Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1895-09-28
storms VIII Come.

wave beneath, and the sky above ana tho
darkness around ara filled with the clamor
of the voices II destruction oh, then you
will want Christ in the ship.
storms VIII Come.
l learn, In the next place, that people
who follow Christ must mot always expect
smooth SAILING. When these disciples got
into the small boats. they said: what a
delightful thing this Is! Who would not
be "A follower ~ Christ when he can ride
in one of these small boats after the ship
in which Jesus l. sailing But when tho
storm came down these disciples found out
that following .IcsiiS lid not always make
smooth sailing - yuu have found out
and 50 have found ont. II there are any
people who you would think ought TO
have good time in getting ont of this
world. the apusil les ~ Jesus Christ ought
Ia have been the men. Have you ever mo-
ticcd how they got cut of the worldl st.
James lost his head II. Philip was hung
20 death against pillar. st. Matthew
was struck tn death by halbcrd. st.
Mark was dragged to death through the
streets ~. James the Less had his brains
dashed out with fullcr'S club. -. Mat
ihias was stoned TO death. 81. Thomas
was struck through with spear. John
dcnscs. the Scotch Covcnanters-did they
always find smooth sailing! Why go so
far;
There l. n young man in store In New
York who has hard time 10 maintain his
Christian character. All the clerks laugh
at him. the employers in that store laugh
at him, and when he loses his patience
thcy say. You nrc pretty Christian.
Not so easy Is IL for that young man To fol-
low Christ II the Lord did not help him
hour By hour. he would fail. There arc
scores of young men today who would be
willing to testify that in following Christ
one does not always find smooth sailing.
There Is "A Christian girl. In her homo
they do not like Christ. She has hard
work TO get q silent place I'm which to say
her prayers Father opposed To religion.
Mother opposed TO religion. Brothers and
sisters opposed 10 religion. The Christian
girl does not always find it smooth sailing
when she tries to follow Jesus But he OF
good heart AS scafarers. when winds arc
dead ahead, by setting the ship ON star
board tack and bracing tho yards, mako
the winds that oppose the course propci
the ship forward. so opposing troubles,
through Christ, vcering around the bow
spirit Of faith, will watt you to heaven,
when, II the winds had been abaft, they
might have rocked and sung you to sleep,
and while dreaming of the destined port
Of heaven you could not have heard the
cry of warming and would have gone crash
ing into the breakers.
The World Moves.
Again, my subject teaches mo that good
people sometimes get very much frighten-
cd. From the tone and manner OF these
disciples as they rushed into the stern of
the vessel and woke Christ up, you know
that they are fcarfully scared. And so IL
is now that you often find good people
wildly agitafcd oh" says some Chris
tian man, 1.-THE infidcl magazines, tho bad
newspapers, the spiritualistic societies, the
| importation Of 50 many foreign errors, the
church of God is going To be lost, the ship
Is going TO founder, Tho ship Is going
down. What ara you frightened about!
An old lion goes into his cavern to take
sleep, and he lies down until his shaggy
name covers his paws. Meanwhile the
spiders outside begin Ia spin webs over the
mouth Of his cavern and say, THAT lion
cannot break out through this web, and
they keep on spinning The gossaincr threads
until they get the mouth of the cavern
covered over. Now they say, 1.-THE
lions done, the lion : done. After awhile
the lion awakcs and shakes himself, and
he walks ont from the cavern, never
knowing there were any spiders webs,
and with his voice he shakes tho noun
tain. Let the infldcls and the skcptics Of
this day 20 on spinning their webs, spin
ming their infi6cl goSsamer theories, spin
ming them all over the place where Christ
seems to he sleeping. They shy: Christ
nsrnfn pTtf- hss work q
done He can never get through this log
ical web we have been spinning" The
day will come when the Lion of Judah's
tribe will rouse himself and come forth
and shake nightly the nations. What
then all your gossamcr threads! What Ii
a spiders web to an aroused lion: Do not
fret, then, about the worlds going back
ward. IL Is going forward.
You stand on the banks Of the sen when
the tide Is rising. The almanac says the
tide Is rising, but the wave comes up to
certain point. and then IL rccedcs. Why,
You say, 1.-THE tide Is going hack. No, IL
Is not The next wave comes mp little
higher, and IL goes hack. Again you say
the tide Is going out. And the next time
the wave comes To a higher point, then to
a higher point Notwithstanding all these
rccessions, at last all the shipping of the
world knows ii Is high tide. 20 1t Is with
the cause Of Christ in the world. One year
It comes up 20 one point. and we arc great
ly encouraged. Then II seems 20 20 back
next year. We say this tide Is going out.
Next year Il comes tn n higher point and
falls back. and next year IL comes to still
higher point and falls back, but all tho
time 1t is advancing. until II shall he full
tide, and the earth shall h. full 81 the
knowledge Of God ms the waters fill the
sea
Christ IL God.
Again, learn from this subject that
Christ Is God and man in the same person.
/ go into the back part of that boat, and 1
look on Ch-ist's sleeping face and sec in
that face the story Of sorrow and WEAKNESS,
and deeper shadow comes over his face,
and think he must he dreaming Of the
cross that Is 90 come As stand on tho