The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1898-12-22
BENTON. LOUISIANA, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 22 1898.

nothing uselcssly, and for what pur-
rose did He build your body, mind and
soul as they are built? There are only
two beings in the universe who can
answer that question. The angels do
not know. The schools do not know
Your kindred cannot certainly know.
God knows, and you ought to know.
\ factory running at an expense OF
100000 year and turning out goods
worth 20 cents a year would not be
such an incongruity as you, O man.
with such semi-infinite equipment do
ing nothing. or next to nothing in the
way of usefulness. What shall GO?'
you ask. My brethren, my sisters, do
not ask me. Ask God. There's some
path of Christian usefulness open. it
may be rough path or it may be
smooth path, a long path or a short
path. 1t may be on the mount of con-
spicuity or in the valley unobserved.
but it is a path on which you can start
| with such faith and such satisfaction
and such certainty that you can cry
out in the face of earth and he'll and
| heaven: ITO this end was born
Do not wait for extraordinary quail
fications. Philip, the conqueror gained
his greatest victories seated on mule.
| and ii YOU wait for some caparisOned
| Bucephalu, to ride into the conflict yol
will never get into the worldwide fight
at all. Samson slew the Lords en-
emies with the iawbone of the stupid
est beast created. Shamgar slew G0)
! of the Lords enemies with an OK goaC.
| Under God spittle cured the blind
mans eyes in the New Testament story.
Take ell the faculty you have and say:
40 Lord here is what | have. Show
me the field. and back me up by om"ipo-
tent power Anywhere, anyhow, any
tine for Cod"
1t may be helpful if recite my own
| experience in this regard. | started
fG1 the law without asking any divine
direction. | consulted my own tastes.
! liked lawyers and courtrooms and
! judges and juries, and reveled in hearing
the Freiinghuysen and the Bradleys
of the New Jersey bar, and as assistant
OF the county clerk, at l6 years of age.
| 4
ers, recorded deeds. received the con-
| fession of judgments. swore witnesses
and iuries and grand juries, but after
awhile | felt call TO the gospel minis
try and entered it, and felt some salts
| faction in the work; but one summer,
when I was resting at Sharon Springs
and while seated in the park of that vii
huge l said to myself: IF have an es-
pecial work to do in the world. ought
to find it out now" and with that de-
termination prayed as had never be-
sore prayed, and got the divine direc-
ton, and wrote it down in my memoran-
DUN book, and say my life work then
as plainly as I see it now. Oh, do not
be satisfied with general directions!
Get specific directions. Do not shoot
at random. Take aim and fire Con-
ccntrate. Napoleon's success in battle
came from his theory of breaking
through the enemy's ranks at one
point, not trying to meet the whole line
of the enemy's force by a similar force
One reason why he lost Waterloo was
because he did not work his usual the
ory and spread his force out over a
wide range. o Christian man. O Chris
tan woman. break through some
where. Not 4 general engagement for
God, but a particular engagement. and
made in answer to prayer. If there are
600, ,0G0.0O0 people in the world. then
there are 500. coo. COO different missions
t. fulfill. different styles of work to do
different orbits in which to revolve, anG
If YOU do not get the divine direction
there are at least 1899 900 900 POSSIBLE
tiles that you will make a mistake. Or
rour knees before God get the matter
settled so that You can firmly say: "Tt
this end was I born"
And now I came to the climacterit
consideration. AS near as I can tell
yor were built for a happy eternity. al
the disasters which have happened tt
your nature to be overcome by thu
blood of the Lamb if you will HEARTH,
accept that Christly arrangement. W.
are all reioiced at the increase in hu
man longevity. People live. as near as
car observe, about ten years longe,
than they used to. The modern doc
tors do not bleed their patients on al
occasions as did the former doctors. II
those times if man had fever they ble'
him; if he had consumption they blet
him; if he had rheumatism they ble'
, him. and if they could not make out eS
: actly what was the matter they blet
him. Olden time phlebotomy wa
deaths coadjutor All this has changed
From the way / see people skippin!
about at so years of age conclude tha
the life insurance companies will hav
t to change their table of risks an
! charge a man no more premium at I
? than they used to do when he was &C
f and no more premium at so than whe
I he was 40. BY the advancement @
r medical science and the wider &C
! uuaintance with the laws of health an
| the fact that the people know bette
t how to take care of themselves huma
/ life is prolonged But do you realiz
f what. after all. is the brevity of ou
f earthly state? In the times when pee
+ pie lived 700 and 500 years the patrarc
e Jacob said that his years were few
| ool-;,r NJ tho Iifa of the yp,IDUeSt De1