The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1895-08-21

most unexpected means. II Jonah nau peen
told one year before that heather sea
captain would ever awaken him to a sense
OF danger, he would have scoffed at the Idea,
but here it is done. So now men In stranges'
ways are aroused from spiritual stupor. A
profane man is brought to conviction by the
shocking blasphemy of comrade. man
attending church and hearing sermon from
the text, "The OK knoweth his owner, etc.,
goes home impressed, but, crossing his oarn-
ward. an OK come up and llcks his hand, ana
he SAYS: "There it is now. THE OK knoweth
his owner and the ass his masters crib. but
I do not know God" The careless remark
OF teamster has led man to thouSht1ul-
ness and heaven. The child's remark:
''Father, they have prayers at uncle 5 mouse.
WHY don't we have them?" has brought saliva
tion to the dwelling.
By strangest ways and in the most unex-
pected manner men are awakened. The gar
dener of the Countess Of Huntingdon 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 sit
ting. and heard his own name called with
terrible emphasis, "John Hardoak, come to
judgment!'' The Lord has a thousand ways
Of waking up Jonah. Would that the mes
sengers Of mercy might now find their way
down into the sides Of the ship. and that many
who are unconsciously rocking in the awful
TEMPEST of their sin might hear the warning:
"What meanest thou, 0 sleeper Arise ana
call upon thy God! !"
Again: Learn that man may wake up
too late. If, instead Of sleeping, Jonah had
been on his knees confess1ng his sins from
the time he went on board the craft, 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 lashing itself, and nothing will
stop 1t now but the overthrow OF Jonah.
So men sometimes wake up too late. The
last hour has come. The man has no more
idea of dying than have Of dropping down
this moment. The rigging is all white with
the foam of death. How chill the night 1s:
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 sleep
ing? Whole days and months and years. l
am quite awake now. I see everything, but
it is too late" Invisible hands take,him up.
He struggles to get loose. In vain. They
bring his soul to the verge. They let 1t
down over the side. The winds howl The
sea opens its frothing jaws to swallow. be
has gone forever. And while the canvas
cracked, and the yards ratified, and the ropes
thumped, the sea took up the funeral dirge,
plavins with open diapason of midnight
storm, because have called, aud ye re-
fused, have stretched out My hand, and no
man regarded, but ye have set at naught all
My counsel and would none OF my reproof,
I also will laugh at 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, sleeper? Arise, call upon thy
God, II so be that God will think upon Us,
that we perish not" II you have God,
you had better call upon Him. Do you say,
81 have no God?" Then you had better call
was in trouble. whom did he fly to? You
heard him in his old days tell about some
terrible exposure in a snowstorm, or at sea,
or in battle, or among midnight garroters,
and how he escaped. Perhaps twenty
years before you were born your
father made sweet acquaintance with
God. There Is something In the
worn pages Of the Bible he usedto read which
makes you think your father had God. In
the old religious books lying around the
house, here are passages marked with
lead pencil-passages that make you think
your father WAS not goddess man. but that,
on that dark day when he lay In the back
room dying he was ready-all ready. But
perhaps your father was badman-prayer-
less and o blasphemer-and you never think
OF him now without shudder. he wor-
SHIPPED the world or his own appetites. Do
not then, beg Of you, call upon your faith
er's God, but call on your mothers God. I
think she was good. You remember when
your father came home drunk late on cold
night, how patient your mother was.
You often heard her pray. She used to Sit
by the hour medltating as though she were
thinking Of somo good, warm place, where
it never gets cold, and where the bread does
not fail, and staggering steps never come:
You remember her now as she sat In cap and
spectacles reading her Bible Sunday after
noon. What good advice she used to give
you! How black and terrible the hole In the
ground looked to you when with two ropes
they let her down to rest in the graveyard
Alb, I think from your look that am on the
right track. Awake, o sleeper, and call
upon thy mothers God.
But perhaps both your father and mother
were depraved. Perhaps your cradle was
rocked by sin and shame, and It is wonder
that from such starting you have come to
Then don't call upon the
God Of either Of your parents beg OF you.
But you have children. You know God
kindled those bright eyes and rounded those
healthy limbs and set beating within their
breast an immortality. Perhaps In the be-
lief that somehow it would be for the best
you have taught them to say an evening
prayer, and when they kneel beside you and
fold their little hands and look up, their
faces oil innocence and love, you know that
there is q God somewhere about in the
room.
think nm on the right track at last.
Awake, o sleeper, and call upon the God OF
thy children! May He set these little ones to
pulling at thy heart until they charm thee to
the same God to whom. tonight they will say
their little prayers.
But, alas, alas, some of these men and wo-
men are unmoved by the fact that their
father had God. that their mother had
God, and their children have God, but they
have no God. All the divine goodness for
nothing. All warning for nothing. They are
sound asleep in the side OF the ship, though
the sea and sky are in mad wrestle.
Many years ago a man, leaving his family
in Massachusetts,, sailed from Boston to
China to trade there. On the coast Of China
IN the midst OF q night Of storm he made
The adventurer was washed up
on the beach senseless-all his money gone.
He had to beg in the streets of Canton to
keep from starving. For two years there
was no communication between himself and
family. They supposed him dead. He knew
not but that his family were dead. He had
gone out as captain. He was too proud to
come back as private sailor. But after a
while he choked down his pride and
sailed for Boston. Arriving there
he took an evening train for
the center Of the State, where he had left his
family. Taking the stage from the depot
and riding score of miles, he got home.
he says that, going up In front Of the cot
tage In the bright moonlight, the place
looked to him like heaven. He raped on
the window, and the affrighted servant let
him in. He went to the room where his
khoo oh