The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1902-11-07
CONVENTION SERMON.

From Sunshine.
Like great mountain peak the
majestic character of Moses rises
out of the past. Though its details
may not always be clear, it's outline
is unmistakable and commands at
tention. Rising out of the rude
elements of the time, the leader OF
a degraded people, whose strongest
desires were often fixed upon the
feshpots of Egypt, he is one of
whom more than any other great
character OF the past it may be
said was not so much the pro-
duct of his time as the former of it.
The author of the epistle to the
Hebrews has perceived the deter
mining features of that character
Though surrounded with luxury he
formed a right estimate of things,
Judging we'll between the heeting
or transient and the lasting or
eternal. Having formed the esti-
mate, he made the right choice, and
in the course chosen he endured
through the consciousness of the
presence OF the Divine. These are
features needful to-day in strong
moral character.
To use the words of Goethe, we
are citizens not only of a country
but OF time. Our present time is,
marked with so much intensity,
activity and strenuousness, we are
apt to see only the superficial aud
be entirely controlled by the pop
ular present. Characteristics of
the times in which we live are the
use of set of morals upholding
deadly competition and contrary to
! the teachings of Jesus and Paul in
relation to helping others-chief1y
the weak and the influence of
commercialism in furnishing incor-
rect ideals for the young. The
product of city life, brought forth
in the midst of the show of power
and influence, is not one prepared
to lead in a great moral conflict
The young man who is r4~~..,~ Ia
the more lasting things of lite is
from the country, where the natural
development is found. Moses was,
surrounded by the wealth and power
of a Pharaoh's court, but he dis
cerned the essentials and estimated
rightly. Happy the one, who,
through the superficial things to-
day, can lay hold upon the deeper,
more permanent, and estimate them
so.
| The right estimate being made,
the right choice must follow. Here
the exercise of the divine power OK
will brings responsibility. And
this forms character. And some
thing more than knowing must OBJ
tam. A course of action must re-
suit. The sympathetic world drops
tear upon the grave of Burns,
whose own epitaph be too frankly
wrote when he said.
"The poor inhabitant below
Was quick to learn and wise to know,
And keenly felt the friendly glow,
And softer glow,
But thoughtless follies laid him low,
And stained his name"
A right estimate and a right
choice being made, it is left for the
man to endure through all conflicts
Moses here stands in his solitari-
ness a majestic figure. Against all
the ch1dings of the people he was
firm, and the secret of it was in
''seeing the invisible" Moses in.
action and life revealed the elements
of the divine in man. He stood be-
tore God sublime.
To-day we are brought nearer
through union with Christ. This
is the sum of all our religion. 1t is
attained by constant fellowship
with Jesus Christ. AS the boy
Ernest, in Hawthorne's story of
"The Great Stone Face" came by
constant contemplation into the
image of the great rock, so we by
daily association with our Savior,
come into his likeness.
GEO. H. MACK.