Rensselaer Republican, Volume 22, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 December 1889 — IN CAPERNAUM. [ARTICLE]

IN CAPERNAUM.

Dr. Talmage’s Eloquent Words Again Heard in the Holy Land. He Talka About “The Stormy Passage” Across Lake Galilee and Draws Many a Moral to Adorn His Sermon—lnspiration from Bocks. Rev. T. De Witt Talmage preached in Capernaum last Sunday to a group of friends on the “Stormy Passage,” taking for his text the verses of the gospel following : John vi, 17: “Entered into a ship, and went over the sea toward Capernaum ;” and Mark iv, 39: “And he arose and rebuked the wind and the sea.” He said: Here in this seashore village 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! It has been the wish of my life—l cannot say the hope, for I never expected the privilege—to stand on the banks of Galilee. *V'hat a solemnity and what a rapture to be here! 1 can now understand the feeling of the immortal Scotchman, Robert McCheyne, when, sitting on the banks of this lake, he wrote: It is not that the wild gazelle Conies 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 o’er thee. —■ I can now easily understand from the contour of the country that bounds this lake that storms wore easily tempted to make these waters their playground. From the gentle way this lake treated our boat when we sailed on it yesterday, one would have thought it incapable of a paroxysm of rage, but it was quite different on both occasions spoken of in my two texts. 1 close my eyes, and the shore of Lake Galilee as it now is, with but little signs of human life, disappears, and there comes back to my vision the lake as it was in Christ’s time. It lay in a scene of great luxuriance; the surrounding hills, terraced, sloped, grooved, so many hanging gardens of beauty. On the shore were castles, armed towers, Roman baths, everything attractive and beautiful—all styles of vegetation in shorter —space than in almostrany other spaceinthe world, from the palm tree of the forest to the trees of rigorous climate. It seemed as if the Lord had launched one wave of beauty on all the scene, and it hung and swung from rock and hill and oleander. Roman gentlemen in pleasure boats sail in g this Take, and co u n try me n in fish smacks coming down to drop their nets, pass each other with nod and shout and laughter, or swinging idly at their moorings. O, what a beautiful scene ! It seems as if we shall have a quiet night. Not a leaf winked in the air; not a ripple disturbed the face of Gennesaret; but there seems to be a little excitement up the beach, and we hasten to see what it is, and we find it an embarkation. From the western shore a flotilla pushing out; not a squadron, or deadly arm unent, nor clipper with valuable merchandise, nor piratic vessels ready to destroy everything they could seize, but a flotilla, bearing messengers of life and peace. Christ is in the front of the boat. His disciples are in a smaller boat. 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 lo larboard, or from larboard to starboard, the boat would rock, and by the gentleness of the motion putting the Master asleep. And they extemporized a pillow made out of a fisherman's coat. I think no sooner is Christ prostrate, and his head touched the pillow, th,m 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. 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 Gennesaret. But the sailors say there is going to be a change of weather. And even the passengers can bear the moaning of the storm, as it comes on with great stride, and all the terrors of hurricane and darkness. The large boat trembles like a deer at bay 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 llke-splstols; the smaller boats like petrels poise on the cliffs of the waves and then plunge. Overboard go cargo, tackling and masts, and the drettcbed disciples rush into the back part of the boat, and lay hold of Christ, and say unto him: “Master, oarest thou not that we perish?” That great personage lifts his head from the pillowof 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 drowning man. the lightning I see the calm brow of Christ as the spray dropped from his beard. He nas one word for the sky and another for the waves. Looking upward ho cries: “Peace!” Looking downward he says: "Bo still!” The waves fall flat on their faces, tbo foam melts, the extinguished stars re ight their torches. The tempest falls dead and Christ stands with his feet on the neck of the storm. And while the sailors are bailing out tho boats, and while they are trying to untangle the cordage, the disciples stand in amazement, now looking