The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1892-09-24

sickle them Kindling puip.ts Wit
their fire, and producing revolution
with their power, lighting up dyin
beds with their glory, they are tb
sweetest thought for the poet, an
they are the most thrilling illustrate
for the orator, and they offer the mos
intense scene for the artist, and they ar
TO the ambassador of the sky ali en-
thusiasm. Complete pardon for dires
guilt Sweetest comfort for ghastlies
agony. Brightest hope for grimmes
'. death Grandest resurrection for dark
est sepulchre. Oh, what . gospel {.
preach! Christ over all in it. His birth
His suffering, His miracles, His par
ables, His sweat His tears, His blood
His atonement. His intercession-wha
glorious themesi Do we exercise faith,
Christ is its object. Do we have love.
1t fastens on Jesus Have we a fond
ness for the church, 1t is because
Christ died for it. Have we hope OF
Heaven? 1t Is because Jesus went
ahead, the herald and the forerunner.
| The royal robe of Demetrius was SO
costly. 80 beautiful, that after he had
put it off no one ever dared put It on:
but this robe of Christ, richer than
that, the poorest and the wanest and
the worst may wear. where sin
abounded grace may much more
abound"
"Oh. my sins, my SINS" said Martin
Luther to Staupitz, my sins, nv sinsl,
The fact is, that the brawny German
student had found Latin Bible that
had made him quake; and nothing else
ever did make him quake; and
when he found how, through Christ, he
was pardoned and saved, he wrote to a
friend, saying: "Come over and Join
Us great and awful sinners saved by
the grace of God. You seem to be only
slender sinner, and you don't much
extol the mercy Of God; but we who
have been such very awful sinners
praise His grace the more now that we
have been redeemed" Can it be that
you are SO desperately egotistical
that you feel yourself in first-rate
spiritual trim, and that from the
root of the hair to the tip of the toe you
are scarless and immaculate? What
You need is looking-glass and here It
Is in the Bible. Poor, and wretched,
and miserable, and blind, and naked
from the crown of the head to the sol e
OF the foot. full of wounds and putre- !
tying sores No health in us. And
then take the fact that Christ gathered |
up all the notes against us and paid |
them. and then offered us the receipt.
And how much we need Him in our
We are independent of cir |
cumstances II we have His grace. Why, |
He made Paul sing in the dungeon, and |
under that grace St John from desolate
Patmos heard the blast of the
apocalyptic trumpets. After all other
candles have been snuffed out. this is
the light that gets brighter and brighter
until the perfect day; and after, under
The hard hoofs of calamity, all the pools
II worldly enjoyment have been
'ranpled into deep mire. at the foot of
he eternal rock the Christian, from
ups OF granite, lily-rimmed and vine
covered, puts out the thirst of his soul.
Again l remark that Christ is above
III in dying alterations. I have not
my sympathy with the morbidity
broad about our demise. The en-
'eror OF Constantinople arranged that
n the day of his coronation the stone
mason should come and consult him
bout his tombstone that after awhile
e would need. And there are men
rho are monomaniacal on the subject
t departure from this life by death.
nd the more they think of it the less J
hey are prepared to 90. This is an !
not Worry of you, not
'orthy of men.
Saladin, the greatest conqueror of his !
ay, while dying ordered the tunic he
ad on him to be carried after his death | q
spear at the head of his army, and
hen the soldier ever and anon should
op and say: Behold, all that is left !
Saladin, the emperor and conqueror!
I all the states he conquered, of all Q
re wealth he accumulated, nothing did 2
2 retain but this shroud." i have no 1
with such behavior or such
osurd demonstration, or with much q
lat we hear uttered in regard to de- n
lrturc from this life to the next. p
here Is common-sensical idea on this 8
lbject that you and need to consider -
that there are only two styles of de- o.
Irture. n
A thousand feet underground, by VI
yht of torch, toiling in miners shaft, g
ledge ofrock may fall upon us, and we ca e.
~ die miners death. Far out at II
., falling from the slippery ratlines "a
d broken on the halyards, we may 70
: q sailors death. On mission of m
,rcy in hospital, amid broken bones Tn
d reeking leprosies and raging fevers, Al
} may die philanthrophist's death.
the field of battle, serving God and III
: country, slugs through the heart, ex
, gun carriage may roll over us, and si'
die patriots death. But, after all, At
Ere are only two styles of departure; La
} death of the righteous and the death wa
the wicked, and we all want to die dr.
. former. in
rod grant that when that hour comes 70
may be at home! You want the he
nd of your kindred in your hand. sp'
d want your children to surround cal
!. You want the light on your pill his
' from eyes that have long reflected my
II love. You want the room still. raj
u do not want any curious strangers thu
nding around watching you. You in
nt voy,r kiudrad fvx,v, 80 4. iii