The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1894-10-24
DISOBEDIENCE.
Rev. r. Dewitt Talmage On the
Disobedienoe of Jonah.
lIe Had Set ut Naught the Command OF the
Lord, But Found 1t Impossible to
Escape the Consequences OF
His DlsobedienCe.

The following discourse illustrative
of the certainty of punishment for dis
obedience of divine command was Sc
lected by Rev. 7. Dewitt Talmage for
publication this week. It is based on
the text:
The men rowed hard to bring it to the land,
but they could not; wherefore they cried unto
the Lord.-Jonah l., 1914
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 to 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
the vessel. You would not venture
outside your harbor 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 g4to 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. 1t is very
hard thing to scare sailors. I have
seen them when the Prov of the vessel
was almost under water, and they were
walking the deck knee-deep in the
surf, and the small boats by the side
of the vessel had been crushed as small
as kindling wood, whistling as though
nothing had happened; but the Bible
says these mariners of whom speak
were: frightened. That which sail
ors call s'a lump Of sea" had become
binding, deafening, swauaping fury.
How mad the wind can get at the wa
ter and the water can get at the wind
you do not know unless you have been
spectators. have in my house the
piece of a sail of 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 two hundred miles
off Newfoundland. Oh, what a night
that was! suppose it was in some such
storm as this that Jonah was caught.
He knew that the temptest was on
his account, and he asked the sailors to
throw him overheard. Sailors are gen
erous-hearted race, and they resolved
to make their escape, If possible, with
out resorting to such extreme meas
ures. The sails are of no use, and so
they lay hold on their oars. I 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 rowing 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 tumbles everything in the
confusion Of impending shipwreck, or,
as my text has it, "The men rowed
hard to bring it to the lend; but they
could not; wherefore they cried unto
the Lord"
This scene is very suggestive to me,
and I pray God I may have grace and
strength enough to represent it intelli-
gently to you. Years ago preached q
sermon on another phase of this very
subject, and Igot letter from Hous-
ton, Tex, the writer saying that the
reading of that sermon in London had
led him to God. And Ireceived anoth-
er letter from South Australia, saying
that the reading of that sermon. in
Australia had brought several souls to
Christ. And then, I 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 saliva
tion 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 Al
mighty, 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 would like
to bring the scene of the text as an
illustration of most important re-
ligions truth. AS those Mediterranean
oarsmen trying to bring Jonah ashore,
were discomftted, I have to tell you
that they were not the only men who
have broken down on their paddles and
have been obliged to call on the Lord
for help. Ivyant to say that the unavail-
ing efforts of those Mediterranean
oarsmen have n 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 IA
ther, or mother, or husband, or wife,
or child, or near friend, who is not q
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: