The intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1887-1891, 1889-12-21
PEACE! BE STILL!"
Rev. 7. Dewitt Talmage breaches
at Capernaum.

rev. L. Dewitt Talmage Preachel
at Capernaum.
The stormy Passage of the Sea of GaIile
Likened to the Storms that Arise
in Our Ll,es-Christ Can StIn
the Wind and Waves.
During his trip In the Holy Land Rev
Il. Dewitt Talmage delivered the fol
lowing discourse at historic Capernaum
taking for his texts:
Entered into a ship and went over the Sc,
toward C~apernaum.-John vi, II.
And He arose and rebuked the wind anC
the sea.-Mark iv., 80.
aere in this seashore village was the
temporary home of that Christ who fol-
the most of His life was homeless. Or
the site of this village, now in ruins
m all around this lake, what scenes
OF kindness and power, and glory and
pathos when our Lord lived herel II
has been the wish of my life-I Can moi
say hope, for | never expected the priv
ilege-to stand on the banks of Galilee.
What a solemnity and what a rapture
to be here! l can now understand the
feeling of the immortal Scotchman,
Robert McCheyne, when, sitting on the
n of this Lake, he wrote;
Il g not thalthe Wild gazelie
Comes down 10 driultts NY tide,
But lie talt was pierced to save from he'll
OFT wandered by thy side.
8rtcetnf around thee the mountains meet,
cain reposing sea;
But ahl far more, the beautiful feet
vi Jesus walked DER thee.
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 gently way this lake treated
our boat when we sailed on 1t yesterday,
one would have thought it incapable of
q paroxysm of rage, but it was quite
dlferent on both occasions spoken of in
my two texts. l close my eyes, and the
shore of Lake Galilee as 1t now Is with
but little signs of human life, disap-
pears, and there comes bach to my vision
the lake as it was in Christ's time. 1t
lay In q scene of great luxuriance. The
surrounding hills, terraced, sloped,
grooved, so many hanging gardens Of
beauty. On the shore were castles,
armed towers, Roman baths, every
thing attractive and beautiful-all
styles of vegetation in shorter space
thar in almost any other space in all
the~orld, from the palm tree of the
forest to the trees of rigorous climate.
1t seemed as If the Lord had launched
n wave OF beauty On all the scene,
n 1t hung and swung from rock and
Hill and oleander. Roman gentlemen
"a PLEASURE boats sailing this lake, and
tp11tr3p1en In fish smacks coming down
70 1rop their nets, pass each other with
rod and shout and laughter, or swing
ing idly ct their mornings. o, what a
beautiful scenel 1t seems as il we shall
have a quiet night. Not a leaf winked
in the air, not a ripple disturbed the
a Of Gennesaret, but there seems to
be a little excitement up the beach, and
we hasten to see what 1t Is, and we find
1t an embarkation.
From the Western shore a fotilla
pushing out; not a squadron, or deadly
armament, nor clipper with valuable
merchandise, nor pirate vessels ready
to destroy every thing they could seize,
but a fotilla bearing messengers of
AAb nv AilNp anu pCdOC. SuElSU Is III
the front of the boat. His disciples are
in a smaller boat. Jesus, weary with
much speaking to large multitudes, is
putt into somnolence by the rocking of the
waves. If there was any motion at all
the ship was easily righted; II the wind
passed from starboard to larboard, or
from larboard to starboard, the boat
would rock, and by the %gentleness of the
motion putting the Master asleep. And
they ~extemporize a pillow made out of a
fisherman's coat. / think no sooner is |
Christ PROSTATE, and His head touched
the pillow, han He is sound asleep. |
The breezes of the lake run their fin |
gers through the locks of the worn
sleeper, and the boat rises and falls like
q sleeping child on the bosom of a sleep
ing 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 Gennesaret. But
the sailors say there is going to be a |
change of weather. And even the pas
sengers can hear the moaning of the |
storm, as it comes with great stride, and |
all the terrors Of hurricane and dark |
ness The large boat trembles like a
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 tho cliffs of the waves and then
plunge. Overheard go cargo, lacking |
and masts, and the drenched disciples
rush into the back part of the boat, and
lay hold of Christ, and say unto Him:
'Master, carest Thou not that we per-
ish?"
That great parsonage lifts His head
from the pillow of the fisherman's coat, |
walks to the front of the vessel, and
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 |
lightning 1 see the calm brow of Christ |
as the spray dropped from His beard. |
He has one word for the sky and an
other for the ayes. Looking upward
He cries:
1Peacel'
Looking downward He says:
"Be stillip
H0NCo AGAA udb Ou Jutlr IdC6S, Il6 Il
foam melts, the extinguished stars re-
liFht their torches. The tempest falls
dead, and Christ stands with His feet on
the neck OF the storm. And while the
are bailing out the boats, and
while they are trying to ~untangle the
cordage, the disciples stand in amaze
ment, 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
the winds and the sea obey Him?"
The subject in the first place i'm
presses 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 Gennesaret If Christ had
not been present. Oh, what q lesson
for you and for me to learn! We must
have Christ in the ship. What
voyage we undertake, into what
enterprise we start, let us always
Christ in the ship. All you can
do with utmost tension OF body, mind
and soul, you are bound to do; but obi
have Christ in every voyage.
There are men who ask Gods help at
the beginning of the great enterprises.