Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1889-12-25
DR.. TALMAGE IN The HOLY LAND.
'THE STORMY PASSAGE"

''THE STORMY PASSAGE"
A SERMON PREACHED AT CAPER-
NAUM SUNDAY. DEC. 18th.
| CAPERNAUM, December 15.-The Rev. T.
De Witt Talmage, DID,, preached here to-
day to group of friends on "The Stormy
Passage taking for his text the verses of
the Gospel following: John vi, II: "Enter.
ed into ship, and went over the sea toward
| Capernanm;" and Mark iv., 80: 'And be
arose and rebuked the wind and the sea-"
| He SAID:
Here 10 this seashore village was the tenn
porary home of that Christ who for the
most of his life was homeless. On the site
of this lake, what scenes of kindness and
power, and glory and pathos when our
| Lord lived here! 1t has been the wish Of
my life-I cannot say the hope, for never
expected the privilege-to stand on the
banks of Galilee. What a solemnity and
what rapture to be here! I can now un-
derstand the feeling of the immortal Scotch
man, Robert McCheyne, when, sitting on
the banks of this lake, he wrote:
| 1t is not that the wild gazeIIe
Comes down TO drink thy tide,
But He that was pierced to save from hell.
Oft wandered by thy side.
Graceful around thee the mountains meet,
| Thou calm reposipg sea;
But ah! far more. the beautiful feet
| OfJesus walked O'er thee.
| l can now easily understand from the
contour of the country that bounds this lake
that storms were easily tempted to make
these waters their playground. From the
gentle way this lake treated our boat when
| vuo oai1aI m it vactcrdau n0a uO,,ld bav va
thought it incapable of q paroxysm of rage,
but it was quite different on both the occa-
sions spoken of in my two texts. I close
my eyes, and the shore of Lake Galiee as
it now is, with but little signs of human
life, disappears, aud there comes back to
my vision the lake as it was in Christ's
time. 1t lay in scene of great luxuriance;
the surrounding hills, terraced, sloped,
grooved, 50 many hanging gardens of beau
| ty. On the shore were castles, armed tow
ers Roman baths, everything attractive and
beautiful-all styles of vegetation in shorter
space than in almost any other space in all
the world, from the palm tree of the forest
to the trees of rigorous climate.
| 1t seemed as if the Lord had launched
one wave of beauty on all the scene, and it
hung and swung from rock and hill and
oleander. Roman gentlemen in pleasure
boats sailing this lake, and countrymen in
fish smacks coming down to drop their nets,
pass each other with nod aud shout and
laughter, or swinging idly at their moor
| ings. o. what beautiful scene!
1t seems as if we shall have quiet night
Not leaf winked in the air; not ripple
disturbed the face of Gennesaret; but there
seems to be little excitementup the beach,
and we hasten to see what 1t is, and we find
| it an embarkatioD.
From the western shore Hotilla pushing
out; not squadron, or deadly armament,
nor clipper with valuable merchandise, nor
piratic vessels ready to destroy everything
| they could seize, but fl0tilla, bearing mes
sengers of light and life and peace. Christ
| is in the front of the boat His disciples
are in a smaller boat. Jesus, weary with
much speaking to large multitudes, is put
into somnolence by the rocking of the
waves. If there was any motion at all, the
ship was easily righted; if the wind passed
from starboard to larboard, Or from lar
board to starboard, the boat would rock,
and by the gentleness of the motion putting
the Master asleep. And they extemporiz-
ed pillow made out of fisherman's coat
| think no sooner is Christ PROSTATE, and
his head touched the PILLOW, than He is
sound asleep. The breezes of the lake ran
sleeper, and the boat rises and falls like
sleeping child on the bosom OF sleeping
mother.
Calm night, starry night, beautiful night.
Run up all the sails, ply all the oars, and
let the large boat and the small boat glide
over gentle Gennesaret. But the sailors say
there is going to be a change of weather.
And even the passengers can hear the NOAH
ing of the storm as it comes cn with great
stride, and all the terrors of hurricane and
darkness. The large boat trembles like
deer at bay among the clangor Of the hounds;
great patches of foam are flung into the air;
the sails of the vessel loosen, and the sharp
winds crack like pistols: the smaller boats
like petrels poise on the cliffs of the waves
and then plunge.
Ovarboard go cargo tackling and masts,
aud the drenched disciples rush into the
back part of the boat, and lay hold of Christ
aud say unto him: master, caress thou
not that we persh?" That great person
age lifts his head from the pillow of the
fisherman's coat, walks to the front of the
vessel, aud looks out into the storm. All
around him are the smaller boats, driven in
the tempest, and through it comes the cry
of drowning men. By the flash of the light
ming see the calm brow OF Christ as the
spray dropped from his beard. He has one
word for the sky and another for the waves.
Looking upward he cries: ''Peace" Look
ing downward he says: s'Be still %
The waves fall fiat on their faces, the foam
melts, the extinguished stars relight their
torches. The tempest falls dead and Christ
stands with his feet on the neck of the
storm. Aud while the sailors are bailing
out the boats, and while they are trying to
untangle the cordage. the disciples stand in
amazement, now looking into the calm sea,
then into the calm sky, then into the calm
Saviour's countenance, and they cry out:
| "What manner Of man is this. that even the
winds and the sea obey him?"
The subject in the first place impresses
me with the fact that it is very important
to have Christ in the ship, for all those boats
would have gone to the bottom of Gennes-
aret if Christ had not been present. Oh
what lesson for you and for me to learn!
| We must always have Christ in the ship.
| Whatever voyage we undertake, into what
ever enterprise we start, let us always have
Christ in the ship. All you can do with ut
most tension of body, mind and soul, you
are bound to do; but qhl have Christ in ev
cry enterprise. Christ1h every voyage.
There are men who ask Gods help at the
beginning of great enterprises. He has
| D60u WILL tHOul III tAO poou, hO oiOuOlO Ohu
overthrow them; the storms might come
down from the top of Mount Hermon, and
lash Gennesaret into foam and into agony,
but it could not hurt them. But here is an
other man who starts out in worldly enter
prise, and he depends upon the uncertain
ties of this life. He has no God to help
him. After while the storm comes and
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 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 torDadoes;
know not what is before you, but know if
you have Christ with you all shall be we'll.
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 claar over tbe hurricane deck and