The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1889-06-20


in the coming decade by simple process +
of solicitation, each one only having to
bring one year; although want to take
in forty thousand, and I know men now
alive who l think, by pen or voice, or
both, directly or indirectly, will take
hundreds of thousands each. So you see
that that will discharge some of the two
million seven hundred and fifty-four thou
sand three hundred and seventy-hve from
the necessity of taking any.
But this brings me to the adjoining
thought; namely, we have the money to
do the work. mean the fifty million
Christians have it. Aye, the two million
seven hundred and fifty thousand Chris
tians have it: and the dam which is be-
ginning to leak will soon break and there
will be rushing foods of hundreds and
millions and billions of dollars in holy
contribution when you persuade the
wealthy men of the Kingdom of God that
the speedy conversion of the world is
possibility and that Isaiah and Ezekiel
and Daniel and st. John will not stand
in the way of it, but help it on. | have
no sympathy with this bombardment of
rich men. We would each one be worth
five million dollars if we could, and by
hard persuasion might, perhaps, be in
duced to take fifteen million dollars. AL
most every paper I take up tells of some
wealthy man who has endowed college
or built church or hospital or a free
library, and that thing is going to multi
ply until the treasury of all our denomina-
tons and reformatory organizations will
be overwhelmed with munifceuce, if we
can persuade our men of wealth that the
worlds evangelization is possible and
that they may live to see it with their own
eyes. have always cherished the idea
that Ian the world is converted we
woQ allowed to come out on
the ements of Heaven and
see gered procession and the bon
fires ry. But l would like to see
the pf fon closer by, and just be per-
mitted myself to throw on fagot for a
bigger bonfire. And if you persuade our
men of wealth that there is a possibility
for them to join on earth in the universal
glee Of a redeemed planet, instead of
laborious beseeching for funds and argu-
ing and fiattering in order to get con-
tribution for Christian objects, our men of
wealth will stand in line as at a post-ofice
window or railroad ticket Office, but in
this case waiting for their turn to make
charitable deposit.
Yea, believe it can be done if we get
prepared for it, because the whole airand
the whole Heaven are full of willing help.
"Are they not all ministering spirits sent
forth?" We make an awful mistake if we
| calculate only on the forces we can see.
The mightiest army is in the air. My
brethren, so much of selfshness, and
pride, and rivalry, and bad motives of all
kinds get into our work here that we are
hindered. But the mighty souls that have
| gone up to the flying armies Of the sky
have left all imperfection behind; and
these souls are with us, and without
fault, and with perfect natures, are on
our side. You can not make me be-
lieve that after toiling here for long
years for the redemption of the world un.
| til from exhaustion some of them fell into
their graves, they have ceased their in
terest in the stupendous conflict now rag
| ing, or that they are going to decline
help. Iren@us Prime! Honored on
earth, but now glorifed in Heaven, have
you forgotten the work toward which you
gave for more than half century your
gracious life, your loving voice and your
matchless pen? No! Then come down
and help. Alexander Duff Have you
| forgotten the millions of India for whose
|
jungle and Numbered on missionary
| platform? Mol Then come down and
| help. David Brainard! Have you forgot
ten the aborigines to whom you preached
and for whom you prayed until you could
preach and pray no more; lying down de-
lirious amid the miasmas of the swamp:
mol Then come down and help. Moncrief
and Freeman and Campbell! Have you
forgotten Lucknow and Cawnpore? MOI
Then come down and help. I rub out of
my eyes the stupidity and unbelief, and
the servant Of these great Elishas in the
Gospel, see the mountains all round about
are full of horses of fire and chariots of
fire; and they head this way.
lowered over are we by great crowds OF
witnesses and helpersl Clouds of apos-
ties in the air led on by Paul! Clouds
of martyrs in the air led on by Stephenl
Clouds of prophets in the air led on by
Isaiahl Clouds of patriarchs in the all
led on by AbrahamI Clouds of ancient
warriors in the air led on by Joshua, and
that Bible warrior at whose prayer as
tronomy once halted over Ajalon and
Gideon seems now to lift one hand to.
ward the descending sun of this century
and the other hand toward the moon OF
the last decade, saying: "Stand thou
still till the Church Of God gets the final
victoryw
Then let us take what remains of this
decade to get ready for the final decade of
the nineteenth century. You and 1 may
not live to see that decade, or may not
live to see its close, but that shall not
hinder me from declaring the magnificent
possibility. l confess that the mistake Of
my life has been, not that did not work
hard-for | could not have worked harder
and lived, as God knows and my family
know-but that have not worked under
the realization that the salvation
of this world was a nearby pos
sibility But whether we see it.
the beginning or the closing of
that decade, is Of no Importance, if only
that decade can get the coronation, and
then all decades shall kneel before this
enthroned decade, and even the gray
grown centuries will cast their crowns
before it, and it viii be the most honored
decade between the time when the morn.
ing stars sang together as the libretto OF
worlds was opened, and the time when
the mighty angel robed in cloud and gar
landed in rainbow. shall, with one foot on
the sea and the other foot on the land,
swear by Him that liVeth foravar and axa,