Ocean Devotions: from the Hold of Charles H. Spurgeon Master of Mariner Metaphors

Ocean Devotions

From the Hold of Charles H. Spurgeon Master of Mariner Metaphors

Michael Glenn Maness

looking for a publisher to print the color version

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© 2008 by Michael Glenn Maness. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without written permission from the author.

First published by AuthorHouse 8/15/2008

ISBN: 978-1-4343-9146-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4343-9145-2 (dj)

Contents

Old Ocean’s Preface

January 1

January 2

January 3

January 4

January 5

January 6

January 7

January 8

January 9

January 10

January 11

January 12

January 13

January 14

January 15

January 16

January 17

January 18

January 19

January 20

January 21

January 22

January 23

January 24

January 25

January 26

January 27

January 28

January 29

January 30

January 31

February 1

February 2

February 3

February 4

February 5

February 6

February 7

February 8

February 9

February 10

February 11

February 12

February 13

February 14

February 15

February 16

February 17

February 18

February 19

February 20

February 21

February 22

February 23

February 24

February 25

February 26

February 27

February 28

February 29

March 1

March 2

March 3

March 4

March 5

March 6

March 7

March 8

March 9

March 10

March 11

March 12

March 13

March 14

March 15

March 16

March 17

March 18

March 19

March 20

March 21

March 22

March 23

March 24

March 25

March 26

March 27

March 28

March 29

March 30

March 31

April 1

April 2

April 3

April 4

April 5

April 6

April 7

April 8

April 9

April 10

April 11

April 12

April 13

April 14

April 15

April 16

April 17

April 18

April 19

April 20

April 21

April 22

April 23

April 24

April 25

April 26

April 27

April 28

April 29

April 30

May 1

May 2

May 3

May 4

May 5

May 6

May 7

May 8

May 9

May 10

May 11

May 12

May 13

May 14

May 15

May 16

May 17

May 18

May 19

May 20

May 21

May 22

May 23

May 24

May 25

May 26

May 27

May 28

May 29

May 30

May 31

June 1

June 2

June 3

June 4

June 5

June 6

June 7

June 8

June 9

June 10

June 11

June 12

June 13

June 14

June 15

June 16

June 17

June 18

June 19

June 20

June 21

June 22

June 23

June 24

June 25

June 26

June 27

June 28

June 29

June 30

July 1

July 2

July 3

July 4

July 5

July 6

July 7

July 8

July 9

July 10

July 11

July 12

July 13

July 14

July 15

July 16

July 17

July 18

July 19

July 20

July 21

July 22

July 23

July 24

July 25

July 26

July 27

July 28

July 29

July 30

July 31

August 1

August 2

August 3

August 4

August 5

August 6

August 7

August 8

August 9

August 10

August 11

August 12

August 13

August 14

August 15

August 16

August 17

August 18

August 19

August 20

August 21

August 22

August 23

August 24

August 25

August 26

August 27

August 28

August 29

August 30

August 31

September 1

September 2

September 3

September 4

September 5

September 6

September 7

September 8

September 9

September 10

September 11

September 12

September 13

September 14

September 15

September 16

September 17

September 18

September 19

September 20

September 21

September 22

September 23

September 24

September 25

September 26

September 27

September 28

September 29

September 30

October 1

October 2

October 3

October 4

October 5

October 6

October 7

October 8

October 9

October 10

October 11

October 12

October 13

October 14

October 15

October 16

October 17

October 18

October 19

October 20

October 21

October 22

October 23

October 24

October 25

October 26

October 27

October 28

October 29

October 30

October 31

November 1

November 2

November 3

November 4

November 5

November 6

November 7

November 8

November 9

November 10

November 11

November 12

November 13

November 14

November 15

November 16

November 17

November 18

November 19

November 20

November 21

November 22

November 23

November 24

November 25

November 26

November 27

November 28

November 29

November 30

December 1

December 2

December 3

December 4

December 5

December 6

December 7

December 8

December 9

December 10

December 11

December 12

December 13

December 14

December 15

December 16

December 17

December 18

December 19

December 20

December 21

December 22

December 23

December 24

December 25

December 26

December 27

December 28

December 29

December 30

December 31

Epilogue:

