28. And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.

29. And he said, Come.

And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.

30. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.

31. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?

IV. PETER'S NEW EXPERIENCE ON A STORMY SEA, vs. 28-33. When Jesus had spoken his words of cheer, but before the wind or waves had begun to calm down, Peter said to Jesus, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come to thee on the water. Commentators have given various reasons for Peter's request, some of them, - like pride, conceit, de

sire to outdo the

29. And Jesus said, Come. Make the trial, it is possible for you walk on the water as I do. Jesus knew that by permitting him to make the trial Peter would learn some very important and needed lessons.

And Peter stepped over the side of the boat, and walked on the water, how far we do not know. But when he looked

away

from Jesus at the

boisterous winds

Taddeo Gaddi. (Frescoes in Santa Maria Novella, Florence.)
Peter Walking on the Sea.

and waves, he was afraid, he failed in courage, and cried out, Lord, save me! This shows that he still had faith in Jesus. "As long as Peter looked at Jesus only, he rose by faith over the elements of nature; but as soon as he looked away from Jesus to the boisterous waves, he began to doubt, to despond, and to sink." Prof. Schaff. 31. And immediately. Mark the "immediately ; Jesus did not delay. Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, lifted him up into the boat. It was not

32. And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased.

33. Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God.

Peter's laying hold of Christ, it was Christ's laying hold of him, that bore him up. In our extremity it is not our hold of Jesus, but his of us, on which our trust resteth. Our hand is weak, but his is strong. While Jesus held his hand Peter could now walk on the rough water. And Jesus said, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?

32. And when they, Jesus with Peter, were come into the ship, boat, the wind ceased. John adds that they willingly received him after seeing his dealing with Peter, and immediately they reached the boat, and the wind ceased.

The Effect on the Disciples, v. 33; Mark 6: 51, 52. Mark "reflects on the astonishment of the Twelve as blameworthy in view of the recent feeding of the multitudes. The evangelist seems anxious to show how much the Twelve needed the instruction to which in the sequel Jesus gives himself more and more.' Exp. Grk. Test. The disciples had left the place of the feeding of the five thousand before they fully realized the greatness of the miracle of the loaves. They were amazed above measure at the sudden ceasing of the storm.

66

Matthew says that when the wind ceased they that were in the ship (boat), that is the disciples, came and worshipped him, saying,

Of a truth thou art the Son of God.

This was the completed result of the two miracles just wrought.
V. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS TO MODERN TIMES.

1. This miracle goes down the centuries as a lesson in Christ's School of Faith, whenever we are in the storms of trouble, disaster, disease, and danger.

In the early days of Britain Cuthbert left his sheep and went to preaching Christ. One day, on the sea with three companions, he was tossed by a storm upon a dreary shore, and his comrades cried to him:

"Cuthbert, let us perish, hope is o'er. The furious tempest shuts the water path; The snow-storm binds us on the bitter land.""

Now, wherefore, friends, have ye so little faith?" God's servant said, and, stretching forth his hand toward heaven,

"He lifted up his reverent eyes and spake,

'I thank thee, Lord, the way is open there. No storm above our heads in wrath shall break

And shut the heavenward path of love and prayer.'"

2. In every life there are contrary winds, opposing our progress, interfering with our hopes, fierce temptations urging us from our course of duty. Every mariner on the sea of life faces these contrary winds, even in childhood, - hard duties, heavy burdens, sickness and pain, trials of our strength, trials of our temper, disappointments, poverty, failures, and a hundred other storms.

"And thou must sail upon this sea a long, eventful voyage. The wise may suffer wreck,
The foolish must. Oh, then, be early wise!"

See the series of pictures by Cole, entitled "The Voyage of Life," representing the four periods of life, Childhood, Youth, Manhood, and Old Age.

3. The same thing is true of the Church and the Cause of Christ on earth. Recall through what dangers it has passed, what persecutions have almost wrecked it, what false professors have almost sunk it from within; what enemies of every kind have assailed it as with tornadoes and whirlwinds; how it has had to resist false doctrines and perverted truths, and wolves in sheep's clothing that would eat out its heart. (1)" The boat is the church of Christ, and it sails across the ocean of the world's history to the other side' of the life beyond the grave.' Ellicott. "Ours is a ship on a voyage, not a ship in the harbor; a ship in progress." - Macdonald.

