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: ,sUnsafe Lifeboats."

- TEXT: "Then the soldiers cut off the ropes
tof the boat and let her fall of."-Acts xvii,
p While your faces are yet somewhat bronzed
by attendance on the international boat con-
test between the Figilant and the Valkyrie I
address you. Good things when there Is no
betting or dissipation, those outdoor sports.
I'VE want more fresh air and breeziness in
our temperaments and our religion. stale
and slow and ilugubrious religion may have
done for other times, yet will not do for
these But my text calls our attention to
boat Of a different sort, and instead OF the
Atlantic it is tho Mediterranean, and instead
of not wind enough, as the crews OF theV1gi-
liant and the Valkyrie the other day COM
plained, there Is too much wind and the
swoop OIL Euroclydon.
am not calling your attention 80 much
to the famous ship on which Paul was the
distinguished passenger, but to the 1feboat
ot that ship which no one seems to notice.
For fortnight the main vessel had been
tossed and driven. For that two weeks, the
ued fasting" I, supp6lb the salt water,
dashing over, had sIohSd the sea biscuit,
and the passengers were seasick anyhow.
The sailors said, s'It Is no use; this ship
must 60 down. +" ,6Rd6 6hey proposed among
themselves to io} ifebost and get into
II and take the g for reaching shore,
although they p1 ID they were going to
get over the side! big ship and down
into the lifebaT 80 do sailors duty.
That was n(s9 -e. for the sailors that
would rather down with the ship than do
such mean thing as those Jack Tars OF my
text attempted.
When on the Mediterranean last jane 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
sailors Of the text we're exceptional and pre-
tended to do duty while they were really pre-
parlng for flight in the hfeboat: But these
7'marines" on board-sea soldiers-had In
especial charge q 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.
! MY text describes it, seThe soldiers cut on
the ropes OF the boat and let her fall of
As thar empty lifeboat dropped and was cap
sized on sea where for two weeks winds
and pillows had been In battle talnk tnat
many on board the main vessel felt tneir
last hope Of ever reaching home had vanished:
( In that tempestuous sea small boat could
not have lived five minutes.
NV subject is 'sUnsate LReboats." we
cannot exaggerate the importance OF the
Kfeboat. All honor to the memory OF Lionel
Lukin, the coach builder OF Long Acre, Lon
don, who invented the first ifeboat, and 40
not blame him for ordering put on his tomb
stone in Kent the inscription that you may
still read there:
MThis Lionel Lunkin was the first who
built a lifebont 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
Il the kings patent In the year l785.
All honor to tne memory OF Sir William
Hillary, who, living in the Isle Of Man, and
after assisting with his own hand in the res
cue of sos lives OF the shipwrecked, stirred
the English Parliament to quick action In
the construction Of hfeboats. Thanks to Coo
for the sublime and pathetic and divine mis-
sion OF the hfeboat. No one will douor 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
cosst of Wales, or of the Birkenhead on the
Cape of Good Hope, 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
of Nova Scotia, or OF the Lexington on Long
Island Sound.
To add still further to the Importance OF
the lifeboat, remember there are at least
8 900, 900 men following the sea, to say moth
ing of the uncounted millions this moment
ocean passengers. We "land-lubbers," as
sailors call US, may not know the difference
between marline spike and q ringbolt, or
anything about heaying log, or rigging out
a flying jibboom, or furling topsail, but we
all realize to greater or less extent the I'M
portance of Ifeboat In every marine equip
ment. ~
But do we feel the importance of hfeboat
in the matter ofthesoufs rescue? ThereTe
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
1. questions, and in proportion as they arethink-
Ing people do these questions arise: :,
There Is no wrong in thinking. II Coo had
not intended us to think and keep on tnmK-
ing. He would not have built under this
w6eeihouse 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. iEr sb wneh We we
are in dreams we are tnlnk,nS, alsuousn h us u we
do not think as we'll. All OF US wno pre az.
customed to thinking want 10 teaon ~ sIIs :,
solid shore OF safety ana sa.ls,ac.to ACT G Ip .u -
any one has gooo hteooa % a,td td@r 1nswipg wV I,
honorably take wsn No HoGiu ~ u.m itand Snt
3 from the davis ana Aee uS get in'o ~ anu ~
ioI pnt me oiHs Won fair notice mus. first OK
.nine t5a ti,sboat before I risk my soul IN il
or aayiae Won TO risk your soul in it. All the
snlsuSiJ Ramspate iifeboats. and Margate
Nfaboafs and sSoush Shield ltfeboats and
.,.'t ;nto ~ ctscsi ~ - To their buoyancs