Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1904-05-23
Ca(naQe
Sermon
BY Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmaee, D. D.

theme Of the preacher. The text is
Acts xvii, So 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 a sense of security added to the
maximum of comfort, we little think
OF the discomfOrts 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 Allan
tic or up the Mediterranean is no
longer an undertaking TO be dreaded,
there are still many traditions of the
sea which time has not materially
Ichanged. If you have travelled much
upon the ocean, you must know that
there are superstitiOus sailors who dis
like to carry ministers, or. as they call
them, SKY pilots" in their ships. Ever
of a Mediterranean cyclone, because
he would persist in going to Tarshish
when God told him to go to Nineveh.
there have been sailors who believe the
presence Of a minister upon their ship
means head winds and storms and dis
lasters and misfortunes. This prejudice
against carrying a minister, like the
-. t-rx-{TN or
the starting of a voyage on Friday.
has been gradually getting less and
less as sailors have become better
educated. Only a few months ago
great liner set out from our shores for
the Holy Land carrying among her
passengers several hundred ministers
of the gospel. But in Olden times the
sailors would look with very distrust-
Iful 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 AleXan-
der, 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 We're in almost
open mutiny at the idea of carrying
isuch q dangerous cargo of human
freight, but when they arrived in Cal
cutta, after a long four months voy-
Iage of unprecedented clear weather
Those sailors were so surprised that in
stead of considering their ministerial
passengers "Jonahs" they looked upon
them as fair weather" angels. Sc
icompletely had their opinion changed
that they told their captain. who knew
lof 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
Ieradicated. This prejudice against
ministerial passengers has survived
for centuries. Yet in the scene of my
text we have an instance of its being
lovercome. Here is Paul. landsman,
Ia prisoner and a missionary, so win
ming the confidence of the crew that
they heed his warnings and follow his
suggestions. 1t was, too, in a crisis
when nautical skill was needed that
they listened to him. There was 9
storm raging of unusual violence. The
dreaded hurricane they called eurocly
don was flashing the Mediterranean in
no fury. There was darkness even a
midday; all reckoning lost. all hops
given up. Then the 215 persons oil
board turned to this little Jewish mis-
Isionary for guidance and encourage
lment They had begun the voyage
against his advice. They might b.
prejudiced against him as a preacher
and prisoner. but they listened tt
him when he addressed them. bidding
them be Of good cheer. And when b.
had thus spoken he took bread an(
gave thanks to God in presence o.
them all, and when he had broken 4
he began to eat Then were they al
of good cheer, and they also took some
meat"
why were the crew and the pas
sengers Of this Alexandrian corn shiI
happy Of heart? First, because faitl
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 ex
ample, instilled pto the hearts and
minds of those by whom he was sur.
rounded. We know that cowardice is
infectious. We know that when a
ship is sinking at sea there is liable
to be such rush for the boats that q
panic may ensue. Then the captain
knowing well that only by order anC
equanimity is there hope for the safety
of any, will draw his pistol, and. witt
determined mien. declare that he viii
shoot the first man who disobeys or
ders in forcing his way into the life
boats. We know that when a regimen
IS resisting the charge of an enemy th'
colonel will take his position in the
rear OF the line and shoot down
any cowardly soldier who would turI
and Zee II one soldier were allowed
TO run to the rear, the whole regiment