The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1894-05-25


so we had plan after plan of churchly
| buildings presented; but in due time
God sent a man who grasped our idea
and executed it. So far from being a
failure, it satisfied our want, and all
our three churches were built on the
amphitheatrical plan, and scores of
churches all over the country have
adopted the same plan.
! And, my brethren and sisters, we
fail in our wort; just in proportion as
we try to be like other churches, like
every man, to be individual, gathering
up all its peculiarities and idiosyncra-
I cies, and hurting them toward some
| good and grand object. In other words,
no two churches ought ever to be just
alike. Here is a church, for in
stance, whose object it is to
prepare philosophers and artists
and critics for Heaven. God speed
them in the difficult work! Here is a
! church, on the other hand, that pro-
pose to bring only the poor into the
! Kingdom Of Jesus Christ, looking not
after the rich. God speed such church
| in its undertaking. But there is a
] larger idea that a church may take
bringing in the rich and the poor, the
wise and the ignorant, the high and
and the low; so that hneeling beside
each other shall be the man faring
sumptuOusly every day, and the man
who could not get his breakfast. God
speed such church.
Oh! my friends, we need to break
away from slavery to ecclesiastical
customs We dare not sing if anybody
hear us. We dare not preach unless
we have rounded off our sentences to
suit the criticism of the world. We
dare not dress for church until we
have examined the fashion-plates, and
we would rather stay at home than
appear with coat or hat not sane
toned by custom. When will the day
of deliverance come to the church of
God, when, instead of dead religion,
laid out in state of catafalque of pOmp
and insincerity, we shall have a liv-
ing, bounding, sympathetic, glowing
Christianity?
remark, further, that we have tried
here to build and to conduct a cheerful
church. While, as you know, we have
not held back the terrors of the law
and the sterner doctrines of the Cos
pei, we have tried in this house to
present to this people the idea that
the gladdest, brightest, happiest thing
in the universe is the Christian re-
ligion. There is so much trouble in
the world; business men have SO
many anxieties; toiling men have SO
many fatigues; orphans have 80 many
desolations-for Gods sake, if there
be any bright place on earth, show it
to them. Let the church of Jesus
Christ be the most cheerful spot on
earth. Let me say that do not want
anybody to come whining around me
about the Christian religion. / have
no faith in a religion made up of equal
parts of wormwoOd, vinegar and red
pepper. If the religion that is pre-
sented to us be depression, we
will get along better without it.
If it be a JOY, let it shine out
from your face ano from your conver-
sation. If man comes to my house
to talk of religion with Il Iugubrious
cOuntenance and manner full of sniff
fle and dOlorousness, I feel like saving
to my wife: You had better lock up
the silver before he steals something"
/ have found it an in varia bic rule that
men who profess faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ, priding themselves at the
same time on their sanctimoniousness
always turn out badly. l never knew
an exception. While those who are
the most consistent, the most useful
and the most consecrated have per-
fumc in their conversation and Heaven
in their face.
The happiest Christians that have
ever known have been persons from
sixty to eighty years of age. By that
time people get over the shams and pre-
lenses of society, and have no longer
any patience with anything like i'm
posture in religion. o Christian! how
dare you be gloomy? Is not God your
Father? Is not Jesus Christ your
Saviour? Has not your path all through
life been strewn with mercies? Are
you insensible to the fact that there
are glories awaiting you in the better
land-dOXolOgieS of celestial worship,
eternal chOrals, fearless eyes, songs that
resOund under arches of strength and
hosannas that clap their hands at the
foot of the throne? Is it nothing to
you that all the hills of Heaven are
radiant with the faces of those who
have gone up from you, and who are
waiting for your coming, ready to keep
with you eternal holiday? Is there moth
ing in songs that never cease, IN hearts
that never ache, in splendOrs that never
die, to make you glad? Then take no
more mercy at the hand of thy God!
Give back the marriage ring of love
that Jesus put on your finger in the
day of your espousal! Plant no more
of the flowers Of Heaven where there
ought to be nothing but nettles and
nightshade!
We try to make this church a cheer
full church. a man, on Saturday after
noon, stands in his store and says:
How shall meet these obligations?
How can l endure this new disaster
that is coming upon me?" He goes
home Sabbath morning finds him in
the house of God. Through the song,
through the sermon, through the
prayer, the Lord Jesus Christ SAYS to
that man: 20 man! L have watched
thee; 1 will see thee through; 1
will stand between thee and thy
creditors. l will make up in Heav-
emily treasures what You have lost in
earthly treasures Courage, man,
courage! Angels of God, command
you to clear the track for that man;
put your wings over his head; with
your golden scepters strike for his de-
fense throw around him all the de-
fenses of eternIty!' That business
man is strengthening. He goes to the
store next day feeling that God IS With