The record-union., 1896-10-05
GODS DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
II is Not Always Manifested by Visible
Signs.
A Thoughtful and Practical Sermon
by Rev. Mr.. Miel Of st.
Paups Church.

Last night Rev. Mr.. Mel spoke to a
large congregation at st. Paul S Church
on Gods Providence from the text,
Verify, 1 say unto you: Whatsoever
We shall ask the Father In my name He
will give 1t you
The preacher began by saying that
faith in God and Christ had, perhaps.
never been 50 shrewdly and systematic
ally assailed as of late years. Few doc
trines OF religion have been more widely
and successfully challenged than God's s
Providence. SO many of the facts Of life
are against belief in an eyer-ruling
Providence that many have lost their
faith in it. And yet if belief in God S
Providence is lost the vitality Of
Christs teachings is lost also.
What is this doctrine Of Providence
which many scout and others try to
overthrow? 1t is the doctrine which
teaches of Gods all seeingness, all
knowingness; which teaches that God
watches over His children as individuals
and communities with fatherly care and
directs events here on earth for their
ultimate good.
Against such teaching, said Mr.. Mel,
we have men telling us that the world
is governed by unchanging and un-
changeable laws. You cannot change a
law of nature; you cannot divert it from
its course; you might as well try to
switch the moon out of her orbit with a
tOoth-pick To teach men to believe in
a special everything Providence is to
teach them that child's prayer can de-
feat the divine will; is to teach them
that God is whimsical, erratic, is q God
who does not know His own mind from
one minute to another.
In reply to such reasonings, the
preacher suggested that human mind
and Will might be factor in the opera
ton of natural law and showed in many
ways how man had made natural laws
his servants, and changed effects with
out changing causes. Many of the best
fruits Of natural law were the effects Of
law controlled by human mind. Without
human thought and will, human activ-
ity, more than one natural law would
be sterile.
If natural law was sentient, if, as the
ancients thought, 1t was endowed with
will power Of its own; if natural laws
could combine and form a gigantic
trust and of their own will build cities,
fleets; weave textile fabrics, disembowel
mines; plant, grow, harvest, mill, and
bake grain; cut, sew, and mt dress
goods. cloth. and leather; If natural laws
could do this would it not all have been
done? Adam and Eve would have step
ped into an earth furnished with all
modern conveniences. There would have
been q. ceremony then, and ring and a
trousseau. Something like this would
have been. perhaps, if natural law could
of itself have produced the manifold eff
fects we see In the world to-day.
An earth with natural laws, but
minus human intelligence would be al
most as barren as the moon. An earth
in which natural laws are guided by
and made subservient to human intelii-
gence gives as a resultant the civiiiza-
ton of the year Of grace 1896. Natural
laws plus human intelligence equals
civilized effort.
Mr.. Mel followed out this line Of
thought at some length, and finally led
his hearers to the truth that God
helps those who help themselves" God,
the Father knows what IS best
to be done under all circum-
stances He endows his children
with intelligence, with knowl-
edge and with the will and ability to
act upon it. Often they fail, but their
failures fit them for future successes
Suppose John Smith Of Merced should
pray God for rain. Suppose God sent
the rain Many would say that was a
wonderful example of Gods providence
But suppose God gave Smith Of Mer-
ced brain enough and will enough to
run an irrigating ditch through his bar
rem rnesas and TO feed their hungry soil
with fertilizer. Would not that be
quite as wonderful an example Of prov
idence?
II venture to think it would" said
the speaker. II venture to think, with
others, that God has made human intel
ligence one Of the natural laws Of the
universe Gods providence need
not always work by awful, out
ward visible sign; generally
I think 1t does not so work Most times
it operates because the soul Of man is
inspired by the spirit Of wisdom and
understanding, guiding man into true
modes Of work and procedure whereby
he may control natural laws and cir
cumstances." God helps them who help
themselves. He works in men to will
and to do.
vineyard" and men. divinely endowed
and guided by the spirit Of God or by
the mind God has given them, go to
their work in this world and are re-
warded according as their work is good
or evil.
This" continued Mr.. Mel "gives
me a great deal Of comfort I like to
look up and think there is a mind be-
yond the stars. Long ago men guessed
there was a mind somewhere in the
universe, and Jesus Christ came and
told them there was a heart as well"
We are not living in this twilight land
blindly as bats or moles. We are the
children Of a Father and we are going
home.
Never let so your faith in Gods
Fatherly care Of you 1t is this faith
which viii give you courage in de
spondency, hope in despair, light in
darkness, comfort in sorrow, ffrmness
in temptation. ana confidence, boldness
no matter how hard the storm, how
black the night, how tempestuous the
sea- boldness 10 leave this earth and
walk to God across the sea of eternity.
BE not afraid: you shall not sink. You
shall rise.