Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1894-05-09


strength. through the long night by the
brook Jabbok- Could It. be that none
would give her help? Had God forgot
soul The midnight air is full
of wings, coming TO the res
cue. She hears IL now, in the
sough of the night wind, in the
ripple of the brook Jabbok-the prom
Use made so long ago, :snging down the
sky: Thy fatherless children / will
preserve to them alive; and let thy
widows trust in me?" Some one said
to very poor widow, "How is il in
sich distress you keep cheerful?" she
said, IL do il by what you call cross
prayer. When had my rent 10 pay,
and nothing TO pay it with. used to
sit down and cry. But now do not
get discouraged. If / go along the
street, when / come TO the corner of
street 1 say, The Lord help mel /
then go on until ] come to another
crossing of the street, and again I say,
The Lord help me- And 40 / utter a
prayer at every crossing; and since /
have got into the habit of saying those
cross prayers i have been able to
keep up my courage"
Learn again from this subject that
people sometimes are surprised 20 find
out that what they have been strug-
CLING with in the darkness is really an
"angel of blessing" Jacob found in
the morning that this strange person
was not an enemy, but God-dispatch
messenger to promise prosperity for
him and for his children. And so many
n man, at the close of his trial, has
found out that he has been trying to
throw down his own blessing. II you
are Christian man, / will 90 back in
your history and find that the grandest
things that have ever happened to you
have been your trials. Nothing short
of scourgiug, imprisonment and ship
wreck would have made Paul what he
was. When David was fleeing through
the wilderness, pursued by his own
son, he was being prepared to become
the sweet singer of Israel The pit and
the dungeon were the best schools at
which Joseph ever graduated. The
hurricane that upset the tept and killed
Jacobs children prepared the man of w
to write the magnificent poem that has
astounded the ages There is no way
to get the wheat out of the straw, but
to thresh it There is no way to purify
the gold but to burn it. Look at the
people who have always had it their
own way. They are proud discontent-
ed, useless and unhappy. II you want
to find cheerful folks go among those
who have been purified by fire. After
Rossini had rendered William Tell"
the five hundredth time company of
musicians came under his window in
Paris and serenaded him They put
upon his brow a golden crown of laurel
leaves! But, amid all the applause
and enthusiasm Rossini turned to a
friend and said: 81 would give all this
brilliant scene for few days of youth
and love. Contrast the melancholy
feeling of Rossini, who had every thing
that this world could give him. to the
joyful feeling of Isaac Watts whose
misfortunes were innumerable, when
he says:
The hill of Zion yields
thousand sacred sweets
Before we reach the heavenly fields
Or walk the golden streets.
Then let our songs abound
And every tear be dry
We are marching through Immanue,'s ground
To fairer worlds on high
1t is prosperity that kills. aud trouble
that saves While .Ae Israelites were
on the march, amid great privat;ons
and hardships they behaved we'll. AT
ter awhile they prayed for meat; and
the sky darkened with great flock OF
quails; and these quails fell in large
multitudes all about them and the
Israelites ate and ate, and stuffed
themselves until they died. oh, my
friends, 1t is not hardship, or trial, or
starvation that Injuries the soul, but
abundant supply. 1t is not the vulture
OF trouble that eats up the Christians
life; 1t is the quails! It is the quail!
GU will yet find out that your mid
night wrestle by the brook Jabbok is
with an angel of God, come down to
bless and save.
Learn again that, while our wrestling
with trouble may be triumphant. we
must expect that il will leave its mark
upon us Jacob prevailed, but the
angel touched him and his thigh bone
sprung from its socket, and the good
man went limping on his way. We
must carry through this world the
mark of the combat What plowed
those premature wrinkles in your face?
What whitened your hair before it was
time for frost? What silenced forever
so much of the hilarity of your house
hold? Ali il is because the angel of
trouble hath touched you that you 90
limping on your way You need not
be surprised that those who have
passed through the fire do not feel as
gay az they once did.
Do not be out of patience with those
who come not out of their dependency.
They may triumph over their loss, and
yet their gait shall tell you that they
have been trouble-touched. Are
we Btoics that we can, unmoved.
see our cradle rifed of the
bright eyes and the sweet
lipsP Can we stand unmoved and see
our gardens of earthly delight uproot-
ed. VIII Jesus, who wept himself. be
angry with us if we pour out tears into
the graves that open 10 swallow down
what we love best? Was Lazarus more
dear to Him than our beloved dead TO
us? No. We have a right 70 weep. Our
tears must come. You shall not drive
them back TO scald the heart Thev
fall in Gods bottle.
Afflicted ones have died because thew
could not weep. Thank God for the
sweet, the mysterious relief that comes
to us in tearsl Under this gentle rain
the flower ~ corn r,,t f,-tA a.