The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1896-03-13

But the last part of my text opens a
door wide enough to let us all out and
to let all Heaven in. Sound It on the
organ with all the stops out. Turn it
on the harps with all the strings
atune. With all the melody possible let
the heavens sound it to the earth and
let the earth tell it to the heavens.
THE Lord hath laid on him the in
iquity of us ALL" / am glad that the
prophet did not stop to explain whom
he meant by him" Him of the man
ger, Him of the bloody sweat, Him
of the resurrection throne, Him
of the crucifxion agony. "On
him the Lord hath laid the
iniquity of us ALL "Oh!" SAYS
some man, that isn't generous, that
isn't fair; let every man carry his own
burden and pay his own debts" That
sounds reasonable. If have an obli-
cation and have the means to meet
it, and l come to You and ask you to
settle that obligation, you rightly say:
"Pay your own debts" If you and l,
walking down the street-both hale,
hearty and well-I ask you to carry
me, you say, rightly: ''Walk on your
own feet! But suppose you and l were
In a regiment and 1 was wounded
in the battle and 1 fell uncon-
scious at your feet with gunshot frac-
lures and dislocations, what would
you do? You would call to your COM
rades, saying, "Come and help, this
man is helpless; bring the ambulance;
let us take him to the hospital y and
would be dead lift in your arms, and
you lift me from the ground where 1
had fallen, and put me in the ambu-
lance and take me to the hospital and
have all kindness shown me. Would
there be anything bemeaning in my
accepting that kindness? Oh, no!
You would be mean not to do it.
That is what Christ does. If we could
pay our debts then it would be better
to go up and pay them, saying, Here,
Lord, here is my obligation; here are
the means with which l mean to settle
that obligation; now give me receipt;
cross it all out" The debt is paid.
But the fact is we have fallen in the
battle; we have gone down under the
hot fire of our transgessions; we have
been wounded by the sabers of sin; we
have been wounded by the sabers of
sin; we are helpless; we are undone.
Christ comes. The loud cloud heard
in the sky on that Christmas night was
only the bell, the resounding bell of
the ambulance. Clear the way for the
Son of God. He comes down to bind
up the wounds, and to scatter the
darkness and to save the lost. Clear
the way for the Son of God.
Christ comes down to us, and we are
a dead lift. He does not lift us with
the tips of His fingers. He does not
lift us with one arm. He comes down
upon His knee, and then, with dead
lift, He raises us to honor and glory
and Immortality. "The Lord hath laid
on Him the iniquity of us ALL" Why,
then, will a man carry his sins?" You
can not carry successfully the small
est sin you ever committed. You
might as well put the Apen-
mines on one shoulder and the
Alps on the other. How much less
can you carry all the sins of your life
time? Christ comes and looks down in
your face and says: Il have come
through all the lacerations of these
days, and through all the tempests of
these nights; have come to bear your
burdens, and to pardon your sins, and
to pay your debts; put them on my
shoulder; put them on my heart"
''On him the Lord hath laid the in
iquity of us all" Sin has almost pes
tered the life out of some of you. At
times it has made you cross and un-
and it has spoiled the
of your days and the peace
of your rights. There are men who
have been riddled of sin. The world
gives them no solace. Gcssamery and
the world, while eternity, as
they look forward to it, is black as
midnight. They writhe under the
stings of a conscience which proposes
to give no rest here and no rest here
after, and yet they do not repent, they
do not pray. they do not weep. They
do not realize that just the position
they occupy is the position occupied
by scores, hundreds and thousands of
men who never found any hope.
If this meeting should be thrown
open and the people who are here could
give their testimony, what thrilling
we should hear on all
sides! There is man who would say:
Il had a brilliant surroundings; had
the best education that one of the best
collegiate institutions of this country
could give, and observed all the NOR
alties of life, and l was self-righteous,
and / thought / was all right be-
fore God as am all right before man.
but the Holy Spirit came to me one day
D nd cof1s Won pt 1,o H1I~
Spirit persuaded me of the fact. While
[ had escaped the sins against the law
Of the land, / had really committed the
worst sin a man ever commits, the
driving back of the Son of God from
my hearts affections, and 1 saw that
my hands were red with the blood of
the Son of God, and 1 began to pray,
and peace came to my heart, and ]
know by experience that what you say
is true" ''On Him the Lord hath laid
the iniquity of US all" Yonder is a
man who would say: Il was the worst
1runkard i'm the city; went from bad
10 worse; l destroyed myself; / de-
stroyed my home; my children cow
cred when I entered the house; when
they put up their lips to be kissed
struck them; when my wife protested
against the maltreatment / kicked |
her into the street. i know all the |
bruises and all the terrors of a drunk |
ards woe. 1 went further and further |
from God until one day got a letter,
saying:
" MY DEAR HUSBAND: / have tried |
every way, done everything and prayed |
earnestly and fervently for your refor-
=
our little Henry died, with the excep-
Farrr rr-aa1~-