Acts 27:1-20

Chapter 97

Prayer

Almighty God, the morning is thine. It is full of light and hope; it is the seal of thy presence; it is the smile of thy love. Thou delightest in light: God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. Thou hast called us, in Christ Jesus, to be children of the light and of the day; and to walk in paths that are lighted up with heaven's glory; and to let our light shine before men, and draw them to the Father of lights. May we answer this Divine appeal with all the haste of love, with all the ardour of earnestness. Then shall our life be an open vision, and we shall see the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. We bless thee for all cheering words, for all tender encouragements, for every Gospel that can break the door and give liberty to the captive soul. These ministries we have in thy Son. He is our Saviour, our All in All; Beginning and Ending; Inexplicable, immeasurable, Infinite. We rest in Christ: we are calm in his tranquillity; we are mighty in his power; he is our one Defence; he is our blessed Lord. We thank thee that he has opened heaven. We now see it; even now we overhear its music; yea, more, by high faith, by unquestioning and undivided love, we are already in the city of God. Thou hast caused us to triumph in all places in the power of the Cross of Christ; so, even now, there is no more sorrow, nor pain, nor death. These things are but in the letter, they are incidents to be encountered and passed; but their bitterness is gone and their triumph is impossible. This is the joy of thy people, blood-washed, baptized with fire; having undergone all the mystery of the new birth and become adopted into the family of God; invested with eternal privileges and enriched with unsearchable riches. We do not always seize the inheritance. We own before thee that our rapture (ails us; the flesh for the moment triumphs, and there is no strength left in the soul whose hymns and psalms have been forgotten. But this is momentary; we come to ourselves again by quick inspirations from on high; we are lifted up into nobler manhood, and we triumph again and again in the Lord of all victories, whose battles can end but in one way. May we live often in this spirit; and if we must needs be bowed down because of the cloudiness of time and the weakness of the flesh, yet give us periods of renewed youth, great Sabbatic spaces in the life, in which we shall be more in heaven than on earth; and by the frequent coming again of such seasons of liberty and light, we shall know that we are not forgotten in heaven. Thou knowest us altogether our darkness and burden, our sin and shame, our selfishness and worldliness, our want of enthusiasm, our distrust of the very God whose name we breathe. Thou knowest, too, our penitence the tears of our heart, the contrition of our souls, the utter brokenness and self-renunciation of our will. Pity us; bind us up again; cleanse us from all sin yea, with thine own hands wash us in the fountain of cleansing. We pray for one another always it is the heart's best gift. We pray for the blind, that they may see; for the perplexed, that the right road may be chosen out of the many converging paths; for the heavy-laden, that if they may not have less burden, they may have more strength. We pray for the coming generation, that they may be better than we have been manlier, greater, truer; that they may see Christ's revelation more broadly and answer it with a completer loyalty. We pray for the sick, that they may forget their sickness in their approaching immortality. We pray for the traveller in the far-off land, for the voyager on the troubled deep, for all men far away from home and kindred and known speech and custom. We pray for all mankind the black and the white, the barbarous and the civilised; the great king and the poorest serf. "The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof." We cannot understand this mystery, but we can commit it and commit ourselves to the keeping of the only wise God, redeeming all men with blood and sending upon all men an impartial light. Thou wilt explain thyself in due time. We are impatient because we are weak; we are in haste because our wisdom is imperfect. Would God we might in Christ, the Son, the Priest, rest quietly and hope confidently in God! Amen.

Act 27:1-20

1. And when it was determined that we should sail into Italy, they delivered Paul and certain other prisoners unto one named Julius, a centurion of Augustus' band.

2. And entering into a ship of Adramyttium, we launched, meaning to sail by the coasts of Asia; one Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica, being with us.

3. And the next day we touched at Sidon. And Julius courteously entreated Paul, and gave him liberty to go unto his friends to refresh himself.

