The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1893-09-08

force of will You think no one can
understand your distresses. Perhaps
You look strong, and it is supposed that
you are hypochondriac. They
say that you are nervous-as III that
were nothingi God have mercy upon
any man or woman that is nervousl At
times you sit alone in your room.
Friends do not come. You feel an IN
describable loneliness In your suffer
ings; but God knows, God feels. God
compassionates. He counts the sleep
less nights; BE regards the acuteness of
the pain; He estimates the hardness of
the breathing. While you pour out
the medicine from the bottle. and
count the drops, God counts oil your
falling tears AS you look at the Walls,
filed with nauseous draughts. and at
the bottles of distasteful tonic that
stand on the shelf. remem Der that there
is larger bottle than these, which is
filed with no mixture by earthly
apothecaries, but it is Gods bottle, in
which He hath gathered all our tears.
Again: God remembers all the sor-
rows of poverty. There is much want
that never comes TO inspection. The
deacons of the church never see it.
The comptrollers of almhouses never
report it. Itcomes not to church, for
it has no appropriate apparel. 1t
rather to suffer than expose its bitter
ness. Fathers who fail to gain live
lihood, SO that they and their children
submit to constant privation, sewing
women, who can not ply the needle
quick enough to earn them shelter and
bread. But whether imported or I'M
complaining, whether in seemingly
comfortable parlor, or in damp cellar,
or in hot garnet, Gods angels of mercy
are on the watch. This moment those
griefs are being collected. Down on
the back streets, in all the alleys, amid
shanties and log cabins, the work goes
on. Tears of want-seething in sum-
mer's heat, or freezing in winters
cold-they fall not UNDECIDED. They
are jewels for Heavens casket. They
are pledges of Divine sympathy.
They are tears for Gods bottle.
Again: The Lord preserves the re-
membrance of all paternal anxieties.
You see a man from the infamous sur
roundings step out into the kingdom of
God. He has heard no sermon. He has
received no startling provident warn
ing. What brought him to this new
mind? This Is the secret-God looked
over the bottle in which He gathers the
tears of His people, and He saw n par
entail tear in that bottle which has
been for forty years unanswered.
He said: ''Go to, now, and let me
answer that tearr' and forthwith
the wanderer is brought home to God.
Oh, this work of training children for
God! 1t is tremendous work Some
people think it easy. They have tried
it. A child is placed in the arms of
the young parent. 1t is beautiful
piaything. You look into the laugh
ing eyes You examine the dimples in
the feet. You wonder at it's exquisite
organism. Beautiful playthingsl But
on some nightfall, as you sit rocking
that little one, voice seems to fall
straight from the throne of God, say
ing: ''That child is immortal! The
stars shall die, but that is an immortal
Suns shall grow old with age and per-
ish, but that is an immortalI'
Now, / know with many of you this is
the chief anxiety. You earnestly wish
your children to grow up rightly, but
you find it hard work to make them do
as you wish. You check their temper
You correct their waywardness; in the
midnight your pillow is wet with weep
ing. You have wrestled with God in
agony for the salvation of your chill
dren. You ask me if all that anxiety
is Intellectual. ] answer, No. God I'M
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how hard you have tried to make that
daughter do right. though she is so
very petulant and reckless; and what
pains you have bestowed in teaching
that son to walk in the path of upright
ness, though he has such strong pro-
clivities for dissipation. 1 speak a
cheering word. God heard every coun-
sci you ever offered him. God has
known all the sleepless nights you
have ever passed. God has seen every
sinking of your distressed spirit. God
remembers your prayers. He keeps
eternal record of your anxieties; and
in His lachrymatory, not such as stood
in ancient tomb, but in one that CLOVIS
and glitters beside the throne of God,
He holds all those exhausting tears.
The grass may be rank upon your graves
and the letters upon your tombstone
defaced with the elements before che
Divine response will come; but He who
hath declared, Il will be God to
thee, and to thy seed after thee" will
not forget, and some day, in Heaven,
while you are ranging the fields of
light the gates of pearl will swing
back, and garlanded with glory, that
long hayward one will rush into your
outstretched arms of welcome and tri-
umph. The hills may depart and the
earth may burn, and the stars fall and
time perish, but God will break His
oath and trample upon His promises
never! never!
Again: God keeps a perpetual re-
mem brance of all bereavements. These
are the trials that cleave the soul and
throw the red hearts of men to he
crushed in TIE wine press Troubles
at the store you may leave at the store
Misrepresentation and abuse of the
world you may leave on the street
where you found them. The lawsuit
that would swallow your honest ac-
cumulation may be left in the court
room. But bereaVements are home
troubles and there is no escape from
them. You will see that vacant chair.
Your eye will catch at the sugges-
tive picture. You can not fly the
presence of such ills. You go to Swift
zerland to get clear of them, but more
sure-footed than the mule that takes
you up the Alps, your troubles climb to
the tip-top and sit shivering on the
glaciers. You may cross the seas, but