The Penn's Grove record., 1889-11-16
DIR. TALMAGES SERMON:
Debating n sermon 10 His Many
Readers as He Embarks
for the Holy Land.

Readers as He Embarks
for the Holy Land.
Tho Rev. T. De Witt Talmage, D. D., on
bis embarkation at New York for the Holy
Land, by the steamer City Of Paris. adj
dressed his millions of friends through tho
press, taking for his text Acts xx., So: Sand
the accompanied him unto the ship" His
sermon is printed below in full.
To the more than twenty-five million peo-
pie In many countries to whom my sermons
come week by week, in English tongue and
by TRANSLATION, through the kindness Of the
newspaper press, l address these words. T
5ictAte them to a stenographer on the eve Of
my departure for the Holy Land, Palestine.
When you read this sermon / will be mid
Atlantic. / go to be gone a few weeks on .
religious Journey. / 60 because I want for
myself and hearers and readers to see Beth,
lehsm, and Nazareth. and Jerusalem, and
Calvary, and all the other places connected
with my Saviour's life and death, and SO re-en-
force myself for sermons. I go because +
am writing the Life of Christ" and can be
more accurate and graphic when l rave been
Cor my successful journeying and my safe
/ wish on the eve of departure to pronounce
a loving benediction upon all my friends In
nigh places and low, upon congregations to
whom my sermons are read in absence OF
pastors, upon groups gathered out on the
~orairies, and in mining districts, upon all
lick and invalid n aged ones who cannot
attend churches, but to whom / have long
administered through the printed page. My
next sermon will be addressed to you from
Rome, Italy, for I feel like Paul when he
said; $50, as much as in me is, I am ready
20 preach the Gospel to you that are at Rome
also.' The fact Is that Paul was ever now
ing about on land or sea. He was an old
-nnn~-not frrra orcrtpafinn brit frn-. k~oJ
quency Of travel. / think he could have
taksn q vessel across tho Mediterranean as
veil - some of the ship captains. The sail.
,,rs never scoffed at him for being Q Gland
..ubber.n II PauTs advice had been taken,
he crew would never have gone ashore 81
Melita.
When the vessel went scudding under bare
soles Paul was the only 'self-possessed man
n board, and, turning to the excited crew
md despairing passengers, he exclsims, In .
soice that sounds above the thunder of tho
tempest and the wrarh Of the sea, 'Be Of
good cheer
The men who now goto sea with maps, and
eharts and modern compass, warned by buoy
and lighthouse, know nothing Of the perils Of
man who first venturedo on the sea must have
had a heart bound with oak and triple brass.
People then ventured only from headland to
hesdland, and from island to island, and not
until long after spread their sail for . voyage
across b sea. Before starting, the weather
was watched, and the vessel having been
hauled up on the shore, the mariners placed
their shoulders against the stern Of the ship
and heaved it off-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 man in
L. A. - 49, 49,
place. The ship from which Jonah was
thrown overheard, and in which Paul
was carried prisoner, went out chiefly with
the idea Of taking q cargo. As now, 50 then,
vessels were accustomed to carry a flag. In
those times it was inscribed with the name
Of q heather deity. A vessel bound for SYRIA
cuse had on it the inscription, sCastor and
Pollux.n The ships were provided with an
chors. Anchors were of two k~inds-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
steadfast, and which entereth into that with.
in the vail.n That was what the sailors
call a shook anchor" The rocks and sand
bars, shoals and headlands not being mapped
out, vessels carried a plumb line. They would
drop it and find the water fifty fathoma, 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 81 in June, and in midi
winter all over the wide and stormy deep
there loaf 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
stack. looking OF upon the phosphorescent
deep, on which Is written in scrolls of foam
and fire: 'sThy way, God, is In the sea, and
Thy path In the great watersT
It Is In those days Of early navigation that
i 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 OF. II lisa solemn thing to part.
There are so many traps that wait for .
mans feet. The solid ground may break
through, and the sea-how many dark mys-
teries It hides in its bosomi A few counsels,
. hasty good-by, q last look, and the ropes
rattle, n 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 l
want to urge you all to embark for heaven.
The church is the dry dock where souls are
to BE- fltted out for heaven L making q 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 1t, vessels that
looked able to run their jibbooms into the eye
Of any tempest, when caught in storm have
been crushed like a wafer. The truths OF
Gods Word are what Imean by floor timbers-
Away with your lighter materials. Nothing
bat oaks, hewn in the forest of divine truth,
are stanch enough for this craft -
You must have love for Q helm, to guide
and turn the craft. Neither PRIDE nor m
bition, nor avarice will do for . rudder.
Love, not only in the heart but flashing In
the eye and tingling in the hand-love mar
ried to work, which many look upon a. so
homely q bride-love, not like brooks which,
foam and rattle yet do nothing, but love IKE
q river that runs up the steps of mill VIII. =
and works in the harness Of factory bandsS
love that will not pass by on the other side
but vista the man who fell among thieves
near Jericho. not merely saying: Poo fell
lowi you are dreadfully hurt" but Ike tho
good Samaritan, pours in oil and wine and
pays his board at the tavern. There must
also be u PROV, arranged to cut and override
the billow, That is Christian perseverance,
There are three mountain surges b
sometimes dash against a soul In q minute
the world, the flesh and the devtll--and 3
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 50 often sweeps the deck nus
the matches; but that which strikes In front
Is harmless. Meettroubles c~ourageously and
you surmount them. Stand on the PROV;
and. as YOU wipe off the spray Of the split
surge, cry out with the apostlei "None Of
these thinas move me-" Let all your fears
stay aft. The right must conquer. Know
that Moses, in the ark Of ~Dulrushes, can run
down a war steamer.
Have a 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 w~rongfully;
Do not always stay in the same latitude and
longitude. You will never ride up the har.
Dor Of Eternal Rest II you all the way drag
your anchor.
But you must have sails. Vessels are NOT
ht for the sea until they have tbs flying Jib,
the ~forrsail. topgallant the skysail the gsn-
san and other canvas. Faith b OF canvas.
Hoist Il and the winds Of heaven will drive
Won ahead. sails made out Of any other can