Evening star., 1906-03-18
Cbe Long. Vuap.


school of real life. There. from entered
apprentice, step by step, we are initiated
Into the trades and professions. in which,
after years of patient toll, we become
master workmen. Gods way in our devel-
opment is "a long way" You and are at
school yet-the wide school of experience,
from which I believe we shall never grad
uate, for by new experiences We shall go
on developing in the world to come. Gods
process in the evolution of nations is slow
and deliberate. Every page of history is
marked with Gods deliberateness. For ex-
amples, study IsraeTs history--our own his
tory a nation. Gods ways are not
mans ways. God moves with stately pre-
cision; man chooses the short cute. Man
often fails; God never. The course from
which Israel was turned was the nearest:
but the nearest is not always the best.
Friends. perhaps God is leading some Of
you by "the long way" You have your
goal, your longing ambition: but You have
not yet reached it. You have come to the
very verge of your ideal; so near. yet at
the supreme moment of realization, as a
! test of faith and character. you have met
| with some misfortune or reverse, and have
cen led back into the wilderness.
some men and women have met with this
| experience time and time again. and It has
seemed that some Ill fate is warning against
| their ultimate success If we be children
! of God, we recognize these things as His
| leadtngs by 'the long way" There are
some Christians who have had the noblest
aspirations to attain the higher plain of
| Christian living. thing that 1t would seem
| that God would be most ready to grant
| speedily. They have longed for that closer
union with God, through Christ, and yet
they feel today that they are far distant
| from that sweet experience which some en-
joy. There have been so many staggering
tests of faith, so many trials that have
filed the heart with unbidden doubts. that
the soul is yet journeying on its way in
the wilderness, and has not found that alb
solute repose in God. Friend. It Is God
| leading you by "the long way" round to
Canaan.
'cAie
the wilderness. The way of life is often
wilderness way. God leads many Of His
children through the desert. Oh, how bar
! rem 1t has seemed: how cold and cheerless
Some through the wilderness of trials and
Affections; some through the wilderness of
bodily suffering; some through reverses and
harsh injustices; some through way bar
ren of friends and Joy: some through disap-
pointments and loss of earths dearest
| loved ones; some through the bleak waste
Of domestic infelicities. The way is long.
| the way is hard; but let us remember that
| Gods way is q way of mercy. It is not AN
/ arbitrary way.
| II He did lead Israel by the longest way,
1t was the right way. They saw 1t when
they reached Canaan. Mercy. why it stands
out with wonderful cIearness He know
! eth our frame; lie remembeeth that we are
dust" "A bruised reed He viii not breat
| and the smoking fax will He not ouencb "
God cares for His children. We remember
the great Knox fire here in our city in IA
| We are told that in the warehouse, where
were stored the household effects of so
| many of our citizens a strange thing ham
! pened. The fire began on the first floor
and took everything before It. 1t ate its
| way through floor after floor until II famed
| through the roof. The water poured into
1t seemed to be but added fuel Soon the
massive walls crushed IN with a mighty
crash. The fire ragged f1erceIy for some
nd Iaf
ruins. After the fire, came the work of
clearing away the debris Everything that
was IN the building seemed to be crushed
| Load after load had been hauled away,
when, We are told. underneath It all. pro-
tected by huge beam which lay aslant
/ was found a delicate little cut-glass vase,
| its crystal beauty untarnlshed by the
| smoke, unmarried by the crash, as perfect
as when It left the skillfuI hands Of the
| artist who made It. What an Illustration
OF protecting providence
Amid the wrecks of all things temporal,
God will guard His own. When He comes
to make up His jewels, He WIFI spare the
| trusting soul as father spareth his own
son. Trust in God, for His way at last
leads TO Canaan The reward will come at
length; so rich, so beautiful; the enjoyment
so enhancing that there viii be no thought
Of the hardshps by the way
And 1t came to pass. when Pharaoh let
the people go, that God led them not
through the way of the land of the Philis-
tines. although that was near =
but God led the people about through the
way of the wilderness of the Red sea"