The Training-Time

'And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds. And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel. And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian: for he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them; but they understood not. And the next day he showed himself unto them as they strove, and would have set them at one again, saying. Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye wrong one to another? But he that did his neighbour wrong thrust him away, saying,. Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us? Wilt thou kill me [also], as thou killedst the Egyptian yesterday? Then Moses fled at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Midian, where he begat two sons.' — Acts vii. 22-29.

'Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!'¹ Thus Paul exclaims, in holy rapture, when he has completed his description of the Saviour's work; and who that ever thought of the extent, the cost, and the design of God in our salvation, does not heartily repeat the words? But it is not alone to the adorable design of God in our salvation that the praise of the enraptured writer most directly and immediately applies. For when we further view the ways of God's eternal providence, we may again employ the words of Paul, and add, 'For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been His counsellor?' Nay, more; if it be true, as has been somewhere said, that even Redemption's mysteries sometimes appear still less impenetrable than the enigmas found in the book of Providence, then, certainly, it is not too presumptuous to say, that the riches of God's wisdom and His knowledge, here especially, lie frequently before our eyes, concealed in depths almost beyond our power of fathoming. In sacred stillness, heavenly wisdom makes complete the fabric of her grand designs; but no child of the dust receives permission to inspect and sit in judgment on the building-plan itself; and it is the event which first pronounces sentence between man, who constantly asks, 'Why?' and his Creator, who replies, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.'² If even the most ingenious of men were to attempt, beside the cradle of each infant, to predict what would be its career in life, you may be sure that the last page of its life-history, then scarce begun, would almost always shame him as a prophet of mere lies. Yea, there is none of us but lives to verify the truth of what was said of old, 'A man's heart deviseth his way; but the Lord directeth his steps.'³ And do not fancy that it will be otherwise in this respect with those who are especially selected by the Lord to be His chosen instruments for working out His purpose on the earth. The history of all God's people who have been designed for something great is sure to turn out very different from what, had we been told beforehand of their future work, we would have reasonably thought of and marked out for them. And further, though the whole of life is but a time of trial, and a school where we are trained for something higher still, yet, for each friend of God, there dawn into that life some special periods, which, more than others that precede and follow them, deserve these names just given to life in general. So was it with Abraham during these years when he was vainly waiting for the son of promise to be born of Sarah. So was it with Joseph, when, filled with a presentiment of something great and glorious, derived from youthful dreams, he pined within the gloomy prison, utterly forgotten, as it seemed, by God as well as men. So was it with David, who, although anointed king of Israel, was constantly compelled to wander up and down, 'hunted like a partridge on the mountains of Judea.' And can there possibly be any doubt that the same principle, seen in God's government, applies to Moses also, whose great name belongs not merely to his Israel, but to humanity at large? If that were true, there would not have been any need for making known to us the chapter in his history to which our notice is directed in that part of Stephen's speech which we have read.

Moses! You know that his strange history divides into three periods, each one consisting of exactly forty years. But now let us suppose that we knew only the beginning of the first of these, — his marvellous deliverance, — and that we also knew what God determined as regards the third. Could even the most ingenious imagine that the second would be so immensely different from both the other two — nay (what is even more astonishing), that the unexpected turn, and (as we may well say) the seeming standstill and reversal that occurred during the interval between his fortieth and eightieth year, would be the means for fitting him to be the lawgiver, the prophet, and the mediator of the Old Covenant? Just let us candidly confess that we would have as little thought of it as Moses had himself at first. Nevertheless, it is too true that the history of Moses' life in Midian appears as barren as the sands of the Arabian desert; but especially when we compare it with its most remarkable commencement, which we have but lately been considering, and its strange course, which shall hereafter occupy our thoughts. 'But what is there that specially concerns us in that murder and its discovery, that flight, that sojourn in a land from which we scarcely hear a single sound? 'If any one judge thus, his judgment is as rash as Moses' course of action was. As sandy deserts have their oases, so this transition-period too, with all its seeming unimportance, has a deep significance; and that which promises but little interest, when we regard it only on the human side, rises into supreme importance when we view it in the light of faith, and as a mirror of God's ways and works. We have been showing you, till now, Moses regarded as the child of Providence; to-day, we bid you look on him as one trained by the trials he endures. As Stephen, in the two immediately preceding verses, gives a summary of what is mentioned in the old account of Moses' birth, so, in those now before us, he presents a brief but comprehensive survey of the training-time to which we have referred before, — a picture which affords some traits additional to what we meet with in the old historic documents. Neglecting the particular design for which the Jews are here reminded of these things, let us now fix our thoughts upon the facts themselves which are related here. The three great heads which comprehend all that we mean to bid you notice with regard to Moses' training-time are, — enigmas, rays of light, and calls from heaven. O Thou who hast declared that Thou wouldest dwell in darkness, teach Thou us to fathom those deep mysteries, to catch those rays of heavenly light, to hear those calls when Thou dost speak! And if there be no more vouchsafed to us than merely to behold the utmost portions of Thy ways, do Thou Thyself give all of us the heart in childlike faith to say, 'O God, Thy way is in the sanctuary: who is so great a God as our God?'⁴

1.

