The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1906-10-17

quails, and covered the camp, and
the Israelites ate, and were satisfied.
satisfied with the act of God, but the
spirit of Moses would not rest until
he saw through the act to the heart
beat of God. and he saw in quails, in
rain, in fire, everywhere, when God
spoke, he saw His way. And once,
when he climbed the mountain and
stood in the presence Of Jehovah for
forty days, so catching the heartbeat
Of the Infinite that his face shone
with peculiar glory, and he must
needs cover it with veil ere the chill
dren Of Israel would look upon him.
Would you know the difference be-
tween Moses and the children Of
Israel? Their bones we're buried in
the wilderness, while he, long after,
climbed Nebo's height, and, as the
old tradition says. God kissed his
spirit from his body and buried the
clay with His own hand, and gath
cred the soul to His bosom. We
have heard from him once since,
when on the Mountain of Transfgur-
alton with Elijah he talked with the
g
which He should accomplish at Jeru-
salem. Moses lives because he
learned the ways of God. And would
you know the secret of this in every
day life? Some of you have said: II
am poor; I was born poor, and have
held my own" saw poor woman
the other day. was directed
through a gate into pasture, down
over a hill. through another gate into
green plot of meadow, and there
was little lonely house. The chairs
were poor, the stool was broken
poverty everywhere, save only in the
face of the woman. Every joint save
one was stiff with incurable disease,
and with the right hand she toiled
busily on for the little ones taht gath
cred about her feet. I thought that
I would bring her word of consola-
tion, but it was I that was consoled,
for in the silence and sorrow of pow
erty God had talked to her, and her
face shone with His beauty, and her
eye was bright with His glory. Her
words were like ointment poured
forth. She lived in the heart of the
beatitudes. And once saw a rich
man whose money came easy. and
one day he heard the voice of God,
and like a brook from the mountain
he poured forth his dollars to sweet
en- and bless society, as the brook
makes beautiful the meadows through
which it runs on'its way to the ocean.
He had learned the way Of God in
riches. And this is what would say
whether the: gift be poverty or riches,
sickness or health, prosperity or ad-
versity, cloud or shine-they are but
the acts of God, and out OF these acts
He allows us to weave the story OF
His love, and to learn the beautiful
lesson of His ways to the children OF
men.
Could tell 1t all in one word, 1t is
this: Can you remember the days
when the smoke of the awful war be-
tween the North and the South was
beginning to drift toward the ocean?
Can you remember the last days Of
the war? One incident fingers in my
memory. It was up Ia the Ad1ron-
dack Mountains. A boy had gone
from the home early in the sixties
gone to the war. Day latter day a
mother had prayed, 49, prayed with
such importantly, prayed with such
faith, that the boy might come home
but the winter of IS. in March,
the snow had fallen so deep that 1t
covered the fence, and then a thaw,
and then a frost, and the crust was
so thick that beast could walk over
it without breaking through. In the
early days of March friend walked
fourteen miles over the mountains.
He came to the home, and brought
paper, and said: "a battle has been
fought, battle down on the ocean
at Fort Fisher, and stronghold has
been taken" And then his voice
grew hoarse. He said the battle had
cost us much, and then tear came
into his eye, and then he read long
list of the slain, and when his voice
spaKe one word it read: Charles
l., killed in the fort, buried In
the trenches. And the woman did
not cry out, but went up stairs and
stayed there all the rest Of that day
and that night, and until the after
noon of the next day. We thought
she might never come down, for we
had learned of Moses in the presence
of God. But in the afternoon she
came down, and her face shown like
the face of an angel. In the secret
of great sob you may learn the Sc
cret of God. The secret Of the Lord
is with them that fear Him, and He
will show them His covenants.