ALL THINGS WORK FOR GOOD.
By S. N. Haskell
TEXT.—Rom. 8:28: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose.” The Christian finds himself in a state correctly termed a “vale of tears.” Anguish of spirit, sickness and sorrow, pain, misery, and death, are met at every turn. It is the word of God, accompanied by his Holy Spirit, that brings joy and consolation to the lone and weary heart. In this word we find “given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” 2 Pet. 1:4. And perhaps with all the multiplicity of promises contained in the word of God, none are more calculated to bring consolation under all circumstances, than the text we have quoted. The apostle does not speak as though it was a matter of doubt and uncertainty, but with the strongest assurance: “and we know.” Neither does he say that a part of the things that concern the child of God in this life, such as are sometimes termed blessings, and not the circumstances which cross his pathway, work for good, but “all things; trials, crosses, joys, perplexities, light and darkness, yea, “all things work together,” not separately (joys working for good, and darkness for evil), but “all things work together for good to them that love God.” Neither is it spoken in the future tense, as though all things sometime in the future might work for your good; shall finally work out so, but all things work together for good, right while they are working at the present time. The apostle is not accustomed to speak at random, and he does not in this case; the following verses are some of the reasons why he speaks with such an assurance. “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called; and whom he called, them he also justified; and whom he justified, them he also glorified.” That is (as I understand it), the result of all the sorrows of this life is death; and death is an enemy to be destroyed. Heb. 11:14; 1 Cor. 15:26. And Christ hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, 2 Tim. 1:10, by the resurrection of Christ, who also brought with him a “multitude of captives,” Eph. 4:8, from their graves, Matt. 27:52, 53, presenting them glorified to the Father. These were the ones that he predestinated, called, justified, and glorified. And if this is to be the result or come out of all the trials and sorrows of this present life, to them that love God, “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with him freely give us all things?” The result of the apostle’s reasoning here will be found in verses 38 and 39: “For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Certainly he could not have stronger ground for saying, “We know all things work together for good to them that love God.” The wise man speaks of this matter as follows: “Consider the work of God: for who can make that straight, which he hath made crooked? In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: God also hath set the one over against the other, to the end that man should find nothing after him.” Eccl. 7:13, 14. Here the crooked, or checkered, scenes of life are called God’s work, and he hath set the day of adversity over against the day of prosperity, that man might learn to trust God implicitly, not knowing what may follow. If there were no days of adversity, but all prosperity, then man would trust in prosperity, forget God, and thus never seek a preparation for Heaven, but fail of accomplishing the great object for which he was created, viz., an eternal life of righteousness in the kingdom of God. The question then arises right here, What is the first great cause of all the suffering we see and feel? We answer, Sin. But if we ask who controls the elements, we answer, God. Satan introduced sin. God brought the curse, and in the curse is involved a plan which thwarts the design of Satan, and thus makes “all things work together for good to them that love God.” To a consideration of this work of God, and Satan, I would for a short time call your attention. We find man, when placed in the garden at the creation, most pleasantly situated; made in the image of God, having “dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.” For man’s food was given “every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.” A tree of knowledge of good and evil was also placed there, that by obeying God, refusing to eat of it, he himself might develop a righteous character; and the tree of life also, that he might live forever and ever in the enjoyment of the favor of his Creator with the consciousness of obeying him. Everything was to grow spontaneously, and man was placed in the garden to dress and keep it. Gen. 1, 2. But Satan led man to disobey God, and thus brought sin into the world. Now if Satan can lead man to partake of the tree of life and live forever, he will accomplish two things which will be highly gratifying to himself: 1. His work will be co-existent with God’s, and thus, 2. An eternal life of misery will be brought upon man. God now thwarts the design of Satan. “And now,” says God, “lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever; therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed … a flaming sword, which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.” Gen. 3:22–24. In this act God commenced to work for the good of man. Now he proceeds to give the consequences of their sin. “Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it; cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground.” Gen. 3:16–19. The substance of all this is as follows: 1. The offspring of the woman would be multiplied in sorrow. 