The St. Louis Republic., 1904-05-30
SAYS WE MUST WATCH
IF WE WOULD HEAR GOD
The Reverend Robert y. BUrdett-
Declares That the Divine Mes
sage Comes 20 the Patient

The Reverend Robert :. Burietts OF Los
! Angeles. cal. author. hUnorist and minis
| ter. preached yesterday morning before
| the congregation of the Third Baptist
| Church. which is meeting temporarily at
the Central Young Mems Christian Asso-
| c!a;Ion building The announcement drew
| a large CONGREGATION in spite OF tho rain
Mr. BurJ.tse took his text from Habba
! kuk. ii. !: I VIII stand upon M watch
| and set mo upon the tower. and viii watch
!! 10 see what he VIII say unto me" Mr..
Eurdet;e said.
Watching 10 sec what God Will say 70
uS, How many times 30 We say our
prayers down NJ The foot o3 the watch
tower. down In the dust Ill: turmoil AMI
t!aIn"- Of The world and it, fovrTIsh life
and rise from our knees 70 Eo away with
oiIt waiting fur the answer We dit not 'N-
Iect- And then we say. Cod does not
hear. he does not speak God does
speak II H. man. who will not listen
And when. sometimes. IN spite OF cur care
lesSness and unbolief, one ike Jesus Christ
brings the voice OF God answering from
the sEiss. We turn away. saving. 1t thuu-
derei.' 50 dul! % our soul are we To-
hear. 20 slow OF heart TO understand God
when he speaks
out OF the storm that sweeps the ssa
when the night eufD'ds -. out Of the care
and fret and all tn. troubles and the
WEAKNESS o. life. We cry To him. and in
the pity and love OF his nature lie will
hear and answer u. But unless we have
hours OF solitude with Col: unless again
and again we climb 20 tho b1ttlements
of the watch tower and stand alone and
walt long 10 SEE what he will say 10
Us. We VIII lose the sweetest. the nob.eSt.
the highest ard best impulses OF life. II
Is written Of EnOch. when the world was
young. And Enoch walked with God and
he was not. fOy God took him Took
him out OF the knowledge OF men who
walked with self. ont OF the companion
snip ~ men VINO walked with their eyes
on the ground and their souls in the dust.
What part had such men with a man
who walked with God" How could they
understand him. his hopes, his lOnEiUEs
ms aSPi'auois! Anu Coz. loN'hE. as ne
ever does. tho compauiouShip OF man,
drew this man, who loved 20 walk with
him. stil nearer and nea-s. to himself.
ard n last took him 10 b. with him
forever That IS heaven.
Not to play harp for millions OF wears,
singing the same thing over and over and
over again without ceasiug. but - walk
with Go.-tO love him above Ill things
To- talk with him. to listen for every word
and Impulse coming from him. here and
now. and then aud thcre-that is heaven.
Drop into the smO kiuErDOm Of a Pullman
sleeper. or into the rOtuuda oi a great
hotcl-any place where men cu1Er"-atc-
Listen TO the animated conversation EoinS
ON about the war IN t.tnn, tn" latest
vaudeville Idol and tho next prize fight
Break into the eager and iut"liiG"Gt-well,
intelligent for such topicS-CouVcrSItiD
blsst theme for the disCOurs" of angels
and men-the infinite love Of Christ fOT
men: the awful. wonderful mystery Of tn
spirit of God moving upon tn" soul of 4
man. and note how quickly Silence locks
every ChattcrinC tongue. All. tho man Who
has been alOn" with God comes back 10
the duties OF daily lie touched sGm"w wtslt
with the sweetness. and glory and ma 'e''y
Of the divine. When Moses came down
from Mount Sinai the reelected glory o.
Cod with whom ~ had talked, SLone in
hil face When aaron and all the chill
dreu OF Israel saw IT, they We're afraid
to come near him. and he veiled hiS face.
this mighty lawgiycr. when he Splke with
men. But Moses wist not that his lace
'Uh. we'll some man says. some man
who puts the dcllar-mark ON all his ideas
Of success and estimates commercial
value for every think in life. YOU can't
EXPECT sensible. practical mon 10 under
stand all these vapo-ing9 and rhapsodieS
OF Missionaries who go away by themselves
and then come back out OF the moon and
the clouds lima ginins all sorts ~ ihirgS
Well so much the worse for the men who
cannot understand such thinES-thinCS
which are true and real and fixed AZ ;he
rlultiplica tiOn table or rules or irteTcS,
s, much the worse for the men who can
only sre what is visible from the level Of
the sea What a narrow. contracted.
poor little world such men live in With
little saucer rim for horizon line. over
this mountain. not fifty miles away. the
sun rises. ont at sea, thirty or forty
miles to the west. the sun goes down.
dred-uile circle is the town in which he
lives. What a miserable. mean little
scven-by-nine world In which TO live.
What a poor little world Why. man.
I've known men who lived on such scant
salaries that it was life and death fight
to Pay rent and monthly bills in a two
story house with nine rooms. and they
owned bigger world than that-a thou