The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1901-03-01
CHRISTIAN HEROISM.
Or. Talmage Praises 1t and Tells
of Its Great Rewards.
How the Lord Jesus VIII RemembeI
the Faithful Soldier of the Cross
Heroes and Martyrs of
Everyday Life.
copyright, 1901, by Louis Klopsch.1
Washington, ,

w
In this discourse DR.. Talmage
praises Christian heroism and tells of
great rewards. The text is Galatians
vi, II, 81 bear in my body the marks
of the Lord Jesus"
We hear much about crowns,
thrones, victories, hut I now tell the
more quiet story of scars, honorable
and dishonorable. There are in all
parts of the world people bearing
dishonorable scars. They went into
the battle of sin and were wors ted,
and to their dying day they will have
scarification of body or mind or
soul. 1t cannot be hidden. There axe
tens of thousands of men and women
now consecrated to God and living
holy lives who were once corrupt;
but they have been regenerated, and
they are no more what they once
were than rubescence is emaclatlon,
than balm is vitriol, than MONDAY is
midnight. But in their depleted phys
ical health or mental twist or style
of temptation they are ever and anon
reminded of the obnoxious past.
They have a memory that is deplor-
able. In some twinge of pain or some
tendency to surrender to the wrong
they have an unwholesome remin-
iscence. They carry scars, deep scars,
ignoble scars.
But Paul in my text shows us a
scarification which is a badge of hon
orable and self-sacrificing service.
He had in his weak eyes the result
of too much study and in his body,
bent and worn, the signature of
scourgings and shipwrecks and NAL
treatment by mobs. In my text he
shows those scars as he declares, Il
bear in my body the marks of the
Lord Jesus" Notice that it is not
wounds, but scars, and a scar is a
healed wound. Before the scar is
well defined upon the flesh the in
right circulation must have been
restored and new tissue must have
been formed. 1t is a permanent in
dentation of the f1esh-a cicatriX.
Paul did we'll to show those scars.
They were positive and undisputa BILE
proofs that with all his body, mind
and soul he believed what he said.
They were his diploma, showing that
he had graduated from the school of
hardship for Christ. They were Gre
dentials proving his right to lead in
the worlds evangelization.
Men are not ashamed of scars got
in battle for their country. No
American is embarra ssed when you
ask him: where did you get that
cash across Your forehead?" and he
cut at San Juan" When you ask
some German: Where did you lose
your right arm?" he is not ashamed
to say: 81 lost it at Sedan" When
you ask an Italian: "Where did you
lose your eye?" he is not annoyed
when he can answer: 81 suffered that
in the last battle under our glorious
Gen. Garibaldi." But 1 remind you
of the fact that there are scars not
got in war which are just as illus
trious. We had in this country years
ago an eminent advocate who was
called into the presidential cabinet
as attorney general. In midlife he
was in Philadelphia courtroom en-
gagged in an important trial. The at
torney on the opposite side of the
most brutal manner referred to the
distinguished attorneys disfgured
face, a face more deeply SCARED than
any face I ever saw. The legal hero
of whom 1 am speaking in his clos
ing argument said: Gentlemen of
the jury, when I was a little child 1
was playing with my sister in the
nursery, and her clothes caught fire,
and / ran to her to put out the fire.
1 succeeded, but I myself took fire,
and before it was extinguished my
face was awfully burned and as black
as the heart of the scoundrelly coun-
sci who on the other side of the case
has referred to my misfortune" The
eminent attorney of whom 1 speak
carried all his life the honorable scar
of his sisters rescue. Albert Barnes,
the most distinguished of all com
mentators, unless it be Matthew
Henry, for years at four o'clock in
the morning might have been seen
going from his house in Philadelphia
to his study in the church and in
those early hours and before break
fast to give all those wonderful COM
mentaries, a theological library in
themselves. He said that as he was
pastor he felt bound to give all the
rest of each day to work connected
with his pastorate. But at what a
ruinous draft upon his eyesight he
did that early morning work, first by
candlelight and then by gaslightl
When he got through those wonder
full volumes of Scriptural exposition,
Albert Barnes was a blind man.
Scars, illustrious scars, on his extin-
guished eyesight!
People think they must look for
martyrs on battlefields or go through
a history to find burnings at the
stake and tortures on racks when
there are martyrs all about us. At
this time in this capital city there are
scores of men wearing themselves
out in the public service. In ten
years they will not have healthy
nerve left in their body. In COM
mittee rooms. in consultations that
involve the welfare of the nation, I'M
der the weight of great responsible
ties, their vitality is being subtracted.
In almost every village of the country
you find some broken down state or
national official. After exhausting
himself in the public service, rough
American politics kicks him out of
congress or cabinet or legislative hall.