The southern sentinel. (Winnfield, La.) 1883-1910, 1886-09-03

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are perplexel how they will make the ola
garment hold out little longer, with
whom the great question is not which i,
the best investment or the most Lucrative.
security, but how shall / make the two
ends meet? To such people / bring thu
coincidence of this Christian truth.
You may have seen a map ON which Il
described, with red ink. the travels of tb.
children of Israel through the desert 10 III.
Promised Land. You see how thew tool
this and that direction, crossed the rive,
and went through the sea. Do you knov
God has made q map of your life with
paths leading up to this bitterness and
that success, through this river and acros,
that sea? but, blessed be God, the path nj.
ways comes out at the Promised Land
Mark that! Mark that!
Iremark again: That all those thine,
that seem lut accidents in our life ara
under the divine supervision. We some.
times seem to be going helmless and
anchorless. You say:
"If had some other trade; il 1 had not
gone there this summer; if hal lived in
some other house."
You have no right to say that. Everv
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. lie.
cause he knew it was for your good. Il
was part Of q 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 a strange way with
us. Joseph found his way to the prime
minis er's chair by being pushed into a
pit; and to many Christian down 10 I'D.
The wheat must he 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 future, so
small an event fastening two eternitiss
together.
A missionary coming from India 10 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 loosened, and.
falling, instantly killed the child. VAST
an acci.lenis Was it surprise to God?
Had he allowed his servant, after 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
soto us. God is good, and by every single
incident Of our life, whether il be adverse
or otherwise, before earth and heaven
God will demonstrate his mercy.
hear q man say: "That idea belittles
God. You bring Him down to such little
things" Oh, / have more thorough APP
probation of God i'm 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 NJ in our most Insignificant trials and
throws over US the arm Of His mercy.
Going up the White mountains some
years ago thought Of that passage in the
Bible that speaks of God as weighing
in q balance. As looked at
those great mountains thought, can it be
possible that God can put these great
In scales? 1t was an idea too
great for me to grasp; but when i saw .
down by the mules foot, on my
way mp Mount Washington, then under.
stood the kindness and goodness of God
1t ID not 10 much Of God in great things /
can understand, but of God in little things.
There il man who says: "rhat doc.
trine can not be true, because things do go
20 very wrong" Ircply, it Is NO incon-
sistency ON tho part Of God, but q lack Of
understanding on our part. l hear that
men are making very fine shawls in some
factory / 60 in ON the first floor and see
only the raw materials, and / ask: "Are
Ihese the shawis that I have heard
about:"
"No," says the manufacturer; Ego up
% the next noor;" and I go up, and there
begin to see the design. But the man
lays:
"Do not stop here; 60 up to the top door
u the factory, and you will see the idea
July carried out"
do so, and having come to the top, ses
he complete pattern Of an exquisits
'hawl So in our life, standing down on
ow level Of Christian experience, we do
lot understand Coils dealings. He tells
v to 60 mp higher and higher, until we
'egin to understand the divine meaning
With respect to US, and we advance until
ve are at the very gats Of Heaven, and
here see Gods idea eli wrought out-a
perfect idea Of mercy, Of love, Of kind.
less. And we say:
'Jast and true are all Thy ways"
It ID all right at the bottom. Remember
here IL NO inconsistency on the part Of
'od, but it 10 only our mental and spirit
al incapacity.
Some Of you have been disapf ointed this
are apt to be disap-
'oiniments-but whatever have been your
'erplexities and .worriments. know that:
Mans heart devlsesh his way, but the Lord
irecteth his steps.
Ask these aged men in this church IL it
} not 20. it has been so in my own life.
inc summer started for the Adiron-
acks, but my plans were 50 changed that
landed In Liverpool. I studied law and
got into the ministry. / resolved to 60
. q missionary to China, and I stsid In
he United States. tbou9ht would like