The Bossier banner., 1894-11-01

in all the cathedral, and that faint
taper on the altar. l looked up into
the venerable arches and saw the
shadows of centuries, and when the or
gan awoke the cathedral awoke, and
all the arches seemed to lift and quiv-
er as the music came under them.
That instrument did not seem to be
made out of wood and metal, but out
of human hearts, so wonderfully did 1t
pulsate with every emotion; now
laughing like child, now sobbing like
a tempest. At one moment the music
would die away until you could near
the cricket chirp outside the wall, and
then it would roll up until it seemed as
if the surge of the sea and the crash of
an avalanche hadstruck the organ-pipes
at the same moment. At one time
that night it seemed as if a squadron
of spirits weeping up from earth had
met squadron of descending angels
whose glory beat back the woe. Stand
ing there and looking at the taper on
the altar of the cathedral, l said:
''How much like many Christians
life! Shadows hover, and sometimes
his hope is dim, and faint, and flicker
ing, like taper on the altar. But at
what time God wills, the heavens
break forth with music upon his soul,
and the air becomes resonant as the
angels of God beat it with their shin
ing scepterS."
Oh, the Lord God has many fair and
beautiful daughters, but the fairest of
them all is she whose ways are pleas
antness and whose paths are peace!
Now, my brothers and sisters-for l
have right to call you all SOL know
some people look back on their an
cestral line, and they see they are de-
scended from the Puritans of Hugue-
nots, and they rejoice in that; but
L look back on my ancestral
line, and l see therein such a
mingling and mixture of the blood
of all nationalities that l feel akin to
all the world, and by the blood of the
Son of God, who died for all people,
address you in the bonds of universal
brotherhood. l come out as only a
servant, bringing an invitation to a
party, ard Iput it into your hand, say
ing: Come, for all things are now
ready" and urge it upon you and con-
.tinue to urge it, and, before / get
through, hope by the blessing of God,
to compel you to come in.
We must take care how we give the
invitation. My Christian friends, I
think sometimes we have just gone OPP
posite to Christ's command and we
have compelled people to stay out.
Sometimes our elaborated instructions
have been the hindrance. We gradu-
ate from our theological seminaries on
stills, and it takes five or six years be-
fore we can come down and stand right
beside the great masses of people,
learning their joys, sorrows, victories,
defeats. We get our heads so brim-
full of theological wisdom that we
have to stand very straight lest
they spill over. Now. what do the
great masses of the people care about
the technicalities of religion? What
do they care about the hypostatic
union or the difference between sub
lapsarian and supra -lapsarian? What
do they care for your profound ex-
plantations, clear as a London fog?
When a man is drowning he does not
want you to stand by the dock and de-
scribe the nature of the water into
which he has fallen, and tell him there
are two parts hydrogen gas and one OF
oxygen gas, with common density of
thirty-nine degrees fahrenheit; turn
ing to steam under a common atmos-
| pheric pressure of two hundred and
twelve. He does not want a chemical
lecture on water: he wants rope.
think often in our religious instruc-
tions we compel the people to stay out
by our church architecture. People
come in and they find things angular,
and cold, and stiff, and they GO away,
never again to come; when the church
ought to be great home-circle, every.
body having hymn book, giving hall
| of 1t to the one next him; every one
who has hand to shake hands, shak-
ing hands-the church architecture and
the church surroundings saying to the
| people, Come in and be at home" In.
stead Of that, l think all these sur.
o1ISh SOlAl pei tllC pGODlc u
stay out. Now, let US all repent OF
our sins and begin on the other track
and by our heartiness of affection, and
warmth of manner, and imploration OF
the Spirit of God, compel the
people to come in. How shall
we lead sinners to accept the Lords
invitation? I think we must certainly
begin by holy life. We must be
better men, better women, before we
can compel the people to come in the
kingdom of Jesus Christ. There are
fine essays being written in this day
about science and religion. tell you
the best argument in behalf of oul
holy Christianity: 1t is good man, q
good woman, life all consecrated tc
Christ. No infdel can answer it. Oh
let us by a holy example compel the
| people to come in!
read of minister of the Gospe'
who was very fond of climbing among
the Swiss mountains. One day he was
climbing among very dangerous places
and thought himself alone, when
he heard a voice beneath him saw
Father, look out for the safe path, an
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