Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1895-10-02

sailing. Wnen THESE ulS'ipieS SOt lItV iho
small boats, they said "What a delightful
thing this is! Who would not be follower
OF Christ when he can ride in one of thes.
small boats after the strip in which Jesus is
sailIng?" But when the storm came down
these disciples found out that following
Jesus did not always make smooth sailing.
So YOU have found out, and so l have found
out If there are any people who you would
think ought to have had good time in get
ting 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 pillar; st.
Matthew was struck to death by a halberd;
St. Mark was dragged to death through the
streets; st. James the Less hal his brains
dashed out with a fuller's club; st. Matthias
was stoned to death; st. Thomas was struck
Ire. the Albigenses. the Waldenses, the
scotch Covenanters-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 10
testify that in following Christ one does not
always find smooth sailing. There is
Christian girl. In her home they do not
like Christ. She has hard work to get a silent
place in which to say ner prayers. Father
opposed to religion; mother opposed to re-
ligion: brothers and sisters opposed to religs
ion. The Christian girl does not always find
1t smooth sailing when she tries to follow
resus. 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 pro-
pei the ship forward. so opposing troubles.
through Christ. veering around the bowsprit
of faith, will watt you to heaven when. ifthe
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 manner of these disciples
as they rushed into the stern of the vessel
and woke Christ up, you know that they are
fearfully scared. And so ii is now that You
often find good people wildly agitated.
"Ohr' says some Christian man, "the infidel
magazines. the bad newspapers, the spirit
ualistic societies. the importation of so many
'oreign errors. the church of God is going to
be lost. the ship is going to founderi The
ship is going down." What are you fright
ened about? An old lion goes into his cav
arn to take a sleep, and he lies down until
his shaggy name covers his paws. Mean
while the spiders outside begin to spin webs
over the mouth of his cavern and say. "That
lion cannot break ont through this wei"
and they keep on spinning the gOssamer
threads until they get the mouth of the
cavern covered over. "Now." they say,
..the lions done. the lions done" After
awhile the lion awakes and shakes himself.
and he walks out from the cavern. never
knowing there We're any spiders webs, and
with his voice he shakes the mountain. Let
the infldes and the skeptics of this day go
on spinning their webs, spinning their inf
del gossamer theories, spinning them all
over the place where Christ seems to be
sleeping. TIey say "Chrst can never
again come out. The work is done. h
can never get through this logical 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 gossamer
threads? What is a spiders web to an
aroused lion? Do not fret, than, aboIt the
worlds going backward. 1t Is going for
ward.
You stand on the banks of the sea when
the tide is rising. The almanac says the
tide Is rising, but the wave comes up to n
certain point and then it recedes. 'Why,
you say, "the tide is going back. No. il Is
not. The next wave comes up a little higher,
and it goes back. Again you say the tide is
going out. And the next time the wave
comes to a higher point, and then to n higher
point Notwithstanding all these recessions
at last all the shipping of the world knows it
is high tide. So it is with the cause of Christ
in the world. One year it comes up to one
point. and we are greatly encouraged. Then
il seems to go back next year. We say the
tide is going out. Next year it comes to q
higher point and falls back. and next year it
comes to a still higher point and falls back,
but all the time 1t is advancing, until it shall
be full tide, land the earth shall be full of
the knowledge of God as the waters fill the
sea."
Again, | learn from this subject that Christ
is God and man in the same person. l go
into the back part of that boat, and l look
on Christ's sleeping face and see in that face
the story of sorrow and WEAKNESS, and a
deeper shadow comes over His face, and
think He must be dreaming of the cross that
is to come. As l stand on the back part of
the boat looking on His face L say: "He is IL
man! He is man. But when / see Him
come to the Prov of the boat, and the sea
kneels in His presence, and the winds fold
their wings at His command, l say: He is
God! He is God!" The hand that set
wipinS away the tears of an or
phanl When 1 want pity and sympa-
thy go into the back part of this boat, AMI
look at Him. and 1 say: 20 Lord Jesus.
Thou weary One, Thou suffering One. have
mercy on meI'' "Ecce homo.' Behold the
| man! But when L want courage for the con-
fict of life, when 1 want some one to beat
down my enemies, when l want faith for the
great future, then 1 come to the front of the
| boat and see Christ standing there in all
HIS 1mnipotence aNo say, 20 Christ. Tho,
who couldst hush the storm can hush all m,
sorrows. all my temptations. all my fears.
"Ecce Deusr' Behold the God
81, e. a.
| can hush the tempest. Some of you, my
hearers, have a heavy load of troubles
Some of you have wept until you can weer
no more. Perhaps Col took the sweetest
child out of your house, the one that asked
| the most curious questions, the ono that
| The gravedigger's spade cut down through
your bleeding heart. Or perhaps it was the
| only one that you had. and your soul has
ever since been like desolated castle, where
| the birds of the nj hit hoot amid the falling
towers and along the crumbling stairway.
| Or perhaps it was an aged mother that was
called away. You used to send for her when
you had any kind of trouble. She was
| in your home to welcome your children
| into life, when they died she was there
to pity you. You know that the old
hand will never do any more kinines.
| for you, and the lock of white hair that you
keep so well in the casket Of the locket does
not look so well as it did on the day when
she moved it back from the wrinkled fore
| head under the old fashioned bonnet in the
church in the country. Or perhaps your
property has gone. You said, There,
have 80 much In bank stock, so much have
In lands, so much 1 have In securities. y
| Suddenly 1t is all gone. Alas! for the man
| who once had plenty of money, but who has
hardly enough now for the morning market.
Ing. No storm ever swept over Gennesaret like
that which has gone trampling its thunders
over your quaking soul. But you awok
Christ in the back part Of the ship, crying
"Master, carest Thou not that perish?' an
Christ rose up and quieted you. Jesus hush
ing the tempest.
There is one storm into which we must al
run. When a man lets go this life to TAX
hold of the next, do not care how mucl
i Ill l,at