The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1894-10-26
TALMAGE's SERMON.
A. Timely Lesson Drawn From the
Disobedience Of Jonah
To-day. as Then, There Are Those who
VIII Not Listen 20 Divine tnjunc-
tIons. and Are Swallowed Up
I'm the Waves or sim

following sermon for publication this
week. It's subject is: 1.-The Oarsmen
Defeated, being based on the text:
The men rOwed hard 70 bring it 70 the land
but they could not; wherefore they cried unto
the Lord.-Jonah l., ls-l4
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, 1t
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 ini but
he had not nuch choice Of vessels. He
was running away from the Lord; and
when 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 a velST
hard thing to scare sailors. / have
] seen AlAtlA WITCH tic pIOW u TIC NcoSCl
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
Rs kindiinF wood, whistling as Though
nothing had happened; but the Bible
/ SAYS these mariners of whom / speak
were frightened. That which sail
ors call "a lump of a sea- had become
a binding, deafening, swamping fury.
4 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. 1 have in my house the
/ piece of a 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 two hundred miles
off Newfoundland. Oh, what a night
that was! I suppose it was in some such
storm as this that Jonah was caught.
4 He knew that the TEMPEST was on
/ his account, and he asked the sailors to
/ throw him overheard. Sailors are gem
erOus-hearted race, and they resolved
! TO make their escape, If possible, with
out resorting to such extreme meas
lures. The sails are of no use, and so
! they lay hold on their oars. l 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. It is of no use, no use. There
comes wave that crashes the last mast
and sweeps the oarsmen from their
u places. and tumblcs everything in the
confusion of impending shipwreck, or,
Rs my text has it, 1.-The men rowed
/ hard to bring it to the land; but they
could not: wherefore they cried unto
] the Lord.
l This scene is very suggestive to me,
and pray God l may have grace and
I strength enough to represent it intelli-
gently TO you. Years ago preached a
sermon on another phase of this very
subject, and got a letter from Hous-
/ ton, Tex, the writer saying that the
reading of that sermon in London had
/ led him to God. And received anoth-
er letter from South Australia, saying
/ that the reading of that sermon in
| Australia had brought several souls to
Christ. And then, 1 thought, why not
now take another phase of the same
I 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 a fable" and to-day I would like
TO bring the scene of the text as an
illustration of a most important re-
ligiOus truth. As those Mediterranean
oarsmen trying TO bring Jonah ashore,
were discomhtted. ! have to tell YOU
that they we're not the only men who
have broken down on tneir paddles and
have been obliged to call on the Lord
for help want to say that the unavail
ing efforts of those Mediterranean
oarsmen have a counterpart in the
efforts we are making TO bring souls
To the cuOle u safety anu SGb liit1 4Ceb
on the Rock of Ages. You have a IA
ther. 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 J shall go insane, for /
know she is not prepared to meet
God And there may have bee
days of sickness in your household,
when you feared it would be a fatal
sickness; and how closely you exam
ined the face of the doctor as he came
IN and scrutinized the patient. and felt
the pulse. and YOU followed him into
the next loom, and said: There isn't
any danger, Is there, doctor?" And the
hesitation aud the uncertainty of the
reply made two eternities fash before
your vision. And then you went and
talked to the sick one about the great
future. Oh, there are those here who
have tried to bring their friends to
God, They have been unable to
bring them to the shore of safety
They are no nearer that point than
they were twenty years ago. You think
YOU have got them almost TO the shore,
when YOU are swept back again. VIVA:
shall you do@ Put down the oar? Oh.
no, I DO not advise that; but do adj