Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1881-09-29
WAHALA, CARoLINA THURspAY sEprEhIRER POI lssl

to teach US so UNANIMOUSLY and SO impress.
sivoIy in the very earliest lessons of his
most gracious ministry
Therefore | say unto you, take no thought
for your life, what 80 shall cat, or what yo
tlal! drink; nor yet for your body, what yc
shall pat on. Is not the life more than meat
and the body than rnimenl? Behold tho fowls
OF the air; for they SOW not, neither do
they resp, nor gather. into barns; yet your
hcastnly Father foodcth them. Are yc not
much better than they7 Whioh of you by
tukis thought eau add one cabit to his
stNtue! And Why take yo thought for
raimenf: Consider tho lilies OF tho field
how thcj grow; they toll not, neither do
they spin, set Solomon in all bis glory was
not arra.ed like Que Of these. Therefore
| if God 50 clothes the grass Of tho field.
which to joy is aud tomorrow is cast into
the over, shall he not much more clothc
yon y yc OF litlo faith? Therefore take
no thought Quo ais,rus!ful, dishonest
thoughD saying, what shall wo eat2 or
what shall we d,ink? or where wi,hai Shall
VIC he clothed; for your hcavcnly Father
knowcth chat yc have need of these things
But saos sc first the kingdom OF God aud
his righteousness ard all these things will
DC aoded to you. Take, therefore, no
thought for tomorrow, for tho morrow
shall tniu thought Of tho thugs of itself.
Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
| Did ever Master instruct his dicplcs SO
np'ly, 50 beautifully, SO impressively2 Had i,
not 6cen ilr The fiery temptation Of our text
these words would not have beer uilorod
liad there not been that struggle there in
the wilderness with tho tc;nptcr forty DAYS
there would not have hecu that golden
sermon Oh the mount, for the sermon on the
mount !' lhc evolution OF the experiences
"nd trumphs of our humanity in the vii
demcss.
The speeiol temptation is the solicitation
tosatlsly tho fiery appctites Of hunger and
thirst IN way outside the system of Prov
idcncc. Dis.rus;tulncSs Of the Providence
OF God, an attempt to substitute our
methods, aiAful methods, unhclieving mcth-
ods, is the sin committed when Tho tcmpler
Is successful! with tho temptation.
In these trying times, When the question
of bread 10 brought face to face with SO
many people, when there is such anxiety,
such so'cisndc, such apprehension every.
where, this IS the temptation to which the
people are specially exposed.
" g arc in tho midst Of a very general
disastrous drought; such drought has not
occurred within tho mcuiory Of the oldest
cit!Hcns, oGoU'rlng, too, at Z time Of scarci
+, GrouEih whch has rot bccu preceded
hy years Of plcnty. Every business interest
Is elected, :;ioro or less, by the calamity.
You will allow me then one or Two prelinii
nary observations.
In the tirst place, do not thini; that
We arc in any way responsible for the
drought. 1t is a calamity, il il '.c Ca
lamty, not like tho distinctions Of var
nor the devastations Of pestienco. which
we may have awakened BY the neglect Of
snnitnry regulations, nor Ieaat Of al is it
like those evils which we suffer from our
want Of Iorethought, from our iud d,!oncc,
or from our culp,blo cxtravagance. The
regulation Of the seasons, tho falling of
the raia, or tho Withholding of tho rain
does not eomo within tho sphere Of our
agency. We have nothing in tho world to
do with the formation Of The clouds or
with the currents of wind, upon which
they are borne along in the air. Oar
agency does not tou;h this region. The
element, then, whioh enters 80 largely into
most of the evils which afllict us, viz:
! The conoiousDcss OF our own miscarriage.
docs not enter Into this.
Again, drought, unpronicious seasons,
tho blight OF crops, is part Of that great
system of nature, that wonderful aystcm OF
Providence, with which we arc brought
into contact in the beginning and develop.
ment and end Of our life; that natural,
prOvidcn,iAl system, which obtained thou.
! vnn n,!r 1f Drf,,
which will continue thousands of years
after We arc dead and gone. This woudcr.
fully gracious and hcnulieicnt system has
not primarily satisfying but dioipIiuary
uses. This system appears to be boundlcss
10 oil tunes and in all directions It om.
braces not our country alone, but the globe,
not our age alone, but all ages. Ii is a
system, then, under tho operation of
which men arc not primarily to seek to cat
drink and be merry, like the birds and the
bcasts aud the fishes, but to seek to have
their higher faculties awakened and ca
lars and their higher capabilities dcycl--
opeu--lu word, 1t is asystcm designed to
support and nourish and afford satisfaction
to the physical man, only rs that is neccs-
sary to the education aud development Of
themoral, spiritual, imperishAblo man 1t is
universal, beneiioicnt, disoi plinory, cduoa-
tive system, into contact with which all
persons arc brought, into contact With which
tho Lord Jesus was brought, into contact
with the same system, under which VIC rise
to q higher lifo or fail to lover our Say.
lour was brought-.undcr this system that
pure, grand life was developed and per-
tectcd. Into contact with this system wo
oamo Whom We wore born into Tie world