2. The vegetation will no longer grow spontaneously as heretofore, but man must plant and sow his seed; and thorns and thistles would grow. Man must now labor as a matter of necessity if he would eat. “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground.” A law of decay is introduced, and it affects all mankind. Why did God curse the ground, and thus bring sorrow upon all mankind? Why did God multiply the seed of the woman in sorrow? “He does not willingly afflict or grieve the children of men.” Why did not God let man have all the enjoyment he could have until the grave received him and he went back to dust, his native element? Our text says that it was for man’s good, inasmuch as it is among all things. But how can it be for man’s good? We answer, Had this earth still retained its primitive glory and beauty, and had man lived in comparative ease and luxury, without toil and sorrow; had not the autumnal breeze stripped from the trees their decaying leaves, reminding man that this world was passing away; had not thorns and thistles reminded him that this is a world of sorrow; he would have forgotten that Heaven was his home, by having his mind absorbed with the pleasures of this life, and thus have neglected a preparation for the kingdom that is in reserve for mankind. But in process of time (just how long we are not informed) we find sin on the increase; so much so, that Cain slew his brother. It seems that God brought the curse as lightly as possible, to wean men from sin, but the design was not accomplished, and hence, in the days of Cain, the curse was brought still heavier. To him it was said, “When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength.” Gen. 4:12. Is it not reasonable to conclude from this and other testimonies that those barren deserts which only now and then contain an oasis, as though God would remind man that it was once fertile, was the result of bringing the curse this second time more heavily on the earth? He did not tell Adam that the earth would not bring forth its fruit, but, that he should eat the herb of the field, as the result of his tillage; but to Cain, he said, “When thou tillest the ground it shall not henceforth yield her strength unto thee.” Even this heavy curse did not lead men to God; but in the days of Noah we read “that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.” “The earth also was corrupt before God; and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and behold it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.” Gen. 6:5–7, 11–13. God now instructed Noah to build an ark for his safety; and “according to all that God commanded him, so did he.” The flood came upon the earth, “and all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man; all in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land died.” Thus God brought a complete destruction upon every living substance that was upon the face of the earth, both man and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven. At this time the curse fell still more heavily upon the earth, as is shown from Gen. 8:21: “And the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake.” But what will God do? Will he let man go on in his wickedness? Even at this time we read that “the imagination of man’s heart was evil from his youth.” Man was at that time, and had been from his creation, living to a great age. The average age of man from the creation to the flood was (excepting Enoch, who was translated) over nine hundred years. Up to this time God required man to eat that which was the most conducive to longevity, which is the herb of the field, and fruits. Neither had God cursed man; the earth had thus far received the curse every time; yet man had not learned to cease from sin, but the imagination of his heart was evil from his youth. If God should bring the curse still heavier upon this earth, man could not cause it to bring forth sufficient for his sustenance; for even now the earth waxes old as doth a garment, and man runs to and fro to find now and then a spot where he can raise enough for his support. And were it not for the fact that God had given man an inventive faculty, whereby he could invent labor-saving agricultural implements, as in these last days, the race would have suffered for food. Will God now leave man to perish? or will he come still closer with his work? By consulting Genesis 9, we learn that God did not leave man, but brought his work still closer. He permitted a change in man’s diet. Every moving thing that liveth, he told Noah, shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. “But the flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.” What was the effect of this change of diet on man? 1. Meat does not contain that amount of nutriment that grains contain, and hence does not afford that real strength, but acts on the system as a stimulant. Under the influence of a meat diet, man will be inclined to overdo, and thus bring on suffering and premature death. 2. Meat being harder to digest than bread, it requires more vitality than nature designed for the digestive organs. This, combined with over-labor, uses up man’s reserve force of vitality and he sooner wears out and dies. 3. The using up of the life-forces thus causes a reaction in his system, and he will want more stimulant, and that of a stronger character. Hence, on the table of the meat-eater you will find a great many condiments, such as pepper, salt, vinegar, &c., which only serve as stimulants. These, with the decayed matter which is constantly increasing on this earth, from the effect of the curse, is a very prolific cause of disease, suffering and misery. Why has God permitted all this? is an important question. Our text says that all work together for good to them that love God. But will a meat diet really shorten life and bring the misery above alluded to?26 When God permitted this change of diet, he announced one important fact, viz.: “Surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it.” This