The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1890-01-01

no! All who would live the life Of tho
Christian religion 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 throneT And
the answer ----> "--- ''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 disheartenedl Take courage.
You are in glorious companionship God
will see you through all trials and he will
deliver you. My subject also impresses me
with the fact that good people sometimes gel
very much frightened
In the tones of these disciples as they
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. Perhaps more. In all ages
very good people get very much afrighted.
It is often so in our day, and men say:
Why look at the bad Lectures; res look ,ot at the
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 aRrighted
as were the disciples OF my text. Don't worry,
don't fret, as though iniquity were going to
triumph over Righteousness. A lion goes
shaggy name covering the paws. Meanwhile
the spiders spin web across the mouth Of the
cavern and say: "We have captured him."
Gossamer thread after gossamer thread, un-
til 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
while the lion has got through sleep
ing, he rouses himself, hs 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 a while the Lion OF
the tribe of Judah will rouse Himself and
come forth to shake nightly the nations:
What's spiders web to the aroused lion?
Give truth and error a fair grapple and
truth will come of victor.
But there are a great many good people
who get affrighted in other respects; they
are affrighted in our day about revivals.
They say: "Ohl this is a strong religious
gale; we are afraid the church Of God is 60
ing to beupset and there are going to bea great
many people brought into the church that
are going to be Of no use to it," and they are
afYrighted whenever they see revival TAX
ing hold Of the churches As though ship
Captain, with five thousand bushels OF wheat heat
for cargo, should say some day, coming
upon deck: Throw overheard all the car
go;n and the sailors should say:
"Why, Captain, what do you,
mean? Throw over all the cargo"'
sOh," says the Captain, 1--WE have peck Of
chaff that has got into this five thousand
bushels of wheat, and the only wayt to getrid
Of the chaff is to throw all the wheat over
board" Now, that is great deal wiser than
want to throw overheard all the thousands
and tens of thousands Of souls who are the
subjects Of revivals Throw all overheard
because they are brought into the kingdom
Of God through great revivals, because there
is peck Of chaf, aquart Of chaff, pint of
chatf say, let them stay until the last day the
Lord will divide the chaff from the wheat.
Do not be afraid of great revival Oh, that
such gales from heaven might sweep through
all our churches! Oh for such days as Rich
ard Baxter saw in England, and Robert Nc
Cheyne saw in Dundee! Oh, 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
revival broke out at Somerville, n.
j.; and some people were very much
agitated about it. They said: "Oh, you
are going to bring too many people into the
church at once" and they sent down to New
Brunswick to get John Livingston to stop the
revival Well, there was no better soul in
| all the world than John Livingston. He
went and looked at the revival; they wanted
him to stop it, He stood in the pulpit on the
Sabbath, and looked over tho solemn audi
tory, and he said: 'This, brethren, Is in
reality the work Of God; beware how you
try to stop it." And he was an old man.
leaning heavily upon his staff-a very old
man. And he lifted that staff, and took
hold Of the small end Of the staff, and began
to let it fall slowly through between the fin
ger and the thumb, and he said: "Oh, thou
impenitent, thou art falling now-falling
from life, falling away from peace and
heaven, falling as certainly as the cane Is
falling through my hand-falling certainly,
though perhaps falling slowlyp And the
cane kept on falling through John Lv-
ingston's hand. The religious emotion in
tho audience was oVerpowering, and
men saw type of their DOOM as the
cane kept falling and falling, until the
hand and he clasped it stoutly and said:
But tho grace Of God can stop you as
stopped that cane;" and then there was glad
ness all through the house at the fact of par
don and peace and salvation. "Well," said
the people after the service, "Iguess you had
better send Livingston home; he is making
the revival worse" Oh, for gales from
heaven to sweep all the continents! The dan
ger of the church of God is not in revivals.
Again, my subject impressed me with the
fact that Jesus was God and man in the same
being. Here He is in the back part Of the
boat. Oh how tired He looks; what sad
dreams He must have! Look at His counte-
nance; He must be thinking Of the cross to
come. Look at Him, He is man-bone OF
our bone, flesh of our flesh. Tired, He falls
asleep; He is man. But then find Christ
at the Prov Of the boat; hear Him say:
Peace be still" and I see the storm kneel-
ing at His feet, and the temptests folding
their wings in His presence: He isa God.
II l have sorrow and trouble and want
sympathy, go and kneel down at the back
part of the boat and say: ''Oh, Christ weary
one of Gennesaret sympathize with all my
sorrows man of Nazareth, man Of the cross. !"
| A man, man. But if I want to conquer
my spiritual foes, if I want to get the victory
over sin, death and hell, como to the front
of the boat. and I kneel down, and l say:
| "Oh, Lore Jesus Christ, Thou who dost hush
the tempest hush oil my grief, hush all my
temptation, hush oil my sinw A man, q
man; God, God.
learn once more from this subject that
| Christ can hush tempest.
1t did seem as if everything must 60 to
| ruin. The disciples had given up the idea Of
managing the ship; the crew were entirely
demoralized; yet Christ rises, and He puts
His foot on the storm, and it crouches at His
feet Oh. yes! Christ can hush the tempest
You have had trouble. Perhaps it was the
little child taken away from you-the sweet