The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1897-03-04


Wrecked on Life's Tempestuous Sea-
III III EVER off Goodwin
! !
<(aAiI91INN Sands, Or the Skier
IEsSNSRls ries, or Cape Hat
N6ESJg fEsINNll teras, was ship in
..aVaEAJyESM@Ni\ worse predicament
NtHKea E,gy11Il u than, in the Medi-
@MMlEAA E'ssYal terran'ean hurri-
s4 Esasang cane. was the grain
s&S&N&y SUI ship ON which two
EaGSA yN hundred and sew
@SG eLty-slx passengers
were driven on the
coast Of Malta. five miles from the me-
tropolis of that island, called Citta
Vecchia After a two-weeks' tempest,
when the ship was entirely disabled,
and captain and crew had become COM
pletely demoralized, an old missionary
took command Of the vessel. He was
small, crooked-backed and sOre-eyed,
according to tradition. It was Paul,
the only unscared man aboard. He
was no more afraid of Euroclydon
tossing the Mediterranean 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 a string.
He ordered them all down to take their
rations. first asking for them a bless.
ing. Then ha insured all. their lives,
telling them they would be rescued,
and SO far from losing their heads,
they would not lose so much of their
hair as you could cut off with one click
OF the scissors: nay, not a thread Of
1t, whether it were gray with age or
golden with youth. There shall not
a hair fall from the head Of any of
you."
knowing that they can never get to
the desired port, they make the sea
on the fourteenth night black with
oyerthrown ca:go, 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 toward the rocks,
now PROV foremost, now stern fore
most. now rolling over to the star
board, now nver 10 the larboard, now
a wave dashes clear over the deck, and
ut seems as it 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
CO. witt u, .
prov, with such force that it broke off
the mast Crash! went the timbers,
till the seas rushed through from side
to side of thes vessel. She parts amid
ships, and into thousand fragments
the vessel goes. and into the waves
two hundred and seventy-six 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
4 strokes of both arms and propulsion
OF both feet they put out for the beach,
and reach it. But alas for those others!
They have never learned to swim, or
they We're wounded by the falling OF
the mast, or the nervous shock was toe
great for them. And others had been
weakened by long sea-sickness.
Oh, what will become of them
@.Take that piece of a rudder.' saws
Paul to one. Take that fragment q
a spar" says Paul to another. "Take
that image of Castor and Pollux.
Take tina: plank from the lifeboat.
Take, anything, and head for the
beach" What a struggle for life il
the breakers! Oh, the merciless waters
how they sweep over the heads of men
women and children! Hold on there
Almost ashore; keep up your courage
Remember what Paul told you. There
the receding wave on the beach leave
in the sand a whole family Their
crawls up out of the surf the centurion
There, another plank comes in. witt
a life clinging fast to it. There. an
other piece of the shattered vessel
with its freightage of an immortal sou,
They must by this time all be saved
Yes; there comes in last of all for h
had been overseeing the rest, the oil
missionary, who wrings the waite
from his gray beard and cries out
Thank God, all are here!" 4
believe in both the Heidelberg an
Westminster Catechisms, aud I wis
you all did; but you may believe !
nothing they contain except the on
idea, that Christ came to save sinner
and that you are one Of them. and yo
are instantly rescued. II you can com
in on the grand Old ship, I would rattle
have you get aboard, but if you ca
only find a piece of wood as long as Ii
human body, or piece as wide as II
outspread human arms, and either
them is piece Of the cross, come
on that piece. Tens of thousands
people are today kept out of the kin,
dom of God because they cannot b,
ieve everything.
am talking with man thought
about his soul who has lately trayele
through New England and passed Il
might at Andover. He says to me:
cannot believe that in this life the de
tiny is irrevocably fixed; think the
will be another opportunity Of r