The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1886-07-28

ed the river and went through the sea-
Do you know God has made a map of
your life with paths leading up to this
bitterness and thst 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
UNDER DIVINE SUPERVISION.
i Iremark 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 helm
less and anchorless. You say: "If |
had some other trade; if had no. 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 carried, is under divine inspection,
| and that event which startled your
whole household with sorrow, God met
with perfect plaeidity, because He knew
it was fof your good. 1t was part of
great plan projected long ago. in eter
nifty when you come to reckon up your
| mercies, you will point to that atfiiction
as one of your greatest blessings. God
has a 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 failed the quarry must
be blasted, the diamond must be ground
the Christian must be afflicted; and
that single event, which you supposed
stood entirely alone, was connecting
link between two great chains-one
! chain reaching through all eternity past,
! and the other chain reaching through
all eternity future; so small an event
fastening two eternities together.
A MISSIONARY, COMING FROM INDIA
to the United States, stopped at ST. Hell
ena while the vessel was taking water
He had his child with him. He walked
along by an embankment, and rock at
that moment became loosened, aud fall
ing instantly killed the child. Was it
an accident? Was it surprise to God |
Had He allowed HIS servant, after life |
of conservation, to come to such a trial ? |
Not such is ms God. There are no ac-
eidents in the divine mind, though they |
may seem SO to Us. God is good, and |
by every single incident cf our life, |
whether it be adverse or otherwise, be- |
fore earth and heaven, God will demon |
strate His mercy.
| hear q man say: THAT idea belittles |
God. You bring Him down to such |
little things" On! have more thor
ough appreciation of God in little things |
than have in great things The mother |
does not wait until the child has mashed |
its foot or broken its arm before she ad. |
ministers sympathy. The child comes
in with the least bruises, and the mother |
kisses it. God does not wait for some |
tremendous crisis in our life, but comes |
down to us in our most insignificant |
trials, and throws over us the arms of |
His mercy.
Going up the White Mountains some |
years age, | thought of that passage in |
the Bibie that speaks of God as weighing
mountains in balance. As | looked at |
those great mountains, thought can it |
be possible that God can put these great |
mountains in scales? 1t was an idea too |
great for me to grasp; but when | saw
blue-bell dowr by the mules foot on
my way 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.
AN ANSWER FOR THE sKEPr.cAL.
There is a man who says: "That doc
trine cannot be true. because things do
GO so very wrong" | reply it is no jncon-
sistency on the part of God, but mack
of understanding on our part. hear
that men are making very fine shawls in
some factory. 1 go in on the first floor
and see only the raw materials, and |
ask: care these the shawls | have
heard about?" "No," says the manu-
facturer; "go up to the next floor" and
| go up, and there | Begin to see the de-
sign. But the man says: "Do not stop
here; go up to the top floor of the fac
tory, and you will see the idea fully car
sled out" / do so, and having come to
the top, see the complete pattern of an
exquisite shawl. So in our life, stand
ing down on low level of Christian ex
perience, we do not understand Gods
dealings. He tells us to go up higher
and higher, until we begin to under
stand 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: Gust and true are all thy |
ways" 1t is all right at the bottom.
Remember there is no inconsistency on |
the part of God, but il is only our men |
tai and spiritual incapacity.
THE LORD DIRECT ETH.
Some of you have been disappointed |
this summer-vacations are apt to be |
disappointments-bu whatever have
been your perplexities and worriments, |
know that "Man's heart deviseth his |
way, but the Lord directeth his steps,"
Ask these aged men in this church if it |
life. One summer | started for the Adj |
rondacks, but my plans were so changed |
that landed in Liverpool. | studied |
law, and / got into the ministry. | re-
solved 10 go as a missionary to China,
and stayed in the United States.
thought would like to be in the East, |
and | went to the West: all the circum-
stances OF life, all my work, different
from that which / expected. "A mans
heart deviseth his way, but the Lord di.
recteth his steps,"
So, my dear friends, this day take
home this subject. Be content with
such things as you have. From every
grassbfade under your feet learn the
lesson of divine care, and never let the
smallest bird fit across your path with
out thinking of the truth, that "five
sparrows are sold for two farthings, and
not one of them is forgotten before
God" Blessed be His glorious name
| forever. Amen.