The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1898-06-16

wept in stream for thirsty hosts9
Surely you do not mean the man who
stood alone with God on the quakinc
Ssnaitic ranges; not him to whom the
Red sea was surrendered? Yes, the
same Moses defending the seven
daughters of the Midianitlsh sheik;
who afterward rescued nation.
Why, do you not know that this is
the way men and women get prepared
for special work? The wilderness of
Arabia was the law school, the theo-
logical seminary, the university of rock
and sand, from which he graduated for
a mission that will balk seas, and
drown armies, and lift the lantern of
illumined cloud by night, and start
the workmen with bleeding backs
among Egyptian brick kilns toward
the pasture lands that flow with milk
and the trees of Canaan dripping with
honey. Gracious God, teach all the
people this lesson. You must go into
humiliation and retirement and hidden
closets of prayer, if you are too fitted
for special usefulness. How did John
the Baptist get prepared to become the
wardrobe. 1t will be hung with silken
socks and embroidered robes and attire
OF Syrian purple. Show me his dining
table. On it the tankards ablush with
the richest wines of the vineyards of
Engcdi, and rarest birds that were
ever caught in net, and sweetest veni.
son that ever dropped antlers before
the hunter. No, we are distinctly told,
''the same John had his raiment of
camels' hair'-not the fine hair of the
camels which we call camelet, 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, roasted, Il disgusting food.
These insects were caught and tho
wings and legs torn of, and they wero
stuck on wooden spits and turned be.
fore the fire. The Bedouins pack them
in salt and carry them in sacks. What
menu for John the Baptist! Through
what deprivation he came to what ex-
ultatfon!
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
prayer brought drenching showers;
the man who wrapped up his cape Of
sheepslsin 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
disintegration; 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 80 Y ears
OF age when he got his call to become
the Israelitish deliverer. Forty years
he had lived in palaces; another 40 years
he had lived in the wilderness of Ara
bia. l should not wonder if he had
SAID: Take a 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 I spent
among the enervating luxnries OF
a palace, and then followed
the 40 years of wilderness hard
ship. am too old. Let me off. Bet
ter call a man in the foities 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 Israelites 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
a 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 of the work
you have already done; to demon
strate the patience you have been rec
ommending all your lifetime; perhaps
to stand lighthouse at the mouth OF
the bay to light others into the har-
Dor; perhaps to show how glorious .
sunset may come after stormy day.
| A great snow storm came on prairie
in Minnesota, and farmer in sleigh
was lost, but after awhile struck the
track Of another sleigh, and felt
cheered to go on, since he had
found the track of another traveller.
He heard sleigh-beils preceding
him, and hastened on and caught up
with his predecessor, who said: s.Whero
are you going?" II am following you, Z
was the answer that came back. The
fact is that they were both lost and had
gone round and round in a circle.
Then they talked the matter over.