The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1890-09-04

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BY giving you SO much earthly luxury
and refinement, He intimated that lie
would not have you enjoy yourselves,
but He would not have you wrap your
selves up in them as a cloak to hide
your sins. God now walks in your
garden as He did in Eden, even in the
cool of the day, and He stands by your
well as He did by well in Samaria,
and He would make your comfort
on earth type of your rapture in
Heaven.
Furthermore! Mere soundness of re-
ligious belief will not hide our iniqui-
ties. There are men whose heads are
as sound as Jonathan Edwards or John
Wesley, whose hearts are as rotten as
Tom Paine's or Charles Guiteau's. 1t
is important that we be theoretical
Christians. 1t is utter folly in this day
for man to nave no preference for any
one form of faith, when it is so easy
to become conversant with the faith OF
the different sects An intoxicated
man staggered into my house one
night begging lodging. He made
great pretentions to religion.
asked where he went to church.
He said: Nowhere; l belong to lib
eral Christianity" But there are
| those who never become Christians be-
cause their obstinacy prevents them
from ever taking fair view of what
religion is, They are like brute
beast in the fact that their greatest
strength lies in their horns. They are
combatant, and all they are ever will
ing to do for their souls is to enter an
ecclesiastical fight. 1 have met men
who would talk all day upon the ninth
chapter of Romans, who were thorough
ly helpless before the fourteenth chapter
of John. But there are those who hav-
| ing escaped from this condition, are
now depending entirely upon their
soundness of religious theory The
doctrines of mans depravity and Christ's
atonement and Gods sovereignty
are theoretically received by
them. But alas, there they STOP
is only the she'll of Christianity con-
| tanning no evangelical life. They stand
looking over into Heaven and admire
| its beauty and its song, and are SO
pleased with the looks from the outside
that they can not be induced to enter.
| They could make better argument for
the truth than ten thousand Christians
who have in their hearts received it. If
syllogisms and dilemmas and sound
proposition and logical deductions
could save their souls, they would be
among the best of Christians. They
| w HoH nd
faith and the atonement, while they
| never felt ono sorrow for sin nor exer-
cised moments confidence in the great
sacrifice. They are almost immovable
in their position. We can not pre-
sent any thing about the religion of
Christ that they do not know. Tho
| Saviour describes the fate of such ons
in His parable: ''And that servant
which knew his Lords will, and pre-
pared not himself, neither did accord
ing to his will, shall be beaten with
many stripes" Theories in religion
have beauty of their own, but if they
result in no warmth Of Christian life it
is the beauty of hornblende and field
spar. Do not call such GOODNESS and
hardness religion. The River of Life
never freezes over. Icicles never hang
on the caves of Heaven. Soundness Of
intellectual belief is a beautiful cloak
well woven and well cut but in the
hour when God shall demand our souls
it will not of itself be sufficient to hide
our iniquities.
My friends, can it be that have been
unkind and torn from you some hope
upon which you were resting for time
and eternity? Verify, I would be un.
kind if, having taken away your cloak,
l did not offer you something better.
This is a cold world, and you want
something to wrap around your spirit
Christ offers you a robe to-day.
He wove it Himself and He
will now with His own hand
prepare it just to fit your soul.
The righteousness He offers is like the
coat He used to wear about Judea, with
out seam from top to bottom. There is
day of doom. Coward would l be if l
did not dare tell you this. 1t shall be
day of unutterable disappointment to
those who have trusted in their official
dignity, in their elegant manners, in
their outward morality, in their
soundness of intellectual belief.
But 1 see a soul standing before God
who once was thoroughly defiled. Yet
look at him and you can not find single
transgression anywhere about him.
How is this? you ask. Was he not once
a Sabbath breaker, blasphemer a
robber, perjurer, thief, murderer?
Yes, but Christ hath cleansed him.
Christ hath lifted him up. Christ hath
rent off his rags. Christ hath clothed
him in spotless robe of righteous
ness. That is the reason why you can
not see his former degradation. This
glorious hope in Christs name is prof
fered to-day. Wandering and hayward
soul, is not this salvation worth COM
ing for, worth striving for? Do
you wonder that SO many with bitter
weeping have besought it and with a
: very enthusiasm of sorrow cried for Di-
vine compassion? Do you wonder at the
earnestness of those who stand in pull
pits beseeehing men to be reconciled to
God? Nay, do you wonder at the i'm,
portunity of the Holy Ghost who