The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1899-02-23

had to pay the bills, but it was the
large-hearted Christian woman of
Shunem that looked after the Lords
messenger.
Again, this woman of the text was
great in her behavior under trouble.
Her only son had died on her lap. A
very bright light went out in that
household. The sacred writer puts it
very tersely when he says: "He sat on
her knee until noon and then he died."
Yet the writer goes on to say that she
exclaimed: "It is well!" Great in pros
perity, this woman was great in trouble.
Where are the feet that have not been
blistered on the hot sands of this great
Sahara? Where are the soldiers that
have not bent under the burden of
grief? Where is the ship sailing over
CLASSY sea that has not after awhile
been caught in a cyclone? Where is
tie garden of earthly comfort but trou-
BILE hath hitched up its fiery and pant
ing team and gone through it with
burning plowshare of disaster? Under
the pelting of ages Of suffering the
great heart of the world has burst with
woe. Navigators tell us about the riv-
ers, and the Amazon and the Danube
al the Mississippi have been explored,
but who can tell the depth or the length
of the great river of sorrow, made up of
tears and blood, rolling through all
lands and all ages. bearing the wreck
c. families and of communities and of
empires, foaming, writhing, boiling
with the agonies of 5000 years? Etna.
Co4opaxi and Vesuvius have been de-
scribed, but who ever has sketched the
volcano of suffering retching up from
+ depths the lava and scoria and pour
ing them down the sides to whelm ma
tions Oh, if could gather all the heart
strings, the broken heartstrings, into
harp. l would play on it a dirge such
as was never sounded! Mythologists
tell us of gorgon and centaur and Titan
and geologists tell us of extinct species
of monsters, but greater than gorgon
or megatherium and not belonging to
the realm of fable and not of an extinct
species, monster with an iron jaw
and hundred iron hoofs has walked
across the nations, and history and
poetry and sculpture, in their attempt
to sketch it and describe it, have seemed
tn sweat great drops Of blood. But.
thank God, there are those who can
conquer as this woman of the text con-
quered and say: 1T is well, though my
property be gone, though my children
be gone, though my home be broken
u, though my health be sacrificed, it
is well, it is well!" There is no storm
on the sea but Christ is ready to rise in
the hinder part of the ship and hush it.
There is no darkness but the constella-
ton of Gods eternal love can illumine
it. and, though the winter comes out of
the northern sky, you have sometimes
seen that northern sky all ablaze with
auroras which seem to say: "Come up
this way; up this way are thrones of
light and seas of sapphire and the splen-
dor of an eternal heaven. Come up this
way"
We may. like ships. by tempest be
On perilous deeps. but cannot be lost
Though Satan enrage the wind and the tide,
The promise assures us the Lord will pro-
vide.
Again, this woman of my text was
great in her application to domestic
duties. Every picture is home pic
ture, whether she is entertaining au
Elisha or whether she is giving careful
attention to her sick boy or whether she
is appealing for the restoration of her
property. Every picture in her case is
one of domesticity. Those are not dis
ciples of the Shunemite woman who,
going out 10 attend to outside chari-
ties. neglect the duty of home-the
duty of wife, of mother, Of daughter.
No faithfulness in public benefaction
can ever atone for domestic negligence.
There has been many mother who by
indefatigable toll has reared a large
family of. childfen, equipping them for
the duties of life with good manners
and large intelligence and Christian
principle, starting them out, who has
done more for the world than many a
woman whose name has sounded
through the centuries. / remember
when Kossuth was in this country there
were some ladies who got honorable
regulations by presenting him very
gracefully with bouquets Of flowers on
public occasions. But what was all that I
compared with the plain Hungarian
mother who gave to truth and civiliza-
ton and the cause of universal liberty
Kossuth? Yes, this woman of my
text was great in her simplicity. When
this prophet wanted to reward her for
her hospitality by asking some prefer
ment from the king, what did she say
She declined it. She said: 81 dwell
among my own people" as much as to
say: II am satisfied with my lot. All
l want is my family and my friends
around me. l dwell among my own
people"
Oh, what a rebuke to the strife fol-
precedence in all ages! How many
there are who want to get great archi.
lecture and homes furnished with all
art, all painting, all statuary. who have
not enough taste to distinguish be.
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