Vars. S-11.-Lessons of the sea. Pas.~inl; from the thought of the joy of creation, when the morning stars sang together, we find our thoughts directed to the sea in its power nnd pride, first formed by the hand of God, and ever reined in by hie commanding voice. I. Gon's POWEB OVER WHAT IS KOST GREAT. The sea strikes our imagination chiefly because of its VRStness. It only constt1ts of water, which, when we see it in the trickling rill or hold it in the cup, is one of the most simple and seemingly harmless things in nature. But in gathering volume it gains strength. The little rill swells into· the roaring torrent. The water of the sea grows into e. tumult of awful forces before which the strongest ma.n is helpless. To the ocean Byron says- • • "Man marks the earth with ruin-bis control Stops with the shore; upon the watery pie.in The wreck& are all thy deed, nor doth remain .A shadow of man's ravage, save bis own, When, for a moment, like e. drop of re.in, He sinks into thy depths with bubbling groan, Without e. grave, nnknell'd, unooffin'd, and unknown." Yet the sea is under God's complete control Nothing is too strong for God. No might can escape bis authority. Kings and emperors, men of genius and men of va._st resources, are all subject to the present rule, and must all answer to the :final call or God. • • II. GoD's ORDER IN 11'RAT IB KOST TURBULENT. Nothing looks so wild and lawles.s as the see. in a storm. In the mixing of the elements, when the wind shrieks among the waves, e.nd the waters leap up madly to the slry, we seem to be back in the con- fosion of Old Chaos. Yet we know that the raging sea iii as truly under the •laws of nature as the fields with their growing crops. Every drop of water is as absolutely obedient to law as the stars in their orderly courses. God rides upon the storm. He rules over the unruly. WiM tempests of human passion, the fury of the despot and the rage of the people, are all watched and controlled by God. When black clouds gatLer and angry waves rise on the sea of human life, let us remember that there is Oue who rules over nations and cities as well as over the wild forces of nature. III. Gon's RESTRAINT OF WHAT JS MOST CHANGEFUL. The waters threaten to invade the land. But there is a limit to their progress. Each wave that tries most eagerly to outrun its predecessor is compelled to break and fall back in confusion, hissing with vexation as it is dragged down among the pebbles. The tide rises, higher and yet higher; but it has its limit. God gives man a certain scope for freedom, He can rise and fall like the wave, and ebb a.ad flow like the tide. Sometimes he seems to have a very long leash. But it is not endless, and God has hold of it. At the right moment he will draw it in, and theu all man's pride will be of no use. Our life is like the shifting tide, like the restless wave. ,ve are wearied with its incessant changeful- ness. It is like the sea crawling up on the beach, and creeping back again, moaning on the shore night and day without intermission. There is monotony even in the changes. The.t is just the point to be noted. They are all li111ited and under restraint. OB. ll:X.XVIII. 1-41. TBE BOOK OF JOB. 629
Bo is it with those of life; they are limited and restrained by the providential care of our Father.-W. F. A.