The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1886-12-30

the day when the Lord took her into His
Heavenly keeping years ago. I should moi
won der If, after all, these parents pass the
| evening of their life in the same church, al
differences of chu-ch preference overcome
by the joy of being in the house of God
where their children were prepared fol-
usefulness and Heaven.
But can give you recipe for running
| your children. Angrily contend in the
household that your church is right and the
church OF your companion is wrong Bring
sneer and carlcature to emphasize your
opinions, and your children will make up
| their minds that religion is sham and
| they will have none of it. In the northeast
storm of domestic controversy the rose of
Sharon and the lily of the valley
will not grow. Fight about apos-
tolic succession; fight about election and
free agency; fight about baptism
| fight about the bishopric; fight
about gown and surplice, and the
religious prospects of your children will be
left dead on the field. You will be as I'M
| fortunate as Charles, Duke of Burgundy,
who in battle lost a diamond the value of a
nation, for in your fright you will lose the
jewel of salvation for your entire house.
| hold. There is nothing against the advo-
| OoSJ VI youH oWa EollSlOuS UuoOFl6S. u Sc
| all forcible argument, bring all telling il
| Illustrations array all demonstrative facts,
| but let there be no acerbity, no singing
| retort, no mean insinuation, no supercil-
| iousness as though all others were wrong
| and you infalibly right.
Take hint from astronomy The
Ptolemaic system made the earth the CEN
| ter of the solar system, and every thing
was thought to turn round the earth. But
| the Copernican system came, and made
| the sun the center, around which the
planets revolve1. The bigot makes his
little belief the center of every thing, but
the large Christian makes the Sun of
righteousness the center, and all denom-
nations, without any clashing, and each at
| its own light aud in its own sphere, re-
| volving around it.
Over the tomb of Dean Stanley, in West
| minister Abbey, is the passage of Script
ure: Thy commandments are exceeding
| broad" Let no man crowd us on to path
| like the bridge AL Sirat, which the Moham-
| medan thinks leads from this world over
the abyss of hell into paradise, the breadth
| Of the bridge less than the web of starved
| spider, or the edge of sword or razor,
| off the edges of which many fall No; while
the way is not wide enough to take with us
any OF our sins, it is wide enough for all
Christian believers to pass without peril
into everlasting safety
But do not any OF you depend upon what
you call sound creed for salvation A man
| may own all the statutes Of the State of
New York, and yet not be lawyer, and a
| man may own all the best medicine treat
lses, and not be physician; and a man NAV
own all the best works ON painting and
| architecture, and not be either painter or
architect; and a man may own all the
sound creeds in the world, and yet not be
Christian. Not what you have in your head
or on your tongue, but in your heart and in
your life, will decide every thing.
In olden times in England, before the
modern street lamps were invented, every
household was expected to have a lantern
suspended in front of his house. and the
cry of the watchmen in London as they
went along at eventide was: Hang out
your lightsn' Instead of disputing in your
house about the different kinds OF lantern,
as Waterman on the walls of Zion I cry:
Let your light so shine before men that
they, seeing your good works, may glorify
your Father which is in Heaven
Hang out your lghtsi You may have
thousand ideas about religion, and yet not
the great idea of pardoning mercy. 1t is
not the number of your ideas. but the
greatness of them. A mouse hath ten off
spring in her nest, while the lioness hath
one in her lair. All ideas about forms and
| ceremonies and church government put to.
gether are not worth that one idea of get
ting to Heaven yourself and taking your
family with you
But do not reject Christianity, as many
do, because there are so many sects Stand
ing in Westminster Hotel, London, 1 looked
out OF the window and saw three clocks, as
near as can remember--one on the Parlia
ment House, another on st. Margaret's
Chapel, another on Westminster Abbey.
and they were all different. One said
twelve o'clock at noon; another said II :55 !;
another said 1905. ] might as well have
concluded that there is no such thing as
time, because the three time-pieces
were different, as for you to conclude
that there is no such thing as pure Chris.
| tianity, because the churches differ in their
statement of it. 1t is about twelve o'clock
noon OF the glorious Gospel dispensation,
although the church clocks somewhat diff
Ter, and under the present light you have
no excuse for neglecting your duty because
you do not like this or do not like that.
''How shall we escape if we neglect SO
great salvations"
But let us all rejoice that, although part
OF our family may worship on earth in one
church, and part in another church, or,
bowed at the same affairs, it must be in a
compromise OF preferences, we are, if re-
deemed, on the way to perfect church,
where all preferences will be fully graft
fed
Great cathedral of eternity, with arches
OF amethysts, and pillars of sapphire, and
floors of emerald, and windows aglow with
the sunlight of Heavenl What wide aisles.
spacious enough to allow empires to enteri
What amphitheaters of piled-up splendor,
gallery above gallery, Princes and
Princesses, Kings and Queens bending
over theml What stupendous towers, with
chimes angel hoisted and angel-rungi
What myriads of worshipers, white
robed and coronetedl What an oficiator
at the altar, even the "Great
High Priest OF our professiont What
walls, hung with the captured shields and
flags, by the church mi litant passed up to
be the church triumphant! What doxologies
OF all nationsl Coronet to coronet, cymbal
to cymbal, harp to harp, organ to organ!
Pull out the tremulent stop to recall the
sufferings pastl Pull out the trumpet stop
to celebrate the victory!
IS When shall fhece thv 1,,,;1+ we'll,