The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1897-11-05

| around winch the great WneeI OF the
universe turns. Now the center is
Heaven. That is the capital of the
universe. That is the great metropolis
of immensity.
Does not our common sense teach us
| that. in matters of study, it is better
| for US to move out from the center
/ toward the circumference, rather than
to be on the circumference, where our
world now is? We are like those who
study the American continent while
standing on the Atlantic beach. The
| way to study the continent is to cross
| it, or to go to the heart of it. Our
standpoint in this world is defective.
| We are at the wrong end of the tele-
scope. The best way to study piece
of machinery is, not to stand on
| to go in with the engineer
and take our place right amid
the saws and the cylinders. We
wear our eyes out and our
brain out, from the fact that we are
studying under such great disadvan-
tage. Millions of dollars for observa-
tories to study things about the moon,
about the sun, about the rings of Sat
urn, about transits and occultations
and cell pses, simply because our stu
dio, our observatory is poorly situated.
We are down in the cellar trying to
study the palace of the universe, while
our departed Christian friends have
gone upstairs amid the skylights to
study. Now, when one can sooner get
to the center of things, is he not to be
congratulated? Who wants to be al
ways in the freshman class? We
study God in this world by the Bibli-
cal photograph of Him; but we all
know we can, in five minutes of inter
view with a friend, get more accurate
idea of him than we can by studying
him so years through pictures or
words. The little child that died last
night knows more of God than all An
dover and all Princeton, and all New.
Brunswick, and all Edin burgh, and all
the theological institutes in Chrsten-
dom. Is it not better to go up to the
very headquarters of knowledge?
Does not our common sense teach us
that it is better to be at the center
than to be clear out on the rim of the
wheel, holding nervously fast to the
tire, lest we be suddenly hurled into
light and eternal felicity? Through
all kinds of optical instruments trying
to peer in through the cracks and the
keyholes of Ueaven-afraid that both
doors of the celestial mansion will be
swung wide open before our entranced
vision - rushing about among the
apothecary shops of this world, won
dering if this is good for rheumatism,
4 -, = E, IL, \
something else is good for a bad cough,
lest we be suddenly ushered into
land of everlasting health, where the
lnhabitant never says: Il am siclzsis
One Christmas day l witnessed some
thing very thrilling. We had just dis
tributed the family presents Christmas
morning, when | heard great cry OF
distress in the hallway. A child from
neighbor's house came in to say her
father was dead. 1t was only three
doors off, and [ think in two minutes
we were there. There lay the old
Christian sea captain, his face upturned
toward the the window, as though he
had suddenly seen the headlands, and
with an illuminated countenance, as
though he were just going ntoharbor.
l.
through the "Narrows." In the ad-
joining room were the Christmas
presents waiting for his distribu-
ton. Long ago, one night when he
had narrowly escaped with his ship
from being run down by great ocean
steamer, he had made his peace with
God, and a kinder neigh Dor or a better
man than Capt. Pendleton you would
not find this side of Heaven. Without
moments warning, the Pilot of the
heavenly harbor had met him Just off
the lightship.
He had often talked to me of the
goodness of God, and especially of a
time when he was about to enter New
York harbor, with his ship from Liv-
erpool, and he was suddenly impressed
that he ought to put back to sea. Un-
der the protest of the crew and under
their very threat he put back to sea,
fearing at the same time he was losing
his mind, for it did seem so unreason-
able that when they could get into har-
Dor that night they should put back to
sea. But they put back to sea, and Capt.
Pendleton said to his mate: "You call
me at ten o'clock at night" At u
o'clocl1at night the captain was aroused
and said: what does this mean? |
thought told you to call me at ten
o'clock, and here it is H." ''Why,"
said the mate, Il did call you at ten
o'clock, and you got up looked around
and told me to keep right on the same
course for two hours, and then to call
you at IL o'clock" Said the captain:
rs it possible? 1 have no remem-
brance of that"
At 12 o'clock the captain went on
deck, and through the riff of cloud
the moonlight fell upon the sea, and
showed him a shipwrecl1 with 100
struggling passengers. Lie helped
them off. Had he been any earlier or
any later at that point of the sea he
would have been of no service
to those drowning people. On
board the captains vessel they
began to band together as
to what they should pay for the
rescue and what they should pay Tor
the provisions. ''Ah," says the captain,
my lads, you can't pay me anything;
all L have on board is yours; feel too
greatly honored of God in having
saved you to take any pay" just like
him. He never got any pay except
that of his own applauding conscienc.
Oh, that the old sea captains Go1
might be my God and yours! Amil the
stormy seas of this life we have always
some one as tenderly to take care OF as
as the captain took care of the drown-
ing crew and the passengers. And
may we come into the harbor with
as little physical pain and with
as bright a hope as he had, and