The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1885-12-31

stream in boat. You can lie upon your
oars. You go just as the tide goes. But
suppose yop turn around and head up
stream, then it is not so easy making
progress. AS long as you go down with
the tide of sin and iniquity, it is easy
enough to go that way; but when you
turn around AMI head toward God and
heaven, then it is q struggle, an awful
struggle.
Can it be that you have never tested
the power of temptation? You have one
kind of temptation; you, another; you,
another. There is not a person in the
house but has been tempted, whether you
realize it or not. / never like to hear
man say: sob, couldn't be tempted the
way that man is" He could not be tempted
the way you are. A lion can not under
stand why fish should be caught with q
hook, and the fish can not understand why
the lion should be caught with a trap.
You may be free from certain kinds of
| temptation, but there are other kinds after
you.
You see some men with phlegmatic
temperament "Why," you say, shat
man hasn't any temptations at ALL" You
| mistake him. He has temptations to in
dolence, to consciousness, to sink down
into mere latitude and longitude of FAITH
| ness; to lie down on the road of life,
to stop great enterprises. He has just
| as many temptations i'll one direction as
you, being of nervous and excitable tenn
| permanent have temptations in another di-
rection.
You viii see some aged man arise in
| prayer meeting, and at eighty years of age
he talks so sweetly of Christ and Heaven,
you say: sThat man has lived without
temptation" Ask him. He has as many
temptations at eighty years of age as he
had at twenty. They are only different
styles of temptations. Ask that aged man
whether he has lived beyond the reach of
the powers of darkness in this world, and
he will say it has been conflict all the way
through.
Sixtus was "a cardinal, and he wanted
| the pontifical chair, and history says he
pretended to be sick and crippled. He
| said: "Now, if you elect me to that chair
shall occupy it, and shall aot live long
| anyhow, and then you will put some one
else in the chair" He was elected to that
| position. He moved to it on crutches.
| Getting to the chair, he threw aside the
clutches. He said: "While was hunting
| for the keys of St. Peter, it was appro-
| pirate, stopped; but, having found the
| keys of st. Peter, there is no reason why I
| should stoop any longer" So his crutches
were gone and he was well. Oh, how sug-
gestive of temptation! 1t seems at one
time to be wan and weak and crippled, but
1 erixya ~ throne oy,k 30
| grind your soul into ruin.
Well, now you say: "All persons being
| tempted, what are we to do when we are
assaulted of temptationl When the wave
dashes against US is there nothing to hold
on to? Is man to go into this war with
| the world, the flesh and the
devil, with no help?" I will tell
you, my friends: The wisest thing
| for you to do in the day of temptation is,
like these disciples of my text, to go and
tell Jesus. In the eyes that wept with the
Bethany sisters see shining hope. In that
| voice that broke the silence of the tomb
until the widow of Main got back her son
and stupendous sorrow made up in the
arms of rapture-aye in that voice. hear
the command and the promise: "Cast thy
| burden on the Lord, and he will sustain
thee" He knows all about temptation.
Tempted in all points like as we are. Go
| and tell Jesus.
| Again, commend this behavior of the
| disciples in my text to all those who are
slandered and abused and prosecuted.
| When these disciples saw that Herod had
taken the head of John the Baptist, they
knew their own heads were not safe. Every
John has his Herod. There are people that
| do not think overmuch of you. Your mis-
fortunes would be honey comb to them.
They hiss at you through their teeth and
misinterpret your actions, and would be
glad to see you upset. They would be the
most submissive mourners at your funeral
Every one comes, during the course of
| life, to be pommeled. Some SANDER comes
at you, horned and tusked and hoofed to
trample and gore you, and you think you
are peculiar in that respect. No. "All
who live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer
persecution" If you are able this morn
ing to say: ~ haven't an enemy in all the
world" 1t is proof positive you have not
done your duty; for when a man does his
duty he challenges all earth and hell, and
that challenge will bring against him OPP
position and scorn and persecution. 1t is
so in all circles of life.
One would have thought that if any man
ought to have been free from persecution,
it was George Whitfield, bringing great
masses of the people into the kingdom of
\ God, wearing himself out for Christ's sake,
and yet the learned DR.. johnson called
him mountebank. Robert Hall preached
about the glories of Heaven, his face hav-
ing shone like an angels, and yet good
| Christian John Foster writes Of Robert
Hall, saying: "Robert Hall is mere
actor, and when he talks about Heaven the
smile on his face is the reflection of his
own vanity" John Wesley stirred all
England with reform, and yet he was carl
catured by all the small lights of the day.
He was pictorialized, history SAYS, on the
board fences of London, and everywhere
he was the target for the punsters; vet
John Wesley stands to-day before all
Christendom, his name mightier than any
other name except "the name that is above
every other name," the name of Christ.
And can you expect to escape hardship
and assault and abuse and SANDER? You
| viii not.
| Pnkx rba& s,ro 49,. a.