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Moses, A Biblical Study

By J. J. Van Oosterzee

Chapter 4 The Journey

'Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward.' — Ex. xiv. 15.

It was a remarkable message that the Lord once sent by Micah the prophet to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, 'Arise ye, and depart, for this is not your rest.'¹ That message was intended as a loud forewarning of the evils then so imminent, dangers from which, perhaps, there still remained sufficient time to flee; and what the words referred to soon became quite evident, when both the city and the temple were devoured by fire. We thank God that we are not called upon, especially on such a day as this,'² to come before you in the character of one who has but evil tidings to announce. And yet, are you aware of any single sentence which — except, perhaps, the apostolic greeting — we could now employ as more appropriate to this occasion than what has just been expressed? And is it not as if the sounds of New Year's morn united to proclaim these words to man, the mortal and the Christian, 'Arise ye, and depart, for this is not your rest'? 'Rest!' — we have never yet found it on earth, at least not in ourselves or men; and when does it seem to elude us more than just at the beginning of the year? As if the world were quite ashamed for having spent the few hours yesterday in meditation at the grave of the old year, she hastens, with exceeding joy, to greet the new-born year. Outside are crowds of those who wish men all prosperity, in words too often thoughtlessly expressed, and as mechanically listened to; and even the Christian feels it difficult to keep himself from being carried off into the whirlpool that roars around. Who can this day — at least, with the success he seeks for — say unto the sun of his own life, 'Thou sun, stand still '? Or who has power to stop the restless flight of time, and make him bind his wings a while? But 'Forward! 'is the universal cry, raised yet more loudly when the morning rays first break through night's dark clouds; nay, let me say, it seems as if, each year, the sand-grains in the hour-glass of our lives fall faster than before. 'Forward! 'It is the same whether we still have to ascend the summit of life's mountain, or now leave it quite behind, and have begun, slowly at first, but with increasing pace, to make descent. 'Forward! 'What could be more appropriate than this, to form the burden of our first address on this New Year? So rarely does it happen that the selfsame motto is presented by the world and by religion, that, when this occurs even once, we cannot let the fact pass unobserved. You have done well in visiting the Lord's house now, on the first morning of this year. How very much does our success depend upon a well-considered start! Where could we hope to find more light regarding an uncertain future than before the face of Him who is assuredly the hearer of our prayer? 'I am a stranger in the earth; hide not Thy commandments from me! 'But, risen from the presentation of this prayer, do you now ask what God the Lord requires of you this day? Do you ask this at us, your ministers? If we inquire at Him together, it is just as if we heard this answer,

'SPEAK UNTO THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, THAT THEY GO FORWARD.'

You will remember that, once and again in weekday services, we have already treated of some leading passages in Moses' life. So little reason had we, even for this hour, to set aside material so rich in its attractions, that, on the contrary, whatever other passages of Sacred Writ occurred to us as suitable for this occasion, we were always, as if by an unseen hand, led back to this. Was it to satisfy the wish of our own heart in marching forward on the path of life marked out to us? Was it because the Lord well knew that this or that one would be present, who might this day wish just for some words like these, rather than anything besides, because he feels his need of them? However that may be, we could not hurriedly pass over this, because, familiar though it be to all, comfort and light abound in it. If we have come together to consult with one another and with God, making His word our guide, as to the proper mode of setting out in this life's journey, let us fancy that we heard addressed again, to every one of us, the voice of God which spake in former times to Israel at a crisis in their history.

We only need a few words to connect the view here given with what has formerly been said. We left the prophet of Jehovah on the frontiers of Midian, in company with Aaron, his brother, ready to present to Pharaoh the credentials of his heavenly commission. But what a great deal has occurred during the interval between his entry and his leaving Egypt for the second time; and what fell blows have been inflicted on the stubborn tyrant by that rod used in the working of the miracles, but now transformed into a scourge! The brief impressions made, at nine successive times, have always given way to insolent hard-heartedness; but now at last, it would appear, at this tenth time, his heart has melted through intensity of pain, though it is not yet broken by a true repentance. What a dreadful night was that on which Egypt, through all its length and breadth, became like one sad charnel-house; while, in the land of Goshen, cries of deep distress gave place to songs of the deliverance! The Passover is instituted, and the lamb is slain; the feast is kept with grateful heart: a few hours more, and Israel, freed from slavery, are on their way to the Red Sea, laden with Egypt's spoils. But does it not appear as if the sun of liberty had only risen above the low horizon to conceal itself at once behind dark clouds? At God's command, Israel has encamped between Migdol and the sea-shore; and scarce does Pharaoh hear of it, than it appears that his hostility towards Jehovah and His people is incurable. In hot haste the warriors are gathered, horses harnessed, chariots put in readiness: the Egyptians be upon thee, Israel, and with them they bring death — not merely slavery! Is it surprising that the groans excited by the love of life rise louder than the voice of gratitude in those who scarce are freed from slavery, and that they curse the hour which brought them to this fatal pass? Complaint is made to Moses, who in turn brings it, in silence, unto Him who is the only helper in this time of need. And — mark how well He understands complaints made by His people, even when these have not been expressed — the Lord does not confound with shame His servant, who has cried so loudly to the people to be calm and wait for the deliverance, but who has also called in silence on his God, seeking deliverance from Him. 'Why criest thou to me.'' 'So speaks the voice of Him who sits as King upon the flood: 'Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward! '

