Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1890-09-27

you want for itf' Allston replied: 81 ann
done fixing price, for | cannot get it."
.Will four hundred pounds be enoughy'
asked the stranger. why. that is more
than asked, ;" said Allston. The four hun
dred pounds two thousand dollars were
paid, and the purchaser introduced himself
as the Marquis of Stafford, who thereafter
was one of the most liberal patrons OF the
rescued artist. s1Oh, that all just happened
soln Did it, Tell that to some ignorant
man, some benighted woman, who has never
read the promise, Call upon Me in the day
of trouble l will deliver thee" or that other
promise, The crooked shall he straight"
well, says one, ''you don't apply this in
every direction" Yes, do. Take the most
uncertain thing on earth-the weather. The
Bible distinctly says that prayer controls the
weather. James v, IL, IS: Elias was a
man subject to like passions as we are, and
he prayed earnestly that it might not rain.
nditrained not on the earth for the space
Of three years and six months; and he prayed
again and the heavens gave rain Do you
say that was the weather of olden time,
There have been instances in modern times
lust as marvellous. There's not Christian
ship captain but could give you instances
Of divine interference with the weather in
answer to prayer It has been my good
fortune to know many ship captains. They
are all in our services They leave their
vessels on Sunday mornings and join US in
worship.
/ warrant there are enough of them pres
ent this morning to take a whole feet in
safety across the Atlantic. Whenever have
heard them testify it has nightly confirmed
me in what knew. before that God answers
prayer concerning the weather. And there
have been cyclones that started up from the
Caribbean Sea- sweeping down every sail and
every smokestack and every mast in their
course, which in answer to specific petition
have been diverted and made to curve around
some particular ship, leaving that in calm
waters, and then resuming their original
path of destruction. The weather proba-
bilities again and again have announced
tempest, and we were all ready for it, but to
the surprise of most people the next day we
saw the announcement that the atmospheric
fury had changed its course. The probable
ity is it struck prayer and glanced of. III
Elias's prayer affected the weather OF Pales-
tine for forty-two months l should think
somebody now might have prayer that
would affect it for couple of days.
John Easter was many years ago an evan
gelist in Virginia. A large outdoor meeting
was being held in that State. Many thou
sands had assembled in the open air, and
heavy storm clouds began to gather. There
was no shelter to which the multitude could
retreat. The rain had already reached the
a adjoining fields when John Easter cried out,
Brethren, be still while | call upon God to
stay the storm till the Gospel is preached to
this multitude Then he kne.t and prayed
that the audience might be spared from the
rain, and that after they had gone TO their
homes there might come refreshing showers.
Behold, the clouds parted as they came near
and passed to either side of the crowd and
then closed again, leaving the place dry
where the audience had assembled, and the
next day the postponed showers came upon
the ground that had been the day before
omitted.
Do you say it only happened so? / cannot
see what you keep your Bibles for, and the
God you worship is not my God. Your God
is an autocrat, and he is so far off and SO
far up that the world cannot touch him, and
his throne is an eternal iceberg. My God is
a father, here and now, and father will
give his child what he asks for If it is best for
him to have it. Pray about everything that
concerns you, secularities as well as spiritual
tiles. Take to God all your annoyances and
perpiexities. The crooked shall be made
straight. Some people talk as though God
controlled things in general but not in par
ticular: that He started everything under
certain laws and then let it take care of it
self as an engineer might start his locomo-
tive on an iron railroad track and then jump
off. What would happen to such a locomo-
tive is what would long ago have happened
to our world il God had started it and after
ward allowed it to look out for itself.
There is no such thing as a general provi-
dence 1t is particular providence. God
has no general care for forest. 1t is a care
of every cell of every leaf and root in that
forest. Col has no general care of the ocean.
1t is care of every drop of water i'll the
liquid magnitude. God has no general care
for the human race. 1t is care of every in
dividual of that race, and of every item of
individual history. preach Him, God in
infnitesimals, an every day God a God re-
sponsive and one breath OF earnest prayer,
though that breath should not be strong
enough to make candle flicker, VIII absorb
more of the divine attention thanlf the arch
angel staining at the foot of the throne
should flap both wings.
1t is remarkable how many croole1 things
are in the providence OF God being made
straight. About thirty years ago our ma
tonal affairs were as crooked as depraved
American politics an bad men and Satan
could make them. From the top of Maine
TO the foot of Florida the nation was red
with wrath, 1t was wrangle and fight all
the wav through and one of the mildest
things that the North and South promised
each other was assassination. During this
summer | have Travelled through New Yor5
and Ohio and Illinois and Indiana and Min
nesota and Kansas ami Nebraska and Mis-
souri, and Texas and Louisiana and Georgis
and North and South Carolina and Virginia
with tens of thousands OF psople and talked
with men of all sections and degrees and l
have to tell You it is all peace and in all the
States of toe Union you could not now mar
shall military company of one hundre So.
derS to fight against the United States Gov
eminent unless You got your men out of the
penitentiary. Did the corrupt and gangrene1
political parties do this work of rectitcation
and pacfcation? Mol 1t was by divine in
terposition that the crooked has been made
straight.
On the 2i of December, 1851, Louis Ma
poleon Bonaoarts role down the Champs
Elysee of Paris. an under the hoofs of his
horse republic was trampled as the rider
went to take a throne. was the outrage
| OF the century. For nineteen long years the
wrong triumphed. The will of one man
who wanted to remain Emperor kept down
nation who wanted a republic. But Sep
TENDER. 1870, arrived, and Sedan unrohe1 IFS
crimson scroll. The Emperor surrenders
with $1,000 troops, 4t9 field guns, $500
horses and 60, 900 muskets From that day
the ballot box WIS up and the throne was
down. Free institutions have been substi-
tuted for an infamous monarchy. Thank
Godl The crooked has been made straight.
But why go so far to find ful6llment of nay
text? In all our lives there are crooked
things that need to be made straight, and
each nearer or reader will enumerate for
himself or herself With one it is dilapidated
physical heath, AMI you are saving, why
cannot be in good health when have suca
opportunities and slch responsibilities" Alas
for the sick headaches and the rheumatic
joints, and the neuralgic thrusts, ana thu
lame foot! Bat you will be we'll soon. Life
at the longest is an abbreviated durauce.
There is BLACK doctor that will cure you.
Some people call him death.
/ No disease was ever able to stand before
his touch. Use all the means afforded for
physical recuperation, but if they fail the
hour of release is not Tar away. There need
4 be no incurables. There is no sorrow that
heaven cannot cure. Those who in this
world have always been well will not get the
\ best part Of heaven. They viii not have the
advantage Of contrast, They were well be-
/ fore they left this world, AMI why should they
/ world? But those vino on earth were hindered
or broken down in health what contrast as
| they step into that domain where there has
never been an aching brow, or lame foot, or
/ indamel muscle or disordece1 nerve For
4 forty years there may have been stopping
! in the back, or twisted inusc.e, or a curved
\ spine, or a crooked limb, but the promise has
been fulfilled, THE crooked shall be made
/ straight
In many domestic life are difficulties to
/ be removed. There are thousands OF
matches that were not made in heaven.
/ Some of the loveliest women have been uni
Ted to some OF the meanest N IN. AMI some
Of the grandest men to the most worthless
women. There may be no sufficient cause
! OF enforcement. but there has never been
any accord. For them the wedding march
ought never to have been played. The twain
divergent in sentiment, the north pole and
the south pole might just as we'll have been
/ married. A twist of nettIes would have been