Page:Meditations For Every Day In The Year.djvu/406

 character of  "a  helper,  in  due  time,  in  tribulation." (Ps. ix. 10.)

II. The disciples  seeing  Him  walking  on  the  waters-  , exclaimed, "It  is  an  apparition." It too  frequently  happens, that  men  consider  Christ  as  a  mere  apparition, interior inspirations  the  mere  effects  of  a  melancholy disposition, and  solid  virtue,  nothing  but  idle  superstition and  weakness  of  mind. Others consider  their  own crude imaginations,  the  effect  of  Christ's  presence;  believe their  foolish  ideas  are  revelations;  that  their  passions are  virtues;  that  their  anger  and  malice  are  zeal; and seek  their  own  private  interest,  under  the  cover  of the  greater  glory  of  God. The virtuous  soul  avoids  both extremes, and  follows  the  counsel  of  the  Apostle,  "  Believe not  every  spirit,  but  try  the  spirits  whether  they  be of  God." (1 John  iv.  1.)

III. Consider the  words  of  Christ,  "  It  is  I,  be  not afraid." It is  I,  who  so  lately  fed  five  thousand  in  the wilderness; it  is  I,  who  appeased  a  similar  tempest;  it is  I,  who  command  the  stormy  winds  and  the  raging  sea; it is  I,  who  am  now  walking  on  that  untractable  element; be not  therefore  afraid. Hear Him  address  the  same language to  you,  when  you  are  assaulted  by  temptation, and rejoice  that  you  have  a  helper  so  powerful  as  He  is, and a  refuge  in  all  your  distresses  and  miseries.

I. As  soon  as  St.  Peter  understood  that  it  was  Christ who was  walking  on  the  water,  his  fervor  was  immediately inflamed,  and  he  felt  an  ardent  desire  of  being  with