AMORY HOWE BRADFORD A Memorial by the First Congregational Church, Montclair, N. J. His first and only charge, Apostle of the divine Fatherhood, An inspiration and a joy. The Leautiful inscription ought to be a constant sermon reminding you of the gracious past. But you do not understand the manner of man he was, and you do not appreciate the nature of his faith, if you think that he would be content for you to rest satisfied with the past. He was more concerned about the future than about the past, and looked for new visions of truth and new opportunities of service. He was ever among those who shouted for joy over the new, rather than among those who wept over the old. We cannot live on yesterday. We have to-day. because we had a yesterday, it is true; but we have to-day for the sake of to-morrow. We look back and see a track of light, for God is there, and we look forward and see a track of light, for God is there also. The past is an argument for faith. Only faith in God and His loving purpose will enable us to keep faith in ourselves and in our future. Christ is to us both the pledge and the promise of that purpose. He leads us out into a large place of faith and of service. If we to-day refuse to weep over a vanished past, but are ready to rejoice over a new future, it is because we believe this. III THE WAY OF THE WILDERNESS And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not by the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war and they return to Egypt: but God led the people about by the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea.-EXODUS xiii. 17. A LATER Israelite reflecting on the traditional history of his race must often have wondered at the unexpectedness of some of the events, the way in which legitimate hope was constantly disappointed and what promised to be instant triumph turned out to be a long-drawn struggle. For example, at the very dawn of the national life, if, as he firmly believed, God had led his forefathers out of Egypt with a strong hand, to give them secure possession of the land promised to Abraham, why the weary disheartening years in the desert? Why not have brought them in the full flood of enthusiasm to strike the great blow? Why the blighting of so much hope, and the frustration of so much eager faith? The same sort of question could also be asked of all the great periods of Israel's history. It seems to have always been the long way round that was chosen for them. And this is only typical of all history sacred and secular, an illustration of what has happened in every chapter of the story of the Church, and which also finds its counterpart in individual experience. It is thus a fact which the spiritual mind must interpret in terms of faith, must accept as part of God's providence in human life. The situation suggested in our text is a very dramatic one. The children of Israel have come out of Egypt, first of all tempted out by the promise of the land promised to their fathers, and then carried out with signal triumph. If at any time they might have courage and faith and high hope, it was surely then when difficulties faded before them, when they felt themselves called and protected and guided by God. Feeling must have run deep and strong, and confidence must have burnt in every heart and lighted every eye. They would only ask to be taken straight by the shortest way to the destined goal. They would fear no dangers and no difficulties. It was the fit and proper thing also to complete the work so gloriously begun. The triumph of the deliverance from Egypt was partial and meaningless by itself. Its natural conclusion was the further triumph of the conquest. The children of Israel went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt, but it turned out to be harnessed not for war but for wandering. They carried the bones of Joseph to be buried in the Promised Land, but the bones might well have turned to dust before an opportunity occurred to bury them in Palestine. As the crow flies it was no long journey to the confines of the Promised Land. A short and rapid march, a brief and fierce struggle, and they might accomplish the conquest. That would be the thought in the mind of all in the flush of the early enthusiasm. It was certainly not to die in the wilderness that any of them had left Egypt. From the Delta of the Nile a few days' march through the sands will bring an army of invaders right into the heart of Palestine. This short and direct course would naturally be the one chosen by an ordinary military expert. There must always have been trade routes, almost as well marked as a modern road, between Egypt and Gaza. In all invasions from the south, Gaza was invariably the first point struck on the way to Syria, just as in any invasion of Egypt from the north, Gaza was the key of the position. With his usual military instinct Napoleon after his conquest of Egypt made straight for it as the natural approach to Asia Minor; and similarly |