into the calm sea, then into the calm sky, then into the calm Saviour’s countenance, und they cry out: “What manner of man is this, that: even the winds and the sea obey him?” The subject in the first place impresses me with tho fact that it is very important to have Christ in the ship; for all those boats would bavo gone to the bottom of the Gennesaret if Christ had not been present Oh, what a lesson for you and for me to learn I W e must always have Christ , in the ship. V'. hat ever voyage we under- i take, into whatever enterprise we start, let us always have Christ in the ship. All you can do with utmost tension of body, mind, and soul, you arc bound to do; but oh! have Christ in every enterprise, Christ in every voyage, There are men who ask God’s help at tho beginning of great enterprises. He has been with them in the past; no trouble can overthrow them; the storms might come down from the top of Mo mt Hermon, and lash Gennesaret into foam and into agony, but it could not hurt them. But here is another man who starts out in worldly onterprls-', and hi depends upon the uncertainties of th a life. He has no God to h.-lp him. After a white the itorm comes and tosses oflPthe masts of the ship; he p its out his life-boat and the long boat; the sheriff and the auctioneer try to help him off; he musSgo down no Christ in the ship. Your life will bo male up of sun th no and shadows. There may bo in it Areth: bl.ista or tropi-al torn does; I know not what is .wt'oi-e yo i, but I know if you have Christ wit i you all sh ill be well. You rnay seem to got alon; witho it the relig on of Christ whil j evaryt ling roes smotthly, but after awhile, when sorrow ho- ere over the so I, when the waves of trial dash clonr over the hurrt-sn> d •ck. and the decks are crowded with piratical

disasters—oh, what would you ‘do then I without Christ in the ship? Take God for yourportion. God, for your guide, God for your help; then-ail is well; all is well for time, all is wen forever. Blessed is that man who puts in the Lord his trust He shall never be confounded. But my subject also imnresses me with the fact that when people start to follow Christ they must not expect smooth sailing. “* These dictples got into the small boats, and I have no doubt they said: “What a beautiful day this is! What a bright sky this is! How delightful is sailing in this boat. And as for the waves under the keel of the boat, why they only make the motion of our little boat the more delightful.” But When the winds swept down and the sea was tossed into wrath, then they found that following Christ was not smooth sailing. So you have found it ;so 1 have found it. Did you ever notice the end of the life of the apostles of Jesus Christ? You would say, if ever men ought to have had a smooth life, a smooth departure, then those ! men, the disciples of Jesus Christ, ought to have had such a departure and such a life. St. James lost his head. St. Philip was hung to death on a pillar. St. Matthew had his life dashed out with a halbert. St. Mark was dragged to death through the streets. St. James the Less was beaten to death with a tuller’s club. St. Thomas was struck through with a spear. They did not find following Christ smooth sailing. Oh, how they all tossed in the tempest! John Huss in the fire; Hugh MeKail in the hour of martyrdom; the Albigenses, the Waldenses, the Scotch Covenanters—did they find it smooth saillUg? But why go into history when we can draw from our own memory illustrations of the truth of what I say? Some young man in a store trying to serve God, while his employer scoffs at Christianity; the young men tn the same store, antagonistic to the Christian religion, teasing him tormenting him about his religion, trying to get him mad. They succeeded in getting him mad, saying, “You’re a pretty Christian!” Does that young man find it smooth sailing When he tries to follow Christ? Or you remember a Christian girl. Her father despises the Christian religion; her mother despises the Christian religion; her brothers and sisters scoff at the Christian religion; she can hardly find a quiet place in which to say her prayers. Did she find it smooth sailing when she tried to follow Jesus Christ? Oh, no! All who would live the life of the Christian religion must suffer persecution; if you do not find it in one way, you will get it in another way. The question was asked: “vv ho are those who are nearest the throne!” And the answer eame back: “These are they who came up out of great tribulation—great flailing, as the original has it; great flailing, great pounding—ami had their robes washed and made white in the blood of the lamb?’ Oh, do not be disheartened! Take courage. You aro in glorious companionship. Gud will see you through all trials and he will deliver you. My subject also impresses me with the fact that good people sometimes get very much frightened. In the tones of these disciples as they rushed into the back part of the boat, I find they are frightened almost to death. They say: “Master, carest thou not that we perish!” They had no reason to be frightened, for Christ was in the boat. I suppose if we had been there we would have been just as much affrighted. Perhaps more. In all ages very good people get very much affrighted. It is often so in our day, and men say: “Why, look at the bad lectures; look at the various errors going over tho church of God; we aro going to founder; the church is going to perish; she is going down.” Oh how many good people are affrighted by, iniquity in our day, and think the church of Jesus Christ is going to be overthrown, and are just as much affrighted as were the disciples of my text. Don’t worry, don’t fret, as though iniquity were going to tri umph over righteousness. A lion goes into a cavern to sleep. He lies down, with his shaggy mane covering the paws. Meanwhilethe spiders spin a web across the mouth of the cavern and say, “ae have captured him.” Gossamer thread alter gossamer thread, untilths whole front ot' the cavern is covered with the spider’ s web, and the spiders say; “Toe lion is done; the lion is fast.” After a while the lion has got through sleeping; he rouses himself, he shakes his mane, he Walks out into the sunlight; he does not even know the spider’s web is spun, and with h.s voice he shakes-tlmmountain. Samon come spinning their sophistr.es and skepticism about Jesus Christ; he seems to be sleeping. They say: “We have captured the Lord; he will never come forth again upon the nution; Christis captured forever. His religion will never make any conquest among men.”’ But after a while tho Lion of the tribe of Judah will rouse himself and come forth to shake mightily the nations. What’s a spider’s web to the aroused lion? Give truth and error a fair grapple and truth will come off victor. But tbo> e are a great many good people who get affrighted in other respects; they aro affrighted in our day about revivals. They say: “Oh 1 this is a strong religious gale; we are afraid the church of God is going to be upset, and there are going to be a great many people brought intg the church that are go ng to be qf no use to it;” and they are affrighted whenever they see a revival taking hold of the churches. As though a ship captain, with flve thousand bushels of wheat for a cargo, should say some day, coming upon deck: “Throw overboard all the cargo;” and the sailors should say: “Why, captain, what do you moan? ’1 hrow over all tho cargo?" “Oh,” says tho oaptain, “we have a peck of chaff that has got into this five thousand bushels of wheat, and the only way to get rid of the chaff is to throw all the wheat overboard ” Now, th it Is a great deal wiser than ths talk of a great many Ciiristians wh > want to throw overboard all ths tho isands and tons of thousands of souls who are the subjects of revivals. Throw all overbo ird because they are bro ight into ths kingdom of God through great revivals, because there is a peck of chaff, .a quart of chaff, a pint of chaff I Isay, let th urn stay until the last day; the Lord will divide the chaff from the wheat. Do not be afraid of a great revival. Oh, th it such gales from heaven might sweep through all our ohurod >s I Oh, for such days as Richard Baxter saw in England, and Robert oCheyne saw in Dundee! Oh, lor such days as Jonathan Edwards saw in Northampton! 1 have ofien heard my father tall of tne fact that in the early part of this century a revival broke out at Somerville, N. J., and some people were very much agitated about it They said: "Oh. you nre going to brin ; too many people into the church at once;” and they sent down to New Brunswick to get John Livingston to stop the revival Well, there wis no better soul in all the world than John Livingston. He went an Ilo> cid it the revival; they w mtod him to ntos it He stood in the pulpit on the i-yibbath, and looked over the solemn auditor , and lie said: “This, brethren, is in reality tne work of Go I; eware how you try io stop it” And he was an oi l man leuniu' heavily on h g stuff —a very old man. And he lifto l that staff, and tok hol>l of th i u ill end of the staff, and began to let it fall slowly tareugh be-

