When Help Goes Unrecognized

       A night of terror and danger, because of their ignorance, was spent by the crew of a vessel off the coast of New Jersey.

      Just before dark a bark was discovered drifting helplessly, and soon struck her bows so that she was made fast on a bar, and in momentary danger of going down.

      A line was shot over the rigging of the wreck by a life-saving crew, but the sailors did not understand that it was a line connecting them with the shore, that they might seize and escape. All signs failed to make them understand this. So all night the bark lay with the big waves dashing over it, while the crew, drenched and shivering and terrified, shouted for help.

      In the morning they discovered how unnecessarily they had suffered, and how all night there was a line right within reach by which they might have been saved. -- Evangelical Messenger

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Man Made For Eternity

       You can tell the difference between sea and land birds by the length and strength of their wings. The wings of the former are intended for long and sustained action in their sweep along the surface of the great ocean.

       Man's soul, in a similar manner, is not intended for this material world, but has long and strong wings of hope and affection wherewith to span the ocean of eternity. Morgan

Storms At Sea

Storms At Sea

Those who frequent the dangerous main,

In quest of pleasure, health, or gain,

Should deeply on their minds record,

The wondrous blessings of the Lord.

He oft commands the furious winds,

To scourge them for repeated sins;

The obedient winds his will perform,

Unite, and swell the gathering storm.

The shattered vessel, to the blast,

Resigns her rigging, sails, and mast,

And 'fore the unbridled gale is borne,

With squalls and billows scathed and torn.

Sometimes she caps the stormy scene;

Sometimes she, hopeless, sinks between

Enormous seas, which wildly spread

Their foaming horrors o'er her head.

And now, the deeply-chastened crew,

Their guilty course with sorrow view,

And fainting at the threat'ning roar,

They languish for the distant shore;

While on their humbled, staggering knees,

To heaven they send their noisy pleas;

And loud, from every rocking wave,

They cry, "O, Lord, in mercy save!"

The Lord, in pity, hears them plead,

And bids the frightful gale recede

Sends milder breezes to escort,

And waft them to their destined port.

O, that the safely-landed crew,

To God, would render praises due;

Still fear and serve him on the shore,

And wander from their Lord no more!

"Heaven and earth shall pass away . . . "

The instability of all mundane things is suggested by the following account, which may also remind us of the utterance of Jesus: "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away."

"When, in 1890, Germany bartered away Zanzibar in exchange for Heligoland, great was the rejoicing," says Shipping Illustrated (New York). "Much concern is now being manifested in Germany owing to the relentless attack of the sea, which has already reduced the island's area nearly twenty-five percent since it came under the German flag. At this rate the little island will, in another half-century, have melted entirely away. The North Sea has been from time immemorial an avaricious land-grabber. The Dogger Bank once reared its head above the surface, a fact proved by the bones of animals occasionally brought up in the fishermen's nets. The eastern coast of England has suffered severely from its insatiable appetite. Dunwick, an important seaport during the Middle Ages, is now a part of the sea-bottom, and fishes and other marine denizens occupy the one-time habitation of men. Visitors to Felixstowe, once a Roman colony and now a modern seaside resort, opposite Harwich, have pointed out to them a rock a mile out to sea, on which the old church formerly stood. The Kaiser may yet live to see his cherished possession torn from his grasp."

Listening For Signals

A news item, referring to the wreck of the Republic, and the hearing of the first wireless news of the disaster by the operator at the station on Nantucket Island, says:   

       Imagine a lonely island in the middle of winter, thereon a lonely Marconi station, therein a lonely Marconi operator, with his telephones glued to his head watching the break of day, thinking of his past and future, listening for any sign of life in his telephones. Imagine that man suddenly startled with a faint, very faint, call from a ship using the recognized distress signal, giving her position and calling for help. Slowly,
all too slowly, came the cry for urgent aid, each call seemingly taking an hour's valuable time, yet in truth but a fraction of a second. Will he never sign? Who can it be? At last came the recognized code letters of the White Star Republic, and again the call for aid. With this information Operator Irwin, of the Marconi force at the station here, who was on duty at the time, immediately got the wires hot, knowing the revenue cutter Acushnet to be lying at Wood's Hole, and within one minute the captain was informed that his calls had been heard and aid was being rushed to him.
       The soul attent to hear the world's signals that call for help should be ready to serve and save the lost and needy. 

