The New Orleans Democrat. (New Orleans, La.) 1875-1876, 1876-02-24
= WELCOME TO OUR SEAMEN.
The Entertainment Tuesday Night at MIS-
sion Chapel.


pleasant and successful entertainment
at the hall corner of Laurel and Pleasant
streets.
The object of the meeting was to ex.
tend an irritation to sailors, generally,
by some liberal-minded ladies, and to
proyide for the future comfort and
. welfare OF seamen whilst in our port.
The services, half religious and hall
social opened by O choir of ladies and
gentlemen, singing the well known
anthem. "All hail the power OF Jesus
name. which was followed by prayer
by the Rev. DIR. Mallard.
Mr.. w. r. Ogden was then introduced
ia the audience and proceeded in most
eloquent discourse to show the nobility
and worth of the mariners profession.
He told how New Orleans had ever been
charitably disposed towards the foreign
sailor who visits her port. not indeed
In erecting costly structures for his use.
Int In extending to him ahearty welcome.
situated as she Is mt tho mouth OF the
mightiest river In the world, with the
commerce. OF a nation pouring through
her port. the welcome she extended to
the sailor was like bread cast upon the
waters, which returned TO her IN
increased prosperity. The citi,
zerls assembled tonight al wished
godspeed TO the, sailors II,
their voyage across the ocean, ana
an their return we would renew the
welcome to our shores Sailors, God
intended that commerce should be one
az the principal instruments Tor the ed
,,eatio, and civilization of the world.
civilization can be tracked In the
wake almost of the vessels
witch plow the ocean. am tempted
almost to suppose that the ark itself,
which rode the avenging Hoods, was at
once model and "a sample Of al that
wee have Witnessed In the civilization
of the kworld We are all familiar
with the historical facts That the
,ivil;zation OF the Mediterranean was
attributable to the efforts made by mari
ners and to their. enterprise. To them
was due tho formation of the great com
mercjnl cities or Tyre and Sidon, whose
famous history has become the history
Of the world.
Cannot YOU all remember that Carthage.
~ the mention of whose name ten
Thousand recollections spring up before
,Is-Cnrthage proud and opulent, who
was able TO humble Rome herself,
produced Hannibal who caused
even the mighty Roman ,,,, empire !,
fort OF the enterprise of those gallant
mariners. Phnnician sailors carried
the worlds civilization over the Medi-
terranean, beuueathed IL to the Greeks,
aud II was carried from the Greeks to
the Romans, and civilization arose In
every direction. and oil this vast result
was directly attributable to the efforts
81 the mariner. You all remember that
the civilization of the Greeks, which
afterwards crystalized into such beauti.
ful cities -Athens, with its. splendid
streets, its statuary. and all that serves
20 make city magnilicentmwas the
direct result OF the sailors EFFORTS.
I ask you. sailors, to come with me. in
fancy. 20 another little inland sea, OF a
size smaller than the Mediterranean
Sea. Of no commercial Importance, but
Of an importance which yet surpasses
all / ask you to come TO the sea OF
} C,nlilee. along whose shores the Saviour
{, ~ mankind himself walked. | ask you
to remember that Il was upon the shores
OF Galilee that Jesus Christ chose as his
followers four sailors Simon and An
drew. John and James. Three OF these
men were witnesses OF the transiigura-
tion Of Our Lord, when he answered the
> yoice of His Father, and saw Him face
70 face. This compliment, sailors. was
bestowed upon mariners.
It was also upon the bosom OF Cali.
lees waters 4hat Jesus walked and
stilled the raging sea and quoted the
storm. IL was by the sea Of Galilee that
those wonderful stories fell from the
Ina OF tho Master OF man: and not only
parables. but Jesus Christ evoked most
81 his great miracles by Galilee's shore.
With these recollcctions filing oul
minds, do we not know that the water
has been equally blessed, II not supe-
riorly blessed to the land. That you
sailors have received compliment
which no landsman has ever received.
have shown you Galilee upon whose
bosom Christian truth was started; /
have shown you that the master Jesus
Christ has made honorable the. avoca-
ton i'm which you are engaged; he has
so ennobled ii that the landsmen can
never ignore your claims. ] call your
attention to the fact that 1t was sailors
who were chosen as the vehicle
through which Christianity should
be spread. We, in our times,
witness vast intercourse OF
commerce and constant running to and
fro. The ocean which once was dotted
here and there, now bears upon its
bosom its ten thousand fleet of sails.
You 90 from cline to cline, you make
the whole world contribute to your
wants. You decorate your homes. even
in the cold and frozen North, with the
luxuriance Of the tropics. No barrier
has ever arisen that your spell and en-
ergy did not easily remove.
We. upon the shores, should recog-
pizing our responsibilities, see to II
that YOU bear from our shores no princi-
ples save those in harmony with the
great truth, and that bear the
imprint of Christ our Savior
These are the responsibilities under
which we rest, yours are these. God
selects you in order that man in one
country can communicate with man IN
another. You may discover God IN
the winds and the waves, In the storm
YOU can recognize his power, you can
mediate and see how truly dependent
YOU are upon Him-to an extent fan
greater even than we upon land. You
can, in the midst OF those terrible
storms which sweep over the bosom OF
the ocean. when the ship with its living
freight seems about to plunge into
eternity itself. recognize the great
mercies of God in bringing
you safely through these dangers. Your
avocation fits you for contemplation and
for close scrutiny into the works OF God
and you are we'll fitted for this contem-
rlation. See to ii then that whilst you
pursue your journey, whilst you are on
your way back to your homes. that
vnu nnd God eyen i'm the winds