386. The Tempest Hushed

The Tempest Hushed

Mar_4:36-39 : ’93And there were also with him other little ships, and there arose a great storm of wind… And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.’94

Tiberias, Galilee, Gennesaret’97three names for the same lake. No other gem ever had so beautiful a setting. It lay in a scene of great luxuriance: the surrounding hills high, terraced, sloped, groved, so many hanging gardens of beauty; the water rumbling down between rocks of gray and red limestone, flashing from the hills and bounding into the sea. On the shore were castles, armed towers, Roman baths, everything attractive and beautiful; all styles of vegetation in shorter space than in almost any other space in all the world, from the palm-tree of the forest to the trees of a 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 sailing the lake, and countrymen in fishing-smacks coming down to drop their nets, pass each other with nod and shout and laughter, or swinging idly at their moorings. Oh, what a wonderful, what a beautiful lake!

It seems as if we shall have a quiet night. Not a leaf winks in the air; not a ripple disturbs 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 with deadly armament, nor clipper with valuable merchandise, nor piratic vessels ready to destroy every thing they could seize; but a flotilla, bearing messengers of life and light 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 the starboard to the larboard, or from the larboard to the 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’92s coat. I think no sooner is Christ prostrate, and his head has 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 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 boats glide over gentle Gennesaret. But the sailors say there is going to be a change of weather. And even the passengers can hear the moaning of the storm, as it comes on with long stride, with all the terrors of hurricane and darkness. The large boat trembles like a deer at bay trembling at the clangor of the hounds; great patches of foam are flung into the air; the sails of the vessels, loosened, in the strong winds crack like pistols; the smaller boats like petrels poise on the cliff of the waves and then plunge.

The bell struck two, as with thunder-crash; and overboard go cargo, tackling and masts, and the drenched disciples rush into the back part of the boat, and lay hold of Christ, and say unto him: ’93Master, carest thou not that we perish?’94 That great personage lifts his head from the pillow of the fisherman’92s 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 men. By the flash of the lightning I see the calm brow of Christ as the spray dropped from his beard. He has not one word for the sky, and another word for the waves. Looking upward he cries, ’93Peace!’94 Looking downward he says, ’93Be still.’94 The waves fall flat on their faces, the foam melts, the extinguished stars relight their torches. The tempest falls dead, and Christ stands with his foot on the neck of the storm. And while the sailors are bailing out the 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 of the Saviour’92s countenance, they cry out: ’93What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?’94

The subject in the first place impresses me with the fact that it is very important to have Christ in the ship; for all those boats would have gone to the bottom of Gennesaret if Christ had not been present. Oh, what a lesson for you and for me to learn! We must always have Christ in the ship. Whatever voyage we undertake, into whatever enterprise we start, let us always have Christ in the ship. Many of you in these days of revived commerce are starting out in new financial enterprises. I bid you good cheer. Do all you can do. Do it on as high a plane as possible. You have no right to be a stoker in the ship if you can be an admiral of the navy. You have no right to be colonel of a regiment if you can command a brigade; you have no right to be engineer of a boat between river-banks, or near the coast, if you can take the ocean steamer from New York to Liverpool. All you can do with utmost tension of body, mind, and soul, you are bound to do; but have Christ in every enterprise, Christ in every voyage, Christ in every ship.

There are men here who ask God to help them at the start 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 Mount 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 enterprise, and he depends upon the uncertainties of this life. He has no God to help him. After a while the storm comes, and tosses off the masts of the ship; he puts out his life-boat, and the long-boat; the sheriff and the auctioneer try to help him off; they cannot help him off; he must go down; no Christ in the ship. Here are young men just starting out in life. Your life will be made up of sunshine and shadow. There may be in it arctic blasts, or tropical tornadoes; I know not what is before you, but I know if you have Christ with you all shall be well.

