Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1892-10-20
AT THE TABERNACLE.
COLUMBUS MEMORIAL SERMON BY
DR.. TALMAGE.

Aho DAsSofohg u AhheFica n "a hAny NE
mArkabIe Features. but 1t Was Above
An q Religious Discovery-Many Les
sons to BE Drawn from 1t.
BRooKLYH, Oct 9-Rev. DR.. Talmage's
discourse today was occasioned by the Co
lumbus observance now taking place. In
the overhowing audience were many who
had come to the city to participate in the
patriotic ceremonies. The subject was,
Half Planet" the text being Deuteron-
omy Iii, q, lift up thine eyes westward"
So God said to Moses in Bible times, and
so he said to Christoforo Colombo, the son
Of a wool comber of Genoa, more than four
hundred years ago. The nations had been
looking chiefly toward the east. The
sculpture Of the world, the architecture
Of the world. the laws of the world, the
philosophy of the world, the civilization of
ofthe world, the religion of the world came
from the east.
But while Columbus, as his name was
called after 1t was Latinized, stood study
ing maps and examining globes and read
ing cosmography, God said to him, lift
up thine eyes toward the west" The fact
was it must have seemed to Columbus
very lopsided world-like cart with one
wheel, like scissors with one blade, like
sack on one side of camel, needing
sack on the other side to balance 1t. Here
was bride Of world with no bridegroom.
When God makes half of anything he
does not stop there He makes the other
half. We are all obliged sometimes to
leave things only half done. But God
never stops half way, because he has the
time and the power to go all the way.
do not wonder that Columbus was not
satisfied with half a world, and so went to
work to find the other half. The pieces of
carved wood that were foated to the
shores Of Europe by westerly gale, and
two dead human faces, unlike anything he
had seen before, likewise floated from the
west, were to him the voice of God saying,
| Lift up thine eyes toward the west" But
the world then, as now, had plenty of Can't
be-dones. That is what keeps individuals
back, and enterprises back, and the church
back, and nations back-ignominiou and
disgusting and disheartening Can't-he-
dones.
THE CANT'T-BE-DoNEs
/ Old navigators said to young Columbus,
'It can't be done" The republic of Genoa
said, 1T can't be done" Alphonso v said,
"It can't be DONE" A committee on mari
time affairs, to whom the subject was sub
mitted, declared, 1T can't be done" Vene-
tians said, "It can't be done" But the
father of Columbus wife died, leaving his
widow large number of sea charts and
maps, and as If to condemn the slur that
different ages put upon mothers-in-law,
the mother-in-law of Columbus gave him
the navigator's materials out Of which he
ciphered America. After awhile the story
of this poor but ambitious Columbus
reaches the ear of Queen Isabella, and she
pays eighty dollars to buy him a decent
suit OF clothes, so that he may be fit to ap-
pear before royalty.
The interview in the palace was success
full. Money enough was borrowed to fit
out the expedition. There they are, the
three ships, in the Gulf of Cadiz, Spain, If
you ask me which have been the most fa-
nous boats of the world, l would say, first,
Noah's ship, that wharfed on Mount
Ararat; second, the boat of bulrushes, in
which Moses foated the Nile; third, the
Mayfower, that put out from Plymou th
with the Pilgrim Fathers, and now these
three vessels that on this the Friday
morning, Aug. 8, 1892, are rocking on the
ripples. ...
am so glad it is Friday, so that the
prows of those three ships shall first of all
run down the superstition that things be.
gun or voyage started on Friday must nee
essarily prove disastrous. Show me any
Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday OF
Thursday or Saturday that ever accom-.
plished as much as this expedition that
started on Friday. With the idea that
there will be perils connected with the ex-
pedition the sacrament of the Lords SUP.
per is administered. Do not forget that
this voyage has begun under religious
auspices.
There is the Santa Maria, only ninety
feet long, with four masts and eight
anchors. The captain walking the deck is
fifty-seven years old, his hair white, for at
thirty-tive he was gray, and his face is
round, his nose aquiline and his stature q
little taller than the average. | know
from his decided step and the set of his
jaw that he is determined man. That is
Captain Christopher Columbus. Near by,
but far enough off not to run into each
other, are the smaller ships, the Pinta and
the Nina, about large enough and safe
enough to cross the Hudson river or the
Thames in good weather.
There are two doctors in this feet OF
ships and few landsmen, adventures
who are ready to risk their necks in a wild
expedition. There are enough provisions
for year. "Captain Columbus, where are
you sailing for?" II do not know" "How
long before you will get there9" IT can.
not say" "All ashore that are goingp' is
heard, and those who wish to remain 90 to
the land.
| THE MAN OF DETERMINATION.
Now the anchors Of the three ships are
being weighed, and the ratlines begin tc
rattle and the sails to unfurl. The wind is
dead east, and it does not take long to get
out to sea. In few hours the adventures
wish they had not started. The ships be-
gin to roll and pitch. Oh, it is such de
lightful sensation for landsmen! They be.
gin to bother Captain Columbus with ques
tions. They want to know what he
thinks of the weather. They want to know
when he thinks he will probably get there
Every time when he stands taking obser
vations Of the sun with an astrolabe they
| wonder what he sees and ask more ques
tions. The crew are rather grouty. Some
Of them came on under four months ad
vance pay and others were impressed into
the service. .n
For sixteen days the wind is dead east
and that pleases the captain because II
blows them farther and farther away from
the European coast and farther on toward
the shore of another country, If there Is
any. After awhile there comes calm day
and the attempt is made to fathom the
ocean, and they cannot touch bottom
though the line and lead run down two
hundred fathoms. More delightful sensa
tions for those who are not good sailors
A fathom is six feet, and two hundred faith
oms one thousand two hundred feet. and
below that it may be many hundred fee,
deeper. a.F .-.r