The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1896-10-17
REV. DIR. TALMAGE
The Noted DivIne's Sunday Sermon.
Subject: GA Shadow on the Harvest
Field"


my head, my head! And be said to lad.
carry him to his mother. And when he had
taken him and brought him to his mother he
sat on her knees tin noon and then died.
II Kings w., Is, 19, 20.
There Is at least one happy home IL Shu-
nom. To the luxuriance and yplendof OF a
great house had been given the advent OF a
child. Even when the Angel of Life brings
a new soul to the poor mans hut, ntar of
Joy shines over the manger. Infancy, with
its helplcssress and innocence, had passed
away. Days OF boyhood had come-days of
laughter and frolic, days OF sunshine and
promise. days OF strange questions and
curiosity and quick development. suppose
among all the treasures Of the house the
brightest was the coy. One day there is the
shout OF reapefs heard afleld. A boys
heart always bounds at the sound Of sickle
or scythe. No sooner have the harvesters
ioiLs them, and the swathy reapers feel
young again as they locR down at that
lad, as young and beautiful as was ruth
In the harvest fields OF Bethlehem
cleaning after the reapers. But the sun
was too hot for HIM. Congestion OF the brain
seized on him. I see the swarthy lnSorers
drop their sickless and they rush out to see
they try to cool his brow; but all is Of no
avail. In the Instant of consciousness, ha
puts bis hands against his temples and cries
out; "My head my head" Aud the father
said: "Carry him to his mother" Just as any
father would have said. for our hand is too
rough. and our voice is too harsh, and our
foot is too loud to doctor sick child, II
there be In our home geniler voice ana a
gentier hand ami n stiller footstep. But all
81 no avail. While the reapers OF Shunem
were busy in the field, there came stronger
reaper that way, with keener scythe and FOR
richer harvest He reaped only One sheaf,
but oh, what golden sheaf was that! do
not want to know any riore about that heart
breaking scene than what I see 10 Just this
one pathetic sentence: "He sat on her knees
| ttil noon, and then died" Though hundreds
| Of years have passed away since that boy
| skipped to the harvest-Held and then was
brought home and died on his mothers lap.
The story still thrills us. Indeed, childhood
has charm always and everywhere. shall
now speak to YOU OF childhood; its beauty,
its susceptibility to impression, its power
over the parental heart, and Its biissful
transition from earth to heaven.
The child's beauty does not depend upon
form or feature or complexion or apparel.
That destitute one that you saw on the
street, bruised with ahkindness and in rags.
has charm about her, even under her DIES.
htufion. You have forgotten great many
persons whom you met, OF finely cut features
and with erect posture and with faultless
complexion, while you will always femem-
Der the poor girl who, on q cod. moonlight
night, as you were passing late home, In her
thin shawl and barefoot ON the pavement,
put out her hand and said: ssPlease to give
me penny" Ali how often We have
walked on and said: "Oh, that Is nothing
but street yagabondism;" but after we got a
block or two on. we stopped and said, "Ah,
that is not rights" and we passed up that
| n rd n x.,{kr &pf, S1..k
fering hand. as though it were not matter
ofsecond thought, SO ashamed were we oil
our hard heRrtedness. With what admira-
ton we all look upon group of children
on the play ground or in the school, and
we clap our bands almost involun.
tariiy, and say: "How beautiful" All
s youp sson and !. dignity Lightly are gone and
you trundle their hoop, and fly
their kite, and STRIFE their bali, and all youl
WEAKNESS and anxiety are gone as when 4
child you bounded over the playground
yourself. That father who stands rigid AM
onsSmpathetic amid the sportfulness OF chill
dren, ought never to have been tempted ou
Oh a crusty and unredeemable soltariness
The waters leap down the rocks, but fhe,
nave not the graceful step OF childhood
me morning comes out OF the gates of tn
East, throwing its silver on the lake and 1t
gold on the towers and Its fire on the cloud
but it is not so bright and beautiful as III
morning OF life! There is no light like tina
which Is kindled in q chiId's eye, no colo
like that which blooms on a child's cheek
no music like the sound Of child's voice
It's race In the poorest picture redeems an,
imperfection in art. When we are wear
with toll. their little hands pull the burden
on our back. Oh, what dull, stale, mea
world this would be without the sportful
, ness OF children. When I find people tina
90 not Ike children, I Immediately doub
their moral and Christian character Blu
when the grace Of God comes upon a child
now unspeakably attractive. When Samue
begins to pray, and Timothy begins to rea
the Scriptures, and Joseph shows hlmsel
invulnerable to temptation-how beautiful
the scene! know that parents sometime
get Dervous when their children becom
; pious, because they have the idea that goo
children always die. The strange question
ABOUT dcd and eternity and the dead, exclt
apprehension in the parental mind rathe
than congratulation. Indeed, there ar
some people that seem marked for HEAVIER
ms world Is too poor garden for them
bloom In. The hues of heaven are in tn
petals. There Is something about their fore
head that makes you think that the hand Q
Christ has been on it, saying: "Let this on
come to Me, and let 1t come to Ne soon
While that one tarried in the house YOU fe
tnoAo Was I'D anger IN tho room, and yO
thought that every sickness would be th
last; and when, finally, the winds of deaf
did scatter the leaves, you were no more SUI
prfsed than to see star come out above tt
cloud on dark night; for you had ofte
said to your companions: my dear, "
shall never raise that child" But I SCOT
the idea that good children always di
Samuel the pious boy, became Samu,
the great prophet. Christian Timothy b
came minister at Ephesus. Young DAME
coDsecrated to God, became prime minists
OF all the realm, and there are in, hundred
OF the schools aud families of this countr
to-day children who love God and keep H
commandments, and who are to be feremo
among the Christians aud the philanthr,
plsts and the reformers of the next century
The grace Of God never kills anyone.
child will be more apt to grow up with n
ligion than II will be apt to grow up withor
II. Length OF days is promised to the RICH
eous. The religion of Christ DOES not cram
the chest or curve the spine or weaken tn
nerves There are no malarias floating u
from the river Of life. The religion of Chri
throws over the heart and life OF child
supernal beauty. "Her ways are ways
pleasantness, and all her paths are peace"
pass on to consider the susceptibility
childhood. Men pride themselves on the
unchangeability They will make an elabo
ate argument to prove that they thin
now just as they did twenty years ago. 1t
charged to frailty or fraud when a ma