Oh, what a moment that was! — one of the most sublime and memorable in the annals of God's special providence, — one of the most critical in Moses' life! We cannot think of making even a remote comparison of what then happened with like instances, and of exalting what was but a special case into a universal law. Many of you, whose life flows on in smooth and noiseless stream, can scarce conceive what then was passing through the minds of that vast multitude. But 'whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning;'³ and however different our circumstances are from those of Moses and of Israel, in this at least we are at one with them, — we must advance, whether we will or not. But does not that advance possess sufficient interest and importance to invite a special study of the case, for once at least? Methinks that every one who takes the smallest pains to think, must ask himself such questions as the following: Whence must I start.'' what path ought I to choose? how shall I find that path? how can I walk in it? and where, after my course is run, — be that course long or short, — shall I be found? The history of bygone times is there to give you a reply. It points out, with sufficient clearness, the best mode of journeying through life. 'Go forward' (1) from that point to which God has conducted us; (2) along the path God bids us take; (3) by the light which God affords; (4) with the staff which God provides; and (5) to the land which God prepares.

Such is the sketch of what we shall present for your consideration; further, we shall seek, in closing, to impress the whole upon your minds. Give us a patient hearing; but especially, apply the truth to your own case. As for ourselves, we lift our eyes unto the hills, whence all our help shall come. Our help is from the Lord, who made the heaven and earth. Amen.

You are, then, willing to go forward? But whether you will or not, you must. What better starting-point can you discover than that from which Israel began, — thee point to which God has brought you now? 'That is self-evident,' this one and that one will reply; 'what point can we set out from, if not that which we have just attained?' Stop for a moment, my impatient fellow-traveller; we are not speaking of the point to which you have now brought yourself, but of that to which God has conducted you; and you must very soon, I think, feel that there may be an important difference between these two. For bear in mind that Israel had not been advancing to the land of liberty and rest, but they had been rebellious towards God and Moses; they had turned their face to Egypt, choosing there to wear their chains as slaves; and they had thereby brought themselves to such a depth of trouble and anxiety as made their prospect terrible: do you believe that, in this case, the voice of God would have been heard, 'Let Israel advance'? 'Impossible!' you will exclaim; 'God may, indeed, command us to go forward from the point to which He has Himself conducted us, but not by any means to make advance on that wrong path which we have chosen through our own folly and our sin. In such a case, God must have rather asked, 'Why do you cry to me?' You are yourselves the cause of your distress and misery; there is no safety on this road, but only death and horror; speak unto the Israelites that they return immediately! 'But now, because the Lord Himself has pointed out the place where they were to encamp, between Pi-hahiroth and Baal-Zephon, they are in the position which He bade them occupy; they now are standing in the place where He would have them be: now we may speak of going on. Do you not see already what is our design? and are you not applying it to your own case? 'Advance! '— it is a glorious word; and that which it denotes deserves the application of our noblest powers. Who does not look with pleasure and with admiration upon him who strives to reach the mountain-top, who does not count the difficulties he has overcome, because he longs to find still greater things beneath him, and who, with unwearied feet, still rises, till he sees the whole beneath? But, in advancing, the main question is, — not whether we are rising rapidly enough, but simply whether we are really on the right track, and keeping the great end in view. When those who lived in Noah's time had urged each other forward in the sense in which that word was understood by most of them, the path they trod brought them at last into the waters of the flood; and when, in later times, the Israelites urged one another forward on the path of disobedience, then they were destroyed by the Destroyer. Yes; 'Forward 'is still a glorious word, but not the first, scarcely the second that we should employ; and you will be in a position to apply it with advantage to yourselves only when, like these ransomed ones, you have an Egypt at your back, and a Canaan before. But what think you? Here is a man who, during all the year now past, has served the world with his whole heart, and been in love with sin; it would have been a great deal had even the last days and hours disposed him to more earnestness and modesty; then instantly there rises up once more the difficulty, — may our first, our sole word be, 'Advance '? But yonder is another man, who, through great thoughtlessness, has fallen into trouble, and is on the track which he himself chose, in his utter selfishness; but now his feet are ever more and more entangled in a snare which he constructed for himself. Would it not be to tempt the Lord, if, in the name of God, we promised him deliverance, instead of earnestly inquiring, 'Is the path you tread indeed the right one? 'It is easy to sing words like these, —

