The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1893-01-27

maltreatment of parents is punished in
this world.
The circle turns quickly, very quickly.
Oh. what stupendous thought that
the good and the evil we start come
back to US. Do you know that the
judgment day will be only the points
at which the circle Join, the good and
us, unless Divine Intervention hinder
coming back to us with welcome of de-
light or curse of condemnation.
''Oh, world like to see Paul, the in
valid missionary, at the moment when
his influence comes to full orb-his in
fluence rolling out through Antioch,
through Cyprus, through Lystra,
through Corinth, through Athens.
through Asia, through Europe, through
America, through the first century,
through five centuries, through twenty
centuries, through all succeeding
centuries, through earth, through
Heaven; and at last, the wave of infiu-
ence having made full circuit, strikes
his great soul. Oh, then would like
to see him. No one can tell the
wide sweep of the circle of his influ-
ence, save the One who is seated on the
circle of the earth. / should not want
to see the countenance of Voltaire
when his influence comes to full orb.
When the fatal hemorrhage seized him
at eighty-three years of age his infu-
ence did not cease The most brilliant
man of his century, he had used all his
faculties far assaulting Christianity;
his bad influence widening through
France, widening out through Ger
many, widening through all Europe,
widening through America, widening
through the one hundred and fifteen
years that have gone by since he died,
widening through earth. widening
through hell; until at last the &C
cumulated influence of his bad life in
fiery surge of omnipotent wrath will
beat against his destroyed spirit, and
at that moment it will be enough to
make the black hair of eternal dark
ness turn white with horror. No one
can tell how that bad mans influence
girdled the earth save the One who is
seated on the circle of the earth-tfe
Lord Almighty.
"Well, now," say people in this audi
ence, "this in some respects is very
glad theory, and in others a very sad
one; we would like to have all the good
we have ever done come back to us,
but the thought that all the sins we
have ever committed will come back to
us fills us with alright" My brother,
/ have to tell you God can break that
circle, and will do so at your call.
can bring twenty passages of Scripture
to prove that when God for Christ's
sake forgives man the sins of his past
life never come back. The wheel may
roll on and roll on, but you take your
position behind the cross and the
wheel strikes the cross and is shat
tered forever. The sins fly off from
the circle into the perpendicular, fall
ing at right angles with complete OBJ
livion. Forgiven! Forgiven! The
meanest thing a man can do is, after
some difficulty has been settled, to
Dbring it up again; and God will not be
so mean as that. Gods memory is
mighty enough to hold all the events of
the ages, but there is one thing that is
sure to slip His memory. one thing He
is sure to forget, and that is pardoned
transgression. How do 1 know it? /
will prove it. Their sins and their
iniquities will l remember mo more"
Come into that state this morning, my
dear brother, my dear sister. blessed
is the one whose transgressions are for
given
But do not make the mistake of
thinking that this doctrine of the cir
Gle stops with this life; it rolls on
through Heaven. You might quote in
opposition to me what st. John says
about the city of Heaven. He says it
''lieth four-square That does not
seem to initiate against this idea, but
you know there is many a square house
tibet has family circle facing each 9TH
err, and in circle moving, and 1 can
prove that this is SO in regard to Heaven.
StJohn says: ST heard the vo ice of many
angels round about the throne, and the
beasts and the elders" Again he says:
'There was a rainbow round about the
throne" The two former instances a
circle; the last either circle or semi
circle. The seats facing each other, the
angels facing each other. The men
facing each other. Heaven an ampi-
theater of glory. Circumference of pa
triarch and prophet and apostle. Cir
conference of Scotch Covenanters and
Theban legion and Albigenses. Circum-
ference of the good of all ages. Peri
phery of splendor unimagined and in
describable. A circle! A circle.
But every circumference must have
center, and what is the center of this
heavenly circumference? Christ. His
all the glory. His all the praise. His
all the crowns All Heaven wreathed
into garland about Him. Take off
the imperial sandal from His foot, and
behold the scar of the spike. Lift the
coronet of dominion from His brow and
see where was the laceration of the
briers. Come closer, all Heaven. Mar
row the circle ;around His great heart.
o Christ, the Saviour! o Christ, the
mani o Christ, the God! Keep Thy
throne forever, seated on the circle Of
the earth, seated on the circle of the
Heaven.
On Christ, the solid rock stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.
Vale Sfaffsticg.