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Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul clichd, il est filmd d partir de Tangle sup6rieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images ndcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mdthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 T ""sr S( M( 7 THE GUIDING HAND; OR, SOME PHASES OF THE RELIGIOUS LIFE OF THE DAY. BY THE REV. E. A. STAFFORD. A.B., Pastor of the Metropolitan Church, TORONTO. TORONTO: WILLIAM BRIGGS, 78 & 80 KING STREET EAST. MONTREAL: C. W. COATES. [18»/-] HALIFAX: S. F. HUESTLS. 1^ EsTKRED, accordi.iK to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year one thousand eiirht hundred and ei{?hty-8c en, by William Briqos, Book Steward of the Methodist Book and Publishinj,' House, Toronto, at the Department of Apriculture. 5 e (It cation. TO ALL WHO HONESTLY SEEK THE HIDDEN TRUTH OF THE ABIDING WORD, AND WHO EARNESTLY STRIVE TO TRANSLATE THIS EARTHLY LIFE INTO ITS HIOHER SPIRITUAL MEANING, THEIR FELLOW TOILER UP THE HEIGHTS BEYOND WHICH ALL KNOWLEDGE DWELLS, AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATES THE FOLLOWING PAGES. mr" ^ i PREFACE. The contents of this book are sermons because tliey grew so. The writer does not tliink that they are very wonderful sermons. They are not presented here under any such impression. Possibly even he could have found something more astonishing in his own barrel. But these are given to the public, first, because the sub- ject is important and interesting. It belongs to the higher Christian life. The book is an effort to find an atmosphere both of common sense and of perfect purity. The reader will trace simply an honest and earnest desire to raise to a higher level the average views of the Christian calling. To set forth a truly spiritual conception of this earthly life has been the aim; and the more as at every step it became more clear that, according to the Bible, God's thought for man rests wholly upon spiritual results. A second reason for their appearance is that, after beginning, in his pulpit, the public discussion of the sub- ject indicated in the title page, the autlior discov.ered that his own library contained nothing, not even one fugitive sermon, on the guidance of the rSpirit, or of Providence. Enquiry revealed the fact that other clergymen had felt the same deficiency. A not exhaustive, but pretty ex- tended, search of book stores brought out no treatise along this line. Then came an independent, careful, and thorough examination of what the Scriptures teach on the subject, with the result which these pages reveal. .Pv, through so much darkness, we were enabled to land safely on the shores of endless light and blessedness ; and until that glad day I am, my brothers, Yours in the faith, -v^ a a Lj. a. o. ■^ CONTENTS. I. The Father's Care for His People - " Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of tlieni shall not fall on the ground without your Father. Hut the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows." — Matt. x. 29-31. II. God Our Leader and Guide - . . . "A man's heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directeth his steps." — Proverbs xvi. 9. III. The Divine Purpose in Guiding Men "If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die : but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." — Romans viii. 13, 14. IV. The Great Purpose of Divine Providence "Deliver me, Lord, from mine enemies: I flee unto Thee to hide me. Teach me to do Thy will; for Thou art my God: Thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness." — Psalm cxliii. 9, 10. PAOB 9 30 49 66 • • k VUl CONTENTS. PAOR 70 98 V. OuK CiuiDE IN Temporal Thinoh 'And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones : and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not." — Isaiah Iviii. 11. VI. The Christian's Walk not Led in Detail " I am the Almighty God ; walk before me, and be thou perfect."— Genesis xvii. 1. Vll. The Ministry of the Spirit to Human Infirmity 126 •'Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought : but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered." — Romans viii. 26. VIII. The Holy Spirit's Intercession "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities; for we know not what we should pray for as we ought : but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered." Romans viii. 26. 147 IX. Filled with the Spirit "And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit."— Ephesians v. 18. 168 PAOB 70 THE GUIDING HAND 98 I. 168 ahc fyit\\(v^ itm for iU^ VroiJlc. si. JI t'*; Tu '^^'" •^^^'■'•"^^■•^ •'^"^•1 <■•"• '-^ f-"'tl'ing? an.l one of them slKtll lu.t fall on the groun.l without your Father. Hut f]., verv hau-s of your hca.l are all nun.hered. Fear ye not therefore. . , are ot more value than many .sparrows."— Matt. x. 2\)-'M "Are not five sparrows soM for two fartl'.ings', am' ..t oae of t e„n.H forgotten l.efore (.o.l v Unt even the very hairs of your ).ead . e all nu,n.ere, . . not therefore: ye are of more value rhan many sparrows."