'Come, let us boldly march along;'

but it were better, first of all, to ask the question, 'Am I really in the position which God has appointed me, or is it through mere human influence that I have come into this path?' We are not, in our natural estate, like Israel by the sea-shore, but like Israel in Egypt. For we bend before the power of sin, unable to defend or save ourselves: the constant prey of death, we have no other prospect than to suffer ever deeper misery, unless God grant us, from above, deliverance and life. Are you, too, still sold unto sin, and quite as far from God at the beginning of this year as you have been at the commencement of so many hitherto? Then we shall not, to such as you, speak of advancing, but of humiliation and of instantaneous return. 'Thus saith the Lord,' we cry to you, in words first uttered by another man of God, 'stand ye in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.'⁴ O man of sin, the path you now pursue leads down to death; repentance is the only way to life, — regeneration of the soul the first, although perhaps the least felt requisite for entering on the new period. Nay, no advance ere you have first stood still, made full confession of your guilt, sought for deliverance from worse than Egypt's bondage, and cried for blood more precious than the blood of even the spotless Paschal lamb, to hide your sins! Whoever you may be, do not advance another step till you have asked yourself, in the Lord's name, the vital question, 'Was the path that I have hitherto been treading the broad way down to ruin, or the narrow path to heaven? Am I, in thoughtlessness, but treading in the footsteps of the multitude, or listening to the voice of truth?' God does not speak to us of going forward till He has first taken us by the hand to speak with us of our salvation. And He promises to fight upon our side only when we no longer fight against Himself. To Egypt His command is not, 'Go forward,' but, 'Back, for your life, if you wish to escape swift death!' It is God's people only who can hear, on New Year's morn, like Israel, the call, 'Fear not; stand still and see the salvation of the Lord which He will show to you to-day.' And when we meet Him with the question, 'Lord, how shall this be? 'the absolute command sounds in our ears, 'Advance

'Advance!' The order may be given easily, but is it quite as speedily performed? Then listen, in the second place, to what is further given in the summons: advance along the way which God commands. 'Which God commands.' This, in a certain aspect, makes the thing much easier, but in another much more difficult. You will at once perceive this when you place yourself again in the position of the Israelites. Moses need not, in deep anxiety, inquire, 'Whither?' for there is but one path, and not another given him to choose. There is the most peremptory command not to go back; nor would good come of turning to the right or left; more over, there are mountains rising up to heaven, and rocks, which shut the people in, as if within a fortress. Forward, then! But there is a huge watery grave that threatens any one who dares advance one step; there is no vessel waiting by which even a single individual may cross; there is no course left open, for the utmost bounds of all hope of deliverance have now been reached. 'Wherefore criest thou unto me? Go forward,' says Jehovah; 'I have commanded the sea to make a way for you.' How Moses must have felt on actually taking the first step among the waves, and entering upon that path which never had been trodden hitherto! And how must Israel have felt when called to follow him, with all that they held dear around them, — driven onward as by a resistless power, in order to escape, if possible, from Pharaoh, but with death before them did not God prevent! Well might the sacred poet of a later period declare, 'O God, Thy way was in the sea, and Thy path in the great waters, and Thy footsteps were not known!'⁵ But well may we, also, in spite of not a little difference, find a resemblance to the path on which the Lord once more calls you and me to make advance. That way itself is, in its leading features, quite as plain, as difficult, and yet withal as safe, as that for which the Israelites now looked. If we are Christians, there is only one way possible for our understanding, our faith, our conscience; and that is the way God bids us go. 'Have I not commanded you V asks God of every one of us, as He asked Joshua, and points us, as with outstretched finger, to the path He chose for us. The course of circumstances marks it out, and His unerring word makes it even still more plain. Backward we cannot, dare not go, nor do we wish; at least, to seek that would be quite as sinful as the hankering of Israel for Egypt's fleshpots. What lies behind us In the past must there be left in deep oblivion, — the world with its attractions, sin with its seductions, youth with its lovely but deceitful dreams! Around, there is as little to afford us a safe prospect as the rocks that stood in Israel's way. Before us lies the path on which the Lord is leading us, — the path of self-denial, toil, and conflict, with as little to attract poor flesh and blood as Israel's watery path. Oh, how much need there is for saying, from the bottom of the heart, and unreservedly, 'Lord, I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest! Speak but one word, and I shall go, even where I see no path, but only clouds and mists.' There you are sitting, my dear sister, with the precious memories of what is past full in your view, but from which you cannot turn your eyes away: hark! how there sounds your Leader's voice, 'Advance! 'There you are standing, my dear brother, with a future all before you, — one on which you cannot ponder without covering your face behind your hands, in terror at the dreadful visions you see rising not far off; and yet you must abide that future! Nay, not merely wait for it, but go to meet it, and that by a path in which we feel the stones as sharp as Israel found the waves untrustworthy; or it is in the company of those with whom we find as little ease and comfort as did Moses when surrounded by a wicked race; or it is through a dry and weary land, as thirsty as the desert of Arabia, after the Red Sea had been left behind. What shall we say to you but this? See that the path before you is indeed the way appointed by the Lord; and do not venture on a single step before you bow the knee to Him in deep humility. But if it be quite evident that just this, and no other, is the road which God deems best for you, then act as if you heard His voice from heaven saying, 'Why do you cry to me? Surely you know that I am not a God who says, "Go forward," without giving strength wherewith to go.' The great, the all-important question is, — not whether you see light, but whether you are truly willing to go whither the Father of Lights is guiding you; not whether the way is through the sea or through the sand, but whether it is really God's way. If so, then what He promises on this New Year to all His people is, 'Fear not, for I am with thee; be thou not dismayed, for I am thy God; I will strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee, yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.'⁶ How many striking instances you have, how much light from your own past history, to prove that when the first decisive step was only taken with an eye turned towards God, He opened paths through tangled thickets, made your difficulties disappear, as did the waves from Moses' presence, and then brought to pass events as wonderful as the destruction of His people's enemies! Nay, verily, God has not changed, so that He now should call His people to advance into the sea, and leave them there to perish in the flood. As we see here, even that which seems impossible to which He calls His people, must just for that very reason be quite possible; nay, more, the issue plainly proves it was the very best — indeed, the only safe course to pursue. Suppose the Israelites, alarmed at the idea of advancing through the waves, had taken time to think, and then attempted to retreat; or sought, amidst the mountains on each side, an opening by which they might escape approaching death: according to the judgment of the natural man, they would have acted with the utmost prudence, yet they would have but been hastening into the yawning grave. The passage through the sea turns out to be much safer than the path along the quiet shore, as soon as it appears that God is with us; for — and let it be inscribed on all your hearts, so as to be remembered through the year — safety does not depend upon the road, but on the guide we choose. It is precisely when the prophet Jonah seeks to flee from Nineveh, and find a safe retreat in Tarshish, that such mortal danger comes so close on him; and, on the other hand, when Paul, led by the Lord to Rome, courageously defies Euroclydon and every storm, his life is saved, although the ship is lost. Far better is it to pursue what seems a hopeless track, with God upon our side, than, without God, or quite against His will, to tread a path, however smooth, that flesh and blood has opened up to us. There is no danger if His mighty hand preserves us; thousands may perish on our right, and tens of thousands on our left, whilst we remain unharmed. Our life is ever free from danger when we risk it in the service of the Lord; because, as has been truly said, we are immortal while God needs us here. Not a single hair of Israel is hurt, although they now seem thoroughly entangled in a snare from which no power of men or angels can deliver them; while Pharaoh, in the midst of all his hosts, already totters on the verge of the abyss! Why should we, then, retreat a single inch-breadth, even on a road beset with every kind of difficulty, when the God who calls is also faithful, and does far above what we can ask or think?

