Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1903-07-20
TALMAGE
SERMON
By Rev.
FRANK DE WITT TALMAGE. DID,.
Pastor Of Jefferson Park Presby-
terrain Church. Chicago

eea and its moving panorama OF white
sails furnish n theme for the preacher
at this season. when the multitudes are
leaving the heated cities for seashore
and lake The text is Psalm civ, Is,
There go the ships"
always feel sorry for one who has
not been lullabied TO sleep by the low
moaning song OF the sea. Fenimore
Cooper loved 10 write about the noun
tains and woods and streams and wa
terfalls and rivers, TO whose deer ticks
the fawns and the does came down to
drink But there Is a beauty. too, in
the sand dunes and the seabeach and
the broad expanse Of the mighty deep
which we can love also.
Fascinating is the seashore on ac-
count Of its endless variety. The
oceans beauty is never twice the same.
Sometimes its colors are a white foam
or a light green or a dark emerald or
blue or black. Sometimes its surface
Is covered with broad highways Of
gold, when the light of the rising sun
gilds IL. or with that other highway Of
silver. when, in the midnight hour. the
flush Of the moon is reflected upon It.
Sometimes the sea will do nothing but
smile. Like a golden haired baby, its
cheeks are dimpled and wrinkled, as
though IT is trying hard to keep back
a hearty laugh. 1t will look as harm
less as some innocent lake cuddled up
In the huge lap of crooked backed
mountain. Then the sea gulls, as
white doves of peace, will hover over
II. Then the fisherman's boat will be-
come the cradle in which the tired
merchant will have the many cares Of
the store gently rocked out of his over
burdened mind, as he anxiously
watches the line which catches the
golden prize of health as well as the
finny treasures.
Sometimes the sea becomes as wrath
ful as the wild beasts in the Spanish
arena, stung with sharp darts, before
which the attendants wave the red gar
ments. 1t rears. 1t plunges. 1t lashes
itself into fury until at last it is GRIM
soned with its own blood. The blazing
phOsphorescences make 1t look like the
river Nile struck with the Mosaic rod
In the famous Egyptian plague. The
seashore a monotonous place to pass
the summeri 1t is uninteresting only
to those whose love of nature is so I'M
developed that they cannot under
stand the language of the sea.
The Human ship.
But after all, one of the most absorb
Ing diversions of the summer tourists
living by the seashore is to watch the
passing Of the ships. For over a quar-
ter of a century my privilege was to
spend every summer by the Atlantic
coast. My fathers country home was
near the end of Long Island. at a small
town called East Hampton. There.
upon the sand dunes, l used to lie hour
after hour. watching the great steam
ers and the sailing craft heading to-
ward New York Narrows or starting
upon their long trips to the distant har-
bors of the world. | used to watch
them just as the psalmist did when he
cried out in the words of my text
There go the ships" How like those
voyages are, with their unknown Incl
dents, their Gains and their storms
their successes and. alas, their wrecks
TO human lives! Who can tell as he
looks at an infant calmly sleeping in
Its cradle whether the voyage of its life
will be like the ship skillfully steered
safe into harbor or like the ship care
lessly navigated that strikes the sunkcr
rock or by collision with another shiI
Is shattered and sunk into the depths
OF the sea? Let us see this morning
what those points OF resemblance are
what kind OF ship each human being
ought to be. what kind OF a cargo h
Is carrying and toward what kind of ;
port he should be heading. The ships
The ships! There go the ships! Ther'
30 the ships!
Every human vessel should be dis
tinguished by some flag. Going dow
to New York harbor and examining tn
shipping. you will find the name o
each vessel clearly marked upon til
stern You will also find the name o
the city in which that vessel is regis
tered. Such names as these can b
read: John Milton of Glasgow. tn
Aurania OF Liverpool. the Paris Of New
York And II upon the high seas tw
ships approach each other. one captain
will put the trumpet TO his lips an
call: ship ahoy! Ship ahoy! VIVA
ehip is thatT' Then the other captai
will call back: The Kensington o
Antwerp, bound for New York! VIVA
ship is thatT' The meaning of a
this? Simply that when ship is res
istered in a certain country that GOV
eminent pledges itself TO protect tina
ship. A British ship is under BIRTHS
projections: a French ship is unde
French protection; a German ship
under German protection: an America
ship is under American protection
Therefore, II a nation dares to moles