The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1886-08-05

You'd it, God has decided how much pros
perity you can stand honorably, aud employ
usefully, and control righteously; and at the
end of 1886 you will have Just so many dollars
and cents, just so much wardrobe, just Sc
much furniture, just so many bonds aud
mortgages, and nothing more ! will give
you 800 for every penny beyond that, God
has looked over your life He knows wha,
is best for you, and He is going to bless you
in time and bless you for eternity; and He
will do it in the best way,
Your little child says; Papa, ! wish you
would let me have that knife ~ NO you
say, lit is a sharp knife, and you will cut
yourself,n He says; II must have it, " But
you can not have it," you reply. He gets
angry and red in the face, and says h Wal
have it; but you say he shall not have 1t.
Are you not kind in keeping it from him. So
God treats His children. / say: II wish,
Heavenly Father, to get that God says:
"No, my child" l say; 81 must have it. .
God says: "You can not have itn l get
angry and say: 81 will have it." God says;
you shall not have itn And | do not get
it Is He not kind and loving and the best of
fathers Do you tell me there is no rule and
regulation in these things Tell that to the
men who believe in no God and no Bible.
Tell it not to me.
A man of large business concludes to go
out of his store, leaving much of his invest
sons: "Now, | am going to leave this bust
ness in your hands Perhaps l may come
ba k in little while, and perhaps not,
While | am gone you will please to look
after affairs.n After awhile the father comes
back and finds everything at loose ends, and
the whole business seems to be going wrong.
ne says: II am gong to take possession or
this business-you know l never fully sur
rendered it; and henceforth consider your
selves subordinates. Is he not right in doing
It'll He saves the business. The Lord
seems to let us 90. on in life guided by
our own skill, and we make miserable
work of it. God comes down to our
shop or our store and says: "Things are 60
ing wrong: come to take charge. / am mas
ter, and know what is best, and | proclaim
my authority" We are merely subordi-
mates. 1t is like boy at school with
long sum that he cannot do. He has been
working at it for hours, making figures here
and rubbing out figures there, and it is all
mixed up; and the teacher, looking over the
boys shoulder, knows that he cannot get out
of it, and cleaning the slate, says: "Begin
again" Just so God does to us. Our affairs
get into an ineXtricable ENHANCEMENT, and
He rubs everything out and says Begin
again?' Is He not wise and loving in 50
doingl
l think the trouble is that there is so large
a difference between the Divine and the human
estimate as to what is enough. have heard
of people striving for that which is enough,
but never heard of any one who hai enough.
What God calls enough for man, man calls
too little What man calls enough, God says
is too much The difference between poor
man and rich man is only the difference in
banks. The rich man puts his money in the
Nassau Bank, OF the Park Bank or Fulton
Bank, or some other bank of that character,
while the poor man comes up and makes his
4.
the quarries, all the mines, all the gold, all
the earth, all heaven. D. you think man
can fail when he is backe up like that.
l want to bring this truth close up to the
heart of those people in this audience who
have to calculate rigid economy, who are
perplexed how they will make the old gar
ment hold out little longer, with whom the
great question is not which is the best invest
ment or the most lucrative security, but how
shall l make the two ends meet. To such
people l bring the con lolence Of this Chris
tian truth.
You may have seen map on which is de-
scribed, with red ink, the travels of the chill
dren of Israel through the desert to the
Promised Land You see how they took this
and that direction, crossed the river and
went through the sea. Do you know God
has made q map of your life, with paths lead
ing up to this bitterness and that success,
through this river and across that sea- But,
blessed be God! the path always comes out
at the Promised Land. Mark that! Mark
that!
remark, again, that all those things that
seem to be but accidents in our life are under
the Divine supervision. We sometimes seem
to be going helmless and anchorless. You
say: 'If l had some other trade; if had
not gone there this summer; if had lived in
some other house, You have no right to
say that. Every tear you wept, every step
you have taken, every burden you have car
riei, is under Divine inspection, and that
event which startled your whole household
with horror, God met with perfect placidity,
because he knew it was for your good. 1t
was part of a great plan projected long
ago. In eternity, when you come to
reckon up your mercies, you will point to
thai affection as one of your greatest bless
ings. God has strange way with us. Joseph
found his way to the Prime Minister'S chair
by being pushed into pit; and to many a
Christian down is up. The wheat must be
flailed the quarry must be blasted; the dia-
mond must be ground; the Christian must be
afflicted; and that single event, which you
supposed stood entirely alone, was connect
ing link between two great chains, one chain
reaching through all eternity past and the
other other chain reaching through all eter-
nity future so small an event fastening two
eternities together.
A missionary, coming from India to the
United States stopped at st. Helena whlle
the vessel was taking water. He had his little
child with him. They walked along by an
embankment, and rock at that moment be-
came loosened and falling, instantly killed
the child. Was it an accidentI was 1t a
surprise to God Had He allowed His servant,
after life of conservation, to come to such a
trial! Not such is my God. There are no
accidents in the divine mind, though they
may seem so to u.s. God is good, and by
every single incident of our life, whether it
be adverse or otherwise, before earth ana
Heaven God will demonstrate His mercy.
God. You bring Him down to such little
things OH | have a more thorough APP
probation of God in little things than have
in great things. The mother does not wa {
until the child has mashed its foot or broken
its arm before she administers sympathy.
The child comes in with the least bruise, aud
the mother kisses it. God does net wait for
some tremendous crisis in our life, but comes
down to us in our most Insignificant trials,
and throws overus the arms of His mercy.
Gong up the White Mountains some years
ago | thought of that passage in the Bible
that speaks of God as weighing mountains
in balance As | looked at tn Sc great
mountains | thought eau it be possible that
God can put these great mountains in scales
III was an llel lOO e'tb loI me W y asp. ouO
when | saw blue-bell down by the mules
foot, on my wav up Mount Washington, then
] understood the kindness and goodness of
God 1t is not so much of God in great
things can understand, but of God in little
things.
There is a man who says: THAT doctrine
cannot be true, because things do go so very
wrong reply, it is no in Inconsistency on
the part of God, but a lack of understanding
on our part | hear that men are making
very fine shawls in some factory. / go in on
the first floor and see only the raw materials,
AMI ask: "Are those the shawls | have
heard about" "No," says the manufacturer
Ego up to the next floor" and go up, and
then begin to see the design. But the man
says: "Do not stop here; go up to the to-
floor of the factory, and you will see the idp
fully carried out" do so, and having com
to the top, see the complete pattern of al
exquisite shawl SO in our life, standina
down ON a low level of Christian experience
we do not understand Gods dealings. He
tells us to go up higher, until we begin tc
understand the divine meaning with respect
to us, and we advance until we stand at the
very gate of Heaven, and there see Gods
idea all wrought out-a perfect idea of mercy
of love, of kindness And we say: Just and
true are all Thy ways" 1t is all right at the
bottom. Remember there is no inconsistency
on the part of God, but it is only our mental
and spiritual incapacity.