Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-06-22
Christian Endeavor Hour
Conducted by Grace Livingston Hnl-Lutz

tFrom the Twentieth Century New Testament.)
| Faith caused the parents of Moses to hide
| the child for three months after his birth,
| for they saw that he a beautiful child;
and they refused to respect the king 8
| order. 1t faith that caused Moses
| when he was grown up to decline the title
| of Son of Daughter of Pharoah.' He
| preferred to share the hardships of Gods
! people rather than to have the short-lived
| enjoyment of sinful life, for he thought
! that the stigma which attaches to the
| Christ was of greater value than the treas
ures of Egypt looking forward, as he did,
] to the reward awaiting him. Faith caused
! him to leave Egypt, undaunted by the
| kings angel for he was strengthened in his
! endurance by the vision of the invisible
| God. Faith led him to institute the pass
over and the sprirklins of the blood, so
| that the destroyer might not touch the eld-
| est children of the Israelites Faith en-
| ahled the people to cross the Red Sea- as
| if 1t had been dry land while the Egyptians,
when they attempted to do SO, were drown
| ed.
The Lesson.
| We are wont to look upon the great char
acters of the bible as having some unusual
divine power which enabled them to be
great and good and better than we are.
| The nleekness of Moses has become
proverb and we do not feel it quite pos
sihle that any of us should be SO meek.
But Moses was a man like the rest of men.
1t was not an easy thing for him to be
meek. Right in the beginning of his career
he killed an Egyptian. Therefore we see
that tie was hasty and imDetuous and that
, his quick temper arose in righteous wrath
just as our tenpers do.
Why, lie lost his temper with the frivolous
childltH OF lsrae!-just as We do-and that,
too, AFR he had jus: CONF down irCrn ia. k
ing with God. You and | often get up
from our knees where we have had sweet
communion with Christ and so down into
the kitchen to find the servant doing exact
~ contrary to Ter orders, and forthwith we
lose all the sweetness Of the communion
we have just had and all the shining of
face that belongs to him who has just
talked with God, and draw our. brows into
a frown and eXclaim: "Oh, Martha, you
have spoiled the dinner!' in a tone that
sends Martha into a rage and makes her
slam the pots and pans about all day and
cry out against religion which does not
convert sharp tongue. We go down to
,, our family prayer and Bible reading and
oiten refuse to grant some request of
father SO GROSSLY that we bring a cloud at
once into the room. We lay it to nerves
and we lay it to the wrong actions of
others--and of course others are to blame
but God showed Moses by terrible pun
ishment-the Withdrawing of his right to
enter Canaan-that even though there was
just cause. His children should not lose
their tempers and grow angry with one
another. 1t is right to be angry at wrong,
but not to vent such anger upon the sin
ner. 1t is taking Gods place when we do
that; Judging and pronouncing sentence in
His stead. God can punish where He
wishes.
But these instances in Moses life only
show how his meekness was q virtue, and
not merely a grace with which he was
born, and which he could not help. 1t was
not apparently an easy thing for Moses to
be meek.
That being the case, why should not you
and l be meek also? What was the secret
OF Moses meekness and strength? ''He
endured as seeing Him that is invisible"
Or, to put it in one word, Faith" Moses
saw God always, everywhere, and so may
We If we will.
We can see the high-spirited character
growing through all the story of the child
and man. Moses. When he was but three
months old it had so asserted itself that he
could not longer be hid. If he had been
an ordinary child. quiet and dull and home
y, his parents might possibly have kept
him hid longer, or have passed him off for
girl, and so felt comparatively safe about
him. But he was full of life, and his voice
was bound TO be heard. He was beautiful,
and therefore noticeable. Even when the
kings daughter looked upon him he
serted his little self and cried an, won
her heart by the cry. Then when he was
would think he might have been spoiled
by Egyptian pettng and have forgotten
his mother-nurse and all she taught him.
he again asserted his Unborn sense of right
and refused to be called the of the
kings daughter. Already he had heard
God calling in his heart and knew he must
the quiet desert with only the flock of
Jethro's sheep about him was but TO pre-
pare him for the work God had for him
to do. He was to lead men who were
stupid and dull like sheep and who were
prone to wander away from safety and
to do the thing that was just what they
ought not to do. The patience he needs
must use with men he learned among the
sheep. And when at last his lesson was
ready to put into practice. one day God
set holy fire to a common bush and its
light caught the eyes that were learning
to see things that are invisible to many.
There is a curious study called ''Craniog-
nomy'' in which it is asserted that people
may develop their perceptives'-a little
bunch over the brows-which is to be en-
larged by constantly looking at the minute
details of every object in sight. For in
stance, the student will tell his friends:
You do not see all you look at. You
should study the bark of a tree and see
every excrescence and every shade of gray
and every velvet dash of moss. You should
study the road and see that it is not just
plain mud but made up of very tiny stones
of different sizes and different colors. You
should accustom yourself to see more than
you do in everything. You need to develop
your perceptves." And yet those same peo-
pie VIII walk serenely into the face of a
glorious sunset and continue dscoursing on
the need of 'perceptives' and never notice
the grandeur of Gods painting nor see in
II a foreshadowing of the glory of eternity
So are the many who pass by Gods fam
ing bushes with a glance and hear not the
voice of God calling from its midst or
Elizabeth Barrett Browning puts it:
''Earths crammed with Heaven.
And every common bush aiame with God.
But only those who take off their shoes,
The rest sit round and pluck blackberries.''
So the secret of Moses faith was his
always being able to and hear God
and talk with Him. And we, too may have
this blessed privilege. Such great faith is
given to those who are watching for Gods
appearance and His voice.
1t was not alone during Moses prepara-
ton for his great work that he talked much
with God. All the long journey through
the wilderness, whenever trying circum-
stances veXed him and the children of Israel
showed their childishness and stupidity
more than usual Moses would go up to the
mount and talk with God How many
mother and wife, sister and daughter; now
many a teacher and servant might have
this blessed privilege in the midst of trials
If they only would How many a man in
might just step up to the mount and come
down with his face shining so that people
would stand in of him and take
knowledge that he had been with Jesus.
Moses does not seem to have been an
ambitious man. He wanted the children
of Israel led out of Egypt but he did not