The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1899-08-03

Az " 49,
stars for who,a 10 reserved the black.
ness of darkness forever"
The ministers are not all Pecksniffs
and canting hypocrites, as some would
have you think! Forgive me If. having
at other times glorified the medical pro-
fession and the legal profession and the
literary profession, glorify my own.
I have seen them in their homes and
heard them in their pulpits, and :
grandeR array Of men never breathed, i
and the Bible figure is not strained
when it calls them stars. And whole
consultations of glorious ministers
have already taken their places on high.
where they shine even brighter than
they shone on earth. Edward N. Kirk
of the Congregational church, Stephen
H. Tying of the Episcopal church, Mat
thew Simpson Of the Methodist church,
John Dowling Of the Baptist church,
Samuel X. Taimage of the Presbyterian
church, Thomas De Witt of the Re-
formed church, John Chambers Of the
Independent church, and there ! stop
for it so happens that have mentioned
the seven stars of the seven churches.
1 pass on to another mighty Bible
seven, and they are the seven seals. St.
John in vision saw scroll with seven
seals, and he heard an angel crys
"Who is worthy to loose the seals there
OFF," Take eight or ten sheets of fools-
cap paper, paste them together and roll
them into scroll and have the scroll
at seven different places sealed with
sealing wax. You unroll the scrolluntil
you come to one of those seals, and then
you can 60 no farther until you break
that seal. Then unroll again until you
come to another seal, and you can go
farther until you break that seal. Then
you go on until all the seven seals are
broken and the contents of the. entire
scroll are revealed. Now that scroll
with seven seals held by the angel was
the prophecy of what was to come on
earth. It meant that the knowledge Of
the future was with God, and no man
and no angel was worthy to open It.
but the Bible says Christ opened it and
| broke all the seven seals. He broke tho
! first seal and unrolled the scroll, and
there was picture Of white horse.
and that meant prosperity and triumph
for the Roman empire, and so it really
came to pass that for 80 years virtuous
emperors succeeded each other-Nerva,
Traian and Antoninus. Christ in the
vision broke the second seal and un-
rolled again, and there was seal Of =
red horse, and that meant bloodshed.
and 50 it really came to pass. and the
next 90 years were red with assassina-
tions and wars. Then Christ broke the
1 third seal and unrolled it, and there
was a picture of black horse, which
in all literature means famine, Oppres-
sion and taxation, and SO it really came
to pass. Christ went on until He broke
all the seven seals and opened all the
scroll. Well. the future of all of us Is in
a sealed scroll, and am glad that no
one but Christ can open it. Do not let
us Join that class of Christians in our
day who are trying to break the seven
seals of the future. They are trying to
peep into things they have no business
with.
DO not go to some necromancer or
spiritualist or soothsayer or fortune
| teller to find out what is going to hap
pen to yourself or your family or your
friends. Wait till Christ breaks The
seal to find out whether in your own
personal life or the life of the nation
or the life of the world it is going to be
the white horse of prosperity or the red
horse of war or the black horse Of fam
inc. You will soon enough see him paw
and hear him neigh. Take care q
1.-THE present, and the future will take
, care of itself. II a. man live 10 years,
. his biography is in a scroll having q
least seven seals. And let him not dur.
! ling the first ten years of his life try
, Ito look into the twenties, nor the TWEEN
/, ties into the thirties, nor the thirtiel
: Into the forties, nor the forties into tht
! Ififties, nor the fifties. into the sixties
. nor the sixties into the seventies. From
! the way the years have got the habit q
? racing along / guess you will not hay,
to wait great while before all thu
. seals of the future are broken. Iwoul6
, not give two cents to know how long
, am going to live or in what day or wha
year the world is going to be deinel
e ished. l would rather give 81 900 no
!. Ito know. Suppose some one couil
n break the next seal in the scroll o
your personal history and should tel
), lyou that on the next Fourth Of July
: 1901, you were to die, the sunimer ate
! next, how much would you be good fc
J between this and that? It would fror
1 lnow until then be q prolonged tuners
: You would be counting the months m
I the days, and your family and friend
i would be counting them, and neS
4 Fourth of July you would rub yo1
: hands together and whine: One yea
,e from to-day am to go. Dear me!
: wish no one had told me SO long befOr
= wish that necromancy had not broke
n the seal of the future" And meetfn
- some undertaken, YOU would say: