The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1891-12-03

ouE NhielUdln on Lake Galllee- we
must keep to the beach, for
our feet are not shod with
the supernatural, and we remem-
Der what poor work Peter made OF
it when he tried to walk the water.
Christ, our leader, is on the top of the toss
ing waves, and it is about half-past three
IN the morning, and it is the darkest
time just before day break. But by the
flashes of lightning we see Him putting
his feet on the crest of thG wave, STEP
ping from crest to crest, walking the
white surf, solid as thought it were
frozen snow. The sailors think ghost
Is Striding the tempest, but He cheers
them into placidity, showing Himself
to be a great Christ for sailors And
He walks the Atlantic and Pacific and
Mediterranean and Adriatic now, and
if exhausted and affrighted voyagers
will listen for His voice at half-past
three o'clock in the morning on any sea,
indeed at any hour, they will hear His
voice of compassion and encourage
ment.
We continue to follow our Chieftain
and here is blind man by the way
side. 1t is not from cataract of the
eye or from ophthalmia, the eye-ex-
tinguisher of the east; but he was born
blind. 'Be opened p he cries, and first
there is a smarting of the eye-lids, and
then n twilight, and then mid-noon,
and then shout II see l see - Tell
it to all the blind, and they, at least,
can appreciate it. And here is the
widows dead son, and here is the ex-
PRED damsel and here is Lazarus
Liver our Chieftan cries, and they
live. Tell it through all the bereft
households; tell it among the
graves. And here around Him
gather the deaf and the dumb
and the sick, and at His
word they turn on their touches,
and blush from awful pallor of helpless
illness to rubicund health, and the
swollen foot of the dropsical sufferer
becomes feet as roe on the mountains.
The music of the grove and household
wakens the deaf ear, and lunatic and
maniac return into bright intelligence,
and the leper's breath becomes as sweet
as the breath of a child, and the flesh
as roseate. Tell it to all the sick,
all the homes, through all the
hospitals. Tell it at twelve o'clock at
night; tell it at two o'clock in the morn
ing; tell it at half-past three, and in the
last watch of the night, that Jesus
walks the tempest.
Still we follow our Chieftain until
the. government that gave Him no pro-
lection insists that He pay tax, and too
poor to raise the requisite two
dollars and seventy-five cents, He
orders Peter to catch fish that has in
its mouth Roman slater, which is a
bright coin land you know that fish
naturally bite at anything bright, but
it was miracle that Peter should have
caught it at the first haul.
Now we follow our Chieftain until,
for the paltry sum of fifteen dollars,
Judas sells Him to His pursuers. Tell it
to all the betrayed! If for ten thousand
dollars, or for five hundred dollars, or
for one hundred dollars your interests
were sold out, consider for how much
cheaper sum the Lord of earth and
Heaven was surrendered to humiliation
and death. But here, while following
Him on spring night between eleven
and twelve o'clock, we see the flash of
torches and lanterns, and we hear the
cry of mob of nihilistS. They are
breaking in on the quietude of Gethse-
name with clubs-like a mob with
sticks chasing a mad dog. 1t is a herd
Of Jerusalem" toughs led on bv
J Judas to arrest Christ and punish Him
FOR being the loveliest and best
being that ever lived. But rioters are
liable to assail the wrong man.
How were they to be sure which one
vas Jesus ? II will kiss Him." saws
Judas, land by that signal you will
Snow on whom to lay your hands of ar
est" So the kiss which throughout
he human race and for all time God in |
ended as the most sacred demonstra- |
ion of affection, for Paul writes to the
Romans and Corinthians and the Thes-
alOnlans concerning the ''holv kiss" |
md Peter celebrated the kiss of charity.
md with that conjunction of lips La
'an met Jacob, and Joseph met his
and Aaron met Moses. and
samuel met Saul, and Jonathan met
David, and Orpah parted from Naomi.
ud Paul separated from his friends
t Ephesus, and the father in the
arabic greeted the returning prodigal.
nd when the millennium shall come
We are told righteousness and peace
will kiss each other, and all the world
5 invited to greet Christ, as inspiration
ries out: kiss the Son, lest He be
ngry and We perish by the way''-that
lost sacred demonstration of reunion
nd affection was desecrated as the
lthy lips of Judas touched the pure
heck of Christ, and the horrid smacl,
t that kiss has its echo in the treach-
ry and debasement and hypocrisy of
ges.
AS in December, 1889, walked on the
'ay from Bethany, and at the foot of
lount Olivet, a half mile from the
all of Jerusalem, through the Garden
Gethsemane, and under the eight
enerable olive trees now standing.
leir genealogical ancestors having
cen witnesses of the occurrences
ooken of, the scene of horror and of
lime came back to me, until I shud-