You may seem to get along without the religion of Christ while everything goes smoothly, but after a while, when sorrow hovers over the soul, when the waves of trial dash forward midship, when by one turn of the wheel you are hurled backward, and the bowsprit is shivered, and the halliards are swept into the sea, and the gangway is crowded with piratical disasters’97oh, what would you do then without Christ in the ship? Young man, take God for your portion, God for your guide, God for your help; then all is well; all is well for time, all shall be well forever. Blessed is that man who puts in the Lord his trust. He shall never be confounded.

But my subject also impresses me with the fact that when people start to follow Christ, they must not expect smooth sailing. These disciples got into the small boats, and I have no doubt they said, ’93What a beautiful day this is! What a smooth sea! 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.’94 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 I have found it. Did you ever notice the end of the life of the apostles of Jesus Christ? You would say that 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 hanged to death on a pillar. St. Matthew had his life dashed out with a halbert. St. James the Less was beaten to death with a fuller’92s club. St. Thomas was struck through with a spear. St. Peter was crucified with his head downward. They did not find following Christ smooth sailing. How they were all tossed in the tempest! John Huss in the fire; Hugh McKail in the hour of martyrdom; the Albigenses, the Waldenses, the Scotch Covenanters’97did they find it smooth sailing?

But why go to history when I can come into this audience and find a score of illustrations of the truth of this subject. That young man in the store trying to serve God, while his employer scoffs at Christianity, the young men in the same store antagonistic to the Christian religion, teasing him, tormenting him about his religion, trying to make him mad. If they succeed in getting him mad, then saying, ’93You’92re a pretty Christian.’94 Does this young man find it smooth sailing when he tries to follow Christ? Here is 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, ’93Who are those nearest the throne?’94 and the answer came back: ’93They are they who came up out of great tribulation’94’97great flailing, as the original has it; great flailing, great pounding’97’94and had their robes washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb.’94 Do not be disheartened, O child of God! take courage. You are in glorious companionship. God will see you through all these 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: ’93Master, carest thou not that we perish?’94 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, ’93Just look at the bad lectures; look at the Spiritualistic societies; look at the various errors spreading through the Church of God; we are going to founder.’94

Oh, how many good people are affrighted by unbelieving iniquity in our day, and think the Church of Jesus Christ and the cause of righteousness are going to be overthrown, and are just as much affrighted as the disciples of my text were affrighted. Do not worry, do not fret, as though iniquity were going to triumph over righteousness. A lion goes into a cavern to sleep. He lies down, with his shaggy mane covering the paws. Meanwhile the spiders spin a web across the mouth of the cavern, and say, ’93We have captured him.’94 Gossamer thread after gossamer thread is spun until the whole front of the cavern is covered with the spiders’92 web, and the spiders say, ’93The lion is done; the lion is fast.’94 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 spiders’92 web is spun, and with his voice he shakes the mountain. So men come, spinning their sophistries and skepticism about Jesus Christ; he seems to be sleeping. They say, ’93We have shut up the Lord; he will never come forth again before the nations; Christ is captured, and captured forever.’94 But after a while the Lion of the tribe of Judah will rouse himself and come forth to shake mightily the nations. What’92s a spider’92s web to the aroused lion? Give truth and error a fair grapple, and truth will come off victor.

But there are a great many people who get scared in other respects; they are affrighted in our day about revivals. They say, ’93Oh! this is a strong religious gale; we are afraid the Church of God is going to upset, and there are going to be a great many people brought into the church that are going to be of no use to it;’94 and they are affrighted whenever they see a revival taking hold of the churches. As though a ship-captain with five thousand bushels of wheat for a cargo should say, some day, coming upon deck, ’93Throw overboard all the cargo;’94 and the sailors should say, ’93Why, captain, what do you mean? Throw over all the cargo?’94 ’93Yes,’94 says the captain, ’93We 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.’94 Now, that is a great deal wiser than the talk of a great many Christians who want to throw overboard all the thousands and tens of thousands of souls who seem to be tending that way. Throw all overboard because they are brought into the Kingdom of God through great revivals, because there is a peck of chaff, a quart of chaff, a pint of chaff! I say, let them stay until the last day; the Lord will divide the chaff from the wheat.

