The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1900-11-29
ing the place as they smell the place of
the carnage.

the carnage.
The first thought I hand you from
this subject is that the determination
of righteousness is an impossibility.
When woman is good, she is apt to be
very good, and when she is bad she is
apt to be very bad, and this Athaliah
was one of the latter sort. She would
exterminate the last scion of the house
of. David, through whom Jesus was to
come. There was plenty of work for
embalmers and undertakers. She
would cleave the land of all God fearing
and God loving people. She would put
an end to everything that could in any
wise interfere with her imperial crfm-
inality. She folds her hands and says:
"The work is done. 1t is completely
DONE" Is it? In the swaddling clothes
of that church apartment are wrapped
the cause Of God and the cause of good
government. That is the scion Of the
house of David. 1t is Joash, the God
worshiping reformer. 1t is Joash, the
friend of God. 1t is Joash, the demoral-
izer of Baalitish idolatry. Rock him
tenderly, nurse him gently. Athaliah,
you may kill all the other children, but
you cannot kill him. Eternal defenses
are thrown all around him, and this
clergyman's wife, Jehosheba, will
snatch him up from the palace nursery
and will run down with him into the
house of the Lord, and there she will
hide him for six years, and at the end
of that time he will come forth for
your dethronement and obliteration.
Well, my friends, just as poor botch
does the world always make of extin-
gushing righteousness. Superstition
rises up and says: Il will just put an
end to pure religion" Domitian slew
10000 Christians, Diocletian slew 844,-
900 Christians. And the scythe of per-
secution has been swung through all
ages, and the flames hissed, and the
guillotine chopped, and the Bastile
groaned, but did the foes Of Christian
| ity exterminate it? Did they ex-
terminate Alban, the first British sac
rifice, or Zwingli, the Swiss reformer,
or John Oldcastle, the Christian no
bleman, or Abdallah, the Arabian mar
| tyr, or Anne Askew or Sanders or Gran
mer? Great work of determination
they made of it. just at the time when
they thought they had slain all the
royal family of Jesus some Joash would
spring up and out and take the throne
of power and WELD a very scepter OF
Christian dominion.
Infidelity says: II will exterminate
the Bible," and the Scriptures were
thrown into the street for the mob to
trample on, and they were piled up in
the public squares and set on fire, and
mountains of indignant contempt were
hurled on them, and learned universi-
ties decreed the Bible out of existence.
Thomas Paine said: I'm my Age OF
Reason I have annihilated the Scrip
lures. Your Washington is pusil-
Luminous Christian, but I am the foe
of Bibles and churches" Oh, how
many assaults upon that word! All
the hostilities that have ever been ere
ated on earth are not to be compared
with the hostilities against that book
The second thought hand you from
my subject is that there are opportu-
mites in which we may save royal life.
You know that profane history is re-
plete with stories of strangled mon
archs and of young princes who have
been put out of the way. Here is the
story Of young king saved. How
Jehosheba, the clergyman's wife, must
have trembled as she rushed into the
imperial nursery and snatched W
Joash! How she hushed him lest by
his cry he hinder the escape! Fly with
him, Jehosheba! You hold in your
arms the cause of God and good gov
ernment. Fail, and he is slain. Sue
ceed, and you turn the tide of tht
worlds history in the right direction
It seems as if between that youns
king and his assassins there is nothing
but the frail arm Of a woman. Bu'
why should we spend our time in prais
ing this bravery of expedition whe1
me? All around us the imperial chill
dren of great King. They are borl
of Almighty parentage and will com'
to a throne if permitted. But sin, tn
o.d Athaliah, goes forth to the mas
sacre. Murderous temptations are ou
for the assassination. Valens, the em
peror, was told that there was some
body in his realm who would usurp hi
throne and that the name of the mai
who should be the usurper would be
gin with the letters T, H, E, o, d, an
the edict went forth from the EN-
peror's throne: Kill every body who's
! name begins with I, III, f. o, d." An
!, hundreds were slain, hoping by tha
massacre to put an end to that on
!. usurper. But sin is more terrific in it
denunciation. 1t matters not how yo
! spell your name, you come under it
knife, under its sword, under its doom
unless there be some omnipotent relic
brought to the rescue. But, blessed b
God, there is such thing as deliverin
q royal soul. Who will snatch ava
! Joash?
u Can you imagine any sublimer wor
!. than this soul saving? That was wha
: flushed Paul's cheek with enthusiasm
that was what led Munson to risk HI