The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-08-16
5 I9ElZZI mt i

head waters of the Red Sea, up in the
= narrow arm of the Gulf of Suez, were
: shallow. The miracle was no less {
miracle because effected by wholly ma
tural agencies. We must remember
that it was a great wind which de-
stroyed the Spanish Armada and saved
! England. Queen Elizabeth struck
medal bearing the inscription, He blew
with HES wi d and they We're scat
tered" The men who have walked
dry-Shod over the brink of Niagara
an incident which has repeatedly hap
pened owing to natural causes, were
having an experience analogous to that
of the Children of Israel
Bishop Thoburn of India tells in his
little book, The Christian Conquest
of India story that illustrates the
present lesson:
Some 20 years ago a strong and
| persistent wind drove the water in one
| of the mouths of the Bramaputra back
| ward for many hours until it stood
| above its normal level. When sud
| den change of the wind released the
mighty mass, and the swollen flood
| swept out to sea, it buried a large is
| land with its hundred thousand beneath
| its waves. 1t was substantially the de-
! struction of Pharaoh's host repeated
| before the eyes of the modern world.
| The Bakarjang cyclone of 1876 drove
| huge waves over the large islands, and
| in a few hours engulfed 100000 acres of
| land, and destroyed 1000, 900 souls. At
| times large ships have been swept in
land upon the crest of great waves and
deposited on the shore, sometimes at
q distance of several miles from the
sea-
A friend of mine who has lately re-
turned from an automobile journey
around the world, found his passage
along an old Japanese highway block
ed, after an great typhoon, by the
nf
! way. The miracle of the Exodus story
is little more of a miracle than what is
happening every day in the lives of be-
lievers-the opportune overruling of
natural events for providential pur-
poses.
The Great Guidance.
man told me last night that he
did not believe in prOvidences. Well, l
do. What shall we say to the news
that has come from Egypt concerning
an accident to DR.. Samuel NJ. Zwemer,
the seemingly Indispensable leader OF
Christianitys struggle with Islam? A
minor accident compelled DR.. Zwemer
to go to the operating table. Under the
knife there was found within his body
a condition which would have meant
death within a week had it not
been revealed to the eyes of the sur
geons. Yet DR.. Zwemer was not in
the slightest degree aware of this con-
dition. Who will say that the accident
was not prOvidential?
The story of the Exodus is bound up
with the figure of the pillar of cloud
and the pillar of fire that guided by
day and by night, and that interposed
as a shield of confusion between the
Israelites and the Egyptians. Gods
guidance is nonetheleSS real today to
those who will follow it than it was to
these old Israelites. The great truth of
Christianity is that the Lord cares for
children; that He is concerned in their
lives, and that he designs for them
the best things. There is no more prac-
teal creed for life's affairs than that
our times are in His hand
ing from the pillar of cloud and fire
is to find out Gods way and then to
go it. AS Goethe said, 1.-The great need, |
after all, is only forward
The End of the Enemy.
After his experiences with the ten
plaques, Pharaoh should have been con- |
tent to let these Israelites alone. 1t is |
serious business to fight the man or !
the people for whom God especially !
cares. 1 talked with a veteran minis |
ter recently about the experience of |
certain congregations which had dealt |
unfairly by their pastors, and in every |
case those congregations had been Wis
tied with manifest punishment |
could not resist the opportun-
ity to recover his host of slaves when
his spies reported that they were
caught in this pocket between the Red
Sea and his hosts.
The factor in the problem which |
ignored was God. There are
many questions which are humanity be-
yond solution, but when God is taken
into account they are easily settled.
The destruction of the 600 chariots of
the Egyptians in the flood, as the wa
ters abated after the Israelites had
gone over dryshOd, was an experience
which stiffened the faith of the chosen
people in all their subsequent expert
ence. They looked back to this
from many hours of de-
preston and danger. The event color
ed much of their subsequence litera-
ture.
The vindication of Jehovah and of
His servant Moses was dramatic ana
complete. The critics were confound-
ID and the goddess were put to rOut-
The old story is familiar of the skeptic
Who put on his wall the motto, God
$ nowhere" His little shild saw it
Ind spelled out the letters laboriously,
God is now here This is the lesson
If the lesson, the Deliverer of Israel
till keeps watch over His people. There
$ no oppressor of righteousness today
Who is not doomed by the strong arm
If God. With Whittier we cry:
Loud and long
Lift the old eXulting song,
Sing with Miriam by the sea
He hath cast the mighty down,
Horse and riders sink and drown.
He hath triumphed gloriously-'
Sermons From Out of Doors.
'erse Coments for August II, Les
sons from the Forests and the
Fields" Psalm 104:1-55.