We often find analogies in nature, corresponding to what meets us in our ordinary life. After a dark and cloudy night, the sun ascends through an unclouded sky; but scarcely has it run through a portion of its course ere a dark cloud obscures it, even before it reaches the meridian. So is it with the man of God, whose chequered life we shall to-day trace through a considerable portion of its course. Is it too much to say that Moses felt the trial of severe temptation, painful disappointment, and a long exile in a foreign land? Take any one you like of all these trials he endured, you find each one an enigma, when, even for an instant, you forget the issue that explains the whole.

'And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds.' To one who only takes a superficial view, these words present no more than a description of the great good fortune Moses met with in his infancy and youth. The daughter of the king was not content with merely rescuing the babe from death so imminent; with the faithfulness and wisdom shown by mothers, she cares also for the right development and training of the higher life. We have already learned that, in primeval times, Egypt maintained the highest place in all the civilised and learned world; imagine, then, what an Egyptian education must have been, paid for with princely gold! We may be sure that the most eminent of teachers were entrusted with the task of caring for the foundling, and conducting him, as his capacities increased and strengthened, ever deeper into all the mysteries connected with their sciences. If we may trust profane tradition, the polishing of this most precious stone was specially committed to the care of priests; and to no single branch of human knowledge which could possibly be reached, did this young child, adopted now as one of the Egyptian royal family, remain an utter stranger. What new worlds revealed themselves before his opening mind, — what questions thronged upon his lips, — what answers gave him the material for ever deeper thought! Methinks I see the beauty of the child become the bloom that marks the boy, the strength of the young man, the earnest striving of the full-grown man to reach all that is great and good. But what a gloomy cloud obscures his countenance when he leaves proud Memphis for the lowly Goshen, which he often visited! Alas! what there meets ear and eye is too well fitted to throw a sombre covering over all the splendour which surrounds him daily at the court. The huge oppression of the Israelites continues still; nay, it is even heavier than it has been before. And these are his own brethren, his own flesh and blood, whom he sees driven like oxen; while, if he but choose, he can lie down upon a bed of roses! No; he can never part with Amram and with Jochebed without increasingly becoming conscious of the truth that he, too, is an Hebrew of the Hebrews; that those who oppress his countrymen are nothing but a most accursed race of idolaters; and that there has been given to Jacob's offspring a great promise, in comparison with which the prospect of a dynasty is naught. Has his faithful nurse been bringing to his mind the obligation under which he rests, placed as he is in a position of great eminence, to show himself the advocate or the protector of the oppressed? At least, the young man feels increasingly that two great forces have been all along at work throughout his training-time, and that the strife between these two is ever deepening, viz. between that faith he has imbibed from his own mother, and that knowledge he has gathered from the priestly sanctuary. More and more clearly he perceives that he is standing on a crossway, where he is shut up to make a choice; but what a choice is this, O God of Abraham, which Thou art calling the most highly privileged of men to make! On one side, Egypt lays down all her treasures at the feet of this fair nursling of Thermuthis, and exclaims: 'You have but to express your wish, O mighty Moses, and a glittering career presents itself. The glory of successful wars will then attend your name; science will add its weight to your own influence; the shadow of the throne shall be your dwelling-place; nay, more, before you, like another Joseph, there may sound throughout the land the loud command. Kneel, kneel! 'Upon the other side, Goshen stands beckoning, with its vast race of slaves that bend beneath the tyrant's rod; with its religious worship, shown to One whose very name is almost wholly lost; with its deep scorn for every one who stretches out the hand of fellowship to Egypt, — the off-scouring of the earth! How wide the difference between the palace and the brick-kiln, between the wise and foolish of the world, between the food of princes and the bread of tears, between an Amram and a Pharaoh! We easily can picture Moses, inclining now to this, now to the other side. An old tradition tells of brilliant feats of arms performed by him in early life; but what are these compared with the harassing struggle doubtless carried on within his heart through many weary nights? Yes, Israel approaches him with power irresistible; but has not she who rescued him a claim upon his faithfulness and his obedience too? Has God placed him so high, that he may of his own free-will abase himself? What will the world say, when he sides with these maltreated ones, whose cause no man has ever pled before King Pharaoh with impunity? And what — But we have had enough: I merely ask if it may not be safely said that Moses, too, was tried, long tried, tempted in many ways? And have you never asked yourselves why Moses should be trained at the Egyptian court, if that were just the place where lay the greatest snare for youthful feet like his?

