The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1889-07-04
as there is a God and that this is His book

and that He has tie strength and the non
estly to fulfill His promises. One of the
ancient Emperors used to pride himself
on performing that which his cOunselors
said was impossible, and have to tell
you day that mans impossibilities are
Gods easies. ''Hath He said and shall
He not do it? Hath He commanded and
will He not bring it to pass?" The Chris
tan religion is coming to take possession
Of every ballot-bOx, of every school
house, of every home, of every valley, of
every mountain, of every acre of our
national domain. This Nation, notwith
standing all the evil influences that are
trying to destroy it, is going to live.
Never since, according to John Milton,
when Satan was
Hurled headlong flaming from the ethereal sky,
With hideous ruin and combustion, down
To bottomlesS perdltiOn-
Have the powers of darkness been so de-
termined to win this continent as they are
now. What Jewel it is-a jewel carved
in relief, the cameo of this planet! On
one side of US the Atlantic ocean, divid-
ing us from the worn out governments Of
Europe. On the other side, the Pacific
ocean, dividing us from the superstitions
of Asia. On the north of US the Arctic
sea, which is the gymnasium in which the
explorers and navigators developed their
courage. A continent ten thousand five
hundred miles long, seventeen million
square miles, and all of it, but about
one-seventh, capable of rich cultivation.
One hundred millions of population on
this continent of North and South Amer
ica-one hundred million, and room for
many hundred millions more. All fora
and all fauna, all metals and all precious
woods, and all grains and all fruits. The
Appalachian range the backbone, and
the rivers the ganglia carrying life all
through and out to the extremities. 18TH
mus of Darien, the narrow waist of giant
continent all to be under one govern
ment and all free, and all Christian, and
the scene of Christ's personal reign on
earth if, according to the expecta-
ton of many good people, He shall
at last set up His throne in this
world. Who shall have this hemis-
phere, Christ or Satan? Who shall have
the shores of her inland seas, the silver
of her Nevadas, the gold of her Colorados,
the telescopes of her observatories, the
brain of her universities, the wheat of
her prairies, the rice of her savannahs,
the two great ocean beaches-the one
reaching from Baffin's bay to Terra del
Fuego, and the other from Behring
straits to Cape Horn-and all the moral
and temporal and spiritual and everlast-
ing interests of a population vast beyond
all human computation? Who shall have
the hemisphere? You and [ will decide
that, or help to decide it, by conscientious
vote, by earnest prayer. by maintenance
of Christian institutions, by support of
great philanthropics, by putting body,
mind and soul on the right side of all
moral, religious and national move
ments.
ALL it will not be long before it will
not make any difference to you or to me
what becomes of this continent so far as
earthly comfort is concerned. All we will
want of it will be seven feet by three, and
that will take in the largest, and there
will be room and to spare. That is all of
this country we will need very soon-the
youngest of US. But we have an anxiety
about the welfare and the happiness of
the generations that are coming on, and
it will be grand thing if, when the arch
angels trumpet sounds, we find that our
sepuicher, like the one Joseph Of ATima-
thea provided for Christ, is in the midst
of a garden.
One of the seven wonders of the world
was the white marble watch tower of
Pharos Of Egypt. Sostratus the architect
and sculptor, after building that watch
tower cut his name on it. Then he cover
ed it with plastering, and to please the
King he put the monarch's name on the
outside of the plastering; and the storms
beat and the seas dashed in their fury,
and they washed off the plastering, and
and they washed it out and
they washed it down, but the name of So
stratus was deep cut in the imperishabIe
rock. So across the face of this Nation
there have been a great many names
written, across our finances, across our
religions, names worthy of remembrance,
names written on the architecture of our
churches, and our schools, and our asy-
lums, and our homes of mercy; but God
is the architect of this continent, and He
was the sculptor of all its grandeurs, and
long after, through the wash of the ages
and the tempests of centuries, all other
names shall be obliterated, the Divine
signature and the Divine name will be
brighter and brighter as the millenniums
go by, and the world shall see that the
God who made this continent has re-
deemed it by His grace from all its sor-
rows and from all its crimes.
Have you faith in such thing as that:
After all the chariots have been unwheel-
ed, and after all the war chargers have
been crippled, the chariots which Elisha
saw on the morning of his peril will roll
on in triumph, followed by all the armies
of Heaven on white horses. God could do
it, without US, but He will not The weak
est of US, the faintest of US, the smallest
Drained of us, shall have a part in the
triumph. We may not have our name. like !
Sostratus, cut in imperishable rock and
for centuries, but we shall be
remembered in a better place than that. !
even in the heart of Him who came to re-
deem US and redeem the world, and our
names will be seen close to the signature of
His wound, for as to-day He throws out
His arms toward us, He says: ''Behold, l |
have craven thee on the palms of nv !
hand" By the mightiest of all agencies, |
the potency of the prayer, 1 beg you seek |
o ur national welfare.
Some time ago there were four million |
six hundred thousand letters in the Dead |
Letter Post-Ofice at Washinpton-Iettare |