Storm god

“ It is a bad thing to have a storm ahead, pushing us back; but if we be God's children and aiming toward heaven, the storms of life will only chase us the sooner into the harbor. I am so glad to believe that the monsoons, and typhoons, and mistrals, and siroccos of the land and sea are not unchained maniacs let loose upon the earth, but are under divine supervision! I am so glad that the God of the Seven Stars is also the God of Orion! ”

“ I, who am old, have seen it before, countess. I know it. I know that the storm of the thundering God is coming. Sometimes it rushes over great kingdoms, sometimes over small out-of-the-way communities. God’s storm forgets no one. It comes over the great as well as the small. It is grand to see God’s storm coming.
“Anguish shall spread itself over the land. The small birds’ nests shall fall from the branches. The hawk’s nest in the pine-tree’s top shall be shaken down to the earth with a great noise, and even the eagle’s nest in the mountain cleft shall the wind drag out with its dragon tongue. ”

“ It is almost certain that in Indra we must see a storm-god, and that his exploit of defeating Vṛtra is a picture of the bursting forth of the rain from the clouds at the oncoming of the rainy season, when all the earth is parched, and when man and nature alike are eager for the breaking of the drought. The tremendous storms which mark the first fall of the rain are generally recognized as a most fitting source for the conception of the god, while the mountains cleft and the cows won are the clouds viewed from different standpoints. ”

“ From this moment the storm became progressive in dreadful magnitude, and the thunder, in concomitance with the most vivid flashes of lightning, pealed through the sky, with an awful grandeur and magnificence, that were exalted and even rendered more sublime by the still solemnity of religious worship. Every heart now prayed fervently—every spirit shrunk into a deep sense of its own guilt and helplessness—and every conscience was terror-stricken, as the voice of an angry God thundered out of his temple of storms though the heavens ”

“ The Babylonian storm-god presents two aspects in the hymns, incantations and votive inscriptions. On the one hand he is the god who, through bringing on the rain in due season, causes the land to become fertile, and, on the other hand, the storms that he sends out bring havoc and destruction. ”

“ The Earth trembled and quak'd, the Foundations of the Heavens mov'd and shook, because God was angry: and yet, when all was given over for lost, we found our selves more scar'd than hurt; for our Lives was given us for a Prey, and the Tempest did us only so much Damage, as to make us sensible that it might have done us a great deal more, had it not been rebuk'd by the God of Mercy; the Care of whose Providence has been visibly seen in our wonderful Preservations. ”

“ In the polytheism of the lower as of the higher races, the Wind-gods are no unknown figures. The Winds themselves, and especially the Four Winds in their four regions, take name and shape as personal divinities, while some deity of wider range, a Wind-god, Storm-god, Air-god, or the mighty Heaven-god himself, may stand as compeller or controller of breeze and gale and tempest. ”

“ It is a blessed experience to recognize the silver lining on the darkest storm cloud, and, better still, to be sure of the shining of God's light behind a sky that seems wholly and hopelessly overcast. ”

“ Note, When sin has raised a storm, and laid us under the tokens of God's displeasure, we are concerned to enquire what we shall do that the sea may be calm; and what shall we do? We must pray and believe, when we are in a storm, and study to answer the end for which it was sent, and then the storm shall become a calm. But especially we must consider what is to be done to the sin that raised the storm ”

“ The ways of God are unsearchable, the Methods of his Providence are secret and powerfull; his way is in the Whirle-wind, and in the Storm, tis invisible and iresistible, invisible as the Wind, and iresistible as the Storm. ”

“ If we fully believe that God is in the storm, and that it is his voice which is heard in the thunder, and his face which is seen in the flashing of the lightning, the less shall we be terrified with the apprehension of unknown dangers. ”

“ And drop by drop the anguish of their fears
⁠Comes down around us all the awful night.
They say that in the lightning-flash and roar
⁠Of clashing clouds the tempest is about,
And draw their chairs the glowing hearth before,
⁠The casement close to shut the danger out.
Ah, no! The doors of Paradise, they swing
⁠A moment open for a soul nigh spent,
Then come together till the thunder's ring
⁠Leaves us half blinded by God's element. ”

