The Brandon news., 1907-05-30
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
INTERNATIONAL LESSON COM.
NENTS FOR JUNE 2, BY THE
REV. /. w. HENDERSON.
Subject: Moses Called to Deliver
Israel, Ex. 3:1-14-Golden Text:
ES. 3:12-Memory Verses, "a


the work which he did among the
children of Israel is shown in the
tnlrd and the fourth chapters of the
Dook OF the Exodus. In this call we
md many lessons that are applicable
to human life to-day.
TO us each day God comes with
duty, be 1t great or small, as He came
70 Moses in the unconsuming fire of
the Dush, at Horeb. To some of lis
IL is given to do work beside which
the work of Moses was a gigantic
TASK; to others of us it is given to
shape the destinies of a people even
as Moses shaped the career of Israel.
moses gave His people a higher, no.
bier, more uplifting economic and
religious system.
Inc nrst lesson that we have here
is In the emphasis that is laid on the
nollness OF the place where the spec-
lal presence of God is conceived to
De. 10 Moses the place about the
burning bush was holy because there
ne communed with God in an espec-
idl ana peculiar manner. To-day we
consecrate the house of God to His
use and then oftentimes without any
reasonable excuse whatsoever treat
tnat place without proper and due
consideration. We do not have to
take our shoes off as do the Eastern
peoples when we go into church.
Neither should we take off our man
ners or lose our sense of the propri-
etles. The church is entitled to es-
peclal consideration. In it we meet
Tor the hottest purposes and in it we
enter into our finest visions of God.
oftent1mes. 1t should be treated
with respect. To be sure a church
building is only so much wood, and
Drick, and stone, but the memories
and the influences which hallow it
consecrate it, or ought to consecrate
1t, In special manner. While not
forgetting that God is everywhere
and that His dwelling place is not
made with hands, we ought not to
forget that the places where we meet
In common worship and communion
are 1nexpressibly dear to God and
That they ought to be incomparably
sacred to us. And we should teach
our youth the sacredness of the
church building. Too often they
leave their manners outside when
tney go into a church And too Of
ten their elders do the same thing. Z
The second thing that the lesson
points out to us is the value of hum
lllty and dependence upon God. When
God charged Moses to go down to
bring the children of Israel out of
Egypt he was not over-confident
Moses felt the weight of the respon-
slDlllty. Like true and strong man
Moses saw Immediately that the
TASK was too great for his unaided
powers. He saw that his education.
his intellectual endowments. his
spirituality, were not sufficient for
the upbuilding of an enduring work.
Who am |, says he, that l should
go unto Pharaoh and that l should
bring forth the children of Israel
out OF Egypt?" His humility was
that OF strong man. We must
gain this Mosaic humbleness if we
would do true work. For this is not
the humility of self-depreciation but
OF open-minded self-valuation.
The third lesson is a dual one.
Glfted OF God with divine task and
with the evidence of the validity of
his call Moses still feels himself un-
equal to the work. His tongue is
SLOW OF speech. He pleads for a
spokesman. And God gives Aaron to
MIN to be instead of a mouth to
MIN. The lesson that we ought to
learn is that men of power should
De ready and willing to receive assis-
lance from other men of power. es-
peclally when the help they NAV be
able to secure is superior to their
own abilities. Moses was a thinker.
seer, an organizer of immense abil-
lty, wise lawyer, but he was no
speaker. Moses recognized that he
needed aid along the very line in
Whlcn personally he was inefficient.
lhls SHOWS his greatness. An honest
declaration of the limits of personal
aDlilty is, with the power to select
aDle helpers and use them at their
Value, a true test of greatness.
Inc lesson also reveals to rs the
power of God in the world. His
power is shown through His deal
ings with humanity. Israel, repent
ing or her sin and lifting up her
prayer TO God for deliverance from
the neavy hand Of the Egyptians is
not forgotten. God never forgets
people who turn to Him believ-
Ing tnat He can and will aid
Steadfast prayer, in every national
crisis, reaches the ear of Jehovah
Jehovah replies to every petition
For each crisis God perpares a master
moses led Israel out of bondage. He
is a leader of liberators. The class
OF which He is a prototype exists in
every land. He was the man for the
nour. And God supplies every nrav-
III people with fit leader.
To-day, in this land, God is rails
Ing up men who shall lead humanity
nearer to Himself. They are being
dlvlnely nurtured in every walk in
lie. To-day and in America we have
conaltlons that need rectifying just
as the conditions in Egypt among tha
Jews needed to be rectified. And we
need a Moses. We need a man who
shall guide this people out of the
darkness of sin and ignorance into
the promised land where the econo-
mics OF Christ shall rule and where
the eternal and spiritual principles OF ,
the Christ life shall control.