The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-12-10
THE VOICE OF THE PULPIT
THE STRENGTH OF LIFE, REMARK
ABLE INFLUENCE OF MOSES.
A Short Discourse by the Rev. John
Watson, ID. Id. Unn Maciaren),
Liverpool, England.

And the angel of the Lord appeared unto
him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a
bush; and he looked and behold the bush
burned with fire, and the bush was not con-
sumed
And Moses said, will now turn aside,
and see this great sight why the bush is not
And God called to him out of the
midst of the bush."-Exodus iii. "a.
1t is conceded by all who have given the
subject greatest thought and study that the
life Of Moses has Influenced the history OF
the world more than that of any other man.
We may well ask therefore, what was the
secret OF the strength of that life; and wnen
we have answered that question we shall
know the well-spring of his power and the
abiding strength in man to-day.
The remarkable influence OF Noses life
was not by reason OF any innate refinement
of his own, not by reason or his early train
ing, but because he saw things that were
invisible TO the blinded eyes Of those about
him.
AS he led the chosen people of Israel out
of Egypt through the wilderness food failed
them and they murmured, hunserlng' 10
others the skies were as brass, but ne could
see the mamma that was to fall from them
and supply the peoples daily need.
thirsting; 10 others the rock was hard and
drv. but he could see the water gushing
from il as he should smfte 1t.
Courage failed them, and they murmuren'
o9 limit but DO he could see the green fields
and the pleasant valleys of the Promised
Land to which they journeyed.
HOW 1T WAS DONE.
Now. how was it that his eyes had been
so opened? Our text and the context tell
us that. Go back to the time when, as a
young man keeping the fiocks of his father
in-law. on Mount Horeb, God first talked
with him, drawing his attention by means
of the blazing bush. He saw that the bush
was not consumed and in an instant it
flashed upon him that behind that bush
and behind all other material things was the
spirit of the Most High.
The Jews, 10 other eyes, were as rebel
lious a lot of malcontents as it was pos
sible 10 imagine, but TO the eyes OF Moses
tney were Gods children. Behind them
he saw the spirit of God To others was
given the power of sight, but to Moses came
Every life that can be called great be-
| gins its ascent from some particular mo-
ment when all in q flash are lifted the
| curtains that divide the unseen from the
seen and the soul gets glimpse Of. the
| eternal.
| That moment may come at various
| times: it may when, stepping from
| scene OF gayety out into the night, the
| grand solmenity of the vaulted heavens
| meets the eye; the man gazes at the ever
| lasting stars. and the curtains part, and
| he sees the everlasting. Ii may come when,
sitting beside his stricken child. father
waits, though hoping against hope for the
| vanishing of the life spark from that little
| form: the man gaZes into the shadow of
| death. and the curtains part, and he sees
| the everlasting.
| Every one of can remember some mo-
| ment in his experience when he has thus
| caught sight of the Eternal. That sight is
4 bat
! of that vision that can make the highest
| life possible to the sons of men.
| But you may say: How can be sure %
| things / do not see? 1 came into the world
! of sensibiities made for my realization.
| What l see l know; what else can
| known II Is indeed difficult to believe
| things that cannot be seen. and / am some
| times amazed that anybody can deny it.
| But 1t is not so difficult as it at first APP
pears. Suppose that some great city were
| destroyed by vast calamity. You believe
/ with me that ii would be rebuilt. Why do
you and have that confidence? Because
we believe that the enterprise, the energy
and the brains that have made it what it is
would repeat the feat were it needful. Yet
| We cannot see the brains, or the energy or
/ the enterprise.
| ILLUSTRATING THE POINT.
Two have loved through long years of
| sorrow and toll and trial Her hair Is white
| and the beauty has long been stripped
from her cheek. His form is bent and thin,
| all shorn of pleasant aspect. Do they cease
| to love? Nay, rather they love the more.
| But what they love they cannot see.
| In many of the great cities of the world
| n picture of the crucifixion has been ex-
| hibited. 1t shows an ordinary cross of
| rough wood. and hanging upon it young
| Jew-just an ordinary Jew in appearance.
| About him stand the rabble and the SOL
| diers. You see the nails and all the sqdalid
| details of the painting represents what
| Far from it, 1t is revolving to you. 1t is
| the product of sight.
| But there is another picture of the cruel
| fixion. 1t represents such a wonderfully
| beautiful cross as never was used for male
| factor or for Christ. The figure OF the
| Christ. longer the simple Jew, seems
| enveloped with a mighty majesty. All the
| rabble, all the soldiers, are gone: all his
enemies swept away from our sight, and
| at His feet kneel Mary and a group of
| mourning apostles. Behind is an Italian
| landscape. 1t is all untrue to the probable
| reality. It's details are all wrong. But
| you welcome il and you love to look upon
| il. 1t is a vision.
And this II is that must be the strength
| of life-the moments when IL is given to
| us mortals to pierce the veil and see, if
| only for an instant what lies beyond.
| These little glimpses must support and
| guide through the mists and doubts of
| everyday life. They only can make us
| confident and cheerful in the belief of the
| complete, final revelation of the spiritual