The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1896-11-27

rent to pay, and nothing to pay it
with, and bread to buy, and nothing
to buy it with, used to sit down and
cry. But now, do not get discOur-
aged. If l go along the street,
when / come to corner of the street,
/ say: 1.-The Lord help me-" then go
| go on until / come to another crossing
of the street, and again l say: The
Lord help meI' And so utter pray
er at every crossing; and since / have
got into the habit of saying these
'cross-prayers.' / have been able to
keep up my courage"
Learn again from this subject, that
| people sometimes are surprised to find
out that what they have been strug-
Cling with in the darkness is really an
'angel of blessing" Jacob found in
the morning that this strange person
age was not an enemy but God-dis-
| patched messenger to promise pros
perity for him and for his children.
| And so, many man, at the close of
| his trial, has found out that he has
been trying to throw dowE his own
| blessing. If you are Christian man,
will go back in your history and find
that the grandest things that have
ever happened to you have been your
trials. Nothing short of scourging,
imprisonment, and shipwreck could
have made Paul what he was. When
David was fleeing through the wilder
ness, pursued by his own SON, he was
being prepared to become the sweet
singer of Israel. The pit and the dun
geon were the best schools at which
Joseph ever graduated. The hurri-
cane that upset the tent and killed
Jobs children prepared the man of Uz
to be the subject of the magnificent
poem that has astounded the ages
There is no way to get the wheat out
of the straw but to thresh it. There is
no way to purify gold but to burn it.
Look at the people who have always
had it their own way. They are
proud, discontented, useless and un
happy. If you want to find cheerful
folks, go among those who have been
purified by the fire. After Rossini had
rendered "William Tell" the five hun
dredth time, company of musicians
came under his window in Paris and
serenaded him. They put upon his
brow golden crown of laurel leaves!
But, amid all the applause and enthu
siasm Rossini turned to friend and
said: 81 would give all this brilliant
scene for a few days of youth and
love-" Contrast the melancholy feel
ing of Rossini, who had everything
that this worE could give him, with
the joyful experience of Isaac Watts,
whose sorrows were great, when he
says:
The Hill of Zion yields
A thousand sacred sweets,
Before we reach the heavenly fields
Or walk the golden streets.
Then let our songs abound,
And every tear be dry
We're marching through Immanuels ground
To fairer worlds on high.
1t is prosperity that kills, and trouble
that saves. While the Israelites were
on the march, amid great private pri-
vations and hardships, they behaved
well. After awhile they prayed for
meat; and the sky darkened with a
great flock of quails; aud these quails
fell in great multitudes all about
them; and the Israelites ate and ate,
and stuffed themselves until they died.
Oh, my friends, it is not hardship, or
trial, or starvation that Injuries the
soul, but abundant supply. 1t is not
the vulture of trouble that eats up the |
Christians life; it is the quails! it is
the quails. You will yet find out that
your midnight wrestle by the brook
Jabbock is with an angel of Gad, come |
down to bless and to save.
Learn again that while our wrestling |
with trouble might be triumphant, we
must expect that it will leave its mark |
upon us. Jacob prevailed, but the |
angel touched him and his thigh-bone |
sprang from its socket, and the good |
man went limping on his way. We |
must carry through this world the |
mark of combat. What plowed those |
premature wrinkles in your face? /
What whitened your hair before 1t
was time for frost? What silenced |
forever so much of the hilarity of
your houseld? All! it is because the |
angel of trouble hath touched you
that you go limping on your way.
You need not be surprised that those |
who have passed through the fire
do not feel as gay as once they
did. Do not be out of patience with
those who come not out of their de-
srondency They may triumph over
their loss, and yet their gait shall tell
you that they have been trouble
touched. Are we stoics, that we can
unmoved see our cradle rifled of the
bright eyes and the sweet lips? Can
we stand unmoved and see our gar
dens of earthly delight uprooted?
VIII Jesus, who wept Himself, be
angry with us If we pour our tears
into the graves that open to swallow
down what we loved best? Was Laza-
rus more dear to Him than our be-
loved dead to us? Nc. We have a
right to weep Our tears must come.
You shall not drive them back
to scald the heart. They fall
into Gods bottle. Afflicted ones have
died because they could not weep.
Thank God for the sweet, the mysteri-
GUS relief that comes to us in tears!
Under this gentle rain the flowers OF
hope put forth their bloom. God pity
that dry, withered, parched, all-con- /
suming grief that wrings its hands,
and grinds its teeth, and bites its
nails into the quick, but can not weepl /
We may have found the comfort of the |
cross, and yet after show that in the
dark night, and by the Brook Jabbok,
we were trouble-touched.
Again, we my take the idea of the
text, and announce the approach of
the day dawn. No one was ever more
glad to see the morning than was Ja-
cob after that night of struggle. 1t is
appropriate for philanthropists and /
Christians to cry out with this angel |