The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-09-03

wheat.
Oh, hat these gales from heaven
might sweep through all our churches!
Oh, for such days a. Richard Baxter.
saw in England and Robert McCheyne
saw in Dundee! Oh, for such days as
Jonathan Edwards saw in Northamp-
ton! I have often heard my father tell
OF the fact that in the early part OF this
century a revival broke out in Somer-
Vile, n. j., and some people were very
much agitated about 1t. They said,
"Oh, you are going to bring too many
people into the church at once!" and
they sent down to New Brunswick to
get John Livingston to stop the revival.
Well, there was no better soul in all
the world than o Livingston. He
went up; he looked at the revival. They
wanted him to stop 1t. He stood in the
pulpit OF the Sabbat and looked over
the solemn auditory, n he said:
] This. brethren, is in reality the work
, OF God. Beware how you try to stop
/ it," And he was an old man leaning
heavily on his stan-very old q
And he lifted a staff and took hold
Of the small end Of the staff and began
to let it fall very slowly through be-
tween the finger n the thumb, n he
said, "Oh, thou impenitent, thou art
falling now-falling away from life,
falling away from peace and heaven,
ldllluS d. Certainly DIS Tia Cduc IL ldIi-
ing through my hand-falling certain
ly, though perhaps falling very slowly"
And the cane kept on falling through
John Livingston's hand. The religious
emotion in the audience was overpow-
ering, and men saw a type Of their
doom as the cane kept falling n fall
ing until the knob of the can struckMr.
Livingston's land and he clasped it
stoutly and said, But the grace of God
oon oton a G 7 CfonnoI that oono''
and then there was gladness all
through the house at the fact of par
don and peace and salvation. WELL"
said the people after the service, Il
guess we had better send Livingston
home. He is making the revival
worse" Oh, for the gales from heaven,
and Christ on board the ship! The dan
ger of the church of God is not in re-
vivals.
Again, my subject impresses me with
the fact that Jesus was God and man in
the same being. Here he is in the back
part of the boat. Oh, how tired he
looks, what sad dreams he must have!
Look at his ~cOuntenance. He must be
thinking of the cross to come. Look at
him. He is a man-bOrn of our bone
flesh Of our flesh. Tired, he falls asleep;
he is a man. But then I find Christ at
the Prov Of h boat. I hear him say,
Peace, be still" And I see the storm
kneeling at his feet and the tempests
folding their wings in his presence. He
is a God.
If I nave sorrow and trouble and
want sympathy, I go and kneel down 1t
the back part of the boat and say, 90
Christ, weary one of Gennesaret, SYM
pathize with all my SORROWS, man of
Nazareth, mar of the cross" A man, a
man. But if I want to conquer my spir-
itual foes, if I want to get the victory
over sin, death and hell, I come to the
front of the boa and I kneel down, and
I say, 80 Lord Jesus Christ, thou who
dost hush the tempest, hush all my
grief, hush all my temptation, hush all
my sim" A man, a man, a God, a God.
THE TEMPEST HUSTLED.
1 learn once more from this subject
that Christ can hush a tempest. It did
| seem as if everything must go to ruin.
The disciples had given up the idea of
managing the ship. The crew were en-
tirely demoralized, yet Christ rises, and
he puts his foot on the storm, and it
crouches at his feet. Oh, yes, Christ
can hush the tempest!
You have had trouble. Perhaps it
was the little child taken away from
you-the sweetest child of the house-
hold, the n who asked the most curl
Gus questions and stood around you
Will IL greatest IOIlui1CSS, anu the
spade cut down through your bleeding
heart. Perhaps it was an only son, and
our heart has ever sine been like a
desolated castle, the owls of the night
hoOting among the falling rafters n
the crumbling stairways.
Perhaps it was an aged mother. You
always went to her with your troubles.
! She was in yOur home to welcome your
children into life, and when they died
| che ryo~ Io-o 40 ~;{- "10A 4
hand will do you no more kindness.
That white lock of hair you put away
in the casket or in the locket did not
look as well as it usually did when she
brushed it away from her wrinkled
brow in the home circle or in the
try church. Or, your property one you
said, Il have so much bank stock, I
have so many government securities, I
have so many horses, I have so many
farlns"-all gone, all gone
Why, all the storms that ever tram
pied with their thunders, all the ship
wrecks, have not been worse than this
to you. Yet you have not been COM
pletely overthrown. Why? Christ hush
ed the tempest. Your little one was
taken away. Christ says: Il have that
little one. I can take care of him as
we'll as you can, better than you can.
oh, bereaved mOther!" flushing the
tempest! When your property went
away, God said, There are treasures
in Heaven, in banks that never break
There is n storm into which we
will all have to run the moment when
we let go Of his life and try to take
hold of the next, when we will want
all the grace we a have-we will
want it all. Yonder I see a Christian
soul rocking on the surges Of death.
All the powers Of darkness seem let
out against tina SOul-the Swirling
wave, the thunder of the sky, the
screaming wind, all seem to unite to-
gether-but that soul is not troubled,
there is no signing, there are no tears;
plenty Of tears in the room at the de-
parture. but he weeps no tears; calm,
satisfied, peaceful, all is we'll. Jesus
hushing the tempest! By the ash of
the storm you see the harbOr just
ahead, and you are making for that