The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1902-06-26

fault with the mayor and police Of
Chicago if they did not punish the
lawbreakers.
"It's an ugly stubborness in the
human heart that causes unbelief. If
there is an honest soul to-day that
wants light Gods going to give it to
him.
when I find a man who says he
has never done anything wrong I
stamp him as absolutely ignorant or
viciously hypocrite.
"If you won't have eternal life you
will have the alternative-the wrath
of God"
The Power of the Cross.
Text.-For determined not to know any
thing among you save Jesus Christ and Him
crucified.-1 Corinthians, 2:2.
at was hazardous thing for the
apostle to announce this to the Corin-
thians," declares Rev. S. Parkes Cad
man, ID. D., in a sermon written for
the New York Witness. "They were
people who rejoiced in va
riety of gifts and were eager
to express themselves in mani
fold ways. Breadth of view and inclu-
sive sympathy seemed to be necessary
in order to succeed among them. They
were prone to turn away from the
Christian system and were especially
sensitive to the offense of the Cross
est. Paul made this bold assertion
Of the compelling theme of his minis
try among them, because he perfectly
understood them and was determined
to bring their acts and habits and as
pirations beneath the unifying power
OF great principle, which was the
moral and spiritual dynamic of the uni
verse, the solution of all mystery, and
the clarifying of all aim. People who
turn away from systematized religion
to-day are the intellectual children Of
these proud Corinthians. inheriting
their weakness as well as their
strength. Men and women are found
everywhere who possess capacity for
the right and it's doing, and indigna-
tion against any form of wrong. In
their various walks of life they follow
after an ideal; they know the nobility
of self-repression and of labor for the
social estate; they are kindly, honest
and gracious, but they tell us that the
evangelical faith has poverty-stricken
aspects and neglects some things
which are all important to them, be-
cause apart from them they could not
live their lives"
DR.. Cadman claims that there are
several predominating features in this
announcement of St. Paul which will
help us to understand each other bet
ter. For most of the differences which
vex our progress are due to the dim
ness of our earthly vision, and st. Paul
urges upon us his voluntary dedication
of all knowledge beneath the superior
knowledge of the power of the Cross.
because
First, he says, nothing is discarded
which is legitimate. minor themes are
not lost but they are absorbed in the
major one. A second point he makes
is that "the power of the cross is the
power of fact" The explanation Of
that fact we may only attempt, but
the fact itself shines steadily on, uD.
hindered by warning statements.
"But, further, the power of the cross
is happily expressed in the text, in the
combination of the person of Jesus
with the principle of sacrifice.
And lastly, the power of the cross,
as we survey the future, is multiply
ing power. There are two classes OF
religious forces, those which absorb
and those which are absorbed by them,
and the cross is the supreme absorb
ent, whose vitality, always recurring,
can never be impaired. Rest assured,
you cannot exaggerate this statement
and there is no need to qualify it. It
is the legitimate generalization of
Christian manhood, Christian thought
and Christian effort. While dialectics
change and literary fashions decay,
the pledge of the permanence of the
cross is in the person who died there
on and in the need of man for the bene-
fits of that passion and death.
Let us dismiss our fears and weep
not for the Cross Bearer, but for our
selves and for our unfaithfulness and
our lukewarmness. For did all
tongues fail and all prophecies cease,
the holy hill of Golgotha would send
out afresh new light and truth. There
shall we keep our tryst with men and
with the Father of men, and If we
fail, God will raise up ministers and
peoples which appear dumb as the
stones of the streets, and they that
are far off He will bring nigh, until
the work has been completed, which
is pledged by the very manner of its
beginning to completion. Then shall
the High Priest of our profession prof
fer unto God the Father Himself ths
Kingdom thus recreated, and having
delivered it up, God shall be all and in
ALL"
Gist of Many Sermons.
In the divine sight unselfish exist
ence is life; selfish existence is death.