From out what Silent Land I came, on Earth to stand
And learn life's little art, Is not in me to say: I know I did not stray, —
Was sent; to come, my part.
And down what Silent Shore Beyond yon little door
I pass, I cannot tell; I know I shall not stray, Nor ever lose the way, —
Am sent\ and ail is well.^
^ There is an inscription on the tombstone of a little child in one of our country churchyards, as follows : —
' L. A. Banks. * William Chaiining Gannett.
DEUTERONOMY xxxiv. 5, 6 85
" Who plucked that flower ? " cried the gardener, as he walked through the garden. His fellow-servant answered, " The Master," and the gardener held his peace.
" I was dumb, I opened not my mouth ; because thou didst it." ^
iii. The Death to die.
Moses came to his death with courage and confidence. The reason for this is an open secret. Many years before, he had made the supreme choice of his life. He had chosen rather to suffer affliction with the x^eople of God than to enjoy for a season the pleasures of sin. And all the years of his experience since had but confirmed that great choice. He had given himself over to be guided by the Spirit of God. He had communed with God in joy and in sorrow, in hours of glorious victory and amid the gloom of stinging defeat; he had come to trust God with all his heart and soul ; with every drop of his blood he was sure that God meant him good. Now, though his strength was unabated and his eye not dim and he must have had many natural desires to complete the work on which he had laboured so long, and to see his people safely housed in the Promised Land, he went without a word of complaint or of doubt to lay his body in the grave.
^ My own feeling now is that everything which has hitherto happened to me, and been done by me, whether well or ill, has been fitting me to take greater fortune more prudently, and to do better work more thoroughly. And just when I seem to be coming out of school — very sorry to have been such a foolish boy, yet having taken a prize or two, expecting now to enter upon some more serious business than cricket, I am dismissed by the Master I hoped to serve, with a — "That's all I want of you, 8ir."2
^I was sitting in my study one Saturday evening, when a message came to me that one of the godliest among the shepherds who tended their flocks upon our Highland hills was dying, and wanted to see his minister. Without loss of time I crossed the wide heath to his comfortable little cottage. When I entered the low room I found the old shepherd propped up with pillows and breathing with such difficulty that it was apparent he was near his end. As soon as the door was closed he turned his grey eyes upon me and said, in a voice shaken with emotion :
^ J. Da vies. ^ A. 0. Benson, Ruskin : A Study in Personality, 166.
86 THE DEATH AND BURIAL OF MOSES
" Minister, I'm dying, and — I'm afraid ! " I began at once to repeat the strongest promises with which God's Word furnishes us, but in the midst of them he stopped me. " I ken them a'," he said mournfully ; " I ken them a', but somehow, they dinna gie me comfort." I took up the well-worn Bible which lay on his bed and turned to the twenty-third Psalm. I slowly repeated the verse, " Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil ; for thou art with me." " You have been a shepherd all your life, and you have watched the heavy shadows pass over the valleys and over the hills, hiding for a little while all the light of the sun. Did these shadows ever frighten you ? " He looked at me with curious eyes. I continued, " The shadow of death is over you, and it hides for a little the Sun of Eighteousness, which shines all the same behind it ; but it's only a shadow. Kemember, that is what the Psalmist calls it — a shadow that will pass; and when it has passed, you will see the everlasting hills in their unclouded glory ! " The old shepherd covered his face with his trembling hands, and for a few minutes maintained an unbroken silence ; then, turning upon me a face now bright with an almost supernatural radiance, he exclaimed, lifting his hands reverently to heaven : " Ay, ay ! I see it a' now. Death is only a shadow, with Christ behind it — a shadow that will pass."
When death is coming near. When thy heart shrinks in fear
And thy limbs fail. Then raise thy hands and pray To Him who smooths thy way
Through the dark vale.
Seest thou the eastern dawn, Hear'st thou in the red morn
The angel's song ? Oh, lift thy drooping Ijead, Thou who in gloom and dread
Hast lain so long.