Shrill crying, she knocked with a hope ill-sped.
For grim and stark that portal wide
At her hand's touch mocked, and her prayer denied.
Then sick at heart, that found not grace.
She turned her again the night to face,
As terror turns on swift-foot foes —
And lo ! the clear east all climbing rose.^
(2) Next see the influence which the vision of God leaves on a man's life-work. It produces continuance, perseverance, ten- acity. If the glory of a man's character is its strength, the glory of his work is its perseverance. You can see that even in common life. Two young men come into the city — one a lad of brilliant parts, but without tenacity ; the other a dull, plodding, persevering fellow. What do you find after ten years ? Almost always this, that it is the plodding man who wins the race over the man of erratic gifts. And if that be true of common life, how much more of the Christian race ! The Christian race is not a hundred yards' affair. It is a Marathon race, and they alone can win it who run with patience, with endurance, the course that is set before them.
* G. Matheson. * Jane Barlow.
DEUTERONOMY xxxiii. i6 41
One step more, and the race is ended ;
One word more, and the lesson's done ; One toil more, and a long rest follows
At set of sun.
Who would fail, for one step withholden ?
"Who would fail, for one word unsaid ? Who would fail, for a pause too early ?
Sound sleep the dead.
One step more, and the goal receives us ;
One word more, and life's task is done ; One toil more, and the Cross is carried
And sets the sun.^
^ I sometimes think the silences of Scripture more impres- sive than its speech. There is no record of it here, but I picture Moses going out of a morning to the tent door, after rising from his bed on the desert floor, and contemplating the desert with its sand and stones, with its red hills, and relentless sun, and murmuring people. It was for this he left the pleasant land of Midian. It was for this he "refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter." Forty years in the wilderness, and at the end the promised land fading away like a mirage in the desert. What kept him up ? It was the memory of that " burning bush." Yes, whenever his spirit grew faint and weary, he went back in memory to that wondrous day. Once again he saw the uncon- suming fire. Once again he heard the voice of God quivering through the silence of that lonely desert, and in a moment the feeble knees were strong again, and with a new courage he grasped his shepherd's staff, and went forth to meet the inevit- able tasks and trials of the day.^
^ John Paton of the New Hebrides tells us that one of his most vital memories was the day he left home for Glasgow, where he was to start life in earnest. In these days the journey had to be made on foot, and his father accompanied him for the first few miles of the way. At length came the parting. His father tried to frame the words of a suitable farewell, but emotion choked his utterance, and he could say little more than " Good- bye, John ; God bless you ! " " And I, too," says Paton, " I could say little more. I wrung his hand and hurried on." After he had gone on a little, however, curiosity and love made him turn round to get a last glimpse of his beloved father. He was still standing, "with head uncovered," where he had left him. He
' Christina G. Rossetti. • W. M. Maokaj-.
42 THE GOOD WILL OF A LIFETIME
was praying, and Paton says, " I knew he was praying for me." " That sight," he adds, " never left me." In times of temptation, in hours of trial, in the city, in the foreign field, where he often stood face to face with death, that picture, silhouetted in the golden frame of memory, was to him a constant inspiration and a defence. This is " the good will of him that dwelt in the bush " — that it never leaves a man who has truly known it, but returns like a bright visitant in every time of need with reinforcement of faith and courage.
II.
Good-will all the Way.
The God of the Bush had been with Moses all his life. Let us consider, first, who was the God of the Bush, and, next, what His presence through life does for a man.
i. The God of the Bush.
1. He was the Eternal God. — When Moses, shrinking from the magnitude of the task laid upon him, wished to know what he should say if the people to whom he went should ask, Who sent you ? what is his name ? this answer was given him : " I am THAT I AM : and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you." I AM — it is the expression of independent self-existence — appropriate to none but Deity, whose consciousness is an eternal present. The thought is overwhelming; yet, overwhelming as it is, it is also steadying and comforting in its influence, and it is appropriate that in that psalm which is called the Psalm of Moses, it is said, "Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to ever- lasting, thou art — God."