The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1890-07-10

come ana knock at bne uOor VI yOuA
heart, you open and say: Come in,
my brother, and tell me all you know
about Christ and Heaven"
Listen to two or three questions: Are
you as happy as you used to be when
you believed in the truth of the Chris
tian religion? Would you like to have
your children travel on in the road in
which you are now travelling? You had
a relative who professed to be Chris
tan, and was thoroughly consistent,
living and dying in the faith OF the
Gospel. Would you not like to live the
same quiet life and die the same peace
full death? have letter, sent me by
one who has rejected the Christian re-
ligion 1t says: Il am old enough to
know that the joys and pleasures of life
are evanescent, and to realize the fact
that it must be comfortable in old age
to believe in something relative to the
future, and to have faith in some sys-
tenn that proposes to save. am free to
confess that l would be happier If
could exercise the simple and beautiful
faith that is possessed by many whom l
know. l am not willing out of the
church or out of the faith. My state Of
uncertainty is one of unrest. Some
times l doubt my immortality, and look
upon the death-bed as the closing scene,
after which there is nothing. What
shall do that have not Gonew Ahl
skepticism is dark and doleful land.
Let me say that this Bible is either true
or false. If it be false, we are as we'll
off as you; if it b. true, then which of
us is safe?
Let me also ask whether your trouble
has not been that you confounded
Christianity with the inconsistent
character of some who profess it. You
are lawyer. In your profession there
are mean and dishonest men. Is that
any thing against the law? You are a
doctor. There are unskilled and con-
temptible men in your profession. Is
that any thing against medicine? You
are merchant. There are thieves and
defrauders in your business. Is that
any thing against merchandise? Be-
hold, then, the unfairness of charging
upon Christianity the wiclkedness of its
disciples. We admit some of the
charges against those who profess re-
ligion. Some of the msot gigantic
swindlers of the present dag have been
carried on by members of the church.
There are men standing in
the front ranks in the churches
who would not be trusted for
FIVE dollars with good collateral security.
They leave their business dishonesties
in the vestibule of the church as they
go in and sit at the communion. Hav-
ing concluded the sacrament, they get
up, wipe the wine from their lips, go
out, and take up their sins where they
left off. To serve the devil is their reg
ular work; to serve God, sort of play
spell. With Sunday sponge they ex-
pect to wipe off from their business slate
all the past weeks inconsistencies.
You have no more right to take such a
mans life as a specimen of religion
than you have to take the twisted irons
and split timbers that lie on the beach
at Coney Island as a specimen of an
American ship. 1t is time thatwe draw
line between religion and the frailties
| of those who profess it.
Do you not feel that the Bible, take it
all in all, is about the best book that
the world has ever seen? Do you know
any book that has as much in it? Do
you not think, upon the whole, that its
influence has been benefcient? l come
to you with both hands extended toward
In han nd I ho 1o0 DI11O III
in the other L have nothing. This
Bible in one hand l will surrender for.
ever just as soon as in my other hand
you can put book that is better. To-
day invite you back into the good, old.
fashioned religion of your fathers-tc
the God whom they worshipped, to the
Bible they read, to the promises on
which they leaned, to the cross on
which they hung their eternal expecta-
lions. You have not been happy day
since you swung off; you will not be
happy minute until you swing back.
Again: There may be some of you
who, in the attempt after Christian
life, will have to run against powerful
passions and appetites. Perhaps it is q
disposition to anger that you have tc
contend against; and perhaps, while in
a serious mood, you hear of something
that makes you feel that you mus
swear or die. know Christian mar
who was once so eXasperated that he
said to mean customer: 81 can moi
swear at you myself, for am member
of the church, but if you will go down.
stairs my partner in business will
swear at you" All your good resoIu
tions heretofore have been torn to tat
ters by explosions of temper. Now
there is no harm in getting mad if yoU
only get mad at sin. You need to bride
and saddle those hot-breathed passions
and with them ride down injustice and
wrong. There are thousand things in
the world that we ought to be mad at
There is no harm in getting red-hot il
you only bring to the forge that which
needs hammering. A man who has NJ
power of righteous indignation is ar
imbecile. But be sure it is a righteous
Indignation, and not a petulancy thai
blurs and unravels and depletes the
| soul.
The ship Emma, bound from Gotten
burg to Harwick, was calling on. wher