There Go the Ships

Spurgeon References

Other Books by Author

Dedicated to

Captain Millard Scott

Ship Pilot, Panama and Port Arthur

Captain Vic Boden

Push Boat Captain, Mississippi

Merchant Marine Morris Flournoy

Lt. Col. Stephen P. Porcari

USMC Pilot on the USS Coral Sea

Master Chief Bob Hillhouse

20 Years in U.S. Navy and my Grandfather

And

All the

Mariners of the World

There go the ships

Psalm 104:26

Color Version-1st Ten Days

www.preciousheart.net/

Old Ocean’s Preface

Surely more than any other metaphor, Charles H. Spurgeon used the mariner to illustrate the voyage of the Christian in service to God. As the trade winds bellow our sails and push us towards our Fair Haven, many spiritual challenges wash our decks. One masterpiece after another—no wonder he was called the Prince of Preachers.

We edited freely all of the metaphors. No paragraph was untouched, and most sentences were liberally tooled to squeeze his majestic thought into a single devotion per page. Sometimes we added a phrase or sentence. The pictures and paintings came from MasterClips and Broderbund clipart collections, a Shutterstock.com subscription, and public domain drawings. All of the references came from Babylon multi-dictionary program.¹

The 366 mariner metaphors were pulled from the first 60 volumes of the 63-volume New Park Street Pulpit & The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, a set of 3,561 sermons delivered between 1855-1872. It is hard to conceive that he preached those in a mere 17 years, an average of about four written sermons a week and 3,500 written pages a year. They published one per week, with enough sermons to continue publishing one per week for 25 years after his death. He rarely repeated himself. That means from his first sermon in 1850 to his death in 1892 so much has been left out!

Most are in chronological order, save about two dozen. We divided several allegories, and shuffled, so that a Scripture did not follow two days in a row. We diligently condensed, but some were too rich for a single page. In two cases, the mariner metaphor was so rich and compounded that it neatly divided into four separate devotions.² Spurgeon’s mastery became true genius when he compounded a grand ocean metaphor by seamlessly dressing it with other lesser metaphors of the sea or from something else, as in, Ah, that is a grand thing, to believe God when the winds are out and the waves howl like so many wild beasts, and follow one upon another like a pack of wolves all seeking to devour you. Therein, Spurgeon becomes the undisputed Commodore of sailing illustrations—the

Master of Mariner Metaphors.

The sea resents them and hurls the frail vessel aloft, and tosses it to and fro with watery hands, as though it were a juggler’s ball

If one drowns, all drown; if the ship goes down, all go down, the weakest and the strongest

Launch out and cross the fathomless deep

When the Captain at sea whistles, all the sailors feel more cheerful

Lower your pirate flag—Never hide our colors

The mariner braves the ocean deeps until he or she reaches the Fair Haven. Spurgeon mentions the Ancient Mariner several times, referring to Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s (1772-1834) classic, The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner, which first appeared in William Wordsworth’s (1770-1850) Lyrical Ballads in 1796. The weathered Ancient Mariner tells his story to the wedding guest in the ballad. Spurgeon pulled from everywhere, daily affairs, history, science, authors and poets. After a year of sailing and the spiritual lessons from Old Ocean’s schoolhouse, we can say that Spurgeon was one of the best of the Ancient Mariners.

What a privilege it has been, what a journey. What it must have been like to hear him preach the messages of which these metaphors are but very small pieces. In the back, there is another treat:

There Go the Ships

an entire sermon by metaphor on Psalm 104:26

These treasures enriched my life, gave evidence of a man of the world, and revealed the penetrating wisdom of our best depth psychologists and more, connecting the human heart to heaven’s riches. Here, we ride with the richest of spiritual freight as we sail to all corners of the world. Just over the horizon, we can see our Fair Haven and everlasting rest.

Michael Glenn Maness, 2008

1 See www.Babylon.com, with immediate point-and-click results, this excellent source can be tailored with hundreds of free dictionaries from the around the world and special licenses to such greats as Webster’s, Britannica, Oxford, and translation software options to the major languages of the world—just outstanding!

2 John 3:8, The wind bloweth where it listeth, on Jan. 7, May 24, June 23, and Sept. 2; and Romans 13:11, Now is our salvation nearer than when we believed, on April 26, July 5, Aug. 10, and Sept. 18. And a few times we used the scripture reference in the metaphor to lead the devotion instead of the one anchoring the original sermon.

