The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1901-05-16
NO. r..

IL Will bC buCll "SdGHGI
as 1 like" "What do you mean by
that?" asked the other. "Well,'' said
the farmer, sit will be such weather
as pleases the Lord, and what pleascs
the Lord pleases me-"
Oh, the sunshine, the sunshine of
Christian explanation! Here is some
one bending over the grave of the
dead. What is going to be the consola.
ton? The flowers you strew upon the
tomb? Oh, no. The services read at
the grave? Oh, no. The chief consola-
ton on that grave is what falls from
the throne of God. Sunshine, glorious
sunshine! Resurrection sunshine!
Sometimes you wish you could make
the tour of the whole earth, going
around as others have gone, but you
have not the means. You will make
the tour yet, during one musical pause
in the eternal anthem. l say these
things for the comfort of those people
who are abridged in their opportuni-
ties, those people to whom life is hum
drum, who toll and work and aspire
after knowledge, but have no tins to
get it, and say: "If / had the OPT or
tunities which other people have, how
| 1 would fill my mind and soul with
grand thoughts!" Be not discouraged,
| my friends. You are going to the uni
! versity yet. Death will only matricu-
late you into the royal college of the
| universe.
| Besides that, we shall have all the
| pleasures of associate We will go
right up in the front of God without
any fright. All our sins gone, there
will be nothing to be frightened about.
There our old Christian friends will
troop around us. just as now one of
your sick friends goes away to Florida,
the land of flowers, or the soutL of
France, and you will not see him .or
long while, and after awhile You
meet him, and the hollows under Sac
eyes are all filled and the appetite hss
come back and the crutch has beIn
thrown away, and he is so changed y,su
| hardly know him. You say: "Why, l
never saw you look so we'll" He says:
81 couldn't help but be well. / have
been sailing these rivers and climbing
. these mountains, and that's how got
this elasticity. l never was so we'll"
Oh, my friends, your departed loved
ones are only away for their health II
a better climate, and when you meet
them they will be SO changed, anu
after awhile, when you are assured
that they are your friends, your de-
parted friends, you will say: "Why,
where is that cough? Where is thai
| paralysis? Where is that pneumonia?
Where is that consumption" And he
will say: "Oh. / am entirely well.
There are no sick ones in this country.
l have been ranging these hills, and
hence this elasticity. I have been here
now 20 years, and not one sick one have
I seen. We are all well in this cli-
| mate"
And then I stand at the gate of the
Celestial city to see the professions
come out, and l see long procession
of little children, with their arms full
of flowers, and then see procession
of kings and priests moving in Celes-
tial pageantry-a long procession, but
no black tasseled vehicle. no mourning
group, and / say: "How strange it is!
Where is your Greenwood? Where is
your Laurel Hill? Where is your West
minister abbey?" And they shall cry:
"There are no graves here" And then
listen for the tolling of the old belfries
of Heaven, the old belfries of eternity.
I listen to hear them toll for the dead.
They only strike up silvery chime,
tower to tower, east gate to west gate,
as they ring out: "They shall hunger
no more, neither thirst any more,
neither shall the sun light on them nor
any heat, for the Lamb which is in the
midst of the throne shall lead them to
living fountains of water. and God
shall wipe away all tears from their
eyes"
Oh, unglove your hand and give it to
me in congratulation on that scene!
feel as if I could shout. | will shout.
Dear Lord, forgive me that ever COM
planned about anything. If all this is
. before us, who cares for anything but
? God and Heaven and eternal brother
hood? Take the Grape off the door
, bell. Your loved ones are only away
) for their health in land ambrosial.
Come, Lowell Mason; come, Isaac
) Watts Give us your best hymn about
joy celestial.
, What is the use Of postponing our
: Heaven any longer? Let it begin now,
: and whosoever hath a harp let him
+ thrum it, and whosoever hath trum-
, pet let him blow it, and whosoeyer
t hath an organ let him give us a full
!. diapason. They crowd down the air,
? spirits blessed moving in cavalcade OF
3 triumph. Their chariot wheels whirl
e in the Sabbath sunlight. They Gomez!
: Halt, armies Of God! Halt until we are
{? ready to join the battalion of pleas
f ures that never die!
$ Oh, my friends, it would take SER
r mon as long as eternity to tell the joys
|. that are coming to us. ! just set open
j. the sunshiny door. Come in, all we dis
h ciples of the world who have found the
n world mockery. Come in, all We dis
v ciples of the dance, and see the bound
5. ing feet of this Heavenly gladness