The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1893-10-14

INC muu Oh the mouse Whispered TO n
wife, and the stranger thought his d
struction was being planned. Then II
: man of the house came forward and sai
to the. stranger: stranger, we are
rough and rude people out here an
we work hard for a living. We max
our living by hunting, and when W
come to the nightfall we are tired an
we are apt to go to bed early, and b.
fore retiring we are always in til
habit of reading a chapter from til
+ Word of God and making a prayer;
you don't like such things, if You wi
just step outside the door until we &c
, through I'll be greatly obliged to you.
Of course the stranger tarried in til
room and the old hunter took hold c
the horns of the altar and brough
down the blessing of God upon tn
household and upon the strange
within their gates. Rude, but gloriou
Christian hospitality!
Again, this woman in my text wa
great in her kindness towards God
messenger. Elisha may have been
stranger in that household, but as sh
found out he had come on Divin
mission he was cordially welcomed
We have great many books in on
day about the hardships of minister
and the trials of Christian min
listers. / wish somebody would writ,
a book about the joys of tn,
Christian minister, about the sympa
thies all around him, about the kind
nesses, about the genial consider
ations of him. Does sorrow come t.
our home, and is there a shadow on the
cradle? There are hundreds of hand.
to help, and many who weary not
through the long night watching, and
hundreds of prayers going up that God
| would restore the sick. Is there a
burning, trimming cup of calamity
placed on the pastors table. are there
not many to help him drink of that
cup and who will not be comforted be-
cause he is stricken? Oh, for some
body to write a book about the re-
wards of the Christian ministry
about his surroundings of Christian
sympathy.
Again, this woman in the text was
great in her behavior under trouble.
Her only son had died on her lap. A
very bright light went out in that
household. The sacred writer puts it
very tersely when he says: "He sat on
her knees until noon, and then he died. :"
Yet the writer goes on to say that she
exclaimed: "It is wellr' Great in pros
perity, this woman was great in
trouble.
Where are the feet that have not been
blistered on the hot sands of this great
Sahara? Where are the shoulders that
have not been bent under the burden
of grief? Where is the ship sailing
over CLASSY sea that has not after a
while been caught in cyclone?
Where is the garden of earthly COM
fort but trouble hath hitched up its
fiery and painting team and gone
through 1t with burning plowshare of
disaster? Under the pelting of ages
of suffering, the great heart of the
world has burst with woe.
Navigators tell us about the rivers.
and the Amazon and the Danube and
the Mississippi have been explored, but
who can tell the depth or length of the
great river OF sorrow made up of tears
and blood rolling through all lands and
all ages, bearing the wreck of families
and of communities and of empires
[oaming, writhing, boiling with the
sgonies of six thousand years! Etna
and Cotopaxi and Vesuvius have been
but who has ever sketched
The volcano of suffering retching up
rom its depths the lava and the scoria
ind pouring them down the sides to
whelm the nations? Oh, if / could |
gather all the heart-strings, the broken |
into harp / would play |
IN it dirge such as was never sounded. |
Mythologists tell us of Gorgon and |
;entaur ann Titan, and biologists tell |
is of extinct species of monsters; but |
'reater than Gorgon or Megathereum,
md not belonging to the realm of
able, and not of an extinct species, is
monster with iron jaw and iron hoofs
Walking across the nations, and history
nd poetry and sculpture in their at
empts to sketch it and describe il
ave seemed to sweat great drops of
lood.
But, thank God, there are those who
an conquer as this woman of the text
and say, sit is we'll! though
~ property be gone, though my chill
rem be gone, though my home be
roken up, though my health be sacri-
ced, it is well, it is wellr' There is
o storm on the sea, but Christ is ready
, rise in the hinder part of the ship /;
nd hush it. There is no darkness.
ut the consultations of Gods eternal ,
we can illumine it, and though the
inter comes out of the norther sky.
ou have sometimes seen the northern i
~ all ablaze with auroras that seem I
} say: Come up this way: up this ,
ay are thrones of light and seas of I
Ipphire, and the splendor of an {
ernal heaven. Come mp this way"
e may, like the ships, by tempest be tossed S
! the perilous deeps. but can not be lost; =
Tough Satan enrage, the wind and the tide
he promise assured us, the Lord will provide
! heard'an echo of my text in very :
lrk hour when my father lay dying /.
I'd the old country minister said to :
m: "Mr. Talmage, how do you feel :
wv as YOU are about to pass the Jor- :
N of death?" He replied-and it was !.
e last thing he ever said II feel
ell; feel very well: all is well''-lift-
6 his hand in the benediction, a
benediction which / pray g
I'd may go down through all the gem