We are not left in ignorance as to the way in which the man escaped this snare; but scarcely have you gone a single step before you see that this noble choice of his is followed by most painful disappointment. Forty years have passed since the babe first raised a cry on the Nile shore. Perhaps Thermuthis is now dead; or possibly her heart has come to be estranged from him who, in his high estate, could still think of his humble origin. At least, he can resist no longer the intense desire to terminate the crying injuries endured by Jacob's sons. There soon presents itself the opportunity of showing, by a deed that told more than a hundred words, the plan that was maturing in his most heroic soul. He has just seen an Israelite abused by an Egyptian; there is none else around to tell that he has interfered; one moment more, and the oppressor's life's blood dyes the ground. Moses imagines he can safely trust the keeping of the secret to the bosom of the earth and to the heart of him whom he had saved; nay, more, so very far is his own conscience from accusing him of murder now committed, that his heart beats high with hope and joy. Now he can have no doubt, nor can his brethren fail to understand, that God is to deliver them through him. Already he perceives, and that not far away, the hosts of the oppressed approaching him; the fetters of the slaves are broken through; he finds himself placed at the head of those now freed, who march towards the Promised Land, and, after a brief struggle, dwell in the inheritance their fathers had been promised. Alas, how vain a hope, that vanishes almost as soon as it appears! Next day, he sees two of his brethren quarrelling: who is so fitted as himself to come between them, — he whose name is now, no doubt, pronounced with thankful lips by multitudes?' Sirs, ye are brethren; why do you wrong one to another? 'So he addresses them in kindly tone. 'Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us? Wilt thou kill me also, as thou killedst the Egyptian yesterday? 'These words come on him like a thunderbolt that issues from a cloudless sky; nay, pierce his soul like a poisoned dart. The murder, then, is known, and known to have been perpetrated by a prince upon a subject of the realm; nay, what is more, his secret is betrayed, and this, too, by the only man who saw the deed committed and was saved through it, for whose deliverance he stained his hands in blood drawn from an enemy. So he has broken now with all the splendour found at Egypt's court; thus he has made a willing sacrifice of all his earthly prospects; thus he has drawn upon himself the deep displeasure of the king. Thus, through a single utterance of the most base ingratitude, the golden dreams of Moses quickly disappear. He feels his life is now at stake; it seems to him as if a thousand suspicious eyes were turned on him; he thinks he will be fortunate if he can but escape, even with disgrace, from this land where he dwells.

How shall we make you understand the pain of disappointment felt by Moses now? We must not, certainly, approve of Moses' conduct in itself; for even he forbids us, in that passage where he says: 'Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.'⁵ But yet, as little may we judge of what he did by our ideas and our practices. His object was as laudable as his great motiveprinciple was void of selfishness; and one must first have gained a victory over himself as Moses did, seen a foul deed performed like that done under Moses' eyes, and felt provoked as Moses did, ere he breaks over one who has shed blood the rod that utterly condemns and shows itself implacable. Let us suppose that you, a man of generous soul, had willingly renounced all prospects of advancement in this world to follow duty's call; that you had risked your life to free a brother in distress; that you had even committed a foul crime for the advancement of the other's interest; that you had suddenly discovered you had been betrayed by him, the very man who owed you such a debt of gratitude; and that you had completely missed the sole reward you hoped to gain: would not this be most terrible? We may conceive what there must have passed through the mind, and heart of this sad fugitive, as we soon see him sit on yonderwell,⁶ — that separating point between two portions of the world, that epoch in his life where met two periods so widely different. Deal tenderly, kind Jethro, with the youth that has become your guest; his noble heart has now received a deep and streaming wound!

