The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1889-12-25

AtCliC Di<iSlS VI tiOtIISoA loAIooOSS'
know not what is before you, but |
know if YOU have Christ with you all
shall be well. You may seem to get
along without the religion of Christ
while everything goes smoothly, but
after awhile, when sorrow hovers over
the soul, when the waves of trial dash
clear over the hurricane deck, and the
decks are crowded with piratical disas-
ters-oh, what would you do then
without Christ in the ship9 Take God
for your portion, God for your guide,
God for your help; then all is well; all
is we'll for time, all shall be we'll Tor
ever. Blessed is that man whoputs IN
the Lord his trust. He shall never be
confounded.
But my subject also impresses me
with the fact that when people start
TO follow Christ they must not expect
smooth sailing.
Don't EXPECT SMOOTH SAILING.
These disciples got into the small
boats, and | have no doubt they sad:
What a beautiful day this is! What
a smooth SEAL What bright 81 ky thus
is, How delightful is sailing IN this
boat, And as for the waves under the
keel of the boat, why they only make
the motion of our little boat the more
delightful. But when the winds
SWEPT down and the sea was tossed
into wrath, then they found that fol-
lowing Christ was not smooth salIlng;
So YOU have found it; so | have found
it. Did YOU ever notice the end OF the
life Of the apostles of Jesus Christi
You would say, if ever men ought to
have had smooth life, smooth de-
parture, then those men, the dis
ciples OF Jesus Christ, ought to
have had such departure and
such a hIc. St. James lost his head.
St. Philip was hung to death on a pll,,
lar. st. Matthew had his life dashed
out with I halbert. St. Mark was
dragged to death through the streets.
St. james the Less was beaten to death
with a fuller's club. St. Thomas was
struck through with a spear. They did
not find following Christ smooth sail
ing. Oh, how they were a. tossed IN
the tempest, John Huss in the ire;
Hugh Mckail in the hour Of martyr
dom; the Albigenses, the Waldenses,
the Scotch Covcnanters-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 sayl Some young man in q
store trying to serve God, while ms
employer SCOTS at Christianity; the
Young men in the same store, antago-
nistic to the Christian religion, teasing
him, tormenting him about his relig-
ion, trying to get him mad. They sue
ceed in getting him mad, saying,
You're a pretty Christian Does
that young man find 1t smooth
sailing when he tries to fol-
low Christ? Or you remember a
Christian girl. Her father despises
the ChristiSn religion; hesmother de-
spises the Christian religion; her
brothers and sisters scott at the Chris
tiap religion; she can hardly find a
quiet place in which to say her pray
ers. Did she find it smooth sailing
when she tried to follow Jesus Chrlst2
Oh, no! AL who would live the life
Of the Christian religion must suffer
persecution; if you do not find it IN
ono way, you viii get it in another
way. The question was asked: who
are those nearest he throne" And
the answer came back: These are
they who came up out of great tribu-
lation-great failing, as the original
has it; great failing, great pounding
and had their robes washed and
made white in the blood of the lamb. y
Oh, do not be disheartened! Take
courage. You are in glorious COM
panionship. God will soc you through
all trials and he will deliver you. Ny
subject also impresses me with the
fact that good people sometimes get
very much frisSlA4sseesaeeees.-~-
BE NOT AFRAID.
In the tones Of these disciples as they
rushed into the back part Of the boat,
find they are frightened almost to
death. They say: Master, carest thou
not that we perish2" They had no
reason to be frightened, for Christ was
in the boat l suppose if we had been
there we would have been just as much
afrighted. Perhaps more. In all
ages very good people get very much
affrighted. Its often so in our day,
and men say: why, look at the bad
lectures; look at the various errors 60
ing over the church of God; we are
going to founder; the church is going
to perish; she is going down" Oh,
how many good people are alright
ed BY iniquity in our day, and think
the church of Jesus Christ is going to
be overthrown, and are just as much
afighted as were the disciples OF
n.y text Don't worry, don't fret, as
though iniquity were going to triumph
over righteousness. 4 lion goes into
a cavern to sleep. He lies down, with
his shaggy name covering the
paws. Meanwhile the spiders spin a
web across the mouth OF the
cavern and say, I'VE have captured
him" Gossamer thread after gossa-
mer thread, until the whole front Of
the cavern is covered with the spiders
web, and the spiders say: The lion is
done; the lion is fast" After a while
the lion has got through sleeping; he
rouses himself, he shakes his mane,
he walks out into the sunlight; he
does not even know the spider S web il
spun, and with his voice he shakes the
mountain So men come spinning
their sopilis,ries and skepticisln about
Jesus Christ; he seems to be sleeping.
They say: We have captured the
Lord; he Will never come forth again
upon the nation; Christ is captured
forever. His religion will never make
any conquest among men," But after
while the Lion of the tribe of Judah
will rouse himself and come forth to
shake nightly the nations. What's 8
spiders web to the aroused lion? Give
truth and error a fair grapple and
truth will come off vistor.
FOOLISH FEARS
But there are a great many good
neOn1e who oct affriphta6 in other ,.a-