[twebnthe finger and the thumb, and he said: “Oh, thou impenitent, thou art falling now—falling from life, falling away from peace and heaven, falling as certainly as that cane is falling through my handfalling- certainly, though perhaps falling slowly!” And the cane kept on falling through John Livingston’s hand. The religious emotion in the audience was overpowering, and men saw a type of their doom, as the cane kept falling and falling until the knob of the cane struck Mr. Livingston’s hand, and he elapsed it stoutly-and said: “But the grace of God can stop you as I stopped that cane;” and then there was gladness all through the house at the fact ot pardon and peace and salvation. “Well,” said the people after the service, “I guess you had better send Livingston home; he is making the revival worse.” Oh, for gales from heaven to sweep all the continents! The danger of the church of God is not in revivals. Again, my subject impressed me with tne fact that Jesus was God-and man in the same being. Here he is in the back part ot the boat. Oh, how tired he looks; what sad dreams he must have! Look at his countenance; He must be thinking of the cross to come. Look at him, he is a man—bone of our. bone, flesh ot our flesh. Tired, befalls asleep; he is a man. But then I find Christ at the prow of the boat; I hear him say: “Peace, be still; and I see the storm kneeling at his feet, and the tempests folding their wings in his presence; he is a ■ God. I If I have sorrow and trouble, and want [ sympathy, I go and kneel down at the back ' part of the boat and say: “Oh, Christ! weary one of Gennesaret, sympathze with all my sorrows, man of Nazareth, mau of the cross.” A man, a man. But if 1 want to get the victory over sin, death, and hell, I come to the front of .the boat, and I kneel down, and I say: “Oh, Lord Jesus Christ, thou who dost hush the tempest, hush all my grief, hush all my temptation, hush all my sin!” A man, a man; a God, a God. I learn once more from this subject that Christ can hush a tempest. It did seem as if everything must go to i ruin. The disciples had given up the idea of managing the ship; the crew were en-! tirely demolished; yet Christ rises, and he ' puts his foot on the storm, and it crouches at his feet, Oh, yes! Christ can hush the tempest. You have had trouble. Perhaps it was the little child taken away from you the sweetest child oTthe household, the One who asked the most curious questions, und stood around you with the greatest fondness, and the spade cut down through your bleeding heart. Perhaps it was an only son, and your heart has ever siuqe been like a desolated castle, the owls of the night hooting among the fallen arches [ and the crumbling stairways. Perhaps it; was an aged mother. You always went to her with your troubles. She was in your home to welcome your children into life, and when they died she was there to pity you; that old hand will do you no more kindness; that white lock of hair you put away In the casket or in the locket didn’t look as it usually did when she brushed it away from her wrinkled brow in the home circle or in the country church. Or your property gone, you said: “I have so much bank stock, I have so many government securities, I have so many houses, I have so many farms—all gone, all gone.” Why, sir, all the storms that ever trampled with their thunders, all the shipwrecks, have not been worse than this to you. Yet you have not been com pletely overthrown. Why! Christ says: “I have that little one in my keeping., I ban care for him as well as you can, better than , you can, O bereaved mother!” Hushing, the tempest. When your property went' away, God said: “There are treasures in 1 heaven, in banks that never break.” I Jesus hushing the tempest. There is ' one storm into which we will all have to run. The moment when we let go of this world and try to take hold of the next, we will want all the grace possible. Yonder I see a Christian soul rocking on the surg sos death; all the powers ot darkness seem let out against that soul—the swirling wave, the thunder of the sky, the shriek of the wintLail seem to unite together: but that soul is not troubled; there is no sighing, there are no tears; plenty of tears in the room at the departure, but ho weeps no tears-calm, satisfied and peaceful; all is well. By the flash of tho-storm you see the harbor just ahead, and you are making for that harbor. All shall be well, Jesus being our guide. Into the harbor of heaven now we glide; We’re homo at last, home at last. Softly we drift on the bright silv’ry tide, We re home at lasL— Glory to God! all our dangers are o’er. We stand secure on the glorified shore; Glory to God I we will shout evermore, We’re home at last.