The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1895-08-14
IN SATAN'S SERVICE.
JONAH OF OLD SOON TIRED OF The
DEVILS BUSINESS.

/ ~ - ~ w @''>@SS'
But 1t Took Heroic Treatment to Bring
Instructive Moral Lesson From Jonah's
Misadvanture In the Ned!terranean.
NEW YORK, Aug. At this season
of the year, when a large portion Of
the community is journeying either by
land or sea, Rev. DR.. Talmasc, who is
still absent on his midsummer preach
ing and lecturing tour, has chosen as
the subject of his sermon for today,
Man Overheard, the text being
Jonah i, & so the shipmaster came
to him, and said unto him: What
meanest thou, O sleeper: Arise, call
upon thy God if so be that God will
think upon us, that we perish not y
God told Jonah to 60 to Nineveh
on an unpleasant errand. He would
not 60. He thought to get away from
his duty by putting to sea- With
pack under his arm, l find him on his
way to Joppa, seaport. He goes down
among the shipping, and says to
the men lying around on the rocks.
Which of these vessels sails today
The sailors answer, "Ionder is a YES
sci going to Tarshish, | think, if you
hurry, you may get on board her. ,
Jonah steps on board the rough craft,
asks how much the fare is, and pays It
Anchor is weighed, sails are hoisted
and the rigging begins 20 rattle in the
strong breeze of the Mediterranean.
Joppa is an exposed harbor, and it
does not take long 70: the vessel to get
on the broad sea. The sailors like
what they call spanking breeze" !"
and the plunge Of the vessel from the
crest of a tall ;Save is exhilarating 10
those at home on the deep But the
strong breeze becomes a gale, the gale
a hurricane. The atrrighted passengers
ask the captain if he ever saw anything
like this before
"Oh, yes" he says; this is nothing
Mariners are slow to admit danger TO
landsmen But after awhile crash
goes the mast, and the vessel pitches
so far 'abeam's end there is a fear
she will not be righted. The captain
answers few questions and orders the
throwing out of boxes and bundles
and of so much Of the cargo as they
can get at. The captain at last con-
fesses there is but little hope and tells
the passengers that they had better 60
to praying. 1t is seldom that a sea
captain is an atheist. He knows that
there is a God, for he has seen him at
every point of latitude between Sandy
Hook and Queenstown. Captain
Moody, commanding the Cuba of the
Cunard line, at Sun lay service led the
music and sang like Methodist. The
captain of this Mediterranean craft,
having set the passengers to
praying, go es round eXam;n-
ing the vessel at every point. He de-
scends into the cabin to see whether in
the strong wrestling of the waves the
vessel had sprung leak, and he finds
Jonah asleep. Jonah had had weari-
some tramp and had spent many sleep
less nights about questions of duty,
and he is so sound asleep that all the
thunder of the storm and the scream
ing of the passengers does not disturb
him. The captain lays hold of him
and begins to shake him out of his un-
consciousness with the cry: Don't
you see that we are all going to the
bottom: Wake up and 60 to praying,
if you have any God to 60 to. What
meanest thou, O sleeper! Arise, call
upon thy God. if so be that God, will
think upon us, that we perish not. )"
The rest of the story I will not re-
hearse, for you know it well. To ap-
pease the sea they threw Jonah over
board.
Learn that the devil takes mans
money and then sets him down in
poor landing place. The Bible says
he paid his fare to Tarshish. But see
him get out. The sailors bring him to
the side OF the ship, lift him over the
guards, and let him drop with loud
Splash into the waves. He paid his
| fare all the way to Tarshish, but did
not get the worth of his money.
Neither does any one who turns his
back on his duty and does that which
is not right.
There is young man who, during
the past year, has spent large part
of his salary in carousal. What has
he gained by it? A soiled reputation,
half starved purse, dissipated look,
a petulant temper, a disturbed
conscience. The menacles of one
ortwo bad habits that are pressing
tighter and tighter will keep on until
they wear to the bone. You paid your
fare to Tarshish, but you have been
set down in the midst OF disquietude
ard perplexity.
One hundred dollars for Sunday
horse hire.
One hundred dollars for wine sup
pers.
One hundred dollars for cigars.
One hundred dollars for frolics
that shall be nameless,
Making S400 for his dlamnation
Instead of being in Tarshish now,
he is in the middle of the Mediterran-
can.
Here is literary man, tired of the
faith of his fathers, who resolves
launched out into what's called free
thinking. He buys Theodore Parker's
works for $12, Remains Life of Christ
for $50, Andrew Jackson Davis
works for $50. Goes to hear inidels
talk at the clubs and to see spiritualism
at the table rappiny. Talks glibly of
David, the psalmist, as an old iber-
tine, of Paul as wild enthusiast
and of Christ as decent kind of a
mana littleweak in some respects,
but almost as good as himself. Talks
smilingly of Sunday as good day 10
put little extra blacking on ones
boots, and of Christians as, for the
most part, hypocrites and of eternity
as ''the great to be, 'the everlasting
now, or ''the infinite what is it.
Some day he gets his feet very wet
and finds himself that night chilly
The NEXT rnOrninp has a hot mouth