The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1891-10-09

If exhausted and affrighted voyagers
will listen for His voice at half-past
threeo'cloclr i'm the morning on any sea,
indeed at any hour, they win hear His
voice Of compassion and encourage
ment.
We continue to follow our Chieftain,
and here is a blind man by the way
side. 1t is not from cataract of the
eye or from ophthalmia, the eye-ex-
tinguisher of the east; but he was born
blind. "Be opened ~ he cries, and first
there is smnrting of tho cye-lids, and
then twilight. and then a mid-nonn,
and then a shout 81 see see - Tell
il to all the blind, and they, at least,
can appreciate 1t. And here is the
widows dead son, and here is the ex-
pired damsel and here is Lazarus
"Liveg' our Chieftan cries, and they
live. Tell it through all the bereft
households; tell it among the
graves And here around Him
gather the deaf and the dumb
and the sick, and at His
word they turn on their touches,
and blush from awful pallor Of helpless
illness to rubicund health. and the
swollen foot of the dropsical sufferer
becomes fleet as roe on the mountains
The music of the grove and household
wakens the deaf ear. and lunatic and
maniac return into bright intelligence,
and the leper's breath becomes as sweet
as the breath Of a child, and the flesh
as roseate. Tell it to all the sick,
through all the homes, through all the
hospitals Tell it at twelve o'clock at
Ill 4 Il l. -
ing; tell it at half-past three, and in the
last watch of the night, that Jesus
walks the tempest.
Still we follow our Chieftaia until
the government that gave Him no pro-
lection insists that He pay tax, and too
poor to raise the requisite two
dollars and seventy-fve cents, He.
orders Peter to catch a fish that has in
it's mouth a Roman slater, which is a
bright coin land you know that fish
naturally bite at anything bright, but
it was a miracle that Peter should have
caught il at the first haul.
Now we follow our Chieftain until,
for the paltry sum of fifteen dollars,
Judas sells Him to His pursuers. Tell it
to all the betrayed II for ten thousand
dollars, or for five hundred dollars, or
for one hundred dollars your interests
were sold out, consider for how much
cheaper sum the Lord of earth and
Heaven was surrendered to humiliation
and death. But here, while following
Him on spring night between eleven
and twelve o'clock, we see the flash of
torches and lanterns, andSve hear the
cry of mob of nihilists. They are
breaking in on the qaietude of Gethse-
name with clubs-like a mob with
sticks chasing a mad dog. 1t is herd
of Jerusalem" toughs led on by
Judas to arrest Christ and punish Him
for being the loveliest and best
being that ever lived. But rioters are
liable to assail the wrong man.
How were they to be sure which one
was Jesus II will kiss Him. says
Judas, "and by that signal you will
know on whom to lay your hands of ar
rest" So the kiss which throughout
the human race and for all time God in
tended as the most sacred demonstra-
ton of affection, for Paul writes to the
Romans and Corinthians and the Thes-
salonians concerning the "holy kiss, F"
and Peter celebrated the kiss of charity,
and with that conjunction of lips La
ban met ] acob, and Joseph met his
brethren, and Aaron met Moses, and
Samuel met Saul, and Jonathan met
David, and Orpah parted from Naomi,
aud Paul separated from his friends
at Eph esus, and the father in the
parable greeted the returning prodigal,
and when the millennium shall come
we are told righteousness and peace
will kiss each other, and all the world
is invited to greet Christ, as inspiration
cries out: kiss the Son, lest He be
angry and We perish by the way''-that
most sacred demonstration of reuaion
and affection was desecrated as the
filthy lips of Judas touched the pure
cheek of Christ, and the horrid smack
of that kiss has its echo in the treach-
cry and debasement and hypocrisy of
ages
AS in December, 1880, / walked on the
way from Bethany, and at the foot of
Mount Olivet, a half mile from the
wall of Jerusalem, through the Garden
of Gethsemane, and under the eight
venerable olive trees now standing,
their genealogical ancestors having
been witnesses of the occurrences
spoken of, the scene of horror and of
crime came back to me, until / shud-
dered with the historical Renaissance.
In further following our great Chief
tan's march through the centuries, /
find myself in crowd in front of
Herod's palace in Jerusalem, and on a
movable platform placed upon tessel-
ated pavement Pontius PLATE sits. And
as once year condemned criminal is
pardoned, PLATE lets the people choose
whether it shall be an assassin or our
Chieftan, and they all cry out for the
liberation of the assassin, thus declar
ing they prefer a murderer to the saliva
ton of the world. Plate took basin OF
water in front of these people and tried
to wash off the blood of this murder
from His hands, but He could not. They
are still lifted. and see them looming
up through all the ages, eight fingers
and two thumbs standing out red with
the carnage.
Still following our Chieftain, as
scend the hill which Gen. Gordan, the
great English explorer and arbiter,
first made a clay model of. Ii is hard
climbing for our Chieftain, for He has
not only two heavy timbers to carry on
His back, the upright and horizontal
pieces of the cross, but He is suffering
from exhaustion caused by lack of
food, mountain chills, desert heats,
whippings with elmwood rods and
years of maltreatment.
1t took our party in 1889 only fifteen
a.. a1srv,b 20 %ba 4Ov> - IslI