The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1889-09-04

gate Roads, safe from southwest winds;
but the wind changing to the northeast,
1hey are driven helpless and go down. o
that God would have mercy upon those upon
whom there comes the sudden sWoop OF
lest they perish, becoming cast
aways! castaways!
BY talking with sea captains have found
out that some vessels come to this calamity
through sheer recElessness. There are
three million men who follow the sea for
living. 1t is simple fact that the average
of human life on the sea is twelve years.
This comes from the fact that men by IA
miliarity with danger sometimes become
captain. the helmsman, the
stoker, the man on the lookout, become reck-
less, and in nine out of ten shipwrecks it is
found that some one was awfully to blame.
So have to tell you that men are morally
shipwrecked through sheer recklessness.
There are thousands who do not care where
they are in spiritual things They do not
know which way they are sailing, and the
sea is black with piratical hulks that would
srapple them with hook Of steel and blind
fold them, and make them ''walk the plank"
They do not know what the next moment
may bring forth. Drifting in their tneol-
ogy. Drifting in their habits. Drifting IN
regard to all their future. No God, no
Christ. no settled anticipation OF eternal fe-
licity, but all the time coming nearer ana
nearer to dangerous coast. Some OF them
are on fire with evil habit, and they shall
burn on the sea, the charred hulk tossed up
on the barren beach. Many Of them with
great troubles, financial troubles, domestic
troubles, social troubles; but they never
pray for comfort With an aggravation OF
sin they pray for pardon. They do not steer
for the lightship that dances in gladness at
the mouth Of Heavens harbor; reckless
as to where they come out, drifting
further from God, further from early re!iS-
ious influences, further from happiness;
and what is the worst thing about it is, they
are taking their families along with them,
and the way one goes, the probability IS
they will all 60 Yet no anxiety. AS uncon-
scious Of danger as the passengers aboard the
Arctic one moment before the Vesta crashed
into her Wrapped up in the business or
the store, not remembering that soon they
must quit all their earthly possessions.
Absorbed in their social position, not know
ing that very soon they will have attended
the last levee and whirled in the last schot-
tische. They do not deliberately choose to
be ruined; neither did the French frlgate
Medusa aim for the ArSu:n banks, but there
it went to pieces. wish could wake you
up. The perils are so augmented, you Will
die Just as certainly as you sit there unless
YOU bestir yourself. Are you willing to be-
come castawayi You throw out no oar.
You take no surroundings. You watch 10
compass You are not calculating your
bearings while the wind is abaft, and yon-
der is a long line Of foam bounding the
horizon, and you VIII be pushed on toward
it, and thousands have perishei there, and
you are driving in the same direc-
ton. Ready about! Down helm Hard
down! Man the life boat! Pull, my
lads, pull! HE that being Otter
reproved nardeneth his neck, shall be, sud-
denly destroyed and that without remedy"
But some Of you are saying within Your
selves "What shall dos" Do? Doc Why,
my brother, do what any ship does when in
trouble. Lift distress signal. On the.sea
there is a fash and boom. You listen and
you look. A vessel is in trouble. The cis-
tress gun is SOUNDED, or q rocket is sent up,
or blanket is lifted, or bundle Of rasr.-
anything to catch the eye OF passing
craft. So if you want to be taken of
the wreck of your sin, you must lift
a distress signal. The publican lifted
the distress signal when he cried: God,
be merciful to me, sinner" Peter lifted
the distress signal when he said: Lord,
save me, perishp' The blind man lifted
the distress signal when he said: Lord,
that my eyes may be opened" The 1aller
lifted the distress signal when he said:
"What must do to be saved!" And help
will never come to your soul until you lift
some signal. You must make some demon
stratior, give some sign, make some Heaven
piercing outcry for help, lifting the distress
signal for the church's prayer, lifting the
distress signal for Heavens pardon. Prayl
PRAY! The voice Of the Lord now sounds In
your ears: I'm Ne is thy help" Too proud
to raise such signal, too proud to be saved.
There was an old sailor humping about
in small boat in tempest. The larger
vessel had gone down. He felt he must die.
The surf was breaking over the boat, and
he said: 81 took of my life belt that it
might soon be over, and thought somewhat
indistinctly about my friends on shore, and
then I bid them goodbye like, and l was
about sinking back and giving it up when
saw bright star. The clouds were break
ing away, and there that blessed star shone
down on NE, and it seemed to take right
hold Of me; and some how, I can nottell how
it was, but somehow, while was trying to
watch that star, it seemed to help me and
seemed to lift me.n o, sinking soul, see
YOU not the glimmer between the riffs OF
the storm cloud? That is the star of hope
3%to = ;ln
When suddenly star arose,
Irwas the star OF Bethlehem
If there are any here who consider them
selves castaways, let me say God is doing
every thing to save you. Did You ever
hear Of Lione Luken9 He was the inventor
of the insubmergible life boat. All honor
is due to his memory by searfaring men, as
well as by landsmen. How many lives he
saved by his invention! In after days that
invention was improved, and one day there
was a perfect life boat, the Northumber-
land, ready at Ramsgate. The life boat
being ready, to test it the crew came out
and leaped on the gunwale on one side to
see if the boat would upset; 1t was lmpos-
slide to upset it. Then. amid the huzzas OF
excited thousands, that boat was launched,
and it has gone and come. picking up a
great many of the shipwrecked. But
have to tell you now of L grander launching,
and from the lry-docks Of Heaven. Word
came up that world was beating on the
rocks. In the presence of the potentates OF
Heaven the life boat Of the worlds redemp-
ton was launched. 1t showed of the
golden sands amid angelic; hosannas The
surges Of darkness beat against its bow,
but it sailed on, and it comes in sight Of US
this hour. 1t comes for YOU, it comes for
mel Soul! soul! get into it. Make one
leap Tor Heaven Let that boat go past and
your opportunity is gone.
am expecting that there will be whole
families here who will geS into that life
boat. In 1888 the Isabel cane ashore OF
Hastings, England. The air was filed with
sounds-the hoarse sea trumpet, the crash
Of hea1es, and the believing OF the tor
nado. A boat from the shore came under
the stern Of the disabled vessel. There
were women and children on board that YES
sci. Some Of the sailors jumped into the
small boat and said: ''Now give US the
children A father who stood on