The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1898-03-10

the spiritual advantages ore spread be-
lore men, and if they want to be saved
let them come and be saved-I have
discharged all my responsibility. All!
Is that my Masters spirit? Is there
not an old Book somewhere that COM
mands US to go out into the highways,
and the hedges and compel the people
to come in? What would become of
you and me if Christ had not
come down off the hills of
Heaven: and if He had not
come through the door of the
Bethlehem caravansary; and if He had
not with the crushed hand of the cruel
hxion knocked at the iron gate of the
sepulchre of our spiritual death, cry
ing: Lazarus. come forth?" Oh my
Christian friend! this is no time for in
ertla when all the forces of darkness
seem to be in full biast!-when steam
printing presses are publishing intidel
tracts, when express trains are carry
ing messengers of sin, when fast clip
pers are laden with opium and strong
drink, when the night air of our cities
Is polluted with the laughter that
breaks up from the ten thousand sa-
looms of dissipation and abandon
ment, when the fires of the second
death already are l1indled in the checks
OF some who, only a little while ago,
were incorrupt. Oh, never since the
curse fell upon the earth has there
been time when it was such an uu-
wise, such cruel, such an awful
thing for the church to sleep. The
great audiences are not gathered in
Christian churches; the great audi
ences are gathered in temples of sin
tears of unutterable woe their bap-
tisrn. the blood of crushed hearts the
awful wine of their sacrament bias
phemles their litany, and the groans of
the lost world the organ dirge of their
worship.
Again, if you want to be qualified to
meet the duties which this age de-
mands OF you, you must. ON the one
hand, avoid reckless iconoclasm, and,
on the other hand, not stick too much
to things because they are old. The
air Is full of new plans new projects,
new theories of government, new the
ologies, and am amazed to see how SO
many Christians want only noy-
city in order to recommend u
thing to their coufdcnce; and SO
They vacillate and swing to and fro; and
they are useless. and they are unhappy
New plans-secular, ethical, philo-
sophical, religious. cisattantic, trans
atlantic-long enough to make a line
reaching from the German universities
to Great Salt Lake City. All, nv
brother, do not take hold of a thing
merely because it is new! Try it by
the realities of the Judgment day.
But, on the other hand, do not adhere
to anything merely because it is old.
There is not single enterprise of the
church or the world but has sometime
been scotfed at. There was a
time when men derided even Bible
societies. and when few young men
met in Massachusetts and organized
the first missionary society ever organ
'zed in this country there went laugh
ter and ridicule all around the Chris
tlan church. They said the undertake
ing was preposterOus. And so also
the work of Jesus Christ was assailed.
People cried out: ''Who ever heard of
such theories Of ethics and govern
lnent? Who ever noticed such Il stvle
OF preaching as Jesus haso" Ezekiel
had talked of mysterious wings
ana Wheeis. Here came man
from Capernaum aud Gennessaret, and
lie drew His illustrations from the
lakes. from the sand, from the noun
tain, from the lilies. from the corn
stalks How the Pharisees scoffed!
How Herod derided! Aud this Jesus
they plucked by the beard, and they
spat in His face, and they called Him
this felloww All the great en-
terprises in and out of the church
have at times been scoffed at and there
have been great multitude who have
thought that the chariot of Gods
truth would fall to pieces if it once got
out of the old rut. And so there are
those who have no patience with any,
thing like improvement in church
architecture, or with anything like
good, hearty, earnest church singing,
and they deride any form Of religious
discussion which goes down walking
among everyday men, rather than
that which makes an excursion
on rhetorical stills. Oh, that the
church of God would wake up
to On adaptability of work! We
must admit the simple fact that the
churches of Jesus Christ in this day do
not reach the great masses. There are
So, 600 people in Edinburgh who never
hear the Gospel. There are 1000. 900
people in London who never hear the
Gospel. The great majority of the in
habitants of this capital come not un-
der the ministrations of Christs truth,
and the church OF God in this day, in
stead of being a place full of living
| epistles, known and read Of all men, is
more like dead-le, ter post Office.
But" say the people, 1.-The world is
going to be converted; you must be
patient; the kingdoms Of this world
are to become the Kingdoms Of Christ"
Never, unless the Church of Jesus
| Christ puts on more speed and energy.
Instead of the church converting the
world the world ia convartin,r ,l,o