The Penn's Grove record., 1916-04-28
GOD STILL RULES
And to Those That Love Him ALI
Things Work EyeriastingIy
for Good.

Much in our lives is a puzzle, some
times a desperate paradox. None
OF US can draw up his life chart for
a year to come and follow it as a
mechanic does his blueprint. We lay
wise plans and they end in folly. We
commit gross blunders and they are
overruled for good. We hasten toward
a bright light and it goes out in dark
ness. We stagger into darkness and
10! it becomes light! We pray for
pleasures and they mildew into griefs.
We sink down in our griefs and they
blossom into joys. Today our apples
turn into ashes and tomorrow our
stones become bread. We celebrate
some prosperity and then leanness
comes with it. We shudder at some
adversely and later find it big with
blessings. We run toward open doors
and dash our heads against a granite
wall. We prepare to batter down the
wall and 10! it opens to let US
through
In 1899 the first peace conference
meets at The Hague. In 1907 the per-
manent court of arbitration is found
ed. Soon a number of peace treaties
are being negotiated. War seems al
most unthinkable, welLnigh doomed
when suddenly the worst war in his
tory bursts upon the world. Is it true
that the Son of Man has all authority
in heaven and on earth? Does he ride
upon the storm? Faith trusts. hope is
sanguine, but love has a secret. I'VE
know that to them that love God all
things work together for good" We
are not the victims of a mild illusion
nor a faint hope. We attain TO i'm
pregnable assurance we know"
Not that we know all of Gods plans,
but we know God. We are not taken
into all his secrets, but we are lifted
up into the light and warmth of his
love. Are we facing losses, caught in
a tangled thicket, defeated In some of
the holt It ambitions of our life? There
is n .athway to assurance and peace
-"love God and thou shalt know"
Thou shalt acquire the cognition of
faith.
All Things Work to an End.
Diplomats may defeat the right for
a time, treaties may be scraps of pa
per, but what statesman can check
mate the hand of God? 81 am Jehovah
that maketh all things, that frustrat-
eth the signs of the liars and maketh
OWNERS mad, and hat turneth wise
men backward and maketh their
knowledge foolishness.' In the fur.
rows of shot and shell God is sowing
the seed of a new civilization. Not
one soldier staggers to his death for
nothing. Not one sailor sinks beneath
the wave, not one widow weeps in
vain. In the wake of guns and by the
smoking ruins of huts and desolated
fields God says today just what he did
in Cyrus day, "Distill ye heavens from
above and let the skies pour down
righteousness; let the earth open that
1t may bring forth salvation and let
it cause righteousness to spring up;
for l Jehovah have created it,"
o men and women, let US trust his
unlimited skilk What to us is mar
red and ruined he can turn into an
enduring triumph. Point the telescope
OF your faith into the blackness of the
night and you will find your star.
Trust him with your failures, and you
will find that you are in the hands not
of Fate" but of love. Perhaps this
very year has left you richer than all
others in the solidities of eternity.
Let our doubts give way to thanks
giving, our fears pass into battling
courage. The shadows come and go.
The battle smoke does not mean that
we have lost. In the fierce flame that
devastates Europe, there walks the
form of the Son of Man. Never feari
What shall separate these bleeding
peoples from the love of Christ? Shall
diplomacy, or intrigue, or monarchies,
or war lords, or treaty-breaking, or de-
vastating armies? Nay, in all these
things humanity, the n family of the
n Father, shall be more than con-
querors through him who loved us.
Dost thou doubt this, o man?
Love God and thou shalt know;
obey him and thou shalt be sure. Yield
yourself to be an instrument of right
eousness and a co-worker with the
Son of Man, and thou shalt see his sal
walton.
AS the Father hath sent me into
the world, even so send l you."-Rev.
Thomas w. Smith, D. D.