The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1893-11-08
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUM-
DAY SERMON.
Subject: ssUnsafe Lifeboats."

- TEXT: "Then the soldiers c,st off the rope.
OF the: boat and let her fall oE."-Acts xvii.
p While your faces are yet somewhat bronzed
10y attendance on the International boat con-
test between the Vigilant. and the Valkyrie
address you. Good things when there is nc
betting or dissipation, those outdoor sports.
I'VE want more fresh air and breeziness IN
our temperaments and our religion. A stale
and slow and dllugubrious religion may have
done for other times, yet will not do Tor
these. But my text calls our attention to
boat of different sort, and instead OF the
Atlantic it is the Mediterranean, and instead
Of not wind enough, as the crews OF theVigi-
liant and the Valkyrie the other day COM
plained, there Is too much wind and the
swoop ola Euroclydon.
am not calling your attention 80 mucn
to the famous ship on which Paul was the
distinguished passenger, but to the nfeDoa1
of that ship which no one seems to notice.
tossed and driven. For that two weeks, the
account says, the passengers had ''contin-
ued fasting" 7. suppx}S the salt water,
dashing over, had stoflsd the sea biscuit,
and the passengers were seasick anyhow.
The sailors said, "It Is no use; this ship
must 20 down" -aH5shey proposed among
themselves to lower the hfeboat and get into
Il and take the chances for reaching shore,
although they pretended they were gong 70
get over the sides Of the big ship and down
into the lfeboat only to do sailors duty:
That was not sailorlike, for the sailors tnat az
have known were all. intrepid fellows and
would rather 60 down with the ship than 90
such a mean thing as those Jack Tars OF my
text attempted.
When on the Mediterranean last June the
Victoria sank under the ram Of the Camper
down, the most majestic thing about that
awful scene was that all the sailors staid at
their posts doing their duty. As class all
over the world sailors are valorous, but these
tended to do duty while they were really pre-
parlng for flight in the hfeboat. But these
7smarines" on board-sea soldiers-had In
especial charge little missionary who was
turning the world upside down, and when
these marines saw the trick the sailors were
about to play they lifted the cutlasses from
the girdle and chop! chop went those cut
lssses into the ropes that held the hfeboat,
and splash it dropped into the sea.
4 My text describes 1t, 'The soldiers cur on
che ropes OF the boat and let her fall OH. "
AS thar empty hfeboat dropped and was zap,
eized on q sea where for two weeks wlnos
and pillows had been In battle think that
many on board the main vessel felt their
last hopeo of ever reaching home had vanished:
4 In that tempestuous sea q small boat could
not have lived five minutes.
NV subject Is "Unsase Lfeboats." We
cannot exaggerate the importance OF the
iiieboat. All honor to the memory OF Lionel
Lukin, the coach builder OF Long Acre, Lon
don, who invented the first Hfeboat, and 40
not blame him for ordering put on his tomb
stone in Kent the inscription that you may
still read there: t.
4 "This Lionel Lunkin was the first who
built lifeboat and was the original inventor
of that principle Of safety by which many
lives and much property have been pre-
served from shipwreck, and he obtained for
It the kings patent In the year 17S5."
All honor to the memory OF Sir William
Hillary, who, living In the Isle Of Man, ana
after assisting with his own hand IN the res.
cue of 305 lives of the shipwreeked, stirred
the English Parliament to quick action IN
for the sublime and pathetic and divine mis-
sion OF the hfeboat. No one will doubt Its
important mission who has read OF the wreck
Of the Amazon in the Bay OF Biscay, OF the
Tweed running on the reefs OF the Gull OF
Mexico, or of the Ocean Monarch on the
coast of Wales, or of the Birkenhead on the
lCape Of Good Hope, or of the Royal Charter
on the coast of Anglesea, or OF the EImouth
on the Scotch breakers, or OF the Cambria on
the Irish coast, or OF the Atlantic on the rocks
OF Nova Scotia, or OF the Lexington on Long
Island Sound.
To add still further to the importance OF
the Hfeboat, remember there are at least
5000, 900 men following the sea, to say moth
4 ing OF the uncounted millions this moment
OCEAN passengers. We 'land-lubbers," as
sailors call US, may not know the diherence
between marline spike and ringbolt, or
anything about heaying log, or rigging out
q flying jibboom, or furling topsail, but we
all realize to greater or less extent the i'm
portance of q ifeboat In every marine equip
ment. ~
But do we feel the importance of Hfeboat
in the matter OF thesours rescue? TheredEe
Z times when we all feel that we are out at sea,
and as many disturbing and anxious ques.
tions strike US as waves struck that vessel
against the sides of which the hfeboat OF my
text dangled Questions about the church.
Questions about the world. Questions about
God. Questions about our eternal destiny.
Every thinking man and woman has these
questions, and in proportion asthey arethink-
Ing people do these questions arise: -,
There Is no wrong in thinking. II God had
not intended US to think and keep on tnmS-
ing. He would not have built under this
,wheelhouse OF the skull this thinking ma
chine. which halts not In its revolutions from
cradle to grave. Even the midnight does
not stop the thinking machine. for when We
are in dreams we are thinking, although we
do not think as we'll. All of us who are ac-
customed to thinking want to reach some
solid shore Of safety and satisfaction, amp II
any one has q good Ifeboat that we pay
honorably take wish he would unswing !,
from the davits and let us get into itand put
for the shore.
But give you fair notice must first s1-
anime the hfeboat before risk my soul IN i,
or advise YOU to risk your soul in 1t. ALI thf
splendid Ramsgate liteboats, and Margate
Hfeboats, and 6onSh Shield hfeboats, apd
American lifeb6At8Nare tested before beine
put into practical pse IS to their buoyanes
and speed andStoExee Ind selt-righting CO.
:pacity. And when ron offer my soul hfs
boat must first test tttA =
Here is a splendid new lifeboat callet
Theosophy. Ithzs onlyh little while heel
Launched, although some OF the planks' are
really several th6nssnd years old, and from
a worm eaten SHIP sbut they are painted
over and look new. They afe really fatal1sn
and pantheism of olden ftmA But we mus
forget that and can them thsosophy. Ehe
Grace Darling OF tilis lifeboat was an oars
woman by the nane of Nine. Blavatsky
jbrt the oarswoman now - Annie Besant. 81
many are getting aboard the boat 1t i
worthy of examination. both because OF the
safety OF those who have entsFed it and be
cause we ourselves are invited to get in.
Its theory that everything 81 God HORSE
and star and tree aad nam xrB parts OF God
We have three soulsAan animal soul, hu
man soul, spiritual soul. The animal sou
becomes, after awhile, D s-asssns thing
trying to express itself through mediums
It enters beasts or enters hnnnam being
and when yov find an ehsmtnats nan it is
because wornn's soul has got hto the
man, and when You ind rnasculinsswoman
st Is becauso : mans sou! hac takec posses
sion of wou2c's body.
II you And Il woman has osSoms Paat 'osn
speaIcr and likes politics, ehe b p0esossed By