Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1897-05-13

rainny Incident. some generations back |
there was a great drought in Connecticut, |
New England. The water disappeared |
from the hills, and the farmers living on |
the hills drove their cattle down toward |
the valleys, and had them supplied at the |
wells and fountains of the neighbors.
But these after awhile began to fail, and |
the neighbors said to Mr.. Birdseye, of |
whom / shall speak: "You must not send
your flocks and herds down here any
more. Our wells arc giving out" Mr..
Birdseye, the old Christian man, gathered
his family at tho altar and with his fam
lily he gathered the slaves Of the house,
hold-for bondage was then in vogue in
Connecticut-and on their knees before
God they cried for water, and the family
story is, that there was weeping and great
sobbing at that altar that the family
MIR 10 is wnen you arc IN greaE s5r5ss or
circumstances. Pray and dig, dig and
pray, and pray and dig. How does that
passage go? "The mountains shall depart
and the hills be removed, but my loving
kindness shall not fail" If your mer
chandise, if your mechanism, if your hus
bandry, fail, look out for ravens If you
have in your dependency put God on trial
and condemned him as guilty of cruelty,
1 move today for new trial. If the bi-
ography of your life is ever written, will
tell you what the first chapter, and the
middle chapter, and the last chapter will
be about if it is written accurately; tho
first chapter about mercy, the middle chap
ter about mercy, the last chapter about
mercy. The mercy that hovered over your
cradle The mercy that will hover over
your grave. The mercy that will cover all
between.
Gods Unexpected Agents.
Again, this story of tho text impresses
me that relief came to this prophet with
the most unexpected and with seemingly
impossible conveyance. If it had been q
robin redbreast, or musical meadow
lark, or meek turtledove, or a sublime
albatross that had brought the food to Eli
jah, it would not have been so surprising.
But, no. 1t was q bird SO fierce and in
auspicate that we have fashioned one of
our most forceful and repulsive words out
of it--ravenous. That bird has q passion
for picking out the eyes of men and of
animals 1t loves to maui the sick and
the dying. 1t swallows with vulturous
and yet all the food Elijah gets for six
months or year is from ravens. So your
supply is going to come from an unexpect-
| ed 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 un-
expected quarter. The providence which
seemed ominous will be to you more than
that which seemed auspicious. 1t will not
be chaffinch with breast and wing
dashed with white and brown and chest
nut; it will be black raven.
| Here is where we all make our mistake,
| and that is in regard to the color of God s
providence. A white providence comes to
US, and we say, "Oh, it is mercyl" Then
black providence comes toward US, and
we say, "Oh, that Is disasterl" The
white providence comes to you, and you
have great business success, and you have
$780, and you get proud, and you get
| independent of God, and you begin to feel
that the prayer, "Give me this day my
daily bread" is inappropriate for you, for
you have made provision for 100 years.
Then black providence comes, and it
sweeps everything away, and then you be-
gin to pray, and you begin to feel your
| dependence and begin to be humble be-
fore God, and you cry out for treasures in
heaven. The black providence brought
you salvation. The white providence
brought you ruin. That which seemed to
be harsh and fierce and dissonant was
your greatest mercy. 1t was q raven.
There was child born in your house. AL
your friends congratulated you. The
other children of the family stood amnzed
looking at the newcomer and asked a
great many questions, genealogical and
chronological. You said-and you said
truthfully- that 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 affec
tion, and with its two hands it took hold
of the altar of your soul. But one day
there came one of the three scourges Of
children--scaclet fever, or Group, or diph
theria-and all that bright scene vanished
The chattering, the strange questions, tho
pulling at the dresses as you crossed the
floor-all ceased.
| The Black Providences.
AS the great friend of children stopped
down and leaned toward that cradle an(
took the little one in his arms and walked
away with it into the bower of eterna
summer, your eye began to follow him
and you followed the treasure he carried
and you have been following them eve
since, and instead of thinking of HEAVIER
only once a week, as formerly, you arr
thinking of it all the time, and you ar
more pure and tender hearted than yol
used to be, and you are patiently waiting
for the day break. 1t is not self righteous
ness in you to acknowledge that you are {
better man than you used to be, you are {
better woman than you used to be. Wha
was it that brought you the sanctifyins
blessing? Oh, it was the dark shadow OF
the nursery it was the dark shadow OF
the short grave; it was the dark SHADOW
on your broken heart; it was the brood
ing of great black trouble; it was ra
ven; it was u raven. Dear Lord, teacl
this people that white providences do no
always mean advancement, and that blacl
proyidences do not always mean retrogres
sion.
Children of God, get up out of your de
spondenoy. The Lord never had so man,
ravens as he has today. Fling your fre
and worry to the winds. Sometimes unde
the vexations of life you feel like my littl
girl of years, who said under some child
ish vexation, "Oh, wish could go t.