— Li'kk xii. 6, 7. W^^ P^'opose to study the influence of our Heav- ^V^V only Father'.s guiding hand upon human life and destiny. The present discourse will be confined to the Jayincr ot a secure basis upon which to pursue all our future investigations. We shall not get far into the main opic but It we can fix in our .,inds a strong persuasion that God knows all about us, and that He cares for us as ^^dividuals, these grand and luminous truths will prepare us for every further revelation of His goodness and love which may fall upon our path. God knows and cares. This is the key-board by which we shall ) I & 10 THE FATHERS CARE FOR HIS PEOPLE. interpret the grand anthem of His loving-kindness and tender mercy, sung through all the ages, and written in many wond'.rful deliverances of His people, and in fiery cloud and pillar raised above the path of His wandering children everywhere over this wide wilderness world. 1. 1. The substance of the passages standing at the beginning of this discourse is, first, that God knows all about His creatures, and therefore is able to help them in every time of need ; and second, that He cares for them, and therefore will help tliem whenever in His infinite wisdom He deems it to be necessary. The first of these truths is brought out in the first part of the reference to the sparrows, and in the asser- tion about tlie hairs of our heads. The second is pre- sented in the second reference to the s[)arrows. 2. The structure of the passage in both Matthew and Luke is worth studying. In both places there is, to begin with, a statement about the market value of sparrows, v/ith the assertion that God knows all about these little birds. Then comes the declaration that the hairs of our heads are all numbered. This seems at first sight about as foreign as anything could be to the preceding references to the sparrows. After this the passage closes with another statement about the sparrows, comparing a disciple with a .sparrow in respect of value. Now, if such a passage were a human composition, we would probably think that it had been carelessly written, and the words thrown together without much ^ THE FATHERS CARE FOR HIS PEOPLE. 11 iness and ople, thof wide X the nows I help cares rev in e tirst asser- is pre- itthew lere is, duo of about at the ims at be to ,er this Alt the o\v in 3sition, lessly b much i study as to the arrangement ; and, in our wisdom, we would be inclined to throw the two clauses concern- ing the sparrows together, and bring in the statement about the hairs of our heads afterwards. But when in this book, given under Divine inspiration, we find any truth presented in a particular form, and espe- cially when, as in this case, the Saviour's words are reported by two different writers in the same form, it becomes us to look at them a second time, and enquire what mode of interpretation is suggested by the form in which they are presented. Pursuing this wise course here, we naturally con- clude at once that the first clause referring to the sparrows, and the statement about our numbered hairs, both convey the same truth, and so must be taken together ; while the remaining clause about the sparrows relates to some other truth. This is un- doubtedly the fact, and here we have our first hint of the meaning of the delightful passage. It asserts, first, that God knows about His people and can help them, and second, that He cares for, and if need be, will help them. All this will appear whether we take a strictly literal view of the text, or regard it as highly figura- tive. Literally, the idea would be conveyed, tliat in some way the mind of the Deity keeps a constant enumeration of the number of sparrows which fall hour by hour, and where, and why; and that a similar enumeration of the number of hairs on every head in the whole world, cor^rected moment by moment, as the 12 THE FATHERS CARE FOR HIS PEOPLE. hairs fall out from any cause, is carried in his thought. From all this various inferences nnght be drawn ; as, for example, that as in age and sickness the hair falls away, the Divine tenderness is especially manifested in age and affliction. Seeing that other passages prove this, no great nrror could arise from such a way of presenting the text. But considering the utter use- lessness, in either earth or heaven, of such knowledge as this literal rendering implies, the simple statement of what it brinofs out of the text ouofht to be enouirh to set it aside for a better, and one more full of comfort and inspiration. The whole passage is highly figurative, and con- veys a meaning much more intense than any literal rendering of the words would carry to the heart. 3. Take the first clause : "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing ? " These birds were used for food, and were considered a great delicacy, well suited to tempt the appetite of sick people, and, being very small, we would suppose that they would have been costly, beyond the reach of any but the most wealthy. But they were actually among the most numerous and fruit- ful of all the feathered tribes, and were so abundant in the market that a farthing would purchase two of them. One of them was not worth enough to set any price upon it, but two must go together to be equal to the value of the smallest coin in use. Luke says : " Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings ? " Add the meaning conveyed here to the words of Matthew, and you get a glimpse of the market parlance of the ^ THE FATHERS CARE FOR HIS PEOPLE. 