Would that gales from heaven might sweep through all our churches! Oh, for such days as Richard Baxter saw in England and Robert McCheyne saw in Dundee! Oh, for such days as Jonathan Edwards saw in Northampton! I have often heard my father tell of the 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, ’93You are going to bring too many people into the church at once;’94 and they sent down to New Brunswick to get John Livingston to stop the revival. Well, there was no better soul in all the world than John Livingston. He went up; he looked at the revival; they wanted him to stop it. He stood in the pulpit on the Sabbath, and looked over the solemn auditory, and he said: ’93This, brethren, is in reality the work of God; beware how you try to stop it.’94 And he was an old man, leaning heavily on his staff’97a very old man. And he lifted that staff, and took hold of the small end of the staff, and began to let it fall very slowly through, between the finger and the thumb, and he said: ’93Oh, thou impenitent, thou art falling now’97falling away from life, falling away from peace and heaven, falling as certainly as that cane is falling through my hand’97falling certainly, though perhaps falling very slowly.’94 And the cane kept on falling through John Livingston’92s 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’92s hand, and he clasped it stoutly and said, ’93But the grace of God can stop you, as I stopped that cane;’94 and then there was gladness all through the house at the fact of pardon and peace and salvation. ’93Well,’94 said the people after the service, ’93I guess you had better send Livingston home; he is making the revival worse.’94 Oh, for great awakenings and Christ on board the ship. The danger of the Church of God is not in revivals.

Again, my subject impresses me with the fact that Jesus was God and man in the same being. Here he is in the back part of the boat. 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’97bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh. Tired, he falls asleep; he is a man. But then I find Christ at the prow of the boat; I hear him say, ’93Peace, be still;’94 and I see the storm kneeling at his feet, and the tempests folding their wings in his presence; he is a God. If I have sorrow, and want sympathy, I go and kneel down at the back part of the boat, and say, ’93O Christ! weary one of Gennesaret, sympathize with all my sorrows, man of Nazareth, man of the cross.’94 A man, a man. But if I want to conquer my spiritual foes, if I 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, ’93O Lord Jesus Christ, thou who dost hush the tempest, hush all temptations, hush all my sins.’94 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 ruin. The disciples had given up the idea of managing the ship; the crew were entirely demoralized; 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’97the sweetest child of the household, the one who asked the most curious questions, and 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 since been like a desolated castle, the owls of the night hooting among the falling rafters 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, does not look as well 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, ’93I had so much bank stock, I had so many government securities, I had so many houses, I had so many farms’97all gone, all gone.’94 Why, sir, no storm that ever swept the sea has been worse than this has been to you. Yet you have not been completely overthrown. Why? Christ hushed the tempest. When your little one was taken away, Christ said, ’93I have that little one in my arms. I can care for him as well as you can, better than you can, O bereaved mother!’94 Hushing the tempest. When your property went away, God said, ’93There are treasures in heaven, in banks that never break.’94 So you will find Jesus hushing the tempest.

There is one storm into which we will all have to run, the moment when we are about to let go of this life, and try to take hold of the next. Yonder I see a Christian soul rocking on the surges of death; all the powers of darkness seem let out against him’97the swirling wave, the thunder of the sky, the screaming wind, all seem to unite in that exigency; but that soul is not troubled; there is no sighing, there are no tears; plenty of tears in the room at the departure, but he weeps no tears, calm, satisfied, peaceful; all is well. Jesus hushing the tempest. By the flash of the storm you see the harbor just ahead, and you are making for that harbor. All shall be well. Hushing the tempest. Strike eight bells.

Into the harbor of heaven now we glide;

We’92re home at last, home at last.

Softly we drift on its bright, silv’92ry tide,

We’92re home at last, home at last.

Glory to God, all our dangers are o’92er,

We stand secure on the glorified shore;

Glory to God, we will shout evermore,

We’92re home at last, home at last.

Autor: T. De Witt Talmage