The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1895-09-27

der struck, now gazing into the calm
sky, now gazing into the calm sea, now
gazing into the calm face OF Jesus, and
whispering one to another, "What man
ner of man is this, that even the WINGS
and the sea obey him?'
If Christ BE Aboard.
I learn, first, from this subject that
when you are going to take voyage OF
any kind you ought to have Christ IN
the ship. The fact is that those boats
would all have gone to the bottom II
Christ had not been there Now, you are
about to voyage out into some new en-
terprise-into some new business rela-
ton. You are going to plan some great
matter of profit hope it is so. Ii you
are content to go along in the treadmlll
course and plan nothing new, you are
not fulfilling your mission. What you
can do by the utmost tension OF body
mind and soul that you are bound to do.
You have no right to be colonel OF
regiment if God calls you to command
an army. You have no right to be stoker
in steamer if God commands you to
be admiral of the navy. You have no
right to engineer a ferryboat from river
bank to river bank if God commands
you to engineer a Cunarder from New
York to Liverpool, But whatever enter
prise you undertake, and on whatever
voyage you start, be sure to take Christ
in the ship. Here are men largely pros
pered. The seed of a small enterprise
grew into an accumula lated and overshad-
owing success. Their cup Of prosperity
is running over. Every day sees a COM
mercial or a mechanical triumph. Yet
they are not pulled up. They acknowl-
edge the God who grows the harvests
and gives them all their prosperity.
When disaster comes that destroys 9th
ers, they are only helped into higher ex'
periences. The coolest winds that ever
blew down from snow capped Hermon
and tossed Gennesaret into foam and
agony could not hurt them. Let the
winds blow until they crack their cheeks.
Let the breakers boom-all is WE'LL
Christ is in the ship. Here are other
men, the prey of uncertainties. When
they succeed, they strut through the
world in great vanity and wipe their
feet on the sensitiveness of others. Dis
aster comes, and they are utterly down.
They are good sailors on a fair day,
when the sky is clear and the sea is
smooth, but they cannot outri de storm.
After awhile the packet is tossed abeam s
end, and it seems as if she must go
down with all the cargo. Push out from
the shore with lifeboat, long boat, shall
lop and pinnace. You cannot save the
crew. The storm twists off the masts
The sea rises up to take down the YES
sell Down she goes! No Christ in that
ship.
I speak to young people whose voyage
in life will be mingling of sunshine
| and of darkness, of arctic blast and of
tropical tornado You will have many a
long, bright day of prosperity. The
skies clear, the sea smooth. The crew
exhilarant. The boat stanch will bound
1nerrily over the pillows. Crowd on all
the canvas. Heigh, no! Land ahead
But suppose that sickness puts its bitter
cup to your lips suppose that death
overshadows your heart; suppose mis-
fortune, with some quick turn of the
wheel, hurls you Backward suppose
that the wave of trial strikes you
athwart ships, and bowsprit shivered,
and halyards swept into the sea, and
gangway crowded with piratical disas-
tiers, and the wave beneath, and the sky
above, and the darkness around are fill
ed with the clamor of voices of destruc-
ton. Oh, then you will want Christ in
the ship!
When Storms Come.
I learn, in the next place, that people
who follow Christ must not always eX
pect smooth sailing. When these disci-
pies got into the small boats, they said :
"What delightful thing this is Who
would not be a follower of Christ when
he can ride in one of these small boats
after the ship in which Jesus is sail
ing?" But when the storm came down
these disciples found out that following
Jesus did not always make smooth sail
ing. So you have found out, and so
have found out. If there are any people
who you would think ought to have had
good time in getting out OF this world,
the apostles of Jesus Christ ought &c
have been the men. Have you ever no
ticed how they got out of the world?
st. James lost his head st. Philip was
hung to death against pillar; st.
Matthew was struck to death by hal
berd; st. Mark was dragged to death
through the streets; st. James the Less
had his brains dashed out with full
er's club; St. Matthias was stoned
to death; St Thomas was struck
through with a spear. John Huss in the
fire, the Albigenses, the Waldenses, the
Scotch Covenanters-did they always
find smooth sailing? Why go SO far?
There is young man in store in
New York who has hard time to main
tain his Christian character. All the
clerks laugh at him, the employers in
that store laugh at him, and when be
loses his patience they say, "You are
pretty Christian ~ Not so easy is it for
that young man to follow Christ If the
Lord did not help him hour by hour,
he would fail There are scores of young
men today who would be willing to tes-
tify that in following Christ one does
not always find smooth sailing. There
is Christian girl In her home they dc
Il NOT 1iLa Christ Sha has hard work RI