Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1892-11-04


the same goods at less price. Suppose a COLI
spring or a late autumn or the coming OF al
epidemic corners q man, and his notes com'
due and he cannot meet them, aud his ren'
must be paid aud there is nothing will
10 pay it. and the wages of the employees art
due and there is nothing with which TO meet
that obligation, and the bank will not dis.
count and the business friends to whom be
goes for accommodation are in the sa me
predicament aud he bears up and struggles
on, until after awhile crash goes the whole
concern.
He stands wondering AMI saying, 81 dc
not see the meaning OF akthis. l have dona
the best | could. Col knows | would pay
my debts II | could, but here am hedgei 10
and stopped" What should that man do in
that case-go 10 the Scriptures and read the
promise about all things working together
for goo1 and kindred passages! That Is
well. But he needs to 60 something
beside reading the Scriptures. He needs
to look for the finger of God that is
pointing toward better treasures; that is
pointing toward eternal release; that Is
urging him TO higher realms. No human
finger ever pointed to the east or west or
north or south 80 certainly as the finger OF
God is pointing that troubled man to higher
and better spiritual resources than he has
ever enjoyed. There are men of vast wealth
VINO are as TlCu LOT nBAVen as Juey dTo LOT
this world, but they are exceptions.
If man grows in grace 1t is generally
before he gets slO0, 900 or after he loses it.
II a man has plenty Of railroad securities
and has applied to his banker for more; IL
the lots he bou yht have gone up fifty per
cent. In value; If he had hard work to get
the door of his fireproot safe shut because
of a new roll OF securities he put in there
just before locking up at night; il he be
speculating into falling market or a rising
market aud things take for him right
turn, he does not grow in grace very much
that week. Do you know what made the
great revival Of 1851, when more people
were converted to God probably than in
any year since Christ was borni 1t was the
defalcltions and bankruptcy that swept
American prosperity SO fat that it could fall
no tiatter.
am speaking OF whole souled man. Such
men as are SO broken by calamity that they
are humbled and fly to God for relief. Men
who have no spirit and never expect any
thing are not much afr cted by financial
changes. They nre as apt TO 20 into the
kingdom under one set OF circumstances as
another. They are deadbeats wherever they
are. The only way TO get rid OF them is to
lend them dollar and you will never sec
them again. have tried that plan and 1t
works well. But am spa lklny OF the eF.ct
OF misfortune on high spiritel men. y 9TH =
ing but trial will turn sucl men from earth
to heaven. 1t is only through clouds aud
darkness and wAirlwind Of disaster such a
man can see the finger OF God.
A most interesting as well as a most use
full study Is TO watch the pointing of the
finger OF God. In tho seventeenth century
South Carolina was yiellln! rosn and tur-
psntine 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 Madax axsscar where he had
raised rice, and some OF the Madagascar rics
was sown there and grew so rapidly that
South Carolina was led TO make ric. hsr
chief production. Can you not see the finger
OF tfod in that incident'
Rev. John Fletcher, OF England, many
wilt know, was one OF themost useful min
Isters Of the Gospel who ever preached. BE-.
fore conversion h. joined the army and hal
bought his ticket on tho ship for South
America. The morning he was TO sail some
one spilled on him kettle Of water, and he
was So scslded he could not go. He was
very much disappointed, but the ship he was
going to sail on went out AMI was never
heard OF again. Who can doubt that God
was arranging the life OF John Fstcheri
Was it merely accidental that Richard
Roida, a Cornish miuer, who was on his
u
heavy stones fell bsfors him and behind
him and on either siie OF him and another
fell on the top OF these so as to make a roof
over himt
A missionary in Jamaica lost his way and
In the night was wandering about when a
arefy flashed and revealed preclpice over
which in O moment moro he would havs been
dashed. F. W. Robertson, thu great
preacher OF Brighton, England, had his lie
work decided by the barking OF his dog. A
ueighbor, whose daughter was i'll, was dis.
turbed by ths barking OF that dog one night.
This brought the nsi9hbo.' into comnunica.
ton with Robertson. That acquaintance
ship kept him from joining the dragons and
going to India and spen ling his life in mill
tary service, and reserved him for pulpit
the influence of which for Gospslizitlon will
resound for all time and all eternity.
Why did not Columbus sink when In early
manhood he was stlolt six miles from the
beach with nothing to sustain him till he
could swim to land but a boats oari | won.
der II his preservation had any thing to dc
with America. Had the storm that diverted
the Mayfiower from the mouth OF the Hud-
son, for which it was sailing, aud sent II
ashore at Cape COD, no divine supervissli
Does anarchy rule this world, or Godf
St Felix escaped martyrdom by crawling
through a hole in the wall across which the
spiders Immediately afterward wove web
| His prosecutors saw the hole Ia the wall, but
/ the spiders web put them Off the track. A
| boy was lost 10y his drunken father and could
not for years find his way home. Nearly
grown he went into a Fulton street PRAYER
meeting ami asked for prayers that he might
| find his parents. His mother was in the room
and rose AMI rscog oguizad her long lost son
Do you say that thes, things "only happsnet
soT Tell that to thoss who do not believe
! in God and have no faith In the Bible Dc
not tell It to me.
said to an aged minister OF much expert
ence Gan the events Of my life seem Il
have been divinely connected Do You sup
pose 1t is so in all lives" He answered, Yes
but most people do not notice To
divine lsadngsY stand here thi
morning to say from my own experience
that the safest thing in all the world to dC
is to trust the Lord. l never had a mis-
fortune, or a persecution, or q trial, or
disappointment, however excruciatiug a
the time, that Cob did not make turn ou
for nv good Ny one wish is to follow tn
divine leading. | want to watch the finge
of God.
Nations also would do we'll to watch TO
the finger of God. What does the choler
scare in America meanS Some say It mean
that the plague will sweep our land mex
| summer. 40 HOI bclloNo "uiu VI h
There will be no cholera here next summer
Four or five summers ago there were thos
who said 1t wou d surely be here the follow
ing summer because 1t was on the way
But It did not come. The sauitar
precautions established here will maH
next summer unusually healthfuI. Choler
never starts from where 1t stoppe
the season before, but always starts In tt
filth OF Asia. and II 1t starts next summer,
will start there again-it will not start fro
New York quarantine. But 1t is evident
me that the tnger of Go1 is in this choler
scare, and that He is pointing this Matte
to something higher and better. 1t b.
been demonstrated as never before that v
are in the hands OF Col. He allowed Il
plague to come to our very gates and thu
halted it.
The quarantine was right and necessar,
but, oh, how easily the plague could ha'
| A. 4. IL Tha,