13 ight. ; as, falls ested sages , way : use- ledge ;ment lough mfoit I con- literal IS sold d, and tempt ill, we costly, But t'luit- ndant iwo of et any inaX to J says : Add tthew, of the time. A dealer would say to an enquiring customer : " The sparrows are two for a farthing, but if you will take two farthings' worth you may have live." And yet God's possible knowledge extends to every one of these almost valueless birds. This declaration is designed to convey to us an idea of the minuteness of the knowledge which God can command by simply turning a thought in any particular direction. Herein comes to us a real comfort. He is fully capable of lookinfj at a ijlance to the bottom of all the minutest affairs that can concern us, and therefore we will suffer nothing: throuofh His ignorance as we would be sure sometimes to do if it were a king, or a human parent, who held our destiny in his hands. II. The expression about our hairs being all num- bered is also a strong figurative statement, conveying the same meaning as the words just examined. It is an assertion of knowledge, and not of affection. It is often quoted as a declaration of God's special love to His disciples, but, as will soon appear, much is gained, and nothing lost, by taking it as a strong assertion of possible knowledge concerning the minutest details of our lives, with just a clear, suggestive hint of the declaration of loving care which is to follow. 1. The first reason for this explanation is that the language of Scripture, as far as we know, is adapted to our human understandings. Any truth conveyed by a reference to our lives takes hold upon facts as they exist among men. But among no people, savage or civilized, is it customary to demonstrate affection :: 14 THE FATHERS CARE FOR HIS PEOPI ^. m by counting the hairs on the head of the person loved. Take the deep and pure affection for parent, and sister, and brother, and successively for sweetheart, and wife, and child. Who ever thouglit of showing his love by counting the hairs on the head of any one of them ? Some philosopher, for purely scientific purposes, will count the hairs on a head, but it is never done as an expression of affection. It is not uncommon to keep some of the hair of the dead and the distant, not because that is most loved, but because it is the only part of the actual person of a loved one that we can keep. Now, is it likely that the great Lord would seek to convey the tenderness of His love toward us by a statement which could remind no human creature of anj'^thing he ever saw or heard of ? It is not like the course He pursues in every other case of which we have any knowledge. He sometimes conveys an idea of His regard for us by a reference to something in human life which is observed every day, and which every heart can understand and feel. Thus we are told the Father gave His only begotten Son. Now, everyone knows the tenderness of parental love, and so can understand God's love by the sacrifice it prompted Him to make. He shows how willing He is to give the Holy Spirit by reminding us of the willingness of human parents to give good gifts unto their children. Our hearts at once take in the full meaning, and are sensibly moved by the analogy. We never let go the impression made upon us. So, too, He 5? SCI I lOfl ^ rel wil - ev THE father's care FOR HIS PEOPLE. 15 )ved. ister, wife. re by hem? 7y , will as an ■//■ keep '■> t, not 3 only 1 ^e can 1 M ! 1 seek M ^^y 1 ture of J ke the m ich we S m idea m hing in ^ which m we are m Now, m ive, and ;1 'iiice it m inor He m of the m :ts unto I the full 1 cry. We , too, He compares His chastening rod upon us to the punish- ments we received from our fathers in the flesh. In this way we arf3 forced to feel His tenderness even when Ho lays His rod upon us. If it had been the custom to count the hairs on the heads of those we love, to prove how well wo love them, then this text had started the tenderost feolinijs of which our hearts are capable. But this not being the case, we cannot but take this langaage as designed to convey to us an idea of His intimate knowledge of us, and of His abundant ability to help whenever it is needed. 