The Arvada enterprise., 1912-03-28

IL is not to know When God is giving
us some fresh opportunity of good,
not to be alive TO the openings and the
secret leadings which come TO us all
in due season for a decisive step in
the higher choice and the higher life;
not to recognize when the time comes,
as It comes to all, which Is meant es-
pecially to suit our necessities, to Of
fer to us door of escape, to encour-
age and assist US in doing some good
thing for God There are many diff
ferent kinds OF Of these visitations OF
the most High God, but they are al
ways the possible beginning of new
and better things, or mercies more
than had ever been vouchsafed be-
fore: but there Is about them this
danger, that they to whom they come
NAV not know the time of their Visi-
tation. And there Is, of course, an
additional danger when Gods vista
tions are not as they were to the
Jews accompanied by OuttCdrd signs
OF His presence and power. The days
were. YOU know, when that Presence
was revealed by miracles and sign
and visible Judgment, and He was
known to be near us by the earth
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now Il Is only the Still small voice
in the secret of our hearts, which
tells us that the Lord Is near; and II
men could be needless of the manifest
signs OF His hand and will, they are
in danger of not hearing the still
small voice.
The real dealings of God with us
are out of sight; we cannot make GER
tain of each movement, each call,
each instance OF Gods working, and
we are but poor interpreters of His
providence and His counsel. The
Spirit when He communes with our
spirit, does so in many ways which
are secret between our heart and Him
and no one can reveal that secret. and
make 1t plain and certain. II then,
mans blindess and selfishness could
withstand the outward calls, the man.
ifest taken, how much more the whis-
per OF conscience and the silent guild
ance of the hand of God! If men were
not persuaded that the time of their
visitation was upon them when they
beheld the Lord heal the sick, raise
the dead, and drive out evil spirits,
we may fear for ourselves lest we
miss what is really our opportunity
our day Of visitation-when 1t comes
in the usual course of our life, seem
ing to be nothing more than the COM
mon things which happen to us all;
seeming to be clothed and yelled in
the ordinary changes and chances of
our mortal life.
There is, for instance, one sort of
visitation from God which many of us
are going through now, as real as If
we had to make up our minds, or take
our side in some difficult question of
right or wrong, in some critical de-
cision as to whether we will walk in
the ways of evil or of good. How
many OF us are leading a quiet and
peaceful life, an uninterrupted life,
without anything apparently to try
us; without anything to disturb or
trouble us-no great sorrow, no great
pain, no great fear, no great disad-
vantage to struggle with, no great
care to weigh us down? There are,
however, the common temptations and
burdens which belong to the lot of all
men: but these surely are little to
speak of when we think of what other
men have had, have now to go
through, what might have come upon
us, and has not. And in this kind of
life we go on undisturbed, 1t may be,
from year to year, no great change
happening in 1t for worse, or for what
the world would call for better. We
knoio what we have to do; we work If
we must work; we look out on the
course of other mems lives, on the
ups and downs the wonderful success,
the tremendous ruin which goes on
around us; the war in Tripoli and the
Commotion of Mexico on our very bor-
der; the distress of nations with per-
pleXity; but we look on at distance;
none of these things touch us; peace
and quiet are the order of our lives, the
regular unbroken order Can you not
imagine people sometimes being al.
most frightened at the perfect peace
in which their lives go on, with every
thing given them that they could
really need, kept safe from all they
fear? All seems to come so easily
and so naturally that | can almost
understand people thinking that some
thing dreadful must be waiting for
them some day to make up for the
long time that they have been left
free from trouble and pain. But that
is the theory of fatalist. God does
not deal with us in that way; He does
not make a certain amount OF evil
weigh against the balance of a certain
amount Of good He gives us good
and evil by a different mode-one
which we cannot understand, but
which He administers knowing what
is In each mans heart and is each
mans necessity, and which we are
sure is not one Of caprice and cruelty.
He is Il loving God, who giveth us
all things; quiet days, health, and
peace. and safety; therefore let us 20
forth in the mercy that has been with
us so long
But there are two things TO be re
membered. One is that without veN.
ing ourselves with the misgivings that
our Lord does bring evil upon us in
proportion to good yet it is obviously
true that all this quiet cannot go on
as II is forever; that We must expect.
some time or other, some of the Sc.
verer trials OF life that It is not
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