Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1897-05-15
ID. There is no mistake ABOUT that.

good. There is no mistake about That.
History tells US that in 1555 in England
there was a great drought. The crops
failed, but in Essex, on the rocks, in q
place where they had neither sown nor
cultured, great crop of peas grew un-
til they filled 100 measures, and there
were poisoning vines enough, prom
ising as much more.
But why go so far? can give you a
family incident. Some generations back
there was great drought in Connecti-
cut, New England. The water disap-
peared 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 focks and
herds down here any more. Our wells
are giving out. +" Mr.. Birdseye, the old
Christian man, gathered his family at
the altar, and with his family he gath
cred the slaves of the household-for
bondage was then in vogue in Connect
icut-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 might not perish for lack of wa
ter. and that the herds and focks might
not perish.
The family rose from the altar. Mr..
Birdseye, the old man, took his staff
and walked out over the hills, and in a
place where he had seen scores of times,
without noticing anything particular,
he saw the ground was very dark. and
he took his staff and turned up the
ground, and water started, and he beck
oned to his servants, and they came and
brought pals and buckets until all the
family and all the -focks and the herds
were cared for, and then they made
troughs reaching from that place down
to the house and barn, and the water
flowed, and it is living fountain today.
Now l call that old grandfather Eli
jah, and I call that brook that began to
roll then and is rolling still the brook
Cherith, and the lesson 10 me and tc
all who hear it is, when you are IL
great stress OF circumstances, pray ano
dig, dig and pray, and pray and dig.
How does that passage go? 1.-The noun
tains shall depart and the hills be re-
moved, but my loving Kindness shall
not fail :" If your merchandise, if your
mechanism, if your husbandry fail,
look out for ravens. If you have in your
dependency put God Oh trial and con-
demned him as guilty of cruelty, move
today for new trial. If the biography
of your life is ever written. will tel
you what the first chapter and the mid
die chapter and the last chapter will bt
about if it is written accurately. Tht
first chapter about mercy, the middle
chapter about mercy, the last chapter
about mercy The mercy that lowered
over your cradle. The mercy that viii
hover ever your grave. The mercy tina
will cover all between
Unexpected Relief.
Again, this story of the text inpressel
me that relief came to this prophet witt
the most unexpected and with seeming
lyimpossible conveyance If it had beer
q robin redbreast, or musical meadow
! lark, or q meek turtledove, or q sub
lime albatross that had brought tht
food to Elijah, it would not have beer
so surprising. But no. 1t was bird 81
fierce and inauspicate that we have fash
| toned one of our most forceful and re-
pulsive words out of it-ravenous. Thai
bird has passion for picking out the
eyes of men and of animals. 1t loves tc
maui the sick and the dying. 1t swal.
lows with vulturous guZzle everything
it can put its beak on, and yet all the
food Elijah gets for six months or
year is from ravens. So your supply il
going to come from an unexpected
source.
You think some great hearted, gener.
Gus man will come along and give you
his name on the back Of your note, OF
he will go security for you i'll some
great enterprise. No, he will not. God
will open the heart of some Shylock to,
ward you. Your relief will come from
the most unexpected quarter. The Prov
idence which seemed ominous will be
to you more than that which seemed
auepicious. 1t will not be chafinct
with breast and wing dashed with white
and brown and chestnut 1t will be
black raven.
Here is where we all make our mis-
take, and that is in regard to the color
of Gods providence. A white provi-
dence comes to us, and we say, "Oh, it
is mercy!' Then black providence
comes toward us, and we say, "Oh,
that is disasterr" The white providence
comes to you, and you have great bust
ness success, and you have $500, 900,
and you get. proud, and you get indie;