The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1898-04-21

quiet. you wonder if you should call
them by their first name if they would
1ot answer: and perhaps sometimes
you make the experiment, and when no
one but God and yourself ate there you
call their names and listen,
and sit gazing into Heaven.
Pass on now, and see Stephen looking
upon Christ. My text says he saw the
Son of Man at the right hand of God.
Just how Christ looked in this world,
just how He looks in Heaven, we can
not say. A writer in the time of Christ
says, describing the Saviour's personal
appearance, that He had blue eyes and
light complexion, and a very graceful
structure; but l suppose it was all
guesswork. The painters of the diff
ferent ages have tried to imagine the
features of Christ and put them upon
canvas: but we will have to wait until
with our own eyes we see Him and
with our own eyes we can hear Him.
And yet there is way of seeing
and hearing Him now. | have to tell
you that unless you see and hear Christ
on earth you will never see and hear
Him in Heaven. Look! There He is.
Behold the Lamb of God. Can you not
see Him? Then pray to God to take
the scales off your eyes. Look that
way-try to look that way. His voice
comes down to you this day-comes
down to the blindest, to the deafest
soul. saying: Look unto Me, all ye
ends of the earth, and be ye saved, for
am God, and there is none else"
cipation for all slaves. Procla-
nation of universal amnesty for all
rebels. Belshazzar gathered the Ba-
bylonish mobiles to his table; George l..
entertained the lords of England at a
banquet; Napoleon III. welcomed the
czar of Russia and the sultan of Tur-
key to his feast; the emperor of Ger
many was glad to have our minister,
George Bancroft. sit down with him at
his table: but tell me, We who know
most of the worlds history. what other
king ever asked the abandoned and the
forlorn and the wretched and the out
cast to come and sit beside him?
Oh, wonderful invitation! You can
take it to-day. and stand at the head OF
the darkest alley in any city, and say:
Come! Clothes for your rags. salve
for your sores, a throne for your eter.
nal reigning." A Christ that talks
like that, and acts like that, and par.
dons like that-do you wonder that
Stephen stood looking at Him? l hope
%o e,opd o+orr;t1 do;pr tho cauo <h;np
l must see Him; must look upon that
face, once clouded with my sin, but
now radiant with my pardon. l want
to touch that hand that knock ed Off
my shackles. l want to hear that
voice which pronounced my deliver
ance Behold Him, little children, for
if you live to thrae-score years and ten
you will see none so fair. Behold
Him, We aged ones, for He only car
shine through the dimness of your fail
ing eyesight. Behold Him, earth. Be
hold Him. Heaven. What a momen
when all the nations of the saved shall
gather around Christ! All faces tha,
way. All thrones that way, gazing on
Jesus.
III
Sure the whole earth would love Him. too.
Ipass ON now, and look at Stephe1
stoned. The world has always wanted
to get rid of good men. Their yer,
life is an assault upon wickedncss
Out with Stephen through the gates O
the city. Down with him over tn
precipice. Let every man come up an
drop a stone upon his head. But thes
men did not SO much kill Stephen a
} they killed themselves. Every ston
rebounded upon them. While thes
: murderers were transfixed by the scor
. of all good men, Stephen lives in tn
admiration of all Christendom. Stt
phen stoned, but Stephen alive. So a
T good men must be pelted. All VIII
live godly in Christ Jesus mus
, suffer persecution. 1t is no eulogy {
, a man to say that everybody likes hin
Show me anyone who is doing all HI
? duty to state or church and will sho'
you men who utterly abhor him.
. If all men speak well of you, it
= because you are either laggard or
e dolt. If a steamer makes a rapid pr,
e gress through the waves, the wats
S will boil and foam all around
t | Brave soldiers of Jesus Christ will hes
e the carbines click. When see ma
4 with voice, and money. and influen'
4 all on the right side, AMI some Ca
feature him, and some sneer at hin
4 and some denounce him, and men wh
! pretend to be actuated by right IN
Il tives conspire to cripple him, to ca
e him out, to destroy him, l say: "Stephe
l stoned
t When l see a man in some gre
n OF religious reform battling again
S grog-shops, exposing wickedness
d high places, by active means trying
c purify the church and better &
IS worlds estate, and l find that sor
d newspapers mathematics him, al
d men, even good men, oppose him al
IL denouncc him, because, though he dc
good, he does not do it in their way
l. say: stephen stoned" The wo.I
o with infinite spite, took after 10
If Frederick Oberlin, and Paul, a
W Stephen of the text. But you noti'
At my friends, that while they assault