'But what avails it me, even though I know the way, so long as, in short-sightedness, I still must grope about under dark clouds?' You are quite right; but you too, just like Israel, are this day summoned to advance under the light that God affords. You can imagine that you now behold the mysterious fiery pillar, scattering its golden rays upon the silvery waters in the darkness of the night, and straightway turning its fierce lightnings on the host of the Egyptians. You see that, while the waters seem raised up, as if they were a wall on either side, the myriads advance quite fearlessly, because their eye is turned towards that emblem of Jehovah's presence moving slowly on. You will remember, too, how that mysterious cloud gave ever afterwards the signal for a halt and for advance again; and how Jehovah always showed His will to Moses out of that same cloudy pillar. However much of enigma remains connected with this subject, you can easily perceive that to go forward would have been extremely difficult, if not impossible, had not the Lord Himself, in such a way as this, prepared one object to which all Israel might turn their eyes; and in your own mind you will have already been extolling the good fortune of the chosen race in having such a Guide. But say, has not God, in His written word, sent light from heaven sufficient in amount and clear enough to brighten, with its friendly rays, many a gloomy night and many a cloudy day.'' And have you ever been kept waiting long without an answer, when, with the earnest question, 'What will the Lord have me to do?' you took your precious Bible up, in silent solitude, not to consult it, like so many, just as if it were a kind of heathen oracle, — examining the first page that might open up to you, — but earnestly endeavouring to find out what the Lord desires? If you then looked upon your Lord as if He were before your eyes, and placed yourself, in spirit, at His feet, that you might know what is His good and perfect will; and if, as in His presence, you inquired, 'What will be most conducive to the Father's honour, to the joy of heaven, the highest good of all the brethren, and the benefit of my own soul?' — we pity you indeed, if yours was never the experience of Moses at those blessed seasons when the Lord removed for him the veil of mystery, and spake with him as man holds converse with a friend! But is it not the case that we are just like that rebellious Israel, — constantly inclined to choose their own way rather than simply pursue the path to which the cloudy pillar guided them? And even after we have been already taught, on numberless occasions, through the shame and injury that have befallen us, we still direct our eyes continually to the ignis fatuus of human wisdom, when we rather should fear God, and give attention to His word. We all have naturally something of those whom Isaiah, in a certain place, describes as lighting torches for themselves in darkness, and encompassing themselves with sparks; but presently they fall, covered with burns, which their own kindling has produced.⁷ During the year now closed, many miscalculations have been made, because God was excluded from the reckoning; on New Year's morning there are many clouds on many hearts, even of those who meet you with a free and merry air, because they do not lay to heart or credit the advice, 'To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, no light shall dawn on them.'⁸ Would that they only knew what mischief they were doing who desire, at any cost, to rob us of our childlike faith in God and His unerring word! If we gave ear to them, we would be now advancing in as much uncertainty and insecurity as Israel on that gloomy night, had not the fiery pillar shone high overhead. Would that all those who gradually have forgotten to employ the Bible as their safest chart in journeying through this world's wilderness, would but consider what must be the consequence if they will still allow themselves to be misled by guides who neither know nor can point out the way, and if they listen readily to every voice but that of God's unerring word! Had conscience much on this score to accuse you also on the closing evening of the year? and had you to confess it as a sin before the Lord, that you allowed yourself to be misled by the prevailing spirit of the age, and failed in paying honour to the word of God? Consider, and your conscience but confirms the truth of what we say; think of the want of constancy and joy which now depresses you, as if it were a righteous judgment sent by Him who will not let His light be disregarded with impunity, — a loud and earnest call, too, that you should, like Israel of old, say, 'I shall go and return, for then it was better with me than now.'⁹ Yes, to return to God and to His word, and to become like little children, instead of foolishly and proudly fancying we have outgrown the word: such is the only way of having realized, in our experience, the lovely prospect given in the words, 'Ye shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace.'¹⁰ But whoso follows Jesus, the great central figure of the Old and New Testament Scriptures, shall not walk in darkness; and not until we once more make resolve, 'I will hear what God the Lord will speak to me,' shall we also experience the truth of which the Psalmist sings, 'He shall speak peace to His people and to His saints.'¹¹ And what should hinder you from choosing that same word of God to be a lamp unto your feet, a light unto your path? Should the obscurities and enigmas that here present themselves to you prove such a barrier? Even the fiery pillar had for Israel its impenetrable and mysterious side; but this much they perceived quite well, that it afforded them more light than a thousand other lights. And there is something wondrous in the fact that this great light illumines everything, although you know not where it has its seat; nor can you find in anything besides a proper substitute when It has been removed. Or — just acknowledge it — are you offended at the vehemence with which the word of God denounces sin? Yes, verily, the cloudy pillar sent forth dreadful thunderbolts, but they were only aimed at hardened ones like Pharaoh; and that same light of God's unspotted holiness, which is so terrible to sinners, is the consolation of all those who make His mercy the foundation of their hopes. Or has that light no longer an attraction for you, inasmuch as it has lost the splendour of most novelties? Surely the fiery pillar was quite as invaluable in the fortieth year that followed Israel's Exodus, as in the first night when they were redeemed? And should you not be rather cheered by the consideration that, when everything to-day announces instability and change, the word of God endures for aye? So, too, the fiery pillar shone as gloriously over the heads of those who grew up in the desert as before the eyes of those who had beforetime dwelt in Egypt; and when Moses had attained his hundredth year, he saw another generation round him, but God's light in heaven still shone on him as friendly as before. Oh, look on it, rejoice in it, and walk by it, ye who have hitherto been out of Christ, sitting in darkness and the shadow of death! Yes, now, now there is light to guide us on our way, because the Sun of Righteousness gives forth its cheering beams!

