Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1890-10-10


commission, "bring me water and q towel; !
viii be very glad TO wash their feet" One
was the spirit Of the devil, the other ths
spirit Of Christ.
But reference TO Peter reminds me that we
must go to the housatOo in JopDa where ne
was taught the democracy of religion. That
was about the Queerest taing that ever nap
pened. On our way up to that kOuSetOp we
passed an old well where the great stones
were worn deep with the ropes Of the buck
cts, and it must be a well many centuries
old. and think Peter drank out OF it. Four
or five goat or calfskins filed with water lay
about the yard. We soon got up the steps
and on the housetop. 1t was in such a placs
in Joppa that Peter one noon while he was
waiting for dinner had a hungry fit and
tainted away, and had vision or dream or
trance l said TO my family and friends on
that housetop. Listen while | read about
what happened here" And opening the
Bible we had the whole story.
1t seems that Peter on the housetop
dreamed that great blanket was let down
out of heaven, and in it were sheep and goats
and cattle and mules and pigeons and buzz
yards and snakes and all manner Of creatures
that fly the air, or walk the field, or crawl
the earth, andin the dream voice told him
as he was hungry to eat, and he said, Il can
not eat things unclean." Three times he
dreamed it. There was then heard knock
ing at the gate Of the house on the top of
which Peter Law in trance, and three men
asked, 'Is Peter here?' Peter while yet
wondering what his dream meant, descends
the stairs and meets these strangers at the
gate, and they tell him that good man by
the name Of Cornelius, in the city Of CRsarea,
has also had dream and has sent them fol
Peter and to ask him to come and preach.
At that call Peter left Joppa for CRsarea
The dream he had just had prepared him to
preach, for Peter learned by it to reject no
people as unclean, and whereas he previously
~ T.,
now he goes to preach to the Gentiles, who
were considered unclean.
Notice how the two dreams meet-Peter's
dream on the housetop, Cornelius dream at
CRsarea. So I have noticed providences
meet distant events meet, dreams meet.
Every dream is hunting up some other dream,
and every event is searching for some other
event. In the Fifteenth century 1492) the
great event was the discovery of America.
The art of printing, born in the same century,
goes out to meet that discovery and make
the New World an intelligent world. The
Declaration of Independence announcing
equal rights, meets Robert BurCs's
mans man for a. that.
The United States was getting too large to
be managed by one Government, and tele-
graphy wasinvented to compress within an
hour the whole continent. Armies in tbs
Civil War were to be fitted out with clothing,
ana inc sewing n3cQln0 1nV61LlOn came OllC
to make it possible. Immense farming acre
age is presented in this country, enough to
support millions of our native born and
millions of foreigners; but the Old style OF
plow and scythe and reaper and thresher
cannot do the work, and there COane steam
plows, steam harrows, steam reapers, steam
rakes, steam threshers, and the work is &C
complished. The forests of the earth fail to
afford sufficient fuel, and so the coal mines
surrender a suf1iciency. The cotton crops
were luxuriant, but Of comparatively little
value, for they could not be managed; and
so, at just the right time Hargreaves' came
with his invention of the spinning jenny,
then Arkwright with his roller, and Whitlsey
with his cotton gin. The world, after pot
tering along with tallow candles and whale
oil, was crying fox better light and more OF
it, and the hill of Pennsylvania poured out
rivers of oil, and kerosene illumined the ma
lions. But the oil wells began to fall, and
then the electric: light comes forth to turn
night into day.
So all events are woven together, and the
world is magnifcently governed, because it
is divinely governed. We criticise things
and think the divine machinery is going
wrong, and put our fingers amid the wheels
only to get them crushed. But say, hands
off! Things are coming out gloriously. Cor
nelius may be- in. Cassarea, and Peter IN
Joppa, but their dreams meet. 1t is one
hand that is managing the world, and thar IS
Gods hand; and. one mind that is planning
all things for good and that is Gods mind:
and one heart that Is filed with love and
pardon and sympathy and that is Gods
heart. Have faith nj Him. Fret about moth
ing. Things are not at loose ends. There
are no accidents. All will come out right in.
your history and in the world. AS you are
waking from one dream up stairs an eX-
planatory dream will be knocking at the gate.
down stairs.
Standing here in Joppa remember that
where wa this morning dIsembarked ths
prophet Jonah embarked. For the first time
in my life [ fully understood that story.
God told Jonah to- go to Nineveh, but the
prophet declined that. call and came here to,
Joppa. Twas for weeks, while in the Holy
Lend, consulting with tourist companies as,
to now I could take 17Ineyen IN my Journey.
They did not encourage the undertaking. It
is most tedious ride to Nineveh amid a
desert. Now I see an additional reason why
Jonah did not want to go to Nlneveh. He
not only revolted because it was long way
and tough, and bandit infested, SO he came
here to JOppa and took ship. But, alas, for
the disastrous voyaget He paid his fun fare,
for the whole voyage but the ship company
did not fill their part of the contract. Ia
this day they have nat paid back that pas
sage money. Why people should doubt the
story of Jonah and the whale is more Of a
mystery than the Bible event itself. do
not need the fact that Pliny, the historian,
records that the skeleton Of a whale forty
feet long, and with hide q foot and a half
thick. was brouglt from Joppa to Rome.
The event recorded in the book. of Jonah
has occurred a thousand times. The Lord
always has a whale outside the habor for a
man who starts In the wrong direction. Rec
reant JonahI so not wonder that evenlthe
whale was SEX of him. This prophet was
put in the Bible not as an example, but as
warning because the world not only needs