The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1889-12-26
TALMAGES SERMON.
weekly Discourse OF the Great
Brooklyn Preacher.
Subject, "'rbc stormy Pas
sage" preached az Ga.
pcrnnum, in the
Holy n.and.l

vi, II; "And He arose aud rebuked the
'oind and the sea Mark iv,, 80
Here in this seashore village was the tenn
porary home of that Christ who, for the
most part of His life, was homeless, On the
site Of this village now in ruins, and all
around this lake, what scenes of kindness
and power, and glory and pathos when our
Lord lived herel 1t hps been the wish of my
lne-l cannot say the hope, for ! never ex-
pected the privilege-to stand on the banks
OF Galilee, What solomnity and what
rapture to be here! | can now understand
the feeling of the immortal Scotchman,
Robert McCheyne, when sitting on the banks
OF this lake, he wrote;
II is not that the wild gazellc
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 reposng seas
But ali far more, the beautiful feet
OF Jesus walked DER thee.
l can now easily understand from the con-
tour of the country that bounds this lake that
storms were easily tempted to make these
waters their playground. From the gentle
y way this lake treated our boat when we
sailed on it yesterday, one would have
thought Z incapable of paroSysm Of rage,
as quite different on both the occa-
ken of in my two texts, l close my
the shore of Lake Galilee as it now
nut little signs of human life, disap-
there comes back to my vision the
was in christ's time II lay in
great luxuriance; the surrounding
49,, ". raced, sloped, grooved - many
hanging gardens of beauty, On the shore
were castles, armed towers, 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.
IL seemed as If tho ord had lsrnobad ,,,
wave of beauty on all the scene, and It hung
and swung from rock and hill and oleander
Roman gentlemen III pleasure boats sailing
this lake and countrymen in fish smacks
coming down TO drop their nets pass each
other with nod and shout and laughter, OF
swinging idly at their mcorings Q, what
beautiful scenel
1t seems as II we shall have a quiet night
Not leaf winked in the air; not ripple dis
turbed the face of Gennesaret but there
seems to be a little excitement up the beach,
and wehasten to see what it is and we find
1t an embarkation
From the western shore hutilla pushing
but; not squadron, or deadly armament
nor clipper with valuable merchandise, nor
piratic vessel, ready to destroy everything
they could seize, but a f1otilla, bearing mes
sengers OF light and life and peace. Christ is
In the front of the boat His disciples are in
smaller boat Jesus, weary with much
speaking to large multtudes, is put into
somnolence by the rocking of the waves
u there was any motion at all, the ship was
Easily righted; if the wind passed from star.
board to larboard, or from larboard to star
board the boat would rock, and by the
gentleness of the motion putting the Master
asleep. And they extemporized pillow
made out of a tisherman's coat. / think no
boomer is Christ PROSTATE, and His head
touched the pillow than He is sound asleep
The breezes of the lake run their fingers
through the locks of the worn sleeper, and
the boat rises and falls like sleeping child
on the bosom of q sleeping mother.
Calm night, starry night, beautiful night.
Run up all the sails, ply all the oars, and let
the large boat and the srnall 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 moaning of
the storm, as it comes on with great stride,
and all the terrors of hurricane and dark.
ness. 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.
Overheard go cargo, tackling and masts,
and the drenched disciples rush into the back
part Of the boat and lay hold of Christ, and
iay unto Him: Master, carest Thou not that
we perish?' That great parsonage lifts His
head from the pillow of the fishermans 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 | 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" Looking downward He says
'Be stll'
The waves fall fiat on their faces the foam
melts, the extiuguished stars relght their
torches. The tempest falls dead and Christ
stands with His feet on the neck of the storm.
And while the sailors arc 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
Sayiour's countenance, and they cry out:
what manner of man is this, that even the
winds and the sea obey HIM.
The subject i'll the first place impresses me
with the fact that it is very important to
have Christ in the ship; f~r all those boats
would have gone to the bottom of Gennesa-
ret if Christ had not been present. Oh, what
lesson for you and for me to Learnt We
must always have Christ in the ship. What
ever voyage we undertake, into whatever en-
terprise we start let us always have Christ
in the ship. All you can do with utmost ten.
sion of body, mind and soul, you are bound
to do; but oh! have Christ in every enter
prise, Christ in every voyage,
There are men who ask Gods help at the
beginning of great enterprises. He has been
with them in the past; no trouble can over
throw 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 another
man who starts out in worldly enterprise,
and he depends upon the uncertainties Of this
life: He has no God to help him. After a
wi hn cfN o,,1 <,F l.,
masts of the ship; he puts out his lifeboat and
the long boat; thu sheriff and the auctioneer
try to help him off; they can't help him 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 tornadoes; l 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 clear over the hurricane
deck, and the decks are crowded with pratt
cal disasters-oh, what would you do Their
without Christ in the ship? Take God for
your portion, God for your guide, God fol-
your held; then all is well; all is well for time
all shall be well forever. Blessed is tina,
man who puts in the Lord his trust He shall
never be COMPOUNDED.
But my subject also impresses me with
the fact that when people start to follow
Christ they must not expect smooth sailing.
These disciples got into the small boats
and have no doubt they said: "What q
beautiful day this is What smooth sea
What bright sky this isl How delightful
is sailing in this boat And as for the waves
under the keel of the boat, why they only
make the motion of our little boat the more
delightful" But when the winds swept
down and the sea was tossed into wrath, ther
they found that following Christ was moi
smooth sailing. So you have found it; so ]
have found it, Did you ever notice the enc
Of the life of the apostles of Jesus Christ
You would say, if ever men ought to
have had a smooth life, smooth departure,
then those men, the disciples of Jesus Christ
ought to have had such departure and such
a life. ST. James lost his head st. Philip
was hung to death on pillar. st. Matthew
had his life dashed out with a halbert. st
Mark was dragged to death through thu
streets. st. James the Less was beaten t,
death with fullers club. st. Thomas wa
struck through with spear. They did no
find following Christ smooth sailing Oh
how they were all tossed in the tempesti JOIN
Huss in the fire; Hugh McKail in the hour o
martyrdom; the Albigenses, the w aldenses
n.