The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1901-04-05
SUBSCRIPTION: S1.OO Per Year

washed crowd then He viii forget you
and me in the inlusticeS of life that
may be inflicted upon us.
Further L remark: The last great
installment paid for our redemption
was the demise of Christ. The world
has seen many dark days. Many sum-
mers ago there was very dark day
when the sun was echpsed. The fowl
at MONDAY went to their perch, and
we felt a gloom as we looked at the
| astronomical wonder. 1t was n dark
day in London when the plague was
at its height, and the dead with uncov-
ered faces were taken in open carts
and dumped in the trenches 1t was
a dark day when the earth opened and
Lisbon sank, but the darkest day since
the creation of the world was when the
carnage of Calvary was enacted.
| It was about noon when the curtain
began to be drawn. 1t was the swing
ing of a great gloom all around the
heavens. God hung it. AS when there
| is dead one in the house you bow
| the shutters or turn the lattice, SO
! God in the afternoon shut the windows
| of the world. AS it is appropriate to
| throw a black pail upon the coffin as
! it passes along, so it was appropriate
that everything should be somber that
| day as the great hearse of the earth
| rolled on, bearing the corpse of the
! King. A mans last hours are Ordi-
| narilv kept sacred. However you may
| have hated or caricatured man, when
YOU hear he is dying silence puts its
hands on your lips, and you would
have a loathing for the man who could
stand by deathbed making faces and
scoffing But Christ in His last hour
cannot be left alone. What, pursuing
Him yet after so long pursuit? You
| have been drinking His tears. Do you
want to drink His blood? They come
up closely, so that Notwithstanding the
darkness they can glut their revenge
with the contOrtions of His counte-
nance. They examine His feet. They
want to feel for themselves whether
those feet are really spiked. They put
| out their hands and touch the spikes
and bring them back wet with blood
| and wipe them on their garments.
Women stand there and weep, but can
do no good. 1t is no place for the ten
der-hearted women. 1t wants heart
that crime has turned into granite.
The waves of mans hatred and of helPs
/
gled feet, and the hands of sin and
| pain and torture clutch for his holy
heart. Had he not been thoroughly
fastened to the cross they would have
torn Him down and trampled Him
with both feet. How the cavalry
horses arched their necks and champed
their bits and reared and shifted at
| the blood! Had Roman officer called
out for a light, his voice would not
have been heard in the tumult. but
| louder than the crash of spears. and
the wailing of womanhood, and the
neighing of the chargers, and the bel
lowing of the crucifiers, there comes.
a voice crashing through-loud, clear,
overwhelming, terrific. 1t is the groan-
ing of the dying Son of Godl Look,
what a scene! Look, world, at what
| you have donei
| 1 lift the covering from the mall
treated Christ to let you count the
wounds and estimate the cost. Oh,
when the nails went through Christ's
right hand that bought your hands,
with all their power to work and lift
and wpitei When the nails went
| through Christ's right foot and
Christ's left foot, that bought your
feet, with all their power to walk or
run or climb. When the thorn went in
to Christ's temple, that bought your
brain, with all its power to think and
plan. When the spear cleft Christ's
side, that bought your heart, with all
its power to love and repent and pray.
When the Atlantic cable was lost in
1865, do you remember that the Great
| Eastern and the Midway and the Al
bany went out to find it? Thirty times
they sank the grapnel 21s miles deep
in water. After awhile they found the
cable and brought it to the surface.
No sooner had it been brought to the
surface than they lifted shout of ex-
ultation, but the cable slipped back
again into the water and was lost.
Then for two weeks more they swept
the sea with the graphing hooks, and
at last they found the cable, and they
brought it up in silence. They fastened
it this time. Then with great excite
ment they took one end of the cable
to the electricians room to see if there
were really any life in it, and when
they saw spark and knew that mes
sage could be sent then every hat was
lifted, and the rockets flew and the
guns sounded, until all the vessels on
the expedition knew, and the conti-
nents were lashed together. Well, my
friends, Sabbath after Sabbath Gospel
messengers have come searching down
for your souls. We have swept the sea
with the graphing hook of Christ's
Gospel. Again and again we have
thought that you were at the surface,
and we began to rejoice over your re-
demption, but at the moment OF our
gladness you sank back again into the
world and back again into sin. To-day
we come with the Gospel searching for
your soul. We apply the cross OF
Christ first to see whether there is any
life left in you, while all around the
people stand, looking to see whether
the work will be done, and the angels
of God bend down and witness, and,
oh, if now we could see only one spark
of love and hope and faith we would
send up shout that would be heard
on the battlements of Heaven, and two
worlds would keep jubilee because
communication is open between Christ
and the soul, and your nature that has
been sunken in sin has been lifted into
the light and joy of the Gospel.
Hard on the Goat.
"And, shure, they tell me your hoos-
bands very litherary?"
''That he is, indade."