Charlotte messenger. [volume] (Charlotte, Mecklenburg Co., N.C.) 1882-18??, 1886-07-17

dove, IL 1t had been q sublime albatross tina,
brought food to Elijah, would not havt
been 50 surprised; but no, it was 9
fierce and inauspicate bird out Of
which we make one of tho mou
forccful and repulsve words in our languages;
s'ravenous.n That bird has a passion for
picking out; II is glad to worry the sick and
the slain. With vulturous guzzle it destroys
everything it can put its beak on, and yet
for six months, or for twelve months, as
Your supply IL going to come in an unex-
pected conveyance. You get in some bust
ness trouble AMI you think some great
hearted man will come around and will put
his name on the back Of your note, or hs will
stand by you in some great enterprise.
no, hs VIII not; no, he will not.
helped anybody He viii bs wrought
upon in such a way that he will
come and help you. Circumstances most
ominous will turn out most suspicious 10
will not be a chaffinch, its wings and feathers
dashed with white and chestnut. 1t will be
q raven o, here is where we all make.
mistake, and that is, in regard to the color
of Gods providences. A white providence
comes to us. We say: THAT is a mercy"
A black providence comes to w. aud we say:
20, that is a disaster" A white providence
comes to us, and we have plenty of money,
plenty of friends, large government secur-
tiles, plenty of mortgages, $lO1, 900, every,
thing bright, beautiful and fair And
that petition, "Give me this day my daily
bread, seems to you inappropriate, because
you have enough anyhow for hundred
years. But black Providence comes, and
this investment fails, and that investment
goes under, and misfortune is adde1 to mis-
fortune, until all your property is gone, and
then you begin to cry to God Now you look
E~..I LII. IT--w T.
sufficiency of this world; now you are brought
very near to God, and your hopes of Heaven
are bright 1t was thu black Providence
that saved you. It was the white Provi.
dence that destroyed you. 1t was
the Providence so full of harshness and dis
sonance that brought the greatest mercy to
your sonl 1t was a raven: it was q raven.
A child is born in your house. Your friends
send their congratulations. The elder chill
dren stand with amazed look at tbs new
conner and ask manv questions genealogical
and chronological. Great brightness in that
house. That little one has its two fest planted
in the very centre of your affection, and with
its two bands it takes hold of your very soul;
but one Of the three SOURCES of children:
scarlet fever, or Group, or diphtheria, blasts
all that scene. The chattering, the strange
questions, the pulling at your dress as you
cross the room; all that has ceased.
AS the great friend of children
comes to the cradle and Stops
down and puts His arms around your little
one and folds it to His heart aud walks away
into the bower of everlasting summer, your
eyes follow and follow, and you keep looking
that way; and when once you thought Of
Heaven once week, now you think OF it all
the time, and you are purer and more tender
than you used to be, and you are waiting for
the day to break Oh, how changed You
are better man than you were before that
trouble; you are better woman 1t Is not
egotistical for you to say it: you are better.
What brought that blessing? It was trouble
that cast its shallow on your heart; trouble
that cast its shadow on a short grave, and
trouble that cast its shadow on your home
black-winged trouble. 1t was a raven; it was
a raven. Dear Lord teach my people that it
Is not the dark Providence that is SO
destructive as ths white Providence, and
that whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth,
and scourgeth every one whom He rec .iv-
eth" and that when trouble comes, it is not
because God has grudge against you, but
because he lovesyou and wants to bring you
nearer to Him, and lift you up to higher ra-
diation and on grander platform. Ga, chill
dren Of God, get out of your dependencies;
fling your sorrows to the Winds God never
had SO many ravens as He has now. Some
times, perhaps, under the cares of life you
feel like my little child Of four years, who
L
wish l could go to Heaven and see God and
pick flowers" Ali my dear, at the right
time you will go and pick the flowers Until
that time, pray. suppose Elijah prayed
all the time. Tremendous work ahead of him,
tremendous work behind him. And what you
want ask for. l put it in the boldest shape,
and l risk my eternity on the truth of it,
when say, ask Of God in the right way for
what you want and you will get tiff its
best for you. o, the mercies OF Godl Some
times we cannot understand them. They
come this morning; they alight on the plat
form: they alight on the edges of thu CALLER
les; they alight on the back Of the pews,
bringing food from Col for all your souls
Ravens ravens Mrs Pithy, a well known
woman in Chicago, was left by her
husband a widow with half
dollar and a cottage She was palsied,
and had mother ninety years Of age to take
care of. 1t was marvellous how that woman
got of God, in the way of temporal supply,
everything she asked for, SO that the servant
the hired servant in the house, noticed it and
used to speak of it. One morning they arose
from prayer and the servant said to her:
"WhY, you have forgotten to ask for coal.
and the coal is out" They stood there and
asked God for coal, and in an hour this door
swung open and the hired servant said: Goals
come" A man who had never done that thing
before and never did it again, hearing that
thought it would be good thing to send
coal You do not understand it. l do.
Ravensl Ravens You have right, my
brother, my sister, to take Gods care OF
you in the past as evidence that He is going
to take care of you in the future. Is it not a
wonderful thing that all your life, for two or
three times day, God has given you foodl
4 look upon it as a wonder that all my life,
three times a day. God has given
me food, save once, and then
was lost on the mountains at noon But that
very morning and that very night met the
ravens Oh that you might feel so much the
goodness of God that you could trust Him
for the two lives, the life you are now living,
and the life which every tick of the watch
and every stroke Of the clock informs you is
approaching Look down and you see moth.
ing but your own spiritual deformities: look
back and you see nothing but wasted oppor-
tunity; look forward and you see nothing
but fearful Judgment and fiery indigna'
ton: but look up and you see the
whipt shoulders of an interceding Christ, and
the face of a pardoning God, and the irradia.
ton Of an opening Heaven. Take this food
for your soul to-day. It comes now into all
your hearts, and the only question want to
ask is. how many Of these people are going to
take God for their portion here and their
portion hereafter, going to trust Him now
for the food Of the body, aud trust him also
A. f.oJ - kIo yo,,I7 Arid fI,o IL ~