The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1895-03-28
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NUMBER 5.

unrest, would you not like to have
some of the peace which broods over
our souls to-day. I know all about
your doubts. have been through
them all. have gone through all the
curriculum. l have doubted whether
there is God, whether Christ is God.
have doubted whether the Bible was
true; / have doubted the Immortality
of the soul; I have doubted my own
existence; have doubted everything.
and yet, out of the hot desert
of doubt have come into the broad,
luxuriant sunshiny land of Gospel hope,
and peace, and comfort; and so I
have confidence in preaching to you
and asking you to come in. However
often you may have spoken against the
Bible, or however much you may have
caricatured religion, step ashore from
that rocking and tumultuous seas. If
you go home to-day adhering to your
infidelities, you will not sleep one
wink. You do not want your children
to come up with your skepti-
cism. You can not afford to die
in that midnight darkness. can
you? If you do not believe in anything
else, you believe in love-a fathers
love, mothers love, wife's love,
child's love. Then let me tell you that
God loves you more than them all.
Oh, you must come in. You will
come in. The great heart of Christ
aches to have you come in, and Jesus
this very moment-whether you sit or
stand-looks into your eyes and says:
"Other sheep have which are not OF
this fold"
Again I remark that the Heavenly
Shepherd is going to find great many
sheep among those who have been full
of evil habit. 1t makes me sad to see
Christian people give up a prodigal as
lost. There are those who talk as
though the grace Of God were chain Of
forty or fifty links, and after they had
run out there was nothing to touch the
depth of very bad case. If they were
hunting and got off the track Of tho
deer they would look longer among
the brakes and bushes for the lost
game than they have been looking for
that lost soul. People tell us that if q
man have delirium tremens twice, he
can not be reclaimed; that after
woman has sacrificed her integrity,
she can not be restored. The Bible
has distinctly intimated that the Lord
Almighty is ready to pardon four hum
dred and ninety times; that is, seventy
times seven. There are men before
the throne Of God who have wal
lowed in every kind of sin; but,
saved by the grace of Jesus, and
washed in His blood, they stand
there radiant now. There are those
who plunged into the very lowest Of
all the hells of New York, who have
for the tenth time been lifted up, and
finally, by the grace OF God. they stand
in Heaven gloriously rescued by the
grace promised to the chief of sinners.
But turn to outsiders with hope
that thrills through my body and soul.
"Other sheep have which are not Of
this fold" You are not Gospel-har-
dened. You have not heard or read
many sermons during the last few
years. As you came in to-day every
thing was novel, and all the services
are suggestive of your earlv days.
How sweet the opening hymn
sounded in your ears, and how
blessed is this hour. Everything sug-
gestive of Heaven. You do not weep,
but the shower is not far off. You
sigh. and you have noticed that there
is always sigh in the wind before the
rain falls. There are those here who
would give anything if they could find
relief in tears. They say: "Oh,
my wasted life! Oh, the bitter
past! Oh the graves over which
have stumbled. Whittier shall
I fly? Alas for the future.
Everything is dark--so dark, so dark.
God help me! God pity me!' Thank
the Lord for that last utterance. You
have begun to pray, and when a man
begins to petition, that sets all Heaven
flying this way, and God steps in
| and beats back the hounds of tempta.
tion to their kennel, and around
| about the poor, wounded soul puts
the covert of his pardoning mercy.
Hark! / hear something fall. What
| was that? 1t is the bars of the fence
around sheep-fold. The shepherd let's
them down, and the hunted sheep ot
the mountain bound in; some of them,
their fleece torn with brambles, some
of them, their feet lame with the dogs
but bounding in. Thank God! .Othel
sheep have which are not Of this
| fold"
| When Trouble Comes.
When trouble comes, it does no good
/ A. ,rL;ro nho.& Is IT, 4h:.~ 1 H. Z.