The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-05-22
DR. TALMAGE'S SERMON.
BY THE REV. FRANK DE WITT rALmAaE. D. D

RDSDei
 the ocean this season or who journey on any waters, whether for pleasure or bus iness is today the theme of the preacher. The text is Acts 27:96. Then they were all of good cheer"
 Have you ever followed the sea? In these days of multiplied facilities for ocean travel, when mammoth liners. equipped like floating palaces. carry tens and hundreds of thousands of passengers to and fro across the seas, with sense of security added to the maximum of comfort, we little think of the discom- forts attendant upon the ocean voyages of half a century ago. But. though the conditions of sea travel have so vastly improved in recent years that a journey across the Atlantic or up the Mediter- ranean is no longer an undertaking to be dreaded. there are still many tradi- tions of the sea which time has not materially changed If you have travel ed much upon the ocean, you must know that there are superstitious sailors who dislike to carry ministers. or, as they call them, sky pilots" in their ships Ever since the recreant Jonas was the cause of Mediterranean cyclone, because he would persist in going to Tarshsh when God told him to go to Ninevah, there have been sailors who believe the pres enee of a minister upon their ship means head winds and storms and disasters and misfortunes. The prejudice against carrying a minister, like the prejudice against carrying a corpse or the starting of voyage on a Friday. has been grad ually getting less as sailors have be- come better educated. Only a few months ago a great liner set out from our shores for the Holy Land carrying among her passengers several hundred ministers of the gospel. But in oden times the sailors would look with very distrust- full eyes upon any man in clerical garb who might cross their gangplank. The mutterings in the forecastle were loud and deep if two or more missionaries happened to be enrolled at the same time on the ships passenger list.
 Rev. Dr. James McGregor Alexander, the honored missionary of India, told me that when he and his wife and five other missionaries in 1865 set sail for India the sailors were in almost open mutiny at the idea of carrying such dangerous cargo of human freight, but when they arrived in Calcutta, after a long four months voyage of unprecedented clear weather, those sailors were so surprised that instead of considering their minis terial passengers "Jonah's'' they looked upon them fair weather angels. So completely had their opinions changed that they told their captain, who knew of their former foreboding. that they wished the missionaries were going back with them on their return voyage
 Paul in the Storm.
 Superstition. however. is not easily eradieated. This prejudice against min isterial passengers has survived for cen turies. Yet in the scene of my text we have an instance of it's being overcome. Here is Paul, landsman, a prisoner and a missionary so winning the confidence of the crew that they heed his warnings and follow his suggestions It was. too, in crisis when nautical skill was need ed that they listened to him. There was storm raging of unusual violence. The dreaded hurricane they called eurocly- don was slashing the Mediterranean in- to fury. There was darkness even at midday: all reckoning lost, all hope given up. Then the 275 persons on board turned to this little Jewish missionary for guidance and encouragement. They had begun the voyage against his advice. They might be prejudiced against him as a preacher and a prisoner, but they listened to him when he addressed them. bidding them to be of good cheer And when he had thus spoken he took bread and gave thanks to God in presence of them all, and when he had broken it he began to eat. Then they were all of good cheer and they all took some meat"
 Why were the crew and the passen- gers of this Alexandrian corn ship happy of heart? First. because faith always begets faith and confidence confidence, and good cheer good cheer. The belief which Paul felt that "there should be no loss of any mans life but of the ship" was. by his personal example. instilled into the hearts and minds of those by whom he was surrounded. We know that cowardice is infectious. We know that when ship is sinking at sea there is liable to be such a rush for the boats that a panic may ensue. Then the cap- tain knowing well that only by order and equanimty Is there hope for the safety of any. will draw his pistol and with determined mein. declare that he will shoot the first man who disobevs orders in forcing his way into the life boats. We know that when a regiment is resisting the charge of an enemy the colonel will take his position in the rear of the line and shoot down and cowardly soldier who turn and flee. If one soldier were allowed 10 run to the rear. the stricken cattle. might be stampeded with fear. If cowardce Is infectious. why may not hope also be infectious? Why is not the calm mein of Paul able to steady the nerves and make hopeful the