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

Others went into skepticism through
maltreatment on the part of some whG
professed religion There is a mar
who says: MY partner in business was
volu BILE in prayer-meeting, and he wa:
officious In all religious circles, but he
cheated me out of three thousand dol
lars and don't want any of that re-
ligion."
There are others who got into skep
ticism by natural persistence in ask.
ing questions, why2 or how2 How can
God be one being in three personsf
They can not understand it. Neither
can /. How can God be a complete
sovereign, and yet man a free agents
They can not understand 1t. Neither
can l. They can not understand why
holy God let's sin come into the world.
Neither can /. They say: "Here is a
great mystery; here Is disciple OF
fashion, frivolous and goddess all her
days-she lives on to be an octogena-
rian. Here is Christian mother train
ing her children for God and for Heaven,
self-sacrifcing. Christainlil1e, indispen-
sable, seemingly, to that household
she takes the cancer and dies" The
skeptic says: II can't explain that. "
Neither can /.
Oh, / can see how men reason them
selves into skepticism. With burning
feet have trod that blistering way /
know what IL is to have a hundred
nights poured into one hour There
are men in this audience who would
give their thousands of dollars if they
could get back to the old religion of
their fathers. Such men are not to be
carica tured, but helped; and not
through their heads, but through their
hearts. When these men really do
come into the kingdom of God, they
will be worth far more to the cause of
Christ than those who never examined
the evidences of Christianity. Thomas
Chalmers once a sl1eptic, Robert Hall
once skeptic, Christmas Evans once
a skeptic; but when they did lay hold
of the Gospel chariot, how they made
it speed ahead.
If, therefore, / stand this morning be-
fore men and women who have drifted
away into skepticism, throw out no
| scoff; l rather implead you by the
memory of those good old times when
"
said your evening prayers, and those
other days of sickness when she
watched all night and gave you the
medicines at just the right time, and
turned the pillow when it was hot,
and, with hand long ago turned to dust,
soothed your pains, and with that voice
you will never hear again unless you
join her in the better country, told you
never mind-you would be better by
and by; and by that dying couch where
she talked SO slowly, catching her
breath between the words-by all those
memories l ask you to come and take
the same religion. 1t was good enough
for her-it is good enough for you.
Aye, make a better plea; by the
wounds and the death-throe of the Son
of God, who approaches you this morn
ing with torn brow and lacerated
hands and whipped back, crying:
Come unto me, all We who are weary
and heavy laden, and 1 will give you
rest"
Other persons apologize for not en-
tering Christian life because of the in
corrigibility of their temper. Now, we
admit it is harder for some people to
become Christians than for others; but
the grace of God never came to noun
tain that it could not climb, or to an
abyss that it could not fathom, or to a
bondage that it could not break. The
widest horse that ever trod Arabian
sands has been broken to bit and trace.
The maddest torrent tumbling from
mountain shelving has been harnessed
to the mill-Mheel and the factory band,
setting thousand shuttles all a-buzz
and a-clatter; and the widest, the
most ungovernable man ever created,
by the grace of God may be subdued
and sent out on ministry of kindness,
as God sends an August thunderstorm
to water the wild flowers down in the
grass.
Good resolution, reformatory effort.
VIII not effect the change 1t takes
mightier arm and mighticr hand
to bend evil habits than the
hand that bent the bow of Ulysses,
and it takes stronger lasso than ever
held the buffalo on the prairie. A man
can notgo forth with any human weap-
ons and contend successfully against
these Titans armed with uptorn noun
tain. But you have known men into
whose spirit the influence of the Gospel
of Christ came until their disposition
was entirely changed. So it was with
two merchants in New York. They
were very antagonistic. They had
done all they could do to injure each
other. They were in the same line of
business. One of the merchants was
converted to God. Having been
converted, he asked the Lord
to teach him how to bear him
self toward that business antagonist.
and he was impressed with the fact
that it was his duty when a customer
asked for certain kind of goods which
he had not, but which he knew that
his opponent had, to recommend him
to go to that store. ! suppose that is
about the hardest thing the man could
do; but, being thoroughly converted to
God, he resolved to do that very thing.
and, being asked for certain kind of
goods which he had not, he said: You
go to such and such store and you will
get it" After awhile merchant No. 2
found these customers coming, so sent,
and he found also that merchant No l
had been brought to God, and he sought
the same religion. Now they are good
friends and good neighbors, the grace
of God entirely changing their disposi-
tion.
''Oh. says some one, 81 have rough,
jagged, impetuous nature, and religion
can't do anything for me-" Doyou know
that Martin Luther and Robert Newton
and Richard Baxter were impetuous.
all-consuming natures, yet the grace
of God turned them into the mightiest
usefulness? Obi how many who have