The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-06-22

after awhile, when sorrow hovers over
the soul, when the wave of trial dash
clear owe the hurricane deck and the
decks are crowded with piraticaI dis
asuerS-oh, what would you do then
without Christ in the ship? Take God
fo- your portion, God for your guide,
God for your help; then all is we'll:
all is well for atime; all shall be well
forever. Blessed is that man who puts
in The Lord his rus He shall never
be COMPOUNDED.
But my subject also impresses me
with the fact that when people start
TO follow Christ they must not expect
smooth sailing. These disciples got
into the small boats, n 1 have no
doubt they said: VIVA a beautiful
day this is How delightful is sailing
in this boat, And as for the waves
under the keel of the boat, why, they
only make the motion of our little boat
the more delightful But when the
winds swept down and the sea was
tossed into wrath, then they found that
following Christ was not smooth sail
ing. SO you nave found it; SO / have
found 1t.
Did you ever notice the end of the
life of the apostles of Jesus Christ?
You would say if ever men ought to
have had a smooth life, a smooth de-
parture, then those men, the disciples
of Jesus Christ, ought TO have had such
a departure and such a life. st. James
lost his head St. Philip was hung to
death on a pillar. st. Matthew had
his life dashed out with a halbert. st.
Mark was dragged to death through
the streets. st. James the Less was
beaten to death with a fuller's club.
st. Thomas was struck through with
a spear. They did not find following
Christ smooth sailing. oh, how they
were all tossed in the tempest John
r. T-l II 49,
hour of martyrdom; the A~lbigenses,
the WaldenseS, the Scotch C~ovenanters
did they find it smooth sailing? But
why go into history when we can draw
from our m illustrations of the
truth of what l say?
NOT ALWAYS SMOOTH SAILING.
A young man in a store trying to
serve God, while his employer SCOTS
at Christianity; the young men in the
same store, antagonistic 10 the Chris
tian religion, teasing him, tormenting
him about his religions, trying to get
him mad. They succeed in getting him
mad and say, You're a pretty Chris
tian!" Does that young man find it
smooth sailing when he tries to fol-
low Christ? Or you remember a Chris
tian girl. Her father despises the
Christian religion; her mother despises
the Christian religion; her brothers
and sisters scott at the Christian re-
ligion; she can hardly find a quiet place
in which to say her prayers. Did she
find it smooth sailing when she tried
to follow Jesus Christ? Oh, no! All
who would live the life of the Chris
tian religion must suffer persecution.
If you do not find it in one way, o
will get it in another a But be not
-disheartened! Take courage. You
are in a glorious companionShip. God
will see you through all trials, and he
will deliver yOu.
My subject also impresses me with
the fact that good people sometimes
get frightened. In the tones of these
disciples as they rush into the back
part of the boat I find they are fright
ened almost to death. They a y Mas
ter, careSt thou not that We periSh?"
They had no reason ito be frightened,
for Christ was in the boat I suppose
if we had been there we would have
been just as much affrighted. Perhaps
get very muc affrighted. tits often
so in our day, and men say: why,
look at the bad lectures. Look ait the
various errors going over the church
of God. We are going to founder
The church is going to perish. She is
going down." Oh, how many good
people are affrighted by iniquity in our
day and think the church of Jesus
Christ is going to be overthrow and
are just as much affrighted as were
the disciples of my text! Don't worry,
don't fret, Is though iniquity were
going to triumph over Righteousness.
A lion goes into a cavern to sleep. H
lies down with his shaggy mane cover
ing the paws. Meanwhile the spiders
spin a web across the mouth of the
cavern and say, we have captured
him" GosSamer thread after gosSa-
mer thread until the whole front of
the tavern is covered with the spiders
web, and h spiders say, THE lion
is done; the lion is fast" After awhile
the lion has got through sleeping. 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 roar he shakes the
mountain. SO men come spinning their
SophiStries and SkepticiSm about Jesus
Christ. He seems to be sleeping. They
say: I'VE have captured the Lord.
He will never come forth again upon
the nation. Christ is overcome forev-
er. His religion will never make any
conquest among men," But after
awhile the Lion of the tribe of Judah
will rouse himself and come forth to
shake nightly the nations. What's
a spiders web to the aroused lion?
Give truth and error a fair grappIe,
and truth will come off victor.
FRIGHTENED BY RIVALS.
But there are a great many good
pCOplS II set dIlIISHlSo III lIlS z
SpectS. They are ~affrighted about
rivals. They say "Oh, this is a strong
religious gale! We are afraid the
church of God is going to be upset and
there are going to be a great many
people brought into the church that
are going to be of no use to it." And
they are affrighted whenever they see
a revival taking hold of the churches.
AS though a ship captain, with 5000
bushels of wheat for a cargo, should
say some day, coming upon deck,
Throw overheard all the cargo!" and
the sailors should say: why, captain
what do you mean? Throw over all
the cargo?' oh" say the captain,
1--WE have a peck of chaff that has got
into this 5000 bushels of wheat, and
the only way toget rid of the chaff is
to throw all the wheat overheard"
Now, that is a great deal wiser than
the ak of many Christians who want
to throw overboard all the thousands
and tens of thousands of soul who
are the subjects of revivals. Throw all
overheard because they are brought
into the kingdom of God through
great revivals, because there is a peck
nf .ebaff d or1arf Of char q Mint of