At last, within that tent, the stranger, veiled in mystery, finds rest and peace, no longer tracked by those who seek his life. But surely you do not suppose that the long exile, into which you now have followed him in thought, had less of enigma and dark obscurity than former days and weeks? I readily allow that, in comparison with that great danger which once threatened him, the land of Midian must have been a quiet resting-place, whence he looked back with thankfulness on storms he had endured. The scenes of nature which, in all their grandeur and sublimity, surrounded him by day and night, were certainly more suited for a mind like his than all the splendour of a most luxurious court. Thanks to the hospitality which he receives, he finds himself prepared to enter for the first time on the married state, and soon feels, twice, a father's joy. In peaceful shepherd-life his days glide by, like a smooth, untroubled stream. Many another man would no doubt have esteemed himself quite fortunate in such a case; but is not Moses well aware that it must cost him pains to exercise contentment? Even though he may have but few trials to endure, how much is there that he must long be quite content to want! What an accumulation, too, there is of ills, — remembered, presently experienced, and looked for, — all these tending to destroy his heart's repose! I shall not speak of the blood-guiltiness, which doubtless weighed his conscience down, the longer and more loudly he permitted it to speak; nor of the deep privations which the shepherd must have suffered, and of which he never thought while he was treated as a member of the royal family; nor of his life as father and as husband, though the little that we know about Zipporah does not form a strong inducement to our wishing Moses joy of his life-choice. I merely now refer to the deep love he bore towards his people, which he must have carried with him here, but which he now feels wholly impotent; to the dull and mechanical shepherd-life, so little in accordance with a mind and heart like his; to the enigmatical character of his whole history, which must have seemed to him full of confusion, when at any time he took this standpoint and looked back on it. But why had he been saved from such great danger when a child? Why was there given to him an education and a training which no single Israelite had ever got before, but which now seemed superfluous? Why was he so endowed with wisdom, and with powers too good and great to be now wasted in a hidden corner of the earth? If it were really the voice of God within his heart that called him to deliver the oppressed, why has this very first attempt of his so miserably failed? Nay, is it not much more than possible that he has only (though unintentionally) made his brethren's case much worse instead of better, since the vengeance meant for him now falls on them, the innocent? Must not his whole life stand before him as a failure, and a vain attempt, — a life whose second half sees all the profit of the former half misspent; and would he not have spared himself all this distress, if he had only listened to the voice of flesh and blood, and still remained, in life and spirit, an Egyptian? Thus questions, thoughts, and doubts crowd fast into his mind; but neither from above nor from below is there a voice that gives a satisfactory reply. Of all those round about him, there is not a heart that understands his whole position; not a single voice comes down from heaven, as it came sometimes to his pious ancestors; so uneventful seems his life — external and internal — that even tradition has made no attempt to fill the blank. Thus one decennium succeeds another with a varying speed; but still the sixtieth year finds him the same as did the fiftieth: he is a shepherd still, eating the bread of charity; and, judging from appearances, he is as far, when near his eightieth year, from reaching the high aim of his first wish, as shortly after he had seen his fortieth. The uniformity of daily life with him is like the rigid firmament seen in Elijah's days, but there is not the smallest speck of cloud to indicate a change; and while the future stands before him in its joylessness, the past, just like a vision of the night, sinks ever farther down into obscurity. Do you not think that, more than forty times within those forty years, there must have risen in Moses' mind the thought thus uttered by the Psalmist, 'Clouds and darkness are round about Him '?⁷

2.

But are justice and judgment indeed the basis of the throne of the eternal God? The selfsame history that here presents us with such enigmas, affords us also, on the other side, some rays of light that well may take us by surprise. If we regard it in the light of faith and of the great result, we clearly see that Moses' faith was exercised by strong temptation, that his character was purified by painful disappointment, that long exile perfected the training he received.

May we not confidently say that strong temptation was the very means by which the faith of Moses was called into exercise? You need not be surprised that we speak thus decidedly of Moses' faith; one of the sacred writers has already done so long ago. We are not left in doubt regarding what it was that properly led Moses to decide, and make a choice which every Egyptian must certainly have deemed the greatest foolishness. 'By faith, Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ' — think of reproach like what Christ afterwards endured, reproach for the kingdom of heaven's sake — 'greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward.'⁸ This is indeed a sublime description; but how much more sublime is the thing itself here pointed out, and which we vainly try in some degree to estimate as it demands we should! Lo, there before you Moses stands once more, the balance oscillating in his hands! In the one scale, the left, is everything that could charm any youthful mind, — wealth, pleasure, popularity, wide influence, and fame; while on the other side, nothing but faith appears, yet, wonderful to tell, the scale in which this last is sinks, because it is the heavier! 'But surely, Moses, you do not suppose that those down-trodden slaves are God's own people; you surely do not look for any glorious future to a race that plainly sinks but farther down to ruin; surely you do not look for a reward better than what this world can give?' Yet this is just what Moses does, and does without receiving special revelation, — without having any one to urge him on to such a work, — without support from anything beyond God's ancient promises to Abraham, which were, no doubt, well known to him. At a time when life and immortality were far from being brought to light, he has in view a great reward with God, compared with which all Egypt's treasures are as chaff. Though other men esteem it a disgrace to be a member of that branded, ill-used nation, he considers it an honour such as he will not resign for any royal crown; nay, marvellous to tell, he thinks himself far richer than a Pharaoh in his glory! Wondrous power of faith, that measures things by quite another standard, looks on them with quite another eye, and feels with quite another heart than that with which those measure, see, and feel, who have no other sphere of life than merely this seen world! Men once reviled this Moses, pointing at him their finger in deep scorn; but now, how suddenly he has been raised above all Memphis and its mockery, so little really, though in its own esteem so great! But yet how plain, too, has it now become, that even this confidence of faith would never have produced such grand results, if the fiery trial, spoken of before, had never been endured! If you remove the word 'temptation 'from the history of Moses, then his name, as one who dared the worst under the influence of faith, — who staked all that was precious, though to gain what was more precious still, — becomes an empty sound. For it is not until the heavenly Refiner puts the gold — your faith — into the hottest furnace, that its reality and its amount, its worth and durability, become quite evident. The Christian's soul is like a garden of the Lord; but that the trees which have been planted there may scatter forth their perfumes everywhere around. He must from time to time send storms, to liberate the balmy odour and present it to the weary traveller. It is not much to choose the service of the Lord, and range oneself among His friends, when it is possible, withal, still to retain a hold of Egypt's treasures, and to suffer no reproach of any kind for His name's sake. But when, just as in Moses' case, it is impossible to keep the two at once; when we must take some most decided step, for which we know full well, beforehand, that the world will frown on us; when we must sacrifice, upon the altar of a God-devoted heart, the honour and the favour of our fellow-men, — then will appear the true amount of our much-boasted faith, of which, in peaceful days, we could discourse and sing so fluently; then will appear the difference between a seeming faith and life with God; then, when the sun of persecution has arisen, the seed that has sprung up in stony ground will wither utterly, and only that which has been sown in good soil will produce good fruit. Why should you Christians wonder, then, when you discover that the tree which tests and tries us men has been transplanted out of paradise into all regions of the world? or why should you desire to be at once delivered from all strife? Without the fiery trial at that seductive court, Moses would not have been himself; the Christian, too, is called to show how he can conquer through his faith, not when out of the world, but in the world. And now, when God's grand purpose with regard to Moses has been actually carried out, and when the man leaves his first training-school, quite destitute of Egypt's wealth, but rich in faith, has he great reason to complain?

