Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1910-03-11
Daturday digit
NGHHc By Rev. F. E. DAWSON
/NsaAS Rutland, VT.
THE KING OF THE
NATURAL WORLD.
international Bihle Lesson for Mar.
13, '10-(Matt. 8:23-34.

marvellous story of this lesson. The
stilling of a tempest on the Sea of
Galilee.
Tempest on the Sea.
Crossing that land-locked, noun
| tain-guarded body of water with His
disciples in an open boat, one of the
sudden storms for which that sea is
famous swept down through the noun
tain gorges upon them, and the little
| boat was almost covered with the
waves. The disciples were old fisher
men, brought up on the shores of that
sea, getting their living for years out
of its crystal depths, rocked on its
bosom often by tempestuous winds,
not easily frightened at the bowling
of a gale. But this time they struck
a tempest such as they had never en-
countered and they were afraid the
boat would go to pieces in the squall.
| They did their utmost to keep her
afoat, but when they became con-
vinced that they could not weather
the gale they suddenly remembered
| that they carried the King, and they
cried out to Him for help.
Master of Neptune.
Worn out with the days labors
Christ was fast asleep, His human
nature no more disturbed than a
! child by the rocking of a cradle. But
at the first cry of alarm, the Master
arose. First He quiets the tempest in
! the disciples hearts, rebuking their IN
belief and calming their fears, then
! He stills the storm without, rebuhing
| the winds and the sea, "and there was
a great calm" II was all done with
out effort, naturally calmly, as God.
1t reads like the story of creation.
| Here is one among men who wears
the crown of kingly authority over the
| forces OF nature. No wonder the as
| toaished disciples exclaimed, "What
manner of man is this that even the
winds and the sea obey Him?" No
wonder that John writing long after
| of this wondering being. said, In the
| beginning was the word, and the wood
was with God, and the word was God.
| All things were made by Him and
without Him was not anything made
| that was made" He who in the be-
ginning had let slip the winds OF heav-
en- out of His fingers could easily drive
them back into their caverns. He, out
of whose palm had dropped all the riV-
ers. and all the seas, and all the
oceans had only to speak the word of
command and the boisterous waves
crouched at His feet in humble sub
mission.
This was not the only time in the
career of the King that He proved
| Himself master of the natural world.
While there was never any outgoing
of His power to meet His own per-
sonal needs there was never any
diminution of His power to help those
who were in peril from the elements.
He was in His world, the Master and
King of it, always, and everywhere.
Ruler of the Invisible.
But visible nature is not mans only
environment There is an unseen uni
tverse besides to which man is more
or less subject. We are all conscious
of an invisible world, surrounding US
on all sides, mysterious, Incompetent
sibie, yet eXerting an inference over
us which we cannot escape. We are
|
world as we are by this. This world
affects our physical nature, that world
affects our moral nature and we can
not escape it. Whatever may be
meant by demoniac possession, the
old-fashioned statement that some
people are possessed of the devil EN-
bodies a great truth. There are
storms in the spiritual world, more to
be dreaded than electrical storms in
the material world more terrible by
far than any cyclone that ever ragged
over a western prairie town. Bat the
King of men is Master even here.
Demons Own His Power.
The disciples had no sooner es-
capped the peril of one storm than
they came up against another in the
person of two demoniacs-m who
were under the power of an awful
brain storm. These men We're set free
from their peril and suffering by a
word of power, the demons which
possessed then being hurled into the
deep by the fiat of the King. Mysteri-
Gus? Yes. Incomprehensible? fos-
sibly. But the fact remains that when
men ask for the credentials of Him
who comes claiming to be the King of
all Kingdoms, this Christ of the New
| Testament can produce them. His
word is power. His look is authority.
His attraction is universal. He is in
world. but not of it. Great matt re,
which is the master of ordinary men,
recognizes His authority, the wind
and the sea obey Him." and "the
Prince of the Power OF the Air" and
ali his legions, ground the weapons of
their rebellion at His feet, and retreat
in abject terror to their subterranean
abodes.
Therefore, whenever the King of
the invisible world came in contact