The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1889-10-31
PERILS OF THE DEEP.
Sermon by Rev. T. Dewitt Tai
mage at Portland, Ore.
The Sea Hath Its PeriIs; So Also Has a
Life of Sin-The Rocks ON Which
Men DrIft-Christ the Only
Hope and Anchor.

Inc IOtl0Wlng discourse was dellVeTod
by Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage at Portland,
Ore, during his Western trip. His text
was:
Lest that by any means I myself should be
cast awaY.-I Cor, tx, q.
In the presence Of you who live on the
Pacific coast /, who live on the Atlantic
coast. may appropriately speak on this
marine allusion Of the text for all who
know about the sea know about the cast
away The text implies that ministers of
religion may help others into Heaven
and yet miss it themselves. The car.
penters that built Noah's ark did not get
into it themselves. Gown and surplice,
and diplomas, and canonicals are no Sc
curity. Cardinal Wolsey, after having
been petted by kings, and having enter
tanned 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 post-mortem ex-
animation, found to have been. not fig
uratively, but literally, broken. We may
have habits of ordination on the head,
and address eonse Grated assemblages,
but that is no reason why we shall neces-
sarily reach the realm celestial. The
clergyman must go through the same
gate of Paradise as the layman. There
have been cases of shipwreck where all
on board escaped excepting the captain.
Alasl if having preached to others,
myself should be castaway." God for
bid it.
I have examined some Of the COM
mentaries to see what they thought of
this word ''castaway" and / find they
differ in regard to the meaning. So
take my own selection, and take it in
nautical and sea-faring sense, and sh ow
you that men become spiritual easta-
ways, and how finally they drift into
that calamity.
You and live in seaboard cities. You
have all stood on the beach. Many of
you have crossed the ocean. Some of
you have managed vessels in great stress
of weather. There is sea captain, and
there is another, and there are a goodly
number Of you who, though you did not
know the difference between brig and q
bark, and between diamond knot and a
spirit sheet sail knot and although you
could not point out the weather cross
jack brace, and though you could not
man the fore clew garnets, now you are
your right hand, and if it were necessary
you could take a vessel clear across to
the mouth of the Mersey without the loss
Of single sail.
Well, there is a dark night in your
memory of the sea. The vessel became
manageable. You saw it was scud :
ding toward the shore. You heard the
cry: Breakers aheadl Land on the lee
bowp The vessel struck the rock and
you felt the deck breaking up under your
feet. and you were cast-away, as when
the Hercules drove on the coast of Caf-
fraria, and when the Portuguese brig
went staying, splitting, grinding, crash
ing on the Goodwins. But whether you
have followed the sea or not, you all un-
derstand the figure when tell you that
there are men, who by their sins and
temptations, are thrown helpless!
Driven before the galeI Wrecked for two
worldsi Castawaysl astawaysl
By talking with some sea captains, 1
have found out that there are three or
four causes for such calamity to a YES
sci. Ihave been told that it sometimes
comes from creating false lights on the
beach. This was often so in oldea times. It
is not many years ago, indeed, that vaga-
bonds used to wander up and down the
beach, getting vessels ashore in the night,
throwing up false lights in their presence
and deceiving them that they might
despoil and ransack them. All kinds of
internal arts were used to accomplish
this. And one night on the Cornish
coast, when the sea was coming in fear
fully, some Williams took lantern and
tied it to horse, and led the horse up
and down the beach, the lantern swing
ing to the motion Of the horse, and sea
captain in the offing saw it, and made up
his mind that he was not anywhere near
the shore, for he said:
there's vessel-that must be a YES
sci, for it has a movable light,o and he
had no apprehension till he heard the
rocks grating on the ships bottom, and
1t went to pieces, and the villains on the
shore gathered up the packages and
treasures that were washed to the land.
And have to tell you that there are q
multitude of souls ruined by false lights
on the beach. In the dark night of mans
danger, false religion goes up and down
the shore, shaking its lantern, and men
look off and take that Pickering and ex-
piring wick as the signal of safety, and
the cry is: "Heave the maintopsail to
the mast! All is well ~ when sudden de-
struction cometh upon them, and they
shall not escape. So there are all kinds
of lanterns swung on the beach-philo-
sophical lanterns, educational lanterns.
humanitarian lanterns. Men look at them
and are deceived, when there is nothing
but Gods eternal lighthouse of the Cos
pei that can keep them from becoming
castaways.
Once, on Wolf Crag light house, they
tried to build copper figure of wolf
with its mouth open, so that the storms
beating into it, the wols would howl
forth the dangers to mariners that might
be coming anywhere near the coast. OF
course it was failure And so all new
inventions for the saving of mans soul
are unavailing. What the human race
wants is q light bursting forth from the
cross standing on the great headlands-
the light Of Heaven. You might better
go tonight, and destroy all the great
lighthouses. on the dangerous coasts-the
Barnegat light house. the Fastnet Rock
lighthouse, the Sherryvore light-hou
the Longship's lighthouse, the Holly
head light-house-than to put out Gods
great ocean lamp-the Gospel. Woe to
those who swing false lanterns on the
beach till men crash into ruin. Cast.
awaysi Castawaysl
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