'But,' you will say, 'when once the right choice has been made, and the decisive step is taken, there was surely no necessity at least for painful disappointment?' Say not so; for surely it was just in this way that the character of Moses was refined. It is quite possible that, at the first, a man may be a true believer, and remain, alas! weak, vain, proud, arrogant. Such was the case with Moses when you see him summoned to avenge the wrongs of Israel. He has firm faith in God and in His promises; his feelings and affections are no longer bound to Egypt; and there can be little doubt, or none, concerning his sincerity: but he is sadly wanting in humility. Moses is conscious of a special destiny for something great, but thinks he is the man that can the least be spared in any case. His is a merely carnal zeal to save his fellow-Israelites, as is quite evident from the great failure that befell his first attempt; for his heart, a prey to his own folly, is the sport and plaything, now of pride and arrogance, and now of fear and cowardice. He will, he can, he shall do just as he thinks right; but God is not yet willing. God shall certainly perform His will through Moses, but not through a Moses such as this. The darling of the whole Egyptian world still stands too high; he must descend a step or two before he can be used to serve Him who hates lofty looks, be they of friends or foes. Moses has made great progress in Egyptian wisdom; but he is as yet quite unaware that, in the wisdom of the Holy Ghost, while he is nothing, God is everything. Although his heart is right, his will is not sufficiently subdued; he still counts far too much both on his own strength and the gratitude of men; his old man yet must needs be slain, as he slew the Egyptian. Therefore the Lord Himself assails him now, and seems in this quite as unmerciful as he had been to the oppressor of his brethren. In the first Israelite to whom he showed himself as a deliverer, he must be made to see, as in a glass, the nation's meanness and ingratitude, that he may learn to do all for the sake of God, but nothing for the sake of man; and that he never may presume to say, 'My hand hath led out Israel.' Even though the murder he committed seems a pardonable sin, yet it is just in His own elect that the Holy One of Israel strictly visits what seems quite excusable; and though He deeply humbles Moses now, it is that He may straightway make him great through the humility. Moses' first action lets us see what he shall afterwards be able for, when God's grace shall have wholly filled and purified his manly soul; just as the husbandman perceives, in the strong crop of weeds, the promise of good harvest, when the ground shall have been cleared of tares, and sown with wheat. But harrowing and ploughing, that break down the hardest clods, — such are the operations specially attended to by Him who is the heavenly Husbandman, when, in His wisdom. He proposes to lay out a field that is particularly fine; and disappointment to our dearest and legitimate, perhaps, indeed, our most praiseworthy plans, forms the deep furrow drawn across us, that the heavenly seed may afterwards be sown. Christians! do not forget that God is constantly employing such a means for cleansing these our hearts from that Impurity which brings Him so much pain, and us so much disgrace. Have you formed fine ideals of the good that you will do for the promotion of your neighbour's happiness? It shall not be, says God; you still rely too much on your own strength, expecting far too little from the Lord, who must do all. Have you been sketching out a golden future for yourself.'' God blows on your designs some time or other, right before your eyes, that, with a broken but a humbled heart, you may exclaim, 'I know, O Lord, that the way of man is not in himself!'⁹ Have you been really so foolish as, unthinking, to rely on human love and gratitude? God, in some rude and startling way, opens your eyes, that, fleeing in your terror from the falling idol, you may fall down at the feet of the true God — nay, sink into your heavenly Father's arms! But I must stop; because the more I look, so much more clearly do there fall upon me rays of light, that raise me to an ecstasy, and urge me to say that there can and must be no other way for you and me than that of wrestling and temptation, if there is to come from us what is most truly good, and great, and worthy of God's kingdom, whether here or up in heaven. Even the mean-spirited betrayer, in his turn, had his own share in training Moses for his future work; and when the man of God has, by this very means, unlearned what he must needs unlearn, in order that the courtier might become a prophet of the Lord, do you not think that Moses has been in this as free from wickedness as the Almighty from unrighteousness?

