The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1889-03-08


for those gone astray? They are the men
who have graduated at the Royal Acade-
my of Trouble, and they have the diploma
written in wrinkles on their own counte-
nanees. Myl myl what heartaches they
hadl What tears they have weptl What
injustice they have suffered The
mightiest influence for publication and
salvation is trouble. No diamond ht for q
crown until it is cut. No wheat fit for
bread till it is ground. There are only
three things that can break of a chain-a
hammer, a file or fire; and trouble is all
three of them. The greatest writers, ora
tors and reformers get much of their
force from trouble. What gave to
Washington Irving that exquisite ten
derness and pathos which will
make his books favorites while the En-
ghsh language continues to be written
and spoken? An early heartbreak that
he never once mentioned; and when, thir-
ty years after the death of Matilda Koff-
man, who was to have been his bride. her
father picked up piece of embroidery
and said: tfThat is q piece OF poor Ma
tiIda's workmanship" Washington Irv-
ing sank from hilarity into silence and
walked away. Out of that lifetime GRIEF
the great author dipped his pens mighti-
est reinforcement. 'Calvin's Institutes
of Religion" than which a more wonder
hand, was begun by the author at twenty
Eve years of age, because of the persecu-
ton by Francis, King of France. Fara-
day toiled for all time on salary of
eighty pounds a year and candles. AS
every brick of the wall OF Babylon was
stamped with the letter N, standing for
Nebuchadnezzar, so every part of the
temple of Christian achievement is
stamped with the letter 7, sanding for
trouble.
When in olden time man was to be
honored with knighthood, he was struck
with the fiat of the sword. But those who
have come to the honor of knighthood in
the kingdom of God were first struck
not with the fat of the sword but with the
keen edge of the cimeter. To build his
magnifcence of character, Paul could not
have spared one lash, one prison, one
stoning, one anathema, one poisonous
viper from the hand, one shipwreck.
What is true of individuals is true of
nations. The horrors of the American
revolution gave this country this side
of the Mississippi river to Inde-
pendence, and the conflict between En-
gland and France gave the most of this
country west of the Mississippi to
the United States. France owned it,
but Napoleon, fearing that England
would take it, practically made a
present. to the United States-for the re-
| ceived only $l5 OO0, ,O00-of Louisiana, Mis-
souri,, Arkansas, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa,
Minnesota, Colorado, Dakota, Montana,
Wyoming and the Indian Territory. Out
/ of the fire of the American revolution
came this country east of the Mississippi,
out of the European war came that west
of tho Mississippi river. The British
Empire rose to its present overtowering
| grandeur through gunpowder plot, and
| Guy Fawkes' conspiracy, and Northamp-
/ ton insurrection, and Walter Raleigh's
| beheading, and Bacon's bribery, and
/ Cromwell's dissolution of Parliament,
| and the battles of Edge Hill, and
! Grantham, and Newberry, and Marston
Moor, and Naseby, and Dunbar, and
! SedgemoOr, and execution Of Charles
the First, and London plague, and
London fire, and London insurrec-
ton, and Ryehouse plot, and the vicissi-
| tudes of centuries. So the earth itself,
| before it could become an appropriate
and beautiful residence for the human
/ family had, according to geology, to be
washed by universal deluge, and scorched
and made incandescent by universal fires,
| and pounded by sledge hammer of ice
bergs, and wrenched by earthquakes that
| split continents, and shaken by volcanoes
/ that tossed mountains, and passed
! through the catastrophes of thousands of
years before Paradise became possible
and the groves could shake out their
green banners, and the first garden pour
its carnage of color between the Gihon
and the Hiddekel. Trouble is good thing
| for the rocks, a good thing for nations, as
/ we'll as good thing for individuals. SO
when you push against me with sharp
Interrogation point. Why do the good suf-
/ ferf l open the dark saying on harp and,
though can neither play an organ, or
cornst, or hautboy. or bugle, or clarionet
l have taken some lessons on the Gospel
harp, and If y0u would like to hear me /
viii play you these: "All things work to-
| gether for good to those who love God"
/ SNOW no chastening for the present SEEM
eth to be joyous, but grievOus; neverthe :
less, afterward it yieldeth all possible
| fruits of righteousness unto them which
are exercised thereby" weeping may
/ endure for night, but JOY cometh in the
morning" What a sweet thing is a harp,
and l wonder not that in Wales,
/ the country of my ancestors, the
harp has become the national instru-
ment, and that they have festivals
where great prizes are offered in the
competition between harp and harp; or
| that weird Sebastian Erard was much of
his time bent over this chorded and vi
brating triangle, and was not satisfied un-
til he had given it a compass Of six oc-
! tayes-from Z to L with all the semi tones,
|
| son Of Jesse came before him, and putting
his finger among the charmed strings Of
the harp.played the devil out of the crazed
monarch, or that in Heaven there shall
be harpers harping with their hdrps. So
| you will not blame me for opening the
dark saying on the Gospel harp:
/ Your harps ye trembling saints,
Down from the willows take;
Load TO the praise OF love Divine
| Bid every string awakei
! Interrogation the third: Why did a good
/ God let sin and trouble come into the
| world when he might have kept them out.
| My reply Is, he had good reason. lie
had reasons that he has never given us
HE had reasons which he could no more
make us understand in our finite state
than the father starting ont on some great
and elaborate enterprise could make the
two-year- child IN its armed chail
comprehend it. One was to demonstrate
what grandeur of character may be
achieved on earth by conquering evil
Had there been no evil TO conquer
and no trouble to console, then thii
universe would never have knowr
an Abraham or Moses, or I
Joshua or an Ezekiel, or a Paul oi
Christ, or a Washington or a John Mil
ton, or John Howard, and million vic
tories which have been gained by the con
secrated spirits of all ages would neye
have been gained. Had there been n,
battle there would have been no victory
Nine -tenths of the anthems OK Heavel
Fl would never have been sung. Heavel
could never have been a thousandth par
OF the Heaven that it is. ! win not sa,
that / am glad that sin and sorrJw dit
enter, but / do say that l am glad tha
! after God has given all his reasons to al
assembled universe He viii be NOR
, honored than If sin and sorrow had neve
entered, and that the uHfalien celes
tials viii be outdone, and will pu
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