The Monitor-register., 1897-02-26

ship-Theologica1 Theories and Common
Sense Facts-Seizing on the First Thing
That Offers In Time of Peril.
DE FUNIAK SPRINGS, Fla, Feb. 21.-
After many years of invitation DR.. Tai
mage breaches today at this great Chau-
tauqua. From all parts of the south the
people are assembled. The sermon is
nightly helpful for those who find it
hard to believe everything. Dr.. Tai
mage returns this week to Washington.
The subject of this sermon is ga Shat
tered FAITH and the text Acts xvii,
A, "And some on broken pieces of the
ship"
Never off Goodwin sands or the Skier
ries or Cape Hatteras was a ship i'll
worse predicament than, in the Mediter-
ranean hurricane, was the grain ship on
which 276 passengers were driven on
the coast of Malta, five miles from the
metropolis of that island, called Citta
Vecchia. After two weeks tempest,
when the ship was entirely disabled and
captain and crew had become complete
1y demoralized, an old missionary took
command of the vessel. He was small,
crooked backed and sore eyed, accord
ing to tradition. 1t was Paul, the only
unscared man aboard. He was no more
afraid of a Euroclydon tossing the Med
iterranean sea, now up to the gates of
heaven and now sinking it to the gates
Of hell, than he was afraid of kitten
playing with string. He ordered them
all down to take their rations, first ask
ing for them blessing. Then he insur-
ed all their lives, telling them they
would be rescued, and, so far from los
ing their heads, they would not lose so
with one click of the scissors-nay, not
q thread Of it, whether it were gray
with age or golden with youth. "There
shall not hair fall from the head of
any of you
Paul In Command.
Knowing that they can never get to
the desired port, they make the sea on
the fourteenth night black with over
thrown cargo, so that when the ship
strikes it will not strike so heavily. At
daybreak they saw creek and in their
exigency resolved to make for it, And
SO they cut the cables, took in the two
paddles they had on those old boats and
hoisted the mainsail so that they might
come with such force as to be driven
high up on the beach by some fortunate
billow. There she goes, tumbling to-
ward the rocks, now PROV foremost,
now stern foremost, now rolling over
to the starboard, now over to the lar
board now wave dashes clear over
the deck, and it seems as if the old craft
has gone forever But up she comes
again. Paul's arms around a mast, he
cries: "All is well. God has given me
all those that sail with me. " Crash
went the PROV, with such force that it
broke off the mast Crash went the
timbers till the seas rushed through
from side to side of the vessel She
parts amidships, and into a thousand
fragments the vessel goes, and into the
waves 276 immortals are precipitated.
Some Of them had been brought up on
the seashore and had learned to swim,
and with their chins just above the
waves and by the strokes of both arms
and propulsion of both feet they put
out for the beach and reached it. But
alas for those others! They have never
learned to swim, or they were wounded
by the falling of the mast, or the nerv-
GUS shock was too great for them. And
others had been weakened by long sea-
sickness.
Oh, what will become of them?
s'Take that piece of rudder,'' - says
Paul to one. '"Take that fragment of a
SPAR says Paul to another. ''Take
that image of Castor and Pollux. :"
''Take that plank from the lifeboat. -
''Take anything and head for the
beach" " What a struggle for life in the
breakersl Oh, the merciless waters.
how they sweep over the heads of men,
women and children! Hold on therel
Almost ashore. Keep up your courage.
Remember what Paul told you There
the receding wave on the beach leaves
IN the sand a whole family. There
crawls up ont of the surf the centurion.
There another plank comes in, with a
life clinging fast to it. There another
piece OF the shattered vessel, with its
freightage of an immortal soul. They
must by this time all be saved. Yes;
there comes ia last of all, for he had
been overseeing the rest, the old mis-
sionary, who wrings the water from his
gray beard and cries out, "Thank God.
all are here!n
How They Escaped.
Gather around q fire and call the
roll. Paul builds fire, and when the
bundle of sticks begin to crackle, and,
standing and sitting around the blaze,
the passengers begin to recover from
their chill, and the wet clothes begin to
dry, and warmth begins to come into
all the shivering passengers, let the
purser of the vessel go round and see if
any of the poor creatures are missing.
Not one of the crowd that were plunged
into the sea. How it relieves our anxiety
as we read: "Some on broken pieces of
the ship. And SO it came to pass that
they escaped all safe to land. :"
Having on previous occasions looked
at the other passengers, I confne myself
today to aA examination of those who
came in on troken pieces of the ship.
There is something about them that ex-
cites in me an intense interest I am
not so much interested in those that
could swim. They got ashore, as I ex-
pected. A mile Of water is not a very
great undertaking for strong swim
mer, Or even two miles are not But I
cannot stop thinking about those on
broken pieces of the ship.
The great gospel ship is the finest of
the universe and can carry more pas
sengers than any craft ever constructed,
and you could no more wreck it than
you could wreck the throne of God AL
mighty. I wish all the people would
come aboard of her. could not promise
smooth voyage, for ofttimes it will b
tempestuous Or a chopped sea, but I
could promise safe arrival for all who
took passage on that Great Eastern, so
called by me because its commander
came out of the east, the star of the
east badge of his authority.
But a vast multitude do not take reg
ular passage. Their theology is broken
IN pieces, and their life is broken in
pieces, and their habits are broken in
pieces, and their world and spiritual
prospects are broken in pieces, and yet
L believe they are going to reach the
shining shore, and 1 am encouraged by
the experience of those people who are
spoken OF in the text, "Some on broken
pieces of the ship"
One object in this sermon is to en-
courage all those who cannot take the
whole system of religion as we believe
it, but who really believe something,
to come ashore on that one plank.
do not underrate the value of great