The morning news., 1894-10-15

itual Sea.
Brooklyn. Oct .14-Rev. DR.. Talmage
who is still absent on his round-the-worlt
tour. has selected as the subject of TO-
days sermon through the press: THE
Oarsmen Defeated" the text chosen
being Jonah /: 10. Il: THE men rowed
hard to bring it to the land; but they
could not; wherefore they cried unto the
Lord"
Navigation in the Mediterranean Sea
always was perilous. especially so in
early times. Vessels We're propelled
partly by sail and partly by oar When,
by reason of great stress of weather, IT
was necessary to reef the canvass or
haul it in, then the vessel was entirely
dependent upon the oars, sometimes
twenty or thirty of them on either side
the vessel You would not venture out
side your harbor with such a craft as my
text finds Jonah sailing in; but he had not
much choice of vessels. He was running
away from the Lord; and when a man
is running away from the Lord, he has to
run very fast
God had told Jonah to go to Nineveh
20 preach about the destruction of that
city. Jonah idsobeyed That always
makes rough water. whether in the Med
iterranean, or the Atlantic, or the Pa
ciflc, or the Caspian sea. 1t is a very
hard thing TO scare sailors. l have seen
them, when the prov of the vessel was
almost under water. and they were walk
ing the deck knee-deep in the surf, and
the small boats by the side of the vessel
had been crushed as small as kindlng-
wood, whistling as though nothing had
happened; but the Bible says that these
mariners of whom l speak were fright
eneH That which sailors call f'g l1111n
of a sea" had become a binding, deafen-
ing, swamping fury. How mad the wind
can get at the water, and the water can
get at the wind. you do not know unless
you have been spectators. I have in my
house a piece of the sail of a ship no
larger than the palm of my hand; that
piece of canvass was all that was left of
the largest sail of the ship Greece" ."
that went into the storm 200 miles off
Newfoundland. Oh, what a night that
wasl l suppose 1t was in some such
storm as this that Jonah was caught
He knew that the tempest was on his ac-
count, and he asked the sailors to throw
him overheard. Sailors are a generous
hearted race, and they resolved to make
their escape, If possible, without resortng
10 such extreme measures. The sails are of
no use, and so they lay hold on their oars.
] see the long bank of shinig blades on
either side the vessel. Oh! how they did
pull, the bronzed seamen, as they laid
hack into the oars. But rowing on the sea
is very different from rowing upon d river;
and as the vessel hoists, the oars skip the
wave and miss the stroke, and the tenn
pest laughs to scorn the flying paddles. II
is of no use, no use. There comes a wave
that crashes the last mast, and sweeps
the oarsmen from their places, and tum-
bles everything in the confusion of inn
pending shipwreck, or, as my text has it,
The men rowed hard to bring it to land:
but they could not: wherefore they cried
unto the Lord"
This scene is very suggestive to me- and
! pray God I may have grace and strength
enough to represent it intellgently to
you. Years ago l prached ser
mon on another phase of this
very subject, and l got let
ter from Houston. Texas, the writer
saying that the reading of that sermon in
London had led him to God. And l re-
ceived another letter from South Aus
tralia, saying that the reading of that
sermon in Australia had brought several
souls to Christ And then. I thought, why
not now take another phase of the same
subject for perhaps that God who can
raise in power that which is sown in
weakness may now through another
phase of the same subject bring salvation
TO the people who shall hear, and saliva
tion to the people who shall read. Men
and women. who know how to pray lay
hold of the Lord God Almighty, and wres-
tie for the blessing
Bishop Latimer would stop sometimes in
his sermon, in the midst of his argument,
and say. Now, | will tell YOU fable"
and to-day ] would like to bring the scene
of the text as an Illustration of a most i'm
portant religious truth. As those Mediter-
ranean oarsmen trying to bring Jonah
ashore, were discounted. I have to tell
you that they were not the only men who
nave broken down on their paddles. and
have been Obliged 10 call on the Lord for
help l want TO say that the uuavailine
enorts of those Mediterranean oarsmen
have a counterpart in the efforts we are
making to bring souls 10 the shore of
safety and set their feet on the Rock of
Ages. You have father, or mother or
husband, or wife, or child or near friend
VINO is not Christian. There have been
times when you have been in agony about
their salvation. A minister of Christ
whose wife was dying without any hope in
Jesus, walked the floor, wfung his hands.
cried bitterly, and said, Il bene.,. shall
go insane, for / know she is not prepared
10 meet God And there may have been
days OF sickness in your household when
you feared II would be a fatal sickness
and how closely you examined the face of
the doctor as he came in and scrutinized
the patient, and felt the pulse. and Won
followed him into the next room, and said
There isn't any danger, is there, doctor?''
anu the hesitation and uncertainty of tho
reply made two eternities flash before
your vision. And then you went and
TAXED to the sick one about the great fu-
ture. Oh, there are those here who have
tried to bring their friends to God! They
nave been unable to bring them TO the
shore of safety. They are no nearer that
point than they were twenty years ago.
You think you have got them almost To
the shore when you are swept back again.
what shall you do? Put down the oa,
on, no / don't advise that: but 1 do ad-
wise that you appeal to that God to whom
the mediterranean oarsmen appealed-tbe
God who could silence the tempest and
bring the ship in safety to the port. /
tell you, my friends that there has cot
10 be a good deal of praying before our
families are brought to Christ. An II
Is an awful thing TO have half household
on one side of the line and the other mart
or the household on the other side of the
line! Two vessels part on the ocean of
eternity, one going to the right and the
other to the left-farther apart and
farther apart-unul the signals cease to
be recognized, and there are only two
speeks on the horizon, and then they arc
lost q SIGHT fora,r.rf