The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1892-12-24
tory populations flying through this
autumnal air learn always to keep sing

Children Of the Heavenly King,
As ye journey. sweetly sing;
Sing your Saviour's worthy praise.
Glorious in His works and ways.
Ye are travelling home to God
In the way your fathers trod;
They are happy now. and we
Soon their happiness shall see.
The Church of God never will be q
triumphant church until it becomes 9
singing church.
1 go further and remark that the
birds of the air wiser than we, in the
fact that in their migration they fly
very high. During the summer, when
they are in the fields, they often come
within reach of the gun, but when they
start for the annual fight southwark to
take their places and go straight as an
arrow to the mark. The longest rifle
that was ever brought to shoulder can
not reach them. Would to God that
we were as wise as the stork and crane
in our fight heayenward! We fly SO
low that we are within easy range of
the world, the flesh and the devil. We
are brought down by temptations that
ought not to come within mile of
reaching us. Oh, for some of the faith
of George Muller, of England, and Al
fred Goodman, once of the church mil
liant, now of the church of Triumphant!
So poor is the type of piety in the
church of God now that men actu-
ally caricature the idea that there
is any such thing as a higher
life. Moles never did believe in
eagles But, my brethren, because
we have not reached these heights our
selves, shall we deride the fact that
there are any such heights? A man
was once talking to Brunei. the famous
engineer, about the length of the rail-
road from London to Bristol. The
engineer said: at is not very great.
We shall have, after awhile, a steamer
running from England to New York"
They laughed him to scorn; but we
have gone so far now that we have
ceased to laugh at anything as impos-
sible for human achievement Then, /
ask, is anything impossible for the
Lord? / do not believe that God ex-
hausted all His grace in Paul, and Lat
inner, and Edward Payson. 1 believe
there are higher points of Christian
attainment to be reached in the future
ages of the Christian world.
You tell me that Paul went up to the
tiptop of the Alps of Christian attain.
ment. Then / tell you that the stork
and crane have found above the Alps
plenty of room for free flying We 90
out and we conquer our temptations by
the grace of God, and lie down. On the
morrow those temptations rally them
selves and attack us, and by the grace
Of God we defeat them again; but, stay
ing all the time in the old encampment,
we have the same old battles to fight
over. Why not whip out our tempta-
lions. and then forward march, making
,ne raid through the enemy's country,
stopping not until we break ranks
after the last victory? Do my breth-
ZEN, let us have some novelty of COM
BAT, at any rate by changing, by
yoing on, by making advancement
'rading off our stale prayers about sins
We ought to have quit long ago going
m toward higher state of Christian
character, and routing out sins that
We have never thought of yet. The
act is. if the Church of God-if we, as
made rapid advancement
n the Christian life, these stereotyped |
prayers we have been making for ten |
# fifteen years would be as inappropri- |
tie to us as the shoes and the hats and |
he coats we wore ten or fifteen years |
go. Oh for higher flight in the
life. the stork and the crane
o their migration teaching us the les
on!
D ear Lord. end shall we ever live,
At this poor dying rate
Our love 80 faint, SO cold to Thee.
And Thine to us SO great!
Again remark that the birds of the |
ir are wiser than we, because they
now when to start. If you should go
ut now and shout: "Stop, storl1s and
ranes; don't be in hurry!' they
1ould say: mo, we can not stop; last
ight we heard the roaring in the woods
idding us away, and the shrill flute of
ne north wind has sounded the re-
reat. We must go. We must 60" So
hey gather themselves into companies,
nd turning not aside for storm or
or shock of musketry,
yer land and sea, straight as an arrow
, the mark they go. And if you come
ut this morning with sack of corn
nd throw it in the fields and try to
ct them to stop, they are so far
p they would hardly see it. They are
q their way south. You could not stop
lem. Oh, that we were as wise about
he best time to start for God and
eaven. We say: "Wait until it is a
tile later in the season of mercy.
AIT until some of these green leaves
hope are all dried up and have been
altered. Wait until next year"
fter awhile we start, and it is too
tie, and we perish on the way when
DDS wrath is kindled but little.
here are. you know, exceptional cases
here birds have started too late, and
the morning you have found them
lad on the snow. And there are those
no have persisted halfway between
le world and Christ They waited un-
the last sickness, when the mind !
as gone, or they were on the express
ain going at forty miles an hour; an d :
icy came to the bridge and the s'draw
as up" and they went down. How !
ng to repent and pray? Two sec
ids! Two seconds! To do the work Z
a lifetime and To prepare for tho ,