The climax. [volume] (Richmond, Madison County, Ky.) 1887-1897, 1895-09-25

The seeds OF a small enterprise grew
into an accumulated and overshadow-
ing success. Their cup of prosper
ity is running over. Every day sees
a commercial or mechanical triumph.
Yet they are not puffed up. They ac-
knowledge the God who grows the
harvests and gives them all their pros
perity. When disaster comes that de-
stroys others they are only helped into
higher experiences. 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 uncertain
ties. When they succeed they strut
through the world in great vanity,
and wipe their feet on the sensitive
ness of others. Disaster 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 can not Outride a 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,
longboat, shallop and pinnace. You
can not save the crew. The storm
twists off the masts. The sea rises up
to take down the vessel Down she
goes! No Christ in that ship.
1 speak to young people whose voy-
age in life viii be a mjngling of sun
III - IL 81
and OF tropical tornado. You will have
many a bright day of prosperity, the
skies clear, the sea smooth. Tle crew
exhilarant The boat stanch Will
bound merrily over the pillows. Crowd
on all the canvas. leigh, no. Land
ahead, But suppose that sickness puts
its bitter cup to your lips; suppose that
death overshadows your heart; suppose
misfortune with some quick turn of
! the wheel, hurts you backward; sup
pose that the wave OF trial strikes you
athwart-ships, and bowsprit shivered,
and halliards swept into the sea, and
gangway crowded with piratical disas-
tiers, and the wave beneath, and the
/ sky aboyN, and the darkness around
are filled with the clamor of the voices
/ of destruction. Oh! then you will want
/ Christ in the ship
I 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 a delightful thing this is!
/ Who would not be i follower OF Christ
/ when he can ride in one of these small
] r. -. \ II
sailing?" But when the storm came
down these disciples found ont that
! following Jesus did not always make
smooth sailing. So you have found
out and so have | found out. If
there are any people who 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?
81. James lost his mead. st. Philip was
hung to death against a pillar. St.
Matthew was struck to death with a
hal5erd. st. Mark was dragged to death
through the streets. St. James the Less
had his brains dashed out with a full
/ ler's club. IT. Matthias was stoned to
! death st. Thomas was struck through
with a spear. John Huss in the fire,
the Aibigenses. the Waldenses, the
Scotch COvenanters-did they all find
smooth sailing? Why go so far? There
is young man in a store in New York
who has a hard time to maintain his
Christian character. All the clerks
Taught at him, the employers in that
] .+1 h vr~har, h
his patience they say: You are a pref
" Christian. Not so easy 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 following 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.
Brothers and sisters opposed to re.
ligiOn. The Christian girl does not al.
WAYS 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 opposing
troubles, through Christ, veering
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 warn
ing and would have gone crashing into
the breakers
Again my subject teaches me thai
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 werS
fearfully scared. And so it is nov
that you often find good people wildly
agitated ''0hr' saws some Christian
man, "the infidel magazines, the bad
newspapers, the spiritualistic socie
ties, the importation of so many for
eign errors, the Church of God is 90
ing to be lost the ships going to foun
der, The ship is going down. Wha'
are you frightened about? An ole
lion goes into his cavern to take
sleep, and he lies down until his shag
gy name covers his paws. Meanwhile
the spiders outside begin to spin web
over the mouth of his cavern, and say
THAT lion can not break out through
this web" and they keep on spinning
the gossamer threads until they ge
the mouth of the cavern covered
over. Now" they say, ''the lion
done. the lions done" After a Will
the lion awakes and shakes himself
and he walks out from the cavern
never. knowing there were an.
SPIDERS webs, and with his voic
ne shakes the mountain. Let the inf
dels and skepties of this day go OF
spinning their webs spinning their in
fdel gossamer theories. spinning then
all over the place where Christ seem
to be sleeping. They say: Christ cal
! never again come out; the work
I done; He can never get through thi
logical web we have been spinning.
, This day will come when the Lion O
Judah's tribe will rouse himself an
come forth and shake nightly the ma
tions What then all your gossame
, threads? What is a spiders web to a
aroused lion9 Do not fret, then, abou
: the worlds going backward. 1t is &C
ing forward.