The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1888-07-19


the hands of the watch, you see the face
of the watch, but the beating of the heart
is the ticking of the watch. Oh, be care
ful and do not let it run down!
Again: Iremark that practical religion |
is friend of longevity in the fact that it |
is protest against designations which in. |
jure and destroy the health Bad men and |
women live very short life. Their sins |
kill them. know hundreds of good old
men, but do not know half dozen bad
old men. Why? They do not get old. |
Lord Byron died at Missolonghi at thirty
six years of age. himself his own Mazep-
pa, his unbridled passions the horse that
dashed with him into the desert. Edgar
A. Poe died at Baltimore at thirty eight
years of age. The black raven that
alighted on the bust above his chamber
door was delirium tremens-
Only this and nothing more.
Napoleon Bonaparte lived only just be-
yond mid-life, and died at st. Helena, and
one of his doctors said that his disease
was induced by excessive snuffing. The
hero of Austerlitz, the man who, by one
step of his foot in the cente. of Europe,
shook the earth, killed by snuff.box.
Oh, how many people we have known who
have not lived out half their days because
of their designations and indulgences!
Now practical religion is protest against
all dissipation of any kind.
"But," you say, professors of religion
have fallen, professors of religion have
got drunk, professors of religion have
misappropriated trust funds, professors
religion have absconded." Yes, but they
threw away their religion before they did
their morality. If a man on q White Star
Line steamer bound for Liverpool in mid
Atlantic jumps overheard and is drowned,
is that any thing against the White Star
Lines capacity to take the man across the
ocean, And If man jumps over the gum
vale of his religion and goes down never
to rise, is that any reason for your believ-
ing that religion has no capacity to take
the man clear through? In the one case if
he had kept to the steamer his body would
have been saved; in the other case if he
had kept to his religion his morals would
have been saved.
There are aged people who would have
been dead twenty five years ago but for
the defenses and equipoise of religion.
You have no more natural resistance than
hundreds of people who lie in the ceme
teries to day, slain by their own vices.
The doctors made their case as kind and
pleasant as they could, and it was called
congestion of the brain, or something
else, but the snakes and the blue flies that
seemed to crawl over the pillow in the
sight of the delirious patient showed what
| was the matter with him. You. the aged
| Christian man, walked along by that I'M.
| happy one until you came to the golden
pillar Of Christian life. You went to
| the right; he went to the left. That is all
| the difference between you. oh, if this
religion is protest against all forms of
dissipation, then it is an illustrious friend
| of longevity. "With long life will sat-
| isfy him."
| Again, relig ion is friend of longevity
in the fact that it takes the worry out Of
our temperatures. 1t is not work that
kills men, it is worry. When a man be-
comes genuine Christian he makes over
to God not only his affections, but his
family, his business his reputation, his
body, his mind, his soul-every thing.
Industrious he will be, but never worry
| ing, because God is managing his affairs.
How can he worry about business, when
in answer to his prayers God tells him
when to buy and when to sell; and If he
gain that is BEST and if he lose that Is
best?
Suppose you had supernatural neigh.
Dor who came in and said.
sSir, l want you to call on me in every
exigency; l am your fast friend; could
fall back on $2O.OOO,OOO; can foresee d
panic ten years; I hold the controlling
stock in thirty Of the best monetary insti-
buttons of New York; whenever you are in
trouble call on me and will help you;
you can have my money and you can have
my influence; here Is my hand in pledge
for it"
How much would you worry about bust.
nesss Why, you would say.
s'1'll do the best 1 can, and then I'll
depend ON my friends generosity for the
rest"
Now, more than that Is promised to
every Christian business man. God says
to him.
81 own New York. and London, and St
Petersburg, and Pekin, and Australia and
California are mine; l can foresee a
panic million years; have all the re.
sources of the universe, and 1 am your
fast friend; when you get in business
trouble, or any other trouble, call on me
and will help: here is my hand in pledge
of omnipotent deliverance."
How much should that man worry? No
much. What lion will dare to put his
paw on that Daniel? Is there not rest il
this? Is there not an eternal vacation In
this?
"Oh," you say, 'here is a man WHIT
asked God for a blessing in certain en-
terprise, and he lost five thousand dollars
in it. Explain that" I will Yonder il
factory, and one wheel is going NORTH
and the other wheel is going south, ant
one wheel plays vertically. l go to tn,
. manufacturer and say: ooh, manufact
|. urer, your machinery is contradiction
= Why do you not make all the wheels g
one way?'
"Well," he said. 81 made them go il
opposite directions on purpose, and they
produce the right result. You go down
, stairs and examine the carpets we arr
turning out in this establishment and yol
will see." go down on the other foo
and see the carpets, and am obliged t
confess that though the wheels in tina
: factory go in opposite directions, the
) turn out beautiful result; and while
l am standing there looking at the exquis
lite fabric an old Scripture passag
comes into my mind: "AlI things worl
| together for good to them who love God