The Bossier banner., 1894-12-27
vert! Oh. the gladness of the Christian

religious assembly get up and give his
experience. Well, Paul gave his expert
ence. He rose in the presence of two
ehurches-the church on earth and the
church in Heaven-and he said: ''Now,
this is my experience: 'Sorrowful, yet
always rejoicing; poor, yet making
many rich; having nothing, yet pos
sessing all things" If all the people
who read this sermon knew the joys of
the Christian religion, they would all
pass over into the kingdom of God the
next moment. When Daniel San
deman was dying of cholera, his at
tendant said: Have you much pain?'
s'0h," he replied, ''since 1 found the
Lord have never had any pain except
SIM" Then they said to him: would
you like to send a message to your
friends?" YES, ! would-tell them
that only last night the love of Jesus
came rushing into my soul like the
surges of the sea, and had to cry out,
Stop, Lord; it is enough! Stop, Lord
-enoughr" Oh, the joys of this Chris
tian religion! e ed. et--
just pass over those tame joys in
which you are indulging- of this
world-into the raptures of the Gospel.
The world cannot satisfy you; you
have found out-Alexander longing
for other worlds to conquer, and yet
drowned in his own bottle; Byron,
whipped by disquietudes around the
world; Voltaire, eursing his own soul
while all the streets of Paris were
applauding him, Henry H., con-
suming with hatred against poor
Thomas a Becket-all illustrations
of the fact that this world
can not make man happy. The very
man who poisoned the pommel of the
saddle on which Queen Elizabeth rode
shouted in the street: God save the
Queenw One moment the world APP
plauds,- and the next moment the
world mathematics. Oh, come over
into this greater joy, this sublime sol
ace, this magnificent beatitude. The
night after the battle of Shiloh there
were thousands of wounded on the
field and the ambulances had not come.
One Christian soldier, lying there
a-dying under the starlight, began to
sing:
There is a land of pure delight, &
And when he came to the next line
there were score of voices uniting
F. Where saints immortal reign.
The song was canght up all over the
field among the wounded; until, it was
said, there were at least ten thousand
wounded men uniting. their voices as
they came to the verse; .--.. ...s
There everlasting spring abides,
And neyer-withering flowers;
Death like narrow stream divides,
That Heavenly land from ours. Sc
Oh, it is great religion to live by,
and it is a great religion to die by.
There is only one heart throb between
You and that religion this moment.
Just look into the face of your pardon
ing God. and surrender yourself for
time and for eternity, and He is yours.
Some of you, like the young man of
the text, have gone far astray. / know
not the history, but you know it-you
know it.
When young man went forth into
life, the legend says, his guardian
angel went forth with him, and get
ting him into field, the guardian
angel swept circle clear around
where the young man stood. 1t was
circle of virtue and honor, and he
must not step beyond that circle.
Armed foes came down, but were
obliged to halt at the circle-they
ceuld not pass. But one day tempt
ress with diamond hand stretched
forth and crossed that circle with
the hand, and the tempted soul took
/ it, and by that one fell grip was
brought beyond the circle, and died.
Some of you have stepped beyond that
circle. Would you not like this day,
by the grace of God, to step back?
This, ] say to you, is your hour of Sal-
vation There was in the closing
hours of Queen Anne what is called
the clock scene. Flat down on the
pillow in helpless sickness, she
could not. move her head or move
| her hand. She was waiting for the
hour when the ministers of state
| should gather in angry contest; and
worried and worn out by the coming
hour, and in momentary absence OF
| the nurse, in the power-the strange
| power which delirium sometimes gives
one-she arose and stood in front ot
the clock, and stood there watching
the clock, when the nurse returned.
The nurse said, do you see anything
peculiar about that clock?' She made nc
answer, but soon died. There is a clock
scene in every history. If some of you
would rise from the bed of lethargy and
come out of your delirium of sin. and
look on the clock of your destiny thi:
moment, you would see and heal
something you have not seen or hearC
before, and every tick of the minute
and every stroke of the hour, ant
every swing Of the pendulum, would
say: Now, now, now, nown Oh
come home to your fathers house
Come home, ho, prodigal, from tn,
wilderness. Come home, come home!
But I notice that when the prodiga
came there was the fathers joy. II,
did not greet him with any forma
''How do yon do?' He did not com
out and say: You are unfit to enter
go out and wash in the trough by tn
well, and then yon can come in
we have had enough troub.
| with you' All no. When th