4. And when we had launched from thence, we sailed under Cyprus, because the winds were contrary.

5. And when we had sailed over the sea of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra, a city of Lycia.

6. And there the centurion found a ship of Alexandria sailing into Italy; and he put us therein.

7. And when we had sailed slowly many days, and scarce were come over against Cnidus, the wind not suffering us, we sailed under Crete, over against Salmone;

8. And, hardly passing it, came unto a place which is called The fair havens; nigh whereunto was the city of Lasea.

9. Now when much time was spent, and when sailing was now dangerous, because the fast was now already past, Paul admonished them.

10. And said unto them, Sirs, I perceive that this voyage will be with hurt and much damage, not only of the lading and ship, but also of our lives.

11. Nevertheless the centurion believed the master and the owner of the ship, more than those things which were spoken by Paul.

12. And because the haven was not commodious to winter in, the more part advised to depart thence also, if by any means they might attain to Phenice, and there to winter; which is an haven of Crete, and lieth toward the south-west and north-west.

13. And when the south wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained their purpose, loosing thence, they sailed close by Crete.

14. But not long after there arose against it a tempestuous wind, called Euroclydon.

15. And when the ship was caught, and could not bear up into the wind, we let her drive.

16. And running under a certain island which is called Clauda, we had much work to come by the boat:

17. Which when they had taken up, they used helps, undergirding the ship; and, fearing lest they should fall into the quicksands, strake sail, and so were driven.

18. And we being exceedingly tossed with a tempest, the next day they lightened the ship;

19. And the third day we cast out with our own hands the tackling of the ship.

20 And when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope that we should be saved was then taken away.

The Discipline of Delay

The ship is a prison. The list of prisoners is not a long one: "Paul and certain other prisoners." When was Paul ever hidden in the crowd tailed off in the dim distance? He is still the chief figure; put him where you will, he comes naturally to the head and naturally assumes the sovereignty, what ever the occasion may be. A marvellous thing is this destiny. It is a pressure which cannot be explained in words; it is the inexplicable force by which our life is compacted together. It cannot be ruled; it cannot be modified; it cannot be transferred; it cannot be sold for mountains of silver. A man can only get rid of destiny as he gets rid of God. "Paul and certain other prisoners." Here is sovereignty strangely and subtly shaded by humiliation. The very fact that the others were not named throws a kind of shadow upon Paul himself. He was one of the herd; he was head of the mob; he was the accent of the anonymous the mere emphasis that gave it boldness and articulateness. A singular thing is this admixture of the great and the small, the light and the cloud, the sovereignty and the abjectness of position. We belong to one another, and are advanced by one another, and are kept back by one another; and a most singular and educative process of restraint and modification is continually proceeding amongst us.

"Julius courteously entreated Paul." How is it that Paul always stood well with men of the world? They took to him. There was a kind of natural kinship between them; there is amongst gentlemen. How do we pick out one man from another and say, as if ringing him on the world's counter, "That is good gold," or "That is counterfeit silver"? A wonderful thing this magic of recognition, this masonry of friendship, this brotherhood old as creation. Why run down what are called "men of the world"? They are so often the kings of men. I would never speak against men of the world who have "courteously entreated" me, to whom on some occasions I have owed my life, my progress, my enjoyment Do not attempt to shake them off as an inferior race. They are only less bigoted than I am, less troubled by technicalities and distinctions and metaphysical ideas and divisions. They represent a broader judgment, a glowing, generous human nature. What they would be if they were in the spirit of Christ! Why, they would be kings of men, not dwindling, withered bigots whose blood has lost all its wine; they would make the Church warm; they would turn it into a hospitable home; they would breathe a south-west wind through our ill-ventilated souls. Oh, pray for them!

