The St. Mary banner., 1900-07-14


| Christ they must not expect smooth sail
| ing. these disciples got into the smal
| boats, and | have no doubt they SAID
| What beautiful day tins Is, How de
| lighttul is sailing in tins boat, And a,
| for the waves under the keel OF the boat
| why, they only make the motion of our
| little boat the more delightful Bul
when the winds swept down and the sea
| was tossed into wrath, then they found
| that following Christ was not smooth sail
| ing. SO you have found it; so | have
| found it.
Did you ever notice the end of Tie life
| OF the apostles OF Jesus Christ You
would gay II ever men ought to have had
4 smooth life, a smooth departure, then
those men, the disciples of Jesus Christ,
ought to have had such a departure and
| such a life st. James lost his head st.
Philip was hung to death on a pillar. st.
Matthew had his lite dashed out with
halberd 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
smooth sailing. Oh, how they were all
tossed in the tempest! John Iuss N
fire; Hugh Mckail in the hour Of martyr
dom: the Albigenses, the Waldenses. the
Scotch Covenanters-dld they lind 1t
smooth sailing? But why 90 into history
when we can draw from our own meh-ory
illustrations of the truth OF what l say
A young man in a store trying to serve
God, while his employer sDffs at Chris
tIanlty; the young men in the same store,
antagonistic to the Christian religion.
teasing him, tormenting him about his re-
hglon, trying to get him mad. They sue
ceed in getting him mad and say, ~ on re
a pretty Chrstian." Docs 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 despses
the Christian religion; her brothers and
sisters scoff at the Christian religion; sh,
can hardly find 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 III a glorious companlonshlp. God
will see You through all trials, and He
will deliver you.
Ny subject also inprcsses me with the
fact that good people sometimes get fright
cned In the tones Of these disciples as
they rushed into the back part of the
boat | find they are frightened almost to
death They say Master, carest Thou
not that we perish They had no reason
to be frightened for Christ was. in the
boat. | suppose it we had been there we
would have been Just as much affrighted.
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 perish. She is going down. Oh, how
many good people are atfrigh.ed by in
iquity in our day and think the church of
Jesus Christ is going to be overthrewn.
and are Just as much atfrighted as We're
don't fret. as though iniquity were going
to triumph over Righteousness. A lion
goes into a carern to sleep. He lies dow:
with his shaggy name covering the paws.
Meanwhile the spiders spin web across
the mouth of the cavern and say, I'VE
have captured him" Gossamer thread
after gossamer thread until the whole
spiders web. and the spiders say, "The
lion is done; the lion is fast" After
awhile the hon 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 sophlstreS and
ShcDtlCISlll dDOuG JESUS SIliSt. JIS SttIllS
to be sleeping. They say: 1--WE have cap
turcd the Lord. He will never come forth
again upon the nation. Christ is overcome
forever. His religion will never make any
conquest among mem But after awhile
the Lion of the tribe of Judah will rouse
Himself and come forth to shake nightly
the nations. What's a spiders web to the
aroused lion? Give truth and error a fair
grapple and truth will come off victor.
Do not be afraid OF y great revival. Oh
that such gales from heaven might sweep
through all our churches! Oh, for such
day. as Richard Baxter saw in England
and Robert NfcCheyne saw in Dundee!
Oh, for such days as Jonathan Edwards |
saw in Northampton! l have often heard |
my father tell of the fact that in the early |
part of this century there broke out re-
vval at Somerville, n. j., and some peo-
pie were, very much agitated about it,
many people into the church at once
and they sent down to New Brunswick |
to get John Livingston to stop the re-
vival. Well. there was no better soul in |
all the world than John Livingston. He
went and looked at the revival They
wanted him to stop it. He stood in the
pulpit on the Lords day and looked over
brethren. is in reality the work of God.
Beware how you stop it." And he was
an old man leaning heavily on his staff
a very old man And he lifted that staff
and took hold of the small end of the staff
and began to let it fall slowly through he
tween the finger and the thumb, and he
said: "Oh, thou impenitent, thou art fall
ing now-falling from life. falling away
from peace and heaven, falling as certain
ly as that cane is falling through my hand
falling certainly, though perhaps falling
slowly" And the cane kept on falling
through John Livlngston's hand. The re-
ligious emotion in the audience was over
powering, and men saw type of their
doom as the cane kept falling and falling,
until the knob of the cane struck Mr..
Livingston S hand; and he clasped it stout
ly and said "But the grace Of God can
stop Won as | stopped that cane and
then there was gladness all through the
house at the fact Of pardon and peace and
salvation. well" said the people after
the service. Il guess YOU had better send
Livingston home He is making the re-
>,val worse Oh for gales from heaven
IL sweep all the continents The danger
nj the church oi God IS not IN revlval>
learn once more from this subject that
Thirst can hush a tempest. IL dld seem
as ii everything must - 10 rum. The dis
c,plcs had gwen up the idea of managing |.
the ship; the crew were entirely dcmoral
lzcd; yet Christ rises. and the storm
crouches at His feet. Oh yes. Christ can
hush the tempest You have had trouble.
Perhaps it was the little child taken away
from you-the sweetest child OF the house
hold, the one who asked the most curious
,,oof;opc and ctoo5 arOup6 ,-p,, bn |