oxpeot to enoounter afflictions and perplexities when, from whatever motives, we are ,fl foolish as to oppose the will of Christ. 2. Satan has a malignant hand in them. ( l) Evil spirits are concerned in the mischief of destructive storms. 'l'he history of Job shows what power Satan has over the elements when he is permitted to use it. When our Lord, in another storm, "i·ebuked the winds and tho sea" (see eh. viii. 26), did he not recognize blameworthy intelligence as working behind these elements? (2) The closing petitions of the Lord's Prayer, "And bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one," show that not only is Satan, in some of his agencie~, concerned in every mischief, but that he is so of set malignant purpose. It shows, moreover, that our defence is prayer. 3, Jesus has a benevolent hand i,n them. (1) He constrained his disciples to enter the boat and put to sea. This was to relieve himself from their embarrassing sympathy with the prejudices of the multitude, This in itself was a benevolence. It put them out of the way of working further mischief. (2) He knew, when he constrained them to enter that boat, that they would have to encounter the storm. He permitted the evil spirits to exert their power upon the elements, or, other• wise, commissioned those elements to war. But his design here also was benevolent. It taught the disciples: (a) That those who will not submit to the ruling of Christ•~ wisdom will have to sail without him in the voyage of life. (b) That in voyaging without Christ the way is difficult and perilous. (c) That the policy of their ignorant prejudice in making Christ a civil Ruler, if carried out, would, instead of bringing the tranquillity they pictured to themselves, bring them into a political hurricane. (3) If, then, Jesus is a party to the troubles of his disciples, and that his hand in those troubles is benevolent, let us bless him for them. Let us also be quick to learn the lessons they are intended to teach. II. THAT JESUS IS PRESENT WITH ms DlSOIPLES m TBEm TROUBLES. 1. He is present in spirit when invisi"ble. (1) When he bad dispersed the multitudes "be went up into the mountain apart to pray." He knew the temper in which his disciples had sailed; he foresaw the coming storm; he remembers them in prayer. By that intercession the malignity of Satan is restrained, and the fury of the winds and waves so moderated that the lives are preserved. (2) And if Jesus from that mountain-height could see and sympathize with his disciples in that tempest, so does he still, from the height of heaven, see and sympathize with his followers in every trouble of their lives. 2. He is present, moreover, in power. (1) In the crisi(of extremity that power is seen. The disciples were now "about five and twenty furlongs" from the shore, in the centre of the inland sea, and the storm most distressing. Just then Jesus "came unto them, walking upon the sea." (2) That blessed presence is as powerful as it is timely. The Egyptian hieroglyphic for impossibility was a man's feet walking on the sea. Things impossible to men are possible with God (cf. Job ix. 8). In this miracle the law of gravitation is inverted, and the liquid waves are converted into an adamantine way. (3) Now he enters the boat. Behold, instantly, all is calm! III. THAT OREDlJLITY IS THE COMPANION 01!' UNBELIEF. 1. The heart is slow to dis- cern Christ. (1) There he is walking upon the sea, yet is he not identified even by bis own disciples. Why did they not recognize him instantly? Who else could it possibly be? (2) But they deemed this too wonderful to be Christ. What, too wonderful for that Blessed One who in this very lake district-at Chorazin, Bethsa.ida, Capernaum-had wrought so many miracles I Who on this very sea had stilled a tempest with a word I Who but a few hours earlier had feasted ten thousand upon five b_arley cakes I Yet such was the fact (see Mark vi. 52). (3) Are we more quick to discern Christ in the wonders of providence than the apostles were to recognize his presence in the wonders of this history ? How seldom do we see deeper than the second causes of things! 2. It mistakes him for a phantom. (1) ".And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is an apparition; and they cried out for fear" ( cf. Acts xii. 15). (2) This " fear" suggests that they even mistook Jesus for a demon or evil spirit. How frightful are the distortions of the credulity of unbelief! (3) The disciples were terrified at an apparition which was designed for their salvation. When in their extremity they "cried out for fear," then came their relief. By a. word, "It is I; be not afraid," the deepest fear is turned into the highest joy (cf. P~ cxii. 4). The calm now succeeds the storm in the soul. IV. THAT NATUBAL BEBOUROEB ARE USELESS IN SPIRITUAL CONFLIC'l:S. 1. Seamatt- R8 THE GOSPEL .ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. [Cfl, xrv. 1-36.
sh.ip failed in this storm. (1) Several of t.a.e disciples were brought up as fishermen, and k~ew how to handle the ?ar _(Mark vi. 48). But here they were at their wlte' end, ~o furwuslf ~as the s~ working m the storm. 'J'.h~s was not purely an elemental strife; 1t was a spmtual conflict, brought about for spmtuRl purposes. (2) Their salvation was of the Lord. He laid the storm. We too shall exclaim, "Of a truth thou art t?e Son of God,"when he tranquillizes the miud which the prince of the powers of the air had d1sturbe<l and troubled. Only in so far as the love of Christ is in us can we worship him as Love. 2. The swimming art failed in these waves, (1) Peter's fault was not his courage when be said, "Lord, if it be thou "--since it is thou-" bid me come unto thee upon the waters." Courage is fearlessness, and intelligent fearlessness is faith. Faith is the opposite of doubt and fear (cf. Mark v. 36; Rom. xiv. 23; Jas. i. 6). (2) The Lord permits us to try our strength that we may discover our weak- Dess. Peter in the ship was bold; timid on the angry sea, Men are often confident in speculation, diffident in practice. (3) Peter was borne up on the water in propor- tion to his faith, as the children of Israel were victorious as the hands of Moses were held up (Exod. xvii. 11). "The true position of every disciple is this: So to see the deep that is beneath him as to lose all confidence in himseU, and so to see the Saviour that is near him as to lose all terror of the billows" (A.non.). (4) Peter was a good swimmer (see John xx.i. 7), but he trusts not to his swimming in this peril. Those who rely on grace lose confidence in nature. Christ is the sufficient confidence of his saints.---J. A. M.