The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-04-14
A PASSOVER SERMON.

~A@-ts
threshold of this earthly career, about to
leave it, makes his personality awe-inspir-
ing. We think that as he talks to US, he is
catching glimpse of the grand reality;
that his words, trivial though they may
seem, contain truth harmonious with the
law of the universe. Who amongst us shall
ever forget the word, the look, the gesture
of those dear to us when on their death bed.
What depth. Of thought and feeling are
expressed in them. The father imparting.
perhaps, some trite com nonplace maxim to
the attentive son imagination transforms
into the far-seelng prophet. me
mother with her gentle reminder,
leaving. it may be, some trifie as legacy
er and sister through a mere childish re-
mark call up wildly before our minds the
brightest and purest moments of our lives.
And with what conviction of truth we re
ceive these, our impressions! Why! Be-
cause in such a moment when selfish inter
ests can have no influence we feel that only
truth and love are speaking to us. And the
holy scripture, true to its characteristic of
presenting US with human beings with all
the warmth of feeling and motive, and not
with gods, is also in this fact true to human
nature.
The portion of the scripture which wish
to take as starting point for our ret1ec-
tions this morning represents Moses at the
end of his labors about to part forever from
the people to whom he was father and
teacher, for whom he interceded and
prayed, to whom ne devoted his whole hfe,
seeing the promised land. Moses is ad-
monishing Israel for the last time to be
firm and steadfast in the observance of the
law. At this, his last stage Of activity. he
goes not into any minute description or
justification of the law, but in short simple
Cho or%o ri1 ka cnh
is not in heaven that thou shouldst say who
shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it
unto us and make us hear it, that we may
perform it. Neither is it beyond the sea
that thou shouldst say who shall go over
tho sea for us, but the word is very nigh
unto thee, in thy mouth and in thy. heart
that thou might do it, And after having
sung his dying song, in which he pictures
the miserable future of Israel when it shall
have fallen off from his God, the narrative
his exhortation in this final sentence. "For
it (the law is no vain thing for Won. be-
cause it is your life, and through this thing
ye shall prolong your days upon the land
whittier ye 60 over Jordan to possess it,.
Now, there is perhaps no simpler and
be when taken by itself as characteriza-
ton of the Thora. All through the Script
ures are scattered sentences which are far
terser and more fragrant with thought than
this. And yet when we transplant morsles
to the time and surroundings in which it
was spoken. When we remember that it
was the last word of Him who was the Gre
ator Of real and religion. We feel lnstinc-
lively that Moses intended to convey some
grand truth to the lsraelites in this saying,
and it is our duty to endeavor to pattern
the things contained in this unpretentious
form.
We must ask ourselves, what lesson does
this message ringing across the centuries
convey to us?
Does it really option ize the essence of our
faith, the substance of our duties as Israeli
ties? Looking at the text, we Sc that it con-
it appeals to individual Israelites: For it
is no vain thing for because it 10 your life"
That is to say. the law of God described as
being with us all the time, the moral law is
ize ourselves. Secondly, the text appeals to
s srael na Roa az Sand Rans throa ses
this thing ye shall prolong your
days upon the land whether We go over Jor-
dan to possess it,. That is to say. only in
shall you be able to maintain yourselves
and accomplish your mission in the world.
This double legacy of Moses to us, friends.
as individual men and women, and as a
race, spiritual congregation with a mis-
sion to accomplish, let us take as our theme
of instruction this morning:
I. Moses. legacy to us Individually How,
then, does the first part of the text appeal
to us men and women of to-day? Surely at
no other time could the force of this text be
felt more keenly than in the present. In
our day, when every institution and cere-
mony consecrated by tradition is critically
examined, and the substance and spirit, the
idea distinguished from the mere form,
when there is a tendency to reason away
truths, the most fundamental and neces-
,I~A- L.
text solemnly reminds us that no matter
what we may argue away, We cannot reason
out of existence the moral law, because it is
eternal-the condition and essence of our
life. This law, which utters itself in COM
mands and prohibitions, which hens us in
and ''thou shalt not" which is ever raising
up before us the ideal of duty, this law is
not merely something vain, empty,
which we may observe or not, according to
our will, but is originally with our very
conception of human life. As the biblical
part of US, which we, in giving to ourselves,
reorganize higher principle in the uni
verse, the great law giver.
If life be not merely an unconscious me-
chanical play Of forces; if life be the real
ization of q self, the fulfllment of a plan;
a portion of the divinity above us,
there can be no other way of really living
than by practically carrying out the law
which God reveals to us through the chosen
few, humanity's teachers, and to which our
conscience gives infallible testimony and
response. The law alone is the criterion
by which we Judge Whether man has really
lived or not; And how very few really live
in the best sense of the word. It is true we
eat, drink and are merry, emphasizing the
fact of our existence by boldly saying to-
morrow we die. But is there any
fe as this Are pc at a ia'n
human beings when we let ourselves
be carried away by the current of passions
and material needs, without becoming con-
scious of any higher and nobler aim? Are
we not rather the sport of forces over
which We have no control, and does not
every shock disillusionize us at once of our
assumed impregnability and comfort? Let
us but cast glance at the different matters
in life, at the various objects which men
prize as their highest goods, and if We be
but true to reason and our own conscience,
we will see that no matter from what point
of view they are regarded, they all must
bow before the august tribunal of the NOR
al law, this alone gives the key to the solu-
ton of any life.
Look at wonder devotee of pleasure whom
the Almighty has raised above material
cares and who shows his gratitude by plung-
ing into very ocean of materialism. How
he pursues the phantom pleasure, no matter
over what roads it leads him, over broken
hearts and ruined lives, over memories
crushed and tender feelings scoffed at.
Restless, feverish, he fits from desire to en-
joyment and from enjoyment to desire,