The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1855-01-27
j&!ural au0 krliQiuns.
GOD IN CHRIST OUR BEST GIFT.

GOD IN CHRIST OUR BEST GIFT.
The times are not so hard with us as they
were in Judea in the time of HabakEuk-
His prophecy is full of the vail of distress
famine, sword, captivity; the Unsuitable
horles of the Chaldeans sweeping the land
like evening wolves; taking every strong
hold: pouncing upon the dcfenscless inhabt-
ants like the earle upon his prey; filling the
land with violence and blood dcsolatiny the
earth Of its fruits and of its population, and
gathering TIE people into captivity like the
sand. The vinc-clad hills are dcsolate: the
tig'trce and the olive, withered bv thought
or hacked by the spciIer, forbcar to yield
their fruit: cattle are swept away by murrain
or famine, or are seized by the enemy; the
whole land is ravascl and DESTROYED. ", d!
ic prophet not only hopes in God. bat rejoir-
Is in Him as the God Of salvation
What a ground Of rejoicing in the mids; O.
adversely, is given in the fact that God lives
and reigns-thc God OF hope God Of
our salvation. Ilabakkuk does not set off his
mercics against his trials he strike, no bal
ancc-sheet Of prosperity and rcvcrses in TEN
Pofai things; hc take no encouragement from.
better prospects, but he rests upon the sim
pie fact of Gods being and government and
declares tha: every earthly good is swept
away. and there is not shred Of material
prosperity to hang hope upon, get will he
rejoice in the Lord, and JOY in the God of his
salvation. And tina; is the lasting ground Of
rejoicing to which we should now turn the
only real yro'u.d Of Thank ssi,ns in prosper
ity or in adversely, however Multiplied M;
be the occasions Of ,hanksgivinss in the va
ryinc phases of outward events.
We arc not under the rule of arbitrary for
ccs, of capricious agents. inilexib!c laws or
OF cruel dictator. Oar calamitics are not
+, the tormen's of malicious dcspotism; there
;. is no Gar or Emperor upon the throne of
the universe; the wickcdncss, may bring ca
lanltics upon us; bat no sclf,hncss is en-
throned above the world Did Nicholas or
/. Napoleon send the drought, the pestilcncc,
+. the fire. the storm, We might we'll give over
; hope for such a power would know no prin-
cipIc or rule, but Its own selfish qualification
it would hardly have method in its madness:
h but to the cruelty Of pride, Of irresponsible
j.. power, of selfish ambition and lust, it would
: add the greater cruelty Of caprice. Our
= consolation and our hope is, that above all
the wicketlness of man, above the wickclness
@ government, above even our own wicked.
+, ness, that needs to be chastisel, and above the
calamitics that are sent to chastise it, is God
II Of unbounded power and unboun,led love,
i. whom even the wind: and the waves obey.
r and before whom devils trcmbIe. Therefore
|. will not We fear though the earth be removed;
e though the mountains be cast into the midst
: Of the sea.
u The true ground Of our hope and rejoicing
e is not that things look brighter in the com.
d merc'al world that steamer reports money
G little easier; that stock quotations ar little
flrmer, or that cotton or consoIs have recov-
cred it is not from any outward sources We
IS can draw the deepest, hottest joy Of "a thanks
{ giving feast in the soul. 1t is that God rciens
: the God Of our salvation, in the PROJECTIONS
c OF his character in the plenitude Of his grace:
and though crops fail, and ships are sunk, and
towns are burnt, and stocks decline, and COM
mercial ruin stares us in the face yet will we
rejoice in the Lord and joy in the God of our
salvation. Whatever else is gone, Gods un-
speakable gift remains the highest possible
: or conceivable expression Of his love;the ONLY
sacrifice possible for God to make, and the Ut
most in the nature Of being to endure. This
speakable gift of salvation in Christ re-
mains. And yet men pass this BY as if it
were nothing. They lose house, a ship. a
Gebs they lose stocks, Londs, merchandise.
. friends: and bewall their lot az one of unmit-
'gated calamity; while here is this gift, sur
passing all others since the world began, this
unspcakatlc gift, this salvation from sin and
: misery, neglected or cast away. Ii now the
ioss Of outward geo! shall lead any to
accept God in Christ, to seek salvation from
sin through his atonins blood, then will this
season be one Of mcrc, and in the midst of
adverslty new sony will be put into our
nouth-erea praise to our God
a The ravages Of the cholera at Messini
have been frshtful. According to late advi-
ces from the L. S. Consul there. 10000 Der.
-! = -. :. " I,.,