The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1895-07-17
The Doctrine of chance.
By HOMER H. SHAW.


pick and varied The workings out
of human win are still more so; yet
one can not feel that this great
polyglot of natural law and human
life is simply a chaos without order
and uncontrolled. When men look
on the variety of causes, natural
and human, at work in the world
and look no further, then they feel
that chance reigns and that nothing
certain can come out of the disor-
der.
Again, there is another class of
men who call themselves fatalists.
They consider that the course of
events and human life is absolutely
fixed so that no human will can alter
it.
They have discerned the faint
glimmerings of grand and myster-
ious truth. If man looks forward
into the future, he sees himself ca
pable of choosing his way of doing
as he will. If he looks backward
over the way he has already come,
he discovers that his course often
times has been traced out by
mightier power than. his. To this
class, and to all classes of men, there
is but one reply. 1t is God who
holds the reins of this world and is
driving it on His own plan. These
comprehend in their details the life
of every child of God. Their great
consummation is the final and COM
plete establishment of the kingdom
of God. Sometimes in the multipli-
city of details, one may wonder
whether or not God does really see
and know all his life, and his plan
for it. What place in His kingdom
has a cup of water given in the
name of disciple? But when in
the hereafter the kingdom of God
shall be viewed in its completeness
then it will be seen that all the little
services and all the larger ones will
have their places among the causes
which produced the final result. 1t
may not be seen today why in the
providence of God one man should
be elected to the Presidency of this
great country rather than some
other one; neither could it in 1860.
And yet now, even in this short re-
Prospect we feel that it was q marked
ordering of Providence that Abra-
ham Lincoln should have come forth
just at the right time. God had his
own plans, and men in the exercise
of their own free will helped toward
the accomplishment of them. 1t is
not always for a .man to know, but
it is always for him to work and
watch and wait.
Look on pages of Chinese print.
1t seems only a wilderness of dots,
marks and unintelligible figures;
but those who make it find order,
meaning and understanding in it.
God holds the key to all events,
and how He uses them is not often
ours to see. In some favored hour
a man has moments of spiritual ex-
altation; he catches a glimpse of the
divine framework upon which is
built a nations history, or sees the
Divine plan on which a human life
has been wrought out. These mo-
ments are marked as places where
God meets man. But God had
been just as much present all along
in those places which men called
dark. Their ignorance of it did
not affect His presence and His
over ruling. But some one will
say: Glow, then, can 1 help my
self if God controls all things? Am
still free?" Yes; who is there not
conscious of his power to do abso-
lutely as he will? He may 90 this
way or he may go that; he is con-
scious of no restraint. If a man
has taken God into his heart and
become a servant of the Most High,
his spirit is changed and he is ready
to say: cit is the Lord; let Him do
what seemeth to Him good" He is
content because he believes that
Gods choice for him is better than
his choice for himself. God only
knows what is to be accomplished
by his life, and SO no one knows so
well as He how to use that life so
as to accomplish the desired result.
MARRIED.-At the home of the
brides parents, in this place, last
night, July 18th, 1895, by Rev. Cor
rell, of Trinity Church, Mr.. Austin
E. Roush, to Miss Charlotte Blair.
The happy young couple have the
best wishes of the REGISTER.