The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1889-04-12

crownl Bruised hand, take the scepterF
Wounded foot, step the throne ''Thine is
the kingdom" These things I say because
I want you to be alert. I want you to be
watching all these wonders unrolling
from the Heavens and the earth. God
has classified them, whether calamitous
or pleasing. The Divine purposes are har-
messed in traces that can not break, and
in girths that can not slip, and in buckles
that can not loosen, and are driven by
reins they must answer. preach no IA
talism. A swarthy engineer at one OF the
depots in Dakota said: "When will you
get on the locomotive and take q ride with
us?o
'WelIs . said, ''now if that suits youf"
So I got on one side the locomotive, and
Methodist minister, who was also invited,
got on the other side, and betw een us
were the engineer and stOker. The train
started. The engineer had his hand on
the agitated pulse Of the great engine.
The stOker shoveled in the coal and shut
the door with a loud clang. A vast plain
slipped under US and the hills swept by,
and that great monster on which we rode
trembled and bounded and ssnorted and
ragged as it hurried US on. I said to the
Methodist minister on the other side of
the locomotive: MY brother, why should
PresDyterians and Methodists quarrel
about the DEGREES and free agency? You
see that track, that firm track, that iron
track; that is the decree. You see this
engineers arm? That is free agency.
How beautiful they work together.
They are going to take us through. We
could not do without the track, and we
could not do without the engineer"
So rejoice day by day. Work for Us
all to do, and we may turn the crank of
the Christian machinery this way or that,
for we are free agents; but there is the
track laid so long ago no one remembers
it; laid by the hand of Almighty God in
sockets that no terrestrial or satanic
pressure can ever. effect. And along that
track the car Of the worlds redemption
will roll and roll to the Grand Central
Depot Of the millennium. have no
anxiety about the track. I am only
afraid that for our Incidence God
viii discharge US and get some
other sstoker and some other en-
gineer. The train is going through with
us or without US. So, my brethren, watch
all the events that are going by. If
things seem to turn out right, give wings
to your joy. If things seem to turn out
wrong, throw out the anchor Of faith and
hold fast.
There is a house in London where Peter
was moving through the land incognito
and in workman's dress, that he might
learn the wants of the people. A stranger
was visiting at that house recently, and
saw in a dark attic an old box, and he
said to the owner of the house. "What's
in that box?" The owner said: 81 don't
know; that box was there when I got
the house and it was there when my
father got it. We haven't had any
ar -. rr14oc De
nothing in it." "Weu," said the stranger,
''I'll give you two pounds for it," tWell,
DONE" The two pounds are paid and
recently the contents of that box E-zI-s
sold to the Car of Russia Tor fifty thou
see--,. ltUIiars. In it were the lathing ma
chine of Peter the Great, his private let
ters and documents Of value beyond all
monetary consideration. And here are
the events that seem very insignificant
and unimpOrtant, but they increases treas
Ures Of Divine providence and eternities
of meaning which after awhile God will
demonstrate before the ages as being of
stupendOus value. As near as / can tell
from what I see. there must be q God
somewhere about.
When Titans play quoits they pitch
mountains; but who owns these gigantic
forces you have been reading about the
last two months? Whose hand is on the
throttle valve of the volcanoesg Whose
foot suddenly planted on the footstool
makes the continents culver? Godl Godl
He loOketh upon the mountains and they
tremble. He toucheth the hills and they
smoke. Godl God! 1 must be at peace
with Him. Through the Lord Jesus Christ
this God is mine and He is yours. 1 put
the earthquake that shook Palestine at
the crucifXiOn against all the down rock
ings of the centuries. This God on our
side, we may challenge all the centuries
of time and all the cycles Of eternity.
Those of us who are in nid-life may
well thank God that we have seen SO
many wondrous things; but there are
people here to-day who will see the
twentieth century. Things obscure to US
will be plain to you yet. The twentieth
century viii be as far ahead of the nine
teenth as the nineteenth is ahead OF the
eighteenth, and as you caricature the
habits and customs and ignorance of the
past, others " i'll caricature this age. Some
of you may live to see the simmering vail
between the material and the spiritual
world lifted. Magnetism, a word with
which we cover mp our ignorance,
will yet be an explored realm. Electrici-
ty, the fiery cOurser Of the sky that Ben
jamin Franklin lassOed and Morse and
Bell and Edison have tried to control.
viii become completely manageable, and
locOmOtiOn viii be switched and a world
Of practical knowledge thrown in upon
the race. Whether we depart in this
century, OF whether we see the open
gates Of a more wonderful century, we
will see these things. It does not make
much difference where we stand, but the
higher the standpoint the larger the pros
pect We will see them from Heaven il
we do not see them from earth.
was at Fire Island, Long Island, and
went up in the cupOla from which they
telegraph to New York the approach of
vessels hours before they come into port.
There is an opening in the wall, and the
operator puts his teIes cope through that
opening and looks out and sees vessels
far out at sea. While 1 was talking with
him he went up and looked out He said:
eve are exT Getting the Arizona to night"
l said: els it possible you know all
those vessels? Do you know them as
you know a mans face?" He said: eyes,
/ never make a mistake. Before 1 see
the hulks I often know them by
the masts. / know them all: I have
watched them so long" Oh, what q
grand thing it is to have ships telegraphed
and heralded long before they come to
port, that friends may come down to the
wharf and welcome their long absent
loved ones. So to-day we take our stand
in the watch tower and we look Of, and
through the glass Of inspiration OF Prov
idence We look of and see a whole feet
of ships coming in. This is the ship Of
Peace, flag with one star of Bethlehem
floating above the op-gallants. That is
the ship Of the Church, mark of salt wave
high up on the smOkestack showing she
has had rough weather; but the Captain
Of Salvation commands her, and all is
well with her.
The ship Of Heaven, mightiest craft
ever launched, millions of passengers !
waiting for millions more, prophets and
apostles aud martyrs in the cabin. con-
querors at the foot of tho mast, while
from the rigging hands are waving this
way as they knew US and we wave hack