The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-09-03
A ROUGH SEA VOYAGE
DIR. TALMAGE SAYS CHRIST'S FOL
LOWERS MUST EXPECT HIM
He breaches q Sermon Of Solace to People
Who are In TrOuble-The Storm and the
Calm on the Sea Of Gennesaret-The Har-
Dor.

This sermon by Rev. DR.. Talmage
will be of great solace to people who
are finding their life a rough voyage.
Text, Mark iv, SO: "And there were
also with him other little ships, and
there arose a great storm Of wind.
And the wind ceased and there was a
great calm"
Tiberias, Galilee, Gennesaret-three
names for the same lake. No other
e ever had SO beautiful a setting.
1t lay in a scene of great l~uxuriance-
the surrounding hills high, terraced,
slOped, groved, so many hanging gar
uens Of beauty; the waters rumbling
down between rocks of gray and red
limestone. flashing from the hills and
bounding into the sea. On the shore
were castles, armed towers, Roman
baths, everything attractive and beau
tiful, 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 eli
mate.
SMOOTH SAILING
It seemed as if the Lord had launch
ID one wave of beauty on all the scene,
and it hung and swung from rock and
hill and oleander. Roman gentlemen
in pleasure boats sailing the lax and
cOuntrymen in fishing smacks, coming
down to drop their nets, pass each
other with nod and shout and Taught
er or singing idly at their mornings.
Oh, what a wonderful, what a. beauti-
full lake!
1t seems as if we shall have a quiet
night. Not a leaf winked in the air,
not a ripple disturbed the face of Gen.
nesaret, but there seems to be a little
excitement up the beach, and we hasten
to see what it is, and we find it an
e~mbarkatiOn.
From the western shore a fotilla
pushing out, not a squadron or deadly
armament, nor clipper with valuable
merchandise, nor piratic vessels ready
to destroy everything they could seize,
but a ~fiotilla, bearing messengers of
life and light Inc peace. Christ is in
the front Of the boat His disciples
are in a smaller boat. Jesus, weary
with much speaking to large multi
tudes, is put into somnolence by the
rocking of the waves. If there was any
motion at all, the ship was easily right
ed; if the wind passed from one side,
from the starbOard to the larboard or
from the arbOard to the ~starbOard, the
boat would rock, and by the gentle
ness of the motion putting the master
1hAN thS " pll
low made out Of a fisherman's coat. z
think no sooner is Christ PROSTATE and
his head touching 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 a sleeping child on the
bosom of a sleeping mother.
CHANGE OF WEATHER.
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 gentle Gennesa-
ret. But the sailors say there is going
to be a change of weather. And even
the passengers can lear the moaning
of the storm as it comes on with long
stride, with all the terrors Of huri-
cane and The large boat
trembles like a deer at bay trembling
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 cliff of the waves and then plunge.
Overheard go r ,tackling 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 perish?" 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 drown
ing men. BY the flash of the lightning
I see the calm brow of Christ as the
spray dropped from his beard. He has
one word for the sky and another
word for the waves. Looking upward,
he cries, "Peace!" Looking downward,
he says, "Be still"
The waves fall fiat on their faces, the
foam melts, the ex~tinguished stars re-
light their torches, the tempest falls
dead, and Christ stands with his foot
on the neck of the storm. And while
the sailors are bailing out the boats
and while they are trying to untangle
the cordage the disciples stand in
amazement, now looking into the calm
sea, hen into the calm sky, then into
the calm of the Saviour's countenance,
and they cry out, "What name of
man is this, that even 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, a lessen
for you and for me to learn! Whatever
voyage we undertake, into whatever
enterprise we start, let us always have
Christ in the ship. Many Of you in
these days of revived are
starting out in new financial enter
prises. I bid you good cheer. Do all
you can do. Do it on as high a plane
as possible. You have no right to be
a stoker in the ship if you can be an
admiral of the navy. You have no
right to be a colonel of a regiment if
you can a brigade, you have
no right to be engineer of a boat on
river banks or near the coast If you
can take the ocean steamer from New
York to Liverpool. All you can do
with utmost tension of body. mind and
soul you are bound to do; but, oh, have
Christ in every enterprise, Christ in
every y Christ in every ship
There are men who ask God to help