The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1902-06-26
. oHI z.ra BENTON LOUISIANA, THURSDAY,

1902. -a a as rs
prompt, energetic, 'diligent in bust
ness He will not speculate with other
peoples money or use his own in gam
bling or dissipation. He will be free
from the moral cracks through which
SO many fortunes leak away. He will
be courteous and considerate of those
whom he employs and will attend to
his employers interests as if they were
his own. In every time of strain he
will have the quietude and strength
and hopefulness that a man always has
who believes his steps are ordered of
the Lord and this is great reserve
force to push one to success.
"The fact is, as somebody has said,
God Almighty has fixed things in this
world so that it pays to do right
Righteousness has the promise of the
life that now is as well as that which
is to come. Men with a genius for
business can succeed financially on un-
Christian principles, but the same man
could probably have made as great or
greater success if he had been Chris
tian in his dealings. And it must not
be forgotten that even financial sue
cess cannot be fully measured until we
take into account what becomes Of the
money and what effect it has had upon
the children and family of the man
called successful"
Consciousness Of God.
with the incoming of the Christ
life, the fact of God is brought from the
realm of the speculative into that of
personal consciousness, sis thought
brought out by Rev. G. Cambell Nor
gan. "The one overwhelming truth is
God, and all other experiences are
judged and placed by their relation
thereto. The fact of God may not al
ways be the uppermost in the mind
of the Christian. He will not neces-
sarily always be mentally repeating
his belief. nor will he be constantly re-
minding himself of that belief. These
exercises prove weakness rather than
strength of conviction. There will be
constant consciousness of God
which will flash out into restrictive
and expansive application through all
the various circumstances of the ever
changing days.
"How wonderfully this was true in
the life of Jesus may be discovered by
reading through the Gospels, especial
ly those of Matthew and John, and tab
ulating His references to His Father.
1t will be discovered that He lived
life conscious of the presence of His
Father, submissive to the authority of
His Father, and confident in the wis
dom and power of His Father. All the
circumstances of the days, and all the
values of words and deeds, and all the
issues of life were tested and tried in
that consciousness. To all those in
whom Christ lives there comes the
same consciousness, and it produces
like effects.
"The life thus homed in God enters
upon new views and new feelings. The
first and basal change is intellectual.
The God consciousness proves much.
Rene mbering that the God of whom
the Christian is conscious is God re-
vealed in Christ, it will at once be seen
how the enlightened intelligence rests
in the fact of his perfect justice.
Mists and mysteries may still en-
shroud the appearance of the hour,
but the Christian knows that eternal
justice holds unceasing vigil and
metes out answering truth. Though
the method may seem strange, the is
sue is assured, 'The Judge of all the
earth will do right Yet this is not
all. Christ has spoken to men from
the bosom of the Father and the
heart of the Christian knows that
mercy is as truly the way of God as is
justice; knows, moreover, that in the
great mystery of the cross these have
met, so that now justice operates in
mercy and mercy delivers in justice.
This issues in the assurance that in
spite of all the appearances of the
things that are near Gods victory is
assured, and so there is ever in the
heart of the Christian the triumph
song of the day that is coming, and
through all the conflict of to-day he
endures as seeing him who is invisi-
ble.' The result of this is new moral
consciousness. All life being set in
this new relation to God, then man be-
comes keen of scent in his fear. The
beauty of holiness and the deformity
of sin are clearly seen. Righteousness
is now seen in its larger issue in the
victory of God, and sin in its deeper
doom as defeated by God. Then all
conduct is measured, not by the satis-
faction of the sensuous moment, but
by its relation to the eternal verities.
Now the things that appeared only
harmless and of little account to near
sightedness are seen to be of mighty
moment when seen in the perspective
and proportion of the eternities."
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Eternal Punishment.
Rev. w. K. Newell, of the Chicago
Moody Bible Institute, spoke on
Eternal Punishment" but his sermon
for the most part took a brighter