The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-02-19


surf; not taper TO illuminate the mighty
| sepuichres of dead ships darkness three
/ thousand feet deep, and more thousands
of feet long ana wide That IS the kind
OF wake that a bad man leaves behind
him as he plows through the ocean Of
this life toward the yaster ocean of the
/ great future.
! Now. suppose a man seated in a corner
! grocery. or b siness office among clerks,
| gives himself to jolly scepticism. He
| laughs at the Bible, makes sport of the
miracles, speaks of perdition in jokes
and laughs at revivals as a frolic, and at
the passage of a funeral procession,
which always solemnizes sensible people
says; Boys, let's take a drink" There
! is in that group young man who is max
| ing great struggle against temptation,
and prays night ard morning and reads
! his Bi ole, and is asking God for help day
! by day. But that guffaw against Chris
tianity makes him lose his grip of sacred
| things, and he gives up sabbath, and
! church, and morals, and goes from bad 10
worse, till he falls under designations,
| dies in lazar house and is buried in the
| pOtter's field. Another young man,
| who heard that jolly scepticism
made up his mind that lit makes
| no difference what we do or say, for
we will all come out at last at the right
| place began, as consequence, to pur-
I
hands for Others he applied to his own
| uses, thinking, perhaps, he would make il
straight some other time, and all would
be well even if he did not make it straight.
He ends in the penitenttary. That scoffer
who uttered the jokes against Christianity
never realized what bad work he was
doing, and he passed on through life, and
out of it, and into future that l am not
now going TO depict l do not propose
with searchlight 10 show the breakers
of the awfnl coast on which that ship is
wrecked, for my business now is to watch
the sea after the keel has plowed. No
phosphorescence in the wake of that ship,
but behind il two souls struggling in the
wave; two young men destroyed by
reckless scepticism, an unillumined
ocean beneath, and on all sides of
them. Blackness of darkness. You know
what a glorlously good man Rev. John
Newton was, the most of his life, but be-
fore his conversion, he was a very wicked
sailor, and, on boardsthe ship Harwich,
instilled infdelity and vice in the mind of
young man, principles which DESTROYED
him. Afterward the two met and New
ton tried to undo his bad work, but in
vain. The young man became worse
and worse, and died profiigate, horrify-
ing with his profanities those who stood
by him in his last moments. Better look
out what bad influence you start for you
may not 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 food nearly destroyed New Or
leans2 A craw6sh had burrowed into the
banks of the river until the ground was
saturated, and the banks weakened until
the flood bnrst.
But find here man who starts out in
life with the determination that he will
never see suffering but he will try to al
leviate it; and never see Encouragement
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 high pur-
pose Of doing all the good he can possibly
do in one day. Whether standing behind
the counter, or taking in the business Of
fee with pen behind his ear, or making
bargain with a fellow trader, or out in
the fields discussing with his next
neigh Dor the wisest rotation of crops, or
in the shOemaker's shop pounding the
sole-leather, there is something in his
face, and in his phraseology, and in his
manner, that demonstrates the grace Of
God in his heart. He can talk on religion
without awkwardlY dragging it in by the
ears. He loves God, and loves the
souls of all whom he meets, and
IS Interested in their pres
emit and eternal destiny. For ffty or
y
then gets through with it and goes into
heaven ransomed soul. But am not go
ing to describe the port into which that
ship has entered. / am not going to de-
scribe the Pilot who met him outside at
the "lightship" l am not going to say
anything about the crowds of friends who
met him on the crystalline wharves, up
which he goes on steps lof chrysoprases
For God, in his words to Job, calls me to
look at the path OF foam in the wake of
that ship, and | tell you it is all a-gleam
with splendOrs of kindness done, and roll
ing with illumined tears that were wiped
away, and a-dash with CONGRATULATIONS.
and clear out to the horizon in all direc-
ttons is the sparkling, flashing, billowing
phosphorescence of Christian life. He
maketh path TO shine after him"
And here l correct one of the mean no
tions which at some time takes possession
ofall Of US, and that is as to the brevity.of
human life. When bury some very use
full man, clerical or lay, in his thirtieth or
fortieth year, l say, what a waste of
energies Ii was hardly worth while for
Christian work, for he had so soon TO
quit it," But the fact is that l may in
sure any man or woman who does any
good on a large or small scale for life
on earth as long as the world lasts. Sick
ness, troIley-car accidents, death itself
can no more destroy his life than they
can tear down 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 halt as long as God
lives.
There were in the seventeenth century
men and women whose names YOU never
heard of who are today influencing
schools, colleges, churches, nations. You
can no more measure the gracious results
of their lifetime than you could measure
the length, and breadth, and depth of the
phosphorescence last night following the
ship Of the White Star line 800 miles out
at sea. How the courage and conservation
of others inspires us to follow, as a gen
eral in the American army. cool amid the
flying bullets, inspired a trembling soldier.
who said afterwards, Il was nearly scared
to death, but | saw the old mans white
mustache over his shoulder, and went
on Aye, we are all following
somebody, either in right or wrong
directions. A few days ago l stood
beside the gartanded casket of a gospel
minister, and in my remarks had occasion
10 recall snowy night in farmhouse
when was boy, and an evangelist
spending night at my fathers house.
VINO SAID something so tender, and beauti-
full, and impressive that il led me into
the kingdom of God, and dedlded my des-
tiny for this world and the next. You