The Washington herald., 1918-02-17
The Herald's Sunday Sermon
If the Vision Tarry,
Wait for It."
~ rev. J. ,. .. CARRUTHnRs.

tant rector Of the Church Of the Cow
enant
rsut: 'f The vision ts1y. wait sss it--Hab.
skkuk. -.
These were Gods words to the
Prophet Habakkuk as he stood In Q
silent watch tower of prayer. watch
ing and listening IN q time Of great
individual and national crisis to what
God would say to Habakkuk. or rath-
er In Habakkuk, for all that Habak-
kuk heard in the tower already lay IN
his heart, Just as In your heart and
mine deep truths Of God are slumber-
ing. needing only q vivid experience
Of earnest prayer to make them vital
and strong enough to change our life.
said when his world was
tottering to ruin: 81 win stand upon
my watch and set me upon the tower
and will watch to see what He win
say unto me-" And the Lord said
Write the vision and make It plain
upon the tables, that he may run that
readeth It. For the vision IL yet for
an appointed time; at the end Il shall
speak. and not lie: though It tarry.
wait for It, because II win surely
come. 1t viii not tarry."
Can we Americans wait for II In our
hour of national and Individual crisis,
as Habakkuk waited for It in his ?
The purposes of God are long. Are
they too long for US?
Pagans believed that
Though the mills Of the gods grind slowly,
Yet they grind exceeding small;
Though with patience He stands waiting.
With e1actnes grinds He all"
But Christians know that through
the long history Of the world ian in
creasing purpose runs" In the light
Of this great purpose Christians can
see how continuous is the line Of the
great file leaders of God coming out
Of the past, committing their work
and the message Of Gods vision to
them, to the generations that follow.
Abraham, with the vision in his soul
Of the time when the 'just man shall
live by faith" like Habakkuk, heard
and trusted Gods call. Moses and
Joshua and Samuel waited, in the
strength Of God, for the vision of
Gods will, realized In the world of
their day. David saw more clearly.
for Christ filled his vision as he sang
Thou shalt not suffer Thine Holy
One to see corruption" Isaiah went
without the good things Of life three
years because the holy vision OF God
surged and changed his life. What
wonder that the Spirit of God put the
coal Of prophecy upon his lips. saying
him: Behold a virgin shall
and bring forth a son
and the government shall be upon
His shoulders"
Does our vision have this great re-
Are we walking with suf-
ficient faith, and not by sight, to see
the ground lines Of the Kingdom of
Heaven that Christ came to bring to
a world-our world today. rocking un-
der the shock of war? II that vision
tarry. wait for II. 1t Will surely come.
Indeed, It shall not merely come, II
shall speak in accents Of finality and
truth. It shall be as q person. 1t
shall live. "If It tarry, wait for It"
There are Just now two classes Of
who will and those who
will not wait for the vision Of God
to be realized in the world.
was one who would wait.
Some do not wait-will not wait.
Today of all days they say they can
not wait on God. The problems are
immense and the inventive resources
OF hate too frightful. where IL now
thy Godr Is their query. What
now Of your vision of the time when
the knowledge Of God shall cover
the earth as the waters cover the
soui?' Such men. unlike Habakkuk.
have never formed the habit of
the tower Of prayer. They
are those who will not wait.
A British writer of much repute. L
Jacks. belongs to this class. Accord
Ing to late article In the Atlantic
Monthly, he has apparently given
God up as a hopeless somebody who
has bungled the worlds affairs very
badly. Following Mr.. Jacks pretty
closely. md him saying. '1n the
space Of three years 100000 men
have been slaughtered. and the
slaughter still goes on; a5,ooo.o0o men
have been mutilated. and the mutila-
ton still goes on. On one side q dew
astating whiriwind Of ruin and death.
a chaos Of destruction. On the other
side monotonous sing-song about
and humanity" He Is over
come with encouragement, and Illus
trates the proper attitude by q story
of q young English officer just re-
turned from the front trenches In
France. Sitting by the freside silent
amid discussion as to the shocking
elements IN war, at lenth he
finds 1t impossible to contain him
self longer and startles the group
with these words: Nothing Is shock
ing to us any more. Nothing men can
say shocks me. Nothing men can
think shocks me. Nothing men can
write can shock me any more. It's
what men do! it's what men do! oh,
how wish they would all shut up"
With this admirable example before
him, Mr.. Jacks adds five or six thou
sand words more, in the course OF
which he says: "Alas! Alas! the world
is not ruled by moral epigrams. The
best that was done in that line was
done long ago on the shores Of Cali
lee." Again, "The ugliness and the
irrationality Of It all. elude all the
known categories of thought" In dis
pair he says, "I was indignant with
myself that I had ever thought hu-
manity was responsible for the war.
My indignation grew hot against that
whole tribe Of moralists and preach
ers who say that what the world
needs is a change OF hearth Finally.
with great satisfaction. Mr.. Jacks
puts himself In the class of those who
will not wait with the last sentence
of his article: "Oh, how wish they
n>H