From whom, as from a fountain sun, O Father, in eternity, Thrice blessed and praised for ever be! Who mak'st Thy glorious sun to shine, Alike on evil and on good; Who dost in mercy long forbear, Ere smiting with Thy chast'ning rod. Thrice blessed and praised for ever be Who from the founding of the earth Who willest we as guests should share. Thrice blessed and praised for ever be! Thrice blessed and praised for ever be! Whose majesty so manifold, Fills heaven and earth, whom creatures all Adore, before whose feet all things That live and breathe bow down and fall. Thrice blessed and praised for ever be! Whom myriad angel-hosts above As ruler over all adore! At whose eternal service place All powers the weapons of their power. Thrice blessed and praised for ever be! Thrice blessed and praised for ever be! Oh, let Thy name aye hallowed be, So may it in this world be here. Forgive our sins as we forgive, Into temptation never lead; Into Thy light of liberty, Bring us, from every evil freed, That Thou adored and praised may'st be J. K. Voices of the Sea. LL who have not been from childhood familiar with the sea will understand the rapturous surprise it awakens when it is first seen, especially if that first sight be of the glorious Atlantic, or of the more beautiful and interesting Mediterranean, whose waters wash the shores of the old sacred and historic lands of Palestine, Greece, Egypt, Rome, and Carthage,—the "Great Sea" of the Bible. Such was the pleasure Mr. and Mrs. Arnold gave their family, when, after a rapid journey from England, during which they can hardly be said to have seen the sea in the sense we mean, they arrived at Nervé, one of the loveliest spots on the Riviera Levante, and stood enraptured on the rocky Mediterranean shore, almost overpowered by the marvellous beauty of sky and sea and land under the magic power of an Italian sun. Day after day they sat there, sheltered from every breath of the cold north wind, and drinking in health and vigour as well as pleasure from the clear balmy air. It was on a bright Sunday afternoon, as they thus sat there between the church services, that Mr. Arnold said: "I think there is no way in which we can enjoy so much, either the works or the word of our God, as when we look on them together. The works illustrating the word, while the word gives a voice and spiritual meaning to the works. Will it not be pleasant-profitable too, now, while we are sitting here in presence of this magnificent sea, to search our Bibles to find its many teachings on the subject as it unfolds them to us?" The plan met a hearty approval, and all gathered round Mr. Arnold. "Mother will tell us what strikes her most as a voice of the sea ?" 66 "The power and majesty of our God," said Mrs. Arnold, "and the entire safety of His people. Is not this a wonderful verse? The prophet is speaking of Him who 'gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them in His bosom ;' he adds, 'Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of His hand.' That hand that holds His children fast, and will not let them go. And here again: 'The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their waves. The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea.' 66 And, mother, do you remember that tremendous storm we had last week, when the great green billows rolled in with their deep purple shadows? As they broke in foam on the rocks, it seemed as if nothing could withstand them, but they fell back baffled. I thought of this verse: 'Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further; and here shall thy proud waves be stayed.'2 What must be His strength who could thus speak to the raging deep? and how safe we are even in the greatest danger! For David says again, 'God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will we not fear. . . though the waters thereof roar and be troubled.'3 How David seems to have loved the sea; 'this great and wide sea;' this very sea on which we are now gazing!" 3 Psalm xlvi. 1-3. 1 Psalm xciii. 3, 4. 2 Job xxxviii. 11. "1 "Then," said Mr. Arnold, "to turn to the depth of the sea, it has a wonderful voice. What says the prophet? Not only that our God forgives us fully, freely; that He will never remember our sins; that He has cast them behind His back; but he exclaims, 'Who is a God like unto Thee! . . . Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.' In several of the great rivers of our native land dredging operations are carried on for the purpose of deepening them and making and keeping them navigable for the largest ships. You will see little fleets of lighters being towed by steam-tugs out of the mouths of these rivers away out to sea. They have been filled with the sand and mud from their beds, and are taken out to sea that their cargoes may be dropped into its depths. These loads of sand could never be recovered and brought back again. Not one grain could be brought up from the depths of sea and recognised as having formed part of the load that had been cast into them. It would be vain to seek for any of the load. Thus it is with our sins when they are put away by God." "One voice more of this depth," said Mrs. Arnold. "We are told that, no matter how much agitated the surface of the sea may be, deep below there is ever 'a great calm.' Is it not so with the real Christian heart? Sorrow, trouble, anxiety may ruffle it, but beneath it all there is peace, nay joy. For 'when He giveth quiet, who shall make trouble ?"" "Mother," said Marion, a sweet, thoughtful girl, "your mention of joy reminds me of the verse, 'Let the floods clap their hands before the Lord, for He cometh.' Is not that just what the sea is doing to-day, as it lies so still and calm, the little ripples as they rise catching the sunlight and sparkling like myriads of diamonds? I think David must have had just this in his mind, the floods clapping their hands with joy." "I think so too, dear child; and that little verse brings 1 Micah vii. 18, 19. before us, too, as it were incidentally, the great chief cause of joy, 'The Lord cometh,' or, as we have it in the New Testament, 'That blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.'1 Then there is that wonderfully true and beautiful description of this appearance of this same sea by the old Greek poet, which our English poet translates The many twinkling smile of ocean.' But our wonderful lesson-book, interpreted by the Bible, has also more than one voice of solemn warning; do you, Nellie, remember what it says?" "In Isaiah, father, we have that terrible verse, 'The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.'" "A terrible verse indeed, when we take into account that by the wicked God means, not as we generally do, those whose wickedness is open and manifest before man, but all who are not justified in Christ Jesus; for there are but two classes, two states; dead in sin or born of God; guilty or justified; at peace, or at war, with God, with ourselves; for the heart still at enmity with God 'cannot be quiet,' even as the sea, with its ceaseless tossings to and fro.2 "Here is another warning voice: 'He that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed; let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.' What a striking illustration! We see the waves rushing on as if they would do great things, but they meet an obstacle and fall back, accomplishing nothing; look a little later, and they are going with great eagerness in another direction, to change again with every varying wind. So is he almost a Christian,' but not decidedly on the Lord's side; now, when under good influence, seeming to have entered the service of the Lord heartily, and many rejoice and give thanks for him; but see him again under other influence, 1 Titus ii. 13. 2 Jeremiah xlix. 23. |