Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-01-30
HYPOCRISY OF scoFFERs.' ~
The Best Way to Put an End to Doubts
Fears and Uncertainties.

HYPOCRISY OF SCOFFERS. y.
The Best Way to Put Al End to Doubts,
Fears and Uncertainties.
The hypocrisy of infidels and bias
phemers is notorious. After all their
soothing and cursing, when storms and
dangers come they are usually the first
TO begin to pray and cry to God for help
and mercy. Their unbelief is a sham.
Their carelcssncss and joviality are like
the whistling of a boy as he goes by
graveyard, who reveals his fear by the
effort he makes to hide it.
After speaking one evening to some
sailors and others concerning this mat
ter, Captain Nickerson arose and told Il
little OF his experience. in substance as
follows:
about the year 1861, l was a sailor
on board the Heroine, of Darien, Ga,
bound for Montevideo. South America,
We were east of the Bermudas, rum
ming under single reefed top-sails, 1t
was the dog-watch. i'll the evening, and
a sailor named George and myself Were
on the watch, on the top-gallant fore
castle in the forward part of the ship.
l was talking with him of my early life.
and of the lessons of piety which I
learned at home. He ridiculed the
whole. and declared that there was no
God, and that all this talk was mere
moonshine.
Eight bells rang, and the watch was
changed, and the men We're called away
10 1,,,,,,n shir, ('nnCrn took ~ hrn1-n+
to get some water to fetch the pump.
it caught III the water, and as VIC We're
going quite fast, George was drawn
overheard. Instantly the cry was heard:
Man overheard! We were on the lar
board tack; the mate shoutcd; Hard
starboard the whecl!,' and the vessel
came round, and stood on the starboard
tack, and We could hear George cry
ing in the darkness: Save me! Save
Iae! Save me! Save mel
We Immediately launched p boat, but
it stove in launching, and began to fill
with water. The steward came to our
assistance with some blankets, which
he stuffed in the hole to stop the water,
and We FASTENED to the rescue The
night was dark. and the sea WAS ruugh.
We pulled out into the darkness, and
followed the sound rs we'll as we could,
until we came to the place where poor
George was struggling with the waves.
Being a good swimmer he had Kept
himself from sinking. and we found him
about q quarter of a mile from the YES
sell drew him on board. and pulled back
to- the ship with our boat half full of
water IN thirty minutes from the time
he fell overheard, we had him safe in
his bunk in the forccastle and as COM
Portable as we could make him.
The next morning | SAID 10 George:
Did you think that the strip was goiag
to leave you, and that woe were lost~a
Yes, did, said he.
CHOW, George, be honest, what Gid
You do theny
Il prayed to God
"'But l thought you Gid not believe
there was IL God said r.
'.Geogre replied: When a man is
overheard in a dark night, and the ship
going away from him. and he expects 10
Lie, a man thinks different and te1ks
different from what he does when he is
on the top-gallant forccastle spinning
yarns i'll safety
we IiclCu 10 more ll1luclltV or
blasphemy from poor George, but he
did not recover from his terrible ex-
perIence in the water. We left him in
the hospital at Monteyideo, where he
afterwards died.
This is but one of a thousand in
stances where intidelity has not stood
the test of actual experience in the hour
OF danger. Men can scott and mock in
times Of health and safety, but there is
u secret hypocrisy in it all. AS the man
who had long believed there was no flu
turc punishment said when following
his pillow: ''Of course L believe that
doctrine believe it. but Iwould give
that yoke of oxen to kaaow that it was
500
Here is the great trouble. Men pre-
tend to believe very much as they de-
sire to. The wish is father to the
thought; but they would give a great
deal to hnop that their faith has Il good
foundation, and unfortunately they are
not able to satisfy themselves.
The best thing for men to do is to
turn to God with all the heart. and then
there is an end of doubts and fears and
uncertainties, and there is no further
need OF hypocrisy or deceit.-Aimory.