The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1892-06-24

give Lm0&e VINO nave just entered Chr7ss
tan life. and that is, lie faithful IN
prayer. You might as well, bueiness
man, start out in the morning witt. out
food and expect to be strong all that
day--you might as well abstain from
food all the week and expect to be
strong physically, as TO be strong with
out prayer The only way to get any
strength into the soul is by prayer,
aud the only difference between that
Christian who is worth everything and
that who il worth nothing is the fact
that the last does not pray and the
other does. And the only differences
between this Christian who is getting
along very fast i'm the holy life and
this who is only getting along tolera-
bly, is that the first prays more than tbs
-ast. You can graduate a mans prog
tess in religion by the amount of prayer,
not by the number of hours, perhaps,
but by the earnest supplication that he
puts up to God. There In no exception
to the rule Show me Christian man
who neglects this kind of duty and
will show you one who is Inconsistent
Show me a man who prays, and his
strength and his power can not be OK
aggerated. Why, just give to a man
this power of prayer AID you give him
almost omnipotence.
How is that with your own expert
ence? Just calculate in your minds
how much religious literature you have
read during the year, and then how
large portion of the word of God you
have read, and then contrast the two
and answer within your own soul
whether you are giving more attention
to the books that were written by the
band of man or that written BY the
hand of God. Now, you go to the drug
store and you get the mineral waters;
but you have noticed that the waters
are not so fresh or sparkling or health
full as when you get these very waters
at Saratoga and Sharon-getting them
rock. And 1 have noticed the same
thing in regard to the truth of the
Gospel; while there is good deal of
refreshment and health of the Gospel
of God as it comes through good books,
/ find it is better when come to the
eternal rock of Gods word and drink
from that fountain that bubbles mp
fresh and pure to the life and the re-
freshment and the health of the soul.
Another word of counsel have TO
give. BE faithful in Bible research A
great many good books are now coming
out. We can not read half of them.
At every revolution of the printing
press they are coming. They cover our
parlor tables, and are in our sitting
rooms and libraries. Glorious books
they are. We thank God every day for
the work of the Christian printing
press. But i have thought that per-
haps the followers of Christ sometimes
allow this religious literature to take
their attention from Gods word, and
that there may not be as much Bible
reading as there ought to be.
Read the Bible and it brings. you into
the association of the best people that
ever lived. You. stand beside Moses
and learn his meekness, beside Job and
learn his patience, beside Paul and
catch something of his enthusiasm, be-
side Christ and you feel His love. And
yet how strange it is that great many
men have given their whole lives to the
assaulting of that book. can not un.
derstand it. Tom Paine worked against
that Book as though he received large
wages, and was inspired by the powers
of darkness, confessing that all the
time he was writing he did not have the
Bible anywhere near him. How many
powerful intellects have endeavored to
destroy it. Hume, Bolingbroke, Vol
taire, have been after it. Ten thousand
men now are warning against the truth
of Gods Word. What do you think of
them? ! think il is mean, and will prove
it. will prove it is the meanest thing
that has ever been done in all the CEN
turtles.
z There is a ship at sea and in trouble
The captain and the crew are at their
wits end. You are on board. You arc
on old seaman. You come up and give
taken. That is all right. But sup
pose, instead of doing that, in the midst
of all the trouble you pick up the only
compass that Is on board and pitch it
over the taffrail? Oh, you say, that is
-dastardly. But is it as mean as this?
Here is the vessel of the world going on
with sixteen hundred millions of pas
sengers, tossed and driven In the temp
est, and at the time we want help the
infidel comes and he takes hold of the
only compass and he tries to pitch it
overheard. 1t is contemplate beyond
everything that is contemplate. Have /
you any better light? Bring it on if
you have. Have you any better COM
fort to give us? Bring iton if you have.
Have you any any better hope? Bring
it on if you have, and then you have
this Bible and shall never want il
again.
But L can think of meaner thing
than that, and that is an old man going
along on the mountains with staff in
one hand and a lantern in the other.
Darkness has come on suddenly. He is
very old, just able TO pick his way out
amid the rocks and precipices, learning
on his staff with one hand and guiding
himself with the light in the other.
You come up and say: Father,
you seem to be lost. You are long
way from home" Eyes," he replies.
And then you take him by the hand
and lead him home. That is very kind
of you. But suppose instead that you
snatch the staff from his hands and
hurl it over the rocks, and snatch the
lantern and blow it out? That would
be dastardly, contemplate until there
is no depth of contempt beneath it. II
you have better staff give it to him.
If you have better light give il TO him.
When God has put the staff of the
Gospel in our hands and the lamp OF
Gods word to light our feet are You
going TO take from us our only support
and our only illumination? i love the