Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1896-07-01
GOD GUIDES ALL.
One Hand That Never Grows Tired.
an Eye That Never Sleeps.
God Directs Every Detail of Our Smallest
Affairs and Watches Over All Our
Pleasures and Our Cares-sermon
by Rev. +. Dewitt TaimaEe, DID.


by Rev. T. Dewitt TalmaRe, DID,
most uplifting truth is presented
in DIR. Talmages discourse of Sunday.
His text was Matt X, 30: Are not two
sparrows sold for farthing? and one
of them shall not fall on the ground
without your Father"
You see the Bible will not be limited
I'm choice of symbols. There Is hardly
bea$t, or bird, or insect which has not
been called to illustrate some divine
truts-the ox's patience, the ants in
dustry, the spiders skill, the hind1s
surefootedncss, tho eagles speed,
the dove'o gentlencas and even
the sparrow's mcanness and insig-
nificance. In the oriental countries
none but the poorest people buy the
sparrow and eat it-so very little meat
Is there on the bones, and SO poor is il
what there IS of it. The comfortable
population would not think of touch
ing it any more than they would think
of eating n bat or lamprey. Now,
says Jesus, if God takes such good care
of poor bird that is not worth cent,
will He not care for you, an immortal?
We associate God with revolutions.
covery of America, in the invention of
the art of printing, in the exposure of
the gunpowder plot, in the continuance
of the needle gun, in the ruin of an
Austrian or Napoleonic despotism; but
| il is hard to see God in the minute
| personal affairs of our lives We think
Of God as making a record of the starry
host, but can hot realize the Bible
truth that He knows how many hairs are
on our head. 1t seems a grand thing for
/ God to provide food for hundreds of
thousands of lsraelites in the desert:
| but we can not appreciate the truth
that, when the sparrow is hungry, God
stoops down and opens it's mouth and
puts the seed in. We are struck with
the idea that God fills the universe
with His presence, but can not under
stand how He encamps in the crystal
palace of n dewdrop, or finds room to
stand between the alabaster pillars of
the pond lily. We can not see God in
the clouds. Can we see God in the
flowers at our feet?
We are apt to place God upon some
great stage-or to try to do it-cxpect-
ing Him there to act out His stupen-
dous projects, but we forget that the
life of Cromwell, an Alexander, or a
Washington, or an archangel, is not
more under Divine inspection than
your life or mine. Pompey thought
there must be n mist over the ewes of
| God because He so much favored
Caesar. But there is no such mist. He
sees everything. We say Gods path is
in the great waters. True enough but no
more certainty than He is in the water
in the glass on the table. We say God
guides the stars in their courses. Mag
nificent truth! but no more certain
truth than that He decides which road
or street you shall take in coming to
church. Understand that God does not
sit npon an indifferent or unsym-
pathetic throne, but that He sits down
beside you to-day, and stands beside
me to-day, and no affair of our lives
is SO insignificant but that it is of inn
portance to God.
In the first place God chooses our
occupation for us. / am amazed to see
how many people there are dissatisfied
with the work they have to do 1
think three-fourths wish they were in
some other occupation, and they spend
great deal of time in regretting that
they got in the wrong trade or profess
sion. / want to tell you that
God put into operation all the infiu-
ences which led to that particular
choice. Many of you are not in the
business that you expected to be in.
You started for the ministry and
learned merchandise; you started for
the law and you are physician; you
preferred agriculture and you became
mechanic. You thought one way;
God thought another But you ought
not to sit down and mourn over the
past You are to remember that God
arranged all these circumstances by
which you were made what you are.
Hugh Miller says: ~ will be n stone
mason;" God says, You will be geolog-
ist.' David goes out to attend his
fathers sheep; God calls him to govern
nation. Saul goes out to hunt his
| fathers asses, and before he gets back
finds the crown of regal dominion.
How much happier would we be if we
were content with the places God gave
us. God saw your temperament and
all the circumstances by which
! you were surrounded. and be-
lievc ninc-tenths OF YOU are in the
work you arc best fitted for I hear a
great racket in my watch, and / find
that the hands and the wheels and the
springs are getting out of their places.
] send it down to the jewelers. and say,
Overhaul that watch, and teach the
wheels, and the springs and the hands
to mind their own business" You
know man having large estate. lie
gathers his working hands in the morn
ing, and says TO one: You go and
trim that vine;" 20 another: You 20
and weed those flowers" 20 another:
You pillow the tough glcbc;" and each
one goes TO his particular work. The
owner Of the estate points the man TO
what he knows he car do best, and so
IL is with the Lord
remark further that God has ar
ranged the place Of our dwelling.
What particular city or town. street or
house YOU shall live in seems 10 be a
mere matter Of accident You 90 out
TO hunt for house, ard you happen 20
pass up certain street and happen TO
see sign, and you select that
house. Was it all happening so? Oh.
no! God guided you in every step. He
foresaw the future. lie knew all your
circumstance. and he selected lust that
one house as better for YOU than any Of