Now you begin yourselves to see how the long exile — the last enigma which we have specified — formed the last step in training Moses for his work. But yet, how wondrous are the ways of Him who never is so near as when He seems to have forsaken us! It must be Jethro's daughters, and none else, whom Moses shall first look upon in Midian; and the small service rendered them but paves the way for him into the training-school which his celestial Guide now opens up to him under a simple shepherd's tent. You know the Midianites trace a direct descent from Abraham; and however much idolatry infects some tribes, there is no ground for doubting that Jethro was a worshipper and priest of Him who is the one true God. Do you not find yourself beginning to imagine how unspeakably important, for a mind like Moses, must have been his daily intercourse with such a wise and pious man? More precious far than all the treasures of Egyptian wisdom is the knowledge of antiquity, of human nature, and the truth to which he now is introduced; while, just at the arrival of the proper time, he is at once and utterly removed from all the evil influences of the idolatry surrounding him. He must now get accustomed to a desert life; how else can he, who has just come from court, be hardened for a wandering of forty years? It is in solitude that the heroic soul must be matured for its grand destiny; God's friends are always formed in such a way. The lonely nights spent in the cave are just the seasons when the most affecting psalms of David were composed; it is just in the desert that the son of Zacharias grows to be the messenger who calls on Israel to repent; it is just in the stillness of that same Arabian desert that Paul ripens into the Moses of the New Covenant, whose it shall be to lead out Christianity from the hard bondage of the law; the cloister-cell at Erfurt hides the pangs of Luther's second birth; and it is in the stillness of the inner chamber, whither you have fled for refuge from the din and vanity of worldly things, that there grow on your souls those seraph-wings, with which, when you have been glorified, you will appear before the Lord. But Moses is not destined thus to live and die among a company of shepherds, quite unknown to fame; he, too, shall in his time be brought out from obscurity to light. Nevertheless, this cannot be before God's time arrives; and this time does not come so long as the concluding, the most difficult of all the lessons the believer has to learn — submissive, patient waiting — still remains unlearned. Moses was given no less than 'forty weary years to learn the lesson; and even after that, he is so far from being perfected, that, in the last year of his life, he is again surprised and led away by his impatient soul. The training-time of Moses is a long one, — 'just as long as his life-task. But that which is most excellent, both in the natural and moral world, is always slowest in attaining full maturity. And who can doubt, moreover, that even long delay in the realization of our hopes receives alleviation at God's hands in many ways, and compensation too? But further, it is worth observing how the names that Moses gave to his two sons express his calm reliance and unshaken faith. 'The name of the one was Gershom; for, he said, "I have been a stranger in a strange land." And the name of the other was Eliezer; "For the God of my father," said he, "hath been my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh." '¹⁰ How often Moses must have been astonished when he found, on looking back upon his life in Midian, that what he had regarded as an obstacle must have become the very means for leading him towards his destined end! Such is the way of God with those He calls and chooses for Himself. As Moses guided Israel out of Egypt, so He leads us out from the world's house of bondage, just that we may learn in secret what a blessed thing it is to be with Him. He makes one star and then another set before our eyes, that we may gaze uninterruptedly upon the sun of His rich promises. It is far more by hunger's pains than by the comfort of an appetite that has been satisfied; it is by weaning, rather than by giving us to drink, that He both forms and nourishes our inner man. And after our probation-time has been fulfilled, He calls us, as He summoned Moses, to the earthly or the heavenly destiny marked out for us peculiarly, and brings His own out from their exile on this earth into their Father's home in heaven. If we are sometimes dazzled by mere rays on earth, what shall it be when faith gives place to sight?

3.

Shall we, too, realize that prospect in our own experience? This will depend upon the question whether we give ear unto the calls addressed to us, as from the hoary past, that come from Moses' history in his probation-time. Respectful silence, careful choice, complete obedience, — such are the leading lessons taught by his experience.

