Connecticut western news., 1905-12-28

childhood and middle age and old age as well as toward the future and the promised land.
 How good God has been to Mosesl How good he has been to us! Let us for moment go back to the scenes of our infancy, as Moses thoughts turned to the river Nile and to Egypt. Did we not then have some one to love us and provide for us during the days of our childhood? When Eliphalet Nott. the great president of Union college. be- came very old man, he lapsed Into beautiful second childhood. Day by day his faithful wife used to sing the same lullabies with which his mother once sang him to sleep. When the wbite haired patriarch became restless at night. she would gently place her hand upon his wrinkled forehead and softly sing Isaac Watts old hymn:
 Hush. my dear: lie still and slumber;
 Holy angels guard thy bed;
 Heavenly blessings without number
 Gently falling on thy head.
 Then the old man would close his eyes like a little babe. He continually kept calling over the names of his mother and father and sisters and brothers. And when he conducted fam- fly prayers for the last time he closed with the simple evening prayer, Now lay me down to sleep; I pray the Lord my soul to keep" AS he lived over again the scenes of childhood a strange peace came to his soul. So with Moses. So with us. The associations Of childhood speak to us of the infinite 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 ralnstorm? No, it looks more like snowstorm And yet as we reach up and gather handful of the falling flakes they do not melt In our hands, though they are as white as the driven snow. No, 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 will derness wanderings, which has been sufficient for you and your family to this day. Has there been a day In your past life when that mama failed? There have been crises in your life, as there were in the life of Moses-per- haps financial crises-but, day by day and week by week, year by year, God has fed you. Has he not, my brother? An, 1t Is 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"
 A Beautiful Legend.
 Sometimes we did not understand how God was going to feed us when the cupboard was empty. But feed us and ours he always did. There is beautiful legend told about the convent of St. Sabina of Rome. Many years ago. when St. Dominic was at the head of this convent, the food gave out. What were the inmates to dor Come" said the leader; 'let us go Into the re- factory 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 re- factory and sat down. Then the leader lifted his hands and made prayer 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 an gels appeared clothed in white. The one bore a basket of bread. the other pitcher of wine. They silently placed the basket and the pitcher upon the ta- ble 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 a legend which. In figurative 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 1t always did. God has fed us as truly as In the legend he was supposed to have fl the inmates of St. Sabina convent. Stand ye not upon Pisgah's heights today? Twenty, forty. fifty years of temporal 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 supera- bundances have not always been yours, but the temporal necessities have al- ways 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 PisgSh heights offer to us an- other retrospect. Looking away back into the dim past we now can see how our seeming troubles and misfortunes have been the means of drawing us closer and closer to God and to his leadings. They have been not stum- bling blocks, but stepping 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. It 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 lawglver turning his eyes toward Egypt. He is watch ing groups of men going around. What Is the matter, Moses?" I 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 began to null tiply so rapidly that Pharaoh declared that every male child born to Hebrew woman should be slain. Those officers are after me-" What else dost thou see, O leader of leaders?" "I see woman and her eldest daughter run ming away toward the river Nile with a little babe In her arms. They are hiding that child among the bulrushes