The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1895-09-27

4
regiment if God calls you to COM
mand an army. You have no right to be
stoker on steamer if God commands
you to be an 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 enterprise you undertake.
and upon whatever voyage you start,
be sure to take Christ in the ship.
Here are men largely prospered. The
seed of a small enterprise grew into
an accumulated and overshadowing
success Their cup of prosperity is
running over. Every day sees a COM
mercial or mechanical triumph. Yet
they are not pulled up. They acknowl-
edge the God who grows the harvests,
and gives them all their prosperity.
When disaster comes that destroys
others, they are only helped into
higher experiences. The coolest wind
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 checks; let the breakers boom
all is well, Christ is in the
ship. Here are other men. the
pray of uncertainties. When they
succeed, they strut through the world
in great vanity, and wipe their feet on
the sensitiveness 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 cannot outride the
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
twists off the masts. The sea rises up
to take down the vessel. Down she
goes? No Christ in the ship.
speak to young people. whose vow
age in life will be Il mingling of sun
shine and of darkness. of Arctic blast
and of tropical tornado. You will
have many long. bright day of pros
perity. The skies clear, the seas
smooth. The crew eNhilarant. The
boat stanch will bound merrily
over the pillows. Crowd on all the
canvas. Heigh, no! Land ahead,
But suppose that sickness puts
its bitter cup to your lip; sup
pose that death overshadows your
heart; suppose misfortune, with
some quick turn of the wheel. hurls
You backward: suppose that the wave
Of +r;a1 ctr;l-aS ,-o,, n y, ,,-o - J, ~ nd
bowsprit shivered and halyards swept
into the sea, and gangway crowded
with piratical deserters. and the wave
beneath and the sky above. and the
darkness around are filled with the
clamor of the voices of destruction.
Oh, then you will want Christ in the
ship.
learn. in the next place. that people
who follow Christ must not always ex-
ciples got into the small boats they
said: What delightful thing this is!
Who would not be follower of Christ
when he can ride in one of the 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 always make
smooth sailing. SO YOU have found
out. and so have found out II there
are any people who you would think
ought to have 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 this world? st. James lost his
head. St Phillip 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. Matthews was stoned to death
st. Thomas was struck through with
spear John Huss in the fire. the Abb
genses. the Waldenses. the Scotch Cow
eDanters-did they always find smooth
Why 90 50 far? There is a
young man in a store in New York
who has 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 a
pretty Christian" Not so easy is il
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 a silent place in |
which TO say her prayers. Father OPP |
posed to religion. Mother opposed to |
religion. Brothers and sisters opposed |
TO religion. 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 en-
starboard tack and bracing the yards,
make the winds that oppose the course
propel the ship forward, so opposing
.rou bles. through Christ. veering
around the bowsprit of faith, will watt
you to Heaven, when, if the winds had
been abaft, they might have rocked
Ind sung YOU TO sleep. and while
dreaming of the destined port of
Heaven you could not have heard the
Try of warning and would have gone
flashing into the breakers.
Again. my subject teaches me that
rood people sometimes get very much
From the tone and man
Ter of these disciples as they rushed
nto the stern of the vessel and woke
'hrist up. you know that they are
earthly scared. And so it is now that
-ou often find good people wildly agi-
ated OH says some Christian
nan, the infidel magazines. the