The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1898-01-06
BENTON LOUISIANA THURSDAY, JANUARY 6, 1893.

be an aye! aye! loud enough to make
the foundations of the earth tremble
and the arches of the heavens resound.
Let there be platforms, let there be
great occasions, let there be undenom-
national printing presses 20 thunder
forth the unity all Christendom. One
Lord. One faith. One baptism. One
God and Father. One Jesus Christ.
One cross. One Heaven.
So also there is room for religious
journal that stands for liberty against
all oppression. No authority, political
or ecclesiastic. must be permitted to
make us believe this or that. Liberty
of the Armenian to worship God indie
pendent of the Turkish government.
Liberty of Cuba as against Spanish
domination. Liberty of Hawaii as
against all monarchical authority
which it has thrown off. Civil liberty,
political liberty. Religious liberty.
The religious journal on whose
seventh anniversary l preach has had
for its owner and publisher one who,
in his ancestry, experienced just the
opposite. His father, an exile from
his native land because of his opinions,
his property con6scated, his life inn
periled, landed on American soil bereft
of every thing that foreign oppression
could rob him of. Naturally, his son
knows right well how to appreciate
liberty. The most OF us are descended
from those who imperiled all to gain
the natural and religious rights. Let
the type and the printing presses and
the editorial chairs be overthrown
which dare to surrender to any attempt
again to put on the shackles. The
movement has started for the demoli-
ton of all the tyrannies Of church and
state. Religious newspapers must
stand shoulder to shoulder in this
mighty march for God and the worlds
rescue.
Again, on this seventh anniversary,
l say there is room for a religious paper
charged with old-fashioned evangel-
ism. Other styles of religious news
paper may do for advertising purposes,
Or for the presentation of able essays
on elaborate themes, but if this world
is ever brought to God it will be
through unqualified, unadulterated,
unmixed, unmistakable evangelism. 1t
was astounding that the Lord Almighty
should have gone into great bereave-
ment, submitting to the loss of His
only Son, that Son stepping off the
doorsill of Heaven into darkness and
an abysm that no plummet has ever yet
been able to fathom; and through that
funeral Of the Heavens life is offered
to our world; but how to get the
tidings to all people and in such an at
tractive way that they will take hold
| OF them. is the absorbing q uestion.
The human voice can travel only a
few feet away, and the world wants
something further and wider-reaching,
and that is the newspaper press; and
as the secular press must necessarily
| give itself chiefly to secular affairs,
let the religious newspaper give itself
to the present and everlasting salvation
of all who can read, or, if not able to
read, have ears to hear others read.
II there be an opportunity higher,
deeper, grander than that offered to
newspaper evangelism, name it and
guide us to it, that we may see its al
tars, its pillars, its infinitude.
| Again, | notice there is room for q
religious paper thoroughly humanita-
rian. The simple fact is, the majority
of the human race have not enough to
eat or wear. The majority of the hu-
man race are in trouble. How to null
tiply loaves of bread and increase the
fuel and heal the wounds and shelter
the homeless, are questions that Christ
met equally as soon rs He did spiritual
necessities. The first heart to re-
spond to the cry Of sufferers from
drought, or flood, or earthquake,
Or cruelty, should be the Chris.
ton heart. Therefore, let the pages
Of religious journalism spread out the
story of all such woes, and collect re-
lief, and disburse aims all around our
suffering world. Religious journalism
ought to become the aqueduct through
which the Christian charities Of the
world should pour until there is nc
more hunger to be fed, and no more ig
i norance to be educated, and no more
naledness to be clothed, and no more
suffering to assnage. In trying to DE-
that practical thing, the religious pa
per whose anniversary celebrate has
during the pastseven years. raised and
distributed over $500, 900 for the relief
of physical distresses. 81
Again, l notice that there is an es
pecial mission for religious journa
truthfully optimistic. The most opti
mistic book know Of is the Bible, ant
its most impressive authors were al
optimists. David was an optimist
Paul an optimist. st. John an opti
mist. Our blessed Lord an optimist
l can not look upon a desert but an
, by the Old Book reminded that it will
, blossom like as the rose." l can no
in menagerie look upon lion an,
leopard but l am reminded that .;
!, little child shall lead them" l cal
, not see a collection Of gems in
jewelers. window without think
: ing of Heaven afiash an
, ablaze and incarnadined and empurple