Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1894-10-15
THEY CALLED ON GOD
DR.. TALMAGE FINDS MANY LESSONS
IN ONE TEXT OF JONAH.


The Kind Hearted Sailors Gods Way
of Giving Fzelp-
BROOKLYN, Oct 1f---Rey. Dr.. TAI
mage. who is still absent ON his rcu7ld
the world tour, has selected rs the sub
ject of today S sermon through the press
''The Oarsmen Defeated, . the text cho-
sen being Jonah /, IS, Il, THE men
rowed hard to bring it to the land, hut
they could not, wherefore they cried
unto the Lord. -
Navigation in the Mediterranean sea
always was perilous, especially SO in
early times. Vessels were propelled
partly by sail and partly by car. When,
by reason of great stress of weather, it
was necessary to reef the canvas or haul
it in, then the vessel was entirely de-
pendent upon the oars, sometimes 90 Or
30 of them on either side the vessel.
You would not venture outside your
harbor with such craft as my text
finds Jonah sailing in, but he had not
much choice of vessels. He wtss running
away from the Lord, and when Il man
is running away from the Lord he has
to run very fast
The Disobedient Prophet.
God had told Jonah to go to Nineveh
to preach about the destruction OF that
city. Jonah disobeyed- That always
makes rough water, whether in the Med
iterranean, or the Atlantic, or the Pa
cific, or the Caspian sea. It is Il very
hard thing to scare sailors I have seen
them, when the brow of the vessel was
almost under water, and they were
and the small boats by the side OF tho
vessel had been crushed as small as kin
ding wood, whistling as though moth
ing had happened, but the Bible says
that t-ese mariners OF whom I speak
were frightened.
That which sailors cali 'ta lump OF a
sea" has become binding, deafening,
swamping fury. How mad the wind
can get at the water, and the water can
get at the wind, you do not know un-
less you have been spectators. I have in
my house a piece of the sail of ship,
no larger thAn the palm of my hand.
That piece Of canvas WAS all that was
left of the largest sail of the ship
Greece, that went into the storm 900
miles off Newfoundland. Oh, what q
night that wast / suppose it was in
some such storm as this that Jonah
was caught.
He knew that the tempest was ON his
account, and he asked the sailors to
throw him overheard. Sailors are a gen
erous hearted race, and they resolved to
make their escape, if possible, without
resorting to such extreme measures.
The sails are of no USE and So they lay
1xO11 r J.
of shining blades on either side the yes
sci. Oh, how they did pull, the bronzed
seamen, as they lay back into the oars!
But rowing on the sea is very different
from rowing upon river, and as the
vessel hoists the oars skip the wave and
miss the stroke, and the tempest laughs
to scorn the flying paddles 1t is of nc
use, no use. There comes a wave that
crashes the last mast and sweeps the
oarsnlen from their places and tumbles
everything in the confusion Of impend-
ing GhipwrecIl, or, as my text has it,
teThe men rowed hard to bring it to
the land, but they could not, wherefore
they cried unto the Lord.
Converted by Reading OF 1t.
This scene is very suggestive to rae,
and I pray God / may have gra"o ed
strength enough to represent it lntelli
gently to you. Years ago I preached u
sermon OH another phase OF this very
S. oiect, and got q letter from Houston,
Tex, the writer saying that the read
ing of that sermon in London hid led
him to God. And I received another
letter from South Australia, saying that
the reading OF that sermon in Australia
cd OH 1c TO
And then, I thought why not now take
another phase Of the same subject, for
perhaps that God who can raise in pow
er that which is sown in weakness may
now, through another phase of the Same
subject, bring salvation TO the people
who shall hear and salvation to the
people who shall read. Men and won1-
en- who know how to pray, lay hold Of
the Lord God Almighty, and wrestlc
for the blessing.
Bishop LatiTaer would stop sometimes
in his sermon. in the midst of his argu
memo, and say, Nov, / viii tell you a
fable, " and today I would like to bring
the scene of the text as an illustration
of a most important religious truth. AS
those Mediterranean oarsnesl trying TO
bring Jonah ashore were discounted.
l have to tell you that they were not
the only men who have broken down Oh
their paddles and have been obliged to
call on the Lord for help I want to say
that the unavailing efforts OF those Med
lterranean oarsmen have q counterpart
In the efforts we are making to bring
souls to the shore of safety and set
their feet on the Rock OF Ages You |
have q father or mother or husband or
wife or child CT near friend who is not |
a Christian. There have been times
when you have been IN agony about
their salvation.