The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1890-01-10

4
nations. There never was place OIL
earth where that word peace sounded 81
Extensively to the ears of the multitud,
as in the Roman empire. They did no
want peace. The greatest music they
ever heard was the clanRing chains o
| their captives. If all the blood thai
has been shed in battle could be gath.
cred together it would upbear a navy
The club that struck Abel to the eayth
has it's echoes in the buucheries OF all
ages. Edmund Burke. who gave on
wild statistics. said that there bad been
spent in battle thirty-fve thousand mill
ions of dollars, Or what would be equal
to that; but he had not Sem into our
times, when in our own day, in America,
we expended three thousand million OF
dollars in civil war.
Oh, If we could now take our position
on some high point and see the world s
armies march past! What spectacle it
would be! There go the hosts of Israel
through score of Red Seas-one of wa
ter, the rest of blood There go Cyrus,
and his army, with infuriate yell, rejoic-
ing over the fall of the gates of Baby
Ion. There goes Alexander, leading
forth his hosts and conquering all the
world but himself, the earth reeling
with the battle cash of Arbela and Per-
sepolis There goes Ferdinand Cortes,
leaving his butchered enemies ON the
table lands once fragrant with vanilla
and covered over with groves of flower
ing cacao. There goes the great French
man, leading his army down through
Egypt like one of its plaques, and nu
through Russia like one of its own icy
blasts. Yonder is the grave trench un-
der the shadow of Sebastopol. There
are the ruins of Delhi and Allahabad,
and yonder are the inhuman Sepoys and
the brave regiments under Havelock
avenging the insulted flag of Britain;
while cut right through the heart of my
native land is trench in which there
lie one million Northern and Southern
dead.
Oh, the tearsl Oh, the blood Oh, the
long marches! Oh, the hospital wounds!
Oh, the martyrdom! Oh, the death! But
brighter than the light which flashed on
all these swords and shields and mus
kerry is the light that fell on Bethle-
hem, and louder than the bray of the
umpets, and the neighing of the
chargers, and the crash of the walls,
and the groaning of the dying armies,
is the song that unrollS this moment
from the sky, sweet as though all the
bells of Heaven rung q iubilee: "Peaee
on earth. good will toward men," Oh,
when will the day come God hasten it!
when the swords shall De turned into
plow shares, and the fortressas shall be
remodeled into churches, and the men
of blood battling for renown Snail be-
come good soldiers of Jesus Christ, and
the cannon now striking down whole
columns of death shall thunder the vic
tories of the truth?
When we think of the whole worlC
saved we are apt to think of the few
people that now inhabit it. Only very
few, compared with the population to
come. And what small part culti-
waited. Do you know it has been au.
estimated that three-fourths
of Europe is yet all barrenness, and
that nine hundred and ninety-one-one-
part of the entire globe is
This is all to be culti-
waited, all inhabited and all gospelized.
Oh, what tears of repentance wher
nations begin to weep! Oh, what sup
plications when continents begin to
pray! Oh, what rejoicing when hemis
pheres begin to sing! Churches will
worship on the places whore this very
hour smokes the blood Of human sac
rifice, and wandering through the snake
jungles of Africa Christs heel
will bruise the serpent's head. Oh,
when the trumpet of salvation shall
be sounded everywhere and the
nations are redeemed, light
will fall upon every town
brighter than that which fell upon
and more overwhelming
han the song which fell on the pasture
ields where the flocks fed, there will
,e a song louder than the storm lifted
,ceans: ''Glory to God in the highest"
md from all nations and kindred and
people and tongues will come the re-
ponse: "And on earth peace, good will
oward meni" On this Christmas eve |
,ring you good tidings of great joy.
Pardon for all sin, comfort for all
rouble and life for the dead. Shall we
low take this Christ into our hearts2
rhe time is passing, This is the clos
ng of the year How the time speeds
~. Put your hand on your heart-one,
wo, three. Three times less it will
,eat. Life is passing like gazelles over
he plain. Sorrows hover like petrels
,ver the sea. Death swoops like vult-
Ire from the mountains. Misery rolls
ID to our ears like waves. Heavenly
ongs fall to us like stars.
/ wish you a merry Christmas, not
With worldly dissipation, but merry
With Gospel gladness, merry with par
Loned sin, merry with hope of reunion
n the skies with all your loved ones
Who have preceded you. In that grand
Ist and best sense merry Christmas.
And God grant that in our final mo-
nent we may have as bright vision as
lid the dying girl when she said:
Mother, "-pointing with her thin
White hand through the window
Mother, what is that beautiful land
'ut yondcr beyond the mountains, the
Ugh mountains?"
''Oh,'' said the mother, ''my darling,
here are no mountains within sight OF
'ur home"
esOh, yes," she said, ''don't you see
hem-that beautiful land beyond the
Mountains out there, just beyond the
Ugh mountains?"
The mother looked down into the face
# her dying child and said: my dear,
think that must be Heaven that you
ee.''
'sWell, then" she said, father, you
ome, and with your strong arms carry
no ovar those Mountains into that
beautiful land beyond the high mount
Iins."
NO" said the weeping father, 'tmy