The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-12-16


over the hurricane deck, and the decks are
crowded with piratical diSasters-O, what
would YOU do then without Christ IN the
Ehipl Take God for your portion, God for
your guide, God for your help; then all IS
well. all is well for time, all shall be well
forever Blessed is that man who puts in
the Lord his trust. He shall never be con-
founded.
Rut my subject also impresses me with
The fact that when people start TO follow
Christ thew must not expect smooth sailing.
These disciples got into the small boats,
and have no doubt they said: WHAT Il
beautiful day this isl What a smooth sea,
What a bright sky this Isl How delightful
Is sailing in this boat And as for the
waves under the keel Of the boat, why they
only maxi the motion II our little boat the
more delightful But when the winds
swept down aud the sea was tossed into
wrath. then they found that following
Christ was not smooth sailing. So you
have found it; so l have found
il. Did you ever notice the end of the
life of the apostles of Jesus Christie
You would say, if ever men ought to
have had smooth life, smooth departure,
then those men, the disciples Of Jesus Christ,
ought to have had such a departure and
stich a life. St James lost his head. st.
Philip was hung to death on pillar. 81.
Matthew had his life dashed out with a hal
bert. st. Mark was dragged TO death through
the streets. St. James the Less was beaten
10 death with a fuller's club. St. Thomas
was struck through with spear. They
did not find following Chris5 smooth
sailing. Oh how they were all tossed
an the tempestl John Huss in the fire;
Hugh McKailin the hour of martyrdom;
the AIbigenses, the WaldenseS, the Scotch
Covenanters-did they find it smooth sail
1nga But why go into history when we can
draw from our own memory illustrations OF
fhe truth of what sayl Some young man
IN store trying to serve God, while his
employer SCOTS at christianity; the young
men in the same store, antagonlstlc TO the
christian religion, teasing him, tormentlng
him about his religion, trying to get him
mad. They succeed in getting him mad.
saving, "You're a pretty Christianm Does
that young man find it smooth sailing when
he tries to follow Christ? Or you remem-
her a christian girl. Her father despses
the christian religion; her mother despises
the christian religion; her brothers and
listers scott at the christian religion; she
can hardly find a quiet place in which to
saw her prayers. Did she find it smooth
sailing when she tried TO follow Jesus
Christ? o, no. All who would live
the life OF the christian religion must
suffer persecution; if you do not find it in
ono way, you will get it in another
way. The question was asked: who are
those nearest the thronep 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" q
do not be disheartenedl Take courage. You
are in glorious compauionship God will
see you through all trials and he will de
]ver you. My subject also impresses me
with 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 per
ishg' 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 affrighted Perhaps more. In all
ages very good people get very
much affrighted 1t is often so in our day,
and men say; "Why, look at the bad lect-
u.es; look at the various errors going
over the church of God; we are
going to founder; the church is going
many good people are affrighted by iniquity
in cur day. and think the church of Jesus
Christ is going to be overthrown, and are
just as much affrighted as were the disciples
of my text. Don't worry, don't fret, as
though iniquity were going to triumph over
Righteousness. lion goes into a cavern
to sleep. He lies down, with his shaggy
mane covering the paws. Meanwhile 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 GOV.
cred with the spiders web, and the spiders
say: 1.-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
ssWe 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
awhile the lion of the tribe of Judah will
rouse himself and come forth to shake
nightly the nations. What's spider S
web to the aroused lions Give truth and
error fair grapple, and truth will come off
victor
But there are great many good people
who get affrighted in other respects; they
are afrjghted in our day about revivals
They say: 80 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
the churches. AS though a ship cap
tain, with five thousand bushels OF
wheat for a cargo, should say some
day, coming upon deck; Throw overheard
all the cargo" and the sailors should say:
s'Why. ATTAIN. what do you means Throw
over all the cargo?n 90" says the captain,
''we have peck of chaff that has got into
this five thousand bushels of wheat, and the
only way TO get rid of the chaff is to throw
all the wheat overheard" Now, that is a
great deal wiser than the talk of great
many christians who want to throw over
board all the thousands and tens OF
thousands of souls who are the sub
jects of revivals. Throw all over
board because they are brought into
the kingdom of God through great re-
vlvals, because there is peck of chaff, a
quart OF chaff, pint of chaffl l say, lei
them stay until the last day; the Lord will
divide the chaff from the wheat. Do moi
be afraid of a great revival o, that
such gales from heaven night sweep
through all our churches! o. for such
days as Richard Baxter saw in England
and Robert McCheyne saw in Dundee! o
for such days as Jonathan Edwards saw in
Northampton / have often heard my
father tell of the fact that in the early
part of this century a revival broke
out at Somerville, n. j., and
some people were very much agi