[PE245]
LESSONS FROM THE LIFE OF MOSES, SERVANT OF GOD

I felt very thankful it was going to be my privilege to meet the convention party at one or two points, and I was congratulating myself today that I would not have to be a speaker, and could be like all the rest of you and listen to what others had to say, but it seems as though they arranged for me to take a little part in the program also.

You will find our text this morning in the book of Exodus second chapter, and the first ten verses. Let me just remind you of the circumstances which gave rise to the incidents recorded in these words. We all remember that the people of Israel had been slaves in the land of Egypt, and we remember that notwithstanding their bondage God had blessed them and his blessing had been manifested to some extent in the wonderful way in which he had multiplied that people till their numbers had increased to the place where Pharaoh and his counselors began to realize there was danger. Pharaoh began.to reason to himself in this manner: "In case war breaks out between the Egyptians and some distant nation, these Israelites, tired of their bondage and arduous servitude, may join the enemy, and thus the enemies forces be augmented by the greater number of Israelites, and the overthrow of Egypt could be readily accomplished." So we remember that Pharaoh determined to diminish the number of Israelites. With that object in view he issued an edict that every male child should be put to death as soon as it was born, and he no doubt intended to keep that up permanently until the number of Israelites were brought to the place where there would be no serious source of danger to the people of Egypt. And it was at that time and under those circumstances when that edict was enforced that Moses was born. Now we come to our text.

"1. And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi. [PE246]

"2. And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months.

"3. And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch and put the child therein, and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink.

"4. And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to him.

"5. And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river; and her maidens walked along by the river's side; and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it.

"6. And when she had opened it, she saw the child: and behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him and said, "This is one of the Hebrews' children."

"7. Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and call thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee?

"9. And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. And the woman took the child and nursed it.

"10. And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of water."

One of the marvelous things which the truth has done for us is giving such an inexhaustible depth to everything we find in the Bible. Once upon a time the Bible was to us a shallow book, but it is now the very reverse of that. The passage we have quoted furnishes an illustration of this. We might have taken this topic as the basis for a lesson in faith; or on the other hand we might take it as a text for a sermon upon divine providence; or we might have viewed it from the standpoint of its typical significance; or we might notice how in this passage Moses was a type; or we might take it from still another view-point and learn from it how man's extremity proves to be God's opportunity; or we might view it from still another standpoint and take it as a practical lesson, showing just as the mother of Moses did her part, just as she stationed her daughter there to look after the child and make that suggestion to Pharaoh's daughter, etc., and the Lord blessed the result, so even you and I must do our part, and then the Lord will bless the result. Or, we might take it from a different standpoint and notice what a wonderful result God brings from such a small beginning. We might note how from this little child God raised up the great law-giver, and leader, and deliverer of the people of Israel. We might take it from a great many different standpoints, but we are not going to view it from any of these standpoints at all. We are going to take it as a lesson in Christian consecration. We are going to notice how in this little incident our consecration [PE247] to the Lord is illustrated, and our relationship to the Lord incidental to that entire surrender of ourselves to his will.

