The Farmville herald. [volume] (Farmville, Va.) 1890-1934, 1905-05-12
A MEASUREMENT.
Not True That Everything Happens
for the Best-What Scrip
ture Does Say.

things happen because Of sin, and sin
is never for the best. Paul says that
where sin abounded, grace did much
more abound. But We are not therefore
to suppose that God was dependent on
sin for the manifestation OF His grace.
OF course nothing ever happens that
defeats Gods ultimate purposes GOO
is able TO oyerrule all evil and accident
to His own gracious designs. But evil
is evil. and God does not cause it, or
desire it, or need it.
Because OF the rascality Of a brother,
a gentleman lost his money and failed |
in business. That misfortune turned |
his attention to religious work, and he |
became a most devoted lay evangelist.
He always said that his loss Of money |
was really blessing. But the wicked
ness OF the brother was not part OF |
Gods plan. Indeed that brother de-
generated and lived an unblest life.
There are a great many bad things
in this world for which God is not re-
sponsible and which He does not de-
sire. And In the wake Of wlckedness,
partly connected with 1t oftentimes. is
much sadness and sorrow. We must
not ascribe all these calamities to God,
and say: Everything happens for the
best" The Scripture does not say that
all things are good. but that all things
work together for good to them that
love God. The world is not as God
would have Il. But Gods power is such
that He can bring His people to their
highest development in the world as
il is.
Leaving aside the mystery OF the
origin Of suffering and evil, It is evil
dent that they become servants In the
hand OF God for our moral training
What kind Of a man could be produced
in this way: Let him have everything
that he desires, let him succeed in all
his undertakings. let people fulfill all
their engagements with him, let him
never suffer accident, never be disap-
pointed, never be misunderstood, never
be sick, never be wearied, never be over
worked? II is evident that no man could
be so shielded and pampered without
becoming selfish, self-suficlent, unsym-
pathetic, oyerbearing. IL is the yeriest
truism that men must fight, and suffer,
and wait, in order to be strong.
But while we may readily admit the
general proposition that certain trials
are necessary for the development OF
character, says the Sunday School
Times, We see so clearly how our par
ticular vexings and annoyances could
have been avoided, that we often fail
to apply the principle In our own lives.
The trouble that came last week, We
argue, was not a part Of our Christian
discipline, because II was caused by the
foolishness Of such a one and by the
wickedness OF that other one, and the
accident which happened was due to
purely natural causes.
Yet It is part Of the essential expert
ence Of life to meet the foolishness and
wickedness OF men. and 10 live among
material conditions God may not di-
rectly cause them or bring them. We
may be able to trace them all to their
beginnings, and see how all might have
been different. But God will be In them
all If We are willing that He shall be.
The blessed assurance for the Christian
is that all Of them may be helpful, and
none OF them harmful, and that all
things may work together for his good.
Therein IS the distinction between
fatalism and faith Islam is submission
to fate; Gods will is inevitable; man
can only bow TO IT, and hope in the
Divine mercy. But yirile Christian faith
is far different Here is a world Of
mighty forces, in which a man must do
bis best. He must study and strive,
he must adapt himself to the material
conditions IN which he finds himself,
for his fortune will depend largely upon
his own efforts. Here. too, is world'of
persons endowed with moral response
bility, who act and react upon one an
other. And the Christian must meet
his fellow men in a thousand varying
relations. But God Is with him Ia the
midst OF all, Transforming every evil into
spiritual blessing, bringing good out OF
every accident, trouble, and irritation,
using every circumstance and situation
that comes in the complex play Of
things and persons for the furthering Of
his high design that we shall be con-
formed TO the image Of His Son.
This noble faith is wonderfully pic
tured in the Book Of Revelation. What
ever may be the details Of interpreta-
tlon OF that difficult writing, its main
thought is clear and beautiful. On the
earth are prosecutions and calamities,
war and pestilence. There is all man
ner OF inlquity. God is not the cause OF
IL. but strange powers Of wickedness
aisobedient TO His will are. The dwell
ers on earth in the midst Of the awful
perplexities cannot see any sign that
God Is caring for them. But every
chapter reveals that God IS on the
throne, and the Lamb Is with Him.
Love is at the heart Of the universe.
And that Love Is omnipotent. and seeth
the end from the beginning. At last the
end IS revealed. Every evil yanishes,
and the saints who have come out Of the
tribulation are seen to have been puri-
fed in the process, while new earth
reveals Gods power to bring out all
things well.
Everything does not happen Tor the
best, but out Of everything that happens
God will bring the best 70 the sou. that
Is believing and responsive.
The Workerls Reward