The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1889-06-13

tain lines of conduct always lead out to
certain successes.
There is a law which controls even
those things that seem haphazard. have
| been told by those who have observed
that it is possible to calculate just how
many letters will be sent to the Dead
| Letter Office every year through mis-
direction; that it is possible to calculate
Just how many letters will be detained
for lack of postage stamps through the
forgetfulness of the senders, and that it is
possible to tell just how many people will
fall in the streets by slipping on an
orange peel. In other words, there are
no accidents. The most insignificant
event you ever heard of is the link be-
tween two eternities-the eternity of the
past and the eternity of the future. Head
the right way, young man, and you will
come out at the right goal.
My first settlement as pastor was in
village. My salary was eight hundred
dollars and parsonage. The amount
seemed enormous to me. l said to my
self; "What! all this for one year?" L
was afraid of getting worldly under so
much prosperity! l resolved to invite all
the congregation to my house in groups
of twenty-five each. We began, and as
they were the best congregation in the
world, and we felt nothing was too good
for them, we piled all the luxuries Oh the
table. l never completed the undertake
| ing. At the end of six months l was in
financial despair. l found what every
| young man learns in time to save him
self, or too late, that you must measure
the size of a mans body before you begin
to cut the cloth for his coat.
2. But think more young men are
slaughtered through irreligion. Take
away young mans religion and you
make him the prey of evil. We all know
that the Bible is the only perfect system
of morals. Now if you want to destroy
the young mans morals take his Bible
away. How will you do that? Well, you
will caricature his reverence for the
Scriptures, you will take all those Incl
dents of the Bible which can be made
mirth of-Jonah's whale, Samson's foxes,
Adams rib-then you will caricature &C.
| centric Christians or inconsistent Chris
tians, then you will pass off as your own
all those hackneyed arguments against
Christianity which are as old as Tom
Paine, as old as Voltaire, as old as sin.
Now you have captured his Bible, and you
have taken his strongest fortress; the
way is comparatively clear, and all the
| gates of his soul are set open in invitation
to the sins of earth and the sorrows of
death, that they may come in and drive
the stake for their encampment.
A steamer fifteen hundred miles from
shore with broken rudder and lost COM
pass, and hulk leaking fifty gallons the
hour, is better off than a young man when
you have robbed him of his Bible. Have
| No IL,
to take away the worlds Bible without
proposing a substitute? 1t is meaner
than to come to sick man and steal his
medicine, meaner than to come to Grip
pie and steal MS crutch, meaner than
come to a pauper and steal his crust,
meaner than to come to poor man and
burn his house down. 1t is the worse OF
all lareenies to steal the Bible, which has
been the crutch and medicine and food
and eternal home to so many! What a
generous and magnanimous business in
fidelity has gone intoi This splitting up
of life boats and taking away of fire es-
capes and extinguishing lighthouses.
come out and 1 say to such people:
"What are you doing all this for?" ''Oh, 4"
they say, 'just for fun" 1t is such fun to
see Christians try to hold on to their
Bibles! Many of them have lost loved
ones, and have been told that there is a
resurrection, and it is such fun to tell
them there will be no resurrection! MANY
of them have believed that Christ came to
carry the burdens and to heal the wounds
of the world, and it is such fun to tell
them they will have to be their own
Saylourl Think of the meanest thing you
ever heard of; then go down a thousand
feet underneath it, and you will find your
self at the top of a stairs hundred miles
| long:go to the bottom of the stairs, and You
will find ladder a thousand miles long;
then go to the foot of the ladder and look
off precipice half as far as from here to
China, and you will find the Headquarters
of the meanness that would rob this world
of its only comfort in life, its only peace
in death and its only hope for immortali-
ty. Slaughter young mans faith in
God, and there is not much more left TO
slaughter.
Now, what has become of the slaugh-
tered? Well, some of them are in their fa-
theirs or mothers house broken down in
health, waiting to die; others are in the
hospital; others are in Greenwood, or
rather, their bodies are, for their souls
have gone on to retribution. Not much
prospect for young man who started life
with good health, and good education,
and Christian example set him, and op-
portunity of usefulness, who gathered all
his treasures and put them in one box,
and then dropped it it into the sea.
Now, how is this wholesale slaughter to
be stopped? There is not person in the
house but is interested in that question.
Young man, arm yourself. The object of
my sermon is to put weapon in each of
your hands for your own defense. Wait
not for Young Mems Christian associa-
tions to protect you or churches to pro-
tect you. Appealing to God for help, take
care of yourself.
First, have a room somewhere that YOU
can call your own. Whether it be the
back parlor of fashionable boarding.
house or room in the fourth story of a
cheap lodging, care not. Only have that
one room your fortress. Let not the dis
sipator or unclean step over the thresh-
old. If they come up the long flight of
stairs and knock at the door, meet them
face to face and kindly, yet firmly, refuse
them admittance. Have a few family
portraits on the wall, if you brought them
with you from your country home. Have
q Bible on the stand. If you can afford
| il. and Won can NAV on ono bava a, Il,