The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1890-07-17

SCFuIlnys To Do Bl6 SGOr0uOuS6O VI WOEluS3
and do not know but from that passage
| in James, which to some of us is yet
misty and dim, there may roll out
new heaven and new earth: "The
prayer of faith shall save the sick" The
faith-curists may, in this war against
disease, be only skirmisEing before a
general engagement, in which all the
maladies of earth shall be routed.
Surely allopathy and homeopathy
and hydropathy and eclecticism need
reinforcement from somewhere. Why not
from the faith and prayer of the conse-
Grated? The mightiest school of medi-
cine may yet be the school of Christ.
do not know but that diseases, now by
| all schools pronounced incurable, may
| give way under Gospel bonn bardment.
I do not know but that the day may
come when faith and prayer shall raise
the dead. Strauss, and Woolston, and
Spinoza, and Hume, and Schleiermacher
rejected the miracles of the far past. 1
do not propose to be like them, and re-
| ject the miracles of the far future. This
1 know, the Christ of Ascension Day is
mightier than any natural laws, for on
the day of which l speak He trampled
down the strongest of them all. Law is
mighty, but He who made it is mightier.
Drive out fanaticism from your theolo-
gy, and give grace the throne.
Standing to-day on the Ascension
Peak of Mount Olivet 7 am also glad
dened at the closing gesture, the last
gesture Christ ever made. 'He lifted
up His hands and blessed them" says
tho inspired account of our Lords de-
parture. l am so glad He lifted up His
hands. Gestures are often more signif1-
can't than words, attitudes than argu-
ments. Christ had made gesture of
contempt when with His finger He
wrote on the ground; gesture of repul-
sion when He said: Get THE behind
me, Satan, ''Woe unto you, Pharisees
and hypocrites." But His last gesture,
His Olivetic gesture, is gesture of ben
ediction. He lifted up His hands and
blessed them. His arms are extended,
and the palms of His hands turned down
ward, and so He dropped benedicJion
upon Olivet, benediction upon Pales-
tine, benediction upon all the earth.
The cruel world took Him in at the
start on cradle of straw, and at last
thrust Him out with the point of the
spear; but benediction! Ascending I'M
til beneath, He saw on one side the
Bethlehem, where they put Him among
the cattle, and Calvary on the other
side, where they put Him among the
thieves. AS far as the excited and in-
tensifed vision of the group on Olivet
could see Him, and after He was so far
up they could no longer hear His words,
they saw the gesture of the outspread
hands, the 5enediction. And that is
His attitude to-day. His benediction
upon the worlds climates, and they are
changing, and will keep on changing
until the atmosphere shall be COM
mingling of October and June. Bene-
diction upon the deserts till they whiten
with lily, and blush with rose, and vel
low with cowslip, and emerald with
grass. Benediction upon governments
till they become more just and
humane. Benediction upon nations
till they kneel in prayer. Benedic-
ton upon the whole earth until every
mountain is an Olivet of conservation,
. |
mosaic of crystal, and opal, and sap
phire, divine splendors shall walk Oh,
take the benediction of His pardon, sin
ners young and sinners old, sinners
moderate, and sinners abandoned. Take
| the 5enediction of His comfort, and We
broken-hearted under bereavement and
privation and myriad woes Take His
, benediction all we sick-beds, whether
under acute spasms of pain or in long
, protracted invalidism. For orphanage
, and childlessness and Wid0whood a
benediction. For cradles and trund1e.
beds, and rocking-chairs of oeto-
genarians, benediction. For life and
, for death, for time and for eternity, for
J earth and for Heaven, a benediction.
, Sublimest gesture ever made, the last
gesture of our ascending Lord. "And
, He lifted up His hands and blessed
them"
Is our attitude the same? Is it the
clenched fist or the open palm? Is il
wrath or is it blindness? Is it diabolism
or Christian? God give US the grace OF
the open palm, open upward to get the
benediction, open downward to pro-
nounce benediction A lady was pass
ing along the street and suddenly ran
against a ragged boy, and she said: 81
beg your pardon my boy, did not mean
to run against you; I am very sorry. -
And the boy took off the piece of cap
he had upon his head and said: "You
have my parding, lady, and you
may run agin me and knock
me clear down; l won't CARE
And turning to comrade he
said: THAT nearly took me of
, my feet. Nobody ever asked my par
ding before" Kindnessl kindness!
, Fill the world with it. There has al
ways been too much of disregard to
others. Illustrated in 1850, in England,
when ninety-fve thousand acres of
marshes were drained for health and
for crop-raising, and the sportsmen de-
stroyed the drainage works because
: they wanted to keep the marshes for
{ hunting-ground, where they could
shoot wild ducks. The same selfish.
ness in all ages. Oh, for kindness that
! would rnol5o 0ur Jifa n own, y1l, r,-,,v .,,cr