The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1893-03-25
Let me tell yor, while there are many

places of innocent worldly amusement,
it is most wise for you to throw your
body, mind and soul into Christian So
ciety. Come to me at the close of five
y ears and tell me what has been the
result of this advice. Bring with you
the young man who refused to take the
advice. and who went into sinful amuse-
ment. He will come dissipated, shabby
in apparel, indisposed to look anyone
in the eyes, moral character eighty
five per cent of. You will come with
principle settled, countenance frank,
habits good. soul saved. and all the in
habitants of Heaven, from the lowest
angel up to the archangcl apd clear
past him to the Lord God Almighty.
your coadjutators.
This is not the advice of a misan-
thrope. There is no man in the
house to whom the world is brighter
than it is to me. 1t is not the advice of
dyspeptic-nly digestion is perfect; it
is not the advice of a man who can not
understand joke, or who prefers fu-
neral; it is not the advice of a WORKOUT
man, but the advice of man who can
see the world in all its brightness; and,
considering myself competent in judg-
ing what is good cheer. tell the multi
tudes of young men in this house this
morning that there is nothing in world
ly association SO grand. and so beauti-
full and so exhilarant as in Christian
society.
know there is great deal of talk
about the self-denial of the Christian.
have to tell you that where the Chris
tan has one self-denial the man of the
world has thousand self-denials. The
Christian is not commanded to sur
render anything that is worth keeping.
But what does a man deny himself who
denies himself the religion of Christ?
He denies himself pardon for sin; he de-
MES himself peace of conscience; he de-
MES himself the Joy of the Holy Ghost;
he denies himself a comfortable death
pillow; he denies himself the glories of
Heaven. Do not talk to me about the
self-denials of the Christian life.
Where there is one in the Christian life
there are thousand in the life of the
world. "Her ways are ways of pleas
antness."
Again: find great deal of re-
ligioussunshine in Christian and Divine
explanation. To a great many people
life is an inexplicable tangle. Things
turn out differently from what was
supposed. There is a useless woman
in perfect health. There is an indus
trious and consecrated woman COM
plete invalid. Explain that. There
is bad man with thirty thousand dol
lars of income. There is good man
with eight hundred dollars of incolne.
Why is that? There is foe of society
who lives on doing all the damage he
can, to seventy-five years of age; and
here is Christian father, faithful in
every department of life. at thirty-five
years of age taken away by death, his
family left helpless. Explain that.
Oh! there is no sentence that oftener
drops from your lips than this: 81 can
not understand it. can not under
stand it,
Well, now, religion comes in Just at
that point with its illumination and its
explanation. There is business man
who has lost his entire fortune. The
week before he lost his fortune there
were twenty carriages that stopped at
the door of his mansion. The week af-
ter he lost his fortune all the carriages
you could count on one finger. The
week before financial trouble began
people all took off their hats to him as
he passed down the street. The week
his financial prospects were under dis
cussion people just tipped their hats
without anywise bending the rim. The
week that he was pronounced insolvent
people just jolted their heads as they
passed, not tipping their hats at all,
and the week the sheriff sold him out
all his friends were looking in the store
windows rs they went down past him.
Now, while the world goes away
from q man when he is in financial dis
tress, the religion of Christ comes to
him and says: "You are sick, and your
sickness is to be moral qualification;
you are bereaved; God wanted in some
way to take your family to Heaven,
and He must begin somewhere, and so
He took the one that was most beauti-
full and was most ready to CO." do
not say that religion explains every
thing in this life, but do say that it
lays down certain principles which are
grandly consolatory. You know bust
ness men often telegraph in ciphers.
The merchant in San Francisco tele-
graphs to the merchant in New York
certain information in ciphers which
no other man in that line of
business can understands; but the
merchant in San Francisco has
the key to the cipher, and the merchant
in New York has the key to the cipher,
and on that information transmitted
there are enterprises involving hum
dreds of thousand dollars Now the
providences of life sometimes seem to
be senseless rigmarole, a mysterious
cipher; but God has key to that
cipher, and the Christian KEY to the
cipher, and though he may hardly be
able to spell out the meaning, he gets
enough of the meaning to understand
that it is for the best. Now, is there
not sunshine in that? Is there not
pleasure in that? Far beyond laugh
ter, it is nearer the fountain of tears
than boisterous demonstration. Have
you never cried for Joy? There are
tears which are eternal rapture in dis
tillation.
There are hundreds of people in this
house who are walking day by day in
the sublime satisfaction that all is for
the best, all things working together
for good for their soul How a man