St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1898-06-11

4heepSkln into q roll and with 1t cut
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 of transfgur-
ation-this man could look back to the
were his only caterers
See also in this call of Moses that
God has . great memory. Four hum
dred years before He had promised the
deliverance of the oppressed Israelites
of Egypt. The clock of time has struck
the hour. and now Moses is called to
the work of rescue. Four hundred
years is a very long time. but you see
God can remember a promise 400 years
as we'll as you can remember 400 min
utes. Four hundred years includes all :
your ancestly that you know anything
about and all the promises made to
them, and we may expect fultillment
in our heart and life of all the bless
inps predicted to our Christian
ancestry centuries ago. You have
dim remembrance, If any
remembrance at all. of your great
grandfather, but God sees those who
were ON their knees in 1903 as well as
those on their knees in 1898, and the
blessings He promised the former and
their descendants have arrived, or will
arrive. While piety is not hereditary,
it is a grand thing to have had pious
ancestry. So God in this chapter calls
up the pedigree of the people whom
Moses was to deliver, and Moses
is ordered to say to them: The
Lor.t God of your fathers, the
God of Araham, the God of Isaac, and
the God of Jacob hath sent me unto
YOU" If that thought be divineiy
accurate, let me ask: What are we
doing by prayer and by holy life for
the redemption of the next four hum
the people of the latter part OF the
nineteenth century, but with those in
the closing of the twentieth century.
and the closing of the twenty-second
century. and the closing of the twenty
third century. For four hundred
years, if the world continues to
swing until that time, or if it drops,
| then, notwithstanding, the influence
will 60 on in other latitudes and longi-
tudes of Gods universe.
Notice, also. that Moses was 80 years
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. I should not wonder If he had
said: 'sTake . 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 l spent
among the enervating luxuries OF
. palace, and then followed
the 40 years of wilderness hard
ship. l am too old. Let me of. Bet
ter call a man in the forties or fiftics.
and not one who has entered upon
the eighties" Neyertheless, he UNDER
took the work, I'D If we want toknow
whether he succeeded, ask the aban-
doned brick kilnsEof 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 70. 1t may not be in the high
places of the field, it may not be where
strong arm and an athletic foot and
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
70 stand = lighthouse at the mouth Of
the bay to light others int, the har-
bor; perhaps to show how glorious
sunset may come after a 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 . playmate, or the de-
cease OF . business partner, or the de-
mise of next-door neighbor, 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 God
calls us twice? Two failures Of invest
ments, two sicknesses; two persecu-
tions; two bereavements; two disap-
| pointments; two disasters Mosesl
Moses!
still further notice that the call Of
Moses was written in letters of fire. On
Sinai peninsula there was q thorn
bush called the acacia, dry and brittle,
aud it easily goes down at the touch of
the flame. It crackles and turns to
ashes very quickly. Moses, seeing one
of these bushes on Are, goes to look at
| it. At first, no doubt, it seemed to be q
botanical curiosity, burning, yet
crumbling no leaf, parting no stem,
scattering no ashes. 1t was
supernatural fire that did no
damage to the vegetation Ghat
burning bush was the call Your cali
will probably come in letters OF fire.
Ministers get their call to preach in
letters ON paper, or parchment, or type
| written, but it does not amount to
much until they get their next call in
| letters Of fire. You will not amount
| TO much in usefulness until somewhere
near you find . burning BUSH It may
| be found burning in the hectic flush
of your childs cheek; it may be found
burning in business misfortune; it may
| be found burning in the fire of the
worlds scorn or hate or misrepresenta-
ton. But harken to the crackle of the
burning bush!
A great snow storm came on prairie
in Minnesota, and farmer in . sleigh
was lost, bat after awhile struck the
track Of another sleigh, and felt
cheered to 60 ON, since he had
found the track Of another traveller.
He heard sleiga-bells preceding
him. xnd FASTENED on and caught up
with his predecessor, who said: Where
ore you going?r L am following You, :
Il q - u xru~s#