News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1890-09-25

forty-twO months, l should think some
body now might have a prayer that
would affect it for a couple of days.
John Easter was many years ago an
evangelist in Virginia A large out
door meeting was being held in that
state, Many thousands had assembled
in the open air, and heavy storm clouds
began to gather. There was no shelter
to which the multitudes could retreat.
The rain had already reached the ad-
joining 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 knelt and prayed that the
audience might be spared from the
rain, and that after they had gone to
their homes there might come refresh
ing 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 be-
fore omitted.
Do you say it only happened so9 /
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, seculari-
ties as well as spiritualities. Take to
God all your annoyances and perplexi-
ties The crooked shall be made
straight. Some people talk as though
God controlled things in general but
not in particular; that he started every
! thing under certain laws and then let
it take care of itself, as an engineer
might start his locomotive on an iron
railroad track and then jump off. What
would happen to such a locomotive is
what would long ago have happened to
our world if God had started it and
afterward allowed it to look out for
itself.
There is no such thing as a general
providence. 1t is a particular provi-
dence. God has no general care for a
forest. 1t is a care of every cell of
every leaf and root in that forest. God
has no general care of the ocean. 1t is
a care of every drop of water in the
liquid magnitude. God has no general
care for the human race. 1t is a care
of every individual of that race, and of
every item of individual history. |
preach him, q God in infnitesimals, an
every day God, tod responsive, and
one breath of earnest prayer, though
that breath should not be strong enough
to make a candle flicker, will absorb
more of the divine attention than if the
archangel standing at the foot of the
throne should flap both wings.
GODS CARE OF THE UNITED STATES
1t is remarkable how many crook
ed things are in the providence Of
God being made straight. About thirty
years ago our national affairs were as
crooked as depraved American politics
and 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 way through, and one of the mild
est things that the north and south
promised each other was assassination.
During this summer I have Travelled
through New York and Ohio and
Illinois and Indiana and Minnesota
and Kansas and Nebraska and Mis-
souri, and Texas and Louisiana and
Georgia and North and South Caro-
lima and Virginia and Pennsylva-
MIA, and | have shaken hands with
tens of thousands of people and talked
with men of all sections and degrees,
and have to tell you it is all peace,
and in all the states of the Union you
could not now marshal a military com
pany of one hundred soldiers to fight
against the United States government
unless you got your men out of the
penitentiary. Did the corrupt and
gangrened political parties do this work
of rectification and pacifcation2 Mo-
1t was by divine interposition that the
crooked has been made straight.
On the I'd of December, 1851, Louis
Napoleon Bonaparte rode down the
Champs Elysee of Paris, and under
the hoofs of his horse q republic was
trampled as the rider went to take q
throne. 1t was the outrage of the cent
ury. For nineteen long years the
wrong triumphed. The will of one
man who wanted to remain emperor
kept down nation who wanted n re-
public. But September, 1870, arrived,
and Sedan unrolled its crimson scroll.
The emperor surrenders with 5000
troops, 419 field guns, 5000 horses and
1000 muskets. From that day the
ballot box was up and the throne was
down. Free institutions have been
substituted for an infamous monarchy.
Thank Godl The crooked has been
made straight
But why go so far to find fulfllment
of my 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 health, and
you are saying, why cannot l be in
good health when | have such opportu-
mites and such responsibilities Alas
for the sick headaches, and the rheu-
matte joints, and the neuralgia thrusts,
and the lame foot! But you will be well
soon. Life at the longest is an abbre-
waited durance. There is black doc
tor that will cure you. Some people
call him death.
No disease was ever able to stand be-
fore his touch. Use all the means af-
forded for physical recuperation, but if
they fail the hour of release is not far
away. There need be no incurables
There is no sorrow that heaven cannot
cure Those who in this world have
always been well viii not get the best
part of heaven. They will not have
the advantage of contrast. They were
well before they left this world, and
why should they be so graduated at
being well in the next world? But to
those who on earth were hindered or
broken down in health what a con-
trast as they step into that domain
where there has never been an aching
brow, or lame foot, or inflamed muscle
or disordered nervel For forty wears
there may have been a STOPPING in the
back, or a twisted muscle, or a curved
spine, or a crooked limb, but the prom
ise has been fulfilled, 'eThe crooked
IL, l.