Arizona republican., 1909-03-15
COMFORT AND COURAGE
 THE GIFTS 0F GOD
The Theme of Rev. MT. Campbell at the Presbyterian Church Yesterday Morning.

Rev. Henry Martyr Campbell yester-
 day morning preached from the text,
 Be of good courage" the last express
 sion of the sixth verse of the forty first chapter of Isaiah. His theme
 was "A Comforting Exhortation." The 1 following extracts are taken from the
 discourse:
 Comfort and courage are two things
 that God is desirous that His loved
 ones shall come into possession of. The words of the text are more than ordi- narily applicable to the circumstances | in which we live Few pastors find
 themselves in surroundings that so often call for the word of comfort and
 cheer as the pastors who serve the
 churches of this community. All about | us are those who are ready to say,
 Who will show us anS good?' My l message this morning is to be a mes
 sage of comfort.
 Be encouraged because God is great | The writer of the text understood that | there was to be courage drawn from
 the fact that God is great. In the
 fOrtieth chapter he wrote of the great
 ness of God, saying, Behold, the na-
 tions are as a drop of a bucket and
 are counted as the small dust of the
 balance; behold. He taketh up the isles as a very little thing There are those who say that because God is so great | He does not notice us little creatures. | But God does think of us. Because We are so small and so helpless, He cares for us. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might | He giveth strength What difference ss.s,. a snowflake or an avalanche falls upon l il? What difference does it make to our God what comes to pass, when His hand is over all and His arms are around about all. Men look with trem- bling on the beauty of a sunset; they stand and view with awe the Grand canyon of Arizona; their hearts are stirred with wonder as they think how the world swings in its orbit. held by a mighty power. When we think of ! these things and think that the God who made the hills and the valleys, the plains and the oceans, the sun and the stars is our God, ought we not to be comforted?
 We ought to be comforted because our God is wise I know the thoughts that 1 think towards you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil Gods thoughts towards us are His plan for us and He is working it all out. I would rather walk in the dark with God than to go-alone in the light I would rather walk with Him. because 1 know that He knows. You trust the conductor of the train, you trust the engineer, because you know they know. You trust the physician and are comforted in his assurances. ! because you know that he knows. So We are comforted because our God is ! wise.
 Then God is good. That is hard l for us to believe sometimes. Like the | Psalmist, We are ready to say, Who ! will show us any good?' But God | showed him good. In spite of all the | trials, in spite of all the clouds. God l is good. He says it in His word. | Good and upright is the Lord The 1 reason we doubt His goodness some | times is because we cannot see all the | evidence. Then we are not to know | the why of all that God sends. Why | does God take loved ones away from us2 We cannot tell Science cannot | answer the question. Philosophy can not answer it. God does not tell us the why of His dealings with us. We could not understand it if He did. Why did you not explain to your four ear-old yesterday when you punished him2 You could not. Why does the doctor not explain to me all about my disease? He could not do it. It would be impossible to make me understand it We are down here in this little world, compassed about with the things that now are. but we cannot explain the why of it all. but We do know through it all and in it all that God is good.
 We ought to be comforted because God cares. Although I am infinitely insignificant. yet l am of infinite sig nificance. God cares for me. There are many places in the world where size does not count. Were the baby placed in one side of the balance and the Sierras in the other. the baby would them all. The mind that thinks. the mind made in the image of Almighty God. is greater than the uni verse. The mother thinks of the lit tie helpless baby first because it is little and helpless. God thinks of us just because we are insignificant and ] are all numbered Nv God in His greatness and in His goodness cares for me and is concerned about me and knows me in all the life that I live. That is the God of the Bible.
 Be of good courage, because what we know not now, we shall know here after There are great many things that expect to know when l am trans lated that I do not pretend or even hope to know down here. One of the things that I expect to know is the why of a great many things that God has sent into my life that I cannot see now. Then We will have no difficulty in knowing why God has taken the owed one from us. Then you will un- lerstand why He called you aside from ! life of, activity and laid you on a ped of sickness and said to you. Just | wait. just wait Then I think that when I get beyond this vale of tears md look into the face of the Lord, I will see something else. I will have | realization of the foolishness that is nine in making much of the things hat are trying in the light of the ter ,itv that is to be. What is grain of and to the seashore? What Is life