The Marlboro democrat. [volume] (Bennettsville, S.C.) 1882-1908, 1896-04-22

that in this life you hide it, aud Won
get along with this transgresss ion n
burning In your heart, as a ship on
lire within for days hinders the flames
from bursting out by keeping down
the hatchets,. yet at last III the iudg-
ment that iniquity will blaze out be-
fore God and the universe.
Learn also from this subject that
there ls On lnseparable connection be-
Tween oil events, however remote.
Inc universe is only one thought of
!aa. Ihoso things which seemed
tragmentary and isolated are only
dl1terent parts Of that great thought.
LOW 1ar apart seemed these two events
Joseph sold to the Arabian mer-
cnants ana his rulership of Egypt, yet
you sec IN what a my sterious way God
corrected the two into one nlan 81
the events are linked together. You
who are aged men look bacl, and
group together q thousand things in
your life that once seemed isolated.
Ono undivided chain of events reaches
from tho garden of Eden to the cross
OF calvary and thus up to the King
dom of heaven. There is o relation
between the smallest insect that huns
In the summer air and the archangel
on his throne. God can trace q direct
ancestral line from the blue iay that
this spring will build its nest in the
tree behind the house to some one of
tn, flock of birds which, when Noah
hoised the ark's window, with whir
and q dash of bright wings went out
to sing over Mount Ararat. The tulips
that bloom in the garden this spring
| were nursed by the snowtlakes The
farthest star on one side OF the uni
verse could not look ktoward the farth-
est star on the other side of the uni
verse and say, You are no relation
tn me, fofl whom that bright orb O
voice of light would ring across thu
| heavens responding, .'Yes, yes, we
are sisters" Nothing in Gods uni
verse swings at loose ends. Accidents
are only Gods way of turning leaf
in the book of his eternal decrees.
From our cradle to our grave there is
a path all marked out. Each event in
our life is connected with every other
event in our life. Our losses may be
the most direct road to our gain, Our
defeat and our victory are twin
brothers.
The whole direction of your life was
changed by something which at the
time seemed to you triiling, while
some occurrence which seemed tre-
mendous affected you but little. Gods
plans are magnificent beyond all com
prehension. He molds us and turns
and directs us and we know it not.
Thousands of years are to him as the
flight of a shuttle. The most terrific
! occurrence does not make God trem-
| bic. The most triumphant achieve
| ment does not lift him into rapture.
That one great thought OF God goes
out through the centuries, and nations
rise and fall, and eras pass. and the
world changes, but God still keeps the
undivided mastery, linking event to
event and century to century. To
God they are all one event ono his
tory, one plan, one development, one
system. Great and marvellous are thy
works, Lord God Almighty I was
years ago in New Orleans at the expo
sition rooms, when telegram was
sent to the president Of the United
States at Washington, and we waited
some Is or 90 minutes, and then the
presidents answer came back, and
then the presiding officer waved his
handkerchief and the signal was sent to
Washington that we were ready to
have the machinery of the exposition
started, and the president put his An
ger on the electric button, and instant
ly the great Corliss wheel began to
moye-rumbling, rumbling, rolling,
rolling. It was overwhelming, and
$4,000 people clapped and shouted
Just one finger at Washington started
that vast machinery, hundreds and
hundreds of miles away, and thought
then, as l think now, that men some
times touch Influences that respond in
the far distance, 40 years from now,
30 years from now, 1000 years from
now.-1, 900, 900 years from now-one
touch sounding through the ages.
We also learn from this story the
propriety of laying up for the future
During the seven years Of plenty
Joseph prepared for the famine, and
when it came he had crowded store
house. Tho life of most mon in a
worldly respect is divided into years
of plenty and famine It is seldom
thatany man passes through life with
out at least seven years of plenty.
During those seven years your bust
ness bears rich harvest. You scarce
ly know where all the money comes
from, it comes SO fast. Every bar
gain you make seems to turn in to
gold. You contract few bad debts.
You are astonished with large divi-
dends. You invest moro and more
capital. You wonder how men can be
content with a small business, gather
ing in only afew hundred dollars,
while you reap your thousands.
Those are seven years ofplcnty. Now
threatened famine, for to almost
every man there do come seven years
of famine. You will be sick, you
will be unfortunate, you will be de-
frauded, there will be hard times,
you will be disappointed, and il you
have no storehouse upon which to fall
back you may be famine struck. We
have no admiration for this denying
oneself all personal comfort and luxu-
ry for the mere pleasure of boarding
up, this grasping for the Nero pleas.
ure of seeing how large pile you can
get, this always being poor because as
soon as a dollar comes in it is sent out
to see if it can find another dollar, SO
that 1t can carry it home on it's back.
We have contempt for all those
things, but there is an intelligent and
noble minded forecast which we love
.