Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1898-06-17


son that ever dropped antlers before
the hunter No, weare distinctly told,
"thc same John had his raiment of
camels' hair"-not the fine hair of the
camels which we cal camclet, but the
long, coarse hair, such as beggars in
the east wear-and his only meat was
of insects, the green locust, about two
inches long, roa l.ed, u disgusting food.
These insects We're caught and the
wings and legs torn off, and they were
stuck on wooden spits and turned be-
fore the fire. The Bedouins pack them
in salt and carry them in sacks What
a menu for John the Baptist! Through
what deprivation he came to what ex-
ultaton!
And you will have to go down before
you go up. From the pit into which
his brother threw him and the prison
in which his enemies incarcerated him,
Joseph rose to be Egyptian prime min
lister. Elijah, who was to be the great
est of all the ancient prophets; Elijah,
who made King Ahab's knees knock
together with the prophecy that the
dogs would be his only under
takers; Elijah, whose one prayer
brought more than three years
of drought, and whose other
I prayer brought drenching showers;
the man who wrapped up his cape of
sheepslin into roll and with it cut a
path through raging Jordan for just
two to pass over; the man who with
wheel of fire rode over death and es-
capped into the skies without mortuary
disinteg ration; the man who, thou
sands of years after, was called out of
the eternities to stand beside Jesus
Christ on Mount Tabor when it was
ablaze with the splendors oftransfgur-
ation-this man could look back to the
time when voracious and filthy ravens
were his only caterers.
Notice, also that Moses was so years
of age when he got his call to become
the Israclitish deliverer. Forty years
he had lived in palaces; another 40 years
he had lived in the wilderness of Ara
bia. | should not wonder if he had
said: Take younger man for this
work. Eighty winters have exposed
my health; eighty summers have
poured their heats upon my head.
There are the 40 years that | spent
among the enervating luXuries of
a palace, and then followed
the 40 years of wilderness hard
ship. am too old. Let me off, Bet
ter call man in the fofties or fifties,
and not one who has entered upon
the eighties" Nevertheless, he under
took the work, and if we want to know
whether he succeeded, ask the aban-
doned brick kilns of Egyptian task
masters, and the splintered chariot
wheels strewn on the beach of the Red
sea, and the timbrels which Miriam
clapped for the lsraeltes passed over
and the Egyptians gone under
Do not retire too early Like Moses,
you may have your chief work TO do
after 80. 1t may not be in the high
places of the field, it may not be where
IA strong arm and an athletic foot and
a clear vision are required, but there is
something for you yet TO do. Perhaps
it may be to round off the work
you have already done; to demon
strate the patience you have been rec
ommending all your lifetime; perhaps
to stand a lighthouse at the mouth of
the bay to light others into the har-
Dor; perhaps to show how glorious a
sunset may come after stormy day.
You see, religion is tremendous
personality. We all have the general
call to salvation. We hear it in songs,
IN sermons, in prayers; we hear it year
after year But after awhile, through
our own sudden and alarming illness,
or the death Of a playmate, or the de.
cease of a business partner, or the de.
mise of a next-door ncighbor we get
the especial call to repentance, and &
new life and eternal happiness, and we
know that God means us. Oh, have
you noticed this way in which Goo
calls us twice? Two failures of invest
ments, two sicknesses; two persecu
tions; two bereavements; two disap
pointments; two disasters. Moses
Moses
Still further notice that the call o
Moses was written in letters of fire. Or
Sinai peninsula there was thorl
bush called the acacia, dry and brittle
and it easily goes down at the touch o
the flame. 1t cracl1les and turns /,
ashes very quickly. Moses seeing on
of these bushes on fire, goes to look n
it. At first, no doubt, it seemed to be
botanical curiosity, burning, ye
crumbling no leaf, parting no stem
scattering no ashes. 1t was
supernatural fire that did NJ
damage to the vegetation. Tha
burning bush was the call Your cal
will probably come in letters of fire
Ministers get their call to preach il
letters on paper, orparchnent, or type
written, but it does not amount Il
g., much until they get their next call il
i, letters of fire. You will not amour
to much in usefulness until somewher
near you find burning bush. 1t ma,
, be found burning in the hectic husl
of your child's cheek; it may be foun,
burning in business misfortune; it ma
,, be found burning in the fire of tn
!, worlds scorn or hate or misrcprcsenta
tion. But harken to the crackle of tn
burning bush!
A great snow storm came on prairi
in Minnesota, and farmer in sleig
! was lost, but after awhile struck Tn
: track of another sleigh, and fel
cheered to go on, since he ha
found the track of another traveller
= He heard sleigh-bells precedin
! him, and hastened on and caught u
: with his predecessor, who said "Wher
are you going?" II am following you,
was the answer that came back. Tn
fact is that they were both lost and ha
gone round and round in a cirsM
|, Then they talked the matter n
q and, looking up, saw the
| A 4.