The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1885-06-04
iTle.
Rev. F. VI. Robertson.l

"AAOA -CfO1y A2zoA u OO4A AOA4 WIZ
has Me-rent Of this world-a little
section cut out of eternity and given
US to do our work in; an eternity be-
fore, an. eternity behind; and the
small. stream between, flowing swiftly
from one into the vast bosom of the
the other The man who has felt
with all his soul the significance of
Time will not be long in learning any
lesson that this world has to teach
him. Have you ever felt it? Have
you ever realized how your own little
streamlet is gliding away, and bearing
you along with it toward that awful
other world of which all Things here
are butthe thin shadows, down into
that eternity toward which the con-
fused wreck of all things are bound?
Let us realize that until that sensa-
ton of Time, and the infinite mean
ing which is wrapped up in it, has
taken possession of our souls, there is
no chance of our ever feeling other
than it is worse than madness to sleep
that time away. Every day in this
world has its work; and every day as
it rises out of eternity keeps putting
TO each of us the question afresh,
What will you do before to-day has
sunk into eternity and nothingness
again. And now what have we to
say with respect to this strange, SOL
emn thing-Time? That man do
with 1t through life just what the
apostles did for one precious and
irreparable hour in the, garden of
Gethsemane-they go TO sleep. Have
you ever seen those marble statutes
in some public square or garden,
which art; has SO fashioned into a
perennial fountain that;through the
lips~or through the hands the clear
water flows in perpetual.stream, on
! and on foFever;,and the marble. stands
there, passive, cold, making no effort
to arrest the gliding water?
1t is so that Time flows through
the hands of men-swift, never paus-
ing till it has'run itself out; and there
is the man petrifed into a marble
sleep, not, feeling what it is which is
passing away forever. It is SO, just
so, that the destiny of nine men out
OF ten accomplishes itself, slipping
away from them, aimless; useless, till
it is too late. And this passage asks
US, with all; the solemn thoughts
which crowd around an approaching
eternity, what has been our life, and
what do we intend it shall.be ? Yes
terday, last week, last year-they are
gone. Yesterday, for example, was
such day as never was before, and
never can be again. Out Of darkness
and eternity it was born a, new, fresh
day: into darkness and eternity it
sank again forever. It had voice
calling to us of its own; its own work
its own duties. What were we do
ing yesterday Idling, willing away
the time in light and luxurious liter
ature-not as LIES relaxation, but as
HES business? thrilling our hearts
with the excitements of life-contriv-
ing how to-spend the day most pleas
antly? Was that our dayI Sleep
all that was the sleep of the three
apostles. And now let us remember
this: there is day coming when that
sleep will be broken rudely with a
shock: there is day in our future
lives when our time will be counted,
not by years nor by months, nor yet
hours, but by minutes-the day,when
unmistakable symptoms shall an
nounee that the Messengers of Death
have come to take us.
| An Ohio paper contains ths follow
ing paragraphs concerning CRIMINAL