The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1898-09-24

ingly. l was reading of sea fight
in which Lord Nelson captured a
French officer, 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 resistance to God
to us. Repentance before forgiveness.
You must give up your rebellious
sword before you can get grasp OF
the divine hand.
Oh, what j glorious state of things to
have the friendship of God! Why,
we could afford to have all the world
against us and all other worlds against
US If we had God for us. He could in
a minute blot out this universe, and
in another minute make a better uni
verse. 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 word of command AS
out of flint 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 as finger. The
Bible frequently speaks of Gods hand
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 demon
strated and undemonstrated strength
you may have for your present and
everlasting friend, not stately and
reticent friend. hard TO get at, but as
approachable as n country mansion on
n summer day, when all the doors and
windows are wide open. Christ said:
81 am the door," And He is a wide
door, high door, palace door, an al
ways open door.
My four-year-old child got hurt and
did not cry until hours after, when
her mother came home, and then she
burst into weeping, and some of the
domestics, not understanding human
nature, said to her: 'Why did you not
cry before?" She answered: There
was no one to cry to-" Now, l have to
tell you that while human sympathy
may be absent, divine sympathy is al
ways accessible. Give God your love.
and get His love; your service, and Sc
cure His help; your repentance, and
have His pardon. God a friend? Why.
that means all your wounds medicated
all your sorrows soothed. and if some
sudden catastrophe should hurl you
out of earth it would only hurl YOU into
Heaven.
If God is your friend. you cannot go
out of the world too quickly or sudden
ly, so far as your own happiness is con-
cerned. There were two Christians
who entered Heaven. The one was
standing at window in perfect health,
watching shower, and the lightning
instantly slew him, but the lightning
did not flash down the sky as swiftly
as his spirit flashed upward. The
Christian man who died on the same
day next door had been for year or
two failing in health and for the last
three months had suffered from a dis
ease that made the nights sleepless and
the days an anguish. Do you not real
ly think that the case of the one who
went instantly was more desirable than
that of the one who entered the shin
ing gate through long lane of insom-
MIA and congestion? In the one case it
was like your standing YEARLY at a
door, knocking and waiting and wond-
ering if il will ever open, and knocking
and waiting again, while in the other
case ii was n swinging open of the door
at the first touch of your knucltle Give
your friendship 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 treas
ures! When sickness comes and trouble
comes and death comes, we send for our
friends first of all, and their appear
ance in our doorway in any crisis is re-
and when they have en-
tered we say: Now it is all right"
oh, what would we do without personal
friends. business friends, family
friends? But we want something
mightier than human friendship in the
great eNigencies. When Jonathan Ed
wards, in his final hour, had given the
last good-by 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 Friends?" Yes, admire human
friendship as 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 Leasing and Mendels-
sohn, of Lady Churchill and Princess
Anne, Of Orestes and Pylades, each re-
questing that himself might take the
point of the dagger, so the other might
be spared, of Epaminondas and
Pelopidas, who locked their shields in
battle, determined to die together; but
the grandest. the mightiest, the tender
est friendship in all the universe is the
friendship between Jesus Christ and
believing soul, yet after all have said
l feel | have only done what James
Marshall, the miner, did in 1S4s in Cali
fornia, before its gold mines were
known. He reached in and put upon