The Bossier banner., 1894-06-07


the soul. II was impossible that dis
position like Christ's should not have
demonstrated itself in His physiog-
nomy. Kindness as an occasional i'm
pulse may give no illumination to the
features, but kindness as the lifelong,
dominant habit will produce attrac-
tiveness of countenance as certainly as
the shining of the sun produce flowers.
Children are afraid ot scowling or
hard-visaged man. They cry out if he
proposes to take them. If he try to
caress them, he evokes a slap rather
than kiss. All mothers know
how hard it is to get their
children to go to a man or wom-
an of forbidding appearance. But
no sooner did Christ appear in the do
mestic group than there was an an
| fantile excitement, and the youngsters
| began to struggle to get out of their
mothers arms They could not hold
the children back. ''Stand back with
those childrenl" scolded some of the
disciples. Perhaps the little ones may
have been playing in the dirt, and
their faces may not have been clean,
or they may not have been well clad,
or the disciples may have thought
| Christ's religion was religion chiefly
for big folks. But Christ made the in
fantile excitement still livelier by His
saying that He liked children better
than grown people, declaring: Except
We become as little child We can
not enter into the kingdom of God"
Alas! for the people who do
not like children. They had better stay
out of Heaven, for the place is full of
them. That, l think, is one reason
why the vast majority of the human
race die in infancy. Christ is so fond
of children that He takes them to Him.
self before the world has time to de-
spoil and harden them, and so they are
now at the windows of the palace, and
on the doorsteps, and playing on the
green. Sometimes Matthew, or Mark,
or Luke tells story of Christ, and
only one tell it. but Matthew, Mark
and Luke all join in that picture Of
Christ girdled by children, and / know
by what occurred at that time that
Christ had a face full of geniality.
Not only was Christ altogether lovely
in His countenance, but lovely in His
habits l know, without being told,
that the Lord who made the rivers, and
lakes, and oceans was cleanly in His
| appearance. He disliked the disease
of leprosy, not only because it was dis
tressing, but because it was not clean,
and His curative words were: II will:
be thou clean" He declared Himself
in favor of thorough washing, and op-
posed to superficial washing, when He
denounced the hypocrites for making
clean only ''the outside of the plat
ter" and He applauds His disciples
by saying, ''Now are We Clean" and
giving directions to those who tasted;
among other things He says, Wash thy
/ face;" and toa blind man whom He was
doctoring: $50, wash in the pool of
| Sloan" And He Himself actually
washed the disciples feet, suppose
not only to demonstrate His own hu-
mility, but probably their feet needed
to be washed. The fact is, the Lord
was great friend of water | know
that from the fact that most of the
world is water. But when / find Christ
in such constant commendation of wa
ter. know He was personally neat, al.
though He mingled much among very
rough populations, and took such long
journeys on dusty highways. He wore
His hair long, according to the custom
of His land and time. but neither
trouble or old age had thinned or in,
jured His locks, which were never
| oh a11
His habits of personal appearance were
lovely.
Sobriety was also an established
habit of His life. In addition to the
water, He drank the juice of the grape
When at wedding party this bever
age gave out. He made gallons on gal
Ions of grape juice, but it was as un
like what the world makes in our time
as health is different from disease. ant
as calm pulses are different from the
paroxysms of delirum tremens. There
was no strychnine in that beverage, ol
logwood, or nux vomica. The tippler
and the sots who now quott
the wine-making in Cana of Cali
Z lee as an excuse for the
fiery and damning beverages of tn,
n nineteenth century, forget that th'
wine at the New Testament wedding
had two characteristics, the one tina
the Lord made it, and the other that i
{ was made out of water. Buy all yol
can of that kind and drink it at leas
. three times day, and send barrel o
, it around to my cellar. You can no
make me believe that the blessed Christ
: who went up and down healing tn
, sick, would create for man tha
style of drink which is the caus
: of disease more than all othe
: causes combined; or that He 'wh
4 calmed the maniacs into their righ
e mind, would create that style of drin
S which does more than anything else t
t fill insane asylums; or that He VIII
e was so helpful to the poor, would max
a style of drink that crowds the cart
= with pauperism; or that He who cam
], to save the nations from sin, woul
d create liquor that is the source of mos
:. of the crime that now stuffs the pen
}. tentiaries. A lovely sobriety W;
a written all over His face, from the hal
is line of the forehead to the bottom