The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1890-08-28

were added. No life was more d1llgent
and no soul more ingenious than those
of Shenstone, and all that genius ana
diligence we're directed to the adorne-
ment of that treasured spot. What more
could one want to make home happy?
| Yet there is one man who sits signing
in those bowers, and casting gloomy
| looks upon those parks, and the mlrth
| of leaping waterfalls makes no melody
| in his ear 1t is Shenstone, the owner
of the Leasowes. 81 have lost my road
to happiness" says the respondent man
AZ am angry and envious, and detected
and frantic, and disregard all present
things, just as it becomes mailman tc
do" My friends, there is no solid hap
piness in any thing but religion, l care
not how bright home; Orpah has her
Moab-when she turns away from duty
she turns away from peace. Amid the
bacchanalia of BelshaZZar's feast and
the glitter of chalices there always will
come out handwriting on the wal
fearfully ominous: ''Tekel-weighed
in the balance and found wanting"
When you reap harvests off bare rocks
and gather balm out of night-Shade,
and make sunlight sleep in the heart of
sepulchers, and build firm house on
rocking billow, then can an unpardoned
soul find firm enjoyment amid its trans
gressions. Then can Orpah go back to
Moab without weeping.
Again: This subject suggests to me
two of the prominent reasons why peo-
pie refuse the Kingdom of Christ There
may have been many other reasons why
Orpah left her sister and nother-in-law
and went back home, but there were
two reasons which, I think, were more
prominent than the rest. She had been
brought up in idolatries. She loved the
heather gods which her ancestors had
worshipped, and, though these blocks
of wood and stone could not hear, she
thought they could hear, and, though
they could not see, she thought they
could see, and, though they could not
feel, she thought they could feel. A
new religion had been brought to her
attention. She had married a godly
man. She must often have heard her
mother-in-law talk of the God of Israel.
She was so much shaken in her original
belief that she concluded 20 leave her
idolatries but coming to the margin OF
the land of Bethlehem, her determine
ton failed her, and speedily she return
: ed to her gods. This is the very reason
. why multitudes of persons never be-
como Christians. They can not bear to
give up their gods. Business is the
, American Juggernaut that brushes more
> men than the great car of the Hindoos
: To it they say their morning and even
: ing prayers. A little of Christ's relig
9 ion may creep into the Sabbath, bu
9 Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thurs
r day, Friday and Saturday are the days
, devoted to this American idol. Every
hour there is sacrifice on the altar
8 Home duties, health of body, manly
g strength and immortal affections mus
d all burn in this holocaust. Men act a
n though they could take theft bonds
and mortgages. and saws, and trowels
J and axes. and pay-bools with them into
. the Kingdom of Heaven.
q Butt was not only the gods of Moa'
p that made Orpah leave her sister ant
/ mother-in-law. She doubtless had
4 dread of the hardship to which the,
a would be exposed on the journey t
Y Bethlehem, and Orpah was not alone j,
. the fear. Doubtless some of you hav
q been appalled, and driven back by tn
self-denial of the Christian life TIL
"a taunt of the world, the charge Of by
a. pocrisy which they would sometimes b
a obliged to confront, has kept man
&c away from the land of Bethlehem
10 They spend their life in counting til
"A cost, and, because a Christian life dc
10 mands so much courage and faith, the
n dare not begin to build. PerhaI
of they are courageous in ever
y, other respect. They are not tin
II i'd in presence of any danger c2
:, cept that of trusting in the infnii
a. mercy of Christ. The sheep are MOI
% afraid of the shepherd shan of tb
- wolves. They shrink away from til
~ presence of Christ as though He were
on tyrant rather than friend who sticket
"A closer than a brother. They feel MOI
safe in the ranks of the enemy whei
"a they suffer infinite defeat than in Ii
Of army of Christ, which shall be MOI
=" than conqucrors through Him that hat
n loved them. Men SILVER and tremb
a before religion as though they WEI
Az commanded to throw their life away
,ir though it were surrender of honor al
re manliness, and reason and self-respec
en- and all that is worth keeping.
st What has God ever done that Fl
by mercy should be doubted? Was thel
N. ever a sorrow of His frailest child thi
We He did not pity? Was there ever "a so
gs that He left unheiped in the darkness
ng Was there ever martyr that He d
-, not strengthen in the flames? w
~ there ever a dying man to whose reli
~ lie did not come at the cry of ''Lo
co Jesus, receive my soul?' Aye, my sou
n what has God done that so basely The
A. hast doubted Him? Did He make Il
No whole earth desert? Are all Il
ad skies dark and storm-swept? Is Ii
m all sickness? Is the air a
or, plague? Are there nothing but TO
Ise and scorpions and furnaces? G,
/