To show a reverential silence, and never to contend with our Creator: — the inculcation of this lesson must be almost needless now, after such light as has been thrown upon mysterious ways. And yet who is so ignorant of his own heart as not to know how much more hard it is to see that everything is good which God in sovereignty performs, than judge that everything is good which God, in His unspotted holiness, requires? Some here may seldom, or even never yet have felt how the whole soul at times can rise in loud complaint against the course which God pursues with us. But why should any one complain against the Guide of all, when we discover that the way is quite as plain and pleasant and frequented as we well could wish, or might expect? Even Moses could have had no ground for making a complaint about his case, when everything was done in Egypt at his nod, and when he felt quite confident that every one in Goshen would side with him. But when the Lord now suddenly restrains this man in his impetuosity, and says, 'Stand still!' and asks that the unyielding one shall bend, Moses would not have been a man at all had he then submitted joyfully. We often have a like experience ourselves. We have our good intentions, but we find no opportunity of doing what we would. We feel our powers have grown, enabling us to work, to fight, to overcome; but yet we find ourselves condemned to inactivity. We see that we are placed within a narrow sphere, where we can never do what we, no doubt, could well effect if our surroundings were more favourable than they are. We see injustice triumph, — ^justice mercilessly trodden down. It is as if, at certain points, the thread of our development were being broken off by the celestial hand that has been spinning it. It seems that we shall never be what we had hoped and thought; we find ourselves beginning to despair of our earthly, if not of our heavenly destiny; and we sit down, like Moses at the well, exhausted and dispirited, resting our weary head upon our hands, while we feel it is hard indeed to keep from crying out in the deep bitterness of grief And when we vainly ask, from day to day, 'Oh, who will show us any good?'¹¹ how far we are from asking, on the other hand, 'Where is God, my Maker, who giveth songs in the night.?'¹² Who giveth songs in the night:'¹³ if you desire to feel the force of these words of Elihu, you must fancy that you heard, along with Job, the question of the Lord out of the thunderstorm, 'Is it wise to contend with the Almighty?' Shall a short-sighted one contend with the Omniscient, a mortal man with the Eternal, the transgressor with the Righteous One, because He was not pleased to lead us by the way we chose, or possibly because He will not give us what we, groundlessly perhaps, are pleased to say is indispensable for our best interests? But is He, who thus will not give us all we ask, obliged to grant us even the smallest benefit? Is it not just ourselves, at least in part, v/ho are the cause of all that brings us sorrow, even as Moses, for the murder he committed, suffered banishment? Are we aware how many more degrees the heat must needs be raised, before the silver of our faith (supposing that the silver is quite genuine) will be refined from all the dross? And do not even the streams of consolation from the Lord flow on in whispers through the sands of gloomy Midian? This hour will be a blessed one for us if we have learned at least this much, — never to cherish the desire of being wiser than the Lord, and reverentially to lay our hand upon our mouth, even though our eyes should stare themselves quite blind in darkest night. 'It is the glory of God to conceal a thing,'¹⁴ and to vouchsafe no answer while He still continues at His work, but only after He has finished it. What more do we require than the glad certainty that once made David say exultingly, 'This I know, that God is for me"?¹⁵

But Moses also had experience of this; do you, too, wish this consciousness were yours? Your conscience has already told you that the wish will never be fulfilled, so long as Moses' choice has never really been yours. But is it needful to adduce much proof for showing that the comfort which arises from this faith is, certainly, for such as Moses, but not for the Midianites, — for God's own Israel, but not for the Egypt of this world? Ah, this is why, in evil times, your courage sinks so rapidly! Your heart gives way, because your conscience is aroused; conscience condemns you, since you are not yet at peace with God; and you remain without that peace, because you have not yet true faith in Christ. Poor man, away from that eternal Son through whom alone we can approach the Father! how my heart laments for you, — even though all Egypt's treasure had been yours, as well as what Peru affords! You have but chosen the reverse of that which Moses chose; you have preferred sin's pleasures for a season, rather than endurance of that shame which still abundantly attends the followers of Christ. You still refuse to serve the best of Masters, quite as obstinately as did Moses to be called a son of Pharaoh's daughter; but, alas, when you, too, shall begin to look upon 'the recompense of the reward,' how frightful is the prospect that awaits you! The history of Moses has to-day proclaimed, with solemn emphasis, how speedily all worldly fame and honour pass away, and even the highest sink down to the lowest depths. Those earthly friends, to whom you cling so eagerly, may be as faithless and deceitful as that Israelite who betrayed the man that was the instrument of his deliverance. You know, too, that your highest expectations, even as his, grow out of one another, like the soap-bubbles that children make; and your sins, though they may remain concealed on earth, will most assuredly be brought to light, just like that fatal secret Moses vainly sought to hide beneath the depths of sand. How much more dreadful will it be, when the great Judge of heaven and earth, at the decisive hour, ascends His lofty throne, while deep depression and uneasiness steal over every sinful soul! You utterly abominate the blindness and ingratitude of Israel, who would not look on Moses as their great deliverer; of how 'much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy' who hath rejected the Mediator of the New Covenant, after, not one, but countless proofs that He sincerely and most earnestly desired to save our souls? By your eternal welfare, we beseech you no more to reject this Lord who comes from heaven, and who will save you from destruction far more certain than the miserable death now threatening the son of Abraham. See that you realize the greatness of your guilt, which you have been contracting all too long; pray for the spirit of that faith which you see working here in Moses, so that you too may be able rightly to compare the worth of earth and heaven, — of that which perishes and of that which shall endure! You too, like him, are called to make a choice, — not for the first time, certainly, though one day for the last; see that you do not make mistake — see that you do not needlessly delay! Even though you might be able to acquire, in serving sin, all Egypt's treasures, do but think how small their worth will be when the brief dream of life is past; and look unto the gracious recompense of the reward prepared by God for those who serve Him faithfully! There must, indeed, be selfdenial and a constant struggle on the part of those who seek to win that crown; but how much better is it to taste suffering with God's own people, than to bathe in streams of sin's delights! In the great conflict, then, see that you range yourselves among — I do not say, indefinitely, 'pious men; 'for when you enter into dealings with your fellow-men, you will experience as bitter disappointment as did Moses in his intercourse with suffering brethren: but be on the side of unfeigned piety, and lead a life of intercourse with God! Learn from Him who is greater than Moses, to fight the good fight of faith and to lay hold upon eternal life, whereunto ye are also called! Let no youth here object that he is still too young, when he perceives how Moses, even in his earliest years, sought to escape the lusts of youth. Even though you should on that account be forced to suffer shame and deep reproach, yet, if it be indeed reproach for Christ, you may rejoice with deep and humble thankfulness. Yea, though you saw that the issue of your choice, in taking up the cross and following the Lord, must sometimes be a flowery path, sometimes one full of stones, nevertheless, the end will show that God is merciful and most compassionate. All heavenly Wisdom's ways, whether they lead through desert Midian, or towards friendly Goshen, are at all times ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace!

