The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1895-10-04


tension al body, Enind, and soul. that
right to be colonel Of a regiment IL
God calls you to command an army.
You have no right to be stoker in a
steamer IL God commands you to be adj
miral of the navy. You have no right TO
engineer a ferryboat river batR
TO river benA II tod commands you
70 engineer a Cunarder from New York
to Liverpool. But whatever enter
prise you undertake, and upon what
ever voyage YOU start; BE sufe TO lake
Chfht Ia the ship. Here are men
largely prOspered- The seed OF a
small enterprise grew into an
accumulated and overshadowfnE
success. Their cup of prosperity is
running over. Every day sees, 4 com
mercial OF uasthanieai sFiGniph. Yet
theS are not pulled up. They acknowl-
edge the God who grows the harvests,
and giTes them all their prosperity.
When disaster comes that destroys 9TH
ers, they are only helped into higher
experiences. The coolest winds that
ever blew down from snow-capped
Herr1on and tossed Ge1nssfst into
foam and agony could not hurt
them. Let the winds blow until they
crack their cheeks; let the breakers
boofh-all is well, Christ is In the ship.
Here are other theh. tie pfeT &c uh.
certainties. When they succeed, they
strut through the world in great vani-
| ty, and wipe their feet on the sensi-
tiyeness of others. Disaster comes
and they are utterly down. They
are good sailors on fair day. when
this shy Is cieaf and the sea is
smoothi but they can not outride
the storm, After awhile. the PACKET
Is tossed abeani's cid; and 1t seems as
II She must go down with all the car
60 Push out from the shore with
lifeboat, longboat, shallop, and pin
mace. You can not save the crew. The
storm twists off the masts. The sea
rises up to take down the vessel. Down
she goes7 No Christ In that ship.
speak to young people; whose +6y
age in life will bS a rhingling Of sum
| shihs and of darkness, of Arctic blast
and of tropical tornado. You Will
have many long, bright day Of pros
! peritv. The sites clear, the seas
boat stanch will bound merrily over
the pillows. Crowd on all the canvas.
| Heigh, hol Land ahead! But suppose
that sickness puts its bitter cup to your
lip; suppose that death overshndeTs
| yodf Heart; suppose misfortune, with
some quick turn of the wheel, hurls
| you backward; suppose that the wave
of trial strikes you athwart-ships, and
bowsprit shivered, and halliards swept
into the sea, and gangway crowded
with piratical disasters, and the waves
beneath and the sky above, and the
! darkness around are filled with the
! clamor of the voices of destruction
Obi then you will want Christ in the
ship.
learn; in the next place, that peo-
| pie who follow Christ must not always
expect smooth sailing. When these
disciples got into the small boats they
said: "What delightful thing this isl
Who would not be follower of Christ
when he can ride in one of these
small boats after the ship in which
Jesus is sailing?" But when the
storm came down these disciples found
out that following Jesus did not al
ways make smooth sailing. So you
have found out, and SO I have found
out. If there are any people you
would think ought to have a good
time in getting out of this world, the
apostles of Jesus Christ ought to have
been the men. Have you ever noticed
how they got out of the world?
st. James lost his head. st. Philip
was hung to death against a pillar
| st. Matthew was struck to death by a
halberd. ST. Mark was dragged to
death through the streets. st. James
| the Less had his brains dashed out
with a fuller's club. st. Mattheas
was stoned to death. st. Thomas was
struck through with a spear. John
Huss in the fire, the Albigenses,
the Waldenses, the Scotch Cow
enanters-did they always find smooth
sailing? Why go so far? There is a
young man in a store in New York
who has a hard time to maintain his
Christian character. All the clerks
laugh at him, the employers in
that store laugh at him; and
when he 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 to-day who would
be willing to testify that in the fol-
! lowing Christ one does not always
find smooth sailing. There is a
| Christian girl. In her home they do
not like Christ She has hard work to
| get silent place in which to say her
prayers. Father opposed to religion.
Mother opposed to religion. Broth
ers and sisters opposed to re-
ligion. The Christian girl does
not always find it smooth sailing
when she tries to follow Jesus. But
be of good heart AS seafarers, when
winds are dead ahead, by setting the
ship on starboard tack and bracing the
yards, make the winds that oppose the
course propel the ship forward, so OPP
| posing troubles, through Christ, veer-
| ing around the bowsprit of faith, will
watt you to Heaven, when, if 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 warning and would have gone
crashing into the breakers
Again, my subject teaches me that
good people sometimes get very much
frightened. From the tone and man
ner Of these disciples as they rushed
into the stern of the vessel and woke
Christ up, you know that they are fear
fully scared. And SO IL Is now that
you often find good peOp,e wildly agi-
tated. ''OhI" says some Christian man,
'the infidel magazines, the bad news
IL L T.