The Tupelo journal., 1905-04-21

ment with that which has already beer
attained? Shall there be a giving ul
that there may be a fuller possession
a seeking that there may be a finding
These are questions which SOM
time or other come to every heart, ant
the manner of the answer, the nature
Of the decision, determines the direc-
ton of the current of the life, whether
it shall be onward and progressive OF
stagnant and unfruitful. God calls K
every soul, His hand points u the
Canaan which He would have Us occu'
Ply. and the response we give to The
call, the faithfulness with which we
follow the pathway pointed out, deter
mines our destiny and our mission il
life.
Haran, beautifully located, bountiful
In her gifts. kind and generous in her as
ISOLATION of friends and loved ones, a
place we delight in, it seems just the
spot where we should dwell. But while
life is running smoothly and sweetly,
and perhaps just as we have settled
down to the ease and contentment OF
permanent abode there. there comes the
revelation of a better land and the call to
move On to possess it. And then it is the
question: Haran or Canaan-which?
H2ran is better than Ur, but it is not
Canaan. 1t is a half way point which,
like Abraham, many people reach. The
start is made for the gOodly land OF
promise, but fair Haran is SO inviting
that it becomes a resting place, and oh.
too often, at last the permanent abode.
Scripture tells us that Abraham, Te-
rah, Lot and Sarah, Abraham's wife,
went forth from Ur Of the Ch2ldees, TO
go into the land of Canaan; and they
came unto Haran, and dwelt there"
And there is where we find Abraham
as our story begins. AT Haran-dwell-
ing in security and plenty, with Canaan
forgotten. and no thought or ambition
for the journey that would lead to the
better land, the place OF larger mission,
and greater destiny.
All, if we are dwelling at Haran, the
halfway point, when we had intended
going onward and upward to a higher
plane, to a larger place, to fuller life and
mission, let us go out alone and hear God
call us, and feel the touch which shall
us to follow Him to the place He
would give us for a possession!
Hurry, Brother Abraham, our father,
Terah, is dying and asks for thee. Since
yester night We have feared that he
would not live until your return. We
have searched for thee in vain. Where
hast thou been?" and quite breathless
with his running and hurried speech the
speaker paused an instant by the side of
the man whom a few moments before he
had spied coming across the fields, and
for whom he had evidently been watch
ing.
Abraham brought himself up with a
jerk and shock, much as one might when
running into an unseen obstruction in
the dark. He had been in deep medita-
ton and had not seen his brother, Major,
coming, and the first consciousness of
his presence came with the sound of his
excited voice and his startling message.
Like one Weakened out of a dream, he
gazed in mute questioning, while over
his face conflicting emotions were seen
to play, as though grief and JOY, disap-
pointment and hope were struggling for
the mastery within.
We'll" impatiently exclaimed Major,
eve must hurry. Our father even now
may be dead" and grasping the arm of
Abraham, he fastened with him toward
the tent which could just be seen
through the grove of splendid trees
which surrounded it. Neither spoke.
Major could not understand his
brothers mood. He was surprised, nay
indignant, at the manner in which he
had received the news. He never had
been able to understand him, much less
now. A new something, a fresh ele-
ment in his bearing, made him a deeper
enigma to him than eve before.
When Abraham had left Ur of the
Chaldees, refusing to be bound by the
religion Of the place, he laughed at him
and s%neeringly called him a fanatic.
When he had returned and induced his
father Terah and Lot and Sarah to leave
with him for a distant land, he had an
grily refused to go with them. Later,
when he heard that they had stopped at
Haran, and that it was a goodly land, he
had moved thither with his family, hop
ing that Abraham had given up his no
tons and become, as he called it, sensi-
BILE and like other people. He had
brought his gods which he worshiped in
Ur with him, but Abraham told him
there was but one God to worship, and
that He was invisible, but all-knowing
and a~ll-powerful. And while there had
been no open quarrel, for Abraham was
too quiet and amiable to quarrel with
anyone, there was little that was COM
mon between them, and Major had no
sympathy or patience with Abraham's
views. And now as they hurried on
ward side by side, he was half angry,
half perplexed by his brothers calm,
thoughtful reserve, as though within
there rolled a whole ocean of thought
and experience to which he was an utter
stranger.
All, could he have known the expert
ences of the past "a hours which had
come to Abraham, he would not have
wondered SO much.