The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1866-1891, 1889-12-05
DIR. TALMAGB'S TRIP.
HE PREACHESA 4 SERMON ON PAUI.'S
JOURNEY Az BRISDISI, ITAE.Y.
The Brooklyn Divine Gives Graphic
Description Of Tie Scenes on Board
q SteaIuer During q storm.

TENT: "And 50 II came 10 pass MOt they
escaped all safe TO Mnd." Acts xvii, A.
Having visited your historical city, which
We desired to sec because it was the terminus
Of the most famous ROAD of the ages, tho
Roman Applan Way. and for its mighty
fortress ovcrshadowug q city which even
Nannihais hosts could not thunder down.
We must tomorrow morning leave your har-
hor, and after touching at Athens and Cor
nth, voyage about the Mediterranean to
Alexandria, Egypt. | have been reading
this morning i'll my New Testament of a
Mediterranean voyage i'll an AleXardrian
ship. 1t was this very month OF November
The vessel was lying in n port not very far
from here. On board that vessel were two
distinguished passengers: ono JoScphuS, the
historian, ns We have strong reasons to D.,
believe; thu other, Il convict. one Paul by
name, who was going to prison for upsettns
things or, as they termed it. turning the
world upside down" This convict had gained
l think that Paul knew almost as
much about the sea as did the Cap
tain. He had been -shipwreckcd three
times, already; he had dwct much of his
life amidst capstan6, and yardarms and
cables and storms; and he knew what
he was talk:ng about. Seeing the
equinoctial storm was coming, and perhaps
vessel. lie advised The Captain TO stay III tho
harbor. But / hear the Captain and The
first mate talking together. They say: We
cannot afford to take the advice of this
lnnasman, and he q minister. He may be
nbie to preach very well, but don't beliovo
he knows q narlinSpi';e from q luif tackle
IAN aboard. Cast cT, Shift the helm for
headway! Who fears the Mediterranean"
They had gone only a little way out when d
whirlwiud called EUroclvloN, made the
torn sail its turOau. si)o!i th1 mast as YOU
would brlallSh a Sp,l", AMI t15sel tn: hulk
into the heavens. Overheard with the car
go! It is all washed with salt water, and
worthless now; aud there are no marine in
surancs Companies. All hands ahoy, and
out with the anchors.
Great CONSERVATION comes on crew and
passengers. Tie sea monsters snort i'll the
foam, and tho bilows clap their hands in
glee of destruction. In the lull OF the storm
1hcar a chain clank 1t is the chain of tho
great apostle as he walks the deck, or holds
fast to the rigging amidst the lurching of the
ship-thc spray dripping from his long bear'l
rs he cries out to tho crew: Now | exhort
you TO be Of good cheer: for there shall be 10
loss Of any mans life among you, but of the
ship. For there stooA by Inc this night the
angel Of God whose I an, and whom l
serve, saying, Fear not. Paul: thou must be
brought before Cesar; and, 10, God hath
given thee all them that sail with thee
Fourteen days have passed, and there is no
abatement OF tho storm. It is midnight
Standing on the lockout, tho man peers into
the darkness and, by a flash of lightning, sees
the long white line OF the breakers, and knows
they must he coming near to some country,
and fears that in q few moments tine vessel
will be shivcred on the rocks. The ship
nies like chaff in a tornado. They drop tho
sounding line, and by the light of the Ian.
tern they see it is twenty fathoms. Speed
ing along little farther they drop
the line again, and by the light
of the lantern they see it is fifteen fathoms.
Two hundred and seventy-siX souls within q
few feet Of awful shipwreck! The managers
of the vessel, pretending they want to look
over the side of the ship and undergrad it,get
into the small boat, expecting in it TO escape;
bat Paul secs through the sham, and he tells
them that if they go off in the boat it will be
the death of them. Tho vessel strikes The
planks sprinS! The timbers crack! Tho
vessel parts in the laundering surge! Oh,
what wild struggling for lifo Here they
leap from plank TO plank. Here they go
under as if they would never rise but,
catching hold of timber, come loating and
painting on it to the beach. Here, strong
swimmers spread their arms through the
waves until their chins plow the sand, and
they rise up and wiring out their wet locks
called, two hundred and seventy-six people
answer to their names "And so, says my
text, 1T came TO pass that they escaped all
safe to land"
l learn from this subject:
First that those who get us into trouble
will not stay TO help us out These shipmcn
got Paul out of Fair Havens into the storm;
but as soon as the tempest dropped upon
them, they wanted to go off in tho small
boat, caring nothing for what became of
Paul and the passengers. All me! human
nature is the same in all ages. They who
get us into trouble never stop to help us out.
They who tempt that young man into life
of dissipation will be the first to laugh at
his mbecility, and to drop him out of
decent society. Gamblers always mako
fun of the losses of gamblers. They who
tempt you into the contest with fists, saying,
~ will back YOU" will be the first to run.
Look over all the pr-dicaments of your life,
and count the names of those who have got
you into those predcaments, and tell me the
name nf one who ever helped you out.
They were glad enough to get you out from
Fair Hovens, but when, with damaged rig
ging, You tried to get into harbor, did they
hold G''r yon plank or throw you rope?
Not one. :S;:ial has got thousands Of mon
into trouble, Lt: J.. never got one cus. He
led them no th.:e. Lut he would -! L;do
tho goods or bail out the defendant The
spider shows the fly the way over the Gossa-
NleE DTIuSe inUO Tue CoDWeD, DuC lC never
shows the fly the way out Of the cobweb ever
the gossamer bridge. think that there
were plenty of fast young men to help the
prodigal spend his money; but when he bad
wasted his substance in riotous living, they
let him 20 to the swine pastures, while they
betook themselves to some other new conner.
They who take Pan! out of Fair Hayens will
be Of no help to him when he gets into the
breakers of Melita.
| remark AGAIN MS n lesson learned from,
the text. that it is dangerous to refuse tho
counsel Of competent advisers Paul told
them not to go out with that ship. They
thought he knew nothing about it. They
said: 'fle is only a minister" They went,
and tho ship was destroyed. There arc 4
great many people who now say of ministers:
"They know nothing about the world. They
cannot talk TO us" All. my friends, it is no5
necessary to have the Asiatic cholera b.
fore you can give it medical treatment in
others. 1t is not necessary to have
your own arm broken before YOU can
know how to splinter a fracture. And
we who stand in the pulpit, and in the Office
of Christian teacher know that there are
certain styles Of belief and certain kinds Of
behavior that will lead to destruction as cor-
tainly as Paul knew that if that ship went
out of Fair Havens it would 60 to destruc-
tion. Rejoice, young man, i'll thy youth.
and let thy heart cheer thee in thy days of
thy youth; but know thou that for all these
things God will bring thee into Judgment
We may rot know much but we know that.
Young people refuse the advice of parents.
They say Father is over-suspicious, anil
mother is getting old But those parents
have been on the sea Of life. They know
where the storms sleep. and during their
voyage have seen a thousand battered hulks
marking the place where beauty burned, aud