to proclaim hereafter that they knew in whom they had believed, patience to endure for His sake, in His strength; peace in persecution, comfort in sorrow, hope amidst otherwise confounding terrors and dismay, that they had actually experienced CHRIST’S salvation from destruction; that the experience had been vouchsafed them as a pledge of His constant care; that they had been told, on its account, to trust—never henceforth to be fearful, and of little faith! Of great importance, then, was that miracle of the Stilling of the Storm, if it meant no more, and accomplished no more than this: if it only showed, that on a large, as on a small scale, over elements, as well as over diseases, on the sea no less than on the land, JESUS was “mighty to save”; if it only furnished the eye-witnesses of His ministry with a great instance of His gracious power; if it only prepared them for their life of storms and difficulties, and supported them in their dangers and distresses, and kept them faithful and joyful. But, surely, it has more meaning, and more worth, than this. First, it reveals to us, if I mistake not, a contention between spiritual powers (the Son of GOD on the one side, the Devil on the other), followed by a victory of the good, and a conspicuous defeat of the evil. That was no accidental raging of wind and waves, that was no operation of the GOD of providence using the elements to accomplish good purposes which was rebuked by the voice of the Son of GOD. Rebuke would be meaningless addressed to mere wind and wave: it would be blasphemous addressed to GOD. It is only when speaking to the Devil, to fevers and distempers, the effects of demoniacal possession, to Peter or others, prompted by Satan, speaking his words, doing his work, that CHRIST uses rebuke. Here then, surely, Satan was at work, and here he was confounded! The enemy of souls had never ceased to watch and seek to destroy the Saviour. He had stirred up Herod against Him in His infancy. He had personally assailed Him in the wilderness. He was now using the elements, over which much power is often allowed him, as we see in Job’s case, as his agents of evil. But with all his wisdom and perception, he knew not what was in JESUS. He thought once that he could as easily have made Him sceptical as he did Eve, “hath GOD said,” “If Thou be the Son of Man.” He thought now that while the Son of Man slept he was unconscious and powerless. And so in his folly he sought to wreck the vessel, and overwhelm Him whom it carried in the depths of the sea. Attempting this, he did but give occasion for an additional manifestation of CHRIST’S mission and power to destroy him and his works. On the shore, before He started, CHRIST had cast out devils. On the shore for which He was making He would again cast them out. On the sea He now meets them, and confounds them. O what a mighty, what a galling conquest! Satan had let loose all the powers of the winds, he had lashed the waves into utmost