January 1

Sea Bears No Trace of the Equatorial Belt, But Mariners Know Where It Lies

#1816, Sermon for New Year’s Day, 1-1-1885, pp3-4, Vol. 31

And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. Revelation 21:5

There has been so much evil about ourselves and our old nature, so much mischief about our surroundings and the old temptations, that we are not distressed by the belief that old things are passing away. Hope springs up at the first sound of these words from the lips of our risen and reigning Lord: Behold, I make all things new. It is fitting that things so outworn and defiled should be laid aside, and better and purer things fill their places.

The first day of a new year is a solemnly joyous day. Though there is no real difference between it and any other day, yet in our mind and thought it is a marked period, which we regard as one of the milestones set up on the highway of our life. It is only in imagination that there is any closure of one year and beginning of another year; and yet the New Year has most fitly all the force of a great fact. When men cross the line, they find no visible mark: the sea bears no trace of an equatorial belt. Yet mariners know whereabouts they are, and they take notice thereof, so that a man can hardly cross the line for the first time without remembering it to the day of his death. We are crossing the line now. We have sailed into the year of grace 1885. Therefore, let us keep a feast unto the Lord. If Jesus has not made us new already, let the new year cause us to think about the great and needful change of conversion. And if our Lord has begun to make us new, and we have somewhat entered into the new world wherein dwelleth righteousness, let us press forward into the center of his new creation—crossing this equator in time yet one more time—and strive to feel to the full all the power of his grace.

January 2

Ocean Affected More by the Moon than Sun

#0002, Remembrance of Christ, 1-7-1855, pp30-31 &34, Vol. 1

This do in remembrance of me. 1 Corinthians 11:24

You know, dear friends, that the nearness of an object has a very great effect upon its power. The sun is many, many times larger than the moon, but the moon has a greater influence upon the tides of the ocean than the sun, simply because it is nearer. Because it is nearer, the moon has a greater power of attraction.

So I find that a little crawling worm of the earth has more effect upon my soul than the glorious Christ in heaven. A handful of golden earth, a puff of fame, a shout of applause, a thriving business; my house, my home; all of these will affect me more than all the glories of the upper world. Yes, more than the beatific vision of Christ’s salvation. Sometimes, even salvation is eclipsed, all because earth is near, and heaven is far away.

Happy day, oh, what a happy day that will be when I shall be borne aloft on angels’ wings to dwell forever near my Lord and be ever near Him. I shall bask in the sunshine of his smile and be lost in the ineffable radiance of his lovely countenance. We see that the distance is the cause of forgetfulness. Let us blush over today’s forgetfulness. Let us be sad today that we neglect our Lord so much, simply because heaven seems so far away. Therefore, let us attend to his word, This do in remembrance of me, hoping that those solemn sounds may charm away the demon of base ingratitude.

January 3

Are Thy Tacklings Loose?

#0004, Personality of the Holy Ghost, 1-21-1855, pp63-64, Vol. 1

I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever: even the Spirit of truth. John 14:16-17

I knew a man who began to doubt the glorious divinity of our blessed Lord. For years he preached a different doctrine. Then one day he happened to hear an eccentric old minister preaching from the text, But there the glorious Lord shall be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams, wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby. Thy tacklings are loosed: they could not strengthen their mast very well, and they could not spread the sail.

Now, said the old minister, you give up the Trinity, and your tacklings are loosed, you cannot strengthen your masts. Go and give up the doctrine of three persons, and your tacklings are all gone; and your mast, which ought to be a support to your vessel, is a ricketty one, and shakes. A gospel without a Trinity!—it is a pyramid built upon its apex. A gospel without the Trinity!—it is a rope of sand that cannot hold together. A gospel without the Trinity!—then, indeed, Satan can overturn it.

But, give me a gospel with the Trinity, and the might of hell cannot prevail against it. No man can overthrow it, not any more than a bubble could split a rock, or a feather break in halves a mountain. Get the thought of the three persons, and you have the marrow of all divinity. Only know the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost to be One, and all things will appear clear. This is the golden key to the secrets of nature; this is the silken clue of the labyrinths of mystery, and he who understands this, will soon understand as much as mortals ever can know. Your masts shall be sure and your tacklings tight against the winds of error.

