The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1898-12-16
THE LORDS SHUT IN
Compensations Of Sickness as Seen
By Dr.. Talmage.
Sermon for InvnIids from the story
Of Noah and the Ark-GOd's
Designs for Oar Bet
teTnent.


is helpful 10 all who find life u struggle,
is especially addressed TO class of per-
sons probably never before addressed
in a sermon. The text is Genesis vii. l6,
THE Lord smut him in"
Cosmogony has no more interesting
cha Pter than the one which speaks of
that catastrophe of The ages, the sub
mersion of our world in time of Noah,
the first ship carpenter. Many of the
nations who never saw a Bible have Il
flood story - Egyptian food story,
Grecian food story, of which Ducalion
was the Noah; Hawaiian flood story.
New Zealand flood story, Chinese flood
st ory. American Indian food story-ail
of which accounts agree in the INNER
sion of the continents under universal
rains. and that there was ship floating
with a select few of the human family
and with specimens of geological and
pathological and reptilian worlds, al
though could have wished that these
last had been shut out of the ark and
drowned.
All of these food stories represent
the ship thus afoat as finally stranded
on mountain top. Hugh Miller in his
Testimony of the, Rocks thinks that
all these flood stories were infirm tradi-
tions of the Biblical account, and be-
lieve him. The worst thing about that
great freshet WIS that it struck Noah's
Great Eastern from, above and beneath.
The seas broke the chain of shells and
crystal and rolled over the land. and the
heavens opened their clouds for failing
columns of water which roared and
thundered On the roof of the great ship
for a month and ten days. There was
one door TO the ship. but there were
three parts to that door one part for
each of the three ST ories. The Bible ac-
count says nothing about parts of the
door belonging to two of the stories.
and do not know on which floor Noah
and his family voyaged. but my next
tells US that the part of the door of that
particular floor on which Noah staid
was closed after he had entered. "The
Lord shut him in" So there are many
people now in the world who are as
thoroughly shut in. some by sickness.
some by old age. some by special duties
that will not allow them to go forth,
some surrounded by deluges of misfor-
tune and trouble. and for them l often
receive MESA ges, and this sermon,
WHICH I hope may do good to others. is
more especially intended for them. To-
day I address the shut in. "The Lord
shut him in"
Notice first of all who closed the door
thof fhnTy oO,vII Nnb1,
did not do it. nor his son Shem, ror did
Ham. nor did Japheth, nor did either of
the four married women who were on
shipboard, nor did desperadoeswhoh had
scoffed at the idea of peril which Noah
had been preaching close that door.
They had turned their backs on the ark
and had in disgust gone away. I will
tell you how it was done. A hand was
stretched down from heaven TO close
that door. 1t was a divine hand as we'll
as kind hand. The Lord shut him in"
The world has no statistics as to the
number of invalids. The physicians
know something about il, and the
apothecaries and the pastors, but who
can tell US the number of blind eyes,
and deaf ears, and diseased lungs, and
congested livers, and tangled nerves,
and neuralgia temples, and rheumatic
feet, or how many took no food this
morning because they had no appetite
to eat or digestive organs to assimilate,
or have lungs so delicate they cannot
go forth when the wind is in the east,
or there is a fog rising from the river,
or there is a dampness on the ground
or pavement because of the frost com
ing out? 1t would be easy to count the
people who every day go through a
street, or the number of passengers
carried by railroad company in year,
or the number of those who cross the
ocean in ships. But who can give US The
statistics of the great multitudes who
are shut in? I call the attention of all
such to their superior opportunities of
doing good
Those Of us who are we'll. and can see
clearly, and hear distinctly, and par
take of food of all sorts, and questions
of digestion never occur to US. and we
can wade the snowbanks, and take an
equinox in our faces, and endure the
thermometer at zero. and every breath
of air is a tonic and stimulus, and
sound sleep meets US within five min
utes after our head touches the pillow,
do not make so much of an impression
when we talk about the consultations of
religion. The world says right away:
Il guess that man mistakes buoyancy
of natural spirits for religion. What
does he know about it? He has never
been tried" But when one goes out
and reports to the world that that
morning on his way to business he
called to see you and found you, after
being kept in your room for two
months. cheerful and hopeful. and that
you had not one word of complaint and
asked all about everybody and rejoiced
in the success of your business friends
your own business had almost
come to a standstill through your alb
sence from store or office or shop. and
that you sent your love to all your old
friends and told them that if you die
not meet them again in this world you
hoped to meet them in dominions
7eraphic. with a quiet word Of advice
from you to the man who carried the
about the Importance of his
not neglecting his own soul but
through Christ seeking something bet
ter than this world could give him
why. all the business men in the count
rg room say: Good! Now that is re-
igion." And the clerks get bold of the
story and talk it over, SO that the