Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1893-11-03
Once on the raging seas l rowe1.
The storm was l I'd; the night was dark
The ocean yawned and rudely blOwi
ChlAHS tna my IL ln -

The ocean yawned and rudely blow',i
The wind that tossed my ioundering bark.
But got into the gospel lifebout and I got
ashore. No religious speculation for me.
These higher criticism fellows do not bother
me a bit. You may ask me fifty questions
about the sea. and about the land aud about
the lifeboat that | cannot answer, but ono
thing | know. am ashore. and am going to
stay ashore, if the Lord by His grace will
help me. / feel under me something so firm
that try it with my right foot, and try it
with my left foot and then try it with botn
feet. aud it is so solid that | think it must be
what the old folks used TO call the Rock OF
Ages.
And be nv remaining days on earth many
or few | am going to spend my time in
re commencing the Giaboat which fetched mo
here poor sinner saved by grace. and IN
swing ging the cutlasscS to sever the ropes OF
any unsafe lifebOat and let her fall OF. MY
hearer without asking any questlo ns, get
into the gospel lifeboat. Room! end yet
there is room I"he biggest boat on earth IS
the gospel HfebOat, GOu must remember the
proportion Of things, and that tho ship
wrecked craft is the whole earth, ana the
lifeboat must be in proportion.
You talk about your CampanlaS, and your
Lucanias. and your Majestics, and your City
OF New Yorhs, but all of them put together
are smaller than an Indians canoe on Sch
room Lake compared with this gospel lifeboat
that is large enough to take in ali Nations;
80
"HOw? HOW?' you ask.
Well | know how you feel, for summer
before last on the sea OF Finland had the
same experience. The ship i'll which we
sailed could not venture nearer tnan q milo
from shore where stood the RUSSIAN palace
OF PeterOf. and we had to get into small
boat and be rowed ashore. The water wa;
rough and as went down the ladder at
the side of the ship held firmly on to the
railing, but in order TO get into the boat we
had at last to let go.
How did know that the boat was good
and that the oarsmeu We're sufficient? How
did | know that the Finlanl Sea would not
swallow us with one opening OF lis crystal
laws? We had to trust, and We did trust,
and our trust was well rewarded. In the
same way get into this gospel lIteboat. Let
go! As long as you hold on to 2ny Othef
hope YOU are imperiled and you get no aG-
vantage from the Hfeboat. Let go! Does
some one here say. II guess [ will hold on a
little to my good works, or to pious parent
age. or to something 1 can do III the way or
achieving my own salvation. No, no, let
60 Trust the Captain. who would not put
you into rckety or uncertain craft
For the sake of your present and eyerlast-
ing welfare, with all the urgency OF an Im-
mortal addressing immortals, cry from tho
depths of my soul and at the top OF my voice,
Let go! Last summer the life saving crew
at East Hampton invited me to come up to
the life station and see the crew practice, Tor
twice week they are drilled in the 1mpor-
TAM work assigned them blythe United States
Government. and they go through all tho
routine of saving the shipWrecked. But that
would give little idea OF what they would
have to do if some midnight next winter, the
wind driving backward, a vessel should get
in the grasp CT a hurricane.
See the lights flare from the snip IN the
breakers. and then responding lights Harlng
from the beach and hear the rockets buzz as
they rise. and the HfebOat rumbleS out. ana
the gun booms, and the life line rises and
falls across the splintered decks, and the
hawser tightens. and the life car goes to and
fro, carrying the exhausted mariners, and the
ocean, as if angered by the SnatchlnS OF the
human prev from the white teeth of its surf
and the stroke of its billOwing paw, rises
with increased fury to assail the land. SO
now am engaged in no light drill, practlc-
ing for what may come over some of your
souls. 1t is with some of you Wintry mid
night, and your hopes for this world and tho
next are wrecked.
BUt see! See The lights kindled on tho
beach 1 throw out the life line Haul in,
hand over hand All. there is q ifebOat in
the surf. which all the wrath of earth and hell
cannot swamp, and its Captain with Scared
hand puts the trumpet to His lips as He
cries, ''Oh, Israel thou hast destroyed thy
self. but in Ne is thy help" But what IS the
use of all this if you decline to get into 1t!
You might as well have been sailor on
board that laundering ship Of the Medl-
terrancan when the mariners cut the ropes
of the boat and let her fall Off.