The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1886-05-20
Thoughts for the Thoughtful.


for heaven, and begin to love God:
then the spirit Of liberty begins.
Ministerial success is not shown
now by the numbers who listen. Not
mere impression, but altered charac-
ter, marks success. Not by startling
nor electrifying congregations, but by
turning men from darkness into light,
from the power of Satan unto God,
is the work done.
eI sometimes believe that the ex-
preston of communion is much more
rich and varied where the presence is
only that of mind" says Robertson,
ethan when friends are together. and
hour after hour passes. each taking
for granted that all which he desires
to say is understood.
Your foe in this world is vice, the
devil nature in you and in me; it is
in ourselves that our foe is; conquer
that, spend half the energy in tram
ping that down which is spent in
religious controversy with Christians,
and the kingdom of God will soon be
established in this world.
The pulpit is not to be degraded
into the engine of faction. Far,
far above such questions, it ought to
preserve the calm dignity of a voice
which speaks for eternity, and not for
time. If possible, not one word should
drop by which ministers own polit-
ical leanings can be discovered.
The whole work of the Christian
ministry consists in declaring God as
reconciled to man; and in beseeching
with every variety of illustration, and
every degree of earnestness, men to
become reconciled to God It is this
which is not done. All are Gods
children by right; all are not Gods
children in fact.
He'll is not merely thing hereafter,
hell is a thing here; hell is not thing
banished to the far distance, it is
ubiquitous as conscience. Wherever
there is a worm of undying remorse,
the sense of having done wrong, and
a feeling of degradation, there is hell
begun. And now respecting this:
these words, Punishment from God, F"
alienation" though merely popular
phrases, are expressions of deep
truth.
| What is your religion :? Excitabil-
ity, romance, impression, fear? Re-
member, excithment has its uses,
impression has its value. John, in
all circumstances of his appearance
and style of teaching, impressed by
excitement. Excitement, warmed
feelings, make the first actings of re-
ligious life and the breaking of in
yeterate habits easier. But excite
ment and impression are not religion.
It is good for man to get alone, and
then in silence think upon his own
| death, and feel how time is hurryine
him right along: that a little while
ago he was not-a little while still
and he will be no more. It is good
to take the Bible in his hands, and
read those passages at this season Of
the year which speak of the Coming,
and the end of all, till from the print
ed syllables there seems to come out
{ something that has life, and form, and
substance in it, and all things tha
are passing in the world group them
selves in preparation for that, ano
melt into its outline.
With respect to our moral ano
spiritual capacities, we remark tina
they are not only indefinite, but alb
solutely infinite. Let that man an
swer who has erer truly and hearth,
loved another. That man knows wha
it is to partake of the infnitude O
God. Literally, in the emphatic Ian
, guage Of the Apostle John, he hal
felt his immortality-ssGod in him
and he in God" For that momen
infnitude was to him not name, bu
a reality. He entered into the infnit'
of time and space, which is not meas
ured by days, or months, or years
t but is alike boundless and eternal.
, The caterpillar passes into the but
terfy, the snow-drop dies to rise again
spring leaps to life from the arms o
winter, and the world rejoices in it
resurrection. God gives us all thi
merciful assistance to our faith. Blu
it is not on these grounds that on
/ belief rests. These are not our proofs
, they are only corroborations and il
Illustrations; for it does not follow wit
certainty that the body of man shal
be restored; because the chrysalis, al
apparent corpse, still lives. No, W
fetch our proofs from the Word O
{ God and the nature of the human
soul; and we fetch our probabilitie
and illustrations from the suggestiv
world Of types which lie all around us
Il MEDIrAT1oN.-No man forgets wha
the mind has dwelt on long. It
t by forcing the memory to call ther