The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1896-12-17

hooert McCheyne, Nettleton Finney.
And more whom l might mention, the
characteristic of whose lives was an
overtowering passion for sould. A. B.
Earl, the Baptist evangelist had it. l.
$. lnskip, the Methonist evangelist,
had it. Jacob Knapp had it. DR..
Bachust president of Hamilton college,
bad it, and when told he had only half
an hour to live, said: 'Is that SO?
Then take me out of my bed and place
me upon my knees, and let me spend
that time in calling upon God for the
salvation Of the world" And SO he
died upon his knees. Then there have
been others whose names have been
known only in their own family or
neigh borhood, and here and there YOU
think of one. What unction they had
in prayer? What power they had in
exhortation! If they walked into
home every member of it felt holy
thrill. and if they walked into
prayer meeting the dullness and stol-
idity instantly vanished. One of them
would wake up a whole church. One
of them would sometimes electrify
whole city.
But the most wonderful one of that
Characterization the world ever saw or
heard or felt was a peasant in the far
east, wearing plain blouse like an in
verted wheat sack, with three open
ings, one for the neck, and the other
two Tor the arms. His father, wheel
wright and householder, and given
to various carpentry. His mother, at
first under suspicion because of the
circumstances of his nativity, and he
chased by Herodic mania out of his
native land, to live awhile under the
shadows of the sphinx and Pyramid
of Gizeh, afterwards confounding
the LIDS of Jerusalem, then
stopping the paroxysm of temp
est and Of madman. His path
strewn with slain dropsies and
catalepsies and ophthalm as, trans.
figured on one mountain, preaching
on another mountain, dying on an
other mountain, and ascending from
another mountain-the greatest, the
loveliest, the mightiest, the kindest,
the most self-sacrifcing, most beauti.
full being whose feet ever touched the
earth. Tell us, We deserts who heard
our Saviour's prayer; tell us, ye seas
that drenched Him with your serf;
tell US, ye multitudes who heard Him
preach on deck, on beach, on hillside;
tell us. Golgotha, who heard the
stroke Of the hammer on the spike
heads, and the dying groan in that
midnight that dropped on midnoon,
did anyone like Jesus have this pas
sion for souls? ..
But, breaking right in upon me is
the question:: How can we get some
thing of this Pauline and Christly
longing for saved immortalities? Ian
swer: BY better appreciating the pro-
longation of the souls existence com
pared with everything physical and
material. How l hope that surgeon
will successfully remove the cataract
from that mans eye! 1t is such a sad
thing to be blind. Let us pray while
the doctor is busy with the delicate
operation. But for how long time
will he be able to give his patient eye
sight? Well, if the patient be 40 years
of age, he will add to his happiness
perhaps fifty years Of eyesight, and
that will bring the man to 90
years, and it is. not -- proba bic
that he will live longer than
that, or that he will live SO long. But
what is good eyesight for so years
more as compared with clear vision
for the soul billion of centuries? /
hope the effort to drive back the ty-
phoid fever from yonder home will be
successful. God help the doctors! We
will wait in great anxiety until the
fires of that fever are extinguished,
and when the man rises from his pill
low and walks out, with what hearti.
ness we will welcome him into the
fresh air and the church and business
circle. He is 3Oyears Of age, and if he
shall live 60 years more that will make
him 80. But what are 60 years more
of earthly vigor compared with
the souls health for quadrillion mil.
leniums-a millennium, assyou know
1000 years? This world. since fitted
up for mans residence, has existed
about 5000 years. How much longer
will it exist? We will suppose it will
last as much longer, which is very
doubtful. That will make its exist
ence l2,OO0y years. But what are or will
be $4,000 years compared with the
eternity preceding those years and the
eternity following them? Time, as
compared to eternity, like the dew
drop of the hight new shaken from the
top of grassblade by cows hoof or
it's way afeld this morning, as com
pared with Mediterranean, and Ara
bian. and Atlantic. and Pacific watery
dominions. --~'...}.
Another way to get something OF thu
Paulian longing for redeemed @immor
talities is by examining the vast ma
chjnery arranged to save this innel
aud spiritual nature. That machinery
started to revolve on the edge Of thu
Garden of Eden, just after the cyclon'
of sin prostrated its sFcamores ant
tamalisks, and willows, and will no
cease to revolve until the last soul o
| earth shall get rid OF it's last sin ant
| enter the heavenly Eden. On tina
stupendous machinery for soul-savint
the patr iarch put his hand, and proph
ct his hand, and evangelist hi