Part 22 (1/2)
CHAPTER LXII.
CALL TO SAILORS.
One of the children asked us at the tea-table if we had ever preached at sea. We answered, No! but we talked one Sabbath, mid-Atlantic, to the officers, crew and pa.s.sengers of the steams.h.i.+p ”China.” By the way, I have it as it was taken down at the time and afterward appeared in a newspaper, and here is the extract:
No persons bound from New York to Liverpool ever had more cause for thanksgiving to G.o.d than we. The sea so smooth, the s.h.i.+p so staunch, the companions.h.i.+p so agreeable, all the circ.u.mstances so favorable. O Thou who holdest the winds in Thy fist, blessed be Thy glorious name for ever!
Englishmen, Costa Ricans, Germans, Spaniards, j.a.panese, Irishmen, Americans--gathered, never to meet again till the throne of judgment is lifted--let us join hands to-day around the cross of Jesus and calculate our prospect for eternity. A few moments ago we all had our sea-gla.s.ses up watching the vessel that went by. ”What is her name?” we all asked, and ”Whither is she bound?”
We pa.s.s each other on the ocean of life to-day. We only catch a glimpse of each other. The question is, ”Whither are we bound? For harbor of light or realm of darkness?” As we decide these questions, we decide everything.
No man gets to heaven by accident. If we arrive there, it will be because we turn the helm, set the sail, watch the compa.s.s and stand on the ”lookout” with reference to that destination. There are many ways of being lost--only one way of being saved; Jesus Christ is the way. He comes across the sea to-day, His feet on the gla.s.s of the wave, as on Galilee, His arm as strong, His voice as soothing, His heart as warm. Whosoever will may have His comfort, His pardon, His heaven.
Officers and crew of this s.h.i.+p, have you not often felt the need of divine help? In the hour of storm and s.h.i.+pwreck, far away from your homes, have you not called for heavenly rescue? The G.o.d who then heard thy prayer will hear thee now. Risk not your soul in the great future without compa.s.s, or chart, or anchor, or helmsman. You will soon have furled your last sail, and run up the last ratline, and weathered the last gale, and made the last voyage. What next? Where then will be your home, who your companions, what your occupation?
Let us all thank G.o.d for this Sabbath which has come to us on the sea. How beautifully it bridges the Atlantic! It hovers above every barque and brig and steamer, it speaks of a Jesus risen, a grave conquered, a heaven open.
It is the same old Sabbath that blessed our early days. It is tropical in its luxuriance, but all its leaves are prayers, and all its blossoms praise. Sabbath on the sea! How solemn! How suggestive! Let all its hours, on deck, in cabin, in forecastle, be sacred.
Some of the old tunes that these sailors heard in boyhood times would sound well to-day floating among the rigging. Try ”Jesus, lover of my soul,” or ”Come, ye sinners, poor and needy,” or ”There is a fountain filled with blood.” As soon as they try those old hymns, the memory of loved ones would come back again, and the familiar group of their childhood would gather, and father would be there, and mother who gave them such good advice when they came to sea, and sisters and brothers long since scattered and gone.
Some of you have been pursued by benedictions for many years. I care not how many knots an hour you may glide along, the prayers once offered up for your welfare still keep up with you. I care not on what sh.o.r.e you land, those benedictions stand there to greet you. They will capture you yet for heaven. The prodigal after a while gets tired of the swine-herd and starts for home, and the father comes out to greet him, and the old homestead rings with clapping cymbals, and quick feet, and the clatter of a banquet.
If the G.o.d of thy childhood days should accost thee with forgiving mercy, this s.h.i.+p would be a Bethel, and your hammock to-night would be the foot of the ladder down which the angels of G.o.d's love would come trooping.
Now, may the blessing of G.o.d come down upon officers and crew and pa.s.sengers! Whatever our partings, our losses, our mistakes, our disasters in life, let none of us miss heaven. On that sh.o.r.e may we land amid the welcome of those who have gone before. They have long been waiting our arrival, and are now ready to conduct us to the foot of the throne. Look, all ye voyagers for eternity! Land ahead! Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.
What Paul said to the crew and pa.s.sengers on the corn-s.h.i.+p of the Mediterranean is appropriate here: ”Now I exhort you to be of good cheer!”
G.o.d fit us for the day when the archangel, with one foot on the sea and the other on the land, shall swear by Him that liveth for ever and ever that time shall be no longer!
CHAPTER LXIII.
JEHOSHAPHAT'S s.h.i.+PPING.
Your attention is called to a Bible incident that you may not have noticed.
Jehoshaphat was unfortunate with his s.h.i.+pping. He was about to start another vessel. The wicked men of Ahaziah wanted to go aboard that vessel as sailors. Jehoshaphat refused to allow them to go, for the reason that he did not want his own men to mingle with those vicious people.
In other words, he knew what you and I know very well, that it is never safe to go in the same boat with the wicked. But there are various applications of that idea. We too often forget it, and are not as wise as Jehoshaphat was when he refused to allow his men to be in companions.h.i.+p in the same boat with the wicked men of Ahaziah.
The principle I stated is appropriate to the formation, in the first place, of all domestic alliances. I have often known women who married men for the purpose of reforming them from dissipated habits. I never knew one successful in the undertaking. Instead of the woman lifting the man up, the man drags her down. This is inevitably the case. The greatest risk that one ever undertakes is attempting the voyage of life in a boat in which the wicked sail; this remark being most appropriate to the young persons who are in my presence. It is never safe to sail with the sons of Ahaziah. The aged men around me will bear out the statement that I have made. There is no exception to it.
The principle is just as true in regard to all business alliances. I know it is often the case that men have not the choice of their worldly a.s.sociations, but there are instances where they may make their choice, and in that case I wish them to understand that it is never safe to go in the same boat with the vicious. No man can afford to stand in a.s.sociations where Christ is maligned and scoffed at, or the things of eternity caricatured. Instead of your Christianizing them, they will heathenize you.
While you propose to lift them up, they will drag you down. It is a sad thing when a man is obliged to stand in a business circle where men are deriding the religion of the Lord Jesus Christ. For instance, rather than to be a.s.sociated in business circles with Frothinghamite infidelity, give me a first-cla.s.s Mohammedan, or an unconverted Chinese, or an unmixed Hottentot. There is no danger that they will draw me down to their religion.
If, therefore, you have a choice when you go out in the world as to whether you will be a.s.sociated in business circles with men who love G.o.d, or those who are hostile to the Christian religion, you might better sacrifice some of your financial interests and go among the people of G.o.d than risk the interests of your immortal soul.
Jehoshaphat knew it was unsafe for his men to go in one boat with the men of Ahaziah, and you cannot afford to have business a.s.sociations with those who despise G.o.d, and heed not His commandments. I admit the fact that a great many men are forced into a.s.sociations they despise, and there are business circles in which we are compelled to go which we do not like, but if you have a choice, see that you make an intelligent and safe one.