"Incline your ear and draw near to me. Listen, and your soul will live. And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, by the faithful mercies of David." Isaiah 55:3

An Anchor

        Every ship has an anchor, and there are times when the safety of the ship depends on its right use of its anchors. When I was a boy in Constantinople, an American captain visited our house. He told us that his ship was anchored in an exposed harbor in one of the islands of the Agean Sea, when a violent storm broke upon them. Both of the anchors which they had down began to drag, and it was only a question of time when they would be cast ashore. They had one little anchor still unused, and tho they did not hope much good could come from dropping it they took the chance. To their great surprise and equal delight, tho the two larger anchors would not hold, the smaller one held, and they rode out the storm in safety. When they came to weigh the anchors, the two large ones came up easily, but the smaller one came with great difficulty. When at last it appeared above the surface of the water, lo and behold, the fluke of the anchor had caught in the ring of a large man-of-war's anchor that had been lost there long before! The man-of-war's anchor had been embedded in the soil, and this accounted for the fact that the little anchor held.

       Every man voyaging on the ocean of life ought to have an anchor. The apostle speaks about a good hope, which he says we have as an anchor sure and stedfast entering into the unseen, which is within the veil. - A. F. Schauffler. The Christian Herald.

Life-Saving

 Every man should try to be as alert and well prepared for helping and saving men as the steamers here described:

       All Pacific mail-steamers are carefully protected by a rigid practise in fire and life-saving drills. At the tap of the bell, the crew spring to their places by boat and raft; each officer, with a pistol hung by his side, takes his station; and the precision and quickness with which it is all accompanied inspire the beholder with very comfortable feelings.
       The life-drill is practiced in case some one should fall overboard. Certain members of the crew are assigned to this duty, ready at any moment to throw out life-lines, buoys that strike a light when they hit the water, or man the emergency life-boat that is kept in position to be lowered instantly. Marshall P. Wilder, "Smiling 'Round the World."

"Mercy" is a powerful thing, more powerful than 

you can possibly imagine. This is God's way.

Low Vitality

       Just as the body when at a low vitality is susceptible to colds, so it may as truly be said of the soul, when impoverished it falls prey to temptation and sin.

       The common theory that all colds are the result of exposure is a great mistake, inasmuch as exposure is not the direct cause of the trouble. Colds are caused by hostile microbes, or bacteria, which gain a foothold at a time when our vitality has been lowered by exposure. But there are many quarters of the globe where one finds it impossible to catch cold, simply by reason of the fact that there is no cold to catch.

        ''Peary and his men during the months they spent in the arctic regions were immune from cold, tho they were constantly enduring exposure of every kind. They passed day after day in clothes so saturated with perspiration that by day they froze into a solid mass, so to speak, and the clothes cut into their flesh. And at night, in their sleeping-bags, the first hour was spent in thawing out. They returned to civilization none the worse in health, but soon contracted severe colds upon reaching there. People were much amused by the press accounts of how Commander Peary had taken cold while proceeding to dine with a friend in a suburb of Washington, the taxicab which was conveying him and his wife having broken down during a snow flurry in December.'' Harper's Weekly.

He went on: ''What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person's heart, that evil thoughts come: sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly." Mark 7: 20:23

Ahead of Circumstance

       In life there are those who keep just ahead of the breaking wave, and others who halt and it engulfs them. Marshall P. Wilder describes in the extract below the skill of the Hawaiian natives with their canoes:

       We donned bathing-suits and took a surf ride. This is the national sport and, being at all times sufficiently thrilling, must be taken in a high surf, a tremendous experience. The boats are long, deep and very narrow canoes, with an outrigger at one side to keep them from tipping.
       Two natives, and they must be skilled, usually operate these canoes. Three or four passengers at a time are taken out, the natives rowing with broad paddles a quarter or half mile from the shore, where they wait for a large wave. With the nicest precision they keep ahead of it, just as it breaks, and are carried smoothly in, poised on its crest. I sat facing the stern, and the experience was something to remember, the swift bird-like swoop of the canoe, with the white, seething wall of water behind it, apparently just about to engulf us. After we were safely on shore again they told us stories of how the wave, if the rowers miscalculate, will break over the canoe, driving it to the bottom.

