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

your life, even though you know how many
years You were to live. A very elaborate
calculation. God can tell without any cal
culation. He has great family and he has
for each one Of us il we do not act like
naughhty children and kick and scramble
and try to upset thing5-a plate for each one
Of us, and we will be served in our turn. God
has already ordered all the suits of clothes
you will ever wear down, to the last one in
. which you will be laid out. God has
already ordered all the food you will ever eat.
down to the last crumb that viii DO put into
your mouth in the dying sacrament I do
not say he will always give us just what we
would like. A parent must decide for q child
The child might say: 20, give me sugar an i
CONNECTIONS, and nothing else." The parent
would say; 20, that wouldn't be good; that
wouldn't be well for you. You must take
something palmer first" The child might
say; give me nothing but great blotches of
color in my garments TO-" the parent
would say, "that wouldn't be appropriate;
that wouldn't be beautiful The parent de-
cides for the child what is best for him to
eat and what is best for him to wear. Now,
God is our father, and we are minors of tho
family, and he is going to feed us and clothe
us, although he may not always CRAFTY our
infantile wishes for sweets and glitter These
ravens did not bring pomegranates from the
silver platter Of King Ahab for Elijah. They
brought bread and meat; the very best thing,
the very best food. Elijah was going to have
O hard time, and God wanted him, to be
stout and strong. and he gives him stout
food They did not bring cake or
pie or custard, but bread and meat, SUBJ
stantial diet. And God is going to supply
us. He does not promise us the luxuries
which sometimes kill the body, but he prom
ises US food, and you have a right to take
courage. God has no hard times in His his
A.
His banks never fail. He not only has the
food, but He has the mode of conveyance; not
only the bread, but the ravens; and if in
order to satisfy you it were necessary, God
would send out of the heavens a great flock
of ravens, reaching from his gate to yours, so
that the food could be flung down the sky
from beak to beak and from talon to tal0~
"Though troubles assail and dangers alright,
Though treasures all fail, and foes all unite,
Yet one thing assures us, whatever betide,
The Scripture assures us the Lord will pro-
vide" 9
Notice also, in regard to these winged
caterers these black servants of the sky, and
in regard to this whole question brought be-
fore us, that nothing could Elijah hoard
up as a surplus. The raven did not bring
enough one morning to last month, they
did not bring enough one morning to last
until the next morning. They brought
enough in the morning to last until the even
ing, and they brought enough in the evening
to last until the morning. Twice day.
"And they brought bread and flesh to him
In the morning. and bread and flesh to him
in the evening" In other words, they brought
just enough. OH wish we could all learn tLat
lesson. You know the great struggle of the
world is for a surplus. 1t is not merely
enough for this week, or this year, but it is
for fifty years: it is for a lifetime. You have
more faith in the Nassau Bank, the Fulton
- &I4a
Royal Bank of Heaven. You say: That
is all very poetic; you can take the black
ravens; give me the gold eagles" Ii in thu
morning the food be exhausted, do not sit
down after breakfast and say: II don't
know where the next meal is to come FROM"
but go out, look up into the sky, and you
will see two ravens, not like the insane
chamber door. SONY this and nothing more, I"
but Elijah's two ravens, the Lords two
ravens, the one bringing bread, the other
bringing meat. Plumed butcher and baker.
Oh, how good God is, and how great are His
resourcesI When the city Of Rochelle was
besieged, and the inhabitants were dying OF
famine, history tells us that he saw washed
upon the beach as never before, and as never
since, enough shell-fish to feed the Whole
city. God is good, God is gracious, God is
bountiful In 1855, in England, there was
great drought, and in Essex among the rocks
JueIo
nothing cultured, history tells us there came
up great crop of peas, enough to fill hun
dred measures, and there were enough bios
soming vines promising as much more. Oh,
God is good, God is gracious. If people would
only trust him. / need not goso far. could
go to this audience and find 800 instances
this morning in your family histories Illus
trating that God takes care of His dear
children. The morning l left home to earn
my own livelihood, my father sat on
the front seat, and l sat on the back
seat, and / felt sad on leaving home, and my
father had a way of improving circum-
stances, and he said to me: "De Witt, | am
an old man now, but want to tell you one
thing; / have during the course OF my life
come up to my last dollar; but when that
was spent, God always provided. Trust the
Lord and you will never want any good
thing" Was not that good thing to say to
boy just starting out in the world. have
found it true In my family line there was
an incident that / tried to mention, but
only had part of the facts. Ihave them now
fresh from member of my own family.
There was a great drought up in New Eng
gland, in Connecticut, and the crops were
failing, and the cattle were dying for lack Of
water Mr.. Birdseye, Christian man, had
| his cattle and herds driven down into the
valleys to get water This went on for a
while, aud finally the neighbors said: Mr..
Birdseye, you mustn't send your cattle down
| here to use our waters: our waters are fall
ing us; we are all going to die together; do
not send your herds and hocks down
here any more" So Mr.. Birdseve
went back to his house on the
hill, and he called his family together, and
he called his slaves-for slavery was in vogue
J in Connecticut-and he read a passage of
Scripture, and then they all knelt down and
prayed God for water; and the family story
| Is that there was great sobbing and weep
Jug at the family altar because the herds
were perishing and there was prospect that
the family would die of thirst. They arose
from their knees, and Mr.. Birdseye took a
staff and walked out over the hills, hardly
| knowing why or where he walked, and
going along place where he had been scores
| OF times, and never noticed anything especial.
he saw that the ground was very dark, and
he thrust his staff into it, and bored into it,
and water flowed forth. He beckoned to his
slaves and his servants to come. and he told
them TO bring buckets and to bring pals, and
they were brought and water was taken to
the house, and taken TO the barn, and then a
trough was placed there and larger excava-
ton was made, and the waters poured in,
and in larger volume, and have been
pouring in ever since. 1t is a
perennial spring that Is pouring
| now. / call that old great7grandfather
| Elijah, and call the brook thai started that
l dav and has been running ever since. Cherith.