he cried out, Lord, I perish, save me.” When he2589 looked for strength from the Lord, he
had strength from the Lord; as a man he tottered, but he returned to the Lord. “If I said, my
foot hath slipped”2590 (they are the words of a Psalm, the notes of a holy song; and if we
acknowledge them they are our words too; yea, if we will, they are ours also). “If I said my
foot hath slipped.” How slipped, except because it was mine own. And what follows? “Thy
mercy, Lord, helped me.” Not mine own strength, but Thy mercy. For will God forsake him
as he totters, whom He heard when calling upon Him? Where then is that, “Who hath called
upon God, and hath been forsaken by Him?” 2591 where again is that, “Whosoever shall call
on the Name of the Lord, shall be delivered.”2592 Immediately reaching forth the help of
His right hand, He lifted him up as he was sinking, and rebuked his distrust; “O thou of
little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?” Once thou didst trust in Me, hast thou now doubted
of Me?
9. Well, brethren, my sermon must be ended. Consider the world to be the sea; the wind
is boisterous, and there is a mighty tempest. Each man’s peculiar lust is his tempest. Thou
dost love God; thou walkest upon the sea, and under thy feet is the swelling of the world.
Thou dost love the world, it will swallow thee up. It skilleth only how to devour its lovers,
not to carry them. But when thy heart is tossed about by lust, in order that thou mayest get
the better of thy lust, call upon the Divinity of Christ. Think ye that the wind is then contrary,
when there is this life’s adversity? For so when there are wars, when there is tumult, when
there is famine, when there is pestilence, when even to every individual man his private
calamity arriveth, then the wind is thought to be contrary, then it is thought that God must
be called upon. But when the world wears her smile of temporal happiness, it is as if there
were no contrary wind. But do not ask upon this matter the tranquil state of the times: ask
only your own lust. See if there be tranquillity within thee: see if there be no inner wind
which overturns thee; see to this. There needs great virtue to struggle with happiness, lest
this very happiness allure, corrupt, and overthrow thee. There needs, I say, great virtue to
struggle with happiness, and great happiness not to be overcome by happiness. Learn then
to tread upon the world; remember to trust in Christ. And “if thy foot have slipped;” if thou
totter, if some things there are which thou canst not overcome, if thou begin to sink, say,
“Lord, I perish, save me.” Say, “I perish,” that thou perish not. For He only can deliver thee
from the death of the body, who died in the body for thee. Let us turn to the Lord, etc.
2589 Præsumsit de Domino.
2590 Ps. xciv. 18.
2591 Ecclus. ii. 10, Sept.
2592 Joel ii. 32.
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Again on Matt. xiv. 25: Of the Lord walking on the waves of the sea, and…