The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1891-06-26

I the law WHICH was HuAUCTCu vi MOu1Ab
| Sinai, from whose top / had the two
tables Of ton in yonder wall trans
ported. is the perfect law. And the
Gospel which Christ announced while
dying on that mount from which I
brought that tone in yonder wall.
and which Paul preached ON that hill
from which I bought yonder granite, Is
the Gospel that is going to save the
world. Young man, put O that Gospel
armorl No other sword win triumph
like that No other shield viii protect
like that No other helmet will glance
off the battle-axes like that. Our theo-
logical seminaries are doing glorious
work, but If ever such theological semi
naries shall cease to prepare young men
for this plain Gospel advocacy, and
shall become mere philosophical schools
for guessing about God, and guessing
about the Bible, and guessing about the
soul they will cease their usefulness,
and young men, as in olden time, when
they would study for the Gospel min
istry, will put themselves under the
care of some intelligent and warm
hearted pastor, and kneel with him in
family prayer at the parsonage, and go
with him into the room of the sick and
the dying, and see what victories the
grace of God can gain when the couch
of the dying saint is the Marathon.
That is the way the mighty ministers
of the Gospel were made in olden times.
Oh, for a great wave of revival to roll
over our theological seminaries, and
our pulpits, and our churches, and our
| ecclesiastical courts and over all Christ
endom! That would be the end of con-
troversy. While such a deluge would
loaf the ark Of God higher and higher,
it would put all the bears and tigers
and reptiles of raging ecclesiasticism
fifteen cubits under.
Now, what is the simple fact that
you in the pew and Sabbath-school
class and reformatory association and
we in the pulpits have to deal with? 1t
is this: That God has somewhere, and
it matters not where, but somewhere,
provided a great Heaven, great fo1
| quietness for those who want quiet,
| great for vast assemblage for those who
like m~ultitudes, great for architecture
for those who like architecture, great
for beautiful landscape for those who
like beautiful landscape, great fol
music for those who like music, great
for professions for those who like armies
on white horses, and great for anything
that one especially desires in such q
rapturous dominion; and through the
doings of One who was born about
five miles south of Jerusalem, and died
about ten minutes walk from its east
ern gate, all may enter hat great
Heaven for the earnest and heartfelt
asking. Is that all? That is all. What,
then, is your work and mine? Our work
is to persuade people to face that way
and start thitherward, and finally go
in. But has not religion something to
do with this world as well as the next?
Oh, yes; but do you not see hat if the
people start for Heaven on their way
there they viii do all the good
they can? They will at the very
start of the journey get so much
of the spirit of Christ, which is a
spirit of kindness and s~elf-sacrifice
and generosity and burden-bearing and
h~elpfulness, hat every step they take
will resound with good deeds. Oh, get
your religion off of stiltsl Get it down
out of the high towers! Get it on q
level with the wants and woes of our
poor human racel Get it out of the
dusty theological books that few peo-
pie read and put it in their hearts and
lives. Good thing is it to profess re-
ligion when you join the church, but
every day somehow we ought to pro
fess religion.
A peculiar patchwork quilt was, dur
ing the civil war, made by a lady ana
sent to the hospitals at the front. She
had a boy in the army, and was natur-
ally interested in the welfare of SOL
diers. But what a patchwork quilt she
sentl On every block of the quilt was
a passage of Scripture or a verse of 8
hymn. The months and the years OF
the war went by. On that quilt many
a wounded man had lain and suffered
and died. But one morning the hos
pital nurse saw a patient under the
blanket kissing the figure of a leaf
in the quilt, and the nurse supposed he
was only wandering in his mind. But
no., he was the son of the mother who
bad made the quilt, and recognized
that figure of a leaf as part of a gown
his mother used to wear, and it re-
minded him of home. do you know
where this quilt came from?' he asked.
The nurse answered.: 81 can find out,
for there was a ard pinned fast to it,
and / will fihd that. Sure enough, it
confirmed what he thought. Then the
nurse pointed to n passage of scrip
ture in the block of the quilt, the pas
sage which says: ''When he was yet a
great way off his father saw him and
ran and fell on his neck and kissed him"
Yes" said the dying soldier, 81 was a
great way off, but God has metme, and
had compassion on me" ''Shall / write
lost one is found, and the dead is alive
again?" He answered, 81 wish you
would, if it would not be too
much trouble" Do you suppose
that woman who made that quilt
and filed it with Scripture passages had
any trouble about who Melchizedek
was, or how the doctrine of Gods SOW
ereignty can be harmonized with mans
free agency, Oh who wrote the Penta-
touch, OF the inconsistencies of the
Nicene creed? No, no; GO to work for
God and suffering humanity, and all
your doubts, and fears. and mysteries,
and unbeliefs put together will not be
scales, which is accustomed to weighing
one-fftieth part of a grain of camo-
mile flowers. Why stop a moment to
understand the mysteries where there
are SO many certitudes? Why spend
our time exploring the dark garrets
and c0al-holag of a Creaf nalaoo which