The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-07-03
Hard to Stand stIII.

Hard to Stand Still.
 There may come times in the battle of life when a man Is to run. There also come other times when a man is to be like Moses ''encamped before Pi-hahi- roth, between Migdol and the sea, over against Baal-zephon.' On the one side or him was the Red sea. on the other side or him were the pursuing hosts of the Philistines He could not run There was no place to run to. He could not fight Pharaoh. He knew he would have been annihilated in the conflict He could do nothing but wait He had to stand still and see the salvation of the T,ord.p Moses was like Sir Henry Lawrence. en- trapped in the residency of Lucknow during the sepoy rebellion of 1857 For three long months the little English gar rison, surrounded by hundred thousand murderous demons, had to do nothing but walt. They just keep on waiting for the rescuers, who fought their way up from Calcutta under the leadership of that hero of heroes. Sir Henry Havelock Moses was like Gen. Charles George Gordon, who for ten long months just had to walt and continue to wait in the beseiged city or Khartum, and then gave LID his life only few days before the English res cuers hove in sight. Moses was like the Foreigners, praying and hoping and hop ing and praying in the missionary com pounds of Pekng, waiting for the allied troops to deliver them from their inn pending fate during the Boxer uprising of China in 1900 They were too strong as body to have to surrender. They were 1s-ot strong enough as a body to fight their way to the English ships And so hemmed in and driven In on all sides, they just stood their ground fighting for their existence by day and sleeping on their guns by night. They were waiting simply waiting. \ They 4~ere standing still to see the salvation of sne Lord.
 Very easy 1t is for most of us to go forward in the battle of life when the di- vine command is given clearly and dis tinctly: Charge. Let the whole line ehargel' Easy it Is for most of us to retreat when the command is given clear ly and distinctly: Fall backl Let the whole line fall back" But it is another matter for us to stand still. It is an- other matter to patiently walt Yet wait ing is very great element in spiritual success. as 1t Is in temporal success. How much a factor Is "the waiting crisis" in the successes of life can be well learned in the words of Dr. Cuyler taught few years ago, when he said; 'I have been conversant in my time with thousands of failures of talented men. both In New York and Brooklyn. and I can bear testi- mony that ninety-nine hundredths of all those failures were, without doubt, due to the lack of patience, both in a spiritual sense as well as in a temporal" It Is to teach the important lesson of sanctified patience that I am preaching this ser mon.
 The waiting crisis comes to thousands upon thousands of faithful men and wo- men in the struggle for financial ex- istence. It comes not to the lazy, good for nothing human beings, who think the world owes them living. C.. 5 I comes not to the tramps the loafers. the deadbeats, who as derelicts on the great highway seas. of life are a menace to all with whom they come In touch. But it comes to the young man who gets up promptly at o'clock and goes to the store punctually on time. It comes to the conscientious lawyer and doctor and me chanic who are striving with all their power to do right It comes to men and women who are in every sense noble. who always seem to be on the verge of making great success and yet never seem to be quite able to reach the goal.
 Many True, But Unfortunate.
 These men are true and good men, but unfortunate men, They are what worldly people call "unlucky." We know there is no such thing as luck. Men are not lucky or unucky. but there are some who seem to have more mislortuhes tndh olh- CTS: who, through no fault of their own, miss the good things of life. The strong man triumphs over them. but as the world witnesses his struggles under sue cessive strokes of adverse fortune 1t calls him "unlucky." When old Mayer Anselm Rothschild, the founder of the famous banking house of Frankfurt Rhine. was dying. he called his children about him and gave them this parting advice: First, my sons. never plan any great
 movement without first consulting your mother: second never have anything to do with an unlucky man" Mark this Anselm Mayer Rothschid did not say
 DO not have any business dealings with a dishonest man" He took that for granted But he did say "an unlucky man" You know who is that unluck man
 He is yourself. You are unluck in the fact that just as you were about to go to col- jeoe vour father died and you were taken