National Republican., 1883-07-30
CONS ETERNAL DECREE.

GODS ETERNAL DECREE.
ELOQUENT DISCOURSE by REV. NJ. +. TODD
OF MANASSAS, VA, AT ASSEMBLY CHURCH,
Rev. NJ. +. Todd, of Manassas, Va, preached
before large congregation at Assembly pres
byterian) church, corner of Fifth and
streets northwest yesterday morning. His
text was from the gospel according to st.
Matthew, chapter xiv, verses and 20, and
reads:
Veily say unto you there shall not be left here
one stone upon another that shall not be thrown
But pray We that your flight be not in the winter,
neither on the Sabbath day.
The speaker said In the earlier records of
the Old Testament Gods people value worldly
prosperity highly. Wealth and power are the
rewards of an upright aud godly life They
lead an outdoor life they ask God for such
things as they need; and do not seem to be
much troubled about why's and wherefores.
But after time, when through the ages and
more complex civilization large experience
had come to men, they began to be tried with
internal problems.
In our age the old lament and will Of David
and the prophets again comes to the surface
When we attempt to gain our wishes we find
ourselves surrounded by immovable limita-
tons, and thus we are forced to acknowledge
God decrees events But we no sooner ac-
knowledge the DEGREES of God than the gran
deur of duty, the power of character, the sig.
nifcance of the individual compel us to affirm
the free agency ofman. How can we recon-
cile these extreme points? This is the pro-
blem of the ages, an d is no nearer solution
now than In the beginning What have l
done moro wicked than the things which my
neighbor has done? How am worse than he,
that stand desolate, while he lies Tapped in
earthly bliss ? is another question that comes
IN -Iary 1 naNfN mn IN nh Tn
thousands of years ago, and when we pray to
God to send us deserved blessing or turn aside
an impending disaster the philosophers turn
upon us with scowl, and ask, do you sup
pose God is going to stop the universe in or
der to answer your PRAYER. and how can we
shut their mouths.
The text does not tell us how the idle trifle
of the present moment can forge link that,
pjning the chain of the past to the chain of
the future, can bind our life captive and pow
erless in its bonds. 1t does not tell us how or
where the preordained purpose of Almighty
God and the weak prayer of a sinful man
come together and act as one. But our text
does better. 1t tells us how, these things be-
ing as they are, our circumstances being what
they are it is best to act 1t does what is
better it gives us the practical result. 1t
tells us what it is best to do undcr the cir
cumstances, and that is great deal better for
us than solving curious questions or theoret-
ical problems.
1t would be great deal better for us all if
we read the Bible more rs practical guide to
honest and holy living, and less as book of
holy enigmas and spiritual conundrums.
Aft er referring to things which were fatod,
decreed of God, such as the destruction of
Jerusalem, he said: There are circumstances
that are just as certain and inexorable in our
lives now. No man chooses his parents, the
land of his birth, or the conditions into which
he is born. He has very little choice with
regard to the surroundings that make up the
first ten years of his life. Yet the conse-
quences of these things are certain and sure
and he cannot escape them The man born
with negro or Indian or Hindoo blood in his
veins can in no way escape the limitations
and conditions that go with his blood. No
prayers will change black skin into white
one, nor will it change the brain and temper
ament that goes with black skin and woody
hair to the temperament that goes with a
white skin, azure eyes, and golden hair.
No more can you change the characteristics
and instincts that you inherit with your
blood or the impressions that are moulded
and stamped the first ten years of your life,
or the disposition that sits behind your blue
or black eyes, or that goes with Roman or a
pug nose, or the consequent results of re-
fined and educated or groveling and de-
based parentage.
In thousands of ways we are not free
There are myriads of events that are inexor-
able in their courses and certain in their con-
sequences, and from which we can no more
escape, either by prayer or works. than Jeru'
salem her fate.
If the wind had been from the south in
stead of the northeast during the last days Of
the voyage of Columbus, and had landed hin
on the coast of Massachusetts instead of at st
Thomas, would not New England be Romar
Catholic to-day-Spain have stamped te
character on the United States instead of oil
Mexico? If the Msyfower had landed a
Norfolk instead of Plymouth Rock, who car
predicate what would have been the result.
If shrewd politician had not entered thu
convention in SO with a rail on his back, it i
question whether Lincoln would have beer
nominated, and had he not been nominated
who can tell what the history of the pas
twenty years would read like. Thus trihe
turn the current of nations, stamp their impres
on all history, render the name of what men
call fate, mock what men call wisdom, anC
put to naught what fools call energy at every
step. But there is hand behind which di
rects, and Gods purposes are accomplished a
last, whether the instruments be small O.
great.
The speaker concluded rs follows: Tim
must stop, and it shall be no more, for thu
Lord hath said it, The world may stop AM
its revolutions cease. The universe may
pass away. Its cycles may be numbered; bu
truth and beauty shall never pass away an
songs shall never cease, and the voice of tn
universal anthem, "Hallelujah, hallelujah
bHo l-Oiu NOu OlhulpOtOhS iS'BhSVhJ oho'
ring on forever and forever.
The voices of some we once knew are hover
ing on the borders of that vast glorious choir
Friends gone before How their voices com
back to me in the solemn stiffness of this mi
summer Sabbath day l almost hear then
In the inspiration, then, of this hour let Il
buckle on our armor with better faith an
q truer conservation, trusting In the word {
Him who hath said He will never leave u
or forsaIIe us, and feeling that, though some
times tossed hither and thither by the storm
and winter Of life eternal spring, the oteI
nal city, the New Jerusalem, whose builde
and maker is God, is just before us.
Dear Lord, Thine instruments we are
Under Thy hand we walt alone;
And II Thy touch bring less or gain,
And ifit lead through JOY or pain,
With still small voice or trumpet tone.
We may not care, or ask, OF know,
Nor heed, II glad or sad II be,
II In the end Thy thought may roll
Through every chord of the waiting soul,
And bear It's harmonies ~ Thee.
THE INIQUITY OF THE LOTTERY
A PERTINENT SERMON BY REV, G. X. cox !
THE MT. VERNON CHURCH.