The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-05-10

/ and then they made troughs reaching
/ from that place down TO the house and
/ barn, and the water flowed, and II IS nv
/ ing fountain to-day.
/ Now. I call that old grandfather Elijah,
| and L call that brook that began to roll
| then, and is rolling still, the brook Cher
| ith and the lesson to me and to all who
hear it IS when you are in great stress of
! circumstances. Pray and dig, dig and
pray, and pray and dig. How does that
! passage go? THE mountains shall de-
/ part and the hills be removed, but my low
| ing-kindness shall not fail. " If your mer-
| chandise, if your mechanism, if your nus
bandry fail. look out for ravens. If you
| have in your dependency put God on trial
and condemned Him as guilty of cruelty,
l move to-day for new trial If the
biogra ply of your life is ever written, l
will tell you what the first chapter, and
the middle chapter and the last chapter
will be about, If it is written accurately.
The first chapter about mercy, the middle
chapter about mercy. the last chapter
about mercy. The mercy that lowered
over your cradle. The mercy that will
hover over your grave. The mercy that
will cover all between.
Again, this story of the text impresses
me that relief came to this prophet with
the most unexpected and with seemingly
impossible conveyance. If it had been a
rObin-redbreast, or a musical meadow-lark,
or meek turtle-dOve or a sublime alba
lIOSS lndt Ud0 Drought the 1000 TO Ethan,
1t would not have been SO surprising. But
no. 1t was a bird so fierce and inauspicate
that we have fashioned one of our most
fOrcefu and repulsiVe words out of it-rav-
enous. That bird has a passion for pick
ing out the eyes of men and of animals.
1t loves to maui the sick and the dying.
1t swallows with Vulturous guzzle every
thing it can put its beak on and yet all
the food Elijah gets for six months or a
year IS from ravens. So your supply is
going to come from an unexpected source
You think some great-hearted, generous
man will come along and give you his
name on the back of your note, or he will
go security for you In some great enter
prise. No, he will not. God will open the
heart of some Shylock toward you Your
relief will come from the most unexpected
quarter. The Providence which seemed
omlnous Will be to YOU more than that
which seemed suspicious. 1t will not be a
chaftnch with breast and wing dashed
with white and brown and chestnut. il will
be a black raven
Here is where we all make our mistake
and that is in regard to the color of Gods
providence. A white providence comes
to US, and we say: oh, it is mercvv'
Then a black providence comes toward
us, and we say. "Oh, that is disasterr'
The white providence comes to you, and
you have great business success. and Won
have hundred thousand dollars. and Won
get proud, and you get independent of
God, and you begin to feel that the PRAYER
Give me this day my daily bread. J." Is in
appropriate for you, for you have made
provision for a hundred years Then a
black providence comes, and ii sweeps
everything away, and then YOU begin to
pray and you begin to feel your depend
ence, and begin to be humble before God
and you cry out for treasures In heaven.
The black providence brought you saliva
ton. The white providence brought Won
ruin. That which seemed to be harsh.
and fierce, and dissonant was your great
est mercy. 1t was a raven. There was a
child born in your house All your friends
congratulated you. The other children of
the family stood amazed looking at the
newcomer, and asked a great many ques-
tons, 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 sanctu-
airy 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 diphtherla-and all that
bright scene vanished The chattering,
the strange questions, the pulling at the
dresses as you crossed the fioor-aI
| 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 began to follow him
and you followed the treasure he carried
and you have been following them ever
since; and instead of thinking of heaven
| only once a week, as formerly, you arc
| thinking of 1t all the time and you are
more pure and tenderhearted than
] you used to be, and Won
are patiently waiting for the
daybreak. 1t is not selfrighteousness
in you to acknowledge that you are a bet
! ter man than you used to be-you are a.
! better woman than you used to be- What
! was II that brought you the sanctifyines
blessingY oh. 1t was the dark shadow
! on tue nursery it was the dark shadow
on the short grave; it was the dark shad-
| oW on your broken heart ID was the
brooding of a great black trouble; it was
| raven-it was ravenl Dear Lord
! teach this people that white providences
do not always mean advancement. and
! that black providences do not ALWAYS
mean retrogression.
Children of God, get up out of your de-
| spondency. The Lord never had so many
ravens as he has to-day. Fling your fret
| and worry to the winds. Sometimes IN
der the vexations of life you feel like my
! little girl of four years, who said under
some childish vexation, "Oh. | wish 7
could go to heaven and see God and pi.lx
howers!' He will let you go when the
| right time comes to pick flowers Until
then, whatever you want, pray for. I sup
/ pose Elijah prayed pretty much all the
time. Tremendous work behind him. Tre-
| mendous work before him. God has no
| spare ravens for idlers or for people who
| are prayerless. ! put IL in the boldest
| shape possible, and J am willing to risk
my eternity on it, ask God in the right
way for what you want. ana you shall
have It If It Is best for you
Mrs. Jane Pithey of Chicago n we'll
| known Christian woman. was left by her
husband widow with one half dollar and
a cottage. She was palsied, and had a
mother 10 years of age to support. The
widowed soul every day asked God for AN
that was needed In the household, and the
servant even was astonished at the pre-
cision with which God answered the
prayers Of that woman. 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 out"
Then they stood and prayed for the coal
! one hour after that the servant threw
| open the door and said. "The coal has
4 come a generous man. whose mama I