The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1898-08-25
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fdf tOleraOly well, II nothing more
than tolerable. AS for myself, though
my life has been far from being as
consecratcd to God as l would like to
have had it, l would not want to try it
over again, lest next time l would do
worse.
Why just look at the temptations
we bavr all passed through, and just
look at the multitudes who have gone
completely under! just call over the
roll of your schOolmates and college
mates, the clerks who were with you
in the same store Or bank, or the opera
tives in the same factory, with just as
good prospects as you, who have come
to complete mishap. Some young man
that told You he was going to be a mil
lionaire, and own the fastest trotters
on the turnpike, and retire by the time
he was IS years of age, you do not hear
from for many years, and know moth
ing about him until some day he comes
| into your store and asks for five cents
to get mug of beer.
You, the good mother of a household,
and all your children rising up to call
you blessed, can remember when you
| were quite jealous of the belle of the
village, who was so transcendently
fair and popular. But while you have
| these two honorable and 1ueenly
names of wife and mother, she became
a poor waif of the street, and went
into the blackness of darkness for
ever. Live life over again? Why, il
many Of those who are respectable
were permi ted to experiment, the
next journey would be demoli-
ton. You got through, as job says,
by the skin of your teeth. Next time
you might not get through at all.
Satan would say: Il know him now
better than l did before, and have for
50 years been studying his weaknesses,
and | will weave stronger web OF cir
cumstances to catch him next time"
And Satan would concentrate his forces
on this one man. and the last state of
that man would be worse than the
first. My friends, our faces are in the
right direction. Better go for
ward than backward, even if we
had the choice. The greatest dis
aster can think of would be for you
to return to boyhood in 1898. Oh. if
life were a smooth Luzerne or Cayuga
lake, would like to get into yacht
and sail over 1T, not once, but twice
yea, a thousand times. But life is an
uncertain sea, and some of the ships
crash on the icebergs of cold indifer-
ence, and some take fire of evil PAS
sions, and some lose their bearings and
, run into the Goodwin sands, and some
are never heard of. Surely on such u
treacherous sea as that one voyage is
enough
Besides all this, do you know, if you
could have your wish and live life over
again, it would put you SO much fur
ther from reunion with your friends in
, Heaven? If you are in the noon of life,
,, or the evening of life, you are not very
> far from the golden gate at which you
are to meet your transported and emr
paradised loved ones. You are now,
let us say, 90 years, or ten years,
! or one year off from celestial conjunc-
a tion. Now, suppose you went back in
, your earthly life 30 years, Or 40 years,
= or 50 years, what an awful post
: ponement of the time of reunion!
q 1t would be as though you were
going to san Francisco to great
r banquet, and you got to Oak
g land, four or five miles this side of it,
and then came back to Baltimore to
p get better start; as though you were
D going to England to be crowned, and
+ having come in sight of the mountains
: of Wales, you put back to Sandy Hook
h in order to make better voyage.
v Would you like for many years to adj
r. iourn the songs Of Heaven, to adjourn
Il the thrones of Heaven, to adjourn the
!, companionship OF Heaven, to adjourn
"a the rest of Heaven, to adjourn the
!, presence of Christ in Heaven? No;
:. the wheel of time turns in the right
. direction, and it is we'll it turns so fast.
20 Three hundred and sixty-five revOlu-
a. tions in year, and forward, rather
a. than 365 revolutions in a year and
IT. backward.
~ A Young Scotchman was taken cap
w tive in battle by band of Indians,
a and he learned their language and
w adopted their habits. Years passed
tv on, but the old Indian chieftain never
90 forgot that he had in his possession a
,d Young man who did not belong to him
Dc Well, one day this tribe of India n'
bc came in sight of the Scotch regiments
49, from whom this young man had beer
&c, captured, and the old Indian chieftair
he SAID: IL lost my son in battle, and
Of know how father feels at the los
y. of a son. Do you think your ia
he ther is vet alive?" The young mar
u- said: Il am the only son Of my father
,lv and l hope he is still alive" Thel
va said the Indian chieftain: "Because o
I'M the loss of my son this world is
ho desert You 90 free Return t
or your countrymen. Revisit your fl
,ed ther, that he may rejoice when II
-or sees the sun rise in the morning an
ad the trees blossom in the spring. So
ION say to you, young man, captive {
us waywardness and sin: Your father
tn waiting for you. Your mother is wal
INV ing for you God is waiting for yo
,s 60 home! Go home.
o'" Not Theory Alone.