The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1888-03-16


their marriage was consecrated, and
whose resurrection has poured light upon
the graves of their departed. Blessed the
Bible in which spectac!ed old age reads
the promise: 'I will never leave YOU,
never forsake youP Blessed the staff on
which the worn-o out pill grim totters on to-
ward the welcome of his Redeemerl
Blessed the hymn book in which the fal-
tering tongue and the failing eyes find
Jesus. the old mans song.
I speak to you again of Jesus as the
night-song. Job speaks of Him who
giveth songs in the night. John Welch,
the old Scotch minister, used to put
plaid across his bed on cold nights, and
some one asked him why he put that
there. He said, "Oh. sometimes in the
night 1 want to sing the praise of Jesus,
and to get down and pray; then / just
take that plaid and wrap it around me,
to keep myself from the cold" Songs in
the night! N ght of trouble has come
down upon many of you. Commercial
losses put out one star, slanderous abuse
put out another star, domestic bereave-
men has put out a thousand lights, and
gloom has been added to gloom, and
chill to chill, and sting to sting, and one
midnight has seemed to borrow the
fold from another midnight to wrap
itself in more unbearable darkness;
but Christ has spoken peace to your
heart, and you can sing:
Jesus, lover of my soul,
Let me to Thy bosom fly,
While the blllows near me roll,
While the tempest still is high.
Hide me, o, my Saviour, hide,
Till the storm OF life is past;
Safe into the haven guide
Oh. receive my soul at last.
Songs in the night Songs in the
night For the sick, who have no one to
turn the hot pillow, no one to put the
/ taper on the stand no one to put ice on
! the temple, or pour out the soothing ano-
/ dyne, or utter one cheerful word-yet
songs in the night For the poor who
| freeze in the winters cold, and swelter
/ in the summers heat, and MUNICH the
/ hard crusts that bleed the sore gums, and
shiver under blankets that can not any
| longer be patched, and tremble because
| rent day is come and they may be set out
| on the sidewalk, and looking into the
/ starved face of the child and seeing
| famine there and death there, coming
home from the bakery and saying, in the
| presence of the little famished ones: "Oh,
my God, -four has gone upp' Yet songs
in the night Songs in the night For
the widow who goes to get the
| back pay of her husband, slain
| by the ''sharpsh ooters," and knows it is
| the last help she will have, moving out of
| a comfortable home in desolation, death
| turning back from the exhausting cough
and the pale cheek, aud the lusterless eye,
and refusing all relief Yet songs in the
night For the soldier in the field hospital,
no surgeon to bind up the gunshot fract-
ure, no water for the hot lips, no kind
hands to brush away the flies from the
fresh wound, no one to take the loving
farewell, the groaning of others poured
into his own groan, the blasphemY OF
others plowing up his own spirit the con
densed bitterness of dying away from
home among strangers. Yet songs in the
night Songs in the night! "AhW said
one dying soldier: "Tell my mother
that last night there was not one cloud
between my soul and Jesus" Songs in
the night! Songs in the night!
The Sabbath day has come. From the
affairs of ten thousand churches has
smoked up the SAVIOR Of sacrifice. Min
listers of the Gospel are now preaching in
plain English, in broad Scotch, in flow
ing Italian, in harsh Choctaw. Gods
people have Assem- mbIed in Hindoo tempt e,
and Moravian church, and Quaker meet
ing-house, and sailors bethel, and Kings
chapel, and high lowered cathedral.
They sang, and the song hoated of
amidst the spice groves, or struck the ice
bergs, or foated Off into the Western
| pines, or was drowned in the clamor ol
the great cities. Lumbermen sang it, and
Sabbath class and the trained choirs in
great assemblages. Trappers, with the
same voice with which they shouted yes.
terday in the stag hunt, and mariners
with throats that only a few days
ago sounded in the hoarse blast
OF the sea hurri cane, they sang
il. One theme for the sermons. One bur
den for the song. Jesus for the invoca-
ton. Jesus for the Scripture lesson
Jesus for the baptismal font. Jesus for
| the sacramental cup. Jesus for the bene-
dction. But the day will go by. II will
roll away on swift wheels of light and
love. Again the churches will be lighted.
Tides of people again setting down the
streets. Whole families coming up the
church aisle. We must have one more SER
mon, two prayers. three songs and one
benedicton. What shall we "preach to-
night? What shall we read? What shall
It be, children? Aged men and women
what shall it be? Young men and maid
ems, what shall it be? II you dared tC
break the silence of this auditory, there
would come up thousands of quick and
jubilant voices, crying out: LET it b'
Jesus Jesusp
We sing His birth-the barn that shelter
| ed Him, the mother that nursed Him, the
cattle that fed beside him. the angels tha
woke up the shepherds, shaking lgh
Lover the midnight hills. We sing His
ministry-the tears He wiped away from
the eyes of the orphans, the lame men
that forgot their crutches, the damse
/ who from the bier bounded out into til,
sunli ght, her locks shaking down over tht
! flushed cheeks; the hungry Thousand
who broke the bread as it blossomed int
larger loaves-that miracle by which
| boy with five loaves and two fishes be
came the sutler for whole army. W.
sing His sorrows-His stone bruised feet
/ His aching heart, II mountain lionel iness
His desert hunger, His storm pelted body
the eternity Of anguish that shot through
His last momen Is, and the immeasurablt
ocean Of torment that heaved up agains
| His eros in one foaming, omnipoten
surge, the sun dashed out and the dead
! shroud-wrapped, breaking open then
sepulchres, and rushing out to see wha
was the matter. We sing bis resurrection
the guard that could not keep Him, tn
sorrow Of His disc pies. the cloud pilinl
up on either side ia pillared splendors a.
He went through teading the pathles
air, higher and higher, until He came L
, / the foot of the throne, and all Heaver
kept jubilee at the return Of the Con.
queror.
1 say once more Christ Is the everlast
| ing song. The very best singers some
, times get tired; the strongest throeti
/ sometimes get weary, and many wht
sang very sweetIy do not sing now; but
hope by the grace Of Gcd We will, afte
awhile, go up and sing the praises o
Christ where we will never be weary
You know there are some songs that ar'
especially appropriate for be home cir
Gle. They stir the sou, they start th
tears, they turn the heart In on itself, an,
keep sounding after tLs tune has stopped
Ike some cathedral bell wh Oh, long afte
the tap OF the bruzsn tongue has ceased
Keeps throbbiug on the air. Well IL vii
{ Ie home song ia Heaven; al the sweete
b because th0se who sang with "a in thq do