The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1897-05-27


Away with your talk about hypostatic
union. and soteriology of the council of
Trent, and the metaphysics of religion
which would freeze practical Chris
tanlty out of the world; but pass along
tnls Gardeners coat to all nations that
they may touch the hem of it and feel
the thrill of the Christlv brotherhood.
Not supposing the man to be Ce sar,
not supposing Him to be Socrates, but
surprising Him to be the gardener"
Oh, that is what helped Joseph Wedg
wood, toiling amid the heat and the
dust of the potteries, until he could
make for Queen Charlotte the first
royal table service of English manufac-
ture. That was what helped James
Watt. scotfed at and caricatured. until
he could put on wheels the thunder
bolt of power which roars by day and
by night in every furnace of the loco
motive engines of America. That is
what helped Hugh Miller, toiling amid
the Quarrles of Cromarty, until every
rock became to him volume
of the worlds biography, and
he found the footsteps of the Creator
in the old red sandstone. Oh. the world
wants a Christ for the office, a Christ
for the kitchen. Christ for the shop,
Christ for the banking house, a Christ
for the garden, while spading and
planting and irrigating the territory.
Oh, of course we want co see Christ at
last in royal robe and bediamonded, a
celestial equestrian mounting the white
horse, but from this Easter of 1897 to
our last Easter on earth we most need
to see Christ as Mary Magdalene saw
Him at the davbreak, "supposlng Him
to be gardener
Another thing which the church and
| the world have not noticed in regard to
the resurrection of Christ is that He
made His first post-mOrtem appearance
to one who had been the seven-deviled
Mary Magdalene. One would have
supposed He would have made His first
posthumous appearance to a woman
who had always been illustrious for
goodness. There are sanity women
who have always been sanity, SANITY
in girlhood, sanity in infancy. always
sanity. In nearly all our families
there have been sanity aunts. III my
family circle it was sanity Aunt
Phoebe; in yours, sanity Aunt Martha,
or sanity Aunt Ruth. One always
sanity. But not SO was the one spoken
of in the text
While you are not to cOnfOund her
with the rcpentant courtesan who had
made her long locks do the work of
towel at Chrst's foOtwashing, you are
not to forget that she was exercised of
seven devils. What captive of
demonology she must have been.
What chorus of all dia-
eyes, and two for the hands, and two
for the feet, and one for the tongue.
Seven devils. Yet all these are eXtir-
pated, and now she is as good as once
she was bad, and Christ honors her
with the first posthumous appearance.
What does that mean?
Why, it means for worst sinner great
est grace; it means those lowest down
shall come perhaps, highest up. 1t
means that the clock that strikes IL at
midnight may strike II at
midnoon; it means that the grace of
God is seven times stronger than sin.
Mary Magdalene the scven-dcviled be-
came Mary Magdalene the seven
angeled. 1t means that when the Lord
meets US at last He will not throw. up
to us what we have been. All He said
to her was: Mary" Many people hav-
ing met her under such circumstances
would have said: Let me see, how
many devils did you have? one, two,
three, four, five, six, seven. What a
terrible piece you were when | first
met YOU The most of the Christian
women in our day would have
nothing to do with Mary Magdalene
even after her conversion, lest some
how they be compromised The only
| thing have to say against women is
that they have not enough mercy for
Mary Magdalene. Christ put all pathos,
and all "reminiscences, and all anticipa-
| ton, and all pardon, and all comfort
and all Heaven into one word of four
letters: MARY" Mark you, Christ did
not appear to some Bible Elizabeth, or
| Bible Hannah, or Bible Esther, or Bible
| Deborah, or Bible Nashti, but to Mary,
not to a Mary against whom nothing
was said, not to Mary the mother of
Jesus, not to Mary the mother of
James, not to Mary the sister of Laza-
rus, but to a seven-devilcd Mary.
There is man seven-deviled-devil
of avarice, devil of pride, devil of hate,
devil OF Incidence, devil of falsehood,
devil of strong drink, devil Of impurity.
God can take them all away, seven or
seventy. | rode over the new cantilever
bridge that spans Niagara-a bridge 9OC
feet long, $50 feet of chasm from bluff
to bluff. | passed over it without
anxiety. Why? Because - locomo-
| tives and % cars laden with gravel had
tested the bridge, thousands of people
standing on the Canadian side, thou
sands standing on the American side,
to applaud the achievement. And
however long the train OF our immor
tai interests may be we are to remem
Der that Gods bridge of mercy span
ming the chasm of sin has been fully
tested by the awful tonnage of all the
pardoned sin of all the ages, church
militant standing on one bank. church