But do you make complaint — not against God, but rather against yourself? And do you fear your strength will fail? We could not urge you to advance, did we not also, in the fourth place, indicate the staff which God bestows on us. Once more turn to the Red Sea. How stately and how strong appears the form of Moses when contrasted with the trembling hosts who even already fancy their last hour has come! But what is there, too, in his hands? A staff, which seems to have the power of driving out the waters from their bed. Lo, there they flee, as if some mighty arm pursued them! Hark! there sounds the voice of God once more: 'Stretch out thy rod, and let the waves close over Pharaoh's chariots, his horsemen, and his horse!' At once, after the song of gratitude has sounded forth, they journey on to Elim and to Rephidim, to Massah and to Meribah, to Horeb and to Nebo; but whatever Moses leaves behind at any spot where they encamp, he takes good care always to bring his staff with him. Each morning sees him take it up anew before Jehovah's face; encouraged, comforted, with it he ascends and descends the mountain where he sees his brother die; he does not set it down till he has taken the concluding step in his laborious career; and when at last this prop falls from his hands, lo, there he is before the Lord, who gave this staff to him! Do not your thoughts anticipate my words already, — in esteeming it a precious privilege that God does not refuse a staff like this to any one of us? To every one of His own people, at their setting out on the great journey of this life. He gives the promise: 'I will instruct thee, and teach thee concerning the way which thou shalt go; I will counsel thee; mine eye shall be upon thee.'¹² And as soon as, by the operation of the Holy Ghost, He has produced and strengthened in our hearts a living faith, then, too. He puts a staff into our trembling hands; and our experience is given in the prophet's wondrous words: 'They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles.'¹³ The staff of faith, the only, but, besides, the adequate support upon the changing path through life: you know, of course, what we refer to now? We do not mean that faith which men may have, to some extent, even apart from Christ, — the belief that there exists a God who orders everything for good, — that all the evils which befall us will assuredly conduct to something good, — that when this life is ended, there will be another where all tears are wiped away. Verily, verily, we say unto you, there have been thousands in the year now past who never doubted this, and whom, nevertheless, their so-called faith did not prevent from sinking down into despair, and wringing their hands in deep perplexity! But this trust, founded on the everlasting word of Him who is Himself the Truth, — God in Christ, my Father, — all His promises yea and amen in Christ, for my eternal blessedness, — God on my side, so that whatever works against me is of no avail; — oh, I have yet to see the man in whom such faith has been begun, maintained, recovered after wrestling on his knees, and who has then sunk down again, because he could not take another step! Without this faith, as we must carefully point out, there is no sadder morn, for any one who has not yet lost every spark of earnestness, than that which has now dawned upon our sight. The path which lies before you still remains, indeed, as much concealed from you, as much beset with dangers, and as much beyond our powers of calculation, as the path made through the desert of Arabia. On one side we are threatened by our spiritual foes, who are as irreconcilably opposed to us as Amalek was towards Israel. Upon another side are found some feeble friends, who, just as Jethro did to Moses, come up with us at a later period, and who can give us good advice, but afterwards go far enough away from us again. And yonder — But why should we thus pursue, into minute detail, such a comparison between the path of Israel and the path of faith? Let it suffice to state that, without Having faith working within the heart, it is as hopeless to set out upon life's journey as it would have been impossible to march through the Red Sea without the all-prevailing, wonder-working rod. Poor man, you rise up, but you know not whence; you wander here and there, but do not know how long; you ask for strength, yet know not whence it may be gained! The Lord's words are most true: 'Cursed is the man that maketh flesh his arm. . . . Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord.'¹⁴ But have you never found, too, in the year gone by, that all things are possible to him that believeth, and that even mountains of difficulties seemed to dwindle away into molehills when touched by this wonder-working staff? But such a remembrance of the past is likewise a prediction of what the new era will bring; and may it be with you to-day as if you also heard the word of the Lord: 'If ye could believe!' The time will often come when you shall stand before a task for which your own unaided wisdom will be quite unequal; but the prayer of faith works wonders, and strength comes down from above into the heart which owns, in deep humility, that it is naught but weakness when apart from God. The days may be at hand when you, like Israel contending against Amalek, will have to wage a spiritual warfare of intense severity; but if the hand of faith can then be merely raised to heaven, like the rod of Moses when upheld by Aaron and Hur, the result will be a victory, in view of which you too can build an altar, and inscribe on it the words, 'The Lord is my banner.'¹⁵ The years, as they flow by, will show if God wills that your life shall be as dull, monotonous, and joyless as the eight and thirty years for which the Israelites were forced to wander in the wilderness; but if you only see to it that nobody deprives you of your staff, it will be with you also, in the inner man, as has been said of Moses: 'His eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated.'¹⁶ Scarce will you touch the everlasting promises of God with that believer's staff, ere the refreshing streams from heaven will flow to you, just as the water issued from the rocks; and as the rod of Moses swallowed up the rods of all the Egyptian sorcerers, so does the power of faith enable us to triumph over every obstacle. Oh, do take up this staff of God before you venture on another step! On this first morning of the year, see whether you have still a reed, or now have something better far on which to lean; and ask whether your rod is genuine, cut from the green wood of the Tree of Life. But see to it that you know well what and in whom you trust; and do not let your heart be troubled, even though you saw the last ray of the sun of your joy grow dim. Thus speaks the Rock, whose work is now complete: 'Thy sun shall no more go down, neither shall thy moon withdraw itself; for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and thy God thy glory!'¹⁷