is very plain, virtually saying, I now will give you a meat diet, but it will shorten your life. Now, in confirmation of this, if you take the same number of generations, commencing with Shem, the son of Noah, as existed from Adam to Noah, which was ten, you will find that man’s age was shortened from over nine hundred years to less than two hundred; and a few hundred years from this time, in the days of David, the age of man was said to be threescore years and ten, and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet it was labor and sorrow: for it is soon cut off. Psa. 90:10. Add to this the fact that man’s average age now is less than 28 years, and scarcely a man, woman, or child, you meet with, but what you can trace disease in their countenance, in their walk, yea, in their very deportment; and the child of God has enough to remind him that he is in the land of the dying, and cause him to sigh for that land where no sickness, nor sorrow, nor pain, nor death, will ever enter. God knew that the attractions of this earth would be great, owing to our nature and our habits of life, and he has permitted certain causes to exist, which have resulted in pain, misery, and death; and now he would have all these circumstances combined, wean our affections from this vale of tears, change our course and habits of life, and cause us to place our affections on eternal things, and thus have all things work together for our good. No people on earth have so much to encourage them as the remnant people of God. Would you embrace the truth? you are met with obstacles at every turn. The habits of the world are not the habits and customs of the Christian. If you adopt the reformed diet, unless you have the privilege of eating at your own quiet table, you are met with difficulties which none but those who are called away from home know. It leads you to long and sigh for a seat at that table where Christ will come forth and serve his saints. Friends, if you conform to this world and thus shun the cross, all things will not work for your good. But while you meet with the obstacles of life, let them only wean you from this world, for we know that all things work together for good to them that love God. Another feature might here be alluded to in the work of God in bringing the curse, especially in the days of Noah. God does nothing in vain; neither can man improve the work of God. It is right, perfectly adapted to the end for which it is designed. Solomon speaks as follows: “I know that whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever; nothing can be put to it, nor anything taken from it, and God doeth it, that men should fear before him.” Eccl. 3:14. Let us imagine ourselves back in the days of the flood, and behold the state of the earth. The waters dried up in their natural way, and an awful scene presents itself before us; decayed matter of all kinds strews the earth. The dead bodies of men, beasts, fowls of the heaven, and everything that had the breath of life, present a sickening scene. Vegetation, also, with torn up mighty trees, when the mighty upheaving of the earth let forth the water, all this decaying matter together must so poison the atmosphere that disease and death would soon remove man and beast from the earth. But this was not the case. God cleansed the face of the earth from this decaying matter, as shown from the expression, “And the Lord smelled a sweet savor.” Gen. 8:21. This was done by the rebuke of the Lord, with a strong wind, which assuaged the waters, and caused the dry land to appear. Gen. 8:2, 3. David beautifully describes the drying up of the waters by the wind in Ps. 104: “The waters stood above the mountains. At thy rebuke they fled; at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away. They go up by the mountains; they go down by the valleys unto the place which thou hast founded for them.” Verses 6–9. This mighty wind that would drive the waters “up by the mountains,” and “down by the valleys,” would also blow the earth, especially those portions like the great deserts, the sand of which has been known to blow many hundred miles (see the Autobiography of Eld. Joseph Bates, p. 225); also the loose trees, and decayed bodies and carcasses would be thrown in heaps and covered by the loose dirt and sand. Thus hills and mountains would be formed. And while this earth is waxing old like a garment, failing to yield her strength to the tiller, those decayed trees of much firmer texture than we see at the present day, having become petrified form the coal deposits, that man may be provided for. In these last days, when villages and cities are built for the manufactory of modern improvements, labor-saving machines, &c., the wood is rapidly consumed, and coal is brought forth for fuel and other uses necessary for the wants of man. A piece of wood, from which coal is formed, I saw in N. Y. city on exhibition a few years since. It was taken from a coal mine, and was about five feet long, a foot and a half wide, and a foot thick, as nearly as I can remember. The grain of the wood and its nature could be distinctly seen. Thus in the time of the flood God provided for the wants of these last days. “That which has been is now; and that which is to be, hath already been; and God requireth that which is past.” Eccl. 3:15. Thus in all God’s work which relate to man, we can see the truthfulness of the text, “Now we know all things work together for good to them that love God.” And while we see that infinite wisdom has shaped all things for our good, foreseeing the wants of man from the beginning, numbering the very hairs of our head, watching the fall of the sparrow, can we not trust him, and confidently believe that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose?