The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1894-03-07
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIvINE'S SUN
DAY SERMON.
Subject: "The lightning Of the
e.. Sea.'

will yet he texts uneXpounded and unex-
jplained ani unappreciated. 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 know not. Somesay 1t was
q whale. Some say 1t was crocodile. My
own opinion is it was sea monster now e1.
tinct. No creature now floating In Mediter.
ranean or Atlantic waters corresponds to
Jobs description.
What most interests me Is that as it moved
on through the deep 1t left the waters fash
ing and resplendent. In the words OF the
text, "He maketh path to shine after
him" What was that illumined path? It
was phosphorescence. You find 1t in the
wake 81 a ship In the night, especially after
rough weather. Phosphorescence Is the
hghtning of the sea. That this figure OF
speechjs correct In describing its appear.
ance I EN- certified by an incident. After
crossing the Atlantic the first time and
writing from Bssle, Switzerland, to an Amer
tcan magazine an account Of my voyage, In
which nothing more fascinated me than the
phosphorescence In the ships wake. called
Il the lightning Of the sea- Returning tony
hotel, found book Of John Ruskin, and
the first sentence my eyes fell upon was bis
description of phoSphorescence, In which he
called II ''the lightning OF the sea-"
: Down to the postoflce fastened to get
the manuscript, and with great labor and
some expense got possession OF the maSa-
zine article and put quotation marks around
that one sentence. although 1t was as orig
fnal with me as with John Ruskin. sup
pose that nine-senths OF you living 80 near
the seacosst have watched this marine ap-
pearance called phosphOrescence, and Ihope
that the other one-tenth may some day be 50
happy as to witness 1t. It is the waves Of the
sea diamonded It Is the inforescence Of the
pillows the waves of the sea cr1msoned 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-
4stion with this strange splendor as It
changes every moment to tanner or more
dazzling color on all sides Of you. You Sit
looking over the taffrail 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 1T Is the marine world casting its
garments of glory In the pathway OF the
Almighty as He walks the deep 1t is an In
yerted armament with all its stars gone
down with II. No picture can present 1t, for
photographers camera cannot be success
fully trained to catch 1t, and before 1t the
hand of the painter drops Its pencil, over
awed and powerless.
/, This phosphorescence Is the appearance
OF my1iads OF the animal kingdom rising,
falling, playing, flashing, living, dying:
These luminous animalcules for nearly 15O
years have been the study OF naturalists and
the fascination and solepnization OF all who
have brain enough to think. Now, God,
who puts in His Bible nothing trivial or use
Less, calls the attention Of Job, the greatest
scientist OF his day, to this phosphorescence,
and as the leviathan Of the deep sweeps past
points out the fact that che maketh path
to shine after him."
.sSs Is that true of US now, and will it be true
Of Us when we have gone? Will there be
subsequent light or darkness? Will there be
a trial OF gloom or good cheer? Can any one
between now and the next 100 years say of
us truthfully as the text says OF the leviathan
Of the deep, "He maketh path to shine
kfter himW 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
liable, and chisel in the same studio, and
thrash In the same barn, and worship in the
same church, We are in motion and are 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
I 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 and halt, but the
feet OF not one moment for the last sixty GEN.
turtles has tripped or stumbled or halted.
Moving on! Society moving on! The world
moving on! Heaven moving on! The uni
verse moving oni 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 crea-
lure OF the text, making our path to shine
liter use? It may be O peculiar question,
put my text suggests 1t.
What influence will we leave In this world
Swer hundreds OF voices; 1--WE are not one oi
the immortals. Fifty years after we are out
Of the world twill be as though we never in
hsbfted It. You are wrong In saying that.
pass down through this audience and up
through these galleries, and am looking for
come one whom I cannot find.
: am looking for one who will have no in
duence In this world 100 years from now.
But have found the man who has the least
Influence, and Inquire into his history, and
find that by q yes or no he decided some
ones eternity. In time OF temptation he gave
an afarmstive or q negative to some tempta.
uon which another. hearing OF, was induced
10 decide In the same way.
4 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 a
path to shine after him? Will that mother
make path to shine after her? You will be
walking along 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.
ardice, your purity or your depravity, your
holiness or your sin. You will make the
path to shine after you or blacken after you.
Why should they point out to US on some
mountain two rivulets, one OF which passes
Pacific Ocean, and the other rivulet flowing
, dowpinto the rivers which pass out into the
Atlantic Ocean2 Every man, every woman,
stands at point where words uttered, OF
deeds done, or prayers offered, decide oppo'
site destinies and opposite eternities. We
see man planting tree, and treading soc
on either side of 1t, and watering 1t In dry
weather, and taking great care IN It's cul
ture, and he never plucks any fruits from Its
Ibough. But his children will. We are al
| planting trees that will yield fruit hundred:
. Of years after we are dead-orchards OF gol
/ den fruit or groves OF deadly upas.
am so fascinated with the phosphor
escence in the track OF a ship that have
sometimes watched for a long while and have
seen nothing on the face Of the deep bu
blackness. The mouth OF watery chasm
that looked like gaping jaws OF hell. Not |
spark as big as q nre1y; not white scrol
OF surf not taper to illuminate the might!
sepulchers Of dead ships; darkness 5000 fee
deep, and more thousands OF feet long apt
wide. That is the kind OF wake that bat
man leaves behind him as he plows through
the ocean Of this life toward the vaster oceal
Of the great future.
Now, suppose man seated 10 corne
grocery or business Office among clerks give
himself to jolly skepticsm. He lau CHS a
the Bible, makes sport Of the miracles
speaks Of perdition In jokes and laughs q
revivals as frolic, and at the passage OF