'An everlasting light!' — when could we better feel the value of a prospect such as this, than on a New Year's morn? Verily, we spend the days of the years of our pilgrimage like thoughts; and afterwards, — yes, after that! Here, unbelief stands still; here, scepticism turns quite away; but faith views calmly the decisive words that stand upon the book of life abruptly closed, — 'The End.' The Lord arouses us to march on to the land which He prepares for us. You are aware that Israel was called not merely to forsake the land of Egypt, nor even to spend a desert life in peace and liberty, but to march on into a land which God, ages before, had promised to bestow on the posterity of those who were His friends. Not one of all those multitudes who passed through the Red Sea had ever seen that promised land. Upon the ground of credible authority, they were constrained to the belief that it was a reality awaiting them beyond the flood. Not even the wisest of them all was free to choose the mode of access to that land which flowed with milk and honey. At one time they were forced to move, even after they had been encamped at oases with water and palm-trees; while at another time they were compelled to stay, sometimes for months and years, around one spot, though it had nothing to attract. But their great Leader ever held Himself responsible for the result, although the moment when the earthly paradise was to unfold its gates was still kept in deep secrecy. On one occasion only did He let them actually see and taste the pleasures and refreshment it contained, of infinitely greater value than what Egypt, with its treasures, could afford.¹⁸ And had they not themselves, — how sad the thought! — through their impenitence and unbelief, rejected that precious inheritance, they would have marched into Canaan a few months only after they left Egypt. Nor are we called to wander aimlessly, and to march on without exactly knowing where we are to go. The Lord from heaven has appeared on this vile earth that we, exiles from Eden, might have an eternal dwelling-place; and though no messenger has come back from the habitations where He has prepared us room, we know, as surely as we live, that what no eye hath seen, what ear hath never heard, what hath not entered into any human heart, is hid with Christ in God for all who know and love Him. Whoever will draw back unto perdition may perceive, in Israel's case, that while God presses upon sinful men His heavenly gift. He will by no means let Himself be mocked. Sentence of death has been pronounced upon the soul of him who will have Egypt rather than Canaan; how many do we see, just for this reason, falling in the wilderness from year to year! This makes the words come up before our minds: 'So I sware in my wrath, they shall not enter into my rest.'¹⁹ But if we run with patience and in faith the race before us, blessed are we; for we may not only say, through our sighs, this day, 'A few more years (if even years!), and then I go whence I shall not return;'²⁰ but we may also add with joy, 'I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He is able to keep that which I have committed to Him till that day.'²¹ Many more storms, indeed, may rise and burst over our heads ere we, through grace, obtain the crown of life. But it is well that we are not aware of all that is contained within the bosom of a year, perhaps even of its early weeks or months. If Moses had been able to count up beforehand all those whom he was to see cut down and buried in the desert's sand ere reaching Pisgah's height, and how many thousand paces still remained to take between the Red Sea and the Jordan, he would surely have entreated that that burden might be taken from his back. But full well do we know that, though the heaven and earth may pass away, the promise itself of our inheritance remains. The way that leads to it may not, perhaps, be quite the shortest (and those who, like Israel, are slow to learn require a longer training-time), still less is it the most agreeable, but most assuredly it is the best. And the inheritance itself will only seem more beautiful if we, like Moses, are obliged to wait a long time on God that we may get possession of the whole. Here is a joyful consolation for all you who, on this New Year's morn, perhaps behold some seats now empty, but which, last New Year, proved centres of attraction: if your friends have fallen asleep in faith, they have already crossed the Jordan, just as Israel crossed the gloomy sea, and the celestial city of palm trees has now received them all within its walls. How blessed such a prospect is for us, when we begin to feel, as we do sometimes, that the outward man is perishing, and that our strength no longer lets us execute that which the will would gladly carry out: it must be even so, — the tabernacle will break down to make way for a habitation in the heavens! Then speed thee on incessantly, thou night of life, with thine uneasy dreams; the morn draws nigh that shall awake us, not to time, but to an eternity of bliss! Who are among us here, friends of the Lord, for whom there is reserved in God's fair heaven an inheritance which cannot fade? What matters it although the solemn tones of the church clock have now been ringing in for you the year of death, if we can write at once upon your grave, 'Gone home,' or even, 'He has obtained his dearest wish'? There is no reason to lament the death of those who fall asleep in such a hope; but those for whom we sorrow are the living who have still no prospect of such joy. Do you know any prospect more inspiriting than that of one day having done entirely with that daily dying which we now call 'life;' of our at last, some time or other, breathing with a pleasure and a freedom we have never yet felt here, where every day brought us more than enough of its own ills; of once more hearing there, too, the command, 'Forward!' and then advancing through the spacious fields of heaven, but finding nowhere near us any foe, nor seeing any wilderness before? Surely, even though it cost us other forty anxious years, as it cost Israel the Promised Land, what one of us would think the price of such a calling far too dear? But why do I say 'years,' when our appointed days are but one span? 'Yet a little while,' says New Year's morn, 'and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry.'²² There is He, even already. He who opens up for us the heavenly Canaan. Christians! which one of you will be the first to enter after Him?

