The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1894-09-14

bldL &uTlbb Ii rs bEuSENNOFINV as InGV
are, then deal with Him as fairly.
''Oh, says some one in a light way,
81 believe that Christ was born in
Bethlehem, and believe that He died
on the cross" Do you believe it with
your head or your heart? | will illus
trate the difference You are in your
own house. In the morning you open
a newspaper and you read how Capt.
Braveheart on the see risked his life
for the salvation of mis- passengers.
You say: What a grand fellow he
must have beenl His family deserve
very well of the country" You fold
the newspaper and sit down at the
table, and perhaps do not think of that
incident again. That is historical
faith.
But now you are on the sea, and IL is
night, and you are asleep. and you are
awakened by the shrek Of ''fife!" You
rush out on the deck. You hear, amid
the ringing of the hands and the faint
ing, the cry: mo hope! No hope. We
are losti" The sail puts out its wing
of fire, the ropes make a burning ladder
in the night heavens, the spirit of
wrecks misses in the wave, and on the
hurricane deck shakes out ita banner
of smoke and darkness. "D0wn
with the liieboatsi'' cries the captain.
"Down with the lifeboatsi" Peo-
pie rush into them. The boats are
about full. Room only for one more
man. You are standing on the dock
beside the captain.
Who shall it be? You or the captain?
The captain says: You" You jump
and are saved. He stands there and
dies. Now, you believe that Capt
Braveheart sacrificed himself for his
passengers, but you believe it with love,
with tears, with hot and long-contin-
ued EXPLANATIONS; with grief at his loss
and joy at your deliverance. That is saw
ing faith. In other words, what you be-
lieve with all the heart, and believe in
regard to yourself. On this hinge turns
my sermon; aye, the salvation of you1
immortal soul. You often 60 across a
bridge you know nothing about. You
do not know who built the
bridges you do not know what MAJ
teSial it Is made of; but you come to it.
and walk over it, and ask no ques-
tions. And here is an arched bridge
blasted from the Crock of Ages"
And built by the Architect OF
the whole universe, spanning
the dark gulf between sin and right
eousness, and all that God asks you is
to walk across it. and you start, and
you come to it, and you go little way
on, and you stop, and you fall back,
and you experiment. You say: "How
do know that bridge will hold me?"
instead of marching on with firm step,
asking no questions, but feeling that
the strength of the Eternal God la uas
der you,
What power Is there in anthihg to
chill me in the last hour if Christ wraps
around me the skirt Of His own gar
ment? What darkness can fall upon
my eyelids then, amid the heavenly
daybreak? o death, I will not fear
thee then. Back to thy cavern of
dark, thou robber of all the earth.
Fly, thou despoiler of families. With
this battle-ax 1 hew thee in twain,
from helmet to sandal, the voice of
Christ sounding all over the earth and
through the heavens: go death, will
be thy plague. o grave, will be thy
destruction"
To be saved is to wake up in the pres
ence of Christ. You know when Jesus
was upon the earth how happy He made
every house He went into, and when
He brings us up to His house
in Heaven how great shall be our
glee. His voice has more music in it
than is to be heard in all the oratories Of
eternity. Talk not about banks dashed
with eff1orescence. Jesus is the chief
bloom of Heaven. We shall see the
very face that beamed sympathy in
Bethany, and take the very hand that
dropped It's blood from the short beam
of the GROSS. Oh, / want to stand in
eternity with Him. Toward that har-
Dor / steer. Toward that goal i run.
/ shall be satisfied when l awake in
His likeness.
Oh, broken-hearted men and women.
how sweet it will be in that good land
to pour all your hardships and be-
reavements and losses into the
loving ear of Christ, and then
have Him explain why it was best
for you to be sick. and why it was
best for you to be widowed, and why
1t was best for you to be prosecuted,
and why it was best for you to be tired,
and have Him point to an evelation
proportionate to your disquietude here,
saying, you suffered with me on
earth, come up now and be glorifed
with me in Heaven"
Some one went in a house where
there had been good deal Of trouble,
and said to the woman there: "You
seem to be lonely Yes she said,
81 am lonely" How many In the
family?" ''Only myself Have you
any children" had seven
children" "Where are they?h
leone "All gomez" "All." IAN
dead?" "All." Then she breathed
long sigh into the loneliness, and said:
''Oh, sir, have been a good mother to
the grave"
And so there are hearts here that are
utterly broken down by the bereave-
ments of life. / point you to-day ia
the eternal balm of Heaven. Oh, aged
men and women, will not your decrepi.
tude change for the leap of a hart
when you come to look face to face upon
Him whom having not seen you loveq
Oh. that will be the Good Shepherd,
not out in the night and watching to
keep off the wolves, but with the lamb
reclining on the sunlit hill. That will
be the captain of our salvation.
not amid the roar and crash and boom
of battle, but amid His disband.
ed troops keeping victorious festivity.
That viii be the Bridegroom of the
church coming from afar, the bride