The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1889-02-08
SUBSCRIPTION: sl.OO Per Year.

arose Tor prayer, no one doubted that he
arose. That hour he became Christian.
He went out and told the ship owners and
the ship commanders what n great change
had been wrought in him, and scores and
scores have been brought to God through
his instrumentality.
A little while afteh his conversion he
was on ship OF Cape Hatteras I'm a thicS
and prolonged fog, and they were at their
Wits ends and knew not what TO de-, tbs
ship drifting about hither and thither,
and they lost their bearings; and the con
verted sea captain went to his room ant
asked God for the salvation OF his ship
and God revealed 1t TO him while he was
on his knees that at q certain hour, only
q little way off, the fog would lift; and thR
converted sea captain came out on the
deck and told how God heard his prayer.
He said: cit is all right, boys, very soon
now the fog viii lift" mentioning ths
hour. A man who stood there laughed
aloud in derision at the idea that God
would answer prayer; but just at the hour
when God had assured the captain the fog
would lift, there came fash OF lightning
through the fog, and the man who had
iee-ed and laughed was stunned and fell ta
the deck. The fog lifted. Yonder was
Cape Hatteras lighthouse. The ship wa
put on the right course, and sailed on tc
the harbor OF safety.
When in seaport the captain spends
most of his time in evangelical work. He
kneels down by one who has been help
less in the bed for many months, and the
next day he walks forth In the streets we'll.
He kneels beside one who has long been
decrepit, and he resigns the crutches. He
kneels beside one who had mat seen enough
to be able to read for ten years, and she
reads the Bible that day. Con sumptions
go away, and those who had diseases that
were appalling to behold come UP to rapid
Convalescence and 60 complets health. !
am not telling you any thing second
handed. / have had the story from tha
lips OF the patients in this very house,
those who were brought to health OF
body while at the same time brought to
God. No secondhand story, this. / have
heard the testimony from men and women
who have been cured. You may cell it
faith -cure, or you may call it the power
Of God coming down in answer TO prayer;
/ do not care what you call it, it is fact,
The scoffing sea captain, his heart full Of
hatred for Christianity, now becomes q
follower of the meek and lowly Jesus,
giving all the time to evangelical labors,
or all the time he can spare from other
occupations. That is regeneration; that
is regeneration. Man ali made over again.
t'There is your absurd doctrine of vi
cariOus sacrifce," say these men who
have chewed up the little books OF creeds
and have the consequent embittered
stomach. "Vicarious sacrifice Let every
man suffer for himself. What do I want
Christ to suffer for met I'll suffer for
myself, I'II carry my own burdens" They
scoff at the idea of vicarious sacrifice,
while they admire it everywhere else ex-
cept in Christ. People see its beauty
when a mother suffers for her child. Peo-
pie see Ats beauty when patriot suffers
for his country. People see its beauty
when a man denies himself for friend.
They can see the beauty OF vicorious sac.
rifice in every one but Christ.
A young lady in one of the literary in
stitutions was a teacher. She was very
reticent and retired In her habits, and she
formed no companionship in tho new
position she occupied, and her dress was
very plain-sometimes it was very shah
by. After awhile she was discharged
from the place for that reason, but no
reason was given. In answer to the lot
teE discherging her from the position she
said; 'Well, Il have failed 70 please,
suppose ~ IN my Dwn EHuIg4w Ene %t1t
here and there for employment but found
none, and in desperation and Dement'S
she ended her life by suicide. InvestiEa-
ton was made aud it was found that out
of her small means she had supported her
father, eighty years Of age, and was paying
the way for her brother in Yale College on
his way to the ministry. 1t was found that
she had no blanket on the bed that win.
ter, and she had no fire on the very coldest
day of all the season. People found Il
out, and there was large gathering az
the funeral, the largest ever at any fu-
neral in that place; and the very people
who had scoffed came and looked upon
the pale face Of the martyr, and all honor
was done her; but it was too late. Vicari-
Gus sacrifice. All are thrilled with such
instances as that But many are not
moved by the fact that Christ paid His
poverty for our riches, His self -abneRa-
ton for our enforcement. and knelt on
the sharp edges of humiliati on that We
might climb over His lacerated shoulder
into peace and Heaven.
Be it ours to admire and adore these
doctrines at which others ieer. Oh, the
depths OF the riches, both Of the wisdom
and knowledge Of God! How unsearoha-
hle is His wisdom, and His ways are past
finding outi Oh the height, the depth,
the length, the BREADTH the tndnity, the
immensity, tho eternity Of that love! Let
our earnest prayers go out in behalf Of all
these who scof at these doctrines OF
grace. When the London plague was
raging, ia the year 1895, there was hotel
near the chief burial place that excited
much comment England was In fright
and bereavement. The dead carts wont
through the streets day and night, and
the cry: ''Bring out the dead! !" was an
swered by the bringing out Of the forms
Of the loved ones, and they we're put
twenty or thirty in a cart, and the wagons
went on to the cemetery, and these dead
were not buried in graves, but in great
trenches, in great pits, in one pit eleven
hundred and fourteen burials. The carts
would come up with their great burden of
twenty or thirty to the mouth of the pit,
and the front Of the cart was lifted and
the dead shot into the pit All the churches
in London were open for prayer day ana
night, and England was in a great an
guish. At that very time, ot hotel,
at a wayside inn near the chAef
burial place, there was a group Of hard :
ened men, who sat day after day and night
/ after night blasphemfng God and i'm
/ itating the grief struck who went ~ 70
the burial place. These men sat there
| day after day and night after night and
| they scoffed at men. aud they scored ~
| God. But after awhile one OF them was
| struck with the plague, and I'm two weeks
/ all Of the group were down In the trench
! from the margin Of which they had ut
/ tered their ribaldry MY friends, q
/ greater uIague Is abroad in the world.
| Millions have died Of Il. Millions are
/ smitten with it now. Plague oi ain,
plague of sorrow, plague OF wretched-
/ negg. plague OF woe. And consecrated
| women and men from all Christendom are
going out trying 10 stay the plague and al.
| leviate the anguish, and there ts gronF
| OF men in this country base enough
| 10 81 and deride the work. They Heoh at
the Bible. and they scOH at evangelism
and thew soof at Jesus Christ, and they
scof at God. II these words shall reach
them, either while they are sitting here
to-dav. or through the printing-pr let
re teli them to remember the fate Of tina
oroup in the wayside inn while the plagu'
suread its two black wings over the
doomed city Of London. Oh instead o
befrg scofTers let us be disciples
FaBIessed is the man that walkett not Il