Master. The pierced Hand controls their going. The word that looseth them, that guideth, that stayeth, drops from His lips; and He hath spoken His Fear not to our hearts. Turn again to that scene in which the Lord reveals His mastery of these stormy winds. Loosed on a sudden, they leapt forth and rushed with roar and tumult down the hollow places to the sea. They woke it instantly in rage; and the waves flung up their heads and hissed. Then stormy winds and angry billows burst upon the little craft. All was confusion and perilflapping sails, creaking timbers, seething waves that leapt up the sides as if to seize their prey, loud shouts and troubled hearts! Then suddenly the brightness of the Master's Presence shone upon them. He bade the noisy storm'Be still.' At once wild winds and tossing seas perceived their Lord; they crouched at His feet and lay there, awed and hushed beneath His outstretched Hand. Well may the Stormy Wind proclaim His praise. Its fiercest fury tells of the greatness of His might Who so perfectly controls it. It can but fulfil the word of its Master, our gracious Lord.

Linger over the story yet a little longer. As we have already noticed,* the disciples saw Him only faintly in the wonders of healing that He had wrought; knew Him dimly only, though He went in and out amongst them day by day. The stormy winds must blow before they know what manner of Man this is. Then out of the darkness He flashed before them in all His lofty majesty and glorious might. This is another purpose of the stormy winds, to teach us of the Lord. In every hour's mercies, the commonest and least, we might see His gracious Hand. In every way of life and in the lowliest round of duties, we might find that Blessed Presence. But, alas! the heart is hardened, and

we consider not these quiet miracles of His love. Then come the stormy winds-fierce temptations, bitter losses, wrecking sorrows. O! then we, too, perceive what manner of Man this is. When we fear to walk because the waves are boisterous, then do we find out the power of that strong Right Hand that holds us up. It is only when the cold blasts blow about us that we know the tenderness of His shelter and His unutterable pity. O the swiftness of the love with which He comes to help us! O the blessed safety of His deliverance !

Some years ago I had gone out one evening with a fisherman for a night on the deep. It was towards the end of August; and as we drifted out of the harbour with the tide, nothing could be more beautiful. Behind us the sun was setting, all gold and crimson. Under the wooded hills lay the little town with its canopy of blue smoke. The brown sails of the fishingboats and the rigging of the larger ships were perfectly reflected in the glassy water, so still that there was not a ripple to break it. But about one in the morning up sprang a breeze, and by the time we had got well off the land it freshened to a gale. There was nothing for it but to run straight before the wind to the nearest harbour that we could make -some fifty miles away. On we flew over tremendous seas, with now and then unpleasant tokens of what our fate might be. About eight next morning the little harbour hove in sight; there were the piers, with just a winding narrow channel between them, and on them a crowd that watched us eagerly, with shouts and signals. On we swept, past the waves that tumbled and broke on the rocks to right and left of us; and then, in a moment, that blessed calm! We breathed again in safety, and gave God thanks. I had seen that little

that day I knew no other place that could compare with it. I blessed the rocky walls of the little port. I loved each villager of the place; and lying there with the quiet waters rippling about the boat, whilst outside there boomed the thunder of the waves, and overhead the storm raged furiously, it seemed the perfection of beauty. The stormy winds had revealed its worth. He who has not been tossed by stormy winds has never seen the might of his Lord's power; has not found in all its fulness how blessed is the haven of the Saviour's love.

The Stormy Wind fulfils His Word in working out the deliverance of His people. See how in the old times, when the Lord fought for Israel against the cruel Pharaoh, the stormy winds wrought out their deliverance. "The Lord brought an East wind upon the land all that day, and all that night; and when it was morning, the East wind brought the locusts....Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste....And the Lord turned a mighty strong West wind, which took away the locusts, and cast them into the Red Sea; there remained not one locust in all the coasts of Egypt.' And yet, again, in that grandest display of power-the last blow that God struck at the proud defiance of Egypt. A strange, almost a cruel thing it must have seemed to Israel to be hemmed in by such a host of dangers. In front the wild sea defying them; on either hand the rocky heights cutting off all hope of escape; the night of hurricane gathering over them. It was as if that first deliverance had come only to hand them over to more certain death. Completing the terror there rang out the cry: The Egyptians are upon us! They were trapped for the foe.

Then came the glorious triumph. Forth swept the stormy winds and beat back the waves. And the host of Israel marched forward, down into the path of the great deep, a way arched over as if with God's protecting love. On either hand were the crystal walls glowing in the light of the glory of the Lord; and high above them swept the thunder of the storm. Behind them came the furious foe, blinded by the darkness, dazed with the lightnings, the chariotwheels dragging heavily, the host panic-stricken, the leaders irresolute. So on through all that night. And as at dawn of the next day the last of Israel's host set foot upon the other shore, the work of the Stormy Wind was done. The mighty Hands that held up the waters let them go, and down they swept from their heights, leaping and surging in their strength, dashed together in glorious thunder, and flinging their triumph up to heaven. Armed Egyptian,

horse and chariot rolled beneath the floods. Then sang Israel unto the Lord the song of the Stormy Wind fulfilling His Word:

'With the blast of Thy nostrils the waters were gathered together, the floods stood upright as an heap..... The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil....... Thou didst blow with Thy wind, the sea covered them: they sank as lead in the mighty waters.'

One day, by God's great mercy, we too shall stand upon the sea of glass, having the harps of God and having gotten the victory: then shall we sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb: 'Just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of saints.' We shall know then how the Stormy Winds have wrought out our deliverance. Now you see only the mystery of this great sorrow; then you shall see how the threatening enemy was swept away in the wild night of fear and grief. Now you