The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-08-06
SUNDAYS NEWS.
YEsTERDAY'SRE REPORT NAND ABoOI
THE CITY.

M, uitberspoon-EIoqucnf Address In
Behalf Of the sailors-Church Notes
General Local News and Mention.
Notwithstanding the intense heat yes
terdsy morning. the various churches
were filled with their usual summer con
gregations. and the services were partici-
mated in with accustomed fervoT. The
main features Of tie days were as foi'
lows
THE sEAMAN's BETHEL.
A very large congregation gathered in
the Second Presbyterian Church last
night 10 hear Rev a. j. Witherspoon.
ID ID. chaplain of the Seaman's Bethel
in New Orleans, present the claims OF
that worthy institution.
The services opened with the Lords
Prayer, prayed by DR.. Howison who also
read portion of the one hundred and
seventh Psalm. The J2Slh hymn was
sung.
A letter was read from DR.. w. w. Lam
drum, pastor Of Second Baptist Church,
who was expected 10 be present, explain
ing by a misapprehension as 10 the hour
Of the service he bad made another en-
gagement. The letter breathed sympathy
for the cause and pleaded TO the hearers 10
give it substantial aid
INTRODUCED BY THE GOVERNOR.
Governor Lee introduced DR.. Wi,her
spoon lie said in accepting the invita-
tiOn 10 make The introduction he did so
because the subject was one Of great
pleasure to him. He repeated Napoleon's
pOeiical answer TO the question asked
him when at the zenith of his power
where would he prefer being buried, in
which he said the sea, where his soul
could find boundless grave in which to
expand The Governor continued in
beautiful language 10 speak of the sailor
and the fOndness he had for the sea him
self of God, the Father, who holds the
sea in the hollow of His hand of God,
the Son. who said TO the storm, Peace
be still" This was noble work which
keeps the sailor from the rock OF tempta-
iiOn and the shoals OF sin.
DIR. wITHERsPooN
returned his grateful acknowledg
for the handsome manner in which The
Governor had introduced him. He had |
devoted his life 10 this cause. The Gov |
,rnOr had set a good example in taking |
an interest in the sailors. and when the |
New Orleans seamen would hear that
Governor Filzhugh Lee, of Virginia, had |
introduced their chaplain TO a Richmond |
congregation they would remember 4 |
with feelings of the deepest graft |
tude The Governor was in good com |
peny He. Or. Witherspoon, had been
introduced ia South Carolina by the
Governor Of that State. Governor Cor
don of Georgia had promised to intro
duce him in Atlanta. President Cleve-
land had told him when he visited New |
Orleans that he would include the Bethel |
on the programme. and Mrs Cleveland |
intended sending her portrait TO 20 in
the art gallery al the Bethel
The Doctor said he begged leave to
plead for the men of the sea-3000 900 |
in manifestations and fishermen en-
gagged in the commerce of the deep. He |
spoke of their dangers, shipwrecks, hard |
ships, epidemics, unhealthfulness of YES
sels wherein they endured not only the |
perils of the sea bit the perils of disease
No sailor can find relief by trip to the
mountains aud minerals. The sailor is
the carrier of his country's flag They go
to foreign lands-to every quarter of the
globe They should he converted, so as
10 be the carriers of civilization and of
to every port on the globe.
There are erroneous ideas about sail
ors Beneath rugged and rough cx.
terror l. found warm heart and gener
Gus nature No class of .ople are more
susceptible TO the tender emotions than
they when the good and the beautiful is
placed before them properly.
He referred 10 the diary of scholarly
New England gentleman, Mr.. Dana, who
shipped as a sailor before the mast from
Boston, rounded Cape Horn to Califor-
MIA, was on board ship two and half
years, and in all that time never found a
sailor who denied the inspiration of the
Bible. lie told of sailor. desperate,
asked cabin boy to let him see his
Bible. The boy refused, saying his
mother gave him that Bible, and he
should not allow il To be made sport of
This desperate sailor replied, do you
lake me TO be fool do you think |
would make sport of God Almighty :"
No; that sailor had confronted God in
III tHc StOilhS, anu ttit IL to tue lOOl 10
say In his heart there is no God.
He urged his hearers 10 sustain the in
with their sympathy and pray
ers, because sailors are above all other
classes OF people susceptible of religious
impressions. Did not our Saviour find
The sailor fishermen susceptible, and
when called did not they leave their net
behind them to become fishers OF men =
Christ looked to SEA and not to the
Temple for apostles.
He told of many conversions OF men
allied hard cases, by the simple presenta.
ion OF the story OF the cross, and con
rssted landsmeD, listening - such el,
iuent men as DIR. Hoge, aud then with
me consent begin 10 make excuses with
he sailor Who promptly responded. A
silor by his very avocalion learned self
ienial and obedience To orders, and the
Doctor continuously gave very pic
uresque description of their life. He
compared them with the soldier, whose
luty il was to take life, quoted General ,
sckson's remarks that the fight on the
defensive was to strike the enemy wher-
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