Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1897-05-10

white providence brought you ruin.
That which seemed to be harsh and
fierce and dissonant was your greatest
mercy. It was a raven. There was a
child born in your house. ALI 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
fully-that a white angel few
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 it
took hold of the altar of your soul. But
one day there came one of the three
scourges of children-scarletf 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
y
gan 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 a 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 on the short grave it was the
dark shadow on your broken heart, it
was the brooding Of great black trou-
BILE, it was a raven-it was raven!
Dear Lord, teach this people that white
providences do not always mean adj
vancement 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.
you feel like my little girl of 4 years,
who said under some childish vexation,
"Oh, wish I could go to heaven and see
God and pick fowers!' He will let you
go when the right time comes to pick
flowers. Until then, whatever you want
pray for. 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.
Mrs. Jane Pithey of Chicago, we'll
known Christian woman, was left by
her husband a widow with one half
dollar and a cottage. She was palsied
and had a 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 the 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 out. "
Then they stood and prayed for the
COAL One hour after that the servant
threw open the door and said, 1.-THE !
coal has come. - A generous man, whose
name 1 could give you, had sent-as
never before and never since-a supply
of coal. You cannot understand it. / |
do. Ravens! Ravens
f,;o 70
from precedent that God is going to |
take care of you. Has he not done it |
two or three times every day? That is
most marvellous. I look back and won
der that God has given me food three |
times day regularly all my lifetime, |
never missing but once, and then was
lost in the mountains, but that very
and that very night I met the
ravens.
Oh, the Lord is SO good that I wish
all his people would trust him with the I
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. Ravensi
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