Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1881-02-17
&eadiug Tar the Sabbath,
CONDUCTED BY
REV. ROBERT LATH AN.
FOR GODS GLORY.

For this purpose we are, and were created.
The chief end of man is to glorify God we
are to glorify him in our bodies and spirits
er we eat or drink, we should do all to the
glory of God.
There is no place for selfshness or self seek.
ing in creed like this. Recognizing the
proprietary right Of our divine Maker in us,
it demands an obedience to his expressed will
concerning US to the extent Of All unencum-
bered conservation to him Of all that we are
and possess, and the rendition Of an obedience
that permits no reservation for self.
One of the difficult duties of the Christian
profession, is to keep these facts clearly in
mind, and allow consideration for Gods
glory to he the governing motive in our heart,
our speech and our behavior. The Immediate
objects of our prayers and labors, excellent
aud desirable in Themselves have tendency,
because of their nearness and tangibility, to
obscure the more remote but real object
And yet the acceptabilty of our service for
God is conditioned on recognition by us Of
the relationship existing between the imme-
late and the remote. 1t is eminently proper
that we should pray and labor for the exten.
sion Of the kingdom Of our Lord on earth,
and the furtherng of the cause of Christian
ity among the kingdoms of men even this
work on our part receives the divine sanction
when we recognize that the object really to be
obtained by the evangelizaton of the world
is the glory of God. The extension of the
power and domain of the Christian religion
until these are commensurate with the earth,
are means toward an end.
1t is a duty fit and becoming that we pray
for spiritual blessings to descend upon; our
selves and others with whom we associate or
whose lives intermingle with our own in the
relationships of earth; that we should pray
without ceasing for the things we need and
which the Scriptures assure us are proper OBJ.
jects Of desire; and yet we are not to become
so absorbed in the desirability of the immedi-
ate blessings craved, as to shut out from view
the bearing and relation Of these blessings on
the essential end of heing--the glory of God.
These truths are old and welI-known. They
are recalled that attention may be directed to
deduction from them. 1t is this Gods
glory is not always advanced by means which
commend themselves to our sense Of proprie.
ty, or means desirable in their immediate ef-
feet upon US, or for which we are warranted
in laboring and praying. While we desire
and pray for mercy from on high, by which
to glorify our God, he sends judgment instead
While we labor and pray for the lengthening
of the cords and the strengthening Of the
stakes Of Zion by gospel methods, God EN-
ploys earthen vessels and vile elements to ad
vance the same purpose. He makes heathen
kings and ungodly men his instruments, and
by these he moves centuries at single stride
The lesson is. that faith should not be suf
fered to weaken, nor should the heart grow
discouraged if cherished desires are not salts
fed by means hoped, labored and prayed for
We are laboring for the glory Of God when
We employ authorized methods; but we rest
our case, not on the restrictions of our own
methods, but in the fact that Go1 is working
too. And whatever be the issue of our labors
when we are obedient, and however unseen by
us are the good effects of any providence, ii
is providence We cannot arrogate to our
selves wisdom superior to the Lord of the
universe, nor can we take into our hands a
work he has reserved to himself. We may
not do evil, but we should not faint in the
presence Of prevailing evil.