The Banner-Democrat., 1892-12-03
COLUMBUS CAREER.
Rev. T. Dewitt Talmaae Views It
from Religious Standpoint.
The Great Navigatorss Life Teaches
Some Valuable Lessons, Principal
Among which IL Fixed
moss OF Purpose.

Ths Great Savigator's Life Teaches
Some Valuable Lessons, Principal
Among which IL Fixed
ness OF Purpose.
The following discourse, delivered in
the Brooklyn tabernacle, was Rev. T.
Dewitt Talmage's contribution to the
religious obscrvances in connection
with the Columbian celebration. His
text was:
= Ldft up thine eyes wsstward.-Deut. Hi.. y.
So God said to Moses in Bible times
and 80 He said to Christoforo Colombo;
the son of 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 the
world, the religion of the world came
from the east. But while Columbus,
~ his name was called after it was
Latinized, stood studying maps and
examining globes and reading cosmo-
graphy, God said to him: lift up thine
eyes toward the west" The fact was
1t must have seemed to Columbus q
very lop-sided world Like cart with
one wheel, like scissors with one
blade, like sack on one side of a
camel. needing sack on the other
side to balance it. Here was bride of
the 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 world, and
90 he went to find the other half. The
pieces of carved wood that were foated
70 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'trbe-
dones.
That is what keeps individuals back
and enterprises back and the church
back. and nations bacE-ignominiou
and disheartening can't-be-dones. Old
navigators said to young Columbus, 'It
can't be done" The republic of Genoa
said: ut can't be done.' Alphonso v.
said: 'It can't be DONE" committee
on maritime affairs, to whom the sub
ject was submitted, declared: "Is can't
be done" Venet;ans said: at can't be
done" Byt the father of Columbus
wife died, leaving his wife large num-
Der 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 navi-
gators materials, out of which he
ciphered America. After awhile the
story of this poor but ambitious Colum-
bus reaches the ear of Queen Isabella,
and she pays eighty dollars to
buy him decent suit of clothes,
% that he may be fit to ap-
pear before royalty. The interview
in the palace was successful Money
enough was borrowed to fit out the ex-
pedition. There they are, the three
ships, in the gulf of Cadiz, Spain. If
you ask me which have been the most
famous laeats of the world, would
say, first, Noah's ship, that wharfed on
Mount Ararat; second, the boat of bull
rushes, in which Moses foated the
Nile; third, the Mayfower, that put
out from Plymouth with the Pilgrim
Fathers: and now these three vessels
that on this, the Friday morning, Au-
gust 8, 1922, are rocking on the ripples,
] am glad it is Friday, so that the
prows of those three ships
shall first all run down the
superstition that things begun or yoy-
age started on Friday must necessarily
prove disastrous. Show me any Mon
day or Tuesday or Wednesday or
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
expedition, the sacrament of the Lords
supper is administered. Do not forget
that this voyage was begun under re-
ligious auspices. There is the Santa
Maria, only ninety feet long, with four
masts and eight anchors. The captain
walking the deck is ffty-seven old, his
hair white; for at thirty-five he was
gray, and his face is round, his nose
aquilline, and his stature little taller
than the average. know from his de-
cided step and the set of his jaw that
he is determined aan. That is Capt
Christopher Columbus. Near by, but
far enough off not to run into each 9th
er, 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 fleet of ships,
and few landsmen, adventurers who
are ready to risk their neclxs in . wild
expedition. There are enough provi-
sions for . year. Capt Christopher
Columbus, where are you sailing for?"
IL do not know" How long before
YOU will get there?r II can not say"
.All ashore that are going" is heard,
and those who wish to remain go to the
land.
Now the anchors of the three ships
are being weighed and the ratlines be-
rin to rattle and the sails to unfnrl
The wind is dead east, and It does not
take long to get out to sea- In few
hours, the adventurers wish they had
not started. The ships begin to roll
and pitch. Oh, it is such delightful