We notice first that when this child was born, a curse of death was over him. You remember how the edict of Pharaoh had gone forth that every male child should be put to death, and it was only a question of time until this mother was going to lose her child. And, dear friends, we realize that we were all in a similar position. We recognized that the curse of death hung over everything that we had, and it was only a question of time until we were going to lose it all. It was only a question of time until we were going to lose our health; it was merely a question of time until we would lose our sight, our hearing, our reason, or our loved ones, or our home, or our desirable possessions. We knew that when we died we would lose it all; we did not know how much sooner we might lose some of those things; but we remember that the mother of Moses determined that even though she was going to lose her child, she was going to hold on to it as long as she could; she was not going to surrender that child any sooner than absolutely necessary. And we determined the same thing. We determined that though we were going to lose our life, we would not do it any sooner than we had to. We were going to hold on to our life as long as we could. We would hold on to our health, and our sight, and our hearing, as long as we could. We would not give up our loved ones any sooner than we had to. We were going to hold on to that money just as long as possible. And we determined, like the mother of Moses, that we would hold on to those things that we reckoned precious as long as we could. But this thought, that sooner or later she was going to lose her child, must have been productive of a good deal of mental agony, a great deal of heartfelt sorrow. Just think what it meant to her as day after day the thought pressed on her heart, possibly this will be the last day I will have the little one, possibly this day the child will be discovered and will be put to death. I could imagine on hot days she kept her doors and windows partly closed, almost suffocating herself, for fear that if those doors were left open someone might hear the child cry, and the child being discovered, his life might be taken. I can imagine she must have been almost frantic sometimes when she heard a step outside for fear it was a soldier coming to search the house and finding the child cast his sword through it. Think what that mother must have suffered. Think what she must have gone through as day after day she thought, Possibly this will be the last day I will have my child! And that was our position. We knew it was only a question of time until we were going to lose those things we valued, and what sorrow it produced in our hearts! What peace it robbed us of! How bad we felt as we thought, Perhaps [PE248] this sickness of my child is going to result fatally! How depressed as we thought, Possibly today I may lose my life, or may lose my health, or my strength! How badly we felt as we thought of the possibility of losing our money, or having our home burned down! How we were depressed! What mental anguish this produced in our minds.

But, dear friends, we remember that the mother of Moses, after determining to hold on to her child as long as she could, in due time changed her mind, and determined to surrender her child. She determined to give it up. She made him an ark of bulrushes, and laid the child in the flags by the river. She might have held on to him a little longer; she succeeded in hiding him three months, and she might succeed in hiding him three months more. She might have kept him one month, or one week more, or at least a few days more, but she did not wait until the child was actually taken away from her; she willingly gave that child up, laid him in the ark of bulrushes among the flags. And that is what we did before our life was actually taken from us, before we actually lost our lives, before we really were deprived of all our money, before we lost our sight, or our hearing, or our reason; before these things were actually taken away from us, we gave them all up. We laid them in the ark in the midst of the flags; we laid them upon the altar of sacrifice. Like the mother of Moses might have held on to her child a while longer, we might have held on to these things a while longer. We might have held on to our life a while longer. We might have held on to our money, our strength, our sight, and our hearing, a while longer. But just as that mother did not wait until the child was actually removed, she sacrificed and surrendered the child, so we did not wait until all we had was actually removed. We laid it on the altar. We surrendered it. We offered it in consecration to our God. But you will notice that when that mother gave her child up, she did not know what the consequences were really going to be. She, to a large extent, took a leap in the dark. She did not know whether she would ever get that child back. She did not know just what the consequences were going to be, but she was willing to run the risk, whatever that was.

And so, dear friends, when you and I consecrated our all to our Lord's service, when we laid our "Moses" in the ark of bulrushes, we did not know exactly what it was going to mean. We took a leap in the dark, as it were. I know when I consecrated my life to the Lord I did not understand all that it implied; I simply knew it meant a surrender of everything to the Father's will; but just what was included in everything, I did not altogether know in detail; and just how that would affect my future life, and just how it would influence my worldly prospects, and just how it would imperil my earthly friendship and ambitions, etc., [PE249] I did not know; it was really a leap in the dark.

I think, dear friends, joining the Church of Christ, consecrating our lives to the Lord's service, is very much like becoming a member of one of those secret organizations. Some friend comes to another man and says to him, "Why don't you join the Masons, or Odd Fellows? I am willing to propose your name. Don't you think you would like to become a member of the organization?" He says, "Yes, I am willing to join; you can propose me." Well now, dear friends, he does not know what it is going to mean to join that organization. The man that joins the Masons does not know what kind of obligations he will have to take on himself. He does not know how it is going to change his life. He does not know just what they do inside of that room where the door is always kept closed to all except the initiated. He does not know just what it means, but he knows this, that it must be all right, he has confidence in this friend of his that belongs to that organization, and is willing to take this step in the dark. He is willing to be bound by all the requirements of that organization before he really knows what they are. Now that is what it means when you and I consecrate our lives to the Lord's service. We don't know what the Lord will expect of us, exactly. We know some things it may mean. We know to some extent what it may require, but the details of it we know little about. But here is the thought: we have such confidence in our heavenly Father that we know it is all right. We know that he would not suggest anything that was not right, and therefore, we are willing to take the step, trusting to him that it is going to be all right after we have become a member of his secret organization, after we become a member of the church of Christ.

