The Progress., 1894-02-24
TABERNACLE PULPIT.
REV DR.. TALMAGE ON THE
LIGHTNING OF THE SEA"

a Most Eloquent Discourse from Job
Al xxi, He Maketh Path to
Shine After Hlm"-The Audience En-
chained with Interest.
BRookLyS, Feb. lS-In the Brook
lyn tabernacle this forenoon, Rev. DR..
Ialmage preached an unusually at
tracti7e and eloquent gospel sermon
to a crowded audience who listened
with rapt interest. The subject Was
The Lightning of the Sea, the text
selected being job Al XxXii "lle
maketh path to shine after him"
II for the next thousand years min
listers of religion should preach from
this Bible there wilE yet be texts mn
expounded, and unexplained, and I'M
appreciated. 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
lsviathan described as disturbing the
sea. What creature it was know not.
Some say it was whale, Some say it
was crocodile. My own opinion is 1t
was q sea monster now extinct. 20
creature Iew floating in Mediterranean
or Atlantic waters corresponds to JOB
description.
/ What most interests me is that as it
moved on through the deep it left the
waters flashing and resplerdent In
the words of the text. lie maketh a
path to shine after him." What was
that illumined path?0 1t was phospho-
rescencc. You find it in the wake of a
ship in the night, especially after
rough weather Phosphorcscence is
the lightning of the sea. That this
figure of speech is correct in de-
scribing its appearance l am certi,
fed by an incident. After crossfgg the
Atlantic the first time and writ
ing from Basic, Switzerland 10 an
American an account of my voyage, il
which nothing more fascinated me thar
the phosphorescence in the ships wake
l called it the lightning of the sea-
Returning to my hotel I found bc&i
of John Rusliin, and the first sentence
my eyes fell upon was his description
OF phosphorescence, in which he cs8ec
it The Lightning of the Sea-" Dowr
to tha0 postoffice I FASTENED t.
get the manuscript, and will
great labor and some expense
got possessioN of the magazine arti
Gle and put quotation marks arounc
that one sentence, alth ough it was a
original with me as with John Ruskin
| 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 happ,
, as to witness it. 1t is the waves Of thu
, sea diamonded; it is the intorescenc
, of the pillows; the waves of the Sc;
: crimsoned, as was the deep after tn
sea-fght Of Lepanto; the waves Of tn
sea on fire. There are times whe1
, from horizon to horizon the entir
ocean seems in confagration with thi
strange splendor, as it changes ever
t moment to tanner or more dazzlin
color on all sides of you. You sit look
= ing over the taffrail of the yacht o
ocean steamer watching and waitin
to see what new thing the God G
Z beauty will do with the Atlantic
. 1t is the ocean in TRANSPORTATION
: it is the marine world casting its gal
! ments of glory in the pathway of tn
t Almighty as he walks the deep; it
: an inverted armament with all it
stars gone down with it. No picture ca
present it, for photographers Gamer
> can not be successfully trained
y catch it, and before it the hand of tn
e painter drops its pencil overawed an
e powerless. This phosphorescence
the appearance of myriads of the an
NAL kingdom rising, falling, playing
n flashing, living, dying, These lum
# nous animalcules for nearly one hui
c dred and fifty years have been tt
: study of naturalists and the fascini
- ton and solemnization of all who hay
!. brain enough to think. Now, Coz
e who puts in his Bible nothing trivi'
e or useless, calls the attention Of 10
It the greatest scientist of his day,
d this phosphorescence, and as tt
u leviathan of the deep SWEEP
t. past, points out the fact that 81
!. maketh path to shine after him.
Il Is that true of US now and will it
h true of us when we have gone? Wi
IS there be subsequent light or darkness
- Will there be trail of gloom or goo
cheer? Can any one between now al
the next 100 years say of us truthful
as the text says of the leviathan OF Il
y deep, "He malseth path to shine aft
% him?' For we are moving on VIII
,vo live in the same house. and ira