The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1886-07-30


is so hard to realize that God rules
the money market, and has a hook
in the nose of the stock gambler, and that
all of the commercial revolutions
of the world shall result in the very best
for Gods dear children. My brethren, do
not kick against the divine aIlotments.
God knows just how much money it is
best for you to lose. You never gain I'M
less it is best for you to gain. You go up
when it is best for you to go up, and go
down when it is best for you to go down.
Prove it, you say. I will: Romans. viii,
%:
All things work together for good to them
that love God.
You go into factory and you see TWEEN
ty or thirty wheels, and they are going in
different directions. This hand is rolling
off this way, and another hand another
way; one down and another up. You
say: "What confusion in a factoryp' o,
mol All these different hands are only
different parts of the machinery. So I go
into your life and see strange things.
Here is one providence pulling you one
way, and another in another way. But
these are different parts of one machinery,
by which he viii advance your everIast-
ing and present well being. Now you
know that a second mortgage, and a third
and fourth mortgage, is often worth moth
ing. It is the first mortgage that is a
good Investment. I have to tell you that
every Christian man has first mortgage
on every trial, and on every disaster, and
it must make a payment of eternal advan-
tage te his soul How many worriments
it would take out of your heart if you
believed that fully. You buy goods
and hope the price win go
up, but you are in a fret and
a frown for fear the price will go down.
You do not buy the goods, using your best
discretion in the matter, and then say: 80
Lord have done the best could; 1 COM
NIT this whole transaction into Thy
hands," That is what religion is good for,
or it is good for nothing.
There are two things, says an old prov
erb, you ought not to fret about: First,
things that you can help; and, second,
things which you can not help. If you can
help them, why do you not apply the rem
edy? If you can not help them, you might
as well SUR ender first as last. Ny dear
brethren, do not sit any longer moping
about your ledger. Do not sit looking so
depending upon your stock of unstable
goods. Do you think that God is going to
allow you, Christian man, to do business
alone? God is the controlling partner in
every firm; and although your debtors
may abscond; although your securities
may fail; although your store may burn,
God will, out of an infinity of results,
choose for you the very best results. Do
not have any idea that you can overstep
the limit that God has laid down for your
prosperity. You will never get one inch
beyond it. God has decided how
much prosperity you can stand hon
orably and employ usefuIly, and con-
troll righteously; and at the end Of
1885 you will have just so many
dollars and cents, just so much wardrobe,
just so much furniture, just so many bonds
and mortgages, and nothing more. I will
give you 500 for every penny beyond
that. God has looked over your life. He
knows what is best for you, and He is
going to bless you in time, and bless you
for eternity and he will do it in the best
way
Your little child says: "Papa, 1 wish
you would let me have that knife"
mo" you say, sit is a sharp knife, and
you will cut yourself.''
He says: 81 must have it."
"But you can not have it," you reply.
He gets angry and red in the face, and
says he will have it; but you say he shall
not have it. Are you not kind in keeping
it from him? so God treats His children.
I say:
81 wish, Heavenly Faith er, to get that"
God says: "No, my child"
say: "I must have it.''
God says: "You can not have it.''
get angry and say: 81 will have it."
God says: "You shall not have it," and
do not get it.
Is He not kind and loving and the best
of fathers? Do you tell me there is no
rule and regulation in these things? Tell
that to the men who believe in no God and
no Bible. Tell it not to me.
A man of large business concludes to go
out of his store, leaving much of his in
vestments in the business, and he says to
his sons:
"Now, I am going to leave this business
in your hands. Perhaps 1 may come back
in little while, and perhaps not. While
I am gone you will please to look after
affairs"
After awhile the father comes back and
finds every thing at loose ends, and the
whole business seems to be going wrong
He says:
81 am going to take possession of this
business-you know 1 never fully surren-
dered it; and henceforth consider your
selves subordinates."
Is he not right in doing it? He saves the
business. The Lord seems to let US go on
in life, guided by our own skill, and we
make miserable work of it. God comes
down to our shop or our store, and says:
Things are going wrong, come to take
charge. ] am master and know what is
best, and proclaim my authority" We
are merely subordinates.
1t is like boy at school with long
sum that he can not do. He has been
working at it for hours, making figures
here and rubbing out figures there, and it
is all mixed up; and the teacher, looking
over the boys shoulder, knows that he can
not get out of it, and cleaning the slate,
says: Begin again" just so God does
to US. Our affairs get into an inextricable
and he rubs everything out
and says: "Begin againr' Is he not
wise and loving in so doing?
1 think the trouble is, that there is SO
large a difference between the divine and
the human estimate as to what is enough.
1 have heard of people striving for that
which is enough, but never heard of any
one who had enough. What God calls
enough for man, man calls too little.
What man calls enough, God says is too
much. The difference between poor
man and a rich man is only the
difference in banks. The rich man puts
his money in the Nassau Bank, or the Park
Bank, or Fulton Bank, or some other bank
Of that character, while the poor man
comes up and makes his investments in
the bank of Him who runs all the quar-
ries, all the mines, all the gold, all the
earth, all Heaven. Do you think man
can fail when he is backed up like that2
1 want to bring this truth close up to
the heart of those people in this audience
who have to calculate rigid economy, who
are perplexed how they viii make the old
garment hold ont little longer, with
whom the great question is not which is
the best investment OF the most lucrative