“ Hymns, anc. & mod.
1289 L. M.
He raiseth the stormy wind.
Psalm 107:25.
Glory to thee, whose powerful word
Bids the tempestuous wind arise;
Glory to thee, the sovereign Lord
Of air and earth, and seas and skies.
2 Let air and earth and skies obey,
And seas thy awful will perform;
From them we learn to own thy sway,
And shout to meet the gathering storm.
3 What though the floods lift up their voice,
Thou hearest, Lord, our silent cry;
They can not damp thy children’s joys,
Or shake the soul, while God is nigh.
4 Roar on, ye waves! our souls defy
Your roaring to disturb their rest ”

“ It is the turning point of his present experience. He has two alternatives before him:—either to suffer unbelief to triumph, to distrust God, abandon the conflict, and sink as lead in the surging waters; or to gather up once more his spiritual [172] resources, breast the waves, and manfully buffet the storm.
It is with him now, as with a sinking disciple in a future age:—when the storm is loudest and the midnight is darkest, the voice and footsteps of his God are heard on the waves: "And about the fourth watch of the night, Jesus came to the disciples, walking on the sea." ”

“ The noise of battle may roar around the walls, but deep silence and peace are within. The storm may rage upon the coasts, but he who has God for his portion dwells in a quiet inland valley where tempests never come. No outer changes can touch our possession of God. ”

“ No one knows whether he is saved or damned; but he has died in a great tempest. Such is the death of those unfortunate men who, during life, have cared little about God. ” Their souls shall die in a storm. ”

“ The great man dying and the great storm raging became mysteriously connected in the minds of those watching and waiting breathlessly; there were not wanting those who said that it was the Devil come for His Highness, nor those who thought it was the sound of the wings of God's angels, nor those who thought that it was devils and angels both wrestling together. ”

“ If the storm is a male god, he will be a warrior or a huntsman. Thus the god acquires a personal character and an independent movement; what is told about him has reference, of course, to the natural object he sprang from, or the season with which he is connected; but the deity is becoming more and more separate from the natural object, and acquiring a character and history of his own. ”

“ Closely related in power to the gods of the sky are the gods of wind or storm. Sometimes the god of the sky is himself the wielder of the thunder, as in the case of Zeus, and sometimes there is a special god of storm or thunder, as the Indra of the Hindoos or the Thor of the Norsemen. In Indian myths, Manabozho often wielded the thunder and lightning, and he has contests with another god of the air, Paup-puk-keewiss, the wind, a personage full of mischief, as wind gods are apt to be, like the Greek Hermes. ”

“ Hence the greatest gods of all the ancient nations are weather-gods—rulers of the atmospheric heavens—displaying their anger in the thunder-storm and tornado. It is likely that in most cases, as in many barbarous tribes of modern times, these weather-gods were malevolent beings contending against the genial influences of the heavenly Sun-god ”

“ Great is the contest, divine the task, for kingship, for freedom, for prosperity, for tranquillity. Be mindful of God, call Him to be thy helper and defender, as men at sea call upon the Dioscuri in a storm.4 For what greater tempest is there than that which proceedeth from appearances, that215 mightily overcome and expel the Reason? Yea, a storm itself, what is it but an appearance? For, take away only the dread of death, and bring as many thunderings and lightnings as thou wilt, and thou shalt see what fair weather and calm there will be in the ruling faculty. ”

“ 14Do not fear the clouds and storm and rain; look at the bow in the cloud, in the very rain itself. That is a sign that the sun, though you cannot see it, is shining still—that up above, beyond the cloud, is still sunlight and warmth and cloudless blue sky. Believe in God’s covenant. Believe that the sun will conquer the clouds, warmth will conquer cold, calm will conquer storm, fair will conquer foul, light will conquer darkness, joy will conquer sorrow, life conquer death, love conquer destruction and the devouring floods; ”

