Los Angeles herald., 1909-11-29
REV. BURDETTE
SAYS FAREWELL
TO His FLOCK
GREAT TEMPLE AUDITORIUM Is
CROWDED BY THR0NG
Beloved Pastor Points Out Fact That
It Is Through Clouds and
Sorrow That Life is
Strengthened

Temple auditorium was completely
packed with members and friends of
the Temple Baptist church, and more
than one thousand persons could not
be admitted and were turned away,
much to their disappointment, yester-
day morning on the occasion of Rev.
Robert J. Burdette, pastor emeritus,
preaching his first sermon at the lem
pie after his recent illness, and which
will be his last sermon before taking
an extended trip to Hawaii, Japan
and China.
1t was a scene which indicated the
gerat appreciation and popularity of
the loved pastor who had been COM
PEELED to resign his active pastOrate
on account of i'll health. His subject
was bright Clouds" taking for his
text Zechariah 1911: ASK We of the
Lord rain in the time of the latter
rain; so shall the Lord make bright
clouds, and give them showers of rain,
to every one grass to the fields"
"'AIl sunshine makes the desert.
So runs an Arab proverb, and the
Arab is an authority on sunshine and
desert. From the day that lshmael
lay moaning under the scant shelter
of the desert shrub. while the blazing
sun and the scorching sands were
drinking up his young life, his children
nave 1OllOWeQ the lIdliS VI lut wa lG-
And they know that the cloud is the
only salvation for the wilderness.
Welcomed the Rains
"Were one of the extravagant school
of optimists, to whom all evil is imagl-
nary and all good therefore only half
real, to picture to a son of lshmael
a world of cloudless sunshine, the des-
ert born would shake his head. That
would be to him but vision of the
plain of death We of California know
of such a world and men have named
it Death valley In the Old Testa-
ment there are no longing, earnest,
anxious prayers for sunshine. The
Jew of old prayed for the early and
the latter rains; the one to WHY the
seed sown and the second to reinVlg-
orate with fresh vitality the growing
grain, nearing the harvest time.
Hear thou and give rain upon thy
land
HE strained his eyes to see. not al
clear sunrise-from the unveiled sun
he sheltered his face and shaded his
eyes. But he gazed with many prayers
for a cloud-a little cloud. no bigger
than a mans hand. That was theI
shadow of Gods hand. That would
bring blessing to the land. When the
people of Israel forgot God and turned
to the worship Of Baal, the sun god,
Jehovah smote the land with the
curse of sunshine-the desolation of
cloudless skies. until the springsI
failed, the brooks ran dry. the fields
were black and the harvest Withered
in the ground. and men and CATTLE
died, and all over the land went up the
prayer for rain-for the clouds made
bright by lightnings. for the blessing
of the downpour of the tempest.
"There can be no life without rain,I
and there is no rain without clouds,
The very unborn seeds under the
ground long for the clouds as for theI
sunshine. A tiny germ lifts a pale
green face above the clods. What
is there out there?' whisper his half
awakened comrades Of the darkness. (
Nothing but sunshine sighs the dis
appointed videttc and they sleep again. /
But one day a great cloud comes up|
out of the sea with the trumpcts Of thoI
winds sounding before him: the guns
of the thunder answer and the patter
ing rain beats the inspiring reveille|
of spring upon the dead leaves. and lp!I
il is Easter dawn; the desert blossoms
like the rose; the world is radiant in|
the resurrection Of the ran-callcd tO|
life by the blessing Of the clouds.
"When we would plow for the great
harvest of the strongest, richest life
we must wait for trial or sorrow to|
DIeak up lut ldllON BIbuillr we must I
wait for the tenderness of tears tQI
soften the barren incXperieuCe; wei
must have sorroWs of our own if We
would know how to sOothe the sorrows
of others; we must build up the
mighty strength Of a burden bearer
If we would bear the burdens of 9th I
ers; we must ourselves be sometimes /
cast down that we may creep into theI
arms Of God. who will comfort us iui
our tribulations that We may be ablcI
TO comfort them that are i'm any.
trouble. We must learn through
suffering how to live for others.
No Place for Selfish Man
'If you live for youself-if that isl
your ideal of life; if You are deter ]
mined that you viii not be your
weaker brOtheRSs keeper, then of
course it doesn't make any difference
where or how you livc-on the sun
stricken desert or i'm the ice caps of
the mountain or down at tho bottom
of the sea The utterly selfish man isl
not in any of Gods plans. But if YOU.
are one of Gods men or women, until
you have learned to see the brightness
of the clouds, you have much TO Learnt
of his love and wisdom
"Why, my children, what are the|
dearest memories of your liycs2 Youl
holidays? The hours of joyous pas.
time with happy friends, when the SUM
shone and the flowers hl00mcd, Wheui
the air rippled with light laughter
from lighter hearts, These are not.
the days that lnger longest and most
tenderly in your hearts. Ihe mono