Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1889-11-28


down and prayed to the Virgin Mary
saying: so, blessed mother! keep US
Have mercy on usI'' Some stood with
white lips and fixed gaze, silent in theil
terror. Some wrung their hands and
cried out: 30, GodI what shall l do;
What shall l do?"
The time came when the crew could
no longer stay on the deck, and the CRY
of the officers was: 'Belowl all hands
below!" Our brave and sympathetic
Captain Andrews-whose praise shall
been swept by the hurricane from his
bridge, and had escaped very narrowly
with his life. The cyclone seemed to
stand on the deck, waving its wing, cry.
ing: This ship is mine! 1 have capt.
ured it! Hal hal 1 will command it!
If God will permit, 1 will sink it here
and now! BY thousand shipwrecks,
swear the doom of this vessel" There
was lull in the storm; but only that it
might gain additional fury. Crash
went the lifeboat on one side.
crash went the lifeboat on
the other side. The great booms
got loose, and, as with the heft of a
thunderbolt, pounded the deck and beat
the mast-the jib boom, studding sail
boom and square sail boom, with their
strong arms, beating time to the awful
march and music of the hurricane.
Meanwhile the ocean became phosphor-
escent. The whole scene looked like
fire. The water dripping from the rig
ging, there were ropes of fire;and there
were masts of fire; and there was a
deck of fire. A ship of fire, sailing on
sea of fire, through a night of fire.
May never see any thing like it againl
Every body pray ed. A lad of tive I've
years of age got down and prayed for his
mother. IF L should give up" he said,
II do not know what would become of
mother" There were men who, think,
had not prayed for thirty years, who
then got down on their knees. When a
man who has neglected God all his life
feels that he has come to his last time,
it makes very busy night. All of our
sins and shortcomings passed through
our minds. My own life seemed
utterly unsatisfactory. I could only
say: Here, Lord, take me as
am. ] can not mend matters
now. Lord Jesus, thou didst die for the
chief of sinners. That's me! 1t seems,
Lord, as if my work is done, and poorly
done, and upon Thy infinite mercy cast
myself, and in this hour of shipwreck
and darkness commit myself and her
whom l hold by the hand to TnSe, O
Lord Jesus! praying that it may be
short struggle in the water, and that at
the same instant we may both arrive in
gloryn" Oh! 1 tell you a man prays
straight to the mark when he has a
cyclone above him, an ocean beneath
him and eternity so close to him that he
can feel its breath on his cheek.
The night was long. At last we saw
the dawn looking through the port holes.
AS in the olden time, in the fourth watch
of the night, Jesus came walking on the
sea, from wave cliff to wave cliff; and
when He puts His foot upon billow,
though it may be tossed up with might,
it goes down. He cried: "Hushr' They
knew His voice. The waves knew His
foot They died away. And in the
shining track of His feet 1 read these
letters on scrolls of foam and fire: THE
earth shall be filled with the
knowledge of God as the waters
cover the sea-" The ocean Gained. The
path of the steamer became more and
more mild, until, on the last morning
out, the sun threw round about US a
glory such as l never witnessed before.
God made pavement of mosaic, reach
ing from horizon to horizon, for all the
splendors of earth and Heaven to walk
upon-a pavement bright enough for the
foot of seraph-bright enough for the
of the archangers chariot. As
parent embraces child and kisses away
its grief, so over that sea, that had been
within in agony in the tempest, the
threw its arms of beauty and of
benediction, and the lips of earth and
Heaven met.
AS L came on deck-it was very early, |
and we were nearing the shore-I saw a |
few sails against the sky. They seemed |
like the spirits of the night walking the |
pillows. 1 leaned over the taffrail of |
the vessel, and said: ''Thy way, o God, |
is in the sea, and Thy path in the great |
waters" 1t grew lighter. The clouds |
hung in purple clusters along the sky; |
and, as if those purple clusters were
pressed into red wine and poured out |
upon the sea, every wave turned into
Yonder, fire cleft stood op-
posite to fire cleft; and here, a cloud, |
rent and tinged with light, seemed like
palace, with flames burning from the
windows. The whole scene lighted up
lntil it seemed as if the angels of God
we're ascending and descending upon
stairs of fire, and the wave crests.
changed into jasper, and crystal. and
crystal, and amethyst, as they were
lung toward the beach, made me think
If the crowns of Heaven cast before the
jhrone of the great Jehovah. l leaned
over the taffrail again, and said, with
more emotion than before: Thy way,
God' Is IN the sea, and thy path in the
great waters.''
SO, thought, will be the going off of
he storm and night of the Christians
life. The darkness will fold its tents
md away The golden feet of the ris.
ng morn will come skipping upon the
and all the wrathful pillows
II the worlds woe break into the splen-
Tor of eternal JOY. And so we come
INTO the harbor. The cyclone behind
IS. Our friends before US. God, who
always good, all around US. And if
he roll of the crew and the
passengers had been called, seven hun
red souls would have answered to
heir names. ''And so it came to pass
hat we all escaped safe to land" And