The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1895-10-26
limited resource You only have to
| present Christ in your own way.
Jt~;,rI,tar film a tba Jipht frAeler than

limited resource. You only have to
present Christ in your own way.
brighter than the light. fresher than
the fountains, deeper thun the seas,
arc all these Gospel themes. Song has
no melody, flowers no sweetness, sun
set sky no color compared with these
glorious themes. These harvests OF
grace spring mp quicker than we can
sickle them. Kindling pulpits with
their fire, and producing revolutions
with their glory, they are the sweet
est thought for the poet, and they are
the most thrilling illustration for the
orator, and they offer the most intense
scene for the artist, and they are to
the ambassador of the sky all en-
thusias,n. Complete pardon for
direst guilt Sweetest comfort
for ghastliest agony Bright
est hope for grimmest death.
Grandest resurrection for darkest
sepulcher Oh. what q Gospel to
preach! Christ the Chief. His birth,
His suffering, His miracles, Ills para
bles, His sweat, His tears, His blood,
His atonement, His intercession-what
glorious themes! Do we exercise
faith9 Christ is its object. Do we
have love? 1t fastens on Jesus. Have
we fondness for the church? 1t Is
because Christ died for it. Have we a
hope of Heaven? 1t is because Jesus
went there, the herald and the fore.
runner. The royal robe of Demetrius
was so costly, so beautiful, that after
he had put it off no one ever dared to
put 1t on; but the robe of Christ.
richer than that, the poorest and the
weakest and the worst may wear.
Where sin abounded, grace may much
more abound"
''Oh, my sins, my sinsi' said Martin
Luther to Staupitz, my sins, my sinsf'
The fact is that the brawny German
student had found Latin Bible that
made him quake; and when he found
how, through Christ, he was pardoned
and saved, he wrote to a friend, say
ing: Come over and join us great and
awful sinners saved by the grace o1
God. You seem to be only a slender
sinner, and you don't much extol the
mercy of God; but we that have been
such very awful sinners praise His
grace the more now that you are SC
desperately egostistical that you feel
yourself in first-rate spiritual trim,
and that from the root oil
the hair to the tip OF the toe
you are scarless and immaculate
What you need is looking-glass, and
here it is in the Bible. Poor and
wretched and miserable and blind and
naked from the crown of the head te
the sole of the foot. full of wounds
and purifying sores. No health in us
And then take the fact that Christ
gathered up all the notes against us
and paid them, and then offered us the
receipt! And how much we need Hin
In our sorrows! We are independent
of circumstances IL we have Hi:
grace. Why, He made Paul sing in the
dungeon, and under that grace St
John from desolate Patmos heard the
blast of the apocalytic trumpets. Al
ter all other candles have been snnffet
out, this is the light that gets brighter
and brighter unto the perfect day; ant
after, under the hard hoofs of ca
lamity, all the pools of worldly enjoy
ment have been trampled into deel
mire, at the foot of the eternal rock
the Christian, from cups of granite
lily-rimmed. puts out the thirst of hi
soul.
Again remark, that Christ is chic
in dying alleviations- have not AM
sympathy with the morbidity abroad
about our demise. The emperor o
Constanstinople arranged that on The
day of his coronation the stonemasoI
should come and consult him abou
the tombstone that after awhile h,
would need. And there are men wht
are monomaniacal on the subject O
departure from this life by death, and
the more they think of it the less they
are prepared to go. This II an IN
manliness not worthy Of you, no
worthy of me.
Saladin, the greatest conqueror o
his day. while dying, ordered that thu
tunic he had on him be carried afte
his death on his spear at the head o
his army, and that then the soldier
ever and anon, should stop and say
behold all that is left OF Saladin, tn,
emperor and conqueror! Of all TIT
states he conquered, of all the wealth
he accumulated. nothing did he retaiI
but this shroud." have no sympath.
with such behavior, or such absurt
demonstration, or with much that WI
hear uttered in regard to departure
from this life to the next. There i
a commonsensical idea on this sub
ject that you need to consider
there are only two styles OF de
parture A thousand feet under
ground, by light of torch, toiling in
miners shaft, ledge of rock may fal
upon us, and we may die miner
death. Far out at sea, falling from
the slippery ratlines and broken Oh
the halliards. we may die a sailor
death. On mission of mercy in hos
pital, amid broken bones and reelsini
leprosies and burning fevers, we ma.
die philanthropist's death. On TIN
field of battle, serving God and GU
country, slugs through the heart, tin
gun cartridge may roll over us, AM
we may die a patriots death. But
after all, there are only two styles o
departure-the death of the righteou
and the death of the wicLed-and W
all want to die the former.
God grant that when that hou
comes you may be at home. You wan
the hand of your kindred In you
hand You want your children to SUI
round won Won want the JiOhf nj