The New York herald., 1876-07-24
Discourse Upon Gods Protection
OF His Servants.
CHURCH OF THE DISCIPLES.


FAITH IN doD-sERMoN BY THE REV. MR..
HEPwoRTH
Fully two thousand people were congregated IN the
Church OF the sciples yesterday morning. Mr.. Hep
worth selected his text from Genesis xviii, latter
these things the word OF the Lord unto Abraham
in vision, saying, Fear not Abraham; am thy shield
aud thy exceeding great reward. one need scarcely
fear If he that God his side. 1t is those
who without God that always pressed down TO
he earth by the sorrows and troubles OF lile Those
who have God in their hearts have Gods strength in
thor shoulders bear can endure, can resist
anything To be without lath God is 10 be help
less infant In the passage have read God
promises in the first place. to be shield to Abraham
anu If you will remember something of the character
of the times in which these words uttered you
will see their force gnilcance. In the heat OF
battle the enemy thrust their spears from all direc
tions and II the warrior the spear quickly enough
be interpose his shield and himself But how
many times a man rails fiom back side thrust!
When God promises TO be shield He secures you from
,hrusts IN all directions II rs an utter mpossibiiy
that you should be wounded when God your shield.
You OF the victory. Faith is always veto
rious When Napoleon told his men That he would be
them he projected mis- courage INTO every heart
and yet Napoleon always able to Keep hls
promises lie lacked The ability. He miscacustcd
the force that was against him. But when God makes
promise or says
~ WILL FIGHT YOUR BATTLES"
VIII DO shield; and when surrounded Dy
the darts OF the enemy en You need nave NO Tear con-
cernng your personal safety. All you need care tor is
the performance OF your duty. You have a faith,
certainty oi winning IN the end and that word nerves
the arm and helps you IN your work. In the second
place God says to Abraham, Il will be your exceeding
great reward Then God oresaw the victory and
gave 10 Abraham The credit of IT, II W. have aiih we
shall walk in the footsteps OF Christ Yet, though we
Try duAy shall slip anu then. No
man can be per iect this world, IN my mind. No
matter how much you may CLAIM TO be sincss the very
clam OF sinessness rs SIN We must sit at Lhris.s
Lords Prayer, emphasizing that passage Forgive us
our debts vet the promise OF Cod to us Is tnat II
we have faith that iaith VIII be imputed
to us for righteousness II we have faith in Christ
operative aith trying laitl-wc shall receive an ex
cecd ng great rewardno less reward than the white
robe oil immortality and crown oil glory when We
to SIT down in the other world and sing to HIM
the songs of redemption. some of you have said
70 me- in speaking of this subject, .Abraham was
called. but am not called; he was great man, the
father OF great movement; no wonder God called
him. God called HIM because he had great work Tor
him to do have no great work" Brethren, let us
leave the word great work out, and then let us
that God has work Tor every man to do. Lot me say
that in the dictionary the angels there IS great
Or little duty There Is simply duty done or duty not
done. Every man n America, IRON the President In
his chair down TO the lowest child that breaihes
has something to DO for God, and there is not
man or woman in this house TO day but what Is con
scous OF the ability 10 do something tor others that
God will approve. There is some journey tor to
take; there are merces that We can scatter; there
temptations that We can hght; there are ,aults
in that can crush out OF our lives God intends
that We shall attend to work as Abraham attended
to his You and may perhaps walk down INTO the
valley, but 1t Is necessary tha we should walk erect
Il is necessary that we should bear our burdens what
ever ;hey may be, Tor them to bear their
de s. We shall be greatly surprised when we get into
heaven thai many OF the words that we use here arc
not used there. There VIII be no tnIng wealth
and poverty there The king ana the peasant will come
in such close proximity thai they viii walk together IN
the world Of the redemption. When we get there God
will look upon covering 1t is the soul tnat He
wants. anu 1T is mater concerning the shroud that
covers lit Is the soul anu nothing else You are not
called, you say Yes you are We are an called.
think was called great while ago, but the call did
from any ambassadors lips You say
you are not elected Well, that depends
upon you largely. II you are hungry and thirsty
Because Coo has put 1t INTO your heart
lam just sure that God has elected me as am sure
am hungry after more oil Gods words The King at
the feast sent out alter The select ones, and
they and then he sent out al er those In
the byways and hedges. Brethren, you and have
be,n there when God finds us will ue there, and
shall come in and sit down with the Lamb aud with
God Himself, and cat our oil and be very merry and
very happy because whereas we wer. lost found.
ana whereas hungry and lying IN the eedge
hidden the X ne IS house and fed from The Kings
own hand and iron HIS bounty have very little
patti, with the Christians go through lie with
their eyes the ground. The very mom,nt one is
Christian he should mt his eyes toward heaven. was
once the country walking along dusty road tirei
aud heated when looked behind me ana saw friend
OF mine driving huge cart that vas empty.
When IT came NJ to me SAID to nay friend Wont
You let me ridc?" He drew up his horse and said,
Certainly, get in did so. and entered into cheer
ful conversation with hun. That was rest--grateiu,
invigorating rest In littic wbie saw a boy VINO,
instead OF asking Tor ride crepi stealthily mp be-
The while he misery lest be snould be detected
lie might as well have been the waAon, lying the
hay and going TO sleep, as TO be hiding unI Ter tue
wagon in pain 1t seems me there are two kinds of
Christians this hie. Jesus comes along with
wagon, and comes to Hun and says, May ride n
that wagon" and the Lord gladly accepts him aud
talks TO him sweetest compauonsnip all the
way and then there comes another man
trudging along and, instead oi asking The
Lord IL he ride, he creeps UP behind
ard takes hold some strap and holds on the best he
can, anu afraid that II the Lord discovers him lie
Will sena him adriL To be sure ne gets on but what
. miserable way 10 do IT, see men going through
the world just nike that All We have not learned the
secret OF Christianity yet The secret OF
FRIENDSHIP;
ths secret Of The OF the Holy Ghost
Is faith, and If man loves Christ has faith la the
Holy Ghost and puts ms heart IN Gods care that man
need more worry Or iretiu!uess For he shall
be taken care OIL He shall be protected by angel
hands Who bear their arms the strength OF OmnIpo-
tencc Itself once moTr; u God stands N ihis
relation US then we can ieel all along The pathway
ol life that there Providence IN evcrN Nthng What
happens 10 YOU without Gods know ledge. and
don't think anything ever happens IN
this world except by the permss on OF God. think
tha, sometimes n Interfere with Goo and
bring the consequences upon ms mead; but even
then cd rrule It Tor HIS own sood. cod Can
everything. There IS nothins beyond his reach
There uolhiug He cannot utilize and oribg upon the
development OF mems lives We ought TO thinS u
these things, because lie Is so uncertain. When God
wants us lie simply uttcrs name and then ly
upward, whether want 10 or not 1t Is not only lie
,nvaids Uut those robust health, that are called
hence, and the earth shall know them no more.
Here Mr.. uepworth alluded pathet ca.iy TO the No
hawk disaster his remarks upon which will be found
In another column. In CONCLUSION ne aid.-''it Is
comforting TO know that God controls everything ami
that brings right back 10 our slartng point Lei
lie glai that not walk alone VA the pathway OF
lie but that God viii so with Us. Pear nor VIII 20
win vou' Is HIS promise Trust in Him, then, to-day
ana morrow, and we shall get our crown OF glory
from - hands.
rHnNE