The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1894-02-19

lynn babernac1e this forenoon. Rev. Dr.
Ialmage preached an unusually at
tractive and eloquent gospel sermon
to a crowded audience who listened
with rapt interest. The subject was
tine Lightning IF the Sea" the text
selected being Job M xxxi He
maketh path to shine after him.
IF for the next thousand years min-
listers of religion should preach from
this Bible there viii yet be texts un-
ezpounded and unexplained, and un-
appreciated- What little has been said
concerning this chapter ln 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 i know not
Some say Il was a whale. Some say lt
was a crocodile. My own opinion is #
was see monster now extinct. NO
creature now floating IN Mediterranean
or Atlantic waters corresponds to Jobs
description
What most interests me is that as ST
moved On through the deep it left the
wa tiers flashing and resplendent. In
tie words Of the text. HE maketh a
path to shine after him What was
chat illumined path2 Ut was phospho-
rescence. You find 1T in the wake Of a
ship in the night, especially after
rough wea Their. hOsphorescence is
the lightning of the sea- That this
figure Of speech is correct in de-
scribing its appearance am certi-
fed bv an incident. After crossing the
Atlantic the first time and writ
ing from Basic, Switzerland to an
American an account Of my voyage. ia
which nothing more fascinated me than
the phosph orescenee in the ships wake,
4 called 81 the lightning of the sea
Returning 30 my hotel ] found book
of ohm RuslSin, and the first sentence
my eyes fell upon was his description
of phosp horescence. in which he called
IT The Lightning Of the Sea. Down
to the Iostofice fastened to
get THE manuscript ana with
great labor and some expense
60 possession Of the magazine arti-
Gle and put quotation marks around
that one sentence. although it was as
original with me as with John RusIzln-
Il suppose that nine enths ofyou living
SO near the sea-coast have watched
this marine appearance called phos-
phorescence and hope that the other
one tenth may some day be so happy
as to witness it, IL is the waves Of the
sea diamondeds 1t is the indorescence F
of THE pillows. the waves of the sea
crinsoned. a S was the deep after the
sea on fire There are times when
from horizon to horizon the entire
ocean seems in confagra ton with this
strange spleador. as it changes every
moment to tanner or more dazzling
color ON all sides Of you. You sit look +
ing over the tahraI Of the yacht or
ocean steamer watching and waiting
to SEE what new thing the God OF
beauty viii do with the Atlantic
1t Us the ocean ina s6guration: /
it IS the marine world casting its gar
ments Of rlo-y Ia the pathway Of the /
A mighty as he walks the deep 1T is
an inverted Ornament with all its
stars gone down with It'll No picture can f
present it, for photographer camera f
can not be successfully trained to
catch it. and before 81 the hand Of the f
painter drops it's pencil overawed and T
poverless This phosphorescence is
the appearance of myriads Of the anil
mai kingdom rising. falling. playing,
flashing, living, dying. These lumi-
nous animo lcules for nearly one hum
dred and fifty years have been the
study of naturalists and the fascina-
ton and colonization of all who have
brain enough to think Now Cod
who puts ia his Bible nothing trivial
or useless. calls the attention of Job.
the greatest scientist OF his day, TO
this phosph creseence, and as the
1eviathan Of the deep sweeps
past points out the fact that he
maketh path TO shine after him. g
Is that true Of rs now and wiz il be
true DE IFS when we have gomez VIII
there be subsequent light or darkness?
VITA there Be Is trail of gloom or good
cEeer2 Can any one between now and
the next 100 years say Of us trnthfuly
as the text says of the leviathan OF the
deep. He maSeth path to shine after
him2" For we are moving on While
we live in the same house. and tran-
sact bus ~ess is the same store, and
write pa the same table. and chisel ia
the same studio ana thresh III the
same barn. and worship in the same
church, VIE are in motion and are in
many respects moving on. and we are
not where we were ten years ago, nor
where we VIII be ten years hence.
Moving onl Look ait the family record.
or the almanac. or into the mirror.
and see if any one Of You lis where Won
were AM in motion. Other feet may
trip. and Stun bic, and halt but the
feet of mot one moment for the last
sixty centuries has tripped or
stumbled. or halted. Moving onl So
Getty moving on. The world m0vino
-nl Heaven moving ON. The universe
moving on Time moving on
Eternity moving onl Therefore it
8 absurd to think that we our
selves can stop. as we must move with
all the rest Are we like the creature
Of the text. mal1ing our path to shine
after us2 1T may be a peculiar ques-
ton. but my text suggests it.
What influence will we leave in
.his world after zve have gone
through it2 m one. answer hundreds
81 voices tavve are Dotone ST the irurlcr-