Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1889-11-23
CHRISTIANS ALWAYS SAFE.


Another lesson from the subject is
that Christians are always safe.
There did not seem to be much
chance for Paul getting out OF that
shipwreck, did therc2 They had not,
in those days, rockets with which to
throw ropes over laundering vessels.
Their lifeboats were of but little worth.
And yet, notwithstanding all the dan
ger, my text says 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 tho eternal God,
| assert it. they shall all escape safe
to land. ("
Sometimes there comes q storm
OF commercial disaster The cables
break. The masts fall. The cargoes
are scattered. oper-the sea. Oil what
struggling and leaping on kegs and
hogsheads and cornbins and store
shelvesI And yet. though they may
have it so very hard in commercial
circles, the good, trusting In God. oil
como safe to land.
Wreckcrs go 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
slit with bankers pen. Hullks abcam's
end on insurance counters. Vast cred
its sinking, having suddenly sprung
a leak. Yet all of them who are Gods
children shall at last. through his good
ness and mercy, escape safe to land.
The Scandinavian warriors used to
drink wine out of the skulls Of the
enemies they had slain. Even so God
will help us, out of the conquered ills
and disasters Of life, to drink sweetness
and strength for our souls.
You have, my friends, had illustra.
tons. in your own life, of how God
delivers his people. | have had illus
trations in my OWL life of the same
truth. l Vas once in what on your
Mediterranean you call Euroclydon,
but what on the Atlantic we call c
cyclone, but the same storm. The
steamer Greece OF the National line,
swung out into the river Mersey at
Liverpool. bound for New York. We
had on board seven hundred, crew
and passengers We came together
strangers-Italians, Irishmen, Eng
lishmen, Swedes, Norwegians, Ameri-
cans. Two flags floated from the
British and American en-
signs. We had a new vessel, or one
so thoroughly remodeled that the voy-
age had around it all the uncertain
ties OF trial trip. The great steam
or felt it's 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 voy-
age of three thousand miles. 1t was
rough nearly all the way-the sea with
strong buHeting disputing our path.
But one night, at eleven O'clock, after
the lights had been put out, cyclone
"a wind just made to tear ships to
pieces-caught us IN its clutches. 1t
came down SO suddenly that we had
not time to take in the sails or to faster
the matches. You may know that the
bottom of the Atlantic is strewn with
the ghastly work OF cyclones. Oil
they are cruel winds. They have hot
breath, as though they came up from
internal furnaces. Their merriment
is the cry OF aErighted passengers.
Their play is the laundering OF steam
ers. And, when q ship goes down,
they laugh until both continents hear
them They 90 in circles. or, as
describe them with my .hand-roll,
ing onl 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 perishl
Brigantines, go down. Clippers, 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. Helms
man, dead at the wheell Engineer,
dead amidst the extinguished furnacesl
Captain, dead in the gangwayl Pas
seneers, dead in the cabinl Buried in
the great cemetery of dead steamers,
beside the City of Boston, the Lexing-
ton, the President. the Cambria-wait-
ing for the archangel's trumpet to split
up the decks, and wrench open the
cabin doors, and unfasten the matches.
A NIGHT TO TURN ONES HAIR WHITE