Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1892-10-29

darkness ane whirlwind of disaster such
man can see the finger OF God
A most interesting as we'll as most use
full study is to watch the pointing of tns
finger of God. In the seventeenth century
South Caroiina was yielding rosin aud tur-
psntine and tar as her chief productions
But Thomas Smith noticed that tha ground
near his house in Charleston was very mu.h
like the places in Milagascar whsre he hal
raisei rice, AM soma of thu N iagascar rica
was sovn there and grew 50 rapidly that
South Carolina was led to make r.ce har
chief production. Can you not see the finger
OF GOD in that incident
Rev. John Fletcher, of En- gland, many
will know, was one of tbs most useful min
listers OF the Gospel woo ever preached. Be
fore conversion he joined the army and hal
bought his ticket on tle ship for South
America. The morning he was to sail SONS
Cne spilled on him kettle OF water, aad he
was Sd scaldsi he could not go. H was
very much disappointed but the ship ne was
going to sail on went out AMI was never
heard OF again. Who eau doubt that Col
was arranging the life of John Fiatchers
Was it m .reiy accidental that Richsrl
Roiia, a Cornish miusr, wio was on bis
knees praying, rem linsl ulhurt, though
heavy stones fell bafors him AMI bshi1i
him and on either 81 lie of him and anoshar
fell on the top OF thsss 50 as 70 MAKE roof
over hims
A missionary in Jamaica lost his way AMI
in the night was wandering about, when a
FREELY hlshei AMI revealed precipics over
w1ich in a moment mora he would have been
dashed. F. W. Robertson, the grelt
preacher of Brighton, England, had his life
work decided by the barking of his dog. A
neighbor whose dau yhter was i'll, was dis.
turbe1 by ths barking OF that dog one night.
This brou ght the mel yhooc into com nuaica-
ton with Robertson. That acquaintance
ship kept him from joining the dragons AMI
going to India and spen Ing his lie in mill
tary service, aai reserved him for pulpit
the influences of which for Gosp eliz ltion will
resound for all time and all eternity.
Why did not Columbus sink when in early
manhood he was aflolt six miles from the
beach with nothing to sustain him till he
could swim to land but a boats oar? | won
der if his preservation had anything to do
with America. Had the storm that diverted
the Mayhower from the mouth of the Hui-
son, for which it was sailing aui sent it
ashore at Cape Col, no divine supsrvisaI?
Does anarchy rule this wo-ld OF God?
ST. Felix escaped martyrdom by crawling
through a hole in the wall across which the
spiders Immediately aftsrwari wove web
His prosecutors saw the hole in the wall, but
the spiders web put than OF the track A
boy was lost by his drunken father and could
not for years lind his way hone. Nearly
- =
meeting and asked to- prayers that he might
find his parents. His mother was in the room
and rose AM recognized her long lost son.
Do you say that these things "ony happened
so?" Tell that to thoss who do not believe
in God and have no faith in the Bible. d.
not tell it to me.
said to an aged minister of much expert
ence: "All the events of my life seem to
have been divinely connected. Do yon sup
pose it is SO in all lives?n He answered, Eyes,
out most people do not notice the
divine leadingsr' [ stmi here this
morning to say from my own experience
that the safest thing In all the world to do
is to trust the. Lord. | never hal mis-
fortune, or a persscI tion, or trial or a
disappointment. however excruciating at
the time that Col did not make turn out
for my COOL Ny one wish is to follow the
divine leading. / want to watch the finger
of Col.
Nations also wouli do we'll to watch for
the finger Of Gol. WHAT does thu cholera
scare in America mean? Some say it m eans
that the plague will sweso our lani nsxt
summer. | do noe believe word of It,
There will be no cholera hera next su inner
-Four or five summers ago there We're those
who said it wou surely be here the follow.