January 4

Mariner Looking for His Home Port

#0012, Peculiar Sleep of the Beloved, 3-4-1855, pp166-167, Vol. 1

For so he giveth his beloved sleep. Psalm 127:2

Can you say that there is nothing you want on earth, save Jesus? Do you mean that you are perfectly content, that you had the sleep of contentment? Ah, no ! We are all mariners looking for our home port. One night I could not rest. The wild wanderings of my thoughts turned to this text: So he giveth his beloved sleep. In my nocturnal reverie, I was on the border of the land of dreams. My thoughts found me in a castle, a fine old fortress. Around its massive walls ran a deep moat. It bade defiance to all foes, but I was not happy in its walls. As I lay on a couch in my dream, I had scarcely closed my eyes when a trumpet blew, To arms! To arms! I thought I had a treasure in some deep part of the castle, and guarded it with all my might. I dreaded, I feared, I trembled lest the treasure might be stolen from me. Then I awoke, and did not think I would like to live in such a tower. The castle of discontent, the castle of ambition—there, a man never rests. Always, it is To arms! To arms! To arms! There is a foe here and there, a foe everywhere. My dearly loved treasure must be guarded. Sleep never crossed the drawbridge of the castle of discontent.

In another dream, I was in a beautiful and pleasant cottage, but I did not care for that. I had no treasure in the world, save one sparkling jewel on my breast. I thought I put my hand on the jewel and went to sleep, and I did not wake till morning light. That treasure was a quiet conscience and the love of God—the peace that passeth all understanding. I slept, because I slept in the house of contentment, satisfied with what I had.

We sail the ship of contentment, and fearlessly face the wind of discontent that would capsize us. One day, we will sail for our haven for the last time, and anchor ourselves at the peaceful harbor of our everlasting rest.

January 5

Ballasts Keep the Tall Ship Steady

#0013, Consolation Proportionate to Sufferings, 3-11-1855, pp184-185, Vol. 1

For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. 2 Corinthians 1:5

Teshurum³ waxes fat, and he begins to kick against God. But take I away his hopes, blast his joys, let the infant lie in the coffin, let the crops be blasted, and let the herd be cut off from the stall. Let the husband’s broad shoulders sink into the grave, and let the children be fatherless—then it is that God is a God indeed. Take from me all I have. Make me poor, a beggar, penniless, and helpless. Dash that cistern in pieces, crush that hope, quench the stars. Put out the sun, shroud the moon in darkness, and place me all alone in space, without a friend, without a helper. Still, Out of the depths will I cry unto thee, O God. There is no cry so good as that which comes from the bottom of the mountains. There is no prayer half so hearty as that which comes up from the depths of the soul, passing through deep trials and many afflictions. Those prayers bring us to God, and we are happier. That is the way to happiness, the life near to God. While troubles abound, they drive us to God, and then consolations from God abound. Some people call troubles weights. Verily they are. A ship that has large sails and a fair wind, needs a ballast. Troubles are the ballast of a believer. The eyes are the pumps which fetch out the bilge water of his soul, and keep him from sinking. But if trials be weights, I will tell you a happy secret: a weight can lift you. If I have a weight chained to me, it keeps me down. But give me pulleys and appliances, and I can make the weight lift me up. Yes, there is such a thing where troubles raise me towards heaven. Blessed fact—as our troubles abound, our consolations from God also abound.

3 Jeshurum—a poetical name for the people of Israel, used in a token of affection, meaning, the dear upright people (Deut 32:15; 33:5,26; Isa 44:2; Easton’s Bible Dictionary).

January 6

One Plank on which You Can Swim

#0887, A Door Opened in Heaven, 8-22-1869, pp580-581, Vol. 15

After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven. Revelation 4:1

A door will soon be opened in heaven for each one of us who have believed in Jesus Christ. Christian, the message will soon come to you, The Master is come, and calleth for thee. Father Honest must find it true that the daughters of music shall be brought low, and Valiant-for-Truth must learn that the pitcher is broken at the fountain. Gird up, then, your loins for the last time, and go down to the river with courage.

It flows, as some say, cold and icy as death at the foot of the celestial hill. Remember, however, it will be deeper or shallower to you according to your faith, and if your faith can keep from staggering, you shall pass through that stream dry-shod. If you keep your faith, in the middle of the river you shall sing the loudest song of all your life. You shall then be nearer to heaven, and heaven shall flood your spirit and drown out death. Soon, I say, that door will open.

