The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1886-02-04

san things work together for good tc
them who love God" Is there not rest in
that? Is there not tonic in that? Is there
not longevity in that?
Suppose a man is all the time worried
about his reputation? One man says he
lies, another says he is stupid, another
says he is dishonest, and half dozen
printing establishments attack him, and
he is in great state of excitement and
worry and fume, and can not sleep; but
religion comes to him and says: "Man,
God is on your side; he win take care of
your reputation. If God be for you who
can be against your" How much should
that man worry about his reputation? Not
much. If that broker who few years ago
in Wall street, after he had lost his money,
sat down and wrote a farewell letter to his
wife before he blew his brains out, il,
instead of taking out of his pocket a
pistol, he had taken out a well-read
New Testament, there would have
been one less suicide. o nervous and fe-
verish people of the world, try this Al
mighty sedative; you will live twenty
five years longer under its soothing
power. It is not choral that you want,
or more time that you want, it is the Cos
pei of Jesus Christ.
Again, practical religion is friend Of
long life, in the fact that it removes all
corroding care about future existence.
Every man wants to know what is
to become of him. II you get on
board railroad train you want to know
at what depot it is going to stop; if you
get on board ship you want to know
into what harbor it is going to run; and
if you should tell me you have no interest
in what is to be your future destiny,
would, in as polite way as know how,
tell you l did not believe you. Before
/ had this matter settled with refer
ence to my future existence, the
question almost worried me into ruined
health. The anxieties men have upon this
subject, IL put together, would make a
martyrdom. This is state of awful UNI
healthinesss. There are people who fret
themselves to death for fear of dying.
want this morning to take the strain off
your nerves and the depression off your
soul, and will make two OF three expert
mentS.
Experiment the first: When you go out
of the world it does not make any differ
ence whether you have been good or bad,
or whether you believed truth or error, you
will go straight to glory. Impossible, F"
you say; "mY common sense, as well as
my religion, teaches me the bad and the
good can not live together forever. You
give me no comfort in that experiment"
Experiment the second-When you leave
this world you will go into an intermediate
state, where you can get converted and
prepared for heaven. impossible" you
say; "as the tree falleth so it must lie, and
can not postpone to an intermediate state
that reformation which ought to have been
effected in this state"
Experiment the third-Thers is no flu
ture world; when a man dies that is the
last of him. Do not worry about what you
are to do in another state of being; you
will not do anything. Impossible" you
say; "there is something that tells me that
death is not the appendix but the preface;
there is something that tells me that on this
side of the grave only get started, and th at
shall go on forever. My power to think
says Forever my affections say 'Forev-
err my capacity to enjoy or suffer says
Forever
Well, you defeat me in my three expert
ments. have only one more to make, and
| If you defeat me in that I am exhausted
A Mighty One on a knoll back of Jeru-
salem one day, the sky filled with forked
| lightnings and the earth filed with vol
| canic disturbances, turned his pale and
| agonized face toward the heavens, and
said: II take the sins and sorrows of the
| ages into my own heart. am the e4pia-
.tion. Witness earth and heaven and hell
| l am the eXpiation." And the hammer
struck him, and the spears punctured him,
and heaven Numbered: "Tho wages of
| sin is death" 1.-The soul that sinnoth it
shall dies" ~ will by no means clear the
| guilty." Then there was silence for hall
an hour, and the lightnings were drawn
back into the scabbard of the sky, and the
earth ceased to culver, and all thu colors
of the sky began to shift themselves
into a rainbow woven out o. the
falling tears of Jesus, aud there was
red as of the blood shedding, and
there was blue as of the bruising, and there
wassgreen as of the heavenly foliage, and
there was orange as OF the day dawn, and
along tho line of the blue 1 saw the words
II was bruised for their iniquities;" ant
along the line of the red | saw the words
"The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from
all SIM" and along the line Of the green
saw the words, "The leaves OF the tree o.
life for the healing of the nations;" ant
along the line of the orange 1 saw tn,
words, 1.-THE day spring from on high hati
| visited u.s." And thenI saw the storm wa
| over, and the rainbow rose higher ant
higher, until it seemed retreating to anoth
er heaven, and planting one column of itt
colors on one side the eternal hill, ant
planting the other column of it's colors OIL
! the other side the eternal hill, it rose up
ward and upward, and behold! there wal
ga rainbow round about the throne.
Accept that sacrifice and quit worrying
Take the tonic, the inspiration, the longev'
ity of this truth. Religion is sunshine
that is healthy. Religion is fresh air ant
pure water; they are healthy. Ask all til,
doctors and they will tell you that quiet
conscience and pleasant anticipations are
hygienic. offer you perfect peace now
and hereafter. What do you want In thu
future world? Tell me and you shall hav,
it. Orchards? There are the trees with
twelve manner of fruits, yielding frui