We see that just as the mother of Moses did not exactly know what it meant when she gave the child up, she had certain ideas in her mind, but just to what extent these things would materialize the way she had anticipated them, she did not know. She was willing to run the risk. And so with us. When we have consecrated our life to the Lord's service, we don't know just exactly all the details of what it will mean, but we were willing to run the risk, we were willing to take the step. We knew it was all right because God suggested it.

But notice when the mother of Moses gave the child up, she got him right back again. He was restored to her right away. You could have gone into her home after the day that she laid the child in the ark of bulrushes, and you would have seen the child there. It was still there. She still had the child even though she had given him up. And so, dear friends, with us. You and I when we consecrated ourselves to the Lord gave it all to him, but we have it yet. We gave him our hands and feet, [PE250] but we have them yet. We gave him our sight and hearing, but we have them yet; we gave the Lord our mind, but we have it yet; we gave the Lord our tongues and lips, but we have them yet; we gave the Lord our money, but we have some of it yet; we gave the Lord our loved ones, but we have them yet; we gave the Lord all that we had, but we still have it.

But notice, when the mother of Moses got her child back, he was not her own any longer; he was royal property; he was a royal possession. So when you and I after consecration receive back all that we surrendered, as it were, it was not ours any longer, it was royal property, it was a royal possession-not the property of Pharaoh or his daughter, but the property of the great King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Just like the mother of Moses, from that day onward she could look at that child and say, "This child was mine once, but he is not mine now; this child now belongs to Pharaoh's daughter; he belongs to the royal family, and I am merely a stewardess, I am merely intrusted with him"-so with us: we look at all we had and we say, like the mother of Moses said, "Well there was a time that these hands used to be mine, but now they belong to the King; there was a time when this money was mine, but now it belongs to the King; there was a time when these feet were mine, but now then they belong to the King; there was a time when my mind, my sight, my hearing, my tongue, were mine, but now all of these things belong to him. We have given them all to him, and we are merely a steward entrusted with those things."

When we recognize that not only did the mother of Moses have to keep the thought before her mind that she was merely a stewardess, that child was just entrusted to her, that it was royal property, but in addition, from that time onward, she could no longer have her own way with the child, but every day she had to get her orders from the palace. Once upon a time she used to say just how that child should be clothed, and she used to say how that child should be fed, and she would decide just what should be done in case the child were sick, but now it was different. Now she had no longer any right to say what should be done for that child, but she got her orders from the palace. The orders from the palace told her how to clothe the child, how that child should be cared for, and it was her duty to obey the royal orders.

So it is with us; having consecrated our all to the Lord's service, having laid all on the altar of sacrifice, we now get our orders from the palace. Day after day we get our orders from the great King. He gives us orders, telling us how to live. He sends us orders telling us what our hands should do and where our feet should go. He sends us orders telling us what these tongues and these lips shall say, and gives orders [PE251] what this mind shall think. He gives orders what this money should be spent for, and gives us orders how our time should be used. Just like the mother of Moses day after day had to obey those orders that came from the palace, so likewise, day after day you and I have to obey the orders that come from our Lord, from the palace of the great King.

How do we get these orders? Through his Word. You remember how it says, "Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel." It is God's Word of truth that provides the orders from the palace, and you will find instructions from the palace of the great King even as to what you shall think. Like it says in the fourth chapter of Philippians, "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things." We even get royal orders as to how we shall think. We even get royal orders as to what we shall eat and drink-"Whether ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do it all to the glory of God."

