Experience and Labors
263
of the merciless winds, which tossed the waves up on high as if in
convulsions of agony.
We were in a beautiful boat, tossed at the mercy of the ever-restless
waves; but there was an unseen power holding a steady grasp upon
the waters. God alone has power to keep them within their appointed
boundaries. He can hold the waters as in the hollow of His hand. The
deep will obey the voice of its Creator: “Hitherto shalt thou come, but
no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed.”
What a subject for thought was the broad, grand Pacific Ocean!
In appearance it was the very opposite of pacific; it was madness and
fury. As we take a surface view of the water, nothing seems so utterly
unmanageable, so completely without law or order, as the great deep.
But God’s law is obeyed by the ocean. He balances the waters and
marks their bed. As I looked at the heavens above and the waters
beneath, I inquired: “Where am I? Where am I going? Nothing but
the boundless waters around me. How many have thus embarked upon
the waters and never again seen the green fields or their happy homes!
[288]
They were dropped into the deep as a grain of sand, and thus ended
their lives.”
As I looked upon the white-capped, roaring billows, I was re-
minded of that scene in the life of Christ, when the disciples, in obedi-
ence to the command of their Master, went in their boats to the farther
side of the sea. A terrible tempest broke upon them. Their vessels
would not obey their will, and they were driven hither and thither, until
they laid down their oars in despair. They expected to perish there;
but while the tempest and the billows talked with death, Christ, whom
they had left upon the other side, appeared to them, walking calmly
upon the boisterous, white-capped waves. They had been bewildered
by the uselessness of their efforts and the apparent hopelessness of
their case and had given up all for lost. When they saw Jesus before
them upon the water, it increased their terror; they interpreted it as a
sure precursor of their immediate death. They cried out in great fear.
But, instead of His appearance heralding the presence of death, He
came as the messenger of life. His voice was heard above the roar
of the elements: “It is I; be not afraid.” How quickly the scene now
changed from the horror of despair to the joy of faith and hope in the
presence of the beloved Master! The disciples felt no more anxiety
nor dread of death, for Christ was with them.