The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1907-09-17

est memory you have of the old home
stead? When Your parents were bring
ing you up you thought those statutes
of God were aWfUlly strict 1t did
seem at times as though Sunday would
never get through. When you got up
early in the morning there were the
new baseball and the fine bat. ''No, nc"
said mother; you cannot use them
today. Better put them away in the
closet. and then you will be out of
er boys were ready to go off fishing
you had to come back for family pray
ers. Then those long tramps with the
delicate food for the sick neighborS-it
did seem that mother was always
sending food to some one. And then
those Bible stories you had to learn
when "RobinsOn Crusoe" and that new
book of Jules Verne We're lying so
near-my, how you did grumble and
twist and fume and worry. And then
it seemed as though your father kept
a regular hotel for all the ministers
H.
father would never let you play cards
or go to the country dances. The 9th
er boys went, but not you. Oh, how
strict those old folks We're! Why, your
mother would not even let your sis
ter wear q low neclled dress because
she said it was immOdeSt. But, tell
me, do you not today glory in those
strict ways of your old home? Those
old folks were SO strict that they
would never do anything they thought
the statutes of the Lord forbade them
to do. But did not those strict laws
of God bring peace to your old home
stead which not any of the so called
liberal ideas of the present time have
ever produced? Yes, l think we have
a right, like David, to sing, THY stat
utes have been my songs in the happy
days Of my childhood"
Singing to Keep Step.
But the statutes of the Lord were
more than sacred memory of the
scenes Of Dayids boyhood. They were
the songs by which the young man
the journey of life. Just the same as
the German soldiers when on line of
march invariably start up one of their
national airs and sing as they tramp
along and all in unison keep step to
the music, so this marvellous man Of
my text kept step to the laws of God
during his journey of life and sang
as he walked along. l am very much
impressed with this figure by an ex~
perience | had some years ago in the
German capital.
At that time | was a young boy and
physically very much fatigued from
sightseeing. l had crawled into bed
thoroughly tired out and almost in
stantly had fallen into one of those
deep sleeps which come to healthy
boys and girls after a long days
tramp. Suddenly l awoke in the early
hours of the morning. Like Paul in
his vision, l knew not at first whether
was in the flesh or out of the flesh.
From everywhere and yet from no.
where there seemed to roll into my
room great tidal waves of harmony.
The volume was SO great and yet the
ed like the chorus Of many waters
Louder and louder swelled the song.
I leaped out of bed to see what was
the matter. Then l heard the tramp,
tramp, tramp of long line of soldiers
marching. AS these soldiers marched
no, nj
Teutonic voices. AS they sang they
kept step to the music. SO in David's
journey of life the laws of God were
the songs by which he kept step after
he had left the old homestead.
David the Amounted.
In the first place, there was that
overwhelming bugle call by which Da-
vid was set aside when yet mere lad
as the future king of Israel Oh, could
David ever cease to praise the law of
God for that tremendous day in his
history when Samuel came into the
home Of his father Jesse and poured
the amounting oil upon his head? For
days and weeks and months do you
uOL UClICNC liz pouuSlCu ONCI LID NotlI0
ing glory? When he was an aged
king, with his hair white as the al
mond tree in blossom, do you not be-
lieve he still gloried in the fact that
God had set him aside as one to fill
a throne? And yet has there no
amounting come to US? Has not each
one of US been set apart to do some
special work which cannot be done by
any one else? We have not been called
to f1ll throne, but we have been call
ed, as David was, to serve our genera
ton and to testify to others that it is
good to obey the statutes Of God.
Then, like David, we should glory
in the fact that God has not only de
tailed us for an especial work Of life
but also because God has cared for us
and guided us and protected us while
we are doing that work. That would
be a careless father who would tell 4
son to go and do something and then
not care for the welfare of the child
while he was carrying out the paren-
80 Il ix,;,,