It must be bliss to be with Jesus, and therefore it must be a secondary bliss to think of being where he is. It is greatly wise to talk and commune with our last hours and the end of our days. It is very good to often perform in meditation a rehearsal of the coronation scene, when the crown shall be on our head, and the palm in our hand. Anticipate, I pray you, the glory which is surely yours if you are in Christ. But, O make sure that you are in Christ. Get two grips of him! O hold him by a strong, but humble, confidence! Bind yourself to his dear cross, the one plank on which you can swim to glory. Never a mariner was drowned clung to the plank of Jesus’ holy cross.

January 7

Wind—Takes Down the Top-Gallants

#0630, The Holy Spirit Compared to the Wind, between 5-7 & 7-2 1865, pp344, 348, & 350-352, Vol. 11

The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. John 3:8

Many times the wind comes with sound as though it were contending. You heard it, perhaps, this afternoon. We who are a little in the country hear it more than you do: it is as though giants were struggling in the sky together. It seems as if two seas of air, both lashed to fury, met, and dashed against some unseen cliffs with a terrible uproar. The Spirit of God comes into the soul sometimes, and makes great contention with the flesh. Oh, what a stern striving there is against unbelief, against lust, against pride, against every evil thing. Thou hearest the sound thereof. You know what divine experience means, you know when to go forth to fight your sins. Sometimes the wind comes with a sweep as though it were going on forever. It came past, and dashed through the trees, sweeping away the rotten branches; then away across the Alps, dashing down an avalanche in its course, and still onward. As it flew, it bore away everything that was frail and weak, and on, on, on it sped its way to some unknown goal. Then, sometimes, the Spirit of God will come right through us, as if he were bearing us away to that spiritual heritage which is our sure future destiny—bearing away coldness, barrenness, everything before it.

It is just possible that in some part of the ocean a vessel scuds along almost under bare poles. The mariners do their best to reef the sails. Away she goes; now the mast is gone. They do their best to bear up, but they find that in the teeth of the gale they cannot stand. The ship dashes on the rocks, and she is wrecked. And, oh! the Spirit of God is a great wrecker of false hopes and carnal confidences. I have seen the Spirit of God come to a sinner like a storm to a ship at sea. He had to take down the top-gallants⁴ of his pride, and then every thread of carnal confidence had to be reefed. Then his hope itself had to be cut away; and on, on the vessel went, until she struck a rock, and down she went. The man from that time never dared trust in his merits, for he had seen his merits wrecked and broken in pieces by the wind.

Only he or she who trusted in God, cleanly and solely, made over the great barrier reefs of selfishness and pride, borne along by the precious wind of God’s Holy Spirit—pushing us to Fair Haven.

4 Gallant—showy in dress or bearing, stylish and stately above others.

January 8

Ship with Richest Freight

#0016, Paul’s First Prayer, 3-25-1855, pp227-228, Vol. 1

For, behold, he prayeth. Acts 9:11

Prayer is the ship which brings home the richest freight. Prayer is the soil which yields the most abundant harvest. Brother and sister, after you rise in the morning, your business presses. With a hurried word or two, down you go into the world. At night, jaded and tired, you give God the fag end of the day. The consequence is this: you have no communion with God, not with Him, but only from the dregs of depleted weariness. The reason we have not more true religion now, is because we do not have more prayer. Urge the people to pray more. Have a prayer meeting, even if you have it all to yourself. Oh my! May God awaken us all, and stir us up to pray. For when we pray, we shall be victorious. I would like to take you, this morning—as Sampson did the foxes—and tie the firebrands of prayer to you, and send you in among the shocks of corn till you burn the whole up. I would like to start a conflagration by my words, and to set all the churches on fire till the whole has smoked like a sacrifice to God’s throne. The less you pray, the less reason have you to believe your Christianity; and if you have neglected to pray altogether, then you have ceased to breathe, and you may be afraid that you never did breathe at all. But, if you do pray, then you have a proof that you are a Christian. Prayer is the ship which brings the richest freight from all corners of the world.

