The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1896-01-31

had spoken pardon, to write that i'm
mortal hymn:
Oh, for a thousand tongues. to sing
Ny great Redeemer's praise
1t was after Abraham Lincoln haC
been comforted in the loss of ''Tad,
the bright boy of the White House
that he said: II now see as never be
fore the preciousness of Gods love i1
Jesus Christ, and how we are brought
near to God as our Father by Him"
What a thrill went through the
meeting in Portland, Ore, when al
ex-attorney-general of the United
States arose and said: "Last night
got up and asked the prayers of Gods
people. Ifeel now perfectly satisfied
The burden is rolled off and all gone
and feel that could run or fly into
the arms of Jesus Christ"
What a confirmation would come Il
all who had answers to prayers would
speak outl If all merchants in tight
places because of hard times would
tell how, in response to supplication,
they got the money to pay the note.
If all farmers in time of drought would
tell how, in answer to prayer, the rain
came just in time to save the crop. II
all parents who prayed for a wander
ing son to come home would tell how,
not long after, they heard the boys
hand on the latch of the front door.
There fingers on this side of ther river
that divides earth and Heaven, ready
at any time to cross over, the apostle
of prayer for this century, Jeremiah
Calvin Lanphier, the founder of the
Fulton street prayer meeting, and If
he should put on his spectacles and
read this / salute him as more
qualified than any man since
Bible times in demonstrating what
prayer can do. Dear Brother
Lanphier! The high heavens are full
of his fame. Having announced a
meeting for 12 o'clock, September %,
1857, he sat in the upper room on Full
ton street, New York, waiting for peo-
pie to come. He waited for a half
hour, and then football was heard
on the steps, and after awhile
in all six persons arrived; but
the next day 90, and the
next day 40, and from that time
to this, for over 80 years, every day,
Sabbath excepted, that Fulton street
prayer meeting has been place where
people have asked prayer and answers
to prayer have been announced, and
the throb of that great heart of sup
plication has thrilled not only into the
heavens, but clear around the world,
more than any spot on earth. That
has been the place where the redeemed
of the Lord said so!
In conjugal life the honeymoon is
soon past, and the twain take it for
granted that each is thoroughly under
stood. How dependent on each other
they become, and the years go by, and
perhaps nothing is said to make the
other fully understand that sense of
Impatient words some
times come forth, and motives are mis-
and it is taken as mat
ter of course that the two will walk
the path of life side by side until about
the same time their journey shall be
ended; but some sudden and appalling
illness unloosens the right hands that
were elapsed years before at the altar
of orange blossoms, the parting takes
place, and among the worst of all the
sorrows is that you did not oftener,
if you ever did at all, tell her or
tell him how indispensable she was, or
how indispensable he was to your hap
piness, and that in some plain, square
talk, long ago, you did not ask for for
giveness for infirmities and neglects,
and by some unlimited utterances
make it understood that you fully APP
preciated the fidelity and REINFORCE
ment of many years. Alas! how many
such have to lament the rest of their
lives. 'Oh, if had only said sol"
My subject takes wider range.
The Lord has hundreds of thousands
of people among those who have never
joined His army because of some high
ideal of what Christian should be, or
because of fear that they may not
hold out, or because of a spirit of pro-
They have never public
ly professed Christ. They have as
much right to the sacraments and as
much right Ito all the privileges
Of the church as thousands
who have for years been
enrolled in church membership,
and yet they have made no positive ut
terance by which the world may know
they love God and are on the road to
Heaven. They are redeemed of the
Lord, and do not say so. Oh, what an
augmentation it would be if by some
Divine impulse all these outsiders
should become insiders. / tell you
what would bring them to their right
places, and perhaps nothing else will.
Days of persecution! If they were com
peeled to take sides as between Christ
and His enemies, they would take the
side of Christ, and the faggots and the
instruments of torture, and the anath-
emas of all earth and hell would
not make them blanch. Martyrs are
made out of such stuff as they are.
But let them not wait for such days as
[ pray to God may never come. Drawn
by the sense of fairness and Justice
and obligation, let them show their
colors. Let the redeemed of the Lord
say so!
But to make up for this lack Of out
spoken religion there needs to be and
will be a great day, when amid the
and grandeurs of listen
ng universe God will "say So" No
statistics can state how many mothers
have rocked cradles and hovered over
nfantile sicknesses and brought up
heir families TO manhood and woman
hood, and launched them upon useful
and successful lives, and yet never re-
,eived one Thank you" that amounted
10 anything. The daughters became
queens in social life or were afianced
N highest realms of prosperity; the
sons took the first horors of the uni
7ersity aad became radiant in none
,arv or professional spheres. Now. the