Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1892-01-13
TIE Voyage OF Life.

Ia Baltimore, Sunday, Jsnuary 3rd. thC
Rev. DR.. Weld preached st tho First Inde
pendent Christ's Church on t'The Voyage
OF Ltfe." The text wna FROM tho Book Of
Wisdom xiv, 3-"But Thy Providence,
Father, governeth it. Thou hast made q
way in tho sea aud a eafs path in the
waves"
Dr.. Weld said In part: seTho ocean, e1
vast-fnr IL is two thirds Of the surface o.
The globe, go mysterious and apparently
shoreless, from this beginning OF time YES
a prolific sourcs Of metaphor. The nation
was the ship OF state; ths church was re-
presented &c ship amid the waves. The
prcblon was TO master il; TO csoss is. Life
| vas like voyage. 80 to-day we look up
on the new year az trsckless ses. We
sre each leaving the port:
Naturally, wo think first Of she esaenti-
al conditions of safs voyage ship well
| built and equipped; bus not 30. TIE frat
condition IL, apparently, Vsry lnsignid-
cast thing. Il is the compass; it is that
s;uy, vibrating ueaGie. The problem is TO
place it III the ship where 1t osn swing
clear and undiverted, ever pointing to the
North pole. The second condition ia the
chronometer. There must be true time;
time reokoned from some fixed poiht, and
the sight of the sun, not in the glory of the
early morning, not in the imperial majesty
of setting, but at high noon; then the sun
must be seen in cloudless sky. These arc
three primary and essential conditions of a
safe voyage. Almost any craft can reach
tho other eide if these three are fulfilled
''Let Us practically apply tho ancient fig
ure, gife a VOYAGE We naturally think
that tho first condition ;s q man free, we'll
built, healthful; but it il nos so. Tho
work of the world has been done by half
equipped men; its bsst writing and thinking
by hampered invslids. Life, ike the ocean,
ia filed with strange contradictions. There
can be no success 10 the true sense of the
word, no onward movsmsnt, no safs voy-
age without the.e conditions.
"First, tho sense CT time, the sense of
proportion. Life has its divisions like the
day into duties, privileges. opportunities.
Great hours are struck by this time piece;
the country's psrils, the country's opportun-
ity. We must know We are just so far east or
west of some Greenwich, some time belongs
to God, some to man and some to ourselves.
A poor life well proportioned is life that
moves.
"a second condition ia that little thing
which is so great in its effs so.s-tbe con-
science. As in the ship, SO in life, the prob
lem Ia to place thst conscience where it
will be free from the attractions of .elf and
ever point to the true pole. As in the ship
30 in the mau-it must be swung high if it
ia to fulfill its divine function.
"The third condition is the sight of the
sun, the Son of God, not in the early morn.
ing, not whom the clouds are gathering, but
at high noon, in the oloudless sky Of life;
the vision of the Divine Christ, the Divine
Manhood, at high Doon-not q vision dis
5ortsd By the din light Of stained windows,
not the vision Of ignorant and perverted
igss, not the vision Of the dognatist, bat
he all braoing vision Of the real Christ, the |
Light Of the World, in tho high noon of
he iimpid gospels."