Milford chronicle., 1889-12-20
they must not expect smooth sailing.
THE TROUBLES OF THE APOSTLES


beautiful day this isl What a smooth ses
What bright sky this isl How delight,
IS sailing IN this boat, and as for the way,
under the keel Of the boat, why they onl
make the motion Of our little boat the NOR
delightful" But when the winds swer
down, and the sea was tossed into wrath
then they found that following Christ wa
not smooth sailing. SO you have found II
so l have found it. Did you ever notice th
end OF the life OF the apostles Of jesus Christ
You would say, if ever men ought TO hav
had smooth life, smooth departure. the
those men, the disciples Of Jesus Christ
ought to have had such a departure an,
such life. st. James lost his head
St Philip was hung to death on a pillar. st
Matthew had his life dashed out with a hal
bert st. Mark was dragged to dealt
through the streets st. James the Less wa
beaten to death with a fuller's club. St
Thomas was struck through with a spear
They did not find following Christ smooth
sailing. Oh, how they were all tossed in the
tempestl John Huss in the fire, Hugh Nc
Kali in the hour of martyrdom, the Albi
genses, the Waldenses, the Scotch Covenant.
ers-did they find it smooth sailingl But
why go into history when we can draw from
our own memory illustrations Of the truth of
what l say. Some young man in a store try
ing to serve God, while his employer SCOTS al
Christianity; the young men in the same
store antagonistic to the Christian religion.
teasing him, tormenting him about his re-
hgion, trying to get him mad. They succeed
in getting him mad, saying, You're pretty
Christian" Does that young man find it
smooth sailing when he tries to follow
Christi Or you remember Christian
girl Her father despises the Chris
tian religion; her mother despises the
Christian religion; her brothers and sisters
scof at the Christian religion; she can hard
ly find a quiet place in which 10 say her
prayers. Did she find it smooth sailing when
she tried to follow Jesus Christi Oh. MOI An
who would live the life Of the Christian religion
must suffer persecution; If you do not find il
in one way, you will get it in another vay
The question was asked: "Who are thoSe
nearest the thronef And the answer oarna
back: "TheSe are they who came up ont OF
great tribulation-great failing, as the orig
inal has it; great failing, great pounding
and had their robes washed and made white
in the blood Of the lamb" Oh, do not be- dis
heartenedi Take courage. You are in glori-
GUS companionship. God will see YOU through
all trials and he will deliver you. NV subject
also impresses me with the fact that good
people sometimes get very much frightened.
NO REAL CAUSE FOR FEAR.
In the tones Of these disciples, as they
rushed into the back part of the boat. find
they are frightened almost to death. They
iay, Master, carest thou not that we Der.
shp They had no reason to be frightened
,or Christ was in the boat. / suppose il we
lad been there we would have been lust as
much atRrightened. Perhaps more. In all /
lges very good people get very much af-
frightened. It is often so in our dav. and
nen say: why, look at the bad leoturesl
ook at the various errors going over the
hurch OF God; we are going to founder; the
hurch IS going to perish; she is going down.
)h, how many good people are affrightened
y iniquity in our day, and think the church
Jesus Christ is going to be Qverthrown,
nd are just as much affrightened as were
he disciples of my text. Don't worry, don't
ret, as though iniquity were going to trl.
mph over Righteousness. A lion goes into
cavern to sleep. He lies down. with his
laggy name covering the paws. Mean
'hile the spiders spin a web across the mouth
the cavern and say, I'VE have captured
i'm. Gossamer thread after cossaner
lread, until the whole front Of the cav
n Is covered with the SPIDERS web aud the
liders say: The lion is done; the lion is
lst. After awhile the lion has got through
eeping; he rouses himself, he shakes his
ane, lie walks out into the sunlight; he does
1t even know the SPIDERS web is spun. and
it'll his voice he shakes the mountain. So
en- come spinning their sOphstries and skep-
,ism about Jesus Christ; he seems to be
seping. They say; 1--WE havo captured the
)rd; he will never como forth again upon
Q nation; Christ is captured forever His /,
igion will never make any conquest among
en- Hut after awhile the Lion of the tribe
Judah will rouse himself AMI come forth
shake nightly the nations What's a
ldei's web to the aroused lionl Give truth {
d error fair grapple and truth will come
victor.
But there are great many good peoplel =.
10 get affrightened in other respects; they :
. affrighted in our day about revivals. :
ey say: "Ohl this is a strong religious gale. i,
Q are afraid the church Of God Is going to y
upset, and there are going to be a great :,
my people brought into the church that :,
going to be Of no use to it:n and !
y are affrighted whenever they see
-ival taking hold Of the churches. -
nj
usand bushels Of wheat for cargo. y
uld say, some day, coming upon deck; IN
brow overheard all the cargo,n and the :,
Ors should say; why, captain, what do ="
! mean. Throw over all the cargoTi "Oh.n
5 the captain, 1--WE have peck Of chaf
{ has got into this Ave thousand bushels of
sat, and the only way to get rid of the ~ ~
4 is to throw all the wheat overheard u y
HlrnN - ]
Il great many Christians who want to '"
DIV overheard all the thousands and tens se se
thousands Of souls who are the subjects Of "
lyals. Throw all overheard because they ~ ~
brought into the kingdom OF God through =, ~
1t revivals-because there is a peck Of ~
7, quart of chaR, pint Of chaffl / say, e
hem stay until the last dayi the Lord ~
divide the chaR from the wheat. Do as
be afraid Of u great revival Oh, that uL
! gales from heaven might sweep through e4
'ur churchesl Oh, for such days as Rich an
Baxter saw in England, and Robert Ne an
yne saw in Dundee Oh, for such DAYS SUI
Jonathan Edwards saw in Northamptonl I'M
We often heard my father tell Of the fact ri
in the early part OF this century a revi- Is
broke out at SomeI yi lille, N. j., and some na
lie were very much agitated about it. INC
,
y people into the ct urch at once;" and an
sent down TO New Brunswick to get de'
/ Livingston to stop the revival. Well, PR
= was no better soul in all the world nv
John Livingston. He went and ait
sd at the revival They wanted OH
to stop it. He stood in the pulpit lev
he Sabbath and looked over the sol SIM
auditory, and he said; 'This, brethren, mas
'eality the work Of God; beware how WI
t,y to stop it." And he was an old
leaning heavily on his staff-a very d,
Ian. And he lifted that staff, aud
hold Of tho small end Of the stan, Pla'
egan to let it fall slowly through be- l.s'l
the finger and the thumb, and be said: lleee
thou impenitent, thou art falling now i sila
g from life, falling away from peace lls
heaven, falling as certainly as that por
IS falling through my hand - -
: certainly, though perhaps falling ~. aD
p" And the cane kept on falling nm I
gh John Livingston's hand. The religi- ~ m