The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1897-01-21

| A'e
all the harvests which shook their
gold on the hills of Palestine. No one
knew that He who said u thirst"
poured the Euphrates ont of His own
chalice No one knew that the ocean
lay in the palm of His hand like dew
drop in the vase of a lily. No one
knew that the stars, and moons, and
suns, and galaxies, and constella.
| tions that marched on age after age,
were, as compared with His lifetime,
the sparkle of FREELY on summer
night. No one knew that the sun in
mid d-heaven was only the shadow of
His throne. No one knew that His
crown of universal dominion was cov-
cred up with a bunch of thorns. Omni-
| potence sheathed in a human body.
Omniscience hidden in human eye.
Infinite love beating in human heart.
Everlasting harmonies subdued into a
human voice. Royalty en- masque.
Grandeurs of Heaven in earthly dis
guise.
| My subject also impresses me with
how people put on masks, and how
the Lord tears them off. 1t was ter
rible moment in the history of this
woman of Tirzah when the prophet
accosted her, practically saying: II
| know who you are; you can not cheat
me; you can not impose upon me; why
feignest thou thyself to be another?'
She had a ri ght to ask for the restora-
tion of her son; she had no right to
| practice that falsehood. 1t is never
right to do wrong. Sometimes you
may be able to conceal an affair;
it is not necessary to tell every
| thing. There is a natural pressure to
the lips which seems to indicate that
silence sometimes is right; but, for
double dealing, for moral shufiling,
for counterfeit, and for sham, God has
nothing but anathema and exposure.
He will tear off the lie. lie will rip
up the empiricism. He win scatter
the ambuscade. There are people who
are just ready to be duped. They be-
leve in ghosts; they saw one them
selves once. They heard something
strange in an uninhabited house. Co
ing along the road one night, some
thing approache1 l them in white and
crossed the road. They would think
it very disastrous to count the num-
Der of carriages at funeral. They
heard in 4 neigh bor's house something
| that portended death in the family.
They say it is sure sign of evil if
bat fly into the room on a summer
night, or they see the moon over the
left shoulder. They would not for the
world undertake any enterprise on
Friday, forgetful of the fact that if
they look over the calendar of the
world they will see that Friday has
been the most fortunate day in all the
history of the world.
My subject also impresses me with
| how precise and accurate and particu-
lar are Gods provid ences. just at the
moment that woman entered the city,
the child died. just as it was prophe-
sled, SO it turned out-so it always
turns out. The event occurs, the death
| takes place, the nation is born, the des-
potism is overthrown at the appoint
| ed time. God drives the universe with
stiff rein. Events do not just happen
| SO. Things do not go slipshod. In all
the book of Gods proyidences there is
|
never caught in dishabille. To God
there are no surprises, no disappoint-
ments and no accidents. The most in
| significant event flung out in the ages
is the connecting link between two
| great. ..chains-the chain of eternity past
and the chain ofeternity to come. lam
| no fatalist, but | should be complete
| ly wretched if did not feel that all
| the affairs of my life are in Gods
hand, and all that pertains to me and
mine, just as certainly as all the af-
| fairs of this woman of the text, as
this child of the text, as this King of
the text, were in Gods hand. You
| may ask me a 100 questions l can
not answer, but l shall until
the day of my death believe that
anu under the unerring care of
| God; and the Heavens may fall, and
| she world may burn, and the judg-
ment may thunder, and eternal ages
| may roll, but not hair shall fall from
| my head, not sorrow shall transfx
| my heart without being divinely ar
ranged-arranged by loving, SYM
| pathetic Father. He bottles our tears,
He catches our sorrows, and to the
| orphan He will be a father, and to
the widow He will be a hus-
band, and to the outcast He will
be home, and to the most mis-
| cradle wretch that this day crawls up
out of His abomination crying for
| mercy, He will be an all-pardoning
God. The rocks shall turn gray with
age, and the forests shall be unmoored
in the last hurricane, and the sun shall
shut it's fiery eyelid, and the stars shall
| drop like blasted figs, and the con-
tinents shall go down like anchors in
| the deep, and the ocean shall heave it's
| last groan and lash itself with ex-
piring agony, and the world shall
| wrap itself in a winding sheet of flame
and leap on the funeral pyre of the
judgment day; but Gods love shall
! not die. 1t will kindle it's suns after
all other lights have gone out. 1t will
be billowy sea after the last ocean has
| swept itself away. 1t will warm itself
| by the fire of a consuming world. 1t
will sing while the archangel's trum-