The Bossier banner., 1892-04-21

his time, had lost his son, and the bo-
reaved father, crossing the pasture
field, met The horse that had belonged
to that deceased son, that the orator
threw his arms around the horses neck
and kissed the dumb brute. 1t was not
hollow sentiment when David, the
psalmist, cried out at the news of his
sons death, although he had been d
desperately bad boy: "Oh, .Absnlom;
my son! my son! would God / had died
for thee! Oh, Absalom, my son my
son." But for such and all other be-
reavement there is Divine coincidence.
Christ on the plain. l care not from
what side you approach Him, you can
touch Him and get His help Is it
mental depression you suffer? Remem-
ber him who said: my God, my God,
why hast Thou forsalzen me?" Is it d
Struggle for bread? Rememb Der Him
who fed the five thousand with two
minnows and five biscuits, neither of
the biscuits larger than your fist. Is
it chronic ailinent? Remember the
woman who for eighteen years has
bent almost double, and He lifted her
face until she could look into the blue
sky. Are you sailor and spend your
life battling with the tempests? Re-
member Him who flung the tempest of
Genesareth 1at on the crystal pave
ment of a quiet sea.
That Christ is in sympathy with all
who have trouble with their ewes, and
that is becoming an almost universal
trouble through much reading in rail
cars, and the over-pressure of study in
the schools where children are ex-
pected to be philosophers at tel, boys
and girls at fourteen with spectacles.
say with all such trouble Christ is id
sympathy. Witness blind Bartimeus
Witness the two blind men In the
house. Witness the two blind men near
Jericho. Witness the man born blind.
Did He not turn their perpetual mid.
night into midnooh, till they ran up
aud down clapping their hands and say=
ing: II see! I seep' That Christ is
in sympathy with those who stammer,
or have silenced ears, notice how
promptly He came to that man with
impediment of speech and gave him
command of the tongue SO that he
could speak with ease, and, putting His
fingers into the ears, retuned the tvm=
panuff1. Is there lack of circulation
in yotir arm, think of Him who cured
the defective circulation and inactive
muscles of a patient who had lost the
use of hand and arm, by saying,
''Stretch forth thy handi" and the veins
and nerves and muscles resumed their
offices, and though in doing so the
joints may have cracked from long
disuse, and there may have been d
strong sensation from elbow to finger
tip, he stretch it forth And nothing
is the matter with you, but you may
appeal to the sympathe tic Christ And
if you feel yourself to be a great sin.
ner, hear what He said to that repent
ing Magdalen, while with scalding
sarcasm He dashed her hypoeritical
purSuerS.
And see how He made an immortal
liturgy out of the publican's cry,
GOD be merciful to me sinner" a
prayer so short that the most over
whelmed offender can utter it, and vet
long enough to win celestial dominions
1t was well put by man who had been
converted, and who remembered that
in his dissolute days he found it hard
to get occupation, because he could not
present a certificate for good character.
In commencing Christ to the people he
said. BLESS God, l have found out
that Jesus will take a man without a
characteri'' Christ on a level with
suffering humanity. My text says:
He came down with them and stood
In the plain" No climbing up through
attributes you can not understand No
ascending of the heights of beautiful
rhetoric of prayer. No straining after
elevations you can not reach. No
hunting for a God that you can not
find But going right straight to Him
and looking into His face and taking
His hand and asking for His pardon,
His comfort His grace, His Heaven.
Christ on the level. When during
the siege of Sebastobo1 an officer had
commanded private soldier to stand
on the wall exposed to the enemy, and
receive the ammunition as 1t was hand.
ed mp while he, the officer, stood in a
place sheltered from the enemy's guns.
Gen. Gordon leaped upon the wal! to
help, and commanded the officer to
follow him, and then closed with the
words: Never order man to do
anything that you are afraid to do
yourself" Glory be to God, the Cap-
tain of our salvation has Himself
gone through all the exposures
in which He commands us to be cour-
ageous. He has been through it all.
and now offers His sympathy in similar
struggle. One of the kings of England
one night in disguise walking the
streets of London, and not giving ac-
count of himself, was arrested and put
in miserable prison. When released
and getting back to the palace, he or.
dered- thirty tons of coal and large
supply of food for the night prisoners
of London. Out of his own experience
that night he did this. And our Lord.
the King aforetime endungconed. and
sick, and hungry, and prosecuted, and
slain, out of His own experiences is
ready to help all, and pardon all, and
comfort all, and rescue all.
Oh! join Him in the plain. AS long
as you stay up in the mountain of vour