The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1900-11-16


knee. What an opportunity is prayerl
Why not oftener use it praying for
ourselves? What better work would
we do, what better lives would we
live, what better hopes would we en-
terrain, if we multiplied and intenst,
fed our prayers!
Some one asked a soldier of Stone.
wall Jackson the secret of the great
generals influence over his men. docs
your general abuse you, swear at you.
to make you march," ''Swearl' re.
piled the soldier. mol" Ewen does
the swearing. Stonewau does the
praying. When Stonevall wants us
to march, he looks at u3 soberly, just
as if he were sorry for US, and says:
Men, we have got to make a long
march, We always know when there
is going to be long march and right
smart fighting, for StOnewall is pow.
erful on prayer just before a big
fight" When Stonewall Jackson was
asked the meaning of the passage, sim
slant in prayer" he said: IF you will
not mistake and think am setting my
self up as an example, which am not,
| Will give du 1IIuSlTdllOu from my own
habit. I have so fixed the habit of
prayer in my mind that l never raise
glass of water to my lips without a
moments asking of Gods blessing. /
never seal a letter without putting a
word of prayer under the seal. / never
take letter from the post without a
brief sending of my thoughts Heaven
ward. I never change my classes in
ne section room without a minutes
petition for the cadets who go out and
those who come in" Don't you some
times forget?" said friend. He re-
| piled: 81 think l can say that
scarcely do. The habit has become al
most as fixed as breathing" But"
says some one from different section
of the country from that in which Gen.
Jackson lived, 'were his prayers an
swered?" Yes, as earnest prayers are
| always answered, in Gods way, which
is often quite different from mans way,
and Gods way is always the best way,
while our way may be the wrong way.
In all the tossing of this life lay hold
| of the rope of prayer mentioned by
John Newton, who was converted on
shipboard from being blasphemous
sailor to become a great preacher of
righteousness, and who said: when
first amused myself with going to sea,
when the winds rose and the waves be-
came rough, I tumbled and tossed
about like porpoise in the water. At
last I caught hold of a rope that was
floating about, and then was enabled
to stand upright. So when in prayer a
multitude of troublous thoughts in
wade your peace, or when the winds and
waves of temptation arise, look out
for the rope and stay yourselves on the
faithfulness of God keeping His prom
ises."
My nearer, I will tell you the time
when you can afford to cease praying.
1t will be when you have no sins to be
pardOned, no sorrows to be comforted,
no more friends or foes who need your
intercessions. Queen Elizabeth said to
Walter Raleigh: Raleigh, when will
you stop begging?" Raleigh replied:
When your majesty leaves off giving"
And your time, my nearer, to stop
prayer will be when God has no more
pardon and mercy and strength to be-
stow and the resources of the Infinite
are exhausted. Ravelock knew the
value of prayer when he arose at four
O'Clock in the morning for his devo-
tons. The soldiers of the Fourteenth
Massachusetts regiment showed that
they knew the joy of worship when
they took delegate of the Christian
commission to see what they called
their praying place"
Now, if God has during these re-
marks shown us the uses, the i'm
portance, the blessedness of prayer, !
suppose we try to do what Job did
when he prayed for his exasperators. |
Many of us at the beginning of this |
subject felt that, while we could pray |
for ourselves and pray for those who
were kind to us, we never could reach |
the high point of religious experience |
in which we could pray for those who
annoy and make us feel worse instead |
of feeling better. That was a Matter |
horn, that was an Alp, to the top of
which we feared we could never climb, |
but we thank God that by his omnipo- |
tent grace we have reached that height |
at last. Let us pray! o Christ, who |
didst pray for thine assassins, we now |
pray for those who despitefully use us
and say all manner of evil against US.
For their eternal salvation we suppli
cate. When time is no more, may they
reign on thrones and wear coronets
and sway scepters of Heavenly domin-
ion. Meanwhile take the bitterness
from their soul and make them soon
think as well of us as now they think
evil. Spare their bodies from pain and
their households from bereavement.
After all the Misunderstanding and
controversies of this life are over, may
we keep with them eternal jubilee in
the mansions on the hill. And as Thou
didst turn the captivity of Job when he
had prayed for those who badly used
him and health came to his body and
prosperity to his estate, now that we
have by Thy grace been able to make
supplication for our antagonists, cure
our diseases if we are i'll, and restore
our estate if it has scattered, and awak-
en- gladness in our homesteads, if
they have been bereft, and turn the
captivity of our physical pain or finan-
cial misfortune or mental distress.
And Thine shall be the Kingdom and
the power and the glory forever and
ever. Amen.
Not an Ordinary Man.
Hes no ordinary man." remarked
the observant citizen.
''ls he then above the average?"
"Well, l won't say lat" replied the
Observant citizen, "but he must be
either above or below it. He is very
and considerable and only /