Notes of a Sermon Preached by the Rev. C. E. Darwent in Union Church, Tientsin, July 9
"Now Moses was keeping the the priest of Midian: and he led wilderness, and came to the And the angel of the Lord fire out of the midst of the bush: bush burned with fire, and_ the Moses said, 1 will turn aside why the bush is not burned. turned aside to see, God called bush, and said, Moses, Moses."
There is no greater test of a man than in the way in which he bears failure. There is sometimes no escaping it. Circumstances are too much for us, as they often are. Also the failure may be due to our own errors. We find, as Addison says, "Tis not in mortals to command Moses had been brought up in the court of Egypt, where no doubt, as the "son of Pharoah's daughter," he had had all he wanted in the way of luxuries. Might he not have had hopes of being Pharoah some fine day? But love of his people made him kill one of the king's overseers, and he had to flee, and now. he has got about as humble a position as he could get. He is keeping a few sheep in the dry, hot wilderness. It was a great come down. Possibly he felt the truth that Smollett utters in the lines, "What though success will not attend us all, Who bravely does must sometimes risk a fall.
Moses had found the truth of that. He had "bravely done" his best to stir up the spirit of his people and had failed. He had come to see that the way of force is not often God's way. The attempt was a failure. And now he is a shepherd, with no position in the world, no future of any account. He is one of the world's failures. How does he take it? Very well. There is no cursing of Providence, no sense of being a misunderstood man, or an injured man. He gets to work at the first thing that offers, and takes it all patiently.
This is a great lesson for us in these hard days. Men are finding their schemes in business, and even in reforms in public life hard, to carry out. The air is full of grievances. None of us has succeeded as he may have thought he ought to have done. Let us have the manly humility of this great man, and take what comes. Moses in the wilderness, keeping sheep after his failure, is a grander figure than Napoleon I on St. Helena making all his attendants miserable and blaming everybody for his failure but his ambitious and unscrupulous self. flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the flock to the back of the mountain of God, to Horeb. appeared unio him in a flame of and he looked, and behold, the bush was mot consumed. And now, and see this great sight, And when the Lord saw that he to him out of the midst of the Exodus III 1-4.
These thoughts arise legitimately out of the opening words of our text, Now Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro, his father-in-
Hiauesr Position iv Husrory.
Now let us seo what happened to raise this shepherd to the highest position in the history of man, for have you ever thought what a terrific position the man holds who is linked up with the Saviour of the world in those words}jof St. John, "The law came by Moses; grace and truth came with Jesus Christ?" The story tells us that Moses saw a remark-akia sight—a bush burning, and "the bush was not consumed." We need not spend much tin over this. The Rev. R. J. Campbell says that he once saw the very thing Moses saw. Lucky Mr. Campbell! He was travelling by train at sunrise across the Karroo, the great South African desert, and he saw the sun light up all the sage bushes on the desert till their leaves sparkled like silver. This seems nice, only it doesn't say that Moses saw all the bushes lighted up, but a bush. Then, that is a bright climate, and Moses must have seen the scrub of the desert lighted up many a time, without the same impression being made on him. I cannot help thinking of the fix Wellhausen, the great origin of the "Higher Criticism," was put into over his explanation of the history of the religion of Israel—that it was all a natural process, without any special divine guidance, and that Jehovah started as a mere tribal god, and developed naturally into the "God of all the earth." He was asked, if that was so, why didn't Chemosh, the god of Moab, develop into "the God of all the earth." He said he did not know. Well, we think we do know, "God having of old time spoken unto tha fathers."
However, make no mistake, as is very apt to be made, in thinking that the modern natural sagebush explanation of the divine appearance makes it easier for us to excuse our blindness to God's presence in the world now. No. If all that Moses saw was a sagebush scintillating with light, why have not we all recognized God in the sparkling light in the winter on the rich yellow grasses of our plain round Tientsin The truth is that the world is full of burning bushes. If ours is not just a duplicate of that of Moses, it is equally—revealing. When a man builds and fits up a house, you can tell pretty well the kind of man he is when you enter his house. If you find a few hooks in every room, as one ought, you think well of him. So God could not make a universe without leaving marks of his character on it. This great world itself is a burning bush. The forests blaze with deity," said Robertson of Brighton. "And we all know the feeling of divine presence that Wordsworth describes, "T have felt A presence that disturbs me with the joy Of elevated thoughts; A sense sub.
lime OF something far more deeply inter. Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns 3 And the round ocean, and the living air And the blue sky, and in the mind of Tue Bretp too Drastic.
Our holiday has been poorly spent if, now and then, we have not felt a senso of God's presence in the unutterable glory of even plain land and seascapes. There is the Bible- The reason why some people do not read it is, that it speaks of God to their conscience far too drastically. If they went on reading it, they would have to change their manner of life. This old Book has furious enemies, but it stands as secure as ever, because the most casual reader feels that the men who wrote it knew the living God. It is as old Sir Thomas Browne says of it, "This only is a work too hard for the teeth of time, and cannot perish but in the general flames when al! things shall confess their ashes." There is Jesus Christ and His Gospel. Is not He a burning bush? {s there any excuse for us if we live evil, selfish and ungodly lives? Setting aside all dispute as to the doctrine of His divine nature, here was @ life lived of love, purity, jRoliness, service. No doubt it was lived here on earth. Every life that is better than our own is a suming bush to us. How much note His? It is as Dr. Gwatkin "nce said, "There is no dispute that the whole history of religion gathers round Him." Jesus shines ike the sun, Indeed, one common complaint is that He is so good that it is hopeless for people like us_to attempt to follow Him.
The Church jg a burning bush, in spite of all the '"'detractions rude" which are spoken against her. Let the mass of men, to put
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.