Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1904-05-25

iaIIh uetter land, longing to lead Ho-
bao to that place. Moses looking ahead:
Hobab glancing behind. Moses with
higher aspirations for God: Hobab sat
lsned with the things OF this life. and
the old home with its heather associates.
moses rejoicing in Gods promises;
HoDab caring nothing for them. This
Is the picture We have before us. 1t sug-
gests servant of God seeking to infiu-
shce a soul inthe right direction. The
heiplng hand reaching out to grasp the
hahd OF him who is slipping down, down
In sin in effort to save him The invita-
ton faithfully given; the pleading. low
Ing and fervent; the promise of blessing.
clear and certain. And in the face Of
1t ALL the unmoved heart: the unberd-
Ing Will; the fixed purpose to turn back:
the reply: Il will not 60" The world
is full OF Hobabs to-day. Gods people
plead with them to go with them TO the
promised land. They tell them OF all the
good which God has spoken concerning
His children. They tell them of the
goodness and blessing that will come to
them If they will only go on the onward
upward journey with them. But the
Hobabs have no ears to hear, no eyes to
see, no heart to believe, and they turn
back TO the old way and the old life
again. Even a Moses could not per-
suade Hobab, and even though an angel
came from Heaven he wsuld not be able
to persuade some people to-day to go
with Gods people on the journey to the
Celestial home. This story has its mes
sage for to-day. 1t is of the invitation
given and tho
disciples Of Jesus pleading with sinners
and the sinners rejecting Gods offer and
going back to the life of sin.
7 AM glad we have this picture of
L Moses-that great prophet and lead
CT. the man who went upon the noun
tain top and talked face to face with God
and the man who came down again to
rule Gods people with strong and
mighty and wise hand-this was the
man who, amidst the multitude of de-
mands upon him, could pause and be-
come the individual soul seeker He
was leading a great company of people
up to the Promised Land. why should
he be troubled about one soul who want
ed to turn back? He had great respon-
sibilities upon his shoulders. why should
he take time to consider a single indi-
vidual? But he did. and ii is incum bent
upon every one Of Jesus disciples to give
the invitation, to make the appeal to the
individual whom they find going in the
wrong direction. The invitation may be
treated in the way in which Moses invi-
tation was treated. but that must not
dnfn Is
the message. from making the appeal
This is one of the discouraging features
to Christian work-the many Hobabs
turning back from Gods people. and
seeking the old way and the old life
human ties and earthly possessions
proving stronger attractions than fel-
lowship with God and His people and
the sharing in the Divine inheritance.
This Old Testament incident is rich i'm
suggestive thought for to-day Gods
people are on a journey to an eternal
possession promised by God 10 them that
love Him There are many Hobabs (the
unregenerate who DO not belong to
Gods people,. who mingle with Gods
people, who are familiar with Gods
promises and dealings with His chill
They belong back in the world and as
the time comes when they must choose
which way they will go-forward or
backward-they so often make Hobab's
mistake and turn back TO the things of
this life instead of choosing Christ and
eternal life.
A Nd first Of all we wish 10 call atten-
N ton TO very important point of
difference which existed between Hobab
and Gods people. which would not be
readily apparent. perhaps. just as there
is a difference between the people of
the world and Christians to-day which
IS not apparent to the world. The chill
dren Of Israel had been redeemed out of
bondage in Egypt by the shedding of
blood. but Hobab had never known that
redemption whiSh gave to the children