“ The thunder-storm comes with perfect certainty, and as a part of a natural and fixed order. We are all agreed upon that now. We all believe, I suppose, that there is an order—that there are laws which govern the physical world, asserting [85] themselves as much in storm and earthquake as in the succession of night and day, of seed-time and harvest. We who are Christians believe that order and those laws to proceed from God, to be expressions of His will. ”

“ Men of high Attainments, and Men of high Employments, in the Church of God, must look, like Peter to be more Sifted, and like Paul, to be more Buffeted than other Men. Ferunt Summos Fulmina Montes.——The Devil can raise a Storm, when God permitteth it, but as for those Men that stand near Heaven, the Devil will attack them with his most cruel storms of Thunder and Lightening. ”

“ In thunder and lightning, in storm and earthquake, in the circling of sun and moon, in every striking meteorological and geological occurrence, he sees the direct activity of a personal god or spirit, who is usually thought of in a more or less anthropomorphic way. Gods are distinguished as good and bad, friendly and hostile, preserving and destroying, angels and devils. ”

“ A fourth thing that says that there is a storm a storm coming, is, because that there is among us a huge multitude of hollow-hearted men, joined in the covenant with treacherous hearts, the Lord hath brought forth many of these already, but it is like, there will be more visible discoveries, that will make men disown and disavow the covenant of God.
5th Reason. Another thing that says ye would look for a storm, is, because that it is already begun; the wind of the Lord’s fan is beginning to blow; severals who were eminent in the work of the Lord are imprisoned ”

“ There are, indeed, some who express the sense of trust in God without reference even to an intervening Ark; they find sufficient security in the very Law of the Storm itself. He who is scientific enough to know the rhythmic pulsation which is revealed in the Law of the Storm, feels sure that it will cease when the appointed time has come. ”

“ LIGHT SHINING OUT OF DARKNESS GOD moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform; He plants his footsteps in the sea, And rides upon the storm. ”

“ VARVARA. But if anything were to happen, you know, you'd be no safer at home.
KATERINA. No, but still, it's better there, it's quieter; at home one can turn to the holy pictures and pray to God!
VARVARA. I didn't know you were so afraid of a thunderstorm. I'm not afraid, you see.
KATERINA. Don't talk of not being afraid! Everyone must be afraid. What is dreadful is not it's killing you, but that death may overtake you all of a sudden, just as you are, with all your sins, with all your erring thoughts. ”

“ KULIGIN. Nothing.
DIKOY. And what is the cause of a storm to your notions, hey? Come, speak up!
KULIGIN. Electricity.
DIKOY (stamping) . 'Lectricity he says! Ah, a brigand you are and no mistake! a storm is sent as a chastisement to make us feel our sins, and you want with rods and tackle of one sort and another, God forgive you, to ward it off! What, are you a Tartar or what? Are you a Tartar? Speak up! A Tartar, hey?
KULIGIN. Saviol Prokofitch, your honour, Derzhavin said:
In body, I languish in the dust, In mind, I command the tempest. ”

“ Our Lord himself in the midnight of the storm-clouds wields the flashing bolts in his right hand: at their shock ancient Earth trembles, wild beasts slink away, and mortal hearts throughout the nations bow low in terror ”

“ Take her, Rose, to her own room, and God give you power to speak words of consolation; I have none."
Rose drew her arm within that of Irene, and said, "Come." But Irene lingered, looking tenderly and anxiously at her father.
"Go, my love." Mr. Delancy waved his hand.
"Father! dear father!" She moved a step toward him, while Rose held her back.
"I cannot help myself, father. The die is cast. Oh bear up with me! I will be to you a better daughter than I have ever been. My life shall be devoted to your happiness. In that I will find a compensation. All is not lost--all is not ruined. ”

“ The storm rages over the earth, rends the veil, bursts the false temple. The world groans; and the Lord himself, touched even in his unapproachable divinity, extends his arms to his beloved Son to receive him to his heart. ”