The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1901-08-30

oI8ly years before snip mao met us
aster, and one of the sailors, unabl to
save anything else, went to his trunk
and took out Bible which his mother
had placed there and swan ashore, the
Bible in his teeth. The book was read
on all sides until the rough and vicious
population were evangelical, and a
church was started and an enlightened
commonwealth established, and the
worlds history has no more brilliant
page than that which tells of the trans
formation of a nation by one book. 1t
did not seem of much Importance
whether the sailor continued to
hold the book in his teeth or let it fall
in the breakers, but upon what small
circumstances depended what might v
resultsl
Practical Inference: There are no
insignificances in life. The minutest
thing is part of a magnitude. Infin-
ity is made up of infinitesimals; great
things an aggregation of small
things. Bethlehem Manager pulling on
star in the eastern sky. One book
in a drenched sailors mouth the evan
geliZation of a multitude. One boat
of papyTus on the Nile freighted with
events for all ages. The fate of
Christendom in a basket let down
from window on the wall. What
you do, do well. If you make a rope,
make it strong and true, for you
know not how much may depend on
your workmanship. If you fashion a
boat, let it be waterproof, for you
know not who may sail in it. If you
put Bible in the trunk of your boy
as he goes from home, let it be re-
membered in your prayers, for it may
have mission as farreaching as the
book which the sailor carried in his
teeth to the Pitcairn beach. The
plainest mans life is an island be-
tween two enthusiastically past
ripping against his shoulders, eter-
nifty to come touching his brow. The
casual, the accidental, that which
merely happened so, are parts of a
great plan, and the rope that let's the
fugitive apostle from the Damascus
wall is the cable that holds to it's
mooring the ship of the church in the
storm of the centuries.
Again, notice unrecognized and I'M
recorded service. WIS spun that
rope? Who tried it to the basket?
Who steadied the illustrious preacher
as he stepped into it?. Who relaxed
not a muscle of the arm or dismissed
an anxious look from his face until
the basket touched the ground and
discharged its magnificent cargo?
Not one of their names has come to
us. But there was no work done that
day in Damascus or in all the earth
compared with the Importance of
their work. What if they had in their
agitation tied a knot that could slip?
What if the sound of the mob at the
door had led them to say: paul
must take care of himself, and we
will take care of ourselves" No, mol
They held the rope, and in doing so
did more for the Christian church
than any thousand of us will ever ac-
complish. But God knows and has
made record of their undertaking.
And they know.
How eXultant they must have felt
when they read his letters to the
Romans, to the Corinthians, to the
Galatians, to the Ephesians, to the
Philippians, to the COlossians, to the
ThessaIonians, and when they heard
how he walked out of prison, with
the earthquake unlocking the door
for him, and took command of the
AleXandrian corn ship when the
sailors were nearly scared to death
and preached a sermon that nearly
shook Felix off his judgment seat.
hear the men and women who helped
him down through the window and
over the wall talking in private over
the matter and saying: How glad
! am that we effected that rescue! In
coming times others may get the
glory of Paul's work, but no one shall
rob us of the satisfaction of knowing
that we held the rope"
There are said to be about 10000
ministers of religion in this country.
About $4,000, | warrant, came from
early homes which had to struggle
for the necessaries of life. The sons
of rich bankers and merchants gener-
ally become bankers and merchants.
The most of those who become min
listers are the sons of those who had
terrific struggle to get their every
day bread. The collegiate and theo-
logical education of that son took
every luxury from the parental table
for eight years. The other children
were more scantily appareled. The
son at college every little while got
bundle from home. In it were the
socks that mother had knit sitting
up late at night, her sight not as good
as once it was. And there also were
some delicacieS from. the sisters
hand for the voraciOus appetite of a
hungry student. The father swung
the heavy cradle through the wheat,
the sweat rolling from his chin be-
then sitting down under the cherry
tree at noon thinking to himself: 81
am fearfully tired, but it will pay if |
can once see that boy through col
Iege, and if I can know that he Will
be preaching the Gospel after | aln
dead" The younger children want to
know why they can't have this and
that, as others do, and the mother
says: ''Be patient, my children. until
your brother graduates, and then you
shall have more luXuries, but we must
see that boy through
The years go by, and the son has
been ordained and is preaching the
glorious Gospel, and a great revival
comes, and souls by scores and hun
dreds accept the Gospel from the lips
of that young preacher, and father
and mother, quite old now, are visit
ing the son at the village parsonage,
and at the close OF a Sabbath of
mighty blessing father and mother