The Bossier banner., 1893-05-11

of mud and slime through which the
army should pass. Draw off the water
of the Hudson or the Ohio and there
would be a good many days, and per-
haps many weeks, before the sediment
would dry up; and yet here, in an in
slant, Immediately. God provides
path through the depths of
Jordan; it is so dry the passengers
do not even get their feet damp. Oh, the
completeness of everything that God
does! Does He make universc?-it is
perfect clock, running ever since it
was wound up, the fixed stars the
pivots, the consultations, the inter-
moving wheels, and ponderous laws,
the weights and mighty swinging pen
dulum; the stars in the great dome of
night, striking the midnight, and the
sun, with brazen tongue, tolling the
hour of noon. The widest comet has
a chain of law that he can not break.
The thistie-down flying before the
schoolboy's breath is controlled by
the same law that controls the
sun and the planets. The rose
bush in your window is governed
by the same principle that governs the
tree of the universe on which the stars
are ripcning fruits. and on which God
will one day put His hand and shake
down the fruit-a perfect universe.
No astronomy has ever proposed an
amendment.
If God makes a Bible, it is complete
Bible. Standing amid the dreadful
and delightful truths, you seem to be
in the midst of an orchestra where the
wailings over sins, and the rejoicings
over pardon. and the martial strains of
victory make the chorus like an an
them of eternity. This Book seems to
you the ocean of truth, on every wave
of which Christ walks sometimes in the
darkness of prophecy, again in the
splendors with which He walks on
Galilee. In this Book, apostle answers
to prophet, Paul to Isaiah, Revelation
to Genesis-glorious light. turning
midnight sorrow into the midnOon Joy,
dispensing every fog, hushing every
tempest. Take this Book; it is the kiss
of God on the soul of lost man. Per-
feet Bible, complete Bible! No man
has ever proposed any improve ment.
God provided Saviour; He is COM
plete Saviour-God-man- divinity and
humanity united in the same person.
He set up the starry pillars of the uni
verse and the towers of light. He
planted the cedars and the Heavenly
Lebanon. lie struck out of the rock
the rivers of life, singing under the
trees, singing under the thrones. He
the topaz of the Heavenly wall. lie
put down the jasper for the foundation,
and heaped up the amethyst for the
capital, and swung the twelve gates
which are twelve pearls. In one in
slant lie thought out a universe; and
yet He became child, crying for His
mother, feeling along the sides of the
manger, learning to walk. Omnipo-
tence shcathed in the muscle and flesh
of a child's arm; omniscicnce strung in
the optic nerve of a child's eye; infinite
love beating in child's heart; u great
God appearing in the form of child
one year old, five years old, fifteen
years old. While all the heavens were
ascribing to Him glory and honor
and power on earth, men said:
''Who is this fcllow?" While
all the heavenly hosts, with folded
wing about their faces, bowed down
before Him, crying "IIoly, holy!" on
earth they denounced Him rs BIAS
phemer and q sot Rocked in boat on
Gennesaret, and yet lie it is that un-
dirlled the lightning from the storm
cloud, and dismasted Lebanon of it's
forests, and holds the five oceans on
the tip of His finger, as leaf holds the
raindrop. Oh, the complete Saviour,
rubbing His hand over the place where
we have the pain, yet the stars of
Heaven the adorning gems of His right
hand. Holding us in His arms when
we take our last view of our dead.
Sitting down with us on the tomb
stone, and while we plant roses there,
He planting consolation in our heart,
every chapter a stalk, every verse IL
stem, every word Il rose. A complete
Saviour, complete Bible, Il complete
universe, n complete Jordanic passage
Everything that God does is complete.
Again, l learn from this Jordanic
passage that between us and every
Canaan of success and property there
is river that must be passed. "Oh,
how | would like some of those grapes
on the other side!" said some of the
1sraelites to Joshua. WELL" saws
Joshua, 'if you want the grapes why
don't you cross over and get them?'
There is river of difficulty between us
and everything that is worth having;
that which costs nothing is worth
nothing. God didn't intend this world
for an easy parlor, through which we
are to be drawn in rocking chair, but
we are to work our passage, climb
masts, fight battles, scale mountains
and ford rivers. God makes every
thing valuable difficult to get at, for
the same reason that He put the gold
down in the mine, and the pearl clear
down IN the sea, to make us dig and
dive for them. We acknowledge this
principle in worldly things; oh, that
we were only wise enough to acknowl-
edge it in religious things!
You have scores of illustrations un-
der your own observation where men
have had the hardest lot and been