The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1892-06-02

ing them to call louder, as their god
might be sound asleep, or gone hunt
ing. Job used it when he said to his
,elf-conceited comforters: Wisdom
will die with you" Christ not only
used it in the text, but when He ironlc-
ally complimented the purified Phari-
sees, saying: 1.-The whole need not
physician" and when by one word
He described the cunning of Herod,
saying: go We, and tell that fox. !"
Matthew Henry's Commentaries from
the first page to the last, cor
ruscated with humor as summer
clouds with heat lightning. John Bun
vans writings are as full of humor as
they are of saving truth, and there is
not an aged man here who has ever read
'Pilgrims Progress who does not re-
member that while reading it he smiled
as often as he wept. Chrysostom,
George Herbert, Robert South, John
Wesley, George Whitefield, Jeremy
Taylor, Rowland Hill, Nettleton, Geo.
G. Finney, and all the men of the past,
who greatly advanced the kingdom OF
God, consecrated their wit and their
humor to the cause of Christ. So it has
been in all the ages, and l say to these
young theological students, who clus-
ter in these services Sabbath by Sab
bath, sharpen your wits as keen as
scimitars, and then take them into this
holy war 1t is very short bridge
between a smile and tear, a
cI1Srnncsnn 1N,,iAEra n
lip, and it is soon crossed over,
and a smile is sometimes just
as sacred as tear. There is as much
religion, and think little more, in a
spring morning than in starlesS mid
night. Religious work without any wit
or humor in it is a banquet with q side
of beef, and that raw, and no condi-
ments and no desert succeeding. People
will not sit down at such banquet.
BY all means remove all frivolity and all
bathos and all lightness and all vulgar
ity-~strain them out through the sieve
OF holy discrimination; bat, on the other
hand, beware of that monster which
overshadows the Christian church to-
day, conventionality, coming up from
the Great Sahara desert of Ecclesiastic-
ism, having on its back hump of sane
timonious gloom-and vehemently re-
fuse to swallow that camel.
Oh, how particular great many peo-
pie are about the infnitesimals while
they are quite reckless about the mag
nitudes. What did Christ say? Did He
not excoriate the people in His time
who were SO careful to wash their hands
before a meal, but did not wash their
hearts? 1t is bad thing to have un-
clean hands; it Is worse thing to have
an unclean heart. How many people
there are in our time, who are ever
anxious that after their death they shall
be buried with their feet toward the
east, and not at all anxious that during
their whole life they should face in the
right direction, so that they shall come
up in the resurrection of the just which
ever way they are buried. How many
there are chiefly anxious that a minis
ter of the Gospel shall come in the line
of apostolic succession, not caring sc
much whether he comes from Apostle
Paul or Apostle Judas. They have q
way of measuring a gnat until it is larg
er than a camel.
Again: My subject photographs al
| those who are ahhorrent of small sins
while they are reckless in regard tC
magnificent thefts. You will find many
a merchant who, while he is so careful
that he would not take a yard of clotl
or spool of cotton from the counter
without paying for it; and who if ;
bank cashier should make mistake ant
send in roll of bills five dollars too
much would dispatch messenger il
hot haste to return the surplus; We
who will go into a stock company il
which after awhile he gets control O
the stock, and then water the stock anC
make one hundred thousand dollars ap
pear like two hundred thousand dol
lars. He only stole one hundred thou
sand dollars by the operation. Many o
the men of fortune made their wealth
in that way. One of those men engaged
in such unrighteous acts, tina
evening, the evening Of the yer,
day when he watered the stock, will
| AAlNA ~ " ilehI oil cN6nIn!
newspaper from the basement doorway
| and will go out and catch the urchin b
the collar, and twist the collar so tight
ly the poor fellow can not say it wa
thirst for knowledge that led him t.
the dishonest act, but grip the cola
! tighter and tighter, saying: Il hav
been looking for you long while; yo1
stole my paper four or five times
haven't you? you miserable wretch,
and then the old stock gambler, with
voice they can hear three blocks, vii
cry out: police, police!' That sam
man, the evening of the day in whicl
he watered the stock, will lneel wit
his family in prayer, and thank God fo
the prosperity of the day, then kiss hi
children goodnight with an air whic1
seems to say: Il hope you will grow Ii
to be as good as your father" Prison
for sins insectile in size, but palaces TO
crimes dromedarian. Monterey for sin
animalcule in proportion, but grea
leniency for mastodon iniquity.
1t is time that we learn in Americ,
that sin is not excusable in proportion
as it declares large dividends and ha
outriders in equipage. Many man /
riding to perdition position ahead an,
lackey behind. To steal dollar is ;