Here is Paul still inspiring confidence. His look was his certificate; his tone was his letter of recommendation. There are some men who might have a whole library of testimonials, and you would not believe a word they said, notwithstanding the huge burden of stationery. There are other men who need no card or letter or endorsement; honesty lives in their eyes, breathes from their lips, warms in their hearty grip. Paul inspiring confidence is Paul preaching in silence. His Christianity is now eloquent. For the moment he is deposed from the platform which he made a throne; but his moral qualities, his spiritual elements, his inborn and sanctified forces of mind and heart, are continuing and completing the ministry of speech. Paul was allowed "to go unto his friends to refresh himself" a very happy English expression, but not really giving all the meaning of Paul's purpose or of his friends' hospitality. They really rigged him out again, clothed him. He was in sad plight. He was no particular patron of the clothier. Paul had been having a rough time of it as a prisoner, and now that he had the chance of running on shore for a little while at Sidon, his friends saw, as friends only can, that Paul would be none the worse for a new coat. There are many persons who live so very high above the cloud-line that they can take no notice of matters of such petty detail. But without saying a word to him, they got all things ready, and the clothes were laid there as if they had been laid there by Paul himself and he had forgotten to put them on before. There is a way of doing things a delicacy infinite as love. Paul never had occasion to speak ill of his friends in these matters: he said, "I have too much; if one Church did not give it to me, another did, and upon the whole I have an abundance; but whether I have or not, I have learned in all things to be content."

Thus we have Paul in three aspects: Paul a prisoner, but the chief figure; Paul courteously entreated, still inspiring confidence; Paul amongst his friends, still an object of affectionate interest. He has not much now to stand upon, not much in superficies, but, oh! so much in depth; only a foothold, but what he stands upon stands itself upon the core of the universe. Do not always take the superficial measure; see what your position cubes up to, for figures do not all lie on one line.

We come now to say that the voyage was delayed. Thank God for delays. We should think much of the providence of postponement, hindrance, baffled project, and time apparently wasted. Why not let God keep the time-bill? much better in his hands than in ours. This was exactly what Paul needed, and Paul was permitted to enjoy it by the providence of God a good tossing on the water, a new kind of exercise, an abundance of fresh air "Oh, rest thee!" would seem to be the voice of every wind that kept the ship back on her course. God giveth his beloved sleep; God giveth his beloved rest by keeping the ship at sea a long, long time. There is nothing like it; great nurse water, great mother-ocean, beautiful, blessed ministry of the rocking winds! It is all right. Why so impatient, little fool? Why all this racket and noise and wish to be on shore? The shore can do well without thee two weeks longer. Believe me, the shore will be as grand and quiet in thine absence as it would be if thou wert standing upon it rest. Delays are not lost time when properly accepted, when sanctified by prayer. We do not like delay; that is because we are little and weak and unwise. We could do with some men if they were less impatient. They fret us by their eternal fever. You cannot get some men to sit down; nor are they to be converted by lecture, philosophy, or religious exhortation. They pine to be up again; they do not know their restlessness; they do not know how they are exciting and annoying other people. They call it energy, activity; they tell lies to themselves and eat the bad confectionery as if it were solid food. It is the Lord's delight to teach us that the universe can get along without the aid of the very biggest man that is in it. The Lord is continually showing us that however long our bill of mortality, the solar system swings on as if we had never dug a grave. Take your bafflings, your hindrances, your delays, your postponements often so puzzling and vexatious as parts of a mysterious but beneficent providence, the purpose of which is the complete education and the final refinement of the human soul.