2. Another reason for this view is that the hair is not a source of pain to anyone. It is not a channel tlirough whicli great surging waves of agony are ever poured 'ipon the soul. No one ever goes to a doctor to ask him why this or- that hair is causing him so much distress. I have looked upon human suffering when every nerve seemed a stream of living fire. I have seen my fellows going down through death's gates of relief, which stood open just a little way before them, on slow descending steps, that, for pain, seemed made of red-hot plates of iron. The teeth at times were set, and the eye blazed with a fury of intense, unutterable agony; then the soul, lashed beyond endurance, would scream out, demanding relief or escape. The pleading look asking for alleviation which no human hand could bring, and the fearful cry calling to God for release, as the slow hours moved on toward the dawn, wrote pages in my life's book which no human eye has ever read or can read, but which even yet patiently ff II 16 THE FATHERS CARE FOR HIS PKOl'I.E. I wait for God to explain. I passed through all that, and carried away a heart burstinj:^ with anguish. But I remembered that throuirh all those terrible scenes nothing seemed so utterly unmoved and un- concerned as the tossed and matted locks of the suf- ferer. No quivering pain ever disturbed a single hair. What affection, under such circumstances, could reach the heart through the assertion that some one had counted up all those unfeeling hairs ? But oh, if I could have turned to some such word as, " I know the number of thy fire-enkindled nerves, and their paths through thy quivering frame," that would have borne to the pierced and bleeding heart the comforting as- surance that soon that long night of agony would pass more swiftly by, and the glad morning spread its awakening light over the hills again ! I know that, under such strong tension of an- guish, the thought did turn with comfort to many an appropriate promise. There was the assurance given to Isaiah, "I have seen thy tears;" and David's prayer, " Put Thou my tears into Thy bottle. Are they not in Thy book ?" and the assurance, " The Lord will strengthen him on the bed of languishing ; Thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness." And aorain, in Isaiah, " When thou walkest throuojli the lire thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee." All these words seemed brimful of love and tenderness. These tears fall in His sight. This fire enters into His soul also. This terrible hour of anguish will live likewise in His memory. But on THE FATHERS CARE FOR HIS PEOPLE. IV what ground of appeal could I turn to this assertion, that our hairs are numbered, for any comfort ? Simply as an assurance that God knows all. Nothing passes beneath His knowledge. He is not ignorant of this darkly written memory of anguish and despair. Knowing: it, He caiL brinsf relief to the ori'oaninjj suf- ferer ; He can shorten these wearv hours and hasten on the dawn. 3. A third reason for this interpretation is, that the hair is never a cause of disgrace or deformity to any- one. It never brings anyone into contempt. If a child loses an eye, or arm, or foot, he must go through life deformed by so much ; and there must often come to him the bitter thought. Why has this fallen upon me, when so many enjoy the full use of all their mem- bers ? It is an abiding and cruel trial to him. But no such atiiiction ever comes through the hair. If, as age advances, it turns white, or falls ofi' entirely, there is no shame associated with it. No man needs to cover up the change, for the growing silvery white- ness, or the baldness of advjwicing years, is an addition to manly comeliness, ratlier than a loss of beauty. Why, then, should the hair be chosen as the instru- ment through which to express the tenderest aifection and sympathy for us ? 4. But there is an appropriateness in using this vehicle to convey to us an idea of God's minute know- ledge of our atl'airs, because nothing about us is so numerous and difficult to number as our hair. Nothing could be a stronger assertion of intimate ■■ ll 18 THE FATHERS CARE FOR HIS PEOPLE. I i! ; t M! i|^ ! knowledge about us than the declaration that our hairs are all numbered. Then there is no part of our person which we can lose with less inconvenience than the hair. Tlierefore, such knowledge indicates that God is mindful even of the minutest and least im- portant affairs. It is as though a human father, wishing to assure a daughter living away from him and yet dependent upon him, that he would not allow her to want, and she should ask, " But, father, how will you know when I am in need ?" and he should be able to reply, " Why, my child, I know all about your affairs, even to the contents of your ash-barrel." The daughter would rest perfectly contented that she should not suffer throucjh her father's icrnorance, if she could be assured that he has some means of know- ing about her affairs, even to such minute and unim- portant things as what her barrel of ashes in the yard may contain. This assurance of knowledge is only less important to her than the assurance of her father's continuini' love. So is it with all the followers of our Lord. This assurance of His knowledge is clearly given, and that concerning His love, in equal fulness, will not be wanting. 5. Let us now advance to another point in connec- tion with this knowledge. It has been spoken of here as possible knowledge. God has been described as able to know with a thought, or at a glance upon anything in question. It is both reverent and correct to speak of anything as known by Him, when there is full power to know all about it by looking into it. We often speak j ftre 4 the \ seq sta I but * the i THE father's care FOR HIS PEOPLE. 