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great calm! Having delivered them out of their distress, he reproved his disciples for their faithless alarms; and it is added, that "They feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?"

In considering this narrative allegorically, as illustrative of the character and experience of believers and of the dealings of God with them, may the divine Spirit assist and bless our meditations! If we are hitherto unacquainted with the only refuge amidst the storms of life, may we now discover it! and if we know it already by sweet experience, may we gain a more clear perception of it, and have grace to fly thither with more confident expectation of security and repose!

The whole passage, from the 37th verse to the 41st inclusive, is capable of spiritual illustration. We are told that Jesus having sent the multitudes away, entered into a ship, "and there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full."* SEE

HERE AN APT THOUGH COMMON EMBLEM OF THE EXPERIENCE OF EVERY TRUE BELIEVER, AND OF THE CHURCH OF GOD AT LARGE! They are often "tossed with tempests and not comforted." The personal presence of the Lord Jesus Christ in the days of his flesh did not exempt the

* Ver. 37.

disciples from the common vicissitudes of life; they were hungry, and thirsty, and poor and weary, and on the occasion before us were liable to the imminent peril of losing their lives by shipwreck. So the faithful followers of the Lamb have in every age partaken of the common lot of the children of Adam-all of them are "born to trouble as the sparks fly upward." Nay more; the servants of God are generally described as pre-eminent in affliction; they not only share in the trials common to all, but they have sufferings peculiar to themselves: many a storm and many a tempest falls on them which passes over the rest of the world. While the unbeliever prospers in his secular affairs, and can buy and sell and get gain, and while he and his household are exempted from sickness and death, he is happy and contented; he has his reward, and his carnal mind rests in the enjoyment of carnal things. But the believer may possess all these advantages in an equal or higher degree, he may have wealth and temporal ease, and prosperity, and he may be to many the object of envy, while his very existence is embittered by anxious doubts and fears. Spiritual trials, temptations, and perplexities are often allotted to those servants of God who prosper in the world, while those who are afflicted from without, enjoy more peace from within. This however is certain, and the experience of every true believer attests it, that the servants

of God individually, and the church of God collectively, may be characterised as an afflicted and poor people; tossed as a vessel on the billows of life, and pursued by many a fearful tempest, till their hearts fail them for fear. Thus the little frail bark, containing Jesus and his disciples, driven to and fro on the waves of the lake of Gennesareth, is an apt emblem of both.

But in these trying circumstances, when the hearts of his disciples were failing them for fear, where was their Lord? "He was in the hinder part of the ship ASLEEP upon a pillow!"* This circumstance admits of a twofold illustration First, an example to be imitated: behold Jesus calmly sleeping in the midst of this fearful storm, and while the ship was filling with waves! Had his people adequate faith and confidence in him they might be equally composed amidst all the storms and tempests which overtake them. Could they realize the presence of Jesus, and with an enlightened eye discern his wisdom, power, and love, controlling every storm, whether it threaten their personal safety or the security of the church of God at large, how composed and resigned might they be! How little terrified by the threats of their enemies, or the inconsistencies of false friends! How little shaken by the temptations of Satan or the corrupt workings of their own hearts!

* Ver 38.

VOL. II.

"None of these things would move them;" they would pursue their course undisturbed through the active duties of the day, and they would sweetly sleep at night, exclaiming with the psalmist, "I laid me down and slept, I awaked, for the Lord sustained me; I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people that have set themselves against me round about."*

But while the composure of Jesus on this occasion affords an example for the imitation of his people in similar circumstances, his apparent indifference in such a moment of trial, when his disciples were in so great terror and confusion, may illustrate some of the mysterious ways of God both in providence and grace. It is evident from the language which the disciples used when they awoke their Lord, that they thought him indifferent to their fears and their sufferings; "Master, carest thou not that we perish?" And thus it is that the Lord sometimes appears to sleep when his church. is in danger; and to withdraw himself from his people when they most need his help and presence! They cry, but "he makes as though he heard them not!" As he passed on when the blind men called after him, as he for a while neglected the urgent intreaties of the Syrophenician woman, so there are seasons when he seems indifferent to the sorrows, and regardless of the sighs, of his people. He hides himself from them; they seek

* Psalm iii. 5, 6.

him, but cannot find him; "they go forward, but he is not there, and backward, but they cannot perceive him;" and then indeed, like the disciples in the history before us, then "are they sore afraid;" they are troubled in spirit; their confidence wherein they trusted has failed them; the most painful forebodings of ultimate destruction crowd into their minds: they doubt all their former sincerity, and seem to be on the very brink of despair. These are the storms most dreaded by christian mariners. Temporal afflictions, the loss of health, or property, or friends, are comparatively supportable, if the presence and favour of God sweeten the trials; “but a wounded spirit who can bear?" What reproach so bitter as selfreproach? What loss is equal to the loss of the favour of God, when once that favour has really been felt and experienced? What pain of body is equal to the sufferings of a troubled soul? See the terrified disciples running to Jesus and awaking him, saying, "Lord, carest thou not that we perish?" It is an accurate representation of the confusion and dismay which prevail in the soul of him who suffers from the hidings of God's countenance! Jesus sleeps-indifferent to their fears the Lord hides himself from his tried and tempted servant! The winds and the waves are boisterous; his frail bark is ready to sink-What can he do? whither shall he fly?

To whom did the terrified disciples betake

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