The Opelousas courier., 1890-02-01

LEU SIdSSSS. Nv 4uOTS StuuylDS Lice LII lIo
darkness. But, as long as this throne stands,
and this everlasting river flows, and those
garlands bloom, and these arches of victory
remain to greet home heavens conquerors,
SO long I shall see Thee, Jesus of my choice;
Jesus Of my song; Jesus of my triumph-for-
ever and foreyer-face to facet"
The idea Of my texts is just as true when
applied to Gods providence. Who has not
come to some pass in life thoroughly mex
plicable? You say: "What does this mean?
What is God going to do with me now? He
tells me that all things work together for
good. This does not look like it." You con-
tinue to study the dispensation, and after a
while guess about what God means. HE
means to teach me this. Think He means to
pride. Perhaps it is to. make me feel more
dependent. Perhaps to teach me the uncer-
tainty of life" But after all, it is only q
guess-a looking through the glass, darkly.
The Bible assures US there shall be a ~satisfac-
tory unfolding. "What I do thou knowest
not now; but thou shalt know hereafter"
You will know why God took to Himself that
only child. Mex door there was a household
Of seven children, Why not take one from
that group, instead of your only one! Why
single out the dwelling in which there was
only one heart beating responsive to yours?
Why did God give you a child at all, if He
meant to take it away9 Why fill the cup of
your gladness trimming, if He meant to dash
it DOWN. Why allow all the tendrils of your
heart to wind around that object, and then,
when every fibre of your own life seemed to
be interlocked with the child's life, with
strong hand to tear you apart, until you fall
bleeding and crushed, your dwelling desolate,
your hopes blasted, your heart broken? Do
you suppose that God will explain that? Yea
He will make it palmer than any mathemat
ical probler1-as plain as chat two and two
make four. In the light of the throne you
will see that it was right-all right "Just
and true are all Thy ways, Thou King of
Saints"
Here is a man who cannot get on in the
world. He always seems to buy at the
wrong time and to sell at the worst disad-
vantage. He tries this enterprise, and fails;
that business, and is disappointed. The man
next door to him has a lucrative trade, but
he lacks customers. A new prospect opens.
His income is increased. But that year his
family are sick; and the profits are expended
i'm trying to cure the ailments He gets a
discouraged look. Becomes faithless as to
success. Begins to expect disasters. Others
wait for something to turn up; he waits for
it to turn down.. Others, with only half as
much education and character, get on twice
as well. He sometimes guesses as to what it
all means. He says: Perhaps riches would
spoil me. Perhaps poverty is necessary to
keep me humble. Perhaps I might, if things
were otherwise, be tempted into dlssipa-
tons But there is no complete solution of
the mystery. He sees through a glass, dark
ly, and must wait for q higher unfolding.
Will there be an explanation? Yes; Goo
will take that man in the lighto the throne,
and say: "Child immortal, hear the explana-
ton! You remember the falling of that
| great enterprise. This is the explanation"
And you will answer: 'It is all rightm
l see, every day, profound mysteries Of
Providence. There is no question re ask
oftener than Why? There are hundreds Of
graves that need to be explained. Hospitals
for the blind and lame, asylums for the lido
tic and insane, almshouses for the destitute,
and a world of pain and misfortune that de-
mand more than human solution. Ali God
will clear it all up. In the light that pours
from the throne, no dark mystery can live.
Things now utterly inscrutable will be- lie
lumined as plainly as though the Answer
were written on the jasper wall, or sounded
J in the temple anthem. Bartimeus will thank
God that he was blind; and Lazarus that he
was covered with sores; and Joseph that he
was cast into the pit; and Daniel that he
denned with lions; and Paul that he was
humpbacked; and David that he was driven
from Jerusalem; and the sewing-woman that
she could get only a few pence for making a
garment; and that invalid that for twenty
| years he could not lift his head from the pill
low; and that widow that she had such hard
work to earn bread for her children. You
know that in a song different voices carry
different parts. The sweet and overwhelm-
ing part of the hallelujah of heaven will not
be carried by those who rode in high places
and gave sumptuous entertainments; but
pauper children will sing it, beggars will
sing it, redeemed hod-carriers will sing it,
those who were once the offscouring of earth
will sing it. The hallelujah will be all the
grander for earth's weeping eyes, and aching
heads, and exhausted hands, and scourged
backs, int m%artyred agonies.
Again: The thought of my texts is true
whom applied to the enjoyment of the right
eous in heaven. I think we ave but little
idea of the number of the righteous in heav-
en-. Infidels say: "Your heaven will be O
very small place compared with the world Of
the lost: for, according to your teaching, the
majority of men will be destroyed" Ideny
the charge. | suppose tat the multitude OF
the finally lost, as compared with the multi-
tude of the finally saved, will be a handful.
I suppose that the few sick peoplein the hos
| pitfalls of our great cities, as compared with
the hundreds of thousands of well people,
| would not be smaller than the number of
those who shall be cast out in suffering, COM
pared with those who shall have upon them
the health of heaven. For we are to remenl-
| Der that we are living in only the beginning
| of the Christian dispensation, and that this
whole world is to bepopulated and redeemed,
and that ages of light and love are to flow
on. If this be SO, the multitudes of the saved
| will be in vast majority. Take all the con-
gregations that have assembled for worship.
throughout Christendom. Put them together,
| and tIev would make but a small audience
! compared with the thousand and tens Of
! thousands. and ten thousand times ten thou
sand. and the hundred and forty and four
thousand that shall stand around the
throne. Those flashed up to heaven in
[ martyr fires; those tossed for many years
upon the invalid couch; those fought in the
armies of liberty, and rose as they fell;
| those tumbIed from high ~scafolding, or
slipped from the mast, or were washed off
into the sea. They came up from Corinth.
from Laodicea, from the Red Sea bank and
Gennesarets wave, from Egyptian brick
yards, and Gideon's threshing floor. Those
thousands Of years ago slept the last sleep,
and these are this moment having their eyes
closed, and their limbs stretched out for the
/ sepulcher.
A General expecting an attack from the
enemy stands on a hill and looks through q
field glass, and sees, in the great distance,
multitudes approaching, but has no idea of
their numbers. He says: 81 cannot tell any
thing about them. / merely know that there
are a great number" And so John, without
attempting to count, says: "A great multi
tude that no man can NUMBER We are
told that heaven is a place of happiness; but
what do we know about happinessi Happi-
ness in this world is only a half fedged thing;
a fowery path, with a serpent Kissing across
it,; a broken pitcher, from which the water
has dropped before we could drink it; a thrill
of exhilaration, followed by disastrous re.
actions. To help us understand the joy Of
heaven, the Bible takes us to a river, We
stand on the grassy bank. Yves see the waters
flow on with c~easaless wave. But the filth
of the cities is ernptied into it, and the banks