The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-09-11
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVTNE's SUN.
DAY SERMON. 80
Subject: "What Sea Captains Say"
preached at Portland, Ore2on.)

Subject: "What Sea Captains Say"
preached at Portland, Oregon.)
TEXT: "Lest ttat by any means Imysslf
should be cast a1oay."-Cor. tx, 81.
In the presence Of you who live on the Pa
ciic coast who live on the Atlantic coast
may appropriately speak on this marine al!u-
sion Of the text for all who know about the
sea know about the castaway. The
text implies that ministers Of re-
ligion may help others into heaven and
yet miss it themselves. The carpenters that
built Noah's ark did not get into it them
selves. Gown and surpiee, and diplomas
and canonicals are no security. Cardinal
Wolsey, after having been petted by kings
and having entertained foreign ambassadors
at Hampton Court, died in darkness
One of the most eminent ministers Of
religion that this country has ever
known, plunged into, sin and died; his
heart, by postmortem examination, found
to have been, not f1guratively but literally,
broken. We may have hands Of ordination
on the head, and address consecrated assem-
blages, but that is no reason why we shall
necessarily reach the realm celestial. The
clergyman must go through the same gate
Of pardon as the layman. There have been
cases Of shipwreck where all on board
|
having preached to others, myself should
be a castaway." God forbid it.
have examined some Of the commentaries
to SEQ what they thought about this word
''castaway," and I find they differ in regard
to the figure used, while they agree in regard
to the meaning. So shall make my own So
lection, and take it in q nautical and seafar-
ing sense and show you that men may be-
come spiritual castaways, and how finally
| fhou drift into that 1arnifv
You and I live in seaboard cities. You
have all stood upon the beach. Many of you
have crossed the ocean. Some Of you have
managed vessels in great stress OF weather.
| There is sea captain, and there Is another,
and yonder is another, and there are goodly
number Of you who, though once you did not
know the difference between brig and q
bark, and between a diamond knot and q
spirit sheet sail knot and although you could
not point out the weather cross jack brace,
and though you could not man the fore clew
garnets, now you are as familiar viii q
ship as you arc with your right hand
and if it were necessary you could take q
vessel clear across to the mouth Of the
Mersey without the loss of single sail.
Well, there is a dark night in your memory
of the sea- The vessel became unmanageable
You saw it was scudding toward the shore
|
struck the rock and you felt the deck
breaking up under your feet, aud you were
q castaway, as when the Hercules drove on
the coast Of Caffraria, as when the Portu-
guese brig went staying, splitting, grinding,
crashing on the Goodwins. But whether
you have followed the sea or not, you all
understand the figure when tell you that
there are men, who, by their sins and
temptations, are thrown helplessl Driven
| = - 1r>l {rryo 1Idt
Castawaysl Castaways!
By talking with some sea captains, have
found out that there are three or four causes
for such calamity to vessel. I have been
| told that it comes sometimes from creating
false lights on the beach. This was often so
in olden times. It is not many years ago,
indeed, that vagabonds used to wander up
and down the beach, getting vessels ashore
in the night, throwing up false lights in their
despoil and ransack them. All kinds OF
| Internal arts were used to accomplish this.
And one night, on the Cornish coast, when
the sea was coming in fearfully, some villains
took lantern and tied it to horse, and led
the horse up and down the beach, the lantern
swinging to the motion Of the horse, and a sea
captain in the offing saw it, and made up his
mind that he was not anywhere near the
shore, for he said: There's vesssl-that
and he had no apprehension till he heard the
rocks grating on the ships bottom, and it
went to pieces and the Williams on shore gath
cred up the packages and treasures that were
washed to the land. And have to tell you
that there are multitude Of souls ruined by
false lights on the beach. In the dark night
of mans danger, false religion goes up and
down the shore, shaking its lantern, and men
look Off and take that Pickering and expiring
II. 11f o,,I %1,o-o
"Heave the main topsail to the maStl ALI Is
wellp when sudden destruction cometh upon
them, and they shall not escape. So there
are all kinds of lanterns swung on the beach
philosophical lanterns educational Ian
terms humanitarian lanterns. Men look at
them and are deceived, when there is moth
ing but Gods eternal lighthouse Of the Cos.
pei that con keep them from becoming casta'
ways. Once, on Wolf Crag light
hs house. ra they yg tried wolf to With hd its mouth SGR
open, so that the storms beating into it, the
wolf would howl forth the dangers to
mariners that might be coming anywhere
near the coast. Of course it was q failure.
And so all new inventions for the saving of
mans soul are unavailing. What the human
race wants is q light bursting forth from the
cross standing on the great head;
l,nds-the light Of pardon, the light
of comfort, the light Of heay-
en-. You might better go tonight and de-
gerous coastsS-the Barnegat lighthouse, the
Fastnet Rock lighthouse, the SherTyvore
lighthouse, the Longships lighthouse the
great ocean lamp-the Gospel. Woe to those
who swing false lanterns on the beach till
men crash into ruin. Castaways! Casta-
ways!
By talking with sea captains have heard
also that sometimes ships come to this calanl-
ity by the sudden swoop of tempest. For
instance, vessel is sailing along in the East
Indies, and there is not a single cloud on the
sky; but suddenly tho breeze freshens, and
there are swift feet on the ratGnes, and the
cry is: "Way, haul away therem but before
they can square the booms and tarpauin
the hatchways, the vessel is groaning and
creaking in the grip Of tornado, and
falls over into the trough Of the sea,
and broadside it rolls on to the beach
and keels over, leaving the crew to struggle
in the merciless surf. Castaway! Castaway.
And so have to tell you that there are thou
sands Of men destroyed through the sudden
swoop of temptations. Some great induce
ment to worldliness, or to sensuality, or to
comes upon them. If they had time to ex-
anime their Bible, if they had time to consult
with their friends, if they had time to delib-
crate, they could stand it; but the tempta-
tion came so suddenly-an euroclydon on the
Mediterranean, whirlwind of the Carib-
bean. One awful surge Of temptation and
they perish. And so we often
hear the old. story: II hadn't
seen my friend in great many years We
were very glad to meet He said must
drink and he took me by the arm and pressed
me along, and filled the cup until the bub-