The Brookhaven leader., 1886-07-29

security. but how shall make the two
ends meett To such people / bring the
| coincidence Of this Christian truth.
You may have seen q map on which 10
described, with red ink, the travels OF the
children 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 map Of your life with
paths leading up to this bitterness and
that success, through this river and across
that scar but, blessed be Godi the path al
| ways comes out at the Promised Land.
Mark thati Mark thati
Iremark again: That all those things
that seem hut accidents in our life are
under the divine supervision. We some-
times seem to be going helmless and
anchorless. You say:
"If had some other trade; IL had not
| gone there this summer; il 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 hor-
ror, God met with perfect placidty, be-
| cause he knew it was for your good. 1t
was part of great plan projected long
ago. In eternity, when you come to
reckon up your mercies, you will point to
that affection as one of your greatest
blessings. God has strange way with
US. Joseph found his way to the prime
minist er's chair by being pushed into a
pit; and to many 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 a connecting link
| between two great chains, one 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. Helena
while the vessel was taking water. He
had his little child with him. They walk
ed along by an embankment, and rock
at that moment became loossned, and,
falling, ms an tly killed the child. Was it
an accidents Was 1t surprise to God?
Had he allowed his servant, after a life of
conservation, to come to such trial? Not
such is my God. There are no accidents
in the divine mind, though they may seem
so to us. God is good, and by every single
incident of our life, whether it be adverse
or otherwise, before earth and heaven
| God will demonstrate his mercy.
hear a man say: "That idea belittles
! God. You bring Him down to such little
| things" Oh l have a more thorough APP
probation 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 admin
| listers sympathy. The child comes in
| with the least bruise, and the mother
| kisses It, God does not wait for some tre-
mendous crisis in our life, but comes down
to us in our most insignificant trials and
| throws over us the arm of His mercy.
Going up the White mountains some
| years ago l thought of that passage in the
Bible that speaks of God as weighing
mountains in a balance. AS / looked at
| those great mountains thought, can it be
possible that God can put these great
mountains in scalesP 1t was an idea too
great foI me to grasp; but when l saw .
blue-bell down by the mules foot, on my
way up Mount W ashing ton, then UNDER
stood the Kindness and goodness of God.
L
can understand, but of God in little things.
There is man who says: THAT doc
trine can not be true, because things do 60
so very wrong" reply, it is no incon-
sistency on the part of God, but lack of
understanding on our part. l hear that
men are making very fine shawls in some
factory. / go in on the first floor and see
only the raw materials, and l ask: care
these the shawls that l have heard
about?"
"No," says the manufacturer; Ego up
to the next floor;" and go up, and there
l begin to see the design. But the man
says:
"Do not stop here; go up to the top floor
of the factory, and you will see the idea
fully carried out"
do SO, and having come to the top, see
the complete pattern of an exquisite
shawl. So in our life, standing down on a
low level of Christian experience, we do
not understand Gods dealings. He tells
us to 20 up higher and higher, until we
begin to understand the divine meaning
with respect to us, and we advance until
we are at the very gate of Heaven, and
there see Gods idea all wrought out--a
perfect idea of mercy, of love, of kind.
ness. 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 spirit
ual incapa city.
Some Of you have been disappointed this
ADMINISTRATIONS are apt to be disap-
pointments-but whatever have been your
perplexities and worriments, know that:
Mans heart deviseth his way, but the Lord
directeth his steps.
Ask these aged men in this church IL it
is not so. 1t has been so in my own life.
One summer ! started for the Adiron-
dacks, but my plans were so changed that
Handed in Liverpool. l studiel law and
got into the ministry. ] resolved to go
as a missionary to China, and / staid in
the United States. thought would like
to be in the Ea It, and l went to the West
all the circumstances OF my life, all my
work, different from that which l ex.
pected.
A mans heart deviseth his way, but the
Lord directeth his steps
So, my dear friends, this day take home
this subject. Be content with such things
as you have. From every grass blade I'M
der your feet learn the lesson of divine
care, and never let the smallest bird fit
across your path without 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.