The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1894-10-26

"a anu AhG NDGAGA Influences SGCAA "
be against their spiritual interests.
Christ seems to be driven almost en-
/ tifely from the school aiid the pleas
urable concourse, yet God knows
how anxious we are for children.
\ We eau not think OF going into
/ Heaven without them. We do not want
TO leave this life while they are tossing
on the waves of temptation and away
from God. From which of them could
we consent to be eternally separated
/ Would il be the SOM Would It be the
/ daughter? Would it be the. eldest.
| Would it be the youDgest9 Would ii
/ be the one that is well and stout, or
/ the one that is sick? Oh, I hear
some parent saying tonight: Il
have tried my best to bring my
/ children to Christ. l have laid hold
of the oars until they bent in my
grasp, and | have braced myself against
the ribs of the boat, and have pulled
for their eternal rescue; but ] can't get
them to Christ" Then / ask you to
initiate the men of the text and cry
nightly unto God. We want more inn
Fortunate praying for children, such
as the father INDUCED in when he had
| tried to bring his six sons to Christ, and
they had wandered off into dissipation.
Then he got down in his prayers
and said: 20, God. take away my
life, if through that means my sons
may repent and be brought to Christ"
and the Lord startihgly answered the
prayer, and in few weeks the father
was taken away, and through the sol
ON t-sz HoI nr,1
that father could afford to die for the
eternal welfare of his children! He
rowed hard to bring them to the land,
but could not, and then he cried unto
the Lord.
There are parents who are almost
discouraged about their children.
Where is your son tonight? He has
wandered off. perhaps, TO the ends of
the earth. 1t seems as if he can hot
get far enough away from your Chris
tian counsel What does he care about
the burrows that come to your brow:
about the quick whitening of the hair;
about the fact that Your back begins to
stoop with the burdens? Why,
he would not care much if he
heard you were dead. The black
edged letter that brought the It'd
ings he would put in the same package
with other letters telling the story of
has shame. What are you going to do?
Both paddles broken at the middle of
the blade, how can you pull him ashore?
throw You oar now with which I be-
lieve you can bring him into the har-
Dor. 1t is the glorious promise: 81 will
be God to thee, and to thy seed after
thee" Oh, brolxen-hearted father and
mother, you have tried everything else,
now make an appeal for the help and
omnipotence of the covenant-making
God! and perhaps at your next family
gathering-perhaps on Thanksgiving
day, perhaps next Christmas day-the
prodigal may be home; and if you
crowd on his plate more luXurieS than
on any other plate at the table, / am
sure the brothers will got be jealous,
but they will wake up all the music in
the house, because the dead is
alive again, and because the lost
is found" Perhaps your pray
ers have been answered already.
The vessel may be coming home
ward, and by the light of this nights
stars that absent son may be pacing the
deck of the ship, anxious for the time
to come when he can throw his arms
around your neck and ask for forgive
ness for that he has been wringing
your old heart so long. Glorious re-
union! that will be too sacred for out
siders to look upon; but l would just
like to look through the windows
when you have all together again, and
- coo TOD at ho ha
Though parents may in covenant be-
And have their heaven in view;
They are not happy till they see
Their children happy too.
Again, / remark that the unavailing
effort of the Mediterranean oarsmen
has counterpart in the effort which
we are making to bring this world back
to God, His pardon. and safety. If this
world could have been saved by human
effort. it would have been done
long ago. John Howard took hold
of one oar, and Carey took hold
of another oar. and Adoniram Judson
took hold of another oar, and Luther
took hold of another oar, and John
Knox took hold of another oar, and
they pulled until they fell back dead
from the exhaustion. Some dropped in
the ashes of martyrdom, some on the
scalping knives of savages, and some
into tn plague-struck room of the
lazaretto; and still the chains are
not broken, and still the despot-
isins are not demolished, and still
the world is unsaved. What then? Put
down the oars and make no effort? /
do not advise that. But l want you,
Christian brethren, to understand that
the church. and the school, and the
college, and the missionary society are
only the instrumentalities; and if this
work is ever done at all, God must do
it, and He will do it, in answer to our
prayer. They rowed hard to bring it
to the land, but they could not; where
fore they cried unto the Lord
Again, the unavailing effort of those
Mediterranean oarsmen has a counter
part in every man that is trying to row
his own soul into safety. When the
Eternal Spirit flashes upon us our con-
dition, we try to save our lives. We
saw: Give me stout oar for my right
hand, give me stout oar for my left
hand, and will pull myself into safety.
No. wave of sin comes and dashes
you one way, and wave of tempta-
ton comes and dashes you in another
way, and there are plenty of rocks on
which to founder, but seemingly no
harbor into which to sail. Sin must be
thrown overheard. oF-EVe- mnst-perfsh.
There are men who have tried for years
to become Christians. They believe all