Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1900-06-11

| enterprise Ive start, Iet;us always have
Christ in thesship. AL you can do with
utmost tension. of body, mind and soul
| you are bound to do; but, oh, have
| Christ in every enterprise!
There are men who ask Gods help at
! the beginning of great enterprises. He
has been It'll them in the past; no
| trouble can overthrow them; the storms
| might come down from the top Of
! Mount Hermon and lash Gennesaret
! into foam and into agony, but it could
| not hurt them. But here is another
| man who starts out in worldly enter
! prise, and he depends upon the uncer-
| tainties 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 Iifeboat and the long
boat; the sheriff and the auctioneer 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 I know if
you 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 hurricane deck and the
|. decks are crowded with piratical disaS-
;ters-oh, what would you do then
e,yithout Christ in the ship? Take God
for your portion, God for your guide,
Sod 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.
Rough Sailing.
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 in
TO 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 in
to wrath, then they found that follow
ing 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 those men, the disciples
of Jesus Christ, ought tie have had such
departure and such life. st. James
lost his head. st. Philip was hung to
death on pillar. ST. Matthew had his
life dashed out with a halberd. st.
Mark was ragged to death through
the streets. st. James the Less was
beaten to death with q fuller'S 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 McNail in the
hour OF martyrdom; the Albigenses,
the Waldenses, the Scotch Covenanters
did they find it smooth sailing? But
why go into history when we can draw
from our own memory illustrations OF
the truth Of what I say? A young man
in q store trying to serve God, while
his employer scOfTs at Christianity; the
young men in the same store, antagO-
nstic to the Christian religion, teasing
him, tormentiGg him about his religion,
trying 70 get him mad. They succeed
il getting him mad and say, you're
pretty Christian"' Does that young
man find it smooth sailing when he
tries to follow Christ? Or you remem-
Der a Christian girl. Her father de-
spises the Christian religion; her moth
er despises the Christian religion; her
brothers and sisters scott at the Chris
tan religion; she can hardly find q
quiet place ID 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 per-
secution. If you do not find it in one
way, you will get it in another way.
But be not disheartened! Take cour-
age. You are in Il glorious companion
ship. God will see you through all
trials, and he will deliver you.
No Cause For Fear.
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. l suppose
if we had been there we would have
been just as much affrighted. Perhaps
more. In all ages very good people 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 perish. She is going down."
Oh how many good people are af-