The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-09-21
DIR. TALMAGE ON CASTAWAYS
How Poor Humanity Is Driven Before
the Gale of Life and Often Wrecked.
While Others Perish Through Reckless
ness--The Signal that Must BE Lifted.
snacial 70 the indianapolis Journal.

crowded audience. He gave out the familiar
hymn, beginning, "Out on the ocean all bound
less we ride" after which he read and expounded
the tenth chapter of Acts. His text was: "Lest
that by any means when l have preached to
others, myself should be castaway u Cor
inthians tx, 81. The following is complete re-
port of the sermon:
The apostle, in the text, indicates that some
religious teachers may fail to reach the heaven
to which they point others. Gown and surplice,
and cardinals red hat are 10 security. Cardinal
Wolsey, after having been petted by kings, and
having entertained foreign ambassadors at
Hampton Court, died in darkness. One of the
most eminent ministers Of religion that this
country has ever known, plunged into sin and
died, his heart in post-mortem examination,
found to have been not iguratively, but literally
broken. o ministers of Christi because we
have diplomas of graduation, and hands of or
dination On the head, and address consecrated
assemblages, that is no reason why shall
necessarily reach the realm celestial The cler-
gyman must go through the same gate of par
don as the layman. The preacher may get his
audience into heaven and he himself miss it.
There have been cases of shipwreck where all
on board escaped excepting the captain. Alas!
it. having preached to others, l myself should
be a castaway." God forbid It'll
have examined some of the commentaries to
see what they thought about this word "cast
away" and find that they differ in regard to
the figure used. while they agree in regard to the
meaning. So, I shall make my own selection,
and take it in nautical and sea-faring sense.
and show you that men may become spiritual
castaways, and how finally they drift into that
calamity
We are seaboard town. You have all stood
On the beach. Many of you have crossed the
pecan. Some of you have managed vessels in
great stress of weather There is sea captain;
and there is another and yonder is another; and
there are goody number of you who, though
once you did not know the difference between a
brig and bark, and between diamond knot
and a sprit-sheet-sail knot now you are as ia
miliar with a ship as you with your right
hand and, if it were necessary, you could take
vessel clear across to the mouth of the Mersey,
without the loss of single sail. WE'LL there is a
dark night in your memory of thesea The YES
Sci became unmanageable You saw it
scudding toward the shore You heard the cry,
vessel struck the rock, and you felt the deck
breaking up under your feet, and you were a
castaway, as when the Hercules drove on the
coast of California; as when the Portuguese brig
went staving, splitting, grinding, crashing on the
Goodwins But whether you have followed the
sea or not, you all understand the figure when 1
tell you that there are men who by their sins
and temptations are thrown helpless! Driven
before the gale! Wrecked for two worlds! Cast
away Cast away!
CAUSES OF CALAMITY.
By talking with some sailors have found out
that there are three or four causes for such
calamity to a vessel. / have been told that it
sometimes comes from creating false lights on
the beach. This was often so in olden times.
It is not many years ago, indeed, that vaeabonds
used to wander up and down the beach, getting
vessels ashore in the night, throwing up false
lights in their presence and deceivng them that
they might despoil and ransack them. All kinds
of internal arts were used to accomplish this.
And one night, on the Cornish coast, when the
sea was coming in fearfully. some villains took
lantern and tied it to horse. and led the horse
up and down the beach, the lantern swaying to
tie motion of the horse, and sea captain in
the ofing saw it and made up his mind that ne
vas not anywhere near the shore, for he said,
There's vessel; that must be vessel, for it's
q movable light" And he had no apprehension
until he heard the rocks grating on the ships
bottom, and it went to pieces, and the villains
Mon shore gathered up the packages and the
treasures shat were washed to the land. And /
8haye to tell you that there are multitude of
souls ruined by false lights on the beach. In the
y dark night of mans danger religious error goes
zap and down the shore shaking its lantern, and
Rmen look off and take that Pickering and
piring wick as the signal of safety, and the cry
Is. "Heave the main-topsail to the mast! All s
WELT" when sudden destruction cometh upon
them, and they shall not escape So
&ihere are all kinds Of lanterns swung on the
/, philosophical lanterns, educational Ian
terms, humanitarian lanterns. Men look at them
8 and are deceived, when there is nothing but
Gods eternal lighthouse of the gospel that can
Eeep them from becoming castaways Once.
: Wolf Crag lighthouse they tried to build cop
per figure of wolf with its mouth open, so that,
bhe storms beating into it, the wolf would howl
forth the danger to mariners that might be com
ing anywhere near the coast. Of course it
y failure. And so all new inventions for the
saving of mans soul are unavailing. What the
: human race wants is light bursting forth from
the cross standing the great headands--the
light of pardon, the light of comfort the light of
heaven. You might better go tonight and de-
stroy all the great lighthouse on the dangerous
soasts-the Barnegat lighthouse. the Fastnet
Rock lighthouse the Skerryvore lighthouse,
the Longship's lighthouse, the Holyhead light
house-than to put out Gods great ocean lamp
the gospel Woe to those who swing false
lanterns on the beach till men crash in and
perish. Cast away cast away!
By talking with sailors have heard. also, that
sometimes ships come to this calamity by the
sudden swoop of a tempest. For instance. yes
sci is sailing along in the East Indies and there
Is not single cloud the sky, but suddenly
the breeze fresheps and there are swift feet on
ratlines and the cry is, Way haul away
therel" but, before they can square the booms
and tarpaulin the hatchways, the vessel is groan-
ing and creaking in the grip of a tornado and
falls over into the trough of the sea. and, broad
side or, rolls on to the beach and keels over,
LEAVING the crew to struggle in the merciless
surf Cast away! cast away And so / have to
tell you that there are thousands of men de-