Prayer Produces Song

       There is a beautiful suggestion of the way prayer soothes our fears, comforts our hearts, cheers the soul, and awakens music and song, in Luke's description, given in the sixth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, of the experience of Paul and Silas in the dungeon at Philippi. Tho they were wounded and bruised and hungry, and uncomfortable with their chains, they prayed to God in the midnight, and afterward their hearts were so full of joy that they could not help but sing. And it is well to note what they sang. It was not " Hark, from the tombs a doleful sound!" but the other note altogether, "Praise God, from whom all blessings flow." Song flows out of prayer as naturally as a spring gushes out of a mountainside full of treasures of the melted snow.

How Pearls Are Made

        The finding of pearls in some parts of New York State, as well as in many Southern lakes and streams, has brought to notice again the strange way in which pearls are made. A grain of sand is sucked in by these fresh-water clams with their food. Every nine months the clam throws off a milky secretion, which forms a new coating of mother-of-pearl inside the shell: white, blue, or pink. A coating of this substance forms around the intruding grain of sand, which must be a constant annoyance to the clam, and thus in course of time the pearl is formed. So soul-pearls are made by patience under trying circumstances. 

"In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trails.'' 1 Peter 1:6

"Ye are the Light of the World"

"You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden." Matthew 5:14 NKJV

        An English clergyman relates the following incident: "During a voyage to India I sat one dark evening in my cabin feeling thoroughly unwell, as the sea was rising fast and I was but a poor sailor. Suddenly the cry of 'Man overboard!' made me spring to my feet. I heard a trampling overhead, but resolved not to go on deck, lest I should interfere with the crew in their efforts to save the poor man. 'What can I do?' I asked myself, and instantly unhooking my lamp, I held it near the top of my cabin and close to my bull's-eye window, that its light might shine on the sea, and as near the ship as possible. In a half minute's time I heard the joyful cry 'It's all right; he's safe,' upon which I put my lamp in its place. The next day, however, I was told that my little lamp was the sole means of saving the man's life. It was only by the timely light which shone upon him that the knotted rope could be thrown so as to reach him. 'Let your light so shine.'''

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The Conquest of Fear...

"Courage consists not in hazarding without fear, but being resolutely minded in a just cause. The brave man is not he who feels no fear, for that were stupid and irrational, but he whose noble soul subdues its fear, and bravely dares the danger nature shrinks from." Ferrold.

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A Shelter In The Time of Storm

        "I found this hymn in a small paper published in London, called "The Postman." It was said to be a favorite song of the fishermen on the north coast of England, and they were often heard singing it as they approached their harbors in the time of storm. As the hymn was set to a weird minor tune, I decided to compose one that would be more practical, one that could be more easily sung by the people." Sanky

Words by V. J. Charlesworth, Music by Ira D. Sankey

Waiting

Waiting
by John Burroughs

Serene, I fold my hand and wait,
Nor care for wind, or tide, nor sea;
I rave no more'gainst time or fate,
For lo! mine own shall come to me.

I stay my haste, I make delays,
For what avails this eager pace?
I stand amid the eternal ways,
And what is mine shall know my face.

Asleep, awake, by night or day,
The friends I seek are seeking me;
No wind can drive my bark astray,
Nor change the tide of destiny.

What matter if I stand alone?
I wait with joy the coming years;
My heart shall reap where it has sown,
And garner up its fruit of tears.

The waters know their own, and draw
The brook that springs in yonder
heights;
So flows the good with equal law
Unto the soul of pure delights.

The stars come nightly to the sky;
The tidal wave comes to the sea;
Nor time, nor space, nor deep, nor high,
Can keep my own away from me.

Before Your Boat Sails...

       Turn a moment to Paul's epistle to the Philippians, 4th chapter, 3d verse: "And I entreat thee also, true yoke-fellow, help those women which labored with me in the gospel, with Clement, also, and with my other fellow-laborers whose names are in the book of life." Why, it is not only they themselves who know it, but Paul seemed to know their names are there. He sent them greeting, " whose names are in the book of life." My dear friend, is your name there? It seems to me it is a very sweet thought to think we can have our names there and know it ; that we can send our names on ahead of us, and know it is written in the book of life.

       I had a friend coming back from Europe, some time ago, and she came down with some other Americans from London to Liverpool. On the train down they were talking about the hotel they would stop at. They had got to stay there a day or two before the boat sailed ; and so they all concluded to go to the Northwestern Hotel; but when they reached Liverpool, they found that the hotel was completely tilled, and had been full for days. Every room was taken, and the party started to go out, but this lady did not go with them; and they asked her, ""Why, are you not coming'"' "No," said she; "I am going to stay here." "But how? The hotel is full." "Oh," said she, " I have got a room." " How did you get it?" " I telegraphed on a few days ago for one." Yes; she had alone taken pains to telegraph her name on ahead, and had thus secured her room. That is just what God wants you to do. Send your name on ahead. Have your mansion ready for you when you come to die. D. L. Moody

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Reminiscences of the Past In Heaven

       The reminiscences of the past will be sources of profit and gladness. After a success we look back with joy upon the trials over which we triumphed. After having made a perilous ocean voyage the remembrance brings gladness. Youth and childhood, with their victories and defeats, joys and sorrows, who would wish obliterated from their memories? Man will never be grateful for sin, but will gladly remember that through the grace of God he triumphed over it. The very blackness of the sin will add glory to his victory. It is the rain dropping from the clouds and catching the rays of light  which give hues to the rainbow; so the tears and sorrows of the present life, catching the light from that new heaven and new earth, will add beauty and gladness to the experiences of that day. - Rev. R. S. Storrs, D. D.

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The Splendor Of Heaven

THE SPLENDOR OF HEAVEN.
REV. F. W. FABER, P. P.
Ah, what is this splendor that beams on me now,
This beautiful sunrise that dawns on my soul, 

While faint and far oft" land and sea lie below,
And under my feet the huge golden clouds roll?

To what mighty king doth this city belong,
With its rich jeweled shrines, and its gardens of flowers,
With its breath of sweet incense, its measures of song.
And the light that is gilding its numberless towers?

See! forth from the gates, like a bridal array,
Come the princes of heaven, how bravely they shine!
'Tis to welcome the stranger, to show me the way,
And to tell me that all I see round me is mine.

There are millions of saints in their ranks and degree
And each with a beauty and crown of his own;
And there, far outnumbering the sands of the seas,
The nine rings of angels encircle the throne.

And oh, if the exiles of earth could but win
One sight of the beauty of Jesus above,
From that hour they -would cease to be able to sin,
And earth would be heaven; for heaven is love.

But words may not tell of the vision of peace,
With its worshipful seeming, its marvelous fires;
Where the soul is at large, where its sorrows all cease,
And the gift has outbidden its boldest desires.

No sickness is here, no bleak, bitter cold,
No hunger, debt, prison, or weariful toil;
No robbers to rifle our treasures of gold,
No rust to corrupt, and no canker to spoil.

My God! and it was but a short hour ago,
That I lay on a bed of unbearable pains;
All was cheerless around me, all weeping and woe;
Now the wailing is changed to angelical strains.

Because I served Thee, were life's pleasures all gone?
Was it gloom, pain, or blood, that won heaven for me?
Oh no! one enjoyment alone could life boast,
And that, dearest Lord ! was my service of Thee.

I had hardly to give; 'twas enough to receive,
Only not to impede the sweet grace from above;
And, this first hour in heaven, I can hardly believe
In so great a reward for so little a love.

Missionary Accomplishments

       "When the American missionaries came to the Sandwich Islands, they struck off the shackles from the whole race, breaking the power of the kings and chiefs. They set the common man free, elevated his wife to a position of equality with him, and gave a piece of land to each to hold forever. They set up schools and churches, and imbued the people with the spirit of the Christian religion. If they had had the power to augment the capacities of the people, they could have made them perfect; and they would have done it, no doubt.
      The missionaries taught the whole nation to read and write, with facility, in the native tongue. I don't suppose there is to-day a single uneducated person above eight years of age in the Sandwich Islands! It is the best educated country in the world, I believe. That has been all done by the American missionaries. And in a large degree it was paid for by the American Sunday-school children with their pennies. I know that I contributed." -- Samuel L. Clemens.

"How They Worship," Wow.

God moves in a mysterious way...

God moves in a mysterious way...

by William Cowper

God moves in a mysterious way

His wonders to perform;

He plants His footsteps in the sea

And rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines

Of never-failing skill,

He treasures up His bright designs,

And works His sovereign will.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break
In blessings o'er your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.

Blind unbelief is sure to err,
And scan His work in vain;
God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain.