The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1895-04-18

10 battle.
The next question, before which
the thoughtful man stands with
bowed head, is "Why are we here?"
Not even the roar of the mighty cat
aract is more impressive than the
answer which the honest heart must
give. One trembles in its presence,
for long line of duties and hard
ships and struggles and sorrows be-
come visible. These are the crucibles
in which our baser selves are to be
melted that the scum and dross may
be skinned of, while only pure
metal is left. These are the trip
hammer, which, with merciless fdel-
ity to spiritual law, is to pound the
rough bar of iron into the required
shape
We are here for development and
education. The peace and the mis-
cry which alternately fill our hearts
are simply the indicators that reveal
our degree of success or our partial
failure. The lessons must be learned,
and if we waste our time here we
handicap ourselves hereafter. God
never pays the lazy or Indifferent the
wages which industry receives
Every mile of the road must be trav-
elled, and no miracle either before
death or after it will shorten the
journey. You conceive very weak of
the Lord if you think you can take
the coin of an ignoble life and pur.
chase with it eternal bliss. You
cannot fill your soul with greed or
selfshness or sensual indulgence and
then drop through the grave to
| heaven. Forgetfulness is not so easy,
and if you wilfully get into debt to
spiritual law you must pay the debt
like an honest man, and there is no
way Of escape. Right living makes
easy dying. When you leave the
churchyard, if you have graduated
with honor. you will be received with
honor, and if you have not done SO
you will have to go to school again
somewhere. These are hard facts,
but they cannot be evaded.
The third question has been par.
tally answered already" Whittier
shall We go?" We shall go to place,
a localitn, and we shall be our entire
selves when we get there, not dimin.
ished by the loss of single passion
or appetite or angelic quality of char
acter. To sdeak of heaven as con
dition of mind is to use a rhetoracle
phrase signifying nothing. Heaver
is either somewhere or nowhere.
For our present porpose, however
8 it is not necessary to determine it,
} locality on the celestial map or t.
discuss the environment of the sou
the day after death. We accept th,
}, statement that our destination is no
reached when the physician declare
/ that the heart has. ceased to beat. W
| accept that statement as q suficien
r answer to the question "Whithe
, shall we go?" It might be delightful
t to inquire further, but progress il
$ that direction is barred.
] What we wish to insist upon
\ that wherever the next life may b
4 spent. and whatever its surrounding
J may be, the simple faith that ther
i is another life is uplifting and emo
? bling. The sceptic, the atheist, th
4 agnostic may reach very lofty EN-
8 nence of character, fartranscendin
: that Of the ordinary believer, BIT
0 the most perfect that ever lived car
a not be compared with the most pei
Q feet believer that ever existed. Thel
t is a something produced by fait
0 which honest doubt cannot furnis
. you with. You may lay your found'
o tions deep, you may build your arc
Q along the lines of beauty and syn
t metry, but unless you bind the stru'