The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1889-09-11
SPIRITUAL CASTAWAYS.
Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage Preacher
q Marine Discourse


h Portland, Oregon - Spiritual Ship.
wrecks and Their Causss-How to
be saved = Prayers for Divine
Help IL Essential
Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage preached recent
~ to . vast audience at Portland, Ore,
taking for his text /. Cor. tx, 81: LEST
myself should be cast away" Following 10
The sermon:
In the presence Of you who live on the
Pacific Coast, who live on the Atlantic
Coast may appropriately speak on this ma
rine allusion Of the text, for all who know
about the sea know about the castaway.
The text implies that ministers Of religion
may help others into Heaven and yet miss
It themselves. The carpenters that built
Noah's ark did not get into it themselves.
Gown and surplice, and diplomas, and ca
nonicals are no security. Cardinal Wolsey,
after having been petted by kings, and hsv-
Ing 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 ex-
found to have been, not fgura-
lively, but literally, broken. We may have
hands of ordination on the head, and ad-
dress consecrated assemblages- but that is
no reason why we shall necessarily reach
the realm celestial. The clergyman must
60 through the same gate Of pardon as the
layman. There have been cases Of ship
wreck where all on board escaped excepting
the captain. Alas! if, having preached
to others, l myself should be castaway."
God forbid it.
have examined some OF the common
taries to see what they thought about this
word ''castaway," and find they differ in
regard to the figure used, while they agree
in regard to the meaning. SO shall make
my own selection, and take it in nautical
and seafaring sense, and show you that
men may become spiritual castaways, and
how finally they drift into that calamity.
You and I live in seaboard cities. You
have all stood on the beach. Many Of you
have crossed.t the ocean. Some OF you have
managed vessels in great stress of weather.
There is sea captain, and there is another,
and yonderis another, and there are goodly
number Of you who, though once you did
not know the difference between a brig and
bark, and between diamond knot and a
spirit sheet sail knot, and although you
could no tpoint out the weather cross jack
brace, and though you could not man the
fore clew garnets, now you are as familiar
with ship as you are with your right
and II it were necessary you could take a
vessel clear across to the mouth of the Mer-
sey without the loss Of single sail. Well,
there is dark night in your memory Of the
sea. The vessel became unmanageable.
You saw it was scudding toward the shore.
You heard the cry: breakers ahead! Land
on the lee bowl" The Vessel struck the rock
and you felt the deck breaking up under
your feet, and you were a castaway, as
when the Hercules drove on the coast OF
Csffraria, a. when the Portuguese brig
went staying, splitting, grinding, crashing
on the G0Odwins. 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 helpless! Driven before the
gale! Wrecked for two worldsl Castaways
Castawaysl
By talking with some sea captains, have
found out that there are three or four causes
for such calamity to vessel. l have
been told that 1t sometimes comes from
creating false lights on the beach. This was
often so in olden times. 1t is not many
years ago, indeed, that vagabounds used to
wander up and down the beach, getting
vessels ashore in the night, throwing up
false light in their presence and deceiving
them, that they may despoil and ransack
them. All kinds of internal arts We're used
to accomplish this. And one night, on the
Cornish coast, when the sea was coming in
fearfully, some villains took a lantern and
tied it to horse, and led the horse up and
down the beach, the lantern swinging tc
the motion of the horse, and sea captain
in the citing saw it and made up his mind
that he was not anywhere near the shore
for he said: 'There's vessel--that must
be vessel, for it has a movable light" and
he had no apprehension till he heard the
rocks grating on the ships bottom, and il
went to pieces and the villains on shore
gathered up the packages and treasures
that were washed to the land. And have
to tell you that there are a multitude Of
souls ruined by false lights on the beach
In the dark night Of mans danger false re
ligion goes up and down the shore, shaking
its lantern, and men look of and take thai
Pickering and expiring wick as the sigma
Of safety, and the cry is: "Heave the MAR
topsail to the mastl All is well!" wher
sudden destruction cometh upon them, anc
they shall not escape. So there are al
kinds of lanterns swung on the beach
philosophical lanterns, educational Ian
terms, humanitarian lanterns. Men look q
them and are deceived, when there is moth
ing but Gods eternal lighthouse of thu
gospel that can keep them from becoming
castaways. Once, on Wolf Crag light
house, they tried to build copper figure O.
Q wolf with its mouth open, so that tn,
storms beating into it the wolf would how
forth the dangers to mariners that might b,
anywhere near the coast. OF course it wa
failure. And so all new inventions fo
saving mans soul are unavailing. Wha
the human race wants is light bursting
forth from the cross standing On the grea
headlands-the light of pardon, the light O
comfort the light of Heaven. You nigh
better 60 to night, and destroy all the grea
lighthouses on the dangerous coasts-th
Barnegat lighthouse, the Fastnet Rocl
lighthouse, the Sherryvore lighthouse, tn
Longship lighthouse, the Hollyhead light
house-than to put out Gods great oceal
lamp-the Gospel. Woe to those who swim
false lanterns on the beach till men crasl
into ruin. Castawaysl Castawaysl p
By talking with sea captains have hear,
also that ships sometimes come to this calam
ity by the sudden swoop Of q tempest. Fo
instance, avesselis sailing along in the Eas
Indies, and there is not single cloud on tn