The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1890-03-27

No, you must have the certificate hung
amidships, telling how many tons it
carries, and how long ago it was built,
and who built it, and all about it. And
you can not expect me to risk the cargo
of my immortal interests on board any
craft till you tell me what it is made of,
and where it was made, and what it is.
When, then, l ask you who this is you
want me to trust in, you tell me He was
a very attractive person. You tell me
that the cotemporary writers describe
Him, and they give the color of His
eyes, and the color of His hair, and they
describe His whole appearance as being
respondent.
Christ did not tell the children to
come to Him. "Suffer little children to
come unto me-" was not spoken to the
children; it was spoken to the Phari-
sees. The children had come without
any invitation. No sooner did Jesus
appear than the little ones pitched from
their mothers arms, an avalanche of
| beauty and love into His lap. ''Sutfer
little children to come unto me-" That
was addressed to the Pharisees; not to
to put his head down on His bosom;
John could not help but put his head
there. Such eyes, such cheeks, such
chin, such hair, such physical condition
and appearance-why, it must have
been completely captivating and win
some. suppose look at Him was just
to love Him. o! how attractive His
manners! Why, when they saw Christ
coming along the street they ran into
their houses and they wrapped up their
invalids as quick as they could and
brought them out that He might look at
them. O! there was something so pleas
ant, so inviting, so cheering in every
thing He did, in His very look. When
these sick ones were brought out did He
say: Take away these sores; do not
trouble me with these leprosies?" No,
no; there was a kind look, there was a
gentle word, there was healing touch.
They could not keep away from Him.
In addition to this softness of char
acter there was a fiery momentum. How
the old hypocrite trembled before Him.
How the kings of the earth turned pale.
Here is plain man, with few sailors
at His back, coming off the Sea of Cali
lee, going up to the palace of the
Caesars, making that palace quake to the
foundations, and uttering a word of
mercy and kindness which throbs
through all the earth, and through all
the heavens, and through all the ages
.! He was loving Christ. But it was
not effeminacy, or insipidity of char
acter; it was accompanied with majesty,
infinite and omnipotent. Lest the
world should not realize His earnest
ness, this Christ mounts the cross. You
say: ''If Christ has to die, why not let
Him take some deadly portion and lie
on couch i'm some bright and beautiful
home? If He must die, let Him expire
amid all kindly attentions" No, the
world must hear the hammers on
the head of the spikes. The world must |
listen to the death rattle of the sufferer. |
The world must feel His warm blood |
dropping on each cheek, while it looks |
up into the face of His anguish. And so |
the cross must be lifted, and the hole is /
dug on the top of Calvary, 1t must be
dug three feet deep, and then the cross
IS laid on the ground, and the sufferer is
stretched upon it, and the nails are
pounded through nerve, and muscle. and |
bone, through the right hand, through
the left hand: and then they shake His
right hand to see if it is fast, and then
they heave up the wood, half a dozen
shoulders under the weight, and thew
put the end of the cross to the mouth
of the hole, and they plunge it in. all the
weight of His body coming down for the
first time on the spikes; and while some
hold the cross upright, others throw in
the dirt and trample it down, and tram
pie it hard.
., plant that tree we'll and thorough
~, for it is to bear fruit such as no other
tree ever bore. Why did Christ endure
1t? He could have taken those rocks.
and with them crushed His crucifiers,
lie could have reached up and grasped
the sword of the omnipotent God and
with one clean cut have tumbled them
into perdition. But no, He was to die.
He must die. His life for my life. His
life for your life. In one of the
European cities a young man died on
The scaffold for the crime of murder.
Some time after the mother of this
young man was dying, and the priest
came in, and she made confession to the
priest that she was the murderer. and
not her son; in a moment of anger she
had struck her husband a blow that
slew him. The son came suddenly into
5he room, and was washing away the {
Wounds and trying to resuscitate his
ather, when some one looked through
'he window and saw him, and supposed !
lim to be the criminal That Young ]
nan died for his own mother You saw: ]
1T was wonderful that he never ex- !
posed her." But tell you of grander I
hing. Christ, the Son of God, died !
lot for His mother, not for His father. |
'ut for His sworn enemies. 0, such a i
christ as that-so loving, so self-sacri-
icing-can you not trust Him?
I think there are many under the {
pirit of God who are saying: 81 will ,
rust Him if you will only tell me how:' '
md the great question asked is: i
How? how?'' 1
And while answer your question I c
ook up and utter the prayer which Row I
and Hill SO often uttered in the midst /