But then there is another point. Not only did the mother of Moses now get her orders as to what should be done with that child, but additionally those orders contained in them a degree of wisdom far beyond any wisdom she had herself. Under any ordinary circumstances if that child had taken sick the mother would just have had to guess at what would have been best for that child. In those days poor people like those slaves in Egypt could not afford physicians like the poor class of people can today. And the consequence was, that when sickness occurred, they had to decide in their own mind as to what should be done to relieve that sickness, what would be best, or at the very best exchange ideas with the neighbors. But it was different now. Now, when that child was sick, the orders came from the palace what should be done, and those orders were dictated at the suggestion of some of the ablest physicians in the land of Egypt. Oh, how much more wisdom there was in the orders coming from the palace than the mother had in her own mind.

And so with us: We recognize that having consecrated our lives to the Lord's service, we get our orders from the great King; we get our orders from the palace; and how much more wisdom there is in the orders that come from the palace of the heavenly King than you and I ever could have possessed ourselves. You know it seems so wonderful that God, who made this Universe is the God that is directing your course and my course! It seems so marvelous, doesn't it! In the first place, we have lost our confidence in self, and then what confidence we have in him! I remember thinking some time ago like this: Now here I have only lived just a few years-just a very few years-but on the other hand he has lived for all the ages of eternity; he has lived [PE252] for countless, endless ages in the past, this great divine Father in heaven. And then in the few years I have lived I have never done anything big. The biggest thing I have ever done has been quite insignificant and small, but on the other hand, in all the countless ages he has done wonderful things; he has done marvelous things; he has built suns and moons and stars, and created mountains, etc. Then I thought further in the few years that I have lived I have never done anything great; all that I ever did has been quite small, and yet I have never done one thing right. I cannot recall one single thing I ever did that was satisfactory-not one. I realize this even in some of the simplest things. I was thinking on this line some time ago and the thought came, "Why, you cannot even sharpen a lead pencil right." I do my very best to sharpen a lead pencil, and look at it, and what a clumsy point it has! Then suppose I put it under a microscope, and it will look like the end of a broomstick. Then I thought of the way God knows how to sharpen anything. Look at the thorns; they are pointed; and put them under the microscope and they are pointed still. No human being could ever sharpen a needle like that Lord sharpens the thorns. Put one of the finest needles that man can make under the microscope and you will find that it is just a very blunt point, but on the other hand take the various species of thorns which the Lord has created, and they are pointed, no matter how much you magnify them.

Now what does it mean? It means this: That I have no confidence in myself; I am afraid of myself; I am afraid to direct my own course; I am certain I would make mistakes. Therefore, I think if I could only find some being who was qualified to tell me what to do, even though he should tell me the thing that was exactly contrary to my best judgment, I would do what he said, because I cannot trust my judgment. And that is what our heavenly Father is doing. There in his Word he has given us the instructions. Like the mother of Moses getting orders from the palace of Pharaoh, we are getting our orders from the palace of Jehovah. Therefore, if I find in God's Word advice that even seems contrary to my best judgment, if I find suggestions there that seem to be inconsistent with what I would deem best, I am going to follow those suggestions, I am going to adhere to that advice, because I have more confidence in it than I have in anything I could think of myself.

But then we think of another lesson here: The mother of Moses not only got her orders from the palace, but with the orders always came the means to carry the orders out. I imagine sometimes she received orders to clothe that child in silk; she could never have afforded material like that, but when the orders came, there came the material to clothe the child with-or at least the money to purchase that material. [PE253] The same thing is true with us: The Lord never gives us any orders but he also makes it possible for us to carry those orders out; as the poet said:

"The Lord will give us naught to do,
But he will give us the strength to do it, too."

If the Lord ever seems to suggest that you should do a certain thing, and you find that thing is an impossible thing, you find that the means for the accomplishment of it are entirely beyond your reach, you can be sure you have misunderstood the Lord's will. The Lord never gave unreasonable instructions to one of his children.

