The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1904-04-29

| SldUly sought his SlQe ana were tahS1
in His arms and received His blessing
The Devil-posssessed were consciou:
they were in the presence of the Di
vine Lord and Master when they came
in contact with Him, and in fear CRIED
out: What have we to do with Thee?'
and besought Him not to torment
them. The poor and the needy, the
sick and diseased came to Him in
their distress, confident that they
would be graciously received And the
publicans and sinners, those who had
yielded their lives to extortion and
lust, and yet who had an underlined
yearning for better, purer life were
drawn to Jesus like the steel is drawn
to the magnet. for they instinctively
felt that here was One Who could un-
derstand, One Who would have com,
passion on them, Ona Who would help
them.
THAT cannot be, for Jesus last mes
sage to His disciples was: 10.
| am with you always" And He told them
| plainly: And l, if be lifted up, will
| draw all men unto Me" No, Jesus is
present in the world to-day through His
| Holy Spirit more fully and completely
! than ever before. He is everywhere, and
| the influence of His Presence is felt. He
| is known to-day, as reVer before, as the
Friend of sinners. Our text gives us the
! picture of Jesus dining in the home of
| a publican at Capernaum. Imagine
President Roosevelt or some other dis
! tinguished parsonage coming TO your
town and becoming the willing guest of
the most despised man in town. Jesus,
| the guest of honor at the house of Mat
thew, the publican, How the news must
have spread. Jesus eating at the table
of despised tax gathereri But there
He was and, praise God! there He is
to-day. in myriads of homes where He
is needed to cleanse and save. Jesus was
in the few homes then, but now in every
land and among every people there are
the multitudes of homes where Jesus
is still the honored guest. Homes of
the despised, of the wayward and the
sinful, who turn to Him and invite Him
to come. Jesus was at Matthew'S house
because he had been invited.
THE story of this puhlican's CONVEX
L sion is interesting and helpful. He
was busy gathering taxes at the time,
following the business that in that day
was dishOnOring, and almost without eX-
ceptiOn dishonest. The Roman govern
ment levied the tax, deciding just how
much each province and city and village
should pour into the Golfers of the Caes-
ars. The privilege of gathering these
taxes was rented out to certain individ-
uals. The Roman government cared
nothing as to how much was collected
or in what manner the work was done.
just so long as the tax collector turned
over the stipulated sum- The tax gath
erer could have as his own profit all that
was collected above the amount the Ro-
mans demanded. 1t can be readily seen
what corruption would prevail. and how
great temptation would come TO the tax
collector to make all he could Matthew
was one of these tax gatherers, called
publicans. The probabilities are that
he was more honest than the rest. but
however that may be he was a publican.
and identified with that despised class.
But he met Jesus, and it wrought a rev.
olutlon in his life. 1t always changes a
man to meet Jesus in heart to heart con-
tact. From the first meeting with Jesus
until he was called from his tax receipts
and money drawer forever, he realized
that Jesus was his Friend 1t made him
long for better life. It made him want
to be near the Friend who had spoken
kindly and helpfully 20 him And during
those days in which he continued to serve !
as tax collector. | am sure he handled |!
the business on higher and more hon |
est basis. | am satisfied that he was |
anxious to show how fairly such distaste- |
full work could be administered. And |
after all it is not generally the business. !
but the man behind the business that is |
dishonest. The vast majority of the |
commercial enterprises and businesses
Of the world are honorable and neces- |
sary. But the men behind the business
determine whether honest or dishonest
methods shall be followed. Before meet
ing Jesus. l imagine Matthew found itan
Easy thlng to follow the tricks of the
trade. and got all the tax he could
others did it, why should not he? But
"hen he met the Friend of publicans and
sinners and his conscience was awak-
ned, he felt differently about il. Dav
'1ter day as he sat there at his post the
influence OF that new Friend drew him in
houSht and purpose He wanted tn he
With Him. and when the call came.
Follow Me-: he was ready to resnond
[YTHAT friendship that was, Jesus
w fellowshiping with Matthew,
sinner. think of it, Jesus Your friendr
Iesus willing to be in your company IN
De guest at your home. or your cor
'anion upon the street, Jesus no.
of you because YOU are n sim
the worst man in town
'ut Jesus loving you and eager to nut
lis arm around you and longing to heIp
ou. He is not your Friend becausA of
What He selfishly hopes to receive from
on. but He is your Friend because of
That He longs to do for you. One of Chi
ago's aldermen seeks to be known as
he friend Of the workingman. He re-
orts to almost every device and SUBJ
erfuge to appear in that light But is
the workingman and his interests
Ihich he has at heart? No; he is the S