19 t our )£ our 3 than s that st im- fatlier, 11 him : allow r, how )uld be it your " The at she mce, if know- 1 unini- le yard is only father's wers of clearly fulness, connec- of here as able nything peak of II power n\ speak of ourselves as knowinjr tliinfjs whicli we have not looked into, when we are confident that we would understand them as soon as we should open the book. Take, for example, a work on common arithmetic. This particular author's work you have never seen before ; yet, if asked, you would say that you know what it teaches under the first six simple rules. Without hesitation you would undertake to teach all that this book contains on those subjects. You say correctly enough that you know what is in the book, though you never opened it. You actually do not know whether the first sum in addition requires you to add together cS, 5, 8, 6, and 9, or 7, 2, 1, 4, and 8. And so of every other question contained in that part of the book. Yet you know them. That is, if it were neces- sary to look into them, you would find no difficulty in readinqf and understandinor them all. If you were ffoinjx to conduct a pupil through the book, then you would examine it all. You would open at the simple rules, and either yourself work out every question or see that the pupil did it. Now, here is an intelligent and reasonable illustra- tion of God's Omniscience in its relation to many of the least important conditions of human life. There are millions of things passing every day, if we take the whole world into our count, which are of no con- sequence to God. Does this seem to be a careless statement ? Is it said tritles determine destinies ? Yes, but all trifles do not determine destinies. Waste is .the rule of nature : where one seed grows, myriads irirr- ii 1 20 THE FATHERS CARE FOR HIS PEOPLE. perish : wliere one flower brings ripened fruit, whole galaxies of blooming beauty are destroyed. So, many trifles are fruitless and aindess. They are nothing to God. Why, they are of no consequence to our- selves, or to anyone else. They are in no way associated with sin or holiness. They add nothing to the burden of human guilt or misery, nothing to its hope or fear. They quicken no note of gladness in the hearts of angels or men. The tabulated knowledge of them would be no addition to tlie accutnulated treasures of knowledge in either earth or heaven. God knows them just as a scholar knows how to read a simple book into which he never looked. If any exigency made it necessary to open them up, one glance of His would sound them to their depths and trace all their possible relations. The slightest touch of His th()U5< clearest possible intimation that God cares for us, and He has already assured us of His most intimate knowU'dixe, so that if we sufier or need it will not he hecaust' He either does not know or cannot reach our case, or is inditf'erent to us. Therefore we know that He both knows and cares. 2. Now, the worst affliction is to feel that we are left wholly alone in any passage of deep distress. No matter what it is, there will be relief in knowing simply that someone cares. A little child hurt her hand, and in her pain she ran up to her father, busy with his work and deeply engaged in his papers and books, and told him of her liurt. He pushed her to one side, and said sharply, "(io away, do not bother me." The child tui aed aside more wounded than ever. She told her mother about it, and she excused the father, saying to the child, "He is always very busy, and he could not have cured it anyway." " No," said the child, "he could not cure it, but he might have just said, ' I am sorry,' and that would have helped nie some." There are a great many weeping children who just want someone to say, '" T am sorry," in their trouble. But to be left altogether alone in the night, to drink our cup of pain, and feel that no one conies near because no one cares, adds infinitely to the deep intensity of the cup. To lose wealth and position, or to be defeated in our conflict, and then on this to have to add the bitter conviction that no one cpres! Oh, that is woe, indeed! But if through the deepest darkness, and the inid- M BB^ w II 24 THE FATHERS CARE FOR HIS PEOPLE. illll ' iliiM m ! I nitrht silences, and in our torturing pain, we may but hear our Father's whispered voice, telling ol: love and care, what can we not endure ? All the ills of life would be almost entirely healed by our simply know- ing that God is sorry in our sorrow. Pain and sick- ness and death come alike to the evil and the good, and no prayer or faith can turn them aside. But our tears will not be so bitter, nor our days so dark, nor our nights so long, nor the grave we have left to be buried under the fast falling snow so cold and desolate, if through it all we may but take the comforting assurance to our hearts that " God cares." This is the climax in the meaning of this text, toward which all the other parts are laboring up. He knows. There will be no failure for want of a knowledge of our pain or need. All this with a rising inflection toward the grand assertion that He cares, and therefore, when- ever in His wisdom it is deemed best, He will come into our human life with all the power of His good right hand. We may therefore lift above our heads as a strong shield the " Fear not, therefore," of this text, and turn our faces bravely toward all the elements which com- bine ale im- ct this that it . The away. to see and at id upon e morn- that he s danger. Illy it is pon the and to |ay. The nt from nications audible ord came lOUgh for :i, and do aim and assertion about receiving a communication from the Spirit in words as simply meaning that the Spirit put a thought into the mind, and unconsciously to himself, from the habit of thought, the man's own words came at once to clothe the thought. 