Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1897-03-03
REV. DR., TALMAGE,
The Eminent Dfvine,s SUNDAY
Dl0eourse>
Subject: "a Shattered Eaith.n

~OSo11Oe~
Subject: "a Shattered Faith"
TEXT: "And some ON broken pieces of the
ship. Acts xvii. A.
Never of Goodwin sands or the Skerries
or Cape Hatteras was a ship In worse predlca.
ment than, in the Mediterranean 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 a two weeks tempest,
when the ship was entirely disabled and
captain and crew had become completely
demoralizsd. an old missionary took
command OF the vessel. He was small,
ing to tradition. 1t was Paul, the only
unscared mau aboard. He was no more afraid
OF Euroclydon tossing the Mediterranean
sea, now up 10 the gates OF heaven and now
sinking it to the gates of hell, than he was
afraid OF IL kitten playing with string He
ordered them all down to take their rstions,
first asking for them a blessing. Then he
insured all their lives. telling them they
would be rescued, and, 30 far from losing
their heads, they would not lose so much OF
their hair as you could cut OF with one click
OF the sctssors-nay, not thread of it,
whether 1t were gray with age or golden
with youth. There shall not a hair fall
from the head of anv of YOU"
Knowing that they can never get to the de-
sired port, they make the sea on the four
tesnth night black with overrhrown cargo,
SO that when the ship strikes it will not
strike SO heavily. At daybreak they saw q
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 hotsted 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 towards the rocks,
now Prov foremost, now stern foremost, now
rolling over to the starboard, now over to
the larboard; now wave dashes clear over
the deck. and it seems as II the old craft
has gone forever. But up she comes
again. Paufs arms around a mast, he
cries; 'All is we'll. God has given me
all those that sail with me-" Crash
went the PROV, with such force that it broke
on 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 ont for the beach and reached
1t. But alas for those others! They have
never learned to swim, or they were
wounded by the falling of the mast. or the
nervous shock was too great for them. And
others had been weakened by long seasick-
ness.
On, what will become Of them2 "Take
that piece OF a rudder," says Paul to one
Take that fragment OF a SPAR" says Paul
to another. Take that image OF Castor and
Poilux." Take that plank from the liie-
boat. Take anything and head for the
beach" What a struggle for lite in the
breakers Oh, the merciIess waters,
now they sweep over the heals of m n.
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 whole family. There crawis up out of
the surf the centurion. There another plank
comes in, with a life clinging fast to il. 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 In last OF all for he had been oversee
ing the rest. the old missionary, who wrings
the wLter from his gray beard and cries out,
"rhank God. all are herel''
do not underrate the value of a great
theological system, but where in all the
Bible is there anything that says
Believe in John Calvin and thou shalt be
saved9 or. believe in Arminius and thou
shalt be sayed2 or. believe in synod of bort
and thou shalt be saved? or. believe in the
Thirty n he Articles and thou shalt be savedl
man may be orthodox and go to hell, OF
heterodox and go to heaven. The man who
IN the deep affection of his heart accepts
Christ is saved, aud the man who does not
accept him is lost.
believe in both the Heidelberg and West
minister catechisms, and wish you all did
but you may believe in nothing they contain
except the one idea, that Christ came to
save sinners, and that you are one of Them,
and you are instantly rescued. Ii YOU can
come in on the grand old sh1p, / would
rather have you get aboard, but il you can
only find piece Of wood as long as the hu-
man body, or piece as wide as the out
spread human arms, and either of them is a
piece Of the cross, come in on that piece
Tens Of thousands Of people are to-day kept
out Of the Kingdom of God because they
cannot believe everything.
am talk ng with a man thoughtful about
his soul who has lately Travelled through
New England and passed the night at And
in this life the destiny Is irrevocably fixed:
think there will be another opportunity oi
repentance after DEATH" ! say to him: ..My
brother, what has that to do with your
Don't you realize that the man who
waits for another chance after death
is stark fool? Had not you better take
the plank that is thrown TO you now
and head for shore rather than wait for a
plank that may by invisible hands be throw
to You after you are dead? Do as you please,
but as for myself. with pardon for all my
sins offered me now, and all the joys Of time
and eternity offered me now, 1 instantly
take thep., rather than run the risk of such
other chance as wise men think they can peel
OF or twist out OF q Scripture passage
that has for all the Christian centuries
been interpreted another way" You say, ~
do not like Princeton theology, or New
Haven theology, or Andover theology. i do
not ask you on board either Of these great
men-of-war, their portfolios filled with .he
great siege guns of ecclesiastical battle. but
do ask You to take the one plank Of the
gospel that you do believe in and strike out
for the pearl strung beach Of heaven"
Says some other man, "l would attend to
religion II was quite sure aoou, the doc
trine Of election aud free agency, but that
mixes me all up" Those things used to
bother me-. but 1 have no more perplexity
about them, for I say to myself, "If love
Christ and live a good, honest, useful life,
am elected to bs saved, and il / do not
love Christ and live bad life l will be
damned, and all the theological SEM
inaries OF the universe cannot make il
any different" l fiouudered long Will.
in the sea Of sin and doubt, and it was as
rough as the Mediterranean on the four.
teenth night. when they threw the grain
overheard. bat saw there was mercy fer q
sinner, and that plank I took, and have
been warming myself by the bright fire on
the shore ever since.
While am talking to another man about
bis soul he tells me, 81 do not become q
Christian because do not believe there is
any hell at ALL" Ah, don't you2 Do all the
people of all beliefs and no belief at all, OIL
good morals and bad morals go straight to a
happy heaven? Do the holy and the de-
bauched have the same destination? At mid
night, in hallway, the owner OF u
house and a burglar meet. They 10th
fire, and both are wounded, but the