(Acts 27:)

We have in this chapter the prisoner become the savior. The vessel goes to pieces. The lives of all are preserved. But it was not the vessel, but the promise that preserved the travelers. They had been committed to the ship ; but the ship breaks asunder, and the promise, not the ship, becomes their safety. All stewardships fail, and prove unfaithful. The Church as the witness, or candlestick, is broken and removed; but that which is of God Himself-His truth, His love, His promise-survives, as fresh and perfect as ever ; and none who trust in Him, and in Him alone, shall ever be confounded. The voyage may end in complete wreck,-the dispensation may end in apostasy; but all who hang on the promise of God through God's Messenger, though man's Prisoner, are brought safely through. Some swim, others float on planks. Some may be strong, and work their way more in the solitary strength of the Spirit; others, weaker, may hang about fragments that float around on the surface here and there inviting the timid and the unskilled :but whether they swim, or rest on the planks, all-strong and weak together, reach the shore. They cannot perish, for the God of the promise has them in His hand, and no wind or wave can dash them thence.

This is not Paul's voyage only, but ours. It is the safety of wrecked mariners,-the safety of all believers who trust in the promise-the God of the promise, the covenant sealed and made sure, the purchased as well as promised blessing and security of a poor ruined, helpless, and tossed soul who has by faith found his way and taken refuge in the sanctuary of peace, though all props and stays here fail him. Cisterns may be broken, but the fountain is as fresh and full as ever. Chorazin and Bethsaida may disappoint Jesus, but the Father does not. Hymenaeus and Philetus may disappoint Paul, but God's foundations do not. "All men forsook me," says he on a great occasion, "but the Lord stood by me." And the Psalmist in triumph exclaims, " If the foundations be destroyed, what shall the righteous do ? The Lord is in His holy temple !" Yes, the way to magnify our security is, to see it in the midst of perils and alarms. The very depth of the waters around honored the strength and sufficiency of the ark to Noah; the ruthlessness of the sword in passing through Egypt glorified the blood that was sheltering the first-born of Israel; and the solemn terrors of the coming day of the Lord will but enhance the safety and the joy of the ransomed, whether with Jesus in the heavens, or as the remnant in their "chambers" in the land.