The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1889-11-27
DIR. TALMAGE In ITALY.
A SERMON EN- ROUTE TO PALESTINE.
Pauls Mediterranean Voyage Furnishes
the Text and subject-God's Saving
Power Realized During the Mild
storms Upon the Great Ocean.


ranean Voyage" and he took for his text
Acts xvii, "A: 'And so it came to pass
that they escaped all safe to land" DR..
Talmage said:
Having visited your historical city, which
we desire to see because it was the ter
minus OF the most famous road of the ages,
the Roman Appian way, and FORTS mighty
fortress, overshadowing city which even
Hannibal's hosts could not thunder down,
we must tomorrow morning leave your
harbor, and after touching at Athens and
Corinth voyage about the Mediterranean
to Alexandria, Egypt. have been reading
this morning in the new testament of a
Mediterranean voyage in an Alexandrian
ship. 1t was this very month OF Novem-
Der. The vessel was lying in a port not
very far from here. On board that vessel
were two distinguished passengers-one,
Josephus, the historian, as we have
strong reasons 10 believe; the other,
a convict, one Paul by name, who
was going 10 prison for upsetting
things, or, as they termed it, turning the
world upside down." This convict had
Indeed. think that Paul knew almost as
much about the seas as did the captain.
He had been shipwrecked three times al
ready; he had dwelt much OF his life amidst
capstans, and yardarms, and cables, and
storms, and he knew what he was talking
about. Seeing the equinoctial storm WIS
coming, and perhaps noticing something
unseaworthy in the vessel. he advised the
rapfoir 70 efav- IN fha harhor Rut / hoqr
the captain and first mate talking together.
They say: Eve can not afford to take the
advice OF thislandsman, and he minister.
He may be able to preach very well, but
don't believe he knows a mariinespike
from a luff-tackle. AL aboard Cast off
Shift the helm for Roadway! Who fears
the Mediterranean" They had gone only
little way out when a whirlwind, called
Euroclydon, made the torn sail its turban,
shook the mast as you would brandish
spear, and tossed the hulk into the
heavens Overheard with the CARGO 1t
Is all washed with salt water and worthless
now, and there are no marine insurance
companies. All hands ahoy and out with
the anchors
Great CONSERVATION comes on crew and
passengers. The sea monsters snort in the
foam, and the pillows clap their hands in
glee OF destruction. In a lull OF the storm
hear a chain clauk. Ii is the chain of
the great apostle as he walks the deck, or
holds fast 10 the rigging amidst the lurch-
ing OF the shiP-the spray dripping from
his iong beard as he cries out to the crew:
Now, exhort YOU TO be OF good cheer,
for there shall be DO loss OF any mans life
among YOU, but of the ship. For there
stood By me this night the angel of God,
whose 1 am, and whom ! serve, saving:
Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought
before Caesar; and, 10, God hath given
thee all them that sail with thee"
Fourteen days have passed, and there is
no abatement OF the storm. 1t is mid
night. Standing on the lookout, the man
peers into the darkness, and. by flash of
lightning, sees the long, white line of
breakers, and knows they must be coming
near to some country, and fears that in "a
few moments the vessel will be shivered
on the rock The ship flies like chaf in
the tornado. They drop the sounding
line, and by the light of the lantern they
see il is twenty fathoms. Speeding along
little further they drop the line again,
and by the light OF the lantern they see il
is fifteen fathoms. Two hundred and
seventy-six souls within a few feet
OF awful shipwreck The managers of
the vessel, pretending they want 10
look over the side of the ship
and undergrad it, get into the small boat,
expecting IN il to escape, but Paul sees
through the sham, and tells them that if
they 20 of in the boat il will be death 10
them. The vessei strikes! The planks
spring! The timbers crack The vessel
parts in the laundering SURGE Oh, what
wild struggling for life Here they leap
from plank to plank. Here they 60 under
as ii they would never rise; but. catching
hold OF timber, come floating and pant
ing on il 20 the beach. Here strongswim-
nners spread their arms through the waves
until their chins plow the sand, and they
rise up and wiring their wet locks on the
beach. When The roll of the ship is called
276 people answer to their names. and
80, says my text, ut came TO pass that
they escaped all safe TO land"
| learn from this subject:
!. That those who get us into trouble
will not stay 10 help us out. These ship
men got Paul out of the fair Ravens into
the storm; but as soon az the tempest
dropped upon them they wanted TO go of
In the small boat, caring nothing for what
became OF Paul and the passengers. All,
mel human nature is the same in all ages
They who get us into trouble never stop
70 help US out. They who tempt that
young man into a life of dissipation will
be the first to laugh at his imbecility, and
70 drop MIN ont OF decent society. tTam-
hlers always make fun OF the losses of
gamblers. They who tempt YOU into
the contest with fists, saying: II
will back you," will be the first
TO run. Look over all the pre-
dlcaments OF your life and count the
names Of those who have got you into
these predicanents, and tell me the name
OF one who ever helped you out. They
were glad enough to get you out OF fair
Ravens, but when, with damaged rigging,
you tried to Get into harbor, did they hold
for you a plank OF throw you a rope? Not
one. Satan has got thousands OF men into
trouble, but be never got one out. lie led
them into theft, but he would not hide the
goods or bail out the defendant. The spi-
der shown the way over the gossamer
bridge into the cobweb, but it never shows
the Wav out of the cobweb over the 0ossa-
mer bridge. / think that there we're
plenty of fast young men to help the prod
igal to spend his money but when he had
wasted bis substance in riotous living they
let him 90 to the swine pastures, while
they took themselves 10 some other new
conner. They who took Paul out of fair
Ravens viii be Of no help to him when he
gets into the breakers of Melita.
i remark again, az a lesson learned from
the text, that it is dangerous to refuse the
counsel of competent advisers. Paul told