The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1892-10-11
IN THE NAA[E.OF GOD.
OR. TALMAGE rON THE SUBLIME
MOTIVES OF COLUMBUS.


nage's discourse today was occasloned
bv the Columbus observance now taking
place. In the overlooking audience
were many who. had come to the city to
participate in the patriotic ceremonies.
The subject was, Half a Planet" the
text being Deuteronomy iii, 81, 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 ma
lions 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 the world, the
religion of the world came from the
east.
But while Columbus, as his name was
called after it was Latinized, stood
studying maps and examining globes
and reading cosmography, God SAID 10
him, Lift up thine eyes toward the
west" The fact was it must have
seemed to Columbus a very lopslded
world-like a cart with one wheel, like
a scissors with one blade, like a sack on
one side of a camel, needing Il sack on
the other side to balanceit. Here was
bride of a world with no bridegroom.
When God makes a 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.
lido 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 tioated
to the shores of Europe by d westerly
gale, and two dead human faces, unlike
ANYTHING he had seen before, likewise
fioated from the west, Were to him the
voice of God saying. Lift up thine
ewes toward the west" But the world
then, as now, had plenty OF Can the
dones. That is what keeps individuals
back, and enterprises back, and the
church back, and nations back-igno-
minious and disgusting and dishearten-
ing 't-be-DOnes.
Old navigators said to young Golum-
bus, 1t can't be done The republic
of Genoa said, 1T can't be done" AL
phonso V said, 1t can't be done" A
committee on maritime affairs. to whom
the subject was submitted. declared
1T can't be DONE EeDetians said ''li
can't be done" But the father Of Co
lumbus' wife died. leaving his widow :
large number of sea charts and maps
and as if to condemn the slIIr that differ
ent ages put upon mothers4n-law th'
mother-in-law of Columbus gave hin
the navigator's materials out of which
he ciphered America. After awhile
the story of this poor but ambitious Co
lumbus reaches the ear of Queen Isabel
la, and she pays eighty dollars to bu.
him decent suit of clothes, SO that n
may be fit to appear before royalty.
The interview in the palace was sue
cessful Money enough was borrowe'
to fit out the expedition. There the.
airs, the three ships, in the Gulf of Cadlz
Spain If you ask me which have bee
the most famous boats of The world.
would say, first, NOah's ship, tina
wharfed on Mount Ararat; second, tn
boat of bulrushes, in which Moses fiOate
the Nile; third, the Mayfower, that pu
out from Plymouth with the pilgrim
Fathers, and now these three vessels tina
on this the Friday morning, Aug.
1892, are rocking on the ripples. l am 5
glad it is Friday, so that the prows c
those three ships shall first of all ru
down the superstition that things begu
or VOYAGE started on Friday must nece'
sarily prove disastrous.
Show me any Monday or Tuesday {
Wednesday or Thursday or Saturda
that ever accomplished as much as TIL
expedition that started on Friday. Wit
the idea that there will be perils cor
nected with the expedition. the sacr;
mept of the Losd's supper is admin
tered. Do not forget that this voyag
was begun under religious ausplce
There is the Santa Maria only nlnet
feet long, with four rnasts and elgt
anchors. The captain walking the dec
is fiftv-seven years old, his hair whit
for at thirty-fve he was gray, and b
face is round, his nose aQuiline and b
stature a little taller than the average.
know from the decided step and Il
set of his Jaw that he is a determine
man. That is Captain Christoph
Columbus Near by, but far enough c
not to run into each other, are Il
smaller ships, the Pinta and the Min
about large enough and safe enough
cross the Hudson river or the Thames
good weather There are two docto
III IlllS lttl VI SlllEJS' fAAiNA AS'' A'-AA
Observation-Disclosures who are ready to ri
their necks in Il wild expedition. The
are enough provisions for year. ga
tain Columbus, where are you saiil
for:' Il do not know" How lol
before you will get there Il cam
saw" "All ashore that are goingp
heard, and those who wish to remain
to the land. Now the anchors of t
three ships are being weighed, and t
ratlines begin to rattle and the sails
unfurl.
The wind is dead east, and it does L
take long to get out to sea. In Il
hours the adventures wish they had 1
started. The ships begin to roll a
pitch. Oh, it is such delightful sem
ton for landsmen! They begin to botf
Captain Columbus with questions. IN
want to know what he thinks of