Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1892-01-11

nave DtCn OuO VI bAS WCAot NA~ -
carbuncles. boil without any cen
tral core and sometimes deathfu. a
fg was put upon it as a poultice
Hezelxiah did not want To die then.
His son, who was to take the king
dom, had not yet been born. and
Hezekiah's death would have been
the death Of the nation. So he prays
for recovery and is told he Will get
well.
But he wants some miraculous sign
70 make him sure Of it. He has the
rlioice of having the shadow on the
Hlndial of Ahaz advance or retreat
He replied it would not be 50 wonder
flil to have the sun go down. for it al
ways does go down sooner or later.
he asks that it go backward. In
OF her words, let the day. instead Of
going on toward sundown, turn and
go toward sunrise
zee the invalid king bolstered up
and wrapped in blankets looking out
Of the window upon the sundial in
the courtyard. While he watches
the shadow on the dial the shadow
begins to retreat, Instead of going
on toward six o'clock in the eveningit
goes back toward six o'clock in the
morning. The fig poultice had been
drawing for some time, and, sure
enough, the boil broke and Hezekiah
got well. Now | expect you will
come on with your higher criticism
aud try to explain this away and say
it was an optical delusion of Heze-
kiah. and the shadow only seemed to
20 back or cloud came over and it
was uncertain which way the shadow
did 20. and as Hezelsiah expected il
to go back he took the action OF his
own mind for the retrograde move
ment. No; the shadow went back
on all the dials Of that land and other
lands.
Turn To II Chronicles xxi, 81. and
find that away off in Babylon the
mighty men of the palace noticed
the same phenomenon. And If you
do not like Bible authority turn over
your copy of Herodotus and find that
away of in Egypt the people noticed
that there was something the matter
with the sun. The fact is that the
whole universe waits upon God, and
suns and moons and stars are not
very big things to him, and he can
with his little finger turn back an
entire world AZ easily as you could
set back the hour hand or minute
hand Of your clock or watch.
At the opening of new year peo-
pie are moralizing on the flight of
time. You all feel that you are moving
on toward sundown and many of you
are under u consequent depression. /
propose this morning TO set the hands
on your watches and clocks TO going
the other way. propose to show
you how you may make the shadow
Of your dial, like the shadow ON the
dial of Ahaz, TO stop going forward
and make il go backward. You think
have a big undertaking on hand,
but it can be done, If the same Lord
who reversed the shadow in Heze-
Iiah's courtyard moves upon us.
While looking at the sundial Of
Hezekiah. and we find the shadow
retreating, we ought to learn that
God controls the shadows. We are
all ready TO acknowledge his manage
ment of the sunshine. We stand in
the glow of "A bright morning, and
we say i'm our feelings, IL not with 30
many words; This life is from God.
This warmth IL from God" Or we
have rush Of prosperity, and we
say These successes are from God.
What "A providential thing 1t was ]
bought that lot just before the rise
of real estatel How grateful TO God
| am that made that investment
Why. they have declared ten per cent.
thvidendl What a mercy II was that
| sold out my shares before that col
lapseW
Oh. yes, we acknowledge God In
the sunshine OF n bright day or the
sunshine of a great prosperity But
suppose the day is darkl You have
10 light the gas at noon. The SUI
does not show himself all day long
There IL nothing but shadow, How
slow we are TO realize that the storm
il from God and the darkness from
God and the chill from God. Or W.
buy the day before the markets no
treat, or we make an Investment tina
never pays. or we purchase goods
that we cannot dispose of, or croI
Of grain we sowed Is ruined by
drought or freshot, or when we tool
account OF stock ON the first OF Jan
uary we found ourselves thousand
OF dollars worse OH than we expected
Who under such circumstances says
This loss is from God must hav'
been allowed 10 go into that unfor
tunate enterprise for some good rea
son, God controls the east wind ~
well ~ the west wind
LESSON TO LEARN.
My friends, cannot look for one
moment ON that retrogade shadow
ON Ahaz's dial without learning tina
God controls the shadows and tha
lesson we need all 10 learn. That h'
contuls the sunshine Is not so neces
sary lesson, for anybody can b
happy when things go right WheI
you sleep eight hours night and ris'
with an appetite that cannot easily
wait for breakfast, and You SO over q
the store and open your mail 10 read
moro orders than you can ill, and IN