The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1897-07-08
BENTON, LOUISIANA, THURSDAY, JULY g. 1897.

ish. Let those who hav. hscu rheuma-
tismed out of foot, or cataracted out
of an eye, or by the perpetual rear of
our cities thundered out of an ear,
look forward to the day when this old
tenement house of flesh will come
down and better one shall be build
ed. The resurrection morning will
provide you with a better outfit.
Either the unstrung, worn out, blunt
ed and crippled organs will be so re-
, constructed that you will not know
them, or an entire new set of eyes and
ears and feet will be given you. just
what it means by corruption putting
on interruption we do not know, save
that it will be glory iuetfa BILE, no
limping in Heaven, no strainlng OF the
eyesight to see things a little way off,
no putting of the hand behind the ear
to do. BILE the capacity of the tympan-
! um but faculties perfect, all the keys
of the instrument attuncd for the
sweep of the fingers OF ecstacy. But
until that day of resumption comes let
us bear each others burdens and SO
! fulfill the law of Christ.
Another form of disadvantage under
which many labor is lack Of early edu-
cation. There will be no excuse for ig-
norance in the next generation. Free
schools and illimitable opportunity Of
education will make ignorance a crime.
l believe in compulsory education, and
those parents who neglect to put their
children under educational advantages
have but one right left, and that is the
penitentiary. But there are multitudes
OF men and women in mldllfe who
have had no opportunity. Free schools
had not vet been estl lblished, and vast
multitudes had little or no school at
all. They feel it when as Christian men
they come to speak or pray in religious
asse mblies or public occasions, patri-
otc or political or educational. They
are silent because they do not feel
competent. They owe nothing to Eng
lish grammar, or geography, or bellies
letters. They would not know par
ticiple from a pronoun if they met it
many times a day. Many OF the most
successful merchants of America and
men in high political places can not
write an accurate letter on any
theme They are completely depend
ent upon clerks, and deputies, and
stenographers, to make things right.
| knew a literary man who IN other
years in this city made his fortune by
writing speeches for congressman or
fixing them up for the Congressional
Record after they were delivered. The
millionaire illiteracy Of this country is
bevone measurement.
Now, suppose a man finds himself IN
midlife without education, what is he
to do? Do the best he can. The mos1
effective lavman in former pastora
charge that | ever heard speak on rcll
gious themes could within five min
utes of exhortation break all the law
of English grammar, and if he left any
law unfractured ne would complete
/ the work Of lingual devastation in the
PRAYER with which he followed it
. But | would rather have him pray fo
{ me if was sick or in trouble than an,
: Christian man [ know of, and in tina
, church all the people preferred him il
exhortation and prayers to all others
Why? Because he was SO thorough,
: pious and had such power with God h
/ was irres istible, and as he went on il
7 his prayer sinners repented and saint
} shouted for JOY, and the bereave
} seemed to get back their dead in celes
4 tial companionship. And when he ha
: stoDped praying and as soon as | cOul
= wipe out of my eyes enough tears t
G see the closing hymn | ended tn
. meeting, fearful that some long wipc
), ed prayer meeting bore would pull u
e down from the seventh heaven.
n Not a word have to say against az
. curacy OF speech or fine elocution @
e high mental culture. Get all these yo
l. can. But do say to those who wer
e brought up in the day Of poor schoo
d houses and ignorant schoolmasters IN
l. no opportunity: You may have so niue
5 of good in your soul and SO much {
e Heaven in your everyday life that 20
a will be mightier for good than an
J, who went through the curriculum {
|. Harvard or Yale or Oxford, yet neve
O graduated in the school of Chris
r When you get up to the gate of Hea'
d en-, no one will ask you whether yo
can parse the first chapter of Genesi
It but whether you have learned the fes
: of the Lord, which is the beginning
# wisdom, nor whether you know ho
V to square the circle, but whether yC
/ have lived Il square life in rour
r. world Mount Zion is higher tina
e Mount Parnassus
p But what other multitudes there a.
l. under other disadvantages! Here is
IS Christian woman whose husbar
% thinks religion sham, and while tt
5, wife prays the ckildren one way I'll
k husband swears them another
NJ here is a Christian man who is tryit
d to do his best for God and the churc
T. and his wife holds him back and sa
.e on the way home from prayer NEE
D. ing, where he gave testimony f
ID Christ: What a fool you make
IT yourself! l hope hereafter you w
/. keep still" And when he won
IF be benevolent and give $50 she cri
,e cises him for not giving so cents.
" must do justice and publicly thai
" God that l never proposed at home
q. give anything for any cause Of huma
e, ity or religion but the other partn
10 in the domestic firm approved it, al