St. Landry democrat., 1886-08-07


ways comes out at the Promised Land.
Mark that! Mark that!
Iremark again: That all those things
that seem but accidents in our life are
under the divine supervision. We some-
times seem to be going helmless and
anchorless You say:
"lf 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 carried, IS under
divine inspection, and that event which
startled your whole household with hor-
ror, God met with perfect placidty, DO.
cause he knew it was for your good. It
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 a strange way with
US. Joseph found his way to the prime
minister's chair by being pushed into q
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 Attic ted;
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 70 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. Was 1t
an accident? Was it a surprise to God?
Had he allowed his servant, after life of
conservation, to come to such trial2 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 man say: "That idea belittles
God. You bring Him down to such little
things" Oh, I have a more thorough ap-
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 tire.
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 I thought of that passage in the
Bible that speaks of God as weighing
in 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 saw q
blue-be down by the mules foot, on my
way up Mount Washington, then UNDER
stood the kindness and goodness of God.
1t is not so much of God in great things I
can understand, but of God in little things.
There is man who says: "That doc.
trine can not be true, because things do go
so very wrong" Ireply, it is no incon-
sistency on the part of God, but lack of
understanding on our part. I hear that
men are making very fine shawls in some
factory. / go in on the first floor and see
only the raw materials, and ask: care
these the shawls that I have heard
about?" .U@
'sNo," says the manufacturer; ego up
to the next ioor;" and go up, and there
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 q |
low level of Christian experience, we do |
not understand Gods dealings. He tells
is to go 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 |
here 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
here is no Inconsistency on the part of
3od, but it Is only our mental, and spirit.
lai incapa city.
Some of you have been disappointed this
are apt to be disap.
,ointments-but whatever have been your
and worriments. know that:
Mans heart deviseth his way, but the Lord /
airecteth his steps.
Ask these aged men in this church if it
8 not SO. 1t has been SO in my own life.
)ne summer I started for the Adiron-
lacks, but my plans were so changed that
landed in Liverpool. I studied law and
got into the ministry. resolved to go
IS missionary to China, and staid in
he United States. Thought would like
o be in the East, and went to the West
all the circumstances of my life, all my
york, different from that which ex.
ected.
A mans heart deviseth his way, but the