Paul, in the next place, ventured to speak upon subjects other than religious. In the tenth verse we read: Paul said, "Sirs, I perceive that this voyage will be with hurt and much damage, not only of the lading and ship, but also of our lives." Paul was observing, putting one day to another, running a silent process of logic through his own mind; and when he had completed the reasoning he spoke out. What right had Paul to speak? The eternal right. Under ordinary circumstances, the landsman has no right to speak on board ship. But what are ordinary circumstances? Affairs which may be measured by a tape line, little incidents that occur within the scoop of the hand. That is momentary etiquette or discipline; but there are eternal laws, eternal rights, and there come times when all human discipline is suspended and when man must speak as man. These are the critical times when our education takes great leaps; these are the occasions which make heroes, martyrs, leaders. There is a law of time, but it is involved in the greater law of eternity; there is a law of custom, which must be respected within given limits, because it is necessary to the momentary convenience and the incidental progress of society; but there is an eternal law which overrides, supersedes, or destroys it. One must enter into the mystery of the higher life to understand this. There are occasions upon which a landsman speaking on board ship would be snubbed by the whole company of sailors; there are other times when the sailors would be thankful for any landsman to speak if he could utter one would of rational hope. These are the times the Christian is waiting for. For the Christian to speak when the ship is going merrily over the blue waves, it would be impertinence, it would be fanatical piety; but the Christian waits. The ship comes into difficulty, the sailors begin to look despairingly at the whole situation; illness is about; the air is troubled; fortune is vexed, and has lost her way to the old quarters where she stored her gold now, if any of you can say a word of comfort, do say it. The Christian is waiting for those times. The moment the door stands on jar, he is in; the moment the opportunity shadows itself, he seizes it. Be wise and do not speak before the time, or your words will be like good seed sown upon the fickle and noisy wind. The clock will strike for you be ready when the hour beats. The word will keep, and when it is spoken after long delay it will come with the more thundering resonance, with the more penetrating emphasis. Know, ye swearing sailors, rioting mariners, that the time will come when you will be glad to hear another voice than your own! For that time the Christian apostle waits. But Paul was disbelieved. Certainly; because the circumstances were not quite mature. But the religious man turned out to be right, as he must always turn out to be. The theologian mock him as you like is by necessity the greatest man in the universe. Why? Because being true to his own philosophy not a dabbler in words and a mechanician in arrangements and adaptations he lives in God. That is my definition of the theologian; not a learned pedant, not a man who knows a hundred languages and never says anything worth hearing in any of them, but the man who lives in God, in heaven, who hears the first intimation of the Divine movement. He must be the greatest adviser, the truest counsellor of society; otherwise the word which we believe to be inspired is a lie: it says: "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him." All inspired history shows that the first communications were made to the piety of the day, to the prayer of the time. The first intimations of Divine movement were made at the altar, when men of obedient heart shut their eyes, clasped their hands, bent down before the holy stone and waited for God; they heard the going of the Most High in the wind, and they were the first to report what they were the first to hear. All true wisdom is with the theologian. He knows more about sailing than captains who do not pray can ever know. He may not always have the faith that would make him master, but he has the spirit which makes him wise. These are questions not to be settled within little limits. Things may look large because they are near; may seem to be different because of their closeness; but when looked at from lofty heights they sink into insignificance, and their dissimilarities are blurred in the common cloud. Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him; and he will give thee thine heart's desire. Even the prisoner shall have his sovereignty; even a man in outwardly trying and discouraging circumstances may have the confidence of those who are appointed to watch over him; and even the man who is supposed to know nothing but religion may turn out to be in the long run the comforter of men who live in mere technicalities. Paul in trouble when was he out of it? Paul in danger it was from his Christian birth his native air. For Paul to have been in luxury and in comfort would have been a puzzle which even his religious genius could not have penetrated. Paul in the storm-tossed ship yes; so was Jesus Christ. The servant can never get in front of the Master. Paul can never say to Jesus, "Lord, I can surprise thee by a new suffering; I have been where even thy footprint could not be discovered."

This is the marvel of the history of Christ: that though so short in time, it covers all spaces. There is not a possible experience of the Christian life which was not anticipated by the experience of the Son of God. That is a mystery which amounts to an argument. Show me one thing we have done in the way of duty or endured in the way of suffering unknown to the experience and excluded from the lines of the history of Christ. How is it with your ship? Is it much tossed about? That is an inferior question as compared with the inquiry "Is Christ on board?" How is it with your vessel? Steaming strongly and steadily towards the desired haven? Are you all well? Have you food enough and fire enough for the voyage? You return a hearty "Ay! Ay!" Be careful how you speak: boast not yourselves of tomorrow, for ye know not what a day may bring forth. You may be glad some time of an old rope thrown out to you. Do not boast. Do not forget the altar even in the ship. Do not turn away your thought from God. Even in the time of sunshine and rapid homeward movement, you cannot tell what may yet transpire. This will I do: I will leave my ship, myself, my destiny with God. He made me, shaped me, inspired me, has led me, fed me, until now; and if it be his will to dash me to pieces within a mile of home But, oh, it cannot be!