Connecticut western news., 1895-08-08

chants on board, suppose, were going down to Tarshish to barter, but Jonah, notwithstanding his Christian profess sion, was flying from duty. He was sound asleep in the cabin. He has been motionleSs for hours-his arms and feet i'll the same posture us when he lay down-his breast hoaving with deep respiration. Oh, how could he sleepl What if the ship struck rock? What if it sprang aleak? What if the clumsy oriental craft should capsize? What would become of Jonah?
 So men sleep soundly now amid perils infinite. In almost every place, l sup pose, the Mediterranean might be sound ed, but no line is long enough to fathom the profound beneath every impenitent man. Plunging thousand fathoms down, you cannot touch bottom. Eter- nity beneath him, before him, around him Rocks close by and whirlpools and hot breathed Levanters. Yet sound asleep! 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 bells rings. "Awaker' cry hundred voices. Yet sound asleep in the cabin. In the year 1775 tho captain of a Greenland whaling vessel found him. selfat night surrounded by icebergs and Hay to" until morning, expecting ev- | cry moment to be ground to pieces. In | tho morning he looked about and saw | ship near by. He hailed it. No answer. | Getting into a boat with some of the | crew, he pushed out for the mysterious | craft. Getting near by, he saw through | the porthole a 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 log book, frozen to death. The logbook was | dated 1762, showing that the vessel had been wandering for 13 years among the ice. The sailors were found frozen among the haminocks, and others ill the cabin. For 13 years this ship had been | carrying it's burden of corpses.
 So from this gospel craft today de- scry voyagers for eternity. I cry: "Ship | ahoy! Ship ahoyr No answer. They | float about, tossed and ground by the | icebergs of sin, hoisting no sail for heav- | en. go on board. I find all asleep. It 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 l by the most unexpected means If Jonah had been told one year before that a heathen sea captain would ever awaken him to sense of danger, he would have scoffed at the idea, but here it is done.
 So now men in strangost ways are aroused from spiritual stupor. A pro- fane 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 impressed,
 but, crossing his harnyard, an OK come up and licks his hand, and he says "There it is now The OK knoweth his owner and the ass his masters crib,
 but do not know God. The careless remark of teamster has led man to thoughtfulness and heaven. The child s remark: Father, they have prayers at uncle's house. Why don't we have them9" has brought salvation to the dwelling.
 By strangest ways and in the most un- expected manner men are awakened.
 The gardener of the Countess of Hunt ingdon was convicted of sin by hearing the countess 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 | l.ss 1~l 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 i'll the awful tempest of
 their sin might hear the warning
 "What meanest thou, o sleeper? Arise
 and call upon thy GodP'
 | Awake Too Late.
 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
 tho craft, think that God would have
 saved him from being thrown overheard.
 But he woke up too late. The tempest I is in full blast, and the sea, in convul-
 sion, is flashing itself, and nothing will
 stop it now but the overthrow of Jonah.
 So men sometimes wake up too late.
 The last hour has come. The man has
 no moro idea of dying than I have of
 dropping down this moment. The rig
 ging 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 darknessi The
 hurricane How long have been sleep
 ing? Whole days and months and years.
 am quite awake now. see every
 thing, but it is too late." Invisible
 hands take him mp. He struggles to get
 loose. In vain. They bring his soul tc
 the verge. They let 1t down over the
 side The winds howl. The sea opens it's frothing jaws to swallow. He has gone forever. And while the canvas cracked, and the yards rattled, and the
 ropes thumped, the sea took up the fu neral dirge, playing with open diapasor of midnight storm, "Because l have called, and ye refused, I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded, but
 ye have set at naught all my counsel an6
 would none of my reproof, also vii laugh at your calamity, I will mock when your fear cometh." :" ... Now, lest any of you should make this mistake, I address you in the words , of the Mediterranean sea captain "What meanest thou, O sleeper? Arise call upon thy God, if so be that Goo will think upon us, that we perisl , not. " If you have God, you had better
 call upon him. Do you say, ''I have nt
 God?" Then you had better call upo1 your fathers God. When your fathel was in trouble, whom did he fly to? Yor
 heard him in his old days tell abou | h1