The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1900-06-15

| out the religion Of Christ while everything
| goes smoothly, but after awhile, when
sorrow hoyers over the soul, when the
! waves OF trial dash clear over the hurri-
cane deck and tbs decks are crowded with
! plratlcaJ disasters oh what would you
| do hen without Christ in the shlpy Take
! God for your portion, God for your guide,
God for your help; thcn an ~ vel; All II
| well Tor a time; J shall be- well forever.
! Blessed Is that man who puts in the Lord
7 his trust. lie shall never be cOuiOundcd.
Bat my subject also inprcsscs me with
the fact that when people start 90 follow
! Christ they must not expect smooth sail
| ing. These disciples got into the small
boats, and ] have no doubt they said,
What a beautiful day this ls, How de
lightful h sailing in this boat And ~
! Tor 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 sca
! was tossed into wrath, then they found
/ that following Christ was not smooth sail
ing 50 you have found #; 20 ! have
Did YOU ever notice the end OF the lifc
! OF the apostles OF Jesus Christi You
| would say u ever men ought TO have had
! smooth HE, a smooth departure, then
those men the disciples OF Jesus Christ,
ought 10 have had such departure and
| such lite. st. James lost hs Lead -.
! Philip was hung TO death on pillar. 81.
! Matthew had his life dashed out with a
! halbcrd. st. Mark was dragged 10 death
! through the streets. st. james the Less
was beaten To death with a tullcr's club.
St. Thomas was struck through with
spear. They did not find following Christ
smooth sailing Oh, how they were all
tossed M the tempest John lluss N
fire; Hugh Mckail IN the hour of martyr.
dom; the AlblgcnscH, the Naldcuscs, the
Scotch Covcnantcrs they lind It
! smooth sailing; But why go INTO history
when we can draw from our own me.-or
illustrations of the truth of what | say:
\ young man m a store trying 20 serve
| God, while his employer scoils at Chris.
tianity. the young men m the same store,
antugonstlc TO the Christian religion,
teasing him, tormcnting him about his re-
lglon, trying 90 get HIM mad. They sue
CCed IN getting HIM mad and say, ~ on re-
a pretty Christian Does that young
man find IL smooth sailing when hc tries
20 follow Christ Or YOU remember
Christian girl. Her father dcspisCs the
Christian religion. her mother dcsplscs
the Christian religion; her brothers and
sisters scof at the Christian religion; sh'
can hardly find quiet place IN which 10
say her prayers. Did she ind II smooth
sailing when she tried 10 follow Jesus
Christ Oh. mol All who would live the
life oi the Christian religion must suffer
persecution. II YOU do not find 1t n one
way YOU will get II IN another way. But
bc not dishcartcncdi Take courage. You
are IN a glorious companlunshIp God
will see You through all trials, and Tie
will deliver You.
My subject also imprcsscs me with the
fact that good people sometimes get fright
enCd, In the tones of these disciples as
they rushed into the back part OF the
boat | find they are frightened almost 10
death. They say, Master, carcst Thou
not that we pershE' They had no reason
10 hc frightened, for Christ was IN the
boat, | suppose # we had been there We
would have been Just as much atirghtcd.
Perhaps more. In all ages very good pCo.
pie get very much aiirlghtod II is often
50 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 gong
TO perish, She is golng down. Oh, how
many good people are atirigh'cd 10y in
EQUITY IN our day and think the church Of
Jesus Christ Is going 10 he ovcrthrowu,
and are lust ~ much ailrlghtCd as were
the disciples ot my text DON'T worry.
don't fret, rs though lnquity were going
TO triumph over righteousness, \ lion
goes INTO n cavern TO sleep. tie lies dow
with his shaggy mauC covering the paws.
Meanwhile the spiders SPIN a web across
che mouth of the cavern and say, We
have captured HIM GossamCr thread
after gossamcr thread until the whole
front OF the cavern is covered with the
spiders web, and the spiders say. "rhc
lion is done; the hon is fast After
awhile the hon has got through sleeping
lie rouses himself. he shakes his mRne. hc
walks out into the sunlight Hc does not
even know the spiders web is spun. and
with his roar hc shakes the mountain. So
men come spinning their sophistric, and
skcptclsm about Jesus Christ lie seems
TO hc sleeping. They say: I've have cap
turcd the Lord. lie VIII never come forth
again upon the nation. Christ Is overcome
forever. His religion will never make any
conquest among men But after awhile
the Lion ot the tribe of Judah will rouse
Himself and come forth to shake nightly
the nations, What's a spiders web Co the
aroused hony Give truth and error % fair
grapplc, and truth will come of victor.
But there are a great many good people
who get afriuhtCd nm other respects They
are atirghted about rcvivals they say.
'Oh. tins rs a strong religious gale We
are afraid the church of God is going Co
Toe upset and there are going to hc great
many people brought into the church that
arc going 20 he of no Use TO u. And they
are aiirightcd whenever they see a re
vlval taking hold oi the churches As
though ship captain, with 6OoO 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 al the cargo - "Oh.' saws the cap.
tain, I'VE have peck oi chad that has
cot into this 5000 bushels of wheat. and
the only way 10 get rid of the ChaH is Co
throw all the wheat oycrboardi' Now.
that is q great deal wiser than toe talk of
many Christians who want Go throw over
board all the thousands and tens oi thou.
sands of souls who are the subject of rcyiv-
ais. Throw all overheard because thCy are
brought into the kingdom of God through
great rcyivals. because there il q pcck ct
chah. a quart of chaif a pint ot chatil |
say. let them stay until the last day. The
Lord viii divide the chat from the wheat.
DO not be afraid OF n great revival. On.
that such gales from heaven might sweep
through al our churchosl Oh. for such
days as Richard Baxter saw IN England
and Robert McCheyne saw In Dundee,
Oh for such days rs Jonathan Edwards
saw IN Northampton! | have often heard
my father tell Of the fact that i'm the car,y
part of this century there broke ont re
vlyal az Somerville. y. j.. gnd some tco-
pie were very much agitatcd about ~
| They said: you are going 90 bring too
many people into the church az once.
and they sent down 10 New Brunswick
to get John Livingston 90 stop the rc-
viyal Well. there was no better soul IN