But then there is another lesson also. The mother of Moses not only got her child back, and not only did she find he did not belong to her any longer, but he belonged to the daughter of Pharaoh, and not only did she find that now day by day she got her orders from the palace as to what should be done for that child but she realized in addition now that child was under royal protection. We noted how that mother, before putting that child in the ark of bulrushes, must have been sometimes almost frantic as she thought, Possibly this will be the last day I will have my child; the child may be taken from me today. Think what she must have suffered and gone through! But how different it was now, because the protection of Pharaoh was around that child. I imagine now she threw doors and windows open and did not care how much the child cried. I would not be at all surprised that now when the child began to cry, she would carry him out right by the door and put him there where everybody could hear him cry, and if a soldier stepped in the door she would say, "Don't you put your hands on him, he is the adopted son of Pharaoh's daughter!" What a change it made! The child was under royal protection!

So with us; after having consecrated our life to royal service, the "Moses" we put in the ark of bulrushes, all we surrendered to the Lord, is now under royal protection. What kind of royal protection? Divine protection. We get the thought that our health is under divine protection, and our life is under divine protection, and our sight and our hearing is under divine protection, and our reason is under divine protection, and our loved ones are under divine protection, and our money and our home is under divine protection. There is divine protection now around all the consecrated children of God that was not there before. Why, you say, is that really so? It is really true. Do not the Scriptures say that we are to cast all our care upon him, for he cares for us? I always liked the Greek a little better; it reads: "Having cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you." The thought is, if you have consecrated all to the Lord, it is all the Lord's, and the Lord is not going [PE254] to ignore one thing that you have committed to him-not one thing. There is a difference between the Lord and you, and there is a difference between the Lord and me. The Lord has given me a great many truths and I have ignored some of them, I am afraid. He has given me opportunities and I have neglected some of those opportunities. But, on the other hand, no matter what it is you have committed to the Lord, he will not ignore or neglect it, as you and I sometimes ignore and neglect what he has committed to us. If you have committed all you have to him, he is going to take note of it and he is going to consider those things, and his royal protection will be over those things.

Now I do not think that we could get the idea from this that if we are consecrated children of God that we will never lose our money, or that we will never lose our health, or that our loved ones will never die. That is not the thought. Here is the idea: If you are a consecrated child of God your loved ones will die, as truly as other people's loved ones will die, and you will lose your money just as much as other people lose their money, but the difference is this; that with the people of the world, these matters are just matters of accident; it is just a matter of accident as to whether that man's child dies, if he is not a consecrated man. On the other hand, if you are a consecrated child of God, it will be no accident if your child dies-not that God has called your child to die, but the thought is this: that the King would not allow your child to die unless he saw it was best. He might see that it would really be for the best interests of you and your family, etc., to allow you to have some of these trying experiences, but they will not be accidents, they will be providential. The Lord might allow you to lose your money, but he would not allow it unless he saw it was an experience that was best for you. The Lord may allow your house to burn down, but he wouldn't allow it unless he saw it was for the best. It is just as Solomon says: "The blessing of the Lord it maketh rich, and addeth no sorrow therewith." That does not mean you will not have any sorrows, but it means the Lord would not add any sorrow that would not contribute to making you rich.

We see, therefore, from the outward standpoint that the child of God does not seem to have any advantage much over the man of the world. A child of God seems to be having just as much adversity and his life seems to run on accident lines just as much as that of a man of the world, but with the eye of faith it is different. God is behind the life of that consecrated one. I think indeed, dear friends, that it is as along natural lines; there might be a house over there where a babe is sick and the doctor is all the time going to that home, and there is a house over here where somebody is sick also, and the doctor never goes there. [PE255] Why is it the doctor goes to this home and not to that one? The reason is simply this. These people have put themselves in the doctor's care and that family has not. Now that is just the way with the people of the earth. There is one class that has put themselves in the Lord's care, and there is another class that has not. The Lord does not guarantee that those who put themselves under his care will be free from trials, or that their life will be smooth, and he does not guarantee to them how long their loved ones may live, or what kind of afflictions they may have-he simply guarantees to every one that all the affairs of their lives, so that all things will work together for good to them that love God, to them that are called according to his purpose.

