The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1895-06-13
His Love Never Fails.

CHI, II.
We haye very seldom referred in
these sermons to the terrors connect
ed with theology, because we believe
that people need to be encouraged
rather than threatened.
If a preacher can make virtue at
tractive he need have little to say
about the consequences of vice.
If the preacher can so depict the
happiness of heaven that his hearers
turn their faces in the direction he
need never utter word about the
other locality.
When the beauty of holiness is
recognized love Of harmful pleasures
will be displaced and the appetite for
them destroyed.
1t is larger and a better work to
teach men to do good for goodness
sake than to menace them with name
less torment if they fail to keep the
law.
Moreover, careful study of human
nature reveals the curious fact that
fear of future punishment is not an
operative motive in the religious life
of the majority.
There is more power for good in
one paragraph concerning the love OF
God than in whole blazing chapter
on His wrath. There is actually more
spiritual influence in a picture of the
Man of Sorrows placing His finger
tips on the blind peasants eyes than
| the most vivid description Of an angry
God that ever fell from human lips.
For these reasons we have dwelt
more on heaven and heavenly things
than on the forked lightning Of wrath.
There are so many men and women
| to be lifted up from the slough Of
despond; 50 many whose heavy bur
dens can be lightened by pointing to
the dear Father whose everlasting
arm may be their stay and their sup.
port; so many whose eyes are dimmed
with the tears Of bereavement and
whose hearts will be made lighter il
they can catch glimpse Of the Celes-
tial City, where their loved ones await
their coming; so many who are tried
and tempted almost beyond endur-
ance, but who may be redeemed from
evil by words of kind sympathy. They
are to be found in every nook and
corner of the earth. Shall you moi
| lift up your voice to tell them, one
and all, that thorny paths are moi
roads to heaven; that Providence has
neither forgotten nor neglected them
that God and the angels are not afar
1 of, and will come "with healing in
their wings" for all the sorrows and
| trials and troubles of earth2
| Because we do this, do we fail te
recognize the facts of punishment o.
the seemingly inezorable law of retri
button? Is it not true that the larger
number of US know by hard expert
ence that penalty and guilt are effec
and cause, while only the smaller
number have actual personal knowl
edge OF Gods love and pity?
Punishment? Alas! it abound'
everywhere. Who has not been stung
by it? No one can ignore it, and NJ
one can evade it. One shudders t.
think now much punishment there il
on the earth, what wretchedness ant
suffering preyrl on account Of ou
misdeeds. The consequences of sil
hold US in a grasp Of iron. They ar
before our eyes all the time, and non
but the mentally blind can fail to SO
them. There isn't wayfaring sou
on the planet who does not recogniz
in his own life the direfnl effects 0
broken laws. We do not need to b
told that vice brings misery, for "
: are ourselves an object lesson illus
trating that fact. But we do nee
To be told again and again. until "