Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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MOMENTOUS TKIFLES. REV. DR. TALMAGE PREACHES AN IN TERESTING SERMON IN MOBILE. "Unappreciated Services'* Taken as the Subject of the Text-Little Things of Great Cesol ts-Nothing Is Insignificant. The Escape In a Basket. MOBILE, March H.-Rev. T. De Witt Talmage, D. D., who is now visiting the south, selected as the subject of today's . sermon "Unappreciated Services," the text being taken from II Corinthians xi, 33, "Through a window, in a basket, was I let down by the walhw Damascns is a city of white* and glis? tening architecture sometimes called * the eye of the east," sometimes called w* .-a.peaTlsnrronndedbyemeralds/'atone time distinguished for swords of the best material, called Damascns blades, and upholstery of richest fabric, called dam? asks. * A horseman of the name of Pani, rid? ing toward this city? had been thrown V from the saddle. The horse had dropped nuder a flash from the sky, which at the same time was so bright it blinded the rider for many days, and I think so per? manently injured his eyesight that this * defect of vision became the thorn in the flesh he afterward speaks of. He started for Damascns to butcher Christians, but after that hard fall from his horse he was a changed man and preached Christ in Damascns till the city was shaken to its foundation. CRY OF THE MOB. The mayor gives authority for his ar? rest, and the popular cry is: 'Kill him! Kill him !" The city is surrounded by a high wall, and the gates are watched by the police lest theCilician preacher es? cape. Many of the houses are built on the wall, and their balconies projected clear over and hovered above the gar? dens outside. It was customary to lower baskets out of these balconies and pull np fruits and flowers from the gardens. To this day visitors at the monastery of Mount Sinai are lifted and let down in baskets. Detectives prowled around from house to house looking for Pani, bnt his friends hid him, now in one place, now in an? other. He is no coward, as 50 incidents in Tr?* life demonstrate. But he feels his work is not done yet, and so he evac.es assassination. "Is that preacher here"/" the foaming mob shout at one house door. "Is that fanatic here?" the police shoat at another house door. Sometimes on the street incognito he passes through a crowd of clinched fists, and sometimes he secretes himself on the housetops. At last the infuriated populace get on sure track of him. They have positive evidence that he is in the house of one of the Christians, the balcony of whose home reaches over the walL "Here he is! Here he is!" The vo? ciferation and blasphemy and ?owling of the pursuers are at the front door. They break in. "Fetch ont that gospel iser and let ns hang his head on the city gate. "Where is he?* The emergency was terrible. Providentially there was a good stout basket in the house. Pau l's friends fasten a rope to the basket Pani steps into it. The basket is lifted to the edge of the balcony on the wall, and then while Pani holds on to the rope with both hands his friends lower away, carefully and cautiously, slowly, but surely, far? ther down and farther down, until the basket strikes the earth and the apostle steps ont, and afoot and alone starts on that famous missionary tour, the story of which has astonished earth and heaven. Appropriate entry in Paul's diary of trav? els, "Through a window, in a basket, was I let down by the wall." - SLENDER THREADS. Observe first on what a slender tenure great results hang. The ropemaker who twisted that cord fastened to that lower? ing basket never knew how much would depend on the strength of it. How if it had been broken, and the apostle's life had been dashed ont? What would have become of the Christian church? All that magnificent missionary work in PamphyHa, Capad ocia, Galatia, Mace? donia, would never have been accom? plished. AH his writings that make up 80 indispensable and enchanting a part of the New Testament would never have been written. The story of restxrection would never have been so gloriously told as he told it. That example of heroic and triumphant endurance at Philippi, in the Mediterranean euroclydon, under flagellation and at his beheading would not have kindled the courage of 10,000 martyrdoms. But the rope holding that basket, how much depended on it! So again and again great results have hung on what seemed slender circumstances. Did ever ship of many thousand tons crossing the sea have such important pas? senger as had once a boat of leaves, from taffrail to stern only three or four feet, the vessel made waterproof by a coat of bitumen and floating on the Kile with the infant lawgiver of the Jews on board? What if some crocodile should crunch it? What if some of the cattle wading in for a drink should sink it? Vessels of war sometimes carry 40 guns looking through the portholes, ready to open bat? tle. But that tiny craft on the Nile seems to be armed with all the guns of thunder that bombarded Sinai at the lawgiving. On how fragile craft sailed how much of historical importance! The parsonage at Epworth, England, is on fire in the night, and the father mahed.throngh the hallway for the res? cue of his children. Seven children are ont and safe on the ground, but one re? mains in the consuming