Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-03-28

| clear, strong figure of which th'
world has said, There was man
The greatest contribution or those
forty years was just Moses. One
! mans greatness redeemed the epocf
from littleness. AS he led those SUI
pine slaves out into a new nationa
identity, and gave to the formles'
mob a place forever brilliant among
the nations of the world, so ne mas
contributed to the imperishable an
nails of history a portrait OF a grea'
man, one of the worlds very great
est.
Moses died without ever reaching
the land of promise. He labored and
others entered into his rest. But In
all Canaan there was no personality
until n Greater than Moses came
equal to that of the man learned in
all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and
equipped with the greater wisdom
that comes from communion with
Jehovah. who had shaped Israels
destiny and given her her law
Among the few great fgures VINO
adorn the rotunda of the maghin-
cent Library of Congress at Nasn
inoton NAV be seen the nSure VI
Moses calm and majestic seeihlns 3
even in the cold bronze, as one "no
walked apart from the common oIuei
of mon. No better review Oh tiis t
quarters Sunday School sessions oSn 80
he made than a consideration Oh lite
o,,aIitics which marked the great
ness of Moses.
A Man Who Dared
All the worlds sages nave ue-
cIared that courage ranks arlohs
first of human virtues. MOSES 80 ~
from first to last a man OF appalllns
ardacitv He dared attempt 'he
birhest nossible destiny for hlHlseil'
That takes courage MOST peoPi.
are content to drift along "hto "H'
sort of life or character 'haI Hap
Mons 70 come to them with the yea, o
ONLY the rare man, so faie % -
called great, resolutely achleNes ~
himself the character Whlch h.'
his moments of clearest peiceptl
has deemed worth while. Inc ~. cou.
age that wins character Ahu" 80,
hat the inbred littleness of human
nature every day OF me- -
mics are both without ana "lthln
Er,.;ronment tends to compress life
Moses rose above his environment
ua was a great man when in the
court of Pharaoh; he was a grea'
man when. on the lonely mountain
side. he played the part of a snep
herd: he was a great man, when' II
majestic solitariness, he led lsrae
through it's forty years OF WANDER
ing. -. :,
one shrinlis from saying-lest 4
seem to be merely a conventionall1
pious rcmark-that the secret o
Moses courage was his rellglon
Rut we have abundant record tha'
naturally he was timid man. l.
left to himself he would have spen'
his day in obscurity. His greatnes:
cannot be credited to natural en-
dowment. He became brave because
he met face to face with God. Hl'
courage was not Unborn courage, pu'
impaired courage. 1t took the teal
not" of Jehovah to stiffen his back
bone. That is what religion does
The fear of God removes the fear ol
man. The sublime moral heroism OF
the world has mostly been on the
mart of spiritually minded men
whose cowardice has been consumed
in the bright furnace of faith. If
Moses had not first met with God
he would not have dared to meet
with Pharaoh. There is significance
in the fact that the heroes of recent
DEVELOPMENTS in American life have
been for the most part Christian
men.
The Man Who Can Walt
The twentieth century is in such
a desperate hurry that its bridges
are buckling, it's big buildings col
lapsing and its men being sent TO
sanitoria. A modern person almost
gasps when he contemplates the
tffn ant 70 n
Moses spent in the wilderness. Yet
there is no truth more plainly
taught in history than this. that
preparation must precede perform
ance; that great goals must be wait
ed for. as we'll as worked for. En-
during deeds cannot be done over
night. Character is not a product
of a camp meeting. One deep emo
tional experience does not make over
a life. Slow and quiet accretions of
the years are necessary to bring a
spirit to ripeness. So he who would
work for his fellow men and who
would work with God, must be will
ing to take time, as Moses did.
A very human man and no demi-
god. was this Moses; his. fits of i'm
natience link him closely to the
common run of us. Yet these only
serve to throw into high relief his
essential patience. When he found
what was Gods program, he was
willing to wait on 1t. His natural
inypulsiyeness is shown at the
slaughter of the Egyptian, became
well reigned in before he reached
Mount Nebo and had his first and
last look over the Promised Land.
Write it deeply that patience must
he at the foundation of greatness OF
character.
where There IL No Vision
"Where there is no vision the peo-
pie perish" says the wise man. The
salvation of any society is the men
and women of imagination who
dream dreams and see visions. This
Moses had a seeing eye. He could
see God in the bush, he could see
Cod on the mountain top. he could
see a nation in a brow-beaten, spirit
less horde of captives. Countless OBJ
stacles confronted him in the great
taak he undertook, but he had the
rift of seeing through and over the
obstacles to the victory which lay
bevond. This power of vision which
rises above the petty circumstances
and which does not magnify the near
~ hand into the all important, is
vital to poise and power in life,
IF some people had a little more
,,;sion. they would be able to take
n SQUARE look at the pettiness. pueril-
;tv sordidness and vanity of their
orvn lives. They would see the in
oonseouentialness of most of the pur-
snits that engage their powers. They
,,Id no snurred to live for ends