The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1886-06-17

lRELre1ous sELEcrross.l

(RELIGIoUs sELEcrIoEsl
Christ has broken down the middle
wall of partition; He has revealed
God as Our Father; proclaimed that
there is no distinction in the spirit
ual family; and established a real
Brotherhood on earth.
Oil and water could as easily blend
as the mind of Christ with evil
Temptation glanced from His heart
as the steel point does from the sur
face of the diamond. It was not that
evil propensities were kept under by
the power of the Spirit in Him: He
had no evil propensities at all
| Obedience was natural to Him.
The suffering of Christ was not
the same as that from which he saved
us. The suffering of Christ was death.
But the suffering from which He re-
deemed us by death was more terrible
than death. The pit into which he
descended was the grave. But the
pit in which we should have been lost
was the pit of sel6shness and despair.
The world is very keen-sighted: it
looks through the excitement of your
religious meetings, quietly watches
the rest Of your scandals, scans your
consciousness, and the question which
the world keeps putting pertinacious-
ly is, Are these men in earnest? Is
it any marvel if Christian unreality
is the subject of SCOTS and bitter
irony?
| We are redeemed by the life of
God without us, manifested in the
person of Christ, kindling into flame
| the life of God that is within. With
out Him we can do nothing. With
out Him the warmth that was in
Zaceheus' heart would have shoulder
ed uselessly away. Through Him it
became life and light, and the lost
was saved.
The coolest hour of all the night
is that which Immediately precedes
the dawn, and in that darkest hour of
Jerusalem's night her light beamed
forth: her wisest and greatest came
in the midst of her, almost unknown,
born under the law, to emancipate
those who were groaning under the
law. His life, the day of His preach
ing, was Jerusalem's time of grace.
/ If there has been on this earth no
real, perfect human life, no love that
never cooled, no faith that never fail
ed, which may shine as a loadstar
across the darkness of our experience,
light to light amidst all convictions
of our own meanness and all suspi-
cions of others littleness, why, we
may have a religion, but we have not
| a Christianity. For if we lose Him
as Brother, we cannot feel Him as
Saviour.
| True Christian life is like the march
Of conquering army into fortress
which has been preached; men fall by
hundreds in the ditch. Was their
| fall failure? Nay, for, their bodies
bridge over the hollow, and over them
the rest pass on to victory. The
quiet religious worship that we have
this day-how comes it to be ours
1t was purchased for us by the con-
stancy of such men as John, who
freely gave their lives. We are tread
ing upon bridge of martyrs. The
suffering was theirs-the victory is
ours.
i There have been men like John the
Baptist, who could speak the truth
which had made their own spirits
free, with the axe above their neck.
There have been men, redeemed in
their inmost being by Christ, on
whom tyrants and mobs have done
their worst, and who when, like
Stephen, the stones crashed in upon
their brain, or when their flesh Kissed
and cracked in the flames, were calm
ly superior to it all The power OF
evil had laid its shackles on the flesh,
but the mind and the soul and the
heart were free.
Character is an exceedingly delicate
thing, that of Christian man es-
pecially so. To certain extent it is
true, no doubt, that we must not be
overanxious as to the estimation in
which we are held by others: it is
true no doubt, to q certain extent,
that the character which cannot de-
fend itself is not worth defending,
and that it is better to live down evil
reports. But if a character is never
defended, it comes to be considered
as incapable of defense, and besides
J we know that often many years are
required to clear away suspicious, and
then the vindication often comes too
late for the maligned man.
Remember Christian progress is
only possible in Christ. It is very
lofty thing to be a Christian: for q
Christian is a man who is restoring