Changes

:I was a good Christian; born and bred in the bosom of the infallible Presbyterian Church.  How then could I unite with this wild idolator in worshipping his piece of wood?  But what is worship? thought I. Do you suppose now, Ishmael, that the magnanimous God of heaven and earth--pagans and all included--can possibly be jealous of an insignificant bit of black wood?  Impossible!  But what is worship?--to do the will of God? that is worship.  And what is the will of God?--to do to my fellow man what I would have my fellow man to do to me--that is the will of God.  Now, Queequeg is my fellow man. And what do I wish that this Queequeg would do to me?  Why, unite with me in my particular Presbyterian form of worship.  Consequently, I must then unite with him in his; ergo, I must turn idolator. So I kindled the shavings; helped prop up the innocent little idol; offered him burnt biscuit with Queequeg; salamed before him twice or thrice; kissed his nose; and that done, we undressed and went to bed, at peace with our own consciences and all the world.  

:I was a good Christian; born and bred in the bosom of the infallible Presbyterian Church.  How then could I unite with this wild idolator in worshipping his piece of wood?  But what is worship? thought I. Do you suppose now, Ishmael, that the magnanimous God of heaven and earth--pagans and all included--can possibly be jealous of an insignificant bit of black wood?  Impossible!  But what is worship?--to do the will of God? that is worship.  And what is the will of God?--to do to my fellow man what I would have my fellow man to do to me--that is the will of God.  Now, Queequeg is my fellow man. And what do I wish that this Queequeg would do to me?  Why, unite with me in my particular Presbyterian form of worship.  Consequently, I must then unite with him in his; ergo, I must turn idolator. So I kindled the shavings; helped prop up the innocent little idol; offered him burnt biscuit with Queequeg; salamed before him twice or thrice; kissed his nose; and that done, we undressed and went to bed, at peace with our own consciences and all the world.  

:::—Herman Melville, ''Moby-Dick, or, the Whale,'' ch. X, "A Bosom Friend"

:::—Herman Melville, ''Moby-Dick, or, the Whale,'' ch. X, "A Bosom Friend"