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


FAITH IN aoD-sERMoN BY THE BEv. Mr..
HEPwogrH.
Fully two thousand people were congregated IN the
Church OF the Disciples yesterday morning. Mr. Hep
worth selected his text from Genesis xviii, 1-"Ater
these things word OF the Lord unto Abraham
In n vision saying Fear not, Abraham am thy shield
and thy exceeding great reward" one need scarcely
fear II he is sure that God is on his side. II those
who without God that always pressed down to
!he earth by the and troubles OF life. Those
who have God in their hearts have Gods strength in
their shoulders and bear, can endure resist
anything To be without lath In God is TO be as help
less as an infant In the passage have read God
promises the hrst place, to be a shield to Abraham,
anu If you Will remember something of the character
of the times in which these words were uttered you
will their force AID significance. In the heat OF
battle the enemy thrust their spears from all drec
tons aud II the the spear quickly enough
he interpose his shield aud save himself But how
many times man las itom u back or side thrust!
When God promises TO be shield He you from
thrusts IN all directions Ii Is an utter mpossibity
that YOU should be wounded when God your shield.
You of the victory. Fath is always vicIo-
rious. When Napoleon told his men that he would 6e
he projected mis- courage INTO every heart
and vet Napoleon was not always able TO keep his
promises lie lacked the ability. lie miscacustcd
the force that was against him. But when God makes
81 WILL pGur YOUR BArrLEs'
the darts OF the enemy then You need have no fear con-
cciping your personal safety All you need care Tor Is
the performance Of your duty. You have d faith,
certainty 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 iurcsaw the victory and
gave to Abraham the credit of 1t. Ii We have aith We
shall walk in the footsteps OF Christ Yet though we
TO do duAy, shall slip now anu then. NO
can be perfect IN this world, IN my mind. No
matter how much you may clam 10 be snoss, the very
clam OF sinlessness is II SIN We Chris.s
Lords Prayer emphasizing that passage, "Forgive us
our debts vet tb, promise of GOD 10 us is tpat #
We have faith that laith Will be imputed
To Tor righteousness II we have faith IN Christ
operative iaih trying iath-wc shall receive an ex-
cccd ng great rcward-no less reward than the white
robes OF immortality and crown oi glory when We
come to SIT down IN the other world and sing to HIM
the songs of redemption some OF you have said
70 me- speaking of this subject, "Abraham
called, but am DOT called; he was great man, the
father OF a great movement; no wonder GOD called
him. God called him because He had great work Tor
him to d. | have no great work" Brethren, let us
leave the great work out, aud then let us say
that God has work Tor every man To do. Lot me say
that in the dictionary the angels there
or little duty. There is SIMPLY duty done or duty not
done. Every man IN America, IRON The President IN
his chair down 10 the lowest child that breaihes,
has something to 40 for Co.. and there is not
woman in THIS house TO day but what is con
scious OF the ability do something tor others that
God will approve There is some journey tor 10
take: there are merces that can scatter; there
are temptations that We can hgnt; there faults
in that crush out OF our lives. GOD intends
thai We shall attend to our work as attended
TO his You anu may perhaps walk down INTO the
valley but 1t Is necessary hat We should walk ercct
IL necessary that we should bear our burdens what
they be, II was Tor them 10 bear their bur
de g. We snail be greatly surprised when we get into
heaven that many OF the words that We use here
not used there There Will be such tning wealth
and poverty there. The king ana the peasant will come
close proximity thai they viii walk together
the world Of the redemption. When get there God
will not look upon our covering 1t is the soul that He
wants and IT matter concerning the shroud that
covers lit Is the soul anu no'hng else ou are not
called you say. Yes you We are all called.
think called great while ago, but the call did
not come from any ambassadors lips You say
you not elected. Well, that depends
upon you largely II you are hungry and thirsty
ior righteousness you are one OF the elect
Because Goo has put II into your heart
am just that Cod has elected as am
am hungry after more of Gods words The King
the marriage feast the select ones, and
they made and then he sent out aer those IN
the byways and hedges. Brethren, you and have
he an there anu when Col ands us II will be there ana
we shall come and cit down with the Lamb and with
God Himself, and cat our oil and be very merry aud
very happy because whereas We were lost We are found
and whereas were hungry and wing IN The edge we
biddep the h IS house and fed from The Kings
hand and ron HIS bounty have very little
pa with the Christians who 20 through lie with
their eyes on the ground The very moment one Is
Christian he should hit his eyes toward heaven. was
once the country walking along dusty road tirei
aud heated when looked Oehiud me ana saw friend
OF mine driving huge cart that Vas empty.
you let Inc ride =" He drew up ms horse and said,
Certainly get in did 30, and entered into cheer
ful conversation with HIM. That was rest--gra,eul,
invgorating rest In littlc While saw a BOY, wno.
instead OF asking for ride, crcpt stcallhly mp be-
hind and IN mold OF strap TO support him; but all
the while he was IN misery lest be >noud DO detected
lie might as well have been the waAon, iying the
hay and going TO sleep, as to be hiding un Ter tue
wagon pain 1t seems TO me there are Two kinds of
Christiaps IN this he. Jesus comes along wiin
wagon, and comes to Hun and says, May RIDE n
that wagongm and the Lord gladly accepts aim aud
talks TO him IN sweetest compauonship all the
way; and then there comes another man
trudsing along and, instead OF asking The
Lord II he ride, he creeps up behlnd
and takes hold OF strap and holds the best he
can, ana is AFRAID that II the LORD discovers him lie
will scnl him sdri.L To oe sure he gets on. but what
.miseraele way 70 DO IT, see men gong through Ugh
secret OF Christianity yet The secret OF
cBKIST is g>psAIP;
the secret Of God the secret OF the Holy Ghost
Is faith, and II man loves Christ has faith In the
Holy Ghost and puts ms heart ln Gods care that
need have more worry or iretiuuess For he snail
be taken oL He shall be protected by angel
hands who Dear their arms the strength OF Omnlpo-
tencc Itself Once u God stands This
relation TO then can feel all along the pathway
oi life that there Prov vdence IN everythns what
blessed ming II Is 10 Zee that nolh'ng
happens TO you without Gods knowledge. and
If il does happen 1t has us ssnincancc
don't think anything ever happens IN
this world except by the permiss OF God. think
that sometimes interfere with GOD aud
bring the consequences upon hs own mead; but even
then God can Oy,rrule Il Tor hls own s0od God can
use everything. There IS nothing beyond Hts reach.
There IL nothing lie cannot utilize and lrlLg upon the
development OF mems lives We ought 10 think Of
these things, because lie Is so uncertain When God
wants He SIMPLY uttcts our name aud then We ay
upward whether We want 10 or not Ii b not only The
invalids cut those IN roOus health, that called
hence and the earth shall know them no more
Here MI Hepworth alluded pathet ca.iy TO the No
haw X disaster, his remarks upon which wal be found
In another column In CONCLUSION ne SAID lit Is
comforting TO know that God controls everything. ami
that brings Us right back 10 our starns point Let
he glad that we peea not walls alone Ia the pathway
lie but that cod viii 20 with us. Pear no. viii 90
win vou' - Has promise Trust IN Him. then, ioday
ana to morrow, and we shall get our crown Of glory
iron HIS HANDS.