The Bossier banner., 1891-10-01

months, and perhaps year. pass along,
and finally the fortress surTenders
through that starvation and exhaus-
tion. But, my friends, the fortresses
of sin are not to be taken in that way.
If they are taken for God it will be by
storm; you will have to bring up the
great guns of the Gospel to the very
wall and wheel the flying artillery into
line, and when the armed infantry OF
Heaven shall confront the battlements
you will have to give the quick COM
mand: Forward! Charge"
All, my friends, there is work for you
to do and for me to do in order to this
grand accomplishment! Here is pull
pit, and a clergyman breaches in it.
Your pulpit is the bank. Your pulpit
is the store. Your pulpit is the editorial
chair. Your pulpit is the anvil. Your
pulpit is the house scaffolding. Your
pulpit is the mechanics shop. may
stand in this place, and, through
cowardice or through self-seeking, may
keep back the word l ought to utter,
while you, with sleeve rolled up and
brow besweated with toll, may utter
the word that will jar the foundation
of Heaven with the shout of a great
victory. Oh, that to-day this whole au-
dience might feel that the Lord AL
mighty is putting upon them the hands
of ordination. Everyone, go forth
and preach this Gospel. You have
as much right to preach as l have,
or as anyone has. Only find out the
pulpit where God will have you preach
and there preach. Hedley Wears was
a wicked man in the English army.
The grace of God came to him. He be-
came an earnest and eminent Christian.
They scoffed at him and said: ''You are
a hypOcrite; you are as bad as ever you
We're" Still he kept his faith in Christ,
and after awhile, finding that they could
not turn him aside by calling him a
hypocrite, they said to him: ''Oh,
you are nothing but a fanatic" :"
That did not disturb him. He
went on performing his Christian
duty until be had formed all his
troop into Bible class, and the whole
encampment was shaken with the pres
ence of God. So Havelock went into
the heather temple in India while the
English army was there, and put n
candle into the hand of each of the
heather gods that stood around in the
heather temple, and by the light of
those candles held up by the idles Gen.
Havelock preached righteousness, tenn
perance and judgment to come. And
yx11n 1uri11 -,
that Havelock had not the right to
preach?
In the minister's house where | pre-
pared for college there was a man who
worked, by the name of Peter Croy.
He could neither read nor write, but he
was man of God Often theologians
would stop in the house-grave theolo-
gians-and at family prayers Peter
Croy would be called upon to lead;
and all those wise men sat around
wonder-struck at his religious eff
cheney. When he prayed he reached
up and seemed to take hold of
the very throne of the Almighty,
and he talked with God until
the very heavens were bowed
down into the sitting-room. Oh, if |
were dying l would rather have plain
Peter Croy kneel by my bedside and
command my immortal spirit to God
than some heartlcss ecclesiastic ar
rayed in costly canonicals. Go preach
this Gospel. You say you are not
licensed. In the name of the Lord Al
mighty, this morning, l license you.
Go preach this Gospel-preach it in
Sabbath-schools, in the prayer-meet-
ings, in the highways, in the hedges.
Woe be unto you if you preach it not.
l remark, again, that in order to be
qualified to meet your duty in this par
ticular age you want unbounded faith
in the triumph of the truth and the
overthrow of wickedness. How dare
the Christian church ever get discour.
aged? Have we not the Lord Almighty
on our side? How long did it take God
to slay the hosts of Sennacherib or burn
Sodom or shake down Jericho? How
long will it take God, when He once
arises in His strength, to overthrow al
the forces of iniquity? Between this
time and that there may be long seasons
of darkneSs-the chariot-wheels OF
Gods gospel may seem to drag heavi-
ly; but there is the promise, and Wonder
is the throne; and when Omnisciencc
has lost its eyesight, and Omnipotence
falls back impOtent, and Jehovah is
driven from His throne, then the church
of Jesus Christ can afford to be de-
spondent, but never until then Despots
may plan and armies may march, and
the congresses of the nations may seem
to think they are adjusting all the af.
fairs of the world, but the mighty men
of the earth are only the dust of the
chariot wheels of Gods providence.
think that before the sun of this
century shall set the last tyranny NAV
fall, and with splendor of demonstra-
tion that shall be the astonishment of
the universe God will set forth the
brightness and pomp and glory and per-
petuity of His eternal government. Out
of the starry flags and the emblazoned
insignia of this world God will make a
path for His own triumph and, return
ing from universal conquest, He will
sit down, the grandest, strongest, high
est throne of earth His footstool
Then shall all nations song ascend