Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1895-09-27

ABOUT 10 voyage Oug lutO eOlhC HO" Oii
terprise-into some new business rela-
tion. You are going to plan some great
matter Of profit l hope it is so. If you
are content to 60 along in the treadmill
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 a
regiment if God calls you to command
an army. You have no right to be stoker
in a 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 accumulated 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 puffed up. They acknowl-
edge the God who grows the haryests
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 well,
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 seDsitiveness 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 outride storm.
After awhile the packet is tossed abeam s
end, and it seems as if she must 60
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.
speak tc young people whose voyage
in life will be a 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
merrily over the billows. 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
eangway crowded with piratical disas-
ters, and the wave beneath, and the sky
above, and the darkness around are fill
ed with the clamor Of voices Of destruc-
tion. Oh, then you will want Christ in
the ship
When Storms Come.
learn, in the next place, that people
who follow Christ must not always ex-
pect smooth sailing When these discl-
ples got into the small boats, they said
"What a 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
a good time in getting out Of this world,
the apostles Of Jesus Christ ought tc
have been the men. Have you ever no
ticed how they got out Of the world
St. James lost his head; st. Philip wa:
hung to death against a pillar; st.
Matthew was struck to death by hal
berd; st. Mark was dragged to death
through the streets; ST. James the Les:
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, th'
Scotch Covenanters-did they always
find smooth sailing? Why go so far?
There is young man in a store IL
New York who has hard time to main
tain his Christian character. All th'
clerks laugh at him, the employers IL
that store laugh at him, and when h'
loses his patience they say, "You arr
pretty Christian !" Not so easy is 1t fo
that young man to follow Christ. If tn
Lord did not help him hour by hour
he would fail. There are scores Of younl
men today who would be willing to ties
tify that in following Christ one doe
not always find smooth sailing. Their
is a Christian girl. In her home they d
not like Christ. She has hard work t
get silent place in which to say he
PRAYERS. Father opposed to religion
mother opposed to religion; brother
and sisters opposed to religion. Th
Christian girl does not always find !
smooth sailing when she tries to follow
Jesus. But be Of good heart AS seafar
ers. when winds are dead ahead, by set
ting the ship ON starboard tack and brac
ing the yards make the winds that op
pose the course propel the ship forward
so opposing troubles, through Christ
veering around the bowsprit Of faith
will watt you to heaven, when, If tn
winds had been abaft, they might hay
rocked and sung you to sleep, and Will
dreaming of the destined port Of heave
Won could not have heard the cry G
warning and would have gone crashin
into the breakers.
No Need of Fear.
Again, my subject teaches me th'
good people sometimes get very muc
frightened. From the tone and mann'
of these disciples as they rushed in'
the stern of the vessel and woke Chri
up. You know that they are fearful
scared. And so it is now that you ofte
find good people wildly agitated. "Oh
saws some Christian man, "the infd
magazines, the bad newspapers, Il
, spiritualistic societies, the importatiC
= -, ,,,o,,,- foraion arrors the church