Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1898-09-28

be prophet at all, be an Ezekiel, and not
jeremiah. In ancient times prophets
who fOretold evil were doing right, for they
we're divinely directed; but the prophets of
svil In our time are generally false proph-
sts. Real troubles have no heralds running
ahead of their sombre chariots, and no one
has any authority in our time to announce
heir coming. Load yourself up with hope
tul words and deeds. The hymn once sung
N our churches is unfit to be sung, for 1t
,ays:
We should suspect some danger near,
Where We possess delight.
In o. her words, manage to keep miser-
able all the time. The old song sung at the
pianos quarter Of a 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,
:hey circle round in flights that never cease,
and sportsmans gun cannot shoot them,
and storms cannot ruffie their wings, and
when they cease flight in these lower skies
Of earth, they sweep around amid the high
Or attitudes of Heaven. At Baltimore l
talked into a phonograph. Inc cylinder
containing the words was sent on to Wash
lngton, 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 a phono-
graph, and 1t will scold back. Pour mild
words into phonograph and it will return
the gentleness. Society and the world and
the church are monographs. Give them
acerbity and rough treatment, and acerbity
and tough treatment you will get back.
Give them practical friendliness, and they
will give back practical friendliness.
father asked his little daughter: MARY,
why is 1t that everybody loves you?" She
answered: II don't know, unless 1t is be-
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. boat came to their relief, and
L 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
last some time longer" A man like that,
be he sailor or laldsman, be he in upper
ranks of society or lower ranks, will al
ways have plentyIpf 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
all our lives and expect Him to treat us
lovingly. l was reading of a sea fight, in
which Lord Nelson captured 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 a grasp of the
divine hand.
oh, what a glorious state of things to
have the friendship of Godl Why, we could
afford to have all the world against us AMI
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. L 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
a word of command. As out OF flint a
frontiersman strikes 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 rs 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 sh oulder and foot to
utmost tension, what could He not make2
That God of such demonstrated and unde-
monstrated strength, you may have for
your present and everlasting friend, not
stately and reticent friend, hard to get at,
but as approachable as country mansion
on summer day, when all the doors and
windows are wide open. Christ said, Il
am the door" And He is a wide door, a
high door, a palace door, an always open
door.
II 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 a window in per-
feet health, watching a shower, and the
lightning instantly slew him; but the
lightning did not flash down the sky rs
swiftly as his spirit flashed upward. The
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 a disease that made the
nights sieepless 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 a long lane of insomnia
and congestion? In the one case It was
like your standing weariy at door,
knocking and waiting, and wondering II it
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
victory.
How refreshing is human friendship; and
true friends, what priceless treasuresi
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 rightr' 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,
saying: Now, where is Jesus
of Nazareth, my true and never-failing
Frend?" Yes, admire human friendship
as seen in the case OF David and Jonathan.
of Paul and Onesiphorus, of Herder and
Goethe, of Goldsmith aAd Reynolds, of
Beaumont and Fletcher, of Cowley and
Harvey, of Erasmas and Thomas More, of
Lessing AMI 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
their shields in battle, determined to die
together; but the grandest, the mightiest,
the tenderest friendship in all the universe
Is the friendship between Jesus Christ and
= believing soul. Yet, after all [ have
. aid, / feel have only doye what James
Marshall, the miner, did in 1siS in Cali
fornia, before its gold mines were known.
He reached in and put upon the table Of
his em ployer, Captain Sutter, Il thimbleful
of gold dust ''Where did you get that?"
said his employer. The reply was: II got
IL this morning from mill race from
which the water hal been drawn or" But
that gold dust, which could have been
taken up between the finger and the thumb,
was the prophecy and specimen that re-
vealed California's wealth to all nations.
And to-day have ONLY put before You
specimen of the value Of divine friendship,
only a thimbleful of mines inexhaustibe
and infinite, though all time and all
eternity go oil with the exploration.