That word itself conducts me to the close of my address. We have been holding consultation as to the best mode of setting out on the great journey of this life; and we may promise him who gives intelligent attention to these words, that he shall there find good. But now, in closing, let us ask, to what should we be led by all that we have been considering?

It seems to me that, first of all, we should be brought to ask the decisive question of the New Year, Am I among the Israel of God to whom this 'Forward 'comes? Be not astonished that, considering the vast importance of this point, we cannot close without once more regarding it; so utterly deceitful is the heart, which we have brought with us out of the old into the new year, and so readily inclined to seek for comfort in the gospel promises, while seeking to release itself from gospel claims. Just as, at the Red Sea, not only Moses, in full confidence of faith, but also Pharaoh, in his blind temerity, ventured to cross, so there may also be among us now a multitude who are quite willing to advance, but in the path of their own wisdom, — as they choose, in their own strength; and they are ready, even after they have sinned against so many calls from heaven, to heap up new transgressions on the old. Need we remind you here of Moses' words, when Israel afterwards, in their self-will, with weapons in their hands, went up the mountain, — 'It shall not prosper'?²³ Your own conscience has been already telling you that you are pressing forward on a way that leads to death; and — 'the face of the Lord is against them that work iniquity!' Even though you were as strong as Pharaoh, you are as impotent before God as he was; it is not his sceptre, but the rod of Moses only that you need. Astounding thought, — that there should be a single one on earth who, spared through undeserved forbearance on the part of God, forthwith becomes, in the midst of his sins, a monument to show how much God's justice has been provoked, and sinks into a depth where no eye can endure to look! Sinner! you have seen greater tokens of God's power and grace than did that heathen king: your end shall be more terrible! Oh, if you can still tremble at the thought, thank God your heart is not yet wholly hardened; and consider now, in this thy day, the things that belong to thy peace! Like Pharaoh at the sea, perhaps you are already by the side of the grave that is awaiting you. Perhaps your name heads this year's death-list; flee from the wrath to come, — betake yourself to Christ! Pray earnestly that, in you also, old things now may pass away, and all things become new. Soon will no choice be left to you; you will be forced to take what you have chosen here, even though it were the curse and not the blessing you preferred. But blessed will you be if you can this day break with all that one must needs forsake to enter on the way to heaven: that would be a New Year's Day such as you have never seen!

