Connecticut western news., 1895-09-26
IF CHRIST BE ABOARD
HERE IS NOTHING TO FEAR IN MAX. ING LlFE'S STORMY VOYAGE.

 ev. Dr. Talmage Presents . Striking Les son For the Men and Women of tho Present D@y-Christ Shilling the Tenn pest-A Brilliant Picture.
 NKw YORK, Sept. 22.-In his sermon f1 today Rev. Dr. Taimage discourses un dramatic incident during the Saw tours life among the Galilean fisher men and draws from it striking les son for the men and women of the pres ent day. The subject was Rough Sail ing" and the text, Mark iv, 36, 37, And there were also with him other little ships, and there arose 2 great storm of wind ''
 Tiberias, Galilee and Gennesaret were three names for the same lake. It 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 flushing from the hillside bounded to the sea. In the time of our Lord the valleys, headlan6s and ridges were covered thickly with vegetation, and so great was the variety of climate that the palm tree of the torrid and the ,>Salnut tree of rigorous climate were only little way apart. Men in vine yards and olive gardens were gathering up the riches for the oil press. The hills aud valleys were starred and crimsoned with flowers, from which Christ took his text, and the disciples. learned les sons of patience and trust. It 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 mp as if to set it in range with the hills of heaven.
 "A Reautifnl aA-
 s- No other gemaever had so. exquisite setting as beautiful Gennesaret. The waters were clear and sweet and thick ly inhabited, tempting innumerable nets and affording a livelihood for great pop ulations. Bethsaida, Chorazin and Ca pernaum stood on the bank roaring with wheels of f traffic and flashing with splendid equipages, and shooting their vessels across the lake, bringing mer- chandiso for Damascus and passing great eargoes of wealthy product. Pleas ure boats of Roman gentlemen and fish ing smacks of the country people, who had come down to cast a net there, pass ed each other with nod and shout and welcome, or side by side swung idly at the moeEin2 Palace and luxnriant bath aud vineyard, tower and shadowy arbor, looking o8 upon the calm sweet scene as the evening shadows began to drop, and Hermon, with its head covered with Q perpetual snow, in the glowsof the set ting sun looked like white bearded fire. think we shall have quiet night ! Not leaf winks in the air or 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 m excitement az of an authorization. A flotilla is pushing out from the western shore of the lake-not squadron with deadly armament, not Q clipper to ply with valuable merchandise, not piratic vessels with graphing hook to hug to death whatever they could seize, but a notilla laden with messengers of light aud 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 the fatigues of the preaching exercises of the day, is induced to slumber, and l see him in the stern of the boat, with 8 pillow perhaps extemporized out of a fisherman's coat, sound asleep. The breezes of the lake run their fingers through the locks of the wornout sleep CT, and on it's surface there riseth and falleth the lightship, like child on the bosom of it's. sleeping motherl 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 prophecy 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 deel at bay amid the wild clangor of thu 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 whit, cliff of the driven sea tremble like oceaI petrels, and then plunge into the trougl 2 with terrific swoop until wave strikes 7 them with thunder crack, and over board go the cordage, the tackling ant the masts, and the drenched disciple rush into the stern of the boat and shou amid the, hurricane, Master, cares thou not that we perish?'' That grea personage lifted his head from the fish erman's coat and walked out to tn prow of the vessel and looked upon tn storm. On all sides were the small boat tossing in helplessness, and from then came the cries of drowning men. B
 the flash of lightning see the calmnes of the uncovered brow of Jesus and tn spray of the sea dripping from hi
 beard. He has two words of comman
 -one for the wind, the other for tn
 sea. He looks intothe tempestuous heay
 ems and he cries, .PeaceP' and then h
 looks down into the infuriate water
 and he says, Be stillr' The thunder
 beat 8 retreat. The waves fall flat O
 their faces. Theextinguished stars re
 kindle their torches. The foam meltt The storm is dead. And while the crey are untangling the cordage and the ca bles and baling out the water from tn