The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1912-11-26

happy moment their chief JOY.
% There is a kind of certainty
about this text hat gives 1t a pc
culiar value. 1--WE know that all
things work together for good" 1t
Is not a surmise but a conviction;
not q conclusion based merely upon
the testimony of others, but a pos
session of our own experience. we
know it from the word of God, and we
would rather trust that than our W
understanding. We know 1t indeed
from the very nature of the case, for
given the existence Of a God, holy.
just, all-powerful and good, 1t must
be as the text says. To deny 1t Is 10
deny God. We know 1t from the his
tory of the world and of mankind
whose pages are illuminated with It's
truth, but especially do we know II
from the record Of our W lives. II
we are true Christian men and wom-
en-, we can look back over the past
year in all It's vicissitudes and set
our seal to 1t as fact.
(2) There is q universally In the
peculiar value. I'VE know all things
works together for good" What a
measureless compass there is In that
declaration! In the mind of the in
spired writer, the "all things" as in
dicated by the context, are very espe-
cially "the sufferings Of this pres
ent time;" but there Is no reason
why we may not employ the language
in the broadcast and most comprehen-
sive sense. Things known and things
unknown, defeats and victories, losses
and gains, the small and the large.
all are working together for good to
them that love God. 1t is easy to be-
lieve this when all Is prosperous and
happy. but faith clings to 1t when
the clouds lower and the storms rage.
1t Is that which distinguishes the
Christian from the man of the world.
90 There is a sense of divine ac-
tivity in the text. "All things work
together for good" God does not al
low things to come to pass by chance,
but has an arrangement in everything,
a plan, a purpose bringing forth eff
fects. He is continually subverting
and conserving, scattering and bring
ing together, In order that he may
find stones to polish for a temple into
which he may enter and permanently
abide.
az Then think OF the harmony ex-
pressed-"all things work together
for good" There is no discord or
opposition In the heavenly counsels,
though we may not always perceive
this with our eyes of flesh. Like Han
nah More's dialogue Of the two
weavers, we may sometimes think
that
The good are troubled and oppressed,
And all the wicked are the blessed.
But when we reach that world of light
And view these works OF God Alright.
Then shall we see the whole design,
And own the work is all divine.
But finally, 1t is the particularly OF
this text that we need most to dwell
upon, 1t Is to Then That Love
God" and to them only, that all
things work together for good. But
men in their natural state do not
love God, nor can they love him
There must be created within them
the clean heart and renewed within
them the right spirit before they can
love God. And this Is Gods own
work In them, which he does when
they believe his testimony concerning
his son, Jesus Christ. Have you done
this? Have you yet by faith received
Christ as your Savior and confessed
him as your Lord? There was a time
when Paul who wrote these words
did not himself love God, though he
was very religious and very active In
his religion. But one day he saw
Christ In the glory and submitted
himself to him, and all this wa:
changed. He then loved God because
he had come to know that God frs
loved him and sent his son to be thu
Precipitation for his sins.
And so this text gives us Paul.
own testimony. He had had a won
derful life especially after his remark
able conversion. Read his own de
scription Of 1t In Second Corinthian'
from Chapter II, Verse 81 to Chap
ter 10, Verse IL, and see what 1t mus
have meant to him to utter sucl
words as these. In everything ha,
he seen the hand of God SC vivid,
and the most %unpromising circum
stances rebound to his W goot
that no mathematical proposition
conld have been more clearly demon