The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1886-12-16

shalt be with Me in Paradise Ye who's,
lips have been filled with blasphemy, v,
whose hands have for many years wrough
unrlghteOusness, We who have compan
| Toned with the unclean, We who have scaled
every height of transgression, and faith
omed every depth and passed every ex
IRENE OF iniquity-mercy, mercy.
"The dying thief rejoiced to see
That fountain in his day;
And there may I, though vile as he.
| Wash all my sins away"
] have shown you the right hand eros.
and the left hand cross; now come to thu
middle cross. We stood at the one, anG
found it yielded poison. We stood at the
other, and found it yielded bitter aloes
Come now to the middle cross, and shake
down apples of love. Uncover your head
You never saw so tender scene as this
You may have seen father, or mother, OF
companion, or child die, but never so af
fecting a scene as this. The railing THE.
looked from one way, and saw the left side
of Christ's face. But from where you si
to-day, in the full blaze of Gospel light, yor
see Christ's full face 1t was
suffering cross If the weapons Of
torture had gone only through the fatty
portions of the body the torture would mo-
the hands, and feet, and temples-the most
sensitive portions. 1t was not only the
spear that went into His side, but the sins
OF all the race-a thousand spears-plunge
after plunge, deeper and deeper and deeper
until the silence and composure that before
characterized Him gave way into a groan
through which rumbled the sorrows of time
and the woes of eternity Human hate had
done its worst, and hell had hurled its
sharpest javelin, and devils had vented
their hottest rage, when, with every nerve
OF His body in torture, and every fiber OF
His heart in excruciation, He cried out
"My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken
Me?n
1t was vicarlous cross. The right hand
cross suffered for itself, the left hand cross
for itself, but the middle cross for you.
When King was dying young man
| cried: "Pour my blood into his veins, that
he die not" The veins of the young man
were tapped and the blood transferred, so
that the King lived, but the young man
died. Christ saw the race perishing. He
cried: "Pour my blood into their veins,
that they die not.''
My hand is free now, because Christ's
was crushed. My brow is painless now,
because Christ's was torn. My soul es-
capes, because ChriSt's was bound gain
Heaven, because Christ for me endured the
horrors of hell. When the Swiss were
many years ago contending against their
enemies, they saw these enemies arrayed
In solemn phalanx, and knew not how to
break their ranks; but one of their heroes
rushed out in front of his regiment and
shouted: make way for liberty" The
weapons were plunged into his heart, but
while they were Staying him of course
their ranks were broken, and through that
gap in the ranks the Swiss marched to vic
tory. Christ saw all the powers of dark
moss assailing men. He cried out: ''Make
way for the redemption of the worldn
All the weapons of internal wrath struck
Him, but as they struck Him our race
marched out free.
To this middle cross, my dying hearers,
look, that your souls may live. I showed
you the right hand cross, in order that you
might see what an awful thing it is to be
-unbelieving. / showed you the left hand
cross, that you might see what it is to re-
pent. Now show you the middle cross,
that you may see what Christ has done to
save your soul. Poets have sung its
praise, and sculptors have attempted to
commemorate it in marble, and martyrs
have chung to it in the fire, and Christians
dying quietly in their beds have leaned
their heads against it. This hour may all
our souls embrace it with an ecstacy of
affection. Lay hold of that cross, sinner
Every thing else will fail you. Without
strong grip on that you perish Put
your hand on that and you are safe,
though a world swing from beneath your
feet.
o, that might engrave on your souls in
effaceably these three crosses, and that if in
your waking moments you will not heed, then
that in your dream this coming night you
might see ON the hill back of Jerusalem
the three spectacles-the risht-hand cross
showing unbelief dying without Christ,
the left hand showing what it is to be par
doned, while the central cross pours upon
your soul the sunburst of Heaven, as it
says: BY all these wounds plead for thy
heart. l have loved thee with an everlast-
ing love. Rivers can not quench it; floods
can not drown it'' And while you look
the right-hand cross will fade out of sight,
and then the left will be gone; nothing but
the middle cross will remain, and even that
in your dream will begin to change, until
1t becomes throne; and the worn face of
Calvary will become radiant with gladness,
and instead of the mad mob at the foot of
the cross will be multitude kneeling And
you and / will be among them.
But no, we will not wait for such
dream In this our most aroused mood we
throw down at the foot of that middle cross
sin, sorrow, life, death, every thing We
are slaves; Christ gives deliverance to the
captive. We are thirsty; Christ is the river
OF salvation to Stake our thirst We are
hungry; Jesus says: II am the Bread of
Life" We are condemned to die; Christ
says: "Save that man from going down to
the pit; am the ransom" We are tossed
on sea of trouble; Jesus comes over it,
saying: sit is /, be not afraid" We are
in darkness; Jesus says: ~ am the bright
and morning STAR We are sick; Jesus
is the Balm of Gileadp We are dead
hear the shrouds rend and the
grave hillocks heave, as He cries: II am
the Resurrection and the Life; he that be-
lieveth in Me, though he were dead, yet
shall he live" We want Justification
Being justified by faith, we have peace
with God through our Lord Jesus Christi |
We want to exercise faith. believe in the |
Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved" |
want to get from under condemnation. |
There is now, therefore, no condemnation |
to them who are in Christ Jesus" The cross |
He carried it. The flames of hell-He suf-