Connecticut western news., 1894-02-22
A PATH THAT SHINES.
REV. pR. TALMAGE BREACHES UPON THE LIGHTNING OF THE SEA.

REV. pR. TALMAGE BREACHES UPON
 THE LIGHTNING OF THE SEA. An Unasaally Attractive and Eloquent Ser
 nsa-Ths Pathway of the Almigaty-An
 of 0eed Dseas-
 BRooKLYN. Feb. 1S.-In the Brooklyn Tabernacle this forenoon Rev. Dr. Tal- mage preached an unusually attractive and eloquent gospel sermon to crowd ed audience. who listened with rapt in terest. The subject was "The Lightning of tho Sea-" the text selected being Job xii, 82, He maketh path to shine after him."
 If for the next thousand years minis ters of religion should preach from this Bible, there will yet be texts unexpound- cd and unexplained and 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 leviathan described as disturbing the sea. What creature it was know not. Some say it was a whale. Some say 1t was a crocodile. My own opinion is 1t was sea monster now ex- tinct- No creature now floating in Ned iterranean or Atlantic waters core spends to Jobs description.
 LIGHTNING OF THE SRA.
 What most interests me is that as it moved on through the deep it left the waters flashing and resplendent. In the words of the text, "He maketh path to shine after him." What was that il- lumined path? It was phosphorescence. You find it in the wake of a ship in the night, especially after rough weather. Phoephorescence is the lightning of the sea- That this figure of speech is cor rect in describing it's appearance am certified by an incident. After crossing the Atlantic the first time and writing from Basic, Switzerland, to an Ameri- can magazine an account of my voyage, in which nothing more fascinated me than the phosphorescence in the ships wake, I called it the lightning of the sea. Returning to my hotel, found book of John Ruskin. and the first sentence my eyes fell upon was his description of phosphorescence, in which he called it ''the lightning of the sea-
 Down to the postoffice hastened to get the manuscript, and with great labor and some expense got possession of the magazine article and put quotation marks around that one sentence, al- though 1t was as original with me as with John Ruskin. suppose that nine tenths of you living so near the sea- coast have watched this marine appear ance called phosphorescence, and hope that the other one-tenth may some day be so happy as to witness it. It is the waves of the sea diamonded; it is the in- horescence of the pillows; the waves of the sea crimsoned 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 con- dagration with this strange splendor as 1t 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 trans6guration; it is the marine world casting it's garments of glory in the pathway of the Almighty as he walks the deep; it is an inverted firma- ment with all it's stars gone down with 1t. No picture can present it, for pho- tographer's camera cannot be success fully trained to catch it, and before it the hand of the painter drops it's pencil, overawed and powerless.
 This phosphorescence is the appear ance of myriads 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 sol emnization of all who have brain enough to think. Now, God, who puts in his Bible nothing trivial or useless, 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 "he maketh path to shine after him."
 WAKE MADE BY BAD MAN,
 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 trail of gloom or good cheer7 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 after him" For we are moving on. While we live in the same house, and transact business in the same store, and write on the same table, 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 fhov- ing on, and we are not where we were 10 years ago, nor where we will be 10 years hence. Moving on!
 Look at the family record, or the al- manac, or into the mirror, and see if any one of you is where you were. All in motion. Other feet may trip and stum- ble and halt. but the feet of not one mo- ment for the last 60 centuries has tripped or stumbled or halted. Moving onl So- ciety moving onl The world moving onl Heaven moving oni The universe mov- ing oni Time moving oni Eternity nov ing oni Therefore it is absurd to think that we ourselves can stop, as we must move with all the rest. Are we like the creature of the text. making our path to shine after us7 It may be a peculiar question, but my text suggests it.
 What influence will we leave in this world after we have gone through it? None" answer hundreds of voices; i've arc not one of the immortals. Fifty years after we are out of the world it will be as though we never inhabited it. 1" You are wrong in saying that. I pass down through this audience and up through these galleries, and am look ing for some one whom cannot find.
 am looking for one who will have no influence in this world 100 years from now. But I have found the man who has the least influence, and I inquire into his history, and find that by . yes or no he decided some one's eternity. In time of temptation he gave an affirm ative or . negative to some temptation which another hearing of was induced