Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1895-09-23
IF CHRIST BE ABOARD
THERE is NOTHING TO FEAR IN MAX
ING LIFE'S STORMY VOYAGE.

r.
son For the Men and Women of the
Present Day-Christ shilling the Tena"
pest-A Brilliant Picture.
New York, Sept. 22.-In his sermon
for today Rev. DIR. Talmage discourses
on dramatic incident during the Saw
tours life among the Galilean fisher
men and draws from it a striking les
son for the men and women of the pres
ent day. The subject was Rough Sail
ing" and the text, Mark iv, sc, 81,
''And there were also with him other
lit.le ships, and there arose q great
storm of wind -
Tiberias, Galilee and Gennesaret were
three names for the same lake. 1t lay
in scene of great luxuriance. The sur
rounding hills, high, terraced, sloping,
gorged, were so many hanging gardens
of beauty. The streams tumbled down
through rocks of gray and red lime
stone, and flashing from the hillside
bounded to the sea. In the time of our
Lord the valleys, headlands and ridges
were covered thickly with vegetation,
and so great was the variety of climate
that the palm tree of the torrid and the
walnut tree of rigorous climate were
only little way apart. Men III vine
yards and olive gardens were gathering
up the riches for the oil press. The hills
and valleys We're starred and crimsoned
with flowers, from which Christ took
his text, and the disciples learned les
sons of patience and trust. 1t seemed as
if God had dashed wave of beauty on
all the scene until it hung dripping
from the rocks, the hills, the oleanders.
On the back of the Lebanon range the
glory of the earthly scene was carried
up as if to set it in range with the hills
of heaven.
4 Beautiful Sea.
No other gem ever had so exquisite a
setting as beautiful Gennesaret The
waters were clear and sweet and thick
1y inhabited, tempting innumerable nets
and affording livelihood for great pop
ulations Bethsaida, Chorazin and Ca
pernaum stood on the bank roaring with
wheels of traffic and flashing with
splendid equipages, and shooting their
vessels across the lake, bringing mer-
chandise for Damascus and passing
great cargoes of wealthy product Pleas
ure boats Of Roman gentlemen and fish
ing smacks of the country people, who
had come down to cast net there, pass
ed each other with nod and shout and
welcome, Or side by side swung idly at
the mooring Palace and luxuriant bath
and vineyard, tower and shadowy arbor,
looking off upon the calm sweet scene
10 10
and Hermon, with its head covered with
perpetual snow, in the glow of the set
ting sun looked like a white bearded
prophet ready to ascend in chariot of
fire. think we shall have quiet night
Not leaf winks in the air or a ripple
disturbs the surface Of Gennesaret. The
shadows of the great headlands stalk
clear across the water. The voices of
eveningtide, how drowsily they strike
the ear-the splash of the boatman' S
oar, and the humping of the captured
fish ON the boats bottom, and those in
describable sounds which fill the air at
nightfall. You hasten up the beach Of
the lake little way, and there you find
an excitement as of an embarkation. A
hotilla is pushing out from the western
shore of the lake-nOt squadron with
deadly armament, not clipper to ply
with valuable merchandise, not piratic
vessels with graphing hook to hug to
death whatever they could seize, but
hotilla laden with messengers of light
and mercy and peace. Jesus is in the
front ship. His friends and admirers are
in the small boats following after.
Christ, by the rocking of the boat and
L. o@s g 10 ~
of the day, is induced to slumber, and
see him in the stern of the boat, with a
pillow perhaps extemporized out of a
fisherman coat, sound asleep. The
breezes of the lake run their fingers
through the locks of the wornout sleep
er, and on its surface there riseth and
falleth the light ship like child on the
bosom of its sleeping mother Calm
night. Starry night Beautiful night.
Run up all the sails, and ply all the
oars, and let the boats-the big boat and
the small boats-go gliding over gentle
Gennesaret.
a Storm Arises.
The sailors prophesy change in the
weather. Clouds begin to travel up the
sky and congregate. After awhile, even
the passengers hear the moan of the
storm, which comes on with rapid
strides and with all the terrors of hur-
ricane and darkness The boat, caught
in the sudden fury, trembles like deer
at bay amid the wild clangor of the
hounds. Great patches of foam are flung
through the air. The loosened sails,
Tapping in the wind, crack like pistols.
The small boats poised on the white
cliff of the driven sea tramh1o like ocean
petrels, and then plunge into the trough
with terrific swoop until wave strikes
them with thunder crack, and over
board go the cordage, the tackling and
the masts, and the drenched disciples