Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1894-10-20
THEY CALLED ON GOD
DR.. TALMAGE FINDS MANY LESSONS
IN ONE TEXT OF JONAH.
Tho Attempt to Get Away From Obedience

to God Always Leads One Into Storm
Tho Kind Hearted sniIors-God's WAY
of Giving Help.
BROOKLYN, Oct. 14.-Rev. DR.. Tai
mage, who is still absent on his round
the world tour, has selected as tho sub
ject of today's sermon through the pres:
"The Oarsmen Defeated" the text cho
sen being Jonah i, 10, IA, 1.-THE mer
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 il
early times Vessels were propelled
partly by sail and partly by oar. When,
by reason of great stress Of weather, il
was necessary to reef the canvas or haul
it III, then tho vessel was entirely de-
pendent upon tho oars, sometimes 20 Oh
80 of them Oh either side the vessel.
You would not venture outside your
harbor with such q craft as my text
finds Jonah sailing in, but he had moi
much choice of vessels. He was running
away from tho Lord, and when a man
is running away from the Lord he ha:
to run very fast.
Tho Dlsobedient Prophet.
God had told Jonah to go to NineveE
to preach about the destruction of that
city. Jonah disobeyed. That Away:
makes rough water, whether in the Med
iterranean, or the Atlantic, or tho Pa.
ciflc, or the Caspian sea. 1t is q very
hard thing to scare sailors. have seen
them, when the brow 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 kin.
ding wood, whistling as though moth
ling had happened, but the Bible says
that these mariners Of whom speak
were frightened.
That which sailors call "a lump Of O
sea- has become binding, deafening,
swapping fury. How mad the wind
j can get at the water, and the water can
| get at the wind, you do not know un'
legs you have been spectators. have IL
my house piece of the sail of 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 200
! miles off Newfoundland. Oh, what q
night that was suppose it was in
some such storm as this that Jonah
was caught.
He knew that the tempest was on his
account, and he asked the sailors tc
throw him overheard Sailors are gen.
erons hearted race, and they resolved tc
make their escape, if possible, without
resorting to such extreme measures.
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 yes.
sci. Oh, how they did pull, the bronzed
seamen, as they lay back into the oars
! But rowing on the sea is very different
from rowing upon river, and as the
vessel hoists the oars skip the wave and
miss the stroke and tho tempest laughs
to scorn tho flying paddles. 1t is of nc
use, no USE There comes wave that
crashes the last mast and sweeps the
oarsmen from their places and tumble:
everything in the confusion of impend'
ing shipwreck, or, as my text has it,
"The men rowed hard to bring it tc
the land, but they could not, wherefore
they cried unto the Lord. y
Converted by Reading of 1t.
This scene is very suggestive to me,
and I pray God l may have grace and
strength enough to represent it intelli'
gently to you. Years ago I preached
sermon on another phase of this very
subject, and got letter from Houston,
Tex, the writer saying that tho read
ing of that sermon in London had led
him to God. And I received another
letter from South Australia, saying that
the reading of that sermon i'll Australia
had brought several souls to Christ.
And then, l thought, why not now take
another phase of the Same subject, fol
perhaps that God who can raise in pow,
er that which is sown in weakness may
now, through another phase of the same
subject, bring salvation to tho people
who shall hear and salvation to the
people who shall read Men and wom'
en- who know how to pray, lay hold Of
the Lord God Almighty, and wrestle
for the blessing
Bishop Latimer would stop sometimes
in his sermon, in the midst of his argu'
ment, and say, Now, will tell you
fable" and today would like to bring
the scene of the text as an illustration
of a most important religious truth. AS
those Mediterranean oarsmen trying tc
bring Jonah ashore were discounted,
have to tell you that they were moi
the only men who have broken down or
their paddles and have been obliged tc
call on the Lord for help. want to say
that the unavailing efforts of those Med
itorranean onrsmen have counterpart
in tho efforts we are making to bring
souls to the shore of safety aud SCI
their feet on the Rock Of Ages You
have a father or mother or husband o.
wife OF child or near friend who is NO
Christian. There have been times
when you have been in agony abou
their salvation.
Agony of Uncertainty.
A minister of Christ, whose wife wa
dying without any hope in Jesus walk
ed the floor, wrung his hands, cried bit
terly and said, 81 believe shall go in
sane, for 1 know she is not prepared tt
meet God And there may have beer
days of sickness in your household, whel
you feared it would be fatal sickness
and how closely you examined the face
Of the doctor as he came in and scru
tinted the patient and felt the pulse
and you followed him into the mex
room and said, "There isn't any dan
ger, is there, doctor?' Aud the hesita
ton and the uncertainty of the reply
made two eternities fash before you
vision. And then you went and talked
to the sick one about the great future
Oh there are those here who have tried