The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1889-11-01

way Tor the lightning ana tnunQ6rs''
Ever since the time Of Benjamin Frank
lin the world has been trying to tame the
and they seem to be quite
we'll harnessed, but occasionally kick
over the traces. But though we can not
master great natural forces. God can and
does, and that God is our Father and
best friend, and this thought gives US
confidence.
We are also re-enforced by the in
creased consolation that comes from
cOnfraternity of sorrow. The people who,
during the past sixteen years, sat on the
other side of the aisle, whose faces were
familiar to You, but to whom you had
never spoken-yo greeted them this
week with smiles and tears as You said:
We'll. the old place is gone" You did
not want to seem to cry, and so you
swept the sleeve near the corner of the
eye, and pretended il was the sharp wind
made your eyes weak, All there was
nothing the matter with your eyes; it was
your soul bubbling over. 1 tell you that
ii is impossible to sit for years around
the same church freside and not have
sympathies in common. Somehow you
feel that you would like those people on
the other side OF the aisle, abou t whom
you know but little, prospered and par
doned and blessed and saved. You feel
as if you are in the same boat, and you
want to glile up the same harbOr and
want to disembark at the same wharf.
If you put gold, and iron, and lead, and
zinc in sufficient heat they will melt into
q cOnglomerate mass; and l really feel
that last Sabbath's fire has fused US ALL
grOsser and finer natures, into one. It
seems as il we all had our hands on wire
connected with an electric battery; and
when this church sorrow started it
thrilled through the whole circle, and we
all felt the shock. The oldest man and
the youngest child could Join hands in
this misfortune. Grandfather said: Il
expected from these affairs to be buried;"
and one Of the children last Sabbath
cried: 'Grandpa, that place was next to
our own house" Yea, we are supported
and comforted in this time by the cross
Of Christ.
That is used to the fre o n the dark
day when Jesus died, the lightning struck
it from above, and the flames OF hell
dashed up against it from beneath. That
fearful. painful, tender, blessed cross
still stands. o Il it we hang all our hopes;
beneath it we put down all our sins; in
the light of it we expect to make the rest
of our pilgrimage. Within sight of such
a sacrifice, who can feel he has it hard?
In the sight OF such a symbol, who can
be discouraged, however great the dark
|
lives! The loving patient sympathiz-
ing, mighty Jesus! 1t shall not be told
on earth, or in hell, OF in Heaven, that
three Hebrew children had the Son of
God beside them in the fire, and that a
| whole church was forsaken by the Lord
when they went through furnace about
two hundred feet wide.
o. Lord Jesusl shall we take out of Thy
hand the flowers and tho fruits. and the
Il
away because Thou dOst give us one cup
of bitterness to drink? Oh, no jesus we
| viii drink it dry. Bat how it IS changed !
/ Blessed Jesus, what hast Thou put into
the cup to sweeten it? Why, it has be-
! come the wine of Heaven, and our souls
/ grow strong. 1 come now, and place
1 both of my feet deep down into the black
/ ened ashes of our consumed church, and
/ I cry out with an exhilaratiOn that
never felt since the day OF my SOUPS
| emancipation: Victory! victory through
/ our Lord, Jesus ChrIstP'
Your harps, ye trembling saints,
! Down from the willows take.
/ Loud to the praise OF love divine
Bid every string awake.
! We are also re- enforced by the cath
olicity that 1 have already referred to-
/ We are ia the Academy to-day, not be-
| cause we have no other place to 60 Las
| Sabbath morning at niue O'Clock we had
but one church; now we have thirty, al
at our disposal. Their pastors and their
! trustees say: i'You may take our main
audience rooms, you may take Oul
lecture room, you may take our churcI
parlors, you may baptize in our bap.
/ tisteTies and sit on our anxious seats
Oil if there be any larger-hearted min.
listers or larger hearted churches any
where than in Brooklyn, tell me wher,
they are that 1 may go and see them be-
fore l die. People keep wondering when
it is coming. 1t has come. The lion AM
the lamb lie down together, and the tige
eats straw like an OK. I should like t.
have seen two of the old time bigots
with their swords, fighting through tina
great fire on Schermerhorn street las
Sa bbath. l am sure the swords would
have melted, and they who welded then
would have learned war no more.
can never say word against an
other denomination of Christians.
thank God / never have been tempted t,
do il. l can not lee q sectarian. l bav
been told I ought TO be, and / have trie
to be, but l have not enough material i
me to make such q structure. Ever
time 1 get the thing most done. Their
comes fire or something else, and all
gone. The angels of God shake out o
this air: "Glory to God in the highest o
! e0rba peace SOOu VIII 10 men, 90 nc
know but l see on the horizon the frs
CLEAN of the morning which shall unit
all denominations in one organic 8tior
distinguished only by the locality as i
apostolic times. 1t was then the Churc
Of Thyatira, aud the Church of Thessa
lOnica, and the Church OF Antioch an
the Church of LaOdicea. So I do nc
Z know but that in the future history, an
not 50 far off either, it may be simply
? distinction of locality, and not OF Greco
as the Church of New York, the Churc
of Brooklyn, the Church of Boston, til
} Church of Charleston, the Church c
4 Madras the Church of ConstantinOpl'
, the Church of America.
Ny dear brethren, we can not affor
to be severely divided. Standing in froT
? of the great foes of our common Christ
/ anity, we want to PIT on the whole armo
3 of God and march down in solid column
, shoulder to shoulder! one Commander
2 one triumph
D The trumpet gives martial strain
/ o Israel, grid thee for the fsht;
l Arise, the combat 10 maintain;
e Arise, and nut thy foes to fl ght
r We also feel re-enforced by IL
! / thought that we are on the way to
t Heaven that can never burn dow
. Fires may sweep through other cities
= but / am glad to know that the Ne
Jerusalem is freproof. There will
| / no engines rushing through tho,
d streets; there will be no temples COZ
, / e,7v,,e1 T., Abof Cnrniu tn tba dcn