Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1889-12-26

poverty nAu come ana on the week Gay
the man was obliged to move out Of the
house with his whole family. That
night he knelt with his family and
prayed to God. While they were kneel-
ing in prayer there was a tap on the
window pane. They opened the win
dow, and there was raven that the
family had fed and trained, and it had
in its bill ring all set with precious
stones, which was found out to be q
ring belonging to the royal family. 1t
was taken up to the Kings residence,
and for the honesty of the man in bring
ing il back he had house given to him,
and garden and a farm. Who was it
that sent the raven tapping on the win
dow? The same God that sent the
raven to feed Elijah by the brook
Cherith. Christ in the hour of ex-
tremityl
You mourned over your sins. You
could not find the way out. You sat
down and said: God will not be mer-
oiful. He has cast me off," but in that,
the darkest hour of your history, light
broke from the throne, and Jesus said:
20 wanderer, come home. 1 have seen
all thy sorrows. In this, the hour of
thy extremity, offer thee pardon and
everlasting life!"
Trouble came. You were almost torn
to pieces by that trouble. You braced
yourself up against it. You said: Il will
be stole, and will not care; but be-
fore you had got through making the
resolution, it broke down under you.
You felt that all your resources were
gone, and then Jesus. came. In the
fourth watch of the night" the Bible
says, Jesus came walking on the sea. :"
Why did he not come in the first watch?
or IN the second watchp or in the third
watch? do not know. He came in the
fourth, and gave deliverance to His dis
ciples. Jesus in the last extremity!
wonder if it will be SO in our very
last extremity. We shall fall suddenly
sick, and doctors will come, but in vain.
We will try the anodynes and the stimu-
lants and the bathings, but all in vain.
Something will say: You must GO.
of eternity stretched out to pull us on.
What then? Jesus will come to us, and
as we say, Lord Jesus, l am afraid of
that water; l cannot wade through to
the other side, He will say, stake hold
of my arm;" and we will take hold of
His arm, and then He will put His foot
down deeper, deeper, deeper, and our
soul will cry: "All thy waves and bill
lows have gone over me-" They cover
the feet, come to the knee, pass the
girdle and come to the head, and our
cannot hold thine arm any,longer. Then
Jesus will turn around, throw both His
arms about us, and set US on the beach,
Co. i lo %
Jesus in the last extremity.
That wedding scene is gone now. The
wedding ring has been lost, the tank
ards have been broken, the house is
down; but Jesus invites us to grander
wedding. You know the Bible says that
the church is the Lambs wife, and the
Lord will after awhile come to fetch her
home. There will be cleaning of
torches in the sky, and the trumpets of
God will ravish the airwith their music;
and Jesus will stretch out His hand, and
the church, robed in white, will put
aside her veil, and look up into the face
of her Lord the King, and the bride
groom will say to the bride: Thou
hast been faithful through all these
years! The mansion is ready! Come
home Thou art fair, my love!" and
then He shall put upon her brow the
crown of dominion, and the table will
be spread, and it will reach across the
skies, and the mighty Ones of Heaven
will come in, garlanded with beauty and
striking their cymbals; and the BRIDE
groom and bride will stand at the head
of the table, and the banqueters look
ing up, will wonder and admire it and
say: "That is Jesus the bridegroom
But the scar on his brow is covered with
the coronet, and the stab in his side is
covered with robe!" and THAT is the
bride! The weariness of her earthly
woe lost in the flush of this wedding
triumpR!"
There will be wine enough at that
wedding; not coming up from the poi
soned vats of earth, but the vineyards of
God will press their ripest clusters, and
the cups and the tankards will blush to
the brim with the heavenly vintage, and
then all the banqueters will drink stand
ing. Esther having come up from the
bacchanalian revelry of Ahasuerus,
where thousand lords feasted, will be
there. And the Queen of Sheba, from
the banquet of Solomon, will be there.
And the mother Of Jesus, from the we'd
ding in Cana, will be there. And they
all will agree that the earthly feasting
was poor compared with that Then,
lifting their chalices in that holy light,
! they shall cry to the Lord of the feast:
Thou hast kept the good wine until
| now"