The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1900-06-15

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tension of body, mind and soul yor
are bound to do; but, oh, have Christ
in every enterprise!
There are men who ask Gods helL
at the beginning of great enterprises
| He has been with them in the past:
| no trouble can overthrow them; the
storms might come down from the
| top of Mount Hermon and lash Gen.
nesaret into foam and into agony
but it 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, tosses off 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 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 1 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
rr11ido Cod for ho1n. fhnT1 I'll Sc
we'll; all is we'll for 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 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 smooth life, 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 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 Huss in a fire; Hugh
McKaiI 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 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 a 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 scott at the Chris
tian religion; 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 Christian religion must suffer
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 a 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 L find they are fright
ened almost to death. They say:
Master, carest Thou not that we per-
ish?" They bad 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. 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 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 overtbrown and are just
is much affrighted as were the dis
,iples of my text! Don't IVORY, don't
ret, as though iniquity were going to
triumph over righteousness. A lion
yoes into cavern to sleep. He lies
lown with his shaggy name covering
he paws Meanwhile the spiders spin
/ web across the mouth of the cavern
md say: Eve have captured him."
1ossamer thread after gossamer
thread until the whole front of the
cavern is covered with the spiders
web, and the spiders say: "The lion
S done; the lion is fast" After awhile
he lion has got through sleeping.
Ie rouses himself, he shakes his
name, he walks out into the sunlight.
lie does not even know the spiders