Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1892-10-27

/ of the Bible, and then look up and look out
and look around, and see If you can hnd
the finger of God.
PERTINENT ILLUSTRATIONS
I II is a remarkable thing that sometimes
no one can see that finger but yourself.
year before Abraham Lincoln signed the
proclamation of emancipation the White
/ House was thronged with committees ana
associations. ministers and laymen, al
/ vising the president TO make that procih,
nation But he waited and waited, amid
scott and anathema, because he did not
himself see the finger of God. After
awhile and at just the right time he saw
the divine pointing and signed the proc
lamation. The distinguished Confeder
ates. Mason and Slidell. were taken OIL an
English vessel by the United States gov
eminent. 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 II. Seward saw
the finger Of God leading in just the OPP
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
eminent.
In other words, the finger of God as 1t di-
reefs YOU, may be invisible to everybody
else. Follow the divine pointing, as you
see it, although the world may call you
fool. There has never been man or a
woman who amounted to anything that
has not sometimes been called fool.
Nearly all the mistakes that you and
have made have come from our following
the pointing Of some other finger, instead
of the finger Of God. But, now, suppose
all forms of disaster close in upon u man.
Suppose his business collapses. Suppose
he buys goods and cannot sell them. sup
pose by a new invention others can furnish
the same goods at less price. Suppose a
cold spring or late autumn or the coming
of an epidemic corners a 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 accommodate
ton are in the same predicament, and he
bears up and struggles on, until, after
awhile crash goes the whole concern.
He stands wondering and saying: II do
not see the meaning ofall 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
do in that case-go to the Scriptures and
read the promise about all things working
together for good and kindred passagesg
That is we'll But he needs to do some
thing beside reading the Scriptures. lie
needs to look for the finger of God that Is
pointing toward better treasures that is
pointing toward eternal release; that Is
urging him o higher realms. No 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
If man grows in grace it is generally
before he gets 100000 or after he loses II.
II man has plenty of railroad securities
and has applied to his banker for more; II
the lots he bought have gone up fifty per
cent. in value; If he had hard work to get
the door Of his fireproof safe shut because
of new roll of securities he put in there
Just before locking up at night; If he be
specializing in falling market or rising
market and 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 born? 1t was
the defalcations and bankruptcy that swept
American prosperity so fiat that it could
fall no flatter.
am speaking Of whole souled men.
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 iiuan-
cial changes. They are as apt to 20 into
the kingdom under one set of circuTn-
stances as another. They are deadbeats
I wherever 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 nlaa and 1t works we'll But
/ am speaking Of the effect Of misfortune on
I high spirited men, Nothing but trial win
turn such men from earth to heaven. 1t is
4 only through clouds and darkness and
whirlwind Of disaster such man can see
4 the finger Of God.
WATCH THE POINTING.
A most interesting as well as most use
I 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,
1 But Thomas Smith noticed that the ground
near his house in Charleston was very
/ much like the places in Madagascar where
4 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 productionf Can you
not see the finger Of God in that incident?
Rev. John Fletcher, of England, many
will know, was one Of the most use
ful ministers OK 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 Fletchers Was it merely acct
dental that Richard Rodda, a Cornish