The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1886-12-02

an aching heart. There are multi
tudes before the throne of God
who were dashed with cares and
anxieties innumerable, and were cheat
ed out of every thing but their coffin.
They were sued; they were elected; they
were imprisoned for debt; they were NAL
treated; they were throttled by constables
with whole packs of writs; they were sold
out by sheriffs; they had to confess judg-
ments; they had to compromise with cred
itors, and their last hour on earth was dis
turbed by the fact that their door-bell was
rung loudly and angrily by the hand Of
some impetuous creditor, who was sur
prised that the sick man should be so i'm
pertinent and outrageous as to die before
he had paid him the last three shillings and
sixpence.
O, how men are tossed and drivenl I
had friend who went from one anxiety to
another; a good and great heart he had,
but every thing he put his hand to seemed
to fail. Misfortunes clustered around, and
after awhile heard he was dead, and the
first word / said was: 'sGood, he has got
rid of the sheriffsn There is great mnl-
titude of business men who on earth had it
hard, but by the Grace of God they stand
triumphant in Heaven; and when the Ques-
ton is asked of them: s'Who are theya'
the angels of God, standing on seas of
glass, will cry out: sThese are they which
came out of great tribulation, and have
| washed their robes, and made them white
in the blood of the Lamb"
| Once more: want you to seek business
grace. Commercial ethics, business honor,
| laws of trade, may do very well for awhile;
| but there will come time when the ground
! will slip from under your feet, and the
| world will frown, and the devils will set
after your soul, and you will want more
| then than this world can give you; you
| will want the Eternal Rock to stand on. For
| the lack of that grace you have known men
| to forge, and to maltreat their friends, and
| to curse their enemies, and you have seen
| their names bulletined among scoundrels,
| and spit upon, and blistered by scorn, and
| ground to powder. They not only lost their
| property, but their souls were mauled, and
| purified, and blasted for eternity. You
could count up scores of such persons
| while there are others who, tossed on the
same sea, sustained by the grace of God,
have all the time kept their eye on the
| lighthouse.
| Men coming out of that mans store say:
| ssIf there ever was Christian trader, that is
one.n Stern integrity kept the books and
waited on the customers. Light from the
| future world flashed through the show
windows. Wrath never stamped that
| floor, nor did sly dishonor cover up imper-
fections in goods. Love to God and love to
men were the principles that ruled in the
store of that Christian trader. Some day
the shutters are not let down from the
store window and the bars are not taken
from the door; men pass along, and stop,
and stare, and go up to read card on the
door which announces: "Closed on account
of the death of one of the FIRM That death
lit is talked in commercial circles that
| good man has gone. Boards of trade
pass resolutions of sympathy, and churches
of Christ pray: "Help, Lord, for the Cody
man ceaseth.' He has made hls last bar
gain; he has suffered his last loss; he has
ached with his last fatigue; the result OF
his Christian industry will bless his chill
dren after he is dead, and requests to the
Kingdom Of God will gather many sons
into glory. Everlasting rewards in place
of business disciplined There 'sthe wicked
cease from troubling and the weary are at
rest" 8ese