Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1889-09-07
TABERNACLE PULPIT
The Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage
breaches at Portland.
He Talks From q Topic Interesting
60 Mariners-."Lest That by Any
Means I Myself should BE
Cast Away"


his text / Cor. TX, 27:" Lest that by any
means I myself should be cast away"
The preacher said:
In the presence OF you who live on
the Pacific coast, ! who live on the At
rlantic coast may appropriately speak ON
this marine allusion Of the text, for all
who know about the sea know about the
castaway. The text implies that min
listers Of religion may help others into
heaven and yet miss it themselves.
The carpenters that built Noah's ark
did not get into IL themselves Gown
and surplice, and diplomas, and canoni-
Gals are not security. Cardinal Wolsey,
after having been petsed by kings, and
having entertained foreign ambassador
ut Hampton Court, died In darkness.
One of the most eminent ministers OF
religion that this c0untry has ever
known, plunged into sin and died; his
heart, by post mortem examination,
found 10 have been, NOT figuratively but
literally, broken. We may have hands
OF ordination on the head, and address
c~onsecrated assemblages, but that is no
reason why we shall neces sarily reach
the realm celestial. The clergyman
must 60 through the same gate Of par
don rs the layman. There have been
cases Of ~shipwreck where all on board
escaped excepting the captain. Alas!
II, having preached TO others, l myself
should be a castaway." God forbid 1t.
] have examined some of the common
taries : see what they thought about
this word ''~castaway," and / find they
differ IN regard to'the figure used, while
they agree IN regard:t 70 the meaning. So
i shall makermy W selection, and take
it in a nautical and -seafaring sense, and
show you that men may become spirit
ual castaways, and how, finally, they
drift into that calamity.
You and j 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 a sea cap
tain, and there is another, and yonder
is another, and there are a goodly mum
Der of you who, though once you did not
know the difference between a brig and
"A bark, and between q 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 g~arnets, now you
are as familiar with q ship as you are
with your right hand, and If IL were
necessary you could take q vessel clear
across to the mouth of the Mersey with
out the loss Of a single sail. Well,
there issa dark night in your memory OF
the sea. The vessel became unmanage.
able. You saw 1t was scudding toward
the shore. You heard the cry: Break
ers ahead! Land on the lee bowl The
vessel struck the rock and you felt the
deck breaking up under your feet, and
you wereia castaway, as when the Her
cules drove on the coast of Caffraria, as
when thefPortuguese brig went staying,
splitting, grinding, crashing, on the
Goodwins. But whether you have fol
lowed the sea or not, you all understand
khS III hISNNl lCh u tGAA wv bhoN aN "a
men who, iky their sins and temptations,
are thrown helpless! Driven before the
gale! Wrecked for two worlds. Casta.
Always! Gastaways!
BY tal-ing with. some sea captains, ]
have found out that there are three OF
-four causesstor such a calamity 10 a yes
sci. ! have been told that IL sometimes
comes from.creating false lights on the
beach. This. was often. so in olden times.
1t is not many, years ago, indeed, tina
vagabonds used; to wander up and down
the beach, getting vessels ashore in the
night, throwing up false lights in their
presence and Receiving them, that they
rmay despQil and ransack them All
kinds Of internal artsewere used 70 &C
,complish this. And one night on the
Cornish coast, when the sea was coming
ain fearfully, some villains took a Ian
stern and tied it BOA horse, and led the
horse up andtdown1the beach, the Ian
,tern swinging TO the motion OF the
horse, and . q captain An the ofine
saw 10, and made up his mind that he
isas not anywhereIAear the shore, for he
seald: There's avessel--that must be
avessel, for It has a movable light
and he had no apprehension until he
heard the rocks grating en- the ships
bottom, and 1t went to pieces and the
villains on sh0se gathered up the pack
.agessand treas9nss that were washed u
the iland. And j have to tell You thai
-there. are o multizude of.souls ruined by
sfalseaights on the beach In tia DARK
might Of mans Danger, false religion
goes .pp and down the aaore, shaking
dts lantern, and naen look OF and take
that hickering aud expiSng wick as
tthe signal OF sa1eey, anf the cry Is
".Heave the main topsal to the mast
All is welli'' when sudden de-
.Atruction .cometh upon them and they
shall not sescape. Sc there are all kinds
OF lanterns swung on the beaeh-phiis-
ssophical l~anterns, educational ianterna
humanitarian lanterns. Men look II
them and sre deceived, when there IL
nothing but Gods eternal lighthouse oi
tho Gospel that can keep them fnom be-
coming castaways. Once, On Wolf Crag
lighthouse, thsy tried TO build o copper
figure OF Q wolf with its mouth open. SC
that the storms beating into Il, the wolf
would howl forth the dangers 10 mari
nens that might be coming any where
near the coast. OF course IL was Q fail,
ure. And 20 all nesv Inventions for the
saving OF mems soxls are unayailing.
What the human race wants II . light
bursting forth from the cross standing