January 9

Stars that Catch Mariner’s Eye

#0024, Forgiveness, 5-20-1855, pp331-332, Vol. 1

I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins. Isaiah 43:25

Some passages of sacred writ have been more abundantly blessed to the conversion of souls than others. We call them salvation texts. We cannot figure out and discover how these texts shine so much, not precisely, but we know that several chosen verses have been more used of God to bring men to the cross of Christ than any others. Though not more inspired, they are more noticeable from their position and more adapted to catch the eye of the reader.

All the stars in the heavens shine very brightly, but only a few attract the eye of the mariner, and direct his course. The reason is this: those few stars from their peculiar grouping are more readily distinguished, and the eye easily fixes upon them. The same goes for those passages which especially attract attention and direct the sinner to the cross of Christ.

This text is one of the chief stars in the vast constellation of sacred writ. I have found it most useful. For out of the hundreds of persons who have come to me to narrate their conversion and experience, I have found a very large proportion who have traced the divine change in their hearts to the hearing of this precious declaration of sovereign mercy read: I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.

January 10

Strong Mighty Ships Tested by Storms

#0025, The Hope of Future Bliss, 5-20-1855, pp348-350, Vol. 1

As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness. Psalm 17:15

Beloved, there are not one or two, but there are thousands and thousands of God’s people alive in this world who can say with an assured confidence, no more doubting of it than of their very existence, "I will behold thy face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied, when I awake in thy likeness." It’s possible, though not easy, to attain to that eminent position wherein we can say no longer do I hope, but I know. I know! No longer do I trust, but I am persuaded. I have a happy confidence. For God has so manifested Himself: it is no longer if and perhaps, but it is positive and eternal. "I shall be satisfied when I awake in thy likeness. How many are there here of that sort? Oh, goodness! If you talk like that, you must expect to have trouble. For God never gives strong faith without fiery trial. God will never give a man the power to say I shall be satisfied" without trying him. God will not build a strong ship without subjecting it to mighty storms. God will not make you a mighty warrior and fail to try your skill in battle. God’s swords must be held in the hands of swordsmen and used. The old Toledo blades⁵ of heaven must be smitten against the armor of the evil one; they shall not break, for they are of true Jerusalem metal, which shall never snap.

Oh! what a happy thing to have that faith to say "I shall be satisfied. I know that some of you think it quite impossible. But it is the gift of God, and whosoever asks it, shall obtain it. Even the very chief of sinners now present in this place may yet be able to say long before he comes to die, I shall behold thy face in righteousness."

5 Toledo = finely tempered swords from Toledo, Spain.

January 11

Throw the Anchor Overboard

#1985, The Child of Light Walking in Darkness, 9-25-1887, pp705-707, Vol. 33

Who is among you that feareth the Lord …, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God. Isaiah 1:10

You are bound to trust in the Lord in the time of darkness because his promises were made for dark times. When a shipwright builds a vessel, does he build it to keep it upon the stocks? Nay, he builds the ship for the sea and for the storm. While he fashioned the vessel, he thought of tempests and hurricanes. If he did not, he was a poor ship builder. When God made you a believer he meant to try you. When he gave you the promises, and bade you trust the promises, he was thinking of the tempest and tossing. This verse is a command to trust in the Lord. We are not made to trust, and then to fear; but to come to a stay in God, even as ships enter a haven, cast their anchors, and then stay there till the tempest is past. Did you ever hear of a Captain of a vessel driven about by rough winds who wanted anchorage and tried to find it on board his own vessel? He desired to place his anchor somewhere on board the ship where it will prove a holdfast. He hangs it at the prow, but still the ship drives. He exhibits the anchor upon deck, but that does not hold the vessel. At last he puts it down into the hold, but with no better success.

Why, man alive, anchors do not hold as long as they are on board a ship. They must be thrown into the deep, and then they will get a grip of the sea-bottom, and hold the vessel against wind and tide. As long as you have confidence in yourselves you are like a man who keeps his anchor on board his boat, and you will never come to a resting-place. Overboard with your faith into the great deeps of eternal love and power, and trust in the infinitely faithful One. Then shall you be glad because your heart is quiet. Stay yourself upon your God.