But then there is another lesson we get from the mother of Moses. Think how happy she must have been, and how lighthearted she was! Think how she must have gone around the house smiling and singing now! What a change had taken place! And so with us: Having laid our "Moses in the ark of bulrushes" on the alter, having laid our all on the altar of sacrifice, what a change it has made to us! What joy it has brought into our hearts! We have learned something now of peace that the world can neither give nor take away-the peace that passeth all human understanding; the peace of which the prophet says, "They shall dwell in perfect peace whose minds are stayed on thee."

But still there is another lesson. Notice the daughter of Pharaoh said to this mother, "Take this child away and nurse it for me, and I will pay thee thy wages." It seems to me that must have been the only mother that ever got wages for nursing her own child. I have no doubt she would have been willing to do it without wages, but now she was going to be paid wages for doing it; she was going to get wages for having her child under royal protection. Why, if she had been possessed of a million dollars and had gone to Pharaoh and said, "See here, I will pay you a million dollars if you will only put your protection around my little child and relieve him from that edict that rests upon the male children in Israel," I suppose Pharaoh would have spurned her offer. What would he have cared for an offer of that kind? And yet, dear friends, here we find instead of the mother of Moses having to pay to have royal protection around her child, she was paid wages in order to allow Pharaoh to protect her child; and she was paid wages in order to allow her child to be clothed with better material than he used to be clothed with; and she was paid wages in order to allow the most expert physicians in the land to minister to him if he was sick; and she was paid wages in order to have that burden lifted off her heart in order that she might be happy. I don't think anybody ever was paid wages for such a thing as that mother was paid wages for. [PE256]

And that is just the way with us: having consecrated our all in the Lord's service, having laid our all on the altar of sacrifice, the Lord pays us wages. For what? Why he pays us wages for having better hopes than anybody else. He pays us wages for entertaining the joy and the peace that the world can neither give nor take away. He pays us wages for listening to things that bring greater happiness to our hearts than anything else could bring. What marvelous wages these are! What are these wages? The wages do not refer to the blessings that are beyond the vail; the wages have reference to what you and I are getting today. You remember how the Scripture says, "He that reapeth receiveth wages and gathereth fruit unto life eternal." The wages are something we receive here and now.

You remember when God gave his law to the people of Israel, one peculiar law he made was this: That the people of Israel, if they ever employed a man to work for them, should not hold his wages back until the next morning, but they must pay him every day before the sun went down; they could not pay their employees once a week as we do today; they had to pay their wages every day before the day was closed. Why was the Lord so particular about that? Because he desired in that respect as in other respects, that the people of Israel should occupy a typical position, and he wants us to know that he does not make us wait until the resurrection morning for our wages, but he pays us our wages here and now before the sun of life goes down. What are the wages? The wages are the full equivalent for the services rendered. Does the Lord pay us the full equivalent for services we render him today? Indeed he does. How does he pay us those wages? Why the wonderful truths he is showing us are part of the wages. As the Apostle Paul wrote there in the third chapter of the Philippians, he counted all things but loss and dross for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, his Lord. The thought was that just the excellent knowledge alone was full wages, a full equivalent, for all it cost the Apostle Paul in service to the master.

And, dear friends, I am sure we will all have to say the same thing. I will tell you the Lord has been paying me wages now for about eighteen years. I have never wanted to work for anybody else after the experience I have had. Sometimes it seems as though the Lord gives me some little service for him, and I barely start doing it and he comes around and pays me my wages. I have hardly started to work but the Lord shows the largeness of his heart by paying the wages then and there. And sometimes it seems as though about fifteen minutes afterwards the Lord forgets he paid me wages once, and he pays them over again. And sometimes in a few minutes he pays me over a third time. And I cannot tell [PE257] you how many times the Lord pays those wages over and over again. It shows how the Lord keeps his word. We have found that the Lord keeps his promises to us marvelously. You know he never does less than he promises, and not only that but I have found he never does merely what he promises, but he always does more than he promises.

