The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1888-06-14

II, i LINN. / II u
much. What lion win dare to put his
PAW on that Daniel2 Is there not rest in
this? Is there not eternal vacation in
this?
"Oh," you say, there is a man who
asked God for a blessing in a certain en-
tsrprise, and he lost five thousand dol
lars in it. Explain that will. Yon-
der is factory, and one wheel is going
north and the other wheel is going south,
and one wheel plays laterally and the
other plays vertically. go to the manu-
facturer and / say. "Oh, manufacturer.
your machinery isa contradiction, Why
do YOU not make all the wheels 90 one
way?"
ssWell," he says, 81 made them to
go in opposite directions on purpose, and
they produce the right result. You go
down stairs and examine the carpets we
are turning out in this establishment and
you will see.' Igo down on the other floor
and / see the carprts, and l am obliged
to confess that though the wheels in that
factory go in opposite directions, they
turn out a beautiful result; and while I
am standing there looking at the exouis-
ite fabric an old Sculpture passage comes
into my mind: ssAll things work to.
gether for good to them who love God. !"
Is there not rest in that9 Is there not
tonic in that2 Il there not longevity in
that?
Suppose man is all the time worried
about his reputation? One man saws he
lies, another says be is stupid, another
says he is dishonest spd half a dozen
printing establishments attack him, and
he is in great state of excitement and
worry and fume, and cannot sleep; but re-
igion comes to him and says: "Man, God
is on your side; he will take care of your
reputation; if God be for you, who can
be against youg" How much should
that man worry about his repu-
tation? Not much. If that broker
who some years ago in Wall street,
after he had lost money, sat down and
wrote farewell letter to his wife before
he blew his brains out-if instead of tax
ing out of his pocket pistol he had taken
out well read New Testament there
would have been one less suicide. O
nervous and feverish people of the world,
try this almighty sedative. You will
live twenty five years longer under its
soothing power. 1t is not chloral that
you want, or morphine that you want; it
is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. with
long life vii! satisfy him."
Again, practical religion is friend of
longevity in the fact that it removes all
corroding care about future existence.
Every man wants to know what is to be-
come Of him. If you get ON board a rail
train you want to know at what depot it
is going to stop; if you get on board a
ship you want to know into what harbor
it is going to run, and if you should tell
me you have no interest in what is to be
your future destiny, 1 would in as polite
a way as l know how tell you did not
believe you. Before l had this matter
settled with reference to my future exist
ence, the question almost worried me
into ruined health. The anxieties men
have upon this subject, put together,
would make martyrdom This is
state of awful unhealthiness. There are
people who fret themselves to death for
fear of dying.
1 want to take the strain off your nerves
and the depression off your soul, and l
make two or three experiments. Expert
ment first; When you go out of this
world it does not make any difference
whether you have been good or bad, or
whether you believed truth or error, you
will go straight to glory. 'sImpossible, :"
you say; "my common sense as well as
my religion teaches that the bad and the
good cannot live together forever. You
give me no comfort in that experiment. :"
Experiment the second: When you leave
this world you will go into an intermedi-
ate state where you can get converted
and prepared for heaven. 'Impossible, :"
you say; s'ss the tree falleth so it must
lie, and cannot postpone to an interme-
diate state refornt stfen which ought to
have been effected in this state" Ex-
pertinent the third: There is no future
world; when a man dies that is the last
of lam. Do not worry about what you
are to do in another state of being; you
will not do anything. impossible, you
say; there is something that tells me
that death is not the appendix, but the
preface; there is something that tells me
that on this side of the grave ! only get
started, and that shall go On forever;
my power to think says forever my
affections say forever my capacity to
enjoy or suffer. forever y
Well, you defeat me in my three ex
periments. / have only one more to
make, and if you defeat me in that am
exhausted: A mighty One on a knoll
back of Jerusalem one day, the skies
filled with fnrked lightnihgs and the
earth filed with volcanic disturbances,
turned his pale and agonized face toward
the heavens and said: II take the sins
and SORROWS of the ages into my own
heart. I am the expiatipn. Witness
earflii and heaven and hell, am the ex-
piation." And the hammer struck him,
and the spears punctured him, and
heaven thunderedi s.The wages of sin
is deathr' "The soul that sinneth, it
shall die!' II will by no means clear
the guilty'' Then there was silence
for half an hour, and the lightnings were
| drawn back into the scabbard of the sky,
and the earth seemed to quiyer. and all
the colors of the sky begari.to shift them
oNisSo tiiVVo "a AohlOOW VIVA Ceao SA SAAo
falling tears Of Jesus, and there was red
as of the bloodsL Ledding, and there was
blue as of the bfuising, and there was
green as Of the heavenly foliage, and
there was orange as of the day dawn.
And along the line of the blue saw the
words: Il was bruised fof their iniiaui-
ties." And along the line OF the red
saw the words; '''The blood OF Jesus
Christ cleanseth from all sin" And
along the line of the green saw the
words: ''The leaves of the tree OF life
for the healing of the nations,H And
along the line of the orange | saw the
words: ''The day spring from on high
hath visited u.s."
And then 1 saw the storm was ovel
and the rainbow rose higher and higher
until 1t seemed retreating to another
heaven, and planting one column Of its
colors on one side the eternal hill ane
planting the other column of its colors OF
the other side the eternal hill, it rose up
ward and upward, land behold there wa
rainbow about the throne"
Accept that sacrifice and quit worry
ing. Take the tonic, the inspiration, th'
longevity of this truth. Religion is sun
shine, that is health. Religion is fresl
air and pure water, they are healthy
Sg : II 50