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THE TABERNACLE PULPIT
Marah and Elim.
“And they came to Elim where there were twelve
springs of water and three score and ten palm
trees.’’ Ex. 15:27.
N their march toward Canaan, the chil
dren of Israel had come to Marah
where the sun •was hot, and the ground
was parched, and the only water was
bitter with poisonous herbs so that they
could not drink it. It w r as a sore dis
appointement. They had already en
countered as many hardships as their
I
weak faith could overcome. At the
Red 'Sea, many of them halted. It was
strange, as they viewed it, that they should have
been led out of the bondage of Egypt into such
suffering as they were experiencing. But of all the
disappointments, Marah was the greatest. When
once they were over the Red Sea, and Miriam had
sung her song of deliverance, they thought the hard
places had all been put behind them, and now they
had one straight triumphant march to the land of
promise. The thought of having to camp by the wa
ters of Marah never entered their mind.
HIDDEN DIFFICULTIES.
It was very well that they did not know of their
future troubles. They would doubtless have stayed
and starved in Egypt had they known what was
ahead in the way of hardness. The best of people
are better off so long as the major part of the fu
ture is veiled. Charles Kingsley, one of the saint
liest saints that ever lived, looking back on his life,
said: “I have praised God more for the things
which he has kept from me than for the hings
he has revealed to me.” Certainly, my experience
has been like this through which Mr. Kingsley has
passed. Had God revealed to me in the days gone by
just the kind of hardships and disappointments
through which I had ultimately to pass, I feel very
sure I would not be here today.
I know many people desire to; know ahead that
that they may prepare for the worst, but I am
frank to say that the best preparation I have ever
found for overcoming hard and rough places in
life is a glad and resolute heart—glad for the good
life has brought, and resolute to master the difieul
ties incident to the journey. It is not best to know
too far ahead. Seize the opportunity of victory that
lies close about the place of struggle, and it will
be a great deal easier to triumph than by peering
into the distance to find perhaps what will never
be experienced.
ELIM AT HAND.
God knew the needs of his people. He knew they
could not always live in Marah, and he was not
forgetful of their needs. The experience of bitter
waters was necessary for their training, but they
were not intended to be perpetual, he arranged that
they might come to Elim with its ten springs and its
three score and ten palm trees. I believe they got
there just in time. Many strong and brave charac
ters can turn their bitter experiences into victory.
When they start out in pursuit of any line, they
burn the bridges behind them. If they come to
bitter problems, they deal with them. They never
give up. The more bitter the experience, the srong
er the courage. They hold on to their purpose with
the grip of death itself. They never know what it
is to take a backward step. The only change they
admit into their program is a change for the better.
The Apostle Paul was a man of this stripe. Once
he set his face toward Jerusalem, but his friends
urged him not to go. They said: “If you go, you
will be imprisoned,” but he was not mindful of
their discouraging notes. His face had been set to
ward Jerusalem, and nothing could stop him but
death itself.
Take Martin Luther. He was a man of this daunt
less courage. When he was told not to go to the
Diet at Worms, he said: “I will go to Worms
though there were as many devils there as there are
tiles on the house tops.”
Dr. Broughton’s First Sermon After His Return From London.
The Golden Age for October 25, 1906.
Another character of this kind was John Knox.l
The Archbishop of St. Andrews threatened him if 1
he preached at the Parish Church, but John Knox 1
said: “Go tell the Archbishop that I am not solicit
ous about my life, but I will preach there tomor
row.” That is what I call courage. It is the spirit
of dare animated by hope that brings success. f
THE PICTURE OF HOPE.
At this time in England, there is one picture that
seems to be more popular than all the rest. The
original is found in the Tate gallery, while copies
are found everywhere. It is called Hope. At first
sight, it produces a feeling of despair. Indeed it is
said that the painter when starting his picture in
tended it to be despair, but his conception changed
as he continued his work. What was originally
the thought of Despair became the thought of
Hope. In the picture, a blind girl is holding a harp
with every string broken but one, and she is en
deavoring to play with that one string. Intently,
she leans her ear forward endeavoring to catch the
sounds that it makes, while on her face there plays
a slight smile. I declare the picture is so real, it
talks. You can see hope shining out in the counten
ance of that girl as she fingers away upon what
to others would be a hopeless task. How charmed
I have found myself as I have stood before that
picture, and, at the same time, how ashamed I have
felt. She, poor thing, is transmuting despair into
hope, and so often I have allowed myself to trans
mute hope into despair; and yet, may I say it?—not
so often has this been my experience. God has
graciously saved me from that kind of pining. The
spirit of optimism He has so bestowed upon me as
to cause me to forget ofttimes the difficulties that
lie in the way.
There are a great many people who cheer us with
their optimism. To me, they are always a ray of
hope. I love to associate with them; I love to feel
the spirit that pulsates in their breast pulsate in
mine. Take the scene of old Bedford jail where
John Bunyan mastered the mystery of his impris
onment. Walk over the ground stained with the
blood of the martyrs, and see how cheerfully and
triumphantly they spilt their blood in the cause of
right. I never w r alk over such fields that I do
not feel my own heart beat faster, and my soul grow
bigger.