I was remarking that to a brother quite a while ago. We got to talking about the Lord's promises when we were at dinner table, and I said, "Now, brother we have an illustration how the Lord keeps his promises; I will remind you of one promise the Lord made. He said on one occasion, you remember, 'bread shall be given to you and your water shall be sure.' Now is the Lord keeping that promise? Yes, he is. There is the plate of bread, there is the water in the pitcher, so the Lord has given you bread and water, like he said. And now, look here, there is some butter to put on the bread; he did not say anything about bread and butter, did he? He threw the butter in extra. And here is some jelly you can put on top of the butter. He did not say bread and butter and jelly, he just said bread, but he threw the butter and the jelly in. There is some roast beef, he threw that in extra, and I see some potatoes, he threw them in extra; and some beans, he threw them in extra; and you have some peas, he threw them in extra. And I see a plate with some beets in, so he threw that in extra. And there is some cake, that is extra. And you have coffee, and he did not promise that, but he threw it in extra. Look how he has kept that promise! He said 'bread and water,' but he meant bread and water, and butter, and jelly, and roast beef, and potatoes, and beans, and beets and cake, and coffee. That is the way God keeps his promises. Don't you think we ought to have a great deal of faith when we have a God like that to deal with? It seems to me our faith ought to be almost unshakable. We can have faith that nothing will move when we realize what a covenant-keeping God we have to depend upon."

I am sure, dear friends, that we have illustrations of this every day. I had an illustration of it this morning. I went out to the special train and went through the cars and when I got through I was talking to one brother and told him of the things that impressed me more than anything else. I said, Brother, I find you are here and there are at least thirty or forty people on this train whom I supposed would have had a hard time to raise $25.00, and I do not see where they got the money to take this trip, and yet somehow they got it. I suppose everyone has some wonderful story about how the Lord made it possible. But it just shows us what God's grace can do, and how we ought to be ashamed of ourselves that we do not have more faith after such experiences as this. It seems to me we ought to have that spirit that would falter at no [PE258] obstacle, that would not hesitate or tremble at any difficulty or any trial that might be before us, when we realize that more is he that is for us than all they that can be against us.

Now, dear friends, I am glad that the Lord is paying us our wages. I know that many of you have started on this convention tour and I am sure that is has been a real pleasure. But the Lord will pay you wages for coming. I know the Lord pays me wages for going out in the pilgrim service. Indeed if I had ten million dollars I can give you my word of honor that I would be glad to pay that ten million dollars for the privilege I have had the last ten years in the pilgrim service. And instead of paying ten million dollars for the privilege, the Lord is paying me for engaging in the work.

Now I think we can rejoice in these wages the Lord is paying us day by day. But then that is not all. We are glad for the wages we have today, but think what remains for you! Think of the glory, and the honor, and the immortality which the Lord has for us beyond the vail! It seems that when we think of the present blessings, even though they are mixed with more or less of trials, when we think of the future blessings which are not mixed with trial, then it seems that all the things of this world pale into insignificance. We ought to recognize, like the preacher, when he said, "Vanity, vanity, all is vanity," in comparison with that for which we hope. May the result be to energize and quicken up to a faithfulness that will surmount every obstacle in our pathway and enable us to at last come off conquerors, and more than conquerors through him who loved us.

But remember in the land of Egypt there were a great many Israelitish mothers who did not put their children in an ark of bulrushes. There was only one mother that did that; the other mothers were still going around with heavy hearts. They were still trembling at the thought of losing their loved ones. There was only one mother that really made that surrender and got that blessing. And so in the world are many classes, and these classes are still heavy of heart, still going around with sorrowful spirits because they know not what some of us know, but there is one class that is making use of the privilege of putting their "Moses" in the ark of bulrushes. How thankful we are for all the blessings that are brought to us! And we realize there are more blessings beyond as we journey the balance of the distance in the narrow way. And then the best things of all in the time to come!