The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1896-08-14
GOSPEL OF GOOD CHEER.
Rev. DR.. TaImage Talks About the
Evening Of Life.
nc should be 30 Ordered That Christ May
Come I'm and Abide, Even aa Ha
Did With the Two VII
layers Of Emmaus.

cred by Rev. II. Dewitt Ialmage before
his Washington congregation. The
text was:
Abide with Us. for It Is toward evening"
Luke xiv, 20.
Two villagers, having concluded
heir errand in Jerusalem, have started
out at the city gate and are on their
way TO Emmaus, the place Of their
residence. They 90 with a sad heart
Jesus, who had been their admiration
and their Joy, had been basely massa-
cred and entombed. AS with sad face
and broken heart they pass on their
way, a stranger accosts them. They
tell Him their anxieties and bitterness
of soul. He in turn talks to them,
nightly expounding ths Scriptures.
He throws over them the fascination of
intelligent conversation. They forget
the time, and notice not the objects
they pass, and before they are aware,
have come up in front of their house.
They pause before the entrance and
attempt to persuade the stranger to
tarry with them They press upon
Him their Inequalities. Night is com
ing on, and He may meet a prowling
wild beast, or be obliged to lie I'M
sheltered from the dew. He can not
90 much further now. Why not stop
there, and continue their pleasant
conversation? They take Him by the
arm and they insist upon His coming
In. addressing Him in the words:
abide with us, for it is toward even
ing"
The candles are lighted, the table is
spread, pleasant socialities are en-
kindled. They rejoice in the presence
of the stranger guest. He asks a
blessing upon the bread they eat, and
He hands piece of it to each. Sud
denly, and with overwhelming power
the thought flashes upon the aston
ished people-it is the Lordl And as
they sit in breathless wonder, looking
upon the resurrected body of Jesus.
He vanished. The interview ended.
lie was gone.
With many of us it is a bright, sun.
shiny day of prosperity. There is not
cloud in the sky, not leaf rustling
I'm the forest. No chill in tho air.
But we can not expect all this to last.
He is not an intelligent man who ex-
poets perpetual daylight of Joy. The
sun will after awhile near the hori-
Eon. The shadows will lengthen.
While speak many of us stand in the
very hour described in the text, for
Il is toward evening"" The request of
the text is appropriate for some
before me. For with them it
Is toward the evening of old
age. They have passed the me-
ridian of life. They are sometimes
startled to think how old they are.
They do not, however, like to have
others remark upon it. If others sug-
gest their approximation toward ven
cradle appearance, they say: "Nhy,
I'm not SO old, after ALL" They do,
indeed, notice that they can not lift
quite so much as once. They can not
walk quite so fast. They can not
read quite so well without specta-
cles. They can not SO easily recover
from a cough or any occasional all
ment. They have lost their taste for
merriment. They are surprised at the
quick passage of the year. They say
that it only seems a little while ago
that they were boys. They are going
little down hill. There is something
in their health, something in their
vision, something in their walk, some
thing in their changing associations,
something above, something beneath,
something within, to remind them
that it is toward evening.
The great want of all such is to have
Jesus abide with them. 1t is a dismal
thing to be getting old without the
rejuvenating influence of religion.
When we step on the down grade of
life and see that it dips to the verge of
the cold river, we want to behold some
one near who will help us across it.
When the sight loses its power to
glance and gather up, we need
the faith of the ear, we need the
clear tones Of that voice which in
olden times broke up the silence of the
deaf with cadences of mercy. When
the axmen of death hew down whole
forests of strength and beauty around
us and we are left in solitude, we need
the dove of divine mercy to sing in our
branches. When the shadows begin
TO fall and we feel that the day is far
spent, we need most of all to suppli-
cate the strong, benefcent Jesus in the
prayer of the villages: abide with
The request of the text is an appro-
pirate exclamation for all those who
are approached in the gloomy hour of
temptation. There is nothing easier
than TO be good-natured when every
thing pleases, or to be humble when
there is nothing to oppose us, or for
giving when we have not been as
sailed. or honest when we have no in
ducement to fraud. But you have
felt the grapple of some temptation.
Your nature at some time quaked
and groaned under the internal
force. You felt that the devil was
after you. You saw your Christian
graces retreating. You feared that
you would fall in the awful wrestle
with sin and be thrown into the dust
The gloom thickened. The first indi-
cations of the night were seen in all
the trembling of your soul; in all the
internal suggestions of Satan, in all
the surging up of tumultuous pas
sions and excitements, you felt
with awful emphasis that it was
toward evening. In the tempted
hour you need to ask Jesus to
abide with you. You can beat back
the monster that would devour you.
You can unhorse the sin that would
ride you down. You can sharpen the
battle-ax with which you split the head
of helmeted abominationI Who helped
Paul shake the brazengated heart of
Felix? Who acted like a good sailor
when all the crew howled in the Medi- |