The Opelousas courier., 1890-01-25

Iath6f u3SplSoS tne christian TeIlSIoH, LEI
mother deSpises the Christian religion; her
brothers and sisters scott at the Christian re-
Iigton; she can hardly find a quiet
place in which to say Ter prayers.
Did she find it smooth sailing
when she tried to follow Jesus Christ? Oh,
not All who would live the life OF the
CiAFig5ian religion must suffer persecution; If
guu do mot ftuai ii in one way. you will get it
i'll another way. The question was asked:
~MAo B$]JSass nearest the throneT" And
tie afssSS Cara bacE: '"These are they
WHO came up out of great tribu1ation-great
failing, as the original has it; great failing,
great pounding-and had their robes washed
and made white Id tie blood Of the Lamb"
Oh, do not be disheartened! Take courage.
You are in glorious companlonship: God
will see you through all trials and He will
deliver 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
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 atfrighted. Perhaps more. In all ages
very good people get very much a~ffrighted.
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 DIRE going to founder; the church
is going to perish; she is going down"
Oh, how many good people are alright
cl by iniquity in our 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. y lion goes
into a cavern to sleep, He lies down with his
cha rr.s M HO6 ri yorInV the Tta wS Mes nwhile
the spiders spin a web across the mouth of the
cavern and say: 1--WE have captured him."
Go5samer thread after gOSSaTner thread, I'M
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 a
while the lion has got through sleep
ing, lie rouses himself, he shakes
his name, he walks out intu 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 sophistrles and
skepticisni about Jesus Christ; He seems to
be sleeping. They say: w 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 aud
come forth to shake nightly the nations.
What's u spiders web to the aroused lion?
Give truth and error a fair grapple and
LFuGE Will CONE OIL FlCSpl.
But there are a great many good people
who get affrighted in other respects; they
are affrighted in our day about r~eviVals.
They say "Ohi this is a strong religious
gale; We are afraid tie church Of God is go
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
alfrigited whenever they see a revival tax
ing hold of the churches. As though a ship
Captain, with five thousand bushels of wheat
for n cargo, should say some day, coming
upon deck: Throw overheard all the car
GO AMI the sailors should say:
Why, Captain, what do you
| oh - says the Captain, 1--WE have peck of
chat that has got into this five thousand
bushels Of wheat, and the only way to get rid
of the chat is to throw all the wheat over
board.n Now, hat is a great deal wiser than
the talk of a great MANY Christians who
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 ,gteat f~eviFals, because there
isa peck of chat, aquar6 of chaf, d pint Of
chaff I say, let them stay until the last day the
Lord will divide the chaff from the wheat.
Do not be afraid of q great revival. Oh, that
such gales from heaven might sweep through
all our churches! Oh, for such days as Rich
aFu DaAGeF saw III ElR1IuO, anu ltOOSTG NC
Cheyne saw in Dundee! Oh, for such days
as Jonathan Edwards saw in Northampton!
l 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
agitated about It. They said; 'Oh, you
are going to bring too MANY people into the
Brunswick to get John Livingston to stop the
revival. Well, there was no better soul in
all the world than John Livingston. Es
went and looked at the revival; they wanted
him to stop it. He stood in the pulpit on the
Sabbath, and looked over the solemn audi
tory, and he said: ''This, brethren, is in
reality the work of God; beware how you
leaning heavily upon his staf-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
heaSei, falling as certainly as the cane is
falling through my hand-falling certainly,
though perhaps falling slowlyF'. And the
cane kept on falling through John Liv-
ingston's hand. The religious emotion in
| the audience was overpowerlng, and
men saw a type of their doom, as the
cane kept falling and falling, until the
knob of the cane struck MIR. Livingston's
hand. and he clasped it stoutly and said:
But the grace of God can stop you as l
stopped that cane;' and then there was glad
ness all through the house at the fact Of par
don and peace and salvation. "Wel1," 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 dam
ger of the church of God is not in r~evivals.
Again, my subject impressed me with the
fact that Jesus was God and man in the same
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 a ~nan-bone of
our bone, flesh of cur flesh. Tired, He falls
asleep, He is b Inan. But then I find Christ
a. the PROV of the boat; I hear Him say;
tPeace, be still;' and I see the storm kneel.
ing at His feet, and the temptests folding
their wings in His preseneei He Is q God.
1t have sorrow and trouble, and want
Sympathy, I 90 and kneel down at the back
part of the boat and say: '.Oh, Christ! weary
one of Gennesaret, sympathiZe with all my
sorrows, mar Of Nazareth, man of the cross
A man, d man. But IL / want to conquer
my spiritual foes, if want to get the victory
over sin, death and hell, | come to the front
Of the boat, and I kneel down, and / say;
"Oh, Lord Jesus Christ, Thou who dost hush
the tempest, hush all my grief, hush all my
temptation, hush all my sinr' A man, 6
man; a God, a God.
Ilearn once more from this subject thai
Christ can hush a tempest.
1t did seem as IL everything must 60 t
ruin. The disciples had given up the idea o
managing the ship; the crew were entirel
d~emoralized; yet Christ rises, and He put
His foot on the storm, and it crouches at Hi
feet. Oh, yes! Christ can hush the tempest
You nave had trouble. Perhaps it was tn
little child taken away from you-the sweet
est child of the household the one who aska