The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-03-05
s.ve Yor my daily range

Among the pleasant fields of Holy Writ, I might despair. -Tennyson. First Quarter. Lesson x. Mark iv,
 35-4l. March 6, 1904.
 Jesus Claims the Storm.
 To .dignify that tiny sheet of water in the north of Palestine with the title of sea, and call 1t Sea of Galilee, seems a misnomer. It is a little pear-shaped pond, six by thirteen miles. If 1t k a material matter of just so many cubic feet of water, of course. the small lake does not deserve it's large name. But when the things that happened there are considered the title seems not to be out of proportion. It is, in fact. the most important sheet of water on the globe It is the chief scene of Jesus ministry. On its shore He preached His sermons and worked His miracles. Out of 1t His disciples drew gneat draughts of fishes. He walked it's surface as if 1t had been terra firxna.
 One day, after hours of tireless indus try in teaching and healing, the Master gave His disciples sailing orders" It would have been a comparatively short tour on foot around the head cf the lake: but Jesus needed the rest He could nave on Ishipboard. So, perhaps, in the very boat (Simon Peter's) from which he had been preaching, he set sail. little fleet accompanied Him. The curious or devoted followed in His wake.
 There was nothing preternatural in the storm which broke upon the ship and it's conveys. The lake lies six hundred feet below the sea-level The streams tribu- tary to 1t have cut deep gullles. sudden windstorms are caused by the proximity of snow, on Lebanon and the arid wastes of the desert. These hurricanes find nat. ural vent through the gigantic tunnels, and instantly convert the placid lake into a boiling caldron.
 When the storm broke. Jesus was as. leep on a mat, perhaps ip a little cabir at the stern. The disciples did not ap' peal to Him immediately. They first did everything their nautical education had taught them to do. But when the wave. kept breaking and filling the boat, they wakened the Master. As men in fear ara apt to do they forget their manners, ana cried, "We perish!" ''Carest Thou not 2 Jesus observes Divine order in coming to the rescue. He first qulets the temp est in the heart. With reassuring em phasis and infection. he said, Why ar thou fearful?'' Then" He arose and re- buked the external storm.
 A new meaning for those men must have come into the familiar lines of the Hebrew hymnaI-"Thou rulest the raging of the sea-" and "The Lord is mightiel than the noise of many waters" They saw Him gather the winds in His fist" Though long acquainted with thi: little sheet of water they had never seen such & storm give place to such ar instantaneous and complete calm. There is a picturesqueness in the words 'tht winds ceased" They grew weary ana eank to rest. Talmage once said, Jesus lulled the lake to sleep on the knee oi His omnipotence."
 Moses parted the Red Sea with his mystic rod. Joshua made a causeway fol a nation through the Jordan with the glitterong ark. Elisha smote the same river effectually with the sheepskin man. tie of Elijah. But 1t remained for Jesus without any material instrument, tc quiet the sea in a raging storm with only word from His lips. He spoke. and it was done He rebuked the waves Rs Il they had been intelligent beings. and tho winds as if they had been used to the sound of His voice.
 A sudden awe fell upo nthe discpiIes anC the men in the accompanying boats. NJ wonder they said to each other admir- ingly. What manner of Man is this?' Even wind and sea obey Him!" Who then, is thSs?" It was the recognition o Divinity.