St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1888-09-01
the Gettysburg, the Austerlitz, the Wasss

the Gettysburg, the Austerlitz, the Wasss
loo Of life, for bread.
| And yet how many women there ara
seated between the rock of bereavement
on the oneside and the rock of restitution
on the other, Bozez and Senah interlock-
ing their shadow and dropping them
upon her miserable way.
| There is sharp rock on the one side, and q
| sharp rock on the other side.
| What are such to do? Som chow, lei
them climb up into the heights of the
| glorious promises:
Leave thy fatherless children; I will pre-
serve them alive, and let thy widows trust il
| me.
Or get up into the heights Of that othe,
| glorious promise.
The Lord preserveth the stranger and re
lieveth the widow and the fatherless.
| o, We sewing women on starving wages
| O. We widows turned out from the once
| beautiful home. o, ye female teachers
kept on niggardly stipend. o, ye despair.
| ing women, seeking IN vain for work
wandering along the docks and thinking
| to throw yourself into the river last night
o, ye women Of weak nerves and aching
sides, and short breath and broken heart
you need something more than human
sympathy; you need the sympathy OF
God. Climb up into His arms. He knows
it all, and He loves you more than father
| or mother, or husband ever could or ever
did; and instead of sitting down, wiring
ing your hands in despair, you had better
begin to climb. There are heights of con-
ISOLATION for you, though now ''there is 9
sharp rock on the one side, and sharp
rock on the other side"
Again, that man is in the crisis of the
text who has q wasted life on the one SIDE
and an Illuminated eternity on the other.
Though a man may all his life have cult
ured deliberation and self-poise, if he
gets into that position all his self posses
sion is gone There are all the wrong
thoughts of his existence, all the wrong
deeds, all the wrong words-strata above
strata, granite, ponderous, overshadow-
ing. That rock l call Bozez. On tie
other side are all the retributions of the
future, and thrones of judgment. the
eternal ages, angry with his long def
ance. That rock 1 call Seneh Between
these two rocks Lord Byron persisted, and
Alcibiades persisted, and Herod persisted,
and ten thousand times ten thousand
have persisted. o! man immortal, man
redeemed, man blood bought, climb up
way of the cross. Have your wasted life
foI given; have your eternal life secured.
This morning just take one look to the
past and see what it has been, and take
one look to the future and see what it
threatens to be. You can afford to lose
your health, you can afford to lose your
property, you can afford to lose your
reputation, but you can not afford to lose
soul TIn+ .;r~k+ ~r1o 81
Gus, precious, eternal possession you
must carry aloft in the day when the
earth burns up and the heavens burst
You see from my subject that when a
man goes into the safety and peace of
the Gospel, he does not demean himself.
There is nothing in religion that leads to
meanness or unmanliuess. The Gospel
of Jesus Christ only asks you to climb
as Jonathan did-climb toward God,
climb toward Heaven, climb into the sun
shine of Gods favor. To become
Christian is MOTTO go meanly down; it is
to come gloriously up-up into the COM
munion Of saints, up into the peace that
passeth all understanding, up into the.
compan1onship of angels. Re lives up;
he dies up.
oh, then accept the wholesale invita-
ton which l make this morning to all the
people. Come up from betw cen our in
val1dism and financial embarrassments.
Come up from between your bereavements
and your restitution. Come up from be-
tween q wasted life and an unillumined
eternity. Like Jonathan, climb with ell
your might instead of sitting down to
wiring your hands in the shadow and in
darkness
q on nnn mi a
rock on the other side.