The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1900-06-15
THE ROUGH PLACES.
Dr.. Ta1mage Indicates the Best Way
of Getting Over Them.
Lesson from Memorable Incident
In the SaViOur's sLife-FO1IowinE
Christ Not Always Smooth
Sailing.
copyright, 1900, by Louis Klopsch.1
Washington

DIR. Talmage, who is now in Europe
preaching to immense congregations in
| the great cities, sends this sermon, in
which he describes the rough places OF
| life and indicates the best means OF
getting over them and shows how many
! people fail to understand their best
blessings; text, Mark iv, 80, ''And He
arose and rebuked the wind and said
unto the sea, Peace, be STILL
Here in Capernaum, the seashore vii
lage, was the temporary home of that
Christ who for the most 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
here! l can understand the feeling of
the immortal Scotchman, Robert Nc
Cheyne, when, sitting on the banks of
this lake, he wrote:
1t is not that the wild gazelle
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, reposing sea.
But, ah, far more the beautiful feet
Of Jesus walked DER thee.
lean easily understand from the con-
tour of the country that bounds this
lake that storms were easily tempted
to make these waters their playground.
This lake, in Christ's time, lay in a
scene of great luxuriance; the sur
rounding hills, terraced, sloped,
groved; SO many hanging gardens of
beauty. On the shore were castles,
armed towers, Roman baths, every
thing attractive and beautiful-all
styles of vegetation in smaller space
than in almost any other space in the
world, from the palm tree of the forest
to the trees of rigorous climate. 1t
seemed as if the Lord had launched one
hung and swung from rock and hill and
oleander. Roman gentlemen in pleas
ure boats sailing this lake and country
men in fishing smacl1s coming down to
drop their nets pass each other with
nod and shout and laughter or swing
ing idly at their moorings. Oh, what
beautiful scene!
1t seems as if we shall have a quiet
night. Not Il leaf quivered in the air,
not ripple disturbed the face of Gen
nesaret. But there seems to be lit
tie excitement up the beach, and we
hasten to see what it is, and we find
it an embarkation. From the western
shore a f1otilla pushing out; not a
squadron of deadly armament, nor clip
per with valuable merchandise, nor
piratic vessels ready to destroy every
thing they could seize, but a fotilla,
bearing messengers of light and life
and peace. Christ is in the stern of
the boat. His disciples are in the bow
and amidships. Jesus, weary with
much speaking to large multitudes, is
put into somnolence by the rocking of
the waves. If there was any motion at
all, the ship was easily righted; if the
wind passed from starboard to lar
board, or from larboard to starboard,
the boat would rock and, by the gentle
less of the motion, putting the Master
asleep. And they eXtemporiZed a pill
ow made out of fisherman's coat. |
think no sooner 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 !
md falls like a sleeping child on the |
BOSOM of a sleeping mother.
Calm night, starry night, beautiful |
light! Run up all the sails, ply all the
oars, and let the large boat and the |
small boat glide over gentle Cen
1esaret. But the sailors say there is |
soing to be change of weather. And |
wen the passengers can hear the moan
ng of the storm as it comes on with
creat stride and all the terrors of hur |
,icane and darkness. The large boat |
like a deer at bay among the
langor of the hounds; great patches of
oam are flung into the air; the sails of |
he vessel loosen and in the strong
Wind crack like pistols; the smaller
'oats, like petrels, poise on the cliffs
f the waves and then plunge. Over
'oard go cargo, tackling and masts,
md the drenched disciples rush into the
Jack part of the boat and lay hoId of
'hrist and say unto Him: Master,
Arrest Thou not that we perish ?'
That great parsonage lifts His head
rom the pillow of the fsherman's
oat, walks to the front of the vessel
nd looks out into the storm. All
round Him are the smaller boats.
riven in the tempest, and through it
ONES the cry of drowning men. By
he flash of the lightning see the
aim brow of Christ as the spray
ropped from His beard. He has one
Tord for the sky and another for the
waves. Looking upward, He cries:
Peace!" Looking downward, He
ays: "Be- still" The waves fall fiat
n their faces, the foam melts, the ex-
inguished stars relight their torches.
he tempest falls dead, and Christ
tands with His foot on the neck of
he storm. And while the sailors are
aling out the boats and while they
re trying to untangle the cordage
he disciples stand in amazement, now
1oking into the calm sea, then into
be calm sky, then into the calm
aviour's countenance, and they cry
ut: what manner of man is this.
hat even the winds and the sea obey
limp"
The subject. in the first place, i'm
resses me with the fact that it is
cry important to have Christ in the
nip; for all those boat& would have
one to the bottom of Gennesaret if r
hrist had not been present. Oh,
hat lesson for you and for me TO ,