danger of being submerged; but, though you can not see him, Jesus is praying for you, and his intercession is always efficacious. I fear we all make too little of the intercession of the Lord! Our prayer-meetings are famous for the presentation of multitudinous requests that the petitions of the brethren should be offered for those who send them in, and I find no fault with that, for I believe in intercessory prayer; but do we ever seek to have Jesus himself pray for us? Have we not too largely forgotten "that he ever liveth to make intercession for us?" We are apt to imagine that, as on earth, the man who would intercede for a multitude must make his petitions so general that they descend not to the individual wants of each, so it must be with Jesus. But that is a mistake; for the omniscience of his deity makes him acquainted with our undermost necessities, and the love and sympathy of his humanity dispose him to plead on our behalf. Is any among you afflicted? then let him remember that "we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous ;" and let the consciousness that he is interceding for him fill his heart with that peace which passeth understanding. In the third place, we learn that when Christ comes to us in our trials, we are enabled to rise with him above them. You observe how, as the Lord approached and spoke to them, Peter was strengthened to overcome his fear, and was even enabled to walk upon the waters. But concerning this coming of our Lord to us in trouble, the narrative before us is very suggestive; and I must name two or three things that can not fail to strike the thoughtful reader as he meditates upon it. For one thing, the Lord did not come at once. He let the night wear on until the fourth watch, and then he went to their relief. Now, so it has frequently been with us; our deliverances have not always come at the moment when the peril appeared. The Lord has left us to ourselves, that we might test our strength and discover our weakness. He has waited till the object of his discipline has been accomplished in us, and then he has approached us with his help. Again, the Lord came to these disciples over the very waves which constituted their trial. So he frequently makes his pathway into our hearts over the affliction which is at the moment distressing us. No one else can do that. For in every one of our distresses there are elements which we must keep hidden from our fellow-men. But these are entirely known to Christ, and it is just through these secret door-ways that he enters into our souls and brings with him his cheer and succor. Brother, is there no comfort for you here? The Lord makes your trial his very avenue into your spirit. Look out for his coming, then, and see that you give him a right royal welcome when he does appear. Still farther, the disciples did not know Christ when he came, and aggravated their misery for themselves by supposing that he was a ghost. But let us not laugh at their superstition, lest we should be found also making merry at our own expense. Have we never mistaken Christ for a ghost, or perhaps, worse still, for an evil spirit? We have been in trouble, and matters, as we think, have come to a crisis, when something happens which at first we judge will surely bring ruin upon us, and we cry out for fear. We are undone the Lord hath forsaken us! we are utterly overwhelmed! But we wait a little, and, in a wonderful way, we see that what at first sight seemed our undoing has actually become our salvation. Have you never had an experience like that? And as you heard the Master's voice saying to you, "It is I; be not afraid," have you not had your fears put to shame and reproved by his favor? Brethren, this night-scene on the Galilean lake was the rehearsal of much which is happening every day to the people of God; and if we studied it more closely we should have far fewer difficulties about what we call the mysteries of Providence. Once more: when Christ comes, and is recognized, he brings relief. The very recognition of him is a relief; for there is no real distress and no formidable danger to the Christian while his Lord is nigh. The presence of the Master may not immediately still the tempest, but it will enable us to walk upon the waves. The man who can see Jesus in his troubles always keeps them under him; it is when he fails to keep his eye upon the Lord that they threaten to overwhelm him. So long as Peter was "looking unto Jesus," there was an influence beneath him that held him up above the waters; but when he saw the wind boisterous, he began to sink. Ah! how many of us are like him there! We see the wind boisterous; there is a likelihood that we shall lose money, or forfeit the good opinion of our fellows, or perhaps lose life itself; and so we let that which is immediately before our eyes shut out from our hearts the remembrance of the glorious promise, "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee." Who can help being reminded by this whole history of that great reformer whose career has so recently been introduced into his drama by the English poet-laureate? I mean Archbishop Cranmer. In his life, generally, there was not much of the time-server; but when the storm arose, and the wind was contrary, and he, Peter-like, essayed to walk over the waves, he began to sink, and unworthily signed that recantation which he so nobly canceled by his speech at his trial and his conduct at the stake. Brethren, let us be at once warned and encouraged by such experiences as these: warned, when we are in trouble, to preserve our faith in Christ; and encouraged, even when we have lost our faith in part, and have begun to sink, to cry most earnestly for succor to him, who is a present help in time of trouble. Lord, save me! I perish! What short, sharp, agonizing cries are these! When the soul is in anguish and in earnest, its prayers are telegram-like, both in their swiftness and in their brevity, and, thank God, Christ's answers are as prompt and as pointed as our prayers can be. Is there one here tonight who feels like Peter weltering in the waters? Let him send up Peter's prayer, and he will have the same answer which the Lord vouchsafed to his impulsive apostle. He who "stilled the rolling waves of Galilee" can hush the tempest that is howling around thee. Make thy prayer, then, to him. "When the mighty storm is surging, Stars are hid, and wind is shrill, Satan striving, passion urging— Saviour, whisper, 'Peace, be still.' "When the waves of doubt and terror Light seems dark, and truth seems error- "When affliction's storms are howling, "When the tide of Death's cold river "Poems by the late William Leighton,” p. 77. V. THE FIRST CONFESSION. JOHN vi., 66-71. N the morning after their perilous night upon Gen ON nesaret, and Peter's attempt to walk upon the waters, the disciples, having received Jesus into the boat with them, landed at Capernaum, where our Lord had his temporary. home, and Peter his permanent abode. It is probable that they still contemplated the taking of a season of rest. At all events, if they were needing relaxation before they visited the eastern side of the lake, they would all require it much more after the fatigues of the day, and the vigils, the toil, and the dangers of the night. But there was little hope of retirement for them now; for as soon as the people who had been with them on the previous day discovered that Jesus was no longer in their neighborhood, they also took boats, and crossed to Capernaum, seeking for him. Nor did he seclude himself from them. Inquirers are ever welcomed by the Lord, whether, like Nicodemus, they come to him by night; or, like Zaccheus, they are moved to approach him by the merest curiosity; or, like the multitudes in the present instance, they are impelled to follow him by some earthly consideration. He receiveth all alike, and gives to each the special instruction which he needs. To the Pharisee he speaks of the necessity of the new birth; to the publican he discourses of his mission to seek and to save that which was lost; and to those eager companies who lived upon the sensationalism of great miracles, and sought from him only such |