His mercies are far above, out of their sight, and therefore His
judgments are far away out of their sight too; and so they talk of
the "Visitation of God," as if it was something that was very
extraordinary, and happened very seldom; and when it came, only
brought evil, harm, and sorrow. If a man lives on in health, they
say he lives by the strength of his own constitution; if he drops
down dead, they say he died by "the visitation of God." If the
corn-crops go on all right and safe, they think THAT quite natural--
the effect of the soil, and the weather, and their own skill in
farming and gardening. But if there comes a hailstorm or a blight,
and spoils it all, and brings on a famine, they call it at once "a
visitation of God." My friends! do you think God "visits" the earth
or you only to harm you? I tell you that every blade of grass grows
by "the visitation of God." I tell you that every healthy breath
you ever drew, every cheerful hour you ever spent, every good crop
you ever housed safely, came to you by "the visitation of God." I
tell you that every sensible thought or plan that ever came into
your heads,--every loving, honest, manly, womanly feeling that ever
rose in your hearts, God "visited" you to put it there. If God's
Spirit had not given it you, you would never have got it of
yourselves.

But people forget this, and therefore they have so little real love
to God--so little real, loyal, childlike trust in God. They do not
think much about God, because they find no pleasure in thinking
about Him; they look on God as a task-master, gathering where He has
not strewed, reaping where He has not sown,--a task-master who has
put them, very miserable, sinful creatures, to struggle on in a very
miserable, sinful world, and, though He tells them in His Bible that
they CANNOT keep His commandments, expects them to keep them just