building. That one wakes, and finding his bed on fire and the building crumbling, comes to tiie window, and two peasants make a ladder of their bodies, one peasant stand? ing on tiie shoulder of the other, and down the human ladder the boy de? scends-John Wesley. If you would know how much depended on that lad? der of peasants, ask the millions of Meth? odists on both sides of the sea. Ask their mission stations all round the world. Ask the hundreds of thousands already ascended to join their founder, who would have perished but for the living stair of peasant's shoulders. An English ship stopped at Pitcairn island, and right in th? midst of rounding cannibalism and squalor passengers discovered a Christian col of churches and schools and beaut homes and highest style of religion civilization. For 50 years no missior and no Christian influence had lan there. Why this oasis of light am desert of heathendom? Sixty years be. a ship had met disaster, and ono of sailors, unable to save anything e went to his trunk and took out a B which his mother had placed there swam ashore, the Bible held in his te< The book was read on all sides n the rough and vicious population w evangelized, and a church was stan and an enlightened common weal th tablished, and the world's histor}' has more brilliant page than that which t of the transformation of a nation by book. It did not seem of much im] tance whether the sailor continued hold the book in his teeth or let it fal the breakers, but upon what small i cumstance depended what mighty suits! Practical inference-there are no significances in our lives. The niinut thing is part of a magnitude. Infix is made up of infinitesimals; great thii an aggregation of small things. Beti hem manger pulling on a star in thee* ern sky. One book in a drenched saih mouth the evangelization of a raul titu One boat of papyrus on the Nile freig ed with events for all ages. The fate Christendom in a basket let down fr a window on the wall. What you do, well. If you make a rope, make it strc and true, for you know not how mt may depend on your workmanship, you fashion a boat, let it be waterpro for you know not who may sail in it. If you put a Bible in the trunk of ye boy as he goes from home, let it be hes in your prayers, for it may have a rx sion as farreaching as the book whi the sailor carried in his teeth to the I cairn beach. The plainest man's life an island between two eternities-et nity past rippling against his should*5 eternity to come touching his brow. T casual, the accidental, that which men happened so, are parts of a great pk and the rope that lets the fugitive apos from the Damascus wall is the cabie th holds to its mooring the ship of t church in the northeast storm of the ce tunes. THEY HELD THE ROPE. Again, notice unrecognized and uni corded services. Who spun that roj Who tied it to the basket? Who steadi the illustrious preacher as he stepped i to it? Who relaxed not a muscle of t arm or dismissed an anxious look fro his face until the basket touched tl ground and discharged its magnifi?e: cargo? Not one of their names has COE to us, but there was no work done th day in Damascus or in all the earth coi pared with the importance of their wor What if they had in their agitation ti? a knot that could slip? What if tl sound of fiie mob at the door had h them to say, "Paul must take care of hin self, and we will take care of ourselves No, no! They held the rope, and in d' ing so did more for the Christian churc than any thousand of us will ever a* complish. But Godlcnows and has mac eternal record of their undertaking. An they know. How exultant they must have fe when they read his letters to the R< mans, to the Corinthians, to the Gal; tians, to the Ephesians, to the Phili] pians, to the Colossians, to the Thessi lomans, to Timothy, to Titus, to Phill mon, to the Hebrews, and when the heard how he walked out of prison wit the earthquake unlocking the door fe him and took command of the Alexaz drian corn ship when the sailors wet nearly scared to death and preached sermon that nearly shook Felix off hi judgment seat! I hear the men an women who helped him down throng the window and over the wall tallon in private over the matter, and savin? "How glad I am that we effected tha rescue! In coming times others ma; get the glory of Paul's work, but no on shall rob us of the satisfaction of know ing that we held the rope." There are said to be about 69,000 min isters of religion m this country. Abon 60,000,1warrant, came from early homes which had to struggle forthenecessarie of life. The sons of rich bankers an< merchants generally become bankers am merchants. The most of those who be come ministers are the sons of those wh< had terrific struggle to get their every day bread.* The collegiate and theolog ical education of that son took ever] luxury from the parental table for eight years. The other children were mon scantily appareled. The son at college every little while got a bundle fron: home. In it were the socks that mothei had knit, sitting up late at night, hei sight not as good as once it was, and there also were some delicacies from the sister's hand for the voracious appetite of a hungry student. ? HARD PULL. The years go by, and the son has been ordained and is preaching the glorious gospel, and a great revival comes, and souls by scores and hundreds accept the gospel from the lips of that young preacher, and father and mother, quite old :?OW, are visiting the son at the vil? lage parsonage, and at the close of a Sab? bath of mighty blessing father and moth? er retire to their room, the son lighting tiie way and asking them if he can do anything to maka them more comforta? ble, saying if they want anything in the night just to knock on the wall. And then all alone father and mother talk over the gracious influences of the day and say: "Well, it was worth all we went through to educate that boy! It was a hard pull, but we held on till the work was done. The world may not know it; but, mother, we held the rope, didn't we?" And the voice, tremulous with joyful emotion, responds: "Yes, fa? ther; we held the rope. I feel my work is done. Now, Lord, lettest thou thy servant depart it peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation. " * 'Pshaw !" says the father. "I never felt so much like living in my life as now. I want to see what that fellow is going on to do, he has begun so well." Oh, men and women here assembled, you brag sometimes how you have fought your way in tbe world, but I think there have been helpful influences that you have never fully acknowledger! Has there not been some influence i: your early or present home that th world cannot see? Does there not reac to you from among the New Englan hills, or from western prairies, or fror, southern plantation, or from English o Scottish or Irish home, a cord of inflr ence that has kept you right when yo would have gone astray, and which, af1 er you had made a crooked track, r? called you? The rope may be as long a 30 years, or 500 miles long or 3,000 mile long, but hands that went out of morts sight long ago still hold the rope. You want a very swift horse, and yo1 need to rowel him with sharpest spurs and to let the reins lie loose upon th neck, and to give a shout to a racer i you are going to ride out of reach o your mother's prayers. Why, a shi; crossing the Atlantic in seven days can' sail away from them! A sailor find them on the lookout as he takes hi place, and finds them on the mast as h climbs the ratlines to disentangle a rop in the tempest, and finds them swingin; on the hammock when he turns in. Wh; not he frank and acknowledge it? Th most of us would long ago have beei dashed to pieces had not gracious an? loving hands steadily and lovingly an< mightily held the rope. A TIME OF PERIL. But there must com e a time when w? shall find out who these Damascene were who lowered Paul in the baske and greet them and all those who hav? rendered to God and the world unrecog nized and unrecorded services. That i going to be one of the glad excitement; of heaven-the hunting up and picking out of those who did great good on eartl and got no credit for it. Here th< church has been going on 19 centuries and this is probably the first sermon eve: recognizing the services of the people ii that Damascus balcony. Charles G. Fin ney said to a dying Christian, "Give m-\ love to St. Paul when you meet him. When you and I meet him, as we will, shall ask him to introduce me to thos< people who got him out of the Damas cene peril. Once for 36 hours we expected ever} moment to go to the bottom of the ocean The waves struck through the skylights and rushed down into the hold of th< ship, and hissed against the boilers. Ii was an awful time, but by the blessing of God and the faithfulness of the mei in charge we came cut of the cyclone and we arrived at home. Each, one, be fore leaving the ship, thanked Captaii Andrews. I do not think there was i man or woman that went off that shij without thanking Captain Andrews, anc when years after I beard of his death 1 was impelled to write a letter of condo lenee to his family in Liverpool. Everybody recognized the goodness, the courage, the kindness of Captain An? drews, but it occurs to me now that we never thanked the engineer. He stood away down in the darkness amid the hissing furnaces doing his whole duty. Nobody thanked the engineer, but God recognized his heroism, and his continu ance, and his fidelity, and there will be just as high reward for the engineer whe worked out of sight as the captain whe stood on the bridge of the ship in the midst of the howling tempest. ALL POINTED OCT. A Christian woman was seen going along the edge of a wood every eventide, and the neighbors in the country did not understand how ii mother with so many cares and anxieties should waste so much time as to be idly sauntering ont evening by evening. It was found out afterward that she went there to pray for her household, and while there one evening she wrote that beautiful hymn, famous in all ages for cheering Christian hearts: ' I love to steal awhile away From every cumbering care And spend the hours of setting day In humble, grateful prayer. Shall there be ito reward for such un? pretending yet everlasting service? We go into long sermon to prove that we will be able to recognize people in heaven, when there is one reason we fail to present, and that is better than all God will introduce us. We shall have them all pointed out. You would not be guilty of the impoliteness of having friends in your parlor not introduced, and celestial politeness will demand that wo be made acquainted with all the heavenly household. What rehearsal of old times and recital of stirring reminis? cences. If others fail to give introduction, God will take us through, and before our first 24 hours in heaven-if it were calculat? ed by earthly timepieces-have passed we shall meet and talk with more heav? enly celebrities than in our entire mortal state we met with earthly celebrities. Many who made great noise of useful? ness will sit on the last seat by the front door of the heavenly temple, while right up within arm's reach of the heavenly throne will be many who, though they could not preach themselves or do great exploita for God, nevertheless held the rope. Come, let us go right up and accost those on this circle of heavenly thrones. Surely, they must have killed in battle a million men. Surely they must have been buried with all the cathedrals sounding a dirge and all the towers of all the cities tolling the national grief. Who art thou, mighty one of heaven? "I lived by choice the unmarried daughter in a humble home that I might take care of my parents in their old age, and I en? dured without complain ts all their quer? ulousness and ministered to all their wants for 20 years." BEFORE THE THRONES. Let us pass on round the circle of thrones. Who art thou, mighty one of heaven? "I was for 80 years a Christian invalid and suffered all the while, occa? sionally writing a note of sympathy for those wor&c off than I, and was general confidant of all those who had trouble, and once in awhile I wan strong enough to make a garment for that poor family in the back lane." Pass on to another throne. Who art- thou, mighty one of heaven? "I was the mother who raised a whole family of children for God, and they are out in the world Christian mer? chants, Christian mechanics, Christian wives, and I have had full reward of all my toil." Let us pa,ss on in the circle of thrones. "I had a Sabbath school class, and they were always on my heart, and they all entered the kingdom of God, and I am waiting for their arrival." But who art thou, the mighty one of heaven on this other throne? "In time of bitter persecution I owned a house in Damascus-a house on the wall. A man who preached Christ was hounded from street to street, and I hid him from the assassins, and when I found them break? ing in my house and I could no longer keep him safely I advised him to flee for his life, and a basket was let down over the wall with the maltreated man in it, and I was one who helped hold the rope." And I said, "Is that all?" And he an? swered, "That is all." And while I was lost in amazement I heard a strong voice that sounded as though it might once have been hoarse from many exposures and triumphant as though it might have belonged to one of the martyrs, and it said, "Not many mighty, not many noble are called, but God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty, and base things of the world and things which are despised hath God chosen-yea, and things which are not to bring to naught things which are, that no flesh should glory in his presence." And I looked to see from whence the voice came, and, lol it was the very one who had said, "Through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall.*' EFFECT OF TRIFLES. Henceforth think of nothing as insig? nificant. A little thing may decide your all. A Cunarder put out from England for New York. It was well equirjped, but in putting up a stove in the pilot box a nail was driven too near the compass. You know how that nail would affect the compass. The ship's officer, deceived by that distracted compass, put the ship 200 miles off her right course, and sud? denly the man on the lookout cried, "Land, ho!" and the ship was halted within a few yards of her demolition on Nantucket shoals. A sixpenny nail came near wrecking a Cunarder. Small ropes hold mighty destinies. A minister seated in Boston at his table, lacking a word, puts his hand behind his head and tilts back his chair to think, and the ceiling falls and crushes the table and would have crushed him. A minister in Jamaica at night hythe light of an insect, called the candiefly, is kept from stepping over a precipice a hundred feet. F. W. Robertson, the celebrated English clergyman, said that he entered the ministry from a train of circum? stances started by the barking of a dog. Had the wind blown one way on a cer? tain day the Spanish inquisition would have been established in England, but it blew the other way, and that dropped the accursed institution with 75,000 tons of shipping to the bottom of the sea or flung the splintered logs on the rocks. Nothing unimportant in your life or mine. Three ciphers placed on the right side of the figure 1 make a thousand, and six ciphers on the right side of the figure 1 a million, and our nothingness placed on the right side may be augmentation illimitable. All the ages of time and eternity affected by the basket let down from a Damascus balcony! Buck] en's Arnica Salve. The Best Salve in the world for Cats, Bruises Sores. Ulcers, Salt Rheum. Fever Sores, Tetter Chapped Hands Chilblains, Corns and all Skin Emptions, and positively eures Piles, or no pay required. It is guaranteed to give per? feet satisfaction, or money refunded. T'rice 25cents per box. For sale by Dr. J. F. W. 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Main & Liberty Sts., Sumter, S. C. New York Office, 84 West Broadway. March 14