The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1900-08-16

Will not turn IL up. we must strive ana
implore and dig until we strike the
spring foaming with living waters.
Then the work of evaporation begins,
and as when the saline waters are ex-
posed to the sun, the vapors float away.
leaving nothing but the pure white
salt at the bottom of the tank, so, when
the Christian soul is exposed to tho
Sun of Righteousness, the vapors Of
pride and selfishness and worldliness
float off, and there is chiefly left be-
meath pure white holiness of heart.
Then, as in the case of the salt, tho
furnace is added. Blazing troubles,
stirred by smutted stokers OF dark
ness, quicken the evaporation Of world
illness. and the crystallization Of grace.
Have you not been in enough trouble
to have that work go on? was read.
ing of Aristotle, who said there was Z
field of flowers in Sicily SO sweet that
once hound, coming on the track OF
game, came to that field and was be-
wildered by the perfumes and SO lost
the track. Oh, that our souls might bee
come like "a field which the Lord hath
blessed' and exhale SO much of the
sweetness of Christian character that
the hounds of temptation. coming on
our track, might lose it and go bowling
back with disappointment!
But, I remark again. that the grace OF
God is like the salt in it's preservativs
quality. You know that salt absorbs
the moisture of articles of food and in-
fuses them with brine, which preserves
them for long while. Salt is the
great antiputrefactor of the world.
Experimenters, in preserving food,
have tried sugar and smoke and air
tight jars and everything else, but al
long as the world stands Christ's words
will be suggestive, and men will admit
that as a great preservative salt IL
good" But for the grace Of God the
earth would have become a stale car.
cass long before this. That grace is tho
| only preservative of laws and constitu-
| tions and hteratures. Just as soon as
| a government loses this salt of divine
grace it perishes. The philosophy OF
this day, SO far as it is antagonistic to
this religion, putrefies and stinks. The
4 great want of our schools of learning
and our institutions of science to-day
is, not more Leyden jars and galvanio
batteries and spectroscopes and phil
osophical apparatus, but more OF that
grace that will teach our men 0f
science that the God of the universe 10
{" the God Of the Bible. How strange tits
that in all their magnificent sweep cf
the telescope they have not seen the
| CT of nd m IN n
their experiments with light and heat
they have not seen the light and felt
the warmth of the Sun of Righteous
ness! We want more of the salt Of
Gods grace in our homes, in our
schools, in our colleges, in our social
life. in our Christianity.
When Gov. Geary, Of Pennsylvania,
died, years ago, lost good friend.
He impressed. me nightly with the
horrors of war. In the eight hours
that we rode together in the cars hs
recited to me the scenes through
which he had passed in the civil war.
He said that there came one battle
upon which everything seemed to
: pivot. kilograms from Washington
said that the life of the nation de-
pended on that struggle. He said to
me: II went into that battle, sir,
with my son. His mother and
thought everything of him. You
know how father will feel toward
his son who is coming up manly and
brave and good. Well, the battle
opened and concentered, and IL was
awful. Horses and riders bent and
twisted and piled up together. II was
awful, sir. We quit firing and took
to the point of the bayonet. Well,
: sir, I didn't feel like myself that day.
: 1 had prayed to God for strength for
? that particular battle, and went into
it feeling that had in my right arm
the strength of ten giants." And q
: the governor brought his arm down
on the back of the seat it fairly made
the car tremble. "Wcll," he said. "the
battle was desperate, but after awhils
, we gained little, and we marched
on little. I turned round to the
troops ami shouted: Come on
= boys!' and stepped across dead
s : soldier, and, 10, it was my son!
= saw at the first glance he was dead
. :, and yet did not dare to stop min
. ute, for the crisis had come in tn
!. battle. So l just got down on ny
!. knees, and threw my arms arouI<
J. him, and I gave him one good XIV
and said, 'Good-by, dear and sprsr(
: up and shouted Come on. boysv
. So it is in the Christian conhict-it i
= q fierce fight. Eternal ages seem Dc
: pending on the strife. Heaven !
waiting for the bulletins to announe
= the tremendous issue. Hail OF shot
:. cash of saber, fall Of battle az, groan
: ing on every side. We cannot sto
:. for loss or bereavement or anythin
: else. With one ardent embrace an
~ ~ one loving kiss we utter our fart
wells and then cry: "Come on, boys
:. There are other heights to be cal
tured; there are other foes to be COZ
:. quered; there are other crowns to I
- won"
4, Yet, as one Of the Lords surgeon