Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1892-11-03


English vessel by the United States gov
ernment. Don't give them up." shouted
all the northern states. Let US have war
with England rather than surrender
them" was the almost unanimous cry OF
the north. But William Fl. Seward saw
the finger Of God leading in just the oP
posite direction and the Confederates were
given up, and we avoided war with Eng
land which at that time would have been
the demolition Of the United States gov
ernment
In other words, the finger of God as IL di-
rects you, may be invisible to everybody
else. Follow the divine pointing. as you
see 1t, although tho world may coll you a
fool. There has never been a man or a
woman who amounted to anything that
has not sometimes been called a fool
Nearly all the mistakes that you aad
have made have come from our following
the pointing of some other finger, instead
of the finger of God. But, now, suppose
oil forms of disaster close in upon n man.
Suppose his business collapses. Suppose
he buys goods and cannot sell them. Sup
pose by new invention others can furnish
the same goods at less price. Suppose a
cold spring or a late autumn or the coming
of IN 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 1t, and the wages Of the
employees are duo 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 accommoda
tion are in the same predicament, and he
haar ov.1 ofr rxOIao
awhile, crash goes the whole concern.
He stands wondering and saying: II do
not see the meaning Of all this. have done
the best could. God knows | would pay
my debts IL could, but here am hedged
in and stopped" What should that man
dc in that case-go to the Scriptures and
read the promise about all things working
together for good and kindred passages9
That is we'll. But he needs to do some
thing beside reading the Scriptures. He
needs to look for the finger Of God that is
poiRting toward better treasures; that Is
pointing toward eternal release; that is
urging him to higher realms. Nc human
finger ever pointed to the east or west or
north or south so certainly as the finger Of
God is pointing that troubled man to high
er and better spiritual resources than he
has ever enjoyed. There are men OF vast
wealth who are as rich for heaven as they
are for this world, but they are exceptions
II man grows in grace it is generally
before he gets 100000 or after he lases it.
II a man has plenty of railroad securities
and has applied to his banker for mere; if
tho lots he bought have gone up fifty per
cent. in value; IL he had hard work to get
the door of his fireproof safe shut because
of q new roll of securities he put ia there
just before locking up at night; If he be
speculating in falling market or rising
market and things take for him O right
turn, he does not grow in grace very much
that week. Do you knoY what made the
great revival of 1857, when more people
were converted to God probably than in
any year since Christ was bornl 1t was
the defalcations and bankruptcy that swept
American prosperity so fiat that it could
fail no flatter.
am speaking of whole souled men.
Such men are SO broken by calamity that
they are humhled and fly to God for relief
Men who have no spirit and never expect
anything are not much affected by finan-
cial changes. They are as apt to 90 into
the kingdom under one set of circum-
stances 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 see them again. l have
tried that nlaa and it works well. Bot |
am speaking of the effect of misfortune on
high spirited men. Nothing but triai will
turn such men from earth to heaven. 1t is
only through clouds and darkness and
whirlwind of disaster such man can see
the finger of God.
WATCH THE POINTING.
A most interesting as we'll as most use
full study is to watch the pointing of the
| finger of God. In the Seventeenth century
South Carolina was yielding rosin and tur-
pentine 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 productienf Can you
not see tie finger of God in that incidents
Rev. John Fletcher, of England, many
will know, was one of the most use
ful 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 so scalded he could
not go. 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 life
of John Fletcher? Was it merely acci-
dental that Richard Rodda, a Cornish
miner, who was on his knees praying, re-
manned 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 roof over him?
A missionary in Jamaica lost his way
and in the night was wandering about,
when FREELY flashed and revealed preci
pice over which in a moment more he
would have been dashed. F. w. Robert
son, the great preacher OF Brighton, Eng
land, had his life work decided by the bark
ingof his dog. A neighbor, whose daughter
was ill, was disturbed by the barking of
that dog one night. This brought the
neighbor into communication with Robert
son. That acquaintancrship kept him
from joining the dragons and going to In.
dia and spending his life in military serv-
ice, and reserved him for a pulpit the in.
fiuence of which for Gospelization will
resound for all time and all eternity.
Why did not Columbus sink when In
early manhood he was afioat six miles
from she beach with nothing to sustain
him till he could swim to land but boats
oara wonder if his preservation had any
thing to do with America. Had the storm
that diverted the Mayflower from the
mouth of the Hudson, for which it was
sailing, and sent it ashore at Cape Cod, no
divine supervisals Does anarchy rule
this world, or Godi
St. Felix escaped martyrdom by crawl
ing through hole in the wall across
which the spiders immediately afterward
woye web. His prosecutors saw the hole
In the wall, but the spider's web put them