St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1886-08-21

from the depths of earth to the heights OF
Heaven, like the leader of a great orchestra
he lifts his hands, crying, "Praise the
Lordi Let every thing that hath breath
praise We the Lordw And oil earthly
creatures in their song, and mountains
with their waving cedars, and tempests
in their thunder, and rafting hail, and
stars on all their trembling harps OF lighss
and angels on their thrones, respond in
magnificent acclaim: "Praise We the
Lord! Let every thing shat hath breath
praise We the Lord"
8. Iremark again: The Bible is right
in it's doctrines. Man a sinner, Christ
Saviour-the two doctrines. Man must
come down-his pride, his self-righteous"
ness, his worldliness; Christ, the annoint"
ed. must go up. II it had not been for the
setting forth of the atonement, Moses
would never have described tho creation:
prophets would not have preached. Ii
seems to me as if Jesus in tho Bible were
standing ON a platform in q great anphi-
theater, as if the prophets were behind
him, throwing light forward on his sacred
person, and as if the apostles and evange.
lists stood before him, like foot.
lights throwing up their light into
his blessed countenance, and then as If all
the earth and Heaven were the app
plauding auditory. The Billie speaks OF
Pisgah, and Carmel, and Sinai, but makes
all mountains bow down to Calvary. The
focks led over the Judean hills were en-.
blems of the Lamb of God that taketh
away the sins of the world" and the lion
leaping out of its lair was an emblem OF
'the lion of Judah's tribe" l will in my
next breath recite to you the most won
derful sentence ever written:
This is faithful saying and worthy OF all
acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners.
No wonder that when Jesus was born in
Bethlehem Heaven sylnpathized with
earth, and a wave of JOY dashed clear
over the battlements and dripped upon the
shepherds in the words:
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth
peace and good will toward men.
In my next sentence every word weighs
r ton:
Go so loved the world that he gave his
only begotten Son, that whosoever 5elieveth
in Him should not perish, but have eyeriast.
ing life.
Show me any other book with such
doctrine, so high, SO deep, so vast.
4. Again: The Bible isri ght in its effects,
do not care where you put the Bible, it
just suits the place. You put it in the
hand of man seriously concerned about
his soul. I see people often giving to the
serious soul this and that book. 1t may
be very well, but there is no book like the
Io l, dino TO- n
pleads to the indictment, "Guilty." He
takes up the Psalms of David, and says,
''They just describe my feelings" He
files the good works; Paul starts him ont
of that by the announcement, "A man is
not justified by the works. He falls back
in his discouragement; the Bible starts
him up with the sentences:
Remember Lots wife.
Grive not the spirit.
Flee the wrath to come.
Then the man in despair begins to cry
out: "What shall l do? Where shall ]
go" And voice reaches him, saying:
Come unto me all We who are weary and
heavy laden and will give you rest.
Take this Bible and place it in the hands
of men in trouble. Is there any body here
in trouble! All, I might better ask, are
there any here who have never been in
trouble? Put this Bible in the hands of
the troubled. You find that ais some Of
the best berries grow on the sharpest
thorns, so some of the sweetest consola.
tions of the gospel grow on the most sting.
ing affection. You thought that death
had grasped your child. 0, no; it was
only the Heavenly Shepherd taking lamb
out of the cold. Christ bent over you as
you held the child in your lap, and put
ting his arms gently around the little one,
said:
OF such is the Kingdom of Heave n.
Put the Bible in the school Palsied be
the hand that would take the Bible from
the college and the school. Educate only
mans head and you make him an infidel.
Educate only a mans heart and you make
him fanatic. Educate them both to.
gether and you have the noblest work OF
God.
Put the Bible on the rail train and on
ship board, till all parts of this land and
all other lands shall have its illumination.
This hour there rises the heather worship,
and in the face of this days sun smokes
the blood of human sacrifice. Give them
the Bible. Unbind that wife from the
funeral pyre, for no other sacrifice is
needed since the blood of Jesus Christ
cleanseth from all sin.
am preaching this sermon because
there are so many who would have you
believe that the Bible is an outlandish
book and obsolete. 1t is fresher and more
intense than any book that yesterday
came out of the great publishing houses.
Make it your guide in life and your pillow
in death.