The Bossier banner., 1894-11-29
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
A Timely Lesson Drawn From the
Disobedience of Jonah.
To-Day. as Then, There Are Those Who
VIII Not Listen to Divine Injunc-
tions, and Are Swallowed Up
in the Waves of Sin.

1
following sermon for publication this
week. Its subject is: ''The Oarsmen
| Defeated" being based on the text:
| The men rowed hard to bring it to the land,
but they could not; wherefore they cried unto
| the Lord.-Jonah l., 13-14
Navigation in the Mediterranean sea
always was perilous, especially so in
early times. Vessels were propelled
partly by sail and partly by oar. When,
by reason of great stress of weather, it
was necessary to reef the canvas 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
outside your harbor with such 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 man is running away from the
Lord, he has to run very fast.
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
Mediterranean, or the Atlantic, or the
Pacific, or the Caspian sea. 1t is very
hard thing to scare sailors. l have
seen them when the prov of the vessel
was almost under water, and they were
walking the deck knee-deep in the
surf, and the small boats by the side
of the vessel had been crushed as small
as kindling wood, whistling as though
nothing had happened; but the Bible
says these mariners of whom / speak
| g. L.
ors call "a lump of sea- had become
q binding, deafening, swamping fury.
How mad the wind can get at the wa
ter and the water can get at the wind
you do not know unless you have been
spectators. I have in my house the
piece of sail of a 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 two hundred miles
off Newfoundland. Oh, what a night
that was! l suppose it was in some such
storm as this that Jonah was caught.
He knew that the temptest 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, with
out resorting to such extreme meas
ures. The sails are of no use, and SO
they lay hold on their oars. l see the
long bank of shining blades on either
side the vessel. Oh! how they did pull,
the bronZed seamen, as they laid back
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 tempest laughs to scorn the flying
paddles. 1t is of no use, no use. There
comes w ave that crashes the last mast
and sweeps the oarsmen from their
places, and tumbles everything in the
confusion of impending shipwreck, or,
as my text has it, 1.-THE men rowed
hard to bring it to the land; but they
could not; wherefore they cried unto
the Lord"
This scene is very suggest i've to me
and pray God l may have grace and
J strength enough to represent it intelli
gently to you. Years ago preached a
sermon on another phase of this very
subject, and l got a letter from Hous-
ton, Tex, the writer saying that the
reading of that sermon in London had
led him to God. And received anoth
er letter from South Australia, saying
that the reading of that sermon in
Australia had brought several souls to
Christ And then, thought, why no
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 salv a
tion to the people who shall hear, and
| salvation to the people who shall read.
Men and women, who know how tt
pray, lay hold of the Lord God Al
mighty, and wrestle for the blessing.
l have to tell you that the unvailine
efforts of these Mediterranean oarsmeI
, have a counterpart in the efforts some
of us are making to bring our children
to the shore of safety. There never
] were so many temptations for young
3 people as there are are now. The lit
erary and the social influences seem t,
t be against their spiritual interests
Christ seems to be driven almost en-
: tirely from the school and the pleas
a urable concourse, yet God knows
how anxious we are for children
I We eau not think of going int
. Heaven without them. We do not wan
] to leave this life while they are tossins
t on the waves of temptation and ava,
0 from God. From which of them coult
t we consent to be eternally separated
i Would it be the son? Would it be th'
3 daughter? Would it be the eldest
: Would it be the youngest? Would
S be the one that is well and stout, o
e the one that is sick? Oh, l hea
I some parent saying tonight: 6
I have tried my best to bring m,
t children to Christ. / have laid hol'
of the oars until they bent in m.
grasp, and l have acedmyself agains
y the ribs of the boat, and have pulle,
, for their eternal rescue; but can't ge
il them to Christ" Then / ask you t
I initiate the men of the text and or
4 nightly unto God. We want more i'm
Fortunate praying for children. sue