The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1892-11-03

Wayp" Get all the direction you Can
from careful and constant study of the
Bible, and then look up and look out
and look around, and see il you can
find the finger of God.
1t is remarkable thing that some
times no one can see that finger but
yourself. a year before Abraham Lin.
coin signed the proclamation OF eman.
c!patlon the White House was thrOnped
with committees and association, minis.
ters and laymen, advising the president
to make that proclamation. But he
waited and waited, amid scott and ana
thema, because he did not himself see
the finger OF God. After awhile and at
just the right time he saw the divine
pointing an Il signed the proclamation.
The distinguished COnfederates, Mason
and Slldell, were taken Off an English
vessel by the United States government.
Don't give them up" shouted
all the northern states. "Let us
have war with England rather than
surrender them," was the almost unan-
imous Cry of the north. But William
ii. Seward saw the finger Of God lead
ing in just the opposite direction and
the Copfederates were given up, and
we avoided a war with England which
at tnat time would have been the dem
oli"iOn Of the United States govern.
ment.
In other words, the finger of God as
1T directs you, may DO invisible to
everybody else. Follow the divine
world may call you fool. There has
never been man or woman who
amounted to anything that has not
sometimes been called fool. Nearly
all the mistakes that you and l have
made have come from our following
the pointing of some other finger, in
stead Of the finger of God. But, now,
suppose all forms of disaster close in
upon man. Suppose his business col
lapses. Suppose he buys goods and
cannot sell them. Suppose by new
invention others can furnish the same
goods at less price. Suppose cold
spring or late autumn or the coming
OF an epidemic corners man, and his
notes come due and he cannot meet
them, and his rent must be paid and
there is nothing with which to pay it,
and the wages of the employees are
due and there is nothing with which to
meet that obligation, and the bank will
not discount, and the business friends
to whom he goes for accommodation
are IN the same predicament, and he
bears up and struggles on, until, after
awhile, crash goes the whole concern.
l am speaking of whole souled nen.
Such men are so broken by calamity
that they are humbled and fly to God
for relief. Men who have no spirit
and never expect anything are not
much affected by financial changes.
They are as apt to 20 into the kingdom
under one set of circumstances as
another. They are deadbeats where
ever they are. The only way to get rid
of them Is to lend them dollar and
you will never see them again. have
tried that plaza and it works we'll But
am speaking Of the effect of mlsfor-
but trial will turn such men from
earth to heaven. 1t is only through
clouds and darkness and whlrlWind of
disaster such a man can see the finger
of God.
a most interesting as we'll as most
useful study ls to watch the pointing
of the finger Of God. In the Seven
teonth century South Carolina was
yielding rosin and turpentine and tar
as her chief productions. But Thomas
Smith noticed that the ground near his
house in Charleston was very much
like the places in Madagascar where he
had raised rice, and some of the NADIA
gascar rice was sown there and grew so
rapidly that South Carolina WAS led to
make rice her chief production? Can
You not see the inger of God in that in
cidentp
Rev. John Fletcher, of England,
many will know, was one Of the most
useful ministers Of the Gospel who
ever preached. Before conversion he
Joined the army and had bought his
ticket on the ship for South America.
The morning he was to sail some one
spilled on him kettle of water, and he
WAS very much disappointed, but the
ship he was going to sail on went out
and was never heard of again. Who
can doubt that God was arranging the
lie OF John Fletcher? Was it merely
accidental that Richard ROdda, a Cor
Hish miner, who was OH his knees pray
ing, remained unhurt, though heavy
stones fell before him and behind him
and on either side OF him and another
fell on the top of these SO as to make q
roof over him?
a missionary in Jamaica lost his way
and in the night was wandering about,
when FREELY flashed and revealed a
precipice over which in moment more
ne would have been dashed. +. W.
Robertson, the great preacher of
Brighton, England, hal his life work
decided by the barking of his dog. A
neighbor. whose daughter Was III, was
disturb d by the barking of that dog
one night. This brought the neighbor
into communication with Robertson.
That acquaihtanceship kept him from
JOINING the dragons and going to In
dia and spending his life In military
service, and reserved him for pulpit
the iDiluence of which for GospeliZa-
tion will resound for all time and all
eternity.
Why did not Columbus sink when in
early manhood he was all Jat six miles
from the beach with nothing to sus.
tain him till he could swim to land but
boats oar? wonder ii his preser va
ton had anything to do with America.
Had the storm that diverted the May
flower from the mouth OF the IL udson,
for which it. was sailing. and sent it
ashore at Cape Cod, no divine su pervis-
al? Does anarchy rule this world, or
God?
st. Felix escaped martyrdom bv
crawling through II hole in the wall