The Bossier banner., 1892-08-18

and he is bitten and mauled, and thinks
it is a horrible thing to stay in the wood.
Why does he not take an ak and go to
work? So there are thousands of Chris
tians now in the church who go out
amid great annoyances in life-they
are not perplexed, they are all the time
busy; while there are others who do
nothing, and they are stung, and stung,
and stung, and covered from head to
foot with the blotches of Incidence, and
inactivity, and spiritual death.
The first thing, then, you have to do,
0 Christian young man, Christian young
woman, is to go to work in the service
of the Lord if you want to Be a happy
Christian. When an army goes out,
there are always stragglers falling off
here and there, some because they are
faint and sick, but great many be-
cause they are afraid to fight and too
lazy to march. After awhile the lazy
men on the road hear the booming of
the guns for hours, and they hear the
shouts of victory, and man on horse
hack comes up and SAYS: eve have
won the day!' Then they hasten up.
How brave they are after the battle is
over. Poor at fighting but grand at
"huzza" So there are stragglers going
after the Lords host. There come
days of darkness and battle. Where
are they? We call the roll of the host.
They make no answer, but after awhile
there comes day of triumph in the
church, and they are all about. "Huz-
"a! huzza! Didn't we give it to them"
| have another word of counsel to
give those who have just entered Chris
tian life, and that is, be faithful in
prayer. You might as well, business
man, start out in the morning without
food and expect to be strong all that
day-you might as well abstain from
food all the week and expect to be
strong physically, as to be strong with
out prayer. The only way to get any
strength into the soul is by prayer,
aud the only difference between that
Christian who is worth everything and
that who is worth nothing is the fact
that the last does not pray and the
other does. And the only difference
between this Christian who is getting
along very fast in the holy life and
this who is only getting along tolera-
bly, is that the first prays more than the
last. You can graduate a mans prog
ress in religion by the amount of prayer,
not by the number of hours, perhaps,
but by the earnest supplication that he
puts up to God There is no exception
to the rule. Show me Christian man
who neglects this kind of duty and l
will show you one who is inconsistent.
Show me a man who prays, and his
strength and his power can not be ex.
aggerated- Why, just give to a man
this power Of prayer and "ou give him
almost omnipotence.
Another word of counsel | have to
give. Be faithful in Bible research A
great many good books are now coming
out. We can not read half of them.
At every revolution of the printing
press they are coming: They cover ouf
parlor tables, and are in our sitting
rooms and libraries. Glorious books
they are. We thank God every day for
the work of the Christian printing
press. But l have thought that per-
haps the followers of Christ sometimes
allow this religious literature to take
their attention from Gods word, and
that there may not be as much Bible
reading as there ought to be.
Read the Bible and it brings you into
the association of the best people that
ever lived. You stand beside Moses
and learn his meekness. beside Job and
learn his patience, beside Paul and
catch something of his enthusiasm, be-
side Christ ard you feel His love. And
yet how strange it is that great many
men have given their whole lives to the
assaulting of that book. / can not un-
derstand it. Tom Paine worked against
that Book as though he received large
wages, and was inspired by the powers
of darkness, confessing tina It all the
time he was writing he did not have the
Bible anywhere near him. How many
powerful intellects have endeavored to
destroy it. Hume, Bolingbrol1e, Vol
taire, have been after it. Ten thousand
men now are warning against the truth
of Gods Word. What do you think of
them? think it is mean, and will prove
it. will prove it is the meanest thing
that has ever been done in all the CEN
Guries.
There is ship at sea and in trouble.
The captain and the crew are at their
wits end. You are on board. You are
on old seaman. You come up and give
some good counsel, which is kindly
taken. That is all right. But sup
pose, instead of doing that, in the midst
of all the trouble you pick up the only
compass that is on board and pitch it
over the taffrail? Oh, you say, that is
dastardly But is it as mean as this?
Here is the vessel of the world going on
with sixteen hundred millions of pas
sengers, tossed and driven in the temp
est, and at the time we want help the
infdel comes and he takes hold of the
only compass and he tries to pitch it
overheard 1t is contemplate beyond
everything that is contemplate. Have
you any better light? Bring it on if
you have. Have you any better com
fort to give us? Bring it on if you have.
Have you any any better hope? Bring
it on if you have, and then you have
this Bible and l shall never want it
again..