The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1894-03-01
AT THE TABERNACLE.
HCleHTNING OF THE SEA" THE SUB
lJEcT OF Or. TALMAGE'S SERMON.

uo T,L,ps Man's.Journey Through Lilo to
asb,p,a Coureo Throuah h tho Ooean--Our
Worth Is Known by tho Good Deeds
That Live After Us.
BROOKLYN; Feb. l8.--In the Brook
lyn Tabernacle this forenoon Rev. DR..
Tslmase preached an uuusally attrac'
tive and eloquent gospel sermon TO q
crowded audience, who listened with
rapt interest. Tho subject WIS "Thc
Lightning of tho Sea-" the text selected
being Job xii, 50, Tile maketh patl
to shine after him."
If for the next thousand years MINIS
ters of:religlon should preach from thi:
Bible, there will yet bo texts uncX-
pounded and unexplained and uuappre-
ciated. What little has bern said con
corning this chapter in JOB from which
my text is taken bears on the conlro-
versy as to what was really the lcvIa-
than described as disturbing the sea
What creature it was know not. S)u1e
cay it was whale. Some say it was n
crocodile. My own opinion is it was
sea monster now extinct. No creature
now floating in Mediterranean or Atlau-
tic waters corresponds TO jobs dcscrlp.
ton.
What mcst interests me is that as it
moved on through tho deep it left ;ho
waters flashing and respleudent. In the
words of toe text, "IIc maketh 4 paAh
to shine after him." What was that
llumiped path? II wes phOsphovcscenCe.
You find it in the wake OF snip in
tho night, especially alter rough weather.
PhOsphoreecenCo IS the lightAing Of the
sea. That this figure Of speech is cor.
rect in describing its appearance an
certified by an incident. After C, o3slng
tho Atlantic the fist time and writing
from Basic, Switzerland, to an Amcri-
can magazine al account Of my voyage,
in which nothing moro fascinated mc
than the ph@sphoresCence in the ships
wake, called it the lightning of The sea
Returning 70 my hotel. l found book
fJohn Ruskln, and the first sentence
my eyes fell upon w1s his description OF
phosphoresccncc, iu which he called il
''tho lightning of tue sea-"
Down to tho postollice l hatened TO get
the manuscript, and with g,eat labor
and some expense got possession of tho
magazine article and put quotation marks
around that one sentence, although il
was as original with me as with John
Ruskip. l eupposed that niue tenths
OF you living 30 near tho seacoasJ have
watched this marineEappearance called
phosphorescencc, andaa,L hope that, the
other one.tcnth may some day be 30
happy as to witness it. 1t 10 the waves
OF the sea diamonded. II is tho inflorcs.
cence OF the billows--tho waves of the
sea crimsoncd, ns was the deep after the
sea tight OF Lepanto--the waves Of Tho
sea on fire.
There are times when from horizon L(
horizon tho entire ocean aeoms in conill-
grafton With this strange splendor as i
changes every moment 10 taEncr Ol
more dazzling color on all sides Of you
You sit looking Ovor the tallraiJ OF the
yacht or ocean steamer, watching nnl
waiting to sec what new thing tho Goo
OF beauty Will do with tho Atlau tic. II
ID the ocean in TRANSPORTATION; it is The
marine world casting lts garments O
glory in the pathway of the Almighty as
he walks the deep; it is as inverted fir
mament with ali its stars gone dowl
with 1T. No picture can present it, iol
photographers camera cannot bp sue,
cessfully trained TO catch it aud before
it the hand of the painter drops it's peu .
Gil, overawed and poworless.
Thls.phosphoresCence is the appearance
of myriads Of the animal kingdom rising,
falling, playing, flashing, living, diving.
These luminous anlmalcules for nearly
$50 years have been the study of natural
lists and the fascination and solemnIzntion
of all who have brain enough to think.
Now, God, who Bputs in his Bible moth
Ing trivial or useless, calls the attention
OF Job, tho greatest scientist Of his day,
TO this phosphoresccnes, and as tho levia.
than OF the deep sweeps past points out
the fact that ''ho makoth g path TO shine
alter him."
10 that true OF us now and will 1t be
true OF us when we have gone? Will
there be subsequent light or darkness?
Will there be u trail OF gloom or good
cheer? Can any ono between now and
the next 100 years say Of us truthluily as
the text says of the leviathan o. 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, anc
thrash in The eamc barn, and worship
In the same church, we are in motion
and are IN many respects moving 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 tho al
manac, or luto the mirror, and see if ,ny
one of youiis where you were. All in mo.
tlon. Other feet may trip and stumble
and halt, but the feet of not one moment
for the last 60 centuries has tripped OF
stumbled or halted. Moving on! Society
moving on! The world moving on!
Heaven moving on! The universe NOV,
ing onl Time moving Oh! Eternity
moving on! 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 usp 1t may be a
peculiar question, but my text suggests
1t.
What influence will we leave in this
world after we have gone through it2
"None," answer hundreds of voices;
I'VE are not one of the immortals. Flf.