God in our extremity would divide the sea, and take us dry shod over. Winslow. In this manner Moses is said to have prayed to God before his passage through the Red Sea : Lord, Thou knowest that no strength or wisdom of ours can be of any avail. It is in Thy power alone to find out a way for our deliverance. We are in great straits! The sea is Thine; it obstructs our progress. Thou canst divide or turn its waves into firm land, or make us find a safe passage through the deep. Lead us, Heavenly Father, lead us, O'er the world's tempestuous sea; Prayer is the only means of imparting to earth blessings not native to it. There are many commodities, not of English growth, which ships, and wealth, and enterprise, can fetch from foreign shores. But there are some things which no wealth can purchase, which no enterprise can compass, and with which no ship that ever rode the seas, came freighted. Where is the emporium to which you can resort, and order so much happiness? Where is the ship that ever brought home a cargo of heart comfort? or consignment of good consciences? a freight of strength for the feeble? and joy for the wretched? and peace for the dying? But what no vessel ever fetched from the Indies, prayer has often fetched from heaven. Hamilton. The cloud, that made a way through the Red Sea, standeth not still, but leadeth the way onward. Williams. If age and adversity do not find a man patient, they seldom make him so. For surely no man goes about to careen and fit up his ship in the midst of a storm. It can be no time for a man to prepare a thing, when he is just about to lose it. South. The name of death was never terrible To him that knew to live; nor the loud torrent Of all afflictions, singing as they swim, A gall of heart, but to a guilty conscience. Beaumont & Fletcher. When men in the full pursuit of their sins, find themselves yet followed by the fresh gales of the Spirit blowing upon their hearts, they are apt to conclude that God will still wait their leisure, that therefore they may take their own time to accept of those terms that they suppose will be always offered; and consequently they will venture to swear once more, to take another sip or two of the cup of intemperance, till the Spirit departs of a sudden, and leaves them in a state of irrecoverable hardness and perdition. As children, when they play by the sea-shore, they will in sport step a little into the water, and presently a foot further, and so on, till the tide unexpectedly comes, and sweeps them away beyond all possibility of return. South. Scripture Texts ON THE PASSAGE OVER JORDAN. And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, Behold the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth passeth over before you into Jordan. Joshua iii. 9, 11. And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down from above; and they shall stand upon an heap. And as they that bare the ark were come into Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brim of the water (for Jordan overfloweth all his banks at the time of harvest), That the waters which came down from above stood and rose up upon an heap very far from the city Adam, that is beside Zaretan: and those that came down toward the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, failed, and were cut off: and the people passed over right against Jericho. And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clean over Jordan. 13-17. And it came to pass, when the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord were come up out of the midst of Jordan, and the soles of the priests' feet were lifted up unto the dry land, that the waters of Jordan returned unto their place, and flowed over all his banks, as they did before. Joshua iv. 18. For the Lord your God dried up the waters of Jordan from before you, until ye were passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which He dried up from before us, were gone over. until we 23. The sea saw, and filed: Jordan was driven back. Psalm cxiv. 3. When Thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee. Isaiah xlii. 2. Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood: Thou driedst up mighty rivers. Psalm lxxiv. 15. |