The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1888-07-05

Day." What bread is to the hungry, what
harbor is to the bestormed, what light is to
the blind, what liberty is to the captive,
that and more than that, is Christ to the man
who trusts him.
Just try to get Christ away from that
Christian. Put on that man the thumb
screw. Twist it until the bones crack. Put
that foot into the iron boot of persecution until
ib is mashed to pulp. Stretch that man on
the rack of the Inquisition, and louder than
all the uproar Of the prosecutors, you win
hear his voice like the voice of Alexander LIE
Croix, above the cracking fagots as he cried
out: 80 Jesusl o, my blessed Jesusl o,
divine Jesusl who would not die for thee?"
Again: remark that Christ is precious to
the believer, as friend. You have CONNER
cial friends and you have family friends. To
the commercial friend you go when you have
business troubles. You can look back to
some day-it may have been ten or twenty
years ago-when, if you had not had that
friend, you would have been entirely over
thrown In business. But went to tell you
this morning of Jesus, the best business
friend man ever had. He can pull you
out of the worst perplexities. There are
people in this audience who have got in
tho habit of putting down all their
worldly troubles at the feet of Jesus. Why,
Christ meets the business man on the street
and says: 30, business man, know all thy
troubles I will be with thee viii see thee4
through Look out how you try 70 corner
or trample on a man who is backed up by the
Lord God Almighty. Look out how you
trample on him o, there is f1nancier that
many of our business men have not found
out. Christ owns all the boards of trade, all
the insurance companies and all the banking
| hot fto 70
the railroads; but Christ owns the Wander
bilts and the railroads, and all the plottings
of stock gamblers shall be put to confusion,
and God with his little finger shall wipe out
their infamous projects. How often it has
oeep that we have seen men gather up riches
by fraud, in a pyramid Of strength and
beauty, and the Lord came and blew it
and it was gone; while there are those here
today who, if they could speak out in this as
| semblage, or dared to speak out, would say:
1.-THE best friend had in 1887; the best friend
had in 1857; the best friend I had at the
opening Of the war; the best friend l ever
had has been the Lord Jesus Christ. Iwould
rather give up all other friends than this
one"
But we have also family friends. They
come in when we have sickness in the house
hold. Perhaps they say nothing, but they
sit down and they weep as the light goes out
from the bright eyes and the white petals of
the lily are scattered in the blast of death.
They watch through the long night by the
dying couch, and then, when the spirit has
gone, sooth you with great comfort. They
say: "Dont cry. Jesus pities you All is
well. You will meet the lost one again"
Then, when your son went off, breaking your
heart, did they not come and put the story in
loct ShoTla md
of the prodigal? We're they not in your
house when the birth angel tapped its wings
over your dwellings And they have been
there at the baptsms and at the weddings.
Family friendsi But have to tell you that
Christ is the best family friend Oh,
blessed is that cradle over which Jesus
bends. Blessed is that nursery where Jesus
walks. Blessed is that sick brow from which
Jesus wipes the dampness. Blessed is that
table where Jesus breaks the bread. Blessed
is that grave where Jesus stands with his
SCARED feet on the upturned sod, saying; II
am the resurrection and the life; he that be-
lieveth in me, though he were dead, yet shall
he live" Have you a babe in the housea
Put it into the arms of the great Child
Lover. Is there a SICK one In the houses
Think Of him who said: "Damsel, arisep
Are you afraid you will come to wanta Think
of him who fed the five thousand. Is there
little one in your house that you are afraid
will be blind or deaf or lame9 Think OF
him who touched the blinded eye and
snatched back the boy from epileptic con-
vrllsion. Oh, he is the best friend. Look
over your family friends today and find an
other that can be compared to him. When
want our friends they are sometimes
out of town. Christ is always in town.
ind hot otf 70
prosperity who will not in adversely
But Christ comes through darkest night,
| and amid CHASTITY sorrow, and across
roughest sea, to comfort you. There are
men and women here who would have been
dead twenty years ago but for Jesus. They
| have gone through trial enough to exhaust
| ten times their physical strength. Their
property went, their health went, their fami-
lies were scattered God only knows what
they suffered. They are an amazement to
themselves that they have been able to stand
it. They look at their once happy home,
surrounded by all comfort. Gonel They
think of the time when they used to rise
strong in the morning and walk vigorously
down the street, and had experienced a
health they thought inexhaustible. Comet
Everything gone but Jesus. He has pitied
them. His eye has watched them. His om-
Impotence has defended them. Yes, he has
been with them. They have gone through
disaster, and he was pillar Of fire by night.
They have gone across stormy Galilee, but
Christ had his foot on the neck of the storm.
They felt the waves of trouble coming up
around them grasiually, and they began to
climb into the strong rock of Gods de-
fense, and then they sang as they looked
over the waters: ''God is our refuge and
Let. 7,rf1 axrav. hnlT IN ,f
trouble; therefore we will not fear though
the earth be removed, though the mountains
be carried into the midst Of the sea, though
the waters thereof roar and be troubled,
though the mountains shake with the swell
ing thereof. Selah.n The other day there
was sailor who came into the Bethel in New
York, and said: 'sMy lads Qhe was standing
among sailors, don't know what's the
matter with me. used to hear good deal
about religion and about Jesus Christ. I
don't know that have any religion, or that
l know anything much about Christ; but
when was in mid-Atlantic I looked up one
| day through the rigging, and there seemed to
come light through my soul. have felt diff
ferent ever since, and | love those once
hated, and feel joy l can't tell you.
really don't know what Is the matter of me. !"
| A rough sailor got up and said: MY lad,
know what's the matter of you. You have
found Jesus. 1t Is enough to make any man
happy"
His worth if all the nations knew.
Sure the wholeAearth would love him too.
| I remark again: Christ is precious to the
believer, as a final deiiverer. You and
! must after awhile get out Of this world.
Here and there, one perhaps may come on to
eighty, to ninety years Of age, but your COM
mon sense tells you that the next twenty-five
years will land the majority of this audience
in eternity. The next ten years will thin out
/ great many of these family circles. This
| day may do the work for some of us. Now,
why do say this2 To scare you2 No; but
just as would stand in your Office, if I were
business man, and talk over risks. You
do not consider it cowardly to talk in your
store over temporal risks Is it base in US
this morning to talk little while over the
risks of the soul, that are for eternity9 In
every congregation death has the last