The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1897-01-07

vagabond century of all time. You
had bad mother and bad grand.
mother. Some of the preceding CEN
turies were not fit to live in-thelr
morals were so bad, their fashions
were SO outrageous, their ignorance
was SO dense, their inhumanity so ter
| rife
o, dying nineteenth century! before
you go we take this opportunity of
| telling you that you are the best and
the mightiest of all the centuries of
| the Christian era, except the first,
which gave us Christ, and you rival
that century in the fact that you, more
than all the other centuries put to-
gether, are giving the Christ to all the
| world. One hundred and twelve thou
sand dollars at one meeting few days
ago contributed for the worlds evan
gelization. Look at what you have
done. o. thou abused and deprecated
century, All the Pacific isles, barred
and bolted against the Gospel when
you began to reign, now all open, and
some of them more Christianized than
America. No more, as once, writ
ten over the church doors in Cape
Colony, Dogs and IIottentos not
admitted" The late Mr.. Dar-
win contributing $25 to the
Southern missionary society. Canni-
| balism driven off the face of the earth.
The gates of all nations wide open for
the Gospel entrance when the church
| shall give up it's intellectual dandy
ism, and quit fooling with higher
| criticism, and plunge into the work,
as at life-saving station the crew
pull out with lifeboat to take the
| sailors off ship going to pieces in the
Skerries. l thank you, old and dying
century; all Heaven thanks you, and
surely all the nations of the earth
| ought to thank you. l put before
your eyes, soon to be dim for the last
| sleep, the facts tremendous. l take
your wrinkled old hand and shake it
| congratulation. | bathe your fevered
brow, and freshen your parched lips
from the fountains of eternal victory.
But my text suggests that there are
some things that this century ought to
do before he leaves US. "Thus saitI,
the Lord. Set thine house in order;
| for thou shalt die, and not live" We
| ought not to let this centuryg go before
two or three things are set in order.
For one thing, this quarrel betwecn
| labor and capital. The nineteenth
century inherited it from the eigh-
teenth century, but do not let thio
nineteenth century bequeath it to the
| twentieth. "What we want" says
labor, ''to set us right is more strikes,
and more vigorous work with torch
and dynamite. what we want"
| says capital, ''is tighter grip on the
working classes and compulsion to
take what wages we chose to pay,
without reference to their needs. 4"
Both wrong as sin. Both defiant.
Until the day of judgment no settle
, ment of the quarrel if you leave it to
British, Russian or American politics.
| The religion of Jesus Christ ought to
come in within the next four years
and take the hand of capital and em-
| ploye and say: You have tried every-
thing else, and failed; now try the
Gospel cf kindness. No more oppres.
| sion anG no more strikes. The Gospel
| of Jesus Christ will swceten this acer-
bity, or it will go on to the end of
time, and the fires that burn the world
up will crackle in the ears of wrath
full prosperity and indignant toll while
| their hands are still clutching at each
others throats. Before this century
sighs it's last breath l would that
swarthy labor and easy opulence
| Ia Al.
of Nazareth JOIN their hands in
pledge of everlasting kindness
and peace. When men and women
are dying they are apt to divide Among
their children mementoes, and one is
given watch, and arothera a vast ind
another picture. and another robe
Let this veteran century before 1t dies
| impressiveness that shall last forever,
that old family keepsake, the golden
keepsake, which nearly 1900 years ago
was handed down from the black rock
of the Mount of Beatitudes: There
fore all things whatsoever We would
that men should do to you, do ye even
so to them; for this is the law and the
prophets"
My hearers, as the nineteenth cen.
tury was born while the face of this ma.
tion was yet wet with tears because OF
the fatal horseback ride that Washing.
| ton took out here at Mount Vernon,
| through December snow storm,
wish the next century might be
born at a time when the face oi
| this nation shall be wet with the
tears of the literal Or spiritual arrival
of the great Deliverer of nations, OF
whom ST. John wrote with apocalyptid
pen: And ! saw, and behold white
horse: and He that sat on him had q
bow; and a crown was given unto
Him; and He went forth conqucring
and to conquer"
| Heaven Is Here.
~