The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1900-06-14

1t could not hurt them. But here Is
another man who starts out in worldly
enterprise. and he depends upon the
uncertainties of this life. He has no
God to help him. After awhile the
storm comes, losses off the masts of
the ship; he puts out his life-boat and
The long boat; the sheriff and the auc-
tloneer try to help him off; they can't
help him off; he must go down; no
Christ in the ship. Your life will be
made up of sunshine and shadows.
There may be in it arctic blasts or
tropical tornadoes; know not what is
before you, but / know if you have
Christ with you all shall be we'll. 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
hurricane deck and the decks are
| crowded with piratical disasters-oh,
what would you do then without
Christ in the ship? Take God for
your portion, God for your guide, God
for your help; then all is we'll; all is
we'll for time; all shall be we'll for
ever. Blessed is that man who puts
in the Lord his trust. He shall never
be confounded.
But my subject also impresses me
with the fact that when people start
to follow Christ they must not ex-
pect smooth sailing These disciples.
got into the small boats, and I have
no doubt they said: What 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. when they found
that following Christ was not smooth
sailing. So you have found it; so l
have found it.
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 smooth life, a smooth de-
parture, then these men, the disciples
of Jesus Christ. ought to have had
IT,.
James lost his head. ST. Philip was
hung to death on pillar St. Mat
thew 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 full
lers club. st. Thomas was struck
through with spear. They did not
find following Christ smooth sailing
Oh, how they were all tossed in the
tempest! John Huss in fire; Hugh
Mckail in the hour of martyrdom;
the Albigenses, the Waildenses, the
Scotch Covenanters-did they find it
smooth sailing? But why go into his
tory when we can draw from our own
memory illustrations of the truth of
what say?
Not Always Smooth Sailing.
A young man in store trying to
serve God, while his employer SCOTS at
Christianity! the young men in the
same store, antagonistic to the Chris
tian religion, teasing him, tormenting
him about his religion, trying to get
him mad. They succeed in getting him
mad and say, You're pretty Chris
tian!" Does that young man find it
smooth sailing when he tries to follow
Christ? Or you remember Chris
tiag- girl. Her father despises the
Christian religion; her mother de-
-spises the Christian religion; her
brothers and sisters scott at the Chris
tian religion; she can hardly find a
quiet place in which to say her pray
ers. Did she find it smooth sailing
when she tried to follow Jesus Christ?
oh. no! All who would live the life
of the Christian religion must suffer
persecution. If you do not find it in
one way, you will get it in another
way. But be not disheartened, Take
courage! You are in glorious COM
partnership. 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 rushed into the back
part of the boat l find they are fright
ened almost to death. They say, Mas
ter, 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 affrighted Per-
haps more. In all ages very good peo-
pie get very much affrighted. 1t is
often so in our day. and men say:
why, look at the bad lectures. Look
at the various errors going over the
church of God. We are going to
founder The church is going to per-
ish. 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 af-
frighted as were the disciples of my
text! Don't worry, don't fret, as
though iniquity were going to triumph
over righteousness A lion goes into
cavern to sleep. He lies down with
his shaggy name covering his paws.
Meanwhile the spiders spin web
across the mouth of the cavern and
say, We have captured him" Cos
samer thread after gossamer thread
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 sleeping. He rouses
himself, he shakes his name, he walks
l ~