Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1894-03-07
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S sun.
DAY SERMON.
Subject; "The Lightning OF the
Sea-

religion should preach from this Bible, there
will yet be texts unexpOunded and unex-
planned and uuappreciated. What little
has been said concerning this chapter in JOB
from which my text is taken bears on the
controversy as to what was really the levia-
than described as disturbing the sea. What
creature it was l know not. SOnssay It was
q whale. Some say II was crocodile. Ny
own opinion IS Il was a sea monster now ex-
tlnct. No creature now floating in Mediter-
rsnean or Atlantic waters corresponds to
Jobs description.
What most interests ne IS that as il moved
on through the deep it left the waters flash
ing and resplendent. In the words Of the
text, 'He makcth a path to shine after
him" What was that illumined path? 1t
was pho5phOrescence. You find it in the
wake Of a ship in the night, especially after
rough weather. PhOsphorescence is the
lightning OF the sea. That this figure of
speech is correct in describing its appear
ance 1 am certified by an incident. After
crossing the Atlantic the first time and
writing from Base, Switzerland, to an Amer
lean magazine an account OF my voyage, in
which nothing more fascinated me than the
phOsphorescence in the ships wake, 1 called
1t the lightning Of the sea. Returning to my
hotel, found book Of John Ruskin, and
the first sentence my eyes fell upon was his
description OF phosphOrescence, in which he
called it .'the lightning of the sea-"
Down to the postOfice l hastened to get
the manuscript, and with great labor and
some expense got possession OF the maya
zine article and put quotation marks around
that one sentence, although It was as orig
inal with me as with John Ruskin. sup
pose that nine-tenths OF you living so near
the seacOast have watched this marine ap-
pearance called pho5phOrescence, and Ihops
that the other One-tenth may some day be 50
happy as to witness il. It is the waves OF the
sea dianOnded it Is the infOrescence OF the
billOws (; the waves Of the sea crimsOned as
was the deep after the sea fight Of LepantO
the waves Of the sea on fire.
There are times when from horizon TO
horizon the entire ocean seems in confag-
ration with this strange spiendOr as it
changes every moment to tanner or moro
dazzling color on all sides OF you. You sit
looking over the tafTrail OF the yacht or
ocean steamer. watching and waiting to see
what new thing the God OF beauty will do
with the Atlantic. It IS the ocean in trans
figuratiOn it is the marine world casting its
garments OF glory In the pathway Of the
Almighty AS He walks the deep it IS IA IN
verted armament with all its stars gone
down with it. No picture can present It, for
photographers camera cannot be success
fully trained to catch it, and befOr. II tho
hand OF the painter drops its pencil, over
awed and pCwerless.
This phosphorescence is the appearance
Of myriads OF the animal kingdom rising,
falling, playiny, flashing. living, dyins.
These luminous aDimslcules for nearly $50
years have been the study OF nSturalisrs AMI
the fascination and Eolemnisation Of all who
have brain enough TO think. Now, God,
who puts in His Bible nothing trivial or use
les calls the attention OF Job. the greatest
scientist OF his day, to this phosphorgscenee,
and as the leviathsn OF the deep sweeps past
points out the fact that she maketh path
TO shine after him"
Is that true Of us now and will il be true
OF US when We have gone? VIII there be
subsequent light or darkness? VIII there be
n trial OF gloom or good chepr2 Can any one
between now and the next 100 years say OF
US truthfully as the text says OF the lsviltban
OF ths deep, "He maketh a path TO shine
after him2' For we are moving on. While
We live in the same house, and transact busi-
ness in the same store, and write on the same
table, and chiSel il the same studio, and
thrash In the same barn, and worship in the
same church, We are in motion and arr in
many respects moving on, and We are not
where we were ten years ago, nor where we
will be ten years hence. Moving on
Look at the family record. or the almanac,
or into the mirror. and see II any one Of YOU
is where you were. All in motion. Other
feet may trip and stumble AMI halt. but the
feet OF not Ons moment for the last sixty CEN
turies has tripped or stumbled or halted.
