Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1897-05-15
45

pendent of Gee, a.nt: yca Iesir to feel
that the prayer, Give me this day my
daily bread, is inappropriate for you,
for you have made provision for 100 J
years. Then black providence comes,
and it sweeps everything away, and
then you begin to pray, and you begin
to feel your dependence, and begin to
BIO humble before God, and yor cry out
for treasures in heaven. The black prov
idence brought you salvation. Tie
white providence brought you ruin.
That which seemed to be harsh and
fierce and dissonant was your greatest
mercy. 1t was a raven. There was
child born in your house. All your
friends congratulated you. The other
children of the family stood amazed,
looking at the newcomer and asked
great many questions, genealogical and
chronological. You said-and you SAID
truthfully-that a white angel flew
through the room and left the little one
there. That little one stood with its
two feet in the very sanctuary OF your
affection, and with its two hands 1t
took hold of the altar of your soul. But
one day there came one Of the three
scourges of children-scarlet fever, or
Group, or diphtheria - and all that
bright scene vanished. The chattering,
the strange questions, the pulling at the
dresses as you crossed the foor-all
ceased.
AS the great friend of children
stopped down and leaned toward that
cradle and took the little one in his
arms and walked away with it into the
bower Of eternal summer your eye be-
gun to follow him, and you followed
the treasure he carried, and you have
been following them ever since, and in
stead of thinking of heaven only once
week, as formerly, you are thinking OF
it all the time, and you are more pure
and tender hearted than you used to be,
and you are patiently waiting for the
daybreak. 1t is not self righteousness IN
you to acknowledge that you are bet
ter man than you used to be-you are q
better woman than you used to be.
What was it that brought you the sane
tifying blessing? Oh, it was the dark
shadow on the nursery, it was the dark
shadow Oh the short grave, 1t was the
dark shadow on your broken heart, 1t
was the brooding Of great black trou-
BILE, it was a raven-it was raven!
Dear Lord, teach this people that white
proyidences do not always mean ad-
yancement and that black providences
do not always mean retrogression.
Many Rooms.
Children of God, get up out of your
dependency. The Lord never had so
many ravens as he has today. Fling
your fret and worry to the winds.
Sometimes under the vexations of life
you feel like my little girl of years,
who said under some childish vexation,
ooh, 1 wish could go to heaven and see
God and pick fowersl'' He will let you
90 when the right time comes to pick
flowers. Until then, whatever you want
pray for l suppose Elijah prayed pref
ty much all the time. Tremendous work
behind him, tremendous work before
him. God has no spare ravens for idlers
or for people who are prayerless. put
it in the boldest shape possible, and
am willing to risk my eternity on It.
Ask God in the right way for what you
want and you shall have it if it is best
for you. -4----.
Mrs. Jane Pithey of Chicago, e we'll
known Christian woman, was left by
her husband widow with one half
dollar and a cottage. She was palsied
and had mother 80 years of age to
support. The widowed soul every day
asked God for all that was needed in
the household, and the servant even was
astonished at tie precision with which
God answered the prayers of that wom-
an, item by item, item by item. One
day, rising from the family altar, the
servant said, "You have not asked for
coal, and the coal is ou;. u
Then they stood and prayed for the
coal. One hour after That the servant
threw open the door and said, "The
coal has come" A generous man, whose
name I could give you, had sent-as
never before and never since-a supply
of coal. You cannot understand it, I
do Ravens! Ravensl
My friend, you have right to argue
from precedent that Gcd is going to
take care CT you. Has he not done it
two or three times every day? That is
most marvellous look back and Won
der that God has given me food three
times day regularly all my lifetime,
never missing but once, aid then was
lost in the mountains, but that very
morning and that very night l met the
ravens.
Oh, the Lord is so good that I wish
all his people would trust him with the
two lives-the life you are now living
and that which every tick of the watch
and every stroke Of the clock informs
you is approaching. Bread for your i'm
mortal soul comes today. Seel They
alight on the platform. They alight
on the backs of all the pews. They
swing among the arches. Ray as!
Ravens! "Blessed are they that hunger
after righteousness, for they shall be
filed. " To all the SHINING, and the sor-
rowing, and the tempted, deliverance
comes this hour. Look down, and you
see nothing but your spiritual deformi-
ties. Look back, and you see nothing
but wasted opportunity. Cast your eye
forward, and you have fearful looking
for Judgment and fiery indignation
which shall devour the adversary. But
look up, and you behold the whipped
shoulders of an interceding Christ, and
the face of pardoning God, and the If
radiation Of all opening heaven. hear
the whir of their wings. Do you not
feel the rush of air on your cheek? Ra-
vensl Ravens!