The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1886-09-30
i'm. Stoddart & Co., Publishers.
WASHINGTON, d. G.
Thoughts for the Thoughtful.
RELIGIOUS SELECTIONS.

DEATH.-Ihat unutterable thing
which we call our being-the idea of
parting with it is agony. The dying
scene is worth little-little at least, to
us-except so far as it is in harmony
with the rest of life.
COURAGE. -The Christian spirit is
totally distinct from that of stocism
or mere manliness. 1t is one thing
to bow to fate, and another to bow to
God; it is one thing to submit be-
cause we must, and another because
we ought. Perhaps there is nothing
in the whole range of human history
so sublime as the Stoic's defiance of
pain; but this is not the Spirit of
Christ. All honor to courage; at the
least it is unsel6sh, while cowardice
is selfshness. The sailor who cuts
out the ship under the fire of the enc
my's batteries, is noble; the North
American Indian suffering torture
without single groan; the man who
has vulture-sorrow gnawing at his
heart, but who goes on with a stern
Defiance godlike indifference to
the thing which is preying upon his
very ife-is sublime and grand; but
the spirit of the Indian is one thing
and the Spiritof Christ another. The
man who with closed teeth in his own
room can resolve that no extremity of
suffering shall wiring from him one
groan is manly, but manliness is not
blessedness. He only can rejoice in
in6rmities, in reproaches, in suffer-
ing, who, taking the cup gently, low
ingly, humbly into his hand, can drain
it to the dregs, and say as did his
Master, ''The cup which my Father
hath given me, shall I not drink it ?"
CoNFEss1oN.-There is something
Strengthening, something soothing,
and at the same time something
humbling, in acknowledging that we
have done wrong. There is pride
in us which cannot bear pity. There
is diseased constituencies which
shrinks from the smart of acknowledge
ment; and yet that smart must be
borne before we can be truly soothed.
When was it that the younger son in
the parable received the ring, and the
robe, and the banquet, which repre-
sented the rapture of the sense of be-
ing forgiven? When he had fortitude
enough to go back, mile by mile, step
by step, every inch of the way he had
gone wrong, borne unfinchingly the
sheer of his fathers domestics, and,
worse than all, the sarcasms Of his
Immaculate brother, and manfully
said, Father, I have sinned." When
was it that the publican went down
justified to his house? When he said,
even before supercilious Pharisee,
''God be merciful to me sinner p
When did the royal delinquent hear
the words, ''The Lord hath also put
away thy sin p When he gave the
sacrifice of his lips: 81 have sinned
before the Lord" And when did the
church of Ephesus rise into the
brightest model of a perfect church
that has yet been exhibited on earth
After her converts had publicly come
forward, burnt those manuscripts
which were called "Ephesian letters
to the value of SO, 900 pieces of silver,
confessed and showed their deeds. y
| There is profound truth in the pop
ular anxiety that a sinner should con-
fess before he dies. 1t is an instinc-
tive feeling that a true death is better
than false life.
| CRoss.-Christianity teaches it in
the person of Christ. The Cross is
an abstraction until clothed in flesh
and blood. Go and talk like a philos-
opher to one in suffering; you get an
acknowledgement of your effort, but
you have not soothed the sufferer
But go and tell him of the law in
Christ; tell him that He has borne
the Cross; and there is the peculiar
Christian feeling of comfort, with all
its tenderness, humanity, and person.
ality. The law of the Cross is the
truth, the rock truth, but only in q
| person. And hence comes the hymn.
ed feehng-how mnch more living
than philosophy!
Rock of Ages cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee
So it is that in the mere word cross
there is that sentiment which no Other
word in the English language car
supply. Law of self-sacrifce? No
| that is cold, not dear to us, personal
living, like the Cross.
i Our polar star is the love of The
cross. Take the eye off that, and 20,
are in darkness and bewilderment a
once. Let us not mind what is past
Perhaps it is all failure, and useless
struggle, and broken resolves. VIVA
, then? Settle this first, Are you il
earnest? If so, though your faith b,
, weak and your struggles unsatisfac
| tory, you may begin the hymn o
! triumph now, for victory is pledged
'sThanks be to God, which" mot shal