Sunday at Home

Southern Cross, Volume 2, Issue 33, 10 November 1894, Page 7

Sunday at Home

THE WRECK OF THE WAIRARAPA.

[Notes of a sermon preached by the Rev. W. C Oliver, in St. Paul’s Wesleyan Church, on Sunday evening, November 4th, 1894.]

“ There is .sorrow on the sea.”—Jeremiah XLIX., 23.—“ They ran the ship aground ; and the forepart stuck fast, and remained unmoveable, but the hinder part was broken with the violence of the waves.” — Acts, XXVII., 41,

This last, verse might be applied as an accurate description of the wreck, the tidings of which had filled so many minds with sorrow and surprise. It referred to the wreck of a ship on which St Paul was a passenger some 1800 years ago. The Apostle indicated that the voyage, if prosecuted, would lead to calamity, but the captain pooh-poohed Paul’s advice because he was a landsman. In 99 cases out of a hundred a professional man would form an accurate judgment on a given point, and the layman be in error, but it occasionally happened that a layman would arrive at a right conclusion, and it was so in the case of St Paul and the captain. During the past few days the air has been full of calamity. First of all there was the collision between trains in Sydney, resulting in the death of some 12 persons ; and next came the loss of the Union Go’s fine steamer Wairarapa on the Great Barrier. She was coming from Sydney —her passengers made up partly of tourists from the Old Country, seeking to avoid winter at Home and spend the summer months in this sunnier climate; partly of commercial men constantly passing too and fro over the colonies; partly of people who had been visiting friends in Australia ; and partly of residents of the other side wishing to spend their Christmas holidays with their relatives in New Zealand. The calamity must have touched many a home it will have gone beyond the radius of our own colony—it will have reached the Old Land, and many there as well as here would sigh in vain “ For the touch of a vanished band. And the sound of a voice that is still.” After referring to the effect

of geographical position' in moulding character, and pointing out that the colonists of New Zealand were destined to be a maritime people, the preacher remarked that we were already to a large extent a travelling community. In the Old World there were people who never went fifty miles beyond the place of their birth, but here a considerable percentage were travellers. This led the community to take a great interest in all shipping concerns, and in the case of a disaster they naturally became critics—it would be most reprehensible, circumstanced as they were, if they failed to evince such an interest; and there were some who thought it passing strange that enveloped as the steamer w r as in a dense fog, and surrounded not by one but many dangers, the speed usual in open waters and under a clear sky should have been maintained, and this, too, when there was apparently no necessity unless to save a few pounds of coal. Coming more directly to matters that would be discussed in connection with the wreck, there was first the question of Providence. The Wairarapa and another steamer left Sydney within a few- hours of each other, and the passengers on the one which reached Auckland safely would say Providential it was that we did not go in the Wairarapa.” Indeed ! Then how unprovidential it w T as for those who did. There are always two sides, two sets of views in these matters, and in the majority of cases both were utterly false. There are those who suppose that God has nothing to do with affairs mundane that He has fixed certain natural laws and comes not into immediate contact with the matters with which we now have to do. There are, on the other hand, those who hold that all that transpires occurs by arrangements fixed, directly or indirectly, by God, God (continued the preacher) was not the direct cause of any disaster. Everything that transpired happened under the eye of God, but man was a responsible agent, and free agency was not broken down when matters transpired directly counter to the Divine- wishes. They had in connection w r ith this wreck an example of seeming Divine placidity in the sight of human suffering. A cloud hung over that dread scene, but above the cloud the stars were shining as placidly as though a shoal of porpoises were disporting themselves in their native element instead of human beings struggling for their lives. But beyond the cloud and beyond the stars was there no eye to see and no God in sight, and could He witness all that awful suffering and be unmoved ? No, not unmoved—feeling He must have been. Yet this placidity, this apparent indifference, was one of the profoundest of mysteries. It was seen in other things than disaster. Here is a heartbroken mother crying over her dying child. It cannot be saved, yet everything around is bright—birds are singingand the sun is shining. “How,” asked the preacher, “ are we to account for the apparent indifference of the all-seeing and all-feeling God P There is one philosophy. It covers the ground. I know not of another. This life is only the brief dawn —the short preface to the great volume simply the commencement. ‘Behind the veil, behind the veil ’ the real life comes ; and God can look on and apparently be indifferent because He sees that the real life is in the future. But for that the sorrows of life ought to be recorded in a different terminology altogether. Leave the consideration of the next life out and the present life and trial are utterly enigmatical.” The rev. gentleman next dealt with two of the things which led to a fatal issue in the case of the Wairarapa. In the first place she was about a dozen miles out of her course; and in the next she was enveloped in a dense fog—so thick that the ray from the lighthouse not far distant was unseen. Were there not some people in the same position morally ? How long was it since some had launched on the ocean of time, destined for some harbour ? Had we missed our course ? Had we taken our reckonings ? Where were we now ? If the captain of the

Wairarapa hail been asked five minutes before she struck could he conscientiously have told exactly iwhat her position was ? No. Had he put his foot down and said —“ Not another inch till we know where we are,” what a saving of life there would, have been ! How was it with us on the voyage of life ? We knew about starting, but whither were we going? There were various things in life that amounted to a moral mist or created it—amongst them selfishness, love of the world, duplicity. They brought a haze over one’s mental vision, and our very judgment became vitiated. The public had learned in connection with the wreck that as the evening wore on, and the speed—the strange speed of the vessel, and one contrary to the rules of the company in such, circumstances, was maintained, the passengers became uneasy. How natural ! But how marvellous that they did not go a step further —that a protest was not formulated amongst the minor officers or others. How strange that they did not anticipate a possible calamity, and so arrange that if the worst happened each one would know exactly the best thing to be done. In matters moral was there not frequently a parallel to the state of things on the doomed vessel ? People often became uneasy under the influence of some great calamity or other cause. Why should not that feeling lead to prompt right-about face action ? In connection with the wreck there were some beautiful instances of the principle of vicarious sacrifice, the giving up of life to save the perishing. Having recounted some of these, the preacher remarked that the best exhibition of this ever seen by men or angels was witnessed on the cross at Calvary. None of those rescued by the bravery of others would ever forget the men who -had saved them, and ought men to forget Christ who had interposed to save them from a direr fate than a watery grave ? What devotion should be forthcoming to him who tasted death that we might have life, and have it more abundantly. Another point was the beautiful manifestation of trust on the part of the passengers. They placed their safety and their lives in the hands of the captain and his officers. They hoped for the best, and in 99 cases out of a hundred a trust such as theirs is justified. Here, however, it signally failed. Let all puttheirtrustin Christ —letthem place themselves in His care and guidance and they would never suffer shipwreck. This was their unspeakable privilege—to trust Him implicitly. The hymns used during the service had special reference to the subject of the sermon. While the offertory was being taken up Miss Nicholas contributed the solo, “ I know that my Redeemer liveth.” Immediately before the benediction the choir sang the anthem—“ 1 heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, write and after the benediction the orgainst played the Dead March, the congregation standing.