The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1904-05-03

is not given anything in the way of a
character. He is forgiven: his past
sins are RENTED, and God has mercy
on his soul. but what does such a man
possess in the way of a finished. de-
veloped character? He is simply a
babe He has to begin at that time in
life to enter as little child into the
kingdom of heaven. Oh. if he had be-
gun when he was little child, and had
travelled all his life journey in com
pany with the Master What lessons Of
love he would have learned. What a
life of usefulness he might have lived,
What strength and beauty of character
he might have developed,
There comes a time in the life of us
all when a great life choice is set be
fore us and all our after career will be
shaped by that one choice. There
comes a parting of the ways-the good
or the evil, the divergence is almost i'm
perceptible at first, but it widens with
the years, until at the end We find
either eternity with God and all that
is good, or eternity with the devil and
all that is evil. We go to our own
piace-the place of our choice, the
place for which We have fitted our
selves.
The necessity for such a choice was
pressed upon this child of fortune
Moses. Two conflicting elements had
been at work in his heart from his very
infancy--a devout Hebrew mother
brave a despot's fury and save her
child alive had instilled into his in
FAINT veins something Of her own hero
ism and devotion. 1t is not to be sup
posed that this God-fearing woman,
who saw her boy about 20 be surround
ed with all the Establishments of
kings palace. neglected her Opportun-
ity to throw about him the mysterious
that she ever lost an occasion of plead
protection of her unCeaSing prayers or
ing with him on behalf OF the God of
his fathers, the God of Abraham. Isaac
her son might ascend to the throne
like Joseph and be an instrument in
God's hands to bless his people. | think
the opportunity was not lost by this
Cody mother to reclaim her son and
preserve him in the midst of tempta-
tiOn. This was the first factor which
was to count in the life choice which
Moses must one day make. The sec
0nd was his intellectual training from
the wise men, the astrClogers, the
soOthsayers, the priests, the warriors.
the statesmen and the princes, which
formed the brilliant court Of the mighty
Hyksos dynasty. And now when he is
of age, in the full possession of his
faculties of Judgment and Of reason,
and with a full knowledge of the con-
ditions before him. he makes his choice.
What shall it be? Before him on the
one hand are honor, and pleasures and
riches with the people of Egypt. on
the other, ignominy and afIiiction and
repro2ch with the people of God. The
people Of Egypt have the pleasures and
the power and the wealth of the world
The people of God have the poverty.
the Sl3NprN and -i+l
some kind of a vague hope, long de-
ferred, of a promised land Which shall
he choose? Something he can see and
be =. e. or something that is invisi-
bic and remote. # not uncertain?
Why, friends, when Moses was
called upon to make this choice Egypt
was the glory of the then known world.
Rome had never been dreamed of.
Greece was the dwelling place of saw
ages. Assyria and Babylon were mere
habitatiOnS in the wilderness. And Je-
rusalem the golden had yet to build.
Egypt was the exposure of all eyes.
the paragon Of human excellence and
glory Here mans glory was at its
height. Here stood in the freshness of
their first spleudor the massive pyra-
mids. the giant statue Of the sphinx.
the gorgeous temples. the palaces and
groves and populoTs cities of the
worlds first empire. 1t was to the acme
of this greatness that Moses was in
Nited to ascend. The throne of the
mightiest monarch Of antiquity await
ed his occupancy. All this was his
which viii he choose? The scepter of
Pharoah, the riches and pleasures of
luxurious Egypt and the honor or a
tomb in the pyramids, or the despise !
lot of aff1iction with the people of God
until in Gods good time they should
be restored to a land of promise ?
Which would you take? The certainty
or the seeming uncertainty, the riches
or the poverty, pleasures or aff1iction,
the royal honor or the seryile shame .
L tell you, friends, we scarcely can
oVerestimate the greatness of this