The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1900-06-27

a pretty Chrstian!' Does that young
! man find it smooth sailing when lie tries
to follow Christ? Or you remember a
| Christian girl Her father despises the
Christian religion; her mother despisess
| the Christian religion; her brothers and
| sisters scoff at the Christian religion, sh.
can hardly find qG1et 1 .pd pafss sd in y which hmnotI to
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 ono
way YOU will get it in another way. But
be not disheartened! Take courage. You
| are in a glorious companionship. God
will see you through all trials, and He
will deliver you.
Nv subject also impresses me with the
fact that good people sometimes getfright-
ened. In the tones of these disciples as
they rushed into the back part; of the
death. deat They say, Master, carest Thou
not that we perish?' 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 affrighted.
Perhaps more In all ages very good peo-
pie get verv much affrighted. It 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
many good people are affrigh.ed by in.
iouity, in our day and think the church of
Jesus Christ is sgoing TO. be oxerthrown,
and are lust as much, affrighted as were
the disciples of my text! Don't worry,
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 mane covering the paws.
Meanwhile the spiders spin web aerGss s.11s
Hive captured him. Gossamer thread
after gossamer thread until the whole
froHt Of the cavern. is covered with the
spider's web: and the spiders say, "The
|"lioh is done; the lion is fast. After
awhile the lion has got through sleeping.
He rouses himself, be shakes his name, he
walks out into the sunlight. He does not
with his foes he shakes the mountain. SO
skepticismg about esus Christ: He seems
to fbe sleeping. They ssay:5S...'IYe have cap.r
tnrsdStHe Lord. ! He Will never come forth
again sunoa the nation, Christ Is overcome
foreyer HIS religio will llneyer make any
conduest among men, But after. awhile
the Lion sof the tribe of Judah will rouse
Himself and come forth to shake nightly
the nations. What 8 asspider,s web to the
aroused hon 3 Giye truth and error 1, a talr
Do notsbe afraid 6t gfeat revival. OH
that such galesfrom heaven might sweep
through ea1 our churches! \ Oh, for such
sdays as Richard Baxter saw in England
sand Robert McCheyne saw. in Dundee.s
$Oh, for such days as Jonathan Edwards
saw in Northampton! have often heard
my father tell of the fact that in the early
part of this century there broke out re-
vival at Somervile, n. j., and some peo-
They said: "Y ou are going to sbring too
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 th>
pulpit on the Lords day and looked over
the solemn auditory and he said: This.
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 be-
tween the finger and the thumb, and he
said:. ooh. 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
ligious emotion in the audience was over
powering, and men saw a type of their
doom as the cane kept falling and falling,
until the knob of the cane struck MIR.
Livincston's hand, and he clasped it stout
ly and said: "But the grace of God can
stop you as I stopped that cane,"' and
then th:re was gladness all through the
house at the fact Of pardon and peace and
salvation. "Well," said the people after
the service, II guess, you had oetterr send
hgtOn home 0i He a,aa is making og the bsaven Fs
to sweep all the continents! The danger
of the church of God is not in revivals.
Again, my subject impressed me with
the fact that Jesus was God and man in
the same being. Here lie is in the back
mart of the boat. Oh, how tired He looks
What sad dreams He must have! Look at
His countenance; He m lst be thinking
of the cross to come. Look at Him: He
is a man-bone of our bone, flesh of our
But then find Christ at the PROV of the
boat; l hear Him say, Peace. be STILL
and I. see the storm kneelng at His feet
and the tempests folding their wings in
His presence; He is a God. If have sor.
row and trouble and want sympathy. L
90 and kncel down at the back part of the
boat and say: 20 Christ, weary One of
Gennesaret, svmDathize with all my sor-
row! Man of Nazereth! Man. Of the
Cross" A Man, Man" But if 1 want
to conquer my spiritual foss, i wa want III to
I come to the front Of the boat, and l
knccl down, and l say. go Lord Jesus
Christ. Thous who didst hush the tempest,
hush all my grief: hush all my temptation,
hush all my sim"
learn once more from this subject that
Christ can hush tempest. ltSdid seem
as # everything must go to ruin. The dis
ciples had given up the idea OF managing
the the shp Hs 6s r rss nd snire Ge s"r
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
questions. and stood around you with the
greatest fondness, and the spade cut down
through your bleeding heart. Perhaps it
was an only son. and your neart has ever
since been like desolated castle. the owls
of the night hooting among the fallen
arches and the crumblinq stairways. Or
all your property swept away, YOU said:
81 had so much bank stock; | had so many
Government securities; / had so many
houses; I had so many farms-ali gone.
al gone" Why. sir. all the storms that
ever trarpled with their thunders; all the
shipwrecks have not been worse than this
to YOU Yet you have not been complete:
ly overthrown. Why? Christ says: Il
have that little one in Ny keeping. can
care for him as we'll as you .ar, better
shan You can, o bereaved mother!' Hush
ing the tempest. When your property went
in heaven in banks that never break
Jesus hushing the tempest. -,
There is one storm into which we Wi.