Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1889-12-27

w1.,4 saOPAeai tOrnaQOeS; know not
have Christ with you all shall be wall sI%
You may seem to get along without tho
rellglon of Christ while everything poea
smo othly, but after awhile, when sorrow
movers over the soul, when the waves of
e1lal Dash clear over the hurricane deck.
una the decks are crowded with piratical
aisasters-oh, what would you do then
without Christ in the ship? Take God
Tor your portion, God for your guide.
God for your help; then all is we'll; ali |
Is we'll Tor time, all shall be we'll for
ever; Blessed is that man who puts in
the Lord his trust. He shall never be
COMPOUNDED.
But my subject also impresses me
with the fact that when people start to !
follow Christ they must not expect
smooth sailing.
These disciples got into the small
What beautiful day this is! What a
smooth sea! What q bright sky this ;si
How delightful is sailing in this boat!
And as for the waves under the keel of
the boat, why they only make the mo-
ton of our little boat the more delight
1ul; But when the winds swept down
and the sea was tossed into wrath, then
they found that following Christ was
not smooth sailing. So you have found
1t; SO have found. Did you ever notice
the end of the life of the apostles of
Jesus Christ? You would say, if ever
men ought to have had o smooth life,
smooth departure, then those men, the
disciples of Jesus Christ, ought to have
had such departure and such o life.
st. james lost his head. st. Philip was
hung to death on q pillar, st. Matthew
chaI
st. Mark was dragged to death through
the street. st. James the Less was
beaten to death with fuller's club. ST.
Thomas was struck through with spear.
They did not find following Christ
smooth sailing. Oh, how they were all
tossed in the tempest! John Huss in
the fire; Hugh McKail in the hou, of
martyrdom; the Albigenses, the Weld
enses, the Scotch Covenanters-did thew
find it smooth sailing? But why 90 into
history when We can draw from our own
memory illustrations of the truth of
what say? Some young man in store
trying to serve God, while his employer
SCOTS at Christianity; the young men in
the same store, antagonistic to the
Christian religion, teasing him, tor
menting him about his religion, trying
to get him mad. They succeed in get
ting him mad, saying, You're pretty
Christian" Does that young man find
it smooth sailing when he tries to fol-
low Christ? Or you remember Chris
tian girl. Her father despises the
Christian religion; her mother despises
the Christian religion; her brothers and
sisters scoff at the Christian religions;
she can hardly find quiet place in
which to say her prayers. Did she find
it smooth sailing when she tried to fol-
low Jesus Christ? Oh, no! All who
would live the life of the Christian re-
ligion must suffer persecution; if you do
not find it in one way, you will get it
in another way. The question was
asked: who are those nearest the
throne?" And the answer came back:
These are they who came up out of
great tribulation-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" Oh, do not be disheartened
Take courage. You are in glorious
eompanionship., God will see you
through all trials and He will deliver
the fact that good people sometimes get
very much frightened.
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 perish?" They had no reason to be
frightened. for Christ was in the boat.
suppose if We had been there we would
have been just as much affrighted. Per-
haps more. In all ages very good peo-
pie get very much atfrightedd. It is often
SO in our day, and men say: why, look
at the bad lectures look at the various
! errors going over the church of God; we
are going to founder; the church is go
ing to perish; she is going down." Oh,
how many good people are affrighted
by inquiry in our day, and think the
Church of Jesus Christ is going to be
overthrow, and are just as much af-
frighted as were the disciples of my
text. Don't worry, don't fret, as though
iniquity were going to triumph over
ern to sleep. He lies down, with his
shaggy name covering the paws. Mean
while the spiders spin web across the
mouth of the cavern and say, 1--WE have
| captured him." Gossamer thread after
gossamer 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 name,
he walks out into the sunlight; he does
not even know the spiders web is spun,
and with his voice he shakes
the mountain. So men come
spinning their sophistries and
skepticism 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 ma
tions. What's spiders web to the
aroused lion? Give truth and error q
photographic and truth will come off
victor.
But there are great many good peo-
pie who get atfrighted in other re-
spects; they are affrigbted in our day
about revivals. They say: "Oh! this is
a strong religious gale; We are afraid
the church of God is going to be upset,
and there are going to be great many
people brought into the church that are
going to be of no use to it," and they
are affrighted whenever they see revl-
val taxing hold of the churches. AS
though ship captain, with 5000 bush