The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1894-02-23
A PATH THAT SHINES.
REV. DR.. TALMAGE breaches UPON
THE LIGHTNING OF THE SEA.

An Unusually Attractive and Eloquent Ser
mon-The Pathway of the Almighty--Al
Irradiated Wave of GIadness-The Gloy
of Good Deeds.
BROOKLYN, Feb. 18.-In the Brooklyn
Tabernacle this forenoon Rev. DIR. Tai
mage preached an unusually attractiv,
and eloquent gospel sermon to crowd
ed audience, who listened with rapt in
terest. The subject was THE Lightning
Of the Sea" the text selected being Jot
XII, 80, "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
ed and unexplained and unappreciated
What little has been said concerning this
chapter in Job from which my text il
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 whale.
Some say it was crocodile. My own
opinion is it was sea monster now ex-
tinct. No creature now floating in Med
iterranean or Atlantic waters CORE
spends to Jobs description.
LIGHTNING OF THE SEA.
What most interests me is that as 1t
moved on through the deep it left the
waters flashing and Respondent. In the
words of the text, "He maketh a path
to shine after him." What was that il
lumined path? 1t was phosphorescence
You find it in the wake of a ship in the
night, especially after rough weather
Phosphorescence 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, 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
1.-The lightning of the sea-"
Down to the postoffice / fastened to
get the manuscript, and with greatlabor
and some expense got possession of the
magazine article AMI put quotation
marks around that one sentence, al
though it 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. 1t is the
waves of the sea diamonded; it is the in
forescence 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-
iagration with this strange splendor as |
t 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 |
IF beauty will do with the Atlantic. It |
Is the ocean in TRANSPORTATION; it is the |
marine world casting its garments of |
glory in the pathway of the Almighty as
le walks the deep; it is an inverted firma-
nent with all its stars gone down with |
t. No picture can present it, for pho
camera cannot be success
ully trained to catch it, and before it
he hand of the painter drops it's pencil,
and powerless.
This phosphorescence is the appear
nee of myriads Of the animal kingdom
Using, falling, playing, flashing, living,
lying. These luminous animalcules for
learly 100 years have been the study of
and the fascination and SOL
animation of all who have brain enough
o think. Now, God, who puts in his
Bible nothing trivial or useless, calls the
.ttention of Job, the greatest scientist
# his day, to this phosphorescence, ard
IS the leviathan of the deep sweeps past
,oints out the fact that she maketh
,ath to shine after him."
WAKE MADE BY A BAD MAN
Is that true of us now, and will it be
rue of us when we have gone? Will
here be subsequent light or darkness?
Will there be a trail of gloom or good
heerP Can any one between now and
he next 100 years say of us truthfully
S the text says of the leviathan of the
eep, HE maketh path to shine after
imT For we are moving on. While
ye live in the same house, and transact
usiness in the same store, and write on
be same table, and chisel in the same
tudio, and thrash in the same barn, and
yorship in the same church, we are in
notion and are in many respects NOV
lg on, and we are not where we were
0 years ago, nor where we will be 10 /
ears hence. Moving on!
Look at the family record, or the al
,anac, or into the mirror, and see if any !
ne of you is where you were. All in
lotion. Other feet may trip and STUN {
lie and halt, but the feet of not one mo- !
lent for the last go centuries has tripped
r stumbled or halted. Moving on! So
iety moving on! The world moving onl c
Ieaven moving on! The universe NOV
" oni Time moving oni Eternity NOV {
X onl Therefore it is absurd to think !
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