The Bossier banner., 1894-11-22
NUMBER 80.

she was now surrounded by the dazzle
OF city. Heads as strong as hers had
been turned by transit from the coun-
try to city. More than that, she was
in strange land. Yet in that loneli-
ness she kept the Christians integrity,
and was as consistent among the al
!urements of Shushan as among the !,
kindred of her fathers house
Again, our subject illustrates what
religion may be under the temptation
OF personal attractiveness The IN
spired record says of the heroine of
my text: ''She was fair and beauti-
ful." Her very name signifed "a
myrtle" Yet the admiration, and
praise, and fiattery of the world did
not blight her humility. The simplic-
ity of her manners and behavior
equaled her extraordinary attractions.
1t is the same Divine goodness which
puts the tinge on the roses cheek, and
the whiteness into the lily, and the
CLEAN on the wave, and that puts color
in the cheek, and sparkle in the eye and
majesty in the forehead, and symmetry
into the form, and gracefulness into
the gait. But many, through the very
charm OF their personal appearance,
have been destroyed. What simper-
ings and affectations and impertinences
have often been the result of that
which God sent as blessing. Japoni-
cas-, anemones and heliotropes never
swagger at the beauty which God
planted in their very leaf, sepal, axil
and stamen. There are many flowers
that bow down SO modestly you can
not see the color in their cheek until
You lift up their head, putting your
hand under their round chin. Indeed,
any kind of personal attractions,
whether they be those of the body the
mind, or the heart, may become temp
tations to pride, and arbitrariness, and
foolish assumption. The NEUROLOGICAL
story of a man who. seeing himself
mirrored in a stream, became. so
enamored of his appearance that he
died of the effects illustrates the fata1i-
ties under which thousands of both
sexes have fallen by the view of their
own superiority. Extraordinary ca
pacities cause extraordinary tempta-
tions. Men who have good moral health
mountain are seized of consumption.
Monimia, the wife of Mithridates, was
strangled with her own diadem.s While
the most of us will not have the same
kind of temptation which Hadassah
must have felt from her attractiveness
of personal appearance, there may be
some to whom it will be an advantage
to hold up the character of the beauti-
full captive who sacrificed not her hui
mility and earnestness, of disposition
to the worlds admiration and fiattery.
The chief secret of the beauty of the
violet is that away down in the grass
from one weeks end to another it never
mistrusts that it is a violet. m
Finally, our subject illustrates what
religion may be in high worldly
position. The last we see in the Bible
of Hadassah is that she has become the
queen of Persia. Prepare now to see
the departure of her humility, and
self-sacrifice, and religious principle.
AS she goes up you may except grace
to go down. 1t is easier to be
humble in the obscure house of her
adopted father than on a throne of
dominion. But you mlsjudge this no-
BILE woman. What she was before, she
is now-the myrtle. Applauded for
her beauty and her crown, she forgets
not the cause of her suffering people,
and with all simplicity of heart, still
remains a worshipper of the God of
Heaven.
Noble example, followed only by
Co. 7 nd 4 L.
the goodness of God, have risen to po-
sitions of influence in the community
where you live. In law, in merchan-,
disc, in medicine, in mathematics and
in other useful occupations and profes-
sions you hold an influence forrgood or
for evil. Let us see whether, like
Hadassah, you can stand elevation.
Have you as much simplicity of char
acter as once you evidenced? Do you.
feel as much dependence upon God;
as much as your own weakness; as
much as your accountability for talents
intrusted? Or are you proud, and over
demanding, and ungrateful, and un-
sympathetic, and worldly, and sensual,
and devilish? Then you have been
spoiled by your success, and you shall
not sit on this throne with the heroine
of my text. In the day when Hadassah
shall come to the grander coronation, in
the presence of Christ and the hammered
hosts of the redeemed, you will be poor
indeed. Oh, there are thousands of
men who can easily endure to be
knocked down of misfortune, who are
utterly destrored if lifted up of sue
cess. Satan takes them to the top of
the pinnacle of the temple and shoves
them Off Their head begins to whirl
and they loose their balance and down
they go. go
My friends, God resisteth the
pround, but giveth grace to humble"
Take from my subject encouragement.
Attempt the service of God, whatever
your disadvantages, and whatever our
lot, let us seek that g1ace which out
shone all the splendors of the palaces
of Shushan.
THAT life is the strongest and
healthiest which subsists on the Word
of God mainly. You must not think
49, ,,o,, ara 10 do oil tho foIlzinor 70