Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1898-09-29

1
been put into circumstances of overpower.
ing temptation. So have taken Off sew.
enty-dve per cent. But I have not heard
| h is side of the story all, and for that rea.
s on take Off the remaining twenty-five
| per cent. Excuse me, sir, I don't believe
| word OF it,
Do not prophesy misfortune. II you must
| be prophet at all, be an Ezekiel, and not
u Jeremiah. In ancient times prophets
who foretold evil were doing right, for they
were divinely directed; but the prophets OF
evil in our time are generally false proph.
cts. Real troubles have no heralds running
| ahead Of their sombre chariots, and no one
has any authority in our time to announce
their coming: Load yourself up with hope.
full words and deeds. The hymn once sung
| in our churches Is unfit to be sung, for 1t
says:
We should suspect some danger near,
Where we possess delight.
In other words, manage to keep miser-
able all the time. The old song sung at the
pianos quarter of century ago was right:
"Kind words can never die" Such kind
| words have their nests in kind hearts, and
| when they are Matched out and take wing,
| they circle round in flights that never cease,
and sportsman's gun cannot shoot them,
| and storms cannot ruff1o their wings, and
when they cease flight in these lower skies
of earth, they sweep around amid the high
er attitudes of Heaven. At Baltimore l
| talked into q phonograph. The cylinder
| containing the words was sent on to Wash.
| ington, and the next day that cylinder from
another Photographic instrument, when
turned, gave back to me the very words
| had uttered the day before, and with the
| same intonations. Scold into phono-
graph, and 1t will scold back. Pour mild
| words into phonograph and 1t will return
| the gentleness. Society and the world and
| acerbity and rough treatment, and acerbity
| and tough treatment you will get back.
| Give them practical friendliness, and they
will give back practical friendliness. A
| father asked his little daughter: "Mary,
| why is it that everybody loves your" She
cause love everybody" "a man that hath
| friends must show himself friendly"
We want something like that spirit OF
sacrifice for others which was seen in the
English Channel where in the storm boat
| containing three men was upset, and all
three were in the water struggling for
| their lives. A boat came to their relief, and
| u rope was thrown to one of them, and he
| refused to take it, saying: "First fling it
to Tom; he is just ready to go down. can
| be he sailor or laadsman, be he in upper
| ranks Of society or lower ranks, will al
| ways have plenty of friends. What is true
| manward is true Godward. We must be
the friends OF God if we want Him to be
| our friend. We cannot treat Christ badly
| lovingly. l was reading of sea fight, In
| which Lord Nelson captured a French off,
Ger, and when the French officer offered
Lord Nelson his hand, Nelson replied,
"First give me your sword, and then give
| me your hand" Surrender of our resis-
tance to God must precede Gods proffer Of
| pardon to US. Repentance before forgive
ness. You must give up your rebellious
sword before you can get grasp OF the
divine hand.
.,t1 IL oko 10 nf
have the friendship of Godl Why, we could
afford to have all the world against US and
all other worlds against us IL we had God
for us. He could in a minute blot out this
universe, and in another minute make
better universe. have no idea that God
tried hard when He made all things. The
most brilliant thing known to US is light,
and for the creation Of that He only used
word Of command. AS out OF flint
frontierSman strikes a spark, so out OF one
word God struck the MONDAY sun. For
the making of the present universe do
not read that God lifted so much as fin
ger. The Bible frequently speaks of Gods
hands and Gods arm and Gods shoulder
and Gods foot; then suppose He should
put hand and arm and shoulder and foot to
utmost tension, what could He not make?
That God of such demonstrated and unde.
monstrated strength, you may have fox
your present and everlasting friend, not 0
stately and reticent friend, hard to get at,
but as approachable as country mansion
on a summer day, when all the doors and
windows are wide open. Christ said, 81
am the door" And He is wide door, o
high door, palace door, an always open
door.
If God is your friend, you cannot go out
of the world too quickly or suddenly, so far
as your own happiness is concerned. There
were two Christians who entered Heaven;
the one was standing at window In per.
feet health, watching shower, and the
lightning instantly slew him; but the
lightning did not fash down the sky as
swiftly as his spirit flashed upward. Tha
Christian man who died on the same day
next door had been for year or two fail
ing in health, and for the last three months
had suffered from disease that made the
nights sleepless and the days an anguish.
Do you not really think that the case OF
the one who went instantly was more de-
sirable than the one who entered the shin
ing gate through long lane OF insomnia
and congestion? In the one case 1t was
like your standing wearily at door,
knocking and waiting, and wondering II 1t
will ever open, and knocking and waiting
again, while in the other case 1t was
swinging open Of the door at the first
touch Of your knuckle. Give your friend
ship to God, and have Gods friendship for
you, and even the worst accident will be a
victory.
How refreshing Is human friendship; and
true friends, what priceless treasures!
When sickness comes, and trouble comes,
and death comes, we send for our friends
first Of all, and their appearance in our
doorway in any crisis is reinforcement, and
when they have entered, we say: "Now, it
is all right!'' Oh, what would we do with
out personal friends, business friends,
family friends? But we want something
mightier than human friendship in the
great exigencies. When Jonathan Ed.
wards, in his final hour, had given the last
goodbye to all his earthly friends, he
turned on his pillow and closed his eyes,
confidently saying: "Now, where Is Jesus
Of Nazareth, my true and never-failing
Friendp" Yes, admire human friendship
rs seen In the case Of David and Jonathan,
Of Paul and Onesiphorus, Of Herder and
Goethe, of Goldsmith and Reynolds, OF
Beaumont and Fletcher. of Cowley and
Harvey, of Erasmus and Thomas More, OF
Lessing and Mendelssohn. of Lady
Churchill and Prince Anne, of Orestes and
Pylades, each requesting that himself
take the point of the dagger, SO
the other might be spared; Of Epa.
minondas and Pelopidas, who locked