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but of holy serenity and dependance upon his Father. They awoke him. with their prayers, "Lord, save us, we perish." Christ is a Prince and a Saviour! He rebuked the disciples, "Why are ye so fearful?" He did not chide them for disturbing him with their prayers, but for their fears. He then rebukes the wind, and there was a great calm: the former he did as the God of grace and the sovereign of the heart; this he did as the God of Nature. Moses commanded the waters with a rod; Joshua with the ark of the covenant; Elisha with the prophet's mantle; but Christ with a word. Ordinarily after a storm there is a prolonged agitation of the waters: but all the effects of it cease at the word of Christ. Great storms of doubt and fear in the soul under the power of the spirit of bondage end in a wonderful calm, created and spoken by the Spirit of adoption. REV. MATTHEW HENRY.

Our Saviour's disciples, in the storm, were distressed with the apprehension of immediate destruction, while their Master was asleep. What! could he be ignorant or regardless of the danger of his faithful attendants ? No: but their beloved Master designed to try the strength of their confidence in him, and to show their security under his protection. They awoke him, and cried in terror and anguish, "Lord, save us, we perish." Jesus, reproved them sharply for their unbelief; and then, to encourage their unreserved reliance upon him in every future difficulty, and to demonstrate that all nature was at his command, he arose with a peculiar majesty, and spake the authoritative words, "PEACE, BE STILL :" the furious winds instantly ceased to blow, and the turbulent sea was calm. Such a grand display of his divine power astonished them: "the men marvelled." They ought, indeed, to have recollected that he was the God of the whole creation; and this very miracle might have led them to that conclusion. "O LORD God of hosts, who is a strong LORD like unto thee? Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them.". Psal. lxxxix. 8, 9. But so much darkness yet remained in their minds, that they had no clear or consistent views of the great mystery of godliness.'

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This distressed situation of the disciples is an apt emblem of the church and of many private Christians, in perilous circumstances. It is one principal part of the Redeemer's plan to exercise and prove our faith; and therefore he conducts us through various trials. He affords us his gracious presence; and while we pass over the tempestuous sea of life, we ought to be satisfied that he is in the vessel with us. "Where is our faith? Why are we so fearful?" Let us be ashamed of our doubtful and suspicious temper, and, with unshaken confidence, commit ourselves to the power and peace of this mighty God and Saviour! REV. THOMAS ROBINSON.

You will remember, that it was not the main ocean, but the Lake of Tiberias, on which they sailed: however, the painter is at liberty to make his sea as large as he pleases, and his storm as terrible as he can. See ! amidst these horrible emotions, a vessel in all the extremity of distress. Perplexed, amazed, and at their wit's end, the disciples run to and fro;

they try every expedient, and find, to their inexpressible affliction, every expedient ineffectual. We cast our eye forward, and their Divine MASTER appears, sedately rising from a gentle slumber. He sees the perplexity and horror of his companions, without the least emotion of alarm. What composure in his mien! what dignity in his attitude! what majesty, sweetened with compassion, in his aspect!—such as could arise from no cause but a conscious and undoubted certainty that not one of the company should perish,—not a hair of their head be injured,—and, that all this mighty uproar of Nature should end in a demonstration of his mightier power, and a confirmation of his disciples' faith! He looks abroad into the mutinous sky, and the turbulent deep: he waves, with an authoritative air, his sacred hand, and adds the great commanding word, " Peace, be still!". Do you inquire after the effect? Let Milton declare it :

Confusion heard his voice, and wild uproar
Stood ruled.

This is expressed in another draught, where all is hushed; the tremendous agitation ceases, and the most profound tranquillity takes place. The water is smooth as glass; we have the picture of a perfect calm: and view those persons who, a little while ago, were in the wildest distraction, and in the jaws of ruin, surrounding their LORD as men alive from the dead! Their consternation is turned inward to wonder, and their pangs of fear into ecstasies of joy. They acknowledge the omnipotence and adore the goodness of JESUS.

The circumstances of this miracle, as related by the Evangelist, are truly wonderful, and to the last degree picturesque. "Master! Master! we perish!" How concise, how abrupt, and how ardent is this exclamation ! -therefore how strongly significant of imminent danger, and of the utmost distress! They have not time to be explicit. A moment's delay may be fatal. What they utter is conciseness itself, and all rapidity.—Luke viii. 24. This is nature; this is the genuine language of the heart; this is true historic painting! REV. J. HERVEY.

How great and glorious does our blessed Redeemer appear, as having all the elements at his command, and exercising his dominion over the winds and seas! He stills the very tempests when they roar, and makes the storm a calm.-Psalm cvii. 29. He silences at once the noise and fury of the tumultuous waves: and, in the midst of its confusion, says to the raging sea, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further; and here shall thy proud waves be stayed.—Job xxxviii. 11. Who would not reverence and fear him? Who would not cheerfully commit themselves to him? Under such a protection, how courageously may his church ride through every storm, and weather every danger! Christ is still with her, and she is safe even while he may seem to be sleeping. Blessed Jesus! that power of thine which here commanded the tempest into a calm, can easily silence all our tumultuous passions, and reduce our souls to that blessed tranquillity, in which alone we can be capable of enjoying thee and ourselves.

DR. DODDRidge.

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Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.Isai. xxxv. 5, 6.

SACRED NARRATIVE.

AND Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness, and all manner of disease among the people. And his fame went throughout all Syria and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them.-Matt. iv. 23, 24.

And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he should be born blind? Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.-When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, and said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent). He went his way therefore, and came seeing. The neighbours, therefore, and they which before had seen him that he was blind, said, Is not this he that sat and begged? Some said, This is he: others said,

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