The Globe-republican., 1894-02-23
A SHINING PATH.
Dr.. Talmaye Discourses on the
Lightning OF the Sea.
From Which He Makes Some Useful De-
ductions for the Benefit of the Hu-
man Family-A Few OBJ
ject Lessons.

In a late sermon at Brooklyn Rev
L. Dewitt Talmage took for his sub
ject: The Lightning of the Sea, ,ht
text selected being Job. xii 81: ''H'
maketh a path to shine after him
DR.. Talmage said:
If for the next thous and years minis
ters of religion should preach from thi.
Bible there will yet ne texts uneX
pounded, and unexplained. and unap
preciated. What little has been said
concerning this chapter in Job, from
which my text is taken, bears on the
controversy as to what was really the
leviathan described as disturbing the
sea
What most interests me is that as i,
moved on through the deep it left the
waters flashing and resplendent In
the words of the text: He maketh a
path to shine after him" What was
that illuminated path? 1t was phos-
phorescence. You find it in the wake
OF ship in the night. especially after
rough weather. Phosphorescence is
the lightning of the sea That this
figure of speech is correct in distribu-
ting its appearance | am certified by an
incident. After crossing the Allan
tic the first tim. and writing
from Rasle. Switzerland, to an
American IL 'gizine an account of
my voyage, III which nothing more
fascinated me than the phosphores-
ence in the ships wake, called it the
lightning of the sea. Returning to
my hotel l found a book of John Rus
kin, and the first sentence nv ewes fell
upon was his descrips on of phosphor-
escence, in whic:! he cllled it ''the
lightning of the sea" Down to the
post Office l hasteaei TO Get the manu-
script, and with gre 1t labor and some
article and put quot tiol marks around
that one senter-1 although it was as
original with me- As with John Ruskin.
4 suppose that nine-tenths of you living
SO near the sea coast have watched
thls marine appearance called
phosphorescence, and hone that the
other one-tenth may some dav be so
happy as to witness it. 1t is the waves
of the sea diamonded: it is the infior-
of the pillows; the waves of the |
eea crimsoned, as was the deep after |
the sea fight of Lepanto; the waves of |
the sea on fire. Now, God, who puts in |
bis Bible nothing trivial or useless,
calls the attention of Job. the greatest |
of his day, to this phosphor.
escence. and as the leviathan of the |
deep sweeps past, points out the fact |
hat "he maketh path to shine after
him."
Is that true of us now. and will it be
true Of us when we have gone? Will
there be subsequent light or darkness?
Will there be a trail of gloom or good
cheer Can any one between now and
The next 100 years say of us truthfully
- the text says of the leviathan of the
1eep: ''He maketh a path to shine
after him?' For we are moving on
While we live in the same house. and
business in the same store, and
write on the same table and chisel
n the same studio. and thresh in the |
anne barn, and worship in the same
:hurch, we are in motion, and
We in many respects moving on, and
re are not where we We're ten years
lgO, nor where we will :e ten years
renee Moving on! Look at the fam
ly record, or the almanac, or into the
mirror. and see if anv one of YOU is
where you were All in motion. Other
eet may trip, and stumble, and halt,
nut the feet of not one moment for the
nst sixty centuries has tripped, or
tumbled. or halted Moving on!
;ociety movin on! The world moving
n! Heaven moving on! The universe
noving on! Time moving on! Eter-
ity moving on! Therefore, i. is absurd
o think that we ourselves can
top. as we must move with all
he rest Are we like the creature
( the text. making our path to shine
fter us? 1t may be peculiar ques-
ion, but my text suggests it. What in
uence will we leave in this world,
fter we have gone through it?
None," answers hundreds of voices,
we are not one of the immortals.
fifty years after we are out of the
Torld it will be as though we never in
abited it." You are wrong in saying
nat pass uoNu IL IuTOuSH tuIS duul. |
nee ard up through these galleries,
nd am looking for some one whom 1 $
annot find. l am looking for one who {
ill have no influence in this world 100
ears from now. But l have found
he man who has the least in
uence. and l inquire into his his
Dry and find that by yes or q
no he decided some ones eternity In c
me of temptation he gave an affirma- G
we or a negative to some temptation
hich another, hearing of. was in e
need to decide in the same way. Clear a
q the other side of the next million a
ears may be the first you hear of the @
ing reaching influence of that yes or
o. but hear of it you will We see a G
IAN planting a tree, and treading the r
ID firmly on either side of it, and e
it in dry weather. and taking c
great care in its culture. and he never +
lucks any fruit from its bough; but his a
hildren will. We are all planting G
ees that will yield fruit hundreds of p
ears after we are dead; orchards S
golden fruit. or groves of n
.adly upaa 1 am SO fascinated h
sAk hA - -