The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1896-02-14

Jreate within me a clean heart" If
you have 30 such aspirations as that,
it proves that you have mistaken your
way; and il you only look up and sss
the finger board above your head, you
may read upon it the wordss "There
is way that seemeth right into a
man, but the end thereof is death.
| Without holiness no man shall see the
Lord; and if you have any idea that
you can carry along your sins, your
worldliness, and yet at the end OF the
Christian race; you are SO awfully mis-
taken, that, in the name of God, I
shatter the delusio11.
Still further, the road spoken Of is q
plain road. "The wayfaring mefis
though fools, shall not err therein.
That is, if man is three-fourths an
idiot, he can find this road just as well
as if he were a philosopher. The inn
beetle boy, the laughing stock of the
street, and followed by mob hooting
at him, has only just to knock once at
| the gate of Heaven, and it swings
| open; while there has been many q
man who can lecture about pneumatics,
and chemistry, and tell the story of
| Faraday's theory of electrical polariza-
| ton, and yet has been shut out OF
Heaven. There has been many man
who stood in an observatory aid swept
the heavens with his telescope, and yet
has not been able to see the morning
star: Many man has been familiar
with all the higher branches of mathe-
matics, and yet cod1d not do the simple
sum, "What shall it profit man, if
he gain the whole world and lose his
own s0ul?" Many man has been a
fine reader of tragedies and poems,
and yet could not 'read his title clear
to mansions in the skies" Many a
man has botanized across the conti-
nent, and yet not known the Rose of
Sharon and the lily of the valley" But
if one shall come in the right spirit,
asking the way to Heaven, he will find
it plain way. The pardon is plain.
The peace is plain. Everything
is plain He who tries to get
on the road to Heaven through the
New Testament teaching will get on
beautifully. He who goes through
| philosophical discussion will not get
on at all. Christ says: "Cofie to Me,
and / will take your sins away, and
will take all your troubles away"
Now what is the use of my discussing
| it any more? Is not that plain? If you
wanted to go to some city, and i
pointed you out a highway thoroughly
laid ont, would / be wise in detaining
you by geological discussion about
the gravel you will pass over, or
physiological discussion about
the muscles you will have to
bring into play? No. After this Bible
has pointed you the way to Heaven, is
it wise for me to detain you with any
discussion about the nature of the
human will, or whether the atone
ment is limited or unlimited? There
is the road-go on it. 1t is plain way.
''This is a faithful saying, and worthy
of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sim
ners. And that is you and that is me.
Any little child here can understand
this as well as | can. Sunless you be-
come as a little child you can not see
the kingdom of God" If you are saved,
it will not be as philosopher; it will be
as a little child ''Of such is the king
dom of Heaven" Unless you get the
spirit of little children, you will never
Still further: This DAD to Heaven is
safe road. Sometimes the traveller
in those ancient highways would think
himself perfectly secure, not knowing
there was lion by the way, burying
his head deep between his paws, and
then, when the right moment came,
under the fearful spring the mans life
was gone, and there was mauled car
cass by the roadside. But, says my
text: mo lion shall be there" /
wish I could make you feel your
entire security. L tell you plainly
that one minute after a man has
become child of God, he is as safe as
though he had been 10000 years in
Heaven. He may slip, he may slide, |
he may tumble; but he can not be de- |
stroyed. Kept by the power of God, |
through faith, unto complete salvation. |
Everlastingly safe. The severest trial
to which you can subject a Christian |
man is to kill him, and that is glory. |
In other words, the worst thing that |
can happen child of God is Heaven. |
The body is only the old slippers that |
he throws aside just after putting on
the sandals of light. His soul you can
not hurt it. No fires can consume it.
No floods can drown it, No devils can
capture it.
Firm and unmoved are they
Who rest their souls on God;
Fixed as the ground where David stood,
Or where tho ark abode.
His soul is safe. His reputa ton is
safe. Everything is safe. ''But, you
say, suppose his store burns up?"
Why, then it will be only a change of
investments from earthly to heavenly
securities. But" you say, suppose
his name goes down under the hoof of
scorn and contempt?" The name Will be
so much brighter in glory. Suppose his
health fails?" God will pour
into him the floods of everlasting
health, and it will not make any diff.
ference. Earthly subtraction is
heavenly addition. The tears of earth
are the crystals of Heaven. AS they
take rags and tatters and put them
the paper mill, and they come
out beautiful white sheets of paper,
so often through cylinders of death
come out white scroll upon
which shall be written eternal eman-
cipation. There was one passage of
Scripture, the force of which / never
understood until one day at Cha
with Mount Blanc on one
side, and Montanvert on the other. I
opened my Bible and read: "As the
mountains are around about Jerusa-
lem, so the Lord is around about them
that fear Him. The surroundings were
an OmDipOf4uf com map41,-v