The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1893-04-28

changed by the grace Of God, and have
found out that ''godliness Is profitable
for the life that is as well as for the
life which is to come"
Peter, with nature tempestuous as the
sea, that he once tried to walk. at ot4e
look of Christ went ont and wept bit.
terly. Rich harvests of grace may
grow on the tip-top of the Jagged steep.
pa sturage in fields Of bratnble and
rock. Though your disposition may be
all abristle with fretfnlness, though
you have temper agleam with quich
lightnings, though your avarice be like
that of the horse-leech. crying: "Giver'
though damnable impurities have
wrapped you il all-consuming fire.
g cd can drive that devil out of your
soul, and over the chaos and the dark.
ness He can say: Let there be light. "
Converting gra ce has lifted the drunk
ard from the ditch, and snatched the
knife from the hand of the assassin,
and the false KEY from the burglar, and
in the pestiferous lanes of the city met
! the daughter of sin under the dim lamp
light. scattered her sorrow and her
guilt with the words: "Thy sins are
| forgiven-go, and sin no more" For
scarlet sin scarlet atonement
Other persons apologize for not en-
tering the Christian life because of the
inconsistencies of those who profess
religion. There are thousands of poor
farmers They do not know the nature
of soil nor the proper rotation of crops.
| Their corn is shorter in the stalk and
smaller in the ear. They have ten less
bushels to the acre than their neigh.
bors. But who declines being a farm
er because there are so many poor
| farmers?
There are thousands of incompetent
merchants. They buy at the wrong
time. They get cheated in the sale of
their goods. Every bale of goods is to
them bale of disaster. They fail after
awhile and go out of business. But who
declines to be a merchant because there
are SO many incompetent merchants?
There are thousands of poor lawyers
They can not draw a declaration that
will stand the test. They can not re-
cover just damages. They can not help
a defendant escape from the injustice
of his prosecutors. They are the worst
evidence against any case in which they
are retained. But who declines to be Il
lawyer because there are so many in.
competent lawyers? Yet there are tens
of thousands of people who decline
being religious because there are SO
many unworthy Christians. Now, / say
it is illogical. Poor lawyers are moth
ing against Jurisprudence, poor physi.
clans are nothing against medicine,
poor farmers are nothing against agri.
culture. and mean, contemplate pro-
fessors of religion are nothing against
our glorious Christianity.
Sometimes you have been riding
along on summer night by swamp
and you have seen lights that kindled
over decayed vegetation-lights which
are called jacl1-o-lantern or will-o'the-
wisp. These lights are merely poison
Gus miasmata. My friends, on your
way to Heaven you will want better
light than the will-o'-the-wisps which
dance on the rotten character of dead
Christians. Exudations from poisonous
trees in our neighbors' garden will
make a very poor balm for our wounds.
Sickness will come and we will he
pushed out toward the Red sea which
divides this world from the next, and
not the inconsistency of Christians,
but the rod of faith will wave back the
waters as commander wheels his
host. The judgment will come, with
its thundershod solemnities, attended
by bursting mountains and the deep
laugh of earthquakes and suns will fly
before the feet of God like sparks from
the anvil, and ten thousand burning
worlds shall blaze like banners in the
track of God omnipotent. Oh! then we
will not stop and say: "There was
mean Christian; there was cowardly
Christian; there was lying Christian;
there was an impure Christian" In
that day as now: eff thou be wise,
thou shalt be wise for thyself; but if
thou scornest, thou alone shall bear
it." Why, my brother, the incon-
sisteney of Christians, so far from
being an argument to keep you
away from God, ought to be an
argument to drive you to Him. The
best place for a skillful doctor is In a
neighborhood where they are all poor
doctors; the best place for an enter
prising merchant to open his store is in
not understand their business; and the
best place for you who want to become
the illustrious and complete Christian
the best place for you is to come right
down among us who are SO incompetent
and so inconsistent sometimes.
Other persons apologize for not be-
coming Christians because they lack
time As though religion muddled the
brain of the accountant, or tripped
the pen of the author, or thickened the
tongue of the orator, or weakened the
arm of the mechanic, or scattered the
briefs of the lawyer, or interrupted the
sales of the merchant. They bolt
their store doors against it, and fight it
back with trowels and yard-sticks, and
cry: Away with your religion from
our store, our off ce, out factoryr'
They do not understand that religion
in this workaday world will help you
to do anything you ought to do. 1t can
lay keel, it can sail ship, it can buy
a cargo, il can work pulley, it
can pave street, it can fit a wristband,
it can write a constitution, it can mar
shall a host. 1t is as appropriate to the
astronomer as his telescope, to the
chemist as his laboratory; to the mason
as his plumb-line; to the carpenter as
his plane; to the child as his marbles;
to the grandfather as his staff.
This morning voices roll down the
sky, and all the worlds of light are
ready to rejoice at your disentErzl-
ment. Rush not into the presence Of
the King ragged with sin, when you
may have this robe of righteousness.