The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1894-03-23

ony of churches and schools and beau
tiful homes and highest style Of re-
ligion and civilization. For fifty years
no missionary and no Christian infu-
ence had landed there. Why this oasis
Of light amid desert of heathendom?
Sixty years before a ship had
met disaster and one of the
sailors, unable to save ANYTHING
else, went to his trunk and took out
Bible which his mother had placed
there, and swan ashore, the Bible
held in his teeth. The book was read
on all sides until the rough and vicious
population were eTangelized, and a
church was started, and an enlight-
ened commonwealth established, and
the worlds history has no more bril-
liant page than that which tells of the
transformation of a nation by one
book 1t did not seem of much inpor-
tance whether the sailor continued to
let it fall in the breakers, but upon
what small circumstance depended
what mighty results.
Practical inference: There are no
insignificances in our lives. The mi
nutest thing is part of magnitude. In
finity is made up of Infinitesimals.
Great things an aggregation of small
things. Bethlehem manager pulling
on star in the eastern sky. One book
in drenched sailors mouth the evan
gelization of a multitude. One boat of
papyrus on the Nile freighted with
events for all ages. The fate of Chris
tendon in basket let down from a
window on the wall What you do, do
well. If you make a rope make it
strong and true, for you know not
how much may depend on your
workmanship. If you fashion a boat
let it be waterproof, for you know
not who may sail in it. If you
put Bible in the trunk of your boy
as he goes from home, let it be heard
in your prayers, for it may have mis-
sion as far-reaching as the book which
the sailor carried in his teeth to the
Pitcairn beach. The plainest mans
life is an leland between two eterni-
ties-eternity past ripping against his
shoulders, eternity TO come touching
his brow. The casual, the accidental,
that which merely happened SO, are
parts of a great plan, and the rope
that lets the fugitive apostle from the
Damascus wall is the ca BILE that holds
to its mooring the ship of the church
in the northeast storm of the centuries.
Again notice unrecognized and un-
recorded services. Who spun that
rope? Who tied it TO the basket? Who
steadied the illustrious preacher as
l.,
a muscle of the arm or dismissed an
anxious look from his face until the
basket touched the ground ana dis
charged its magnificent cargo? Not
one of their names has come to us, but
there was no work done that da- in
Damascus nor in all the earth COM
pared with the Importance of their
work. What if they had in their
agitation tied knot that
could slipP What if the sound of
the mob at the door had led them to
say: Paul must take care of himself,
and we will take care of ourselves"
No, no! They held the rope, and in
doing so did more for the Christian
church than any thousand of US will
ever accomplish. But God knows and
has made eternal record of their
undertaking. And they know. How
exultant they must have felt when
they read His letters to the Romans,
to the Corinthians, TO the Galatians, to
the Ephesians. to the Philippians, to
the Colossians, to the Thessalonians,
to Timothy, to Titus, to Philemon, to
the Hebrews, and when they heard
how he walked out of prison with the
earthquake unlocking the door for him,
and took command of the Alexan-
drian corn-ship when the sailors were
nearly scared to death, and preached
a sermon that nearly shook Felix off
his Judgment seat. l hear the men
and women who helped him down
through the window and over the wall
talking in private over the matter,
and saying: ..'How glad am that we
have effected that rescued In coming
times others may get the glory of
Pauls work, but no one shall rob US of
the satisfaction of knowing that we
held the rope"
There are said to be about sixty-nine
thousand ministers of religion in this
country, About fifty thousand | war
rant came from early homes which had
to struggle for the nccessaries of life.
The sons of rich bankers and mer-
chants generally become bankers and
merchants. The most of those who
become ministers are the sons of those
who had terrific struggle to get their
everyday bread. The collegiate
and theological education of that
son took every luxury from the
parental table for eight years.
The other children were more scantilv
apparelled. The son at college every
little while got a bundle from home.
In il were the socks that mother had
knit, sitting up late at night, her sight
not as good as once it was. And there
also were some delicacies from the sis
ter's hand for the voracious appetite
of hungry studert.
The years go by, and the son has
been ordained and is preaching the
glorious Gospel, and a great revival
comes, and souls by scores and hun
dreds accept the Gospel from the lips
of the young preacher. and father and
mother, quite old now, are visiting
the son of the village parsonage, and
at the close of a sabbath of mighty
blessing father and mother retire to
their room. the son lighting the way
and asking them if he can do any
thing to make them more comfort
able, saying if they want anything
in the night just to knock on
the wall. And then all alone
father and mother talk over
the gracious inf renee Of the day, and
say: well. it as worth all we went
through to educate that boy! 1t was a