Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1890-01-04

Il 1AAAAA ~ ANA hHI " hhA Wv
men try to make us believe that Gods
children are on the limits. and tho chief
refreshments and enjoymentsof life arc
for outsiders, and not for his own chill
dren. II is stark atheism. There is no
innocent beverage too rich for Gods
child TO drink; there is no robe too
costly for him TO wear; there is no
hilarity too great for hin to indulge in,
and no house too splendid for him 70
live in. He has a right TO the Joys OF
earth; he shall have a right 10 the joys
OF heaven. Though tribulation, and
trial, and hardship may come unto him,
let him rejoice. ''Rejoice in the Lord.
ye righteous, and again | say, re-
%joice."
/ remark again that Christ comes to
us in the hour of our extremity. He
knew the wine was giving out before
there was any embarrassment or NORTH
cation. Why did he not perform the
miracle sooner? Why wait until it was
all gone, and no help could come from
any source, and then come in and per-
form the miracle? This is Christ's way;
and when he did come in, at the hour of
extremity, he made first rate wine, so
that they cried out: Thou hast kept
bAtC kOoA IA ulllAl lONs 1t0up III LAlO
hour of extremity! He seems TO prefer
that hour.
In a Christian home in Poland great
poverty had come, and on the week day
the man was obliged TO move out Of
the house with his whole family. That
night, ne 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 a raven that the
family had fed and trained, and il had
in its bill a ring all set with precious
stones, which was found out 20 be a
ring belonging 20 the royal family. 1t
was taken up to the kings residence,
and for the honesty Of the man in bring
ing 1t back he had a house given TO him,
and a garden and a farm. Who was IL
that sent the raven tapping on the win
dow? The same God that sen the
raven to feed EAah by the brook
Cherith. Christ II the hour OF ex-
tremity!
You mourned over your sins. You
could not find the way out. You sat
down and said: God will not be merci-
full. He has cast me off, but in that,
the darkest hour Of your history, light
broke from the throne and Jesus said:
30 wanderer, come home! l have seen
all thy sorrows. In this, the hour Of
thy extremity, | offer thee pardon and
everlasting life"
Trouble anne You were almost torn
to pieces by that trouble. You braced
Yourself up against it. You said: Il
will be a stole, and / will not care;' but
before you had got through making the
resolution, it broke down under you
You felt that all your were
gone, and b e Jesus came. I'm 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 third watch? / do not know.
lie zane in the fourth, and gave deliv-
erance to his disciples. Jesus in the
last extremity.
l wonder if il 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 slim
ulants and the bathings, but all in vain.
Something will say: "You must go"
No one to hold US back, but the hands
OF eternity stretched out TO pull US on.
What then? Jesus will come to us, and
as we say, Lord, Jesus, | am afraid of
that water; l cannot wade through to
the other side," he will say, Take
hold of my ARM" M we will take hold
OF his arm, and then he will put his foot
in the surf of the wave, taking us on
down deeper, deeper, deeper, and our
soul will cry: "All thy waves and bill
lows have gone over me-" Ehey cover
the feet, come to the knee, pass the
girdle and come TO the head, and our
soul crys out: ''Lord Jesus Christ, /
cannot hold thine arm any longer"
Then Jesus will turn around, throw both
his arms about US, and set us on the
beach far beyond the tossing Of the bill
lows. Jesus in the last extremity.
That wedding scene Is gone now.
The wedding ring has been lost, the
tankards have been broken, the house
IL down; but Jesus invites US to a
grander wedding. You known 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 air
with their music: and Jesus will stretch
out his hand, and the church, robbed in
white, will put aside her veil. and
look up into he face of her Lord the
king, and the bridegroom will say to
the bride: Thou hast been faithful
through all these years. The mansion
is ready! Come home! Thou art fair,
my lover 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 bridegroom and bride will stand
at the head of the table, and the ban
Queters, looking up, will wonder and
admire, 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 a robe!'
and That is the bride! The WEAKNESS
Of her earthly woe lost in the flush Of
this wedding triumph"
There will be wine enough at that
wedding; not coming up from the
poisoned watts OF earth, but the vine
yards of God will press their ripest
clusters. and the cups and the tankards
will blush to the brim with the heav-
emily vintage, and then all the ban
queters will drink standing. Esther
having come up from the b~acchanalian
revelry of Ah~asuerus, where q thousand
lords feasted, will be there. And the
queen of Sheba. from the banquet of