The Delaware ledger. (Newark, Del.) 1879-19??, 1888-06-23
Baccalaureate Sermon.

Text.-'Holding faith and good conscience,
which .ome have put away, concerning faith
The figures used by the writers Of
the Bible are intensely interesting
there are more than this, very real
istic, and wisely suggestive. No
writer of the whole canon verifes
this fact more strikingly than the
apostle Paul. When Paul wrote
these practical, pastoral letters to
the young Timothy, or from lohence
they were written, we have no def
mite data to determine; but we are
safe in assuming that it was near the
close of his most eventfnl life. Look
ing back then over that wonderful
ly varied experience for some ex-
pressive illustration of the lesson he
would teach his young pupil, he,
very naturally, we think, falls upon
his terrible experience upon the
deep in the autumn of '62. For
fourteen days,-the fierce Eurocly-
don blowing, and neither suns nor
stars appearing-he had been tos-
sed up and down the angry sea of
Adria, the vessel a mere plaything
before the gale. 1t was little else
than Il miracle that the passengers
and crew had been saved, for the
ship was shivered to pieces on the
rocks of Melita, and only by clinging
to boards and broken spars of the
vessel did they ultimately get safe
to land. Nor was this the only ex-
perience of this kind with which the
apostle had met. In writing his
letter to the church at Corinth, and
enumerating the perils through
which he had passed, he makes
mention of "perils of the sea" which
he had already encountered, and
stated that "thrice he had suffered
shipwreck." Doubtless in the course
of his missionary wanderings he
had made u number of sea voyages,
and had been an eye witness of
more than one maritime disaster.
Still, as upon that fine August morn
ing, the proudAlexandrian ship sail
ed out of the harbor of Myra, can
readily imagine that Paul and his
fellow passengers had little thought
of the terrible experience they were
going to meet with. There is to my
mind something very grand, and l
never tire looking at the sight of a
noble merchantmen, with sails set,
leaving our shores for its ocean voy-
age. There is not a prettier sight to
be seen than such,
"A stately ship,
With all her bravery on and tackle trim,
Sails filled, and streamers waving,
Courted by all the winds that held them
play"
The sight for the moment disarms
the very thought of danger. We
well nigh forget her liability to
wreckage, as we gaze upon her ele-
CANT proportions, when as a very
thing of life, like milk-white swan
arching its proud neck over the wa
ters of some placid lake, she floats
gaily out upon the azure main.
But who may reckon up the dan
gers and difficulties with which she
may have to contend before she
drops anchor in foreign port ?
What tempests may hawl around
her what seas may break over her |
how her masks may creak and
groan, and be carried away how
her sails may be torn to very shreds
before the angry winds and how,
little else than mere chip on the
deep she rides ungovernable in the
trough of the roaring sea Yes, we
all know that in IL single night some
gallant ship may be shattered to
pieces on the rocks and disappear,
whilst in the morning not a bubble
is left to mark the spot where she
went down. Are we transgressing
the bounds of probability in suppos
ing that some such contrast was
forcing itself upon the mind of Paul
when he wrote to Timothy the
words of our text? He was writing
to IL young man of excellent princi-
Piles and decided religious character,
youth who possessed both a sound
faith and a good conscience; and
yet the old saint, and skilled teach
er did not think it amiss to sound
in the ears of his beloved pupil a
word of warning and in obedience
to the excellent example he has set
us, we desire to direct your atten-
ton at this time, to an old and some
what hackneyed theme, and yet one
the importance of which it is i'm
possible to overcstimato. This sub
ject is, A Good Conscience. Every
body has conscience of some kind;
but would not give farthing for