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prayer.— Sei. May we not look upon His ascent of th is m ountain as a pic tu re of His ascension into heaven? His prayer on th e m ount as a shadow of H is heavenly intercession and these disciples off in a boat by them selves, are they no t a pictu re of th e church afte r Christ had gone to His F ath e r, launched on th e storm y sea of th is world?— Gibson. v. 24. Ship tossed w ith th e waves. D istressed as they were, Jesu s did not go to them a t once. He left them to b attle w ith th e waves while He con tinued in prayer. He helps us today by H is intercession though He may delay long before He comes m anifestly to our rescue.— Torrey. Mark adds the graphic p articu lar “He saw them toiling,” (6 :4 8 ) pu tting forth all th e ir streng th , bu t to little effect. He saw th is from His mountain top and th rough the darkness of the night, yet would He not go to th e ir relief un til His own tim e came.— Jam ieson. Sym bolically in terp reted , th is incident rep resents th e struggles of th e soul and of th e church w ith th e troubles of thè world, and th e succor which Christ gives in th e d ark est hou r of tem ptation and adversity.— Dummelow. Life has no smooth road for any one of us.—• Doane. W ind was contrary. It is noth ing new for C h rist’s disciples to run into con trary w inds in the very path of th e ir duty. Thus He m anifests Him self to them w ith more w onderful grace. — Ottman. v. 26. They cried o u t fo r fear. How often th u s we m iscall our chiefest mer cies, no t only* th ink ing them d istan t when they are near, bu t th ink ing the best th e worst.— J. F . & B. v. 29. H e said, Come. The boldest sp irits m ust w ait for the call to hazard ous enterprises and m ust not rash ly and impetuously th ru st themselves upon them .— Henry. If Jesus bids you come to Him on th e w ater, always believe th a t His commands are enabling and
keep looking to Him in th e storm .— Meyer. When P e te r was come. When you see P eter climbing down ou t of th a t boat, as one has said, w ith th e storm ligh t on his face and the spray in his hair, you get ju s t one glimpse of w hat P eter by th e grace of God was always m eant to be and w hat you and I by th e grace of God were m eant to be, a people filled w ith such vision of th e etern al Christ of God th a t all things seen and temporal fall away from us and u tte rly lose th e ir power to hamper or discourage us.— McNeill. No sea is too rough on which to ven tu re if th e eyes are on Christ and He has said, “ Come.”— Summarized Bible. He w alked on th e w ater. So faith in the Lord’s streng then ing and upholding power conducts us securely over the ag itated sea of a sinful life, b u t assu r edly it too often happens th a t the weakness of th is faith sinks down into th e w aters.— Olshausen. The steps of faith fall on the seem ing void and find th e rock beneath.— W hittier. F aith can stifle all science.—Aimel. The child like faith th a t asks no t sight, w aits not for sign, believes because it loves arigh t, shall see things divine.—Keble. v. 30. When h e saw th e wind. Alas for th e man who takes his eyes off from Jesus and looks a t his environm ent—- Torrey. It is a pity th a t we should ever g et so keen sighted as to see the wind. T hat is getting far too sharp on th e tem poral side of things.— Mc Neill. Cried, Lord save me. Would you be lifted up, would you be brought to peace and safety, would you be de livered from th e storm th a t is blowing th rough your rigging and would you be calm and quiet? Then here is th e way to peace, “Lord save me.”—Augustine. All the distance between imm inent de stru ction and salvation is bridged over when th y soul has cried, “Lord save me.”— Sel. The faith which had been encumbered extricates itself and be comes simple, clear and strong. The
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