The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1892-11-09

promise about all things WORKING together
Tor gooi aud kindred passa yes? That IS
we'll But he needs to do 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; snas s
urging him to higher realms. No human
FINGER ever pointed to the east or west or
north or south so certainly as the finger or
God is pointing that troubled man to higher
and better spiritual resources than ne mas
ever enioyed, There are men Of vast wealth
who ars as rich for heaven as they are Tor
this world, but they are exceptions. .,
If q man grows in grace 1t Is generally
before he gets 800. 900 or after he loses it.
II a man has plenty of railroad securities
and has applied to his banker for more; II
the lots he bought have gone up ffty par
cent. In value; II he had hard work to get
the door Of his fireproot safe shut because
Of new roll Of securities he put IN there
Just before locking up at night; IL he be
speculating into falling market or rising
turn, he does not grow in grace very much
that week. Do you know what made the
great revival Of 1857, when more people
were converted to God probably than in
any year since Christ was born? It was the
defalcations and bankruptcy that swept
American prosperity so fiat that it could fall
no fatter.
am speaking of whole souled men. 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 affected by financial
changes. They are as apt to 70 into the
kingdom under one set OF circumstances as
another. They are deadbeats waereverthey
are. The only way to get rid Of them Is to
lend them dollar and you will never see
them again. have tried that plan and it
works we'll But am speaking Of the effect
Of misfortune on high spirited men. Moth
ing but trial will turn such men from earth
to heaven. 1t is only through clouds and
darkness and whirlwind Of disaster such a
man can see the finger Of God.
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 bis house in Charleston was very much
like the places in Madagascar where he had
raised rice, and some Of the Madagascar rice
was so wn there and grew so rapidly that
South Carolina was led to make rics her
chief production. Can you not see the finger
Of God in that incldentf
NeV. JOuu rleCCuor, Ol LuYt6u1, uauH
will know, was one Of the most useful min
isters of the Gospel who ever preached. Be-
fore conversion ne joined the army and had
bought his ticket on the ship for South
America. The morning he was to sail soma
one spilled on him Kettle Of water, and be
was so scalded he could not 60. Hs 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 accidental that Richard
Rodda, q Cornish miner, who was on his
knees praying, remained unhurt, though
heavy stones fell before him and behind
him and on either side Of him aud another
fell on the top Of these so as to make q roof
over him?
A missionary in Jamaica lost his way AMI
in the night was wandering about when o
FREELY flashed and revealed q precipics over
which in q moment more he would have been
dashed. f. W. Robertson, the great
preacher of Brighton, England, had his lite
work decided by the barking Of his dog. A
neighbor. whose daughter was Ill, was dis
turbed by tbs barking Of that dog one night
This brought the neighbor into communica-
ton with Robertson. That acquaintance.
ship kept him from joining ths dragoous and
going to India and spending his life in mill
tary service, aud reserved him for pulpit
the influence OF which for Gosp slization will
resouud for all time and all eternity. .
Why did not Columbus sink when in early
manhood he was afioat six miles from the
beach with nothing to sustain him till he
could swim to land but boats oar? won.
der II his preservation had anything to do
with America. Had the storm that diverted
the Mayhower from the mouth OF the Hud-
SOD, for which it was sailing, and sent 1t
ashore at Cape Cod, no divine supervisals
Does anarchy rule this world, or God?
st. Felix escaped martyrdom by crawling
through hole in the wall across which the
spiders Immediately afterward wove web.
His prosecutors saw the hole In the wall, but
the spi'!er's web put them OF the track. A
how Was lost by his drunken father and could
not for years lind his way ho ne. Nearly
grown he went into q Fulton street prayer
meeting and asked for prayers that he might
find his parents. His mother was in the room
and rose ana recognized her long lost son.
Do you say that these things 'sonly happened
sopf Tell that to tnoss VINO do not believe
in God and have no faith In the Bible. Do
not tell 1t to me.
I said to an aged minister Of mucn expert
once: "An the events of my Life seem to
have been divineIy connected Do you sup
nose % It Is 80 in ali ives" Be answered. ''Yes,
but most people do not notice the
divine leadingsr stand here. this
morning to say from my own experience
that the safest thing In all the world to do
Ia to trust the Lord. I never had mis-
fortune. or a persecution. or a trial, or
disappointment however excruciating at
the time, that God did not make turn out
Sor nv good. Ny one wish is to follow the
divine leading. want to watch the hnser
Of God.
Nations also would do we'll to watch for
- hot "a
scare in America means Some ssy it msans
that the plague will sweep our land next
summer. ! do not believe word OF IL.
There will be no cholera here next summer.
-Four or five summers ago there were those
ing summer because 1t was on the way.
But it did not come The sanitary
precautions established here will make
next summer unusually healthfuL Cholera
never starts from where 1t stopped
the season before, but alwaYs starts In the
flth Of Asia, and IL 1t starts next summer, IL
will start there again-it viii not start from
New York quarantine. But 1t Is evident 70
me that the finger OF Goa Is IN this choiera
to something higher and better. 1t has
been demonstrated as never before that1we
are in the hands Of God. He allowed the
plague to come to our very gates and then
halted it.
The quarantine was right and necessary,
but. oh. how easily the plague could have
leaped the barriers lifted against It'll Thanks
to the president of the United States, and
thanks to the health officers, and thanks
to the Thirteenth regiment. and thanks to
all who stood between this evil and ou.
national health, but more than all. and
higher than ali, thanks to God! Out OF
that solemnity we ought to pass up, to
something better than anything that has
ever vet characterized Us as nation.