The Bossier banner., 1894-10-04
NUMBER 81.

mark you, this that l am speaking
of was city funeral. In great
cities the cart jostles the hearse,
and there is mirth, and glad
ness, and Indifference as the weep
ing procession goes by. In this
| city of Main, it was common thing to
| have trouble and bereavement and
| death. Christ saw it every day there
Perhaps that very hour there We're
others being carried out; but this fre-
quency of trouble did not harden
Christ's heart at all. He stepped right
out, and He saw this mourner, and He
had compassion on her and He said:
''Weep not"
Now, have to tell you, o bruised
souls, and there are many everywhere
(have you ever looked over any great
audience and noticed how many shad-
ows of sorrow there are?). | come to
| all such and say: Christ meets you
and He has compassion on you, and He
says Weep not" Perhaps with some
| it is financial trouble "Oh," you say,
sit is such a silly thing for man to
cry over lost money" Is it? Suppose
you had large fortune, and all luxu-
ries brought to your table, and your
wardrobe was full, and your home
was beautifed by music and sculpture
and painting and thronged by the
| elegant and educated, and then some
rough misfortune should strike you in
the face and trample your treasures,
and taunt your children for their faded
dress, and send you into commercial
circles and underlining where once you
waved scepter of gold, do you think
you would cry then? think you would.
But Christ comes and meets all such
to-day. He sees all the straits in
which you have been thrust
He observes the sneer of that
man who once was proud to
walk in your shadow and glad to get
your help. He sees the protested note,
the uncahceled Judgment, Me fore
closed mortgage, the heart breaking
| evaporation, and he says: Weep not,
| own the cattle on thousand hills
l will never let you starve. From my
hand the fowls of Heaven peck all their
food. And will l let you 'starve? Never
no, my child, never"
Or perhaps this tramp at the gate of
Main has an echo in your own bereft
spirit. You went out to the grave, and
you felt you never could come back
again. You left your heart there. The
white snow of death covered all the
garden. You listen for the speaking
of voices that will never be heard again,
and the sounding of feet that will never
move in your dwelling again. and there
| is a heavy, leaden pressure on your
| heart. God has dashed out the light of
your eyes, and the heavy spirit that
| that woman carried out of the gate of
Main is no heavier than yours. And
you open the door, but he comes not
in. And you enter the nursery, but
she is not there. And you sit at the
| table, but there is a vacant chair next
| to you. And the sun does not shine
as brightly as it used to, aud
the voices of affection do not
strike you with so quick a thrill,
and your cheek has not so healthy
hue, and your eye has not so deep
| fire. Do l not know? Do we not all
know? There is an uplifted woe on
your heart. You have been out carry
| ing your loved one beyond the gate of
! the city of Main. But look yonder.
Some One stands watching. He seems
waiting for you. AS you come up He
stretches out His hand OF help. His
voice is full of tenderness, yet thrills
with eternal strength. Who is it?
The very One who accosted the
mourner at the gate of Main, and He
says: Weep not"
learn, again, from all this that
Christ is the master of the grave. Just
outside the gate of the city, death and
Christ measured lances; and when the
young man rose, death dropped. Now.
we are sure of our resurrection. Oh,
what scene it was when that young
man came back! The mother never
expected to hear him speak again. She
never thought that he would kiss her
again. How the tears started, and
how her heart throbbed, as she said:
''Oh, my son, my son." Aud that scene
is going to be repeated. 1t is going to
! be repeated ten thousand times. These
broken family circles have got to come
together. These extingulshed house
hold lights have got to be rekindled.
| 1CGc w Ill DC al SUtI III blIt Id1ully 1OJ III
the cemetery, and there will be a rush
of life at the command. Young man,
l say unto thee, arise!" AS the child
shakes off the dust of the tomb and
comes forth fresh and fair and beauti-
full, and you throw your arms around
it and press it to your heart, angel to
angel will repeat the story of Main:
"EIe delivered him to hls mother" !"
Did you notice that passage in
the text as / read it? ''Ee de-
livered him to his mother" O,
ye troubled souls! o, ye who have
lived to see every prospect blasted,
peeled, scattered, consumed! wait a
little. The seed-time Of tears will be-
come the wheat harvest. In cline
cut of no wintry blast, under sky
palled by no hurting tempest, and
amidst redeemed ones that weep not,
that part not, that die not, friend
: will come TO friend and kindred
will join kindred, and the long
procession that marches the avenues
of gold will lift up their palms
as again and again it is annunced that
the same one who came to the relief of
this woman of the text came to the re-