[1] The Lord has reasons far beyond our ken for opening a wide
door, while He stops the mouth of a useful preacher. John
Bunyan would not have done half the good he did, if he had
remained preaching in Bedford, instead of being shut up in
Bedford prison.--_Newton,_ 1725-1807.
However contradictory the designs of Providence at first
appear to be, if we set ourselves to watch God in His works
and ways, with care, we shall soon discover that He acts
according to some certain scheme or plan.
Were a person altogether unacquainted with architecture to
visit some splendid temple in the process of erection, and
observe the huge rough stones, and boards and timbers, iron
castings, bricks, lime, mortar, lying scattered in
confusion all around; were he to see one group of workmen
cutting up material here, another digging trenches there;
one party raising a staging on this side, another nailing
on some boards on that: were he to observe the blocks, the
fragments, all lying in disorder round about him, he might
truly say that he could see no plan or system in the
business; nor would he be likely to conceive or dream that
out of such a chaotic mass of raw material, out of such
contradictory labour, there could ever rise a magnificent
temple, to reflect undying honour on the architect, and
beautify the world!
But let the observer stop, and set himself to watch from
day to day this busy work as it goes on; let him patiently
examine, not only the minutest details, but also try to
obtain a view of the general scope and bearing of the
whole, and he will not be long in finding out that some
superior mind controls and regulates the movements in
accordance with some preconceived plan or system, which is
constantly developing itself; and that every stroke of
every workman is conducive to the same ultimate effort.
And when he comes to see the "beau ideal" of the builder
realised in the fair proportions, in the classic beauty of
the noble structure, he then perceives how inconsiderate,
how unfair it was in him to decide upon a work in its
incipient state, without some knowledge of the plan and the
design of it.
God is building up the Christian in accordance with a
perfect plan into a majestic temple for the decoration of
the eternal city. And though His dealings sometimes seem to
be mysterious; though He seems to cut down here and to
raise up there, to let the light into this part and to
leave it dark in that; though it is hard to tell at times
what such material is designed for, what this or that work
means, or to conceive how the structure when completed will
appear; it is nevertheless quite certain that God acts
according to a fixed and unalterable plan; that every
stroke we bear, or loss we mourn, is made subservient to
the end; and although it is given us here to see only in
part, whoever will take the pains to watch with care the
course of Providence, will be convinced that it does not
move along by chance, but that everything is done by a
prospective plan.--_E. Nason._