The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1888-09-06

| ters denominations of Christians, taking
a solemn OATH as we all do, that we will
promulgate the theories of that denomi-
| nation, and then the man shall proclaim
some other theory, he has broken his
oath, and he is an out-and-out perjurer.
Nevertheless, declare for largest liberty
in religious discussion would no more
have the attempt to rear monument to
Thomas Paine interfered with than /
would have interfered with the lifti ng of
| the splendid monument to Washington.
Largest liberty for the body, largest lib
erty for the mind, largest liberty for the
soul.
Orthodoxy, beginning with the Sand
witch Islands. has captured vast regions
of barbarism for civilization, while hetro-
doxy has to capture the first square inch.
Blatant for many years in Great Britain
and the United States, and strutting about
with peacockian braggadocio, it has yet
to capture the first continent, the first
State, the first township, the first ward,
the first space of ground as big as you
could cover with the small end of a sharp
pin. Ninety mine out of every hundred OF
the Protestant churches of America werA
built by people who believed in an entire
Bible. The pulpit now may preach some
other Gospel, but it is q heterodox gun on
an orthodox carriage. The foundations
of all the churches that are of very great
use in this world to-day were laid by men
who believed the Bible from lid to lid,
and if can not take it in that way will
not take it at all; just as if received a
letter that pretended to come from
friend, and part of it was his and part
some body else's, and the other part some
body else's, and it was sort of literary
mongrelism, l would throw the garbled
sheets into the waste basket.
No church of very great influence to-
day blu was built by those who believed
in an entire Bible. Neither will church
last long built on a part of the Bible.
You have noticed, 1 suppose, that as soon
as man begins to give up the Bible he is
apt to preach in some hall, and he has
an audience while he lives, and when he
dies the church dies. II thought that
my church in Brooklyn was built on a
quarter of the Bible, or half Bible, or
three-quarters of a Bible, or ninety nine
one hundredths of a Bible. 1 would ex-
pect it to die when 1 die; but when I
know it is built on the entire word of
God, know it will last two hundred years
after you and sleep the last sleep Oh,
tie thousand hands and ten thousand pull
pits, and ten thousand Christian churches,
is trying to save the world.
In Music Hall, Boston, for many years
stood Theodore Parker battling ortho-
doxy, giving it, as some supposed at that
time, its death wound. He was the most
fascinating man I ever heard or expect
to hear, and | came out from hearing
n h fra1D
"Well, that's the death of the Church."
On that street. and not far from being OPP
posite, stood Park Congregational
Church, called by Its enemies: ssHell-fire
Corner" Theodore Parker died, and his
church died with him; or, il it is in
existence, it is so small you can not see it
with the naked eye. Park Congregation
al Church still stands on fire Cor
ner," laundering away the magificent
truths of this glorious orthodoxy Just as
though Theodore Parker had never lived.
All that Boston, or Brooklyn, or New
York, or the world ever got that is worth
having came through the wide aqueduct
of orthodoxy from the throne of God.
Behold the splendors of character built
up orthodoxy. Who had the greatest hui
man intellect the world ever saw? Paul.
uus
head and shoulders above all the giants
of the age. Orthodox from scalp to heel.
Who was the greatest poet the ages ever
saw, acknowledged to be so both by in
fdels and Christians? John Milton, see-
ing more without eyes than any body else
ever saw with eyes. Orthodox from scalp
to heel. Who was the greatest reformer
the world has ever seen? so acknowledged
by the infidel as we'll as Dy the Christians?
Martin Luther. Orthodox from scalp to
heel.
Then look at the certitudes. Oh man,
believing in an entire Bible, where did you
come from? Answer:
Il descended from a perfect parentage
In Paradise, and Jehovah breathed into
my nostrils the breath of life. Lam a
son of God"
U man, believing in half-and- half
Bible, believing in a Bible in spots, where
did YOU come from? Answer:
1T Is all uncertain; in my ancestral
line away back there was an orang- outang
and a tadpole and a polywog, and it took
mtillons or years to get me evo1uted."
y man. believing in Bible in spots,
where are you going to when you quit
this world? Answer:
"Hoing into great to be, so on int
the great somewhere, and then I shall
pass through on to the great anywhere,
and shall probably arrive in the no.
where"
That is where thought you would fetch
up o man, believing in an entire Bible.
and believing with all your heart, where
are you going to when you leave this
world? Answer:
II am going to my Fathers house; I
am going into the companionship of my
loved ones who have gone before; am
going TO leave all my sins, and 1 am go
ing to be with God and like God forever
and forever"
Oh, the glorious certitudes of ortbo-
doxy!
Behold the splendors of orthodoxy In
Its announce ment of two destinies.
Palace and penitentiary. Palace with
gates on all sides through which all NAV
enter and live on celestial 1uxuries, world
without end, and all for the knocking and
the asking. A palace grander than il all
the Alhambras and Versailles and the
Windsor castles and the winter gard ems
and the imperial abodes of all the earth
were heayed up into one architectural
Rlx~-~--