads the world.
[02:31.36] From thence it is the storm of God's quick wrath is first descried,and the bow must bear the earliest brunt.
[02:39.11] From thence it is the God of breezes fair or foul is first invoked for favourable winds.Yes,the world's a ship on its passage out,and not a voyage complete;and the pulpit is its prow.