The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1893-03-24

of the Hudson or the Ohio and there
would be good many days, and per-
haps many weeks, before the sediment
would dry up; and yet here, in an in
slant, Immediately, God provides
a path through the depths of
Jordan; 1t is SO dry the passengers
do not even get their feet damp. Oh, the
completeness of everything that God
doesl Does He make a universe?-it is
a perfect clock, running ever since it
was wound up, the fixed stars the
pivots, the consultations, the inter
moving wheels, and ponderous laws,
the weights and mighty swinging PEN
dulum; the stars in the great dome of
night, striking the midnight, and the
sun, with brazen tongue, tolling the
hour of noon. The widest comet has
a chain of law that he can not break.
The thistle-down flying before the
schoolboy's breath is controlled by
the same law that controls the
sun and the planets. The rose
bush in your window is governed
by the same principle that governs the
tree of the universe on which the stars
are ripening fruits. and on which God
will one day put His hand and shake
down the fruit-a perfect universe.
No astronomy has ever proposed an
amendment
If God makes Bible, it is complete
Bible. Standing amid the dreadful
and delightful truths, you seem to be
in the midst of an orchestra where the
wailings over sins, and the rejoicings
over pardon. and the martial strains of
victory make the chorus like an an
them of eternity. This Book seems to
you the ocean of truth, on every wave
of which Christ walks sometimes in the
darkness of prophecy, again in the
splendors with which He walks on
Galilee. In this Book, apostle answers
to prophet, Paul to Isaiah, Revelation
to Genesis-glorious light, turning
midnight sorrow into the midnoon Joy,
dispensing every fog, hushing every
tempest. Take this Book; it is the kiss
of God on the soul of lost man. Per-
feet Bible, complete Biblel No man
has ever proposed any improvement.
God provided Saviour; He is COM
plete Saviour-God-m man divinity and
humanity united in the same person.
He set up the starry pillars of the uni
verse and the towers of light He
planted the cedars and the Heavenly
Lebanon. He struck out of the rock
the rivers of life, singing under the
trees, singing under the thrones. He
quarried the sardonyx and crystal and
the topaz of the Heavenly wall He
put down the jasper for the foundation,
and heaped up the amethyst for the
capital, and swung the twelve gates
which are twelve pearls. In one in
slant He thought out universe; and
vet He became child, crying for His
mother, feeling along the sides of the
manger, learning to walk. Omnipo-
tence sheathed in the muscle and flesh
of child's arm; omniscience strung in
the optic nerve of ehild's eye; infinite
love beating in a child's heart; a great
God appearing in the form of child
one year old, five years old, fifteen
years old. While all the heavens were
ascribing to Him glory and honor
and power on earth, men said:
''Who is this fellow?" While
all the heavenly hosts, with folded
wing about their faces, bowed down
before Him, crying Holy, holy!" on
earth they denounced Him as bias
phemer and sot. Rocked in boat on
Gennesaret, and yet He it is that un-
dirked the lightning from the storm
cloud, and dismasted Lebanon of its
forests, and holds the five oceans on
the tip of His finger, as leaf holds the
raindrop. Oh, the complete Saviour,
rubbing His hand over the place where
Heaven the adorning gems of His right
H~1l . L.
we take our last view of our dead.
Sitting down with us on the tomb
stone, and while we plant roses there,
He planting consolation in our heart,
every chapter stalk, every verse
stem, every word a rose. A complete
Saviour. complete Bible, complete
universe, a complete Jordanic passage.
Everything that God does is complete.
Again, learn from this Jordanic
passage that between us and every
Canaan of success and property there |
is river that must be passed. ''Oh,
how would like some of those grapes |
on the other side!" said some of the |
Israelites to Joshua. "Well," says
Joshua, ''if you want the grapes why |
don't you cross over and get them?"
There is river of difficulty between us |
and everything that is worth having; !
that which costs nothing is worth |
nothing. God didn't intend this world |
for an easy parlor, through which we |
are to be drawn in rocking chair, but |
we are to work our passage, climb |
masts, fight battles, scale mountains |
and ford rivers. God makes every |
thing valuable difficult to get at, for |
the same reason that He put the gold |
down in the mine, and the pearl clear |
down IN the sea, to make us dig and |
dive for them. We acknowledge this |
principle in worldly things; oh, that |
we were only wise enough to acknowl- |
edge it in religious thingsi
You have scores of illustrations un- |
der your own observation where men |
trodden under foot, and yet after |
awhile had it easy. Now their homes |
blossom and bloom with pictures, and |
carpets that made foreign looms laugh |
now embrace their feet; the summer |
winds lift the tapestry about the win
dow gorgeous enough for a Turkish |
sultan; impatient steeds paw and neigh |
at the door, their carriages moving \
the sea of New York life, very wave |
of splendor. Who is it? Why, it is a
boy that came to New York with dol
lar in his pocket, and his estate slung
over his shoulder in a cotton handker-
chief. All that silver in the dancing |
span is petrified sweat-drops; that beau
tiful dress is the faded calico over /
which God put His hand of perfection,