January 12

Good Ship upon the Ocean

#0027, The Eternal Name, 5-27-1855, p373, Vol. 1

His name shall endure forever." Psalm 72:17

All systems of religion or non-religion—even Christian systems—for them all, it may be written, "Evanescent⁶: fading as the flower, fleeting as the meteor, frail and unreal as a vapor. But of Christ it shall be said, His name shall endure forever. We ask those who think Christ shall pass away, when was there a time when he did not exist? Can they point their finger to a period when Jesus was an unheard-of thing? Yes, they will reply, before the days of Christ and his apostles. But we answer, Nay, Bethlehem was not the birthplace of the gospel. Though Jesus was born there, there was a gospel long before the birth of Jesus. There was a gospel in the wilderness of Sinai, although it might be confused with the smoke of the incense. Indeed, we take them back to the fair trees of Eden, where the fruits perpetually ripened, and summer always rested. Amid these groves we tell them there was a gospel, and hear the voice of God, as He spoke to recreant⁷ man: The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent’s head." Having taken them back to distant obscurity, we take them farther back to the primeval age. We direct you to the days of purity, back when Adam first trod the earth. The gospel was born early and still exists, while a thousand ephemera⁸ of philosophy have become extinct. When all others have perished like the bubble upon the wave, this gospel of Christ shall swim, like a good ship upon the ocean, and still shall bear its myriad souls, not to the land of shades, but across the river of death to the plains of heaven.

6 Evanescent—tending to vanish like a vapor.

7 Recreant—crying for mercy, unfaithful to duty.

8 Ephemera—a thing that lasts only one day.

January 13

Tiny Star on the Mariner’s Chart

#0028, The Church of Christ, 6-3-1855, p386, Vol. 1

I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing, and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing. Ezekiel 24:26

You say, But, sir, what can I do? I am nothing but a father at home; and I am so full of business, I can only see my children a little. But in your business, do you ever have any employees? No. I am alone. Cannot you say a word to the conscience of your friends and acquaintances? But you say, I don’t like to intrude religion into business. Quite right, too, when at business, let it be business; when at religion, let it be religion.

You say: Cannot do anything? Cannot you put a tract in your hat, and drop it where you go? Cannot you speak a word to a child? Where does this man come from that cannot do anything?

There is a spider on the wall; but he taketh hold on kings’ palaces, and spinneth his web to rid the world of noxious flies. There is a tiny star in the sky; but that tiny star is noted in the chart, and the mariner looks at it. One star has guided thousands home. Through the spyglass of time, how vary much we need those tiny immovable stars, each one, but especially the polestar and the southern cross.

But here is a man that God made, and God gave him nothing at all to do. I do not believe it. God never makes useless things. God has no superfluous workmanship. I care not what you are. You have something to do. And oh, yes! May God show you what it is, and then make you do it, by the wondrous compulsion of His providence and His grace.

January 14

Seized the Prow of My Ship, Dragging Me

#0015, The Bible, 3-18-1855, pp206-207, Vol. 1

For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. 2 Tim 1:12

There was an evil hour when, once, I slipped the anchor of my faith, and I cut the cable of my belief. I no longer moored myself hard by the coasts of revelation. I allowed my vessel to drift before the wind. I said to reason, Be thou my Captain. I said to my own brain, Be thou my rudder. And I started on my mad voyage.

Thank God, it is all over now. But listen to my mad voyage. I sailed over the tempestuous ocean of free thought, but the skies began to darken. Making up for that deficiency in darkness, the waters filled with coruscations⁹ of brilliancy. I saw sparks flying upwards that pleased me: If this be free thought, it is a happy thing. My thoughts were gems, and I scattered stars with both my hands.

Suddenly, I saw grim fiends, fierce and horrible, rise up from the waters. I dashed on, and they gnashed their teeth upon me and seized the prow of my ship, dragging me. Yet I, in part, gloried at the rapidity of my motion. How I sped along by the pull of free thought. Then, as strange as it had begun, I began to shudder at how quickly I passed the old landmarks of my faith. With awful speed I began to doubt. I went to the very bottom of the sea of infidelity, and I doubted every thing. Here, Satan foiled his own self. For the very extravagance of the doubt proved its absurdity. Just when I saw the bottom of that sea, a voice said, Can this all-encompassing and drowning doubt be true? At the thought, I awoke from the death-dream that might have drowned and damned my soul.

I arose. Faith took the helm, and from that moment I doubted no more. Faith steered me back. Faith cried, Away, away!—I cast my anchor on Calvary. I lifted my eye to God. I am alive and out of hell. Therefore, I speak what I do know. I have sailed that perilous voyage. I have come safe to land. Ask me to be an infidel! No, I have tried it, sweet at first, but a bitter end. Now, lashed to God’s gospel more firmly than ever, I defy the arguments of hell to move me, for I know in whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him.

