The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1898-05-21
Eneedi, ami r.re.. birds that wsr.

1.-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, a disgusting food.
These insects were caught and the
wings and legs torn off, and they wee
stuck on wooden spits md turned be-
fore the fire. The Bed ouins pack tb EN-
in salt and carry them in sacks. What
q menu for John the Baptist! Through
what deprivation he came to what ex-
ultation!
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,
4 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
q
the man who wrapped up his cape of
sheepskin into roll and with it cut a
path through raging Jor dan 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
time when voracious and filthy ravens
were his only caterers.
t. Notice, also, that Moses was so 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 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 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 Israelites passed over
and the Egyptians gone under.
Do not retire too early. Like Moses
you may have your chief work to dc
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 off 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 q
sunset may come after stormy day.
4 You see, religion is a tremendoul
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 a business partner, or the de-
mise of next-door neighbor, we get
the especial call to repentanhe, and q
new life and eternal happiness, and we
know that God means us. ch, have
you noticed this way in wh:-h God
calls us twice? Two failures o! invest.
ments, two sicknesses; two Lrrsecu.
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 a thorn
bush called the acacia, dry and brittle,
and it easily goes down at the touch OF
the flame. 1t craclles and turns to
ashes very quickly. Moses, seeing one
of these bushes on fire, goes to look al
it. At first, no doubt, it seemed to be 9
botanical curiosity, burning, yet
crumbling no leaf, parting no stem,
scattering no" ashes. 1t was q
supernatural fire that did nc
, damage to the vegetation. That
burning bush was the call. Your call
. 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. 1t may
be found burning in the hectic flush
, of your child's cheek; 1t 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 a sleigh
| was lost, but after awhile struck The
track of another sleigh, and felt
cheered to go on, since he ha6
found the track of another traveller
. He heard sleigh-bells preceding
him, and fastened on and caught ur
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