The Lexington dispatch. [volume] (Lexington, South Carolina) 1870-1917, 1896-07-01
GOD IN EVERYTHING.

UUD LIN II LII l. i llI1NN.
BUT REV. DR.. TALMAGE EMPHASIZES
HIS EXISTENCE IN MINOR AFFAIRS.
The Eloquent Preacher Says We Can Never
Get Beyond the Limit God Has Laid
Down For Our Prosperity-so We Must
Be Content.
WASHINGTON, June 21.-A most up
lifting truth is presented in DR.. Tai
raage's discourse of today. His text
was Matthew K, 20: care not two spar
rows sold fer a farthing? And one OF
them shall not fall on the ground with
out your Father" p"
You see the Bible will not be limited
in the choice of symbols. There is hardly
a beast or bird or insect which has not
been called to illustrate some divine
truth-the ox's patience, the ants IN
dustry, the spiders skill. the kinds
surefootedness, the eagles speed, the
doves gentleness, and even the spar
rows meanness and insiguificance. In
oriental countries none fut the poorest
people buy the sparrow and eat lt-so
very little meat is there on the bones,
and SC very poor is it, what there is OF
it. The comfortable population would
not think of touching it any more than
you would think Of eating bat or
lamprey. Now, says Jesus, if God takes
such good care of a poor bird that is not
worth a cent, will he not care for you,
an immortal?
We associate God with revolutions.
We can see divine purpose in the dis
coyery Of America, in the invention OF
the art of printing, in the exposure OF
the gunpowder plot, in the contrivance
of the needle gun, in the ruin Of an
Austrian or Napoleonic despotlsln; but
how hard it is to see God in the minute
personal affairs of our lives! We think
of Gcd as making record of the starry
host, but cannot realize the Bible truth
that lie knows how many hairs are on
our head. It seems a grand thing that
God provided food for hundreds OF
thousands of Israclites in the desert; but
we cannot appreciate the truth that,
when sparrow is hungry, Gcd stoops
down and opens its mouth and puts the
seed in. We are struck with the idea
that God fills the universe with his
presence, but cannot understand how he
encamps in the crystal palace Of dew
drop, or finds room to stand between the
alabaster pillars Of the pond LILY. We
can see God in the clouds. Can we see
God in these flowers at our feet?
God In All.
We are apt to place God on some great
stage-or to try to do doit-expecting him
there to act out his stupendous projects,
but we forget that the life of Crom-
well, all Alexander or a Washington
or an archangel is not more under d.
vine inspection than your life or mine.
Pompey thought there must be a mist
over the eyes of God because he so much
favored Caesar. But there is no such
mist. He sees everything. Wesay Gods
path is in the great waters. True
enough; but no more certainly than he
is in the water in the glass on the table.
We say God guides the stars in their
courses Magnificent 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 upon an Indifferent or unsympa-
thetic throne, but that he sits down be-
side you today, and stands beside me
today, and no affair of our lives is so
insignificant but that it is Of Importance
to God
In the first place, God chooses our &C.
cupation for US. am amazed to see
how many people there are dissatisfied
with the work they have to do. l 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 profession. l
want to tell you that God put into oper-
alton all the influences which led you to
that particular choice. Many of you are
not in the business that you expected to
be in. You started fer the ministry and
learned merchandise; you started for the
law and you are physician; you pre-
ferred agriculture and you became a
mechanic. You thought one way; Gcd
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 We're
made what you are.
Hugh Miller says, 81 will be a stone
mason;' God says, "You will be
geologist David goes out to attend his
fathers sheep; God calls him to govern
a nation. Saul goes out to hunt his IA
theirs asses, and before he gets back
finds the crown Of regal dominion. How
much happier would we be If we We're
content with the places God gave US!
God saw your temperament and all the
circumstances by which you were sur
rounded, and believe nine-tenths Of
YOU are III the work you are best fitted
for hear a great racket III my watch,
and I fEd that the hands, and the
wheels, and the springs are getting cut
Of their places. / send it down to the
jewelers. and say, Overhaul that watch
and teach the wheels, and the spring,
and the hands to mind their own bust
ness" You know man having large
estate. He gathers his working hands
in the morning, and says to one, "You
20 and trim that vine;" to another,
You go and weed those flowers;' to
another, "You plow that tough glebe;'
and each one goes to his particular
work. The owners of the estate points
the man TO what lie knows he can do
best, and so it is with the Lord
He Arranges All.
remark further that God has ar
ranged the place Of our dwelling. What
particular city CT town, street CT house
.o,, chnl livn in seems 10 be a moro