The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1897-10-21

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not live an hour, bat then l must lay
out my plans intelligently and for a
long life. Sixty years added to twenty
have already lived, that will bring
me to eighty. l must remember
that these eighty years are only
a brief preface to the five hundred
thousand millions of quintillions Of
years which will be my chief residence
and existence. Now, l understand my
opportunities and my responsibilit
Ii there is any Being in the universe all
wise and all beneticent who can help a
man in such a juncture, want Him.
The old Book found among the family
relies tell me there is God, and that
for the sake of His Son, one Jesus,
He will give help to man. To
Him l appeal. God help me! Here,
have 80 years yet to do for myself
and to do for others. l must develop
this body by all industries, by all gym
nastics, by all sunshine, by all fresh
air, by all good habits. And this soul
must have swept and garnished, and
illumined, and gloriied by all that I
can do for it and all that l can get God
to do for it. 1t shall be Luxembourg
OF line pictures. 1t shall be an orches-
ira OF grand harmonies. 1t shall be a
palace for God and righteousness to
reign in. l wonder how many kind
words l can utter in the next so
years? l will try. wonder how many
| good deeds l can do in the next so
| years? l will try. God help me.
That young man enters life. He is
| butfeted, he is tried, he is perplexed.
A grave opens on this side and a grave
opens on that side. He falls, but h.
rises again. He gets into hard bat
tie, but he gets the victory. The main
course of his life is in the right direc.
| ton. He blesses verybody he comes
in contact with. God forgives his mis-
| takes, and makes everlasting record of
his holy endeavors, and at the close of
| 1T, God says to him: "Well done,
good and faithful servant; enter
into the joy of thy Lord" My broth
er, my sister, do not care whether
| that man dies at 80, 40, 80, 60, 70 or 80
years OF age, you can chisel right un-
| der his name on the tombstone these
words: His life was worth living"
would not find it hard to persuade
you that the poor lad, Peter Cooper,
making glue for a living and then
| amassing a great fortune, until he
could build philanthropy which had
| its echo in 10000 philan thropies all
over the country--I would not find it
hard to persuade you that his life was
worth living. Neither would l find it
hard to persuade you that the
life OF Susannah Wesley was
| also worth living. She sent
out one son to organize Methodism
and the other son to ring his anthems
| all through the ages. | would not
find it hard work to persuade you
that the life of Frances Leere
was worth living, as she estab-
lished in England a school for the SCI
entitic nursing of the sick, and then
when the war broke out between
France and Germany went to the front,
| and with her own hands scraped
the mud off the bodies of the soldiers
dying in the trenches, and with her
| weak arm standing one night in the
| AoopAoai ObCh q SOL
dier to his couch, as, all frenzied with
| his wounds, he rushed to the door, and
said: LET me go. let me go to my liebe
mutter" major-generals standing back
to let pass this angel of mercy.
Neither would have hard work to
persuade you that Grace Darling lived
| life worth living-the heroine of the
| lifeboat. You are not wondering that
| the duchess of Northum berland came
| up to see her, and that people of all
| lands asked for her lighthouse, and
| that the proprietor of the Adelphi
theater in London offered her $lOO a
| night just to sit in the lifeboat while
| some shipwreck scene was being en-
acted.
But l know the thought in the minds
| OF hundreds of you to-day. You say:
while | know all these lived lives
| worth living, 1 don't think my life
| amounts to much" Ah! my friends,
| whether you live life conspicuous or
inconspicuous, it is worth living if you
| live Alright. And | want my next sem
J tencc to go down into the depths of all
your souls. You are to be rewarded,
not according to the greatness of your
| work, but according to the holy in
| dustries with which you employed the
| talents you really possessed. The ma
| jority of the crowns of Heaven will not
be given to people with ten talents. for
| most of them were tempted only to
serve themselves. The vast majority
of the crowns of Heaven will be Civ
en- to people who had one talent but
| gave it all toGod. And remember that
our life here is Introductory to another
1t is the vestibule to the palace; but
| who despises the door of a Mag
daline because there are grander glo-
ries within? Your life if rightly lived
is the first bar of an eternal oratorio,
and who despises the first notes of
Haydn's symphonies? And the life
| you live now is all the more worth liv-
ing because it opens into life that
shall never end. and the last letter of
the word time" is the first letter of
the word 'eternity."
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Mysticism.
| u