The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1897-12-17

z o'clock in the morning saying, Have
t / got that blessing?" at Il o'clock
! MONDAY, asking, "Have I got thai
{ blessing?" at o'clock In the evening
saying: "Have 1 received that bless
, ing?" and not getting 1t, pleading,
: pleading-begging, begging asking.
: asking until you get it. Now, my
: brethren, is not that common sense?
If we ask thing from God, who has
: sworn by His eternal throne that He
l will do that which we ask, is it not
common sense that we should watch
and wait until we get its
When was lad / was one day In
village store, and there was large
group of young men there full of roll
) licking and fun, and Christian man
came in, very good Christian man,
and without any introduction of the
subject, and while they were in great
hilarity, said to one of them: George
what is the first step to wisdomP"
George looked up and said: Every
man to mind his own businessn Well.
it was very rough answer, but it was
provoked. Religion had been hurled
In there as though it was bombshell
We must be natural in the presenta-
ton of religion to the world. Do you
suppose that Mary, in her converse
tons with Christ, lost her simplicity?
or that Paul, laundering from Mars Hill,
took the pulpit tone? Why is it people
can not talk as naturally in prayer
meetings and Oh religious subjects as
they do in worldly circles? For no one
ever succeeds in any kind of Christian
work unless he works naturally. We
want to initiate the Lord Jesus Christ,
who plucked poem from the grass of
the field. We all want TO initiate Him
who talked with farmers about the
man who went forth to sow, and
talked with the fishermen about
the drawn net that brought
in fish of all sorts, and talked
with the vine-dresser about the idler
IN the vineyard, and talked with those |
newly affianced about the marriage |
supper, and talked with the man |
cramped in money matters about the |
two debtors, and talked with the |
woman about the yeast that Ieavened |
the whole lump, ard talked with the |
shepherd about the lost sheep.
Oh, we might gather even the stars
OF the sky and twist them like forget
me-nots in the garland of Jesus. We |
must bring everything to Him-the /
wealth OF language, the tenderness of
sentiment, the delicacy of morning
dew, the saffron of. floating cloud, the
tangled surf of the tossing sea, the
bursting thunder guns of the storms
bombardment. Yes, every star must
point down to Him, every helitrope
must breathe His praise, every drop in
the summer shower must flash His
glory, all the tree branches of the
forest must thrum their music in the
grand march which shall celebrate
world redeemed.
Now, all this being So what is the
common-sense thing for you and for me
to do? What we do think will de-
pend upon three facts-three great
facts:
The frst.fact, that sin has ruined us.
1t has blasted body, mind and soul
We want no Bible to prove that we are
sinners. Any man who is not willing
to acknowledge himself an imperfect
and a sinful being is simply a fool, and |
not to be argued with. We all feel
that sin has disorganized our entire |
nature.
That is one fact. Another fact In
|
store, to revive, to correct, to redeem.
That is a second fact. The third fact
is that the only time we are sure Christ
Will pardon us is the present. Now,
what is the common-sense thing for us
to do IN view of these three facts? You
will all agree with me to quit sin;
take Christ and take him now.
Suppose in Venice there is Raphael
a faded picture, great in its time, beas
ing some marks of its greatness. Hi.
tory describes that picture. 1t is nearly
faded away. You say, 'Oh, what q ]
pity that So wonderful a picture BIZ
Raphael should be nearly defacedIk j
After awhile a man comes up, very un- ]
5killful in art, and he proposes to re-
touch it. You say: Stand off |
would rather have it just as it is; YOU
will only make it worse" s
After awhile there comes an artist ]
who was the equal of Raphael h
says: Il will retouch that picture ami :
bring out all its original power" You +
have full confidence in his ability. H.A I
touches it here and there. Feature af- |
ter feature comes forth, and when he
IS done with the picture i t is complete
N all its original power :
Now, God impresses His images on S
our race, but that image has been de- I
faced for hundreds and for thousands =
)t years, getting fainter and fainter. z
Here comes up divine Raphael F
shall call him divine Raphael. He T
says: Il can restore that picture. :
lie has all power in Heaven and on
earth. He is the equal of the one e
who made the picture, the equal of f
he one who drew the image '
If God in our soul. He touches
his sin and it is gone, that transgres- F
ion and it is gone, and all the deface- F
nent. disappears, and where sin =
bounded grace doth much more 2
lbound." Will you have the deface-
nent, or will you have the restoration2
am well persuaded that if l could by
touch of heavenly pathos in two
minutes put before you what has beea
lone to save your soul, there would be !
N emotional tide overwhelming. 4
Mamma" said d little child to her
mother when she was being put to bel |
It night, mamma, what makes your {
land so SCARED and twisted and unlike (
ther peoples hands?" "WeIl, said the D
mother, my child, when you were =
ounger than you are now. years ago.
ne night after l had put you to bed,
Leard a cry, a shrek upstairs. I came
Ip and found the bed was on fire,
nd you were on fire, and / took hold
f you, and tore off the burning gar I:
nents, and while was tearing them =