The Holly chieftain., 1897-09-10

| HE viii be made up Of sunshine and
=hadow. There may be in it arctic
blasts or tropical toruadoes; know
not what Is before you. but know il
yon have Christ with you all shall be
well.
You may seem to get along without
the religion of Christ while everything
goes smoothly. but after awhile. when
sorrow hovers over the soul, when the
waves of trial dash clear over the hur-
rIcane deck. and the bowsprit is
shivered, and the halIiards are swept
INTO the sea, and the gangway is
crowded with piratical di>aster,-oh,
what would you then 30 without Christ
IN the ship" Young man. take God for
Your portion, God for your guide, God
for your help; then all is we'll; all is
well for time: al shall be well for
ever. Blessed is that man who puts
in the Lord his trust He shall never
be cOufounded.
But my subject also imprcNss me
with the fact tina, when people start
to follow Christ they must not expect
smooth sailing. Thee disciples got
into the small boats. and have no
doubt they said. What beautiful day
this is, Whnt smooth sea, What a
bright sky this it, How delightful is
sailing in this boat; and "a, !ur the
waves under the keel Of The uoa' why.
they only make the "a II .n-. Of our little
boat IN" more drlIs Ishtfg-" But when
the winds awep. down. and the sea
fva to-- mt" wrath. then they found
/ d mn hysfs ii
sailing. 50 you have found il: so |
have found it.
Did you ever notice the end Of the
life Of tho apostles Of Jcsu. Christ"
You would say that fever men ought
to have had "a smooth life. smooth
departure, then those men, the disci-
pies Of Jesus Christ. ought to have had
~Ich a departure and such Il lifr. -
james lost his head 1T. Philip wa,
hung to death On pillar. 1t. Matthew
had his life dashed out with hulbert.
-. Mark Wa, dragged TO death through
the streets. ST Jane, the Les, was
beaten to death with fullcr's club.
II. Thomas Vas struck through with II
spear. They did not find following
christ smooth sailing. Oh, how they
We're all tossed in the tempest John
Iiuss in the fire: Hugh Mckail in the
hour Of martyrdom: the Albigenses
the Naldrnsvs the Scotch COvrnanters
did they lind it smooth sailing?
But why 90 to history when | can
tiEd all around me a score of illustra-
tipDs Of the truth Of this subie.tn
That Young man in the store trying to
,1I h5in
Christianity, the young men in the
SAM store 4uragonistic to the Chris
tian religion. tcasi-S hi..l. tJrmenting
him abo4, hi, religion, ying to get
him mad, Tl.y succeed in getting
him mad, saying: You're a pretty
Christian" Docs this young man find
it smooth sailing when he tri, 'ol-
low Christ? Here is a Christian girl
Her father dcspises the Chrtst,,,u re-
ligion her brothers and sisters scot
at the Christian religion: ,hc can hard
" find II quiet place in which to say
her prayers. Did she find it smooth
sailing when She tried to follow Jesus
Christ
The question was asked: "Who are
those nearest the throuc?' and the an
swer came back: These are they who
came up out of great tribulation;'-
great failing as the original has it.;
great hailing, great pounding"
had their robes washed and made
white in the blood of the Lamb" Oh,
do not be disheartened. Oh, child of
God. take courage. You are in glo-
rious companionship. God will see
you through all these trials, and He
will deliver you.
My subject also imprcsses me with
the fact that good people sometimes
get very much frightened. In the
tones of these disciples as they rushed
into the back part of the boat, ! find
they are frightened almost to death
They say. Master. carest thou not
that we perish?" They had no reason
to be frightened, for Christ was in the
boat. | suppose If we had been there
we would have been just as much af-
frighted. Perhaps more.
In all ages very good people get very
much atfrighted. 1t is often so in our
day, and men say: why, look at the
bad lectures: look at the Spiritualistic
societies. look at the various errors GO
ing over the church of God: we are go
ing to founder; the church is going to
perish. she is going down" oh, how
many good people are atfrighted by
triumphant iniquitv in our day. and
think the church of Jesus Christ and
the cause of righteousness are going
to be overthrown, and are just AS much
affrighted as the disciples of my text
were affrighted? Don't worry. don't
fret, as though iniquity were going to
triumph over righteousness.
A lion goes to a cavern to sleep He
lies down with his shaggy name cover
ing the paws. Meanwhile the spiders
spin n web across the mouth of the
cavern. and say: We have captured
him" Gossamer thread after gossa-
mer thread is spun until the whole
front of the cavern is covered with the
spiders web, and the spiders say: The
lion is done; the lion is fast" After
awhile the lion has got through sleep
ing; he rouses himself, he shakes his
name, he walks out into the sunlight:
he does not even know the spiders
web is spun. and with his voice he
shakes the mountain.
80 men come spinning their sophis-
tries and skepticism about Jesus Christ;
He seems to be sleeping. They say:
1--WE have captured the Lord; He will
never come forth again up on the ma
tion; Christ is captured. and captured
forever. His religion will never make
any conquest among men," But after
awhile the Lion OF the tribe of Judah
will arouse himself and come forth IN
shake nightly the nations.