National Baptist world., 1894-10-26
JONAH'S DISOBEDIENCE.
Dr.. Talmage Draws a Timely Les
son from the Story.
To-Day, as Then, There Are Those Who
VIII Not Listen to Divine Injunc-
tions and Are Swallowed Up
in the Waves of Sin.

PISS AeCF' A. D6N lCC Ialmage chose
for his subject The Oarsmen De-
feated, the text being from Jonah l..
13, IA; The men rowed hard to bring
1t to land, but they could not; where
tore they cried unto the Lord"
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 tc
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 Of the vessel You
would not venture outside your harDor
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 a 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. It is very
hard thing to scare sailors I have
seen them. when the brow of the YES
sci was almost under water, and thev
were walking the deck knee-deep in
the surf, and the small boats bv the
side of the vessel had been crushed as
small as kindling wood, whistling as
though nothing had happened; but the
81 T
speak were frightened. That which
sailors call "a lump Of a sea" had be-
come binding, deafening, swamping
fury How mad the wind can get at
the water, and the water can get at
the wind, you do not know unless you
have been spectators. [ 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 200 miles off New
foundland. Oh, what night that was!
l 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 to
throw him overheard. Sailors are
generous-hearted race. and they re-
solved to make their escape, if possi-
BILE, without reSOrting to such extreme
measures. The sails are of no use, and
SO they lay hold on their oars. | 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 row.
ing upon a 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 wave that
crashes the last mast, and sweeps the
oarsmen from their places, and tum bles
evervthino l.a- cor. fsss:-s,, C r,n-e., Z
ing shipwrecl1, or, as my text has it,
''the men rowed hard to bring it to
they cried unto the Lord"
This scene is very suggestive to me,
and | pray God | may have grace and
strength enough to represent it in
telligently to you. Years ago |
preached sermon on another phase of
this very subject, and I got letter
from Houston, Tex. the writer saying
that the reading Of that sermon in Lon
don had led him to God And | re-
ceived another letter from SouthAustra-
liza, saying that the reading of that SER
mon in Australia had brought several
souls to Christ And then, thought.
why not 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 salvation to the people who shall |
hear, and salvation to the people who |
shall read. Men and women who know
how to pray, lay hold of the Lord |
God Almighty and wrestle for the |
blessing.
Bishop Latimer would stop some
times in his sermon, in the midst of his |
argument, and say: "Now, | will tell |
you fable" and to-day l would like |
TO bring the scene Of the text as an IL |
lustration of most important religious |
truth. AS those Mediterranean oars
men, trying to bring Jonah ashore,
were discomfitted, / have to tell you |
that they are not the only men who
have broken down on their paddles |
and have been obliged to call on the
Lord for help. l want to say that the
unayailing efforts of those Mediter-
ranean oarsmen have a counterpart in
the efforts we are making to bring
souls to the shore of safety and set |
their feet on the Rock of Ages. You
have father, or mother, or husband, |
or wife. Or child, Or near friend, who is
not a Christian. There have been
times when you have been in agony
about their salvation.
A minister of Christ, whose wife was
dying without any hope in Jesus,
walked the floor, wrung his hands,
cried bitterly and said: Il believe |
shall go insane for I know she is not
prepared to meet God" And there may
have been days of sickness in your
when you feared it would
be a fatal sickness; and how closely
you examined the face of the doctor as
he came in and scrutinized the patient,
and felt the pulse. and you followed
him into the next room and, said:
''There isn't any danger, is there doc
tori" And the hesitation and uncer-
tainty of the reply made two eternities
fash before your vision. And then you
went and talked to the sick one about |