The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1895-08-08

No answer. He went on board the vessel
and found the man sitting at the logbook,
frozen TO death. The logbook was dated
1862. showing that the vessel had been wan
dering for thirteen years among the Ice
The sailors were found frozen among the
hammocks and others In the cabin. For
thirteen years this ship had been carrying its
burden OF corpses.
SO from this gospel craft to-day descry
voyagers for eternity. | cry; "5hip ahovi
Ship ahoyI' No answer. They float about.
tossed and ground by tho icebergs OF sin.
hosting no sail for heaven 20 on boz |.
find all asleep. II is frozen sleep. "A,
that my Lord Jesus would come aboard aud
lay hold OF the wheel and steer the cr,ft
down into the warm gulf stream OF His
mercy! Awake. thou that sleepost! Arise
from the dead, and Christ shall give thee
life.
Again, notice that men are aroused by the
most unexpected means II Jonah had been
told one year before that heathen sea
captain would ever awaken him to n sense
Of danger, he would have scoffed at the idea,
but here IL Is done. So now men In strangest
ways are aroused from spiritual stupor. A
profane man Is brought to conviction by the
shocking blasphemy OF n comrade. A man
attending church and hearing n sermon from
the text, "The OK knoweth his owner" ETC.,
goes home impressed. but, crossing his barn
yard an OK come up and ticks his hand ard
his owner and the ass his masters crib.' but
do not know God" The careless remark
OF teamster has led man To- thoughtful
ness and heaven. The child's remark,
Father, they have prayers at uncle's house.
Why don't we have thom2" has brought saliva
tion to the dwelling.
BY strangest ways aud In tho most unex-
pcctcd manner men are awakened The gar
dener OF the Countess OF Huntingdon was
convicted OF sin by hearing the countess on
tho 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, aud heard his own name called with
terrible emphasis, John Harloak, come TO
Judgment" The Lord has 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, o sleeper Arise and
call upon thy Godn'
Again Learn that man may wake up
too late. IT, instead of sleeping, Jonah had
been on his knees confessing 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 II now but the overthrow OF Jonah.
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 u.s.
that we perish not" II you have a God
YOU had better call upon Him. DO YOU say,
~ have no God?' Then you had better call
upon your fathers God. When your father
was in trouble. whom did he nv TOP You
heard him in his old days tell about some
terrible exposure in Il snowstorm, or at sea,
Duttlp ar ninpiybt nrrOi
and how he escaped Perhaps twenty
years before you were born your
father made sweet acquaintance with
God. There is something I'm the
worn pages of the Bible he used 10 read which
makes you think your father had n God. In
the old religious books lying around tho
house, here are passages marked with
lead pencil-passages that make you think
your father was not a 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 a bad man--prayer-
less and n blasphemer-and you never think
OF him now without n shudder. He wot-
SHIPPED the world or his own appettes. Do
not then, beg OF you. call upon your faith
er God. but call on your mothers God. I
think she was good. You remember when
your father came home drunk late on n cold
night, how patient your mother was.
You often heard her pray. She used to sit
thinking OF some good, warm place, where
IL never gets cold, and where the bread does
not fail, and staggering steps never come
You remember her now ms 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!
All. | 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
rocked by sin and shame, aud II Is q wonder
that from such starting YOU have come to
responsibility. Then done call upon the
God Of either OF your parents beg OF you.
But you have children. You know God
kndled 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. aud when they kneel beside you and
fold their little hands and look up, their
faces all innocence and love, you know that
there is God somewhere about In the
room.
think am on the right track Mt 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 q
God, and their children have a God, but they
have no God. All the divine goodness for
| nothing. All warning for nothing. They are
sound asleepin the side Of the ship, though
the sea and sky are In mad wrestle.
Many years ago man. leaving his family
In Massachusetts, sailed from Boston to
| China N frn "a N "a st ~ inn
In the midst of night of storm he made
shipwreck. The adyenturer was washed up
on the beach senseless-all his money gone.
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 a captain. He was too proud to
come back as a private sailor But after a
while he choked down his pride and
sailed for Boston. Arriving there
| he took an evening train for
| bA "a Af ha Gfata tuha ha hnI laf Ia