Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1898-05-13


know he means US as certainly as when
he twice spoke the names Of Saul or
Martha or Samuel or Moses.
You see, religion is a tremendous
personality. We all have the general
call Of 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 a school
mate or college mate or the decease
Of q business partner or the demise Of "a
next door neighbor, we get the especial
call TO repentance and q new life and
eternal happiness, and we know that
God means Us. You have noticed the
way IN which God calls Us twice; Two
failures of investments; two sickpessesi
two persecutions two bereavementsi
two disappointmentsi two disasters.
Moses, Moses
still further, notice that the call Of
Moses was written in letters Of fire. On
the Sinaitic peninsula there is thorn
bush called the acacia, dry and brittle
and it easily goes down at the touch OF
the flame. 1t crackles and turns to ashes
very quickly. Moses, seeing one Of these
bushes on fire, goes TO look at it, Al
first, no doubt, il seemed to be botan-
ical curiosity, burning, yet crumpling
no leaf, parting no stem, scattering no
ashes. 1t was a supernatural fire that
did no damage to the vegetation. That
burning bush was the call
Your call will probably come in let
tiers of fire. Ministers get their call to
preach in letters on paper or parchment
or typewriter, 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 a burning bush. 1t may
be found burning in the hectic flush Of
your child's check 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 bushl
Oh, what fascinating and inspiring
character this Moses How tame all 9th
err stories compared with the biography
of Moses From the lattice of her bath
ing house on the Nile Thermutis, daugh'
ter Of Pharaoh, sees him in the floating
cradle of papyrus leaves made water
tight by bitumen; his infantile cry is
heard among the marble palaces and
princesses hush him with their lula
bies; workmen by the roadside drop
their work to look on him when as "a
boy he passed, 50 beautiful was he; two
bowls put before his infant eyes for
choice to demonstrate his wisdom, the
one bowl containing rubies and the 9th
er containing Goals of fire. Sufficiently
wise was be to take the gems, but di-
yinely directed he took tho Goals and
put them to his mouth, and his tongue
was burned, and he was left stammer-
err all his days. so that he declared IN
Exodus iv, 10, lam slow Of speech and
of slow tongue;" on and on until he set
firm foot among the crumbling basalt,
and his ear was not deafened by the
thunderous "Thou shalt not" Of Mount
Sinai, the man who went to the relief
of the Israelites who were scourged be-
cause without chopped straw they were
required to make firm bricks. the story
of their oppression found chiseled on
the tomb Of Roschere at Thebes, and
when his armies were impeded by
venomous serpents, sent crates Of ibises,
the snake destroying birds, to clear the
way so that his host could march
straight ahead, thus surprising the en-
envy, who thought they must take an
other route to avoid the reptiles; the
whole sky an aquarium to drop quails
for him and the hosts following; the
only man in all ages whom Christ likens
to himself; the man Of whom it is writ
ten, Jehovah spoke unto Moses face to
face as a man speaketh to his friend;'
the man who bad the most wondrous
funeral of all time, the Lord coming
down out Of heaven to bury him. No
human lips to read the service. NO
choir to chant psalm. No organ to
roll requiem. No angel alighting upon
the scene, but God laying him out for
the last sleep; God upturning the earth
to receive the saint; God smoothing or
banking the dust above the sacred form
God, with farewell and benedlctiOn,
closing the sublime obsequies of law
giver, poet and warrior. And no man
knoweth Of his sepulcher unto this
day" Get your eye on him, instead OF
trying to initiate some smaller example
A great snowstorm came on prairie
In Minnesota, and farmer In sleigh
was lost, but after awhile struck the
track of another sleigh and felt cheered
to 20 on, since he had found the track
Of another traveller. He heard sleigh
bells preceding him and hastened on and
caught up with his predecessor, who
said, "Where are you goingi" Il am