The intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1887-1891, 1889-11-23
PERILS OF THE SEA.
Sermon By Rev. T. Dewitt Tai
mage at Brindisi.
me Ferris Encountered BY Those Who Go
Down to the Sea In ships-The Chris
tian Life IL Voyage Beset with
Perls-The Haven Ahead.

after a week spent among the historic
localities of Italy. His text was:
And so 1t came to pass that they escaped
all safe to land.-Acts xvii, "A.
Having visited your historical city,
which we desire to see because it was
the terminus of the most famous road OF
the ages, the Roman Appian Way, and
for its mighty fortress overshadowing a
city which even H~annibal's hosts could
not thunder down, we must tomorrow
morning leave your harbor, and after
touching at Athens and Corinth, voyage
about the Mediterranean to Alexandria,
Egypt. l was reading this morning in
my New Testament of a Mediterranean
voyage in an Al~exandrian ship. 1t was
this very month of November. The YES
sci was lying in a port not very far from
here. On board that vessel were two
distinguished passengers; one, Josephus,
the historian, as we have strong reasons
to believe; the other, a convict, one
Paul by name, who was going to prison
for upsetting things, or, as they termed
1t, turning the world upside down.
This convict had gained the confidence
of the captain. Indeed, L think that
Paul knew almost as much about
the sea as did the captain. He
had been shipwrecked three times al.
ready; he had dwelt much of his life
amidst capstans, and yardarms, and
cables and storms; and he knew what
he was talking about. Seeing the equi-
noctial storm was coming, and perhaps
noticing something unseaworthy in the
vessel, he advised the captain to stay in
the harbor. But / hear the captain and
the first mate talking together. They
say: we can not afford to take the adj
vice of this landsman, and he is a minis
ter. He may be able to preach very
well, but l don't believe he knows a
marlinespike from a huff tackle. All
aboard! Cast off! Shift the helm for
Roadway! Who fears the Mediterra-
nean?" They had gone only a little
way out when o whirlwind, called Euro
clydon, made the torn sail its turban,
shook the mast as you would brandish a
spear, and tossed the hulk into the
heavens. Overheard with the cargo! 1t
is all washed with salt water, and worth
less now; and there are no marine in
"a companies. All hands ahoy,
and out with the anchors!
Great CONSERVATION comes on crew
and passengers. The sea monsters snort
in the foam, and the pillows clap their
hands in glee of destruction. In a lull
of the storm 1 hear a chain clank. 1t
Is the chain of the great apostle as he
walks the dock or holds fast to the rig
efnG amidst the 4erehing of the ship
the spray drtppinni from his long beard
as he cries Dat to the ozpws "Now 1 ex-
hort You TO be- d rood cheer; for there
shall be no loss ofany zhan'slife among
you, but of the ship. For 'there stood
by me this night the angel Of God,
Whose l am, and Whom / serve, saying:
Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought
before Cesar and, 10, God hath given
thee all them that sail with the"
Fourteen days nave passed, and there
is no abatement of the storm. 1t is
midnight. Standing on the lookout,
the man peers into the darkness, and,
by a flash Of lightning, knows they
must be coming near to some country,
and fears that in q few moments the
vessel will be shivered on the rocks.
The ship flies like chaff in the tornado.
They drop the sounding line, and by the
light of the lantern they see it is twenty
fathoms. Speeding along a little
further, they drop the line again, and
by the light of the lantern they see it is
fifteen fathoms. Two hundred and sew
enty-six souls within a few feet Of awful
shipwreck.
The managers of the vessel, pretend.
ing they want to look over the side OF
the ship and undergrad it, get into the
small boat, expecting in it to escape; but
Paul sees through the sham, and he
tells them that IL they go off in the boat
it will be the death of them. The yes.
sci strikes! The planks spring. The
timbers crack The vessel parts in the
laundering surge! Oh, what wild strug-
Cling for life! Here they leap from
plank to plank. Here they go under as
II they would never rise; but, catching
hold of a timber, come floating and
painting on it to the beach. Here,
strong swimmers spread their arms
through the wave until their chins
pillow the sand, and they rise up and
wiring out their wet locks on the beach.
When the roll of the ship is called, two
hundred and seventy-six people answer
to their names. "And SO" says my text,
sit 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 shipmen got Paul out of Fair
Ravens into the storm; but as soon as
the tempest dropped upon them they
wanted to go off in the small boat, car
ing nothing for what became of Paul
and the passengers. All, mel 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 a life of dissipation will
be the first to laugh at his imbecility
and TO drop him out of decent society.
Gamblers always make fun of the losses
of gamblers. They who tempt you into
the contest with fists, saying: 81 will
back 90A,g NlifAe the first to run. Look
,oxee 4i1 Tie pfedicaments of your life,
.andsconnt the nshnes of those who have
rot 4o1 into those predicaments, and
tdl me the name of one who ever
helped you out. They were glad
enough to get you out from Fair
Ravens, but when, with damaged rig
ging, you tried to get into harbor, did
they hold for you a plank or throw you a
rope? Not one. Satan has got thou
sands of men into trouble, but he lever
got one out. He led them into theft,
but he would not hide the goods or bail
out the defendant. The spider shows
the fly the way over the gossamer bridge
into the cobweb, but it never shows the
fly the way out Of the cobweb over the
gossamer bridge. / think that there
were plenty of fast young men to help
the prodigal spend his money; but when
he had wasted his money in riotous liv-
ing they let him go to the swine past
ures, while they betook themselves to
some other newcomer. They who took
Paul out of Fair Ravens will be OF no
help to him when he gets into the
breakers Of Melita.
i remark again, as a lesson learned
from the text, that it is dangerous to re-
fuse the advice of competent advisers.
Paul told them not to 90 out with that
ship. They thought he knew nothing
about it. They said: HE is only a
ministerr' They went, and the ship
was destroyed. There are a great many
people who now say of minister's: ''They
know nothing about the world. They
can not talk to us!" All, my friends, it
is not necessary to have the Asiatic
cholera before you can give it medical
treatment in others. 1t is not necessary
to have your W arm broken before you
can know how to splinter a fracture.
And we who stand in the pulpit, and in
tho ofHca M a Cbriatian nraacbar Lpou