Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1895-08-08

but you will never get to Tarshish.
Learn how soundly men viii sleep In the
midst OF danger. The worst sinner ON
shipboard, considering the light he had,
was Jonah. He was a member Of the
church. while they were heather. The sail
ors were engaged in their lawful calling.
following the sea. The nerchants on
board, l suppose, were going down to Tar
shish 20 barter, but Jonah, notwithstand-
ing his Christian profession, was flying
from duty. He was sound asleep in the
cabin. He has been motionless for hours
bis arms and feet in the same posture a.
when he lay down-his breast heaving
with deep respiration. Oh, how could he
aleepl What if the ship struck rock I
What II it sprang aleak! What II the
clumsy oriental craft should capsize! What
would become of JonahS
| Unfathomable Depths of Danger.
So men sleep soundly now and amid per-
| lis infinite. In almost every place, sup
pose, the Mediterranean might be sounded,
but no line is long enough to fathom the
profound beneath every impenitent man.
Plunging a thousand fathoms down, you
cannot touch bottom. Eternity beneath
him, before him, around him Rocks close
| by and whirlpools and hot breathed Le-
vanters; yet sound asleepl We try to wake
| him up, but fail. The great surges Of
warning break over the hurricane deck
the gong of warning sounds through the
cabin-the bell rings. "Awake" cry a
hundred voices; yet sound asleep in the
| cabin.
In the year 1775 the captain of Green
| land whaling vessel found himself at night
| surrounded by icebergs and "lay to- un-
til morning, expecting every moment to be
ground to pieces. In the morning he
looked about and saw a ship near by. He
| hailed it. No answer Getting into boat
| with some of the crew, he pushed out for
the mysterious craft. Getting near by, he
| saw through the portfolio man at stand,
as though keeping logbook. He hailed
| him. No answer. He went on board the
vessel and found the man sitting at the
| logbook frozen to death. The logbook
was dated 1863, showing that the vessel
had been wandering for 13 years among
the ice. The sailors were found frozen
| among the hammocks and others in the
cabin. For 13 years this ship had been
carrying It's burden of corpses.
So from this gospel craft today descry
voyagers for eternity. cry: "Ship ahoy I!
| Ship ahoyP' No answer. They float
about, tossed and ground by the icebergs
Of sin, hoisting no sail for heaven. go
on board. 1 find all asleep. 1t is frozen
sleep. Oh, that my Lord Jesus would
come aboard and lay hold of the wheel,
and steer the craft down into the warm
gulf stream of his mercy! Awake, thou
| that sleepest! Arise from the dead, and
Christ shall give thee life.
Again, notice that men are aroused by
the most unexpected means. If Jonah had
been told one year before that heathen
| sea captain would ever awaken him to q
sense of danger, he would have scoffed at
the idea, but here it is done. So now men
In strangest ways are aroused from spirit
| ual stupor A profane man Is brought
to conviction by the shocking blasphemy
of comrade. A man attending church
and hearing a sermon from the text "The
OK knoweth his owner, ;" etc., goes home
unimpressed; but, crossing his barnyard,
| an OK comes up and licks his hand, and he
says. "There 1t is now-'the OK knoweth
his owner, and the ass his masters crib, )
but do not know God" The careless re-
mark of teamster has led q man to
| thoughtfulness and heaven. The child's
remark, Father, they have prayers at
| uncle's house-why don't we have themW
has brought salvation to the dwelling.
BY strangest way and in the most un-
| expected manner men are awakened. The
gardener of the Countess of Huntington
was convicted of sin by hearing the count
ess on the opposite side of the wall talk
about Jesus. John Hardoak was aroused
| by dream in which he saw the last day,
! and the judge sitting, and heard his own
name called with terrible emphasis, "John
Hardoak, come to judgmentp' The Lord
has thousand ways of waking up Jonah.
Would that the messengers of mercy might
now find their way down into the sides Of
the ship, and that many who are uncon-
sciously rocking in the awful tempest Of
| their sin might hear the warning: What
meanest thou, o sleeper? Arise and call
upon thy God!
Again, learn that man may wake up
too late. If, instead of sleeping, Jonah
| had been on his knees confessing his sins
| from the time he went on board the craft,
I think that God would have saved him
from being thrown overheard. But he
woke up too late. The tempest is in full
| blast and the sea, in convulsion, is lash
ing itself, and nothing will stop it now
but the overthrow of Jonah.
| Too Late.
So men sometimes wake up too late
The last hour has come. The man has no
moro idea of dying than have of dropping
down this moment. The rigging is all
white with the foam of death. How chill
the night is! "I must die, " he says, "yet
not ready. I must push out upon this
| awful sea, but have nothing with which
to pay my fare. The white caps! The
darkness! The hurricane How long have
been sleeping? Whole days and months
and years. I am quite awake now. see
every thing, but it is too late" Invisible
hands take him up. He struggles to got
loose In vain. They bring his soul to
the verge. They let it down over the side
| The winds howl The sea opens its froth-
ing jaws to swallow. He has gone forever.
And while the canvas cracked, and the
yards ratified, and tho ropes thumped the
sea took up the funeral dirge, playing with
open diapason of midnight storm: Be-
cause have called, and ye refused, l have
stretched out my hand and no man regard
ed, but ye have set at naught all my coun-
sci and would none of my reproof | also
will laugh ut your calamity, will mock
when your fear cometh."
Now, lest any of you should make this
mistake, address you in the words of the
Mediterranean sea captain: "What mean
est thou, o sleeper2 Arise, call upon thy
God, if so be that God will think upon u.s.
that VIC perish not" II you have God,
you had hetter call upon him. Do you
say, II have no God?" Then you had bet
ter call upon your fathers God. When
your father was in trouble, whom did he fly
tor You heard him, in his old days, tell
about some terrible exposure in snow
storm, or at sea, or in battle, or among mid
night garroters, and how he escaped. Per-
haps 90 years before you were born your