Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1903-07-23
TALMAGE
SERMON
By Rev.
FRANK DE WITT TALMACE. DID,,
Pastor Of Jefferson Park Presby.
terian Church, CHICAGO

t'd aA'u It's hioNlnS panorama or white
tails furnish theme for the preacher
Mt this season, when the multtudcs are
leaving the heated cities for seashore
ind lake. The text is Psalm civ. 90,
"Therc go the ships"
always feel sorry for one who has
not been lullabicd TO sleep by the low
moaning song of the sea Fcnlmore
Cooper loved TO write about the noun
tains and woods and streams and wa
terfalls and rivers, to whose deer Hicks
the fawns and the does came down to
drink. But there is a beauty, too, In
the sand dunes and the seaheach and
the broad expanse of the mighty deep
which we can love also.
Fascinating is the seashore on &C
count of its endless variety. The
oceans beauty is never twice the same.
Sometimes its colors are white foam
or light green or n dark emerald or
blue or black. Sometimes Its surface
IS covered with broad highways Of
gold, when the light of the rising sun
gilds 1t, 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 golden haired baby, its
checks are dimpled and wrinkled, as
though 1t is trying hard to keep back
hearty laugh. It will look as harm
less as some innocent lake cuddled up
;n the huge lap of a crooked backed
mountain. Then the sea gulls, as
white doves Of peace. will hover over
st. 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
hurdened mind, as he anxiously
watches the line which catches the
golden yrize of health as we'll as the
fnny treasures.
Sometimes the sea becomes as wrath
ful as the wild beasts in the Spanish
arena, stunE with sharp darts, before
which the attendants wave the red gar
ments. It rears 1t plunges. 1t lashes
Itself into fury until at last it is Grim
phosphorescences make 1t look like the
river Nile struck with the Mosaic rod
in the famous Egyptian plague, The
seashore n monotonous place to pass
the summer 1t Is embarrassing only
to those whose love Of nature is so I'M
developed that they cannot under
stand the language of the sea.
The Human shin
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 quar-
ter of n 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, ! 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 psalmst did when he
cried ont in the words of my text
"Therc 20 the ships" How like those
voyages are, with their unknown Incl
dents. their Gains and their storms,
their successes and, alas, their wrecks,
20 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 steerrd
safe into harbor or like the ship care
lessly navigated that strikes the sunken
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 tr, what kind Of cargo he
Is carrying and toward what kind of a
port he should be heading. The ships,
The ships! There go the ships! There
go the ships!
Every human vessel should be dis
tinguished by some flag. Going down
TO New York harhor and examining the
shipping, you will find the name of
each vessel clearly marked upon the
stern. You will also find the name OF
the city in which that vessel is regis
tered. Such names as these can be
read: John Milton of Glasgow, the
Aurania Of Liverpool. the Paris of New
York. And if upon the high seas two
ships approach each other, one captain
will put the trumpet to his lips and
call ship ahoy! ship ahoy! What
ship is thatY Then the other captain
will call back; The Kcnsington Of
Antwerp, bound for New York! What
ship is that The meaning of all
thisf Simply that when ship is reg
istered in n certain country that gov
eminent pledges itself to protect that
ship. A British ship is under British
protection; Il French ship is under
French protection; German ship Is
nnder German protection; an American
snip is under American protection.
Therefore, if nation dnrcs to modest
any foreign ship upon the high seas,
that nation must answer for the insult
to the flag which is flying above the
stern of the outraged vessel.
The Flag OF Protection.
Many war has been started because
the sacredness of ships deck has
been violated The war of 1879 with
England really had its origin In the
English claim that she could stop any
American vessel and take off her decks
all the English born sailors found