The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1886-07-01
Thoughts for the Thoughtfal.
iREIrarous sEaRcrroks.l

Thoughts for the Thoughtfhl.
| fRELroIoUs sRaRcTloky.)
In Christ is magni6ed, not force Of
will, but the glory Of q Divine humil-
ty.
We die alone. Wego on our dark,
mysterious journey for the first time
in all our existence, without one to
accompany US. Friends are beside
our bed; they must stay behind.
knowledge is power, power for
good and evil. 1t is power that may
elevate man by degrees up to an
affinity with his Maker: it is power
that may bring him by degrees down
to the level even of Satanic evil. In
creased mental power will be the re-
suit of this plan; possibly that power
will be devoted to bad purposes in
many instances.
The educated man, in proportion
to his education, sees the number of
laws diminished beholds in the man
fold appearances of nature the ex-
preston of few laws, by degrees
fewer, till at last it becomes possible
to his conception that they are all
reducible to one, and that that which
lies beneath the innumerable phenom-
ena of nature is the One Spirit-God.
It is only in Christ that we find
our ideal realized. There are times
when a dark skepticism envelopes our
hearts; we turn to the world, and find
that all is selfshness there; we turn
to our own hearts, and there we find
only pollution and corruption; it is
when We turn to the Perfect One, we
feel that God has once been upon
this earth within the limits Of human
| ity, it is in s'God manifest in the flesh"
that goodness becomes possible.
| Look around this beautiful world
of Gods ocean dimpled into myriad
smiles; the sky a trembling, quiver~
ing mass Of blue, thrilling hearts
with ecstasy; every tint every form
replete with beauty. You cannot
except willfully, misrssd its meaning.
God says, tsBe glad!" Do not force
young, happy hearts to an unnatural
solemnity, as if to be happy were .
crime. Let us hear their loud, merry,
ringing laugh, even If sternsr hearts
can be glad no longer. To sse limo
cent mirth and JOY does the heart
good.
It was not manhood, but humanity,
that was made Divine in Him. HUI
mainly has its two sides: one side in
the strength and intellect OF man
hood; the other in the tenderness, and
faith, and submissiveness of woman
hood: Man and woman, not man
alone, make up human nature. In
Christ not one alone but both were
glorifed. Strength and grace, wis
dom and love, courage and purity,
Divine manliness, Divine womanli-
ness. In all noble characters you
find the two blended into one entire
and perfect humanity.
No man who thinks can call it q
trifing thing to die. True thought
fulness must shrink from death with
out Christ. There is world OF un-
told sensations crowded into that
moment when man puts his hand
to his forehead and feels the damp
upon it, which tells him his hour is
come. He has been waiting for death
all his life, and now it is come. It is
all over-his chance is past, and his
eternity is settled. None Of us know,
except by guess, what that sensation
is. Myriads Of human beings have
felt il to whom life was dear; but they
never spoke out their feelings, for
such things are untold. And to every
individual man throughout all eterni-
| ty that sensation in it's fullnsss has