The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1888-06-28


company of poor boys together. and then
he prayed up an asylum in which they
might be sheltered. He turned his face
upon Edinburgh and prayed, and there
came a thousand pounds. He turned his
face toward London and prayed, and
there came thousand pounds. He
turned his face toward Dublin and
prayed. and there came thousand pounds.
The breath of Elijah s prayer blew all the
clouds off the sky, and it was dry
weather. The breath of Elijah's prayer
blew all the clouds together. and it was
wet weather. Prayer, in Daniels time,
walked the cave as lion tanner. It
reached up, and took the sun by its
golden bit, and stopped it. We have all
yet to try the full power of prayer.
The time will come when the
American church will pray with its face
toward the west, and all the prairies and
inland cities will surrender to God; and
will pray with face toward the sea, and
all the islands and ships will become
Christian. Parents who have waywar0
sons will get down on their knees and
say: "Lord, send my boy home," and
the boy In Canton shall get right up from
the gambling table, and go down to the
wharf to find out which ship starts first
for America.
Not one Of us yet knows how to pray.
All we have done as yet has only been
pottering, and guessing, and experiment.
ing. A boy gets hold of his fathers saw
and hammer, and tries to make some
thing, but it Is a poor affair that he
makes. The father comes and takes the
same saw and hammer, and builds the
house or the ship. In the childhood of
our Christian faith, we make but
poor work with the weapons of prayer,
but when we come to the stature
of men in Christ Jesus, then, under these
implements, the temple of God will rise,
and the worlds redemption will be
launched. God cares not for the length
Of our prayers, or the number of our
prayers, or the beauty of our prayers, or
the place Of our prayers; but it is the
faith In them that tells. Believing
prayer scars higher than the lark ever
sang; plunges deeper than diving bell
ever sank; darts quicker than lightning
ever flashed. Though we have used only
the back of this weapon instead Of the
edge, what marvels have been wrought
II saved, we are all the captives of some
earnest prayer. Would God that, in de-
sire for the rescue of souls, we might in
prayer lay hold of the resources of the
Lord Omnipotent.
We may turn many to righteousness
by Christian admonition. Do not wait
until you can make formal speech.
Address the one next to you. You will
not go home alone today. Between this
and your place of stopping you may de-
eide the eternal destiny of an immortal
spiSit. Just one sentence may do the
work. Just one question. Just one look.
The formal talk that begins with a sigh
and ends with canting snuffle is not
what is wanted. but the heartthrob of
of man in dead earnest. There is not
a soul on earth that YOU may not bring
to God If you rightly go at it. They said
Gibraltar could not be taken. 1t is a
rock, sixteen hundred feet high and
three miles long. But the English and
Dutch did take it. Artillery and sappers
and miners and fleets pouring out volleys
of death, and thousands of men, reck-
less Of danger, can do anything. The
stoutest heart of sin, though it be rock,
and surrounded by an ocean of trans
gression, under Christian bombardment
may be made to hoist the flag of redemp-
ton.
But is all this admonition, and prayer,
and Christian work for nothing? My
text promises to all the faithful eternal
luster. ''They that turn many to
righteousness shall shine as the stars for
ever. 4"
AS stars, the redeemed have borrowed
light. What makes Mars and Venus
and Jupiter so luminous? When the sun
throws down his torch in the heavens the
stars pick up the scattered brands and
hold them in procession as the queen of
the night advances; so all Christian
workers, standing around the throne,
will shine in the light borrowed from the
Sun of Rghteousness-Jesu in their
faces. Jesus in their songs, Jesus in their
triumph. Christ left heaven once for a
tour of redemption on earth, yet the
glorified ones knew he would come back
again. But let him abdicate his throne,
and 60 away to stay forever, the music
would stop, the congregation disperse, the
temples Of Cpd be darkened, the rivers
of light stagnate, and every chariot would
become hearse, and every bell would
toll, and there would not be room on the
hill sides to bury the dead of the great
metropolis, for there would be pestilence
in heaven. But Jesus lives, and so all
the redeemed live with him. He shall
recognize them as his comrades in earthly
toll, and remember what they did for
the honor of his name and for the spread
Of his kingdom. All their prayers and
tears and work will rise before him as
he looks into their faces, and he will di-
vide his kingdom with them; his peace
their peace; his holiness-their holiness;
his joy-their Joy. The glory of the cen
trail throne reflected from the surround
ing thrones, the last spot of sin struck
from the Christian orb and the entire
nature a-trenable and a-aash with light,
they shall shine as the stars forever and
ever.
Again: Christian workers shall be like
the stars in the fact that they have a
light independent of each other. Look
up at the night, and see each world show
its distinct glory. 1t is not like the
confagration, in which you cannot tell
where one flame stops and another be-
gins. Neptune, Herschel and Mercury
are as distinct as if each one Of them
were the only star; SO our individualism
will not be lost in heaven. A great null
titude-yet each one as observable, as
distinctly recognized, as greatly cele-
brated, as il ia all the space, from gate
to gate, and from hill to hill, he were the
only inhabitant; no mixing up-no mob
no indiscriminate rush; each Christian
worker standing out llustrious-all the
story of earthly achievement adhering to
each one; his self denials, and pains,
and services, and victories pub
lished. Before men went out to
the last war, the orators told them that
they would all be remembered by their
country. and their names be commemo-
rated In poetry and in song; but go to
the graveyard in Richmond and yon viii
find there 5000 graves, over each one of
which Is the inscription, Unknown. "
The world does not remember its heroes;