The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1893-09-15

fool" But how many there are who
do not bring the religion of Christ into
their everyday occupationl They think
religion is for Sundays.
Suppose you were to go out to fight
for your country in some great contest,
would you GO to do the battling at
Troy or at Springfield? No, you would
go there to get your swords and mus
kets. Then you would go out in the
face of the enemy and contend for
your country. Now, take the Sabbath
day and the church to be the only
armory where we are to get equipped
for the great battle of life, and that
battlefield is Monday, Tuesday, Wednes-
day, Thursday, Friday and Satur-
day. Antioch" and ''St. Martins, :"
and ''Old Hundred are not worth much
if we do not sing all the week. A SER
mon is of little account if we can not
carry it behind the counter and behind
the pillow. The Sabbath day is of no
value if it lasts only twenty-four hours.
"Oh" says some one, ''if / had a
great sphere ! would do that; if /
could have lived in the time of Martin
Luther, if / could have been Paul's
travelling companion, if I had some
great and resOunding work to dO-then
/ should put into application all that
you say" / must admit that the ro-
nance and knight errantry have gone
out of life. There is but very little
of it left in the world. The temples
of Rouen have been changed into
smithies; the classic mansion at Ash
land has been cut up into walking
sticks; the muses. have retreated
before the migrants ak and
the trapper's gun, and a Vermont
er might go over the Allegheny
and the Rocky mountains and see
neither an Dread nor Sylph. The
groves where the gods used to dwell
have been cut up for firewood, and the
man who is locking for great spheres
and great scenes for action will not
find them. And yet there are Alps
to scale and there are Tablespoons to
swim, and they are in common life. 1t
is absurd for you to say that you would
serve God if you had great sphere.
If you do not serve Him on small
scale, you would not ON a large scale.
If you can not stand the bite of
nudge, how could you endure the
breath of a basilislx?
Our national government does not
think it belittling to put tax on pins,
and a tax on buckles, and a tax on
shoes The individual taxes do not
amount to much, but in the aggregate
to millions and millions of dollars. And
| would you, o Christian man, put a
high tariff on every annoyance and vex-
alton that comes through your soul.
This might not amount to much, in
single cases, but in the aggregate it
would be a great revenue of spiritual
strength and satisfaction. A bee can
suck honey even out of nettle, and if
you have the grace of God in your
heart, you can get sweetness out of
that which would otherwise irritate
and annoy. A returned missionary
told me that company of adventur-
ers.rowing up the Gauges, were stung to
death by flies that infest that region at
certain seasons. l have seen the earth
strewed with the carcasses of men
slain by insect annoyances. The only
way to get prepared for the great trou-
bles of life is to couqer these small
troubles
Suppose a soldier should say: "This
is only skirmish, and there are only
few enemies-I won't load my gun;
wait until can get into some great
general engagement. That man is a
coward. and would be a coward in any
sphere. If man does not serve his
country in a skirmish, he will not in
Waterloo. And if you are not faithful
going out against the single-handed
misfortunes of this life, you would not
be faithful when great disasters, with
their laundering artillery, came roll
ing down over the soul.
This brings me to another point. We
ought to bring the religion of Jesus
Christ into all our trials. If we have
a bereavement, if we lose our fortune,
if some great trouble blast like tenn
pest, then we go to God for comfort;
but yesterday, in the little annoyances
of your store, or Office, or shop, or fac
tory, or banking house, did you go to
God for comfort? You did not.
My friends, you need to take the
religion of the Lord, Jesus Christ into
the most ordinary trials of your life.
You have your misfortunes, you have
your anxieties, you have your vexa-
tions. ''Oh!" you say, "they don't
shape my character. Since / lost my
child, since have lost my property, 1
have been very different man from
what / was" My brother, it is the lit
tie annoyances of your life that are
souring your disposition, clipping your
moral character and making you less
and less of man.
You go into an artists studio. You
see him making a piece of sculpture.
You say: "Why don't you strike
harder?" With his mallet and his
chisel ne goes click, click, click! and
you can hardly see from stroke to
stroke that there is any impression
made upon the stone, and yet the work
is going on. You say: why don't
you strike harder?' ''Ohr' he replies,
that would shatter the statue; must
make it this way, stroke by stroke"
And he continues on by week and
month until after awhile every man
that enters the studio is fascinated.
Well, / find God dealing with some
men. He is shaping him for time, and
shaping him for eternity. / say, 90,
Lord! why not with one tremendous
blow of calamity shape that man for
the next world?" God says: That's
not the way l deal with this man; it is
stroke after stroke, annoyance after
annoyance, irritation after irritation;
and after awhile he will be done, and
glad spectacle for angels and men,"
Not by one great stroke, but by ten
thousand little strokes of misfortune
are men fitted for Heaven. You know
that laroa fortunes can soon he scat