The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1889-08-09
SALVATION.
The Blessed Boon the { All May
Have for the Asking.
Sermon by Rev. t. Dewitt L Almage ON
the Faith that Is Necessary to
Secure Eternal Life-Chrlst
Our Only Hope.

shalt be Saved--Acts vi, 81.
Jails are dark, dull, damp, 1oathsome
places even now, but they were worse in
the apostolic times. I imagine to-day we
are standing in the Philippian dungeon.
Do you not feel the chill? Do you not
hear the grOan of those incarcerated ones
who for ten years have not seen the sun
light and the deep sigh of women who
remember their fathers house and mourn
over their wasted estate? Listen again.
It is the cough of q cOnsumptive, or the
struggle of one in the nightmare of a
great horror. You listen again, and hear
a culprit, his chains rafting as he rolls
over in his dreams, and you say: "God
pity the prisoners ~ But there is another
sound in that prison. 1t is a song of joy
and gladness. What a place to sing inl
The music comes winding through the
corridors of the prison, and in all the
dark wards the whisper is heard:
''What's that? What's that?"
1t is the song of Paul and Silas. They
can not sleep They have been whipped,
very badly whipped. The long gashes on
their backs are bleeding yet. They lie
fat on the cold ground, their feet fast in
wooden sockets, and Of course they can
not sleep. But they can sing. Jailer.
what are you doing with these people?
Why have they boon put here? Oh, they
have been trying to make the world bet
ter. Is that all? That is all. A pit for
Joseph. A lions cave for Daniel. A
blazing furnace for Shadrach. Clubs for
John Wesley. An anathema for Philip
Melancthon. A dungeon for Paul and
Silas. But while we are standing in the
gloom of the Philippian dungeon, and we
hear the mingling voices of sob and
groan and blasphemy and hallelujah,
suddenly an earthquakel The iron bars
of the prison twist, the pillars crack off,
the solid masonry begins to heaVe and
all the doors swing open. The jailer,
feeling himself responsible for these
prisoners, and believing, in his pagan ig
norance, suicide to be honorable-since
Brutus killed himself, and Cato killed
himself and Cassius killed himself-puts
his sword to his own heart, proposing
with one strong, keen thrust to put an
end to his excitement and agitation.
But Paul cries out: "StopI StopI Do
thyself no harm. We are all here"
Then 1 see the jailer running through the
dust and amid the ruin of that prison,
and I see him throwing himself down at
the feet of these prisoners, crying out:
''What shall do? What shall do?"
Did Paul answer: 'tGet out of this
place before there is another earthquake;
put handouts and hopples on these other
prisoners, lest they get away?" No word
of that kind. His compact thrilling, tre-
mendous answer, answer memorable all
through earth and Heaven, was:
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou
shalt be saved.
Well, we have all read of the earth
quake in Lisbon, in Lima, in AleppO and
in Caracas, but we live in a latitude where
severe volcanic disturbances are rare.
And yet we have seen fifty earthquakes.
Here is a man who has been building up
a large fortune. His bid on the money
market was felt in all the cities. He
thinks he has got beyond all annoying
rivalries in trade, and he says to himself:
''Now 1 am free and safe from all pos
sible perturbation"
But in 1897 or 1857, or 1873 a National
panic strikes the foundations of the COM
mercial world, and crash goes all that
magnificent business establishment.
Here is a man who has built up a very
beautiful home. His daughters have
just come from the seminary with diplo-
mas of graduation His sons have
started in life, honest, temperate, and
pure. When the evening lights are
struck, there is a happy and unbroken
family circle. But there has been an ac-
cident down at Long Branch. The young
man ventured too far out in the surf.
The telegraph hurled the terror up to the
city. An earthquake struck under the
foundations of that beautiful home. The
piano closed; the curtain dropped; the
laughter hushed. Crash! go all those
domestic hopes and prospects and expec-
tations. So, my friends, we have all felt
the shaking down Of some great trouble,
and there was a time when we were as
much excited as this man of the text, and
we cried out as he did: ''What shall 1
do? What shall 1 do?'' The same re-
ply that the apo stIe made to him is ap-
propriate to US:
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou
shalt be saved
There are some documents of so little
Importance that you do not care to put
any more than your last name under
them. or even your initials; but there are
some documents of SO great Importance
that you write out your full name. So the
Saviour in some parts Of the Bible is
called Lord" and in other parts of the
Bible Ho is called Jesus" and in other
parts Of the Bible He is called Christi"
but that there might be no mistake about
this passage, all three names come to-
gether-"The Lord Jesus Christ"
Now, who is this Being that you want
me to trust in and believe in? Men
sometimes come to me with credentials
and certificates Of good character, but /
can not trust them. You can not put
your hearts confidence in a man until
you know what stuff he is made Of, and
ana l unreasonable to- day when I stop to
ask you who this is that you want me to
trust in? No man would think of yentur-
ing his life on a vessel going out to sea
that had never been inspected. No, you
must have the certificate hung amid
ships, telling how many tons it carries,
and how long ago it was built, and who
built it and all about it. And you can not
expect me to risk the cargo Of my inn
mortal interests on board any craft till
you tell me what it is made of, and where
it was made and what it is. When, then,
/ ask you who this is you want me to
trust in, you tell me He was a very at
tractive person. Contemporary writer's
describe His whole appearance as being
resplendent. There was no need for
Christ to tell the children to come to Him.
suffer little children to come unto
me-" was not spoken to the disciples. The
children came readily enough without
any invitation. No sooner did Jesus ap-
pear than the ltttle ones jumped from
their mothers arms, an avalanche Of
beauty and love, into His lap. Christ did
not ask John to put his head down on His
bosom; john could not help but put his
head there. 1 suppose to look at Christ
gas . love Him. Oh. how attractive his