The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1891-07-02

nifcant and glorious" On the morning
of December we were at the foot of
the most sacred mountain of all the
earth, Mount Calvary There is no
more doubt of the locality than of
Mount Washington or Mont Blanc.
On the bluff of this mountain
which is the exact shape of the
human skull, and so called in the Bible
1.-THE place of a SKULL there is room
for three crosses. There I saw a stone
so suggestive I rolled it down the hill,
and transported it. 1t is at the top of
this wall, white stone, with crimson
veins running through it, the white
typical of purity, the crimson suggestive
of the blood that paid the price of our
redemption. We place it at the top of
the memorial wall, for above all in this
church for all time, in sermon, and
song, and prayer, shall be the sacrifice
OF Mount Calvary. Look at it. That
stone was one of the rocks rent at the
crucihxion. That heard the cry: ''It is
finished" Was any church on earth
honored with such memorial?
Beneath it are two tables of stone
which had brought from Mount Sinai,
where the Law was given. Three camels
were three weeks crossing the desert to
fetch them. When at Cairo, Egypt, [
proposed to the Christian Arab that he
bring one stone from Mount Sinai, he
said: ''We can easier bring two rocks
than one, for we must balance them on
the back of the camel,'' and l did not
think until the day of their arrival how
much more suggestive would be the two,
because the Law was written on two
tablets of stone. Those stones marked
with the words mount Sinai felt the
earthquake that shook the mountains
when the Law was given. The
lower stone of the wall is from
Mars Hill, the place where Paul
stood when he preached that famous
sermon on the brotherhood of the
human race, declaring: 'God hath
made of one blood all nations"
Since Lord Elgin took the famous stat
uary from the Acropolis, the hill ad-
joining Mars Hill, the Greek govern
ment makes it impossible to transport
to other lands any Egyptian antiqui-
ties, and armed soldiery guard not only
the Acropolis but Mars Hill. That
stone l obtained by special permission
from the queen of Greece, a most
gracious and brilliant woman, who
received us as though we had
been old acquaintance, and through
Mr.. Tricoupis, the prime minister of
Greece, and Mr.. Snowden, our Ameri-
can minister plenipotentiary and DIR.
Manatt, our American consul, that sug-
gestive tablet was sawed from the pull
pit of rock on which Paul preached.
Now you understand why we have
marked it ''The Gospel" Long after
my lips shall utter in this church their
last message, these lips of stone will
tell of the Law, and the Sacrifice and the
Gospel. This day present them to this
church and to all who shall gaze upon
them. Thus you have my answer to the
question: what mean you bv these
stones?"
But you must not divert me from the
question of the text as / first put it. I
have interpreted these four memorials
on my right hand, but there are hum
dreds of stones in these surrounding
walls and underneath us, in the founda-
tions, and rising above US in the towers
The quarries of this and transatlantic
countries at the call of crowbar and
chisel have contributed toward this
structure. What mean We by these
, stones?"
You mean among other things that
they shall be an earthly residence for
Christ Christ did not have much of a
home when He was here. Who and
where is that child crying? It is Jesus,
born in an clubhouse. Where is that
hard breathing? It is Jesus, asleep on
a rock. Who is that in the back part
of that fishIng-smack, with a sailors
roug hovercoat thrown over Him? It is
Jesus, the wornout voyager. o Jesus!
it is not time that Thou hadst a houseP
l give Thee this. Thou didst give it to
us first, but we give it back to Thee,
1t is too good for us, but not half good
enough for Thee. OH come in and
take the best seat here. Walk I'D and
down all these aisles. Speak through
these organ-pipes. Throw Thine arm
over us in these arches. In the famine
of these brackets of fire speak to us.
saying: Il am the Light of the World. -
O King! make this Thine audience cham
Der. Here proclaim righteousness and
make treaties We clap our hands, we
uncover our heads, we lift our ensigns.
we cry with multudinous reclamation
until the place rings and the heavens
listen: ''Oh King! live foreverp'
Is it not time that He who was born
in strangers house and buried in a
strangers grave should have an earthly
house? Come in. o Jesus! not the
corpse of a buried Christ, but radiant
and triumphant Jesus, conqueror of
earth, and Heaven, and hell.
He lives, all glory to His name.
He lives, my Jesus, still the same:
Oh, the sweet joy this sentence gives
know that my Redeemer lives.
Blessed be His glorious name for everi
Again, if anyone asks the question of
the text what mean We by these
stones?" the reply is, we mean the COM
munion of saints. Do you know that
there is not single denomination of
Christians in Brooklyn that has not
aOufri hufa3 r0r,o4Is,o. =,