The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1890-10-01


thuaderbolts strikes It, saying, The
crooked shall be made straight"
In your business concerns there are III
Eue2ces perpieXiny. Your affairs may
seem all right to outsiders. for business
firms DO not advertise their private
troubles. but where one firm has every
thing just as they want it there are a
hundred firms at their WITS end what to
DO with that partner Who draws more
than his share OF the profits, or with chat
stockholder who comes il Just often
enough to upset things. or with that dis
appearance OF funds which yCu cannot
account FOR, although You have suspicious
YOU cannot mention. or with that invest
menJ which was made contrary to your
Judgment because there was a detcrmi-
nation TO push it through. or because
you Are going behind month by month
without any prospect OF eXtrication.
The tronble is putting wrinkle on your
forehead that ought not 10 appear there
foc ten years yet, and you will be forty
years old When YOU ought TO be only
dirty. or sixty when YOU ought to be
fifty or seventy when YOU ought to be
only sixty, Stop worrying. Either blythe
d;Sso(ution OF that firm. OF by re-adiust-
irg matters you will be brought safely
through if you Fut yoGr trust in God.
When commercial houses fail the sus-
pension is advertised, but Of The tens Of
thousands ofmen, who are every day ex-
tric&tcd 40 public mention is made. ! es-
CerGav was Saturday and I warrant that
at the windows OF banks, and in ccuat-
ing-roolAs of stores and on every street
Of every city. God appeared for the de-
llverancc Of good men, as certainly as
when with Ills right foot he trod Lake
G&i!i;ee, into placidity and made Daniel
as safe among the lions as though they
had becu house dogs asleep on rug be-
fore a winters fire. Throw yourself on
the promise Of the text. Or a hundred
ether texts nearing about the same
thing.
I ncvcc Yet asked God to 90 anything
but He did It, lift Were best, and in all
the cases where my prayer has not been
answered, I have found out aiterwarG
that it was best not to have been al
swered IL my way. But none ofus have
tested the full power Of prayer. 1t is g
force very ike some OF the forces Of ma
tUre, that were in existence but not en-
ployed. For ages electricity was
thought good for nothing but to burn
barns. and Kill people with fell strokes.
The lightning rod on the top of houses
was the spear with which tie world
charged on the thunderstorm, as much
as 10 say. "Ityou dare to come this way
I will hucl you INTO the ground" But
now electricity lightens homes. and
churches, ard cities, and Christendom,
and moves rail cars, and he is rash mar
who mentions anything as impossible to
this natural energy. So the power OF
prayer was to the world rather q fright
u power, # it was any power at all.
But that has been changed, and men
begin 10 use it in some things. and the
time Will come when it will be used in
all things, and there will be a Bible in
every counting room, and supplication
Will ascend from every commercial es-
tablishment. and when business firms
are formed the question will not only be
asked as to how much this one and that
one put in Of capital, the question will
be asked: "Do you know how to pray:?'
Mightier agent than any natural force
yet developed will be this Gospel cleo
trIcity, flashing heavenward for help.
flashing earthward with Divine response.
God in business life. God in agricultural
life. God in mechanical life. God il ar
t;stic life. God in every kind Of life. Your
religion for the most past is hung up so
high you cannot reach it. 1t is hung up
on the cloudy ratters of the sky where
You expect to snatch itup as you finally so
through for heavenly residence. Oh. have
your religion within easy reach now! Re-
ligion is not for heaven. but for this world.
Once n heaven, we will need no prayer,
for we shall have everything we want.
We will needno repentance. for We shall
have forever got rid OF our sins. We
shall have no need Of comfort, for there
Will be no trouble. The Chalstian re-
ligion is not for heaven where everything
is al right, but for this world where so
many things are all wrong.
Washington Allston, whose name you
recognize as that ola great American
painter, was reduced to extreme poverty.
and one day got on his knees and asked
for loaf OF bread for himself and lis
starving family. While he was bowcdin
that prayer there was knock at the
door and a man came in and said: How
about your painting, the Angel Criel.'
that received the prize a: the royal acad-
envy: Has it been sold:" NO" said
Allston. How much DO You want for
it:" Allston replied: II am done fixing
q price Tor I cannot tell" "Wlll four
hundred pounds be cnongh;Sc, asked the
stranger. ''Why that is more than I
asked" said Allston. The 100 pounds.
$4,000 were paid and the purchaser IN
troduced himself as Marquis of Stafford,
who thereafter was one Of the most lib
eral patrons OF the rescued artist. Goa.
that all justhappened sop Didit: Tell
that to some ignorant man, some be-
nighted woman, who, has never read the
the promise: Call upon me in the day
Of trouble, l will deliver thee" or that
other promise: The crooked shall Re
made straight
We'll" says one. you DON'T apply
this in every direction" Yes, l do.
Take the most uncertain thing on earth
the weather. The Bible distinctly
says that prayer controls the weather.
James 9Th. and 18th: Elijah was a man
subject to Ike passions as we are and he
prayed earnestly that it might not rain.
and It rained no: on the carth 10. The
space Of three years and six months;
and he prayed again and the heavens
gave rain" Do you say that was tie
weather ofolden time? There have been
instances in modern times Just as mar
'clous. There is not Christian ship cap
ain but could give you instances Of di-
Iine interference with the weather in
answer to prayer. 1t has been my good