THE TIMID AND WEAK.
But while it is true that some men are never so
happy as when mastering difficulties, there are oth
ers, and I may say the great majority of mankind
who find it very hard to come up to the rough places
of life. They are timid and shrinking, not necessa
rily cowardly, though many of them are. The Isra
elites were of character. I cannot believe that
they were cowardly. They had not been gifted with
the same spirit of dare that Moses and Caleb and
Joshua had, but many of them were just as true.
They would have gone just as far had they been able
to see as far ahead. They were men and women for
the most part easily discouraged and frightened.
They had not been out of Egypt long before they
were pining for the old flesh pots, and but for Mo
ses and Caleb and Joshua, the glorious triumph and
entry into the promised land would not have char
acterized the history of this people. Thank God for
a few men who are gifted in this way. They are
God’s true leaders. There are not many of them,
and their calling is not easy. It is not aneasy thing
to seize fast hold of a problem that is regarded
by everybody as too intricate to be solved, and
hold on with a dogged grip until it is solved. I say
it is not an easy thing. My heart goes out to any
man who has to do it, but if he be a true servant
of God, he dare not fail to do it, though he is left
alone. Others will come to his rescue after awhile.
No man ever persisted in a right enterprise, whose
heart was right, and in whose life God was mani
festing himself, but that victory came. Oh, pity the
man who drops out because of hardness!
It is related of John Mark that he accompanied
Paul and Barnabas so long as they enjoyed the favor
||of the governor, Sergius Paulus, but when they
Icame face to face with opposition, when it became
adangerous longer to stand with them, poor John
f Mark’s courage failed him, and he departed from
them. What a sad spectacle it is to see one turning
from a life of opportunity because it is beset with
difficulties!
PRESENT DAY ELIMS.
Oh, my friends, let me come to you with a
note of encouragement! If anything has come to pass
that is calculated to dampen your ardor, do not
yield to it. The more you yield, the weaker you
become, and the less possibility there is for ultimate
success. Master the thing, whatever it may be.
Master it today. Master it first by mastering your
self, for there are enough Elims in every one’s
life that lie close by the bitter waters of Marah to
give cheer on the journey, and many of these Elims,
with their springs of sweet water and their palm
shades, lie close by the bitter waters of Marah—
yes, very much closer than many of us imagine.
They may be veiled, but the veil is very thin. With
one step, many of us today who are pining around
the wells of Marah with the scorching sun and the
parched earth to make more miserable the exist
ence, could be resting under the shade of the palm
trees of Elim, and drinking of the sparkling water.
What I want to do now is to bring a message of
encouragement to every one of you, just such a mes
sage as God has given me. I want to tell you, poor,
tired, hungry soul, that God has an Elim close to the
bitter waters of Marah, and I want you to stretch
forth your hand, and see if you cannot touch it.
I -want that this message shall be a message of com
fort, for a discouraged, drooping spirit is not pre
pared for battle, and ive want to do battle in the
days that are ahead.
I was traveling the other day with a gentleman
who has for a number of years been a resident in
one of the most historic regions of the world, the
Persian Gulf. He said: “The one thing that struck
me most concerning the Persian Gulf is the way
they get their water. You know the Persian Gulf
is of very, very salt water, so much so that it is
impossible to drink it. The way they get their wa
ter is by diving down deep through the salt w T ater
to where there are springs of pure, clear water.
They take their pig skins, and go down to these
springs, and fetch up the water. I thought, as I
talked to him, about this text. I thought to myself
it is just this way with many of us. God somehow
has caused many of us to live in the regions of salt
water, and the only chance for us is to dive deep
for what we get. Some of us have to go very deep,
but thank God the heavier the water, and the
deeper the dive, the more the springs are appreciat
ed when we get to them. So, if God has in any way
dealt hardly with any of us, my message today is,
make haste to Elim. It has sufficient water to ena
ble us to make the journey.
Now, what are some of the springs of Elim that
ought to comfort and encourage us ? I will mention
just a few.
HOME, SWEET HOME.
First, the Elim of home. We do not appreciate it
as we ought. The best of us do not appreciate
it. We will never know how much we should appre
ciate it until we are placed so we cannot get the
comfort of it. Very truly can it be said: “Be it
ever so humble, there’s no place like home.”
As our boat pulled into New York harbor the oth
er day, a great crowd of passengers got on the land
side of the ship, looking eagerly at the crowd of
friends gathered to say “Howdy.” In that crowd,
some one said: “Oh, for a band to play Home,
Sweet Home!” I heard a little Irish girl, who
somehow, had been practically alone all the way
over, in spite of the great crowd on the ship, say:
“Oh, don’t, don’t play Home, Sweet Home, for
I have no home!” Then the great tears rolled
down her cheeks, and I felt like savin?,
and I didn’t take it all out in feeling
either: “You can have a home.” Oh, the force of