The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-12-31

sleep; pray Thee Lord,m my soul to keep As he lived over again the scenes of child hood strange peace came to his soul. So with Moses. So with us The associa- tions of childhood speak to us of the in- finite love and care that were about us then and encourage us to hope that they will be with Us to the end.
 Then, like Moses we turn our eyes from Egypt toward the wilderness. What is the strange storm there in our young manhood and middle life? Is 1t a rain storm? No, it looks more like snow storm. And yet as we reach up and gather a handful of the falling flakes they do not melt in our hands. though they are as white as the driven snow. Mo- my friends, that is not snowstorm falling in the wilderness. It Is a shower of mama which we see and feel. That is the provision God made for you in the years of your wilderness wanderings which has been sufficent for you and your family to this day. Has there been day in your past life when the mama failed? There have been crises in your life as there were in the life of Moses perhaps financial crises-but, day by day and week by week, year by year, God has fed you. Has he not. my brother? An, it Is a mighty fact for you at your time of life to be able to stand upon Pisgah's heights and say, God has taken care of me all the way through life, yea, all the way through life"
 A Beautiful Legend.
 Sometimes we did not understand how God was going to feed us when the cup board was empty. But feed us and ours he always did. There is a beautiful legend told about the convent of St. Sabna of Rome. Many years ago, when St. Domi- nic was at the head of this convent, the food gave out. What were the inmates to do? Come" said the leader; let us go into the refectory and sit down at the table. If we cannot provide food for ourselves God will do so for us" With that St. Dominic and his friars went to the refectory and sat down. Then the leader lifted his hands and made a pray CT like this: 70 God, we thank thee for the food which thou hast given us in the past, and we thank thee for the food which thou art going to give to us now" No sooner had the blessing been said than, behold, two beautiful angles ap- peared clothed in white. The one bore a basket of bread, the other a pitcher of wine They silently placed the basket and the pitcher upon the table and then disappeared. Then St. Dominic turned to his friars and said, Eat, children, what God hath sent you by his angels
 That Is only a legend, but 1t Is legend which, in f1gurative sense, has been seen In our lives as well as in that of Moses. Sometimes we could not see where our next meal was to come from, but come it always did. God has fed us truly as in the legend he was supposed to have fed the inmates of St. Sabina convent. Stand ye not upon Pisgah's heights to- day? Twenty, forty, fifty years of tenn poral care are reaching out before you. Thank God today for the food he has given to you to eat, for the clothing he has given to you to wear and for the houses in which you and yours have lived. The superabundances have not al- ways been yours, but the temporal neces- sities have always been supplied. Day by day, week by week, month by month. year by year, the mama has fallen at your feet and at the feet of your dear ones.
 But the Pisgah heights offer to us an- other retrospect Looking away back into the dim past. now can how seeming troubles and msfortunes have been the means of drawing us closer and closer to God and to his leadings. They have been not stumbling blocks, but step ping stones to higher spiritual attainment. God has always led us up to his mountain tops of inspiration by first leading us down into the deep valleys of despair. 1t is only by casting us down that he is able to lift us up. Let me illustrate my thought by Moses life
 Standing upon the top of Pisgah to- day, I see the great lawgiver turning his eyes toward Egypt He is watching groups of men going around What is the matter, Moses?" l ask. Do you see anything stranger" Yes" answers the mighty leader. "I see men as officers of the law hunting my life. One hundred and twenty years ago the Hebrew slaves hot tn r1a11l n1 an ,an nj hat Dho- rach declared that every male child born to a Hebrew woman should be slain. Those officers are after me- What else dost thou see, o leader of leaders?' "I see a woman and her eldest daughter running away toward the river Nile with little babe in her arms. They are hid ing that child among the bulrushes of the river. That child was and is I'' What else dost thou see, o mighty chieftain?' 'I see a princess of Pharaoh's court com ing down to the river to bathe. I see her bending over that child and then adopting him as her own son" What else dost thou see, O leader?" ''In that adoption I see how it was made possible for me to be educated. I see that through this education l was fitted mentally to do the work God has given to me to do. Through that adoption l became the lawyer, the statesman, the molder of a people who are to become possessors of wonder promised land. God fitted me for my work by first making me a found- ling and a social outcast.'
 Why Trouble Comes.
 Troubles must have a long perspective if We are to see them alright as messen- gers of mercy. Thomas Fuller the quaint English divine, once said that troubles appeared to him at close view a great deal like piece of tapestry turned wrong side out It seemed to be nothing but great experimentation of nonsense. It was without head or foot. Confusion it. self had as much method in it. It was a company of thrums and threads with many pieces and patches of several sorts and sizes and colors, all which signified nothing to my understanding. Then Dr. Fuller turned the right side of his tapes try to the delighted eyes of his audience as he said: But, though the wrong side Is all a mystery, how beautiful is the right side! Here are all beauties and all right proportions" To use his exact words, Here is history not wrote with a pen, but wrought with a needle" Such are the dealings of God with us. When we look at our troubles close at hand we seem to be looking at a piece of tapes try wrong side out, but when we stand with Moses upon Pisgah's heights and look at out troubles through the inspired vision of the years we see why those troubles came and how they were the means of fitting us for our lifelong use fitness. Our past troubles fitted us and fitting us for the work God has given us to do. Thank God for the east wind as well as for the west wind.
 But our Pisgah heights today have