The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-08-26
SPIRITUAL CASTAWAYS.
MULTITUDBs LURED TO DEsTRUC-
TION BY FALSE LIGHTS,

Souls UnavaiIirg Thousands on
Lies Sea Lost in the Whirlwind OF
Temptation-The Star of Hope Seen
Through the Storm-Clouds.
PORTLAND, ORE, Aug. 25.-Ths Rev. 7.
Dewitt Talmage, d. D.. who preached here
to-day to a vaseaudience, took for his text
l. Cor. TX, %: Lest that by any means
myself should be cast away.n The preacher
said:
In the presence of you who live on the
Pacific coast, who live on the Atlantic
coast may appropriately speak on this
marine allusion of the text, for all who
| know about the sea know about the cast
away. The text implies that ministers Of
rehglon may help Others into heaven and
| yet mss 1t themselves The carpenters that
built Noah's ark did not get into it them
selves. Gown and surplice, and diplomas.
ana canonicals are no security.
Cardinal Wolsey, after having been
pettsd by kings and having
entertained foreign ambassadors at Hamp-
! ton court, died in darkness. One of the
most eminent ministers Of religion that this
country has ever known plunged into sin
ana died; his heart, by post-mortem ex-
animation, found to nave been, not fi1-
uratively, but literally, broken. We may
have hands Of ordination on the head, aud
address consecrated assemblages, but that is
no reason why ws shall neces sarily reach
| the realm celestial. The clergy ian must
| go through the same gate of pardon as toe
| layman. There have been cases of ship
wreck where all on board escaped, except-
ing the captain. Alasl il, having "preached
to others, | myself should be a castaway.n
God forbid it.
l have examined some of the commen-
taries to see what they thought about this
word ''castaway,n and | find they differ In
| regard to the fyrfra uSnf tuhfla
In regard to the meaning. so shall make
| my own selection, and take 1t in a nautical
and seafartng sense, and show you that
men may become spiritual castaways, and
how finally they drift into that calamity.
You and | live in seaboard cities. You
have all stood on the beach Many of YOU
have crossed the ocean. Some of you have
managed vessels in great stress Of weather.
There Is sea captain, aud there is another.
and yonder Is another, and there are a
goodly number of you who, though oncs
you did not know the difference between a
brig and bark and between a diamond
knot and a spirit sheet sail knot, and
although you could not point out the
weather cross jack brace, and though
you could not man the fore clew gars
nets, now you are as familiar with ship
as you are with your right hand, and il ID
were necessary you could take vessel
cloar across TO the mouth of the Mersey
without the loss Of IA single sail Well,
there is a dark night In your memory of
the sea. The vessel became unmanageable
You saw it was scudding toward the shore.
| You heard the cry: 'Breakers aheadf
struck the rock and you felt the deck
breaking up under your feet, and you
were castaway, as hen the Hercules
drove on the coast Of Caffraria, as when
the Portuguese brig went staying, splitting,
| grinding, crashing on the Good Rins. But
| VyIa her ha pa fpllp val ha
you all understand the figure when | tell
you that there are men, who, by their sins
| and temptations, are thrown heplesst
Driven before the gale Wrecked for two
worldsl Castawaysi Castawaysl
BY talking with some sea captains Ihave
found out that there are three or four
| causes for such calamity to a vessel
have been told that it sometimes CONES
| from creating false lights on the beach.
| This was often so in olden times. It is not
many years ago, indeed that vagabonds
used to wander up and down the beach,
getting vessels ashore in the night, throw
| ing up false lights in their presence and de-
ceiving them, that they may despoil
aud ransack them. All kinds Of
Internal arts were used to accom-
plish this. And one night, on
the Cornish coast, when the sea was coming.
in fearfully, some villains took a lantern
| and tied 1t TO horse, and led the horse up
and down the beach, the lantern swi ginr
to the motion of the horse, and a sea cap
tain in the otiing saw 1t. and made uD his
| mind that he was not anywhere near the
| shore, for he said: There's a vessel-that
must be vessel, for it has movable light,n
| and he had no apprehension till he heard
the rocks grating on the ships bottom,
| and it went to pieces and the villains
on shore gathered up the packages
and treasures that were washed to the
land. And l have to tell you that there
are multitude of souls ruined by falss
| lights on the beach. In the dark night OF
mans danger, false religion goes up and
down the shore, shaking its lantern, and
men look off and take that fiickering and
expiring wick as the signal of safety, and
| the cry Is: "Heaye the main topsai to the
mastl All Is wellW when sudden destruc-
tion cometh upon them, and they shall not
escape. so there are all kinds of lanterns
swung on the beach-philosophic lanterns,
| educational lanterns, Humanitarian Ian
terms. Men look at them and are de-
ceived, when there is nothing bus
Gods eternal lighthouse Of the gospel that
can keep them from bee )ming castaways.
Once, on Wolf Crag Lighthouse, they tried
TO build copper figure Of a wolf with its
| mouth open, SO that the storms beating into
it, the wolf would howl forth the dangers
to mariners that might be ming anywhere
near the coast. OF course it was failure.
And.so all new inventions for the saving OF
mans soul are unavailing. What the
human race wants is light BURST
ing forth from the cross standing on the
great headlands--the light of pardon, the
light of comfort, the light of heaven.
You might better go tonight and destroy
all the great lighthouses on the dangerous
coasts-the Barnegat lighthouse, the Fast
net Rock lighthouse, the Sherryvore light
house, the Longship's lighthouse, the Holly
head lighthouse-than to put out Gods
great ocean lsmp-the go pei. Woe to
those who swing false lanterns on the
beach till men crash into ruin. Castawaysl
Castaways
By talking with sea captains have
heard also that sometimes ships come to
this calamity by the sudden swoop of a
tempest. For instance, vessel is sailing
along in the East Indies, and there is not
single cloud on the sky; but suddenly tha
breeze freshens, and there are swift feet
on the ratliness and the cry is: Way.
| haul away there!" but before they can
square the booms and tarpaulin the hatch-
ways, the vessel is groaning and creaksng
in the grip of tornado, and falls over I'M
| to the trough of the sea, and broadslde 1t rolls
on to the beach and keels over, leaving the
crew to struggle in the merciless surf. Cast
awayl Casta way And so | have to tell
you that there are thousands of men de-
bn nd "a