Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1899-01-12
A NEW YEAR PROMISE.
Expo rienees Which Seem Hsndrances
Are RcalIy HeIps-.soy and sorrow
Tend 10 Coed Results.

Is we start anew ApCH aHOtAer
twelvemonth. it is natural 10 wonder
what it is TO bring 10 Us. are our ex-
periences TO be good or haas are the
iovs to predominant or the sorrows?
Shall we have the things l1e most de-
sire, or will the bitter things crowd cut
he sweet2 We ask such questions as
these because we are in the habit of
thus dividing our experiences. In one
class we put all those which give US
pleasure and cali them good; in the
ether all those which give US pain, and
call them evil. Is every individual life,
then, made up OF good and evil things
in varying proportions? If so, then
those who have the most discipline fare
the worst and those who have the least
are to be congratulated, and we must
count the past year good or bad ac-
cording TO the preponderance OF the
pleasant or the unpleasant.
This is neither good Christian nor
even good heather philosophy. Soc
rates. the heather sage. said: No
evil can happen TO good man, either in
life or after death" Paul, the Christian
Apostle, put the truth in the positive
-
good to them who love God and are the
called according to His purpose" The
idea of the Grecian philosopher was
that pain and toll, sorrow and Attic
ton, loss of friends and possessions.
are not evils, but part OF the discipline
of life They do not work injury to the
soul. over which death itself has no
mower. Accident ard outward circum-
stance cannot overwhelm; evil can only
come by choice. The Christian philoso-
pher carries the thought further, and
saws that all those experiences which
men call bad or sad and which they
think themselves happy to escape, re-
suit in good to him whose faith IS liked
| in God They are not hindrances, but
helps. They work together for good;
ard whether sunshine or storm, JOY
or sorrow, health or disease predomi-
note. the result must still be good. Suf-
fering is not the sign of evil, else were
the life of Christ bad indeed. The af-
| ELECTIONS Of Job were not due TO his in
| iauity, as his counselors assumed.
Gods wrath was kindled against them;
but He accepted Job and restored TO
| him in double measure.
/ 1t was the cry Of Jocob, when his
sons found the purchase money for The
corn ir the mouth Of their sacks, and
Joseph and Simeon and Benjamin did
not returns: "All these things are
against me-" lie judged by appear
anccs, and Judged wrongly. Those
very things were working together for
! his good The disciples judged that
the betrayal Of Christ, His arrest, trial,
sentence. crueiixion. death, were the
triumph of the forces of evil. Never
were men more disappointed, dis
tressed. dismayed. They trusted
| that ii had been Christ which
| should have redeemed Israel; but
| everything was lost. All their hopes
we're shattered. IT was as though the
sun had suddenly been blotted out.
But the resurrection opened their
blind eyes and they saw that TO ca
| lamity had happened. but that those
things which to them had seemed only
evil had worked together for good. Not
Islael alone. but the whole world was
redeemed. and what they had counted
dreadful irremediable disaster was vic
| tory incompara BILE. glory unspeakaoie
If Ne are to take this view Of expert
ences, all things are really ours, and
4 there is no such thing as defeat for him
Il whose faith is fixed in God. For moth
ing external 10 ourselves can separate
Ms from the love Of God. and this will
carry us triumphantly through all that
can be brought against us in life and
death.
In this spirit we see the eheckeret
history Of the past year rs ministerine
10 our gain. and we look forward to the
coming year without dread of what il
may contain. knowing that whatever
our lot may he we shall have advantage
For the Christian has not only tbs
promise of the life that now is but alsC
of that which is to come.-N. Y. hide
! pendent