St. Landry democrat., 1886-08-07

1 SUI Ons no' 0Od gulueQ you In every sCop,
He foresaw the future. He knew all your
circumstances, and he selected just that
one house as better for you than any one
of the 10000 habtations of the city. Our
house, however humble the root and how
ever lowly the portals, is as near God
heart as an Alhambra or a Kremlin
Prove 1t you say. Proverbs, ill.,, SO:
| He biesseth the habitation of the just.
| Iremark, further: That God arranges
| all our frien dships. You were driven to
| the wall. You found man just at tn at
crisis who sympathized with you and
| helped you. You say: "How lucky
wasp There was no luck about it. God
| sent that friend just as certain as He sent
| the angel to strengthen Christ. Your
domestic friends, your busin ess friends,
your Christian friends, God sent them to
bless you, and if any of them have proved
traitorous it is only to bring out the value
| of those who remain. IL some die, it is
only that they may stand at the outpost
Of heaven to greet you at your coming.
You always will have friends, warm
hearted friends, magnanimous friends,
and when sickness comes to your dwelling
comes to your heart there will be sympa.
thizers; when death comes there will be
gentle fingers to close the eyes and fold
the hands. and gentle lips to tell of
resurrection. 0, we are comprised by
body guard of friends Every man, If he
has behaved himself we'll, is surrounded
by three circles of friends-those of the
outer circle, wishing him well; those in
the next circle, willing to help him; while
close up to his heart are few who would
die for him. God pity the wretch who has
not any friends! He has not behaved
well.
Iremark again: That God puts down
the limit to our temporal prosperity. The
world of finance seems to have no God in
it. You can not tell where man will
land. The affiuent fall; the poor rise.
The ingenious fail; the ignorant succeed.
An enterprise opening grandly shuts in
bankruptcy. while out of the peat dug up
from some New England marsh the mill
lionaire builds his fortune. The poor man
thinks it is chance that keeps him down;
the rich man thinks it is chance which
holds him up, and they are both wrong. It
is SO hard to realize that God rules
the money market, and has hook
in the nose of the stock gambler, and that
all of the commercial revolutions
Of the world shall result in the very best
for Gods dear children. My brethren, do
not kick against the divine allotments.
God knows just how much money it is
best for you to lose. You never gain un-
less it is best for you to gain. You go up
when it is best for you to go up, and go
down when it is best for you to go down.
Prove it, you say. I will: Romans, viii,
%:
All things work together for good to them
that love God
There are two things, says an old prov
erb, you ought not to fret about: First,
things that you can help; and, second,
things which you can not help. II you can
help them, why do you not apply the rem
edyS II you can not help them, you might
as well sur ender first as last. My dear
brethren, do not sit any longer moping
about your ledger. Do not sit looking SO
Responding upon your stock of unstable
goods. Do you think that God is going to
allow you, Christian man, to do business
alone? God is the controlling partner in
every firm; and although your debtors
may abscond; although your securities
may fail; although your store may burn,
God will, out of an infnity of results,
choose for you the very best results. Do
not have any idea that you can overstep
he limit that God has laid down for your
prosperity. You will never get one inch
beyond it. God has decided how
much prosperity you can stand hon.
orably and employ usefuily, and con-
troll righteously; and at the end of |
1886 you will have just 50 many |
dollars and cents, just so much wardrobe, |
just so much furniture, just SO many bonds |
and mortgages, and nothing more. Twill |
give you 500 for every penny beyond |
that. God has looked over your life. He |
knows what 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.
1t is like boy at school with long |
sum that he can not 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 can
not get out Of it, and cleaning the slate,
says: Begin again." just so God does
20 us. Our affairs get into an inextricable
and he rubs everything out
and says: "Begin again!" Is he not
wise and loving in so doing?
think the trouble is, that there is so
arge d ifference between the divine and
;he human estimate as to what is enough.
have heard Of people striving for that
which ieenough, but never heard Of any
me who had enough. What God calls
enough for man, man calls too little.
What man calls enough, God says is too
much. The difference between a poor
nan and a rich man is only the