The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1894-04-21
possession Of the soul it Immediately

critics are always solemn. They car /
ry several country graveyards in
their faces. They are fearful when
there is nothing to cry about, and in
their prayers they catch for their
breath, and have such general doieful- |
ness that they disgust young people /
with religion. Ween had one of them in
one of my churches. When he exhorted /
he always deplored the low state OF re- i
ligion in other people, and when he
prayed it was an attack OF hysteria, !
and he went into a paroxysm |
of obs and abs that seemed to
demand resuscitation. He went
ON in this way until we
had to expel him from church for
stealing the property entrusted to him
as administrator, and for other vices
that / will not mention, and he wrote
me several letters not ct all complf
mentary from the west saying that he
was daily praying for my everlasting
destruction. A man can not have
hypocrisy in his heart without some
how showing it in his face. All intel
ligent people who witness it know 1T
Here comes another chisel, and that
belongs to the old-fashioned religion.
1t first takes possession of the whole
soul, washing out sins by the blood OF
the Lamb and starting Heaven right
there and then. This done deep
down in the heart, religion says:
''Now let me go up to the win
dows and front gate of the face
and set up some signal that / have
taken possession of this castle. l will
celebrate the victory by an illumina-
ton that no one can mistake. l have
made this man happy, and now | will
make him look happy. l will draw
the corner of his mouth as far up as
they were drawn down. / will take the
contemptuous curl away from the lip
and nostril. will make his eyes flash
and his cheeks glow at every mention
of Christ and Heaven. l will m AXE
even the wrinkles of his face look like
burrows plowed for the harvests OF
joy. l will make what we call the
s.crow's feet around his temples sug-
gestive that the dove of peace has been
alirhting there" There may be signs
of trouble on that face, but trouble
sanctified. There may be scars OF bat
tie on that face, but they will be scars
of campaigns won.
| But can tell you Of a more sympa.
thetic and more tender and more low
ing face than any of the faces have
mentioned. mo, you can not" says
, some one. can and will. 1t is the
face of Jesus Christ as He was on earth
and is know in Heaven. When pre-
pairing my ssLife of Christ" entitled
From Manager to Throne" / ran
, sacked the art galleries and port
folios of the world to find picture
, of our Sayiour's face that might b
most expressive, and I saw it a
francesca Francia painted it in thu
sixteenth century, and as the emerald
intaglio of the sixth century presented
: it, and as a fresco in the catacomb
/ near Rome preserved it, and as Leonard
{ Da vinci showed it in "The Last Sup
{ per-" and looked in the Louvre ant
} the Luxembourg and the Vatican AM
+ the Dresden and the Berlin and Nea
t politan and London galleries for tn
z most inspiring face of Christ, an
I: many of the presentations wer
t wonderful for pathos and males
|" ty, and power, and execution
o but although 1 selected that by Ar
!, Scheffer as in some respects the mos
r expressive, felt, as we all feel, tina
e our Christ has never yet been presente
o either in sculpture or painting, an
J, that we will have to wait until we ris
n to the upper palace, where we shaHse
# Him as He is. What gentle face
# must have been to induce the babes
s. struggle out of their mothers arm
into His armsl What an expressi,
le face it must have been when one r
d proving look of it threw stalwal
n Peter into fit of tears! What plea
y ing face it must have been to lead II
h. Psalmist in prayer to say OF it: Loo
le upon the face of Thine anointed
n What sympathetic face it must ha'
m been to encourage the sick woman, WI
lg was beyond any help of the doctors,
he touch the hem OF His garment VIII
,e a suffering face it must have be-
of when suspended on the perpendicul
dl and horizontal pieces of the wood
d. martyrdom, and His antagonis
or slapped the pallid cheek with the
~ rough hands, and befouled it with &
IS! saliva of their plasphemous lips! VIII
ne a tremendous face it must have be
r. to lead st. John to describe it in t
Ne coming Judgment as scattering the III
IN verse when He says: "From whose ia
lis the earth and the Heaven fed away
ed Oh, Christ! Once the Nazarene, b
it now the Celestial! Once OF cross, b
on now of throne! Once crowned wi
as singing bramble, but now coronet
Ily with the Jewels of ransomed empir
es. Turn on us Thy pardoning face a
yes forgive us; Thy sympathetic face a
IN console us; Thy suffering face a
an have Thy atonement avail for
Sc. Thy omnipotent face and rese
ed us. Oh, what alface! So SCARED,
re- lacerated, so resplendent, SO ov
Ter whelmingly glorious that the seraph
tie put wing to wing, and with their &C
tut bined pinions keep off some of the lus
he that is too mighty even for eyes che
yer bic or archangelic; and yet this morn
it turning upon.us with a sheathed spl
IL dor like that with which He appea
our when He said to the mothers bash
sci about presenting their children: IS
my fer them to comes" and to the p
it waif of the street Neither do c