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Show Whitlur Goest Thou? Saint John and Saint Peter Hastening to the SepulchM' - "Nearer Mv God, to Thee!" 1 (By Chas. T. Worthington.) :M 1 About fifteen years ago, way out in the Pacific, anil awful typhoon s wept the Samoa Islands. Preceded by'S an ominous calm the storm came with suddenness. m In the harbor were anchored many vessels including!! American and German men-of-war. Ships were wrecked j by seas pounding upon reefs, while two American war' vessels in collision plunged to destruction. I The typhoon raged with incessant fury, rain aug.S menting the terrors of the seas. Awful waves seethedj and tumbled and troughed; seemingly the seas -were heldfl in a cauldron infuriated by a subterranean inferno. !j The battleships plowed waves and dropped into hoM lows and rose and fought to avoid wreckage on reefs. One there was with Stars and Stripes whipped to ribbons, a part of the crew lashed to the rigging, some! swept overboard The ship having lost its rudder it was? helplessly hurtled through the waters. Above the elements rose that glorious song:' "Nearer--" the wind shriekefd, the rain beat aslant-down; bore this battleship toward a second American war ves-j sel which was in dangerous proximity---"ykfy God to Thee, Nearer to Thee-"." A German war vessel was? struggling past to set out to sea. "E'en though it be The German band caught the refrain and played that; wondrous song the marines were singing- "- cross that ratseth me!-. " Down bore the disabled sister ship -from the Gei man man-of-war cheers for the Stars and Stripes melted into the roar of the gale---iS'jf all mv song shall be-" Closer,' closer heaved the helpless, menacing mass. Col- lision was inevitable. "Nearer, mv God, to Thee--." The German ship was bearing away, to an untimely end? or to safety?; "Nearer to Thee." The crash came. 1 Great as were the ships, the one wh ich sought escapes trembled in its rolling struggle, and in the throes of destruction reared it prow clear of the awful waters and," sank. The other American vessel, long. disabled, heaved,) shuddered, plunged, disappeared. J Noaror, ray God, to Thee, Nearer to Thoe, ' , E'en though it bo across That raisetb me. j'fli ,:Vtv . . " Still all my song shall be ? " " 9i ' Nearer, my God, to Thee. i " Nearer to Thee. .Si ' , . ;9 m When calamity overwhelms men and they realize that the end i immediate, that further struggle is useless, when they stand alone witM no human agency to save them, two things instinctively are done: pray ers are breathed and a song is sung. It was so at Samoa. It was don on the Titanic. Under such circumstances did you ever hear of jM patriotic song being sung? All that is earthly is hopelessly behinoM them, and only a final step to eternity. M Where was "Nearer, my God, to Thee" learn ed? In Sunday! school. Boys have instilled into them reverent influences the thingslj which were taught them in Sunday school never wholly leave them in maturity, though they drift. The recalling of the Samoa catastrophy brings to mind hallowed' songs of childhood. ;M , God Bo With You Till We Meet Again. Rock of Aces. It fcvPhrH6.1- 9h' Bo,llah Lnn Svect Bculafc Land. Uu ,71 Cf"at,an Soldiers. Shall Wo Gatbnr at the Bivor? , T VppH UrnVv. w Thore Ts a Fountain Filled With Blood. I .Need Thco Eery Hour. There Wore Ninety nnd Nine. , ! How joyously we sang them but with what thoughtless meaning-Jjj Oh, those halcyon days! k Now, with what different meaning ring these songs in the ears of E the careless who hear them but seldom! , m ) It is to this class of men, good in heart, but whose early teachinevl he dormant, that the Go-to-church-on-Sunday movement strongly app These -men are going, not in curiosity, not in censure, but flS, humility. I; And many of them will go again. |