HISTORY furnishes a marvelous panorama of civilization's upward struggle from darkness to light, from the shackles of ignorance and slavery towards higher intelligence and a larger freedom. Each onward footstep along this pathway of progress has witnessed an ever increasing measure of good in human experience. Great crises of vast moment, like shadows upon the sundial of time and seemingly disastrous, have often proved themselves to be corrective processes, and have marked some unmistakable turning point towards better and happier conditions. One such event, because of its deep spiritual significance and the impress it made upon the lives of unnumbered thousands of people, is that of the exodus, the departure or escape of the Hebrew nation under the leadership of Moses from the slavery that had been imposed upon it by the Egyptians.
Moses caught the vision of service to God and his fellow man, and nothing daunted him in his determination to help free his people from the cruel imposition and unhappiness that had been theirs. In the career of this great character we observe the qualities of faith and perseverance, and a moral courage that never faltered under the most trying difficulties. With hostile nations in pursuit, and many disloyal members within the ranks of the congregation of the children of Israel, Moses, regardless of these untoward circumstances, led the way resolutely through the wilderness toward the land of promise.
In later years, when the Hebrews became more prosperous, it is of deepest interest to note the instruction, the counsel and admonitions given this people. We read in Ecclesiastes, "Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child." This saying may mean that there is need always for maturity of thought and of understanding, of manliness and strength and courage to be manifested by a nation's chief executive.
