THE WINDS AND THE WAVES OBEY HIM.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 8 November 1913, Page 3

THE WINDS AND THE WAVES OBEY HIM.

PASTOR RUSSELL AND PARTY EN ROUTE FOR EUROPE.

THE STORM OF THE SEA OF GALILEE FURNISHES TEXT FOR A DISCOURSE.

(Inserted by Arrangement.)

On the Atlantic, July 27.—"There arose a great tempest in the sea . . . but he was asleep;" and his disciples awoke him, saying, Lord, save us; we perish. . . . Then he arose and rebuked the winds ancl the sea; and there was a great calm" (Matt. viii. 24-26). The Bible informs us that Jesus' teachings were parabolic. The Master explained the.significance of -some of his actions and words to his disciples, saying, "To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven; but to all outsiders these things are spoken in parables and dark sayings, that hearing they might hear and not understand. Jesus did not explain all his parables even to his Apostles; indeed very few of them were explained. On tho contrary, he said, "When the Spirit of Truth is come [the Holy Spirit—at Pentecost and after], he shall guide you into all Truth, and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have spoken unto you." Thus we see that it has been possible for Jesus' followers since Pentecost to understand the Master's teachings in a way that his earliest followers could not. The reason for this is plain.. It was not expedient that natural men should understand clearly the Divine plan. Had they done so, in many cases God's plan might have miscarried. For instance, St .Peter declared that if the Jewish rulers had known, they would not have crucified the Prince of Life. But only by the crucifixion of Jesus could the Divine plan be carried out, and therefore it was hidden from those for whom it was not intended. RESPONSIBILITY OF KNOWLEDGE.

There is no injustice in this; rather it was a blessing in disguise. If they had done the same things der full light and knowledge, their guilt would have been many fold greater. They are not, therefore, to be punished according- to their deeds entirely, but according to the limited measure of light and knowledge which they possessed. The same principle obtains in respect to the whole world—little light, little responsibility; more light, more responsibility. .He that knew his Master's will; and did it not, shall have many stripes; ho that knew not the Master's will, and did things worthy of stripes, shall be punished with few stripes. Those begotten of the Holy Spirit, aria thus accepted as God's people, have the highest? responsibility, because they have the greatest knowledge. They - alone could possibly commit the ein unto death, as St. Paul explains in Heb vi. 1-6; x 27. The secret of thjk demarcation between Church and world is that the t'ovmer has the begetting of the Holy Spirit to a new nature, and with this go privileges and opportunities of knowledge of God and His plans, purposely secreted all not Spiritbegotten. Hence in our attempts to spread the knowledge of God, we tdiould impress tlie thought that only outlines of the Divine character and plan may be clearly discerned and appreciated by those not Spiritbegotten. Such Spirit-begotten ones sacrifice their human life right; their, liopo is on the Spirit plane, and they must be born of the Spirit in the Resurrection in order to have life at alt. All desiring to grow in grace and knowledge should be instructed that; after the primary study comes conse-' oration. Whoever"will not consecrate will not have the privilege of discerning clearly the depths of the Divine character and plan. This is a wise provision of Qod's Lov-e. THE BOAT AND THE STORM IN ANTITYPE.

We may regard the incidents of our lesson from a typical viewpoint. Tims the boat would represent the Gospel dispensation,'or God's provision for carrying Messiah and his I followers to the other side. The i Master asleep seenis to prefigure the Lord's apparent indifference to the storms of persecution assailing his Church. The di«ciples awaking .him would seem to imply the prayers of the church throughout the age, crying unts the- Lord, "Carest thou not ,thnt we perish?" The storm on the Sea of Galilee must have been, very severe; for the disciples were experienced fishermen. We might reason that, since Satan is "the Prince of the power of the air," he might have thought to thwart the Divine arrangement which Jesus had outlined —his crucifixion, in fulfilment ,of Scripture. At all events, Jesus did not hesitate to quell the storm—td turn aside the mischievous designs of Satan. When, awakened, Jesus reproved his disciples for insufficiency of, faith, manifested in their failure to realise that with him present' they would be safe. Then he rebuked the storm, which quickly subsided. . The storms of life which have, beset God's people throughout this Gospel Age have undoubtedly been .chiefly under Satan's administration. He was successful as respects our. Lord, whose faitli triumphed, loyal unto death. Satan lias since waged a bitter warfare against Jesus' followers, through persecution, slander, misrepresentation, and falsehood. But in all this he has only fulfilled the Lord's prediction (John xv. 17-21 X The disciples'" extremity when calling upon the Lord for aid seems to imply that at the close of this Age there will be a, special stress upon all followers of Jesus, causing them to cry for deliverance from the Adversary's overwhelming power. Then the Master will seem to awaken, as though he had not previously noted conditions. Then, he will arise and rebuke the storm, and there will be a great calm.

STORM OF TROUBLE IS NEAR. Bible students are convinced that the great storm "of trouble upon the Church is very near. Of just what character it will be we need not try to prophesy. We are to remember, however, that the majority of .storms upon tlxe Church have come from pro-

fessed people of God, rather than from tho world. Tho Scribes, Pharisees, and Doctors of the- Law -really crucJlied Jesus, as St. Peter declares (Acts iii. 13-15). Our expectation is "that the Church will have- its most trying experiences, nob from the world, but from professed brethren. Do we see a preparation along theso very lines? Church Federation has a sincere and innocent look; but is this not really a disguise? Is not its purpose and object to fortify sectarianism and to hinder outsiders from letting light shine upon God's' Word? Should not we expect really that, when it shall gain tho political influence and power indicated in the symbolic book of Revelation, then those holding a simple faith in God/and His Word, and striving to walk 'the narrow way, wiH bo misrepresented, slandered', and eventually hindered from any part in the Master's service. The Lord seems to indicate that His Ckurch will be perfected on tho Heavenly plane before the world's.tribulation" shall break in- fullest fury. True, they may escape in the sense of being enabled to live above the trouble; but we think not. We believe that the Church will havo parsed into glory before the culmination of the world's Day of Wrath. The Lord's will be done, whether His people remain or whether they be delivered !