Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1881-03-03
TOrlginal.
on THE LORD,S SIDE.

natural order Of things. Not that we can
change the laws of the universe, but in our
theories we are exceedingly liable to put the
cause for the effect and the effect for the cause
The desire which we are constantly expressing
is that the L2rd may be on our side. We
manifest an anxiety that God would favor
our undertakings and prosper all our efforts
This is inverting the natural order of things.
We need not give ourselves any concern as TO
whether or not the Lord is on our side. The
Lord never changes his plans, but is always
on the side of right and truth. The question
which we should strive to solve with accura-
cy is, care we on the Lords side?' If we
are not on the Lords side, we may conclude
at once that the Lord is not on our side. In
his wisdom, for purposes which we cannot now
fully understand, God may permit US to pros
per in sin. 1t rains alike upon the fields of
the just and the unjust. The troubles of the
pious are in some respects, the same as those
Because our desires are grati6ed, is no GER
tain proof that we are on the Lords side.
God, usually, either grants US our desires, or
permits them to be grati6ed. Whoever 10
this world desires to violate law in its most
unlimited sense, will generally find the means
at hand for putting his desires into tangi-
BILE shape and form. The man of depraved
appetites rarely is at any great loss to 6nd the
means by which those appetites may be graft.
fed. Men sometimes become so poor that
they are unable to obtain sufficient supply
of food; but those same poverty ridden crea-
lures are able to obtain enough of mean
whisky to make them pest to every one
with whom they come in contact. 1t would
be desperate logic to conclude that because
theft, murder and adultery are sometimes not
punished, therefore, thieves, murderers and
adulterers are sometimes on the Lords side,
or that the Lord favors this class of men.
The only sure way by which we can ascer-
tain whether or not we are on the Lords side,
is by consulting the Scri ptures. Here again
the order of nature is inverted The mass of
persons, in what is known as civilized coun-
tries, regard the Bible as the word of God
and as a perfect rule of faith and practice.
The natural order would be to search the
Scriptures, first to learn what we must believe,
and then search them to learn what we must
practice This, however, is not the usual
mode of proceeding. We most frequently
conclude that what we believe is true and
then 60 to the Bible for the proof That
what we believe may be proven to be correct,
the plainest passages of the Scriptures are
twisted and turned into every imaginable
shape and form. The same process is pur-
sued with regard to our practices The Bible
is the rule, but its teachings are misapplied.
The devil is fond of quoting Scripture, but he
always misquotes it. So do all his followers.
Those persons who are on the Lords side
are humble, cautious and reverent in their de.
pertinent. He who is conscious of the Om-
uipresence of Gad, and has correct notion
of the greatness of God in all his attributes
feels his own insigni6cance. The very fact
that he lives by faith, forces him to cling close
to the side of the Lord. To such a man the
Lord is everything-frst, middle and end.
He is more anxious to be on the Lords side
than that the Lord would bring all his efforts
to prosperous issue. Wisely, he concludes
that all results are in the hand of God, and
that for those who are on the Lords side, all
things will finally be we'll.