"Not thine, nor mine, to question or reply

When he commands us, asking 'how?' or 'why?'
He knows the cause; His ways are wise and just.

Who serves the King must serve with perfect trust." - Henry van Dyke.

(2) The disciples are in the boat toiling and laboring anxiously to take the boat to the place where the Lord commanded.

(3) The Lord Jesus Christ is watching his disciples in all their struggles and dangers. He cares that they are troubled and weary, and when the right time comes he will come to them.

"What can it mean? Is it aught to Him,

That the nights are long and the days are dim?
Can He be touched by the griefs I bear,
Which sadden the heart, and whiten the hair?
About His throne are eternal calms,
And strong, glad music of many psalms,
And bliss unbaffled by any strife;

How can he care for my little life?

And yet I want Him to care for me

While I live in this world, where the sorrows be.
When the lights die down from the path I take,
When strength is feeble, and friends forsake,
When love and music, that once did bless,
Have left me to silence and loneliness,
And my life song changes to sobbing prayers,
Then my spirit cries out for a God who cares.

"When shadows hang over the whole day long,
And my spirit is bowed with shame and wrong;
When I am not good and the deeper shade
Of conscious sin makes my heart afraid

And the busy world has too much to do
To stay in its course to help me through,
And I long for a Saviour can it be
That the God of the universe cares for me?

"O, wonderful story of deathless love,
Each child is dear to that heart above;
He fights for me when I cannot fight,
He comforts me in the gloom of night,
He lifts the burden, for he is strong,
He stills the sigh and awakens the song;
The sorrow that bowed me down, He bears,
And loves and pardons, because He cares.
"Let all who are sad take heart again,
We are not alone in our hours of pain;
Our Father stoops from His throne above
To soothe and quiet us with his love;
He leaves us not when the strife is high,
And we have safety, for He is nigh.
Can it be trouble, which He doth share?
O, rest in peace, for the Lord does care.'

"Casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you." (1 Pet. 57.)

Anon.

(4) The tempest against which the disciples were striving represents the storms of persecution, of opposition, of worldliness, of false doctrine, and every opposing force which the great enemy of good

can excite against the people of

God.

(5) "A ship in the sea is safe so long as the sea is not in the ship. The church is safe in the world so long as the world is not in the church."

(6) Our hope lies not in the absence of danger, but in the presence of Christ, who is able to control the storm. No church with Christ in it can be wrecked or lost. More of the living Christ, more of his love, more of his teaching, more faith in him, more prayer to him, more of his Holy Spirit, more of his holy life these are the salvation and hope of the church.

4. Our Country is a ship in the midst of storms of every sort. So long as we keep

(Representing the Unseen Guardian.)

Christ in our country, so long shall we be safe even in the midst of turmoil without, and treason within. Present conditions do not mean that Christ is powerless, and Christianity is a failure. They mean that there has never been enough of Christ and Christianity in the nations; Christianity has been so adulterated with worldly policies, and so diluted with hypocrisy, self-seeking, and worldliness, there has been so much thought of advancement in the honors of the world rather than in those of the kingdom of heaven, that the power of Christianity as a preservative has not been seen among the nations. When we are ready as a nation to let the power of Christ rule our business and politics, as it does the private life of so many thousands, then our country will have weathered the storms that are around her, Christ will have come into the ship, and the wind will cease.

TEMPERANCE LESSON. Jeremiah 35: 1-8, 12-14 a, 18, 19.

WORLD'S TEMPERANCE SUNDAY.

Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all

to the glory of God. -I COR. 10:31.

Primary Topic: A TRUE TEMPERANCE STORY.

Lesson Material: Jer. 35: 1-8, 12-14 a, 19.

Memory Verse: They said, We will drink no wine.

Junior Topic: WHAT ALCOHOL DOES.

