The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1892-09-29

more nightly when we IRE in the as
sembly--thc feelings of others enpha-
sizing our own feelings. The great
law of sympathy COMES into r'ay, and
n truth that would take hold only With
the grasp of sick man, beats NIGHTLY
against the soul with Thousand heart
throbs.
When you come into the religious
circle, come only with one7notion, and
only for one purpose--to find the way
to Christ. When | see people about
sermons, and critical about tones of
voice, and critical about sermOnic de-
livery, they make me think of man
in prison. He is condemned to death,
but an officer of the government brings
pardon and puts it through the wick
ct of the prison, and says: Here is
your pardon. Come and get it." What!
Do you expect me to take that pardon
offered with such a voice as You have,
with such an awkward manner as you
have? l would rather die than so COM
promise my rhetorical notions!' All,
the man does not say that; he takes it!
1t is his life. He does not care how it
is handed him. And if, this morning,
that pardon from the throne of God is
offered to our souls, should we not seize
it, regardless of all criticism, feeling
that it is a matter of Heaven or hell?
But come now to the last part of
my text 1t tells us when we are to
seek the Lord: ''While He may be
found" When is that? Old age? You
may not see old age. Tomorrow? You
may not see tomorrow. Tonight?
You may not see tonight. Now! Oh,
if could only write on every heart in
three capital letters that word NOW
Now!
Sin is an awful disease. l hear peo-
pie say, with the toss of the head and
with a trivial manner: ooh! yes, I'm
a sinner" Sin is an awful disease. 1t
is leprosy. 1t is dropsy. It's consump-
ton. 1t is all moral disorders in one.
Now, you know there is a crisis in a
disease. Perhaps you have had some
| illustration of it in your family. Some
times the physician has called, and he
| has looked at the patient and said:
| THAT case was simple enough; but the
crisis has passed" If you had called
me yesterday, or this morning I could
| have cured the patient. 1t is too late
| now; the crisis has passed" Just SO it
is in the spiritual treatment of the soul
there is crisis. Before that, life.
After that, death. O my dear brother,
as you love your soul do not let the
crisis pass unattended to!
Why defer this matter, my dear
hearer? Have you any idea that sin
| will wear out? that 1t will evaporate?
that it will relax it's grasp? that you
may find religion as a man accidentally
finds a lost pocl1et-book? All, no! No
man ever became a Christian by acct
| dent, or by the relaxing of sin. The
| embarrassments are all the time in
creasing. The hosts of darkness are
recruiting, and the longer you postpone
| this matter the sleeper the path will
become. / ask those men are before me
| this morning whether, in the ten or fif-
| teen years they have passed in the post
| ponement of these matters, they have
come any nearer God or Heaven?
| Why should 1 stand here and plead,
and you sit there? 1t is your immortal
soul. 1t is soul that shall never die. 1t
is soul that must soon appear before
God for renewal Why throw away
your chance for Heaven? Why plunge
off into darkness when all the gates of
glory are open? Why become casta-
way from God when yau can sit upon
the throne? Why will We die miserably
when eternal life is offered you, and it
| 1,,E 7St
| ness to accept it. Come, for all things
are now ready" Come, Christ is ready,
| pardon is ready. You will never find a
more convenient season, if you should
live fifty years more, imam this very one
Reject this and you may die in your sins,
| Why do say this? Is it to frighten
your soul? Oh! no. 1t is to persuade
you. l show you the peril. l show you
the escape. Would l not be a coward
beyond all excuse if, believing that this
| great audience must soon be launched
! into the eternal world, and that all who
believe in Christ shall be saved, and
that all who reject Christ will be lost
| would | not be the veriest coward on
earth to hide that truth or to stand be-
fore you with cold or even a placid
manner? My dear brethren, now is the
day of your redemption.
1t is very certain that you and must
soon appear before God in judgment.
We can not escape it. The Bible says:
Every eye shall see Him, and they also
which pierced Him, and all the l5indreds
of the earth shall wall because OF
| Him" On that day all of Our advan-
tages will come up for our glory
or for our iscomfiture-every prayer,
every sermon, every -'xhortatory
remark, every repronf, every call
of grace; and while the Heavens are
rolling away like scroll, and the world
is being destroyed, your destiny and my
destiny will be announced. Alas! alas!
! if on that day it is found that we have
neglected these matters. We may throw
| them off now. We can not then. We
will all be in earnest then. But no par
don then. No offer of salvation then
No rescue then. Driven away in our
wickedness-ba nished exiled forever
But I want you to take the hint of
the text that / have no time to dwell on
the hint that there is time when He
can not be found. There is man in