No. 26.

CHRIST IN THE STORM.

BY THE AUTHOR OF "PEEP OF DAY."

LONDON:

JOHN HATCHARD AND SON.

1848

CHRIST IN THE STORM.

There are a great many troubles in this life. Ask your father and your mother whether this is true. Your father will say, "I have had a great many troubles; I have found it hard to get bread for my children." Your mother will say, "I have had a great deal of sorrow in bringing up my little family."

My dear child, have you had any troubles? I am sure you have had some. Have you ever felt great pain? have you lost a little baby brother or sister? have you got into disgrace? have you been punished for your faults?

There is one friend to whom every one may go in every trouble. It is Jesus, the Son of God. When we are unhappy, if we cry unto him, he will hear us and help us. Once he lived down upon this earth, and was a man. Now he is in heaven, and he is a man still as well as God.

I will tell you how he helped some of his friends out of trouble when he lived in this world. His friends were called disciples. One evening they went into a ship. Jesus did not go with them; he stayed where he was, and spent the night all alone on the top of a mountain, praying to his Father. God was his Father. The disciples were in their little ship on the water when the wind began to blow very hard indeed. The waves rose high, and the ship was tossed about. Every moment the poor men were afraid that the water would fill their ship, and that they should sink to the bottom of the sea.

All night long the disciples were in sad distress, trying with all their might to row their ship to land, but all they could do was of no use. At last they saw a man walking on the sea. There he was in the midst of the great waves, walking as on the dry land. He went faster than the ship, and seemed as if he would pass by it. The disciples did not know who it was. They thought it could not be a man with a body like ours; they supposed it was a spirit, who has no body. They were very much frightened, and they cried out in their trouble. Then they heard a voice saying, "It is I, be not afraid." Whose voice was that? You know, and they knew; it was the voice of Jesus. Though the winds were whistling and the waves roaring, his voice could be heard.

One of the disciples, named Peter, said, "Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water." Jesus said, "Come." So Peter got out of the ship and walked on the water to go to Jesus. He believed that Jesus could help him to walk on the water, and Jesus did help him. But when Peter saw how high the wind was, he began to be afraid. This was wrong. He ought to have trusted in Jesus. Soon he felt that he was sinking, and he cried out, "Lord, save me." Jesus heard that short prayer; he was very near, and he stretched out his hand, and caught hold of Peter.

Trusting in God is called faith. Peter had a little faith, but not much. So he was able to walk on the water a little way, but not far. Jesus went into the ship