But though our face be turned towards the promised land, we can ourselves do much in rendering the path we take more difficult or easy for ourselves. The New Year's counsel which, in all earnestness, we tender you in the Lord's name, will serve to make your path more smooth. Perhaps this year may sometimes bring you days when you will feel, like Moses, in perplexity you cannot hide: 'here, all my wisdom and my power completely fail.' It may be with you, as with him, that while you keep a bold and brave appearance in the eyes of men, your whole soul goes out in one cry of pain and anguish; then learn this truth at once, that secret prayer to God gives us our real power. Your circumstances may themselves remain unchanged in answer to your prayer, just as in this case here; but there will be a calm within your heart, while all around you foams and seethes, as in a boiling sea. And in your progress, carefully avoid two rocks, — faint-heartedness on one side, and presumption on the other hand. Let 'Forward 'be the watchword for the day: be not like children, squandering in play the time that should be spent in marching on; still less be sluggards, sleeping though the sun has risen high; and least of all be like weak-hearted ones, who blindly gaze upon the sand found in the desert, but who never seek to cheer themselves by looking at the mountains of their native land! Commit your way, without reserve, to the great Guide who counts the steps of every single day; not seeking active work when He commands us to sit still, nor yet, upon the other hand, desiring a continuance of rest when He is beckoning on us to mount the hill, — such is the patience and the perseverance of the saints! Let it but be your constant aim to make advance; and if your company be not quite suited to your taste, remember that, while one is travelling, he takes to what he would in no case choose at home. Bear one another's burdens; and if you perceive a fellow-traveller stumbling, do not deem it but a loss of time to offer him a helping hand. But if you stand alone, then learn, like Moses, to cling more closely to the unseen One, just in proportion as you find less satisfaction with that which is seen; and look more longingly to heaven, the less you find on earth — whether around you or before — that promises but little good. Thank God — although it may not be without much tears — for everything that makes you hang more loosely to this earth; and pray that, whatsoever else may disappear, faith may not fail, — that patience, too, may have her perfect work. And, as a rule, do not depict to your own mind a future that is either far too pleasant or the opposite; above all, never let your peace and comfort hang on the fulfilment of a single wish, or look for something quite unusual, when life goes smoothly onwards in its wonted course, monotonous and slow. Judge of your progress less by any joy which you experience, than by the fruit you bear; and let your next great test be, whether these two things grow daily dearer to your heart, — the cross which God appoints you on this earth, the crown which He reserves for you in heaven!

And now, to close: what else should be the substance of our fervent New Year's prayer, than just that all this may be mightily increased? Indeed, on this point, our desires and prayers become simplicity itself. As for ourselves, our New Year's prayer is fully comprehended in the Psalmist's words: 'And now, Lord, what wait I for 1 my hope is in Thee: deliver me from all my transgressions.' And if this last petition be presented in all earnestness, there is no need for adding, 'Make me not the reproach of the foolish:'²⁴ the Lord in faithfulness will carefully attend to that. From you, we only ask increase of prayer on our behalf, and undiminished love, that we may terminate our course with strength and joy. But over you we now lift up our hands to bless, and may it be with Moses' faith and Aaron's spirit, — 'The Lord bless thee and keep thee: the Lord lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace! 'If one may further ask for you those benefits which time can give or take, much more does it become the minister of Christ. We do not pray that you may have experience of unmixed good, but merely that even ills, which certainly shall come in their own time, may work together for your good. And above all, we pray that this year may be one of happiness for all those who are still far off, a year of mighty increase unto those who have drawn nigh; that everything God sends or suffers may but serve to bring us truly nearer our eternal destiny; and finally, that, through the preaching of the cross, our faith may gain more light, our love more strength, our hope more stedfastness, our piety more fruit. Then shall this year become, perhaps not one of those in which we have experienced most comforts, but assuredly a very blessed time; and should swift death come on us unexpectedly in the 'Advance,' the last breath here below shall join with the first Hallelujah up in heaven. Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, — unto Him be glory in the Church, by Christ Jesus, throughout all ages, world without end!

Amen.