Great Thoughts Exodus 5:22-23 And Moses returned to the LORD, and said, LORD, why have you so evil entreated this people? why is it that you have sent me?… All along the history of humanity there are great epochs, where some upward step marks a new era of civilization, such as the invention of the printing press. Yet the environing circumstances did not encourage such inventions. Every adventurer into the realms of the unfamiliar met at once with opposition. It was a square issue with such men whether their inward light or their outward environment was to prevail; and the greater the opposition the firmer their determination. Had Livingstone surrendered to circumstances, he would have remained a factory hand all his life; it was because he defied his surroundings and conquered them that he rose to eminence. It is a doctrine of fatalism that we are what our forefathers, our climate, and other influences have made us. One might say: "How can I be better? I am a child of godless parents, surrounded by thoughtless people, driven by business, wordly minded — such is the atmosphere in which I live." But such was the atmosphere in which John Lawrence, Governor-General of India, found himself when he first trod the streets of Calcutta. He set his face like a flint against luxury, intrigue, profligacy. He took up the challenge of circumstances. With indomitable will he fought, crushing mutiny to-day and righting an injustice to.morrow, until his patient heroism won him the title of the Saviour of India. (Great Thoughts.) Parallel Verses KJV: And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Lord, wherefore hast thou so evil entreated this people? why is it that thou hast sent me? |
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