And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep.
Ver. 24. And, behold, there arose a great tempest] Stirred up, likely, by the devil, to drown Christ (that male child of the Church, Rev 12:5) and his disciples; as he killed Job's children with the fall of the house. This is still the endeavour of Satan aud his instruments: but to such we may, as Pope Plus II wrote to the great Turk,
" Niteris incassum Christi submergere navem:
Fluctuat, at nunquam mergitur, illa ratis. "
And as the poet said of Troy, so may we of the Church,
" Victa tamen vinces, eversaque Troia resurges:
Obruit hostiles illa ruina domos. " Ovid. Fast.
Ambrose hath a remarkable speech to this purpose: Diabolus contra sanctos tempestatem mover: sed ipse naufragium facit: The devil stirs up a tempest against the saints, but himself is sure to suffer shipwreck. The Church, as a bottle, may be dipped, not drowned; as the diamond, it may be cast into the fire, not burnt by it; as the crystal, it may be fouled, but not stained by the venom of a toad; as the palm tree in the emblem, which though it have many weights at top and snakes at the root, yet it saith still, Nec premor, nec perimor. Neither hard pressed nor destroy. Lastly, as the north pole, semper versatur, nunquam mergitur, always moving never out of sight, as St Jerome observeth.