The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1889-05-10

thousand dollars a year, and there are
great cathedrals with all the machinery
of music and oauonicals, and room fol
one thousand people, yet an audience o.
fifty people, or twenty people, or ten, OF
two
We want no such religion as that, nc
such national religion; but we want this
kind of national religion-the vast ma
jority of the people converted and evan
gelized, and then they will manage the
secular as well as the religious.
Do you say that this is impracticablel
No. The time is coming just as certainly
as there is God and that this is His book
and that He has the strength and the hon.
estly to fulfill His promises. One of the
ancient Emperors used to pride himself
on performing that which his counselors
said was impossible and L have to tell
you to-day that mans ImpOssibilities are
Gods easies, "Hath He said and shall
He not do itI Hath He commanded and
will He not bring it to pass?" The Chris
tian religion is coming to take possession
Of every ballot-box, of every school
house, of every home, Of every valley, OF
every mountain, OF every acre of OuI
national domain, This Nation, notwith-
standing ali the evil influences that arc
trying to destroy it, is going to live.
Never since, according to ohm Milton
when Satan was
Hurled headlons flaming from the ethereal sky
With hideous ruin and combustion, down
To botto mless perdItion-
Have the powers of darkness been so de-
termined to win this continent as they are
now. What Jewel it is-a jewel carved
in relief, the cameo of this planeti On
one side Of US the Atlantic ocean, divid-
ing us from the worn-sut governments of
"a. = g.
ocean, dividing US from the superstitiOns
OF Asia. On the north of US the Arctic
sea, which is the gymnasium in which the
explorers and uavigators developed their
courage. A continent ten thousand five
hundred miles long. seventeen million
square miles, and all of it, but about
One-seventh, capable Of rich cultivation.
One hundred millions of population on
this continent of North and South Amer
ica-One hundred million, ami room for
many hundred millions more. All fora
and all fauna, all metals and ali precious
woods, and all grains and all fruits. The
Appalachian range the backbone, and
the rivers the ganglia carrying life all
through and out to the extremities. 18TH
mus Of Darien, the narrow waist Of giant
continent all to be under one govern
ment, and all free, aud all Christian, and
the scene Of Christ's personal reign on
earth if, according to the expecta-
tioh az many good people, He shall
at last set up His throne in this
world. Who shall have this hemis-
phere, Christ or Satan2 Who shall have
the shores of her inland seas, the silver
Of her Nevadas, the gold of her Colorados, ;,
the telescopes of her observatories, the
brain of her universities, the wheat Of
her prairtes, the rice of her savannahs,
the two great ocean beaches-the one
eachiug s-rOm Baffin's bay to Terra del
Fuego, and the other from Behring
rstraits to Cape Horn-and all the moral
and temporal and spiritual and everlast-
Tag interests OF a population vast beyond
oil human computation? Who shall have
the hemisphereP You and l will decide
that Or help to decide it, by conscientious
vote, by earnest prayer, by maintenance
Of Chris tian institutions, by support of
great philanthropics, by putting body,
mind and soul on the right side of al
moral, religious and national move
ments.
Ahl it viii not be long before it viii
not make any difference to you or to me
what becomes Of this continent, SO far as
earthly con- tort is concerned. All we will
want OF it will be seven feet by three, and
that will take in the largest, and there
will be room and to spare. That is all of
youngest Of us. But we have an anxiety
about the welfare and the happiness OF
the generations that are coming on, and
it will be grand thing if, when the arch
AZ gers trumpet sounds, we find that our
sepuIcher, like the one Joseph of ATima-
thea provided for Christ, is in the midst
of a garden.
One of the seven wonders of the world
was the white marble watch tower OF
Pharos of Egypt. Sostratus the architect
and sculptor, after building that watch
tower cut his name on it. Then Re cover
y it with plestering, and to please the
/ Elng he put the monarch's name on the
-.sside of the plastering; and the storms
beat and the seas dashed in their fury
and they washed off the plastering, and
and they washed it out and
they washed it down, bus the name of So
stratus was deep cut in the imperishable
rock. So across the face of this Nation
there have been a great many names
written, across our finances, across our
religions, names worthy Of remembrance,
names written on the architecture of our
churches, and our schools, and our asy-
lums, and our homes of mercy; but God
Is the architect OF this continent and He
was the sculptor of all its graudeurs, and
long after, through the wash of the ages
and the tempests of centuries, all other
names shall be obliterated, the Divine
signature aud the Divine name will be
! brighter aud brighter as the millenniums
go by, and the world shall see that the
God who made this continent has re-
deemed it by His grace from ali its sor-
rows and from all its crimes.
Have you faith in such a thing as that
After all the chariots have been unwheel-
! ed, and after all the war chargers have
been crippled, the chariots which Elisha
! saw on the morning of his peril will roll
on in triumph, followed by all the armies
| OF Heaven on white horses. God could do
it, without US, but He viii not. The weak
/ est of US, the faintest of US, the smallest
/ Drained of us, shall have a part in The
/ triumph, We may not have our name, like
| SostratUs, cut ia imperishable rock anC
| conspicuous Tor centuries, but we shall bt
remembered in better place than that
even in the heart of Him who came to re.
deem US and redeem the world, and ou1
names will be seen close to the signature ol
| His wound, for as to-day He throws ou
His arms toward us, He says: ''Bahold,
have craven thee on the palms of my
hand" BY the mightiest Of all agencies
! the potency OF the prayer, beg you seel
| o ur national welfare.
! Some time ago there were four miller
/ six hundred thousand letters in the DeaC
Letter Post-Ohice at Washington-Ietter
| that lost their way-but not one prayer
ever directed to the heart of God mis-
| carried. The way is all clear for the as
cent of your supplications heavenward II
| behalf of the Nation. Before the posta
/ communication was so easy, and Ions
/ ago, on rock one hundred feet high, OF
the coast Of England, there was a barre
| fastened TO post, and in great letters OF
| the side Of the rO%k, so it could be seer
\ far out at sea, were the words POS
| OmCe;" and when ships came by
/ boat put out to take aud fetcl
! letters. And so sacred were thos,
! deposits Of affection in that barrel thai
no lock was ever put upon that barrel, al.
| though it contained messages for Amefca
] a-.l E.-HA.An a II A q. = !.