The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1890-05-29

alert to-day and efficient as when in
Bible times they spread wing, or dn-
sheathed sword, or rocked down peni-
tentiaries, or filed the mountains with
horses of fireshitched to chariots of fir g
and driven by reinsmen of fire. They
have turned your steps hundred times,
and you knew it not. You were on the
way to do some wrong thing, and they
changed your course. They brought
some thought of Christian par
entage or of loyalty to your
own home and that arrested
you. They arranged that some one
should meet you at that crisis, and pro-
pose something honorable and elevating,
or they took from your pocket some
ticket to evil amusement, ticket that
you never found. 1t was an angel of
God, and perhaps the very one that
guided you to this service, and that now
waits to report some holy impression to
be this morning made upon your soul,
tarrying with one foot upon the door
step of your immortal spirit, and the
other foot lifted for ascent into the
skies. By some prayer detain him until
he can tell of repentant and ransomed
soull Or you were some time borne
down with trouble, bereavement, perse.
| cution, bankruptcy, sickness and all
manner of troubles beating their dis
cords in your heart and life.
You gave up; you said: 81 can not
stand it any longer. I believe 1 will
take my life. Where is the rail-train,
or the deep wave, or the precipice that
will end this torment of earthly exist
ence?" But suddenly your mind bright
ened. Courage came surging into your
heart like oceanic tides You said:
''God is on my side, and all these adj
versities He can turn out for my good. -
Suddenly you felt a peace, deep peace,
the peace of God that passeth all UNI
derstanding What made the change?
A sweet. and mighty, and comfortable
angel of the Lord met you. That was
| all.
Railroad engineer, with hundreds of
lives hanging on your wrist, standing
amid the cinders and the smutch, round
the sharp curve, and by appalling decliv-
ity, discharged and disgraced if you
make mistake, but not one word of
approval if you take all the trains in
safety for ten years, think of the angels
by the throttle valves, angels by the
roaring furnace of the engine, angels
looking from the overhanging erag, an
gels bracing the racing wheels of the
precipice, angels when you mount the
thunderbolt of train, and angels when
you dismount! Can you not hear them,
louder than the jamming of the car
coupling, louder than the bell at the
crossing, louder than the whistle that
sounds like the scream of flying fiend,
the angelic voices saying:
''You did it well. You did it we'll"
If often speak of engineers it is be-
cause I ride so much with them. I al
ways accept their invitation to join them
| on their locomotive, because I not only
! get to my destination sooner, but be-
cause they are about the grandest men
| alive. Men and women of all eircum-
stances, only partly appreciated, or not
appreciated at all, never feel lonely
again or unregarded again! Angels all
around; angels to approve, angels to
help, angels to remember Yea, while
| all the good angels are friends of the
| good, there is one special angel your
body-guard. This idea, until this pres
ent study of angelology, supposed to
be fanciful, but find it clearly stated
in the Bible. When the disciples were
praying for Peters deliverance from
prison and he appeared at the door of
the prayer-meeting, they could not be-
| llnUn
'It is his angel"
Yes a guardian angel for each one of
you. Put yourself now in accord with
him. When he suggests the right,
follow it. When he warns you against
the wrong, shun it. Sent forth from
God to help you in this great battle
| against sin and death, accept his de-
iverance. When tempted to feeling
of loneliness and disheartenment ap-
propriate the promise: ''The angel of
the Lord encampeth around them that
fear Him and delivereth them" Oh. I
am so glad that the spaces be-
| tween here and Heaven are
thronged with these supernaturals
taking tidings home, bringing messages
here, rolling back obstacles from our
path and giving US defense, for terrific
are the forces who dispute our way, and
if the nation of the good angels is on
our side, the nation of bad angels is on
the other side. Paul had it right when
he said: eve wrestle not against flesh
and blood but against principal lies
against powers, against rulers OF the
darkness of this world, against spiritual
wickedness in high places" In that
awful fight may God send us mighty
angelic re-enforcements! We want all
their wings on our side, all their swords
on our side, all their chariots on our
side.
Thank God that those who are for Ms
are mightier than those who are against
us! And that thought makes me iubi-
liant as to the final triumph. Belgium.
you know, was the battle-ground of En-
gland and France. Yea, Belgium more
than once was the battle-ground of OBJ
posing nations 1t so happens that this
world is the Belgium or battle-ground
between the angelic nations, good and
bad. Michael, the commander-in-chief
on one side; Lucifer, as Byron call him,
or Mephistopheles, as Goethe calls him