Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1904-08-13
Calnnage
Sermon
BY Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmage, ID. ID.

sermon the reader is taken into an
enchanted realm beneath the waves,
and a novel and strange Interpretation
is given to the mystery of the sea. The
text is Revelations xxi, l, "And there
was no more sea-"
Who was the writer7 Where were
his feet planted when he saw the spec
tacles which he describes in his divine
ly inspired Apocalypse? These two
conditions must be clearly understood
before one can in any true way grasp
the meaning Of the words of my text
Indeed, to properly appreciate the
words or the actions of any man we
must first put ourselves in that mans
place.
We all understand this condition in
everyday life. Why, then, cannot we
mt ourselves in the biblical writer's
places when we try TO interpret the
holy book? During the darkest days
of the civil war Congressman Dixon OF
New York state entered the White
House with long list of grievances
which he and some Of his colleagues
had drawn up against the government.
Abraham Lincoln heard him patiently
until he was through. Then he said:
sDixon. l believe you and your friends
were truly honest men when you are"
ND those criticisms against my ADMIN
istratiop. But the trouble is you fel-
lows do not put yourselves in my place.
II Won did. you would do just about
what am doing. tell you now l
will fix those matters. You go nome
and think up all the things you Woulu
like me to do. and then come back 10
morrow and tell me the result, ana
will do lust what you want me TO DO.
Congressman Dixon said: i went
hack TO my hotel that evening with my
head high up among the clouds. why
said to myself, Lincoln said he VIII
do anything l want him to DO; thaI
makes me tonight practically president
OF the United States.'" But after sup
per that night Congressman DIXON
went TO his room. He laid the white
sheets of paper upon his desk and De-
gan to plan what he wanted Lincoln
10 do. The more, however, he thought
the more difficult it was for him 10 nnu
ANYTHING to write. Why! Because 'ile
more he put himself in the president
Mace the more he felt he would &c
lust as Lincoln was doing ana hao
done THE next day came. dld no
90 TO the White House. said congress
man Dixon. neither did 20 the mex
dav or the next. About three weeks
later | attended a public reception a
the White House. AS soon as en-
tered the room the president saw me
and he called out. Hello, Dixon. why
did you not keep your appointment
with me the day after our cohNersa
tionY Because l was ashamed to az
So All, yes said Lincoln, l though
Won would not come back. The actions
and words of man appear ehtlreI.
different when you put yourself in tina
mans place than when you crlticlS
them from an outsiders standpoint.
Put Yourself In His Place.
Today, in order to rightly lnterpre
fine words of my text, we must mrs
nut ourselves in st. Johns place. l
the first instance, we notice, he IS a
old man. His life's work was neari
done. A man at eighty looks at cond
tons in heaven and on earth dinerentl
from the way young man at twent
looks at them. The struggles of III
were to st. John very real ana lhtens
For wears he had been resident
Ephesus, In Asia Minor. lie had pee
a mighty factor in the spreading
the gospel through all those region
He had suffered for Christ; he had a
most been martyred. The second Ia
we must notice is that St John is a
exile. Like Napoleon at st. Helena,
knew that in all probability he cou
never again go back TO his earth
work Under the DOmitian persec
ton. he was sent to this lonely roc
hound island of the Mediterranean
Therefore the sea meant more 10 Ill
than il might mean to some OF us.
meant. as | shall try to show, first, Il
"sea of mystery" secondly, the Sc
of hate" thirdly, the 'sea OF separ
tom" and fourthly, the "sea OF splr
ual struggle" BY putting ourselves
st. Johns place as eXiles upon I
island of Patmos, l believe we Ct
symbolic all these facts.
First. the sea is a mysterious mo
ster. Do we have to go TO iona
MAN vision to know that? Has Ill
man. woman or child ever stood up
the beach and looked off upon |
mighty deep and not wondered aDo
what was happening away down
the depths that no fathom line mas CIV
vet been able to sound? For years a
wears Africa was called the dark &C
tinent. No white mans foot had pei
trated its secret haunts until the Ii
century. But the dark continent W
never more dark than is the ia
ocean What Henry NJ. Stanley 4
been to darkest Africa in one sci
Sir Wyville Thomson, and after
death Sir John Murray, have been
the depths Of the sea. The sclehu
have unraveled few OF the seas m
teries They have shown the world II
there are different sea currents flow
over one another in different directlo
as the different currents of the air
low the aeronaut to journey in one
rection or another. BY deep sea Ore
ing they have brought up from the i(
est ocean depths the primeval oc
the deposit perhaps of millions
years. They have captured stral
creatures which have never been s.
before by the eyes of man. The rest
of their Investigations have been
lected into one of the greatest OF
scientific volumes, entitled the b
of Oceanography." But, after
though some of the oceans ihyste