Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-11-18

W
the Lords Prayer at his mothers knee. and
against that iniquitous brow once pressed 8
pure mothers lip But he refused her coun
sell He went where euroclydUns have theil
lair. He foundered on the sea, while all he'll
echoed at the roar of the wreck: Lost Pacihcs
Lost Pacihcsl
Another lesson from. the subject is that
Christians are always safe.
There did not seem to be much chance fol
Paul getting out of that shipwreck, did there'
They had not, in those days, rockets with which
to throw ropes over laundering vessels. Theil
| lfeboats were of but little worth.
ONE CLASS CERTAIN TO ESCAPE.
And yet, Notwithstanding all the danger my
text saws that Paul escaped safe to land. And
SO it will always be with Gods children. They
may be plunged into darkness and trouble, but
| by the throne of the eternal God, I assert it
'they shall all escape safe to land"
| Sometimes there comes storm OF CONNER
| cial disaster. The cables break The masts
| fall. The cargoes are scattered over the sea.
oh! what struggling and leaping on kegs ana
hogsheads and cornbins and store shelves! And
yet, though they may have it so very hard IN
commercial circles the good, trusting IN GOO,
all come safe to land.
! Wreckers 90 out on the oceans beach and
| find the shattered hulks of vessels; and on the
streets of our great cities there is many
| wreck. MaInsail split with bankers pen.
| Hulks abeam's end on insurance counters.
Vast credits sinking, having suddenly sprung
*.
| shall at last, through His goodness and mercy,
escape toland The Scandinavianwarriors used
| to drink wine out of the skulls Ell the enemies
| they had slain. Even SO GOD Will help us. out
| of the conquered ills and disasters OF LIE, 70
drink sweetness and strength for our souls.
IlYou have, my friends, had illustrations, IN
| your own life of how God delivers His people
| l have had illustrations in my own life OF the
| same truth. was once in what on your Med1-
terranean you call Euroclydon, but what on
the Atlantic we call cyclone, but the same
storm. The steamer Greece of the National
Line, swung out into the river Mersey at Liver
| pool bound for New York. We had on board
| 200. crew and passengers. We came together
strangers-Italians, Irishmen, Englishmen,
| Swedes Norwegians Americans. Two flags
doated from the masts-British and American
ensigns We had new vessel, or one so
thoroughly remodeled that the voyage had
around it all the uncertainties OF a trial trip.
AN HOUR OR TWO OF PERIL.
The great steamer felt its way cautiously out
into the sea- The pilot was discharged; and,
committing ourselves to the care of Him who
holdeth the winds in His fist, we were fairly
started on our voyage of 1900 miles. 1t was
rough nearly all the way-the sea with strong
buffeting disputing our path. But one night,
at II o'clock, after the lights had been put out,
a cyclone-a wind just made to tear ships to
pieces-caught us in its clutches 1t came
in the sails or to fasten the matches. You may
know that the bottom of the Atlantic is strewn
with the CHASTITY work of cyclones Oh! they
are cruel winds. They have hot breath, as
though they came up from internal furnaces.
Their merriment is the cry of affrighted passen-
gers. Their play is the foundering of steam
ers And when q ship goes down, they laugh
until both continents hear them. They 60 In
circles, or, as describe them with my hand
rolling on! rolling onl with finger of terror
writing on the white sheet of the wave this
sentence of doom: Let all that come within
this circle perish! BrigantInes, go down. Clip
pers, go down! Steamships, go down." And
the vessel. hearing the terrible voice, crouches
in the surf, and as the waters gurgle through
the matches and port holes, it lowers away,
thousands Of feet down, farther and farther,
until at last it strikes the bottom; and all is
peace for they have landed. Helmsman, dead
at the wheel! Engineer, dead amid the ex-
tinguished furnaces! Captain, dead in the
gangway! Passengers dead in the cabin!
Buried in the great cemetery Of dead steamers,
beside the City of Boston, the Lexington, the
President, the Cambria-waiting for the arch
angels trumpet to split up the decks, and
wrench open the cabin door and unfasten the
matches.
MANY STORMS CONCENTRATED.
Thought that L had seen storms on the sea
before; but all of them together might have
come under one wing Of that cyclone. We
were only 500 or 900 miles from home. and in
high expectation of soon seeing our friends.
for there was no one on board SO poor as not to
have friend. But it seemed as if we were to
be disappointed. The most OF us expected
then and there to die. There were none who
made light of the peril, save two. One was an
Englishman, and he was drunk, and the other
was an American, and he was fooli Oh!
what time it was! A night to make ones
hair turn white. We came out of the berths
and stood in the gangway, and looked into the
arad sat in fhn Rah rim nfad
there we heard overhead something like min
ute guns. It was the bursting of the sails.
We held on with both hands to keep our
places. Those who attempted to cross
gashed. Cups and glasses were dashed to frag-
ments; pieces of the table getting loose, swung
across the saloon. 1t seemed as if the hurri-
cane took that great ship of thousands of tons
and stood it on end, and said: shall sink 1t,
or let it go this onceT' And then it came down
with such force that the billows trampled over
it, each mounted on fury. We felt that
everything depended on the propelling screw.
If that stopped for an instant we knew the YES
sci would fall off into the trough of the sea and
sink. and SO we prayed that the screw, which
three times since leaving Liverpool had already
stopped might not stop now. Oh. how anx-
iously we listened for the regular thump Of the
machinery, upon which our lives seemed to de-
pend. After a while some one said THE
screw is stopped" No; its sound had only been
overpowered by the uproar Of the tempest and
we breathed easier again when we heard the
regular pulsations Of the overtasked machinery
going thump thump, thump.
WATER IN THE CABIN.
At O'Clock in the morning the water COW
cred the ship from prov to stern, and the sky
lights gave Wayi The deluge rushed in, and we
felt that one or two more waves like that must
swamp US forever. As the water rolled back
and forward in the cabins, and dashed against
the wall, it sprang half way up to the ceiling.
Rushing though the skylights as it came in
with such terrific roar, there went up from the
cabin a shrek of horror which / pray God l
may never hear again. 1 have dreamed the
whole scene over again, but God has mercifully
kept me from hearing that one cry. Into it
shipwreck. 1t seemed to say: II shall never
get home again! My children shall be orphaned,
and my wife shall be widowed l am launching
now into eternityl In two minutes shall meet
my Godr'
There were about $50 passengers in the steer
age. and as the water rushed in and touched
the furnaces, and began violently to hiss, the
poor creatures in the steerage imagined that
the boilers were giving way. Those passengers
writhed in the water and in the mud, some
praying, some crying, all terrified. They made
a rush for the deck. An officer stood on deck
and beat them back with blow after blow. It
was necessary. They could not have stood an
instant on the deck. Obi how they begged to
get out of the hold of the ship! One woman,
with a child in her arms, rushed up and caught
hold of one of the officers and cried: do let
me out! will help you! Do let me out! cannot
die herer' Some got down and prayed to the
Virgin Mary, saying: 20, blessed mother! keep
US! Have mercy on us!'
ALL WERE IN EARNEST.
Some stood with white lips and fixed gaze,
silent in their terror. Some wrung their hands
and cried out: 20 GodI what shall do? What
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