The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1907-02-17
2scSs "Cssc. Z
; DIR. TALMAGE'S SERMON



/ cause the coal bin was empty, or into
| hut where he hears his little ones
crying for something to eat and he has
not five cent piece to buy a LOAF Oh
| bread to ease the cravings of their nun
ger. As, yes, Moses in that INDIAN exile,
by bitter experience, learned only too
well the injustice which the Hebrew peo-
pie in Egyptian slavery had TO suffer!
Let us study for a little while the bring
ing up of this marvellous boy OF the
east
Boyhood of Moses.
He was developed in his early days,
as some of us were by our parents, as
a dollhouse plant. No rough sharp WIND
was allowed to touch him He breathed
no bad, Vitiated air. His palace bed
room overlooked the wonderful river Nile.
There during the long hot months he
saw the princes and prineesses lounglns
in their boats. being pulled along by the
slaves. Life seemed to be made up Tor
the most part, Of music and dancing
and merrymakng. The palace grounds
IN which the lad Moses used to play We're
a dream of beauty. Because he was we'll
clothed all people were we'll clothed. Be
cause he was kindly treated all people, II
they behave themselves, are kindly treat
ed. But one day he was disillusioned.
He was walking again by the river
+
he was a man in middle life, or about
30 years old While he was walking
along the river bank he saw an Egyptian
oVerseer begin TO abuse one of the slaves.
Moses was noted for his meekness, but
he raised his staff and smote the
Egyptian and killed him in his tracks.
Then what happened? Moses ceased 10
be a prince. As fugitive slave, he was
tracked from place to place. As He
brew fugitive, he had to flee from death
as a rabbit runs from the baying of the
hounds. BY bitter personal experience
he learned ony two well what the poor
Hebrews had to suffer under the agon-
izlng strokes of the Egyptian slave mas
ters My friends, did you ever stop TO
think that God has sent you bitter trou-
BILE In order to make you sympathize
with those who are troubled in life? Did
you ever stop TO think that God has
taken away your little child in order
that you might become gospel eman-
cipator for the suffering of your fellow
men? The lands of indian to which you
go are the sacred places where man
comes in contact with God, but also
where the sympathetic heart of man
! learns to throb in unison with the suffer-
ing hearts of his enslaved brothers and
sisters down in far-off Egypt.
Learning to sympathize.
1t is only when a man like Paul has
been the chief of sinners that he knows
how to lead others into the gospel peace.
1t is only when a woman has stood by
the caslxet of a dear husband that she S
fully equipped to carry a comforting mes
sage to the newly widowed heart. The
story is told that many years ago King
Henry of England In Disguise was ar
rested by the royal guards as thief for
prowling around the palace grounds and
carried off to jail at Poultry-Compter.
There he stayed all the night long in his
damp cell, shvering and hungry. No
sooner was the king liberated than he
commanded all the prisoners In Comptef
should in future have fire and food to
eat Thus Is 1t with most of us. God
locks us in Jail in order that we may
sympathze with the wrolds prisoners.
| He lays us upon beds of sickness in order
to teach us to help the sick. He exiles
us In far-of indian lands In order that
our hearts of love might beat in sympathy
with the suffering hearts of our fellow
/ men.
But there was still another reason why
| God shut Moses up in his INDIAN exile.
! 1t was to teach the future emancipation
| of the Hebrew race the great lessons or
| patience. No man is fit to be true leader
! of men unless he can keep his temper
! under control and be willing to wait Pa
! thence Is but lying to-" once said Beecher
| "and riding out the gale But one of
| the hardest tasks on earth is to be will
! ing to lie to and do nothing. Thus God
| fitted Moses for his great leadership over
/ the Hebrews by teaching him the lessons
! of patience down in farAof INDIAN lands.
| He made Moses just learn to walt. One
! year passes, then two years, then five
| years, then ten years, then twenty-five
| years. then thirty years and then forty
| years All this time Moses was brooding
| over the injustices which were being per-
petrated upon his people. But not until
| two-seore years had passed did God say
| to Moses: MY son, go to EGYPT, and L
| will be with thee. Go up, and | Will make
| thee an emancipation for an enslaved
| race" Oh, how some of us are ehating
at the fact that God Is keeping us in
! INDIAN exiles of inactivity! We want to
| do something to aid our fellow men, but
| God is saving to us as he spake to Moses,
! INV child be patient. Thou canst never
| be liberator of thy fellow men unless
| thou dost first learn to govern thyself.
! Thou must abide here In far-off indian
| until thou dost learn this truth Tell
me, my friend, Is not the greatest OBJ
| stacle retarding thee from mighty useful
| ness the fact that you have never learned
| to govern yourself. you have never learn
ed to wait when it is best to wait?
Button, the great French preacher, once
| said: "Never think that Gods delays are
! like Gods denials. Hold on Hold on
! Hold on Patience is genlus" Aye, pa
tence is more than simple human ge-
| MUS Gospel patience is the acme of
! gospel faith and trust. II is resting our
! faith on Christ. 1t is the divine faith
which says Though all things may seem
! to go against me for the time being, yet
| God Is making all things ultimately work
/ together for good, and therefore we can
! afford to wait just to wait for his dear
! sake There is an infinite lot of Christian
philosophy to be learned in these quaint
I words of the Hoosier poet. The more
| study them the more God speaks and
teaches me the lessons of patience which
he spake to Moses in his indian exile;
1t amt no use to grumble and complain;