Moving on Society moving on The world
moving onl Heaven moving on! The uni
verse moving on! Time moving on Eter-
nifty moving on Therefore it is absurd to
think that We ourselves can stop. as We must
move with all the rest. Are we like the crra-
ture Of the text. making our pain to shine
after use2 1t may be a peculiar question.
put my text sucgests i.
What influence will we leave in this world
after We have gone thrOurhit2 "NOne 80 an
sTsT hundreds Of voices I'VE are not one of
the immortals. Fifty years after we are out
OF the world II VIII be as though We never in
habited It," You are wrong in saying that.
pass down through this audience and up
through these galleries, and l an looking for
some one whom cannot find.
am looking for one who will have no in
fuence in this world 100 years from now.
But l have found the man who has the least
influence, and I inquire into his history, and
find that 10y yes or = no he decided some
ones eternity. In time Ol temptation he save
an Affirmative or a negative TO some tempta-
tiOn which another, hearing OF, was induced
10 decide in the same way.
Clear on the other side OF the next million
years may be the first you hear OF the long
reaching influence OF that yes or no. but
hear Of It you will. VIII that father make
path 10 shine after him? VIII that mother
make path TO shine after her? You will be
walking alJng these streets or along that
country road 200 years from now in the
character of your descendants. They will
be affected by your courage or your cow
arIjce, your purity or your deprayity, your
holiness or your sin. You Will make the
path to shine ter You or blacEen after you.
Why should they point out to us on some
mountain two riyuiel7, one OF which passes
down into the rivers which pour out into tho
Pacific Ocean, and the other rivulet flowing
down into the rivers which pass out into the
Atlantic Ocean2 Every man, every woman,
stands at a point where words uttered, or
deeds DONE or prayers offered. decide OpPo-
site destinins and opposite eternities. We
see a man planting tree, and treadiu- sod
on either side OF it, and watering il in dry
weather. and taking great care in its cul-
ture. and he never plucks any fruits from its
bough. But his children will. We are all
planting trees that will yield fruit hundreds
OF years after we are dnad-orchards OF gOl-
den fruit or groves of deadly upas.
am so fascinated with the phosphor-
esccncs in the track OF a ship that l have
sometimes watched for a long while and have
seen nothing on the face OF the deep but
blackness. The mouth OF waterJ chasms
that looked like gaping jaws OF hell. Not a
spark as big as a FREELY; rot white scroll
OF surf not a taper to illuminate the mighty
sepulcheTs Of dead ships darkness 5000 feet
deep, and more thousands of feet long and
wide. That is the kind Of wake that bad
man leaves behind him as he piow5 through
the ocean Of this life toward the yaster ocean
Of the great future.
Now, suppose n man seated in n corner
grocery or business Office among cicrNS gives
himself TO Jolly skepucisn. Hs laughs at
the Bible, makes sport Of the miracles.
speaks OF peClitiOn in Jokes Gnt laughs at
revivals rs a frOlic, and 1t the passage OF a
funeral procession, which always solemE,zes
sensible people, says, "GOys, lets tsSe q
drink" There ia in that group a young
man who is making \ great struggle against
temptation and Prays night and morning and
reads his Bible and Is asking Gci for nslp
day bv dRY. But that s;lrflW against Chris
Tlantty makes him 'o=a hts grip o. Sacred
things, and he gives up Sahb4trl and churrl
and morals and goes from bad TO worse. III
he falls under Essiput.Uns, dies in a laza
house ans il buried IN The pefter'S fell.
Another youqg 1nsn who heard that iolly
skepticism maSa up his mind that ''it make.
no difference what we 10 or say, for We vii
all come out at tast at the right place." ans
began rs a consequence to pur'oin. som,
money that came into his han 3 for other
he applied to his own uses, thinking per
haps he would make it straight some olhe,
time, AMI all would be weIi even If he did