The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1889-11-14
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIvINE'S
FAREWELL SERMON.
Debating "a sermon 40 isis
Many Readers as 1ne Emf
barlSs for the Holy Land.


dressed his millions Of friends through the
press, taking for his text Acts XXX, IS; "And
the accompanied him unto the Ship His
sermon is printed below in full:
To the more than twenty-five million peo-
plo In many countries TO whom my sermons
come week by week. in English tongue and
py translation, through the kindness of the
newspaper press, | address these words.
dictate them 10 u stenographer on the owe of
my departure for the Holy Land, Palestine.
when you read this sermon | will be mid
Atlantic. go to I've gone few weeks on a
religious journey. l 10 because | want for
myself aud hearers and readers TO see Beth
leheni, and Nazareth, and Jerusalem, and
calvary, and all the other places connected
wlthmy Saviourslifc and death, and so rc-en-
force myself for sermons. 1 10 because |
am writing the Life of Christ and can be
more accurate and graphic when have been
an eye witness OF the sacred places. PRAY
Tor my successful journeying and my safe
return.
wish ON the eve of departure to pronounce
Allowing benediction upon all my friends in
high places and low upon congregations TO
whom my sermons are read in absence of
pastors, upon groups gathered out on the
prairies, and in mining districts, upon all
sick and invalid and aged ones who cannot
attend churches, but TO whom | have long
administered through the printed page. NV
next sermon will be addressed to YOU from
Rome, Italy, for l feel like Paul when he
said; so, as much as in me is, am ready
to preach the Gospel to you that are at Rome
aiso,a Inc TACT Is that Paul was over NOV
ing about on land or sea. He was an old
saiior-not from occupation, but from fire.
quency of travel l think he could have
taken vessel across the Mediterranean as
well as some of the ship captains The sail
ors never scolred at him for being Gland
lubber." If Pauls advice had been taken
Melita, wv
When the vessel went scudding under bare
poles Paul was the only self-poSsessed man
on board, and, turning to the excited crew
and despairing passengers, he exclaims in a
voice that sounds above the thunder of the
tempest and the wrath Of the sea: "Be of
good cheer
The men who now so to sea with maps, and
charts, and modern compass warned by buoy
and lighthouse, know nothing of the perils of
ancient navigation. Horace said that the
man who first ventured on the sea must have
had heart bound with oak and triple brass.
| feople then ventured only from headland to
headland, and from island to island, and not
until long after spread their sail for q voyage
across the sea. Before starting, the weather
was watched, and the vessel having been
! hauled up on the shore, the mariners nlaced
and heaved it ofl-they, at the last moment,
leaping into it.
| Vessels were then chiefly ships Of burden
the transit OF passengers being the exception.
for the world was not then migratory, as in
| our day, when the first desire of a man in
one place seems to be to get into another
place. The ship from which Jonah was
thrown overheard and in which Paul
| was carried prisoner, went out chiefly with
the idea OF taking cargo. As now, 50 then,
vessels were accustomed to carry a flag. In
those times it was inscribed with the name
OF heather deity. A vessel bound for SYRIA
ouse had on it the inscription ''Castor and
Pollux." The ships were provided with an
chors. Anchors were of two kinds-those
that were dropped into the sea, and those
that Were thrown up on to the rocks to hold
the vessel fast This last kind was what Paul
alluded to when he said: (Which hope we
have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and
steadtast, and which entereth into that with
in the vail" That was what the sailors
call shook anchor" The rocks and sand
bars, shoals and headlands not being mapped
out, vessels carried plumb line They would
drop it and find the water fifty fathoms and
drop it again and find it forty fathoms, and
drop it again and find it thirty fathoms, thus
discovering their near approach to the shore
In the spring, summer and autumn the
Mediterranean Sea was white with the wings
of ships but at the first wintry blast they
hied themselves to the nearest harbor; al
though now the worlds commerce prospers
in January as well as in June, and in mid
winter all over the wide and stormy deep
there float palaces of light, trampling the
pillows under foot and showering the sparks
OF terrible furnaces on the wild wind; and
the Christian passenger, tippeted and
shawled, sits under the shelter of the smoke
stack, looking off upon the phosphorescent
deep, on which is written in scrolls of foam
and fire: THY way, o Cod is in the sea, and
Thy path in the great waters'
1t IS IN those days of early navigation that
see group of men, women and children on
the beach of the Mediterranean. Paul is
about to leave the congregation to whom he
had preached, and they are come down to
see him off. 1t is solemn thing to part.
There are so many traps that wait for a
mans feet. The solid ground may break
through, and the sea-how many dark mys-
teries it hides in its bosom! A few counsels.
q hasty good-by, last look, and the ropes
rattle, and the sails are hoisted, and the
planks are hauled in, and Paul is gone. lex
pect to sail over some of the same waters
over which Paul sailed, but before going !
want to urge you all to embark for heaven.
The church is the dry dock where souls are
to be fitted out for heaven. In making YES
sci for this voyage, the first need is sound
the timber. The floor timbers ought to be
of solid stuff. For the want of it. vessels that
looked able to run their iibbooms into the eve
OF any tempest, when caught in storm have
been crushed like a wafer. The truths of
Gods Word are what mean by floor timbers.
Away with your lighter materials. Nothing
but oaks, hewn in the forest of divine truth,
are stanch enough for this craft.
You must have love for helm, to guide
and turn the craft Neither pride, nor am
hilton nor ayai.ipa will do for a ,,,,JJa,
Love, not only in the heart, but flashing i'll
the eye and tingling in the hand-love mar
ried to work, which many look upon as so
homely bride-love, not like brooks which
foam and rattle yet do nothing, but love like
ariver that runs up the steps of mill wheels
and works in the harness of factory bands
love that will not pass by on the other side.
but visits the man who fell among thieves
near Jericho, not merely saying: "Poor fell
low! you are dreadfully hurt" but, like the
good Samaritan, pours in oil and wine and
pays his board at the tavern. There must
also be PROV, arranged to cut and override
the billow. That is Christian perseverance.
There are three mountain surges that
sometimes dash against soul in a minute
the world, the flesh and the devil-and that
is a well built PROV that can bound over
them. For lack of this many have put back
and never started again. 1t is the broadside
wave that so often sweeps the deck and fills
the matches; but that which strikes in front
is harmless. Meet troubles courageously and
you surmount them. Stand on the PROV,
and, as you wipe off the spray of the split
surge, cry out with the apostle: None of
these things move me- Let all your fears
stay aft. The right must conquer. Know
that Moses, in the ark of bulrushes, can run
down war steamer.
Have good, strong anchor (which hope
we have as an anchor By this strong cable
and windlass, hold ON to your anchor. 'If
any man sin, wehave an advocate with the
Father Do not use the anchor wrongfully.
Do not always stay in the same latitude and
longitude. You will never ride up the har-
Dor of Eternal Rest if you all the way drag
your anchor.
But you must have sails Vessels are not
ut for the sea until they have the flying jib,
'he toresail, topgallant, the skysail, the gaff-
san and other canvas. Faith is our canvas.
HOIST 1t and the winds of heaven will drive
you ahead. Sails made out of any other can
vas than faith will be slit to tatters by the
drst northeaster Strong faith never lost
battle. 1t will crush foes, blast rocks,
quench lightnings, thresh mountains. 1t isa
shield to the warrior, a crank to the most
ponderous wheels lever to pry up pyramids,
drum whose beat gives strength to the step
of the heavenly soldiery, and sails to watt
ships laden with priceless pearls from the
sarbOr of earth to the hnrhor of haavpu