The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1888-06-21

no Importance that woman, whose name
has been forgotten, dropped tract in the
way of very bad man by the name Of
Richard Baxter. He picked up the tract
and read it, and it was the means Of his
salvation.
In after-days that man wrote book
called "The Call to the Unconverted,"
that was the means of bringing multi
tude to God, among others Philip Dodd-
ridge. Philip Doddridge wrote a book
called "The Rise and Progress of Re-
ligion," which has brought thousands and
tens of thousands into the kingdom OF
God, and among others the great Wilber-
force. Wilberforce wrote q book called
ga Practical View of Christianity" which
was the means of bringing great multi
tude to Christ, among others Leigh Rich
mond. Leigh Richmond wrote tract
called "The Dairyman's Daughter"
which has been the means of the salvation
of unconverted multitudes. And that
tide of influence started from the fact that
one Christian woman dropped Christian
tract in the way of Richard Baxter-that
tide of influence rolling on through Rich
ard Baxter, through Philip Doddridge,
through the great Wilberforce, through
Leigh Richmond, on, on, on, forever, for
ever. So the insignificant events of this
world seem, after all, to be most moment
GUS. The fact that you came up that
street or this street seemed to be of no
Importance to you, and the fact that you
went inside some church may seem to be
a matter of very great insignifcance to
you, but you will find it the turning point
in your history.
vain. T in INV cf1hipaf i11uSfro
ton of the beauty of female industry. Be-
hold Ruth toiling in the harvest-field un-
der the hot sun, or at noon taking plain
bread with the reapers, or eating the
parched corn which Boaz handed to her.
The customs of society, of course, have
changed, and without the hardships and
exposure to which Ruth was subjected,
every intelligent woman will find some.
thing to do.
know there is sickly sentimentality
on this subject. In some families there
are persons of no practical service to the
household or community; and though
there are so many woes all around about
them in the world, they spend their time
languishing over new pattern, or burst
ing into tears at midnight over the story
of some lover who shot himself They
would not deign to look at Ruth carrying
back the barley on her way home to her
mother in-law, Naomi. All this fastidi-
BUSINESS may seem to do very we'll while
they are under the shelter OF their ia
TIERS house; but when the sharp winter
of misfortune comes, what of these but
terflies? Persons under indulgent parent
age may get upon themselves habits of
Incidence; but when they come out into
practical life their soul will recoil with
disgust and chagrin. They will feel in
their hearts what the poet so severely sa-
tlrized when he said:
Folks are so awkard, things so impolite,
They're elegantly panied from morning until
night.
Through that gate of Incidence how
many men and women have marched,
useless on earth, to destroyed eternity!
Spinola said to Sir Horace We're:
"Of what did your brother die?"
"Of having nothing to do" was the an
swer.
"Ah," said Spinola, "that's enough to
kill any General of u.s."
Oh! can it be possible in this world,
where there is so much suffering to be al
leviated, so much darkness to be en-
lightened, and so many burdens to be
carried, that there is any person who can
not find any thing to do?
Nine. de Stael did q world of work in
her time; and, one day, while she was
seated amid instr .lments of music, all of
which she haa mastered, and amid manu-
script books which she had written, some
one said to her:
Chow do yon ind time to attend to all
these things?"
"Oh," she replied, s'these are not the
things 1 am proud of. My chief boast is
in the fact that I have seventeen trades,
by any one of which could make a liveli-
hood if necessary"
And if in secular spheres there is so
much to be done, in spiritual work how
vast the field! We want more Abigails,
more Hannahs, more Rebeccas, more
Marys, more Deborahs consecrated-
body, mind, soul-to the Lord who bought
them.
Once more: learn from my subject the
value of gleanisgs. Ruth going into that
harvest field might have said:
There is a straw, and there is straw,
but what is straw? l can't get any bar
ley for myself or my mother in law out Of
these separate straws."
Not so said beautiful Ruth. She gath
cred two straws, and put them together,
and more straws, until she got enough to
make a sheaf. Putting that down, she
went and gathered more straws, until she
had another sheaf, and another, and an
other, and another, and then she brought
them all together, and she threshed them
out, and she had an ephah of barley,
nigh a bushel. Oh, that we might all be
cleaners!
Elihu Burritt learned many things while
toiling in a blacksmith's shop. Aber-
crombie, the world renowned philosopher,
was philosopher in Scotland, and he got
his philosophy, or the chief part of it,
while, as physician, he was waiting for
the door of the sick room to open. Yet
how many there are in this day who say
they are so busy they have no time for
mental or spiritual improvements; the
great duties of life cross the field like
strong reapers and carry off all the hours,
and there is only here and there frag-
ment left that is not worth cleaning. All,
my friends, you could go into the busiest
day and busiest week of your life and find
golden opportunities, which, gathered,
might at least make whole sheaf for the
Lords garner. 1t is the stray opportuni-
ties and the stray privileges which, taken
up and bound together and beaten out,