The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1914-01-08
4>SATURDAY
&M% NIGHT
/ SERMONS
o. BY
RRE xsA'auuw PuRsrnl
NO ROOM AT THE INN.

No room. Crowded out! wish we
could step back 1913 years and find
ourselves among the limestone hills OF
Bethlehem. the city of good King
David. cradle Of the royal race Of
Jesse. The Roman eagles are there
tonight Its glory, has gone 1t is a
dependency. But Judeu is quiet. as IS
the rest of the world. For the first
time in 100 years the temple Of Janus
at Rome is closed. indicating peace.
There's an air of expectation from the
farthest shores of the northern SCI, to
the hot deserts of Arabia. from the
some great person Is coming to the
world, Greece. Rome and the far east
are expectant. Judaism says the Mes
siah is coming But where. whenf
Bethlehem's narrow streets are crowd
ed with Roman soldiers. camel driy-
ers: crowds of Jews come up for the
taxing: peasants. mere chants. farmers,
shepherds, are looking for place of
refuge Toward shutdown Galilean
peasant. with a muffled figure on
donkey. approaches the innkeeper. The
latter shrugs his shoulders. The peas.
ant steps closer. whispers something
and mods toward the woman. The inn.
keeper scowls and shakes his head
vehemently. mo, indeed! There's no
room At midnight in cave stable.
L. e,%.,s IN kniI c null In
dean farmers discuss the crops and
swear at the severity Of Roman taxes.
cry is heard "OnIy an infant cry
ing in the night. with no language but
Il cry Shiloh has come!
"Vive ie Roll"
The thunderous booming of cannon
ut an early hour on the morn Of
March 20. 1911. proclaimed to France
that the emperor's star was ascendant
an heir was born to Napoleon's
throne From thousand fortresses
countless cannon rolled the proclama-
ton through the empire. An hour
later he is proclaimed king of Rome
From many hundred thousand threats
springs the cry "Vive rempereurw
Turn from the Tuileries to the man
ger in Bethlehem-no jeweled robes.
no obsequious servants. no shouts of
loyal subjects. God help us. that In
FAINT cry shall be heard on the cross.
those eyes shall be filed with tears.
those little baby hands shall be pierre
ed with spikes! From this day when
he is crowded out of the inn to the
day when his disciples have fed and
they are h,stlinS his mangled. blood
stained body into borrowed tomb the
world has shut him out. | find not so
much rejection of Christ among folks
as crowding out-overfulness: not brute
force inquisition. infidenty : simply
ovcrfulness. No room for Christ! Not
many deliberately shut out the Christ
child but their life's inn gradually be-
comes full of other guests.
Ts Would Hurt Business!"
AS Bethlehem had no room for him
and Nazareth shut him out OF the syn
agogue and wanted to stone him to
death. as Jerusalem's crowds ran after
him while he provided ioaves and fish
es and then cried. Cruelty him. and
the elders finally hurled him out the
city gates to Golgotha to slay him. so
the world shuts him out No room In
politi,s-"Keep your religion out Of
politics. No room in the schools
dispense with the Lords Prayer and
stop that Bible reading" says the
state legislature No room in business
Business is business" or ut would
hurt business" the fellow who sug-
gests Christ's Golden Rule must have
some sort of graft he wants to work.
No room on the stage-'This is no
place for religion" among plot pas
sion. indecent joke and highly spiced
domestic infelicity No room for him
in our reading rooms. magazines and
newspapers. And the church papers
Times are too hard for that Even at
truth the world looks askance Great
truths must be born in the ranger Of
| poverty and sorrow. For worldly sue
cess. fame. social prestige. the inn is
Illuminated. welcome music. open
doors. It must be that there Is some
thing higher In life than welcome at
its inn. At the worlds inn they say:
"Will it payy" At the manager. "Is It
true. right. helpful?''
| At the Human Inn.
The Lord of glory stands Mt the
door Of the human heart knocking.
Into that secret inner room he would
come Instead of that we would build
him edifices. dreams of architects
poems in stone. stained glass windows
trained choirs and pulpit eloquence
Here is an inn for thee thou lonely
one of Nazareth" Or we build up an
all comprehensive creed and our pray
ers we read in words of tender color
and light subdued. In glorious. glitter.
ing ritual we say. "IIc-e ! IN inn
worthy of thee, thou carpenter. son :
Instead of heart we offer him head
intellectual assent. The rooms Of oul
lifes inn are SO crowded with guests
that we are compelled to crowd out
the Babe Of Bethlehem until the one
hour in which we are entertained or
/ Sunday. Shame! Who were IN the
inn that day at Bethlehem? No one
knows. Their names were never men
toned. while the name of the guest
of the stable is on every lip. So those
we have taken in are of no importance
1t is 4 great day when we make room
for the Christ Some day the heayenlI