The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1896-12-24

plead, 1Or clothing, for fire, for shell.
ter, with aching head, and weak side,
and exhausted strength, through the
long night by the brook Jabbok.
Gould it be that none would
give her help? Had God forgotten
TO lie gracious? No! contending soul,
Inc midnight air is full of wings,
coming to the rescue. She hears it
now, IN the sough of the night wind
III the ripple Of the brook Jabboli, the
promise made SO long ago, ringing
down the sky: Thy fatherless chill
dren, 1 Will preserve them alive; ana
let thy widows trust in me.' Some
one said to very poor woman: "How
is 1t that i'll such distress you keep
cheerful?' She said: II do it by what
call cross-prayers. When l had my
rent to pay, and nothing to pay it
with, and bread to buy, and nothing
to buy it with, l used to sit down and
cry. But now, do not get discour-
aged. II l go along the street,
when come to corner of the Street,
say: "The Lord help mel! then 60
go on until / come to another crossing @
of the street, and again | say: The
Lord help me." And SO utter pray
er at every crossing; and since l have
got into the habit of saying these
'cross-prayers,' / have been able to
keep up my courage
Learn again from this subject, that
people sometimes are surprised to find
out that what they have been strug-
fr ], ~, i
''angel of blessing" Jacob found in
the morning that this strange person
age was not an enemy but God dis
patched messenger to promise pros
perlty for him and for his children.
And so, many man, at the close of
his trial, has found out that he has
been trying to throw down his own
blessing. If you are Christian man,
will go back in your history and find
that the grandest things that have
ever happened to you have been your
trials. Nothing short Of scourging,
imprisonment, and shipwreck could
have made Paul what he was. When
David was fleeing through the wilder
ness, pursued by his own son, he was
being prepared to become the sweet
singer of Israel. The pit and the dun
geon were the best schools at which
Joseph ever graduated. The hurri-
cane that upset the tent and killed
Jobs children prepared the man of Uz
to be the subject of the magnificent
poem that has astounded the ages.
There is no way to get the wheat out
OF the straw but to thresh it. There is
no way to purify gold but to burn it.
Look at the people who have always
had it their own way. They are
proud, discontented, useless and un-
happy. If you want to find cheerful
folks, 60 among those who have been
purified by the fire. After Rossini had
rendered civilian Tell" the five hun
dredth time, company Of musicians
came under his window in Paris and
serenaded him. They put upon his
brow a golden crown of laurel leaves.
But, amid all the applause and enthu-
siasm Rossini turned to a friend and
said: Il would give all this brilliant
scene for few days of youth and
love-" Contrast the melancholy feel
ing of Rossini. who had every thing
that this world could give him, with
the joyful experience of Isaac Watts,
whose sorrows were great, when he
says:
The Hill of Zion yields
A thousand sacred sweets.
Before we reach the heavenly fields
Or walk the golden streets
Then let our songs abound,
And every tear be dry:
We're marching through Immanuel's ground
To fairer worlds on high.
Itis prosperity that kills, and trouble
that saves. While the Israelites were
on the march, amid great private pri-
vations and hardships, they behaved
well. After awhile they prayed for
meat; and the sky darkened with a
great flock of quails; and these quails
fell in great multitudes all about
them; and the Israelites ate and ate,
and stuffed themselves until they died.
Oh, my friends, it is not hardship, or
trial, or starvation that Injuries the
soul, but abundant supply. 1t is not
the vulture of trouble that eats up the
Christians life; it is the quails! it is
the tudIS. LOU Will ySb Auu ouI tbdI
your midnight wrestle by the brook
JabbCck is with an angel of God, come
down to bless and to save.
Learn again that while our wrestling
with trouble might be triumphant, we
must expect that it will leave its mark
upon us. Jacob prevailed, but the
angel touched him and his thigh bone
sprang from it's socket, and the good
man went limping on his way. We
must carry through this world the
mark of combat. What plowed those
premature wrinkles in your face?
What whitened your hair before it
was time for frost? What silenced
forever SO much of the hilarity of
your houseld? Ah! it is because the
angel of trouble hath touched you
that you go ]imping on your way.
You need not be surprised that those
who have passed through the fire
do not feel as gay as once they
did. Do not be out of patience with
those who come not out of their de-
spondency. They may triumph over
their loss, and yet their gait shall tell
YOU that they have been trouble
ran