The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1893-12-01

ing, but fearful storm struck 10 and
dashed the ship ON the rocks that
night. All that night the mother
prayed for the safety Of the son, and
just at dawn there was a knock at the
cottage door, and the SON entered, cry
ing: Mother, knew you would pray
me homeI" If i would ask those in
this assemblage who have been prayed
home to God by picjus mothers to stand
up, there would be scores that would
stand; and if / should ask them to give
testimony, it would be the testimony
of that New England son coming
ashore from the split tiInbers of the
whaling ship: my mother prayed me
homer
Another Bible IF is the t'Ifs' of in
credulity. Satan used it when Christ,
with his vitality depressed by forty
days abstinence from food, the tempt
er pointed to some stones, in color and
shape like loaves of bread, and said:
eff Thou be the Son of God, command
that these stones be made bread" That
was appropriate, for Satan is the IA
ther of that ''if'' for incrdulity. Peter
used the same "If'' when, standing on
the wet and slippery deck of fishing
smack of Lake Galilee, he saw Christ
walking on the sea as though it were
as solid as pavement of basalt from
the adjoining volcanic hills, and Peter
cried out: ''If il be Thou, let me come
to Thee on the water" What pre-
posterous ''If!'' What human foot was
ever so constructed as to walk on wa
ter? In what part of the earth did
/ - 49,
to the rule that man will
sink to the elbows when he touches
the wave of the river or lake, and
will sink still further unless he can
swim? But here Peter looks out upon
the form in the shape of man defying
the highest law of the universe, the
law of gravitation, and standing erect
on the top of the liquid. Yet the in
credulous Peter. cries out to the Lord
eff it be Thou" Alas! for that in
credulous If 1t is working as
powerfully as in the latter part of this
nineteenth Christian century as it did
in the early part of the first Christian
century. Though small conjunction,
it is the biggest block to-day, in the
way of the Gospel chariot "Ifi'' 'tIfp'
We have theological seminaries which
spend most of their time and employ
teeir learning and their genius in the
manufacturing of Ifs With that
weaponry is assaulted the Pentateuch,
and the miracles and the divinity of
Jesus Christ. Almost everybody is
chewing on an If When man
bows for prayer, he puts his knee on
an IF" The door through which peo-
pie pass into infidclity and atheism and
all immortalities has two door-posts,
and the one is made up of the letter
81" and the other of the letter Of =,
Any religion will do in time of pros
perity. buddhism will do. Confucian-
ism will do. Theosophy viii do. No
religion at all will do But when the
world gets after you and defames your
best deeds, when bankruptcy takes the
place of large dividends, when you
fold for the last sleep the still hand S
over the still heart of your old father
who has been planning for your well
fare all these years, or yet close the
eyes of your mother who has lived in
your life, ever since before you were
born, removing her spectacles becaus.
she will have clear vision in the hom e
to which she has gone, or you give
the last kiss to the child re-
Ginning amid the flowers that
pile the casket, and looking as
natural and life-lilxe as she even
did reclining in the cradle, then the
only religion worth anything is the
old-fashioned of the Gospel of Jesus
Christ. 1 would give more in such a
crisis for one of the promises expressed
in half a verse of the old Book
than for a whole library containing
all the productions of all the other re-
ligions of the ages. The other reli-
gions are 4 sort of a cocaine to benumb
and deaden the soul while bereavement
and misfortune do their work, but our
religion is inspiration, illumination,
emparadisation. 1t is a. mixture of
sunlight and hallelujah. Do not adul-
terate it with one drop of the tincture
of incredulity.
Another Bible ''if'' is the sif'' of
eternal significance. Solomon gives us
that eff twice in one sentence, when
he says: IF thou be wise, thou shalt
be wise for thyself; but if thou
soonest, thou alone shalt bear it."
Christ gave us that ''if'' when He saws:
IF thou hadst know in this thy day,
the things which belong unto thy
peace, but now they are hidden from
thine eyes" Paul gives US that ''if''
when he says: IF they shall enter
into my rest" All those ''ifs"
and score more that ! might
recall put the whole RESPONSE
bility of our salvation on our
selves, Christ's willingness to pardon
No ''if'' about that. Christ's willing
ness to help: No if about that.
Realms of glory awaiting the right
eous: No ''if' about that. The only
''If'' in all the case worth a considera-
ton, is the ''if" that attaches itself to
the question as to whether we will ae-
cept, whether we will repent, whether
we will believe, whether we will rise
forever. Is it not time that we take
our eternal future off that swivel?
Is it not time that we extirpate that
If that miserable eff" that hazard
Gus ''if?" We would not allow the un-
certain ''if'' to stay long in anything
else of Importance. Let some one say
in regard to railroad bridge: 81 have
reasons for asking if that bridge is
safe,' and you would not cross it. Let
some one say: 81 have reasons to ask
if that steamer is trustworthy,r and
you would not take passage on it. Let
someone suggest in regard to a prop
erty that you are ABOUT to purchase:
II have reason to ask if they can
give a good title and you would