The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1893-06-29

soldier afOOt, thruStlng DdyOnet or
striking with sword, using nothing
but the strength of his own muscle
and sinew, for the cavalryman adds
to the strength of his own arm the
awful plunge of steed at full gallop.
Tremendous arm of war is the cavalry!
Josephus says that in that host that
crossed the Red sea there were 5000
cavalrymen. Epaminondas rode into
battle with 5000 cavalrymen and Alex
ander with 1000 Marlborough depended
on his cavalry for the triumph at Blen-
helm. 1t was not alone the snow that
despoiled the French armies in retreat
from Moscow, but the mounted Cos
sacks. Cavalrymen decided the battles
of Leuthen, and Leipsic, and Winches-
ter, and Hanover court house, and Five
Forks. Some of you may have been in
the relentless raids led on by Forrest, or
Chalmers, or Stuart of the southern
side, or Pleasanton, or Wilson, or Kill
patrick, or Sheridan of the northern
side. The army saddles are the thrones
of battle. Hurricanes in stirrups are
the cavalrymen.
No wonder that Miriam was chiefly
grateful that the Egyptian cavalrymen,
pursuing the Israelites down to midway
the Red sea, were unsaddled, unstir-
ruped, endorsed. Miriam struck the
center of the tambourine with the full
force of her right hand when she came
to that bar of the music, 1.-THE horse
and his rider hath he thrown into the
sea-" All, my friends, it is mounted
troubles that we most fear. The little
troubles we can endure-the cinder in
the eye, the splinter under the nail, the
thorn in the foot, the social slight, the
mean fling, the invidious, comparison
or the remarks that snub.
The annoyances and vexations on
foot we can conquer, but alas for the
mounted disasters, the bereavements,
the bankruptcies, the prosecutions, the
appalling sicknesses that charge upon
u.s. as it were, with uplifted battleax
or consuming thunderbolt of power.
There are those among my hearers or
readers who have had whole regi-
ment of mounted disasters charging
upon them. But fear not. The small
est horsehy on the neck of Pharaoh's
war charger, passing between the crys-
tai palisades of the upheaved Red sea,
was not more easily drowned by the
falling waters than the SO, 900 helmeted
and plumed riders on the backs of the
$4,000 neighing and caparisoned war
! chargers.
And have to tell you, o child of God,
that the Lord, who is on your side now
and forever, has at his disposal and I'M
der his command all waters, all winds,
all lightnings, all time and all eternity.
Come, look me in the face while utter
the word God commands me to speak
to you, ''No weapon formed against you
shall prosper" Don't throw away your
| tambourine. You will want it as sure
as you sit there and l stand here, and
the tune you will yet play on it,whether
standing on beach of time or beach of
eternity, will be the tune that Miriam
played when she cried, "Sing we to the
Lord, for He hath triumphed glorious
| ly; the horse and His rider hath He
| thrown into the sea-"
I expect to have good laugh with
you in Heaven, for the Bible says in
Luke, sixth chapter, twenty-frst verse,
| BLESSED are we that weep now, for We
shall laugh" We shall not spend all
eternity psalm singing, but sometimes
in review of the past, as Christ says, we
shall laugh. There is nothing wrong
in laughter. 1t all depends on what
you laugh at, and when you laugh, and
how you laugh. Nothing, it seems,
| will more thoroughly kindle our heav-
emily hilarities after we have got inside
| the pearly gate than to see how in this
world we got scared at things which
ought not to have frightened US at all
| How often we work ourselves up into
great stew about nothing! The Red
sea before us may be deep, and the Egyp-
tan cavalry behind us may be well
mounted, but if we trust the Lord we
will go through no more hurt by the
water than when in boyhood we rolled
our garments to the knee and barefoot
crossed the meadow brook on the old
| homestead. The odds may seem to be
all against you, but guess it will be
all right with you if you have God on
your side and all the angelic, cherubic,
seraphic and archangelic kingdoms. "If
God be for you, who can be against
you?"
Lay hold of the Lord in prayer, and
you will go free, as did Richard Cecil
with EGO of missionary money in his
saddlebags, and the highwaymen grab
bed his horse by the bride and told him
to deliver, and he prayed to God for
safety, and suddenly one of the robbers
said: "Mr. Cecil, l once heard you
preach. Boys, let the gentleman GO"
But let me criticise Miriam little
for the instrument of music she en-
ployed in the divine service on the
sandy beach. Why not take some 9TH
er instrument? The harp was sacred
instrument. Why did she not take
that? The cymbal was a sacred instru-
ment. Why did she not take that?
The trumpet was sacred instrument.
Why did she not take that? Amid that
great host there must have been mu-
steal instruments more used in religi-
GUS service. No. She took that
which she liked the best and on which
she could best express her graduation
over nations rescue, first through the