Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1894-03-02

the breakers OF the awful coast on which that
ship is wrecked, for my business now is 10
watch the sea after the keel has plowed il
No phosphOrescence In the wake of that shin.
but behind ii two souls struggling in the
wave-two young men destroyed by reckless
skepticism, an unillumined ocean beneath
and on all sides OF them. Biackness of dark
ness.
You know what q gloriously good man
Rev. John Newton was the most OF his life.
but before his conversion he was a very
wicked sailor, and on board the ship Har-
wlch instilled inf1delity and vice into the
mind of a young man-principles which de-
stroyed him. Afterward the two met, an /
Newton tried TO undo his bad work. but in
vain. The young man became worse and
worse and died profiigate, horrifying those
who stood by him in his last moments.
better look out what bad influence you
start, for you may not be able to stop It, 1t
does not require very great force to ruin
others. Why was it that many years ago a
great flood nearly destroyed New Orleans?
A erawffsh had hurrowei into the banks Of
the river until the ground was saturated and
the banks weakened until the food burst.
But / find here man who starts out in
life with the determination that he will
never see suffering but he will try to al
ieviate it. and never see discouragement
but he will try to cheer it. and never meet
with anybody but he will try to do him
good. Getting his strength from God. he
starts from home with nigh purpose of doing
all the good he can possibly do in one day.
Whether standing behind the counter, or
talking in the business O1ft'e with pen be-
hind his ear, or making a bargain with a fell
low trader. or out in tn field discussing
with his next neighbor the wis"st rotation OF
the crops, or in the ShOam rs shop pound
ing sole leather, there is something in his
face, and in his phrasaO}Ogy and in his man
ner, that demonstrates the grace of God in
his heart. He can talk religion without
awkwari!y dragging it in by the ears. He
loves God and loves the souls Of all whom ha
meets and is Interested i'll their present an |
eternal destiny
For fifty or sixty years he lives that lifP
and then gets through with it and goes into
heaven a ransomed soul. But am not going
to describe the port into which that ship has
entered.
I am not going to describe the Pilot who
met him outside at the "lightship." I am
not going to say anything about the crowds
of frien ls who met him on the crystalline
wharves up which he goes on steps Of
chrySOprases. For God III His words to Job
CALLS me to look at the path Of foam, iIt he
wake of that ship. and 1 tell you It is all
a-gleam with splendors of kindness done
and rolling with iIlumined tears that Were
wiped away. and a-dash with congratula-
tions, and clear out to the horizon in all di-
rections is the sparkling, flashing, biliowing
phosphorescence of a Christian life. "He
maketh path to shine after him.
And here correct one of the mean no.
tions which at some time takes possession Of
all of Us, and that is as to tho brevity of hu-
man life. When [ bury some very useful
man. clerical or lay, in his thrtieth or for
tieth year | say What waste Of ener-
gies It was hardly worth while for him to
get ready for Christian work, for he had 50
p7Ik fho not fhot I nv
insure any man OF woman who does any
good on a large or small scale for life on
earth as long as the world lasts. Sickness
trolley car accidents, death itself, can no
more destroy his life than they can tear
down one of the rings of Saturn. You can
start one good word, one kind act, one
cheerful smile, on a mission that will last
until the world becomes a bonfire. and out
of that blaze it will pass into the heavens,
never to bait as long AS God lives.
There were ia the seventeenth century men
and women whose names you never heard
of who are to-day influencing schools, col
leges, churches, Nations. You can no more
measure the gracious results Of their life
time than you could measure the length and
breadth and depth OF the phosphoreScenca
last night following the ship of the White
Star line 1900 miles OUT at sea. How the
courage and conservation or others inspire
US to follow. as a general i'll the American
army, ccol amid the flying bullets, inspired
trembling soldier who said afterward, 81
was nearly scared to death, but L saw the
old mans white mustache over his shoulder
and went on" Aye, we are all following
somebody, either in right or wrong dlrec-
tions.
A few DAYS ago 1 stood beside the gar.
landed casket of gospel minister, and in
nv remarks had occasion to recall a snowy
night in farmhouse when | was a boy and
an evangelist spending night at my father s
house who said something so tender anC
beautiful and impressive that it led me into
the kingdom of God and decided my destiny
for this world and the next. You will, be
fore twenty-four hours go by, meet some mar
or woman with big pack of care and trou
BILE. and you may say something to him OF
her that will endure until this world shall
have been 80 far lost in the past that nothing
but the stretch of angelic memory VIII b'
able to realize that it ever existed at all.
am not talking of remarkable men and
women, but of what ordinary folks can do.
1 am not speaking OF the phOsphorescenoe
la the track of a Newfoundland fishing
smack. God makes thunderbots out o
sparks, and out of the SINAI, words and deeds
of a small life He can launch a power that
will flash and burn and thunder through the
eternities
How do you like this prolOngation Of your
earthly life by deathless influence? Many a
babe that died at six months of age by the
anxiety created il the parent heart to meet
that chilli in realms seraphic is living yet IN
the Transformed heart and life Of those
parents and will live on forever in the his
torv of that family. If this be the oppOrtu-
nifty of ordinary souls, what is the OppOr
tunIty or those who nave especlal intellectual
or social or monetary equipment?
Have you any arithmetic capable OF e5ti-
mating the influence OF our good and gra-
cious friend who a few days ago went up to
rest-George w. Chiids, of Philadelphia:
From newspaper that was printed for
thirty years without one word Of d IA :
tiOn or scurrility or scandal, anf putin;
a chief emphasis On virtue and charity
and clean intelligence, he reaped a fortune
for himself ard then distributed vast
amount of it among the poor and struggling
putting his invalid and aged reporters OF
pensions, until his name stands everywhere
fc- large heartedness and sympathy and
help eEd highest style of Christian gentle
man.
In an era which had in the chairs Of is
Journalism E0tace GrIaiCy, and Henry
RaymCnd, and James Gordon Bennett, an
an Erastue Brooks. and a George william
Curtis ard an [reEaeCs Prime, none Ottheh
will be longer remembered than George "
Childs Staying away from the unveIllng o.
the monument he had reared at large ex
penge in our Greenvoo i'll memory of Pr"
lessor Proctor, the astronomer, lest shout
ga7 something in praise Of the man who ha'
paid fo- the monument. BY all acknoW
edged representative Of the highest Ameri
can journalism.
If vou would calculate his influence fol
cool vcu must count how many sheets o.
his newspapers have been published in tn
last quarter of century, and how man,
people have read them, and the effect no
only upon those readers. but upon all who'll
they shall influence for all time. while you
add to all that the work of the churches h6
helped build and of the institutions Of mercy
he helped foun1. Better give up before yOu
start the measuring of the phosphorescenr"
in the wake Of that ship of the Celestial line.
Who can tell the post mortem influence Of 2
Savonarola. Winkelried. a Gutenberg, a
Marlborough. a Decatur. Toussaint Boil
var. Clarkson. Robert Raikes, a Harlan
Page who had 125 Sabbath scholars eighty
four of whom became Christians, AMI six OF
them ministers of the gospel.
With gratitude and penitence and worship
mention the grandest life that was ever
lived. That ship OF light was launched from
the heavens nearly 1900 years ago, angelic
hosts chanting. and from the celestial
wharyes the ship sprang into the roughest