The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1898-04-01

oAAO hO Illus 1t, DlSeulnB ana PAIN
struck? That wound in the foot de-
cides that he be sedentary in his life,
decides that he be a student. That
wound by the glass in the foot decides
that he shall be John Kitto, who shall
provide the best religious encyclopae-
dia the world has ever had provided,
and, with his other writings as well,
throwing a light upon the word of
God such as has come from no 9TH
er man in this century. o mother,
mother, that little hand that wanders
over your face may yet be lifted to
hurl thunderbolts of war or drop bene-
dictionsl That little voice may bias
pheme God in the groggery or cry
Forward to the Lords hosts as they
go out for their last victory. My mind
this morning leaps 80 years ahead, and
l see merchant prince of New York.
One stroke of his pen brings ship out
of Canton. Another stroke of his pen
brings a ship into Madras. He is
mighty in all the money markets
of the world. Who is he
He sits on Sabbath beside you in
church. My mind leaps thirty years
forward from this time and 1 find my
self in a relief association. A great
1zSa2s4tude of Christian women have
met together for generous purpose.
There is one woman in that crowd
who seems to have the confidence of all
the others, and they all look up to her
for her counsel and her prayers.
Who is she? This afternoon you
will find her in the Sabbath school,
while the teacher tells her of
that Christ who clothed the naked, and
fed the hungry, and healed the sick.
My mind leaps forward 30 years from
now, and [ find myself in an African
Jungle; and there is a missionary of the
cross addressing the natives, and their
dusky countenances are irradiated
with the glad tidings OF great joy and
salvation. Who is he? Did you not
hear his voice to-day in the opening
song of your church service?
| learn one more lesson from this
oriental scene, and that is, that every
wilderness has a well in it. Hagar
and Ishmael gave up to die. Hagar's
heart sank within her as she heard her
child crying: Water! Water! Water!"
Ali" she says, my darling, there is
no water. This is a DESERT" And
then Gods angel said from the cloud:
What aileth thee, Hagar?" And
she looked up and saw him point
ing to well of water, where
she filed the bottle for the
lad. Blessed be God, that there is in
every wilderness a well, if you only
know how to find it-fountains for all
these thirsty souls. On that last day,
on the great day of the feast, Jesus
stood and cried: IF any man thirst,
let him come to me and drink" All
these and other fountains you find are
mere mirages of the desert. Paracelsus,
you know, spent his time in trying
to find out the elixir of life
a liquid which, if taken, would
keep one perpetually young in this
world, and would change the aged bacs
again to youth. OF course, he was dis
appointed; he found not the elixir
But here l tell you of the elixir of ever:
lasting life bursting from the Rock of
Ages, = and that drinking that water
you shall never get old, and you will
never be sick, and you will never die.
''Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ys
to the waters" All! here is a man who
says: 4 have been looking for that foun-
tain a great while, but can't find it,
And here is some one else who says: . |
believe all you say, but have been
trudging along in the wilderness and
can't find the fountain" Do you know
the reason? L will tell you. You never
looked in the right direction. ''Oh,
you say, Il have looked everywhere.
have looked north, south, east and west.
and l haven't found the fountain
Why, you are not looking in the right
direction at all.
Look up, where Hagar looked. She
never would have found the fountain
at all, but when she heard the voice of
the angel she looked up, and she saw
the finger pointing to the supply. And,
o soul, if to-day with one earnest, in
tense prayer you would only look up
to Christ, He would point you down to
the supply in the wilderness: Look
unto me, all We ends of the earth, and
be We saved, for am God, and there is
none else!' Look Look as Hagar
looked!
Yes, there is well for every desert
of bereavement. Looking over my au-
dience [ notice signs of mourning and
woe. Have you found consolationf
Oh, man bereft, oh, woman bereft.
have you found consolation? Hearse
after hearse We step from one
grave hilloclz to another grave hillock.
We follow corpses, ourselves soon to be
like them. The world is in mourning
for it's dead. Every heart has become
the sepulcher of some buried joy. Blu.
sing ye to God; every wilderness has a
well in it; and l come to that well to-
day, and begin to draw water for you
from that well.
Have you seen the Nyctanthes? 1t
is a beautiful flower, but it gives very
little fragrance until after sunset. |
Then it pours its richness on the air. |
And this grace of the Gospel that 1 |
to you now, while it may be
very sweet during the day of prosper
ity, it pourS forth its richest aroma |
after shutdown. And it will be sun
down with you and me after awhile. |
When you come to go out of this world, |
will it be desert march, or |
will it be drinking at fountain?
A converted HindOo was dying, and |
his heather comrades came around |
him and tried to comfort him by read |
ing some of their theology, but he |
waved his hand, as much as to say: y |
don't want to hear it" Then they |
called in heather priest, and he |
said: IF you will only recite the
Numtra it will deliver you from
hell He waved his hand, as
much as to say: Il don't want
to hear that" Then they said:
Call on Juggernaut. He shook his
head, as much as to say: Il CAN'T d.
hat :, Then theu thnunht narha1ns Ia |