The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1886-09-10

| IGAb SbCA bSbW0oH bI0 nESO bh0OCIdCY
and the last theocracy, or segments of the
| great circle of the earth on which God sits.
But do not become impatient because
you can not see the curve of events, and
| therefore conclude that Gods government
is going to break down. History tells us
that in the making of the pyramids it took
two thou and men two years TO drag one
| great stone from the quarry and put it
! into the pyramids. Well, now, If men,
| short-lived, can afford to work so slowly
| as that, can not God in the building of
the eternities afford to wait? What
though God should take ten thousand
years to draw a circle? Shall we take our
! little watch, which we have to wind up
every night lest it run down, and hold 1t
up beside the clock of eternal ages? If,
according to the Bible, 1000 years are in
Gods sight as one day, then, according to
that calculation, the 5000 years of the
worlds existence has been only to God as
from Monday to Saturday.
/ But it is often the case that the rebound
| is quicker, and the circle is sooner COM
pIeted. You resolve that you will do what
! good you can. In one week you put
| word of counsel in the heartof a Sabbath
school child. During that same week you
| give letter of introduction to young
man struggling in business. During the
same week you made an exhOrtation In a
prayer-meeting. It is all gone; you will
never hear of it, perhaps, you think. A
few years after aman comes up to youa and
says:
"You don't know me, do you?"
You say: "No; don't remember ever to
have seen you"
"Why," he says, ST was in the Sabbath
| school class over which you were the
teacher. One Sunday you invited me to
| Christ. accepted the offer. You see that
/ church with two towers yonder?"
| eyes" you say.
! He says: "That is where preach"
| Or: "Do you see that Governors house9
| That is where live"
One day man comes to you, and says.
! "Good morning."
You look at him and say, "Why, you
have the advantage of me; 1 can not place
you"
He says: "Don't you remember, thirty
years ago, giving a letter Of introduction
| to a young mana letter of introduction
| to a prominent merchant"
eyes, yes, do"
He says: "I am the man. That was my
first step toward a fortune; but have re-
tired from business now, and am giving
my time to philanthropies and public in
| terests. Come up to my country place
| and see me-"
Or man comes to you, and says: "I
want to introduce myself to you. L went
into prayer-meeting some years ago.
sat back near the door. You arose to
make an exhortation. That talk changed
the course of my life, and if 1 ever get TO
heaven, under God, I will owe my saliva
ton to you"
| In only ten, twenty, or thirty years, the
circle swept out and swept back again to
| your own grateful heart.
But sometimes it is a wider circle and
does not return for a great while. I saw
a bill of expense for burning Latimer and
r dley. The bill of expense says:
One load of fir gots......................3s 4d
| Carriage of four loads of woods ...........2s
Item, post. Id
Item two chains. ..............-..........3s al
| Item two staples. es......-.................s.. Sd
Item, four laborers. Sd
That was cheap fire, considering all the
| circumstances; but it kindled a light which
shone all around the world and around the
martyr spirit; and out from that burning
of Latimer and Ridley rolled the circle,
wider and wider, starting other circles,
convoluting, overrunning, circumscribing,
overarchfng all Heaven-a circle.
But what is true of the good is just as
true of the bad. You utter a slander
against your neighbor. It has gone forth
from your teeth. 1t viii never come back,
you think. You have done the man all the
mischief you can. You rejoice to see him
vince. You say:
"Didn't give it to him?"
That word has gone out, that slanderous
word, on its poisonous and blasted way.
You think it win never do you any harm.
But am watching that word, and l see 1t
beginning to curve, and it curves around,
and it is aiming at your heart. You had
better dodge It. You can not dodge it. 1t
rolls into your bosom, and after it rolls in
a word of an old ooH, which Gays:
With what measure ye mete, 1t shall be
measured to you again.
You maltreat an aged parent. You be-
grudge him the room in your house. You
are impatient of his whimsicalities and
garrulty. 1t makes you mad to hear him
tell the same story twice. You give him
food he can not masticate. You wish he
was away. You wonder If he is going TO
live forever. He will be gone very soon.
His steps are shorter and shorter. He is
going to stop. But God has an account to
settle with you on that subject. After
awhile your eye viii be dim and your gait
will halt, and the sound of the grinding
win be slow, and you will tell the same
SJOEY TWICE. anu your CulllIbl Will WOu-
der if you are going to live forever, and
wonder if you will never be taken away.
They called you "father" once; now they
call you "the old man." If you live few
years longer they will call you "the old
chap" What are those rough words with
which your children are accostiDg you
They are the echo of the very words you
used in the ear of your old father forty
years ago. What is that which you are
trying to chew, but find it un-
masticable, and your jaws ache
as you surrender the attempt? |
Perhaps it may be the gristIe which you |
gave to your father for his breakfast forty |
years ago. A gentleman passing along |
the street saw a son dragging his father |
into the street by the hair Of his head. /
The gentleman, outraged at this brutal /
conduct, was about to punish the offender, /
when the old man arose and said:
Don't hurt him; it's all right; forty /
years ago this morning dragged out my /
father by the hair of his head"
1t is a circle. Ny father lived into the /
eighties, and no had very wide expert |
ence, and he said that maltreatment Of /
parents was always punished in this /
world. Other sins may be adjourned to /
the next world, but maltreatment OF par
eBfs is puuished in this world
The circle turns quickly, very quickly. |
Oh, what a stupendous thought that the /
good and evil we start come back 10 MS /
Do you know that the judgment day III /
be only the points at which the circles /
ioin--the good and the bad we have done 1
coming back 20 us, unless divine interven-
ton understanding back to US, welcome /
Of delight OF curse Of condemnation?
Oh, would like 70 see Paul, the invalid /
missionary, at the moment when his in- /