8. Nor are we to understand that this guidance of the Spirit subverts the human will. Those who "are led by the Spirit," their wills concurring, are the sons of God. The leading is not driving, or compelling, but drawing, by securing the agreement of the man's will with the will of God. The Spirit guides by inHuenc- ing, suggesting, enlightening, and supporting, but not by destroying the person's freedom of action. 4. Again, this guidance is something special to the believer in Christ, and therefore is to be distincruished from the Spirit's all-pervading presence and influence. The Spirit is everywhere. It is correct to say that by His direction the roots of the grass are fed, and leaves and flowers spread their beauty over the tree, and scatter their fragrance throughout the air. By Him savage beasts roam throuojh the forest, and the monsters of the deep have their food, and the countless insects of the air learn their harmonies. So, too, when, as a messenger of Providence, a bird sings in a tree above my window, and awakens me from slumber just in time to save some man's life, it is correct to say that the Spirit guided that bird in its course, and brought it to the right spot just at the right time. But what the Scriptures mean when they teach that He exercises a guiding influence over the life of :]6 OOD OUIl LEADER AND (ilJIDE. 1 1 i! ■ 1 a saint, in sometliin^' wholly (liflereiit from this (f^n- eral, universal prosence. Just how He creates food for a blind mole, and then leads the helpless creature to the spot where that food may be found, is altogether wonderful; but His <(uidance of the human soul is bet- ter and higher than that. A sheep is provided for by this Spirit, but th(; sheep is not therefore my brother by fellowship with me in the same guiding iiiHuence from the hand of my Heavenly Father. Let it be here noted that in all that will be said in these pages about the guidance of the Holy Spirit, His special work in the hearts of the chiMren of God is referred to, and not that general inliuenco whereby He pervades the whole universe with His power, and with unslumbering care provides for every creature his needed good. n. 1. Let us now turn to the consideration of the second agency whereby the Lord directs the lives of men. He acts upon them from without, ordering, di- recting and controlling the events which occur around them in such a way as to move them according to His own plan, and to work out in their lives the ends which He seeks. This is called the order of Divine Providence. But there is what is known as a general Providence, and a particular Providence. The fVfr^.t includes God's constant care of everything. It h- the exercise of His infinite energy throughout the whole vast fabric of the created universe ; not recreating it, but perpetuat- ing what He has made, and causing the movements of Wi (iOD OrU LEA HER AND (JIJIDE. :i7 iminl>orl('ss worlds in their orbits, iin} mmm 40 GOD OUR LEADER AND GUIDE. power it is not in any true sense a law at all. Take, for example, any law of our nation. It applies to all the people of this land. Behind it is all the power of the Government to compel all to yield obedience to it. Here, then, are three things in every true law : (1) A written or understood prescription. (2) Uniformity of action under its application. (8) Power to compel that uniformity of action in case there is, on the part of any, an unwillingness to fall into that uniform course. These three are all essential to a true law. Now, let us see how this word has been played upon in speaking of the laws of nature. Men have noticed that there ic a uniform course of nature through all the ages. But what about the power which lies behind that uniformity and causes it? They have not discovered any such power, but tak- ing its existence for' granted, they have simply called that power a law, as though this was all there is in a law. They put some force between God and the uni- form course of nature. They don't know what it is, but they call it a law ; and then, because a law must cause uniformity of action, they go on to teach that there cannot possibly be any variations from the uni- formity of nature without destroying the law. But Science has never discovered any power iden- tical with what it calls the laws of nature. All it knows is that there is uniformity ; that as things have been they will continue to be. The whole is explained in a line. All that really GOD OUR LEADER AND GUIDE. 