Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1896-12-18

It is a sure sign Of evil If a bat hy into
a room on a summer night or they see
the moon over the left shoulder. They
would not for the world undertake any
enterprise on Friday, forgetful Of the |
fact that if they look over the calendar
of the world they will see that Friday I
has been the most fortunate day In all
the history Of the world.
As near as can tell, looking over the =
calendar Of the worlds history, more
grand, bright, beautiful things have
happened on Friday than any other day
of the week. They would not for the
world begin anything on Friday. They 1
would not for the world go back TO
the house for anything after they
had once started. Such people are
ready to be duped. Ignorance comes
along, perhaps in the disguise Of med |
ical science, and carries them captive,
for there are always some men who have
found some strange and mysterious weed
in some strange place and plucked 1t in
the moonshine, and then they cover the
board fences with the advertisements OF
"elixir" and "panaceas" and Indian
mixtures" and "ineffable cataplasms" |
and "unfailing disinfectants" and
lightning salves" and instantaneous
ointments, enough to stun and scarify
and poultice and kill half the race.
They are all ready to be wrought upon
by such impositions. An. my friends,
do not be among such dupes Do not act
the part Of such persons as | have been
describing. Stand back from all CHI
canery, from all imposition. They who
practice such imposition shall be exposed
in the day of Gods indignation. They
may rear great fortunes, but their dap
pie grays will be arrested ON the road
some day, as was the ass by the angel
of God with drawn sword. The light OF
the last day will shine through all such
subterfuges, and. with a voice louder
than that which accosted this imposition
OF the text Come in, thou wife OF Jer-1
oboam. Why feignest thou thyseli to DO
another?" with voice louder than that
God will thunder down into midnight
darkness and doom and death all two
faced men, and all charlatans, and all
knaves, and all jockeys, and all swind-
lers Behold how the people put on the
masks and behold how the Lord tears
them OIL
Fixed Providence.
Ny subject also impresses me with
how precise and accurate and particular
are Gods providences. Just at the mo-
ment that woman entered the city the
child died. Just as it was prophesied,
so il turned out, so it always turns out
The event occurs, the death takes place,
the nation is born, the despotlsm IS
oyerthrown at the appointed time. God
drives the universe with a stln rem.
Events do not Just happen so. Things
do not 90 slipshod. In all the book OF
Gods providences there is not one IL "
Gods providences are never caught IN
dishabille. To God there are no surpris-
es, no disappointments and no accidents.
The most Insignificant event flung cut
in the ages is the connecting link De.
tween two great chains-the chain OF
eternity past and the chain Of eternity
to come.
am no fatalist, but l should be COM
pleteIy wretched if l did not feel that
all the affairs of my life are IN God )
hand, and all that pertains TO me ana
mine, Just as certainly as all the affairs
of this woman of the text, as this child
of the text, as this king Of the texs, were
in Gods hand. You may ask me hun
dred questions l cannot answer, out 1
shall until the day Of my death believe
| that 1 am under the unerrlng care OF
| God, and the heavens may fall, ana the
world may burn. and the judgment may
thunder. and eternal ages may roll, but
not a hair shall fall from my head, not
a shadow shall drop on my path, not a
sorrow shall transtix my heart without
being divinely arranged-arranged by a
loving, sympathetic Father de bottles
our tears, he catches our sorrows, and
to the orphan he will be Father, ana
/ To the widow he will be husband, and
TO the outcast be will be home, and to
the most miserable wretch that this day
crawls up out of the ditch OF his abom'
ination crying for mercy he Will be an
all pardoning God. The rocks shall turn
gray with age, and the forests shall be
unmoored in the last hurricane, and the
sun shall shut its fiery eyelid, and the
stars shall drop like blasted figs, and the
continents shall go down like anchors
IN the deep. and the ocean shall heave
| its last groan and lash itself with explr-
ing agony, and the world shall wrap IT.
self in a winding sheet OF flame and leap
on the funeral pyre of the Judgment
lday. but Gods love shall not die "
Twill kindle its suns after all other lights
ihaye gone out. 1t will be billowy sea
after the last ocean has wept itself away.
lIt will warm itself by the fire OF con-
suming world. 1t will sing while the
larchangel's trumpet is pealing forth and
the air is filled with the crash Of broken
| seuulchres and the rush Of the wings OF
the rising dead. Oh, may God comfort
all this people with this Christian senu-
/