The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1888-01-05

| All it was not merely the two pieces OF
| wood that he carried: it was the trans
| gressions of the race, the anguish of the
| ages, the wrath of God, the SORROWS of
he'll, the stupendous interests of an
| unending eternity. No wonder
| his back bent. No wonder the
blood started from every pore. No Won
| der that he crouched under torture that
| made the sun faint, and the everlasting
hills tremble, and the dead rush up in
| their winding-sheets as he cried:
If it be possible, let this cup pass from me-
But the cup did not pass. None to COM
| fort.
There he hangs! What has that hand
done that it should be thus crushed in the
palm? 1t has been healing the lame and
| wiping away tears. What has that foot
been doing that it should be so Iacerated?
1t has been going about doing good. OF
what has the victim been guilty? Guilty
of saving a world. Tell me, We heavens
and earth, was there ever such another
| criminal? Was there ever such crime?
On that hill Of carnage, that sunless day,
amid those bowling rioters, may not your
sins and mine have persisted? | believe
it.
Oh, the ransom has been paid. Those
arms of Jesus were stretched out so wide
that when he brought them together again
they might embrace the world. Oh, that
/ might, out of the blossoms of the spring
or the flaming foliage of the autumn,
make one wreath for my Lord! Oh that
all the triumphal arches of the world
could be swung in one gateway, where
the King of Glory might come in! Oh
that all the harps and trumpsts and or
gans of earthly music might. in one
anthem, speak His praise!
They have some old wine in Heaven
not used except in rare festivities. In this
world those who are accus toned to use
wine on great occasions bring out the wine
and say: "This wine is thirty years DID,"
or ''forty years Old" But the wine of
Heaven is more than eighteen centuries
old. 1t was prepared at the time when
Christ trod the wine press alone. When
such grievous sinners as we come back,
methinks the chamberlain of Heaven
cries out to the servants: "This is I'M
usual joy! Bring up from the vaults of
Heaven that old wine. Fill all the
tankards. Let all the white-robed guests
drink to the immortal health of the Lord
Almighty" There is joy in Heaven
among the angels of God over one sinner
that repenteth; and God grant that one
may be you.
Again, in order to have right heart it
must be q forgiving heart. An old writer
says: ''To render good for evil is God
like; good for good is man like: evil for
good devil-like." Which of these natures
have We? Christ will have nothing to do
with us as long as we keep any old
grudge. We have all been cheated and
lied about. There are people who
dislike us SO much that if we
should come down to poverty and dis
grace, they would say, "Good for him!
Didn't tell you SOP" They never have I'M
derstood us, and never Will. They do not
understand us. Unsanctified human
nature says "Wait till you get good
crack at him, and when at last you find
him in tight place, give it to him. Flay
Linn alive. No quarser. Leave not rag
of reputation. Jump on him with both
feet. Pay him in his own coin-sarcasm
for sarcasm, scorn for scorn, abuse for
abuse"
But, my friends, that is not the right
kind of heart No man ever did so mean
thing toward us as we have done toward
God. And if we can not forgive others,
Thousands of men have been kept out of
Heaven by an unforgiving heart.
Here is some one who says: 81 will for
give that man the wrong he did me about
that house AMI lot; 1 will forgive
that man who overreached me in a
bargain; l will forgive that man who
sold me a shoddy overcoat; 1 for
give them-all but one. That man I can
not forgive. The villain-I can hardly keep
my hands off of him. II my going to
Heaven depends on my forgiving him,
then will stay OUT" Wrong feeling! If
man lie to me once l am not called to
trust him again. II man bs,ray me
once l am not called to put confidence in
him again. But would have no re 1t if
could not offer sincere prayer for the
temporal and everlasting welfare of all
men, whatever M sannesses and outrages
they have inflicted upon me- IT you want
to get your heart right, strike match and
burn up all your old grudges and blow the
ashes away.
If you forgive not men their trespasses.
neither Will your Heavenly Father forgive you
your trespasses.
An old Christian black woman was
going along the streets of New York with
pooho1 VI dppleS IHat sue mad for sale.
A rough sailor ran against her and upset
the basket, and stood back, expecting to
hear her scold frightfully; but she stopped
down and picked up the apples. and said:
"God forgive you, my son, as do" The
a1!oi saw the meanness of what he had
done, and felt in his pocket for his money,
and insisted that she should take it all,
Though she was black. he called
her mother and said: "Forgive me, moth
er; l will never do any thing so mean
again." All! there is q power in q for
giving spirit to overcome all hardness.
There is no way of conquering men like
that of bestowing upon them your pardon,
whether they will accept it or not.
Again, right heart is an expectant
heart. 1t is poor business to be building
castles in the air. Enjoy what you have
now. Don't spoil your comfort in the
small house because you expect q larger
one. Don't fret about your income when
it is tire, or four dollars per day, because
you expect to have after awhile ten dol
lars per day; or ten thousand dollars
a year because you expect it
to be twenty thousand dollars a wear.
But about heavenly things, the more
we think the better Those castles