The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1891-04-09

Young man. tonight. at year bedroom
door on the third floor, you will hear
knocking. 1t will be the hand of Jesus
Christ, the young mans friend,
saying: 80 young man, let me
come in: l will help thee, l will
comfort thee, Twill deliver thee" Take
the Bible out of the trunk, if it has been
hidden away. If you have not the cour-
age to lay it on the shelf or table, take
that Bible that was given to you by
some loved one, take it out of the trunk
and lay it down on the bottom of the
chair, then kneel down beside it, and
read and pray, and pray and read, until
all your disturbance is gone and yen
feel that peace which neither earth nor
hell can rob you of. Thy fathers God,
thy mothers God, walls for ethee, o
young man. Escape for thy hfe!' Es-
cape now! some thing thou lackestw
But I apply this subject to the aged
not many here-not many in any assem-
biage. People do not live to get old.
That is the general rule. Here and
there an aged man in the house. ! tell
you the truth. You have lived long
enough in this world to know that it
can not satisfy an immortal nature.
must talk to you more reverentially
than l do to these other people, while
at the same time l speak with great
painless. o, father of the weary step,
o, mother bent down under the
ailments of life, has thy God ever
forsaken thee? Through all these
years, who has been your best friend?
Seventy years of mercies! Seventy
years of food and clothing! o how
many bright mornings! How many
glorious evening hours you have seen!
o father, mother, God has been very
good to you. DO you feel it? Some of
you have children and grandchildrC n;
the former cheered your young life, the
latter Irvine your gray locks in their
tiny fingers. Has all the goodness
that God has been making pass before
you produced no change in your fee,-
ings, and must it be said of you, NJ t.
withstanding all this: Zone thing thou
lackest?"
must make my application to another
class of persons-the poor. When you
can not pay your rent when it is due,
have you nobody but the landlord to
talk TO? When the flour has gone out
of the barrel, and you have not ten
cents with which to go to the bakery,
and your children are Juggling at your
dress for something to eat, have you
nothing but the worlds charities to ap-
peal to? When tie winter comes, and
there are no Goals, and the ash-barrels
have no more cinders, who takes care of
you? Have you nobody but the over
seer of the poor? But l preach to
you of a poor mans Christ. If you
do not have in the winter blankets
enough to cover you III the night,
want to tell you of Him who had not
where to lay His head. If you lie on
the bare floor, l want to tell you of
Him who had for a pillow hard cross,
and whose footbath was the streaming
blood of His own heart. you, poor
man! o you, poor woman! Jesus I'M
derstands your case altogether. Talk it
right out to Him tonight. Get down on
your floor and say: Lord Jesus Christ,
Thou vast poor and l am poor Help
me. Thou art rich now, and bring me
up to Thy riches" Do you think God
would cast you off viii He? You
might as well think that mother would
take the child that feeds on her breast
and dash its life out as to think that God
would put aside roughly those who have
fed to Him for pity and compassion.
| Yea, the Prophet says: "a woman may
forget her sucking child, that she should
not have compassion on the son of her
womb, but will not forget thee"
If you have ever been ON the sea, YOU
have been surprised in the first voyage
to find there are so few sails in sight.
Sometimes you go along two, three.
| four, five, six and seven DAYS. and dc
not see a single sail; but when a vessel
does come in sight, the sea glasses are
lifted to the eye, the vessel is watched
and if it comes very near. then the
captain, through the trumpet, cries
loudly across the water: ''Whither
bound?n
So you and meet on this sea of life
We come and we go. Some of us have
never met before. Some of us will
never meet again. But hail you across
the sea, and with reference to the last
great day, and with reference to the
two great worlds, cry across the
water: ''Whither bound? Whittier
bound?" I know what service that
craft was made for, but hast thou
thrown overheard the compassf
Is there no helm to guide it:
Is the ship at the mercy of the
tempest? Is there no gun of distres:
booming through the storm? Will
priceless treasures-with treasures
aboard worth more than all the Indies
wilt thou never come up out of the
trough of that sea? o, Lord God, lay
hold of that mani Son of God, if thor
vert ever needed anywhere, thou ar
needed here. There are so many
sins to be pardoned. There are
so many wounds to be healed
There are SO many souls to be saved
Help. Jesus! Help, Holy Ghost! Help
ministering angels from the throne
Help, all sweet memories of the past
Help, all prayers for our future deliver
ance! o, that now, in this, the accepted
time and the day of salvation, you would