Yes, verily, for those who will be taught by her — but only those. Let me once more insist on this; and listen to the call requiring you implicitly to follow, and proceeding from the region of the Nile. Whence came all the disgrace and injury which you here see poured out on Moses' head? Did it not just arise from this, that, anxious as he was to do God's work, he did it quite in his own way, instead of letting God decide not merely what he was to do, but how and when he should begin the work? It does not matter much though we declare for the good cause, if we endeavour to promote its interests just in the way we like, rather than as the Lord desires; and even the confidence of faith may change to culpable presumption, when a spirit of enduring patience is not joined with it. Then, Christians, be not envious of the lot of sinners; rather continue in the fear of God, because there is a sure reward, and your hope shall not be cut off.¹⁶ 'Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; fret not thyself in any wise to do evil.'¹⁷ Do not be over hasty in assuming that to be the voice of God which possibly, as here in Moses' case, is but a voice of flesh and blood; and though you say that you can see no wrong, do not be much astonished when you find that you must suffer grievous wrong. Do not in peevishness complain when well-meant efforts on your part are disesteemed, or violently opposed; you have not yet, like Moses, risked your life in vain for thankless men. Knowledge of human nature is but rarely gained except through the hard lessons learned in this world's school; blessed are ye when it is ever followed by such knowledge of yourselves as brings humility, — blessed especially when you can learn, sooner than Moses did, to place reliance less and less on self and men in general, and more and more upon your God and Saviour Jesus Christ! Be silent in the presence of the Lord when He gives no reply regarding what He does, and wait until you reach the end. You have a better fountain than the well whereat this Moses drank and was refreshed in Midian, — God's word and promises, which in Jesus are Yea and Amen: refresh and quicken these your souls by drinking daily there! Habituate yourself to see the hand of God in little things as well as in the great events of life; the God of Providence arranged not merely for the meeting between Moses and the daughter of King Pharaoh, but for that, too, which took place with Jethro's daughter at the well. Like him, be generous, compassionate, pacific, ever ready to serve others in humility; and though your life should for the present be, in many points, a cheerless Midian, rejoice in this especially, that Egypt is behind, Canaan before. And if your burdens press upon you heavily, repeat to your own mind what Moses said after the birth of his first son, 'I am a stranger in a strange land.'¹⁸ And when at any time you feel deep longing to behold your own true country, rather seek, above all things, that you may not find entrance there before you have been quite prepared. Well may we, at the close of such a narrative, depicting Moses' training-time and that of multitudes, — believers like himself, — say to each other, in the words of a sweet Christian poet¹⁹ not forgotten yet:

'Beloved children! let the Master train you: Surely to you
     He meaneth nothing ill.
His love to you can never know decreasing,
     He knoweth what He does, — 'tis wisdom still.
          Patience in heavy days of dark distress
          Works out for you the heavenly blessedness.

'At last, to enter the eternal glory,
     The dross of earth and all life's base alloy
For ever purged by the Divine Refiner, —
     Ah, this is bliss! this is of joys the joy!
          God's dearest child is he who, longest tried.
          Thus enters in, refined and purified.'

1) Rom. xi. 33.

2) Isa. xlvi. 10.

3) Prov. xvi. 9.

4) Ps. lxxvii. 13.

5) Deut. xxxii. 35; cf. Rom. xii. 19, Heb. x. 30.

6) Ex. ii. 15.

7) Ps. xcvii. 2.

8) Heb. xi. 24-26.

9) Jer. x. 23.

10) Ex. ii. 22, xviii. 4.

11) Ps. iv. 6.

12) Job. xxxv. 10.

13) Job xl. 2.

14) Prov. xxv. 2.

15) Ps. lvi. 9.

16) Prov. xxiii. 17, 18.

17) Ps. xxxvii. 8.

18) Ex. ii. 22.

19) Ulysses van Salis. [For the English rendering we are indebted to the Rev. Dr. Horatius Bonar. — Tr.]