Memory Verses: Prov. 23: 31, 32.

Intermediate Topic: THE CLEAN, STRONG LIFE.

Senior and Adult Topic: OUR PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR TEMPERANCE REFORM.

The younger scholars will, of course, need the application of the lesson to their personal life. They will need training, so that when they reach the age of real responsi- IV. bility they will have maintained for so long the clean, strong, life habits, that the future of the country will be safe in their hands.

obtainable will differ in different parts of the country. These, however, will be of great interest as showing the progress of the cause during its discussion in Congress, and in the several States.

F.R.S., and Mary Sturge, M.D. Fifth are too numerous to name, and those edition, 1916. (Macmillan Co.) A Compendium of Temperance Truth, by Edith S. Davis, Litt.D. A collection of statements concerning alcohol, prohibition, and legal decisions, to afford all-round information, especially to pupils. (National Woman's Christian Temperance Union, Evanston, Ill.)

Magazines, newspapers, etc., published during 1917 and following years. These

Novels on Temperance: The Enemy, by The Chesters. Little Sir Galahad, by Phoebe Gray. The Right of Way, by Sir Gilbert Parker. The Man who Forgot, by James Hay, Jr.

I. THE KINGDOM OF JUDAH NEARING ITS END. The sins, the crimes, the wrongs, the disobedience to God, which were prevalent, and growing, in the Kingdom of Judah were ruining the nation. Jeremiah, the prophet of the fall of Judah, draws a terrible picture of the condition of the people, of the prevalence of dishonesty, of open licentiousness, of murder, adultery, false swearing, treachery, and slander. They were faithless to God. They repeatedly broke their covenant with him. They forgot him. They worshipped the idols of the heathen, one of the chief attractions of which consisted in the sports, the revelry, the licentious freedom, appealing to every passion, with which idols were worshipped. In the revels of the idolaters there was no restraint, no confession of sin, no costly sacrifices, except to passion; but they could serve every evil in the name and under the sanction of their gods. They have shed innocent blood." They have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands." "And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire unto Molech ; which I commanded them not.'

Thus at this time Judah was on the verge of ruin. They were like a ship sailing down a stream growing more and more rapid as they drew near the falls.

"The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.

"For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt; I am black; astonishment hath taken hold upon me.

"Is there no balm in Gilead? is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?" (Jer. 8: 20-22.)

"The mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small;

Though with patience he stands waiting, with exactness grinds he all."

Nebuchadnezzar was knocking at their very doors.

II. JEREMIAH'S EFFORTS TO SAVE HIS COUNTRY. Jeremiah lived in this most critical time in the history of the Israelites. He was of a gentle, sensitive nature, shrinking from public life, yet brave and faithful.

Jeremiah interferes peremptorily in the foreign politics of the nation; not less actively in all internal questions, the size of estates, the low wage of the laborer, the rate of interest taken, the morals of priests and prophets, the violence of the lawless among the nobles, and whatever else, for the time, was a prominent evil in the community. He never speaks, moreover, as a mere adviser, but always commands obedience to his words as really those of Jehovah." Geikie.

"It is difficult to conceive any situation more painful than that of a great man, condemned to watch the lingering agony of an exhausted country, to tend it during the alternate fits of stupefaction and raving which precede its dissolution, and to see the symptoms of vitality disappear one by one, till nothing is left but coldness, darkness, and corruption." Lord Macaulay.

or

Jeremiah was unpopular. No man can attack the evils of a whole nation, of any considerable portion of a nation, - without becoming extremely unpopular. We have seen it in our own day; and it has been a fact through all the history of the world. Jeremiah's sensitive nature made it all the harder for him to stand firm against all the people of the land. Yet this he did, and this is what shows his real courage. Some one reported to Napoleon that one of his officers turned pale when ordered to a dangerous duty. "That officer," replied Napoleon, "is one of the bravest in the whole army; he sees most clearly the danger, but will do his duty in spite of it."

Jeremiah was sustained while alone and unpopular. Why? Because he knew that God and the angels and the universe were on his side, though unseen.