9 Coruscations—to give off or reflect light in bright beams or flashes; to sparkle.

January 15

A Fancied Islet in the Far-Off Sea

#0031, Desire of the Soul in Spiritual Darkness, 6-24-1855, pp429-430, Vol. 1

With my soul have I desired thee in the night. Isaiah 26:9

You can tell these desires by their urgency. Some of you want to be saved, only you push it off to next week. Not so. When the Holy Ghost speaks, he says, "Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. It must be now or never. Today give me grace; today give me mercy; today give me pardon." You wait for a hazy future. But the true desire is now. Does the poor condemned man who stands upon the scaffold with a rope round his neck say, Pardon me in a year’s time? No! No, he is afraid that in the next minute he will be launched into eternity. He who feels danger will cry, Now! He who wants Christ really, will cry, Now! He who is spiritually awakened will cry out, Now or never! What! What will it do to postpone salvation?

What is this? When the fire is just coming through the boards of your little chamber floor? What then? When your ship has struck upon the rock, and is filling with water? What then? Both fire and sea assault you. Yes, she is filling, while the fire at the other end is rushing up; and fire and water together are seeking your destruction. Will you say, tomorrow? Why, you may be dead before tomorrow’s sun rises. Where is tomorrow? Tomorrow is in the devil’s calendar, for it is not written in any book on earth. Tomorrow! It is some fancied islet in the far-off sea that the mariner has never reached.

Tomorrow! It is the fool’s desire, which he never shall gain. Like a will-o’-the-wisp it dances before him, but only lands him in the marshes of distress. Tomorrow! There is no such thing. It is God’s. English Theologian John Tillotson (1630-1694) said it well: To be always intending to live a new life, but never to find time to set about it; this is as if a man should put off eating and drinking, and sleeping, from one day and night to another, till he is starved and destroyed.

January 16

Don’t Saw through the Ship’s Keel

#0032, Necessity of Increased Faith, 7-1-1855, pp436-437, Vol. 1

And the apostle said unto the Lord, increase our faith. Luke 17:5

We ought, my friends, to be extremely careful of our faith—both of its rightness and of its strength. Consider the position that faith has in salvation. We are not saved by love. But we are saved by faith. We are not saved by courage or by patience. But we are saved by faith. God gives His salvation to faith, no other virtue. It is nowhere written: he that loveth shall be saved. It is nowhere recorded that a patient sinner shall be saved. But it is said, He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. Faith is the vital part of salvation. If a man lacks faith he lacks everything. Without faith it is impossible to please God. If a man has true faith, however little he has of any other virtue, that man is secure.

Faith is the connecting-link between the soul and Christ. Take that away and all is gone. Remove faith, you have sawn through the ship’s keel, and she must sink. Take away faith, and you have taken away my shield and I must be slain. Remove faith, and Christian life dies, for the just shall live by faith. We ought to be more careful of our faith than of anything else. True, we ought to examine our conduct, we ought to search our works, we ought to try our love. But, above all, guard and nurture our faith: for if faith be wrong, all is wrong. If faith be right, we may take that as the touchstone of our sincerity. He that believeth on the Son of God hath eternal life abiding in him—and the keel of our ship shall never be penetrated by a rock seen or unseen.

January 17

Pull on the Oars

#0354, Sermon for the Week of Prayer, 1-6-1861, pp94-95, Vol. 7

Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving. Colossians 4:2

Continue in prayer, because souls shall be saved as the result of your entreaties. Can you stand on the beach a moment. You can scarcely see, but yet you may discern by the lights of the lanterns of several sundry brave men launching the lifeboat. It is out—they have taken their seats, helmsman and rowers, all strong hearts, determined to save their fellows or to perish. They have gotten far away into the midst of the billows, and we have lost sight of them. But in spirit we will take our stand in the midst of the boat. What a sea rolled in just then! If our lifeboat were not built for such weather, she would surely have been overset. See that tremendous wave, and how the boat leaps like a sea-bird over its crest. See now again, it has plunged into a dreary furrow, and the wind, like some great plough, turns up the water on either side as though it were