The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1903-03-13
THE MAN IN PRISON.
He Is the One Whom Christ Came to
Set at Liberty.
Sin Rears HideOus Walls Around the
Soul Which Only Jesus Can Break
DOwn-SermOn by ''Highway
and Byvay'' Preacher.
copyright. 1903. by A N. Kellogg News
paper Col

Text-"If the Son therefore shall make
you free, ye shall be free indeed.''-John,
S:S6.
Grim, high walls, with massive iron
doors and grated windows rise be-
fore us as we speak of prison, and
behind these strong walls and barred
windows in the dingy, bare cell, with
its low. hard bunk and its single
wooden chair, we find the despond-
ent, desperate, hopeless man. The
Man in Prison, ah, what a sad, sad
sight. Dead to the world, shut into
a living tomb, the narrow confines of
the prison walls his world, the
cramped, dark cell his home; oh.
what a miserable, distressing cOndi-
tion. This is the picture you draw
as we speak to you of the Man in
Prison, and it is the picture of
condition which the eye of man may
behold in any state or large city of
this land. But all prisons are not
built of wood, stone and iron by the
hand of man, and all prisoners are
not found locked in narrow cells. Let
the eye of the soul look in the direc-
ton which God points, and it will be-
hold prison walls rising which are
more awful than any which state or
nation can rear, and behind which
there are more hopelessness, and
despair, more blackness and suffering
than were ever able to crowd into
man-made prison. Sin has builded
walls over which the soul cannot
climb, it has rooted over those walls
so that Heaven is shut out, it has
boIted the great iron gates and given
Satan the key. The Man in Prison
whom we wish to talk about is the
man whose soul is shut within the
prisonhouse of sin, and whom only
Jesus Christ can set free.
Our text is Christ's own words. He
had just been in conversation with
the Jews, who had been boasting
that they were Abraham's seed, and
had never been in bondage to any
man. His reply was: verify, verify,
/ say unto you, WhOsocver commit
teth sin is the servant (bond slave)
of sin" And then He went on TO
declare that, eff the Son shall make
you free, We shall be free indeed y
Isaiah, the prophet, in fOretelling the
coming of Christ, plainly said that
the Lord was to anoint Him at His
coming ''tO proclaim liberty to the
captives, and the opening of the
prison to them that are bound" And
this word of Isaiah Jesus used as His
text when he formally began His
ministry, and He said: ''This day is
this Scripture fulfilled in your ears"
And then he set to work breaking
down prison walls and setting cap
tives free. Wherever He went prison
doors yielded instantly to His touch,
and the prisoners were set at liberty.
The devil-possessed were unfettered
from their cruel bondage. Eyes shut
in the dark dungeon of blindness
were brought out to rejoice in the
| light. Limbs and bodies shackled by
deformity and disease were deliv-
cred from the distress and limita-
tions which bound them. Dead bod
les heard the authoritative summons
which split the prisonhouse of death.
and they came forth TO new life and
| liberty. Dead souls buried under the
awful weight of sin which was crush
ing them into hell heard the words:
"Thv sins are forgiven thee" and the
mountain load of iniquity was SWEPT
away forever. And then they felt the
throb of eternal life surging through
the soul, as the same voice bade
them go in His strength and sin no
more. And this same Jesus is with
us to-day, mighty to deliver the soul
from the prisonhouse of sin.
We wish to use our text to throw
light upon a prison scene at Phihppl
as described in the sixteenth chapter
of Acts. And in turn we wish to il
illuminate our text by the wonderful
events which made it a memorable
night to Paul and Silas and to the
taller and his family, and probably
to others.
A Puzzle Picture.-Let us briefly
sketch for you picture of that jan
scene at Philippi and underneath we
will write: Find the Man in Prison.
Paul and Silas in the dark, damp, foul
smelling hole called the inner prison
| Their feet are fast in the stocks, their
| hands are shackled, their backs are
| bleeding. Outside the bolted and barred
| doors. in his comfort a BILE quarters, free
| to go where he pleased and when he
| pleased, was the jailer. Find the Mar
in Prison. Ah you say, that's easy
| Paul was the Man in Prison. Silas was
| the Man in Prison. 1t needs but glance
| to prove that. But wait. Let us look
again What is that we hear? Strange
| but instead of cursings and abusive
language, and groans and cries of pain
because of the anguish suffered, which
generally come from prison cells, there
rises on the midnight air the soft
| sweet song of praise. 1t reaches the
ears of the other prisoners in the outer
| prison. 1t cleaves the night air, and
mounting on the starry heights, reach
es the ear of God. As the prisoners
listen, Paul's pleading voice is heard
asking God to forgive and save tn,
jailer who has so cruelty dealt will
him. Then Silas follows. Without il
the iailer's quarters the sound of heavy
breathing is heard. The jailer is il
deep and comfortable sleep. All is Sc
cure. The prisoners are safe. But sud
denly the mighty angels of God pres:
out from the battlements of HeaveI
and step to earth and it trembles anC
shakes under their tread. The jailer
awakened suddenly out of his sleep
feels the foundations of the prisoI