New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-06-01
LTFE'S APPARENT FAILURES.
A SERMON BY THE REV. DR.. JOHN MAC
NAUGHTAN OF MORRISTOWN.

NAUGHTAN, OF MORRISTOWN.
The Rev Dr. John MacNaughtan. of the First
Presbyterian Church Of MorrIstown, finished the
eighth year Of his pastorate there yesterday, ana
in the afternoon preached the following Sermon
from Exodus III. Ito His subject was Life 8
Apparent Failures:
There is something exceedingly sad in the story OF
equally ,ragica In their apparent failure Ills mrs.
young dreams of patriotism, and the last nope oi ms
forty years established in the Land Of Promise, are
extingulshed IN failure: His lie ends n me sd.,
IS one OF the puzzles Of revelation Inc more Vt h
tries explain 1t the more complex becomes '',s
,.ot 49,, nra ons fr work for sorrow and hope;
and ii is for these asking you 10 turn win ms
is final deveiHpments It mag battle thought and
shade of into the region Of mystery that refuses It's
score, to US the story Of this mans hopes ana
dreams and their apparent failure cannot BE with
o,, ins,rron nor faI 10 be helpful 10 in the in
depreciation of the experiences through which our
lives have to pass. This afternoon We are TO deal
only with the first great mystery of his lie nancy,
the denial of the dream OF rs PATRIOTISM do 'ne
God that is given to him at Horeb .,,s
It IL evlen from the story as II Is esenteu 10 Us
in Scripture that from the beginning the heart OF
Moses was Hebrew. The spendors OF the Court OF
Pharaoh sufficient 10 ooliterate me !esSols
he had imbiDed the story o. the people TO wnom ne
belonged and AL the splendid hopes WIN %cn inc
Hebrew stood associated From the oesinn.iig
these dominated him. and took the supreme pace N
his life 1t seems impossible 10 DOUBT tldl ioi n.y. oe
fore the that drove him from Egypt MOSES
had Identified himself with ms Pe9pe, t As ne We We
identification OF himself with the ehs'aner peopiI
cannot be regarded as any mere ooyIsn Impulse -
xoul seem rather 10 have been the deliberate de-
Estimation Of his matured thought and judgment
Nor IS 1t difficult for US 10 understand now NJ WA WA
was is the man therefore to be stirred by the sub
linn. hopes that the heritage or the heore"
pf h grandeur hat was in store for nation
making the old prophecies TO ms heart noo.TF in
heri,ance than all the riches OF Egypt Goa hAu
made covenant with his fathers and the future are
he'd in 1t noble promise. lie was carried beyond M, nis
dment OF the prophecies Of the years ha; We're com
ing HIS grand patriotism was b6-d OF s "a be-
fore him into the invncbe and conquerihg hosts oi
'ns me- po,nt AZ which he comes before Staying
the Egyptian tyrant We may think OF nm as nsnins
Ms heart fq 5a1 o of himself with them was
without doubt. IN view OF their liberation re nv
Somehow or other he should be the instrument OF
effectng and his soul was on nre Win ines dntI0t
Of Egypt's history And knowing to what ms nation
was destined K must have deeply moved MN ~ 81
nearer to the people and began to know bette tne,f
condition and the Qualities OF character %'Em a
condition had begotten, he must nave mao b.!i"piDS
of the gigantic character OF ne task Deiols m''1 ~
And when at length stirred BEYOND Inc p o~e ,ys
further forbearance he slew one OF Ine 1pp .Sos
of his brethren and FOUND himself BETRAYED 10y mos
Compelled to flee for his He, we MAJ imagine ne
dreadful collapse that all his hopes ana dreams SUI.
arYl
him 40 POSSIBLE OF fuhiment was gone forever as
he thought Henceforth ne was compelled 10 I'VE iar
away from all that dear 10 nm anu s.Ne NE ne
Instead to the tending of sheep. TINS afternoon we
are again the track or dreamer OF w. -,
soul has felt their thrill and responded 10 their m
sprations but who forty years ago as ne rGT
thinks sitting there on the slopes Ul he mt the
body the slain Egyptlan Whht iong; sSa gSasf
Of old hopes that had once seemed TO him so SUP
lime and for which he was prepared 70 indAt dIt t
sacrifice And now all that is left TO HIN Is his
the face of a task SO stupendous! Inc man hdu eIs
his life behind him Its promise and prophedGy h nan
sorrowlng over the broken pledges OF ire youns
promise Those must have been very disnai 49,
wears in which the heart was very SAG sna IN wcn n
he must have sorely upbraded nmsef t9r ms nu b
his attempt to escape the task Of leading his people
when God finally arrears 10 MN mn ,oneer worthy TO
be- intrus,ed tn task so glorious as ne had once
thoughtcssly dreamed himself capable OF sni
through . . . Here. then, Is man whose Nls'oNs ANU
hopes have come 70 apparent taiiurf Kim, How many
men and 5nen there are growing Old and who have
A faraway look in their eyes who are living IN me
tht once were pleasant. Now, many Of us have dug
graves in the sand and put away IN them CheriHnea
honee and hallowed day-dreams upon Wnlcn fdhure
has rushed ruthlessly down and claimed as It's Owl
st,rei Evcrv day is bringing to life the need of
some new surrender. There are hveS' OF cours., III
Witch these surrenders tragical than others
refer 70 those lives in which the thing surrendered
is the one above all others priced IheFe are si-
preme moments VIXEN man has to alter inc whGIe
49,, ~, and the ends for which he has lived ana
God have 10 be surrendered; when he has 10 turn
from his Young dream and take ms pain IN an0tner
jireron when he has give up his best friend. MS
most cherished affection. when that which seemed
,he one thing that made life worth living Is taken
a M ~ How many there are that are going sad
beorted through the world this afternoon because
,bev have thus been bereft, wondering why they
haye been born and what God means for them any
way and wondering very often II there be any Goo
q" mn what has all this TO do with Horeb? What re.
,ation s there all this and the revelation OF
The burning bush? Much every way Let me now
Indicate the ways in which the revelation or the text
VS. calculated and is calculated 10 be helpful to
Wosas and To Others with like experience 10 his.
What then did this vision do for Moses? |. IL gave
him The eternal and the Interchangeable as the ground
NJ his life in the Most of its blfnemens ana appar,
ont failures God named himself 10 this DISCOURAGED
man AZ the Il am that am. Still further tnls
Vision comforted the heart OF this man. whose asp-
rations and plans had come TO apparent nature by
showing him that the things he had been thinking
about and planning for were the very things that
we're in the heart and thought OF God. that Gods
.,aar.osts and mis- were Identical, 3. Moses was
aughf another lesson in regard TO the apparent fall
IRE of his life at Horeb which is not without It's
meaning for ourselves, namely, that the place into
which he had been driven with his unfulnled dreams,
and which seemed 10 be the denial or them. was IN
reality the place where he was being prepared TOT
their realization 4. And last OF all. God taught
him AT Horeb that the best things are always 10
come That OF eighty summers following MS
fock on the edge Of the desert how often had he felt
as 80 many all about feeling that the best
mast that the future has only a grave. But Goa
wears later having led his people across the desert
=, him. knew