The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1895-03-08
n is rejected because the paper l. nun,


Is the opportunity to play the hero or
/ the heroine, not on small stage with
a few hundred people to clap their APP
proval, but with all the galleries of
Heaven filed with sympathetic and APP
plauding spectators, for we are ''sur-
rounded by great cloud of witnesses.
/ My brother, my sister, my father, my
mother, what a chance you have!
\ While you are in the struggle, if you
/ only have the grace of Christ to listen,
voice parts the heavens, saying: My
| grace is sufficient for thee" Whom
/ the Lord loveth, he chasteneth." You
shall be more than conquerors." And
that reminds me of a letter on my
table written by some one whom
suppose to be at this moment present,
/ saying: My dear, dear doctor. You
will please pardon the writer for ask
| ing that at some time when you feel
| like it you kindly preach from the
| thirtieth psalm, fifth verse: Weeping
may endure for a night, but JOY cometh
/ in the morning. and much Oblige
| downtown business man" So, to all
/ downtown business men, and to all up
town business men, / say, if you have
on hand any goods that you can
not sell, and debtors who will not.
or can not, pay, and you are also suf-
| fering from uncertainty as to what
the imbecile American congress will
do about the tariff, you have three
troubles, and enough to bring you
within the range of the consolation of
my text, where you find the triumph
of Benaiah over lion, and a pit, and
a snowy day. If you have only one
| trouble, can not spend any time with
you to-day. You must have at least
three, and then remember how many
have triumphed over such a trial of
misfortune. Paul had three troubles:
Sanbedria denouncing him-that was
one great trouble; physical infrmity,
which he called "a thorn in the
flesh" and although we know not
what the thorn was, we do know
from the figure he used that 1T must
have been something that stuck him
that was the second trouble; approach
ing martyrdom-that made the three
troubles. Yet, hear what he says: "If
| had only one misfortune, / could
stand that; but three are two many?'
No; / misinterpret. He says: "Sor-
| y
making many rich; having nothing,
yet possessing all things" Thanks be
unto God, who giveth us the victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ"
David had three troubles. A bad
boy, temptation to dissoluteness, and
dethronement. What does he say?
God is our refuge and strength; q
very present help in time of trouble.
Therefore, will not we fear, though
the earth be removed, and though the
mountains be cast into the midst of
the sea-"
John Wesley had three troubles:
Defamation by mobs; domestic in
felicity; fatigue from more sermons
preached and more miles travelled than
almost any man of his time. What does
he say? 1.-THE best of all is, God is
with u.s." And when his poet brother,
Charles Wesley, said to him: Brother
John, if the Lord were to give me
wings, I'd fly" Johns reply was:
Brother Charles. if the Lord told me
to fly, I'd do it, and leave Him to find
the wings"
George Whitefeld had three trou-
bles: Rejection from the pulpits of
England because he was too dramatic
that was one trouble; strabismus, or
the crossing of his eyes that subjected
him to the caricature of all the small
wits of the day; vermin and dead ami
mails thrown at him while he preached
ON the cOmmons-that made three
troubles. Nevertheless, his sermons
were so buoyant that little child dy-
ing soon after hearing him preach said
in the intervals of pain: Let me go
to Mr.. Whitefeld's Cod" Oh, am so
glad that Benaiah of my text was not
the only one who triumphed over a
lion in a pit on a snowy day.
Notice in my text a victory over bad
weather. 1t was a snowy day, when
ones vitality is at low ebb, and the
spirits are naturally depressed, and
one does not feel like undertaking a
great enterprise, when Benaiah rubs
his hands together to warm them by
extra friction, or threshes his arms
around him to revive the circulation
of the blood, and then goes at the lion,
which was all the more fierce and
ravenous because of the sharp weather.
Inspiration here admits atmospheric
hindrance. The snowy day at Valley
GOAE1 NClA hiS II pun al Gnu W Vic
struggle for. American independence.
The snowy day demolished Napoleon's
army on the way from Moscow. The
inclemency of January and February
weather has some years bankrupted
thousands of merchants. Long sue
cession of stormy Sabbaths has Grip
pied innumerable churches. Light
houses yelled by the snow on many a
coast have failed to warn off from the
rocks the doomed frigate. Tens of
thousands of Christians of nervous
temperament by the depression of a
snowy day almost despair of reaching
Heaven. Yet, in that style of weather
Benaiah of the text achieved his most
celebrated victory; and let us by the
grace of God become victor over infiu-
ences atmospheric. If we are happy
only when the wind blows from the
clear northwest, and the thermometer
is above freezing point, and the sky is
an inverted blue cup of sunshine
poured all over. it is religion ninety
five per cent. Off Thank God there
are Christians, who, though their
whole life through sickness has been
a snowy day, have killed every lion of
dependency that dared to put its
cruel paw against their suffering
pillow. 1t was a snowy day
when the pilgrim fathers set foot,
not on a bank of flowers, but
on the cold New England rock,
and from a ship that might have been