The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1886-08-05
Thoughts for the Thoughtful.
lRELlGIous SELECTIONS. ]

truths become real only when they
have heen made visible. All spiritual
facts must have an existence in form
for the human mind to rest on.
In One alone has the Divine been
so blended with the human, that, as
the ocean mirrors every star and every
tint OF blue upon the sky, SO was the
earthly life of Christ the life of God
on earth.
Settle it in your hearts: Christiani-
ty is Christ: understand Him, breathe
His spirit, comprehend His mind;
Christianity is life, a spirit. Let
self die with Christ, and with Him
rise to life of happiness; and then,
whether you are a minister or minis
tered to, you need not care what dis
cussions may arise, nor how men may
dispute your Christianity, or deny
your share in the Gospel; you stand
upon a rock.
The main thing is to believe in
God, which is the chief article of all
the creeds. Our salvation does not
depend upon our having right notions
about the devil, but right feelings
about God. And if you hate evil you
are on Gods side, whether there be a
personal evil principle or not. my
self believe there is, but not SO I'M
questioningly as to be able to say I
think it is matter of clear revela-
ton. The Bible reveals God, and ex-
cept with belief in God there will
and can be no goodness.
The central doctrine oil Christianity
is the atonement. Take that away
and you obliterate Christianity. If
Christianity were merely the imita-
ton of Christ, why, then, the imita-
ton of any other good mantle
Apostle Paul or John-might have
become kind of Christianity. But
Christianity is more than this. It is
the At-one-ment of the Soul. It is a
reconciliation which the life and death
OF Christ have wrought out for this
world-the reconciliation of man to
God, the reconciliation of man to man,
the reconciliation of man to self, and
the reconciliation of man to duty.
Love demands sacrifice, and only
by sacrifice can it reconcile itself to
self. Then it is that the sacrifice of
Christ replies to this, answers it, sat
isles it, and makes it plain. The
sacrifice Of Christ was suffering in
love-it was surrender to the will of
God. The Apostle Paul felt this:
when that Spirit was with him he was
reconciled to himself. There are two
ways in which you may contemplate
that sacrifice. Seen from the worlds
point of view, it is unjust, gross, cruel.
Seen as John saw it, and as God looks
at it, it was the sublimest of all truths:
one which so entwines itself with our
religious consciousness that you might
as soon tear from us our very being
as our convictions of the reality Of
Christs atonement.
What could it be that suffered but
q human soul? Deity is impossible.
God was not angry with Him? God
could not be angry with self-sacrifc-
ing love. He could not, withor. de-
nying His own nature, annex Hall
that is, an evil conscience andy re-
morse-to perfect goodness. Christ
endured the penalty of imputed sin,
the sin of others. But imputed sin
is not actual sin, though we constantly
see it bear the penalty of such-that
is, be punished as such. s'The chas-
tisement of our iniquities was upon
him" 1t was not merely the penalty
of his own daring" that He bore. He
bore the penalty of our transgres.
sions. He crushed the head of the
serpent, Evil, which would otherwise
have crushed us, and the fang pierced
Him. There is a parallel in the death
OF Socrates. so far as martyrdom goes;
but HIS death was sacrifice, not mere
ly martyrdom; Socrates was simply
true to his convictions, and suffered
for them. He distinctly came that
we might have life, and have it more
abundantly. He alone, of all that are
woman-born, conceived the idea of
contest with evil for the worlds sake.
/ could not tell you too strongly
my own deep and deepening convic-
ton that the truths which I teach are
true, says Rev. F. w. Robertson
Every year they shed fresh light on
one another, and seem to stretch into
immensely. They explain to me life,
God, and the Bible; and / am certain
that what fresh light / shall receive
will be an expansion and not con-
tradiction OF what have. AS for
the words in which I try to make
others see, they indeed are poor and
bewildered enough. But there is no |
bewilderment in my mind, though |
much that is incomplete. The prin-
ciples are rooted in human nature.
God, and the being of things, and I |
find them at the root of every pas
sore ~, Go~.~,k,,,o TIL.