The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1880-07-08

have commercial friends, and you have
family friends. To the commercial friend
you go when you have business troubles.
You can look back to some day--it may
have been ten Or twenty years ago
when, if you had not had that friend,
you would have been entirely over
thrown in business. But l want to tell
you this morning Of Jesus, the best bust.
ness friend a man ever had. He can get
you out of the worst perplexities. There
are people in this audience who have
got in the habit of putting down all their
worldly troubles at the feet of Jesus.
There is a man before me who once said
to me; "When l want 800 Or 81, 1000, and
cannot get it, I go to Christ, He never
left me in a predicament. | always got
relieved some way" Why, Christ meets
the men on Broadway, Wall street and
Fulton street and says: 10 business
man, l know all thy troubles, l will be
with you. l will see you through" Look
out how you try to corner or trample on
a man who is backed by the Lord God
Almighty, Look out how you trample
on himl Oh, there is a fnanCier that
many of our business men have not yet
found out. Christ owns all the Boards
of Trade, all the Insurance companies,
and all the banking.houses. The Van
derbilts and the Goulds may own the
railroads, but Christ owns the Wander
bilts and the Goulds and the railroads.
How often it has been that we have seen
men gather up riches, by fraud, in a pyr'
amid of strength and beauty, and the
Lord came and blew on it and it was
gone; while there are those here to-day
who, if they could speak out in this as.
semblage, or dared speak out, would say;
"The best friend | ever had in all my
life has been the Lord Jesus Christ. l
would rather give up all other friends
than this one"
But we have also family friends, They
come in when we have sickness in the
household. Perhaps they say nothing;
but they sit down and weep rs the light
goes II from the bright eyes, and the
white petals of the lily are scattered in
the blast of death, They watch through
the long night by the dying couch, and
then when the spirit has gone, soothe
you with great comfort, saying: Don't
cry, Jesus pities you. All is well. You
will meet the lost one again" Then,
when your son went off, breaking your
heart, did they not come and pu' the
story in the very best shape, and proph-
eCy the return Of the prodigal? Family
friends? But l have to tell you that Je-
sus Christ is the best family friend, OH!
blessed is that cradle over which Jesus
bends. Blessed is that nursery where
Jesus walks. Blessed is that sick brow
from which Jesus wipes the dampness.
Have you a babe in the house, put it in
the arms of the great child loverP Is
there a sick one in the house, think of
Him who said, "Damsel, arise" Are
you afraid you will come to want2 Think
of Him who fed five thousand. Is there
a little one in your house that you are
afraid will be blind, or deaf, or lame2
Think of Him who touched the blinded
eye, and snatched back the boy from ep-
ileptic commissions. Oh, He is the best
friend! Look over your family friends
to-day, and find another that ran COM
pare with Him. When we want our
friends they are sometimes out of town.
Christ is always in town. We find that
some will stick to us in prosperity who
will not in adversely. But Christ comes
through darkest night, and amid ghast.
lest sorrow, and across toughest sea to
comfort you. There are men and WON.
en- here who would have been dead
twenty years ago but for Jesus. They
have gone through trial enough to ex-
haust ten times their physical strength.
Their property went; their families were
scattered; God only knows what they en-
dured. They are an amazement tot em-
that they lived through it. They
look at their once happy homes, sur
rounded by all comforts. Gone! They
think of the time they would rise strong
in the morning, and walk vigorously
down the street, and had good health
they thought inexhaustible. Gone! En-
erything gone but Jesus. He has pitied'
them. His eye has watched them; his
omnipotenCe has defended them. Yes.
He has been with them. They have
gone through disaster, and he was a pill
lar of fire by night. They have gone
across stormy Galilee, but Christ had his
foot on the neck OF the storm; they felt
the waves of trouble coming up around
them gradually, and they began to climb
into the strong rock of Gods defense,
and then they sang, as they looked over
the waters, "God is, our refuge and
strength, an ever present help in time of
trouble; therefore we will not fear, tho
the earth be removed, though the noun
tains shake with the swelling thereof.
The other day a sailor came
into the Bethel in New York, and said,
"My lads" (he was standing among sail
ors), II don't know what's the matter of
me; l used to hear a great deal about re
ligion and about Jesus. l don't know
that l have any religion, or that l know
anything much about Christ; but when l
was mid.Atlantic | looked up one day
through the rigging, and there seemed
to come light through my soul; l have
felt different wei since; and | love those
| once hated, and | feel a JOY l can't tell
you. 1 really don't know what is the
with me" A rough sailor got up
and said, MY lad, I know what's the
matter Of you. You have found Jesus.
1t is enough to make any man happy"
1 remark again, Christ is precious to
the believer, as a final deliverer. You
and I must, after awhile, get out of this
world. Here and there one perhaps
may come on to eighty, to ninety years
of age, but your common sense tells you
that the next twenty-five years will the
majority of this audience be in eternity.
The next ten years will thin out a great
many of these family circles. This night
may do the work for some of us. Now,
whv do [ sav this2 To scare Yon2 No: