The Penn's Grove record., 1889-09-14
DR.. TALNAGE'S SERMON:
Human Wrecks.

Lest that by any means I myself shout
Be a castAway.'-i Cor. 9 z.
IL the presence OF you who live OF
the Pacific coast, | who live on the At
lantic coast may appropriately speak OF
this marine allusion of the text, for 81
who know about the sea know abou.
the castawsy. The text implies thai
ministers Of religion may help Others
into heaven and yet miss 1t themselves,
The carpenters that built Noah's ars
did not get into it themselves. Gown
ami surplice and diplomas and canoni-
cal, are 20 security. Cardinal WOlsey,
after having been petted By kings and
having entertained 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-mortcm examination,
found to have been, not figuratlyely,
hut literally, broken. We may have
hands of ordination on the head, and
address eonsecrated assemblages, but
that is no reason why We shall necessar-
ilv reach the realm celestial. The
Clergyman must go through the same
gate Of pardon as the layman. There
have been cases OF shipwreck where all
on board escaped excepting the cap
tain. Alas, if, having preached to
others, | myself should be a castaway"!
God forbid It'll
[ have examined some OF the COM
mentaries to see what they thought
about this word ~''castaway," and / find
they differ IN regard to the figure used,
while they agree il regard to the mean
ing. 80 l shall make my own selec-
ton, and take it in a nautical and sea
faring sense, and show you that men
may become
SPIRITUAL CAsTAwATs,
and how. finally, they drift into that
calamity. You and 1 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 a sea
captain, and there is another, and yon-
der is another, and there are a goodly
number of you who, though once you
did not know the difference between a
brig and a bark, and between a dia-
mond knot and a sprit-sheet sail knot,
and although you could not point out
the weather crosslack brace, andt though
YOU could not man the fore clewgarnet,
now YOU are as familiar with a ship as
You are with your right hand, and if II
we're necessary you could take a vessel
clear across to the mouth of the Mersey
without the loss of a single sail. Well,
there is q dark night in your memory
of the sea. The vessel became unman'
ageable. You saw it was scudding to,
ward the shore. You heard the cry:
BREAKERS AHEAD.
Land on the lee bowl The vessel
struck the rock, and you felt the deck
breaking up under your feet, and you
were a castaway, as when the Hercute,
drove on the coast Of Caffraria, as when
the Portuguese brig went staying, split
ting, grinding, crashing on the Good
wins. But whether you have followed
the sea or not, you all understand the
figure when | tell you that there art
men who, by their sins and tempta'
tions, are thrown helpless! Driven be
fore the galel Wrecked for two worlds
Castawaysl Castawaysl
By talking with some s~ea-captalns, ]
have found out that there are three OIL
four causes for such a calamity to {
vessel. | have been told that it some
times comes from creating false light,
on tic Jcach. This was often SO il
olden times. 1t is not many years ago
indeed, that vagabonds used to wander
up and down the beach, getting vessel
ashore in the night, throwing up falls,
lights in their presence and deceiyinS
them, that they may despoil and ran
sack them. All kinds of
INTERNAL ART
we're used to accomplish this. And on,
night, on the Cornish coast, when tn,
sea was coming in fearfully, some vii
lains took q lantern and tied IL to {
horse, and led the horse up and dow
the beach, the lantern swinging to tn,
motion of the horse; and a ~sea-captaiI
in the ofiing saw 1t, and made up hi
mind hat he was not anywhere neaI
the shore, for he said: There's a yes
sel-that must be a vessel, for it has
moving light,' and he had no apprehen
sion till he heard the rocks grating OIL
the ships bottom, and it went to pieces
and the villains on shore gathered III
the packages and treasures that wer,
washed TO the land. And I have t,
tell you that there are a multitude o
souls.
RUINED BY FALSE LIGHTS
on the beach. In the dark night o
mans danger, false religion goes up an,
down the shore shaking its lantern, an,
men look of and take that fickerin,
and expiring wick as the signal of safety
and the cry is, 'Heave the maintopsai
to the mast! All is well!' when suddel
destruction cometh upon them, ant
they shall not escape. so there are al
kinds of lanterns swung on the beach
philosophical lanterns, educational Ian
terms, humanitarian lanterns. Men lool
at them and are deceived, when there i
nothing but Gods eternal lighthouse o
the gospel that AN keep them from be
coming castaways.
Once on Vol Crag Lighthouse the,
tried to build the copper wolf with it
mouth open, 81 that, the storm beatin,
into it, the wolf would howl forth tn,
danger to mariners that might be com
ing anywhere near the coast. OF cours,
it was a failure. And so all new inven
tons for the saving of mans soul ar,
~unavailing, What the human rae,
wants is a light bursting forth from tn,
cross standing on the great ~headlands-
the light of pardon, the light of comfort
the light of heaven. You might bette
go tonight and destroy all the grea
light houses on the dangerous coasts
the Barnegat lighthouse, the Fastne
Rock Lighthouse, the Sherryvor,
lighthouse, the Longship's lighthouse
the Hollyhead lighthouse-than to pu
out Gods great ocean amp-the gospel
Woe to those who swing false lanterns
on the beach till men crash into ruin
Castawaysi Castaways!
By talking with ~sea-captains l have
heard also that sometimes ships come Il
this calamity by
SUDDEN swooP OF A TEMPEST.
For instance, a vessel is sailing along il
the East Indies, and there is not {
single cloud on the sky; but suddenly
the breeze freshens, and there arc swift
feet on the ratlines, and the cry is
sway, haul away therel" but before
they can square the booms and tarpau.
lin Tho tba vasSal &c rroan