The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1888-08-16

jmprovident people | ever ne.rd Of They
deserved to starye. They might have
taken food enough to last them until they
got back Nothing did they take. A lad,
who had more wit than all of them put
together, asked his mother that morning
for some loaves of bread and some fishes
They were put into his sachel. He went
out into the desert. From this provision
the seven thousand were fed, and the more
they ate the larger the loaves grew, until
the provision that the boy brought in one
sachel was multiplied so he could not have
carried the fragments home in six sachels.
60" you say, "times have changed, and
the day of miracles has gone" l reply
that, what God did then by miracle, He
does now in some other way, and by
natural laws. 81 have been young" said
David, 'Sbut now l am old; yet have l
never seen the righteous forsaken, nor
his seed begging bread" 1t is high time
that you people who are fretting about
worldly circumstances, and who are fear
ing you are coming to want, understood
that the oath of the eternal God is in
volved in the fact that you are to have
enough to eat and to wear.
Again: l remark that the religion of
Jesus Christ is the grandest influence to
lldhC d A1stu COuLCHbCu luuSuIHll1 diuoV
C. financial and spiritual harm 1t Gains
the spirit, dwindles the earth into insig-
nificance, and swallows up the soul with
the thought of Heaven. o We who have
been going about from place to place ex-
pecting to find in change of circumstances
something to give solace to the spirit I
commend you, this morning. to the warm
hearted, earnest, practical common sense
religion of the Lord Jesus Christ "There
is no peace, saith my God, for the wicked"
and as long as you continue in your sin
you will be miserable. Come to Christ,
Make Him your portion, and start for
Heaven, and you will be a happy man
you will be a happy woman.
Yet, nv friends, notwithstanding all
these inducements to a spirit of content
ment, / have to tell you this morning the
human race is divided into two classes
those who scold and those who get scolded.
The carpenter wants to be any thing but d
carpenter, and the mason any thing but y
| mason, and the banker any thing but q
banker, and the lawyer any thing but n
| lawyer, and the minister any thing but a
minister, and every body would be happy
If he were only somebody else. The
anemone wants to be sunf1ower, and
the apple orchards throw down their
blossoms because they are not tall cedars,
and the scow wants to be schooner, and
the sloop would like to be a seventy four
FOUNDER, and parents have the worst chill
dren that ever were, and every body has
the greatest misfortune, and every thing
is upside down, or going to be. Ali my
friends, you never make any advance
through such spirit as that You can
not fret yourself up; you may fret your
self down. Amid all this grating Of tones
l strike this string of the Gospel harp:
Goodness with contentment is great
gain. We brought nothing into the world,
and it is very certain we can carry moth
ing out; having food and raiment, let US
| therefore be content"
Let us all remember, if we are Christians,
that we are going after awhile, whatever
be our circumstances now, to have glor-
ious vacation. AS in summer we put off our
| garments and go down into the cool sea to
battle, so we will put off these gar
ments of flesh, and step into the
cool Jordan. We will look around
for some place to lay down our WEAKNESS
and the trees will say: Come and rest
under our shadow" and the earth
| will say: Come and sleep in my bosom; :"
and the winds will say: Hush! while /
| sing thee a cradle hymn;' and while six
| strong men carry US out to our last resting
| place, and ashes.come to ashes and dust to
dust, we will see two SCARED feet standing
amid the broken soil, and lacerated brow
| bending over the open grave, while a voice,
| tender with all affection and mighty with
| all omnipotence will declare: Il am the
resurrection and the life; he that bel!eveth
in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he
| live" Comfort one another with these
| words