Ing summer because it 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 it stopped
the season before, but always starts in the
filth of ASIA and if it starts next summer. it
will start there again--it will not start from
New York quarantine. But it is evident to
me that the finger of Col is IN this cholera
scare, and that He is pointing this Nation
to something higher aud better. Il has
been demonstrated as never before that we
are in the hands Of Col. He allowed the
plague to come to our very gates and then
halted it,
The quarantine was right and necessary,
but, OBJ, how easily the plague could have
leaped the barriers lifted against it! Thanks
to the president OF the United States and
thanks TO the health Officers aud thanks
to the Thirteenth regiment, and thanks to
all who stool between this evil and our
national health, but more than all, ami
higher than all, thanks to Godl Out of
that soemnity we ought to pass up to
something better than anything that has
ever yet characterized us as a nation.
We ought to quit our national sins,
our Sabbath breaking, and our drunken.
ness, and our impurities. AMI our corrup-
lions of all sorts as people. The tendency
IS in self graduation at our prosperity TO
forget the mercy of Col that has kept III
from being blotted out for our crimes, and
that still multiplies our TEMPORAL prosper:
the finger of Go in this protecting mercy9
If we love the Lord aul trust Him-and
you may all love Him an trust Him from
this moment ou-we no more understand
the COOL things ahead of us than the clild
at school studying his A B G can under
stand what that has to do with his reading
John Ruskin's sS9ven lamps Of Arcaitec-
ture,n or Dante's '.Dsvina Commedia." The
satisSactions ami ioTs we have as yet had
are like the music a boy makes with his
first lesson on the violin compared with
what was evoked fro his great orchestra
by my dear and llustrious and transcend
ent but now departed frienl, Patrick Gill
more, when he LITE his baton anil all the
strings vibrate1, AMI all ths trumpets
peale1 forth, and all thu flutes c1rolei, and
all the drums rolled, and the hoofs of the
cavalry charge. which he i--litate1 were in
full beat Look ahead! The finger of Col
points Onward.
ooh, Int" says soma one, II am getting
old, and have a touch OF rheu natiSm In
that foot. and believe something is the mat
ter with my heart, AMI | cannot stand as
much as used to-" Well, 1 congratulate
you, for that shows you are getting nearer
to the time when you are going to enter i'm
mortal youth and be strong enough to hurl
off the battlements of heaven any bandit who
by uuheard of burglary might break into tbs
Golden City. '6ut, says some one, Il feel
l
and the bereavements of lie have multiplied
until this world that was once 50 bright TO
me has lost its charm
congratulate you, for when you go there
will be fewer hera to hold you back and
more there to pull you in. Look ahead
! Ths finger of God is pointing forward. We
sit here in church, and by hymn and prayer
and sermon and Christian association we
/ try to get into frame OF mln | thai will be
| acceptable to God and pleasant to ourselves.
! But what stupid thing it all is COM
I pared with what it will be when we havs
I gone beyond pSalnbook AMI sermon and
/ Bible, and we stand, our last imper'
( lection gone in the presence of that charm
! of the uniyerse-the blessed Christ-an1
have Him look in our facs and say: u have
been watching you and symp9tnizlug witc
YOU and helping you all these years, ana
now you ara here. Go where you please and
never know a sorrow and never she a tear.
There is your mother now-sha is coming to
greet you-and there is your father, AM
there are your children. Sit down under
this tree of life. aud Oh the banks OF this
river talk it all over
tell you there will bs mora Joy in one
minute of that than in fifty years of earthly
exultation. Look aheaii Look at the finest
house on earth, and know that you will have
! finer one in heaven. LOOK up the hsalthiest
person you can fad, and know you will yet
/ be healthier. LOOK up the one who has the
best eyesight of any one you have ever heard
o., and know you will have better vision.
( Listen to the sweetest prima donna that
ever tro1 the platform, AMI know that il
heaven you will lift more enrapturing song
than ever enchanted earthly au titorium.
Ny friends, do not know how we are go
Fill ~