41 concerns us now in the expression "law of nature" is the observed uniformity of the course of nature. The hand of the Deity is the power which lies beliinu this uniformity and causes it. Things proceed in a uniform order because God wants them to be so. It is His general plan of working, either by His immediate pre- sence or V>v some force which He has created in nature, and which He constantly controls. He continues this plan from day to day, from age to age. But it follows tiiat He can change this course if He will. Any forces in nature which are not His ever present hand con- stantly working, are sulvject to His control at will, and so rct'd not be dwelt upon particularly here. Nothing that . ' 'Vid be said of them would chancre the argument. No jiiu knows anytliing about them, anyway. Their existence is only a grand mental conception. ."). However, it is not necessary that He change this uniform course in order to give us special provi- dences for the guidance and shaping of men's lives. It will help our confidence in such Divine interference to I'.ave any thought of difficulty in the way of it re- moved out of the way ; but even if this were impossi- ble — thou^f?>,, as ive have seen, it is not — still we could have a snecia! 'providence easily enou 1 III. Z\ic giviuc iMiriJo^c in (f uitUufl ^tUn. "If ye live after tlie flesh, ye shall die: hut if ye through the Spirit (h> Jiiortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led l»y the Spirit of (lod, they are the sons of (!od." — Romans viii, IM, 14. " Walk in tlie Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh."'- (lAL. v. 10. ^0 wliat end does God interfere with the lives of men ? Wliat reason can be sufficient to brinj,^ . Him into our path ^ ])()es tlie Holy Spirit, or special Providence, or do both united, s^ive men posi- tive direction, of which thej^ can be fully conscious, concernin<^ everythins2f they caii do ? Can we, for example, have an intimation by which we will receive undoubted confidence that Ood is directin^^ us as to whom we shall vote for in an election ? Can we be positive that God is instructing us to send a child to one school in preference to another ? May we receive from God a certain assurance that He would hav^e us open business in a particular city, and in a certain street of that city; or that we shall not form a partner- ship with one particular man, but shall make a con- nection with another ? M T 50 TFIK DIVINK PlJIiroSE IN (;i'II)[N'(i MKN'. Now, all this questionini]j cannot be answered in a broatli. Nor can we crowd inte!li<,'ently all that liears upon this subject into one sliort discourse. Let the reader, therefore, l)e warned not to be impatient if his expectations are not fully real !/<') kee[) us from sin and devoted to righteous- ness, I say what the Apostle John taught, and what Wesley also clearly expressed in his published works. 2. But, carrying out our fancy of a full church lis- tening to the reading of the Word, some hearer would prohably ask for something more than this single ivissaijfe from John. Is there not in the Bible some definite teaching about the work the Spirit does in men ^ If there is, then we may reasonably expect to find the mind of the Lord on the whole subject in such passages. With this pointer, the reader would naturally turn to the Book of the Acts, in the second chapter, where we have the record of the descent of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost, in fulfilment of the prophecy of Joel, " I will pour out My Spirit upon all Hesh." In this chapter we have an account of the wliole company of the disciples gathered to^ethei", and the sound as of a rushing wind, and the appear- ance of cloven tongues, like tire, and the disciples being tilled with the Holy Ghost, and speaking with other tongues. Then follows Peters sermon, ! 'M 1' ' and asked, " What shall we do ? " They were told to repent, and to be baptized for the remission of sins, and that they should receive the f^ift of the Holy Ghost. Now, this narrative indicates nothinj^ further thai that the Spirit's work in men is to turn them from sin to holiness. 3. Pressed for what the Word might teach further on this subject of the Spirit's guidance, the reader might turn to Galatians v. 22, 23. Here he reads, " But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long- suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temper ance." Now, here are mentioned, in connection wii. each other, the etiects which the Holy Spirit is ex- pected to produce in the human heart, but there is no hint of anything except what pertains to separation from sin, and the development of righteous deeds on righteous principles. He will bring love into the heart. Sin has ■ epaiated men from each other, and it has cut in between all men and God. But love is the power wh' h unites, and the Spirit opens its way in the hearts of men, and teaches them first to love God, and then to love eich other. Then He brings in "joy." Any person experiences a sense of joyous approval when he casts oft* sin, and also when he follows good- ness willingly. In fact, all the fruits of the Spirit mentioned in this list relate to separation from sin and jxrowth in ri