St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1900-07-14
4


awhile the storm comes, tosses of the
masts of the ship; he puts out his life
boat and the long boat; the sheriff
and the auctioneer try to help him
off; they can't help him OF; he must
60 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
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 dis
asters-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 well for q time; all shall
be well forever. 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 expect
smooth sailing. These disciples got
into the small boats, and l have no
doubt they said: "What 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 sailing. So you have found
it; so I 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 q smooth life, q smooth de-
parture, then those men, the disciples
Of Jesus Christ, ought to have had
such a departure and such . life. st.
James lost his head. St. Philip was
hung to death on a pillar. st. Mat
thew had his life dashed out with .
halbert. st. Mark was dragged to
death through the streets. st. James
the Less was beaten to death with .
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 Huss in . fire; Hugh
McKail in the hour of martyrdom:
the Albigenses. the Waldenses, the
Scotch Covenanters-did they find it
smooth sailing? But why 60 into
history when we can draw from our
own memory illustrations Of the truth
of what I say?
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 q pretty
Christian!" Does that young man
find it smooth sailing when he tries
to follow Christ? Or you remember
a Christian girl. Her father despises
the Christian religion; her mother
despises the Christian religion; her
brothers and sisters sco6 at the Chris
tian religion; she can hardly find q
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 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
panionship. 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 find they are fright
ened almost to death. They say:
master. carest Thou not that we per-
ish?" 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 af-
frighted. It is often 30 in our day.
and men say: why, look at the bad
lectures. Look at the various errors
going over the church of God. We afe
going to founder. The church is go
ing to perish. She is going down."
Oh, how many good people are af-
frighted by iniquity in our day and
think the church of Jesus Christ is
going to be overthrown and are Just
as much affrighted as were the dis
ciples of my text! Don't IVORY, don't
fret, as though iniquity were going to
triumph over righteousness. A lion
goes into a cavern to sleep. He lies
down with his shaggy name covering
the paws. Meanwhile the spiders spin
a web across the mouth of the cavern
and say: I'VE have captured him."
Gossamer 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 il 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 skepti-
cism about Jesus Christ. He seems to
be sleeping. They say: 1--WE have
captured the Lord. He will never
come forth again upon the nation.
Christ is overcome forever. His re
ligion 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 . spi-
der's web to the aroused lion? Give
truth and error fair grapple, and
truth will come of victor.
But there are great manygood peo-
pie who get affrighted in other re-
spects. They are affrighted about re
rivals. They say: "Oh, this is streax
religious gale! We are afra11&4Ae
church Of God is going to he1fs4 Al
here are going TO hea great 1lany