The Bossier banner., 1892-03-31


Lebanon cedar; and the alder. crack
loud in Gods ear as the snap of q
worlds confiagration. When you have
anything to do in life, however humble
it may seem to be, God is always there
to help you to do it. If your work is
that of fisherman, then God will help
you as He helped Simon when he
dragged Gennesaret. II your work is
drawing water, then He will help you
as when He talked at the well-curb to
the Samaritan woman. If you are en-
ga ged in the chstomhouse, He will lead
you as He led Matthew sitting at the re-
ceipt of customs. A religion that is
not good in one place is not worth any
thing in another place. The man who
has only days wages in his pocket as
certainly needs the guidance of religion
as he who rattles the keys of bank and
could abscond with hundred thousand
hard dollars.
There are those prominent in the
churches who seem to be, on public oc-
casions, very devout, who do not put
the principles of Christ's religion into
practice. They ARE the most inexofa-
BILE of creditors. They are the most
grasping of dealers. They are known
as sharpers on the street. They fleece
every sheep they can catch. A coun-
try merchant comes in to buy spring or
fall goods, and he gets into the store
of one of these professed Christian
men who have really no grace in their
hearts, and he is completely swindled.
He is so overcome that he can not get
out of town during the week. He stays
in town over Sunday, goes into some
church to get Christian consolation,
when, what is his amazement to find
that the very man who hands him the
poor-box in the church is the one who
relieved him of his money! But never
mind; the deacon has his black coat on
now. He looks solemn, and goes home
talking about 1.-The blessed sermon. :"
If the wheat in the churches
should be put into a hopper the first
turn of the crank would make the chaff
fly, tell you. Some of these men are
great sticklers for Gospel preaching.
They says "Yon stand there in bands
and surplice and gown, and preach
preach Like an angel, and we will stand
out here and attend to business. Don't
mix things. Don't get business and re-
ligion in the same bucket. You attend
to your matters, and we will attend to
ours" They do not know that God
sees every cheat they have practiced in
the last six years; that He can look
through the iron wall of their fire-proof
safe; that He has counted every dis
honest dollar they have in their pocket,
and that day of Judgment will come.
These inconsistent Christian men will
sit on the Sabbath night in the house of
God. singing, at the close of the serv-
ice, ''Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me-" and
then, when the benediction is pro-
nounced, shut the pew door, and say, as
they go out: Goodbye, religion; I'll
be back next Sunday"
/ think that the Church of God and
the Sabbath are only an armory where
we are to get weapons When war
comes, if a man wants to fight for his
country he does not go to Troy or
Springfield to do battling, but he goes
there for swords and muskets. l look
upon the Church of Christ and the Sab
bath Day as only the place and time
where and when we are to get armed
for the Christian conflict; but the bat
tle-field is on Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and
Saturday. "St. Martins" and "Lenox"
and ''Old Hundred" do not amount to
anything unless they sing all the week
A sermon is useless unless we can take
it with us behind the plow and the
counter. The Sabbath Day is useless
if it lasts only twenty-four hours.
There are many Christians who say:
"We are willing to serve God, but we
| do not want to do it in these spheres
| about which we are talking, and it
seems so insipid and monotonous If
we had some great occasion, if we had
lived in the time of Luther, if we had
been Pauls travelling companion. if we
could serve God on a great scale we
would do it; but we can't in this every
day life." admit that great deal OF
the romance and knight errantry of life
have disappeared before the advance of
| this practical age. The ancient tenn
Piles of Rouen have been changed into
store houses and smithies. The resi-.
dences of poets and princes have been
uined into brokers' shops. The classic
| mansion of Ashland has been cut I'M
into walking-sticks. The groves where
the poets said the gods dwelt have been
carted out for firewood. The muses. that
we used to read about have disappeared
before the immigrants ak and the trap
per's gun, and that man who is waiting
for a life bewitched of wonders will
never find it. There is, however. a field
for endurance and great achievement,
but it is in everyday life. There are
| alps to scale, there are Heilesponts to
swim, there are fires to brave, but thew
are all around us now. This is the
hardest kind of martyrdom to bear. It
took grace 10 lead Latimer and Ridley
through the fire triumphantly when
their armed enemies and their friends
were looking on; but it requires more
grace now to bring men through per-
secution, when nobody is looking on.
could show you in this city a woman
who has had rheumatism for twenty