The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1893-12-16
AT THE TABERNACLE.
Or. TALMAeE FINDS MANY LESSONS
IN THE LlFeeoAT.

Touch Of Sarcasm on Theosophy-A Good !
word For Moraiism, but ~ Is Not sum-
cient - The only Ark of safety - Get
Aboard
BEooKLYN, Oct 22.-After preaching on
nearly 1000 different subjects and being
,osely followed by the printing press for
about % hears Rev DIR. Talmage still seems
TO find new subjects that have never been
preached ON. This forenoon he chose for
his subject Unsafe Lifeboats," the text
being Acts xvii, 80, "Then the soldiers cut
oil the ropes of the boat and let her fall
or"
While your faces are yet somewhat
bronzed by attendance on the international
boat contest between the Vigilant and the
Nalkyrie, | address you. Good things when
there is no betting or dissipation, those
outdoor spott, We want more fresh Air
and breeZiness in our temperaments and
our religion. A stale and slow and lugu-
brious religion may have done for other
times, yet will not do for these. But my
text calls our attention to a boat of a diff
feTent sort, and instead of the Atlantic il
is the Mediterranean, and instead of not
wind enough, as the crews of the Vigilant
and Nalkyrie the other day complained,
there is too much wind and the swoop of a
Euroclydon.
am not calling your attention so much
TO the famous ship on which Paul was the
distinguished passenger, but to the lifeboat
of that ship which no one seems to notice
For fortnight the main vessel had been
eos-ed and driven. For that two weeks, the
account says, the passengers had CON
tinued fasting" | suppose the salt water,
dashing over, had spoiled the sea biscuit.
and the passengers were seasick anyhow.
The sailors said at is no use; this ship
must go down" and they proposed among
themselves TO lower the lifeboat and get
into it and take the chances for reaching
shore, although they pretended they were
going to get over the sides Of the big ship
and down into the lifeboat ouly to do sail
ors' duty. That was not sailorlike, for the
sailors that have known were all intrepid
fellows and would rather 20 down with
che ship than do such mean thing as
those Jack Tars of my text attempted.
When on the Mediterranean last June the
Victoria sank unde- the ram of the Cam
perdown, the most ma jestic thing aboutth
awful scene was that all the sailors staid at
their posts doing their duty. As a class all
over the world sailors are valorous, but
these sailors of the text were exceptional
and pretended to do duty while they were
really preparing for flight in the lifeboat
But these marines" on board-sea sol
diers-had in especial charge a little mis-
sionary 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
chopl chopi went those cutlasses into the
ropes that held the lifeboat, and splash! it
dropped into the sea.
My text describes 1.-THE soldiers cut
of the ropes of the boat and let her fall
off" As that empty lifeboat dropped and
was capsized on sea where for two weeks
winds and pillows had been in battle. |
think that many on board the main vessel
felt their last hope of ever reaching home
had vanished. In that tempestuous sea a
small boat could not have lived five min.
utes.
A TRIBUTE TO SAILORS.
My subject is Unsafe Lifeboats.' We
cannot exaggerate the Importance of the
lifeboat. All honor to the memory of
Lionel Lukin, the coach builder OF Long
Acre, London who invented the first life
boat and do not blame him for ordering
put upon his tombstone in Kent the in
scription that you may still read there
This Lionel Lukin was the first who
built lifeboat, and was the original in
ventor of that principle of safety by which
many lives and much property have been
preserved lTOlh SullNEcCh. anu ne ODJdlneu
for it the kings patent in the year 1885"
All honor to the memory to Sir William
Hillary, who, living in the isle of Man, and
after assisting with his own hand in the
rescue of 305 lives of the shipwrecked,
stirred the English parliament to quick ac-
tion in the construction of lifeboats.
Thanks to God for the sublime and pa
thetic and divine mission of the lifeboat
No one will doubt its important mission
who has read OF tte wreck of the Amazon
in the bay of Biscay, of the Tweed running
on the reefs of the gulf of Mexico, or of
the Ocean Monarch ON the coast of Wales,
or of the Birkenhead on the Cape of Good
Hone. or of the Royal Charter on the coast
of Anglesea, or of the EXmouth on the
Scotch breakers, or of the Cambria on the
Irish coast, or of the Atlantic on the rocks
ofNova Scotia, or of the Lexington on Long
Island sound.
To add still further to the Importance of
the lifeboat, remember there are at least
100000 men following the sea, to say moth
ing of the uucounted millions at this mo
ment ocean passengers We "land lub-
bers," as sailors call us, may not know the
difference between a marlinespike and a
ring bolt or anything about heaving a log
or rigging ont flying jibboom, furling
a topsail, but we all realize to greater oil
lcSs cNbthb VIC pOl ltlCc VI illtboob ~
every marine equipment.
THE SOULS LIFEBoAT.
But do we feel the Importance of n lifeboat
in the matter of the souls rescueY Their,
are times when we all feel that we are out
at sea, and as many disturbing and anxious
questions strike us as waves struck tha
vessel against the sides of which the life
boat of my text dangled. Questions abou
the church Questions about the world
Questions about God. Questions about GU
sternal destiny. Every thinking man anC
woman has these questions, and in pro
portion AS they are thinking people d.
these questions arise. There is no wronj
ia thinking. II God had not intended u
10 think and keep ON thinking, he woul,
not have built under this wheelhouse o
the skull this thinking machine, whicl
halts not in its revolution from cradle t
grave Even the midnight does not sto
the thinking machine, for when We are i
dreams we are thinking, although we d
not think as well.
All of us who are accustomed to think
ing want to reach some solid shore of safet
and satisfaction, and if any one has "a goo
lifebOat that we may honorably take | wis
he would EEsw1ng it from the davits an
fetrEsset into it and put for shore. But
give you fair notice | must first eXamin
the lifeboat before | risk my soul in it q
advise you to risk your soul in it. A
the splendid Ramsgate lifeboats, and Ma
gate lifeboats, and South Shields lifeboat
and American lifeboats were tested befoI
being put into practical use as to thef
buoyancy and speed and stowage and Sc
righting capacity And when you offer m
soul lifeboat must first test it.
There is a splendid new lifeboat calle
Theosophy. 1t has only little while bee
launched, although some of the planks al
really several thousand years old, and iron
worm eaten ship, but they are painte,
over and look new. They are really fatal
ism and pantheism of olden time But w
= InIIst fnrunt thl.t nIll nnll Ihnn IhensnnhI